Alright, I know what you’re thinking. It’s been an eternity since I posted anything. Well, maybe not an eternity, but almost two months. Because I value you taking the time to stop by, I’m going to be totally honest with you.  

It’s Chris Baty’s fault. 

Why? Because years ago, he started something called National Novel Writing Month (NaN0WriMo). He had the brilliant idea to make the month in question be November. That’s right, he was like, I’m going to challenge people to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days, and I’m going to ask that the thirty days they do that in be at the beginning of the holiday season. I’m wondering if he was married with children when he made this choice. My gut says he was neither. I don’t know for sure. (I was too busy yet again participating in NaNoWriMo to find out). 

So, since I obviously wasn’t experiencing various YA books for my blog, here’s what I was up to since I last posted. 

 November 

• Navigated the competitive world of youth sports, making stressful decisions about baseball 
• Postponed Thanksgiving because my husband got pneumonia 
• Postponed our postponed Thanksgiving because I got sick 
• Cancelled Thanksgiving 
• Froze seven pounds of pulled pork since we couldn’t eat it all on our own. 
• Had a birthday 
• Decorated for Christmas 
• Wrote 63,782 words of a new novel. 

December 

• Ordered my kids books for Christmas from Neighborhood Reads 
• Got a signed copy of Ali Hazelwood’s new book Check & Mate as well as a standard copy of Tessa Bailey’s Wreck the Halls. 
• Bought tickets to Tessa Bailey’s February book tour for Fangirl Down, meaning not only can I meet her, but I can upgrade my standard copy of Wreck the Halls to a signed one!  
• Slept on the couch countless nights to help my kids sleep despite coughs 
• Discovered how to do a virtual doctor’s appointment because our normal pediatrician was booked solid and I was fairly certain my kids had ear infections 
• Administered antibiotics for double ear infections to two kids 
• Got healthy for Christmas! 
• Hosted family for the holidays 
• Figured out how to make a mint infused chocolate cake with mint infused icing at the request of my son
• Wrote 36,870 words to finish my novel’s first draft . 

Basically, while NaNoWriMo is fun, invigorating, and often surprising, it can also be really hard to balance with real life. But I did it anyway! 

My novel is obviously not finished. There’s still who knows how many rounds of revisions in my future, but I’m excited about what I’ve written so far. I stepped out of my normal box and wrote my first adult romance. It was fun to tackle older characters with more complex issues. I loved being able to up the spice level. Best of all, I’m getting favorable feedback from the few people who have read snippets. And just like always happens when I write, it spurred several new plot ideas for connected books. But I shouldn’t get ahead of myself. I should probably just take a deep breath and say a prayer of thanks that I have ten months before the next NaNoWriMo strikes. 

Next post, I promise to deliver you a new reading recommendation. Until then, if you’re looking for a book to fill your time, look back at some past posts for inspiration! And if you need a place to buy them, there is always Neighborhood Reads…