November 30

• Project: The Mage’s Unwritten Guide to Dragons
• Total word count: 18,691
• Today’s word count: 72
• Thoughts: Usually I put in a mad rush to the finish line on November 30. This year I just couldn’t do it. It wasn’t that I knew I couldn’t win. During a normal year I’d still try to get as close as possible on the last day. Today I just felt sad and empty. Considering how the last week or so has gone for me, I decided this was more than valid and I should just do what I needed to do to feel better.
• Tomorrow’s goal: I’m on the fence between jumping back into draft 3 of The Dreams and taking the first day of December off to play games guilt free. I’ll probably end up doing something in the middle like playing games while feeling guilty for not writing. Yeah. That sounds about right.

December 1

• Project: The Dreams
• Total word count: 199,866
• Today’s word count: 14
• Thoughts: I didn’t plan to write today. I didn’t even have Scrivener open for most of the day. It was freeing. I played a game. I kept my mind distracted and almost felt normal for a little while. Then we got to the evening which is my most productive writing time and I just sort of opened Scrivener. I wrote a sentence. It’s not much, but it’s more than I planned to do and it was spontaneous. Maybe I’ll get back to writing sooner than I originally thought.
• Tomorrow’s goal: I’m going to go with the flow. If I want to write, I’ll write. If I end up playing games all day, or deep cleaning the house, or going out on a walk it’ll all be fine.

December 2–4

No writing progress for a few days. For once, I’m totally fine with this. I know I need a break. I’m actually taking a break. Being sensible for once is pretty nice.

Honestly, I should have done this back in November. I’m stubborn. I couldn’t let go of the idea of doing NaNoWriMo even though I needed the time off. Trying to write didn’t hurt me. At least, I don’t think it did, but it was frustrating. I think I would have been a bit calmer if I knew how to step away from an event and take the break I needed.

The break has done what it needed to do. I feel better. I’m not going to go as far as to say I feel good, but I’m better than before.

December 5

I meant to write today and I just couldn’t do it. The intention was there. I just didn’t have the energy to carry out my intention.

The burnout from everything that happened in November is still there. I’m getting better, but now that I’m ready to think about writing again, I’m running into the barrier that grows when I don’t write for a few days. It takes more than a little bit of motivation to get back into writing again. I’ll get there eventually, but I guess I’m just not ready to take on the writing break hurdle.

December 6

• Project: The Dreams
• Total word count: 199,889
• Today’s word count: 23
• Thoughts: Today I just had to try. It wasn’t easy. Getting past the mental block from taking multiple days off from writing drained a lot of the mental energy I intended to put into writing. Hopefully making the effort today will make getting started again tomorrow a bit easier. I want to start creating again.
• Tomorrow’s goal: It looks like I should have a quiet Monday at home. As long as nothing major comes up, I should have plenty of time to focus on myself and my writing. It’s time. I’m ready. Let’s go.

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