BYB Sunday: Hunting, Ticks, NaNoWriMo

Welcome to Blog Your Blessings Sunday.

I have three blessings to post today.

1. IJ, now almost 13 years old, went hunting with his dad yesterday morning for youth weekend and he saw a buck. Jim said it was about 140 pounds, old and gray. Not many get to see or shoot one of those. IJ said he didn't shoot it because he didn't have a good shot and he thought he wasn't allowed to shoot a doe. But he regrets it.

Jim and IJ are out again early today for another round and hope to see that deer. IJ says that this time if he sees the gray doe, he's going to shoot it. He has a good chance because the deer are bedding down on the bank just beyond our playground (the old llama pen extension).


2. Apparently, deer isn't all IJ saw yesterday morning. Later that day, he came to us with a tick on his neck and another crawling up the front of his shirt. He freaked a little seeing how earlier in the week we had to dig one that had sunk itself deep into his hip.

Then CJ found a tick crawling up her leg, so it looks like they carried the buggers home. Yuck. There aren't many things I hate, but ticks are one of them.


3. Lastly, I'm participating in National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short. That's where you write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days in the month of November. (Don't be alarmed if the website is slow. There is a ton of traffic hitting the site this week.) It's my birthday present to myself.) I'm working on a middle grade novel for girls and doing terrific. I'm very pleased. I have 4,031 words.

Now if you break down 50,000 words per day, that's 1,667 words and I'm technically about 1,000 words behind, but that's easy to catch up. I'm most happy, though, because I have a nearly complete story line including three acts (no middle slump!) and I know where I'm going.

The last time I participated, in 2004, I had to restart a week in after a bad first run that wasn't worth salvaging. (Trust me on this one.) But after that, I went on to catch up and complete my 50,000 words. That was the year I learned I could pound out 5,000 words per day, a few days on end. It was the largest body of work I've completed to date, and I aim to do it again. Only this time, better quality. I'm aiming for publishable on this one. :)


So, there you go. My three blessings for this Sunday. What are yours?

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Technorati Tags:  family ^ hunting ^ kids ^ youth weekend ^ deer season ^ ticks ^ NaNoWriMo ^ write novel

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