Happy November! Change is afoot once more, and I am excited to drag you along on yet another Fresh Lil Chapter of my life. A week into October Fiona and I held our second Scheme Retreat of the year* - a tradition in which we rent an AirBnb, lock ourselves away for a few days and figure out wtf we are going to be doing with our lives for the foreseeable future via many lists, tarot readings and the occasional powerpoint presentation - and since then things have been moving VERY quickly. I've felt for a while that I need to start actively seeking change in order for anything significant to unfold, and it would seem the universe was on a similar page because we did a tarot reading that pretty much straight up roasted me for being a change-averse little darling who wants the results and not the discomfort, so yeah u could say the message was received loud & clear. Long story short, this mindset shift coupled with the fact I've been trying to prioritise Action over Motion (explanation of that concept here) has led to a series of rapid uplevelings, all of which have been positive, but which will combine to make November a very. full on. month.
*Lmk if you want a separate post about the sort of things we do on our Scheme Retreats and I shall deliver
*Lmk if you want a separate post about the sort of things we do on our Scheme Retreats and I shall deliver
The biggest shift that I am really, really, really frickin excited about (and that I'm sure will spawn a lot of future content for our collective enjoyment) will come in a week or two and I'll tell you all about it then, but another major contributing factor to the month's overriding tone of GO, GO, GO has already begun - I have committed to NaNoWriMo. Yes. Whilst sorting out my business and drowning in urgent life admin re: further changes to come, I have decided that this would be an absolutely perfect time to challenge myself to write 50,000 words in a month. I've given my novel a huge overhaul, completely reworked the plot and edited the pieces I'd already written so that they work within the new story, so I am on decent footing in terms of knowing where to start, but I also have a HUGE amount of plot points still to fill in, so 'tis sure to be an interesting ride. My logic here is that 1. I committed to this before everything kicked off and I'm too stubborn to change my plans 2. this is a good way to get a solid amount of my novel finished in a short amount of time which will then free up more of my time & mental space and 3. I thrive under intense pressure, so maybe the fact that I have TOO much on will actually mean that I get it all done. Gonna stick with that logic until proven otherwise.
As I type this I have already completed four days of NaNoWriMo and thus far produced a total of 8,750 words, so I'm on decent footing, but I'm very aware that there are likely to be a few days later this month when sitting down to write just won't be a viable option so I'm trying to get ahead while I can. After today's session, however, I am scheduled to hit a big old section that I haven't fully mapped out yet plot-wise, so forcing myself to take time out to sit down and plan will be essential tomorrow to avoid this whole thing completely derailing for good. In true Maddi form, literally every single word I've written has been between the hours of 11pm and 5am, but what's the point of being self employed if you can't turn semi nocturnal for the sake of a challenge you're undertaking voluntarily? In unrelated news, Will and I have started thinking about our plans for Christmas, and I am VERY, VERY excited. The seasoned readers (viewers, followers etc) amongst ye will know that I am big on Christmas, but due to moving around a bunch it's been a couple of years since I've had a solid festive season with no major events to disrupt the yuletide joy, and I intend to make the most of it this time around. Now, #nooffense but I have a hell of a lot of writing to do in order to hit my personal NaNo target for today, so I need to conserve my words and skedaddle. It's unlikely that I'll pop in again for at least another week or two, but the upside of that is the fact that perhaps next time we convene I won't need to be cryptic about what I've been doing and we can all enjoy a seamless dialogue once more. Thank u for reading, thank u for not yelling at me for my inconsistency, thank u for sticking around through my many adventures, changes and lulls, and if you ever need to check that I'm still alive, I'm probably on twitter. x0x0
PS. This time in two months I'll be 27 and I'm actually pretty amped about it, and also keen for 2020 in general. I have great vibes about it. Hope u do too.
