Can My Life Please Remember It’s NANOWRIMO?

It’s coming to my attention that my life is not understanding the concept of NANOWRIMO.

National Novel Writing Month, is held every November. NOVEMBER! Seriously?

Every year I say I’m going to do it. All you have to do is write 1,667 words a day, to reach 50,000 words in a month, and kick start your novel. Yes, I can write 1,667 words in a day. No worries. I like to do a writing sprint, or vomit draft. But can I keep doing that every day for a month?

This November has also bought me back to painting. No, I know you’re thinking an artiste like me would be painting some gorgeous canvases, some lovely artistic pictures. But no. I’m actually the worst artist you may have ever seen. I’m talking about house painting. Back on the tools, as the tradies say.

I’ve somehow been an unofficial house painter since I was about fourteen years old. Growing up on a farm, there’s always something that needs painting. School holidays are long and remote. Child labour is cheap.

I think I’ve painted nearly every house I’ve lived in since, except that short term rental in Newmarket. So whenever I’m painting, inside, outside, decking, furniture, window trim, doors, ok you get it, it always makes me think of my father. It was the most time we ever spent together. A frequently distant relationship, given a much needed boost from the physical closeness of working together. My father taught me everything I know about painting. Such as, a stick picked up off the ground is perfectly suitable to stir your paint. Don’t worry about cutting in around light switches, just paint over the top of them. Don’t need to waste too much time filling gaps, just load up your brush and fill them with paint. And, somewhat more useful, how to cut in around windows without having to spend ages applying painters tape. Some of this advice I’ve taken to heart and some I’ve let go of. Mostly the stick, I’ve let go of the stick.

And so, here I am painting half the house – lower half, not like some weird vertical half – along with Husband-Man, who is an expert now after working for a week with Old Bill the cashy painter. To say there have been no disagreements would be false. But then our song “Islands in the Stream” comes on our tradie play list and we remember that “we rely on each other, huh ahh, From one lover to another, huh ahh” and then everything is alright.

So what is the point of this rambling, you ask? Well back to NANOWRIMO. The point is, as much as 1,667 words sounds exceedingly doable, life still goes on. The garden is coming to life and needs much attention, kids need lifts, clothes need washing, food needs cooking, err you really don’t want to see my bathroom! And house renovations wait for no man, or woman, to sit writing 1,667 words a day.

I’ll try to keep writing when I can, and we’ll see what happens. There’s definitely some exciting things brewing in my writer brain. And there’s actually no laws that say everything has to be written in November. The northern hemisphere is hunkering down in preparations for winter. But here on the mountain it’s all happening.

There is no need to point out the irony of the words I’ve typed here. Thank you, I’m aware.

To find out more about NANOWRIMO click here https://nanowrimo.org/about-nano.