NaNoWriMo... The Last Update (Get Out the Confetti, Baby!)

So, I'm going to toot my own horn here for a minute, because, after typing 141 pages (aka 50,000 words) for NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month - I feel completely entitled.

Yup, that's right. I DID IT!! Whooo boy, I'm exhausted. This has been the longest month of my life, as my days have all been from 8am until 3am. I think I will need a solid week of hibernation to recover.

I have to say with complete honesty, that if it wasn't for you lovely and encouraging readers and all the comments you left me throughout the month, there would have been no way I could have finished.

Especially not last week, when I was thousands of words away from being done and I hit a brick wall. My sweet, funny and tough-as-nails main character turned on me. Completely out of the blue, without giving me anytime for preparation, she morphed into a wimpy character I didn't like. I was crushed and it took me days to figure her out.

Between popping endless sheets of virtual bubble wrap {CLICK HERE} and watching goofy, random videos on YouTube { you've gotta CLICK HERE} - I'm the ultimate time-waster - I sat down and had a chat with her. I'd previously known everything about her, from her favorite band (Jack's Mannequin) to her favorite food (Fettuccine Alfredo). I thought I knew how she would handle any situation that came her way... but I didn't and she became a stranger to me. When you are trying to crank out hundreds of pages about a character, it helps if you know them, ya know? And I was ready to quit until I got more encouragement from all of you to keep on typing. So I did.

Luckily, after three days of character soul searching and pages and pages and pages of deletions (arrrgh!), she got over her funk and morphed back into the girl I knew and loved. Hurray. I was off and it didn't take long to knock out the last 15,000 words.

My story is far from being done. I still have about 50-75 thousand more words to go, and then I have a million years of hardcore editing when that is done. Remember I said before that I have never written a book and I have no idea what I'm doing? I meant that.

But I'm still feeling pretty awesome. Here are some Etsy items that sum up my feelings of awesomeness.

The Time-Out Twins

It's no secret that I have two little troublemakers for daughters. Anyone who has followed my blog for longer than one week is, without a doubt, familiar with the posts in which Annelie clobbers her big sister or Gracie smears sand in her baby sister's hair.

Such is life in the Hopkins household.

Naughty moments don't go unpunished, though it is usually Will who has to dole them out (remember: I'm the Pushover Mom). The one punishment I am good at passing out, is time-out for Gracie, who has to sit in the kitchen, facing the wall until the timer goes off after 3 minutes.

But what I find so completely hilarious that I just can't go without sharing, is the fact that Annelie makes herself a little martyr and sits down next to Gracie, her face to the wall, tears streaming down her cheeks. Every. Single. Time.

Why? I have no idea. Even when she has been nothing but good (well, that's a stretch, but you know what I mean) and it is Gracie who is in big trouble... Annelie sits down next to her and cries her eyes out until the timer goes off, despite me saying over and over, "Annelie, you aren't in trouble. Come here. You don't have to sit on time out."

In fact, at 22 months old, I don't even put Annelie on time out when she is in trouble. The only time she suffers through it, is when Gracie is the one in trouble.

Personally, I think she just likes being on time-out. Why else would she smile through her tears, once the buzzer has gone off?

*sigh*

Kids are strange little creatures, aren't they?

Enjoy!

A Party for Charlie

This past weekend, I went to a baby shower for the fabulous Tia of Hey Lady and Christopher and Tia, and I was super excited for three reasons.Reason #1: Spoiling itty bitty little babies is just about my most favorite thing in the world (second only to eating Butterfinger Brownie Blast brownies from A Sugar Affair).

Reason #2: Tia's baby shower was a dressy-uppy party and I finally had an excuse to wear my tacky-fabulous faux crystal chandelier earrings and holographic eye glitter.

Reason #3: Tia is well known across the Etsy forums and blog circuit as being the most food allergy-ridden person on the planet and I couldn't wait to try her intensely complicated - though surprisingly delicious - allergy free food.

I was not disappointed.

Gracie was quite excited to help me get ready for the baby shower. Besides artfully gift wrapping Charlie's present, in which Gracie drew a lovely picture to attach to the bag, she also helped me with my make-up, though I suspected that she was mostly excited to cover herself in my eye glitter and shimmering lipstick.
The party was fun. It was also nice to get out of the house for some chatting, snacking on allergy-free chocolate chip cookies, grasshopper cookies and pumpkin maple bars, and ooohing and aaahhhing over tiny baby boy things.

And I got to pull out my sewing machine and decorate little baby onesies for the first time since shutting down my old Etsy baby boutique. I missed that!



Thanks for the invite, Tia and good luck in the next 5 weeks while you wait for Charlie to come.