this december

“Stumbled ’round the block a thousand times. You missed every call that I had tried. So now I’m giving up. A heartbreak in mid-December. You don’t give a fuck.” ~Neck Deep (“December”)

December inevitably comes like a thief in the night, at least in my world, because it follows hard on the heels of a frenetic November, when I’ve been writing non-stop every single day. It’s like on December first I go cold turkey, and my novel-writing brain doesn’t know what to do.

The first time I tried NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, every November) back in 2012, I remember, on that last day of November, promising myself I would continue to write every day. That’s when I created this Blog (happy anniversary to me), and for over three years that’s exactly what I did, writing one post (or more) every single day.

I’m proud of that streak, but I’m even prouder that it ended, because it was all about maintaining the streak at a point along the line. This December I’ve decided to renew my dedication to this blog, by writing one post a day all month long. I could have started another novel, but I feel like I need a little break from the kind of nonstop pace that novels take from me, that they take out of me. I will get back to them in January.

But December, it’s my time to decompress, to get down my words as just that–my words. I’m not creating new characters with these words, not plopping them down in a fictitious world and watching them blossom or wither on the vine. I’m just putting my thoughts out into the world, hoping they catch purchase and speak to just one person.

Now it’s time to put on some music and write.