NaNoWriMo Therapy: Helpful Things For Your Sanity's Sake

Today is the first of November, which means that every day from now until December 1st, the writing will fall into its peculiar autumnal hush. Except from this corridor because I have never participated in National Novel Writing Month, hitherto referred to as "NaNoWriMo." I don't do well under that sort of pressure and besides, I prefer sleep to word-count, which could be my main issue. But since I know that many if not most of you will be participating in NaNoWriMo, I've filled this post with happy things for you, as my Instagram begged just this morning:

Wishing all my friends who are doing #NaNoWriMo (National Novel-Writing Month) a great kick-off and a full prescription of tea and toast. You have the chutzpah of a tigress in the Euphrates and deserve malleable plots. Cheers to you! 😘

A photo posted by Rachel Heffington (@lipstickandgelato) on Nov 1, 2015 at 6:47am PST

I love all of you and I'll be back with a celebratory post in just a couple days because, get this, Anon Sir, Anon will turn a year old on the Fifth of November, which really calls for celebration! "Remember, remember, the fifth of November." Maybe, to help it feel as grown up as it is, it is time to purchase a copy of your own? But for now, I'm here to nourish your massacred soul which stands upon the brink of a thirty-day howl and begs mercy.

And because I am trying to help ease things along for you, I'm also sharing my recipe for a single-serving clean-eating brownie because you writers need to eat healthily, but you also need chocolate. I love you! 

Edible Therapy:

1 teaspoon coconut oil

1 Tablespoon honey

1 pinch baking powder

1 pinch salt

1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon flour (or almond flour)

1 Tablespoon cocoa powder

1 Tbs. chocolate chips or chopped chocolate bar (70% cocoa or higher)

Place first two ingredients into a ramekin or oven-safe mug in the oven, preheating to 350 degrees Fahrenheit for one minute till melted together. Mix with other ingredients. Press chcoolate into the top. Bake for 5-6 minutes or until no longer jiggly. Eat warm! 

Best of luck to you all! <3

November For Me...

Will be a normal month. I realize that by saying what I'm about to say, I could discredit myself as a writer. ;) That confession being made, I will move on.

I am not going to be participating in NaNoWriMo.

It's out! Let me now explain the reasons as to why I am not participating in this exciting project! :) First off, last year I hadn't the foggiest idea what NaNo was...I reckoned it had something to do with Narnia. :P Silly me. :D So below are my list of excuses and explanations:

• I don't write well under intense pressure. Something I need to change? Maybe. Something I can change in a day? Nope.
• I don't have a plot plotted for a whole novel that I could use in NaNo.
• This year my life doesn't have the margin, and doesn't need the stress of fitting 50,000 words into one month.
• I don't want to set myself up to fail, knowing that I am [practically speaking] not ready for this challenge.

There. You see? Four pretty good reasons why NaNo isn't for me this year. It sounds amazingly fun. I wish I had the time and margin to do it. I wildly applaud you girls who have managed it. I will follow the windings of your pen to the utter ends. But I'll just be an on-looker this time around. :)

(Correction: NaNoWriMo wannabe. ;)