Failing NaNoWriMo 2015

It's November 29, 2015. Only two days left to complete NaNoWriMo. I have less than 15,000 words in this year's story. No where near the 50,000 needed to win. I will write today and some tomorrow maybe, and I will get closer, but I probably won't reach the goal.

It feels like failure. But, I've learned a lot this year.

In September, I read books and completed research to create a plan for writing a book. I put together a schedule and worked to see how many hours could realistically be squeezed out of each day.

In October, I put my plan into action, created an outline, character sketches and setting descriptions for November's novel.

In November, I set out to turn October's work into a finished novel.

I'm not there yet.

Instead, I went on vacation with my husband and children. A week of fun and sights and visiting. I took my laptop along, but my kids are just too much fun to be ignored.

Then, I won a huge turkey from out local grocer, so I invited some friends for Thanksgiving, so I fed twenty people dinner because they are more important than that story.

But, now that the last days are here, I can't make any more excuses.

I didn't finish the word count because I didn't put in the hours.

That's all.

I chose to do other things, like dishes and laundry, changing diapers and playing with babies. Every day I made the choice to be a mom and let the story sit.

But...
and this is a big one...
I'm not finished.

11:59pm on November 30th is not the final minute of my writing adventure.

This story will still be here. The outline is still solid, my characters compelling and the story worth telling. So, I won't win NaNoWriMo this year, but I am not defeated.

NaNoWriMo 2015

It's NaNoWriMo time!
I've been blog lazy lately, but November always drives me to designating writing time, and that always makes me think about blogging.

So, this year, I'm working on a book to finish. My NaNoWriMo journey is different, more mature maybe. In years past, I've ridden the wild ride in the chase of the fifty thousand word mark.

But, now, I'm thinking about the end product more than I'm thinking about numbers.

This year's novel journey actually began in October as I spent the previous month writing the outline for this novel. I'm working through my notes from a book I read a few years ago that gave step by step instructions to completing a novel. I've made some adjustments and catered it to my own writing style.

I've created character sketches, written setting descriptions and outlined major plot, several subplots, back stories and scenery.

Now, I enter November with a pile of ideas all ready to come together in a cohesive story line.

My word count is growing slower than I might like (probably because I'm raising and teaching 8 children - and we are on vacation this week, so every day is filled with museums and zoos and parks and fun stuff, bringing me home exhausted by the time I put all the tired babies to bed.)

But, I'm excited!

I'm dreaming about putting this year's novel on KDP or some other self-publishing platform. I would love to hear your experiences with this format.

Do calories count if I throw up?

First, let's get a few things straight: 

I am overweight.

I am counting calories in order to lose weight.

I am NOT bulimic.

I do throw up sometimes.

I spent two stressful days on the road for a funeral. I ate fair food, fast food and gas station food.

For TWO DAYS!

I ate a LOT of calories.

My first night home, I woke up sick. I'm sure it was my body rejecting my poor excuse for nutrition. But, it made me curious. I wondered if the calories would still count against me.

I searched this question and found some disturbing answers. Most of them were along the lines of 

"If you're sick, you shouldn't be worried about calorie counting."

OR

assumptions that the question implied the person asking had a problem such as bulimia.

But, I'm curious and I like the math to be accurate. I like to think of things scientifically. So, I changed my question.

What is a calorie? A calorie is a measurement of the heat that is required to heat one milliliter of water one centigrade. Read more here.

How does the human body get calories? Here's the basic answer from a microbiologist:

Food is broken down into smaller parts to make it easier to digest in the mouth and stomach. (macro-nutrients into micro-nutrients).

Nutrients are not absorbed into the body until they are broken down into their simplest parts, which happens in the small intestine. These nutrients contain the calories.

So, the short, uncomplicated answer is this: Calories enter your body in the small intestine, so food you throw up does not contain calories you can count.

Another simple explanation can be found here. Keeping this phrase in mind, "Absorption must first occur so that fuel can enter the cell."

So, there you go. If you are just curious like me, I hope this helps you understand the process. Sometimes,  you just have to ask the right questions.