I couldn’t get to sleep last night. Things to write about were whirring around my head again. Plus, it was really windy, and I was worried about the washing that I had left out on the line all day (easy to forget about the washing when you are crafting with your children, and thinking and planning about writing – then writing all evening). Before running outside into the frenzied wind, donning my fluffy pink dressing gown and black sandals (I’m stylish, I tell you!), I had to think about how to get my NaNo word count up up and up.

I thought about writing prompts that I have set for my students in the past. I have pages and pages of them. Somewhere, with my high school teaching stuff, in a box in the shed. [I must get it out!] I did a writing course a few years ago and I have been using the book that I bought during the course to help me with my writing. I use writing prompts a bit, firstly, as a warm up tool (I wouldn’t set out for a run without warming up first – and writing lots of words is like running for your brain, so you need to warm up!). Also, I use writing prompts to help me if I get stuck in my story.

Quotes from people – famous or otherwise – make great writing prompts. My favourite quote at the moment is: “The angels have my phone box.” It is the most quirky thing, isn’t it? You probably won’t be surprised that it comes from Dr Who (David Tennant) during one of the first spooky weeping angels episodes. I get the shivers just thinking about that eerie show. That quote has inspired me a bit with my writing lately. Another great quote that I love, and find inspiring is “We came on the wind of the carnival,” by Joanne Harris. If my memory is not mistaken, it is from ‘Chocolat.’ That inspires me to write too! Tonight I wrote 766 words in 15 minutes; the prompt was “Give me the sunset in a teacup,” by Emily Dickinson! I am going to break open my poetry anthologies again!

I am grateful that I have been doing NaNoWriMo this year. I have found my love of writing again, and it makes me feel happy! I used to love writing. I would write all the time. I spent so much of my childhood writing, and when we got our first computer in 1990 (it was DOS!) I used to type stories that I would take to school to show my friends. They liked them, come to think of it. What made me stop? Well, having children tends to use up so much time. This year, however, I have been trying to use the time when my children are asleep to do productive things, like create – or clean. Creating is good, and writing is creative.

Possibly one of the greatest things that has come out of this NaNo journey is that Georgia has caught on that I’m enjoying doing something pretty special, and she is writing a book too! She is much better at planning than I am, however, and she is really enjoying writing. I am so excited about it. We all – Monte included – sit at breakfast together, talking about her story. We’re sharing the stories that we have written! Monte and Matthew have story ideas that they share with us all too. It’s brilliant!

The main problem with writing at the end of the day is that it does tend to wind me up a fair bit. It’s hard to relax when I am all excited about what happened in my story, and what is going to happen next. In fact, I’m not really thinking about what I am writing on here because I am thinking about what’s about to happen in my story and I want to go over there and finish it off.

So, seeya!

I couldn’t help it. I read the title of this post and it sounded like ‘moron writing.’ Am I a moron, writing? Is my writing ‘moron?’

684 words: today’s total so far = 4048 – and loving it!