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Struggling to Catch Up on JANO Numbers

authormargarite

Have you ever noticed that when you’re really far behind on something, the urge to throw in the towel rears its ugly head? I’m having that urge now.

I’m participating in JANO, which is a writing competition held during the month of January. It’s similar to NaNoWriMo National Novel Writing Month, but held in January. We are supposed to write at least 50,000 words during the month of January. The theory is that by the end of the month, we’ll each have a complete novel rough draft. It’s sponsored by my mystery writers group, Sleuths’ Ink Mystery Writers, which is based in Springfield, Missouri.

We have an amazing member who posts where we should be with our word count every few days. As of the time I was writing this post, I have approximately half the words in that I should have at this point.

I’m having difficulty concentrating on my project. I keep thinking about all of the other things I need to be doing. I’m doing laundry right now. The dishes are all taken care of, and the dishwasher is humming away. Where did this uncanny sense of urgency that I dust the living room come from? This isn’t something that I typically worry about. I have it on good authority that dust bunnies are cute. Besides, my husband does the dusting. It’s part of our division of household labor.

I’ve put my dragon novel aside because I hit a brick wall with it. Yes, I may have a touch of writer’s block. I went to Always Buying Books and bought a couple of novels featuring dragons to try to get out of the my slump. Of course, I won’t have time to read anything until after the JANO competition. I will finish writing this book, but it won’t be this month.

I’ve switched to my short projects and my blog. I could still catch up, but only if I can concentrate. Thankfully, all words written during the month of January count toward my total. That includes Ozarks Maven posts.

In an effort to get my creative mojo back in full swing, I’ve made myself a corned beef sandwich complete with bread and butter pickles, which are my favorite. I’ve put an Iron Maiden CD in my Hello Kitty CD player and let my mind wander.

Don’t laugh. Have you ever listened to Iron Maiden lyrics? They’re deep, thoughtful, and evoke strong emotions. They are powerful creative juice for me. As for corned beef with bread and butter pickles, I just happen to like it. Plus, I was hungry. I had a banana for lunch.

If certain things help you in your creative process, I encourage you to embrace those things and get your creative juices flowing. As for me, I’m closing in on that word count. If I don’t make it, at least I gave it my best shot. It certainly won’t be because writer’s block won our battle.

Thank you for reading Ozarks Maven! If you’ve enjoyed my little seeds of wisdom and joy, please subscribe to Ozarks Maven, Like Ozarks Maven on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter @OzarksMaven.

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© 2023 by Margarite Stever

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