Thursday, November 12, 2009

Day 12 is a Red Letter Day - 
because not only do we have water - hot water, at that - courtesy of the new water heater (and we have the new water heater courtesy of the nice plumber, who looked nothing like the man in the clipart illustration) - but  - Ta-da! - I've passed the 25,000-word mark, the halfway point in NaNoWriMo. I should finish tonight's work with about 26,000 words, if all goes well.


You know what that means, don't you? Tomorrow morning, instead of going to the Aquatic Centre and taking a shower, swimming, taking another shower, trying to soak up as much hot water as I can, as if I could store it up for later - I can have a nice soaky bath, if that's what suits me, in my very own bathtub. I could even do that tonight, after I finish my writing. Right now, the washing machine is busily washing all the towels that I used to soak up the flood, and the dryer is drying the ones that have made it that far in the process. We have had our dinner, and the dishes have been washed (in hot water, which came gushing from the tap on command). My carpet - not wall-to-wall, thank goodness - is hanging over a rope strung across the covered porch. Little by little by little, the house is drying out. Robin and I were moaning this morning about how we had only had that water heater installed four or five years ago, and already it was falling apart. The plumber checked his records. Eleven years. It's true. Time does fly when you're having fun.

And to think that there was a time in my life when I didn't have running water!



As for writing, interesting things are happening. My character Marie, the daughter of Bridget, is writing a novel. I was reading the NaNoWriMo page yesterday, and I came across a video that set out a few dares for week 2 of NaNoWriMo. Most of them were a little outrageous for me, but there was one that I found intriguing. Tavia, who made the video, dared me to have my character write a novel -- about me.  So poor Marie, who is up to her neck in mysteries already, woke up at four o'clock in the morning

and decided to take advantage of her insomnia by working on her novel. Her main character isn't exactly me, but she is the woman I've always feared I would become -  a woman who is self-destructive to the point that she has lost all her options, and now she is homeless, living on the street, afraid to take even such small opportunities for friendship as present themselves. Marie's work for the night is to learn about the mystery that is Daisy, her MC, and that is my work, too. It's rather cathartic. It has nothing to do with the story, but on the other hand, maybe Daisy will make a cameo appearance in the final book.

p.s. 9:15 p.m. Word counts: 2,207/26,338

5 comments:

RLM Cooper said...

Hooray! There's just nothing like hot water. ;o) I've always had running water, too. But some of my relatives used a hand pump to get water into their kitchens. And they heated water on a stove in order to take a hot bath. When I wish for the good-old-days those are not the things I'm thinking of.

Sandra Leigh said...

Nope. I remember carrying water in a bucket, heating it on my wood stove - and I remember when my well froze. I love running water.

Reya Mellicker said...

Wow! You rock and roll, Sandra!! I'm surprised you have any desire to post here to your blog after all those other words, but I applaud you.

And hot water - what a luxury, isn't it? Enjoy your soak!

Sheila said...

Hot water and 25,000 words all in one day. You deserve a glass of wine and some bubbles in that tub.

Unknown said...

Great! Glad to hear the hot water's fixed & that you're sailing forward!

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