Day Fourteen - My Friend Bacardi

Word Count - 50257

That number is not moving for awhile, I've crossed the finish line, it's time to take a break.

Since I never got around to finishing the blog I started to write yesterday, I thought I would write it today. I popped in my intro under another name  so I had a post for Day Thirteen - continuity... you know?

So I was going to write about Saturday. I had this whole wonderful childless day ahead of me, no noise, no worry about the T.V. being turned on, no worry about sudden spontaneous singing breaking into my concentration. I love my daughter to death, but when she puts on headphones, she can't carry a tune to save her life.

Anyway, I had this whole day, so I decided I would go for it. I was 8900 or so words away from 50k, and I decided it would be cool, since I couldn't break my record, to at least match it. So I sat down at nine a.m. to get busy. Of course, I had to check my Facebook first, then my Google+, Twitter, and of course I had to breeze by the NaNo site, just to see if anyone had messaged me or commented on my last bit of wittiness. It is the morning routine and nothing can be done unless I complete it.

It is also a trap.

A comment on the NaNo site lead my to my account on fanfiction.net, where I ended up reviewing some of my older single chapter stories. A couple hours there - of course I had to go back and check my Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and NaNo where I re-read the comment and sent me back to FF.net. Before I realized it, it was four o'clock. I had managed to piss off seven hours and countless words in the interest of procrastination. Ah - procrastination. If I could find a way to get paid for it, I would be the best employee in the world.

Finally, I forced myself to close my browser and open my word document where I instantly realized that I needed another constellation - some of my characters are named after constellations you see. Unfortunately, constellations are terribly interesting things. Two and a half hours later I was reading about the Apollo program - something that has fascinated me since seeing the movie Apollo 13. By then, I had to get off the computer for awhile. My stomach was screaming at me, and Voyage of the Dawn Treader was coming on HBO. The one distraction that day I am actually glad I caved into, the movie was wonderful and won't even get into my feelings on Ben Barnes - I hate cleaning drool off my keyboard.

So here I was, nine o'clock, my goal shot to hell, once again in the NaNo forum. When what to my wandering eyes should appear - but a topic on drinking and Nano. Yes, I know it doesn't rhyme - but work with me here. Hey- does that count?

I'm not much of a drinker. I quit smoking in '98 and when I realized that it was too hard to stay off the smokes and drink, I decided to quit drinking for awhile - then discovered that I didn't miss it all that much. But, over the last couple of years, I have decided that a drink now and then didn't hurt anything. During a particularly stressful weekend a couple months ago, I decided to get completely loaded, went to the liquor store and bought a huge bottle of Bacardi and then lost enthusiasm for the idea between there and home. So it's been pretty much gathering dust - though I admit to a drink or two. So I began to consider my bottle, it started looking pretty attractive I have to admit, so I blew off the dust and poured myself a big one, a strong one too, since I gagged violently on my first sip. Funny, that was how I mixed them 20 years ago and it didn't make me gag then. = )

I sat back down and opened my word document, it was awkward at first, but then - like magic- the words began to fly from my fingers. 500 - 1000 - 1500- 2000- 3000- 4000- 6000- Four am and I had typed 6000 words, and my bottle of Bacardi was a whole lot emptier. A WHOLE lot. The miracle of it is, the next day when I looked over all I had read, it actually made sense - though I will be correcting a lot of typos and wrong words when the time comes to edit.

It's not something I plan to do often, I prefer to write under my own power. But sometimes you just need that little key to unlock the door and loosen the mind to fly free. So I have to admit that Bacardi is my friend, a friend I will visit again. I can imagine him coming in handy when my enemy writers block pays me a call. Sometimes you just gotta do, what you just gotta do.

Even if it does make your head feel like mush the next morning.