And December Goals, of course!
Here was November’s one big goal:
And here’s how I did:
Yee Hah! I wrote a 50,000 word novel in just under 30 days. I actually finished a little early, on Monday. It’s not ready for prime time by a long shot, so don’t even think of asking to read it. I am sort of jazzed up about writing again, so I might continue to work on it. Right at the moment, I’m ready to drown all my characters in the Atlantic Ocean. For those of you who have always wanted to write a novel, I would highly encourage you to try this next year. It’s loads of fun, and at the end of the month you end up with a rudimentary first draft.
I also managed to get myself to work every day that I was supposed to, I showered and slept, and I cooked a Thanksgiving dinner of gargantuan proportions for 11 people. For those of you on the edge of your seat about the gluten free gravy and how that worked out; I ended up using brown rice flour to make a roux for the gravy base. I made both varieties of gravy base the night before, and the brown rice version needed to be re-thickened with cornstarch, but otherwise it worked just fine.
Very little knitting or spinning took place, though I’m almost finished with that first mitten from the previous post.
So, December Goals:
Continue to write.
Finish the grey mittens, my hands are cold.
Get a grip on the True Blood Faery sweater sleeve problem. I need to mostly MacGyver the whole thing, so I might need some whiskey. I may not finish it, but I am going to figure out what to do with it.
That’s it. It’s December, the month of endless holiday nonsense and very long to-do lists. I’m not over-extending here. I’m off to dance around with my winner’s certificate a bit.
Congratulations!!! You know we’ll all want to read your novel one day. Who knows-maybe a future’retirement’ hobby/ career has been born. May it contain lots of travel stories & adult beverages!!
Well, congratulations. Let me know when you’ll be in NYC on your book tour.
Congrats!!! You must’ve been a blur this month. 🙂
Heh, our gf gravy wouldn’t thicken at all this year. There was a hella lotta cornstarch in there by the end. Tasted good, tho.
Congratulations! I just won a photo contest, way easier than 50,000 words.
I miss US Thanksgiving, comfort food at its best.
Congratulations! I can’t believe you managed to finish, and finish early, and cook Thanksgiving dinner for eleven people!
Good for you! I am VERY impressed! Any Scottish lads and lasses init?
Congratulations Lorette! I thought of attempting it this year but by the time I was ready, I had already missed a week – lol. I will put it in my agenda for next year. You did a great balancing job – writing, job, family, knitting, etc.
Congrats for winning Nanowrimo! I’m thinking about doing it one of these years.
Wow! That’s a lot of writing. Since I retired from a job that required writing the equivalent of a 10 page paper just about every day, I haven’t had much inclination to write other than comments on blogs or Facebook. And you made Thanksgiving dinner. This year (for the first time ever), since it was just the 2 of us & one daughter, we decided to have dinner out. We went to Mike Ditka’s & it was a great meal – far better than you’d expect from a buffet especially from a restaurant that doesn’t do them routinely. Excellent quality meat (as you would expect from a restaurant owned by a retired football player & coach) but also 3 tossed salads & my favorite mashed maple pecan sweet potatoes. Hot foods were hot, cold foods cold & the service great. I did, however, feel bad that so many employees had to miss their family meal so we could have a nice dinner. I am knitting as many grand sized socks as I can – they LOVE hand knitted socks more than anything. I am currently visiting them & plan on rounding up as many of the socks that are beginning to get holes in the toes because the boys insist on wearing them long after they’ve http://www.poetry-archive.com/b/the_tiger.html them. I wool rip out the ties & relit them for little sister. I think I have the leftover yarn from every pair of socks I’ve ever knit – mist in a big clear plastic barrel shaped jar & the rest in a small duffle bag.
Hi Lorette — I make flourless gravy for Passover every year using potato starch (often found in the “Jewish foods” section). Make a roux with it using turkey fat or butter just like you would with flour. Good luck!
Knew you would finish! Congrats!…one day we might read a paragraph 😉
Congrats on the NaNoWriMo. I’ve never had the courage to try. Maybe when the youngest is a tad older.
Just read of your gravy-making and want to pass on a tip I saw from a TV chef about what he does every year. He takes the turkey drippings and freezes them till next year. For this year he takes out what he froze last year and makes the gravy while everything is still cooking and doesn’t have to wait till after the turkey is done to make the gravy. Saves on the last minute rush to finish.