End of November Thoughts

Stéphane Audran in Babette's Feast (1987)

How we're about to put another month in the can, I really couldn't tell you. It feels like just yesterday that Halloween was approaching, and I was still planning out my November. Now it's already time to start thinking about Christmas, and my little mind is blown. It's true what they say about time as you get older. It just goes faster and faster until you're just dizzy from it. 

After today, there are only three more days left of NaNoWriMo. I'm definitely starting to run out of gas at this point in the event and will probably be happy to get back to normal, but I'm so glad I did this. It taught me a lot about how even a busy person can make room in their schedule for something new if they want it badly enough. I also really surprised myself as far as how creative I still can be. I'm thrilled with some of the stories I came up with. Some even have the potential to become very good longer works with a little patience and TLC.

At any rate, I'm definitely going to finish. I'd better! I ordered my official 2020 Winner shirt and everything. And despite not being expected to ship out until mid-December sometime, it showed up in the mail today. I feel a little silly admitting how excited I am about wearing it when I cross the finish line and hit 50,000 words on Monday, but what the hell is life for without a little childlike excitement from time to time. I've planned well enough that I'll be coming out of the event with a finished book, as well -- very exciting.

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Thanksgiving went well this year. By now, I've got my turkey game down to a science. Even though I'm only ever cooking for just three people, making Thanksgiving dinner is a hell of a lot of work, so the day itself never feels like much of a break. It was all so delicious, though, and there are lots of leftovers to enjoy over the weekend, including some of a beautiful maple-pumpkin pie I ordered through Goldbelly as a special treat for Seth and me. 

Seth and I both happily spent the night in a food coma once dinner was eaten and the leftovers put away. We watched Babette's Feast -- our new favorite Thanksgiving Day must-see as of a couple of years ago. I'm not sure I'm as into my cooking as Babette was, and I'm certainly not as skilled, but I've always kind of been the family chef. That film always makes me think of why I wanted to learn to cook in the first place and reminds me to see cooking as the blessing it is. Seth actually compared me to Babette last night, which kind of made my night.

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As far as what's next for me creatively in December, I'll be spending a lot more time on Medium for sure. My presence there is undoubtedly a work in progress, but I'm delighted with how things have been going so far. I've also steadily been paring down the amount of creative bandwidth and scheduling room I dedicate to copywriting. Things are about 50/50 as far as how much time I spend freelancing as opposed to blogging. I'd like to move the needle even further in favor of blogging in 2021, so here's hoping Medium continues to work out this well for me.

I'll also be sticking my toe in the water as far as a couple of similar platforms other writers have recommended to me recently -- namely Vocal and Newsbreak. I have no idea how either of those experiments will go as far as earning money or expanding my reach, but I'll definitely report back with my findings. I love the idea of diversifying across as many platforms as possible, so that's high on my goal list for the year to come.