NaNo update

NaNo begins in 15 days, and I'm beginning to have serious doubts on whether I can reach 50K or not. Last year, my first, was tough enough--I slacked there at the middle horribly, then had to rush to catch up.

My NaNo stats from 2011--note the slack there between
day 13 and day 21

St. Jorisbaai yesterday, storm clouds
in the horizon, no wind, water like
a mirror. Hot.

And that was the only thing I was doing.


This year I'm slightly busier. You've seen the dog rescue posts; well, that's only just starting, and it's bound to get more hectic, not less.

The dogs didn't mind the heat,
though. From left to right:
Rusty, Winter, and Panchita
(camouflaged)

Yesterday, for example, I had a nice day all mapped out: take my dogs to St. Jorisbaai for a two-hour hike and swim in the ocean, come back home, give them a bath, settle down with a smooth cup of coffee (okay, several), and finish editing those @%$&^@ Sunday chapters from my WIP that are giving me so much trouble. I'm on a deadline, see. My editor gets back from vacation in SEVEN days, and I want to send her the revised MS. Yes, before NaNo starts.

Mighty, the dog rescued yesterday

But that didn't happen. A dog in really bad shape was found close to my house, so when I got back from St. Joris, still in a wet bathing suit, I rushed over a crate so we could transport him to the vet's--his skin is so eroded, so thin and crusted and cracked, that he couldn't bear to be touched. Then I went to the vet with Sasha II, because one of her stitches popped (yeah, more on that later, if I ever catch up). Then back home for a lightning shower, and off to pick up Romy, who appears to be pregnant, and take her to the vet for confirmation (confirmed: puppies incoming within the week).

By the time I got home it was seven-thirty, and I was exhausted.

Could I have written 2K words then? Pffff... I don't know. I don't think so. Enough days like yesterday, and this year's NaNo will be an epic fail for me.

Still, I'm excited. And because I'm excited, I thought I'd share the synopsis to the novel I'll start on Nov. 1st:

Ever since the death of Chayo del Rio's husband, she's struggled to fit into the traditional family scheme of the Mexican city of Cuernavaca where the childless couple was once king and queen. A decade later she feels she's found a niche within the widows and divorced women, helping them find dignity and even joy in life without a man, when her close friend and pillar of the community Ruben Ayala is found dead. 

Ruben and Chayo had a unique relationship, more in line with high school best friends than adult acquaintances even though they met in their mid twenties, both already married, Ruben with two fairy tale princesses for daughters. They'd grown apart since Chayo's husband died, by necessity more than design, but for Chayo the blow of Ruben's death hits hard. 

As time passes and questions begin to be asked within Cuernavaca's lightning-speed grapevine, Chayo realizes Ruben's reaching out from the grave with one last favor to ask her. He needs his secrets kept safe. The secrets that might exonerate the man accused of Ruben's murder.

Yeah... Another novel set in Cuernavaca. Not a love story, though I might not be able to stay away from some lovey-dovey shit at some point. This is a story that's been ricocheting in my brain for a few months now, and my intention is to explore Mexico's prejudices against same-sex relationships. How that prejudice is hidden, handled, obscured, and ultimately explodes. I have little experience with it, and I doubt I can get anyone who has more to talk to me about it, but--hell, I can try, can't I?