A funny thing happened on the way to December

One morning, late in October, on the first morning following the Women of Faith Conference in San Antonio, I awoke early and went to my favorite spot (in the sun room) for morning prayer. And I took a petition to God.

“God,” I said. “Should I try to write a novel in November?” You see, I had NaNoWriMo on my mind. If you’re not familiar with NaNoWriMo, it’s the annual shaking loose of 50,000 words, ideally coherent, in the form of a novel.

After I offered up my petition, I proceeded to list the plethora of reasons why it was a bad idea, including the best possible excuse “I don’t even have a plot in mind!” And immediately (and I really do mean IMMEDIATELY) God graced me with a plot: Write about a woman whose soul is fought over by the forces of good and evil.

“Wow! Thanks God. I’ve got it from here!”

Then for two weeks I suffered from interruptions and illness to the point of giving up. Seriously. And I was justified in quitting, I assure you. By the morning of November 14 I’d written a grand total of ~2777 words. That’s an average of barely more than 200 words per day. To reach 50k it takes an average of 1,667 words per day. By the morning of November 19 (a whole 5 days later, in case you’re not doing the math) my average was up to almost 440 words per day. Pitiful.

Then I went to lunch with my priest. If any of you are really wanting to get some insightful counseling from a pastor who cares, I sincerely recommend a session with Bruce. He channels the voice of God.

So yeah, God, in the form of my priest Father Bruce, kicked me in the seat of my figurative pants and asked me if I was going to obey or insult Him with my continued whining about “I can’t”.

Sure, the month was almost 3/4 over. Sure, I was woefully behind. Was I implying that God couldn’t? This is God we’re talking about here. The same God who whittled down Gideon’s army from 32k to 300 so that their victory over the Midionites (who were thick as locusts) would be credited to God. Yes, that God.

What’s a girl to do? I sat my butt down in front of my computer and averaged over 3800 words per day for the next 12 days and I finished the novel that God put on my heart. And if you don’t believe me, well here’s my tracking spreadsheet (yes, I’m an engineer) and my winner’s banner: