My Own Private Nano

This month burst forth with such promise.

A vast open calendar with time to write during Nanowrimo.

I started with a bang, producing 6,000 words those first days.

Then I tripped, images stubbornly faded. words lost.

The universe threw one distraction after another.

For seven days Dylan had no school.

I heard a lot of “Mom can I get a ride to the mall?”

Mike and Phyllis were in town before their annual sojourn.

It was time to catch up with them while they visited.

I can’t say I didn’t welcome the distractions.

A weekend retreat at the beach got me on back on track.

I added another 10,000 words.

Scenes arrived in vivid hues, but the plot meandered.

Thanksgiving came—enough said.

And then my mom called the morning after Thanksgiving.

My dad was in terrible pain, an SOS from his gall bladder.

A trip to the ER, where he spent the night in the hospital.

He came home the next day and was doing better, then worse.

Back to the ER on Saturday morning.

Heart complications along with the gall bladder infection.

His heart rate was all over the place and his breathing labored.

Time for a ventilator.

Surgery was scheduled, then postponed. 

Still not out of the woods.

My brother Miles and I are flying to Colorado tonight.

We adult children need to gather.

Don’t know the ending to this story, hoping for the best.

In the meantime, Dylan tells me that she likes my novel.

That she wants me to finish it. She has nothing to read.

We stared at my charts, plotlines and character sketches.

I figure this has to be done on my time.

Three days left in this month; then no guilt if I don’t write.

I’m looking towards the new year where I can begin.

My own private Nano.