Forbidden Submissions (Day 12)

Well, we're not quite half way through the month, and already my mind is wandering away from the first drafts I'm currently working on and focusing squarely on something I really shouldn't even be thinking about during NaNoWriMo: Submissions.

I'll admit, this topic isn't quite as forbidden as editing is during November, but I'm probably still going to get people telling me to focus on the writing. December is for everything else. To those people I would say: Have you ever had to sit at work with no access to your current novel knowing that you could be doing something productive? That's what happened to me.

It's a holiday today, so a lot of people seem to be assuming that we're closed (we are a registry, so I can see how they came to that conclusion, but lo and behold, we are open.) This means that there has been a lot of chatting, and wasting time going on. Which, for me, tends to mean I have a Word document open on my computer and I'm typing away.

The current project (other than Aliens Stole My Socks, which I should have finished last night, but I didn't. I'll do it tonight, I promise!) is a short story for a submissions call I found out about nearly a month ago.

I've had an idea for it floating around in my head since I saw the call, and I've been looking for a way to find time to write it. Today that time presented itself on a silver platter. (Okay, okay. There was no silver platter. Sue me, I'm a writer).

Anyway, I opened the word document, and started typing.

Now, this story is a little on the darker side, and I'm feeling a little awkward writing it at work, but at the same time, I know that if I don't write it here, I'm never going to get it done. At least not this month. While the submission deadline isn't until February or March, it also said, basically, first come first serve, so I'm trying to get it in as soon as possible.

I'm not very far in to it, but I think the dark feeling is coming across. I'm hoping, anyway. But writing it also made me think of my other submission that I sent out in October. I haven't heard back from them, which I'm taking as a good sign. I'm desperately hoping that it's in the 'We Must Have This' pile, even if that means I won't hear back until March. That story deserves to be published, and I would love for my first choice to accept it.

Anyway, now I'm thinking about submissions instead of my novel. It could become a problem. But there's a write in tonight, which should get me focused back on NaNo. At least I'm hoping it does.

For now, though, it's back to work on the short story and serving any customers that wander through our door. Maybe I'll get this first draft done today!

Do you ever get distracted by non-nano projects? Should I use the word count from the short story toward my nano count?

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Daily Word Count: 9,490

Total Word Count: 110,337