ANOTHER Weekend of Madness?

It would seem I have got ANOTHER 4 day weekend! What others will be calling "Thanksgiving", I will be calling the Weekend of Madness. Due to various family technicalities, which I won't go into (does this sound like the post before last? Maybe) but I am not going up North for Thanksgiving - I am staying in the little apartment backed up to the pond with the fountain and the swaying willow....and man, that Thor gif is getting irritating as I sit here and type this. Anyways. I am going to have the same goals as last time. Write like crazy on the NaNoWriMo! Two - 2 hour writing sessions a day, aiming for 3k a writing session. I only missed one goal last weekend - and I got almost 21k written.

These chunks of writing time are great. I have been thinking a lot about time this year. I've been really "serious" about writing for 3-4 years. Serious as in researching the industry, trying to keep up with the blogs and tweets and such of movers and shakers, both of published writers and the agents/editors and the small pubs who will dispense advice. Sometimes, keeping a finger on the pulse of the industry feels like a second job. The industry changes - it is always in flux. What worked a year ago might not "work" now. We've gone from "Don't even think trilogy - write a stand alone" - to suggestions that maybe you should be ready to pitch two more books in your fairy-werewolf world. I remember back in the day, everyone said "You have written a fantasy or a romance or an adventure, don't cram a lot of adjectives in your genre!" Now "Steampunk paranormal romance" is a thing.

But for all this work, I feel like I haven't accomplished anything. I've written several books that I have only gotten around to editing this year. That's because my productivity comes in spurts, and when I am productive, I want to write, not edit. However, since NaNo of last year, I have been writing/editing at a consistent pace. I've tried to treat it like a job. I really hoped this was the year where I got somewhere with my career ... and I'm still not ready to query agents yet. It's this resting period I need between editing passes... the words start to blur and what sounded awesome last week sounds like shit this week. 

I hate when that happens.