In My Book, What Counts is Family

If you did not notice the new NaNoWriMo badge on my Blog or catch the post on my Facebook page, the 30-day writing challenge I took part in is now over.  And I completed it with words to spare!  There were about eight days during the month when I wasn’t able to write at all but by the 29th my final word count was 50,803.  I am extremely proud of myself for taking part in this challenge, sticking with the challenge and also for winning the challenge.  I’m also happy with how much I’ve been able to put together for the second book in my Jorja Matthews Mystery series. 

In spite of the above, the writing challenge could not have ended any sooner.  This weekend was my first weekend without taking part in the challenge and it was, I will admit, a nice little break.  But the break was not much of a break at all.  Instead, my days were busy for a much more important reason than writing.

What is more important than writing?

My family, of course.

My youngest is turning 15 years old so this was his birthday weekend.  From the time I got off work on Friday, the days were full with shopping in preparation for his party, hosting his birthday party on Saturday, enjoying time with family and then going out to dinner to celebrate Saturday night at his favorite pizza place called The Rock.  I don’t know how many locations The Rock is actually located but if you haven’t checked them out and at least tried their beer-battered fries, you are missing quite a treat.

Today should have been a day to catch up around the house and write but we had yet another birthday to celebrate.  So off we went to celebrate with family in honor of our nephew, which also meant more pizza and more cake.  I turned away the pizza but just could not say no to the cake and I’m glad I didn’t.  It was extremely tasty.

I think I mentioned in my post about Thanksgiving that I thought a diet would be in the works between Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner.  I can’t imagine what I was thinking.  I completely forgot about the birthday parties and also at least one Christmas party I’ll be going to.  The more I think about it, a diet just doesn’t seem to be appropriate this time of year.  I hate diets anyway. 

Moving on from the “D” word, the weekend was busy but it was also a lot of fun.  I enjoy my family and love spending time with them.  They are what make the days brighter and lighter when the everyday grind tends to feed off our soul.  So while I did not accomplish much with my writing this weekend, I am very pleased with what I did accomplish…my son is happy, he has thoroughly enjoyed all the fun we had this weekend and the memories will last him until next year when we do it all over again. 

In my book, when all is said and done, that’s what really counts.