It came to me the other day that the end of November is typically my time for a little freak out. I’m not sure what it is, but somehow there ends up being a perfect storm of factors that contributes to me going just a bit loopy.

It could be my self-imposed guideline of making sure the (majority of the) Christmas presents is purchased prior to December. Or maybe it is the inevitable onslaught of social events that are crammed into the last remaining weeks of the year. There is always a burgeoning of errands that require particular attention – ‘ensure your child has a black tee-shirt and black leggings for the school production’, ‘please bring a plate of food to the concert’, teacher presents to buys, Kris Kringle to organise, volunteering to sign up for and birthday party presents to purchase. Brain power that was generally used just for getting through the days now becomes a running to-do list, with reminders blinking on every device, and thoughts coming in the middle of the night of things you forgot to do.

I have been working part-time as a writer since the middle of the year so adding that into the mix has been a puzzle that I have had to figure out. Thankfully I love the work and I can work from home the majority of the time, so my hours usually end up being completed after the bedtime battle saga.

Just to up the stakes, I decided that the pain and pressure just wasn’t enough, so I was going to participate in the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) as well. With the challenge to write 50,000 words in 30 days, somehow I found myself signing up and I began to carve out every available moment for conjuring up the first draft of my second book in The Mastery Chronicles series – Firemaster.

There has been no television watching, hardly any Facebook scrolling and I have had to give up the majority of time that I would have otherwise devoted to my beloved pastime – reading, but actually, somehow, it is actually working.

Writing has always been an outlet for me (and perhaps I’m just delaying the storm until December instead) but this month has been awesome. I guess one of the major downsides to motherhood is that it is difficult to feel a sense of accomplishment for a day’s work – sure there are so many special moments that add up to an overall sense of meaning, but actually getting stuff done – not so much. Being able to write 1700 words a day that stay written – game changer. I know that it will be impossible to keep the gruelling pace going post-November, but for now, I’m riding the wave. Staying deep within the fictional world also makes it so much easier to write, with hardly any time required for reacquainting myself with where the story is up to.

So, stay tuned for the ‘Emma falls in a heap’ story that will inevitably follow in December. Actually, it will have to wait until after the French Banquet (our next Enchanted Table instalment). I’m looking forward to that one too much!

I’ve definitely missed regularly checking in by blogging, and I’m looking forward to getting back to that when this month is over. How have you guys been? How are you handling the descent into the crazy season? Any tips about making Christmas stress-free and awesome (or is that just unrealistic)? I would love to hear them.