Image from Wallpapers etc.
A pretty good NaNo day: Daily word count is 3119, with a cumulative total of 26,114.
Tuesday, Nov. 15: Rain. And half the denizens of this household have a cold. (The observant among you will note that “half the denizens” works out to two-and-a-half people, or if we’re counting pets as well, that makes three-and-a-half living beings. However, if we take the two pets and make them equal to one person, which PETA would certainly chastise me for doing, then that makes three denizens of the household with a cold, and that happens to be the case: Taz, Bookworm and I are sniffling, sneezing, and snotty-nosed. ‘Tain’t no fun. I’m tellin’ ya.)
SOTD: Nothing. Nada. I got busy and I forgot, and by the time I remembered, I didn’t want to waste time on sampling something, but samples were all that were handy to the desk on which I write, and although I would probably have benefited from a brief jog over to the dresser where I keep most of my in-season bottles and decants, all of five feet away, I couldn’t be bothered. Because then, my dears, I would have had to have chosen something, and I was getting my main characters Day and Meredith out of a potential scrape with the obviously-drunk and possibly-dangerous meth-head redneck Jackson brothers, and it was taking all of my attention. I had no attention to spare for perfuming myself with licquored-up Jacksons on the loose, because their mama’s people is Cecils and Odells from Little Creek, and don’t nobody mess with them ‘thout a shotgun.
Clearly I am overusing my dash key today. No matter: Daily NaNo wordcount 2888, for a cumulative total of 29,002. I did choose a bedtime fragrance: Lolita Lempicka Si Lolita. I like a good peppery floriental; too bad this one has such lousy staying power.
Wednesday, Nov. 16: Taz woke me up last night with the thrilling news that he had vomited, and a little bit got on his pillow but he made it to the bathroom for the rest. Oh, joy. I was so tired that I told him to just pull his comforter onto the floor and sleep there, and I’d clean up later. By morning, he was feeling better and said he was hungry, and the bed wasn’t that icky, so I wasn’t worried about him. But then Bookworm called me from school, telling me that she’d thrown up too and would I please come get her? So they were both home today, and I held off on scent so that should any of us be stricken by more nausea, at least I wouldn’t ruin a fragrance with bad associations. Later in the afternoon, I chose Prada Infusion d’Iris, which is so light and pleasant that I figured it would survive any such attack. But there was none.
Daily NaNo wordcount 1207, for a cumulative total of 30,209.
Thursday, Nov. 17: Cold. Rainy. Everybody feeling better and back at school. Meant to wear L’Arte di Gucci today, but got distracted. SOTD: Parfumerie Generale Aomassai, which is gorgeous and rich and roasted-smelling for ten minutes, after which it smells like a very nice masculine oriental. Overall, I’m disappointed that it isn’t earthshaking, but it is pleasant. Trying not to get sick today; took a two-hour nap in the afternoon.
Finally it cleared up, and I picked up Bookworm at school and took her to the courthouse to get her official driver’s license. In Virginia, you’re still required to go before a judge (usually in a group hearing), and hear about your responsibilities as a driver, how driving is a privilege and not a right, and that if you are still a minor, your parents still control whether you can possess that license or not. You also hear about the risks of driving, the biggest reasons for accidents in drivers under 21 (inexperience, distraction, speeding, impairment due to drugs/alcohol), and that recently-increased legal penalties for delinquent behavior such as alcohol possession or truancy can affect your driver’s license. It’s a sobering discourse, followed by the ceremonial presentation of the license to the new driver’s parent. In any case, I held Bookworm’s freedom there in my hot little hand for all of four minutes before recognizing out loud that she’s mature and trustworthy, and handing it over to her with a reminder that I didn’t go through 28 hours of labor with her and sixteen years of parenting, just to have all that good work ruined by her death in a vehicle, so be careful with it.
Had a good community chorus rehearsal. Wore Alahine to bed. Yum.
Grr. Having NaNo difficulties… every time I sit down to write something, it comes out STUPID. Lousy 146 word count today, cumulative count 30,355. Not behind yet, but I am puzzled by the reason for the setback. What did I do wrong? Why aren’t my characters telling me what’s going on? They should be. I have all sort of plot and character-development ideas… though I know for a fact that I am avoiding writing an action climax. Maybe that’s it; they know I’m being a total chicken about the car crash night and they resent me.
Friday, Nov. 18: The CEO comes home tonight, yay! Bookworm has a date. Got to do a little cleaning-straightening and think up something nice for dinner. It’s very cold and clear outside, and nearly all of our beautiful fall leaves are on the ground, but it smells nice: a bit of woodsmoke in the air, some damp decaying leaves, and the odor of frost over large areas of grass. Drinking Pumpkin Spice Chai tea, yum. Burning Pumpkin Spice candles, too – it’s become a NaNoWriMo ritual almost.
SOTD: Tauer Une Rose Chypree. Totally not what my character would wear, but no matter. I’m digging it. I don’t think fragrance cognitive disconnect is behind my recent word blockage… I don’t think so. I wasn’t writing any better with the Infusion d’Iris on instead. SOBedtime: Alahine again. I love Alahine. (And you know? It plays nicely with URC.)
Daily NaNo wordcount 4689, for a cumulative total of 35,224. Woo-hoo!
Saturday, Nov. 19: Cleaned house, took recyclables to the county collection place, bought another two gallons of milk, yada yada… SOTD: Guerlain Idylle edt. It’s lighter and less patchouli-heavy than the edp, with some lily of the valley on top of the rose and jasmineand I like it a lot more. It does have patchouli, that “clean” version that perfumistas love to hate on, but that kind seems to bother me less than the other. It is somewhat… hm… higher-pitched than a lot of patchoulis, but the entire edt version of Idylle is fairly high-pitched, and I rather like it.
Daily NaNo wordcount 1480, for a cumulative total of 36,704. SOTE: Tom Ford Black Orchid Voile de Fleur. (How come the pretty, floral edt version of Black Orchid got discontinued and the shrieking, dirt-and-cucumbers original edp version didn’t? I don’t know either.)
Sunday, Nov. 20: Cloudy but warmer, with temps in the mid-50s. Early church (good music, sermon on the Widow’s Mite). SOTMorning: nothing except the remains of Voile de Fleur on my red sweater. Managed to cut down the remaining salvia and the dead foliage, made a huuuuge dish of faux Beef Stroganoff for lunch. Football on TV for the males in the house. That’s not to say that the females of the house don’t partake: I prefer my football live, though I’ll watch a game or two if I have nothing better to do. Bookworm likes football, too, but PETBoy ate lunch with us, and then they spent some time talking (talking, ha!) standing outside near his truck before she had to come in and do the rest of her homework.
SOTAfternoon: Honore des Pres Vamp a NY. I’m now getting that bubble gum note that some people talk about with it. It’s borderline Way Too Trashy, but on me that’s gone in about half an hour, and since I never hated it the way I do certain topnotes (cough cough Tubereuse Criminelle cough), I do love the Vamp again once it’s into the tuberose-and-vanilla heart that I think of as its main character.
Daily NaNo wordcount 1480 1946 , for a cumulative total of 36, 704 38,650. (oops, didn’t update properly).
Muse in Wooden Shoes 
Haven’t chimed in in quite a while, but wanted to say hello, and go, gal go with the NaNoWriMo, and hoping all are feeling better today!
Thanks, BF! Everybody feeling much better now.
And NaNo is going well.
Oh no! What a shame about Aomassai. You are a novel-writing machine!!!!
Well… I didn’t hate Aomassai. It was nice. It just didn’t stay in that OMG-this-is-amazing groove long enough. Sigh.
“obviously-drunk and possibly-dangerous meth-head redneck Jackson brothers” “and don’t nobody mess with them ‘thout a shotgun”
Oh my! There is obviously another side to your imagination that I didn’t know existed from your day to day perfume journal writing. You’ve got my curiosity up. I would pay money to read this novel when you’re done with it.
Have a lovely Thanksgiving with your family.
T, when you live amongst rednecks, life is an adventure. Sadly, it is true that the county where I live is a hotbed of methamphetamine use. The sheriff’s office has been doing DARE – Drug Awareness and Resistance Education – in the elementary schools since 1983, but it doesn’t seem to be taking hold as well as it ought. There are an awful lot of good kids at our high school, but some bad elements too.
Which actually makes for high drama, as shameless as it may be for me to co-opt some of the real-life conflict for my fictional one.
I’m so impressed by your writing progress. Godspeed!
Have I mentioned that I really like your Scent Diary posts? I just wanted to say it. In case I hadn’t. 🙂