Well, it's down to the home stretch - the last four days of Nanowrimo. I suppose I should have carbo loaded LAST night. If I do it today, combined with tryptophan, I'll be napping for Nano, not writing. So, I'm on the writing athlete's diet during the closing days of this marathon - coffee, water, energy bars . . . and whatever protein is lying round the kitchen, when necessary. It's important to be lean and streamlined now, not logy and slow.

I must not get bogged down.  I must repeat the mantra of the Nike ads, "Just Do It". Yesterday I lost precious time Googling Sheffield cemeteries and funeral homes. It's one of the things I love about writing - the research. Deciding where my characters live and shop and go for a pint.  While researching the MC's family home, trolling sites for real estate in York, I came across something amusing: For each estate listing, there were three links - schools in the area, hospitals in the area - and pubs in the area.  Another difference between the US and England - two countries separated by a common language, it is said.

At any rate, Jason (my 14 year old MC) is back in England for his grandfather's funeral. His grandmother just told him they chose where they would both be buried (Norton Cemetery) because it affords an amazing view of the Sheaf valley and the moors.  All very wonderful details to have in a novel, but then I spent over an hour looking for a funeral home close enough to the Norton cemetery to make sense. I puttered around, wasting time before simply creating a funeral home with elements from one in Piedmont, combined with a conversation I had with a staff member from a funeral home in Houston.

And the bottom line is the need to write 3,320 words every day for the next four days if I want to get to 50,000 by 11:59 pm on Sunday November 30th. Which I do. Natch.