November 1st

Today I have a day off from work, since this is All Saints' Day. It feels like a breathing space between crises. The cholera outbreak is not over but it has slowed and the fears about Port-au-Prince seem less urgent. And later this week we are supposed to get a visit from a certain Tomas.

But today, the sun is shining and it's a beautiful day and I just finished all my grading. My daughter (13) has hardly been seen today because she is doing NaNoWriMo, writing a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. (I am pretty sure she will stick to it because she already did JulNoWriMo in July.) My son (7) is doing the NaNoWriMo Young Writers' Program, and has set a goal of 4500 words. He has already reached his daily goal and is playing at some friends' house.

I toyed with the idea of doing NaNoWriMo this year with my daughter, but realized that there was no way I could keep up with it and all the grading I will have coming in every day this month. But for slackers like me, there's always NaBloPoMo, which just requires participants to post something - anything! - on their blogs every day of November. Can I do it? We'll see - but I'm going to try, weather and electricity and internet access and other unforeseen issues permitting.