Facts:

1. School starts tomorrow (well, that isn’t exactly a fact – more on that later)
2. NaNoWriMo is in November
3. The deadline for the Watson’s Woes Challenge is tomorrow

Things that are also facts, and are related to those previously mentioned:

1. Today is the last day of freedom.  (Ack!  No wait, I’m surviving…. Breathe…..)
2. I have made a list of things that must be done before November.  If everything on the list is not completed, I can’t do NaNoWriMo.
3. I have got to get myself writing.  My entry for the challenge is not finished yet, and I don’t know if I quite have the courage necessary to plunge into all that depressingness. 

The list of requirements for NaNoWriMo:

1. Phase outline for the novel-to-be must be complete.
2. In my Chemistry course, I must be finished with Module #5.  (I’m scared of this one, mostly because I still have 2 ½ modules left to do from my Biology course last year.  To give you some perspective, there are 16 modules in a one-year course.)
3. Christmas presents for everyone must be planned and/or started.  (I really got myself into trouble last year when I woke up from NaNoWriMo and found that I didn’t have enough time to get everyone nice gifts.) 
4. I must have completed some significant editing on Tears for the Silent Lands. 

Things that surprise me about my pre-NaNo planning:

1. I’m allowing for the possibility of not doing NaNoWriMo
2. I’m allowing for the possibility of doing NaNoWriMo
3. Finishing Enchantress is not one of the requirements
4. In fact, actually writing anything besides the phase outline is not a part of the requirements. 
5. The list of things that must be done is as short as it is. 

Explanations for things unexplained in the previous two lists:

1. I have discovered my limits.  Not limits to what I am able to do, but limits to what I can do and still function as a human being.  I cannot keep driving myself to extremes, like I did during and after NaNoWriMo.  During NaNoWriMo it was OK, but afterwards I still expected major output from myself, and it dried up my creative brain.  And besides, quantity does not mean quality.  I have decided to switch to writing quality work, and stop caring so much about how long it takes me to write a novel. 
2. Enchantress is a pickle.  It just is.  It requires more time and contemplation than I have to give it at the moment.  If I force myself to work on it, then I will most likely mess it up again like I have been doing, and I don’t want to do that.  I’m only going to write it when I can write it so that it’s God-honoring, and not some self-fulfilling borderline junk. 
3. I can’t be all output without no refinement.  I have to edit sometime in order to sharpen my writing style. 
4. I will not fall behind in my other responsibilities.  I just can’t.  Therefore, I will make sure I am caught up before I am stuck writing for a month. 

And there you have it.