Goals, NaNoWriMo, and tough times

It's been a long time since I blogged about my goals!  I've had my hands full lately, between NaNoWriMo, general scheduling business, and a family tragedy.  For now I won't try to catch up on my "goals check" posts, and just write a general post instead.

NaNo started off great.  I was several days ahead in my word count after that first weekend -- I got a lot done at the kickoff party Thursday night and on my own on Friday, and then on Sunday I had a monumental (close to 4k) day.

Then Monday morning I learned that over the weekend my cousin had been killed in a hit-and-run, and I didn't write at all for 36 hours.  It's still so hard to believe that someone I've known all my life, someone whom I grew up with and have so many memories of, could simply be gone like that.  I'm managing, partly because I'm too busy to be down for long and partly because I have my horses to turn to when I do feel down (there's a reason horse owners joke about horse therapy), but it's hard sometimes.

I did eventually get back on track with my word count (I'm at 20k now), but it's been hard to stay ahead, where I'd really like to be.  If I'd stuck with my original goal of 2k per day (counting the kickoff party as a separate day), I'd be aiming for 26k today.  That's not that far ahead of where I'm at (I'll be shooting for 22k today if I stick to my 2k per day goal), but I'd like to catch up on principle.

My other goals for the year are essentially on hold for the month of November -- all except for the horses, who have been especially needy lately as well.  Rondo had a cut or puncture right next to his eye that got infected a couple weeks ago, requiring an emergency vet call and some daily cleaning for a little while, and no sooner did that start healing up than Panama got kicked in the leg, opening up a laceration and causing some significant bruising.  They are both on the mend, though, so hopefully our riding schedule will go back to normal again now!