My Follow- Along- At- Home NaNo Novel

The eagle's beak in this outcropping of rock reminded me of writing. Chip away all the stuff that doesn't belong, add and polish as needed, and then you've got something.

Now what do I do?
I wrote a 50,456 word first draft of a novel last month. I had space aliens. I sunk the ancient, disputed continent of Mu. I killed off an MC in a cheesy cornball death scene. In short, I had a blast.
Best of all I learned a great deal including, but not restricted to, I have a novel in me. Whether it should stay there or be let out is moot; the bare bones of it are down.
I’m going to let it cure in some forgotten corner of the hard drive for a while. Then I’ll take it out and putty up the plot holes, sand it down, and then give it a good coat of varnish.
I will finish it into acceptable novel form. After than, I don’t know. I might send it out on a lark. I haven’t been rejected in a while and I miss the attention.
I did it for the challenge of it. I’ve tried to write dialogue in the past. It was awful. This made me learn. I am confident I still have a great storehouse filled with clunky dialogue in me, but I’ve found a way to empty it. I can only get better.
It was fun. I haven’t enjoyed writing for the sheer joy of it in years.
Meanwhile, I’ve got to find a way to avoid tinkering with the draft for a while. The only thing for it is to start another project. Is there a market for vampire westerns?

Peace and Contentment

I accomplished something today which gave me a great sense of peace and contentment.
I felt as though I had mastered something. Perhaps even conquered it.
I reasoned out and properly set up some speakers on our computer.
Yesterday my husband had the day off and decided I needed a belated anniversary gift. I’d been wanting proper speakers so he came home with Altec Lansing (shameless product naming) surround speakers. Five of ‘em and a subwoofer. Monday morning I didn’t know what a subwoofer was. By noon I had one.
Instructions? Oh, yeah. Pictures. In order of use. With numbers 4a and 4b. It said to determine what system we had and go to that section.
I don’t know anything, but I hooked stuff up mostly according to whatever directions suited my fancy.
The rear speakers worked.
I left to do an interview for a freelance piece.
In the evening we tried all manner of things to get all the speakers to work and Mike put some speakers up on the wall. We gave up and watched television.
We tried later on, but gave up in favor of a fresh start in the morning.
Today I re-reconnected things then went to the store to ask. Fella there hadn’t hooked up a system like this, but we discussed what the back of my computer looked like. That is, do I have a 6-channel or 2-channel sound card?
Went home, tried the auxiliary connection. Nothing. Checked a portable CD player. Nothing.
Gave up. Hooked up rear speakers and left to make stew and do other household things.
Put in load of laundry. Realized there’s an “Aux In” button on the wireless remote for said speakers that really ought to be pushed.
Re-hooked green cable to aux on subwoofer.
Sound. Glorious surround sound.
I had chosen 4a when I should have chosen 4b.
Now I know.
I had help, but ultimately I did this myself. I figured out the problem and took care of it.
It has given me a great sense of accomplishment and mastery. It has also given me a great sense of peace in that I sorted something out and took care of it.
What about you? Does mastering a task give you peace, contentment and accomplishment?
Or does it simply mean a task is done?