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As the end of the first week of July Camp NaNoWriMo nears, I am perplexed. I’m not sure if I should be…

Cautiously optimistic,

Over-the-moon ecstatic, planning a party and inviting everyone I’ve ever met, or

Terrified,

… because I have not encountered one problem… yet.

Words flow each time I open the WIP.

Characters are cooperating and not staging coups of silence.

My word count surpassed 12K this morning.

Looks around, confused.

What is going on?

It’s not that I want problems but every writer expects them. I know a couple who even add meltdown to their publishing timeline.

No matter how excited, geeked, amped, psyched, or pumped a writer gets about their latest project, the negative stalkers are unavoidable.

The icy fingers of You Can’t Do This tickle the back of your neck.

The dark cloud of No One Wants to Read Anything You Write looms above you… just out of reach, but always close.

Taunts from You’re Not a Writer, Is This a Joke?, and Don’t Quit Your Day Job are lobbed your way each time you complete a paragraph.

Even if you manage to avoid the relentless stalkers previously named, once your MS has been edited and revised, then edited and revised, then edited and revised one more time and sent off to the editor, the Bucket of Sarcasm plans its attack and drenches you to the bone with ice-cold You Suck.

And you haven’t published a word.

I have a lunch date with the mister and a mani-pedi date with the baby girl, and when I return, I shall write some more.

Looking over my shoulder.