Well, it's Monday and the 7th day of NaNoWriMo, which means everyone should have 11,669 words under their belts by midnight. How many do you have? I have roughly 6,000. I'm not sure I've ever been this far behind this early in NaNoWriMo before. But then, I've never been quite this far behind in life at this point in November before.
I didn't get any words in over the weekend, in spite of the added hour to write. Instead, my husband and I spent the weekend unpacking from our most recent move. Did I mention that we moved? We're in Maryland now. This was our fifth move in 4 years, and I've had about enough. We actually moved at the end of September, but October was insane with travel including a trip to the JASNA AGM in Fort Worth, Texas, and a trip up to Massachusetts to attend my cousin's wedding. So, this was the first weekend my husband and I actually had time to stay home and open some of the boxes piled around us.
As I peeled tape off of cardboard and removed labels from empty plastic bins, I noticed something. My nails still look pretty good. Now, fellow writers will appreciate how difficult it is to keep a manicure looking nice when your life revolves around your computer keyboard, and anyone who has moved will attest to the unlikelihood that nail polish will withstand the double assaults of tape and cardboard, and yet I repeat, they still look good.
I'm not one to get regular manicures by any means. In fact, this is probably the fourth or fifth I've ever gotten. The first was the day before my wedding and required a touch up by the time I was through the rehearsal dinner. Even when I'm not moving, I'm hard enough on my nails to make a manicure an unwise investment. I'll get a pedicure once or twice during the year, but that's more for the pampering than for the polish. Plus, I don't type with my toes… although that would be a good way to increase my word count. Maybe next year.
I decided to spring for a manicure for two reasons. First, the aforementioned cousin's wedding, second, my fingernails have been through the ringer after spending months packing, and now, unpacking boxes. I opted for a French manicure because it's not something I can do for myself, so in my mind that makes it more worthy of the expense.
When I told the nail technician what I wanted, she suggested I try nail shellac instead of polish. The cost was only minimally more, but she claimed the manicure would last two weeks longer. I figured two weeks was a significant increase over an hour, so I went for it. That was October 29th, and, 8 days, 6,000 words, and untold boxes later, my nails still look good. Significantly better than they would be an hour after a manicure with polish.
Still, I won't become a regular at the nail salon. While nail shellac certainly has a lot of value for longevity, I'm concerned that the shellac needs to set using a UV lamp similar to a mini tanning bed (a fact I did not know until I was halfway through the process). A quick internet search confirmed that getting regular manicures with this process probably isn't healthy for your cuticles and fingertips. I'm not sure how bad the process is for a person as a whole, but since I rely on my fingertips for my job, I'd rather not take the chance of doing it regularly.
Still, for my highly irregular manicure (every couple of years or so) it might be a good solution.
(By the way, if you like my little writing raisin, be sure to check out Writertopia to get your own!)
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