NaNo update

The words have stopped. Dried up. Is it the dreaded writer's block? Do I believe in such a thing? Yeah, I do, and often I think it's down to either not knowing your characters well enough or a failure of nerve. Am I suffering it at the moment? I don't think so. So why have the words stopped?

I think in part it's that I need to do a bit of thinking. A bit of refamiliarising myself with the alien society I've set up and their mores. I'll get to a point and think, how do they show respect? Or what are the other members of society likely to be doing now? Or what hair colour does that Myrad have? (They control their own hair and eye colour so have all kinds of fantastic colours.) Or who is he allied with? Or what did I say stickleberries were like earlier? So I have to go through my world building questions and hunt things out. I should just use the Claire-method and asterisk things to come back to.

On another note, though, is that everytime I try to write my eyes just grow heavier and heavier. I know I have been living on the thin edge of sleep deprivation -- and caught up beautifully at Phillip Island. There's something to be said about earlier nights and a bed to yourself -- ie no-one waking you early, or being restless. My husband might agree as I whacked him in the face the other night, quite by accident! Then again I hit him in the head with a shovel yesterday. Also an accident. (Oh, it was only the handle -- he was squatting down picking something up, and I wasn't paying attention. Truly!) But, back to my appalling sleeping habits: since I've been back from our long weekend away, I've pulled several nights after 2.30. Two am really is some kind of limit for me. If I go much later than this, I'm stuffed the next day. If I make a habit of it... Well, it's not conducive to writing, that's for sure.

I did have my eyes checked recently. I'm the only member of my family who wasn't wearing glasses by age 30. My father is legally blind, from glaucoma, which was the main reason for the eye check-up. Everything is fine, but the opthalmologist did suggest using hobby glasses to help with close work. And I know I used to be able to thread a needle, but now I struggle. Maybe this computer eye-strain is for real. I suppose the first remedy is more sleep and see how I go...