Black Friday

This month I decided to do NaNoWriMo. Unfortunately, my life decided to do something else. So much for progress. *sigh* Because of these turn of events, I’m now officially pegging the end of my NaNoWriMo days as “Black Friday.”

The phrase “Black …” was originally associated with catastrophic events, such as the stock market crash of 1929 (Black Tuesday) and the great financial crisis of 1869 (Black Friday). The first use of “Black Friday” in retail terms occurred in 1966, when the Philadelphia police department dealt with a mad rush of shoppers and traffic in Center City (downtown) the day after Thanksgiving. However, the term didn’t catch on nationwide unit 1975 when retail madness spread throughout the country, causing several well-known newspapers to coin the day “Black Friday;” thus, the tradition began.

So what does all this have to do with NaNoWriMo and my writing? Nothing, really. Except, in order to make my 50,000 November word goal, I would have to type as quickly and madly over the next few days as shoppers shop on Black Friday. And that, my fellow writers, just ain’t gonna happen.

I have given myself grace, however. I made it to approximately 20% of my writing goal. As far as shopping? I’m at 0%. One Black Friday is all I can handle for now.



(If you have a “Black Friday” experience to share—whether it be writing or shopping—I’d love to hear about it.)