I woke up this morning, fully charged and ready to continue my story. In forty five minutes I managed to sneak out roughly seven hundred decent words before work. Made me feel great! But as I neared the time to leave for work, I got a message from my boss saying two people had called in sick.

Two people? We can manage without two.

Then, my phone rang, less than a minute later. Another sick call.

I sighed. Three would be tough, but we’d managed with the same before.

Then a text came through, yet another sick message.

I stared at the assault of sick calls and considered calling in myself. Not exactly the best way to start the day. My role at the store has been to be the shining light of positivity. The hope that holds the dreams together. Somedays it is hard. Days like today? Near impossible.

I hurried into work and had the morning meeting, it felt good to celebrate the wins with the team that was there. They too were finding it tough to be positive. But we were all in it together, so we made the decision to do the best we could with what we had. And we did! We doubled the budget, got the sale ready, shared some laughs, everyone got a break and despite the overwhelming odds; many jobs were completed.

Then for another store called. It seemed as though they’d had a surprise visit from the CEO of the company, followed by a regional manager. Not exactly the kind of thing you’d want to hear while trying to maintain a positive attitude and get things done. The store was not up to our usual standards, the staff who were on were a bit high strung and the vibe in the store was still good, but very aware after we’d heard he was in town.

Luckily for us he decided not to stop by. The day continued at the pace we had set and we smashed out the huge sale for the next few days. Budget was made, the store is ready and tomorrow will just be tying up those loose ends. It felt good to pull together as a team, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t feel good watching that roller door hit the floor as I stood outside.

My productivity today? I still have seven hundred calories in my “eat bank”. I’d hit fifteen thousand steps today, or so my Fitbit says. Came home and my lovely girlfriend had done some more cleaning since she was home sick today. Much appreciated! I smashed out over two thousand words to hit thirty two thousand tonight (Which is twelve thousand in the word bank!) and now I write this blog post.

I’m not sure what is going on as it seems another publisher has suggested I send them a copy of my manuscript when I am done. That puts me at two publishers looking into my work, which I’ll admit… It feels fantastic to be wanted! One is an independent and the other is mostly an ebook publisher with traditional publishing as well, but hey! It’s a start. I am excited as in my story, the group of four protagonists have finally come together to form their party and in the next chapter a hunt for them begins.

The hardest part will be choosing which character I decide to tell their chapters from (Although it will probably be Alex, whose power still is hidden within himself). I am excited to give another character more word time as finally the Grand Inquisitor steps up the hunt for both the Necromancer and the Leaper! They pose the greatest threat to his cause, which is soon to be mentioned and not what I’ve played it up to be in the first sixty percent of the novel! Exciting times!

But first, I must shower, and sleep for I will write my words early before work and leave my blog post until after it. Thanks for swinging by as always, and if you haven’t checked out yesterday’s NaNoWriMo Inspirational post, do yourself a favour! I’m very proud of it!