For the last four days, I've been spending as much time as possible with a faraway friend who was in the area for a girls collegiate volleyball national tournament. We watched the games, browsed an antique store, strolled along the lakefront, and caught up with each other's lives. I wouldn't trade our time together for anything. But now she's back in Missouri and I've got to get back to NaNo-land.

Quick advice from No Plot? No Problem! for this week:

• Get caught up! Make it your goal to have at least 30,000 words by the end of this week.
  
• "Pick out a character . . . and do something big and reckless with them. . . . in figuring out how to fix the mess you've just made of your story, you'll give your imagination the kind of fertile improvisational environment it needs to thrive."
  
• "Spend pages describing the perfume your love interest wears, and why it's exactly the wrong thing for her." [In other words, keep writing!]