|
|
Current Mood: chuffed. Current background music/TV: birdsong and traffic.
Current Relaxing post-Writing Drink: Tea.
Thursday 06/11/03 8:30AM GMT.
Today's Wordcount (so far): 959.
Day 6; 12365/50000; 24.73%; Target (1667 per day) 10000/20%; ABOVE TARGET.
Subject: yawn.
Finally finished that chapter. More tonight.
[ends]
Current Mood: enjoying some time. Current background music/TV: Lost & Delerious (my absolute favourite film).
Current Relaxing post-Writing Drink: Milky Coffee.
Wednesday 05/11/03 9:35PM GMT.
Today's Wordcount (done): 1958.
Day 5; 11406/50000; 22.812%; Target (1667 per day) 8335/16.66%; ABOVE TARGET.
Subject: Yay I did the morning thing.
Got up this morning and did 45 mins before breakfast. Managed to get 900 words done that way. Then I did another hour this evening and am above target. Will try to do some more tonight, but I'm going to take the laptop up again for tomorrow as well. It seems to be going faster now, though I'm still only on chapter one. Think I may have to revisit the chapter divisions when I'm editing in December.
[ends]
Current Mood: annoyed. Current background music/TV: CCTV Camera watching kids outside throwing fireworks.
Current Stimulating Writing Drink: Sparkling Water.
Tuesday 04/11/03 9:30PM GMT.
Today's Wordcount (done): 2187.
Day 4; 9448/50000; 18.896%; Target (1667 per day) 6668/13.33%; ABOVE TARGET.
Subject: Bloody kids.
I got really into the zone and wrote 2000 words in about two hours then there was loads of banging outside and the dog sets up barking. I went out and saw fireworks being thrown into the bloody garden. I can't believe the kids around here, are they thick or just evil? I hope their arms explode.
Anyway, what was I saying about another thousand words and I should have finished the chapter? Well, suddenly there are three more characters and the chapter isn't any near to being over. Isn't it weird when the characters start taking over? I'm not sure about this 50k thing, I fully expect my novel to be three times that long when I get it done.
Going to try getting up early again tomorrow. Not in the mood to write any more tonight.
[ends]
Current Mood: tired. Current background music/TV: 'In Search of the Spirit' Native American pipes.
Current Stimulating Writing Drink: Tea.
Monday 03/11/03 10:05PM GMT.
Today's Wordcount (done): 1730.
Day 3; 7261/50000; 14.522%; Target (1667 per day) 5001/10%; ABOVE TARGET.
Subject: hard work, going to bed now.
Can't believe how much hard work those last few hundred words were. Because I'm so tired and just didn't feel like it. I had to push myself, like being constipated. I should do that every day I suppose, if you read the writing manuals, just to get something written down even if you delete it later. But, gawd! Where's the enjoyment?
Alys dyed my hair for me this evening and I am now a redhead again. Feels great to be back. I sent off my short story for the AC Black competition and now am going to try not to think about it too much (even though I think it's probably the best thing I've ever written to date) because the results won't be announced until January. If I just forget it then I'll be pleasantly surprised when I find out I've been shortlisted :)
Well, that's how it happened with Isabelle anyway.
I'm not getting up early tomorrow because it'll disturb Alys, I can only really do that when she's on a night shift and I've got the house to myself. But hopefully I will have some time tomorrow evening to get cracking with this chapter. I think another thousand words or so and it'll be done.
[ends]
Current Mood: positive. Current background music/TV: Sweet silence
Current Stimulating Writing Drink: Fruit Burst Fanta.
Monday 03/11/03 1:00PM GMT.
Yesterday's Wordcount: 2023. Today's Wordcount (so far): 1190.
Day 3; 6721/50000; 13.442%; Target (1667 per day) 5001/10%; ABOVE TARGET.
Subject: hooray!
I managed it, took the laptop to bed, set the alarm for 6.30 and did an hour before breakfast. Got about 900 words done that way. Still got 500 to go top my daily target but that should be a cinch seeing as I'm in the middle of a stormy sex scene. Always my fastest work with the most need to edit later, but as I'm not editing until December I don't care. I want to try and make the target every writing day even if I'm far ahead in total because there are going to be some days that I just can't write due to work or other commitments.
Last night I watched the Pink documentary (had to, I mean wow, what a story!) and then switched it off and let the tape run while I forced myself to write in silence. Then once I knew I was done for the day I switched the TV back on again and watched the last bit of Shania. I'll probably have to watch the Pink one again tonight because Al will want to see it, but that's no big tragedy. She's such an inspirational woman and I'm so envious of teenage girls today having someone like Pink to listen to. Still, I had Debbie Harry and Madonna, so I can't really complain.
I have stuff to do this afternoon, but hopefully will be able to get more wordcount by tonight.
[ends]
Current Mood: distracted. Current background music/TV: Biography channel doing a run of female artists: Blondie, P!nk, Kylie, Shania.
Current Stimulating Writing Drink: Sparkling water.
Sunday 02/11/03 8:27PM GMT.
Yesterday's Wordcount: 3508. Today's Wordcount (so far): 1380.
Day 2; 4888/50000; 9.776%; Target (1667 per day) 3334/6.6%; ABOVE TARGET.
Subject: can't concentrate!
How can anyone concentrate with Debbie Harry strutting around on the TV? And don't you dare tell me to switch it off!
After posting last night, I wrote another 1100 words so felt pretty good about it, but staying up so late meant that today I've been all over the place. I'm meant to be getting up early to do this, not staying up late. When I was writing Isabelle I was setting the alarm for 6 am so that I could get an hour or two done before everyone else was up. This time I'm not going to set the alarm for various reasons, but am going to try to write in the mornings. That way if I get my target done before doing other stuff then I'll feel good about it and it can make me want to write more. It's the snowball effect. Let's just see if it'll work.
Tomorrow I've got my second Hep B immunity injection, and have to buy a new print cartridge so have to emerge from the homestead.
I've started sitting at the dining table with my laptop for periods of time - it hurts my bum to sit for too long on the hard chair - and forcing myself to write and write until I can't bear the pain any more. It's the equivalent of having someone standing over me with a big stick. But once I'm alone in the house, I sneak back into the living room and sit on the sofa and that's where I am now writing this. Honestly, I only put the TV on if there's something I just can't miss, and yeah, of course I'm taping it.
[ends]
Current Mood: edit-head. Current background music/TV: 'Warrior Women' with Lucy Lawless. About Grace O'Malley, Irish Pirate-woman.
Current Stimulating Writing Drink: Sparkling water.
Saturday 01/11/03 9:15PM GMT.
Wordcount: 2409.
Subject: not bad for a start
I managed to do about 600 words this morning, then went out visiting and settled in this afternoon for a long stretch, got to nearly 2000. Then managed another 500 this evening. Not so bad, it means I'm over target for the day and now I'm editing my short story after having some excellent feedback and advice on tightening it up.
One thing I've found really difficult is stopping myself from going back and changing things from the previous page or paragraph. The internal editor thing. I usually write it out for a few pages and then go back to edit. And when I begin a session I always read the previous section so I can get back into it, which inevitably leaves me itching to make changes. My style is too lax and I like to tighten my prose, to replace a phrase with a single word and delete whole sentences that are unnecessary. This is sabbotage as far as nanowrimo is concerned! I have to really stop doing it, and remind myself that I can delete all the dross in December - December is national dross deleting month! Nadrodemo.
After I've finished editing my story, I may do some more on the novel so my daily wordcount is going to change. I think I'll have to work out a system of doing the wordcount for the previous day or something. I'm thinking of writing it as a javascript function for calculating the total, but that might get a bit complex and I'm meant to be writing fiction not programs.
How sexy is Lucy Lawless? Bloody hell!
[ends]
Current Mood: impatient. Current background music/TV: 'Welcome to Collinwood' - Some weird film with George Clooney supposed to be a comedy.
Current Stimulating Writing Drink: Badgers Golden Glory (beer).
Friday 31/10/03 10:55PM GMT.
Subject: just waiting till midnight so I can start writing...
bla bla
[ends]
Current Mood: contemplative. Current background music/TV: P!nk: Can't Take Me Home (yeah!)
Current Stimulating Getting-things-done Drink: Sparkling Water darling.
Friday 31/10/03 2:26PM GMT.
Subject: wow I should do this nanowrimo thing every month...
...or maybe not every month or I might have a nervous breakdown. But it feels great to be getting all these things done. It's like I'm thinking - help! I've got a whole month of writing ahead of me and won't have any time to do anything else, so then I run around like a nutter getting all these things done that otherwise I'd be procrastinating over and leaving right up till the deadline. Hey, I may even clean the bathroom. How about that?
Last night I discovered the main computer had a virus and had to do a lengthy cleansing process that left me - and it - quite drained so didn't feel like posting any comment here. Still, at least I didn't discover it in the middle of nanoNovember.
Today I am posting off my UCAS form at last. Halloween a good day to do this, I always try to post important things on a Sabbat or Esbat. Now anyone who knows me will be thinking, why is she applying for an undergraduate course when she's got a degree and is doing an MA? And anyone who knows me a bit better will roll their eyes and think, oh no, here she goes again with the perpetual student thing. And anyone who knows me really well will already know because I'll have told them that I'm applying to study nursing because it's what I've always done really but if I get a qualification for it then hey, maybe I'll be paid a bit more. Hmm, maybe that's not a good enough reason to want to be a nurse. Ok so here is the personal statement from the UCAS form that I'm rather proud of:
"Nursing is my career choice because I have a need to find personal fulfilment and job satisfaction and I believe I will achieve this within the demanding world of modern healthcare. I am currently working as an agency Health Care Worker, and have in the past worked in domestic, hospital and residential home settings. I studied psychology and linguistics as a degree (graduating 1992 with a 2i) in the hopes of working in a social care environment. My experience in research and teaching, as a computer programmer, and more recently in Women's Aid and homeless support services has led me to a real desire to work in a positive way with people in need. I have always been interested in health matters and take a holistic viewpoint in that mental, emotional, spiritual and environmental factors should be taken into account when looking at a person's physical well-being. I intend to work as a nurse once I have completed the course and would be pleased to gain a professional qualification that almost guarantees a job. I also intend to continue studying and have chosen Adult Nursing as this offers the best scope for future career potential. Although I have not studied on a full-time course since 1992, I have continued to study part-time at a post-graduate level and am currently completing an MA in Creative Writing. In 2000-2002, I completed the theory modules of a two-year certificate of HE in Counselling, but was unable to secure a practice placement to complete the qualification. I understand that Nursing is a very different kind of course than most as it is demanding academically as well as practically and I am looking forward to the challenge. My leisure interests include writing, traditional crafts, swimming, cycling and walking my dog."
Not too sickly? How about "Hey you! give me a place on your damn course program!" That better? I thought so.
So, Samhain tonight. Beer and dinner. Then as the clock strikes midnight, on goes the computer to complete the first few hundred words of nanowrimo novel.
I wondered about the phrase 'nano-novel', what would that be do you think? Maybe one letter or just an apostraphe?
[ends]
Current Mood: tired headache. Current background music/TV: Warrior Women with Lucy Lawless (babe!) on Discovery
Current Stimulating Writing Drink: Cocoa, just finished.
Wednesday 29/10/03 9:57PM GMT wow, coincidentally the same time as last night.
Subject: neeeeed sleeeeeep
Just spent the evening posting and answering messages on the nanowrimo bulletin board. I probably won't have much time to lurk after Friday so thought I'd do a bit tonight. Alys working, she is now pushing 40k for her week's wordcount. Cow. Not really, I love her to bits.
Well, this afternoon I managed to edit my competition story and am happy with it for the moment. I've emailed it around some friends for feedback. Haven't done any other fiction writing, just lots of messaging and my head is about to explode from staring at the screen too long. Of course, I had to read Alys' 40k on the screen. Boggle-eyes now.
Got loads of housework to do before I go to bed, and I hope the dog will be ok tonight. She was not well this morning. It breaks up my routine so much to clean crap off my hall carpet before breakfast. I know you wanted to know that, no, really, that's ok.
Hmmm, bed? I think so.
[ends]
Current Mood: smug. Current background music/TV: Fleetwood Mac, Alys' CD
Current Relaxing post-Writing Drink: Mulled wine.
Tuesday 28/10/03 9:58PM GMT
Subject: Two down 50k to go
Feeling quite self-satisfied as I got two projects finished in just over 24 hours. One was a short story for a competition whose deadline is in the middle of nanoNovember, so I wanted to be sure I'd got my entry done before Friday. I wrote it yesterday between about 4pm and midnight, still needs fleshing but the bones and muscle are there. Then tonight I wrote an exercise for my writing MA that will be due around the middle of the month, and ditto it probably needs editing but I just wanted it done. So I am limbering up for the big one.
Nothing like the level of limbering Alys is doing, I don't know whether it's some kind of record but she's just knocked off 14,000 words today because she's trying to get her current novel finished before starting nanowrimoing. I reckon either she's going to get burnout or she'll get her 50k done in the first week and will sit back on her laurels laughing at all of us struggling pathetically.
[ends]
Current Mood: jittery. Current background music/TV: The vacuum cleaner, not a band - the real thing
Current Stimulating Writing Drink: Coffee.
Monday 27/10/03 2:25PM GMT
Subject: A looooong way to go
Trying to concentrate while Alys does the vacuuming. What? She spent the whole night on her novel while I was ironing. I've just read the extended synopsis for my novel and I wonder - should this really be several novels not one? Why is there so much in it for heaven's sake? I need to get the story finished at 50k, so I reckon I'm going to miss out great chunks of the sub-plots and just pursue the main character, and I might find that I don't need all the sub-plots after all. Countdown is four days and a half.
Today I tied a few loose ends so that I'll be free for November as far as my other novel is concerned. I've printed out another three copies of the ms and packed them up in envelopes to send off to interested agents. Only doing three or four at a time because if I sent out a whole batch I'd have wasted postage if the first one came back saying yes.
Tonight I have a seminar for my MA and we are discussing Jamaica Kincaid's The Autobiography of My Mother which I really liked. Tomorrow I am working in my day job. Next week is progression week for the MA - ie. a week off! - so that is well timed for the beginning of nanowrimo.
[ends]
Current Mood: pensive. Current background music/TV: Rugby - oh my god, why?? Quick, change channel!
Current Stimulating Writing Drink: Santa Cruz Organic Ginger Beer.
Sunday 26/10/03 7:55PM GMT
Subject: First Posting
...so anyway, clocks went back last night but that didn't stop me staying up till midnight (or one o'clock to be pedantic) reading through the synopsis of my novel 'Breaking Through'. This is the novel I'm meant to be submitting for my MA - which is why I've chosen it for nanowrimo of course as I am soooo crap at meeting deadlines I just thought, hey why not make that two deadlines for the same thing? Ok, so the plan is to start writing one minute past midnight on 1st November and to stop procrastinating and pretending to 'research' and just don't stop writing until I reach 50k or DIE.
Phew, I have changed the channel and now listening to Classic FM. Not a bad channel really, although there are only so many classical music videos in the world and if you have it on for longer than an hour you start to get a feeling of deja vu. Where was I? Oh, yeah the novel. Well I would post a synopsis but my current one is about 20 pages long. It's one of those things that just keeps growing and it's all out of proportion. I have far too many characters, too much backstory and innumerable sub-plots. It could be Middlemarch on the net except that I don't pretend to be as good a writer as the late great Nuneatonite Georgie.
I've been trying to write this page all day but honestly, first I had to do the dog, then the shopping, then spend the afternoon fighting for computer time with a five-year-old NickJr.com addict. How I will ever write my novel goddess only knows. I must strengthen with fortitude and start as I mean to go on and... god! will I ever actually *write* anything ever again????
Uh-oh, looks like it might be time for a trip over the road to the Chinese Takeaway.
[ends]