NaNoWriMo Day 28 (Finished! - 60,458 words)

This evening, I typed those two glorious words, THE END.

The last few scenes are not so much sketchy as they are a vague smear resembling paragraphs on the screen.

Still, it's done. I am now in a mild state of bewilderment, having reckoned on spending the next couple of pre-work slots writing it. I think I might do a short story, tomorrow. Also need to sort out my application to Goldsmiths. And I have an idea for a poem.

But tonight, I am going to go to bed early and catch up on some sleep...

NaNoWriMo Day 26

I edited yesterday's short story this morning, and wrote a bit more on the NaNoWriMo novel. Creative writing was cancelled this evening, hence more novelling (up to 55790 words now, and shooting for 60k+ by the end of the week). I've also been listening to Mur Lafferty's excellent, very entertaining Playing for Keeps podcast novel, whilst cross-stitching.

The Boyfriend has written an insane amount since 11pm yesterday evening -- around 8,000 words! -- and has finished his novel too. Nick has Weds-Fri booked off work, so it looks like we'll all be celebrating our collective victory on Friday night. :-)

NaNoWriMo Day 25 (Official Winners' Certificate)

The NaNoWriMo wordcount validator is now online, and I've just printed off my Official Winners' Certificate. Hurrah!

The short story which I was planning to write this afternoon turns out to be the one for January ... it's a different theme for the December one. So I've been hurriedly scrawling down some ideas for the right competition. I want something to read at creative writing group tomorrow, and I doubt I'll get any other chance to workshop something before December 17th. I've got sketchy ideas for situation, characters and plot now (though I fear it's a bit light on the last of those.)

I'm going to get started on it, just as soon as I've added my NaNoWriMo winner icons to the blog!

NaNoWriMo Day 24 - 52,163 words

I'm still going with the novel, managed a couple of thousand words this morning (in between doing two large loads of laundry, going to the green grocers' and Ayres).

We've got friends coming up for the weekend (arriving about lunchtime) so doubt I'll do any more writing till late Sunday afternoon...

I have a vague idea for the next Writing Magazine short story competition, and also a nebulous poem for Woman's Weekly -- this might scupper the next week of NaNoWriMo slightly...

NaNoWriMo Day 23 - The Big Fifty Thousand

I appear to have finished early...

NaNoWriMo Day 22 - 48,366 words (Almost there already)

I've written 3583 words (so far!!) today -- which makes it officially my Highest Word Day Yet. I got into a good groove this morning and managed 2,500 in slightly under an hour and a half, before work. And then had a caffeine-fuelled writing spurt this evening.

The Boyfriend is struggling with an essay as well as NaNoWriMo, and so neither of us are cooking tonight. I've just had a bowl of salad, and I think I have a couple of sesame seed ryvitas in the cupboard...

(November has been a good-ish month for dieting!)

NaNoWriMo Day 21 (Slowing but slogging on)

I wrote precisely 0 words yesterday, because I went to Melton Mowbray for a work thing (was doing a 15 minute presentation at a conference). It meant I got on a train at 6.30am and got back home about 8.30pm ... by which point I was too shattered to write!

However, I did get about three-quarters of the way through Black Swan Green which I'm really enjoying. Possibly my favourite of David Mitchell's novels, out of those I've read (number9dream and Cloud Atlas). I enjoyed Cloud Atlas a lot, but found it a more difficult read -- and I struggled through number9dream, which was (to me) overly heavy on the multiple versions of events and dream/imaginary sequences.

Today, I've written a couple of thousand words, despite being almost asleep over my keyboard at half six this morning...

NaNoWriMo day 19 (42,638 words)

I didn't have to go out until nine this morning (I had an all-day meeting and it wasn't worth going into the office for half-an-hour first... especially not in the rain!) This meant I managed a good 2,549 words before making some porridge for self and Boyfriend and heading out into the drizzle...

I'm fairly tired this evening, and going to be getting a train at 6.30am tomorrow -- and not home till lateish -- so I doubt there'll be much more writing done until Wednesday.

The story still seems to have a long way to go -- I think I'm about half-way through the actual plot -- and I've got a few scenes coming up that I'm looking forward to writing. The second Springboard day, with all my main characters finally back in one room again, should be a good one.

NaNoWriMo Day 18 - the 40,000 mark!

I managed to get to 40,000 words before Church this morning -- despite getting up an hour later than planned. The extra sleep definitely helped; I wasn't nodding off over the keyboard like usual. (Or maybe my writing's just getting less boring...)

The laptop was having a minor behavioural hiccup earlier, and though it seems fine now, I have hastily backed up the novel onto my USB pen. (I do back up my writing occasionally, but I don't usually write quite so much in less than three weeks...)

We saw Beowulf this afternoon, which was good, though neither of us had expected it to be CGI! Also, it seemed a fairly adapted version of the story I vaguely remember from middle-school days. I wrote a feminist version (well, one with a female Beowulf, and I think a contemporary setting) when I was 12/13 ... will have to attempt to find it next time I'm at my parents', but I suspect it's now on a dead computer in the attic somewhere. Probably no great loss to literature...

Seeing the film also rekindled my Medieval-term-inspired ambition to write a screenplay of Gawain and the Green Knight -- I reckon it could make a great movie! However, I've got the NaNoWriMo novel to finish first, then a contemporary fantasy in the planning stages and a non-fiction/humour book I want to try pitching.

For now, though, I should clean the kitchen...

NaNoWriMo Day 17, 37704 words total (Slowing down)

Yesterday I only managed 915 words. (I had a day-job corporate dinner in the evening, which I was getting ready for in the morning and then out at all evening. Nice meal and great to see colleagues outside work, but not good for my word count! The Boyfriend and Nick were there too, so an unproductive day all round, novel-wise.

I've not made target today either, but managed 1559 words so I'm still on track to get to 40,000 by the end of Sunday. Met up with Sam and his sister & friend at Borough Market this morning and did a bit of Christmas shopping -- which was good fun! This afternoon I've been baking for our church fund-raising jazz party this evening.

Somehow, our November weekends have ended up far busier than we'd planned...

NaNoWriMo Day 15 (Halfway!)

Halfway through the month, and I'm on 35,000 words.

The plot is slowly but surely beginning to thicken, like a good stew. Katie has just gone to London to meet up with the far-too-perfect-to-be-true Jasper, for a weekend that will indeed be a memorable one, but for all the wrong reasons...

Long (well, early) hours are starting to take their toll. I need to catch up on sleep/rest a bit, this weekend. I think I'm becoming quite horrible to live with (many apologies to the Boyfriend for my constant grumpiness in the evenings...)

NaNoWriMo Day 14 - 32,526 words (Are we nearly there yet?)

Katie's brother, Jason, has turned out to have a hitherto unplanned liking for writing teenage poetry and redecorating his bedroom. I've been bringing out more family tensions, trying to hint at the background on why Katie tends to be an apologetic people-pleaser ... and I wanted some scenes of social awkwardness in the car and in a coffee shop of a service station.

Tomorrow marks the NaNoWriMo half-way point, and I'm hoping to edge close to 35,000 words. I feel that the novel is still only about a third of the way done; there's a heck of a lot of action still to happen. I feel I may have put in too many characters (who all need their problems working through and their secrets revealing) , and I'm probably looking at it eventually being 100,000 or more words.

So, despite being well over target, it still feels like I've got a long slog ahead...

Most Encouraging Rejection Yet

Woman's Weekly's rejection letter today thanked me for my submission and said "Unfortunately this was too similar to others we've used recently, but we liked your writing style, so do try us again."

I think I'm definitely getting closer. I'm now searching for anything vaguely like it in style but totally different in theme/plot to send them.

NaNoWriMo Day 13 (lucky for some?) - 30,000!

Thirty thousand words, or 60% of the way there. I'm still enjoying it, though the story seems a bit light and fluffy and not very worthy ... I think my ambivalence towards chick-lit as a reader has coloured my writing attitude.

I feel Four Red Spots needs to be a little darker, more intelligent and more complex. Katie in particular doesn't have enough depth -- I'm not sure if this is a fault in the preparation (I didn't do much work on her character before launching into it) or if it's just sloppy writing. She's a nice, likeable person, with little ups and downs and dramas in life, but nothing quite big enough for real character change to have occured yet.

I do have plans, but I think maybe she needs to suffer more... I'm starting to miss writing fantasy with proper roguish anti-heroes and dark-and-tormented villains.

NaNoWriMo Day 12 (Picking up the pace)

I'm on 28K now, having written a grand 3075 today; about half before work this morning, and half this evening (taking advantage of the Boyfriend cooking!) Katie has babysat for Jan's kids, beginning to discover that Jan and Keith's marriage is looking rocky. She's been trying to pack all her uni belongings into some semblance of order, interrupted by a phone call from her mum, who's worried about her brother, Jason.

And now Jasper has just phoned her, to invite her up to London for a weekend. She's not seen him since the (very drunk) night of Melissa's 21st...

So, the chick-lit elements are definitely there, but I must admit that I occasionally wish I was writing fantasy, or something where the characters faced slightly larger struggles than family/friendship/relationship problems. Still, I'm getting the words down.

I've also realised that, despite careful planning, I've ended up with three characters with similar names: Jan, Jasper and Jason. Grr. I knew there was a reason Jasper was originally called Adam....

NaNoWriMo Day 11 (Halfway!)

I am officially half-way there; I reached 25,000 words this afternoon. This was despite having my day somewhat interrupted by a long Church meeting (as a Member, I'm now expected to attend them), and not getting my lunch till after 3. :-(

Some of the scenes I've written recently are a bit waffly, and I'm worried that not enough important is happening in them -- just details of Katie wandering along with student life. Still, hopefully in the redraft, I'll be able to see what's needed and what isn't and pick the cherries out of the fruitcake.

As a reward for meeting target, I made bread, rather badly. In mitigation, it's the first time I've made bread properly (as opposed to with a bread maker) in this millenium. The mishaps were as follows:

• Clingfilm placed over dough left to rise stuck to dough, bread rolls gave faint 'whoosh' and flattened themselves when I yanked it off.
• Neglected greasing the greaseproof paper. Cooked rolls and loaf stuck to it.
• Left the last batch of rolls in a tad too long.
• None of the rolls rose very well.

On the plus side, the bread did taste pretty good, if a tad on the stodgy solid side. And greaseproof paper doesn't appear to be poisonous. Though, if I don't post tomorrow, you'll know why...

I quite enjoyed the baking, though, so might have another go next weekend (having found some good advice on breadmaking) ... or I might just go to Ayres...

NaNoWriMo Day 10 (Research Trip)

We're off to Cambridge today, to see Arch-and-Anth cousin and take her out to lunch. I'm justifying the break in my writing schedule as "research" ... I need to soak up that Cambridge atmosphere!

I did write about 600 words this morning (Katie is hungover, and Brandon has nicked her food again) but I also had to do laundry and make some porridge. Boyfriend is also hungover -- apparently, lots of people who'd not seen him for a while wanted to buy him a drink!

Tomorrow afternoon is clear, and I should easily manage to make 25K by the time the weekend is out...

NaNoWriMo Day 9 (breaking the 20K barrier)

I'm now on 21,787 words total. At this rate, I've figured out I'll have about 80K by the end of the month. I'm hoping I can keep it up.

Getting started was harder than usual this morning, I didn't feel much like writing -- probably because I went to bed too late -- but I managed to crank out the best part of 1.5k words before work, then did another 600 this evening. The Boyfriend and Nick have gone to celebrate one of their friend's birthdays, so I've had a quiet evening. Writing Magazine (and Writers' News) arrived today, and I've been happily flicking through those.

NaNoWriMo Day 8 (evening off!)

Not writing this evening (apart from blog posts!) cos I hit over 2,000 before work, and I need a night off.

Katie and Jasper, the Evil Guy who Seems Nice At First, have been snogging. Jan rescued Katie before things could go too far (though Katie, full of champagne, doesn't realise that Jan's just done her a big favour.) And Elizabeth has arrived at the party -- which means my main cast are all in one room for the first time.

I'm on 19,722 words... if I can break the 25,000 barrier at the weekend, I'm hoping it'll be downhill from there...

David Higham Associates rejection

I got another self-addressed envelope today; synopsis and sample chapters, returned from David Higham with a form cover letter. I was expecting to start getting postal ones back around now, so not especially surprised or disappointed. (If anything, I'm quite relieved no-one's written to request the full manuscript -- the middle of NaNoWriMo would not be the best time to panic through the outstanding revisions...)

Goldsmiths Open Day / Creative & Life Writing

I took yesterday afternoon off work to go to Goldsmiths College's open day. It was incredibly packed when I got there just after 2, having arrived in plenty of time for the 2.30 "English and Comparative Literatures" departmental talk. However, on scrutinising the programme they gave us, this turned out to be an undergraduate talk only, so I didn't go.

The postgraduate talk at 3 was very helpful, though, and I found out that I could apply full-time and then switch to part-time if I didn't get funding -- or vice versa. The lady who gave the talk was also very enthusiastic about Goldsmiths' new Graduate School which encourages inter-disciplinary interaction between gradutes. About half the students at Goldsmiths are post-grads, so I wouldn't be horribly outnumbered. ;-)

Blake Morrison gave the English and Life Writing MA talk (standing in for an ill colleague) and seems a cool guy. I've not read anything by him, to my shame, but he was very approachable and friendly for someone so well-known. I suppose I had half assumed that his role at Goldsmiths' was mainly just a title -- but I got the impression he teaches one of the three MA workshop groups.

Overall, it was a good afternoon, and I've decided I'm going to apply for a part-time MA in Creative & Life Writing... Fingers crossed!

NaNoWriMo Day 7 (Party!)

After 15K+ words and six days, I've finally reached one of the pivotal scenes in the story for all my main characters: Melissa's 21st birthday party.

I'm only part-way through the action, but two key characters have been introduced, and a couple of little things (which will later be important in the plot) have been sneaked in.

I've written 3,249 words today, beating yesterday's high score by a whole 3 words...

NaNoWriMo Day 6 - 14,415 words total (new character, smashing targets)

Today has gone very well in terms of the writing; I made target this morning before going out, and, as I was out in the field delivering training for some of newbie users today, I got home from the day job a whole hour and a quarter early.

This, coupled with just grabbing a pitta bread with cream cheese and roasted veg for dinner, meant I managed to write a good bit more this evening. I'm now on 3246 words for the day, which is almost twice target -- and I'm stopping there!

The Boyfriend has Nick round for beer-drinking, curry-eating and novel-writing. I did suggest that the first person to "win" NaNoWriMo should receive some sort of prize, but they're less keen on this idea. Funny, that. (I think the Boyfriend is currently on about 10k, and Nick on 8-9k words.)

A new, unplanned character wandered into the story this morning. Thinking back to my previous novels (untitled teenage sci-fi one and Night of the Empty Moon), this tends to happen about 10-15 thousand words in. I think that's the point at which the main characters need a bit more of a supporting cast in order to have a realistic (and deviously complicated) life. The new guy today was Brandon, an odd-ball, food-stealing corridor mate to cause the polite Katie much grief...

NaNoWriMo Day 5 (2079 words by 7.10am)

I woke up stupidly early today, and got the first word down at 5.35am. Still, it meant I knocked out 2000+ within about an hour and a half...

Had fun with the scene of Katie and Jan in the Sidgwick buttery, eating smarties cookies. (WHY did I not buy them more often? They were only 25p and delicious...) And writing about places I remember well (and am nostalgic about!) makes the words flow more easily.

The other scene I was having fun with, which I rushed a bit and will probably need to extend considerably in the redraft, was one with Katie having the courage to speak up in her class with a particular ascerbic lecturer. (Not at all inspired by memories of Paper 8 and the deliciously terrifying Doctor Griffiths...)

NaNoWriMo Day 4, 2349 (Writing on the train)

(Should have been posted yesterday...)

We went to see the Boyfriend's grandparents today, over in Basildon. I made target before we set off, and took my notebook (and copy of How to Write a Blockbuster) on the train; combined, they helped generate ideas for the next few scenes. If it had been my family, I'd probably have sat in the corner all afternoon scribbling, but I felt I should make polite conversation.

Managed to do a bit more writing in the evening, though not quite beating Saturday's wordcount.

It's been a busier weekend for the first one of NaNoWriMo than I'd intended or expected, but I've managed to get well ahead of target each day, so I'm pretty happy with that. I was originally thinking of going for 10,000 words by the end of today, but 9,090 is good enough!

NaNoWriMo Day 3 (a day ahead of target)

I'm currently on 6,741 words, which means I'm a day ahead of target...

Writing's been fitted in to short gaps of today; it's been a fairly busy Saturday (haircut, shopping, lunch, cinema, cooking dinner...) but I've managed to beat my previous daily best, set on Thursday, so I'm fairly happy with that.

The characters are most of the way through their first workshop day, and Katie has just set her goal (under panicked duress): "Discover my purpose in life. Before next summer."

NaNoWriMo Day 2 (Early morning) - 2,038 words today

I slept badly last night, and got up at 5.30am, so managed to do 2,038 words before hopping on my bike to go to work at 7.45...

The characters are beginning to emerge nicely. I'm already going beyond what I planned (I wrote about a page in my notebook for each character), and they're reasonably strongly individualised. My antagonist is being pleasingly bitchy...

Was considering doing more this evening, but went for a quick-post-work-drink and now feel rather mellow. (Oddly, I find that whilst wine gets me in a mood to churn out words, vodka doesn't...)

NaNoWriMo Day 1 - update

Finishing the day on 2,319 words. Was only going to push it up to 2,000 but got carried away!

Also completed a small cross-stitch picture, and framed it...

NaNoWriMo Day 1 (Met target by 7.20am...)

I felt an odd sense of eagerness and wanting to hold back, this morning, when I opened up a pristine new document for the novel. Typing the first few words was like the first magical steps across a snow-blanketed garden.

To begin with, I struggled not to keep editing sentences as I went along. The internal-editor kept up a commentary of you've used the same word three times in a sentence; that's a cliche; you've confused pronouns. After about a page (400-500 words) I got into the swing of it, and managed to rattle along cheerfully until coming to the end of the scene at about 7.20am.

1,858 words. :-)

I beat both the Boyfriend and Nick to be the first to make target on day 1. (Though Nick was the first to start, having stayed up past midnight.) I may do some more tonight, as it's tempting to try to get up to a nice round 2,000...