Update

Well I completely forgot to write a post on Friday and I could have sworn I wrote one on Thursday. I have such a clear memory of writing one...

I didn't though. Not sure quite what happened. I did have a meeting at work on Friday and that might have caused some of problem, but still it's a bit weird. Anyway I'm currently in the middle of threes projects.

Probably that is two too many, but when I get stuck on one, I find I can work on one of the others easily and then go back when I've worked a way around the block.

My mind keeps jumping between the three and I'm not sure how good or bad this is. I think, for me, it is good. Each one is at a different stage; one I'm just planning; one I'm just starting to write some scenes; the third currently has 50 000 words and is complete, but instead of full scenes in some places there is just a quick description of the scene.

Two are murder mysteries and one is a vampire, which might possibly end up also as a murder mystery. I do tend to end up with a murder or two no matter what I start writing.

Yesterday everything went well. I wrote in the morning and I felt like a writer. I was using my dictionary and thesaurus. It was a bit weird really.

Today I don't feel so good and it's affecting my concentration. So I have been sorting through a few things as I just couldn't get into writing. I still need to go through one more folder and that will be all the hard copy sorted out.

I still need to work on the computer files, but one step at a time and I don't want to spend all my time moving and comparing files when I could be writing.

I'm hoping to do a bit of both. Some days I'll only be doing admin. stuff, but hopefully there will be more days when all I do is write.

I scared of actually finishing a book, because then other people will have to see it. People I don't know. I am really not looking forward to that.

last week

So I successfully forgot to write a blog post on both Thursday and Friday last week. I'm still not into a routine yet. I'm hoping that once I get into one, things will become easier.

One positive point is that last Friday I did write a bit. It was bad, but it was writing. I started, well I tried to start, writing the beginning of a new book. I find that trying to concentrate on one project at a time doesn't really work for me. Or I'm trying to avoid working on the last draft.

On balance the latter is probably more true. I have now sorted out my files a little. I really need to spend more time getting rid of old files. I have about ten duplicates of almost every file. I've started to delete some of these.

And I don't mean ten versions of a story, I mean ten identical files in different directories. I need to create on main directory and start merging stuff. Trouble is I'm terrified I'm going to delete the wrong file.

Of course this is more of an excuse than anything else. I can always rewrite anything I do accidentally delete, if I've emptied the trashcan and can't retrieve it. I always still have the earlier drafts.

Strangely enough this reminds me a a short story about writing involving a cat. I wonder if I can find it again. It was good in so many ways.

Enough for today, back to editing, which is what I had started before I remembered I had to blog. This is for the almost final draft, which I have the feeling is going to change quite a bit over the next couple of months.

More about last Thursday

The problems didn't stop with the monitor. In the evening, I decided I would do a little bit more, so I went into the study and switched on the light. A fizzle, a small bang and no light was the result. The bulb had blown. It was an old bulb, but still. Unfortunately I live in an old house and this has one main disadvantage, which I actually love - high ceilings. Great for the feeling of space, but not so good when you need to change a bulb...

Fortunately my husband had left one of his work spot-lights after putting in a new radiator, so I used that to start off with. Then when he had time, he brought the stepladder in and took out the old bulb. A good clean and a new led bulb meant that the room looked better than ever. The light shade is actually made of cut glass and, when clean, makes great patterns on the ceiling and walls when the light is switched on.

Yesterday was a slow day. I don't know if it was just because I was tired, but I didn't do a huge amount. I've done more this morning than during the entire day yesterday.

I've started a new story, which is a murder set in the 1930's probably in the Caribbean, but it will be on some holiday island, which is hot in the winter. A very old fashioned tale, similar to Agatha Christie and because of this I'm hesitant about the Caribbean. For those that don't know, there is a Miss Marple story set there.

I don't mind the story being similar, but I'm not out to copy her. The location is about the only thing in common for the two stories, but I don't want that association to override everything else.

Progress

I was sick on Friday, so I did very little on that day. I slept all afternoon and when I was awake I wasn't exactly with it, so to speak.

But Thursday, now that was a nightmare day. After I posted on here, my monitor stopped working. Totally. I couldn't get it to even power up. I tried for an hour before giving up and moving on to other things.

At lunch I spotted the monitor on the old desktop and thought it would be worth trying that, so at least I could tell if it was my computer or my monitor that was bad. There was, of course a problem. The monitor is an old one and only had a vga connector. My computer is very new and only has a HDMI connector...

Then I remember seeing an adapter when I first got my computer. A little detective produce said adapter and a few minutes later I could contact my computer. So it was either the monitor or the cable.

I discovered the main on/off switch for the monitor and powered it down. A little while later I turned it back on and tried the same cable that worked on the old monitor, so with the adapter. Hey Presto! It worked.

So I tried the old cable for one last try and it also worked. All of this takes just a few minutes to type up, the whole episode took almost 4 hours in total. I was not happy.

But I now know that the most likely cause is a dodgy connection in the monitor, specifically a connection to the HDMI connector on the monitor. There is still a chance that it is the cable as I can't test that separately, however on balance, it's more likely the monitor.

This means that at some point in the next few months, my husband needs to take my monitor apart and see if he can find the problem. One advantage to being married to an electronic engineer.

Still the whole thing killed most of Thursday and I was sick all of Friday. I did still manage to find all the files I needed, which means today I have no excuse. Time to start reading through and editing where needed.

Another post!

Yesterday I was at my work, hence no post here. I didn't exactly have a lot to do, but still I didn't feel I should be writing while there.

Afterwards I went, with my husband, to buy some cheap shoe racks and we took a whole lot of old carpet to the dump.

So we come to today. So far I've done nothing. This is the first bit of work I've managed, but I will say it has sort of got me more in the mood to do something. I need to use my netbook to find some files and put copies of those here. Then I need to start editing and writing.

I have one ms, which has gone through a couple of drafts and I think, with a bit of hard work, might be a good possibility. The current version is on the netbook and I need to find it. I have the first chapter on this computer, however it is an old version and I don't want to spend time rewriting something I've already rewritten.

I need to add in some more scenes. I already know that. It's a bit patchy at the moment, but that just requires me to write.

The other thing I did yesterday is to tell some more people what I'm going to be doing. Most took it really well and offered encouragement, which is more than I thought I was going to get. I only had a couple of comments that were more negative and those I will leave where they belong - in the past.

I remembered

Not really too much to say today, which is something that I was worried about. I did more reading than writing yesterday, but that was because I discovered a directory with a number of forgotten about files.

I started to read one, then it was a couple of hours later and I had to get lunch ready. Time flies when you are enjoying what you are reading. It was a piece I wrote for NaNoWriMo eight years ago and it was pretty. Definitely rough around the edges, but not bad at all.

Today I'm going to be reading a bit more and possibly even writing, but that will be after lunch. I want to sort a few things out in my head first. Reading tends to help with that.

Hello again

It has been so very long since I wrote anything here. Things have changes quite a bit. I no longer have a job. Well that's not entirely true at the moment, but from 1st March it will be.

I have decided that for the moment I will not get a new job. My husband earns enough to support us, so I don't actually need one. I had jobs that I found interesting and this last one was getting more boring by the week.

This should mean I have more time to write and this is my first step in that direction. Technically not the first step as I have installed a legal version of Word and loaded up a whole load of old files, which I am now working my way through.

I'm hoping to submit a short story by the end of the month. I have 3 versions of the same story and with a little work I think I can come up with a version to send out. I need to research exactly where to send it. I did do some research before, which I still have, but I go through it all again before sending.

I'm also working on a novel. It is almost finished. And I don't mean the first draft, I mean the one I want people to read. I'm hoping that by the end of February I'll be in a position to start contacting agents.

I need to get into a routine at home for doing all of this. Today it is more housekeeping than anything else, but I have also done a little on the short story. I've put my netbook on recharge. Most of my writing is currently on there, which is fine except that I now intend to use my desktop as well. The screen and keyboard are better.

I can swap the keyboard over, but not the screen. Plus its advantage of being so portable is also its disadvantage. I want to get into the habit of writing at my desk for most of the day.

I also want to get into the habit of writing here everyday, but I'm a bit afraid that will turn into a drudge rather than something interesting. I don't want to write on subjects at the moment, because I don't want to spend too long planning and/or writing here. I just want to get into the habit more.

I do find that it is easy to write when I get going. That doesn't mean that it's good writing, but it is writing and that's, for now, the important bit.

Ummm...

Well I did very little writing, despite by best laid plans. I did however learn how to crochet. It's something I wanted to try for years, but life always got in the way. I've now made 3 doillies. OK, so they aren't brilliant, but you can see the improvement from the first to the third. I'm also using a medium wool, which means they are a lot more chunky than normal.

So now I just have to use the same technique to write more. It's a very simple technique, which can be applied to anything. And I do mean anything. From flossing to exercise to cooking and to just about anything you can think of.

You start by forming a habit. A very simple habit. The rest grows from there. So for writing, you form a habit, which consists of writing just one word. That word leads to the next and so on.

For the crocheting, I started with just one stitch, which lead to me crocheting for 5 minutes, which lead to me getting totally distracted and crocheting a doily in one sitting. On Monday I made 2, one in the morning, and one in the afternoon. The first one took a couple of days...

So for writing, when I have some free time I need to sit down and write one word, which will hopefully lead to a second and so on.

A great place to go to learn about forming habits is http://tinyhabits.com/, which can teach how to form habits. It may seem a little weird, but it does actually work.

Very bad

I haven't written here since January, that is so bad. I have written. I started a new short story and there is another that's mutating in my head.

I start off with an idea, which when I start to write doesn't work, then it begins to mutate into something that might. At least that's the way I look at it.

For some reason I'm writing in very short paragraphs today, and I don't really know why. I normally write much more before changing the subject. Oh well.

I haven't touched any of my novel since NaNoWriMo last November and that is not a good thing. I really need to sit down with it again. The trouble is I sort of promised myself to write and finish a short story first. I think I need to break that promise and actually do something rather than make up excuses for not doing anything.

I'm very good at doing nothing. That's one of my biggest problems. I have Friday off work and I will do something writing related then...just not sure what, but I'll think of something.

I quite like writing blog posts, but they aren't essential to me or to anyone for that matter. Still that's no excuse, I guess.

Anyway time to get back to work.

Long time no post

Well first there was Christmas, then New Year, then I was sick and I never quite got round to writing a new post. I did do some writing, just not here. I wrote a bit more to a short story and I even have an ending for it now. I haven't finished writing the ending, because some of what I've written doesn't sound right at the moment, but at least I know where I'm headed.

This is a different story to the one that I was going to submit. That one I'm hoping to completely re-write. I'm going through all my old files trying to find one of the first drafts. The last version I worked on just isn't right. I have an older version, which is better, but has too many characters. I know I had another version with still more characters. I want to find that one to see if I kept the wrong characters and deleted the right ones - if that makes any sense.

Of course I could just simply rewrite it completely, which will probably happen.

As for a novel, I'm sort of stuck. I know what I want to achieve, I just can't seem to get it right and instead of going round this, I'm stuck. I need to give myself a good push, trouble is I'm so busy it's easier to leave this until later and concentrate on other things that can't wait.

NaNoWriMo

I've written about 7600 words for NaNoWriMo, which is not so good. There are still eleven days to go, so I will probably still finish in time, but I really am not feeling it this year. If that makes any sense. I just can't get into the story. I don't know if it's because I did a detailed outline or not.

But on balance I think that must be it. I think I miss the freedom or writing and discovering what the story is. I'm hitting the second draft doubts instead. Of course if I can get past them and get on with this story then that should help with other first drafts I've written.

Still I think that next year I won't outline at all. Hopefully I will have a story, but I just put down a few lines giving the general overview and do the rest in November. Currently it feels like I'm just filling in the blanks and there is nothing to discover.

I love discovering the story. I think that is what I love the most about writing. I also think that is the reason I will never be published. I'm not sure I'll ever finish anything to a high enough standard to be published, because by the time I reach that stage there is nothing new left in the story for me.

I never started this to write for other people. I started this to write for me.

2000 words and counting

I'm behind in NaNoWriMo and for some reason I'm not worried. This year it seems less important and I don't know if that is because I know I can finish it in ten days or if I've just lost the will to complete NaNoWriMo.

Last year was the first year that I wrote on almost everyday. I spread the load out more evenly. All the previous years, excluding the one where I didn't finish, I wrote 50000 words in just ten days. The last ten days to be exact.

I think it's the deadline that pushes me on. Without it I don't feel any urgency, I mean I can always catch up tomorrow, right?

I'm hoping to write today. In fact, after I've finished this post I'll be writing. But I have a busy day at work and at home, so I'm pretty sure it's not going to be the big catch-up I need. Then again, at least I'll be writing something...

NaNoWriMo

I have a total of 750 words written. I should be at 8335 words, writing at the 1667 words per day. I have an excuse...

Work has been a nightmare. I didn't get a weekend. I was in working both Saturday and Sunday. I'm taking Tuesday off in compensation and possibly Friday. I have a meeting on Wednesday which will decide if Friday is possible or not.

I should get some written today too. I'll update here if I do, but as things aren't working I do have a bit of extra time.

The other weird bit about all this is that I am not the least bit worried. I normally start about November 20th and finish in time, so I'm totally calm. At the moment that is. Give it a few more days and I'll be wondering if I'll make it this year.

Good luck to all NaNoWriMo writers.

Long weekend

I wrote something over the weekend! OK, so I didn't write every day. On two days, I was so busy there was no chance to do anything. However I got all of one ending complete and most of the second ending outlined. The second ending is a lot more complicated. Much more than I originally anticipated, so there are still a couple of scenes left to go. I hoping to finish that tonight.

But as I was so busy, I didn't get all the housework done, and that needs to be done at some point. I still have to load all the scenes onto the computer to. I wrote them long hand, which for outlining seems to work for me. I will have to spend a couple of hours typing them up, but in the worst case I'll simply refer to the paper copy instead.

So I'm almost ready for NaNoWriMo and I'm looking forward to it too :)

More scenes

I added five more scenes to my NaNoWriMo outline and with those scenes I have reached the point where I can go one of two ways. So tonight I'm going to start writing the first of the two endings. Hopefully I'll get a chance to put down the other ending too.

I have fifty scenes without any ending, which is the highest I've ever go to with this sort of outlining. So if I average 1000 words per scene, that's the 50000 words without finishing. Of course some will be much shorter, a few hundred at most, but others will be much longer, especially where I have grouped together several scenes in the outline.

The upshot is I shouldn't have any problems with writing the 50000 words for NaNoWriMo. There should be about 15 to 20 scenes left for the ending, perhaps up to 25. So I should be able to write getting close to 75000 words if I keep going and use all the scenes I've got written down.

I wonder what the reality will actually be...

Sick

I was ill for most of last week. I went out on the Sunday and picked up some sort of bug. I wish I could say I spent the week curled up in bed, but unfortunately I had an important meeting on the Thursday at which I had to do a presentation. I only found out about it on Monday. So while sick, I had to put together said presentation, attend the full day meeting and give my presentation.

I did all that, but nothing else except sleep. Outlining was out of the question and even thinking about NaNoWriMo was too difficult. Now there's only nine days left. Still I have enough already outlined to keep me going, but I would like to outline at least one of the endings. So tonight I have to write. No option. It just needs to be done.

Next weekend I'll be out and about again, attending an event. I hope I don't pick up another bug. That would be just my luck though. Still November doesn't start until Thursday so that gives me some time to recover. I'm also glad that it starts on a weekday. I know most people hate this, but for me, work days tend to be more structured, which means I'm far more likely to write.

I'm going to try for my 5000 words per day. Then all I need to do is write on ten out of the thirty days. Not to mention that if I don't make it to 5000 it's not all over. I know if I aim for the minimum, that's all I will do and if I fail to reach that, there is a very good chance that I will fail to complete the challenge.

Weekend washout

I didn't write a single thing from Friday through Sunday, which is dreadful. I did so promise myself to. Tonight I will write at least another 5 scene descriptions.

But on the upside, I got a good rest on Saturday, which is code for I did nothing, well almost nothing. And Sunday I did some housework in the morning, then took the afternoon to go for a drive with my husband.

All in all I was incredibly lazy this weekend. Have to try harder.

more writing

I wrote another four scenes last night, so that means I've written every night so far this week. It feels good. I'm going to try to write more on other things too, I just don't want to try too much too fast. If I do, it may get to be too much and then I will stop. I don't want to stop.

I currently have fifty scenes and no ending. I'm at the point where the story, in my head, can go two ways. I'm sure there are many more ways it could go, but these are the two that I see. I'm going to write two sets of scenes for the ending, then I have something to help me when NaNoWriMo starts no matter which one I choose at the time.

Of course I might go for a completely different ending by then, but I'll cross that bridge if I get there.

more writing

For the last two evenings I have written some more scene descriptions. I've added ten more to the list, giving me a total of forty one. Not bad.

Of course I shouldn't really call them scenes, because several are a collection of scenes, which go together. Still it should become more clear when I actually start writing them.

I'm still in two minds about the ending. I'm not sure which way I should go. I think I might write summaries for both and then use which ever is relevant. Of course if I think that's not working I can easily switch to the other.

Still if I keep this up, I will be ready for NaNoWriMo by the end of next week. Earliest ever for an outline. It's getting easier too. I guess it's all the practise.

If I do finish the outline, then I'm going to work on the short story again. I'll do another re-write. I found an older version the other day, which I prefer to the latest one. I'm going to try to write a version which combines the best of both stories.

The older version has five main characters, which is a bit much for a short story. The newer has three, but loses something in the cutting. I have to work out what and try to put that back in. That should keep me (1) writing and (2) occupied while I wait for NaNoWriMo to start.

I wrote something

OK, so it was just a few scene descriptions, but at least I did something and it felt good. I'm going to try to do the same thing again this evening.

I wrote four and a half scenes for my NaNoWriMo. The half scene was adding information and some detail to a one line scene description that I wrote earlier. So now I have thirty scene descriptions to help with NaNoWriMo.

I'm hoping to get to fifty before the start on November 1st, then if nothing else I only have to write a thousand words for each one. Not that all my 'scenes' are actually that, some are a collection of shorter scenes I use to illustrate something, such as rising tension in the community.

At the moment I don't have any details on these in mind. Some of it will depend on how the characters come across in the scenes before this point, but I do want this to be shown. Just not sure exactly how it will pan out yet.

I almost didn't do any writing last night. I had to set up wifi and update an old computer for the kids. That took most of the evening, then all I wanted to do was sleep. But I decided to write at least one scene description before sleeping. Then I ended up with four more. This makes me very happy.

Something I'm very good at.

I'm very good at doing nothing. And I mean nothing. I haven't written a word in a week. Ridiculous. So today I made a promise to myself to write something every evening this week, starting tonight. Well it is a bit difficult to start yesterday...

Sorry in a bit of weird mood. It's freezing at work and I am staying warm by making lots of mugs of tea, which I hold until they get cold, then drink. It's helping.

There seems to be a lot of setbacks and bad news at the moment. I'm waiting for something good to happen. But if I remember rightly, most of the time you need to make things happen. They don't just magically happen by themselves. Which means I need to do something rather than my nothing.

Trouble is doing nothing is so easy and it comes so naturally to me. Stop being lazy! (and work on the typing before NaNoWriMo or the whole thing will be unreadable or I'll spend my whole time correcting my typing errors.)

lack of writing

Due to some problems at work, I'm pre-occupied with work rather than anything else. It's getting a little stressful and will probably get worse before it gets better.

This means I've done practically no writing since my last post. I did add one sentence to my NaNoWriMo outline, but that was it. I'm a bit disappointed with myself. We had a power cut at home, so I could have done some writing then, but I read instead.

Which is not such a bad thing. I love to read and I haven't done so in a while. I read Snuff by Terry Prachett and I did enjoy it, but I didn't feel it was as good as some of his other books. At some points it felt a little forced, but that could just be me.

The other book I read a little of was a collection of short stories by Stephen King, some of which were written many years ago. I didn't enjoy them as much as I used to. I have only read two of the stories, but neither really grabbed me. The first was OK, but the second I just couldn't finish. It made me put the book down.

It makes me wonder if my taste in books is changing. Of course those first two stories might be the worst two in the book. I need to read more to know. I've also started to read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. It's interesting and well written, but I'm only at page 275 so there's a long way to go.

I'm glad I read a lot, but I wish I'd written more. Being distracted isn't a good thing.

Yesterday

I wrote 1831 words yesterday on 'The Haunted House', which impresses me at least. It's the most I've written in one day for a long time. December last year was probably the last time I wrote that much in one day.

I did struggle towards the end. I was having trouble with what to write and some things ended up more as a summary than prose. I need to learn to rewrite this parts to make them better to read and if I get time today, that's what I will try to do.

I didn't do anything on the outline for NaNoWriMo. I really ought to do five to ten minutes a day. I'll be finished well in time for October even at that rate. I know that when I start I tend to write for much longer than I intended to. I get sucked into the story and forget about time and the real world for a while.

It's the starting that's hard.

A miracle

This weekend I wrote something. I actually added to the scenes for NaNoWriMo. I only added three more scenes, but I also dealt a little with the timeline. I had just been going from one day to the next without worrying about how many days there are in a week.

For most people the week in split into five work days and two weekend days, I felt that I should keep to this. The book is set in a school, so this does make perfect sense. Having a break for the weekend, will also help the story move on despite there being no real action during this time.

Then the second half of the story begins. I'm not entirely sure how this will turn out or in fact which ending will work best, but over the next few weeks I hope to find out. I get the feeling it's going to be a bit in between the extremes - the MC either going fully bad or staying fully good.

Still I wonder if he'll make the right choice...

Bad news

I received some bad news yesterday, which threw me off a bit. There's been rumors and gossip for a week or two and now the news has been confirmed. Nothing is actually decided yet, but the advice is now known. This means I might not have a job soon.

So I haven't thought about writing, never mind actually written anything for a couple of days. I am hoping to change that this weekend, by at least producing some more scene scenarios for NaNoWriMo. I might write a bit more on other things, but that's not so likely to happen.

My desktop is dead and has gone back to HP to see if they can fix it. I won't know the verdict for another week or two. Unfortunately all my writing was on the hard drive. At least I have a back up of most of it as I also use my netbook for writing too. But anything I did in the last two weeks is on the one I can't access.

HP should put a copy of the disk onto a secure webpage for me, so that I can download the contents again. I wonder if this will work or not...

So there won't be any real loss. Just some annoyance because I don't have my desktop. And the expense, if I have to get a new one. Theoretically they have to either fix it or replace it, but I have a nasty feeling I'm not going to like the replacement. They don't have the one I bought any more and I have rather specific requirements.

I'm just thinking that everything will go wrong at the moment. I'm sure not everything will, but still...

The weekend

I've written a little bit more, but not as much as I would've liked. I had a very busy weekend and I didn't get a chance to stop and think. It spilt over into this week, which means I didn't do anything last night either.

I am writing now, which is an improvement. I am starting to write more slowly. By that I mean writing on more days and not just writing 5000 words in one sitting and then nothing for a week or two.

OK, so I'm not writing a huge amount in each session, but it's starting to become more consistent. Today I'm hoping to write up a scene that came to me yesterday. It's either the start of a story or a turning point in one. This may sound a little weird, but it tends to be how I start of a story at least.

I start with a scene. That suggests a set up or a set of characters or a place that becomes a large part of a longer story. The scene won't necessarily make it past the first draft, but it is the inspiration for the story. Seems to work for me.

more scenes

Since my last post, I've written some more scene description for NaNoWriMo 2012. I have extended the idea and add a new dimension to the story. It should be interesting. Plus, of course, it gives me a whole load more scenes to write. The more the merrier.

Well the more scenes, the more likely I will be to reach 50 000 words. No 5000 word scenes describing the MC making a sandwich (that was from year 1).

I've also done a bit of unrelated writing too. The start of a new story with a working title of The Haunted House, which strangely enough is not actually a ghost story. I don't have an outline or even a defined plot for this one. It's just a write what comes into my mind story.

I haven't written one of those for a long time. They don't normally work out that well as I sort of write myself into knots that are impossible to undo. Still it's a fun way to write.

Yesterday

I didn't write a thing yesterday evening. I intended to, but my desktop computer failed. So instead I spent the evening trying to work out why and then finding the original receipt. It's only 9 months old so it's still under warranty.

This means I wasted an evening. I still have to look up the return/fix procedure for the company, but there's nothing I can do until next week. I still have my netbook, so I can still write. It's just annoying that I wasted so much time on the other computer.

The netbook is quite limited in it's capacity, so I'll have to try to use my work laptop to replace the desktop for the time being. I just hope it's not completely dead. Trouble is, I fear it might be.

Now, I'm annoyed, upset and tired. And not necessarily in that order.

NaNoWriMo outline

I've actually started the outline. Mostly in broad strokes, but some details when they occurred to me. This is the earliest I've ever started planning and probably the furthest I've ever got.

Last year I did some outlining too, but sort of go side tracked half way through, so I never finished. This time I've almost finished. I know how the story ends and I know how to add in more scenes.

I need a few more 'complications', but I have a long list I can use. Sometimes I find myself unable to come up with one plausible sub-plot. This time I can add in or not as I need. I do have to make sure that they don't obscure the real plot...

...though having said that, maybe I should allow it to be somewhat obscured. Might make things more interesting. Of course it could go horribly wrong, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

So far this is all hand written. I'll try to get it put across into yWriter and set up so that I can just open the chapter or scene, see the summary and start writing. Famous last words...

Still at least I know what I'm going to write and I have some writing exercises I can do between NaNoWriMo and now. Maybe I'll even keep this up-to-date.

Long time, no write

On here at least. I did do some writing, but not much.

However, I do have this year's NaNoWriMo plot. It came to me a couple of days ago. It's not something that I normally would write, but I think I need to try something different. It's still a murder mystery. No change there. It's the point of view and how the narrator relates to the rest of the cast that will be very different from anything else I've written.

The plot came to me as I was just starting a writing exercise, which had to be written in first person. I never write in first as I generally hate prose written that way, with one or two notable exceptions. It's one of these that is partly responsible for the point of view choice.

The plot could work in two particular situations. One of these would make it young adult. I've never written nor considered writing something other than fiction for adults. So I'm in two minds, should I try young adult instead? I think I might. Sometimes it's good to do something totally different.

I've already got the storyline. I'm going to start plotting it out in more detail. How much detail will depend on how much time I have and what I can think of. Sometimes I do better when I don't detail too much. Other times I have no idea what to write and that can kill a NaNoWriMo.

The short story

I did finally get round to reading my short story and I didn't like. I didn't hate it either, but I felt it was lacking something. I wonder if I have an earlier or later version that is better than this one. I remember the story being different from the one I read.

There were some parts that I thought didn't make sense, but I do remember that the original had a larger cast, and inconsistencies may be due to this reduction in characters. I can think of a way to even this parts out a bit, so it's not a lost cause.

However something just doesn't sit right. I think I need to see if I still have the earlier version, and see if I have a later one too. But all of this still means I need to rewrite more of the story than I had thought. I guess most of that is due to my bad memory or time making the story seem better than it ever actually was.

One plus point was that I actually noticed some typing and grammar errors. I normally read straight past that sort of thing, so I was actually happy about that. To clarify, I read through the piece twice. Once for the story and the second time for the english.

The second reading surprised me. I hadn't expected to see quite as much as I did.

Busy and tired

Both are unfortunately true. I'm waking up a little earlier each day, currently it's 4:45am. The weekend was frantic with something booked  on both days. I'm exhausted and I need a weekend to recover from it all. However I have to work...

I have so much to do, but that's just an excuse. And not a very good one either. Time to head to the NaNoWriMo boards and see if I can find some motivation or inspiration. I might try to find a writing buddy - someone who will gently encourage me to write. (OK, so it'll be more like giving me a hard, swift kick to the backside, but still.)

I need someone to encourage me. I'm the only one I know who writes, or tries to. Sometimes it gets lonely. Not to mention how easy it is to get distracted. Everyone else wants to do something else, so I go happily along, thinking I can do the writing a bit later. Of course later, like tomorrow, never comes.

Well I've made a list of things to do this evening. There are a total of five items on the list. Writing is one of them. Two of the items I have to do this evening, one may be postponed until Wednesday (I'm home earlier on Wednesday so have more time then) and the fourth is a five-minute job. So there is a slight chance that I'll get round to it. But it isn't guaranteed.

A new post

I haven't even thought about writing since the last post I put up here. Sounds terrible, but it's true. I've been busy, which is no excuse, but it is the truth.

I really need to get round to editing the short story and sending it off. It won't take that long to do. In a week, I should have it ready to go. Then submitting it can be as easy or as hard as I want it to be. Several of the magazines have on-line submission pages, which means the whole process can be done quickly.

One or two have paper/snail mail submissions only. They would take a little longer as I have to print every thing out correctly, then find an envelope etc.

Both methods have something in common - neither is difficult or something I have never done before. But until I actually edit the story, I can't do either.

I have actually edited this story before. It was a couple of years ago when I first thought about actually getting it published, but I chickened out before pressing the submit button. This time I'm simply not getting round to rereading  the story.

Excuses, excuses.

Well on to another busy week. Hopefully it will get quieter, but who knows.

Nothing

After all that activity, I have done nothing else on getting my short story published. I have printed it out, using courier, 12pt, double spacing, but nothing else. I haven't got round to reading it. This will change in the next couple of days.

I do have a busy week, but there's still time in there to do this. During the last week I was on holiday for several days, so I was busy with that. The days I did work, were incredibly busy. I didn't get to stop at all. Comparing this week to last, this one is very quiet.

Of course it's all comparative. My normal week is much quieter than this week and last week was the busiest I've been in a long time. Hopefully things will slow down and I'll get more time for me. Trouble is I always find that something new comes up to replace the old.

Here's to editing my short story - the next stage in getting it published.

The story

Last night I printed out my short story, in 12 point, Courier, double spaced. All of this helps when proof-reading. Now all I have to do is proof-read it and edit. Sounds so simple doesn't it.

Another step closer to being in print.

Spreadsheet

So my spreadsheet is ready and I have information from all on how to submit stories. Now all I have to do is go over the story one more time...

I'm nervous just thinking about it. I haven't read it in a while and I'm worried I'm going to think it sucks. Maybe it does. Still nothing ventured nothing gained.

I had changed my mind about The New Yorker, but having read comments from people who had submitted to them, I'm going to try there first. I know I will have to wait months for a reply, but that a good excuse for not doing anything.

I'll wait three months, then submit to other publications. Most of these have much shorter waiting times. I did notice that there are still quite a few that take only paper submission via snail mail. I didn't realise that there were so many who still did this.

They still use the old layouts too - no italics and use of double-dash etc. I'm so used to most wanting a .doc or .rtf this came as a bit of a shock.

I've also started two new short stories. Not sure if both will work out, but they are turning into some interesting anyway. I was struggling to start, but I found that using a 'first sentence' generator helped. In fact my current short story started off the same way.

I didn't keep the original short story, but it helped to start of the process. I get the feeling the two new ones will go the same way. I guess I suffer from empty page syndrome. I can't begin, but with a beginning I can do almost anything.

Something remarkable

I actually did something about writing. I looked up markets for my short story. There are five front runners and about five not so front runners. These are all paying markets. I haven't looked at the others yet, so I have more to fall back on.

I want to re-read my short story before I send it to the first one on the list. Then I just have to wait for a reply. I'm going to try and do that tonight. Meanwhile I'm going to make up a spreadsheet with the markets. I'll note there when I actually send out the story and when I get the rejection...

So miracles really do exist.

One thing

I haven't written anything in weeks. I do feel guilty, but I don't feel bad about it. I need to change stuff in my life. I'm just not getting round to it. The status quo is so much easier...

I plan to do one thing on writing this week. I'm not sure what, I still want to look up markets for my short story or I might actually write something. I haven't decided yet.

All I have to do is one thing. That's it.

No writing

Now there's a surprise...not. I went to the Spring Fair on Saturday instead and had a great time. Not to mention that Sunday was Mother's day, so I got to sit around doing nothing for at least some of the day. Of course that shouldn't have stopped me, but I'm in excuse mode right now.

And any excuse is good enough to stop me from writing. Pathetic I know and I know that I'm doing it. I just can't seem to stop. I finished reading An Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, which contains some of the best writing advice available - 'Sit down and write'.

I really like the book, but in all honesty I thought his first book, The Shadow of the Wind, was better. I found An Angel's Game a bit slow getting started. I wasn't reading in the perfect situation, my international train was delayed, so I missed my connection and I had to find another way to reach my destination, so perhaps that affected my judgement. I will re-read it in a month or two and see if I still feel the same way.

Nightmare trip...

...where I didn't even take any writing with me. I have to admit I thought I would have Internet access so I could do some research whilst away. However due to a missing wireless adaptor on my new laptop this never happened and I only realised shortly before leaving. There wasn't enough time to take corrective action, like getting a USB/wireless adaptor or uploading writing files to the laptop.

So I went away and did nothing the whole time. A complete waste. I think that there maybe time this weekend, as I don't think there are any family commitments. And next week is a three-day week followed by a four-day weekend, which should allow for a little more me time.

Time to start getting serious and find solutions instead of problems.

This week

I did absolutely nothing about joining the writing course. I should have done, but I just didn't. I was very busy doing other stuff with my family, but that's no real excuse. I seem to have frozen and I don't mean I have writer's block.

I'm scared to open up the files and start writing again. I'm worried that what I have already written is bad. Sounds stupid, but it's true. I never used to worry about it, but now I decided to get more serious I'm really having problems with my confidence. That's not something I expected.

I have a very busy day coming up tomorrow, which means I can't do anything on or about writing. In fact I won't even get round to doing my usual housework. I'll have to play catchup on Sunday. However I'm going to try to do something on writing on Sunday too. It doesn't have to be much. I think I'll try looking for paying markets for my short story. Bookmark those I'm interested in.

I'll see if I can print it out and re-read it too, for one last edit. I'll qualify that statement by saying that I don't have a printer attached to my computer so I have to transfer the files to the laptop first. Doesn't sound like much work and it isn't, but for some reason it always seems like a big thing.

It's funny how small obstacles can seem so large.

Writing

So what am I doing about actually getting round to writing? Well not much. I am considering doing an on-line/remote course. I do find that these help me get writing again and maybe it's the push I need.

The one I was considering is this one http://newyorkwritersworkshop.com/newest-nyww-online-course-beginnings2, which was recommended by a certain marine animal's blog. Of course she uses her real name nowadays, but, in general, her advice shouldn't be ignored.

I can't do the Skype version (well I could but I wouldn't get much sleep), but they do have the recorded version. I'm in 2 minds at the moment as it's still a lot of money. Time to weigh the benefits versus costs. I'm too tired to make the decision straight away. I might make the right one, but it's better to wait until I'm fully conscious so I judge things a little better.

I just re-read that last statement and am wondering how true it really is...

Still I have a few days off work next week and an opportunity to buy some shoes. I've had a strong desire to buy shoes for a few weeks now and have resisted. But I think it's time my resolve crumbled and I experience that fleeting moment of ecstasy, before the pain of having to actually walk in the shoes cuts in.

None of this has anything to do with writing. Time to take a nap.

No writing

but I did make 2 marble bags for the children and I planted out the tomato, paprika and aubergine plants. By planting out, I mean I put them in larger pots in the greenhouse and set up the bamboo poles for the tomato plants. The plants aren't actually attached to the poles yet, but they will be.

We've just had the back garden redone and we moved the greenhouse. In fact we halved the size of the greenhouse and moved it so that it is against the girls' playhouse. We literally cut the greenhouse in half using metal cutters. Don't you just love thin aluminium framed greenhouses. And the girls' playhouse is the former brick hen house that dates from the twenties. It was in a dreadful state, but after clearing it out, rebuilding the back wall, plastering inside, painting the inside, completely renovating the roof (it was basically removed and replaced) and actually installing glass in the windows, it makes a large playhouse.

Anyway none of this has to do with writing, but it does have to do with doing things. I had broken the habit of doing things, not just at the weekend, but during the weekday evenings. I used to sit in my chair watching TV or reading from when I got home until I went to bed. I'm starting to change that. Little by little, I'm being to do things again. I might even finish the dress I'm making in the next month. I have to do the button holes at some point, and it's been a long time since I made one. I'm terrified.

Tomorrow I have an exam, so today I'm studying. There will be no other writing today. I was going to say no writing, but I just wrote not just this post, and another one for a different blog, so I have written today. Back to the studying. I have to pass.

Posting

I did mean to post at the weekend, but it never happened. I spent my entire Saturday running errands and Sunday recovering from Saturday. I did start to clean up my desktop computer. This isn't helping, because I have to check/try out everything before I delete it...I wouldn't want to get rid of something important.

OK, so I'm just wasting time, which is never a good idea. I am making some progress, but it's slow and not very steady. I did do other things too. Like finishing off the second arm of the dress I'm making and tacking both arms in place.

I am going to start doing things in the evening too. I need to make a simple, draw-string bag, which should only take one evening to complete and will make someone very happy. That's scheduled for tonight. I have no idea if we have any string in, but the rest I can do.

Of course none of this has anything to do with writing, but it is progress. If I can start doing more things, I will start finding time for writing too. At the moment I find ways of not doing anything, therefore I feel less guilty about not writing. If I'm doing stuff, I'll end up writing again. At least that's what I think will happen...

It's hard

I have been ready to submit my short story for some time now, but I just haven't been able to press the send button. I thought that this would be the easy part. The story is written and re-written and review and edited. Somehow I just can't do it.

I'm worried it will be accepted. Sounds weird I know, you're supposed to worry about being rejected, but if it's accepted that means I really can write. I no longer have an excuse not to take my writing seriously, because someone else out there agrees there's something good in what I write.

Stupid isn't it.

However I've also made a few decisions. First I want to quit my job. I'm not going to do it immediately, but I will start looking at other jobs and opportunities. I'm not sure a full-time, nine-to-five job is really for me anymore, though the paycheck comes in very handy. So I'm also going to look at alternative ways of earning money.

Like through writing or translation or maybe a web shop, which has nothing to do with the previous two options, but it is considerably different from anything I do now. Of course this means I need to start pressing the submit button. I feel sick at the thought, but the sooner I do so, the sooner I'll know if it's a viable option or not.

If it isn't, then I still write and take part in NaNoWriMo. I'm not going to stop. I'll probably even still submit, if I get over my fear, every now and then, but I'll concentrate on other ways to make a living. And, yes, I need to earn money.

We've been a to income family for a long time now and we chose that route deliberately. We love old houses, so we bought one. But it takes a lot of time and money, however we have no intention of selling up to buy something modern and easy to maintain, that just isn't us. Old house and old cars are our passion and I just have to find another way to pay for them.

My job isn't such that I have to quit either for my health or sanity, but I'm just not enjoying it as much as I should be and I have no enthusiasm, which is beginning to show. I know it's time to move on. So now is the time to put effort into the writing and submitting process as well as look at other avenues. Maybe I'll get lucky and find the perfect job...

An update...

I'm not doing so good in updating this blog, but here's one.
I've finally found a copy of a short story I wrote about two years ago. I found it on the back-up, stand alone, hard disk we have. Thank the lord for back ups. I'm going to submit this story to magazines etc. and see if anyone wants to publish it. I'm going to start with paying markets first and go down from there. :)

My new, desk-top computer is up and running and it is on this computer that I have put the story. I will put it onto a USB stick just as soon as I have one with some space. I have also re-installed yWriter5 on to this computer.

I have a nasty habit of using my desk top computer for games and I tend to pick playing games over writing. I also own a netbook, which I only use for writing. The idea is that I move the story to the netbook, re-read it, edit as necessary and then submit it for publication.

My work computer is dying, so at the moment the entire contents of its hard drive are on a variety of USB sticks and portable hard drives. Hence I have no space available for the story. (Though having said that and while editing this post, I found a small USB stick, which does have space. So tonight the story gets moved.) I will be getting a new, work laptop in a week or two.

I've started to make a new schedule for writing and I'm actually doing some. Not a lot, but it's a start. I need to get into the habit of writing and that habit needs to be substainable.

I need to move the files around. For NaNoWriMo, I kept the files on a USB stick, but now I want to concentrate on using my netbook and not to write at work if at all possible. Therefore I will copy all the files on to the netbook.

One publication I'm going to check out is 'The New Yorker', because if I'm going to be rejected, I want to be rejected by the best.

And I keep getting sick, which means I'm tired all the time. At the moment a normal day is wake-up, eat, go to work, get home, eat and sleep. Repeat for all working days. I'm starting to feel a bit better - touch wood.

My typing is much worse. I don't seem to be able to 1) put my hands in the right rest positions on the keyboard and 2) hit the right keys when typing. I always seem to be a letter or two off or I press too many of the right key.

Practice make perfect. Now all I need to do is practice.

It's been a while

But I am feeling much better and I have started to write again. At least sometimes.

I'm going to try to start writing a blog. Nothing to do with writing or related subject, so I won't mention it here. It is still in the planning stages. I don't have a title or anything at the moment. Just an idea.

I'm still planning on submitting the short story I wrote a couple of years ago. I need to find it again. I know it's on my home computer, I just have to dig it out.

After I've caught up with that, I'm going to start on my book again. I know it has potential, all I have to do is make it work.

Sounds so simple...

Not so good

So I've not been feeling brilliant lately and have done practically nothing on my writing. I've had great plans and have done very little, including not submitting a short story to a competition. Stupid, but actually not that surprising.

This is because I am apparently suffering from moderate severe anxiety and moderate severe depression. Now there's something to get anxious and depressed about. To be truthful, it's not as bad as it seems. I'm not taking any medication and I won't be taking any.

I will be doing some 'courses' to help me change my way of thinking and reacting to situations. This is CBT - cognitive behavioural therapy and I should see results pretty quickly. It's not a quick fix, but most people see results fairly quickly if they do the work.

So I'm deliberately taking a break from writing and a few other things, while I get this sorted out or at least under control. I'm already feeling better, which may sound odd, but last weekend for the first time in a long time I took a brisk, 9-km walk, which I enjoyed immensely. Exercise does help as long as it's a type of exercise you enjoy.

I used to walk a lot. I lived on the edge of a village and used to walk in the hills frequently. I used to bike in the hills too. Now I live in a village in the middle of farmland. Very flat farm land too. It's now where near as pretty and I feel a bit uncomfortable walking around here. Most of the people who live here don't do that sort of thing. I need to get over this and get out more.

I'll try and keep writing here at least once a week. No promises though.

Christmas break

And it really was a break from everything except my family. I didn't write or read anything. Hopefully this weekend I will print out the entire NaNoWriMo manuscript, then I'll chop it into scenes and rearrange it all over the next few weeks.

As I move stuff around, I'll also rewrite the scenes - add or take away as necessary. I know that not all of them will be used. I put in extra background more for myself than anything else. The ending definitely needs work. I rushed it in November in order to finish on time.

The current version is almost two stories which don't quite come together. I need to make these two sides mesh a little better.

As usual I know what I need to do, I just haven't done it. Anyone noticing a theme here...

I also have a short story I wrote some time ago and as long as I can find it again, I'm going to edit it once more or at least read through it and then I'm going to submit it to magazines for publications. I still need to research this part, so at the moment I have no idea to which ones I will send it, but I will send it. That's my one resolution: to submit this one story for publication.

It would be nice if it is published, but I also want to get some experience in this area.

No more written

I've been busy, just not with writing. I've been catching up on other parts of my life.

Hopefully over Christmas, I will get a chance to work on my writing. I want to go through what I wrote for NaNoWriMo and rearrange the scenes and chapters. To do this I need to write an outline. Well to be fair, I have to do the 2 at the same time so that they match.

If I do get time, I will be able to start the second draft in January. If I don't get round to it, I won't start the second draft until March or later.

Time to get my act together.

Post-NaNoWriMo

I haven't written much at all since the end of November. I did need a break - I will admit to that, but now I need to get back to writing and I'm in two minds.

I had always intended to write some more scenes in December and then edit the scenes into the right order in January, ready to re-write them in February and March. Now I'm wondering if this is the right thing to do. Most of the story is there, but it does need organizing and bringing together.

I'm hald convinced that I should reorganize now and start the re-wrting in January. Trouble I know I don't stick with my descisions, which is exactly what I'm doing. In both cases, some scenes won't make it into the next draft and new scenes will have to be added.

I just feel, right now, that I'm writing stuff that won't be going anywhere and it would be a better use of my time actually fixing the scenes in order and seeing what is missing. As I have never managed to go much beyond the first draft, I think this is a barrier I need to cross.

So it looks like I'm going to start the reorganisation and then write more scenes. If I can do this and end up with a half decent and complete story, I will be happy.

Yesterday

Things went bad at work yesterday, so I got absolutely nothing written.

I'm glad it didn't happen before yesterday, otherwise I would have been much lower on my NaNoWriMo total. So there won't be much happening on the writing front until I get this mess cleared up.

Time to try shifting my writing to evenings and weekends.

It's over

So NaNoWriMo is over for another year. Congratulations if you won! I'm more statisfied with my writing this year than ever before and I seemed to have picked up a writing habit in the process.

I wonder how long it will last. Anyway time to go write another scene.

The end

I just wrote those words. Ywriter says I have written 61080 words in total. I'm about to export and validate.

Here's what NaNoWriMo's validator says 61032 words.

I wrote on 25 days, hence I didn't write on 5 days. On one of the days I was sick, on one I was on a business trip and the other 3 days were pure laziness. This is more active days than any other year to date. I'll analysis the day totals later.

I have to admit I sumarized the last few scenes, so I'll expand on those in the next few weeks. I wrote more than I've ever written in one month. It's also better than anything else I've ever written. I didn't have to pad or use any dirty tricks to reach the total.

I know it's not perfect and I know I still have scenes to write. I also know the whole thing needs to be reorganized and I need to work on the timeline and plot outline. I was originally going to write more scenes in December, but I'm half tempted to go through the plot and write a new outline and rearrange the scenes into the right order.

Well I'm going to take a short break. I might write a little, but no where near on the level I have been. I do want to write every day or most days, just not always on this story.

I won!

Day 30

I'm sick. It's not serious, but I feel really, really bad. I'm tempted to just verify and be damned.

However, I'm going to try to write a bit now and verify at lunchtime or early afternoon. Then I'm going to go to bed and hide from the world for the rest of the day.

So I should still make it to 60k, only about 1500 words to go...

Day 29

It's been quite a good day, though for some reason I found it impossible to produce a capital letter on the first try. I still managed to write 2503 words, bringing my grand total to 58514 words.

Writing was definitely easier today. No idea why. Tomorrow I'm hoping to add about another 2000 words so that my total in the validator reaches above 60k. I know that the validator and word counts from the editor don't exactly match, so if I can be 500 to 1000 words over I should be safe.

I might do a bit more tonight, I will see how things work out. It's going to be a busy evening so there may not be time. Still there's still tomorrow.

Day 28

I have written 2482 words today and my grand total is 56011 words. I'm on track to reach 60k if nothing bad happens. If something does come up, well I'm beyond 50k so I've won anyway. And yes it is backed up.

I will try to write another 500 words today if at all possible. If it is possible, I'll try to update here tonight. I will update NaNoWriMo.

Oh and I'm still not at the end. I was hoping to make it before the 30th, but now I'm not so sure. The ending seems to be getting further away at the moment. Having said that, I'm not sure how much of the scenes I'm writing now will make it into the next draft as the story seems to be shifting direction.

However, maybe this new direction is the right one, and the previous scenes will go. Well I'm making no decisions now, that will have to wait for the new year.

(Updated with the extra words)

Friday and the weekend

Over the last three days I wrote nothing. Not a single word. I didn't even open up the file. I have to admit I enjoyed the break, but it's not exactly what I should be doing.

So I have until midnight on Wednesday to write as much as I can. To be honest I will probably verify sometime on Wednesday afternoon, just to make sure that I do get round to it. It would be a nightmare if I did all this and then I forgot to verify.

So I'm currently at 53529 words. So 60k is not out of the question. Let's hope there's not too much other stuff I have to do in the next few days.

Day 24

I jsut found out that I made a mistake in my spreadsheet and I only had two days when I wrote nothing instead of the three I had been claiming. It may only be a small improvement, but it makes me feel better.

Today I wrote 3027 words, bringing my total to 53529 words.

Tomorrow I am out all day, so I'm not likely to write very much. I will try to write something in the evening, even if it's only 19 words - my minimum above zero word count in one day.

Starting to write the end now. I should hit 60k, I think. Still it's definitely more difficult to write now. I think it's the over-50k-syndrome.

At the end of November I will take a short break, before continuing with writing scenes - some scenes I still have in summary. Hopefully I will still get everything I want written before the end of the year. Then all I have to do is make the scenes into a book...

update

Yesterday I added another 500 words after writing the blog entry. I ended the day with 50502 words.

Today I'm struggling to write anything. I think it's because I've reached the 50k and I know that as far as NaNoWriMo is concerned I've won. When the validator goes live on the 25th, theoretically I can enter my text and seal the deal.

However I haven't finished the draft and I don't want to validate unless it's finished. I now know how it ends and who the murderer is. I've avoided the obvious suspect and made the actions of the killer work with the people involved. I could just write a summary and leave it at that.

But I don't want to. I want to write the scenes. OK maybe not all of them, but enough to make it part of the novel rather than an outline. I'm hoping to add about 10k before the end of November. It would be really cool if I could make it to 70000 words, but that really is pushing it.

In December I'll probably keep writing the first draft scenes as there are some I haven't completed yet. Then in January next year, I'll start cutting and pasting the scenes until a book emerges. I've written quite a bit in a linear time line, but that makes no sense for the storyline. Some will become flashbacks, other scenes will simply not make it into the book, but it was still worth writing them.

Once everything is in the right order, I'll go through each scene and chapter again. This time I'll rewrite them. For some this will only be a tweaking, but for others it will mean a complete rewrite.

After that, and if I get that far, I'll need to send it out to beta readers. Then it's to the last edit run. Of course this is all very far in the future, but this story is the best I've ever written and that may not be saying much, but it means a lot to me.

This one I will finish.

Day 23

So far I've written 2502 words, giving a total of 50045 words. I broke the 50k. I will still be writing and it would be nice to reach at least 60k before the end of November.

What I would like to manage is to write at least 5000 words per day on four of the remaining November days. This is including today. But I don't think I will. I'm leaving in half an hour and I will be busy for the rest of the day. Tomorrow is a possibility as are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week. However nothing can go wrong on those days and somehow I don't see that happening.

Work has been extremely busy and frustrating. Home has just been busy. I will continue writing after the 30th until I have all the scenes written. Then I'll cut and paste them until I have a coherent story. Then it's time for the first rewrite. Hopefully this will be at the beginning of next year. I might take a break in between, but I'm worried I won't be able to get started again.

Please ignore any typing errors if you see them, for some reason things always get worse towards the end of NaNoWriMo. I can't seem to type the simplest word without making a mistake.

Day 22

Yesterday I wrote 5019 words, bring my total to 47543 words. If things go well today, I will break the 50k mark. If that doesn't happen today it will happen tomorrow, but I think today. I'm very happy about this.

I think I will end up with about 60000 words by November 30th. Less than I originally hoped for, but more than I've ever written during NaNoWriMo. The story is interesting as are the characters. This one I'm really going to try to transform into a readable book that can be submitted to agents.

I will probably start with writing some more scenes before I start cutting, rewriting and reorganizing the ones I have. At the end I hope to have a book of about 75000 words.

This year has gone so much better than any other year to date.

Day 21 update

I managed to write a grand total of 19 words yesterday. That is pathetic, but at least I wrote something. I did not update NaNoWriMo.

Let's hope today goes better. Trouble is I know I'm going to be busy again, because of the trip last week. Should be quieter from Wednesday onwards, so my word count should increase dramatically then.

Day 21

So far today I have written 0 words. And there is nothing missing from that previous sentence. Work has been completely crazy and I have not had time to do anything else.

Since last Wednesday I have written 0, 2207, 774, 793, 1210, 0 words up to and including today. Not the best of records, but except for the day I traveled to my business meeting and today, I have written everyday. I'm hoping to write tonight as well.

In my original plan, I should have written 63000 words, or at least to have been above the 50k. I'm at 42505 words, which is not bad. I'll definitely make it to 50k, but I'll have to summarize more scenes than I originally intended, so that I can finish on time.

Not a disaster, just annoying. I didn't always get a chance to update NaNoWriMo, but yWriter's log keeps track of my daily totals. A wonderful tool it is too.

Next few days...

I will be leaving for a business trip in 5 hours time. I will try to at least write the minimum between then and now, but no guarantees as I have to prepare for the trip first. Also I will have much less time to write. I'll be working about 12 hours a day and then there's the 7 hour drive each way (today and Friday).

And yes it's by car, so no chance to write on the way. I am not happy about this, but sometimes you just have to do things you don't like doing and I haven't had to go on a business trip since the summer. I know it's not that bad, but right now I keep thinking 'why me?'

Day 15

I've written 5494 words so far today, bringing my total to 37521 words. I should break 50k in the next three days, if I keep up this rate. I probably won't write any more today. I'm going quite fast, which was never the intention I meant to go at a more steady pace, so that I didn't get lost.

However having said that, the story is going very well and is on track. I'm in the middle section at the moment, which is good and where it should be. I don't think I'll make it to 80000 words. I might make it to 75000 words, which isn't too bad. Anything over 50k is a bonus and I'll be happy.

I think this is my best year yet. I had a rough outline and some subplots, a good storyline, and interesting characters. It's not turning out how I originally thought it would, but it is staying inside the broad lines and the characters are speaking for themselves.

I hope this continues.

Yesterday

I ended up writing 5271 words, giving me a total of 32027 words. It was the first time I'd written over 5000 words in one day. I'm not particularly keen to continue with such a large amount, however I still need to catch up if I want to reach the 80 000 word goal.

Let's hope today goes as well.

Day 14

Today was a good day. So far, I've added 4765 words, bringing my grand total to 31521 words. I'm hoping to write some more later, but I wanted to put an update here first. So I have less that 20000 words to go to make the 50k. In that respect, I'm ahead of the game.

I'm slightly behind my optimistic goal, which called for 3000 words per day. I'm currently on a 2251 words per day average. I did know I wouldn't write everyday, but this is still lower than I was hoping for at this stage. I would like to write another 500 words today and then write a similar amount tomorrow.

I have to go on a business trip on Wednesday, so I am unlikely to be able to keep up the word count. I'll try to compensate the following weekend, but if last weekend is any indication that won't happen. Still it might...

The weekend

went badly. I wrote 240 words on Saturday and 19 0 on Sunday (apparently I didn't save my 19 words). I didn't bother to update NaNoWriMo. I knew I would have off days. Still my total is now 26756 words, which means I'm still on target to reach 50k before the end of the month.

I am, of course, behind on my goal of 80k by the end of November, but that was wishful thinking. There are just too many things on my plate for me to keep up with writing 3000 words every day. Still I'm hoping I'll do better today.

The worst is that from Wednesday I will be away on a business trip. I should be able to get something written, but it's unlikely I will be anywhere near my target for those 3 days. I'll try to catch up over the weekend, but if this weekend was anything to go by, that just won't happen.

Day 10

Well the day isn't not over yet, but before I forget to write an update, here it is. Today I have written 3150 words, bringing my total to 25509 words.

I had originally hoped to reach 30000 words today, but due to illness I didn't. I don't consider this a failure for two reasons. The first is that I have written more consistently this year than ever before. I have written every day even if it was just a few words.

The second is that I'm enjoying writing. This year is a joy. I'm enjoying the characters, the plot, the setting, the everything. This is in complete contrast to last year when I hated the whole thing.

I know I can write to a deadline, but I know I'm lousy at writing without one. Without a deadline, everything else seems suddenly so much more appealing. This year's NaNoWriMo is changing that, because I'm changing the way I write.

I write in smaller chunks - just 500 words at a time. These can quickly add up and I don't need to set aside a large chunk of time to write thousands of words in one sitting.

I write every day. In previous years, I wrote 5k a day for ten days, normally the last ten days. This year I want to write almost every day.

I keep back ups on all my available computers, but my main file is on my USB stick. This means that I can use any computer to write on. I also have a netbook, which allows me to write almost anywhere. I used to keep my main file on my work laptop and a back up on the USB. This made it difficult to write at weekends as I didn't always take the laptop home with me.

What I've done, in essence, is to make it easier to write and it's having an effect.

Day 9

Spent  most of the day asleep. However I did get to write this afternoon. I added 2167 words, bringing my total to 22359 words.

I'm still behind my perfect target of 3000 words per day, but still on target to finish 50k well in time. I'm hoping to catch up a bit over the next few days, but I'll have to see how ill I am.

Day 8

I'm really not very well, but I did add 669 words to my total. I might add a little more later, but maybe not. I can barely keep my eyes open. So my total is 20192 words. A little behind my perfect total, but still way ahead of my expectations.

At home tomorrow and I'll take my netbook upstairs tonight, so I should be able to add some more tomorrow.

Sick

I'm definitely sick and will go home soon. I still hope to do some writing today, but I don't think it will be as much as other days.

Day 7

Due to a rush at the end of the day, I never updated my blog. So yesterday I wrote 2314 words. Bringing my total word count to 19523 words. If I was writing 3000 words per day I should be at 21000 words at this time. I am instead averaging 2789 words per day, which is not bad.

So far I have written every single day, which is also a record. I don't think I will manage every day in November, but I'm hoping to get close. I know I won't write on either the 18th or the 25th as I have a trip that will happen on one of those two days. Date is yet to be fixed.

Happy. Happy. Joy. Joy.

NaNoWriMo update

So for the first time ever, I believe, I actually wrote on the weekend. Not a huge amount, but more than ever before. Beating zero words isn't exactly hard, but still it's an improvement.

On Saturday I added 1635 words and on Sunday 2051 words. Bring the grand total to 17209 words. This is slightly under my target of 18000 words by Sunday, an average of 3000 words per day. But I'm happy with it and that's all that matters.

Now for today's writing...

Day 3

I didn't blog yesterday simply because I didn't have time. I added about 2500 words to my total, which ended up at 10007 words. Not bad for three days or writing. I wrote less because it was a busy day and I had less time to write. The writing is still going well and is not slowing down at all.

Let's see how long that continues for. Today I'm hoping for at least 3000 words. It would be nice to do more, but I have a busy afternoon/evening so I don't think that's going to happen. And for the first time ever, I'm going to write at the weekend too.

In previous years I have only ever written on weekdays, during quiet periods at work. This year I'm trying to be a bit more structured and write less per day, but for more days in the month. I normally write the 50000 words in ten days randomly spread out through the month.

This year I'd like to reach 80000 words or there about. I'm using a new editor, yWriter, which allows me to write in scenes. These I'll rearrange later on into the correct order. I find I write better if I write the first draft using a linear time line, however the story works better with flashbacks. I find I can lose consistency if write a later flashback before and earlier one.

If I don't use some of the scenes, that easy and I can still add in new ones. But seeing them laid out in the correct time line means I don't have the reaction happening before the action.

Day 2

And I'm currently at a total of 7246 words. So I've written 3213 words so far today.

I have changed my goals again. I still of course want to write the minimum. That is the basic goal, which won't change. However my daily goal is now 3000 words. If I do this every day then I will write 90000 words in November.

To be honest I don't think I will reach 90000 words, but I hope to get close to this total. I know I won't be able to write everyday, but I should manage to write most days. And some days I will write more than others.

I'm still finding it astonishingly easy to write at the moment and I still have lots of scenes lined up. I actually know what is going to happen next.

I will admit to only writing the backstory at the moment. It will be placed at appropriate points in the story to illustrate some points. But I'm writing the whole thing in chronological order at the moment and I'll move the scenes around later on. I'm also trying to write more than I actually need. I think this will help too.

So currently I'm very happy with my progress and excited by the project. Can this last?

Day 1

And it's a good one. I have written 4033 words. I'm not going to add to it again today. I think 4000 words a day is a good total to aim for. I would like to have a grand total of about 80000 words or more by the end of November, which might even be possible.

Of course I am having a good day and I'm pretty sure there will be bad ones too. Not to mention days off too. But if I make it to 50000 words, I'll be happy. If I make to 80000 words, I'll be ecstatic.

The whole thing just flowed today. I almost can't believe it.

Not starting off too well...

After being so tired last night that I forgot all about writing to being woken up twice in the night by a power failure and a mouse, I'm not getting off to a good start for NaNoWriMo.

I completely forgot my files as well. I'll start without them and hope that what I write now matches what I wrote then. It's mostly names that I forget and sometimes I transpose characters.

Still here's hoping I make it to 1700 words. Making it to 5000 words would be fantastic, but I'm not betting on that.

One day to go

I'm still behind on my plot outline for NaNoWriMo. I'll write some more this evening and then it's time to write the real thing.

I'm a little bit nervous and a little bit excited. I have a good feeling about this year. I hope it works out. I'll aim for 5000 words a day, with the 1700 words as a minimum. I'll take most weekends off - probably. I can't ignore the family completely.

With luck and hard work, I'll end up with a reasonable first draft at the end. This time I'm going to work had to write in scenes for the most part and write a lot less of the narrative summary. If I'm not interested in a scene I tend to just summarize it quickly with the intent to go back to it, but somehow that never happens.

This year it will happen. (Maybe if I say/type it enough times I actually will do it.)

A few days off...

Plus some computer troubles, means I haven't posted in a while. So much for trying to post twice a week. I'm behind on my outline for NaNoWriMo, but I will get that done in time. In fact I could use what I have now, but I'd like to add a bit more detail if I can.

Salvaging my computer was good as it meant I didn't have to spend lots of money on a new one. It just took most of my time off to fix, which was not so good. I don't know how stable it will be, but I'm hoping for at least another six months, maybe a year if I'm lucky.

I just hope this year's plot clicks. By that I mean that I can connect with the plot and the characters. I seem to manage one or the other, but not both at the same time. This is annoying and the reason I have never bothered an agent to date. It would be a waste of time for both of us.

Instead I waste my own time trying to find the write novel to send out. If I write enough I'll get there. I know I will. (Don't you just love positive affirmations - well it might work.)

Characters

I love inventing characters. I find that it’s no work at all and it seems to come easily to me. I have no idea why, but it is also the reason that I always start off with characters and let the plot follow in its own good time.

All of my characters – at least I can’t think of an exception at the moment – are a result of many small bits of information and snippets of stories. All this merges together into one distinct character. I don’t use the normal ways of creating a character and background. I don’t write a biography and I don’t answer the 30/50/100 or more questions that some sites give to help produce a well-rounded character.

Instead I write little scenes. These are defining moments for the character. They may show how mean they are or how generous. They help explain what makes that character who they are. I do include some aspects of a biography, such roughly how old they are, but unless there is some need for it, I tend to leave that alone.

I will say that if something becomes important in a story, such as the heroine having red hair, green eyes and is exactly 24 years 3 months and 16 days old, then I do add these facts to the character sheet. And yes, I do have character sheets. They just don’t look like the examples you see on the internet or in books.

I normally outline four to five characters in detail for each story. There are far more than this in one novel, but the others don’t have such a detailed outline as I may only use one or two aspects of their character. But in these cases, they are noted in the minor character section of my notes. I do this because I have a nasty habit of using the same name more than once. I tend to forget these rather quickly.

I have fun creating characters and if I get really stuck I simply fall back to character creation. For some reason this is easier than some other aspects of writing, like sticking to a timeline…

I didn't write much at all over the weekend and yet I know I was busy the whole time. Well most of it anyway. Time seems to fly by at the moment. At this rate I won't even get my outline finished before NaNoWriMo.

That's not entirely true as the main story is outlined, but the subplots and extras have yet to be added. I might try to get the scenes worked out too, but that might be a step too far. I don't want to end up in the same situation as last year. I hope it goes better this time.

Inspiration and writing

I have to admit that I have no problem finding inspiration. Every day there is something that gets my mind whirring. I don't always record it. If I don't think it stands out enough I leave it alone. If I wrote every thing done I wouldn't have room in my bookcases for books.

Some do make it into one of the three places I use to record things. The first is as a file on my computer. The second is my A4 student notepad, from which I can tear the pages so they can be added to a folder and the last is my small, hardback notebook that travels everywhere with me. In fact I have three small notebooks as I have a terrible habit of losing them. It takes a while to rediscover them.

Each of my characters gains something from these snippets. Perhaps not the full character comes from here, but everyone is affected somehow. And from my collection of characters, comes the plot. I write murder mysteries so the victim(s) and the murderer tend to develop naturally from the pool I have created.

Sometimes I find that it isn't working out at all, but if I replace a character or two then things start to go better... I don't delete characters. They go into a sort of hibernation, so that when I need one I take a look at what I have in stock and see if there's a good fit. Some characters seem to stay in my mind more than others and develop more. They tend to end up as either a victim or a killer.

I know that there are those who are all about plot and I did try this for last year's NaNoWriMo. I had a good, complicated plot all mapped out. All the subplots too and then I added the required characters. I hated the whole thing. It never seemed to flow and everything felt wrong. I know there were no plot holes, but to be honest, I would prefer them to the uninspired drivel I produced.

There was nothing wrong with it. There was nothing to make it stand out either. It was a story I've read before so many times. Only those were better written. I did finish NaNoWriMo, but only just and it was hard. This year I'm going back to what I do best - plot holes and the rest.

Now I'm not saying that plotting is wrong. I do now plot a bit more. But I can't plot and then add in characters. It just doesn't work for me. But no matter how you write, inspiration is out there just waiting for you to grab it.

Blog-chain

I've joined the NaNo blog-chain. You can join too. The link is here, then just follow the simple instructions at the bottom of the list of blogs.

In case the above link fails to work, the correct URL is:-

http://ameliajune.net/the-nano-blogchain/

Annoyed

I don't seem to be able to paste text from the clipboard into the blogger editor. If anyone knows how to do this, let me know. It's starting to get annoying as I do quite a bit of writing off-line. In fact my main writing computer never connects to the Internet and I did this deliberately so that I wouldn't get distracted while writing.

blog posts

Instead of thinking about and writing the outline for NaNoWriMo, I've been thinking about and writing outlines for blog posts. Not exactly what I thought would happen, but I am writing a bit more. I'm slowly clearing my evenings and a bit on weekends so that I can write more.

I'll post another short post on Friday.

Plot of character? How is your writing driven?

I actually started off writing about inspiration, but I got sidetracked, so I decided to leave that for another day and write about plot versus character instead. Below is what I wrote...

I have thousands of ideas floating around in my head, some of which I write down. These are plots or people by prototypes, which can be expanded as needed. Part of this is due to how I write. I always start off with characters and the plot develops from there.

I find if I have interesting characters, I never have to make things happen, they will occur on their own. In fact, if I get stuck at all I put some or all of my characters in a room and see what happens.

For example, in my NaNoWriMo outline for this year, I started off with a character similar to one I had read about in a news story. It was about a man who's dead body had been lying for months in his flat. Not an unusual story except that the man had not been a recluse. He was in fact an obnoxious weirdo, who was disliked by everyone including he own family.

Most of the neighbours assumed he had been rehoused by the council, His family weren't talking to him and didn't really make a huge effort to contact him. It was only when a workman needed access to the flat to fix a leak that his body was discovered.

This started me thinking about all the horrible people I know and the victim of my NaNoWriMo was born, well died. She, in fact, starts off dead. But her nastiness leads to all sorts of possibilities and without her needing to go over the top in any of her actions. This gives me a large pool of suspects. It's a murder mystery in case you were wondering.

Everything I've written has always started with one or more characters. It's the only way I seem to be able to write. Last year I tried starting with a plot. I did write the 50 000 words, but it was a slog and not one I want to repeat. The result is incredibly bland. There aren't any plot holes, as in my other attempts, but it will send you to sleep quickly.

Not much...

has happened. I haven't written that much more on the plot. I need to, I don't have all the sub-plots yet, I just didn't do much this weekend. Instead I enjoyed a beautiful autumn day with my family. And did some housework.

Now back to writing...

Posting

I don't want to tempt fate or anything, but I'm hoping to start posting twice a week starting next week. The first post will be as is, an update on what if anything I have written towards a book or NaNoWriMo. The second post will be different and on a writing subject, such as inspiration or character vs. plot.

I'm not sure how long this will last, but it's worth a try.

Plot

I've got the plot sort of worked out. No details yet, but a time line and a storyline. I have to work out the sub-plots and other details. I need to also do some research into dead bodies, time of death and that sort of thing. It's a murder mystery by the way. I mention this just in case you haven't worked it out yet.

I haven't got an updated word count, because it's all plot, time line or storyline. Still there is progress and it's not even October yet. And of course I've remembered to post again :)

Eek

I just realized it's almost 3 months since I posted. That's terrible. I just added a note to every Monday's to-do-list from now until November to write a post. In it I will say what I have or haven't done and I'll include a word count no matter what.

Today's word count is 259. That's how many I wrote yesterday. Today I hope to at least double that number.

It's been a very long time...

since I last posted. I went on holiday and did all the usual stuff, but the one thing I didn't do was write. Yesterday that changed.

For some weird and wonderful reason I thought NaNoWriMo was October - stupid I know. Of course it's November. However I had a slight panic attack when I thought it was only a couple of weeks away and I hadn't even thought about what to write.

My exact thought was 'I have no plot or even a single character...maybe that will work...damn complicated though...might work...let's see' and I started to write. OK not a huge amount, just a few hundred words, but it's more than I written in months.

I don't know why I stopped writing. Probably it was because it just seemed like too much trouble. By the end of the last school year I was getting very tired and stressed. Not a real excuse, but I think the break has done me some good.

What it all amounts to is a very complicated plot for NaNoWriMo, which will span 80 years, with five or six separate stories that will weave in and out of each other. Did I mention it's complicated. I have no idea if it'll work, but if it does it could be the best thing I've ever written.

Should be fun to find out. So back to writing the plot summary, which will be in the form of a time line spanning the eighty odd years that the book will span. The actual book will not follow the time line, but the stories will be revealed in flashbacks. Maybe flashbacks is not the right word, still the actual story line will move back and forth through the time line.

Hi, ho, hi, ho, it's off to write we go...

long time, no blog

I've been writing scenes. Quite a few and new ones at that. I've also planned out a timeline, which means it is now easier to write some parts. I'm about halfway through and I am slightly stuck. I'm not sure which scenes should come next. I've been thinking about it for over a week now and I still can't get them in order.

I've decided to start writing the scenes from the first half and see if it all fits together, perhaps then I will see the second half more clearly. Of course the fact that I keep changing the climax of the story isn't helping. A little distance is needed.

update

I added approximately 1500 words last week. Not a huge amount, but not bad either. Currently, I write for just one hour a week. I know I need to write more. I just have trouble getting motivated. I'm so tired in the evenings that all I want to do is sit down and vegetate.

I worked out that if I continue at this rate, I will finish after one year. Better than never, but could be improved.

writing

When I first started this blog, I was worried that I would write here more than anywhere else. In fact it's turning out to be the opposite. I'm actually writing my novel and I hardly ever write here. I never really think about it to be honest.

I suppose that's a good thing, though the purpose of this blog was to give me more accountability. Still my writing has improved no end and even though I'm still not writing as much as I like, I am writing.

Chapter 4 is currently being written. I won't say re-written as I am changing almost everything except the broad out line. Not much is left from the original version. I'm not allowing myself to write anything in narrative summary, which is about all my previous drafts have ever amounted to. OK, so there was dialogue, but not much else.

This version is in scenes with action, dialogue and descriptions - totally different from any previous version. At times I have to force myself to write, but it is working.

I'm bad.....

at writing blog posts. I can't believe it's been so long since I updated. I have done some writing and I can honestly say that the quality of my writing is much improved.

OK, I'm not going to win any awards, but I am writing scenes and not just narrative summaries, which was my favorite way of getting out of the bits I wasn't enjoying.

I am now up to 6000 words of a novel. Here's to many more.