Words Written Today: 1679
Total Words Written: 3301
All action today! The second (technically third, though the first is only two sentences long) chapter, introducing a new character or two. I say or two, as I may or may not use one of the other characters later on. When I actually have a clue what I'm doing. Actually, I am starting to float some bigger ideas on the table beyond "fill this chapter", which will be handy when it comes to the whole "plot" nonsense: that point beyond which I can't just keep introducing new characters in new situations.
As for the writing, I must say that I feel appalled by the level of it, though I hope it's just a case of cracking the joints, as it were. Not that I should expect any kind of masterpiece given the time constraint.
Speaking of time, it's nice to find myself in that time-compressing writing groove again, even though I'm not thrilled at the idea of my pre-work and lunch time zipping by so quickly.
How are you other people faring? Mark? Andrea? Morgan? Leon? Justin? Bruce? Sharla? Jon (if you had inspiration)? Anybody?
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Saturday, January 03, 2009
JaNoWriMo Update Day 3
Friday, January 02, 2009
JaNoWriMo Update Day 2
Words Written Today: 1622
Total Words Written: 1622
Phew! Not too difficult to hit the count today. I imagine the problems will come at the point where I have to actually start tying things together. I've taken a "wing it" approach to this, and I'm not sure if it's one I will take again if I try this in November. Until this morning I really had no idea what I was going to do. I had been vacillating between fantasy and horror, just for the fact that they were genres I could sink my teeth into and have some fun writing. On the walk down to Angel this morning I settled on a fantasy/horror mash-up and had an opening sentence, as well as a name for the protagonist. Then as I wrote the first chapter, it all started to change. By the time I had hit the word limit, it had morphed into a weird kind of fantasy/Indiana Jones type of thing. I suspect it'll veer back to horror, but right now it's taken quite an unexpected turn, which is kind of exciting.
How is it? Bloody awful, truth be told. Full of holes already, glossing over certain practicalities (the ins and outs of desert travel isn't really my forte) and not particularly well written. The tone strays a bit and I'm not sure the single character I've introduced so far is convincing in the slightest. I'm sure looking back on it later I'll find myself being a little kinder, but right now it feels like a pile of shit. But I couldn't be happier, because I've started, and in starting it has all become a great deal more achievable. Not to mention the fact that, clumsy or no, there are already salvageable ideas going on.
So, I'm underway! The 1600 word/day target has led to me adopting a 1600-ish word/chapter approach, which feels like a nice breakdown. Not hard and fast as a rule, but it makes it feel like I'm writing a very short story every day.
Let's see how positive I'm feeling tomorrow, eh?
So come on fellow JaNoWriMo people! How are you doing?
Thursday, January 01, 2009
JaNoWriMo Update Day 1
Words Written Today: 0
Total Words Written: 0
Not a cracking start, but then I had suspected this day would be a write-off (har har). So, kick it into gear tomorrow morning! Scarily, I still haven't decided what I'm going to write. I guess I'll find out soon enough.
Okay fellow JaNoWriMo folks! Gimme an update in the comments below.
Friday, December 12, 2008
It Was Nice To Get Married And All....
But I can't believe I missed this!
(Look familiar Bruce?)
(Tom Waits, live in Dublin earlier this year)
(Drunk In Charge Of YouTube - DICOYT)
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Things I Did Yesterday 06/12/08
Home alone! I do hope someone tries to break in (again)! Yesterday I:
- Crawled out of bed at about 8.30am. Got myself ready then wandered down to Angel to do some writing.
- Wandered through Borders and Waterstones, obsessed with the idea that I needed a new fantasy novel to read. Found a few things I liked the look of, but didn't actually buy anything.
- Walked home, buying Alex some flowers on the way!
- Spent some time reading reviews of the novels I'd liked the look of. Productive.
- Wandered up to get the laundry Alex had dropped off. Came home and did the dishes. Jesus...are you still actually reading this?
- Worked through the NaNoWriMo site, emailed those that are keen to take part (except you, 2treesandahorse, because although I feel I should know who you are, I can't for the life of me remember. Sorry!) and then cleared the rest of my Inbox.
- Went through various guides on stripping down Windows XP using nLite and creating USB stick installs. Did both.
- Went to bed. Hells bells! Was that really it?
Friday, December 05, 2008
Things I Did Yesterday 05/12/08
Bugger, I actually wrote one of these for Tuesday but never got around to posting it up! Oh well, yesterday I:
- Woke up at 5.30am with a mind toward getting into town good and early to write before work, which I started at 8am. Wound up rolling out of bed at 6.15am after deciding that some extra sleep was more important.
- Worked. JD is away this week, so I did an 8-7 stretch. Lots of good comics this week though, which is always nice. Also, as I don't often do the long Thursdays any more, I saw a lot of customers I haven't seen in a while, which is nice.
- Came home, grabbing a lamb & chicken shish on the way (Alex was out). Dithered about watching something substantial but didn't. The highlight, however, was this week's Screenwipe, which was a special episode of interviews with telly writers. Good and inspiring, as these things should be.
- Went to bed and had some freaky dreams that kept waking me up, but damned if I can remember then. From the state of the pillows though, it would seem as though I had attempted to crawl caterpillar-like up the wall at the top of the bed. Oh when will I be a beautiful butterfly?
