NaNo Diaries: Days Twenty Five to Twenty Seven

Morning Pages Wake Up Call: 6.15 am

Word Count: 2100 (Total - 50,950

Treats: A Story Binder download (for another post)

Other Activity: Uploading my novel to Createspace Grrrrr.

Word of the Day: ONIOMANIA noun 1. an uncontrollable desire to buy things.

Yay, I hit the magic 50k mark this morning! Feeling oh, so chuffed. I haven't been posting because I've also been formatting my next publication for release next Tuesday 1st December. I love the process of self publishing my book, I feel very much in control of its destiny. Quite a scary place to be and I'm sure with practice it will get easier. Needless to say I'm on another learning curve even though I've been here before... 

Now for a large glass of something,

Ciao for Now

NaNo Diaries - Day Twenty Four

Freya, a proper softie...

Morning Pages Wake Up Call: 6.43 am - very dark and grey!

Word Count: 1800 (Total - 44,636)

Treats: A 2016 Calendar - doesn't take much to make me happy

Other Activity: Proofing my book with my lovely husband, by the fire

Word of the Day: SPLENDIFEROUS adjective 1. splendid; magnificent; fine.

We share our lives with several animals, as I've probably mentioned before. The picture above is Freya, our four year old Italian Sheepdog. Yes, she's only four years old and is a mighty giant of a beast who thinks she's a lap dog! This is her on our bed, and remember we have another dog like Freya, Bertie who is not as big and the Naughty Nell to keep us company. Freya likes to make her entrance about 5am (having slept on the sofa until then). She paws at my side of the bed until I make room for her by my feet. Nell usually ends up in the middle of us! And I won't mention the kitties... No wonder I wake with a crick in my neck.

My lovely husband and soul mate, Simon has been helping with the final polish of The Good{Expat}Life today. He's gone through it with a fine tooth comb and it's amazing after three edits how many errors have slipped in unintentionally! We've had quite a laugh sat by the fire with him and his red pen, me and the laptop and a fire burning in the corner... cosy editing. 

Ciao for Now

NaNo Diaries: Day Twenty Three

Morning Pages Wake Up Call: 6.30am, a bit of a scrabble
Word Count: 1200 (Total - 42,836)
Treats: On line Christmas Shopping
Other Activity: Repairing winter veg after high winds
Word of the Day: GRATULATION noun 1. a feeling of joy 2. the expression of joy

Before I moved to Italy, I always used to be a last minute kind of Christmas shopper. It's not the time of year I particularly relish - bah humbug - I think it's far too commercial. One of the surprises here is that the lead time to the big day is much shorter, usually starting at the beginning of December, though I have noticed things creeping into the supermarkets the past couple of weeks. We usually do our Christmas shopping on-line, as the postage is pretty hefty for large parcels. So this week I'll be going shopping, armed with my trusty mouse and laptop. It's not quite the same but at least there are no queues and no constant replays of Christmas tunes... told you I didn't like it!

So we're into the last leg of NaNoWrimo and many of my writer friends are approaching the target figure of 50K words. It's amazing what we can do when we put our minds to it. I noticed a statistic on my personal dashboard over at NaNo this morning. Apparently I've written over 225 thousand words since I first joined. That's quite a lot of words. The hard work of course isn't now, it's when we go back to the project and realise that it's going to need a lot of work to kick it into shape. But that's the real writing. 
Ciao for Now

NaNo Diaries: Day Twenty Two

Morning Pages Wake Up Call: 6.30am - but stayed in bed to do them (not easy with two dogs, a cat and my lovely Simon for company!
Word Count: 3600 (Total - 41,636)
Treats: A glass of Prosecco after a Writers Abroad Chat on Skype
Other Activity: Reading (for pleasure) - Girl on The Train
Word of the Day:  PENURIOUS adjective 1. extremely stingy; parsimonious; miserly.
2. extremely poor; destitute; indigent.

It's Sunday, and that means there is a roast in the oven filling our tiny little house with mouth watering smells, I have a glass of prosecco in hand and... I'm still in my PJ's. Even though my life is so different in so many ways from when I lived in the UK, some habits die hard. Weekends are still special and Sunday particularly so. It's the time we catch up with family and friends via Skype and we just chill out. I have done some writerly things, I've managed a small NaNo contribution, with the help of my feline and canine friends, but essentially a Sunday is about time out.

In terms of my NaNo project, I've decided that the next eight stories are going to be just enough words to reach my target by the deadline. I've committed to publishing a project I've been dithering with for months, probably longer. The Good{Expat}Life will go live on December the 1st - yes eight days to go - I need to give myself a bit of space. I should have thought about this before of course but there you go. Life takes a course of its own. A writer has to be flexible...  

Ciao for Now

NaNo Diaries: Day Twenty

Morning Pages Wake Up Call: 6.30am
Word Count: 2400 (Total - 38,036)
Treats: Movie Time!
Other Activity: Movie Time!
Word of the Day: PANGLOSSIAN adjective
1. characterized by or given to extreme optimism, especially in the face of unrelieved hardship or adversity.



I'm reading The Artists Way over several months along with other writers in a Motivation group. It's the reason I started my Morning Pages again, but it also talks about having Artist's Dates. Doing something you wouldn't normally do or allow yourself to do. I must admit, I find it hard to find something. I like staying at home, dog walking and spending time with my husband. I must sound really boring but that's me, particularly in winter time. So later on this afternoon we're going to watch a movie! Shock! horror! Living in Italy it's not easy for us to go to the cinema. It wasn't something we did very often in the UK but it was always a treat. We'll wait until after the dogs are walked... and the popcorn is ready to pop. 

We're about to enter the final leg of NaNo and today is the day when NaNoers can register their projects if they've reached the target of 50k words. I shall reach the target early, but not this early and I shall continue until the final day, as I have thirty prompts to write. I don't feel pressured at all, I suppose that could be because I'm enjoying it so much. 

Ciao for Now,

NaNo Diaries: Day Nineteen

Naughty Nell Hiding...

Morning Pages Wake Up Call: 7am (set my clock an hour later than it was...)
Word Count: 2100 (Total - 35,636)
Treats: A new pencil arrived from Amazon, love it!
Other Activity: Making French Baguettes for supper
Word of the Day: EMPYREAL adjective 1. pertaining to the sky; celestial: empyreal blue. 2. pertaining to the highest heaven in the cosmology of the ancients



Thursday is the day I ring my Dad in the UK. He's eighty one and lives on his own, though I do have a brother who is minutes away and three other siblings who are scattered around. One of the downsides of living in another country is the constant worry about those you've left behind. So phone calls, Skype and Facetime is very important. 
As you can see, Naughty Nell is a constant source of amusement. Here she is hiding beneath the sofa throw.

As well as doing my NaNo target, I've been working towards my first publication of six. Yes, six that's right. I shall be publishing The Good{Expat}Life on 1st December...and have been working on the cover today. More will follow tomorrow.

Ciao for Now

NaNo Diaries: Days Fifteen to Eighteen

Abbadia Fiastra - Wooden Walkway

Morning Pages Wake Up Call: 5.20 am (dogs barking at wild pigs)
Word Count: 2200 (Total - 33,536)
Treats: A new calendar for 2016
Other Activity: A walk around  the Abbadia Fiastra
Word of the Day: SLUGABED noun 1. a lazy person who stays in bed long after the usual time for arising.







I'm behind with my diaries for good reason. After the atrocities of Paris, I had the sad news that another writer friend from Writers Abroad had died on Sunday night. Doreen was the third member we've lost this year. I hope she's joining Jany and Mary, with a glass of her favourite tipple and a good book.

It's November yet in the sunshine today, the temperatures peaked to an unseasonal 30 degrees. We had a walk around one of our places, Abbadia Di Fiastra. It's part of land that has been owned by the monks for centuries and in nearby Urbisaglia there are Roman ruins that they are excavating. It's only about twenty minutes drive away and we go often, accompanied of course, by Naughty Nell.

Day 18 of NaNo and despite the sadness that's enveloped me over the last few days, I've managed to keep on track. I know that my writer friends would approve, indeed I can hear them shouting words of encouragement (unrepeatable here of course). There are a few 'stories' which already feel longer than a short and I'm encouraged by that. In fact I have to sit on my hands to stop myself scribbling on and on. So not a bad sign.

Ciao for Now