NaNo Diaries: Day Thirteen

Evil Eye Tree in Turkey said to ward off harm

Morning Pages Wake Up Call: 6.17am
Word Count: 2454 (Total - 26,250)
Treats: Simon making risotto for lunch, Chestnut and Mushroom
Other Activity: Not a lot, feeling a tad under the weather.
Word of the Day: SAPORIFIC adjective 1. producing or imparting flavour or taste.




Friday the thirteenth. Good job I'm not superstitious and that tree looks scary! My maternal grandmother, Hettie was terribly superstitious. She would allow us to open umbrellas in the house, nor walk on cracks in pavements and even prevented my mother from getting married in May (Marry in May, rue the day). As my parents celebrated fifty years of marriage, maybe she was right. We have lots of black cats here in out feral cat community and the Italians are very wary of them, instead of bringing luck they signify evil. 

Anyway, despite a bit of a stop start to my writing session this morning - where poor Simon got a bit of a roasting for asking me where the sellotape was - I managed to pen a good word count. The trouble is when your concentration is pierced by the slightest thing when your're in mid flow, you can never recover that moment. Still I went on to write and enjoyed the session so maybe not so bad after all. My poor husband will be so glad when November is over... He's a star.

Ciao for Now

NaNo Diaries: Day Eleven

In Memory of Harry John Lamb 

Morning Pages Wake Up Call: 6.31am
Word Count: 1706 (Total - 21,147)
Treats: An Apple Strudel with a cappuccino
Exercise: Dog walking - it's enough to just watch Naughty Nell!
Word of the Day: LOGOPHILE noun 1. a lover of words. (very appropriate)








I always think of my grandfather, or Pops as he was fondly know, on this day. He fought in the First World War and was awarded for bravery. He was only nineteen at the time so goodness knows what he felt at the time. The strange thing is he never spoke about it to my Dad and he only found out he had a bravery award when his brother died in my Dad's eightieth year. How difficult it must be for all those serving in the armed services in years gone by as well in our time. How brave they are and how lucky we are to have them protecting us and our families.

I've discovered I am a creature of habit. Aren't we all? Just a little bit?  I'm on day 52 of my morning pages and still find plenty to write about and into the eleventh day of NaNo and haven't (yet) fallen off the track. I've been trying to write my target first thing in the morning. Before anything else gets in the way. I've been scribbling ideas for ten minutes (using the random prompt selected by Simon the night before) and then had two 25 minute sessions where I've written on average around 2500 words. The emphasis is on words and not a polished story by any means. But today I couldn't do that and so started my writing at half past three this afternoon. It was a bit of slog, despite feeling energised by a walk with the dogs, and a dip in my word count too. Never mind, life is like that, veering off here and there. Writing is also about flexibility!

Ciao for Now

NaNo Diaries: Day Ten

Morning Pages Wake Up Call: 6:02am
Word Count: 2443 (Total over 20k)

Treats: An hour of reading this afternoon
Exercise: Fence building at sparrows *art
Word of the Day: LASSITUDE noun
1. weariness of body or mind from strain, oppressive climate, etc.; lack of energy; listlessness; languor.
2. a condition of indolent indifference: the pleasant lassitude of the warm summer afternoon.

I got told off this morning for setting my clock a little fast (only ten minutes) but it confused poor Simon! I like to set clocks a little fast. Somehow it convinces me that I have more time. More fool me. The big dogs (gigantic in fact) have been getting out the last couple of days. We don't mind them being out, but the Italians are scared stiff of them. Bertie and Freya are two of the softest canines I've had the pleasure of knowing but still, when in Rome. So we were out mending fences at 6.45 this morning, slipping in the early morning dew.  

The bowl above is my random prompt generator. Scientific isn't it? At the end of my writing day (usually after this is posted) I ask Simon to select one bit of scrunched up paper. On the paper is a number from 1- 30 and on Scrivener I have thirty writing prompts. So for example yesterday was no 27. So that is the prompt I wrote to this morning. Simples. A bit like me really. 

Ciao for Now.

NEW BEGINNINGS

What Does The Writing Future Hold?
Well, we're at that time of year. The time of the blank page for writers (though for some, perhaps many of us, that time occurs often over the period of twelve months!). But for me, this is a time to reflect on the past, celebrate the successes and learn from the failures. I like living in the present, after all, it's the time and place to be. In the moment. But I also like to think of the unwritten future and make some promises, in the true knowledge that some of those plans will probably be far too ambitious, but just dare to dream. A writing future is the same as any future, some of may be known, most of it is a mystery but all of it stems from a desire to write and to keep on writing (and hopefully improve a little on the way). So this week begins with a little bit of crystal ball gazing, making some new goals, perhaps deciding to ditch a few on the way, but come what may, my future has to be about writing. A good start is a review of my current writing projects: 

1. All Will Be Well - a novel I wrote over some years and well, it's my first baby. But the time has come for some harsh choices and I know that I either have to shelve the project and allow it to gather dust or do something with it. I had a positive response about turning it into a 'pocket novel' which I am going to revisit this month. If not, then it will be on the shelf - so my short term project.
2. The Promise - my second novel, which I have had some feedback from my pals over at Writers Abroad. It deserves a revisit of the outline, so it's going to be snowflaked (and check out my earlier posts if you don't know what this means). My intermediate project, lets say by March? (yes, March 2011)
3. The Morning Gift - is still half-written, but has a good synopsis and maybe out of all of the three of them has the best potential, so I have to get this finished and this is going to be given some time to allow me to revisit what I've done and where I'm going with it. I've read a lot in this genre and timing (the saxon/medieval times) and its one I really enjoy reading about. So my long term project - September.
4. My 2010 NaNoWriMo challenge, on which I have spent some time on, I'm just not sure about. I lost my way after having to abandon it for very good reasons. I think I need to let this one muster whilst I sort out the other three. It's been a useful exercise to try the plotting method out and I'm sure that it's the right way to go about things. So that will be on a list of  'maybes'.

So at the end of the week, I hope to have something to share with you about some new projects. Some which  may not be quite in my comfort zone, but nevertheless, will be a challenge either for my writing or otherwise! Until later...

SEASONS GREETINGS

From a Clean Desk
Which feels kind of refreshing. I'm nearly there, given a couple of days shivering under a lovely warm blanket. Now just got to finalise my plan for next year and get a couple of entries in for competitions before the silly season really starts. I'm looking forward to 2011 and a heap of writing and fingers and toes crossed a publication! Good luck for all your writing endeavours over the coming twelve months.
Happy New Year!