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

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 Nine

My favourite writing tool, the humble fountain pen

Morning Pages Wake Up Call: 6.30 (though first up at 5.21)
Word Count: 2700 (total, a little shy of 18K!)
Treats: Certainly not after an indulgent Sunday.
Exercise: Playing frisbee with Naughty Nell
Word of the Day: FRANGIBLE adjective 1. easily broken; breakable: Most frangible toys are not suitable for young children.




As you can tell, I had a day off yesterday - though I did write 1200 words for NaNo. Sunday here in our household is generally a slow day. A dedicated PJ day. Having said that, last Sunday we were picking olives but that's a one off. Simon and I sit down after breakfast and complete a jumbo general crossword. We do a daily simple crossword every day and I also try to complete a Solitaire and have a bash at a Soduku or Killer Kakuro puzzle. Mind games we call them and as I saw my mum slowly disappear to Alzheimer's it's something I take very seriously, as well as seeing it as a bit of fun and distraction.

I've been playing about with my method for completing my NaNo target (or any other writing target for that matter). I do love, absolutely love to write longhand. With a fountain pen. The photo above was my latest treat. It's an 'old but unused' Schaeffer and I love it. I think better when I write longhand, but last week I was writing three A4 sheets by hand, then typing them up and adding to them in a second session. Not very good use of time. So this morning, I spent 10 minutes writing longhand to get the ideas flowing and then two sessions (a session for me is 25 minutes) Scrivenering... result 2700 words plus the 400 or so that I'd scribbled. 

No doubt I'll change it again before the end of the month is out.

Ciao for Now

NaNo Diaries: Day Five

Morning Pages Wake Up Call: 6.06 - a 
Word Count:2473 (Total 10991) 
Treats: One square of chocolate for a mid NaNo slump but didn't enjoy it all that much. A glass of wine will be very welcome
Exercise: A walk in the woods with Naughty Nell, who ran three times as much as I walked.
Word of the Day - RECONDITE (adjective) 1. dealing with very profound, difficult, or abstruse subject matter: a recondite treatise. 
2. beyond ordinary knowledge or understanding; esoteric: recondite principles.

This is Tigsy, the matriarch of our little feline community and one of Bertie's (the large male Maremma sheepdog) best friends. I have a picture of them kissing somewhere - will dig it out. I don't know why she likes the box, but it's a cheap bed! 

One of the things I've learnt over the last few weeks is how to develop a determination to write, whatever happens. As you can see from my wake up times I rise early in the hope to capture that dreamy thought time which gives me lots of ideas. It also, in theory should be the quietest time. And most importantly it is my most productive time, well in terms of quantity if not quality. 

However, with the arsenal of cats and dogs that we live with, the quiet time is very short lived. I creep out of our bedroom (we have a very tiny house and live on one level) into the room which serves as our dining room and my writing room. It's not huge, but I like it. First of all the two big dogs decide they don't want to stay with Naughty Nell so bark loudly to be let out. Then she objects so starts scratching at the door until Simon entices her back to bed. Just as I get into my writing mode, the cats start to meow with a ferocity that belies their loving nature. First one, then a second until all six are demanding 'Breakfast Time!' 

I ignore all these interruptions, having learnt to just tune them out, until my twenty five minutes are up. I sat back this morning feeling very chuffed with myself and was treated to the snoring duo of Simon and Nell through the bedroom door. Wouldn't have it any other way.

Ciao for Now

The Moon Goddess Fantasy - NaNoWriMo Project

Last week I awakened my sleeping blog with news of my intention to participate in NaNoWriMo 2013.

Well it's day six and my total word count is 17,113. For those of you unenlightened with NaNo, it's where writers take up the challenge to write 50k words in one month, so by now I should be at 10k at least. So progress is good. I'm aiming for at least 3500 words per day, excluding Sundays, because I believe everyone needs a day off, including my characters. And as I'm hoping to achieve 50k by around day 15, I'm planning another 50k on my Penny and George series. So a kind of double NaNo.

The Moon Goddess Fantasy was first inspired by a Monday Muse I did over at my writers group, Writers Abroad. Each week we take it in turns to post creative writing prompts (on a Monday) and then we are tasked to write for 15 mins freestyle or 500 words. Xanthe, the heroine of this story appeared in this muse.

My second inspiration was seeing huge moon, known as Wolf Moon, the original title of the story. A Wolf Moon occurs in January and because it is closer to the earth than normal, looks as if it is much larger. As though you could walk right through it.

Finally, I came across the symbol of the Moon Goddess, one full moon and two crescent which represent, apparently, the three main stages of womanhood; the Maiden, the Mother and the Crone.

The Moon Goddess fantasy is a pleasure to write, I've created a world that no-on can challenge (because it's of my making) and characters that have animal forms such as a wolf, a white peacock and even trolls! This is a story that began a long time ago, so by the end of November I should have in excess of 80k words, though then the hard work begins, and the real writing must begin...

Next time I'll tell you about Penny and George...