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 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: 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

National Write A Novel in A Month

Friday Report
Well, my report this week is all about a Work in Progress which is just at the beginning. I'm sure many of you are aware that in November, thousands and thousands of writers have their noses to the writing grindstone and collectively churn out millions of words. All in the name of NaNoWriMo - shorthand for National Write a Novel in a Month. 


This will be my third year, the first I didn't register and managed to complete All Will Be Well by completing around 35k words and last year I started  The Promise and wrote 56k word within 30 days. Many writers I speak to gasp in awe at this feat and prior to joining the merry gang, I think I did too. Whilst I would never say it is easy, what I did find out having dipped my toe into the mill pond, was that it provided me with great incentive to get writing. An incentive which far outstrips any other pressure I put on myself throughout the year. 


So why is that I wonder? I'm not sure its probably one of many things.

• Firstly because you literally sign up to it I found that small action sealed my obligation. Like a contract if you like (I wish!) and can daily upload your word count - you see your work growing. 
• Secondly averaging out the word count to meet the overall target of 50k words made it more achievable, its a little over 1600 if you write every day. So not a mammoth task.
• Thirdly I realised that this wasn't the end of the process, it was merely the beginning (something I've learnt post event) so it freed me up to just write what came along and not to worry about the inner editor, so I switched her off. Well onto silent mode anyway.
• Finally it's a group thing, you can sign up with buddies, read posting on forums, even connect with people writing in your genre, to see what obstacles and solutions they are experiencing.

For me it's been one of the most useful ways to spend November, the veggie garden has been put to sleep, the animals are snuggling down in semi-hibernation and dark mornings mean I can linger longer in bed with pen and paper. 
So give it a go, it doesn't matter whether you hit the target or not, what does matter is that you write...


Next week I'll share how I prepare myself for this writing extravaganza.
Best Wishes,

THE STORY SO FAR...

Mid-Week Progress Report

Ok, I know I'm a little late should have posted yesterday, but things just got in the way...

So, I'm currently in the process of doing a total re-hash of my first ever novel All Will Be Well. This process had taught me loads... not least that I have come a long way since then.

My writing skills have improved ten-fold (most thanks in part to my mates at Writers Abroad) and I'm beginning to understand the editing part of things much more. I thought I did understand it, but I realise now that I thought it was just about spelling, punctuation, checking continuity. How naive could I be? I am now slashing, burning, killing off characters, changing scenes, settings and endings. A bit like writing a new novel I can hear someone say...well, no not quite. The heart of the novel is still there, the story I wanted to write is still there but it is leaner, tighter, more well-written. 

I can't tell you how much back story I left in... back story is great and it is necessary but the reader doesn't necessarily need to know it all. It should be dropped in like little pearls, here and there and allow the reader to fill in the gaps. I just overwhelmed them with facts and events long past. And it's not that this was all waste of time, because I need to know the back story so I can nurture the little pearls... I suppose what it is showing me is that a writing project, however large or small, can be re-written, can be re-moulded and re-shaped to fit the purpose, the main objective of getting published! However, I'm a long way off right now and I'm trying to turn a very sad ending, into one with more hope. A little like me, in everlasting hope of getting this story onto some editors desk... so now for some more red ink!

Until later...

A WRITERS SOLITARY LIFE

Friday Tip of The Week

As promised in my first entry I will try and post up a weekly tip. This maybe prompted by a quote, pinched from the desk of another or merely an observation by my good self. This week, its prompted by another self, Will Self who says, 'The writing life is essentially one of solitary confinement - if you can't deal with it you needn't apply...'


I think most of us who write understand the sentiments behind this quote, perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of our life for others around us to understand. Being a writer often means shutting your self away and off from any other distractions, including loved ones, friends, family dog, the internet and your own inner critic. However, equally so for the writer, whether you are just starting out or indeed have rafts of publications, I do believe that sometimes (and only sometimes) you have to come out of your shell. How that happens is up to you, but the key thing is to build yourself a little group of like-minded people, writers like you, who you can call upon when in need, or just to mull something over. Splendid isolation is fine as long as you can write, email or get on-line and talk to someone - even if it is of a virtual nature. For example, I belong to a 'vibrant' writing community - some of you may have heard it called so in the latest Writers News. No? Well shame on you, get over and visit Writers Abroad, a social place for ex-pat writers where we share our work, provide comments, solace and congratulations when and where due, as well as a critical eye on our punctuation, plot, and characterisation. 
So my tip is find yourself a place or a person to venture out from the safety of your solitary confinement and return there all the better for having 'got out and about'. Go on, break out for a while.


Speak next week...


Louise 

Launch of Writer in Progress

This is my new blog dedicated to my 'Works in Progress'. It is supposed to provide me with inspiration to complete the four (maybe five) novels I have in various stages of birth. Two of them have been written during NaNoWriMo month and I'm planning another this year... but I need to get them off my editing pile and into the in-tray of a willing (and perhaps unsuspecting) editor. Each week I will plot my progress with each one (details of which can be found on my website, Louise Charles - Writer in Progress, with the hope that I will shame myself into action. I know, drastic measures but needs must and I think it will help to talk it through. I will also post future book reviews here, when I have the time in between editing of course... so please do check in regularly and give me the nudge that I so much need. I also will share a weekly tip, maybe mine, maybe someone else's, who knows? So that there will always be something new (or maybe not so new) to read. If you check in, please feel free to comment and criticise as you see fit, any feedback is better than none (and I have a tale to tell there, but more on that later...)
So without further rambling, I'll go and get on with my plan... after the usual half hour of procrastination. And don't forget my other blog  Joe Bloggs, will plots generally the life of a jobbing writer, the ups and the downs and news from my other projects including the community on-line writing group for ex-pat writers - Writers Abroad. Never a dull moment...