NaNoWriMo - verdict of daughter

Bless her - she read it all a second time, ignored the typos and made some very useful comments and suggestions (like "start again" and "change the ending" - no, I joke ...)

More, she highlighted the areas I was also having doubts about - Sean too insubstantial, too hasty an ending, which was deliberately happy but with room to change ...I've been caught out before by thinking I've got one couple living happily ever after only to find that something else happens and I'm wrong.

So.   I think I shall aim to emphasise and increase references to the loving interaction  between Bridie and Sean and reconsider how I play out the ending, hopefully before I send it elsewhere ...

NaNoWriMo - verdict of spouse

Hmmm ... underwhelmed I think.   I asked him to make notes as he went ... but received a list of typos.   And he returned the typed pages with a look of ... puzzled embarrassment?, underlining both the gulf between us and the necessity to me of my 6S like-minded friends.

But then no doubt I look as pitying when he spends what he claims is a pleasurable hour polishing the chrome on one or other of his bikes, or stays up past midnight to watch yet another game of football.

I suppose to say it still annoys, irritates and amazes after forty-plus years proves I am , at least, not dead.

NaNoWriMo Day 25

My husband has read as far as page 50, AND says he's enjoying it. 


Stopping writing NaNo has enabled me to do other useful things - as well as soaking the fruit for a Dundee cake and hand-washing some winter jumpers and paying the Visa bill I have published on Blurb 'One that got away' - see above.   Only ordered one copy to see what the quality etc is like, but there are books by others I shall order next time - up to three for £3.99 p&p

NaNoWriMo day 25 - and a story at Pygmy Giant

Uploaded and verified - and the official counter added 300 words to my total - but my final count was 62185.

Shall I do it next year? - definitely!

And 'Joan unknown' at Pygmy Giant - http://thepygmygiant.com/ - a UK writing site which, in this National Short Story week, has a story every day.

NaNoWriMo Day 24

I have to say that printing the thing was not entirely a Good Idea - it has solidified, made concrete, so I have a different attitude towards it - I have corrected the typos and re-inserted the missing text but it feels no longer a still in progress piece of work.

I DO need to overcome this because on re-reading last night there are some horrendously bumpy transitions between paragraphs, and I am still unhappy about the repetitions and the insistent back story - this needs to be introduced more gracefully, more subtly within the action rather than as a relentless, essay-type recap.

I've read about the large number that sit untouched once the NaNo goal has been reached and I can see how this might happen - something that does spur me to return to it to make it more something I am not ashamed to read - I do intend to 'Blurb' it too, so it has to be done and not left to languish.   'Theme for a Summer Place' suffered from this, needs returning to (although this NaNo is the only one I have actually printed out ...)

Elliott has reached his 50K - and he works full time and has a wife and small child in his life too, as well as other time consuming musical interests.

NaNoWriMo Day 23

Read through printed version last night and this morning.

Hmm ... Deborah Ross's review of the latest Harry Potter film comments on the relentless pace of it all, and I think there is an element of this in the early part - my reluctance to bore as I go over the back story, but it IS a problem I think and I need to find a way to slow it down, but maintain interest.

Also there are several repetitions of facts, as if I don't trust the reader to get it the first time round.

Also there are thirteen corrections to be made, most minor but in one case a chunk of text has gone AWOL. 

Day 22 - 61917 - finished and edited enough to print!!!

Phew! - much editing, and possibly premature because my reviewer hasn't read beyond Chapter 6 - but today I decided to print it out, knowing that for the final, on paper read, there are bound to be some more corrections to make but essentially all I want to say has been said. 

A4 paper 3cm LH margin, 2cm RH margin, Georgia point 9 and it runs to 94 pages, each of 16 chapters starting on a separate page (wasteful because in some cases only 3/4 lines but easier for re-prints than trying to put on one document.)

Day 21 - 60720 words

Almost done - editing and some clarification required in some areas.   I know I could carry on editing forever but I think it's nearly at a point where I can leave it and not be too ashamed.

But right now I'm feeling bug-eyed, have been up since half four this morning, and need a cup of coffee.

Day 20 - 57217 posted 9.30 p.m.

Spouse out all day - and tonight - so no constraints.

Day 20 - 56012 posted at 4.30 p.m.

But the scariest thing is that I've sent the first five chapters to Someone Else for them to read and give me their opinion ...
I couldn't have done that yesterday - needed 24 hours to psych myself up. 
So far, she's been gentle ... so I'll carry on writing.  
But she says Chapter 3 needs some attention ... so I have to have another look at that - she's correct, I knew it was the worst of the lot.
At least I thought it was - perhaps ...?   no ... !

Day 19 - 53734 words posted at 9 p.m.

Having decided I'd give it a miss today because I was feeling a bit jaded I couldn't leave it alone (beats cleaning the bathroom for sure!)   I've abandoned the final section because it isn't making sense until I've written a few previous happenings because they might change things.

It is disappointing how sometimes it all flows beautifully and other times it just lumps along.   Was talking to my youngest son tonight who was bemoaning the amount of description etc. he'd come across in a couple of books which he found totally off-putting - he said he wanted something to happen within the first twenty pages.

Day 18 50215 words posted at 10 p.m. today

Done 50K.   But more to do to finish the tale.

Day 18

I DID write yesterday - I began what is intended to be the final, tying off, scene - but it wasn't going as I wanted to - very pedantic and plodding - so I stopped and because I am near enough to the magic 50K I decided instead to re-read some of the lesser visited chapters and see what dross needed removing.   The whole thing reads a lot more lumpily that I like and there is over much repetition ...
But, on the whole, I am pleased to have filled the gaps in the conversations.

Day 17 - 46876 words posted last night

Prior to November I occasionally used Thinking Ten prompts to experiment with plot lines or directions, putting my known characters into hitherto unimagined situations, discussing unanticipated happenings.  Many have been discarded as being far too alien but several have been incorporated, with alterations.   Some have been very useful indeed, enabling me to add a diversion - I was initially worried that not enough could happen to fill in between the conversations - and a couple will enable me to bring to an end one strand. 

Today's word count might be a high one because of these incorporations, despite the fact that I DO intend going to the gym today as well, even though it IS Wednesday.

Day 16 - 43592 words posted last night

Long car journeys and hours of peace having been relatively conducive to plot development I returned from Shrewsbury with three or four scenes to transcribe and a reasonable idea of how it'll be brought to a conclusion.

The pronunciation of 'Shrewsbury' currently exercising some discussion - son has reverted from his insistence that it is as the little mouse- like mammal to a derivation of 'Shrove' and hence Shrowsbury, but Google has pages of unresolved discussion on the subject, some intimating that Shrews is what the locals say and Shrows used by those attempting to sound like they've been properly educated.

However, it is the argument I typed up yesterday which I am less than convinced by and I now need to return to it to see if I can make it better.

Day 12 - 41011 posted at 9 p.m.

A curate's egg of a day - some very good - paragraphs all but writing themselves - and some struggles over another paragraph which only came good once I'd deleted all the phrases from the first attempt which I thought were essential - and after I'd removed myself from the scene for a bit.

Words posted over the next few days will be 0 because I shall be away, taking only my notebook and a printout of the final page to help me work out what happens next.   Back sometime Monday

Day 12

A reply to Elliott Cox's latest post on his T10 discussion: which was 'fascinating and hugely, hugely impressive.   Most impressive of which, to me, is the printing out,especially as I am using Georgia 9 in 1½ space (Georgia is the default for Blurb's Booksmart) and putting lines between dialogue - this latter pestering for the 'right' solution because I don't know - keep meaning to look at a few of my favourite authors to see what they use.   And II am separating sections into 'chapters' at the moment to make them more handleable.   I do usually print for final draft because I can edit on screen reasonably well - I have to be careful at the moment NOT to edit all the bits that seem too much!   How many pages is that - my husband asked how many paged 50K words & I did not know.   Saving onto a memory stick happens twice daily at least!
And I have very few other commitments - except this coming weekend I be helping my youngest son move house.'

I shall take a notebook away with me, as I commented to on Day 11's blog and count two extra 'gym days'
Now to get on.

Day 11 - 37633 words posted at 9 p.m.

Actually it'll be fewer than than because I have just edited some out.   But another conversation plus extras day which has flowed well.
That these last two days has have much good writing makes me want to return to the rest and take a scalpel to it, but I suspect best to do that after the end of November.

Tired and early to be, with a book - currently 'The Shipping News'.

Day 11 - 33560

33560 posted yesterday.   Worked most of the hours between 3 a.m. to 9 p.m. on and off.   Perfectly happily because transcribing scribbled conversation much of the time and putting it into context and wrote one passage which was lovely - sounds immodest but I'm sure other creatives will know what I mean.


Then I re-read an hour later, was pleased with most of it too - and had an idea for the next bit.   Which I will now get on with.

Day 10 - a Thinking Ten reply

I am cream-crackered
(That's Cockney for 'knackered')
My eyes have gone fuzzy
My ears are all buzzy
The scene I've just written
Has Bridie all smitten
And by writing such yearning
My cheeks are all burning
But I've got to keep going
Because there's no knowing
If the end will be happy,
or sad.

Day 10 - 29646 by mid-morning

Scribbled conversation notes, deciphered and transcribed, with descriptions.   Probably quite a lot of repetition - it's hard to keep track over this many words of how often I've referred to, for example, Bridie's pale blonde hair, but I also think I could add more in the way of detail about place and people.

More to come later today, and an evening without distractions too ...

Day 10 - yawn

This is ridiculous.  Snoring spouse, hot sweats and wide awake - 3.10 a.m.

What else to do but get up and type up conversation?

Day 9 - end of the day 26265 posted

Solid day - much new plus much pre-scribbled conversation.
Some of yesterday's kept, some (uncounted) discarded.

Day 9 - 21392 - lost a couple in editing

Just checked and Michael Brown is ahead of me - crikey Moses he's doing well because his writing is always all good and solid ... and his commitments considerable ...


I had a disappointing day yesterday - serves me right and teaches me that even with a wordy challenge it doesn't do to try and shoehorn extra, superfluous scenes in.   I'd added a couple of T10 pieces but they didn't really move anything along nor develop character so I wasted time, and didn't bother to update figures in the expectation that I will remove much of it.

Today I have woken with a 'proper' direction which might enable me to make use of at least some of what I wrote yesterday but I now need to get on with it ...

Day 8 - 21395 words

21395 words I have just posted.   This from yesterday's 'Holding steady 6' which is a transcription of scribbled conversation notes from a couple of months ago and a T10 piece, written to fit a prompt in which characters names Bud and Rose featured.

Knowing the contrived falseness of this latter piece I have earmarked it as something likely to be removed at a later date, but it may well be that I can rub off the intrusive bits and keep it.   We shall see.

And awake in the very early hours before sleeping again, and not waking until 6 has meant I have not spent time thinking over 'what next?'   So have gone straight to 6S and T10 - such a supportive group of friends whose responses make writing so rewarding.   And so many of them - Michael, Elliott, Lev and Jared in particular - also doing NaNoWriMo and fitting it around other commitments.

Day 7 - midday and 17920 words just posted

I started 'chapter' 5 yesterday, knowing that I had to deal with 1967 but having mostly a blank space as to how to do it, what to fill it with.  After several paragraphs of description - and although I know they are necessary they rarely give me the buzz that writing dialogue does - I finally got into the groove, characters took over and it went along nicely.

Added a bit more today and managed to incorporate some of the character notes I'd made, which I think is important because I have a feeling that the different characters, and their interaction is going to be one of the strengths, or at least important aspects, of this novel - hope so at least, if I can make it work.  Total word count for this section is 4375 - largest of the lot so far.

Next to 1968 - a MUCH more interesting year ... Oh no, I've remembered another T10 inspired plot line which was slotted in for 1967 ... and also a to-be-transcribed conversation, so 1968 in a day or two's time.

NaNo day 6 - 13429 words posted yesterday

Because 'Holding steady' is character-driven I needed to re-read what I'd written so far to get into the heads of my characters again, and much of the day was spent editing.   Not a problem, but the reason for the relatively small number of newly-posted words.   I also typed up conversation notes, mostly for things happening in 1968, but won't post these until I can slot them in chronologically. 

Today I hope to deal with 1967, but I have relatively few ideas at the moment and this is where I have to write, write, write from all the half-baked thoughts and scribbles and post-it notes and idiotic T10 prompt-driven tales.   Sooner or later I usually find a direction - fingers crossed it won't desert me today.

Day 5 - 12551 words posted yesterday

Yesterday I spent a lot of time editing and re-editing what I'd written before breakfast, and felt a lot calmer about the whole process. 

In the evening I 'treated myself' by typing up one of the conversations I'd made pencilled notes on some weeks ago;  one which took place a couple of years after the activities I'd been writing about yesterday, and when I woke this morning it was this conversation I had in my head, and the freshly-revived knowledge of what happened then has stymied* my ability to continue with the chronological 'official' account which I am trying to stick to so as to keep control.

I may have to do things differently, because in an hour I have added just 23 words.

*stymied - I used this without thinking, then thought to check it - apparently it derives from a golfing term and has to do with the necessary negotiating if an opponent's ball is in the way of one's own shot - I live and learn!

Day 4 - 10044 words posted yesterday

Yesterday a very solid day's writing - best part of 4000 words. 
The 6S post NaNoquandry - posted yesterday at four in the afternoon when I'm always at my lowest ebb - brought a huge amount of sincere and helpful comment from the hearts and minds of a wealth of talented and experienced writers for which I am grateful   In essence it boiled down to 'do what best suits, what comes naturally but remain aware that there might be ways to do it better', and above all 'do it with passion and enjoy it'

I certainly will do my best.   Thank you all

NaNo Day three - also on T10

So far today I've written about 3,500 words - a fairly high number compared to some but then I don't go out to work, and also Wednesday is my day off from the gym. I have been writing an account of a party, a big family party which has to contain a number of hints, several partially hidden factors which will indicate or influence future developments.

I am also concerned to make sure that the account contains more words than I would usually include, extra description of place and people would not go amiss but my normal style is verbose which I then pare down, needing to erase repetitions and meaningless phrases - 'seemingly' is one I am over fond of.for example.

What I have just realised is that I have written an account which contains mildly relevant but over-descriptive side issues, just to add words, and I really do not relish publishing anything this poorly edited.

[The Thinking Ten prompts are:  hidden, high, publish and erase]