Life has been busy and I haven’t had time to do much of anything lately, especially do the internet rounds and check up on my fellow writers. Today, however, I decided to correct that and have been doing the rounds.

The first stop was Benjamin Solah’s website. He’s getting ready to participate in this year’s NaNoWriMo which means he’s planning the 50,000 words he has to endeavour to write in the month of November. Because of this Benjamin has written some very interesting, and inspiring, posts which I’d like to link to here. First, there is NaNoWriMo: How I Plot My Novel and then there is NaNoWriMo: How I Create Characters. As I’m very much a visual person, I love the idea of using gaming facilities such as Simms to build a character. Anyway, both of these posts made me thinking about my own writing, so if you need something to help you along, go and give them a read.

When I landed on Struggling Writer’s website, I was pleased to find a post that is in contract to Benjamin’s. Whilst Benjamin is planning, planning, planning, Struggling Writer (also participating in NaNoWriMo) is set on not planning! If you are not much of a planner, then his post Novel Planning for Pantsers might be of interest to you. Struggling Writer admits that this year he’s going to remain a pantser writer by doing a bare minimal amount of what some would call planning. He has included some links to some interesting writing resources too.

For me, it’s been an interesting and informative hour or so. My fellow writers are planning and not planning for the upcoming NaNoWriMo (which I won’t be participating in this year), but the ideas they share (as well as the links) are all worthwhile and inspiring. Personally, I’m a planner from way back, but that doesn’t mean I can’t find inspiration from a non-planner, because I have.

Thanks guys and good luck in November.

I proudly announce that I reached the 50,000 words I needed to become a “winner” over at NaNoWriMo. I must admit that when you are writing a story that means something to you, the words come easily. I had no problem this month with writing about 2,000 words a day (generally)…although I had a lot of other problems to contend with.

Although I’ve completed the 50,000 words, I haven’t finished the first draft. I’m hoping to have the first draft of the manuscript 100% complete by the end of next weekend. However, I won’t give myself an undercut if I don’t make that deadline. There are other priorities that I have to attend to – such as Christmas, the anthology, and personal things – so I’m going to be kind to myself if I don’t reach this goal.

I hope all the other NaNo participants are working hard and nearing their goal. Good luck.

My NaNo Progess:

I’ve had a busy and bad week (which has had nothing to do with writing). I have written every day, but my word counts have been a lot lower than the rest of the month. I’m well ahead, so it doesn’t matter.

The public goal I’m going to set for this weekend – and I hope I can reach it this time – is to go over the 50,000 words required for NaNoWriMo. An extension of this goal is to have the entire first draft of the novel completed by the end of the following weekend, which will be 2 December 2007.

[ Personal Content Removed ]

My NaNo Progess:

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

By Wm. Henry Davies.

My mother and I used to recite this poem when I was young. Every now and again, one of us would say something that reminded us of it and we’d say the words together. It’s the only poem I ever really knew. Having said that, we never knew the entire poem.

Today, I found myself saying the poem aloud as I rushed about…as I really don’t have time to stand and stare. And I don’t have time to write posts. Especially when every word I type should be towards my manuscript and has been lately.

My NaNo Progess:

Today’s Word Count: 2,011

Not only did I not reach the personal goal I set myself this weekend, I didn’t even reach 40,000 words. True, I only had another 220 words to write, but sometimes you just have to stop and let go of a goal and that’s what I did.

Saturday, as I mentioned in my previous post, was extremely busy for me. I expected to be home, after a full day out and about, by 5pm, but in reality we didn’t walk through the door until 6.30pm. Not only was that an hour and a half more taken out of my writing plan, I also had another migraine. I could have pushed through it, but decided not to bother. The words just don’t feel important when your head weighs 100 tonne and the pain is more torturous than childbirth (for me anyway).

After a grand total of zero words for Saturday, which I might add is the only day this month I didn’t write a single word, I knew the goal was out of reach. I decided to change my goal for Sunday. I’d write no less than 3,500 words. That goal I did manage to reach, but only just.

My NaNo Progess:

Yesterday’s Word Count: 0
Today’s Word Count: 3,635

It’s the weekend and it’s always good to stretch yourself on the weekend. I’m going to make a public goal. This one is to write 5,000 words over Saturday and Sunday. This will ensure I am over the 40K mark by Monday morning, which will be excellent incentive to reach the overall 50K goal well before time. I have no doubt that I’ll complete the NaNo challenge. I do wonder where I’ll be in the story though by the time I stop writing on 30 November.

Having set this goal, I do admit that I have a slight problem which may stop me from reaching it. Tomorrow will be an extremely busy day for me. I won’t be able to start writing until after 5pm and usually by then I’ve already got most of my words written. Whatever I don’t write on Saturday will have to be written on Sunday, so that will be my incentive to do as much as possible on Saturday night.

Mirror Image is told from several view points and explores several emotional angles. The sub-plot, although planned, has taken on a new twist which is exciting for me to write about. I’ve had to leave myself notes in the manuscripts because I’ve changed direction at a certain point and I will need to go back and edit the beginning to suit.

My NaNo Progess:

Today’s Word Count: 1,946

I’m writing the words, but don’t have time for this blog. I hope you understand. The story is developing really well, and has grown in ways I didn’t anticipate. Who said a writer must feel stifled when they plan? I might write a proper post over the weekend. But…I might not, it will depend on how much time I have. More birthdays are coming up.

My NaNo Progess:

Yesterday’s Word Count: 2,387
Today’s Word Count: 2,344

I’m not a superstitious person. If I walk under a ladder, I don’t consider it to be bad luck. I don’t worry if a black cat runs across my path. And Friday the 13th is just another day. When I knock on wood, I do it as a joke. And what’s the go with throwing salt over your left shoulder (or is it your right)?

Today, however, is the 13th and everything I looked at or touched went wrong. The phone at work just never stopped ringing and I could have easily thrown it out the window. Many of the callers were just stupid idiots that should never have been shown how to use a phone in the first place. My computer froze several times, so that could have found a nice spot next to the discarded phone. It was quite hot and humid and the air conditioner wasn’t working. I felt drained of energy, but (due to being at work) was unable to have a nap. I generally felt in a cranky mood and couldn’t have been bothered about any of the things I had to do all day.

And the words I wrote today felt silted and waffling. I will have to edit a great deal of them out later. I really did have the “I don’t want to” woes. But I push myself and pushed myself and eventually I hit the minimum word count and allowed myself to stop writing.

I hate writing when I really don’t feel like writing. And I had one of those days. What was your day like?

My NaNo Progess:

Today’s Word Count: 1,670

I started writing part 3 of my plan today. This is where all the juicy bits come in to play, so the words came easily. I wrote over 2,000 words at work and then wrote another 700 words in the evening which finished off the scene. This means I’ve actually stopped on a scene break and that’s not a good practice for me, as it’s too much like starting with a blank document the next day. But I’ve had enough for today and will chance it.

My NaNo Progess:

Today’s Word Count: 2,704

After my terrible day yesterday, head wise not word wise, it meant that if I was to reach the personal goal I had set myself for this weekend, then I would have to work extra hard today.

It meant I would have to write over 3,000 words in one day. That’s a lot of words!

After an excellent sleep last night, I was up at 8am and sitting at my laptop at 8.15am, with a cup of tea and cereal already in my belly. By 9am, I already had 787 words written. It was a mighty fine start to reaching the desired goal.

[ Personal Content Removed ]

We got home rather late at about 4pm. Then the race to the half way mark really began. Not wanting to experience another migraine I tried to limit my time on the laptop for each writing session. By 6pm, I had 1,820 words, but was unsure if I could get the other 1,400 words down in those later hours.

There’s a lot to be said about being on a roll. The words flow quicker than I can type them and I can type fast. AT 7.45pm, I had finished the scene and when I checked my word count, I had accomplished my goal for the weekend.

I am over the half way mark.

My NaNo Progess:

Today’s Word Count: 3,288