Right now, I should be ploughing my way through the mountain of post on my desk that seems to have piled up over the last couple of weeks that I have been held captive in training sessions.
I seriously think my head may explode from all the lessons on roofing, plastering, wet & dry rot (now there's a topic)....eurgh.
If I wanted to be a tradesman, I would have studied a trade. I dont want to know this stuff - I wanted to settle down into an office job, work 9-5 at my desk doing organisey, officey things, and then hot foot it on to The Club/The Pub to earn the extra pennies.
Instead I've managed to spend two and a half years in an office job that has now promoted me into dealing with public liability property damage claims, which requires me to learn all about the things I didnt want to know about! ha ha!!
Funny old world eh? I think thats how things work round here.
I took on the extra shifts outside of my main work, so that I can earn spending monies that I could put towards a new laptop, pay off old debt, and spend all my free time writing.
Unfortunately, taking on all the extra shifts means I have absolutely NO time for all the writing I really would rather be doing! Eep!
What is the world coming too when you even have to blog at work, in secret, when you should be concentrating - because you know that when you leave here at half 5, you have to speed down the motorway to The Pub before work starts again at 6 - and by the time you finish at midnight, your brain is fired up for writing but your body has given up the ghost.
I am still a little gnarked that I had to let go of NaNo this year. Can you tell?
Friday, 21 November 2008
Saturday, 15 November 2008
I'm sorry, I think I may have to pass...
NaNo Words So Far: 12,541
I think I have reached the sad conclusion that I may have to pull out of NaNo this year :(
As well as falling miserably behind with word count due to an insane training programme at The Job, along with shifts at The Club and The Pub - I then got sick. And I dont mean like a cold, snotty sick. I mean like sick. Disgustingly, every 15 minutes, projectile, sick. It was horrid, and it literally came out of nowhere!
Thursday night me and Boyo went to a little bar near the seafront to watch my friend Lucy sing. She has an amazing voice, but hasnt really been on stage recently and I was so looking forward to seeing her get up there and do her thing. Only, 20 minutes after we got to the pub, and half a vodka and coke later, I was throwing up in the toilets and Boyo had to take me home. And I was up all night, and all of Friday, and all of Friday night, feeling like absolute total horse shit.
Today I feel marginally better. I have eaten, and actually washed, and don't feel like the Grim Reaper has just put me in the microwave to keep me a little toasty. But I am thoroughly washed out, and this is the first time in almost three days I have picked up my laptop.
So, I am now beginning to feel there is not much hope for achieving 50,000 words by the 30th. I now have 14 days and 6 hours to write about 37,500 words, in the minimal time I have between the three jobs and sleeping. I am quite gutted, as I really do like the story this year. But I think my brain is just too fried this November, too stretched between work, work, work and sleep to have enough time to let these characters breath.
I'll keep writing til the end, I think. But I'm not heading for the 50k target anymore. I doubt I'll even be able to see the finishing line come the 30th, let alone be able to cross it!
I think I have reached the sad conclusion that I may have to pull out of NaNo this year :(
As well as falling miserably behind with word count due to an insane training programme at The Job, along with shifts at The Club and The Pub - I then got sick. And I dont mean like a cold, snotty sick. I mean like sick. Disgustingly, every 15 minutes, projectile, sick. It was horrid, and it literally came out of nowhere!
Thursday night me and Boyo went to a little bar near the seafront to watch my friend Lucy sing. She has an amazing voice, but hasnt really been on stage recently and I was so looking forward to seeing her get up there and do her thing. Only, 20 minutes after we got to the pub, and half a vodka and coke later, I was throwing up in the toilets and Boyo had to take me home. And I was up all night, and all of Friday, and all of Friday night, feeling like absolute total horse shit.
Today I feel marginally better. I have eaten, and actually washed, and don't feel like the Grim Reaper has just put me in the microwave to keep me a little toasty. But I am thoroughly washed out, and this is the first time in almost three days I have picked up my laptop.
So, I am now beginning to feel there is not much hope for achieving 50,000 words by the 30th. I now have 14 days and 6 hours to write about 37,500 words, in the minimal time I have between the three jobs and sleeping. I am quite gutted, as I really do like the story this year. But I think my brain is just too fried this November, too stretched between work, work, work and sleep to have enough time to let these characters breath.
I'll keep writing til the end, I think. But I'm not heading for the 50k target anymore. I doubt I'll even be able to see the finishing line come the 30th, let alone be able to cross it!
Tuesday, 11 November 2008
Today
NaNo Words So Far: 12,186
Have hit a small blip in motivation, again. Oops. I still know the direction its going in, I just seem to have run out of steam, or something.
I think its cos I'm pooped. Work is insane at the moment. I am currently training to move on to a different job role - which means I have to spend the next 10 weeks learning about Policy Liability, Legal Liability, and a whole bunch of stuff about buildings like masonry, roofing, plastering......eurgh god. Yes, I do work in Insurance. For a Loss Adjuster, not an Insurance company. So yes, I guess we can be seen as the bad guys! And being that Im about to start working on Public Liability Property Damage claims, its about to get all intense and stuff. So my brain is pretty fried.
And then there is The Club, and The Pub. All shifts are needed, so I cant give them up. So I'm just permanently tired!!
I had a good go at it tonight, got another couple of thousand words done, but its all totally shit and thats really disheartening. So I am currently sitting with Boyo, watching him play his PS3, wishing I had the energy to do more than try to help him clear this level on Fallout 3.
On the plus side, I have tomorrow evening off as well, so other than a visit to my dads house for a nice cup of tea, I should crack on with some more of this god-damn-im-starting-to-hate-it novel.
Have hit a small blip in motivation, again. Oops. I still know the direction its going in, I just seem to have run out of steam, or something.
I think its cos I'm pooped. Work is insane at the moment. I am currently training to move on to a different job role - which means I have to spend the next 10 weeks learning about Policy Liability, Legal Liability, and a whole bunch of stuff about buildings like masonry, roofing, plastering......eurgh god. Yes, I do work in Insurance. For a Loss Adjuster, not an Insurance company. So yes, I guess we can be seen as the bad guys! And being that Im about to start working on Public Liability Property Damage claims, its about to get all intense and stuff. So my brain is pretty fried.
And then there is The Club, and The Pub. All shifts are needed, so I cant give them up. So I'm just permanently tired!!
I had a good go at it tonight, got another couple of thousand words done, but its all totally shit and thats really disheartening. So I am currently sitting with Boyo, watching him play his PS3, wishing I had the energy to do more than try to help him clear this level on Fallout 3.
On the plus side, I have tomorrow evening off as well, so other than a visit to my dads house for a nice cup of tea, I should crack on with some more of this god-damn-im-starting-to-hate-it novel.
Sunday, 9 November 2008
A break from the norm
NaNo Words So Far: 9,601
After a bit of a hectic weekend, some cramming writing and now a bit of a frazzled brain, I decided to kick back a bit this evening and do something non-writey. It was nice!!
Some very dear friends of mine, Dan, George, Ali, Rob and Kev, are in an fabtastic band called Tiny Spark (go and have a looky...on the right hand side, under 'Amazingly Talented Musical Friends Of Mine')
I love the bones of them, and it just so happens that their music is pretty awesome.
During the week they went into a London radio station to do an interview and play some live tracks, which you should all check out here.
They are amazing live, and god bless them, like to think they're quite funny with the old jokes and super sharp wit (hence the comment about the Tiny Spark Street Team just being 'girls in tight white shirts'. I tried to ignore this comment, being one of the Street Team myself.)
A bit of music is good for the soul, and I promise that you won't be disappointed.
Hope you've all had a nice weekend :)
After a bit of a hectic weekend, some cramming writing and now a bit of a frazzled brain, I decided to kick back a bit this evening and do something non-writey. It was nice!!
Some very dear friends of mine, Dan, George, Ali, Rob and Kev, are in an fabtastic band called Tiny Spark (go and have a looky...on the right hand side, under 'Amazingly Talented Musical Friends Of Mine')
I love the bones of them, and it just so happens that their music is pretty awesome.
During the week they went into a London radio station to do an interview and play some live tracks, which you should all check out here.
They are amazing live, and god bless them, like to think they're quite funny with the old jokes and super sharp wit (hence the comment about the Tiny Spark Street Team just being 'girls in tight white shirts'. I tried to ignore this comment, being one of the Street Team myself.)
A bit of music is good for the soul, and I promise that you won't be disappointed.
Hope you've all had a nice weekend :)
Saturday, 8 November 2008
...and I'm feeling good
NaNo Words So Far: 8,537
Thank god.
Its taken a little while this year, but I have finally found a pace with this god damn novel. Hallelujah!
The plot outline is the same, but it is very vague. And the fact that it was vague had scared me because it didnt detail every little thing that I needed to write about, like my plan did last year.
What I've found though, is that by not detailing every minute detail, I have allowed the story to kind of dictate itself. In the last chapter I wrote today, 3 new characters have reared their heads and added a whole new little story to my MC's life. Granted, they will only be in the story for 2, maybe 3, chapters at the most. But their very presence has added strength to what happens later on in the story which I had actually planned for. They give later events more of a reasoning, they make it more plausible.
And I love that they just wrote themselves! I dont know where they came from or how they did it, but these random little sub-characters have just given me the inspiration to carry on with this compeition, right at the moment when I thought I was going to quit.
I have a bit of a challenge ahead of me next week. Working monday-friday in the daytime is normal. But I am also working 4 evenings at The Club/The Pub. Which will definitely limit my writing time. So weekends are becoming very important in catch up time!
But I is feeling more positive.
I hope everyone else is having an imagination-filled, proactive weekend!
Roll on week two!
:) xx
Thank god.
Its taken a little while this year, but I have finally found a pace with this god damn novel. Hallelujah!
The plot outline is the same, but it is very vague. And the fact that it was vague had scared me because it didnt detail every little thing that I needed to write about, like my plan did last year.
What I've found though, is that by not detailing every minute detail, I have allowed the story to kind of dictate itself. In the last chapter I wrote today, 3 new characters have reared their heads and added a whole new little story to my MC's life. Granted, they will only be in the story for 2, maybe 3, chapters at the most. But their very presence has added strength to what happens later on in the story which I had actually planned for. They give later events more of a reasoning, they make it more plausible.
And I love that they just wrote themselves! I dont know where they came from or how they did it, but these random little sub-characters have just given me the inspiration to carry on with this compeition, right at the moment when I thought I was going to quit.
I have a bit of a challenge ahead of me next week. Working monday-friday in the daytime is normal. But I am also working 4 evenings at The Club/The Pub. Which will definitely limit my writing time. So weekends are becoming very important in catch up time!
But I is feeling more positive.
I hope everyone else is having an imagination-filled, proactive weekend!
Roll on week two!
:) xx
Tuesday, 4 November 2008
Car Crash Writing
NaNo Words So Far: 2,125
Ok, seriously. I am more than a little scared now.
The beginning of NaNo is always the same for me...slow, almost a non-starter. Painful. Scary.
And then on day three, the three pages I have somehow managed to scrape from the bottom of the mouldy barrel that has become my brain, seem to make more sense than they did. Day three brings a quick skim read of the drivel, ignores the stuff I hate, and somehow finds the inspiration to throw out another six or seven pages. And then I'm off!
This year, it is currently day four - and I am only on page five. I am roughly 3,000 words away from where I should be at this stage. I am not a happy bunny.
I love the idea for the story this year. The plot outline has been buzzing around inside the grey matter for months, and coming together slowly but surely. I love the way it looks and I love the way it feels. And then I try to put it on paper.
Its not that I dont like whats coming out. Because thats just how it goes with NaNo. You don't like what comes out, but thats just tough and you deal with it.
No, its not that I don't like it. Its just not coming out! And I am now panicking, ever so slightly!
What is disturbing is that I am working in the week days again now. 8am-5.30pm.
Wednesday night I have promised to go to see the fireworks display with Boyo. His friends are going to a different place to watch them, but he wants me to go with him someplace else. That is so unlike him, to prefer going with me than his friends, that I can't bring myself to say no.
Thursday night I have work at The Club from 7pm til probably around midnight. After the day in the office.
Friday night I have work in The Pub from 6pm til midnight. After the day in the office.
Writing time seems to be rapidly disappearing from my day...actually, any free time seems to be rapidly disappearing from my days!
Do you think we could create an extra day in the week?
On the 8th day he did write, and it was good?
Ok, seriously. I am more than a little scared now.
The beginning of NaNo is always the same for me...slow, almost a non-starter. Painful. Scary.
And then on day three, the three pages I have somehow managed to scrape from the bottom of the mouldy barrel that has become my brain, seem to make more sense than they did. Day three brings a quick skim read of the drivel, ignores the stuff I hate, and somehow finds the inspiration to throw out another six or seven pages. And then I'm off!
This year, it is currently day four - and I am only on page five. I am roughly 3,000 words away from where I should be at this stage. I am not a happy bunny.
I love the idea for the story this year. The plot outline has been buzzing around inside the grey matter for months, and coming together slowly but surely. I love the way it looks and I love the way it feels. And then I try to put it on paper.
Its not that I dont like whats coming out. Because thats just how it goes with NaNo. You don't like what comes out, but thats just tough and you deal with it.
No, its not that I don't like it. Its just not coming out! And I am now panicking, ever so slightly!
What is disturbing is that I am working in the week days again now. 8am-5.30pm.
Wednesday night I have promised to go to see the fireworks display with Boyo. His friends are going to a different place to watch them, but he wants me to go with him someplace else. That is so unlike him, to prefer going with me than his friends, that I can't bring myself to say no.
Thursday night I have work at The Club from 7pm til probably around midnight. After the day in the office.
Friday night I have work in The Pub from 6pm til midnight. After the day in the office.
Writing time seems to be rapidly disappearing from my day...actually, any free time seems to be rapidly disappearing from my days!
Do you think we could create an extra day in the week?
On the 8th day he did write, and it was good?
Monday, 3 November 2008
Fried brains, anyone?
NaNo Words so far: 1,860
So, today is day 3 of NaNoWriMo...and I am ashamed to admit I only started writing today. This evening, in fact. At 8pm. Disgraceful!!!
I had planned an entire weekend of writing bliss, confined in the space of my room accompanied only by hideous amounts of tea and chocolate. I imagined myself writing so fast only a blur of movement and steam would be seen around my keyboard. People would come from far and wide to admire the 'girl who cant stop writing'.
Do you know what I actually did with my weekend? I got hideously drunk with Boyo on Friday celebrating Halloween. On Saturday we slept all morning, then drove around in horrible traffic attempting to get to the shops and failing miserably, and deciding instead to go for dinner. Then I went home and slept while Boyo went to a party - only for sleep to be interrupted at 3am when Boyo wanted me to come and get him. Sunday, we went to see James Bond, then watched crappy telly and ate chinese food until we went to bed.
I wrote absolutely zero words. Balls.
Today, I went back to work. At 8am this morning I was wide eyed and bushy tailed, attacking the mountain of work that has accumulated in my two weeks off with the ferocious motivation that I should have applied to writing over the weekend.
So, after work, and after a meeting at The Club to discuss this months rota, I came home, made dinner, and then sat down and started. Thats always the hard part!! Starting NaNo every year is always my very very very least favourite part of the competition. Its so hard to just let stuff flow out onto the page the way that Mr Baty encourages you to do. You want so desperately to re-read, re-write, re-think everything that you have just written - which is exactly what you are not supposed to do. DO NOT edit this stuff. Just let it leave your brain at 80mph, and hit the page with such a force that your characters explode into life, and don't look back. It may be messy, but who cares. You have a whole 11 months to go back and clear it up afterwards.
So, I managed an unimpressive 1,860 words this evening. Its not much, and its certainly nowhere near the word count I wanted to be on at the end of day 3.
But. Its a start.
Ooh. And. Please see horrifically scary me in halloween make up below :)
So, today is day 3 of NaNoWriMo...and I am ashamed to admit I only started writing today. This evening, in fact. At 8pm. Disgraceful!!!
I had planned an entire weekend of writing bliss, confined in the space of my room accompanied only by hideous amounts of tea and chocolate. I imagined myself writing so fast only a blur of movement and steam would be seen around my keyboard. People would come from far and wide to admire the 'girl who cant stop writing'.
Do you know what I actually did with my weekend? I got hideously drunk with Boyo on Friday celebrating Halloween. On Saturday we slept all morning, then drove around in horrible traffic attempting to get to the shops and failing miserably, and deciding instead to go for dinner. Then I went home and slept while Boyo went to a party - only for sleep to be interrupted at 3am when Boyo wanted me to come and get him. Sunday, we went to see James Bond, then watched crappy telly and ate chinese food until we went to bed.
I wrote absolutely zero words. Balls.
Today, I went back to work. At 8am this morning I was wide eyed and bushy tailed, attacking the mountain of work that has accumulated in my two weeks off with the ferocious motivation that I should have applied to writing over the weekend.
So, after work, and after a meeting at The Club to discuss this months rota, I came home, made dinner, and then sat down and started. Thats always the hard part!! Starting NaNo every year is always my very very very least favourite part of the competition. Its so hard to just let stuff flow out onto the page the way that Mr Baty encourages you to do. You want so desperately to re-read, re-write, re-think everything that you have just written - which is exactly what you are not supposed to do. DO NOT edit this stuff. Just let it leave your brain at 80mph, and hit the page with such a force that your characters explode into life, and don't look back. It may be messy, but who cares. You have a whole 11 months to go back and clear it up afterwards.
So, I managed an unimpressive 1,860 words this evening. Its not much, and its certainly nowhere near the word count I wanted to be on at the end of day 3.
But. Its a start.
Ooh. And. Please see horrifically scary me in halloween make up below :)
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