Nanowrimo progress

Today was my best writing day. When I finished my word wars, I had a total of 4999 words. I couldn't leave it at that, could I? So I planned to go back and add an adjective somewhere. Instead I added a sentence, finishing with a total of 5008 words for the day. I'm sure that must be a personal record.

Yesterday was almost as good - 4735 words. What a great weekend!


So, I'm at 32, 107 words now. Still a lot of writing to do over the next five days but I can do it. The words are flowing. I will soon have that Nanowrimo winners certificate on my wall.

Welcome to my forties....

Design available at The Writers Zone in the Chickollage Shop

It's the first day of my forties....

and I slept in. Because it's the only day I could sleep in all week. Yep, I have the day off today and then it's back to work tomorrow and Sunday. Will be very glad when this election is over. I've been pleased to have the extra work but it will be good to return to some kind of normal.

Life begins today. And I got myself one of those free solar return charts (gives you a year forecast) from astrology.com and things are looking pretty good in the stars for the next twelve months. Especially in the department of creativity.

I feel as if I'm coming into my own creatively and there's never enough time to create everything I want. The 365 day collage poetry challenge died after two months, although I have since made some 3D collage projects

and Nanowrimo is proving to be very challenging this time around due to my extended working hours. If only I had more hours in the night (not in the day, because I don't want to spend any more time at the day job). I've surpassed 21,000 words and hopefully today I will at least hit the halfway mark. It means a lot of writing in the next week, but there are people out there waiting for the sequel, wanting to know what became of Cinderella beyond the 'beyond happily ever after' so I must not disappoint my four fans. I've always responded well to extrinsic motivation.

Meanwhile a few more designs have been added to the Chickollage shop (including the one at the start of the post) and I'm also trying out zazzle as they have alternative products to cafepress including keyrings.

Tonight will be a birthday dinner, more writing and some sleep before I have to face work again...

An imperfect prince

I think I've finally found my groove... the writing thang. I haven't hit the 20k mark yet so I am still towards the back of the race but if I put my head down and type type type, I might just make it to the finish line.

A tiny sample:

And thankfully a young naïve and beautiful maiden had turned up to the ball
wearing her glass slippers and enchanting everyone including Prince Edward.She had been just perfect, naïve enough to not recognise Prince Edward’s tendencies, young enough to be impressed by the riches, and malleable enough to be conditioned to the role of princess.

Cinderella had been just perfect. The perfect wife for an imperfect
prince. And now she would right it all by giving birth to the heir of the
throne. And right at this moment, the Queen did not give a damn as to how
Cinderella had achieved this miraculous feat. For the child would be the
saviour of the monarchy.

As usual work is trying to get in the way - leading up to Saturday's election, there's just so much of it! I haven't had to deal with extra hours during previous Nanowrimo's and some years I have had time off in November. Not this year. It just means that I have to do more word sprints and word wars and steal small chunks of time for writing to get that certificate to hang on my wall, and another first draft to edit. But I'm having fun, really I am! Who wouldn't want to spend their nights hanging out with the dysfunctional fairytale monarchy?

My mum

I can't believe it has been ten years.

Ten years since Mum passed away.

She was only 48 years old. Too young. I still think of her every day.

I'm competing in Nanowrimo and writing the continuing story of Cinderella and the tangled web between her husband Prince Edward, his cousin Prince Henry and his wife Snow White. I know Mum would really enjoy this story. And I'm very sure that Disney isn't going to be taking out an option on it. But I'm having fun.

Here's to the things my mother gave me: a wicked sense of humour, the ability to see the quirky side of life, and a positive attitude.

The story of the two old ladies at their funerals in a previous post was a nod to mum. She made sure she left a mark with her funeral, starting with the Reverend having a car accident on the way to the funeral delaying the service. One of mum's friends was an on-call ambulance officer and attended the accident and the Reverend conducted the service with his arm in a temporary splint. Ending with the appearance of the Fabio look-a-like, who we joked was mum's secret boyfriend. He was probably at the wrong funeral. At the wake, my friends and I drank Bailey's in mum's honour. Even at her funeral, my mother knew how to have fun.

Love you mum!

It's only a blank page...

I know! I know! I should be writing. But I have battled in a word war tonight, as well as creating some new writerly products at Chickollage. I've ordered the framed tile above as I think it will serve as motivation in my study.

I did the quill in photoshop but it is very tricky trying to draw with a mouse especially when you're artistically challenged as I am. Thinking about buying a graphic tablet so I can draw the old-fashioned way.

I've also added the new Nanowrimo gadgets to the blog, so everyone can see my progress or lack thereof. See those big red squares under 'My Month' - they're actually days I wrote but did not meet the word count. Days I didn't write are shaded pink. Huh?

It's been a big week. Work, work, work. Then the monthly two hour commute to see my father, followed by a 10 year celebration for work this evening. And a word war. Updating the chickollage shop and now as I have drifted into Saturday, I think its a good idea to get some
sleep.



As Scarlett would say, Tomorrow is another day.

Hang on, it's already tomorrow!

Something trivial....

Okay, I'm back and diving into Nanowrimo. I'm sitting at a tiny 1067 words at the moment but that will change. At least my insomnia has gone. I was just doing too much, thinking too much, and my poor brain couldn't switch off as a result.



Last Saturday, I spent the evening trying to locate all the trivia hidden in my brian. (Freudian slip there - I meant brain, but it came out brian - um, I have an ex named Brian). My writers group had a Trivia Night, and it was fun. I was a spare because I couldn't come up with a table of mates on my own, I joined a table that needed an extra. I came in handy for the Pop Culture section and the Australiana section but failed dismally when it came to Science and Nature. The tension built throughout the night, the teams growing more and more competitive as the scores grew larger. Loads of fun. And I even learned a thing or two on the night. Damsels and Devils below walked away with the big prize money.

.So back to Nanowrimo. I'm all set. I have a new notebook for scribbling down paragraphs in teabreaks at work. I have upgraded my Talking Alarm Clock with Peety the Parrot and the genie, and the speech engine, so it really does talk to me now. I've got my book of fairy tales for inspiration. I've got my on-line Word War challenger to do battle. I've even got a Nano t-shirt.

Still have no plot, just vague ideas. But I figure I'll just keep writing. Eventually something will happen.

I keep forgetting to mention this. I'm in the writing contest at Karin Tabke's blog. Each week we post one sentence only of a story and then some are eliminated. My entry is from Diary of the Future and I'm up to Round 4. Come and cheer everyone on!

November?

What do you mean it's November already?


And Nanowrimo has started?


No! Not possible!

Hey! Wait for me!

T-shirt available at the Chickollage shop.