Sleazebags

I've heard that angels all had wings.

You must've checked yours at the door.

What time does Heaven shut its gate?

Do you have to be home by twelve?

Well, you must be an angel.

- Wings (A.Smith)



Driving again today, but this time I spent every squidgin of "errand running" time by my partner, sitting in the car writing. I've done my duty as a partner and kept the word count up! I've transcribed the writing from today and the total word count is encouraging. Have to give up the computer soon, so I will be scribbling for the rest of the night.

In the story, Kat has just turned down a proposition from a sleazebag (cute guy but still a sleaze) who is into 'rock chicks' but she wasn't interested in being a notch on the bedpost. Lucky for her, she has other options, so she isn't about to jump into bed with just anyone.

32,022 / 50,000 (64.0%)

Breaking through 30K!

It's past pumpkin time and I hadn't intended on staying up this late but I was determined to push through the 30K barrier. And I did.

30,182 / 50,000 (60.4%)

Ooh, look, it even takes me into a new percentile. How cool is that.

And some nice unexpected stuff - Kat threw an orgasm over Maddie (the drink not the sensation). Bloody cow deserved it.

Tomorrow is another long drive but I will try to churn out the words before hitting the road, giving me a lot of food for thought.

Do you like the new look?

I have a beautiful new template, thanks to Caz and I'm hoping that the gorgeous art work will inspire me more.

Not a lot of words written so far today, but the story is still flowing. I was up to 2am this morning doing boring accounting work before doing more of the same today for my father. But that is out of the way now, and I can concentrate on the story.

I can't write as a passenger in a car. Never been able to read or write due to motion sickness so it seems like a huge waste of a couple of hours. And I'm too self-conscious to dictate on my tape recorder. Plus, suprise -- my partner actually expects me to talk to him when we're driving somewhere.

However, I did a lot of composing in my head today while driving. So my aim this evening is to surpass the 30,000 word mark and beyond. But I've got to give up the computer again very soon, so once again, it'll be long hand.

28,675 / 50,000 (57.4%)

Sex on the Beach

Total Word Count

27,810 / 50,000 (55.6%)

The conversations in the novel are starting to get highly dangerous, and sexually charged. I think Kat is heading for trouble:

Witness the following exchange:

Alex places our drinks on the table.

"Sex on the beach, ma’am, just as you ordered."

He sits next to me, and takes a sip of his beer.

"So have you?" I ask, my curiosity getting the better of me.

"Have I what?"

"Had sex on the beach?"

Ted almost chokes on his mouthful of beer, but Alex just grins.

"Kat, I grew up near the beach. Of course, I’ve done the sex on the beach thing."

"And what's it like?"

"Totally overrated. There's that whole sand scratch factor, and total exposure. It's the domain of fumbling teenagers with nowhere else to go, who think it's romantic. Well, I suppose the girls think it's romantic. The guys believe the girls will think it's romantic and it's a good place for a quickie."

"I see."

He puts his hand on my knee. "Don't worry, Kat. Stick to the cocktail. Having sex on the beach is not something you need to add to your list."

He's probably right. But the trouble is all the sex I've had, which has mostly been with Stu, has been boring mundane, missionary style, in-the-bedroom sex. I haven't had a kitchen sink or kitchen table encounter. Maybe I should put one unusual sexual encounter on my list. I just didn’t have any suitable candidates to fulfill the other role. And my new toy didn’t count.

"What about you, Ted? Do you agree with Alex?"

"What do you mean Kat?"

Ted looks at me nervously. I don't think he likes me putting him on the spot like this. Hell, for all I know the man could be gay. He hasn't mentioned a girlfriend or a wife, or any sort of significant other. Maybe he's celibate.

"Do you think I should put sex on the beach on my list or not?"

"No, I reckon Alex is right. It's definitely over-rated. Plenty of other places you could do it."

"Like?" I raise my eyebrows.

"Come on, Kat! Use your imagination."

But that's just the problem. I am using my imagination. And everything I think about in my head, involves me and Alex. Not Stu. Not any other man. Not even a complete stranger. Just me and Alex. But I can't think like that. Alex is a married man. And it's not like Deb is a stranger in a foreign land. Well, she is. But she's not someone I can just push out of my mind, pretend that she doesn't exist. Because I've spoken to her. She does exist. And she loves Alex very much.

"Well?"

I shake my head. "I'm afraid my imagination isn't working very well at the moment. Probably because of the fact that I've only had vanilla sex. In the bed, maybe early on, in a car. But mostly just conventional, conservative sex."

Ted whistles.

"So, I'm open to suggestions, gentlemen. You've ruled out the beach," I hold my drink aloft, and realize that the alcohol is making me bold. I really shouldn't drink during the day. I've still got to get through the show tonight. "So what other options are there?"

Yawn, slacking off.

Not many words added yesterday. A few notes scribbled to direct the next couple of chapters but no big word count like I'd planned. Life gets in the way.

Instead I had a long chat to both my aunt and brother on the phone last night, so that was cool. And my aunt emailed me photos from my sister's wedding (I couldn't get there) but my sister hasn't called me yet, and I've heard on the gravpevine that she has news! Looks like I'll have to wait for my cousin's wedding in two weeks time, to be told the news 'officially.'

Blood pressure has come down. I'm sure there's a correlation between me not working yesterday. The measurement over the next week (not being at work) will be a good indicator.

Did some Christmas shopping. And as usual got sucked into the internet for way too long.

Have a few bits of work to do today but I figure two writing sessions around that, and I should have a healthy total for the week.

25,744 / 50,000 (51.5%)

More than halfway there!

This is so exciting.

25,165 / 50,000 (50.3%)

I'm over the 50% hump and well on my way to finishing Nano with 12 days left in the month.

And I'm on holidays for the next week. So lots of writing will be happening. Love the creative buzz.


But on the down side, I am giving up the evil Coke. It has to go. I've done it before. I can do it again. I have never given it up in the middle of Nano before. But there's always chocolate. So, I'm sure I'll be chomping down some painkillers to cope with the withdrawals and cursing that I ever drank the evil liquid. It's for the best.

I don't know how much transcribing I will manage to do, because I have to share the computer, but if I get up early enough I can transcribe in the morning, the prose I've written in bed the night before.

I wish my laptop was still alive. But it carked it a while ago. And then I won an auction for an Alphasmart on Ebay, and then the seller wouldn't reply to me. There was no way I was depositing the money into her bank account when she couldn't reply to a simple email. But I could really do with the Alphie now. Because I can type much faster than I can scribble on a page. And I could take the Alphie to bed with me and keep typing in bed. And it would keep me away from the evil black hole of the internet (everything is evil today!) Oh well, one day I may get an Alphie and a second computer!

How not to write about skydiving

I'm back at work. So the word count has not increased hugely since my last post. Shame.

In fact yesterday, I was so stuffed after work that I was in bed by 8pm. Very unusual. But at least the migraine was gone this morning.

Have you ever driven one of those new-fangled modern cars that tells you how far you are from anything behind you? Freaky.

Had a chat to my team leader today. Hello, Lisa, are you reading this? We talked a bit about the novel and she gave me some great inside information about skydiving. As a witness, not as a participant. So I started writing the scene today.

Here's what not to do:
Do not write a scene about jumping out of an aeroplane as you are waiting to have a blood pressure reading! Seriously, my bp was the highest it has been for a week and a half. So we tried again, about ten minutes later, and I didn't write during that time. No good. Looks like I'm not going to jump out of a plane anytime soon! Not that I plan to.

Updated wordcount: Not transcribed, so it may be a bit iffy:

24,374 / 50,000 (48.7%)

Because I CAN!

Accumulated total

22,040 / 50,000 (44.1%)

Robbie said to me the other day, Why are you writing another novel? Didn't you just finish one? I can't expect him to understand.

Maybe we should ask Lleyton Hewitt why he's playing another tennis tournament or Ian Thorpe why is he going to swim in another Olympics?

Because I am. Because I can. Because I have to be creative...I need to have a creative outlet or I will explode. Maybe that's why I've got hypertension. But I have been creative for the last few months so there are other stressors behind it. I shouldn't have been eating those chips. Naughty naughty girl.



I'm so happy that the words are flowing, that the ideas are coming, that these characters are so alive that they're living their own lives now. I can't stop now. I have opened the floodgate and now I have to go with the flow because I don't know where it will take me. I don't know how it will end. I just know that at some point, maybe somewhere beyond the 50,000 words of Nanowrimo, I will reach a satisfactory conclusion, and Kat will have finished THIS adventure.

Anyway, I really have to finish this adventure now because I have to work tomorrow.

My characters are hijacking me.

Firstly, I'll post my total as of Sunday evening.

18,045 / 50,000 (36.1%)

Looking good, very happy.

But now, I'm so in the zone, my characters are so alive, they woke me up this morning and made me get up and continue the story. Actually they made jump ahead a couple of weeks in time and resolve a few issues. So that bit is written and the total now is:

20,240 / 50,000 (40.5%)

Now I will have to go back and fill in the gap, but at least I know the direction it's going with that very crucial scene written, and I also know that my main character has integrity.

To let you know how the characters hijacked me this morning, and I knew I had to write:

It's now after lunch, I haven't eaten and I'm still in my pyjamas.

More long hand to come tonight.