In case you hadn't noticed (I may have omitted to mention it- ha!) I am participating in National Novel Writing Month, the aim of which is to give procrastinating writers a swift kick up the bum and bully said bum onto a chair in front of a keyboard. Or notepad. Or stone tablet. Whatever tickles your fancy. And then encourage them to write. I say encourage, but cajole, threaten and bribe might be more accurate. Honestly, they're very nice about it though.
The target is a measly 50,000 words in 30 days, or a mere 1,667 words per day average. No problem. Except when I have a late meeting. Or a friend to meet down the pub. Or a Supernatural box set to watch. All three of these spanners have lodged themselves in my works this week. Nevertheless, I have battled on, as my word count (top right) will testify.
How did I do it? By sitting down and typing one word at a time, until I ran out of words or had to go to bed. Simple. Of course, I made a cracking start in the first weekend, which meant that, even with a grand total of 874 words for Thursday and Friday combined, I am still way ahead of the 1,667 average.
It's amazing the extra time I've found. My little notebook is always in my bag and every spare minute I get I scribble a bit more. Even on the bus on our school trip on Thursday, I managed to get a couple of hundred words down. I could barely read them when it came to typing them up, but they were there. And so was the story. In my head. Every minute of every day. Whether I had to chance to write it down or not, the characters were talking to me, dropping hints, arguing amongst themselves and generally being a nuisance. This meant that, when I did get home and my books were marked, my planning done, my terriers fed (see numbers 1 and 4 of My Ten Commandments for NaNoWriMo) all I had to do was type until they shut up.
So, what were my characters telling me? Here's a summary:
Harvey: I don't like having to share my Mummy with her boyfriend. He pushes me off the sofa and gets all the cuddles now. His dog, Max, looks funny and is scared of everything, whereas I'm only scared of fireworks and the Hungry-Man. He smells wrong, and it scares me. I want to Put The Bitey on him.
Mummy: I can't ever let my boyfriend (Fred- I haven't come up with a good name yet) know what I've done. Not even my Mum knows what I did that day. I don't know that I deserve to be happy. Also, I'm worried about Harvey- he's acting so strangely recently. I wonder why he's so aggressive and fearful now?
Nanny: She's looking so much happier these days. That's a weight off my mind that she's finally found a decent chap- not like that last one. I hope he's kind to her, and to Harvey. I hope as well that I feel better soon. I haven't been feeling right for a while.
Fred: This one's a keeper. I just wish sometimes she'd open up more- it's like she's built a wall around herself. And she's so independent. Sometimes a chap needs to be needed, you know?
Max: I miss my racing days- there's a lot to get used to. At least Daddy is happy, though I wish Harvey would be my friend. It would be nice to feel part of a Pack again.
The Hungry-Man: ...
Now that I've let them have their say, maybe they'll let me go to bed now. If you have any questions for them, let me know in the comments and I'll ask them tomorrow. Until then, sweet dreams xxx
No comments:
Post a Comment
This is the part where you get to join in! What did you think of today's post? Leave me a message and let me know what you think. I love reading your comments!