My Beautiful Darling Pet Colin!

Here's a picture of my darling pet Colin. I noticed on a few other blogs that people were posting their pets for the Blogworld Road pet parade, so I thought I'd bring Colin to the show.

He's probably about 14 or so years old now, and has all the attitute of a teenager. He talks a lot, mosly crap, and he burps, farts, makes cat fighting noises, barks like a dog, swears like a trooper (thanks to my Dad when he f*cks up while working in his shed), he also sings whenever I play the piano to him, and he always says 'seeya' when you leave.

Awww.. I miss him so much. Sadly, he lives in Australia at my parents house where I grew up. I've been in England for 3.5 years now and have only been home a few times, so I dont get to see him much. I'd love to bring him over here to England to live, but he's an Aussie boy through and through. Besides, he loves to screech and imitate a car phone at 6am most mornings, which wouldn't go down well where I live. (When my whole family and I lived in the USA for a year in 1993 my cousins looked after Colin and they had a car phone which, when ringing, would make the horn beep. Thats the noise Colin ALWAYS imitates when he gets excited. Its got to be one of the most annoying noises in the world!!)

This is a pic of my sister's cat, Lloyd. I miss him too, he's so loveable!!

New Horizons

I've got itchy feet to start my next book now!!

I'm going to write a fantasy novel about humans that live in the clouds because the land has broken up. It sounds really dumb when I explain it like that, but I've got some great ideas swirling around in my head, and I cant seem to stop them flooding forth. So, I've been jotting down ideas all day yesterday, and I'm going to spend the next few weeks world building etc. I'm so excited. I'll have to email myself my NaNo novel and edit it at work, or do it at home in the evenings, and write this new book in the mornings on the train.

My aim this time is 100k! My daily wordcount aim will be 2k which I think is quite reasonable and will allow me to concentrate much more on quality rather than quantity.

I'm going to give myself 10 weeks to do it, with weekends and most evenings off. I'm going to try to treat it like a day job (even though I already have one of those!)

I'll get my wordcount thingy up for it soon and am going to start world building........... now!

50k!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Nano book is done!!!

50,000 words written!!!

WOO HOO!!!

I'm actually a little over 51k, and I still have a scene that I might pop into the start of the book. I'm relaxing this weekend with a smug smile on myself. Its really quite lovely. I got so pissed drunk on Friday, it was a really nice treat.

SO I'm having a lovely and relaxing weekend. On the train to work tomorrow I'll kill that new scene I want to include.

I'm going to run my spell check over all the chapters now. And I've got to change all the @ signs to " signs coz I've been typing on English and American keyboards for this Nano and the @ and " keys are reversed. Annoying, but will be fun and satisfying to correct.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome back the editor in me. She has been stuffed in the dark and quiet recesses of my mind for the last few weeks and I'm sure she is starving to come out and play.

50k! I rule! YAY!

The Universe Is Against Me!

I totally forgot to email the stuff I've written for my book while at work to my hotmail account, so I cant actually add up all my words for today.

I've uploaded everything I wrote on Jerry on the train this morning and it came to 844 bringing my total up to 49,655. How damn annoying is that!!!

I know that what I wrote at work today (despite being pretty busy) was over 400 words so I know I've definitely crossed the 50k finish line, but I just cant technically say that. Sooooooooo annoying!

I just bet that the computer systems at work will go down overnight and all the stuff I wrote will be lost... I know how the universe works. It will happen!

Eh! Bah!

Its only 345 words til the end.. I'm sure I could re-write it anyway.

I cant wait until tomorrow night... I'm going to have a little celebration for myself for crossing the 50k finish line! :-)

Why Cant I Count Properly???

I just checked my wordcount on my Nano thing and I'm closer to 49,000. So that doesn't leave just under 2000 words, it leaves just over 1000 words, and considering how much I've written today I've probably passed the 50k mark already without even knowing.

One of these days I'll learn to count properly! As soon as I get home I'm going to upload my words from Jerry (my Alphasmart) and check my wordcount, and then go through ALL of my previous chapters and add up the word count again. I dont wanna get this wrong and considering my track record for counting its best if I check it twice.

Hehehe. YAY. I'm closer to finishing than I thought!

I'm still a twit though.

Day #23 Nano - Its The Final Countdown!

I can see the end, and I've slowed my pace to an easy casual walk with a smug swagger to it. I only did about 1600 words on Day #21 and about 2700 yesterday, so that leaves me just under 2000 words to do for today to cross the 50k finish line.

Woo hoo!!!

I've written the climax of my book and now I'm just letting it down gently. I didn't plan out the entire ending so I'm just winging it, which is no prob.

I'm probably going to insert an extra scene near the beginning of the book because it would seem a bit stupid for my heroine to be attacked and then not go and report it to the police. So I thought I'd make something up to cover that. I know that if I was reading my book from a readers point of view it would drive me nuts that she didn't check the police report or newspapers to try to find her killer.

I'm not really bothered if I dont finish it today. I'm pretty tired from staying up late with a tummy ache. I've got a week to finish it, but I can feel that this is exactly what I always do. I always work work work and work and then when I get to one step from finishing I tend to slow down to a crawl or never finish. Perhaps I'm afraid to have nothing to look forward to or aim for. Stupid really, since I've got loads of editing to do etc.

The annoying thing about writing on my Alphasmart 3000 (fantastic little tool!!) is that its the American version and so the @ key and the " key are reversed. So when I transfer my writing to my laptop I get dialogue that looks like this -

@Hi, dickhead. How are you?@ asked Jim-Bob Nobrain

@Yeah, not too bad. I'm pretty stupid though.@ replied Hotpants Thickasshit

@Oh really? Why is that?@

@I've fired my editor during November and now all my typing is full of stupid symbols"@

@Oh, I see.@ said Jim-Bob, @You really are a dumbass aren't you?@

@Oh yes!@ nodded Hotpants.

But I'm a secretary, so fixing the above kinda stuff should be a breeze. Its just going to be time consuming and annoying. I suppose I could just 'find' and 'replace'. That would make sense. Duh!

Then, the only other thing I've got left to do is actually name my damn characters! I cant believe I've written the whole damn book and haven't been able to come up with some decent names. I've named four of my heroine's friends/colleagues but haven't yet named my heroine. I'm thinking an 'E' name of some sort. Not sure why. Perhaps an 'A' name. I like girl's names to start with a vowel.
I also need my heroine's soon-to-be lover's name. I've used 'James' as a working name, and 'Ayla' as a working name for my heroine, but I just dont like them. I also need to name my baddie. And my heroine's Nan. And her landlord. And her boss. And the old woman whose dead husband gives 'Ayla' advice (I named him Scatman).

Decisions decisions. I'll have to go check out some name generators or something.

Well, best get back to enjoying my lunchtime. I've got around 1000-1300 words done today already.. only a few hundred more. I just dont want to rush it. Hehehe. I want to savour these last moments. Although the way the story is unfolding the ending of the book will be about another 3000-4000 words so even when I cross the finish line the story hasn't actually resolved itself.

Day #20 Nano - Back to the Grind

I cant believe I've just had three days off from Nano. What a waster I am!!

It was great though. I really enjoyed holidaying away from my book, but I also got the guilts a bit too. I could have been spending the weekend finishing off the story and crossing the 50k finish line which would have left me with over 10 days to edit etc... but oh well. Nano isn't about getting 50k of FANTASTIC writing done, its about finishing the book. And thats what I'm going to do. December will be my NaNoEdMo and hopefully by christmas I'll have a lovely shiny sparkling crisp manuscript in my dirty little hands all ready for submission. I love that word - submission. It makes it sound like the book is bowing down to what I say.

You will go to this agency and you will knock their socks off and be accepted!!

So I got back on the bike today and squeezed out 2609 words before falling asleep at my desk. How on Earth I am keeping this job and not being fired for being a lazy arse, I do not know! I've got enough filing and shredding to do to fill an entire week, but who wants to do that?? Surely secretaries should be allowed to have assistants to do that kind of work. I mean, really, I cant stand the fact that I'm just a lowly secretary. Its disgusting. I simply must have someone below me! I'll have to speak with Jenn, the other secretary that I share work with. She's itching to get someone else in and she's been there longer than me so would have more influence.

I hate filing.

But at least my Nano is over 44k! Woo hoo! Only 5000 & something more words to go!

Special Orders For Couch Work!

I didn't do a single thing on Nano yesterday (Friday, Day #17) and I dont plan on doing any today, Day #18. What a lazy sod I am, but I dont care. I have special orders from my daily tarot reading, below.

I've got a full week of work next week so even if I only do 1000 a day until 30th November I'll still cross the finish line.. and its likely I'll do more than 1000 words a day - I usually do 1000 words on the train in the morning, all bleary-eyed and grumpy that I'm squashed on a train with loads of other grumpy-bleary-eyed people. At least I've found a carriage that always has seats left by the time the train reaches my station.

So anyway.. I'm going to have a day of fun and relaxation. If Martin doesn't get too stroppy with me monopolising the computer then I may make a few fractals or something. I've also got 5 or 6 episodes of Prison Break to watch, an episode of House, an episode of My Name Is Earl, and a stack of new DVD's we bought yesterday.
I love doing couch work! Tho I will have to leave the house at some point today as I have no chocolate - and we're going out to dinner tonight somewhere out in the sticks in Kent. Should be nice and relaxing.

I feel so guilty for taking two days off (three if I dont do any tomorrow) from Nano when other people are really struggling to make up the words. I'm sooooo glad I got a headstart in the first week.
Yip ya!

Love

Touchstone

Career

Today, you're in no mood to declare your undying devotion to your partner, Kathryn Wheeler. The conjunction of the Hanged Man and the World puts you in a bad position for making sacrifices or concessions. You keep your distance rather than get too involved, and you prefer light-heartedness to stability. You must act as you think best, but take care not to hurt those close to you with your fickle attitude. When it comes to work, you should best avoid embarking on any new projects, and certainly not go in for any risks. Today, the sword of Damocles is hanging over you - the inevitable consequence of Death and of the Hanged Man! Not at all propitious for new projects or endeavors. All in all it does look today as if have reached a standstill. But that is not a reason to despair. Just let this day pass by, and look forward to tomorrow.

Day #16 Nano - Words Away!

Well, I was right. I can only seem to write when I'm under pressure to do something else. Its so annoying. That means I'll always have to have a day job if I want to have a successful writing career. Kinda pointless, really.

Ah well, I'll just have to roll with it. Got over 4000 words done today, so that takes me over the top of 40k! Yee ha! I'm on the downhill stretch, and I'm coming to the climax in my book. So its all fun from here on in.

In other news, I just moved into Blogworld Road. It seemed like a nice neighbourhood so I took it upon myself to become a resident. I set up home in my house of cards, so poker nights will be at my place. Bring chocolate, and Jack Daniels. PARTY!!!

Day #15 Nano - Work at Work

Well I had a crap day writing wise, only 1400-ish, even though I had the day off with nothing to do. It just goes to show that I'm useless at orgnising my own time and actually making myself write.

I think I'm much better at writing when I'm at work or doing something I dont want to do.

But anyway, I dont really mind. I had a fantastic start in the first week, so I'm not too fussed that I slumped so much in the second week. I'm at the halfway point in the month and I'm way over halfway with the book, so as far as I'm concerned I'm doing smashingly good. Hoorah!

Wish I didn't have to go to work tho. But, I guess I'd never get any writing done if I didn't work. I hate figuring things out about myself that I dont like and cant seem to influence. Its just stupid that the only time I feel compelled to write is when I'm actually too busy to write. I'm the eternal rebel, I guess.

Total words are over 37k, so Day #16 should take me over the top of the 40k mark. In theory, anyway. (Below - a bit of Day #15 fun)

Day #14 Nano - Training Day

Only 700-ish word done today. Pretty crap, but that was all I could get done on the train before I fell asleep. I was knackered and I have no idea why.

When I got to work I had to go to this stupid training day thing which meant we all sit around in groups and discuss different ways of coming up with innovative ideas and discussing the company ethos. Is 'ethos' even a word???

It sucked. I felt like I was at some junkie meeting or something, or in a room with a group of retards where we were given pens and paper to draw pretty pictures to take our minds off the fact that we're all loopy.

So, I didn't get anything written. At lunchtime I had to spend the whole time trying to avoid the other prisoners so I didn't have to speak to them.

At least I got free sandwiches. No crisps or chocolate though, bloody cheap skates!

Day off tomorrow. YAY. A day of unhindered writing and fractal fun. Cant wait.

Fractal Fun

This is another fractal I made. Its got three layers blended together. I love it, though I wish it didn't have 'Evaluation Copy' plastered all over it.. Having said that, though, I'm not willing to pay $59 US just to get rid of it. And I cant afford it. Bummer.

Procrastinating in Fractal Land

Had a bit of fun with the evaluation version of Ultra Fractal 4, and this is the pic I came up with. Pity its got all the 'evaluation' things stamped all over it. Makes me want to send them a picture of my hand flipping the bird in fractal to them.

But anyway, it was a bit of fun.

I Can Count To Ten (But Thats All!)

I was just sorting through my novel, backing it up and making sure it was correctly saved etc, when I noticed a discrepancy in the size of one of my chapter files with the copied file on my external harddrive.

See, when I save a chapter on my computer I also save a copy to my external harddrive too because (*touchwood*) my logic is that both harddrives wont explode at the same time and I wont lose my book.

BUT, I must have forgotten to save the finished (and I use the term 'finished' very loosely) file of Chapter 2 to the external harddrive, thus eliminating approx 3,000 from my word count. I must have added up my word count from the external harddrive copy of files not realising that the wordcount would be different from my main novel folder on my computer. What a twat I am!

So, it seems my wordcount is already over 34,000, so reaching my target of 35,000 today should be a breeze. Hehehe. Perhaps I'll raise the target to 37,000. No point wasting such a lovely little bonus.

I'm going to email myself my novel now, because now that I've said the words 'harddrive' and 'explode' in the same sentence its just bound to come true.

Plus - Hoorah, beta blogger is letting me post again without that stupid annoying message!! Woo hoo!!

Day #13 Nano - Hey Ho, On We Go

Well, I had a pretty slow weekend words wise (only 858 in total), but it was a really nice break. I've got the day off work today so hopefully I can get my wordcount up and over 35k. I'm hoping to crack the 50k by November 20th. That gives me ten days to edit and polish before handing over my wordcount to the Nano counter and officially crossing the finish line.

Yay, cant wait!

I'm not going to dwell here on blogger, nor read too many other blogs today. I must get on. There are words that need writing, and I feel like I've got a fire up my arse! (The creative kind of fire, that is. Not the kind of fire that Johnny Cash named his song after. Haha!)

fingers crossed that beta blogger will run smoothly and let me post without showing that god-awful 'We're sorry...' message.

Day #12 Nano - Not A Whole Lotta Writin' Goin' On

I wrote a little bit this morning, but this Sunday (like yesterday) has been a much needed day off.

I've spent most of today cleaning up my computer (coz it does get quite messy), and watching episodes of My Name Is Earl, House and Lost. Gunna catch a bit of Mission Impossible III now and spend the rest of the evening not thinking about writing.

I feel like I'm holiday! Woo hoo! Thank god I made such a great head start in the first week.

*sigh* If only this stupid beta blogger thing was working properly. If I see that 'We're sorry...' message just one more time I'm going to throw this computer through a window.

Anyone else having beta trouble???

Beta is Better, MY ARSE!!

This is absolute crap.

I wrote a post. I pressed 'publish', and Beta says 'We're sorry, but we are unable to process this request' (I can just here the sickly sweet recording of a woman's voice saying this over and over in a monotone).

So I click 'back' and thankfully my post is still there. So I try again and click 'publish'.

Same 'We're sorry' message.

So I repeat.

And repeat again.

Still the same damn message!!

So this time I go back and save the damn post as a draft to post later, and when it brings up the page with a list of all my posts it shows that I've posted the same post FOUR TIMES! I thought it wasn't posted because of that stupid 'We're sorry' message.

So I tried to delete one....

...'We're sorry...'

Yeah, right, I'm really sure Beta is f****** sorry at pissing me off so early in the morning.

Computers suck. I'm going back to my Alphasmart to get some much needed nano words done.

Day #11 Nano - The Elevensies

Its 11.11am and I'm posting about the eleventh day of Nano. Hehe. I like those little things that tie-in so well.

So anyway. Day off! (well, got about 100 words done, but I'm not adding to my Day 11 count. I'm going to add it to my Day 12 count).

I did a bit of shopping, did a bit of lazing around, did a bit of screaming and shouting when my internet connection dropped out while I was in the middle of chatting to my Mum on MSN, and did a little drinking and video watching.

Ah lovely. I'm glad to say the internet is back up, so I think its on fragile legs, and I'm also glad to say that I didn't drink myself into oblivion. I drank responsibly. Shit, I must be growing up. Damn, I hope not.

Day #10 Nano - At The 30k Base Camp

I've reached the camp a little over half way up the mountain at the 30k words point.

Damn the view is good from up here.

I've got most of Saturday afternoon free to get up to 35k (hopefully!) and also have all day Sunday. I've got Monday (and Wednesday) off, so I'll have all day then to work too, with no annoying husband around to take my attention off Nano.

Tuesday will be a bad day until the evening. I've got some training thing to go to at work, so I'll only be able to do my usual 1000 on the train, then wait til I get home to work on it more while hubby is at the pub. Since Nano started I dont think I've written a word in the evening. I hope my creativity works just as well then as it does in the morning.

Even though I hate to get up early, I've found that I write best then. Perhaps its because my brain isn't filled with a day full of crap and I'm free to let my mind explore its creativity to the full. I dunno. Anyway. I'm glad it works that way, and I'm not going to question it until I've reached the 50k summit.

Gotta round this up. I'm writing this at the start of Day #11 and I've got to nip to Bluewater shopping centre to buy Martin a new suit, because god forbid he gets off his arse and buys his own.. that would mean getting out of bed before midday to beat the traffic. He's staying in hangover town at the moment, anyway, so I might as well just get on with it. I bet I'll be back before he gets his sorry arse outta bed. Bloody husbands.

At least I'm choosing what video we watch tonight.

All Work And No Play Makes Kate A Dull Girl

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Day #9 Nano - Biting the Arse of the 30k Monster

Day 9 was a pretty good day in this nanowrimo craziness. Not as good as yesterday, but still more than I thought I'd get done. 4702 words, and I crossed the halfway mark of 25k without even blinking. Sweeeeet.

This whole Nano thing has been a dream. I write about 1000 words on the train in the morning, with Jerry (my Alphasmart 3000) on my lap underneath the table, if there is a table on the train seat I manage to get, and when I'm at work I just keep Word open and go back to it every time I get a spare moment. Its really nice working in 1000 word chunks. It keeps me interested. I'm quite surprised I got so much done yesterday. I went out for lunch at lunchtime, so I wrote the whole lot while being paid to actually work. Hehehe. I love it.

I'm hoping to cross the 30k mark and if day 10 is anything like day 9 then I have no worries. I dont really want to dwell on it too much, in case I break the spell, but I feel like I'm doing ok.

I reckon this is the first time ever I've stuck to something longer than 5 minutes and have actually started progressing. Probably coz I'm afraid of the view from the top of the mountain and prefer staying in the cozy comfortablness of the valley.
Well, vertigo no more, I'm climbing that damn 50k mountain and i'm going to damn well get there!!

Tarot - The Pick Of The Deck

You are The Star

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Star is one of the great cards of faith, dreams realised

The Star is a card that looks to the future. It does not predict any immediate or powerful change, but it does predict hope and healing. This card suggests clarity of vision, spiritual insight. And, most importantly, that unexpected help will be coming, with water to quench your thirst, with a guiding light to the future. They might say you're a dreamer, but you're not the only one.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Thank you to Deep Thinker for this link.

Day #8 Nano - Where Do These Words Come From?

Did you just see that benchmark go flying past? It had the numbers 20k written on it!!

I flew past today's target as though it wasn't even there, clocking up over 6,000 words today making my total around 23,000 so far.

YES!

I think its pretty safe to say that I've found a method that works for me.
I have a solid outline and I've written out a description of each chapter so that when I actually to write it I dont get too lost in waffling on about description because I already know where the story needs to go. At first I thought it would be a waste of time, but I'm constantly referring back to my chapter notes wondering where I'm supposed to take the story next and its not taking the magic or mystery out of it!

I'm so pleased. I've been f*cking around with my epic fantasy novel for 8 years. EIGHT F*cking YEARS!! Its taken that long because I dont have any kind of outline for my chapters. I'm such a dunce. I cant believe I shied away from it. I thought that outlining the chapters would actually take out all the fun in creating the story, but its just the opposite. It keeps the story fun to write and makes it a hell of a lot easier. Once you know your boundaries and framework you can run riot betwee the lines.

I'm itching to get started on another book.. but I cant get too impatient. Fleeting Life (the working title for my nano book) has got to be finished first. I am, of course, under no delusion that what I am writing is perfectly saleable right now. Its not. Its a rough draft. But its a fantastic start. I can feel the editor in me craving to get out and correct those typos and disastrous shifts in POV and tense.

My aim for Day #9 is to crack the 25k. Methinks I've got it sorted, but we'll see. I dont wanna go getting complacent until I've written 49,999 words. Only then can I start to relax.

Super-Size Me & Ebay

I totally recommend using an Alphasmart to write your novel on.

If you're like me and get distracted easily, then an Alphasmart 3000 is the way to go. It shows just four lines of text and all you can do on it is write!!

There's one up for grabs on ebay here

There is also an Alphasmart Dana for sale too, which is what I originally wanted, but it has more funky stuff on it and would only distract me. I'm kind of like a magpie in that respect - I'll be working away and then I'll spot something... "Ooo.. thats quite shiny!" and that'll be the end of my concentration.
Totally useless.

Speaking of totally useless. I got my Mum to buy me a king size bed cover because my husband is 6ft and not the smallest of men (he's not fat, I dont mean fat!) and he tends to hog the covers. I figured a king size would be more than adequate! But, no! A king size barely covers us. Its absolutely ridiculous.

Why on earth can people think up super-size french fries but not super-sized bed spreads. Surely all those fat people who gobble down the super-sized french fries would need super-sized bed covers. It kinda makes sense to me. They go hand in hand, I think!

Also.. something else that would benefit from super-sizing - train seats!! Is it just me or am I always the only person stuck with a huge fat Mama half sitting on me because she cant fit into the seat?! I can totally understand fat people not fitting into train seats, coz I can barely fit into them too (I'm not fat.. I'm just normal), and I havent even started on men with broad shoulders. I mean, really, who was it who designed train seats? Skinny little children with no shoulders and hips?!??! I wish they'd get it sorted. The last thing I want when squashed on a train at some ungodly hour in the morning is to be touched by other people.

Ok, I'm done ranting now. (Already done over 2,500 words today and its only lunchtime. Yay, only a few hundred more til I crack the 20k mark!)

So Fast

Woah. My previous post, the first one since switching to beta, published so fast! Cool!

Beta, Baby!

I'm here!

I've made the move!

I'll have to spend a bit of time having a looksee around to see if it was a good move or not.

I'm thinking of jazzing up my blog. Instead of bogstandard white I'm thinking I might introduce a colour.... but which colour?

I think I'll have to think it over once Nano is finished and see what I can come up with. I've already switched my sidebar to be aligned right. I think I like it better that way. Dunno. I'll probably mess with it intermittantly as a procrastination exercise during Nano month.

Day #7 - Nano

3566 words written today, making the total over 17000.

Fingers crossed that I'll hit the 20k mark tomorrow! WOO HOO!

I'm home alone tonight. Martin is off at the pub being blokish, so I think I'll have a shower and be a bit girlish tonight. Light some candles, put on some music and just chill.

YES!

Day #6 Nano - Getting Ahead

Well, I closed out today, the sixth day of Nanowrimo, with 3,574 words. That makes a total of 13,469 so far. Woo hoo!

I'm stoked!

I'm a quarter of the way through, one day early. Sweeeeeeet!!!

Its been coming fairly easy, and I must say I'm totally enjoying it. But I have this hideous feeling creeping up my spine that every word I'm writing is crap. Martin came home early today and started reading my first chapter and had some good things to say, but I'll never believe friends or relatives that my writing is good. It just isnt right.

I know my nano novel is filled with typos and disasterous shifts in point of view and tenses, but I'm so pleased with myself that I've ignored the obsessive compulsive side of me that always wants to go back and edit, and have soldiered on. I've ignored the spell check. Ignored the typos. Ignored all the incorrect/bad uses of tenses, and I've even ignored naming my characters.

The latter is a bit stupid really. I've got a working name for my heroine - Ayla (named after the heroine in Clan of the Cave Bear), and I've got a few 'final' names for some of her friends, but I've really gotta spare some time soon to get all the other names sorted. I cant keep referring to Ayla's boss as 'the boss'. And Ayla is about to start falling in love (even though she's dead.. thats a cool trick eh!), but I haven't given her future boyfriend a name yet.

Decisions decisions.

It'll all come together in the end, I'm sure. I'm pretty chuffed that I'm at the quarter mark. I'm hoping to crack 20k if not by Friday, then by Saturday. And be well over the halfway mark of 25K by the following Saturday.. even at the 30k mark. That'd be nice.. Mmmm.. I'm dreaming now... and totally getting ahead of myself.

It was a bit embarassing typing away on Jerry (my Alphasmart 3000) on the train this morning. I was on one of those trains that has the tables on it, but I was too embarassed to use it so I just kept Jerry on my lap, and tried soooo hard not to elbow the sleeping guy next to me.
Thank god I had a slow day at work today and was able to write like the wind. Fingers crossed that tomorrow'll be the same.

*sigh* Its late. I wanted to switch to Beta tonight, but I spent too much time reading other blogs and my email. I'll do it tomorrow while Martin's at the pub.

Now blogger, you listen to me.. Dont even think about deleting any of my posts while my back is turned. I'm always watching you. Got it!

Day #5 Nano - On Target For Success

I'm just 115 words shy of 10,000 and I'm feeling pretty good about it.

I've struggled with myself to NOT go back and correct typos. Most of the 'the's in my story have come out like 'teh' which is so incredibly hard to just leave, and there are misspellings gallore! But I must stay strong. Now is not the time to edit, now is the time to write.

I'm three chapters down (though chapter 3 will need extending when it comes to editing), and its all looking good.

My heroine is dead.

And she's just about to realise it.

I'm going to aim for 2,000 words minimum per day from now on, and at least 5,000 per day on the weekends.

Fingers crossed I dont get the second-week-slump.

I still havent forgiven blogger for stealing posts off me. I'm going to beta later today (day #6).

F***!!!!

Blogger you f***** bastard!!!

This f***** c*** of a stupid program deleted two of my posts!!

What the f***?!?!??!

I'm sooooo pissed off!!

No one deletes my words but me! I feel so up myself saying that, but even if it is the crappest thing I've ever written, no one deletes but me!!!

I f***** hate computers!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!

If anyone who views my blog sees the posts Day #3 & Day #4 please copy and paste them into an email and send them to katewheeler11 at hotmail dot com. Ta muchly! I'm going to go and kill something now.

Day #5 Nano - Sunday Grace

I've started the day off with 2000 words, concluding chapter one. I think this book is going to be a bit more adult than intended. I've already used the words sex, asshole and bitch.

Oh well, that happens when you put in a goth-loving character and her flamboyant Graham-Norton-like gay friend.

I'm really enjoying developing the story. I thought I'd get bored with it having it all planned out. I'm not much of a planner and am more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of girl, but the bare bones of the outline is bare enough to allow room for creativity, yet structured enough to keep me on the straight and narrow.

I'm hoping to crack the 10k barrier by the end of today and I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to kill my heroine in the next chapter or two. Cant wait.

But what is the rest of the book filled with if your heroine is dead? I hear you ask? Why, with her ghostly form trying to figure out life on the other side, of course!

In reference to Deep Thinker's post about blogger - I cant seem to access the last few of my posts to edit them or add to them etc. Wtf? Blogger has never failed on me since I've been signed up. Grrr. I wanted to add a lovely tarot picture to my previous post. Looks like I wont be able to. Oh well. Such is life I guess.. or should I say, such is blogger.

Day #2 Nano Metro & the Jack-o-lantern

Today went a lot better with the chapter planning. I'm up to Chapter 11 now (thats 8 planned today), so I'm a bit happier today. Though I've got an annoying headache.

I was just flipping through the Metro today, on my way home (I scavenged the paper after it was left on the seat) and I noticed a little article about Nanowrimo. My face flushed and I smiled. It felt like they were writing about me.. which is totally ridiculous because it mentions about 75,000 people world wide are participating. I cut it out anyway and I'm going to keep it with all my Nano stuff.

I carved a Jack-o-lantern this week for Halloween. I wanted to put up a picture of it earlier, but havent had the time.

Anyway, here it is.

Day #1 - Nano Nightmare

What a crap day to start Nano on. I've been totally run off my feet and have so much stuff going on in my head I barely got three chapters planned out.

Firstly, we're finally doing something about the huge mould problem in our house - getting the landlord to fix it once and for all before we die of a million different cancers and diseases.

Secondly, I've got this stupid photography shoot thing that I 'won' for free, but dont want to do. I trudged all the way to the studio at lunchtime only to be told that someone was trying to call me to cancel. So that wiped out any chance at doing anything at lunchtime. And;

Thirdly, Wednesdays are piano lesson days. I was ill last week so I couldnt cancel this week as well. Especially since I have some new music for my student.

But all in all the day finally finished up quite nicely. Martin and I did plan on going to Bluewater to buy him some new shoes, which he desperately needs and obviously needs a shoe buff with him when he buys them - but I get home after 8.30pm from the piano lesson, so we decided to have fish and chips and stay in instead.

It turned into a nice evening. I showered and got my shit together, and watched a few episodes of House! (If you havent seen House before, then WATCH IT! Its awesome!!)

The only tragedy of the day is that I discovered my drawer full of all my handbags has been infiltrated with mould! NOT HAPPY! So I'm sure that'll take more precious Nano time away from me to sort that out.

But its ok. I've got three chapters planned. I've got the train journey to and from work to expand on that, and I've also got lunchtime. Its ok. I'm not completely off track. I hope to have it all planned out by Saturday. Then its writing time (of course, after we drive to Essex to pick up our wedding photos and go shoe shopping!).

Sunday will be my saving grace day. Its my aim to have at least 5,000 words done by Sunday eve. I'm hoping it will be more like 10,000.

Fingers crossed.