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!