NaNoWriMo 2012 and The December 750 Words Challenge

So, I completed NaNoWriMo 2012. I have a funky badge to prove it – look:

I also have a Scrivener project that is 54,127 words long and impossible to summarise. I am using the excuse that the novel isn’t actually finished as my reason my I am unable to describe what it is about without making it sound epically confusing and not particularly good. I’m not sure what my excuse is going to be when I actually finish it.

Taking part in NaNoWriMo taught me a lot:

I am capable of writing a novel. For all I am a graduate in Creative Writing, I have never been very good at finishing things longer than about 20,000 words. Partly because I have new ideas and move on because the new idea is always more exciting than the old one and partly because I have always had a tendency to give up when the going got tough.

NaNoWriMo has made me realise that I can write a novel all the way through. I can stick out the tough bits, wade through the boring bits and break that infamous 20,000 word slump. All I need is a bit of willpower (and, it seems, a deadline and a graph showing me just how far behind target I am) and I can do it.

I need to plan properly. Before NaNoWriMo kicked off on November 1st, I spent quite a lot of time planning and plotting out my story. I wrote a loose chapter plan, researched mythical creatures for my ‘bad guys’, read folk tales and legends and looked at lots and lots of photographs of dogs. That meant that when I got to sticky bits whilst I was writing I could look at where I needed to go next for a bit of direction, or even skip forward to an exciting scene that I really wanted to write and then go back afterwards and fill in the gaps.

I wrote some of my favourite bits that way. I got really stuck, had no inspiration or clue what to write so I jumped forward and wrote another bit and during that part I would back reference an even that hadn’t happened and think to myself ‘Oh! So that’s what they get up to in that bit!’ and go back and fill it all in. Sometimes you have to let your characters do the story-telling and let yourself be the messenger, not the director.

Hitting that validate button on the NaNoWriMo website and turning my word count bar into a shiny purple ‘WINNER!’ announcement was a MASSIVE buzz and I even printed off the official certificate and stuck it up on the wall and ordered myself the official winner’s t-shirt because I did it. I went away for a weekend, the kids and I have been ill, I have still done all the things I normally do and I still managed to write 50,000 words in just 30 days.

I feel like I am allowed to be just a tiny bit proud of myself.

HOWEVER!

Faerie or No is not finished. It turns out that 50,000 words, or even 54,000 words are not enough to tell Eóghan and George’s story. I’ve come too far with them now to just give up on them though so I need to carry on. But how to keep up the motivation now my NaNoWriMo word count graph is redundant? Easy, I have signed up for the 750 Words December Challenge.

The premise of this one is simple – 750 words is approximately 3 pages of a paperback book. The challenge is to write those three pages every day. It doesn’t all have to be one project like NaNo. It doesn’t even have to be fiction. Or comprehensive. You just need to write 750 words every day.

I am going to use it to finish my novel, but I am also going to count my blog posts and anything else I write because it gives me a counter of just how much I put down on paper (or screen) and I find that little (or sometimes not-so-little) number quite fascinating.

Hopefully I will have Faerie or No finished before Christmas. If I don’t Liberty will probably beat me up.

Wish me luck!

November Reading

Having just looked up that we are in week 44 of this year and that I have only read 40 books since January 1st, I am starting to fear that I will fail at my target to read 52 books in the 52 weeks of 2012. I need to get a wriggle on!

With that in mind I am going to continue my (seemingly everlasting) struggle with Diary Of An Ordinary Woman in tandem with reading other books instead of ploughing through it alone. I will finish it. One day.

The books I am going to read this month are (hopefully):

Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater

Witch Baby And Me by Debi Gliori

A Perfect Blood by Kim Harrison

and if by some miracle they all vanish before the end of the month I will start Checkmate by Malorie Blackman (again, because I read the first 80 pages then stopped and now have no idea what was happening at all…)

Of course, all of this is on top of me trying to complete NaNoWriMo too. I am doomed.

Broadway In Miniature – A Flash Fiction #100WCGU

“Just picture it. Bright lights, dancing girls, glitter, music. It will be magnificent.”

Esther wasn’t convinced. “It’s a school production. It will look cheap and silly.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Marco scolded. “It’s a professional production enhanced by the inclusion of budding young actors. It could still be like Broadway. Just in miniature.”

They appraised the dull, tiny stage and cast their eyes over the musty seating. Marco full of hope and wonder, Esther despairing.

“Yes, Broadway in miniature – and Winter will bring the icing on the cake. The flair, the skill…”

Esther’s phone beeped. A text.

“Marco?”

“… richness, excitement, glamour…”

“… He’s cancelled.”

*

Written as part of the 100 Word Challenge For Grown Ups

Autumn #100WCGU

Sunshine is dribbling through the leaves as they shift in the icy breeze. Golden dandelions dance in the grass, stretching out their petals as they try to grab the faint warmth of the sun.

From inside the car it still looks like summer.

We get out.

Coats are zipped up, gloves put on, hats and scarves are tugged on tight, our cheeks already glowing.

Outside the car you can almost smell winter. It is lurking around the corner, waiting to freeze the dandelions and curl their delicate petals to blackness.

It can’t be that time of year already?

What happened to summer? Did we blink?

*
Written as part of the 100 Word Challenge For Grown Ups

Remembering – A Flash Fiction #100WCGU

I woke with another headache. Blindly, I reached out to my bedside cabinet for the aspirin and bottled water and gulped some down.

“I wish you’d stop drilling when I’m trying to sleep. Can’t it wait ’til later?” I called through to Jasper. He was probably putting up the painting in the other bedroom – it had been sat waiting for ages and whilst Charlie was at school was the best time to do it. Charlie hated the noise of the drill.

There was no answer.

Suddenly I woke with another headache and remembered – Jasper was gone. Charlie too.

The painting was still waiting.

*
Written as part of the 100 Word Challenge For Grown Ups

Mother vs Chav – A Poem (100WCGU) (National Poetry Day)

Mother vs Chav

 

The baby’s crying -

third time tonight.

Inconsolable wailing -

nothing I do is right.

 

It was that idiot that did it -

I’d swear and call him names

but none are rude enough to fit. -

Yes, that pillock is to blame.

 

Roaring past the flat

at sixty miles an hour.

(Did I mention he’s a prat?)

Waking my precious flower.

 

She’s sleeping sweetly now,

I calmed her with a drink.

The stress is easing from my brow -

I’ll go to bed, I think.

 

VRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

 

A dirty nappy was beside her bed,

suddenly it was in my hand -

then launching at his head,

Bet that wasn’t what he planned…

 

*
Written as part of the 100 Word Challenge For Grown Ups and also for National Poetry Day 2012

100 Word Challenge For Grown Ups

There is no such thing as alone.

Look.

Birds hide in the clouds, creatures in the trees and fish beneath the water.

Whispers in the breeze, secrets in the shadows and promises sparkle in the sunshine.

Open your eyes and see what surrounds you.

See the world around you and feel it in your soul.

Listen.

There is no such thing as silence.

Taste the air.

The cold biting at your lungs, refreshing, invigorating.

Start over.

Forget the hurt of yesterday and lose yourself in the hope of tomorrow.

Let today be a new beginning.

See the world.

Breathe.

Live.

 

*
Written as part of the 100 Word Challenge For Grown Ups

My Personal Lent Project 2012

I’m rubbish at Lent. There, I’ve said it. I have no staying power at all, I start out with the best of intentions and usually fail by the end of the first day (or second if I’m lucky) – a bit like New Years Resolutions.

With that in mind I’ve decided to approach Lent a bit differently this year. Instead of giving one thing up for the 40 days I’m going to do a series of challenges or activities instead. I was thinking of doing 4 different 10-day challenges and having not come up with any better ideas since I was thinking that, I have just this second decided that’s what I’m going to do.

So for the first ten days (22nd Feb – 2nd March) my challenge is:

Read at least one new piece of Poetry a day

There are several poetry books in my parents’ house that I have never touched. I write poetry – I should read it more. I have no excuse not to stick to this one, even though I’m off adventuring in the middle of it, I will still have train trips and quiet moments where I can sit and indulge in some new verses.

I will report back in 10 days on how I did and try to think up what my next mini Lent Project will be.