Word Count: 5,772
Day five and I'm still struggling, but it's getting easier. I spent most of today procrastinating - grocery shopping, helping Wifey out with some small renos and house-hunting.
I did get in an hour of good writing time though, and got just over 1,400 words down. My goal of 15k by COE tomorrow night is a long way away to say the least, but if I can get somewhere close I'll be happy.
I'm measuring my successes in small steps at the moment - just sitting down at the keyboard and making my characters do something (anything!) is a success at this point. I've also been reading the Nano forums and pep talks and doing little bits of reading in between to keep me in the right frame of mind.
I'm not ashamed to admit that more than once last night I wanted to walk away from the keyboard and throw it in completely. Instead, I went and made myself a coffee, ate a piece of chocolate from my treat stash, and asked myself what is the story that I really want to be writing.
Turns out it wasn't the same one I'd started on Tuesday night. Go figure! Half the words I've written so far belong to that story, and I'm still counting them in my tally since they're still words on a page I didn't have at the start. If I manage to get past the 50,000 words though, I'll totally discard them at the end.
So what happened when I came back in, re-caffeinated and more determined? I thought about the essence of the story I started and what I wanted to say. I have some great scenes written that will hopefully end up in another book some day, but they're just not right for this one. And they're just not right for the theme of the story I really wanted to write.
So, I put all my characters in a line-up. I threw some darts and picked a couple, and then did some what-ifs. I ended up changing my main character to a girl, her best friend to a boy, and tossed in a few elements from the original plot just to make things interesting.
So far, in the roughly 3,000 words I've written in the new improved Nano-novel, I've managed to pull out no less than six different extra plot points and discovered some things about these characters I never knew before. There's skeletons in closets and secrets galore.
And yes, someone is still going to die. At the moment, it's a roll of the dice who it's going to be, and not even my characters know at this point. Which is probably a good thing - they'd react differently if they knew they were going to cark it.
I'm heading back to it to see if I can hit 7-8,000 words by COE tonight.
Before I go though, a big shout out to everyone who's seen me pop up on facebook or in person, or had texts from me the last few days and asked "Shouldn't you be writing?" Thanks guys.
Saturday, 5 November 2011
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Nanowrimo: Day Three - Small Successes
After a slow start on Day One, I finally managed to get in over a full daily quota of 1,684 words. That brings my total word count on Day Three to 3,426. (Day Twos' count was 1,207). Still short of the 5,000-ish I should be, but I'm happy to be gradually building up the word count each night.
I struggled early last night to make any sort of headway, so I decided to change tact a little bit and just let one of the characters tell me the story from their point of view. It turned out to be the right thing to do. Changing from third person ("he/she") to first ("I") also made a huge difference. Sam, (my character), turns out to be a bit of a loser, but he tells a great story.
So I decided to let him keep going tonight and he didn't disappoint. I'm not sure how many words I can drag out of him, but I'm happy to let him prattle on. I discovered a couple of little plot points I didn't know existed that I'll be happy to incorporate somewhere along the line. All in all, it seems to be setting things up nicely, and Sam keeps throwing up questions that need to be answered further down the track. Hopefully, (and this is a bit of a spoiler), he doesn't get himself killed before he tells me what happens.
The next big goal for my word count is to hit 15,000 words by C.O.E (close of eyes ie bed-time) Sunday night, which means getting in close to 4,000 words each for the next three days. Not impossible, but I have a lot of time on my hands this weekend, and I'm primed to pull an all-nighter tomorrow night with the assistance of some strong, hot coffee.
Until then, I'm off to bed. Some of us have a real job to go to in the morning.
Stay tuned.....
I struggled early last night to make any sort of headway, so I decided to change tact a little bit and just let one of the characters tell me the story from their point of view. It turned out to be the right thing to do. Changing from third person ("he/she") to first ("I") also made a huge difference. Sam, (my character), turns out to be a bit of a loser, but he tells a great story.
So I decided to let him keep going tonight and he didn't disappoint. I'm not sure how many words I can drag out of him, but I'm happy to let him prattle on. I discovered a couple of little plot points I didn't know existed that I'll be happy to incorporate somewhere along the line. All in all, it seems to be setting things up nicely, and Sam keeps throwing up questions that need to be answered further down the track. Hopefully, (and this is a bit of a spoiler), he doesn't get himself killed before he tells me what happens.
The next big goal for my word count is to hit 15,000 words by C.O.E (close of eyes ie bed-time) Sunday night, which means getting in close to 4,000 words each for the next three days. Not impossible, but I have a lot of time on my hands this weekend, and I'm primed to pull an all-nighter tomorrow night with the assistance of some strong, hot coffee.
Until then, I'm off to bed. Some of us have a real job to go to in the morning.
Stay tuned.....
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
Nanowrimo: Day One
Goal: 2,000
Word count: 535
Not as good as I'd hoped, but better than no words. I only got time to write at about 8pm, and had to shut myself away in the bedroom since our visitors are still here. I hate being unsociable.
Very aware that wifey needs to go to bed, so wasn't able to concentrate well at all and ended up only getting in an hour.
I made two different starts, which will probably translate into two separate chapters and fleshed out some early ideas.
I'm hoping with some more time tomorrow night I'll get more done. I have a goal to be at or around 10,000 words by Sunday night which will put me slightly ahead, so I'm going to shut myself away for a few hours at a time, and maybe have a late one Friday night.
I've realised that I'm really going to have take advantage of my weekends and Mondays in order to hit 50k words by the end of the month.
No word count widgets available yet, but will stick one up as soon as they do.
Time for some rest, and hopefully a better count tomorrow.
Word count: 535
Not as good as I'd hoped, but better than no words. I only got time to write at about 8pm, and had to shut myself away in the bedroom since our visitors are still here. I hate being unsociable.
Very aware that wifey needs to go to bed, so wasn't able to concentrate well at all and ended up only getting in an hour.
I made two different starts, which will probably translate into two separate chapters and fleshed out some early ideas.
I'm hoping with some more time tomorrow night I'll get more done. I have a goal to be at or around 10,000 words by Sunday night which will put me slightly ahead, so I'm going to shut myself away for a few hours at a time, and maybe have a late one Friday night.
I've realised that I'm really going to have take advantage of my weekends and Mondays in order to hit 50k words by the end of the month.
No word count widgets available yet, but will stick one up as soon as they do.
Time for some rest, and hopefully a better count tomorrow.
Monday, 31 October 2011
Sunday Sesh #9 - The Sesh With No Beer
Sorry about no Sunday Sesh this week. I'm still not overly good at this pre-planning thing. I'm blaming Nanowrimo, since you're not supposed to plan too far ahead in order to get the best experience possible.
However,
Unplanned visitors + planned visitors + housework + reno's = Full house and no time for blogging.
The simplest solution would have been for me to do the post early, and then just add the beer review before I posted. Not for me this business though. What if what I wrote on (say) Wednesday for the post was no longer relevant on Sunday? I'd have to completely re-write the post anyway.
I thought I could sneak in a quick post, review my beer and just write some crap about whatever was happening that interested me and then go be sociable.
It certainly did not work out that way.
Plus, it's the day before Nanowrimo starts, my work week starts tomorrow and I'll have visitors until Wednesday. I am NOT going to get my head-start I was hoping for.
On top of that, we have the tupperware party and a going away party for friends in two weeks that wipes out almost a full day. I have the next weekend free, and then we're in Brisbane both weekends after that.
So I was wondering how this month was going to work with such an unproductive start and so much other stuff on. For a few days I tossed around just dropping Nano until next year, and I also tossed around dropping absolutely everything else except my real job.
I've decided that even though this month is one of the most hectic we've had all year, I'm still doing Nano because no matter how much I could have tried to get a fully free month, something would have come up to throw a spanner in the works.
So this is how it's all going to go down this month. Bear in mind these are your rules as much as they are mine, and I apologise in advance for dropping off the radar for the next 30 days.
Things I am NOT doing (or restricting to next to nothing) for the next month:
Answering the phone - I'm giving Wifey my mobile phone when I'm at home. From tomorrow, Wifey will be my secretary after 5pm. All texts and phone calls will go through her. I can call and text to my heart's content between 8.30am and 5pm, and because I'm at my real job between those hours, it means not very much at all. So unless you or someone else is dying, you're going to have to get through my secretary first.
Facebooking and blog-reading - I'm restricting my facebooking and blog-reading, and will only allow myself to jump on if I reach my word counts for each day. If I'm behind from the previous day, I'll need to catch up on those words as well as do that day's word count before I can access the net. I will, however, post a link to the blog whenever I post. If you catch me on facebook, and there's no post on the blog, flick me a message and ask what I'm doing on there. Alternatively, poke me and tell me to "GET WRITING DAMMIT!"
Watching TV - No TV. Not even the news in the afternoon. I'll be setting the timers tonight to tape everything I would normally watch. There are no if's or but's on this rule. Even if I hit my word counts every day, I won't be watching anything on the idiot box. Sitting down in front of the TV in December, catching up on all my shows, will be my reward for getting through the next 30 days, regardless of whether I hit that 50k or not.
Restricted Twitter - Why restricted and not just banned? Because I want to see how the other #nanowrimo's are doing since it's my first year. They've been getting pretty excited lately, and so far I've just watched and not tweeted too much. I may get in on the conversation as the month progresses though. I'll see how things go.
Staying off the internet - This one's a tricky one. I want to get onto the Nano forums, but I will only allow myself to do that after I've hit my word counts. I will only get online for that though. Any research I think I may have to do for the novel I'll keep track of in a notebook, and if the Nano novel turns out to be ok, I'll sort it out then. I can get a bit of an online fix to read newspapers etc at work before I get started and at lunch-time, so this won't feel too restrictive.
There are probably other things I'll be giving up or restricting over the next 30 days, but those are the major ones.
Since this post is quite long enough, I'll leave over the things I will be doing during Nano for the next post, when I give my first report from the trenches.
Until then, I'm going to try to relax and not think about what lies ahead.
However,
Unplanned visitors + planned visitors + housework + reno's = Full house and no time for blogging.
The simplest solution would have been for me to do the post early, and then just add the beer review before I posted. Not for me this business though. What if what I wrote on (say) Wednesday for the post was no longer relevant on Sunday? I'd have to completely re-write the post anyway.
I thought I could sneak in a quick post, review my beer and just write some crap about whatever was happening that interested me and then go be sociable.
It certainly did not work out that way.
Plus, it's the day before Nanowrimo starts, my work week starts tomorrow and I'll have visitors until Wednesday. I am NOT going to get my head-start I was hoping for.
On top of that, we have the tupperware party and a going away party for friends in two weeks that wipes out almost a full day. I have the next weekend free, and then we're in Brisbane both weekends after that.
So I was wondering how this month was going to work with such an unproductive start and so much other stuff on. For a few days I tossed around just dropping Nano until next year, and I also tossed around dropping absolutely everything else except my real job.
I've decided that even though this month is one of the most hectic we've had all year, I'm still doing Nano because no matter how much I could have tried to get a fully free month, something would have come up to throw a spanner in the works.
So this is how it's all going to go down this month. Bear in mind these are your rules as much as they are mine, and I apologise in advance for dropping off the radar for the next 30 days.
Things I am NOT doing (or restricting to next to nothing) for the next month:
Answering the phone - I'm giving Wifey my mobile phone when I'm at home. From tomorrow, Wifey will be my secretary after 5pm. All texts and phone calls will go through her. I can call and text to my heart's content between 8.30am and 5pm, and because I'm at my real job between those hours, it means not very much at all. So unless you or someone else is dying, you're going to have to get through my secretary first.
Facebooking and blog-reading - I'm restricting my facebooking and blog-reading, and will only allow myself to jump on if I reach my word counts for each day. If I'm behind from the previous day, I'll need to catch up on those words as well as do that day's word count before I can access the net. I will, however, post a link to the blog whenever I post. If you catch me on facebook, and there's no post on the blog, flick me a message and ask what I'm doing on there. Alternatively, poke me and tell me to "GET WRITING DAMMIT!"
Watching TV - No TV. Not even the news in the afternoon. I'll be setting the timers tonight to tape everything I would normally watch. There are no if's or but's on this rule. Even if I hit my word counts every day, I won't be watching anything on the idiot box. Sitting down in front of the TV in December, catching up on all my shows, will be my reward for getting through the next 30 days, regardless of whether I hit that 50k or not.
Restricted Twitter - Why restricted and not just banned? Because I want to see how the other #nanowrimo's are doing since it's my first year. They've been getting pretty excited lately, and so far I've just watched and not tweeted too much. I may get in on the conversation as the month progresses though. I'll see how things go.
Staying off the internet - This one's a tricky one. I want to get onto the Nano forums, but I will only allow myself to do that after I've hit my word counts. I will only get online for that though. Any research I think I may have to do for the novel I'll keep track of in a notebook, and if the Nano novel turns out to be ok, I'll sort it out then. I can get a bit of an online fix to read newspapers etc at work before I get started and at lunch-time, so this won't feel too restrictive.
There are probably other things I'll be giving up or restricting over the next 30 days, but those are the major ones.
Since this post is quite long enough, I'll leave over the things I will be doing during Nano for the next post, when I give my first report from the trenches.
Until then, I'm going to try to relax and not think about what lies ahead.
Thursday, 27 October 2011
One small step for Gays....
On Tuesday night, Wifey and I watched a live telecast of Qld Treasurer Andrew Fraser introducing a private members' bill called the "Civil Partnership Bill."
While this in no way provides what marriage would provide at the federal level, it is a small step forward to having our relationships recognised in some form, and also shows that our state government is serious about ending discrimination.
What I admire most about Andrew Fraser, and the other MPs who have come out in support of this bill, is that finally, someone is standing up and saying they are just doing "what's right."
As a result of the introduction of this bill, and watching a youtube video released by Gus Johnston (you can see that here: Gus Johnston: The reality of homophobia in sport), Wifey and I had a discussion about what the Civil Partnership Bill means to us.
We've already had our Big C (commitment ceremony) in front of family and friends, fully aware that it in no way conferred anything legal onto our relationship. The fact that we could soon be able to have our relationship legally recognised by our own state means a lot more to us than we first thought.
I think Wifey said it best. She said "it's personal". When people say they don't understand the obsession "us" gays have with marriage, it's because they don't understand what it's like to grow up being gay.
They don't understand how lonely it can get trying to hide a part of you that shouldn't really matter.
They don't know how it feels to be closeted, and to not be brave enough to stand up to people when they use derogatory terms to make other people feel bad, all the while not realising they're actually talking about you.
They don't get how much courage it takes to tell the people you love and care about that you're just that little bit different to them, and risk losing them in the process.
Or how every day of your life, you have to make assessments on the fly of people you meet to decide whether you tell them that your partner is of the same sex because you're thinking of their feelings and not your own. Or to not mention anything at all that might let on that you're gay for fear of ridicule or condescension.
To hear people you don't know make judgements about your character, based only on stereotypes and ignorance, and about such a small part of your being, and then expect you to not take their opinion personally.
All of these things combine to make you feel like you're less of a person than your straight sisters, brothers, parents and friends. It makes you feel that no matter how good you are as a person, how much you contribute to your family, community and society, that you are not as worthy as a heterosexual simply because of the person you fall in love with.
Wifey and I discovered something very important today. We discovered it's apathy from people like us, who stand by waiting for those people who have the power to change things to do what's right, that is the reason for nothing getting done.
We are not activists. We are two people in a community who are discriminated against. And I am saddened to think that it is partly my fault for not calling people on the things they say and do that hurt me deeply. I have never had the courage to stand up and fight, because I really didn't understand that I should, or could.
So what are we doing about it? We are going to see our local member to let him know that we are proud of him for standing with Andrew Fraser, and for doing what is right. We are going to ask him what it is we need to do to make people realise how this one piece of legislation will have such a positive effect on so many peoples' lives. We are going to stand up and say that it's not ok to treat us any differently, and that we are the same as any other couple in this state and in this country. We are a loving, committed couple and we want the same things as every other loving, committed couple, which includes the legal protections that relationship recognition affords.
I have never asked anything of my family and friends except for love and acceptance. However, if you do want to help this change come about, and if you do want Wifey and I to be treated no differently to you and your wife/husband, you can do one simple thing, and that is to go to your local MP, write, email, whatever, and let them know that this legislation is important to you and let them know why.
The simple act of Wifey and I being able to register our relationship as a legally married couple can, will mean the world to us.
And for those of you who are wondering, yes, there will most likely be another Big C to celebrate.
While this in no way provides what marriage would provide at the federal level, it is a small step forward to having our relationships recognised in some form, and also shows that our state government is serious about ending discrimination.
What I admire most about Andrew Fraser, and the other MPs who have come out in support of this bill, is that finally, someone is standing up and saying they are just doing "what's right."
As a result of the introduction of this bill, and watching a youtube video released by Gus Johnston (you can see that here: Gus Johnston: The reality of homophobia in sport), Wifey and I had a discussion about what the Civil Partnership Bill means to us.
We've already had our Big C (commitment ceremony) in front of family and friends, fully aware that it in no way conferred anything legal onto our relationship. The fact that we could soon be able to have our relationship legally recognised by our own state means a lot more to us than we first thought.
I think Wifey said it best. She said "it's personal". When people say they don't understand the obsession "us" gays have with marriage, it's because they don't understand what it's like to grow up being gay.
They don't understand how lonely it can get trying to hide a part of you that shouldn't really matter.
They don't know how it feels to be closeted, and to not be brave enough to stand up to people when they use derogatory terms to make other people feel bad, all the while not realising they're actually talking about you.
They don't get how much courage it takes to tell the people you love and care about that you're just that little bit different to them, and risk losing them in the process.
Or how every day of your life, you have to make assessments on the fly of people you meet to decide whether you tell them that your partner is of the same sex because you're thinking of their feelings and not your own. Or to not mention anything at all that might let on that you're gay for fear of ridicule or condescension.
To hear people you don't know make judgements about your character, based only on stereotypes and ignorance, and about such a small part of your being, and then expect you to not take their opinion personally.
All of these things combine to make you feel like you're less of a person than your straight sisters, brothers, parents and friends. It makes you feel that no matter how good you are as a person, how much you contribute to your family, community and society, that you are not as worthy as a heterosexual simply because of the person you fall in love with.
Wifey and I discovered something very important today. We discovered it's apathy from people like us, who stand by waiting for those people who have the power to change things to do what's right, that is the reason for nothing getting done.
We are not activists. We are two people in a community who are discriminated against. And I am saddened to think that it is partly my fault for not calling people on the things they say and do that hurt me deeply. I have never had the courage to stand up and fight, because I really didn't understand that I should, or could.
So what are we doing about it? We are going to see our local member to let him know that we are proud of him for standing with Andrew Fraser, and for doing what is right. We are going to ask him what it is we need to do to make people realise how this one piece of legislation will have such a positive effect on so many peoples' lives. We are going to stand up and say that it's not ok to treat us any differently, and that we are the same as any other couple in this state and in this country. We are a loving, committed couple and we want the same things as every other loving, committed couple, which includes the legal protections that relationship recognition affords.
I have never asked anything of my family and friends except for love and acceptance. However, if you do want to help this change come about, and if you do want Wifey and I to be treated no differently to you and your wife/husband, you can do one simple thing, and that is to go to your local MP, write, email, whatever, and let them know that this legislation is important to you and let them know why.
The simple act of Wifey and I being able to register our relationship as a legally married couple can, will mean the world to us.
And for those of you who are wondering, yes, there will most likely be another Big C to celebrate.
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