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Writing Words - writing it is the only way of getting it written
As my novel is divided into three parts, I have to go back to the parts I wrote in November to check some of the facts I established then. I'm happy to say that it is not all rubbish.
Or at least, it got the potential to not be rubbish once it has been thoroughly edited. I'll spend this month writing the third part, and from May on I'll edit all three parts. And I'm actually looking forward to it.
My 500 words today were inspired by this week's Sunday Scribblings prompt: Photographs. Here's an excerpt:
I am a professional photographer, you would think I would have taken some other pictures of us. The truth is, it’s exactly because I am a professional photographer and I know how real photos are made that I love Polaroids. These two happy people I see, they were real at the time the picture was taken. They were both in the same place, embracing, kissing, smiling. Looking like they would always be together and take lots of snapshots or their journey together. There is nothing fake about them, they are not the work of some skilled photoshopper.
It's a promising start: 4 days in and I'm ahead of the target. Despite the fact that I had one hell of a week at work and all I wanted to do after work was put my feet up and do nothing.
It's the obvious thing to do, but it is also one of the most difficult: If you want to make it as a writer, you have to write. No excuses.
I came home late tonight and didn't feel like writing. So these 500 words tonight were a bit of a struggle.
Never mind, got there in the end.
Day 2 - so far things are going well.
I enjoy writing emails, I'm surprised I've not tried telling a story through emails before.
Yes, I am going to have these daily wordcount posts again. Makes it easy for me to keep track of my daily progress.
I am crawling towards the end.
This November has been interesting for a number of reasons - I will go into detail soon. I have shown, though, that it is possible to write 50k words in (less than) 30 days even if you have no clue what your story is. I'm sure I am repeating myself here, but the only thing that matters is that you sit down and write.
I am taking tonight off. I have worked on my NaNoWriMo Novel every day up until today, and I deserve a break. Also I have the feeling that stepping away from the story for a day is going to do more good than bad.
I spent a lot of nights writing like a headless chicken. In the first week, I had basically no idea where I was going. The least I can do is write a somewhat thought out ending now so that I have an aim when I start editing the first draft.
1,111 words today.
I'm trying to find a way to wrap the story up so that I may call it a novel - first draft - at the end, which will turn into a proper novel one day, after many many many hours of editing
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I went to London today to treat myself, but was so tired (related to the housemates from hell, don't ask... ) that I nearly fell asleep in Starbucks. But watching people was inspiring, in a way.
Participating in NaNoWriMo has taught me a few things, but the most important one is this: If you want to make it as a writer, you have to show up for work. Yeah, this is stating the obvious, but a lot of people - my pre-NaNoWriMo 2002 self included - harbour the romantic notion that a writer only works when inspiration strikes.
Sure, inspiration is a wonderful thing, and it makes the writing life a lot easier. But people who only write when they feel inspired to write something aren't writers. Writers are those people who sit down to write even though they would much rather watch the football, surf the internet or stay in bed. Writers are those people who show up for work even though nobody pays them for it (yet
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The end is in sight. When I started out at the beginning of this month, I wasn't sure if I would be able to make it this year.
I didn't have a well-developed novel idea; I was busy at work and the workload has not decreased in the course of November, rather the reverse; I had plans to go away for a long weekend. Well, the story developed as I wrote it - I found out a lot of things I was completely unaware of, and if I put a lot more work in, it might actually be worth reading some day; I managed to write every day despite the fact that work wipes me out every day, and most of the time I enjoyed writing, too; the long weekend in warm and sunny Portugal was canceled (now that was not necessarily a good thing
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Have a feeling I am getting sick. Writing tonight was rather painful, but now I am only 5,764 away from 50k. Unless I get a nasty flu, I should get there by Sunday night.
I am still on track to make 50k this weekend, despite yesterday's 248-word glitch. One thing is for certain, though: I won't have wrapped up the story by then, and I doubt that I will get it finished this month at all.
But that was not the point for me this year, anyway. My life has been turned upside down this year - partly by events I didn't have any control over, but also because decisions I made (like, say, move to another country), and these changes have kept me from writing. I needed to get back to a daily writing routine, and I am determined to keep writing daily once NaNoWriMo is over. Even if it's as little as 248 words.
Not a good day, obviously.
A little over 1,000 words today. Mondays are particularly hard for me, but the important thing is that I sat down and wrote even though I felt like spending the evening on the couch.
Guess who wrote the NaNoWriMo pep talk this week? Neil Gaiman! That alone would have been worth it...
This is my rather weird take at this week's Fiction Friday: Pick an existing character. Give them a nickname, but don’t wimp-out and make it a common one. Now tell the story of how the nickname came about.
Shortly after 20:00, Kirsten walks into the restaurant, followed by Karena and a man Carla doesn't know. Nick phoned in earlier to let them know he would be there around 21:00 with two business partners - important ones he wants to impress, too. Rory and Mike brought their friends Daisy and Lilac. Daisy is really called Daisy, but Lilac's real name is Heinz. How he came to be known as Lilac, nobody knows. Lilac always says that he is going to tell the story about his nickname, but then he doesn't. This has lead to a lot of speculation, including the suspicion that Lilac came up with the nickname himself because he hated Heinz so much. Which would be a perfectly reasonable explanation, as far as Carla is concerned. Lilac is thin and not very tall, and he looks much more like a Lilac than like a Heinz.
I always wished for a job that made more use of my creative skills. Now that I have such a job, I almost wish I didn't have to be so creative all the time. I often feel I have to recharge my creative batteries to get any writing done. It's a classic careful what you wish for ...
You have to resign yourself to the fact that you waste a lot of trees before you write anything you really like, and that's just the way it is.
J.K. Rowling
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