Sunday, November 25, 2007

Yay! I hit the target!

I _ am _ happy!
In fact, I will go as far as to say that I am ecstatic!
I did the word verification thingy on the Nano site, and I have reached 50,507 words - and I still haven't finished my story.
It has amazed me that I was able to complete the 50,000-word challenge - and with 5 days to spare - considering I've spent most of my life concentrating on the short story - and I'm not even finished!
I started my Nano-book with a series of short stories that interconnected but, half way through, I introduced a couple of characters that seemed to hijack my book, and they have turned it into something I hadn't dreamed of - it's utterly amazing to see!
I can now see the difference between just writing something down, or in living your story, and I'm thoroughly enjoying the experience of seeing my words settle down like a bird on a nest, and carefully letting the story develop as it may.
The difference between writing a plan, and carefully following it from A to Z, and this whole free-writing until you run out of ideas way, has been a revelation to me, and I can at last see the writing experience coming to some sort of fruition in me - boy, it's a wild and bumpy journey, but it's so exhilarating!

Sunday, November 18, 2007

DAY 18, AND STILL ROLLING!

Well, it's day 18, and I've got to 36,984 words in my nano writing - which is a miracle, considering that I never thought I'd get to 10,000!
It's really amazed me just how much detail I can dredge up to fill the word-count monster, and I'm proud that it's all still making sense when I read it back (Yes, I know. We're not supposed to edit our work - but I just do it so automatically [pout]) lol

I've had a couple of bad days health-wise recently, as I managed to get to the cinema with a friend and my daughter - first to see Stardust, which was soooo funny, and a brilliant film to watch and then, a couple of days later, we got to see Beowolf, which has some really amazing scenes in it. I wasn't sure what to expect because the critics had been rubbishing it a bit - but I'm glad I ignored them, as the film was brilliant - a real feast for the eyes!
It would have been a lot more enjoyable for me though, if the cinema employees had helped me a bit.
The bad health was caused because I have great difficulty walking, and use a stick, and I had a long and steep flight of stairs to climb to get in to see the films, and I didn't find that easy, believe me. But it was only after I had been watched, struggling back down the dreaded stairs on the second time of going, that I was told that a side-door could have been used to allow me access to the interior stairs that were shallower, and a lot wider - far too late to prevent the damage I had already suffered, unfortunately!
It also didn't help that the cinema was freezing - they were really mean in not turning on the heating for the matinée performance of Beowolf we went to, probably because the theatre was only a quarter full - but this meant that, not only was I exhausted and in pain from the stairs, I then had to sit for two hours in a room so cold that I was feeling sick with it, especially on top of the pain of my earlier exertions so, by the time the film ended, I was not a happy girl - not a good experience!
The film was still brilliant, though! [grin]
My friend and daughter were angry with me that I hadn't told them how bad I was, but half the experience of going out somewhere, is the pleasure felt that others are enjoying themselves, and I would have hated to have spoilt their fun - they enjoyed it so much, that I thought the pain I was in afterwards was worth it.
I guess the enjoyment of the films outweighed the awful pain I ended up with, but I really think its about time that places like that adhered to the laws of the land, and made their places a lot more accessable and comfortable for disabled users, especially as I realised that, even though wheelchair users may have had access via the side door, if they had needed to use any of the facilities, then there is no way they could have done so - very bad!

Monday, November 12, 2007

Half-Way There Already

Well I don't know how I've managed it, but I'm now at 26,846 words!
When I started this on the 1st, I wasn't sure that I'd have enough steam to keep going past the first few days but, to my great surprise, the words just keep on coming!
My great novel has actually turned into a series of interlinking stories - and it's going to be for children, as Unicorns and furry animals are involved, with a little moral to each story, although nothing earthstopping.
I'd written down some plans for a book I'd been hoping to write years ago, and for my daughter when she was young, and so I dusted the plans off, and decided that now might as well be the time to do it.
The strange thing I've found is that, as I write the stories, they are becoming more complex and real to me. My characters are developing 'character', and my descriptions of the world around them has become more in-depth and so, what started as a basic storyline for young children, is developing into something a bit more complex for the older child - it feels weird, but very natural in progression, somehow!
I know how the second half wants to be told, but I'm finding that it is writing itself in a slightly different way to the first - as if the story has matured, and now wants to be told in a fuller way, instead of a series of shorter stories - so I'm not sure how it's going to fit together in the end - I just know that I've got to keep writing it now! lol
Oh well, this won't get the story told, will it?
So I'll love you and leave you for now - and get back to you, to let you know how the second half continues!