Saturday, November 04, 2006
Progress Is Inevitable
Slept in! Woke up and the clock was showing the time had read 6.30am, so I lost ninety minutes before the day had begun. I think I was due and extra hour in bed. Last night I was so tired and with the headache coming on I retired to bed around nine'ish with the TV on and a book. It felt like the protective membrane of my brain tearing away from my skull. When I woke today I felt much better, more refreshed and still as eager to get on.
I've reached the point in Slick where Ronnie has his flashback nightmare. I thought about it in bed last night but couldn't really concentrate or come up with anything suitable, what with the blinding headache. I tried to let my head empty and swear once I did, I could feel the headache lessen. Maybe my body is trying to tell me something.
Thankfully I remembered to buy coffee on the way home last night so this morning got off to a great start. I wrote for about an hour before heading to the coffee shop and scribbling out the dream sequence longhand. I got a full chapter down on it. Much, much better.
I was thinking about why my word count and motivation might be higher for this NaNoWriMo thing than other times in the year when I have lots of other writing to work on. I came to the conclusion it's all about deadlines. The 30th November deadline to write 50k is a tough one, but if it weren't there, would I really be getting up at 5am to write?
Last year when I was having trouble finalising the manuscript for Fringe Fantastic, Devon said I should place a deadline on it. I did - December 2nd - and suddenly everything started moving. If left to just get on with things, I get through them, but without the added pressure so they seem to happen slower, and perhaps, I suffer creatively from the lack of stimulation.
So there are two outcomes from this. First, I'm placing deadlines on everything I do from now on (if applicable). My 2007 GDR will contain more deadlines. Secondly, I intend to use the NaNo experience and develop it into my every day writing routine. In other words, the early starts will probably become more regular than not.
I was ordered - yes ordered - out of the ground floor of the house so Gail could tidy the house after lunch. Not being one to want to get in the way of my wife's domesticated desires I obliged and did a few of things.
First I introduced the new fish I got for my aquarium this morning to the rest of my wee fishy community. Two Khoolie Loaches and two Krebensis, the latter beautiful wee fish, the former, funny eel-like things. I watched them for a while and fed them then got on with cleaning out the hutches. The rabbits were stinking, and I mean stinking as in the most severe use of the word imagineable. I think they were happy to get the run around but there must have been a tonne of jobbies in their home.
Then I got down to some more writing. The dream sequence was typed up and the following chapter put to rest as well. There was a fair bit of research involved, mostly map and location searching through London, but my A to Z and www.yell.co.uk soon had me noting down the information I required. Progress is inevitable. But it's hard going.
NaNo words today: 3103
NaNoWriMo Progress
I've reached the point in Slick where Ronnie has his flashback nightmare. I thought about it in bed last night but couldn't really concentrate or come up with anything suitable, what with the blinding headache. I tried to let my head empty and swear once I did, I could feel the headache lessen. Maybe my body is trying to tell me something.
Thankfully I remembered to buy coffee on the way home last night so this morning got off to a great start. I wrote for about an hour before heading to the coffee shop and scribbling out the dream sequence longhand. I got a full chapter down on it. Much, much better.
I was thinking about why my word count and motivation might be higher for this NaNoWriMo thing than other times in the year when I have lots of other writing to work on. I came to the conclusion it's all about deadlines. The 30th November deadline to write 50k is a tough one, but if it weren't there, would I really be getting up at 5am to write?
Last year when I was having trouble finalising the manuscript for Fringe Fantastic, Devon said I should place a deadline on it. I did - December 2nd - and suddenly everything started moving. If left to just get on with things, I get through them, but without the added pressure so they seem to happen slower, and perhaps, I suffer creatively from the lack of stimulation.
So there are two outcomes from this. First, I'm placing deadlines on everything I do from now on (if applicable). My 2007 GDR will contain more deadlines. Secondly, I intend to use the NaNo experience and develop it into my every day writing routine. In other words, the early starts will probably become more regular than not.
I was ordered - yes ordered - out of the ground floor of the house so Gail could tidy the house after lunch. Not being one to want to get in the way of my wife's domesticated desires I obliged and did a few of things.
First I introduced the new fish I got for my aquarium this morning to the rest of my wee fishy community. Two Khoolie Loaches and two Krebensis, the latter beautiful wee fish, the former, funny eel-like things. I watched them for a while and fed them then got on with cleaning out the hutches. The rabbits were stinking, and I mean stinking as in the most severe use of the word imagineable. I think they were happy to get the run around but there must have been a tonne of jobbies in their home.
Then I got down to some more writing. The dream sequence was typed up and the following chapter put to rest as well. There was a fair bit of research involved, mostly map and location searching through London, but my A to Z and www.yell.co.uk soon had me noting down the information I required. Progress is inevitable. But it's hard going.
NaNo words today: 3103
NaNoWriMo Progress
Colin 10:09 pm
1 Comments:
Col,
This is SO impressive - both of these posts have been a total inspiration.
Getting up at 5:00 A.M. to write - wow.
Best of luck!
Ann
This is SO impressive - both of these posts have been a total inspiration.
Getting up at 5:00 A.M. to write - wow.
Best of luck!
Ann
