Friday, December 01, 2006
Decisions, Decisions
I went to bed with a problem last night, which I was hoping to resolve before falling asleep but it never happened. Lennox had just walked in to a house in Leith and found a body shortly after hearing a violent argument while out in the street. This person was shot through the chest and now appears to be pan bread (dead). The problem is, of the three people who were in the room arguing, two had a gun and so it could be any of them who copped it!
Ronnie Glover (protagonist), Lesley Fenwick (Ronnie's girlfriend - who had a gun), and John Fenwick (divorced husband of Lesley Fenwick who can't let go - also had a gun and was holding them hostage). There's a lot more to it than that, but if I told you it would ruin the whole story should you ever come to read it.
But the body has to be one of them. Killing any one of them would add a new dimension to the story, and any one of them would provide their own share of excitement and alter the end of the book in many ways. Do I kill my main character or have him seriously injured? Do I kill his enemy, John, and have Ronnie run off to a new life with Lesley? Or do I kill off Lesley, and have Ronnie and John chasing one another?
As you can see, it's complicated, and it all has to be decided against the backdrop of a police investigation, the murder of two young women, an arson attack and an international security incident.
Bet you fancy reading the book now though, eh?
I also had to undertake some maintenance on my aquarium last night. The filter has become almost blocked restricting the flow of water through so I cleaned it out and did a partial water change while I was at it. While I was cleaning it out (you should see the gunk) I went and threw out the wee stopper for the end of the pipe that shoots sprays of water over the surface. So I had to setup a new way of getting the water moving and oxygen into the tank. I'm not happy with it - it's just not fast enough though there is oxygen getting in. I may have to get a full replacement. No oxygen = dead fish.
No early start today. Not through complacency, but because I had to do the school run this morning so I saw no point in getting up at 5am. I rewarded myself with an extra couple of hours in bed before dropping off Laura and heading in to work.
Before leaving there was much excitement in the house. Gail will probably kick my bollocks for saying this, but there are certain small traditions I like to keep going from my own childhood to this day. One of them is that I must have an Advent calendar. I bought Laura a Bratz one, and I have a traditional Homer Simpson one. It's a wee ritual in December; get washed and dressed, breakfast with a cartoon, then the grand opening and comparing what picture and chocolate we got.
Ah, to be a kid again!
I think the elation of completing NaNo came on the 20th when I hit the 50k point. Yesterday's completion of 70k on the last day of NaNo was a personal target I was glad to meet. But nothing stops just because November is over. The end of the novel is beckoning. 20,000 words I reckon will see to that, so I must keep the pace up. I'll be using the wee blue meter over on the left to track progress from now on.
I did quite a bit of work on my GDR for 2007 today, incorporating some new prompts from Devon Ellington. It's a lot different from this year's layout and hopefully will help me target them more effectively.
Words today: 0
December's GDR
Fiction
* Finish writing Slick (est. 20k)
* Finish edits for Wide Awake
* Write some new fiction
* Get back on top of submissions list
* Follow up on three outstanding Stella submissions
* Follow up on four outstanding Hunting Jack submissions
* Find a new market for Hunting Jack
Poetry
* Publish Poolside Poetry - still to finalise book cover and font
* Write more poetry - develop idea for children's book for next year
Non-Fiction
* Complete work on Scotland's Treasure for January column - Aberfoyle article binned. Might
still include the Blockheads gig review
* Contact Scottish poet for re-arranged interview
Marketing and Promotion
* Prepare press release for Poolside Poetry for when it goes
* Complete cross-promotion with Fife B&B for Fringe Fantastic - no hurry, can even wait
until early next year
* Keep website up to date
* Re-analyse promotion of FF and PP - anything new I can do?
Reading and Research
* Finish reading Flesh and Blood by John Harvey novel
Other Projects
* Stay on top of editorial work for TSDR
* Put together final 2007 GDR Plan
Ronnie Glover (protagonist), Lesley Fenwick (Ronnie's girlfriend - who had a gun), and John Fenwick (divorced husband of Lesley Fenwick who can't let go - also had a gun and was holding them hostage). There's a lot more to it than that, but if I told you it would ruin the whole story should you ever come to read it.
But the body has to be one of them. Killing any one of them would add a new dimension to the story, and any one of them would provide their own share of excitement and alter the end of the book in many ways. Do I kill my main character or have him seriously injured? Do I kill his enemy, John, and have Ronnie run off to a new life with Lesley? Or do I kill off Lesley, and have Ronnie and John chasing one another?
As you can see, it's complicated, and it all has to be decided against the backdrop of a police investigation, the murder of two young women, an arson attack and an international security incident.
Bet you fancy reading the book now though, eh?
I also had to undertake some maintenance on my aquarium last night. The filter has become almost blocked restricting the flow of water through so I cleaned it out and did a partial water change while I was at it. While I was cleaning it out (you should see the gunk) I went and threw out the wee stopper for the end of the pipe that shoots sprays of water over the surface. So I had to setup a new way of getting the water moving and oxygen into the tank. I'm not happy with it - it's just not fast enough though there is oxygen getting in. I may have to get a full replacement. No oxygen = dead fish.
No early start today. Not through complacency, but because I had to do the school run this morning so I saw no point in getting up at 5am. I rewarded myself with an extra couple of hours in bed before dropping off Laura and heading in to work.
Before leaving there was much excitement in the house. Gail will probably kick my bollocks for saying this, but there are certain small traditions I like to keep going from my own childhood to this day. One of them is that I must have an Advent calendar. I bought Laura a Bratz one, and I have a traditional Homer Simpson one. It's a wee ritual in December; get washed and dressed, breakfast with a cartoon, then the grand opening and comparing what picture and chocolate we got.
Ah, to be a kid again!
I think the elation of completing NaNo came on the 20th when I hit the 50k point. Yesterday's completion of 70k on the last day of NaNo was a personal target I was glad to meet. But nothing stops just because November is over. The end of the novel is beckoning. 20,000 words I reckon will see to that, so I must keep the pace up. I'll be using the wee blue meter over on the left to track progress from now on.
I did quite a bit of work on my GDR for 2007 today, incorporating some new prompts from Devon Ellington. It's a lot different from this year's layout and hopefully will help me target them more effectively.
Words today: 0
December's GDR
Fiction
* Finish writing Slick (est. 20k)
* Finish edits for Wide Awake
* Write some new fiction
* Get back on top of submissions list
* Follow up on three outstanding Stella submissions
* Follow up on four outstanding Hunting Jack submissions
* Find a new market for Hunting Jack
Poetry
* Publish Poolside Poetry - still to finalise book cover and font
* Write more poetry - develop idea for children's book for next year
Non-Fiction
* Complete work on Scotland's Treasure for January column - Aberfoyle article binned. Might
still include the Blockheads gig review
* Contact Scottish poet for re-arranged interview
Marketing and Promotion
* Prepare press release for Poolside Poetry for when it goes
* Complete cross-promotion with Fife B&B for Fringe Fantastic - no hurry, can even wait
until early next year
* Keep website up to date
* Re-analyse promotion of FF and PP - anything new I can do?
Reading and Research
* Finish reading Flesh and Blood by John Harvey novel
Other Projects
* Stay on top of editorial work for TSDR
* Put together final 2007 GDR Plan
Colin 10:54 pm