A friend posted this on my Facebook page yesterday. All I can say is Amen!
I missed out on writing yesterday because of the inconvenience of work. But I intend to put this to right today, when I hit five figures. 10,000 words, here I come.
Posted in NaNoWriMo
Tagged motivation, NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, writing
Lots done, lots more to do. The first day of NaNoWriMo has come and gone. At the stroke of midnight, I got writing. In a little over an hour and a half I had just under 1700 words in the bank. When I got home this evening I added another 1300 to bring my day one total to 3000 words.
As is usual for me, my inner editor and critic was shouting No! and Is this the best you can do? My answer to them is Yes! and No! If NaNoWriMo was all about quality rather than quality, it would be called NaNoWriYear.
It’s the eve of National Novel Writing Month 2011. Thirty days of literary abandon start at midnight. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. I’m stoked, but I’m nervous. Already I’m wondering if I’m good enough to complete the task of writing a minimum of 50,ooo words in November. Already I’m concerned that outside distractions (work, family, friends, life’s problems in general) will cause me to fall at any of the fences in front of me.
I can’t let that happen, though. I won’t let that happen. Barring serious injury and personal catastrophe I shall pass the post with days and words to spare. Okay, if I’m to be more realistic about this, I’ll be equally as content if I pass the 50,ooo word mark at 11:59pm on 30 November.
My preference is to write at least 2,000 words a day: 1,ooo in the morning, 1,000 in the evening. Two hours’ work, tops. Seeing it written down like this makes it a far less tortuous prospect, don’t you think?
Posted in NaNoWriMo
Tagged Arts, Book Writing, NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, November, Writer Resources, writing
Image c/o Hugh Macleod: gapingvoid.com
It may look easy, but blogging on a daily basis, be it in 100 words or otherwise, requires persistence and discipline. There is a world full of material from which to write about; all the writer and blogger has to do is sit down and write, goddamnit.
For the last 100 days, that’s what I did. Fighting back the odd case of I don’t wanna, I have completed what has been by and large an enjoyable exercise. But the journey is far from over. I will continue to post daily, but won’t hamper myself with word counts. Let the blogging continue forthwith.
Posted in 100 Days, 100 Words, Blogging
Tagged blogging, discipline, persistence, procrastination, Writer Resources, writing
I pity those who say they’ve never read a book and don’t feel the need to. Sure isn’t it a waste of time? they say. We have bills to pay, mouths to feed, and work to be done. Who needs sparkly vampires anyway? We have cinemas and DVDs for that. To them I say, you’re missing the point. Movies and television shows provide the images for you. With reading you have to do the work yourself.
And yes, my non-reading friends (who are more than likely not reading this), reading is work, and it rewards better than most cash-paying jobs.
Theorizing that one could write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days, Writer James McShane turned on this laptop and typed.
He wrote until he found himself stuck in the zone, facing words and images that he had created, and driven by an Unknown Force to change plot points for the better.
His only guide on his journey is You, a reader that James can neither see nor hear. And so, Writer McShane finds himself leaping from chapter to chapter, from character to character, striving to put down one word after another, hoping each time that the next word will be the last.
James Patterson was a writer for whom I had a lot of time. His earlier Alex Cross novels, up to an including Violets Are Blue, were outstanding pieces of entertainment: fast-paced, relentless thrillers. I could read a book a day if I had the time.
Then they got stupid. But worse than that, they became predictable. Even worse than that, I wished Patterson would kill off Cross once and for all. Then Patterson became a cash cow; so much so, he farmed his writing off (in my opinion) to anyone who had their hands out.
Have you been similarly disappointed?
Posted in 100 Days, 100 Words, Books, writing
Tagged Alex Cross, Books, James Patterson, Violets Are Blue, writing
No, not the emoticon but the character: John Le Carre’s famous spymaster, George Smiley. Coming out of a screening of the recent adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, I thought about fictional characters authors are most famous for. Fleming has Bond, Lee Child has Jack Reacher, Conan Doyle had Sherlock Holmes.
For people of a certain age, Sir Alec Guinness’s portrayal of Smiley was the benchmark by which Gary Oldman would be judged. But now Le Carre’s creation has a new lease of life, and I would love to see him return for another adventure.
Classic characters will live forever.
Posted in 100 Days, 100 Words, Books, Movies, Television, writing
Tagged Adaptation, Books, Conan Doyle, Film, George Smiley, Jack Reacher, James Bond, John le Carré, Lee Child, Movies, Sherlock Holmes, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, writing
Ever slipped into a pair of comfortable slippers for the first time in a while? Don’t you wish you never took them off? Okay, you know that you can’t wear the same shoes day in day out; they’d either fall apart or smell to high heaven.
A friend loaned me a copy of Stephen King’s Full Dark, No Stars, and I’m taking it on holiday with me. I read the first few pages when the comfortable slippers analogy came to me. King, like all my favourite writers, is a treasure: admire it but don’t overexpose it. It may lose its luster.
Posted in 100 Days, 100 Words, Books, writing
Tagged Books, Full Dark No Stars, Stephen King, writing
Everyone’s a critic, or so they say. But there’s a difference between breaking a text, movie, television series, play or opera down into pieces and analysing them until the cows come home – and hoping the writer or creator burns in hell for killing your baby.
Newsflash, hotshots, it was never your baby to begin with. So what if you thought the finale to Torchwood: Miracle Day was terrible? You are entitled to your opinion, I grant you that. But please be more eloquent in your criticism.
Either that or go write your own version. For the record, I loved T: MD to bits.
Posted in 100 Days, 100 Words, Doctor Who, Television, writing
Tagged Critic, Criticism, Miracle Day, Television program, Torchwood, writing
