Posted on February 17, 2013

Dear reader (whose existence I am still somewhat doubting), some things have indeed been happening of late.

I continue to write daily, although usually in micro-doses which over the course of the year so far has probably barely amounted to a page – I. Need. Direction. Because. I. Suck. At. Creating. My. Own. Direction.

I’ve landed a paid gig creating quizzes for learners of English as a second language. The work has been a bit on the sporadic side, but it’s still something. Significant other has also landed a new job at an old workplace but in a new position. Things have progressed for both of us in that respect recently, just a matter of seeing if things continue to go swimmingly.

Having been generously bought a shiny new road bike, of course it would have been rude not to take it for a ride, so that we did today. It took some getting used to, to say the least, and there were a few definitely hairy moments, in which I came uncomfortably close to veering into the path of an oncoming car or lorry due to not being able to pull down on the brakes properly because my hands are just too tiny and I was skittish on my new bike… but that aside, it was good to be back out on the bike, and it was a rather nice day – but I’m not sure whether my beloved one would say the same thing, having not been able to take a more challenging uphill route and really get the old gears going. Sorry.

There’s the chance that we’ll be going to Amsterdam for a day in the near future. Yes, a day, and no, not for the reasons one might imagine  It should be an interesting excursion, if only to see just how much we can possibly fit in, and well worth writing about I’m sure.

But for now, a full recovery from the exertion of the day is on the agenda, along with a gamely attempt to keep up the momentum on what’s been going on.

Posted on December 3, 2012

It’s been just over a month (well obviously) since I last posted on this page, outlining my earnest intentions of finally getting my shit together and writing THAT best-selling story.

Now I feel duty-bound to let you, dear reader – whose existence still comes into question – know how I got on.

In short… it was a short story. A novella even. But, quite emphatically, a far cry from the “epic masterpiece” which was evidently expected to be lurking inside every participant, judging by the excitable and hyperbole-happy home page, and ecstatic bragging of how awesomely high a word-count they’ve reached in so little time already.

If not skeptical, well not all the time, I was, admittedly, utterly green with envy; more than a lot of people, I always wished, and even slightly expected, for my inner wordsmith to come leaping out of somewhere buried deep within me and proudly onto the page (or the screen).

Also, of course, I had my fiance (who isn’t exactly unburdened with concerns of his own), egging me on to keep at it day in and day out, and not to be satisfied with the measly word-counts which I was about ready to concede to, after a good while wracking my poor under-equipped brain and coming up with little more than vague snippets of potential storyline.

The end result; it held together, but barely. I probably could have written something far more indepth and captivating, but I didn’t feel I could do any better at the time.

However, they say that it’s the whole “mind experiment” aspect of the competition that matters more than anything. I came up with… something. A something which I may well not have written, it’s likely, had Nanowrimo not been brought to my attention at such short notice.

For those who wrote an epic novel worthy of being rated alongside the Lord of the Rings trilogy; well done. Genuinely. For those who simply wrote for the hell of it, and used Nanowrimo as an excuse as good as any to ignore everything else in life under the  belief – or the delusion – that they can write a masterpiece, but didn’t even come close, but had fun writing anyway; again, well done.

Writing is rarely a bad thing. When it is, well that’s another story.