NaNoWriMo – Currently Clueless

October – the month of many’s

Posted on October 1, 2012Leave a comment

So I’ve been seeing things all over the internet about things that are happening in October – First there’s Rocktober – which goal are you going to try and rock? Secondly there is Octsober – obviously, that’s keeping sober and not drinking all October. Thirdly, there is Blogtoberfest – a month long blogging festival. Fourthly (is fourthly a word?), there is Photo a Day for October. There was another one, but do you think I can remember it with my guppy brain? Last, but not least, October is the month before NaNoWriMo. So, which ones will I be participating in?

All of them!

Yes folks, you heard me correctly. October is going to be the month of stressing myself out.

So here are my goals:
Rocktober – My goal that I want to smash is to exercise 4 times a week – or 20 times. Do-able a lot of you out there might say, but for those who have kept track of my blog over time, you will all know that exercise is something that I struggle with. So 20 times is a big deal for me. I would also like to smash out a bit of a weight loss goal – 5kg. Time to really get back onto this weight loss gig that I’ve been struggling with – forever it seems.

Octsober – Well this one probably won’t be hard for me. I very rarely drink anyway, so not having alcohol for a month isn’t really going to faze me either way. So this one, I think is a slam dunk.

Blogtoberfest – This one I might just struggle with. I said in my last post that I wanted this blog to get away from only talking about weight loss and fitness. These are still issues very close to my heart, but it’s not all I’m about. I also love to be crafty. I love quilting, and I’ve recently come to love crocheting too. I would like to share more about the things I’m doing in that regard. I think that by joining in with Blogtoberfest I may actually get a chance to be a bit more crafty in my day to day life, rather than hiding myself behind the computer all the time as I seem to do. (Though, having just bought a new computer, tearing myself away from her, might prove a little hard…)

Photo a Day for October – I’ve been trying to do this one for the last couple of months, and every month I get a few days in, and I forget to start taking photos. So, I’m trying again. And I’ll be posting them all up here for you to see, so if you see that I miss a day, please remind me.

And last, but by no means least – Lead up to NaNoWriMo. I love NaNo, I’ve written about it a few times here. Last year, I started to do it, but just couldn’t get into it. There were so many other things going on in my life, like trying to find a job after having moved to a new city, that I just stressed myself out even thinking about NaNo. The first time I did NaNo, I just winged it. Didn’t go in with a clear thought of how I wanted to proceed, didn’t even go into it with a real storyline in mind. Just let my mind and fingers wander and let happen, what happened. It was a success. But this time, I have a plan of what I want to write. A story that has been hanging around in my head for quite some time now. I really want to do it justice. So I think this October, I will be sitting down and organising and planning exactly how this story will go – and hopefully have another NaNo success.

So that’s my plan for this month. What are your plans? Will you be joining in on any October festivities?

Before I leave you tonight, here’s my first photo of the day for October. (Phew, one day down, 30 more to go…)

Where you stood — There I am, standing in my dining room, because I couldn’t stray too far from the computer today. It just wasn’t happening. Dig the groovy slippers :)

NaNoWriMo = Success

Posted on November 30, 2010Leave a comment

Seriously folks, I know that this is officially my last post for November, but I’ve been writing all day, trying desperately to get my NaNoWriMo novel finished and my wrist is just KILLING me. Hurts so bad, and I still have a wee bit more writing to do so that I can officially win NaNoWriMo. And win it I will. I really didn’t think that I was going to be able to do it, and I probably wouldn’t have been able to if I hadn’t put back in some content that I had originally decided to leave out. Does that count as cheating? I will probably leave this content in the final edit, because now it actually fits the story better than it did before.

The most exciting part of this is that the story isn’t finished yet. I’m looking forward to seeing just how many words I actually do end up writing. But I might actually give myself a break for a week and do some sewing. So for everyone out there that was reading this November, thank you 🙂 I’ll be back in a few days, time to give my hands a bit of a rest from the typing I think.

The end of a long week

Posted on November 19, 2010Leave a comment

Can I just say – thank god that this week is over. This has been such a long week that just seemed like it was never going to end. Work has been very quiet, there has been very little work that has been coming in, so I am sitting at my desk, trying to look busy, while desperately wanting to sit down and write my story. I hit 25,000 words last night and it was a great feeling to know that I’m halfway into the story (I still have issues calling it a novel), before the reality sunk in and I realised that I still had half of it to go. I had planned to have a good weekend of sitting down and writing as much as I could so that I could give myself a bit of a break during the week after I got home from work, but it turns out that we’re heading off camping for the weekend.

This means that I’m going to get little writing done and I’m not sure how I’m going to be able to blog at all. I’m hoping(?) that I can get some service on my phone so I can at least do a couple of quick posts, but not sure if I get any service at all where we are going. So this could put a serious dent into NaBloPoMo for the month. GRRRR I’ll be damned it I’,m going to do NaBloPoMo again. Don’t get me wrong, I love blogging, I always have since I started 7 years ago. But I don’t like forced blogs and that is what November has felt like to me.

So I hope you all have a fantastic weekend and enjoy yourselves, I know I will. Maybe I’ll talk to you all over the next couple of days, maybe not, we shall see. (Though who are you all? I see the stats on Analytics, but no one says anything, please drop me a line and say hi 🙂 )

Great night of writing

Posted on November 18, 20101 Comment

I have been writing up a storm tonight and my wrist is absolutely killing me, not to mention my fingers who have certainly gotten a workout tonight. Have gotten some great writing done tonight, and am really happy with where the story is going and YAY me, I have finally reached 25,000 words. That means I’m halfway there, with ummm less than half the month to finish lol.

So tonight, in honour of a good night of writing (and because I’m too slack to write a long blog) I leave you with an excerpt of the story.

There in front of them was the castle. It rose from the ground, an icy blue glass structure. It was surrounded by a moat, that somehow didn’t seem to be affected by the cold, and flowed freely without any ice affecting it. Beyond the moat was a wall as thick as Soggy Scab was tall, and entirely made of crystal. Soggy Scab wondered how that could keep anything out should they be attacked.

As if hearing his thoughts, Max spoke out. “Don’t let the fact that it is a crystal castle fool you. You may think that this would be easy to attack, but the castle and castle walls are protected by forceful spells, that it would take a dozen sorcerers a hundred years to try and break. No one gets into the castle grounds if we don’t want them in there.”

The castle itself really was like one of the castles from the fairytales that Soggy Scab had read to Snotface when she was little. It had a square base, with clear windows, which stood out against the icy blue of the walls. Where moss may have grown up the sides, this one had icicles that hung down the sides, sharp spheres that would impale someone should they fall off. At the very forefront of the castle was a tower that rose up and up into the air, topped with a peaked roof which was covered completely in snow. Behind the main tower were four turrets that rose up, almost as tall as the tower did. The top of each turret was a wall of windows, and hanging out of the windows were flags with emblems emblazoned all over them. On some were deers, standing tall and proud, but on others was a black and white cat, sitting there looking regally out across the country. Soggy Scab wondered about the emblems, and made a note to ask Max about them later on.

A royal wedding

Posted on November 17, 2010Leave a comment

When I woke up this morning and put on the news, without the sound, I thought there was something wrong with the monarchy for a moment *shock* *horror* *gasp*. But no, it was just constant news about the fact, that after many many years William had finally proposed to Kate. I admit, I got a tear in my eye for a moment. I’m not a huge supporter of the monarchy, it’s not that I don’t like them, or think they have their place, I just don’t really care about them. But after ten minutes of watching Wills and Kate gush on the tv, I had kind of had enough. Surely there are more important things happening in the world, that we don’t need to dedicate quite that much time to two people finally getting married?

So I went to work, after watching my Wills and Kate news – because let’s be honest, that’s all that was on the blasted news this morning – had a relatively Wills and Kate free day, come home to have a peaceful night in front of the tv, while I did some more writing for NaNoWriMo, and what’s this? A documentary about Wills and Kate. Already? And it wasn’t on just one channel. Seriously people, please don’t tell me I have to spend the next many months listening to endless Wills and Kate news? I’m over it already, and it’s only just happened.

Bring on the wedding day and get it over and done with is all I can say.

On a roll now

Posted on November 8, 2010Leave a comment

Well I really don’t have a lot of time to post tonight. I’m finally on a roll with the writing. The ideas just seem to be coming out finally, in a relatively coherent way and the story is really starting to take shape. I’m very happy with what I’ve done so far and really want to keep writing all night and just get it finished. But that’s obviously not possible – damn me not being rich and able to stay at home and not have to work *sigh*.

So I shall leave you tonight, with another little excerpt of what I have been writing:

“Or so I thought, because at that very moment you gave a teeny tiny little sneeze. It was the smallest, most delicate sound I had ever heard.”

“I remember jumping back in alarm, oh indeed I was very truly positively startled. The basket of pillows was sneezing! How was this possible? I leaned down to peer closer at the basket, and moved what turned out to be very fluffy blankets, rather than pillows – in fact the very blankets that are still on your bed” Soggy Scab said, as he watched Snotface slowly stroking the blankets lovingly.

As I moved the masses of blankets away, it became quite apparent that there was something alive in this basket. I could see something wriggling and moving around, every now and then giving a slight sneeze. And then lo and behold I uncovered you.

I have never been more startled in my life! There you were, a little bundle all wrapped in blankets, and all I could see of you were these big bright blue eyes staring up at me.

Until tomorrow, when hopefully I might have more to share with you.

Craft and quilting fair

Posted on November 6, 2010Leave a comment

First off – argghhhhhhhhhhhh writing has taken a huge downturn. Just not happening. The only thing I seem to be writing is ideas, lots of ideas, but very little in the way of actual story words. I shall, however, keep persevering.

Today though I went to the Adelaide craft and quilt fair with my older sister. It was just great. Heaven. The quilt show was fabulous, with some truly great quilts. It was interesting to see who won, and who were runners up. It made me realise how much it really must come down to personal choice, because there were a few that I would personally not have chosen to win. But wow, did it give me some inspiration or what.

We made our way around the all the stalls and there were some good fabric stalls, some really crap ones, with horrible fabric, that looked cheap and tacky. But, on the plus side, I managed to grab some great fabric, at pretty good prices. Sadly, no one had any Riley Blake fabric, which I was really keen on getting, so I’m guessing it will have to be an online order after all.

So the fabric I did get is just gorgeous, not at all what I was looking for but I just couldn’t resist it. I have absolutely NO idea what I’m going to do with it, because it’s not what I was looking for to make the quilt that I am designing out of. So I’m looking through my stash of Elizabeth Hartman patterns that I have bought/downloaded and am thinking one of those could be just the thing. But I’m also hanging out to get her book, so I might hang on to the fabric till I have my hot little hands on her book and make one of the patterns from there. It’s a conundrum.

Oh, finally got around to taking a photo of my mug rug. Pretty crap photo, but it gives you the general idea. I loved it when I first made it, but now I’m not so sure. Not a huge fan of it anymore. Gift it to someone maybe?

So excuse me now, I should probably go and write some more words. Try and get myself up to at least 5,000 words.

No quilting, but writing is happening.

Posted on November 5, 2010Leave a comment

So with November only having just started I can feel myself getting stressed already. My quilting projects have definitely taken a back seat to all the writing that I need want need to be doing, and the writing is happening, but only very very slowly. I seem to be having more luck writing my ideas down at the moment, rather than actually writing any of my story down. The only quilting that I seem to have gotten done is my little mug rug (which I have to still take photos of, but did turn out quite nice).

The lack of quilting is partly due to the fact that my wrist has been giving me problems again lately and using the rotary cutter is actually quite painful. However, tomorrow I am heading off to the Adelaide craft and quilt fair with my sister, and plan on buying up on some lovely fabrics, so pain in my wrist or not, there will be cutting out done shortly followed by some serious quilting.

In fact, I’m thinking of buying myself a little voice recorder, so that as I am cutting and sewing I can tell my story out loud and then type it up later. I think I can talk as quick as I think, I’m a fairly quick typist, but I still can’t seem to type as quickly as I can think, so maybe this is a way for me to be able to do all the projects that I would like to get done over November without pulling out my hair due to stresssssssss!!

So with that in mind, I thought I would leave you all with the first few paragraphs of my story, which is titled “The adventures of Snotface, Boogerbum and Soggy Scab.” There will be an explanation about the names in the next few days. I hope you enjoy this excerpt:

Snotface and Soggy Scab had always led a very quiet and peaceful life, where they had their set routine, and not a lot changed. They would wake up in the morning, have a leisurely breakfast of toast with jam and cream and Soggy Scab would read his paper while sipping his first cup of tea for the day, while Snotface would sit down and write in her diary about all the extraordinary things that had happened to her on the previous day. Her father would sit across from her and wonder what she was writing about, because as far as he knew, nothing exciting ever happened in the village.

The little village they lived in was called Willow Grove, and it was the most beautiful village you would ever come across. There were green fields, with wildflowers waving in the wind, and dandelions aplenty for the children to pick and make wishes upon. There were lakes, and streams filled with fish, to swim with, or if you were of the mind, to catch. On the edges of the village was a forest, so big and green and dark. No one ever ventured into the forest, the children were too scared to and the adults had no need to – what point was there? Everything they needed was right there within the village itself. No one ever left Willow Grove, and no one ever came, except of course for that one time, when someone did come, and then left again shortly after. It was as if time had stood still. There was farmer Murdoch who grew peas and corn for the village to eat, farmer Riley who made sure everyone had potatoes and tomatoes on their plate and then there was farmer Shane – he kept the pigs and cows, but the less said about that, the better.

Why no one ever ventured into the forest, I cannot tell you. I know I certainly would have gone in to have a bit of a peek, to visit with some of the animals, but it seems that the folk of Willow Grove were not very adventurous, or even really rather curious. Occassionally a deer might wander out of the forest, but it was only rarely, and it was only really to wander into Mrs Gumbles garden to eat her roses. Because the deer of the forest love Mrs Gumbles roses, they are a delicacy to deers, indeed they are.

Another weigh in day… Not so great

Posted on November 3, 2010Leave a comment

Okay so how many weeks have I been saying this now? I need to get my butt into gear and get back onto the 12WBT? Too many weeks now,without really doing anything about it. So today was weigh in day again (yes I still follow weekly Wednesday weigh ins) and I have put weight back on again. Yes it was only 500gm, but seriously, since the wedding and getting sick, I’ve been so slack and not doing everything I learned over the official program. So while I’m hovering around the same mark, I’m not losing weight properly. And I really only have myself to blame.

I haven’t been watching what I eat completely (that chocolate muffin today definitely isn’t on the diet list…..) and I haven’t been exercising. I’m not even making excuses not to exercise, I’m just totally blanking it from my mind – as if that is a good excuse in itself. So I’m sabotaging myself without even acknowledging that I am. So my aim for the next week is to get back on track. Get to the gym at least 4 times this week and to eat healthy from RIGHT NOW.

On other news, no quilting today. But I have done 2,180 words of my novel. I should technically be up to 6,000 by now, but meh I’ve never done this before and I will admit. I’m struggling. World famous author I am not destined to be. But I really do want to get this story finished and get it printed up for Snotface, hopefully in time for Christmas.

So for everyone else out there in NaNoWriMo land, how are you going with your novels? And for NaBloPoMo‘s, are you keeping up with your blog posts?

Hitting a wall already

Posted on November 2, 20101 Comment

Last night I sat down and started writing my grand novel for NaNoWriMo. I wrote all of 496 words (oh yeah, I’m so well on my way to 50,000 can’t you tell). I hadn’t sat down and written up a plot, I hadn’t formed my characters and had absolutely no freaking idea what the hell I was doing. Okay, so I still have no idea what I’m doing, but I’m going to persevere.

To take my mind off all the writing, I sat down and whipped up a little mug rug, which is nearly complete, just needs the binding to be put on (pictures shall follow), and I’ve decided I quite like doing some little mini projects in between all the big piecing and quilting. I’ve bought a couple more of Elizabeth Hartman’s patterns so I can decide which three quilts I’m going to start making for a very special project. The Adelaide Craft and Quilt fair is on this weekend, and I’m going and can’t wait, because it means I can get some great fabric (I hope).

So after a long (and very boring day) at work where I was sitting there obsessing over character names and plots and sub plots, I realised that I was making it way harder on myself than it had to be. I had been trying to create a story and fly by the seat of my pants (which wasn’t working for that story at all), when I had a great story in my head, one that I had been wanting to write for the last two years, since just after I met my partner. So I’ve scrapped the original story, and have started the new one, and I can feel the ideas coming thick and fast and the words are flowing. I’m feeling slightly more confident about the coming month. I’m not out to write the next bestseller, just a story that my family will love.