So I Win Again…

So, last night, twenty three days into NaNoWriMo 2009, I hit the official target of 50,000+ words. Have I finished NaNoWriMo?  Nope.  Not at all.  I’ve more or less kept to the rough outline I put together in the days leading up to 1 November, and I’ve also deviated from it in parts, but it’s all a bit of a mish-mash at the moment.

NaNovel09 is a mystery story, as I intended, but for the most part it was a mystery to me too.  I’ve been just dropping in chapters that cover various points in the forty year timeline, and from the POV of four of my main characters, focusing largely on the MAIN main character, and my secondary character (who, at times, has shown signs that she wants to be the main main character.  And I might let her share top billing, but we’ll have to see if she gets her way).  I think, when it’s all over and while I’m giving the thing its well deserved rest, I’m going to have to do a bit of reading, of similar genre novels to see how to handle this problem of telling a story which is largely made up of backstory without giving away the secret.

Meanwhile, now I’ve reached 50K, I need to keep up the pace, as I’ve set myself a new target, of 70,000 words by the end of the month, or to finish the story, whichever happens sooner.

I Don’t Feel Like Writin’ (The Procrastination Song)

I wrote this parody in July 2008 and posted it on Protagonize.com.
For best enjoyment put the song on in the background and sing along

(To the tune of ”I Don’t Feel Like Dancin”’ by the Scissor Sisters)

Wake up in the morning with my head sayin’, Get it done!
I’ve got the perfect story – I don’t need another one.
Ideas in my notebooks, (I’ve got six) so write it down
So how come I feel so lazy, and that makes me just frown?

So I sit on down and my laptop’s ready to go.
Today’s the day I’m gonna get it right.
You better know, whether fine or rain or snow,
I’m gonna get stuck in and start to write.

But I don’t feel like writin’ when the internet’s okay.
Explorer’s on the screen and I’d really rather play.
You think that I could easily muster up a line or two today,
But I don’t feel like writin’, no sir, no writin’, no way.

Don’t feel like writin’, writin’
When I can find somethin’ better to do.
Don’t feel like writin’, writin’
I’d prefer just to make me a brew.
Don’t feel like writin’, writin’
Rather be watching repeats of ”Have I Got News for You-oo-oo.”

Stories come and stories go, just like they always will

But all I do is change them round so they can fit the bill

I’ve got so many plotlines it’d make a reader so confused,

So why can’t I just write them when I’ve got nothin’ to lose?

So I’ll just pretend till it drives me round the bend

I’m gonna write them when I have the time.

Please understand, though I have time on my hands

When I do, I’m sure it will be fine.

But I don’t feel like writin’ when there are phone calls to make
I’ll just sit down and chat, maybe have some tea and cake.
You’d think that I could manage one small sentence, for goodness sake?
But I don’t feel like writin’, no sir, big, big, big mistake.

Don’t feel like writin’, writin’
When I can find somethin better to do.
Don’t feel like writin’, writin’
I’d prefer just to talk to you.
wash my hair with shampoo-oo-oo.

(middle eight)
You can’t make me write a word
Although I know it’s so absurd
Just sit me down
And see the paragraphs become all blurred.

But I don’t feel like writin’ when Big Brother’s on the box.
I’ll sit and watch TV, see those friendships on the rocks.
You’d think that I could find a way to cure my writer’s blocks,
But I don’t feel like writin’, no I’d rather darn some socks.

Don’t feel like writin’, writin’
When I can find somethin better to do.
Don’t feel like writin’, writin’
I’d prefer just to sit and feel blue
Don’t feel like writin’, writin’
If I put it off long enough I’ll believe it’s true-oo-oo!

Turning To Crime?

I’m gearing up for NaNoWriMo again.

It’s tricky, this time. Last year I knew what I wanted to write, because I had a fully formed story in my head, which had been fermenting there for almost a year. All I had to do was write a little outline to keep me on track and when 1st November came along, off I went.

This year I don’t have a clue. Or do I?

I spent a few days in bed a week or so ago, with swine flu, Ruth Rendell, Minette Walters and Kathy Reichs, and am currently spending time with Kate Atkinson in her crime writer mode. So, I’m thinking, why not write a mystery?

I know why not. I have no idea how to go about planning one. Do I start at the beginning, with a dead body, and hope to find out who done it as I go? That’s apparently how Minette Walters does it. Or do I start with the solution and work backwards?

I’m hoping to find out, soon. I had a few pounds in Amazon vouchers built up from my Valued Opinions survey rewards, so I went along and had a look at yet more writing ‘how to’ books. I’ve ordered a couple (which should arrive today – I just tracked them and they’re out for delivery) so we’ll see if they help.

I’ll keep you posted.

The Church of Procrastinology: The Ten Commandments

1. Thou Shalt Not Write
2. Thou Shalt Not Even Open Thy Word Processing Program
3. Thou Shalt Keep all Seven Procrastination Days Holy, by Frequently Visiting Facebook, Twiitter and MySpace
4. Honour Thy Games Sites and Thy YouTube
5. Thou Shalt Not Visit Writers’ Blogs (unless Thou then click on their YouTube links)
6. Thou Shalt Go and Make a Cup of Tea or Coffee Every Time Thou Thinkest of Writing
7. Thou Shalt Not Start Thy Own Blog (unless Thou Failest to Ever Update it.)
8. Thou Shalt Not Ever Jot Down Any Ideas In the Notebook Beside Thy Bed
9. Thou Shalt Worship the Lord Thy Jeremy Kyle and Watch His Show Faithfully
10. Thou Shalt Ignore Any Good Ideas Thou Begettest For Stories and Carry on Playing Tetris

(Thanks to Dulcinea Norton-Smith for the inspiration)

Successes: Part One

Every so often I enter competitions. I don’t usually attempt those with high entry fees, though I did enter one of the short story competitions linked to the Winchester Writers’ Conference, and that had a highish entry fee, of £7, which is a lot when you have to watch the pennies like I do.

I do, however, like to enter the ones run by Writing Magazine and Writers’ News, to which I subscribe. The entry fees for these are only £2 – £3, or occasionally even lower for flash fiction or short poetry with non-cash prizes.

In the spring, Writing Magazine ran a Sonnet Competition. The brief was to write a Shakespearean Sonnet, with the ababcdcdefefgg rhyme scheme, in iambic pentameter, but with a modern theme, and using modern syntax and language.

I played around with a few subjects, including Reality TV and a recipe for my favourite chicken curry (which I may get around to posting some time – if anyone can cope with an iambic pentametric recipe).

I eventually went for the subject of Social Networking. So, I wrote it, fiddled with it until I thought it was just right, and sent it off, not expecting much. And then I forgot all about it…until an email arrived at the end of July, from Richard Bell at Writing Magazine, telling me that my sonnet, Internet Addict, had won first prize. I squealed. Then I read the email again and squealed again, because I hadn’t misread it. Then I did a little dance around the room, and then I showed my children, and my husband, during which time I must have reread the email again a few more times.

The cheque for £100 arrived at the beginning of the month, followed by my copy of the magazine the following day. I didn’t pay the cheque into my account for several days; just kept taking it out and looking at it. And I’d reread the email again about another ten times by the time I got the cheque, just to try and recapture the feeling of excitement I’d had when I first read it. Okay, so call me sad.

Anyway, here’s my winning sonnet, and the adjudication by the Writing Magazine poetry judge, Alison Chisholm.

Internet Addict

My cyber-social life is looking sweet;
My inbox pings with new e-mails all day.
I’m Facebooked up and MySpaced out, I Tweet
on Twitter. I have lots of things to say
to friends on every networking website;
I have so many, I just can’t keep track
of them. I poked a new one just last night
who messaged me, then super-poked me back.
My best mate, Sharon, chats to me from work;
we end each silent sentence LOL,
(though much we say’s not worthy of a smirk).
Oh dear, her boss is lurking. Just as well -
I need to log out too, and walk the dog.
You’ll read about it shortly, in my blog.

Adjudication:

“The first prize goes to a current and colloquial poem, Internet Addict, by Tricia Heighway. The narrator is the addict of the title, and relishes her cyber-social life in a a way that would make any reality-party animal shudder.

We are presented with a list of the heroine’s contact devices, and just as we are about to scream ‘Why not switch it off and talk to someone?’ the sonnet reaches its twelfth line, in readiness for the turn. Here is the saving grace. It’s a relief to know the narrator is at last about to interact with another creature as she has to log out and walk the dog. So the punchline at the end is doubly frustrating and doubly poignant: ‘You’ll read about it shortly, in my blog.’

The subject matter is unforced and never rushed, yet we reach the natural conclusion just as we hit the fourteenth line. The content and balance of the poem are, then, just right, and the control of the final couplet is masterly.

This is only half of the achievement.The other half lies in the quality of crafting to bring the form to life. Here, too, Internet Addict stands out as a winner, for it demonstrates perfectly applied rhyme and metre, and beautifully selected vocabulary.

In any good rhymed poem, the rhyming seems incidental. The more carefully it has been applied, the more spontaneous it seems. Sometimes you even have to look back at the line ends, and check each pair of rhymes individually to make sure that the sounds were correct. Such was the case here. Similarly, the language of the poem falls naturally into the iambic pentameter pattern, with the tiniest hint of syncopation to provide a whisper of variety, but never losing hold of the true form.

The character of the narrator shows through in some lovely little glimpses. Her use of ‘Facebooked up’ and ‘MySpaced out’ implies a touch of humour. The expression, ‘my best mate’ and the appropriate choice of the mate’s name telegraph information about the two. Cyber-vocabulary is included with such ease and fluency that even the biggest webphobe will get the message. Most importantly there is a sense of vulnerability about the character which is shown to the reader through her character.”
Alison Chisholm, Writing Magazine

Rediscovering Write or Die

Yesterday, in an attempt to break my writer’s block, I wrote some stuff which will eventually become a short story to be submitted to Wyvern Publications as a Mertale, using the wonderful web application Write or Die.

I first discovered this last November during my first NaNoWriMo, though I didn’t use it as I didn’t actually feel the need.

Write or Die forces you to keep writing by turning the screen red if you stop for a few seconds. If you have the sound turned up (which i didn’t) it also plays irritating music. You can adjust the grace period from ‘forgiving’ to ’strict’ to ‘evil’, so that the red screen/music kicks in sooner or later, and you can also adjust the mode. In Kamikaze mode, for example, the program starts to ‘unwrite’ what you’ve written. I found it effective enough to set it on the lowest settings (forgiving and simple) and managed around 3,500 words in a couple of two hour writing sessions, so it had the required effect.

You can use it for works in progress as it prompts you to copy and paste during use and also after you’ve clicked the ‘done’ button. It keeps a word count – though I found that this diminished significantly after I’d pasted it into Open Office, but never mind. I still wrote more than I had for months.  If you want to use it for timed writing, you can do that too, as it has a timer.  Or just go in and start writing till you run out of steam.

Whether I’m pleased with the actual output is a different matter, but I’m sure that’ll improve. I’m just out of practice, and anyway, that’s what editing’s for. I just need to do it regularly and hope the quality stuff emerges (again) sooner rather than later.

If I’m calling myself a writer…

… I should be writing.  So why am I not writing?

I’m writing now, obviously.  I’m writing this.  Blogging is supposed to be a good way to get (back) into practice of writing daily, and that’s something I seem to have stopped doing just lately.

I joined Protagonize.com in May 2008 and for a while I wrote daily.  I wrote loads.  I was the first Protagonizer to get to Adventurer status (250 posts).  Then I did NaNoWriMo and wrote TWO novels in 30 days.  And then it all went wrong.

I posted less and less on Protagonize, despite frequent calls for me to add to my existing stories, like ‘Paddytum’, and ‘Waking Up With Henry’.

I’ve had little bursts of activity since then, but they’ve been woefully short-lived.  I’ve edited one of the novels I wrote, to publication standard (and I’m still not entirely happy with it, so I need to edit it again, until I am). I’ve written the odd short story – even had one accepted for publication by Wyvern Publications in their forthcoming anthology (Dragontales – due for release November 2009), and I’ve entered a few competitions.  I’ve even won one.  You’d think that would convince me that it’s what I should be doing.  But it hasn’t.  Not a bit of it.

I’m reading lots of writing blogs and writing articles, both online and in the writing magazines.  I’m always getting books on writing out of the library.  I read the first chapter or two then put them aside.  It’s as if I think I’ll get a sudden burst of inspiration and be jolted back into full writing mode again.

I know what I should be doing.  I should be sitting down at the keyboard or with one of my many notebooks and just… writing.  So why can’t I just do that?

There are plenty of things I could be working on:

• Continue one of my Protagonize stories to novel length
• Re-edit my Young Adult novel
• Edit my Chick-Lit novel
• Write a new short story for Wyvern’s next anthology
• Write a short story for one of the other anthologies calling for submissions
• Write a short story for one of the competitions I’ve seen advertised
• Write a short story for submission to a magazine
• Start a new novel… though I’m planning in doing NaNoWriMo again this year so perhaps I’ll wait for that.

Maybe it’s because there are so many choices I can’t settle on just one, so I end up doing something else, or just nothing, instead.  I went to my first ever Writers’ Conference in July, and I met people there who had been working on just one WIP for years.  I envied them.  I need to pick just one thing and stick to it – at least for a few days.

I really have no excuse.  My motor insurance policy gives my occupation as Writer.  So I should be writing.