Didn’t we have a lovely time, the week we went to Poole…

Again, by “we”, I mean my family and myself. Not you – although, if you did have a lovely week in Poole – or elsewhere – I’m glad to hear it!

So I’m back after a lovely holiday! I’ve returned to a provisional licence, a book on the highway code, a load of letters which (disappointingly) aren’t a specialist referral and a hell of a lot of unpacking and line-learning to do. I return bearing souvenirs; a couple of teddys – Little Daf, and Gascgoine the Gibbon – some postcards, and tonsilitis, which is quickly turning into a chesty cough. I’m not feeling incredible, but I’ve had such a great week that it doesn’t make me feel too sad!

Managed to get a fair bit of writing done – “Blue” is taking a break for a while because I want to retain my ability to write outside of Christopher Maine’s universe and create my own, so that’s exactly what I’m doing! I’ve experimented with both first-person and third-person perspectives and third-person is working a little better for me at the moment, so I’ll stick with that. Still no title to speak of, and it’s in the baby stages right now, but it looks like my July camp NaNovel is sorted! 🙂

Keep flying and stay shiny,

Maddy x

Bad days are always the most productive…

Ugh. Bleh. Ew and Meh. Those are all words which sum up my day. I have been feeling so poorly, struggling to move, had to miss a lecture and what would have been an interesting afternoon of filming because I am poorly and I hate it.

That said, today has also been oddly productive. I’ve caught up and zoomed ahead on Camp NaNoWriMo, so I’m now ahead of schedule and should have enough leeway to miss a couple of days of writing over the weekend. I’ve called up and booked in my third tattoo (there was me saying I’d have one a year at most; this is my third in the last twelve months!) in a week and a bit, and I’ve done a fair bit of uni work too, so I think I’m fairly caught up in that respect, and yet I still feel so ill!

So, despite the fact I’ve signed up for a 3 mile run (more on that later), and despite the fact I told myself I’d eat healthily, AND despite the fact I didn’t plan on spending any more money today, I have no choice but to drag myself to ALDI and see what vaguely-healthy-but-still-yummy things they have to make me feel better.

There will be a (rejoiceful) Camp NaNo update later!

Camp NaNo: End Of Day 9!

Target word count: 15000 words

My word count: 14,210 words

Chapters written: Two and a half and a bit

Favourite sentence(s) written today: ‘Or… let me guess, are you going to settle things the “New Manhattan way”? Punch first, ask questions later? Typically Neanderthalian of you. Then again, should I expect any less of a newie?’

Feelings: So, we’re almost a third of the way through camp, and I’m still behind. I’m slowly catching up, but it feels like every time I think I’m caught up, I’m faced with another setback. I really want to get ahead tomorrow, Thursday and Friday, to give myself the leeway of having the weekend away from writing.

Camp NaNo Update: End of Day 7

Yeah… so I forgot to update you all the past few days… but that’s really because NOTHING HAS HAPPENED. Seriously. I’ve hardly written at all.

Target Word Count: 11666

My Word Count: 9426

Chapters Written: Two and a bit.

Favourite Sentence(s) of the day: ‘You’ll learn to translate everything he says into newie speak eventually. Took me a few years, but I got there in the end’.

Feelings: Oh my life, why is catching up so hard???? I feel so far behind and I hate it, I just want to be caught up and not stressed, but giving up isn’t an option because I want this novel to be finished and written as soon as possible! This is the most difficult bit because I’m introducing characters. I can’t wait to get into the nitty-gritty of letting these characters interact and allowing the plot to progress!

Camp NaNo: End of Day Four

Target word count: 6666 words

Total word count: 7371

Chapters written: One and a half

At this rate, I’ll finish on: April 28th, 2013

Favourite sentence(s) written today:

‘Your Dad’s out. Did you want me to take a message for him?’.

‘What are you, his secretary now?’

 

Feelings: Writing helped to pass a relatively boring morning waiting for the other half to get back from work, and I spent about four hours writing to get up to that word count, so I’m not writing as fast as usual, but the quality is a lot better – in my opinion. I’m really happy to be ahead of where I need to be, but I need to keep it up and maybe try and get a couple of days ahead. I don’t like playing catch-up – I’d much rather have the leeway of a couple of days here and there where I don’t write, which is what I’ll be facing next week.

NaNo Update: End Of Day 3

Target: 5000 words

Word Count: 5132 words

At This Rate, I’ll Finish On: April 30th, 2013

Chapters completed: One and a bit.

Feelings: I’m back! It took a hell of a lot of words yesterday, but I’m back on track. Aim for today, whilst I wait for the other half to get back from work and take me to the farm so we can go see baby goats, is to get myself AHEAD of target! I’m feeling positive about where the story’s going – I’m rewriting it entirely from when it was by NaNo project last November, so I’m going in a new direction with more character development, and I’m already loving it!

Camp NaNo Update: Day Two

Target: 3333 words

Word Count: 1669 words

At This Rate, I’ll Finish On: May 30th, 2013

Chapters completed: About a third of one.

Feelings: I’m behind! I’m never behind in a NaNo event! It’s not a great feeling, so I’m eager to catch up and get back on track. I’m feeling positive, the creativity is flowing even if I’m battling a little bit of poorly-itis and a little bit of writers’ block. I’m feeling hopeful – things will improve and I WILL get back on track!

Greetings from camp!

Greetings! I write to you now from my little tent, perched on the shore of Lake Baty, in the wilderness of NaNoLand, where I am currently residing at Camp NaNoWriMo. It’s my first time at camp, but I’m having a great time – even if it’s taking a while to get used to it! It’s going to be a busy month – I have some uni work to do too – but I’m hoping that the relaxing surroundings of camp will help me get this novel finished. 50,000 words is my target – the novel is going to be longer than that, but if I can get 50k, I’m well on the way! (Rhyming too – impressive, eh?).

So, this is just a brief postcard to say I’m currently at Camp, and updates will be sporadic but mainly writing-focused, whilst I scribble away furiously at this novel!

Wish you were all here – maybe you should join me? http://www.campnanowrimo.org

Still Plodding Along!

A quick writing update in the midst of all this university stuff; I’m still working on my project with regards to the Tales Of The Terra Firma Fleet series (by Christopher Maine, available now on Amazon!) and still hoping to have a completed first draft by the end of June. This should be possible; I’m hoping to do Camp NaNoWriMo in April, which should get me to the end of the draft, and then I finish uni for the summer at the end of May, which gives me enough time to edit if I can get it done. I have a CreateSpace offer that expires at the end of June so that’s my big deadline, and to be honest, it shouldn’t be too difficult – I’ll have been working on it for about nine months by that point, and considering the speed at which I write, it should be possible.

Hello December!

So, December is upon us. NaNoWriMo (and November, for that matter) has come to an end all over the world by this point (I think!), and Winter has officially begun. Unless you’re in the Southern hemisphere, in which case I assume you’re off to the beach instead of reading my blog, you lucky things. But, if you’re up North and decide that you’d rather stay in and be warm and dry and snuggly with a cup of hot chocolate and a onesie (seriously, they’re PERFECT for winter!), maybe you’ll read my blogs. If you want something a bit more substantial to read, there’s always Christopher Maine’s “Tales from the Terra Firma Fleet” series to keep you going, and make sure you know where you stand ready for when my book will hopefully be published some time in 2013!  Y’know, just a hint there 😉

As for me, I don’t think December is going to be a quiet, peaceful one. It’ll be quieter than usual – no pantomime this year thanks to uni, but I’m missing it like mad so it’s not a good thing! – but it’s still going to be busy. I’m off to London on the 6th, going to see War Of The Worlds in Birmingham on the 7th, the first 13 days of December will be spent on Blood Brothers, then home from uni and I can finally relax… kind of! Then the real work on finishing and editing my novel can begin. Whereas in November I switched between the first, second and third “years” of my novel, I really want to work exclusively on the first from now until it’s finished.

We’ve ordered our tickets for Wales Comic Con; it’s held at my uni so it’s nice and easy to get to. Me and my other (better) half are cosplaying as characters from the “Tales From The Terra Firma Fleet” series, to try and promote the books, and I’m really going all out – dyeing my hair blue (that’s not just for comic con; it’s more because I think it’ll suit me!), and getting a tattoo (which I want to get anyway, I’m not modifying my body purely for comic con!). Yes, the next tattoo is planned, just got to wait for the artist to get back in February so I can get it done! This’ll be my first experience of going to a convention like this, and also my first experience of cosplaying, so I’m pretty excited about it! Plus, Chris Barrie from Red Dwarf and Ianto Jones from Torchwood will be there; which is always good! 😀

This is basically a bit of a bumper update on my life as opposed to my writing, but it does come with a warning that I probably won’t be blogging much for the next couple of weeks, until Blood Brothers is over and I can relax and actually focus on my writing a bit more. After that, I really do want to start doing more writing blogs – not just updates about what I’m writing, but also more topics that people commonly encounter when writing, things like that.

Stay Shiny,

Maddy x