As you may know by now, I'm not that quick to jump on technological bandwagons of any kind; I was late coming to digital cameras, smartphones, Netflix, and Spotify. So it will come as no surprise that I only recently started playing Wordfeud, more than 800 days after most people discovered it (Wordfeud tells you when people started playing. It's embarrassing). Again, this was not due to lack of encouragement from my surroundings; several colleagues have been bugging me about it for the past few months, and for one new co-worker, it was one of the first questions he asked me, right after 'What is it you do here?'
So, I finally caved, created an account, and set about finding people to play with. This the fun thing about Wordfeud; in contrast to other addictive games, such as Angry Birds and CandyCrush, here you actually play against other people. Which makes it feel less like 'I'm such a loser wasting my time on games', and more of 'look at me being social and interactive'. But which also means you can lose.
Boy, did I lose, the first couple of games. Big time. We're talking 300+ points. And to make it even worse; I wasn't expecting to lose. Because most of my co-workers are beta-y types; mathematics, physics, the hard sciences. Not language-y. Not wordy. So I was expecting it to be easy.
But it isn't. Because Wordfeud is not just about thinking up the best words that will make you play the most letters, and placing these as tactically as possible on the board. It's also about strategy. About planning ahead, about thinking which TL and TW (triple letter and triple word) spaces you're giving to your opponent. About which words can easily be extended into many more points. And even (I found this unbelievable) about counting letters. About knowing which letters are still in the game, and planning ahead so you can use those letters to make a long and high-scoring word at the end, to grab the final victory. Which is not something I'm doing, I'll tell you, but you can. If you're really addicted.
So it was a steep learning curve. My first few games were a disaster; once you're behind by 100 points, it's hard to get even. But in the end, I did manage to win my first game, and from my 6 regular opponents, I've won from 3 (including my boss, which may be slightly embarrassing). But it's not about winning, it's about having fun, and coming up with crazy and inventive words, and trying out what the game will accept and what it won't, and outsmarting the person you're playing against. It has a nice chat function too, which has moved some of my conversations from WhatsApp to Wordfeud.
In the end, it's a shame I didn't discover Wordfeud earlier. But that does give me an excuse for when I lose (again); I'm still learning!
Sunday, 13 December 2015
Wednesday, 2 December 2015
52 Book Challenge - November
In all that craziness of writing a novel, I completely forgot to tell you about the novels I've read. Which weren't a lot, because I spent all my free time writing, but here goes:
37 In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
38 Kom hier dat ik u kus - Griet Op den Beeck
When I bought the first one, the salesperson told me that it was the best American novel she'd ever read. So the standards were pretty high, and sad to say, In Cold Blood didn't really meet them. I don't know what the best American novel I've ever read is, but this one certainly isn't it. Too factual, too cold, too unimaginative. Mind you, it's a great feat of literature, but not really for me...
The second novel is in Dutch, obviously, or more correctly in Flemish, which I think is a lot prettier and softer than Dutch. The novel is absolutely brilliant, following the life of Mona at three different ages, as she discovers who she is, how she wants to live her life, and with whom. Especially part 1, when she's about 8 years old, is beautifully written. If you're Dutch, and you haven't read it: lezen dat boek!
So as this year has only 29 days left, and I still have 14 books to go, I think we can conclude that I won't be making 52 new books this year. But I've decided to set my standards a little bit lower, and aim for 40 books, which should be possible, now that NaNoWriMo is over. Which gives me something to aim for, but something a bit more realistic than 52!
Sunday, 29 November 2015
NaNo Days 26, 27, 28 & 29: Winner!
I won! I won the fight against no time and deadlines and my Inner Editor and most of all myself, and I wrote a novel (story) of 50,000 words (50,024, to be exact) in one month! Yay me!
So today was the day this was going to happen, because I was only about 4,000 words away, and what started on a Sunday felt right to end on Sunday too. So I wrote 2,000 words, took a break, Skyped with a friend, walked around, read the newspaper, and went back and wrote the remaining 1,700 words. Which actually weren't that bad, those final words. But I had one of my nicer characters to end on, whereas the earlier 2,000 were for the character I dislike the most (and I'm hoping the reader will too) so those felt like more of an accomplishment. And then I validated my novel, and my word count bar became purple, which is the Colour of Victors, and I had a bunch of NaNoWriMo people shout congratulations at me. Which is always great fun.
So what did I do, according to NaNo?
You are incredible. Here's a quick rundown of your accomplishments thus far:
1. You made the surprisingly tough decision to commit to your creativity and write a novel.
2. On November 1, you put pen to paper, leaped, and started something.
3. Every day of this past month, you chose your novel, your voice, and your story. You stayed up late or got up early. You stole minutes here and there. You created time.
Which sounds (and feels) pretty good to me.
Buutttt, of course I'm already looking ahead. The story isn't finished, actually, I'm just a little over halfway. And there's some parts missing. And some parts I want to go back and do over. And other parts that badly need editing. So I'm thinking I will keep this novel hanging around for a while, try to write some more whenever I'm in the mood or can find the time, try to edit some bits, and see where it goes. Because I am feeling pretty good about it, not just about finishing it, but about the thing itself too (which is a NaNo first, for me). Who knows, maybe it will lead somewhere some day. But that's for later, for now, it's time to celebrate (and relax)!
So today was the day this was going to happen, because I was only about 4,000 words away, and what started on a Sunday felt right to end on Sunday too. So I wrote 2,000 words, took a break, Skyped with a friend, walked around, read the newspaper, and went back and wrote the remaining 1,700 words. Which actually weren't that bad, those final words. But I had one of my nicer characters to end on, whereas the earlier 2,000 were for the character I dislike the most (and I'm hoping the reader will too) so those felt like more of an accomplishment. And then I validated my novel, and my word count bar became purple, which is the Colour of Victors, and I had a bunch of NaNoWriMo people shout congratulations at me. Which is always great fun.
So what did I do, according to NaNo?
You are incredible. Here's a quick rundown of your accomplishments thus far:
1. You made the surprisingly tough decision to commit to your creativity and write a novel.
2. On November 1, you put pen to paper, leaped, and started something.
3. Every day of this past month, you chose your novel, your voice, and your story. You stayed up late or got up early. You stole minutes here and there. You created time.
Which sounds (and feels) pretty good to me.
Buutttt, of course I'm already looking ahead. The story isn't finished, actually, I'm just a little over halfway. And there's some parts missing. And some parts I want to go back and do over. And other parts that badly need editing. So I'm thinking I will keep this novel hanging around for a while, try to write some more whenever I'm in the mood or can find the time, try to edit some bits, and see where it goes. Because I am feeling pretty good about it, not just about finishing it, but about the thing itself too (which is a NaNo first, for me). Who knows, maybe it will lead somewhere some day. But that's for later, for now, it's time to celebrate (and relax)!
Wednesday, 25 November 2015
NaNo Days 22, 23, 24 & 25: Burgled
So this was supposed to be this really happy post about how I was ahead, and still going strong, and my writing was getting easier every day, but then I got burgled. Yup. Yesterday, someone got into my house, and took my laptop. And with that laptop, they took about 1,500 freshly written words, which I hadn't backed up to Google Drive yet (luckily, I had backed it up at 37,776 words, which was what I was at on day 22). So my NaNo status says 39,014 (day 23), but in reality, I'm back to 37,776.
While I should be at 41,666 today. A difference I was easily going to overtake, because I was going to write yesterday, and stay ahead, and even had thoughts about maybe finishing early this year. Clearly, this is not to be.
I'm contemplating just copy-pasting the 'stolen' words on the bottom of my document and continuing, but somehow that feels wrong, and it would really mess up the story. So I won't do that, and I will just try to hammer out the 1,500 words I'd already written, and add the 2,500 words I'm behind anyway. Which means 4,000 words in one day. Which is completely crazy, and probably won't happen, but I'll give it a try anyway. This one stupid person with no regard for other people's lives or homes or privacy or stuff won't get me down.
While I should be at 41,666 today. A difference I was easily going to overtake, because I was going to write yesterday, and stay ahead, and even had thoughts about maybe finishing early this year. Clearly, this is not to be.
I'm contemplating just copy-pasting the 'stolen' words on the bottom of my document and continuing, but somehow that feels wrong, and it would really mess up the story. So I won't do that, and I will just try to hammer out the 1,500 words I'd already written, and add the 2,500 words I'm behind anyway. Which means 4,000 words in one day. Which is completely crazy, and probably won't happen, but I'll give it a try anyway. This one stupid person with no regard for other people's lives or homes or privacy or stuff won't get me down.
Saturday, 21 November 2015
NaNo Days 19, 20 & 21: Back in the real world
So the thing with going on holiday for 5 days, is that when you get back, you actually have those 5 days of work waiting for you when you get back. Well, technically 3 days, because the rest of it was during the weekend, but still. Lots of work.
But I still wrote something on Thursday and Friday, but not as much as I'd liked. I was at 32,600 words, where I should be at 33,333 (isn't that the best word count aim ever?). So today, I sat down to get myself back on track, which is 35,000 words. And as I am now at 35,418, we can conclude that I did.
Funnily enough, after forcing myself to write on even though I've already reached the word count I was aiming for, I tend to write the best things. Philosophical observations, great character depth, lots of nice backstory I didn't even know was there. It's as if the writing goes better when the pressure is off, which isn't that surprising, really. And I always think I will be able to tell later when I wrote certain things, but experience has taught me this isn't the case. Which is good, because in the end it all has to blend together into one big story, which simply has rushed and forced bits, and more relaxed and in depth bits. One of which I wrote on a dying laptop at Reykjavik airport, and one of which I wrote just now, at my own kitchen table, in my own time.
But I still wrote something on Thursday and Friday, but not as much as I'd liked. I was at 32,600 words, where I should be at 33,333 (isn't that the best word count aim ever?). So today, I sat down to get myself back on track, which is 35,000 words. And as I am now at 35,418, we can conclude that I did.
Funnily enough, after forcing myself to write on even though I've already reached the word count I was aiming for, I tend to write the best things. Philosophical observations, great character depth, lots of nice backstory I didn't even know was there. It's as if the writing goes better when the pressure is off, which isn't that surprising, really. And I always think I will be able to tell later when I wrote certain things, but experience has taught me this isn't the case. Which is good, because in the end it all has to blend together into one big story, which simply has rushed and forced bits, and more relaxed and in depth bits. One of which I wrote on a dying laptop at Reykjavik airport, and one of which I wrote just now, at my own kitchen table, in my own time.
Wednesday, 18 November 2015
NaNo Days 16, 17 & 18: Falling behind and catching up
So on Monday we took the Golden Circle tour, which is apparently the Thing To Do while in Iceland, and that kept up busy for most of the day. I managed to cram out about 900 words, but that clearly wasn't enough, and I'd officially fallen behind. Yesterday, my last full day in Iceland, I managed only 800 words, in between frantically running around to visit all those things I still needed to visit (didn't manage to see them all. I will have to go back one day. It's a shame). Now I was really lagging, at 27,000 words while I should be at 28,333.
So today, the day I had to get up at 3:15 (Icelandic time) to catch my plane, was the day I was going to catch up. With my poor, six year old laptop whose battery lasts only about 50 minutes, and no power sources at Reykjavik airport, I sought out a quiet spot near my gate, and set to it. 50 minutes later, I was at 28,841 words. How I do this? No idea. Do I like what I've written during those frantic minutes? Not overly much, but I don't really hate it either. Especially the last bit, a kind of philosophical introspective mental murmuring of one of my main characters, was pretty nice to reread.
But the goal was 30,000, so after unpacking and shopping and cooking and showering and cuddling with the cats, I threw another 1200 words out, and I am now officially back on track, at 30,018 words. And both the story and characters are still moving in the general direction I decided for them, which is really nice. NaNoWriMo is all about quantity, and some times I do nothing but type words, even though I don't particularly like the words I'm typing, but most of the time I actually feel pretty good about this years effort. Now I just have to keep on track, and finish the last 2/5ths...
So today, the day I had to get up at 3:15 (Icelandic time) to catch my plane, was the day I was going to catch up. With my poor, six year old laptop whose battery lasts only about 50 minutes, and no power sources at Reykjavik airport, I sought out a quiet spot near my gate, and set to it. 50 minutes later, I was at 28,841 words. How I do this? No idea. Do I like what I've written during those frantic minutes? Not overly much, but I don't really hate it either. Especially the last bit, a kind of philosophical introspective mental murmuring of one of my main characters, was pretty nice to reread.
But the goal was 30,000, so after unpacking and shopping and cooking and showering and cuddling with the cats, I threw another 1200 words out, and I am now officially back on track, at 30,018 words. And both the story and characters are still moving in the general direction I decided for them, which is really nice. NaNoWriMo is all about quantity, and some times I do nothing but type words, even though I don't particularly like the words I'm typing, but most of the time I actually feel pretty good about this years effort. Now I just have to keep on track, and finish the last 2/5ths...
Sunday, 15 November 2015
NaNo Days 12, 13, 14 & 15: Halfway!
So last Friday, the 13th, I travelled to Iceland, where I'm staying with a friend for a couple of days. Which deserves a whole post on its own, which I may or may not write when the NaNo craze is over.
Anyway, on the day of my flight I couldn't really write anything. I brought my laptop with me on the plane, but the woman sitting next to me was of the nosey, prying kind, and I didn't want to get into a whole conversation about writing and the why and the how and the what about. And I was already ahead, having written more than 2,000 words on the train to Amsterdam. (I did write about 150 words and updated my word count, but that was to get the '10 days in a row' badge for updating your word count. Yes, I am a nerd.)
Yesterday I woke up, showered, made some tea, and wrote 1,800 words. This put me back on the word count where I needed to be (23,333) before my host woke up. Which felt pretty good; writing in the early hours while others are still asleep, and then spending your day doing nice touristy stuff in Reykjavik.
So this morning I did the same, and I've just reached the halfway point of 25,000 words! Which I should be really really pleased about, and I am, but I know from previous NaNo experiences that the really rough bit is between 25,000 and 40,000 words, because that's when you get fed up with your story, but still have to keep on writing. So I am very happy that I managed to get this far, and that I'm still on par with the word count, but I'm not taking this as a guarantee that I will actually finish on time. So I will keep on writing some more until my friend wakes up, just to gain some more ground while I can. But they say that Iceland has the highest published author ratio per capita, so maybe it's the Icelandic literary vibes flowing through me. Who knows?
Anyway, on the day of my flight I couldn't really write anything. I brought my laptop with me on the plane, but the woman sitting next to me was of the nosey, prying kind, and I didn't want to get into a whole conversation about writing and the why and the how and the what about. And I was already ahead, having written more than 2,000 words on the train to Amsterdam. (I did write about 150 words and updated my word count, but that was to get the '10 days in a row' badge for updating your word count. Yes, I am a nerd.)
Yesterday I woke up, showered, made some tea, and wrote 1,800 words. This put me back on the word count where I needed to be (23,333) before my host woke up. Which felt pretty good; writing in the early hours while others are still asleep, and then spending your day doing nice touristy stuff in Reykjavik.
So this morning I did the same, and I've just reached the halfway point of 25,000 words! Which I should be really really pleased about, and I am, but I know from previous NaNo experiences that the really rough bit is between 25,000 and 40,000 words, because that's when you get fed up with your story, but still have to keep on writing. So I am very happy that I managed to get this far, and that I'm still on par with the word count, but I'm not taking this as a guarantee that I will actually finish on time. So I will keep on writing some more until my friend wakes up, just to gain some more ground while I can. But they say that Iceland has the highest published author ratio per capita, so maybe it's the Icelandic literary vibes flowing through me. Who knows?
Wednesday, 11 November 2015
NaNo Days 7, 8, 9, 10 & 11: Working like mad
So on the 7th and 8th day of NaNoWriMo, I was still pretty sick, and then pretty busy trying to get all the things done that I didn't have time for while being sick. Which didn't leave me a lot of time for NaNo writing. I was still ahead of the set word count, but losing ground fast.
I managed to make up for lost time on the 9th day, Monday, when I wrote a lot during the evening. Yesterday, Tuesday, was crazy busy: I had lots of work, then went to Rotterdam (2.5 hours by train), did work things from 15:00 until 22:00, and then drove back with a colleague. No time to write, you'd think, but the crucial hint is in the 2.5 hours of train time. I worked for about 1 hour, until I'd done all the things I could do without a proper wifi connection, and then I wrote. I wrote 2,962 words in 1.5 hours. This has to be some sort of record for writing on trains. Also, it put me at almost 20,000 words. Then this morning I had to get up really early again and do lots of other work things, and when I got home I had to pack for my trip to Iceland coming Friday (which will also have a major impact on my writing possibilities, but I'll tackle that one when it arrives). So now I'm pretty tired and without inspiration, but I did put in another 500 words, because the NaNo magic is in keeping up on your writing, even if it is just 500 words. So now I'm at 20,102 words, which is 98 words over what I should be at tomorrow. Still a little bit of leeway, but not as much as I'd hoped. I'm aiming for keeping up with the required word count for the next few days, which is all I can hope for, really.
I managed to make up for lost time on the 9th day, Monday, when I wrote a lot during the evening. Yesterday, Tuesday, was crazy busy: I had lots of work, then went to Rotterdam (2.5 hours by train), did work things from 15:00 until 22:00, and then drove back with a colleague. No time to write, you'd think, but the crucial hint is in the 2.5 hours of train time. I worked for about 1 hour, until I'd done all the things I could do without a proper wifi connection, and then I wrote. I wrote 2,962 words in 1.5 hours. This has to be some sort of record for writing on trains. Also, it put me at almost 20,000 words. Then this morning I had to get up really early again and do lots of other work things, and when I got home I had to pack for my trip to Iceland coming Friday (which will also have a major impact on my writing possibilities, but I'll tackle that one when it arrives). So now I'm pretty tired and without inspiration, but I did put in another 500 words, because the NaNo magic is in keeping up on your writing, even if it is just 500 words. So now I'm at 20,102 words, which is 98 words over what I should be at tomorrow. Still a little bit of leeway, but not as much as I'd hoped. I'm aiming for keeping up with the required word count for the next few days, which is all I can hope for, really.
Friday, 6 November 2015
NaNo Days 5 & 6: Writing when ill
So then I got sick. Nothing major, mainly a sore throat, dizziness, ringing in my ears, and muscles that felt like I'd run a marathon. Probably the flu, or a minor form of the flu, because I never get really really ill, but it's enough to stay at home from work. Which would make you think it's perfect to catch up on some writing, but again; too ill for that. Nevertheless, I managed to keep up with, and ahead of, the daily recommended word counts.
Yesterday I wrote about 2,200 words, mainly because I got back to one of the characters that I really like, so the writing went easier (I have 10 pov (point of view) characters that I visit in turn). So far today I've written 1,785 words, putting me at 12,142 words in total. I'm not sure how much of it will make sense when I read it again, but it's about the output, not the quality. Along the way, I've been jotting down lots of little notes and things on my characters, because some of them are starting to blend into each other. Which means I've probably written a lot more, but that's not part of the actual story, it's more back story.
I hope to write another chapter tonight, if only to give me the proper head start I will need when I go to Iceland next Friday. And then tomorrow we'll see; hopefully I'll feel a lot better, and I'll be able to pull ahead even more!
Yesterday I wrote about 2,200 words, mainly because I got back to one of the characters that I really like, so the writing went easier (I have 10 pov (point of view) characters that I visit in turn). So far today I've written 1,785 words, putting me at 12,142 words in total. I'm not sure how much of it will make sense when I read it again, but it's about the output, not the quality. Along the way, I've been jotting down lots of little notes and things on my characters, because some of them are starting to blend into each other. Which means I've probably written a lot more, but that's not part of the actual story, it's more back story.
I hope to write another chapter tonight, if only to give me the proper head start I will need when I go to Iceland next Friday. And then tomorrow we'll see; hopefully I'll feel a lot better, and I'll be able to pull ahead even more!
Wednesday, 4 November 2015
NaNo Days 3 & 4: Slight stagnation
So yesterday I didn't write a single word. For NaNoWriMo, that is, I wrote a loooot of words for other things, mainly work, mainly feedback. When I got home I decided I didn't want to spend my evening staring at words on a screen too, so I called a friend and we went out to dinner and a movie (The Martian, which takes more than two hours of your life, but it's worth it). She called me crazy for even attempting to do NaNo this year, which I took as encouragement.
Then today I had to spend an hour on a train to a meeting (the one I'd been writing all that feedback for the day before) and as the wifi in the train was dismal as usual, I decided to write. And I wrote 1,012 words, whilst on a train surrounded by businesspeople making business phone calls. It was another first, but I thought it pretty efficient. And about 1,000 words per hour isn't the fastest, but it's more than I'd expected.
However, 1,012 words is no where near enough to keep me on track word count-wise, so I'll have to see if I can throw another 1,000 or 1,500 words at it this evening. I have to catch up on work emails that came in during the meeting, and loads of other stuff too, but we'll see. I'm feeling pretty good about this novel (pah, that sounds wayyy bigger than it is; story), so I'm thinking and hoping that things will work out, writingwise, tonight.
Then today I had to spend an hour on a train to a meeting (the one I'd been writing all that feedback for the day before) and as the wifi in the train was dismal as usual, I decided to write. And I wrote 1,012 words, whilst on a train surrounded by businesspeople making business phone calls. It was another first, but I thought it pretty efficient. And about 1,000 words per hour isn't the fastest, but it's more than I'd expected.
However, 1,012 words is no where near enough to keep me on track word count-wise, so I'll have to see if I can throw another 1,000 or 1,500 words at it this evening. I have to catch up on work emails that came in during the meeting, and loads of other stuff too, but we'll see. I'm feeling pretty good about this novel (pah, that sounds wayyy bigger than it is; story), so I'm thinking and hoping that things will work out, writingwise, tonight.
Monday, 2 November 2015
NaNo Day 2: Keeping up the good count
I wrote 1,703 words today. I had the craziest, busiest day at work, cycled home with my head still full of work stuff, did the shopping, cooking, eating, and then put myself behind my laptop and threw out 1,703 words in a little more than an hour. I do surprise myself.
I'm at 6,745 words in total now, which is more than I should be at on day 4. This is good news, as the coming days I actually have appointments in the evening, so I won't be able to write as much (unless I write at work, which would be both professional suicide and impossible, as I haven't even come close to being up-to-date on my actual work). So a nice little head start, which I hope I will be able to keep through the coming days!
I'm at 6,745 words in total now, which is more than I should be at on day 4. This is good news, as the coming days I actually have appointments in the evening, so I won't be able to write as much (unless I write at work, which would be both professional suicide and impossible, as I haven't even come close to being up-to-date on my actual work). So a nice little head start, which I hope I will be able to keep through the coming days!
Sunday, 1 November 2015
NaNo Day 1: A Flying start
My 2015 NaNoWriMo effort is off to a flying start; at the moment I'm at 2,560 words (which I thought was a nice moment to pause and do some other things), of the 1,667 I should be writing each day. Which means I'm ahead, yes, ahead, of schedule. A flying start, as they say.
I wrote my first 790 words in three quarters of an hour, which isn't a record per se, but is pretty damn quick considering I haven't actually written fiction in about half a year. The second streak, from 790 to 2,560, was done in one hour exactly, which means about 1800 words an hour. If I keep that up (which probably won't happen), I can get the daily limit done in an hour every day, which would maybe kinda fit in my schedule (again, probably not, but some days you can write, and some you can't).
But the best thing about all of this is not the quantity, it's the quality. I'm actually pretty happy about what I've written so far. It's the start of the story, so it's the bit I've been rehearsing and fine tuning in my head for the past few days, but still, nice sentences and words and details and characterisations popped up in my head as I went along. The characters are still behaving as they should, doing the things they should be doing and thinking the things they should be thinking, so I'm still pretty much in control. I switched narrators just now, and it takes some time to get into the 'voice' of the second narrator, but still, it's going quicker than expected.
So I'll just continue to write as long as it's going smoothly, and see what word count I finish on for today. I've seen several others on the Regional Forum at 5,000+, which would be really nice, but also really difficult. Either way, I'm happy with what I've got, and anything extra is just a nice NaNo bonus.
ETA: I finished at 5,039 words today, which must make this my best first NaNo day ever. If only November only had Sundays...
I wrote my first 790 words in three quarters of an hour, which isn't a record per se, but is pretty damn quick considering I haven't actually written fiction in about half a year. The second streak, from 790 to 2,560, was done in one hour exactly, which means about 1800 words an hour. If I keep that up (which probably won't happen), I can get the daily limit done in an hour every day, which would maybe kinda fit in my schedule (again, probably not, but some days you can write, and some you can't).
But the best thing about all of this is not the quantity, it's the quality. I'm actually pretty happy about what I've written so far. It's the start of the story, so it's the bit I've been rehearsing and fine tuning in my head for the past few days, but still, nice sentences and words and details and characterisations popped up in my head as I went along. The characters are still behaving as they should, doing the things they should be doing and thinking the things they should be thinking, so I'm still pretty much in control. I switched narrators just now, and it takes some time to get into the 'voice' of the second narrator, but still, it's going quicker than expected.
So I'll just continue to write as long as it's going smoothly, and see what word count I finish on for today. I've seen several others on the Regional Forum at 5,000+, which would be really nice, but also really difficult. Either way, I'm happy with what I've got, and anything extra is just a nice NaNo bonus.
ETA: I finished at 5,039 words today, which must make this my best first NaNo day ever. If only November only had Sundays...
Saturday, 31 October 2015
52 Book Challenge - October
So this month was the worst so far, what with moving house and all the other things (mainly work and emotions) that kept me busy. Here's what I'm at now:
35 The Book of Lost Things - John Connolly
36 One Day - David Nicholls
So the first one was in the Recommended by Staff section of the Waterstone's in Amsterdam. A former fellow student of English has been lucky enough to find work there, and she recommended the novel, so I simply had to read it. It's about a small boy in WWII London who finds a way into another world, one where fairytales are real - even if with somewhat different endings and morals than the real ones. I loved the premise (I've actually written quite a lot of stories that follow a similar vein, but then again, haven't we all?), and most of the first part when he was still in our world, but once he 'fell through' it all became a bit too obvious and flat. What with his unfailing abilities to see through things no one else can understand, presumed-dead characters turning up in the nick of time to save the day, and the 'face your fears' moral drawn out a bit too long, it became quite unoriginal and frankly boring. With so many variants of this idea roaming around on the Internet, it's almost a shame that this is the one that got published
Now One Day, my third David Nicholls novel, was something of a surprise in that I didn't see the 'Signed by the author' sticker when I bought it in London (also at Waterstone's) last July. So it was nice to see the hasty scribble on the title page; it is one of only a few signed books I own. The book itself is great; I'd say it's Nicholls's best, better than the much-acclaimed (or hyped) Us or Starter for Ten, which I loved but which lacks the depth of One Day. Again, the premise is straightforward: two people are followed on the same day for 20 years, starting on the 15th of July 1988 and ending in 2007. In that period, they go from being 22 to being 42, and the biggest and most important part of their lives take place. As with Us, the ending is not what you'd expect; I won't spoil, but the 500 Days of Summer warning "This is not a love story" should be heeded. The writing is beautiful; very funny but also very meaningful, with well-developed characters, scenes and feelings set out in just a few words. You really get to know the two protagonists; who they are, how they differ, why they do what they do, and also why their lives keep revolving around one another. David Nicholls is starting to become one of those authors who I want to read every single novel of, and I'm already quite some way along. If you're in for something new, try him. Stay away from Us, and read this one instead.
Looking at the bigger picture; I'm 36 books down and it's already week 44. That means I'm 8 books behind, with the craziness of NaNoWriMo looming. I'd be very very surprised if I manage to read 52 new books this year, but who knows what will happen, maybe a literary miracle!
35 The Book of Lost Things - John Connolly
36 One Day - David Nicholls
So the first one was in the Recommended by Staff section of the Waterstone's in Amsterdam. A former fellow student of English has been lucky enough to find work there, and she recommended the novel, so I simply had to read it. It's about a small boy in WWII London who finds a way into another world, one where fairytales are real - even if with somewhat different endings and morals than the real ones. I loved the premise (I've actually written quite a lot of stories that follow a similar vein, but then again, haven't we all?), and most of the first part when he was still in our world, but once he 'fell through' it all became a bit too obvious and flat. What with his unfailing abilities to see through things no one else can understand, presumed-dead characters turning up in the nick of time to save the day, and the 'face your fears' moral drawn out a bit too long, it became quite unoriginal and frankly boring. With so many variants of this idea roaming around on the Internet, it's almost a shame that this is the one that got published
Now One Day, my third David Nicholls novel, was something of a surprise in that I didn't see the 'Signed by the author' sticker when I bought it in London (also at Waterstone's) last July. So it was nice to see the hasty scribble on the title page; it is one of only a few signed books I own. The book itself is great; I'd say it's Nicholls's best, better than the much-acclaimed (or hyped) Us or Starter for Ten, which I loved but which lacks the depth of One Day. Again, the premise is straightforward: two people are followed on the same day for 20 years, starting on the 15th of July 1988 and ending in 2007. In that period, they go from being 22 to being 42, and the biggest and most important part of their lives take place. As with Us, the ending is not what you'd expect; I won't spoil, but the 500 Days of Summer warning "This is not a love story" should be heeded. The writing is beautiful; very funny but also very meaningful, with well-developed characters, scenes and feelings set out in just a few words. You really get to know the two protagonists; who they are, how they differ, why they do what they do, and also why their lives keep revolving around one another. David Nicholls is starting to become one of those authors who I want to read every single novel of, and I'm already quite some way along. If you're in for something new, try him. Stay away from Us, and read this one instead.
Looking at the bigger picture; I'm 36 books down and it's already week 44. That means I'm 8 books behind, with the craziness of NaNoWriMo looming. I'd be very very surprised if I manage to read 52 new books this year, but who knows what will happen, maybe a literary miracle!
Saturday, 17 October 2015
NaNoWriMo 2015
For those of you not in the know: NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, which started in 1999 (wayyy before November became 'Movember' and all those other fancy scrambled month names) and has been going strong ever since. I've participated in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, and I won (meaning: I wrote a novel of at least 50,000 words) in the last three of those attempts. Since then, I've been too busy with work (ironically, I started this blog in 2012 because I thought I'd have more time for creative pursuits, but that didn't really work out...) or travels to participate, but this year I will give it another go.
As with the 52 book challenge, I'm not hitting myself over the head if things don't work out, because the truth is that I'm still swamped with a lot of other things. But if you don't try you won't ever succeed, so this morning I 'created my novel', which means I picked a genre and put in a short working title and synopsis. My past NaNo experience tells me that the actual end result will probably be something only vaguely resembling what I wrote today, but the important thing is the first step.
If you've ever thought about writing anything but find yourself having (or making up) a lot of excuses for not actually writing, NaNoWriMo is for you. You have to write a lot, while turning your Inner Editor off: it's about quantity, not quality. December is the time for editing and fine tuning, November is the time for output.
Also, there's a really nice community of people all working towards the same goal, with online forums and real life meet-ups (Write-ins). So even if you don't end up with a novel, you may end up with new friends.
You can find my author's page here, but I'll keep you updated on my progress and word count as November comes around. And who knows; I may even post some excerpts!
As with the 52 book challenge, I'm not hitting myself over the head if things don't work out, because the truth is that I'm still swamped with a lot of other things. But if you don't try you won't ever succeed, so this morning I 'created my novel', which means I picked a genre and put in a short working title and synopsis. My past NaNo experience tells me that the actual end result will probably be something only vaguely resembling what I wrote today, but the important thing is the first step.
If you've ever thought about writing anything but find yourself having (or making up) a lot of excuses for not actually writing, NaNoWriMo is for you. You have to write a lot, while turning your Inner Editor off: it's about quantity, not quality. December is the time for editing and fine tuning, November is the time for output.
Also, there's a really nice community of people all working towards the same goal, with online forums and real life meet-ups (Write-ins). So even if you don't end up with a novel, you may end up with new friends.
You can find my author's page here, but I'll keep you updated on my progress and word count as November comes around. And who knows; I may even post some excerpts!
Wednesday, 30 September 2015
52 book challenge - September
I will be back to blogging regularly at some point, but that point is still somewhat vague and far away, so please don't hold your breath. In the meantime, I am still reading books, and I will still post my book challenge lists, if only to show that books are indeed one of the great escapes.
Where I stand now:
32 The Bone Clocks - David Mitchell
33 All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr
34 Shades of Grey - Jasper Fforde
The Bone Clocks is Mitchell's biggest and bestest book so far. Somehow, he managed to incorporate what made Black Swan Green so great, into the structure of what made Cloud Atlas or Ghostwritten so great. I can't really say that much about it, because saying anything will give away the plot, but I recommend everyone to read it. Although of course you should read all of his other novels first, in the order they came out, because some of his characters (or their parents, children, or siblings) reoccur in several of his novels. Which is just one of the many, many layers to be found in The Bone Clocks.
Then I read All the Light We Cannot See, which won the Pulitzer this year. I am not generally fond of American novels and novelists, and reading this novel, I remembered why. Everything is just a bit too polished, to convenient, there are no loose ends or sharp edges. All the characters fit just a bit too snugly in their little corner of the world, and they have just exactly those experiences and talents and qualities that lead them to be on exactly the right place for the big denouement. Also, the structure didn't really work, with alternating chapters between the male and female protagonists, which didn't quite fit at some crucial points, so then Doerr just put in a repeat chapter of the same character. Pick a structure and stick to it, or don't have one at all; a botched up alternating structure doesn't work. The ending was slightly surprising, until it all became a bit too much Sarah's Key. Just yesterday I listened to someone who had written her thesis on "the Americanisation of the holocaust", which is exactly what happened here, and which maybe something I will write more about in the future.
Finally, I read Shades of Grey, which has nothing whatsoever to do with 50 Shades of Grey, and was published 2 years earlier. It's about a dystopian future, set after Something Happened, and in which people can only see very little colour. There is a ranking according to which colour you can see, with Purple being the highest, and Grey the lowest. This is just one example of the complex, bewildering, and utterly pointless rules in place in this society, which also include regular 'leapbacks', in which perfectly functional technology is cast aside to create a society deteriorating itself on purpose. I loved Fforde's Thursday Next series, and this novel was great fun too. It's the first in a trilogy, with the next novel coming out next year, an if you're into comical dystopianism, it's one to read.
So wildly differing novels, all contemporary, and in varying modes of realism and seriousness. I'll save the classics for when my mind has enough space to properly absorb and digest a piece of good literature, although David Mitchell's novels are nothing less.
Where I stand now:
32 The Bone Clocks - David Mitchell
33 All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr
34 Shades of Grey - Jasper Fforde
The Bone Clocks is Mitchell's biggest and bestest book so far. Somehow, he managed to incorporate what made Black Swan Green so great, into the structure of what made Cloud Atlas or Ghostwritten so great. I can't really say that much about it, because saying anything will give away the plot, but I recommend everyone to read it. Although of course you should read all of his other novels first, in the order they came out, because some of his characters (or their parents, children, or siblings) reoccur in several of his novels. Which is just one of the many, many layers to be found in The Bone Clocks.
Then I read All the Light We Cannot See, which won the Pulitzer this year. I am not generally fond of American novels and novelists, and reading this novel, I remembered why. Everything is just a bit too polished, to convenient, there are no loose ends or sharp edges. All the characters fit just a bit too snugly in their little corner of the world, and they have just exactly those experiences and talents and qualities that lead them to be on exactly the right place for the big denouement. Also, the structure didn't really work, with alternating chapters between the male and female protagonists, which didn't quite fit at some crucial points, so then Doerr just put in a repeat chapter of the same character. Pick a structure and stick to it, or don't have one at all; a botched up alternating structure doesn't work. The ending was slightly surprising, until it all became a bit too much Sarah's Key. Just yesterday I listened to someone who had written her thesis on "the Americanisation of the holocaust", which is exactly what happened here, and which maybe something I will write more about in the future.
Finally, I read Shades of Grey, which has nothing whatsoever to do with 50 Shades of Grey, and was published 2 years earlier. It's about a dystopian future, set after Something Happened, and in which people can only see very little colour. There is a ranking according to which colour you can see, with Purple being the highest, and Grey the lowest. This is just one example of the complex, bewildering, and utterly pointless rules in place in this society, which also include regular 'leapbacks', in which perfectly functional technology is cast aside to create a society deteriorating itself on purpose. I loved Fforde's Thursday Next series, and this novel was great fun too. It's the first in a trilogy, with the next novel coming out next year, an if you're into comical dystopianism, it's one to read.
So wildly differing novels, all contemporary, and in varying modes of realism and seriousness. I'll save the classics for when my mind has enough space to properly absorb and digest a piece of good literature, although David Mitchell's novels are nothing less.
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