Category: NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo – April 2022 – Day 2

First Dig Two Graves, the second Zoe thriller.

…

Just when you think you’ve got a good start, it all comes crashing down.

Here’s the thing…

I’ve been planning the sequel for quite some time, and from time to time, I’ve been jotting down notes about how the story will go. I thought I had filed them all in the same place, and because I thought I had all of them, I missed a part.

This was confirmed when I found a synopsis, something I rarely make before writing a story, with details of several sections I obviously added when the thought came to me. Perhaps the idea of the synopsis was to consolidate all the ideas, at a time when I thought I was going to sit down and write the story.

Dated a month or so before covid came along, I suspect it all got set aside for the two-odd year’s hiatus.

Now, the time has come, and today, I went n a detailed search of three computers, four phones, cloud storage, and the boxes that hold all the handwritten notes.

I have a reference to the section, several chapters, but no writing. In the back of my mind, I have a feeling I’d written the chapters, but the evidence says otherwise.

Damn!

I’ll move on, and come back to it later. At the moment it doesn’t have relevance.

Oh, and Zoe has now become Mary-Anne. What is John going to think when he finally finds her.

…

Todays writing, introducing Mary Anne, 1,501 words, for a total of 3,610.

NaNoWriMo – April 2022 – Day 1

First Dig Two Graves, the second Zoe thriller.

…

At the end of the first book in the series, Alistair, Zoe the assassin’s handler, was killed.

As far as he was concerned, Zoe had reneged on the contract to kill a target, and for that, she had to be punished, just to let the rest of the team know they could not decide arbitrarily who or who they would not kill.

For her sins, Zoe had been captured and was about to be executed when John, the man who wanted to become her boyfriend, turned up in a luckless and unplanned rescue mission.

But as ad-hoc operations go, that one was very successful.  Zoe, though badly injured aided John in a do-or-die escape.

Alistair learned to his chagrin, that a badly injured Zoe and untrained well-meaning friend trumped overconfidence.

Of course, Alistair’s death does not go unnoticed, and his mother, a renowned and very capable ex-KGB agent with connections, wanted to avenge his death.  Her influence reaches as far as the upper echelons of the State’s intelligence services, and requests from her would never be ignored.

Such a request for information is made, and so starts the next book in the series.

Revenge.

Of course, nothing to do with Zoe, or John, or their relationship, runs smoothly, and once again in pursuit of the impossible, makes it his mission in life to win over the assassin-on-sabbatical.

But first, he has to find her., and sort through the lies and treachery of his best friend who is also looking for Zoe, but for entirely different reasons.

…

Todays writing, the first three chapters, 2,109 words

Memories of the conversations with my cat – 67

As some may be aware, but many not, Chester, my faithful writing assistant, mice catcher, and general pain in the neck, passed away some months ago.

Recently I was running a series based on his adventures, under the title of Past Conversations with my cat.

For those who have not had the chance to read about all of his exploits I will run the series again from Episode 1

These are the memories of our time together…

This is Chester. He’s come down from his bed in our bedroom to see what the commotion is about.

He stops at the top of the stairs down into the lounge room and sees the TV.

I might have guessed, the Maple Leafs are playing, he says.

Yep, I say, gleefully, and they’re winning.

Its not over until you know what…

Way to be a spoilsport. Stop complaining and take a seat. It’s a new day, a new coach, and a new invigoration in the team.

He sits and does that wrap around thing with his tail that indicates irritability.

Don’t get your hopes up, he says. And shouldn’t you be out in the office working on your NaNoWriMo project.

Under control I say. It’s practically writing itself.

Is that a shake of his head?

Memories of the conversations with my cat – 67

As some may be aware, but many not, Chester, my faithful writing assistant, mice catcher, and general pain in the neck, passed away some months ago.

Recently I was running a series based on his adventures, under the title of Past Conversations with my cat.

For those who have not had the chance to read about all of his exploits I will run the series again from Episode 1

These are the memories of our time together…

This is Chester. He’s come down from his bed in our bedroom to see what the commotion is about.

He stops at the top of the stairs down into the lounge room and sees the TV.

I might have guessed, the Maple Leafs are playing, he says.

Yep, I say, gleefully, and they’re winning.

Its not over until you know what…

Way to be a spoilsport. Stop complaining and take a seat. It’s a new day, a new coach, and a new invigoration in the team.

He sits and does that wrap around thing with his tail that indicates irritability.

Don’t get your hopes up, he says. And shouldn’t you be out in the office working on your NaNoWriMo project.

Under control I say. It’s practically writing itself.

Is that a shake of his head?

Memories of the conversations with my cat – 66

As some may be aware, but many not, Chester, my faithful writing assistant, mice catcher, and general pain in the neck, passed away some months ago.

Recently I was running a series based on his adventures, under the title of Past Conversations with my cat.

For those who have not had the chance to read about all of his exploits I will run the series again from Episode 1

These are the memories of our time together…

This is Chester. He’s feeling very smug.

Our focus has mainly centred on getting the NaNoWriMo project done each day, but in between all of this, a number of issues have arisen.

The first, the Maple Leads, and what Chester calls my obsession with ice hockey.

He doesn’t get it. No one plays ice hockey in this country at the same level, and you can never find it mentioned anywhere, so why bother.

Besides he adds in his most cutting tone, they’re a bunch of losers.

So they’ve lost six games in a row and sacked the 50 million dollar coach, but…

To him it’s but nothing. Chester now refuses to watch the ice hockey with me, not until they win again. That 6-1 drubbing two games back was the start of the slide.

I tell him that we’re missing key players and with the newish lineup it takes time to work as a team.

Right.

So we move to God Friended Me.

What the hell is going on there. Miles and Cara are stumbling, with doubts seeded, Rakesh has just had his heart torn to shreds and the incoming Bishop is at a crossroads.

So, for a little early advice…

What’s going to happen to Miles and Cara?

Chester: I’m cynical, their the heart of the show, they won’t be forced apart. It’s all about the ratings.

What’s going to happen to Rakesh?

Chester: Draw out the angst for another 14 episodes, we’ll have to keep tuning on to see what happens.

And the bishop and his girlfriend?

Chester: Send them to another parish, they’re just a distraction we don’t need.

I’m inclined to agree with him.

Except about the Maple Leafs. They’re in Pheonix tomorrow, maybe with a new head coach they might pull off a miracle.

Memories of the conversations with my cat – 66

As some may be aware, but many not, Chester, my faithful writing assistant, mice catcher, and general pain in the neck, passed away some months ago.

Recently I was running a series based on his adventures, under the title of Past Conversations with my cat.

For those who have not had the chance to read about all of his exploits I will run the series again from Episode 1

These are the memories of our time together…

This is Chester. He’s feeling very smug.

Our focus has mainly centred on getting the NaNoWriMo project done each day, but in between all of this, a number of issues have arisen.

The first, the Maple Leads, and what Chester calls my obsession with ice hockey.

He doesn’t get it. No one plays ice hockey in this country at the same level, and you can never find it mentioned anywhere, so why bother.

Besides he adds in his most cutting tone, they’re a bunch of losers.

So they’ve lost six games in a row and sacked the 50 million dollar coach, but…

To him it’s but nothing. Chester now refuses to watch the ice hockey with me, not until they win again. That 6-1 drubbing two games back was the start of the slide.

I tell him that we’re missing key players and with the newish lineup it takes time to work as a team.

Right.

So we move to God Friended Me.

What the hell is going on there. Miles and Cara are stumbling, with doubts seeded, Rakesh has just had his heart torn to shreds and the incoming Bishop is at a crossroads.

So, for a little early advice…

What’s going to happen to Miles and Cara?

Chester: I’m cynical, their the heart of the show, they won’t be forced apart. It’s all about the ratings.

What’s going to happen to Rakesh?

Chester: Draw out the angst for another 14 episodes, we’ll have to keep tuning on to see what happens.

And the bishop and his girlfriend?

Chester: Send them to another parish, they’re just a distraction we don’t need.

I’m inclined to agree with him.

Except about the Maple Leafs. They’re in Pheonix tomorrow, maybe with a new head coach they might pull off a miracle.

NaNoWriMo 2021 – Day 30 + 2

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is NaNoWriMo-WriterBadge-851-2x.png

A score to settle

…

I’ve taken some time to work on a few other projects, working through the notes with ideas and getting them into some semblance of a timeline.

It seems taking time away from some of them has helped in getting a better idea of where I’m heading with them.

It seems as though I had hit an impasse on several of the stories in progress, and a lesson could be learned.  I just have to realize I’ve hit a roadblock, which sometimes isn’t readily discernable because when it happens we tend to deny we need to walk away, and reset the creative juices

As for my NaNoWriMo project, I finally understand what was bugging me for the last few days – I need to make a timeline for the revolution, and figure out where everyone is going to be, and what their role is.

Yes, there is no substitute for proper planning. After all, if this was a real revolution, it would fall apart very quickly if there was no coordination.

It just brings home the magnitude of the exercise, and it will take a few days to pull it all together. It just may be the first revolution planned using Microsoft Project.

…

Today’s word count: 0 words, for the running total of 87,901.

NaNoWriMo 2021 – Day 30 + 2

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is NaNoWriMo-WriterBadge-851-2x.png

A score to settle

…

I’ve taken some time to work on a few other projects, working through the notes with ideas and getting them into some semblance of a timeline.

It seems taking time away from some of them has helped in getting a better idea of where I’m heading with them.

It seems as though I had hit an impasse on several of the stories in progress, and a lesson could be learned.  I just have to realize I’ve hit a roadblock, which sometimes isn’t readily discernable because when it happens we tend to deny we need to walk away, and reset the creative juices

As for my NaNoWriMo project, I finally understand what was bugging me for the last few days – I need to make a timeline for the revolution, and figure out where everyone is going to be, and what their role is.

Yes, there is no substitute for proper planning. After all, if this was a real revolution, it would fall apart very quickly if there was no coordination.

It just brings home the magnitude of the exercise, and it will take a few days to pull it all together. It just may be the first revolution planned using Microsoft Project.

…

Today’s word count: 0 words, for the running total of 87,901.

NaNoWriMo 2021 – Day 30 + 1

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is NaNoWriMo-WriterBadge-851-2x.png

A score to settle

…

Now the pressure to write each day is over, I can take my time over the last chapters of the story.

I took the day off yesterday and spent a little time staring at the ceiling. Well, that’s my euphemism for mentally going over the story so far in my head.

I know I’m guilty of writing chapters instead of pages, and pages instead of paragraphs, so already I can see some parts of the story could do with a bit of editing, but that’s not my focus yet.

For the last few days I’ve had big band music running around in my head, and it came to me that the ball preceding the conference should have a big band playing all of those songs from the 1940s, and, in particular, Sing, Sing, Sing by Benny Goodman, In the Mood by Glenn Miller, and a few others.

Listening to it has been inspirational.

The ending has changed, and now it focuses on the two main characters. I’ve given up the notion of exacting revenge, and gone for a more happier ending, if that is possible after a rebel revolt. We’ll all have to wait and see if it succeeds, who comes out on top, and whether there are any casualties.

Certainly there will be one person who will reappear like a messiah, a man thought to be dead at the hands of the military. More than one person has said they should have killed him rather than keep him prisoner, and a few more glad that they didn’t kill him.

And like all good authors, I’m trying to write and ending that leads into a sequel, though how I can top a revolution might be just a little difficult.

And although the word count is low for two days work, a lot of other work has gone into changing the plan, and the ending, as well as a host of notes for changes in the middle to accommodate the ending. I might just get around to writing a white paper on ‘how to capture airports and media stations for the purpose of taking over a country’ by the end of this project.

…

Today’s word count: 2,724 words, for the running total of 87,901.

NaNoWriMo 2021 – Day 30 + 1

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is NaNoWriMo-WriterBadge-851-2x.png

A score to settle

…

Now the pressure to write each day is over, I can take my time over the last chapters of the story.

I took the day off yesterday and spent a little time staring at the ceiling. Well, that’s my euphemism for mentally going over the story so far in my head.

I know I’m guilty of writing chapters instead of pages, and pages instead of paragraphs, so already I can see some parts of the story could do with a bit of editing, but that’s not my focus yet.

For the last few days I’ve had big band music running around in my head, and it came to me that the ball preceding the conference should have a big band playing all of those songs from the 1940s, and, in particular, Sing, Sing, Sing by Benny Goodman, In the Mood by Glenn Miller, and a few others.

Listening to it has been inspirational.

The ending has changed, and now it focuses on the two main characters. I’ve given up the notion of exacting revenge, and gone for a more happier ending, if that is possible after a rebel revolt. We’ll all have to wait and see if it succeeds, who comes out on top, and whether there are any casualties.

Certainly there will be one person who will reappear like a messiah, a man thought to be dead at the hands of the military. More than one person has said they should have killed him rather than keep him prisoner, and a few more glad that they didn’t kill him.

And like all good authors, I’m trying to write and ending that leads into a sequel, though how I can top a revolution might be just a little difficult.

And although the word count is low for two days work, a lot of other work has gone into changing the plan, and the ending, as well as a host of notes for changes in the middle to accommodate the ending. I might just get around to writing a white paper on ‘how to capture airports and media stations for the purpose of taking over a country’ by the end of this project.

…

Today’s word count: 2,724 words, for the running total of 87,901.