Category: NaNoWriMo

“Opposites Attract” – The Editor’s first draft  – Day 2

This book was the effort put into the last NaNoWriMo November 2023 exercise. I have now picked it back up, and working on a more polished first draft for the Editor.

…

It all came together in one dance

…

So, after yesterday, how do I go sorting out the words, and get the story underway.

As the heading suggests, I wrote the story around watching the Viennese Waltz in real-time, and if you play it starting at the exact right time, everything matches, the steps the movements, and their conversation.

Actually, I had to watch that Waltz about twenty times to get it right.

It kind of made me wish that I could have found the woman of my dreams and danced with her.  The fact is, the woman of my dreams, now my wife of 50 years, was an excellent ballroom dancer, and me, well, I’m the definitive two left feet, which I think may have been ne of her disappointments.

We could have made such a statement on the dancefloor if only I knew how!

As they say, it’s never too late.

But, the dancefloor is where our two main characters come together, and by the end of it, everyone knows what they themselves haven’t.

I feel a song coming on, ‘Love is in the air’!

…

“Opposites Attract” – The Editor’s first draft  – Day 2

This book was the effort put into the last NaNoWriMo November 2023 exercise. I have now picked it back up, and working on a more polished first draft for the Editor.

…

It all came together in one dance

…

So, after yesterday, how do I go sorting out the words, and get the story underway.

As the heading suggests, I wrote the story around watching the Viennese Waltz in real-time, and if you play it starting at the exact right time, everything matches, the steps the movements, and their conversation.

Actually, I had to watch that Waltz about twenty times to get it right.

It kind of made me wish that I could have found the woman of my dreams and danced with her.  The fact is, the woman of my dreams, now my wife of 50 years, was an excellent ballroom dancer, and me, well, I’m the definitive two left feet, which I think may have been ne of her disappointments.

We could have made such a statement on the dancefloor if only I knew how!

As they say, it’s never too late.

But, the dancefloor is where our two main characters come together, and by the end of it, everyone knows what they themselves haven’t.

I feel a song coming on, ‘Love is in the air’!

…

“Opposites Attract” – The Editor’s first draft – Day 1

This book was the effort put into the last NaNoWriMo November 2023 exercise. I have now picked it back up, and working on a more polished first draft for the Editor.

…

An invitation to the ball

…

Every story starts somewhere, and there is a catalyst.

This story was going to be a short story, which is why the first chapter is so long.  In rough form, it is nearly 5,000 words.  Today I write it, tomorrow I’ll edit it.

But…

How did we get here in the first place?

Firstly:  I heard a Viennese waltz way back when I used to watch Walt Disney on a Sunday night, and one of his shows over two weeks was about Johann Strauss.  It stuck with me all these years, until…

Secondly:  I heard it again on the radio when I was looking for the classic music station.  All at once I was back in that brief period of my childhood.

That’s another story, moving on.

Thirdly:  When my wife and I started out nearly 50 years ago, we hated each other at the start.  I mean seriously.  Then, over time, when you see who the person is rather than what you think they are, things change.

It’s a common story, this love-hate relationship.

Just what happens to kick this off … you’ll have to wait until tomorrow.

…

A score to settle – The Second Editor’s draft – Day 32

The time has come to work on the second draft for the editor, taking into account all of the suggested changes, and there are quite a few. So much for thinking I could put in an almost flawless manuscript.

…

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 this 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.

“Opposites Attract” – The Editor’s first draft – Day 1

This book was the effort put into the last NaNoWriMo November 2023 exercise. I have now picked it back up, and working on a more polished first draft for the Editor.

…

An invitation to the ball

…

Every story starts somewhere, and there is a catalyst.

This story was going to be a short story, which is why the first chapter is so long.  In rough form, it is nearly 5,000 words.  Today I write it, tomorrow I’ll edit it.

But…

How did we get here in the first place?

Firstly:  I heard a Viennese waltz way back when I used to watch Walt Disney on a Sunday night, and one of his shows over two weeks was about Johann Strauss.  It stuck with me all these years, until…

Secondly:  I heard it again on the radio when I was looking for the classic music station.  All at once I was back in that brief period of my childhood.

That’s another story, moving on.

Thirdly:  When my wife and I started out nearly 50 years ago, we hated each other at the start.  I mean seriously.  Then, over time, when you see who the person is rather than what you think they are, things change.

It’s a common story, this love-hate relationship.

Just what happens to kick this off … you’ll have to wait until tomorrow.

…

“Opposites Attract” – The Editor’s first draft – Day 1

This book was the effort put into the last NaNoWriMo November 2023 exercise. I have now picked it back up, and working on a more polished first draft for the Editor.

…

An invitation to the ball

…

Every story starts somewhere, and there is a catalyst.

This story was going to be a short story, which is why the first chapter is so long.  In rough form, it is nearly 5,000 words.  Today I write it, tomorrow I’ll edit it.

But…

How did we get here in the first place?

Firstly:  I heard a Viennese waltz way back when I used to watch Walt Disney on a Sunday night, and one of his shows over two weeks was about Johann Strauss.  It stuck with me all these years, until…

Secondly:  I heard it again on the radio when I was looking for the classic music station.  All at once I was back in that brief period of my childhood.

That’s another story, moving on.

Thirdly:  When my wife and I started out nearly 50 years ago, we hated each other at the start.  I mean seriously.  Then, over time, when you see who the person is rather than what you think they are, things change.

It’s a common story, this love-hate relationship.

Just what happens to kick this off … you’ll have to wait until tomorrow.

…

A score to settle – The Second Editor’s draft – Day 32

The time has come to work on the second draft for the editor, taking into account all of the suggested changes, and there are quite a few. So much for thinking I could put in an almost flawless manuscript.

…

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 this 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.

A score to settle – The Second Editor’s draft – Day 31

The time has come to work on the second draft for the editor, taking into account all of the suggested changes, and there are quite a few. So much for thinking I could put in an almost flawless manuscript.

…

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 an 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 of 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.

A score to settle – The Second Editor’s draft – Day 32

The time has come to work on the second draft for the editor, taking into account all of the suggested changes, and there are quite a few. So much for thinking I could put in an almost flawless manuscript.

…

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 this 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.

A score to settle – The Second Editor’s draft – Day 32

The time has come to work on the second draft for the editor, taking into account all of the suggested changes, and there are quite a few. So much for thinking I could put in an almost flawless manuscript.

…

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 this 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.