Category: Review

NaNoWriMo – Day 28

In a mad rush to get the story finished, but that now won’t happen in the time frame.

I’m in the middle of the quest to recover the artifacts, and Marigold has so much more to learn about the realm and herself.

And I’ve notice a little of what’s happening in our world here is creeping into the story, and it seems to me that we never seem to learn from our mistakes.

Our leaders, that is. Given a chance to make a real change after a one in a hundred year event, they’re ignoring the possibilities, and trying to consolidate or improve their power over the people.

But I digress…

Some of my disappointment is spilling over, and I’ll to be careful to keep it out.

In my stories, there’s always a happy ending.

For the bean counters, todays word count is 3,226 words, not much less than yeaterday, for a running total of 72,839.

I suspect this story is not going to come out under 120,000, until the first edit of course.

NaNoWriMo – Day 27

If only I had another month.

I guess quite a few of us on this journey would be saying the same thing.

Trying to fully devote yourself each and every day for as long as you can write might seem quite simple, like a mechanic can repairing engines, like an accountant poring over the accounts.

Well, it’s not that simple.

For starters you have to have a continuous train of thought, pushing the plotline along, not just for the one or two or three thousand words that are required as a bare minimum each day, but carry that forth over the thirty days of the month, leading to fifty, sixth or ninety thousand words of coherent story.

Most writers take a year, sometimes more to get that total.

They often write, two, three, four hundred words in a session, perhaps over a day, or several.

I’m amazed that my total so far is very close to seventy thousand words. That’s nearly a novel and a half.

But, it’s not going to be the whole novel when the thirty days are up.

Enough lamenting….

For the statisticians, todays count was 3,242 words for a running total of 69,613.

Searching for locations: The Kingston Flyer, Kingston, New Zealand

The Kingston Flyer was a vintage train that ran about 14km to Fairlight from Kingston, at the southern end of Lake Wakatipu, and back.

This tourist service was suspended in December 2012 because of locomotive issues.

However, before that, we managed to go on one of the tours, and it was a memorable trip.  Trying to drink a cup of tea from the restaurant car was very difficult, given how much the carriages moved around on the tracks.

The original Kingston Flyer ran between Kingston, Gore, Invercargill, and sometimes Dunedin, from the 1890s through to 1957.

There are two steam locomotives used for the Kingston Flyer service, the AB778 starting service in 1925, and the AB795 which started service in 1927.

The AB class locomotive was a 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotive with a Vanderbilt tender, of which 141 were built between 1915 and 1927 some of which by New Zealand Railways Addington Workshops.

No 235 is the builder’s number for the AB778

There were seven wooden bodied passenger carriages, three passenger coaches, one passenger/refreshments carriage and two car/vans.  The is also a Birdcage gallery coach.  Each of the rolling stock was built between 1900 and 1923.  They were built at either of Addington, Petone, or Hillside.

I suspect the 2 on the side means second class

The passenger coach we traveled in was very comfortable.

This is one of the guard’s vans, and for transporting cargo.

The Kingston Railway Station

and cafe.

A poster sign advertising the Kingston Flyer

The running times for the tourist services, when it was running.

NaNoWriMo – Day 26

A good day perhaps, for writing. I’m further advanced, but I don’t feel like I’m getting to where I need to be.

I guess it’s ‘welcome to the world of writing’.

Some stories can be written in 30 days. I’ve done it myself three years running.

But, taking on a more complex writing project, not that I thought it would be at the time, has taught me to respect an old adage my father used a lot, a long time ago:

Rome wasn’t built in a day

It’s not the only one he used, but it’s the one I remember.

This project will take more than thirty days. I often wondered why some writers took years to finish a book, and now I know definitively why.

Next year I’ll take on something a little lighter in subject matter, plan for the fifty or chapters, and get it done.

This is one that I should have tackled within the other eleven months.

Still, four days to go, and anything can happen!

For the statisticians, todays word count is 3,074, for a running total of 66,371. That, in itself, is a lot of words.

NaNoWriMo – Day 25

The end of the month is rapidly approaching, and I will be appealing to the time lords to extend the month by about 10 days.

In other words, it’s not going to be finished in the time allocated.

But…

I guess there will be some NaNoWriMo reports with a suffix of Day 100.

Only kidding, but it will take longer and I intend to persevere.

What takes the time is the little nuances of the characters and the story that crop up when you least expect it.

Anyway, onwards and upwards…

For the statisticians, todays word count is 2,877 for a running total of 63,297.

Searching for locations: The Forbidden City, Beijing, China

Now we’re walking to the Forbidden City, and it seems like we’re walking for miles and we’re practically exhausted before we get started on the main tour.  I’m not sure if we received a map of the city, but one is certainly needed so that you can navigate the many features, buildings, and walkways.

There are tour groups everywhere in the large courtyard outside the gate, most likely getting a lecture on the last of the Chinese emperors about that time Sun Yat-Sen proclaimed the new China around 1912.  We were no exception, and it was an interesting way to spend the time waiting to get in.  It was a tale of intrigue, interwoven with a 3-year-old emperor, and a scheming concubine who becomes the Emperor’s favorite, enough to bear him a son and successor.

Bribery and corruption at its best.

But its history runs something like this:

The Forbidden City is was once the imperial and state residence of the Emperor of China, as well as the center of government, from the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, or 1420 to 1924.

It was built from 1406 to 1420 when the Yongle Emperor moved the capital from Nanking to Beijing and consists of about 980 buildings, and 8,886 bays of rooms (not the 9,999 as prescribed in myth) and covers 180 acres.  Over the 14 years, a million workers used whole logs of wood from the jungles of southwestern China, marble from quarries near Beijing, specially made golden bricks from Suzhou

Since 1925 it has been a museum and is the largest number of preserved wooden structures in the world.

The city is surrounded by a wall 7.9 meters high, and a moat that is 6 meters deep and 52 meters wide.  A tower sits at each of the four corners.  Each side has a gate, the north is called the Gate of Divine Might, the south is called the Meridian gate.  East and west are called East Glorious Gate and West Glorious Gate respectively.

But, back in the courtyard, we are ready to go in and follow the tour guide who has switched from her amplified microphone to a whisper device we all wear in our ears.  She talks and we listen.

We all make it through and regroup on the other side. This is where the fun begins because we are about to meet a large percentage of the 80,000, they let for the day.

It seems to me they have all arrived at the same time, although by the time we get to the entrance gate, it is very well organized, bags are scanned, people are scanned, and you’re in.

After crossing one of the seven Golden Water bridges, you begin to get some idea of the size and scope of the City, and in the distance, the first of the buildings, The Gate of Supreme Harmony.  On a hot day, that could be a long and thirsty walk.

From there it is one pagoda after another with buildings that surround the edge of the whole Forbidden City, as does the moat.

By the time we get to the second courtyard, it was time to have ice cream as a refresher.  Others head up to another exhibit, and it’s just too many stairs for us.

After this, it’s a walkthrough another courtyard, heading up and down some more stairs, we go and see the museum, with priceless relics from past emperors.

There are areas like the outer courtyard, the inner courtyard, yet another courtyard, and the gardens where the concubines walked and spent their leisure time.  It is not far from the emperor’s wives living quarters, though there’s precious little left of the furniture, other than a settee and two rather priceless so-called Ming dynasty vases.

We get into the bad habit of calling all of the vases Ming dynasties.  Above is one of the inner courtyards there were living quarters, and that tree is over 300 years old.

Out through some more alleyways and through an entrance that led to the area where the concubines lived, very spacious, bright, and filled with trees, plants, and walkways through rocky outcrops.

The whole area was made up of living quarters and waterways, rocks and paths, all very neatly set out, and it looked to be a very good place to live.

This is an example of the living quarters, overlooking the gardens

And there were several pagodas

From there its a quick exit out the northern entrance, and another longish walk to our bus, which arrives at the meeting point shortly after we do.

That done, the Beijing tour guide has completed her section of our China experience, and we’re ready to move onto the next.

NaNoWriMo – Day 23

So I just found out I hadn’t written a report for yesterday.

Done now.

AS for today. it was not as productive as it could be, and I’m falling behind.

But I did get to discuss plotlines with my eldest granddaughter, who is the role model for Marigold, well, she tells me how spoilt and complaining she is, and probably nothing like a real princess is.

Although there is a real life, wannabe princess who isn’t whom I’m sure Marigold will be like for only a short while before she wakes up to herself, and becomes the heroine.

Can’t say that will ever happen to the wannabe princess.

But, I digress.

Tomorrow I have to make up the word count because today was not very good.

For those counting, a daily total of 2,488, for a grand total of 57,687.

And Marigold, or whoever, just told me I should be working smarter not harder!

Wow!

NaNoWriMo – Day 22

Well, here’s the thing.

I got so side tracked with writing that I forgot to make my report.

Not that there was much to report other than I’m working on four of five chapters at once, going back and forth, getting to plot line right.

And trying not to fall off the side of a mountain.

Hang on, that’s tomorrows story.

IT’s moving along but not as fast as I would like, and I am beginning to think I will not get it done in time.

Is there such a thing as overtime … when you are already working 24 hours a day.

I know, we need 40 hour days. Then I might get some sleep.

For those keeping numbers, 3,029 words for the day, and 55,199 so far.

That’s the second highest daily total. Phew!!!!

Searching for locations: Vancouver, Canada – again

It’s always a given that whatever city you stay in unless it’s overnight, you go on a tour and see the sights.

Even when you’re staying a short distance from the city, you may go to the effort of catching a train or bus, then get on the hop on hop off tour.  There’s always one in just about every city you visit.

Vancouver was no exception.

Except…

We arrived in the rain, went to sleep while the rain came down, woke up to the rain, and a heavy dose of jet lag, or perhaps it was more than we had spent 24 and a half hours traveling from Brisbane to Vancouver vis Shanghai.

We had an excellent view out the window of our room looking towards the shopping mall, and the steady fall of rain.

 I felt sorry watching the construction workers on the building site that was the main vista we had to look at.

It could have been worst.  Endless mountains with snow on them.

What to do.  Venture out in the rain and go on the tour, on pop over to the shopping mall and pick up a few boxing day bargains, no, sorry, boxing week bargains.

We have had some experience going on ha op on hop off tours in open-top buses in the rain.  And the last time was not a pleasant experience, even though we learned a valuable lesson, not to stand in front of c as mons and yell ‘fire’.  Apparently, that’s how Admiral Nelson lost his arm.

But…

The shopping mall won.

We’d wait and see if the weather improved.  Hang on, isn’t Vancouver near Seattle, and doesn’t it rain the 300 days of the year?

Not holding my breath.

I feel sorry for the construction workers again.  Still raining, still cold, and still no reason to get out of bed.

Day 2 in Vancouver turned out to be the same as day 1.

Hang on, there’s a development.

We’re on the 16th floor and up at those lofty heights, we can see not only the rain but intermingled with it a few flakes of snow.

Whilst we procrastinate about what we’re going to do, the snowflakes increase into small flurries.

Yep, we’re off to the mall again and go for a walk in the snow.

On the way back we drop into the Boston Pizza, which has a sports bar and there you can sit, drink, eat, and watch the ice hockey, or whatever sort is going at the time.

Today it’s a junior ice hockey tournament, but Canada was not playing.  Just the same, a long cold beer and ice hockey?

I can now cross that off the bucket list.

Day 3, we’re going on a great rail journey, well, we are going to get the train to the city and collect the rental car, on the booking form, supposedly a Jeep Grand Cherokee or similar.

Of course, ‘or similar’ are the words to be feared here because in truth the rental company can throw anything at you, so long as it matches the brief, three people and three large suitcases.

And, you guessed it…

The ‘or similar’ got us a Fort Flex

NaNoWriMo – Day 21

I crossed the threshold of 50,000 words, an achievement in itself, but not the end of the story.

It seems that not all stories can be fitted into a specific number, but, as some in the past have, this one, I knew, was going to take more effort.

Today I have been working on three separate parts of the story, a convenience because they are part of a running theme, and it’s best to write them together to ensure continuity.

Also, one of the main characters makes a discovery that surprises her, but not a friend of hers, who knew it was possible, but thought not to tell her, just in case it didn’t happen.

Confusing? At the moment it is, even to me, but more will come out as the story progresses.

I’m going to have to start sub plot threads to keep track.

For the statisticians, words today, 2,950, and the running total, 52,170.

It’s a pity I don’t have time to celebrate.