Saturday 10 November 2012

NaNOWriMo Day 10 - 7034 word count

Afternoon folks, please forgive me but I was busy with NaNoWriMo, so got carried away and didn’t notice the time. For those that have followed my NaNo journey, you’ll have noticed that I haven’t updated and logged a word counts for three days!!!! I’m always totally honest on my blog and have to confess that I didn’t write a single word, so couldn’t update. Not because I couldn’t think of anything to write – oh, no far from it but literally because I was too whacked to even contemplate a session at my desk. You’ll remember that I returned to the day-job after a week’s holiday. So, instead of feeling guilty and beating myself up about it – which I have a tendency to do, I took a deep breath and thought ‘Bugger it, I’m not writing for the sake of it.’ The great thing is that with the three days of zero word count my guilt-free head is now bursting with ideas. This morning I got up and have already logged a three and a half thousand word count and I’m not finished for today. I shall update later and I promise you, I will have past the 20,000 words deadline.

My week, as I mentioned earlier, has been busy. Monday saw me return to work so it was full steam ahead there. Within three lessons it felt as though we’d never had a holiday.
Tuesday saw a full night of NaNo writing – I did very little else that evening. The words simply flowed and I gained that heady session, as if you’re drunk, when sentences and plot are coming together as they should, but rarely do. Wednesday saw me asleep by half eight – I kid you not – I was fast, Zzzzzzzzzzz. Thursday - saw me attend my other writers’ meeting in Coalville with the Grace Dieu Writing Circle – we had a mini in-house competition as it was National Short Story week. Each member brought a piece of work of approximately 750 words. There were six entries this year, each story was blank so we didn’t know whose was whose. I didn’t win, but thankfully the rightful winner did, following our little voting system. A tiny in-house tradition but one that adds a bit of sparkle and healthy competition into our group meetings. I would love to see more of this but sadly time restraints in meetings and accommodating all needs and tastes limits us slightly. Friday, well boy – was I glad to see Friday. Friday dragged his feet in arriving but finally made it. I love that feeling when the weekend begins and we all dash off home to make the most of every hour. Anyway, I had a flute lesson booked so I had to get home for one last practice before my teacher arrived. I have to say, something has happened with my flute playing recently – the sound and tone has changed and I can’t put my fingers on why. For the better I quickly add, but it’s strange that it has occurred at the same time as I advance towards certain goals in writing. I have said before that I feel that creativeness links into each other areas and supports other skills and talents. I am starting to think that my self-satisfaction in writing is also being witnessed in my flute playing – more confidence perhaps? Who knows!

Anyway, back to today. As I said, I woke early – I’ve written three and a half thousand words, taken the dog for his usual trek and been inspired to write a poem. I’ll continue to alternate my daily tasks with writing and will post a final word count later today.

Finally, best wishes to a poet friend Mal who’s not his usually energetic and musing machine – I’m sure you’ll be back fighting fit very, very soon. You’ve got to be – you’ve so many creative ideas to capture.

Apologies for those who follow me on Twitter – I have been pretty quiet this week, but I’ll make up for it next week. For new followers please look me up on Twitter under the name odwyer_author (it took three attempts for me to type my own name correctly – not good). Enjoy and I’ll see you back soon ;-)

Follow up: I promised I'd come back with a word update - (drum roll) 7034 words for today. As you can imagine I am feeling pretty pleased with myself. That is the second highest word count I have ever produced in a single day. My persoanl best is 8000 words which I accomplished when working on my novel 'Her'.

Not only have I written 7034 words (I keep saying it as I can't believe it) but I have also written a poem today inspired by a group of teenagers seen in the local park whilst on my dog trek. All in all, a very productive day. Fingers crossed your day has been just as productive, whatever you've done. Enjoy!

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