Nanowrimo

Good Morning 29th April, 2021

Peter Germany Editing, Home Office, Horror Writer, Life, Nanowrimo, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Good morning folks, how are we all doing today?

I’ve had a couple of writing off days this week but am back on it today. I think I can get this edit off Penal Earth wrapped up today, which’ll be super is I can as I’ve got Black Blood scenes that I know I need to add clawing at my brain for attention.

I’m still getting used to my new desk set up. It’s nice having that extra space to have my laptop but I need to get used to it. I do like having the space to just push my laptop backwards when I’m not using it and not off to one side so I can write with a pen etc. I still make a lot of notes by hand, and am getting back into the habit of brainstorming with pen and paper.

Speaking of brainstorming, I’ve been working on a rewrite for a short story I wrote years ago. At first I thought it would be a few elements added to fill it out a little, but now it’s growing and I think it’s more novella/novel length story. So I’m seriously considering this being my NaNoWriMo project for this year. Yeah I said it, NaNoWriMo! (You ready for it this year *Chuck?). It’s never too early for me to start preparing for NaNoWriMo. I’ve found when I’ve got a novel for NaNo I need to be prepared for it. So that’s what I’m doing. (side note, I’m out of tea!!!!!!!!!).

I am going to get some words wrangled now. I’d like to have my writing done by midday as I’ve got bits and pieces to do in the garden with my dad and then a few other non-writing bits like tidying and so forth. I do have an appointment via phone this morning so it may be more 1pm that I aim to be finished with the words for the day.

Right, I hope you all have a fantastic day!

*in joke.

Good Morning, 6th April 2021

Peter Germany Horror, Horror Writer, Life, Lifestyle, Mental Health, Nanowrimo, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Morning folks! How are we all doing today?

I’m a little tired but focussed. I have work later today so simple goals today. Basically a blog post and 500 words on Black Blood. As always I’m not going to stop at 500 if I’m rolling, but if its like pulling teeth then I will.

My head feels pretty straight again now. I feel I’m back on the right track again, and honestly I feel more focussed and capable then in a very long time. It’s nice having this week mapped out so I can just look at my planner and I know what I’ve got going on. It’s helped setting modest goals once more and I can even see an end in sight for Black Blood!

Right! That’s enough procrastination. Words don’t wrangle themselves.

Always inspiring

2020 Numbers

Peter Germany Books, Editing, Health, Horror, Horror Writer, Insperation, Life, Mental Health, Nanowrimo, Short Fiction, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Originally posted on Buy Me A Coffee.

Last year was a mixed year for pretty much all of I would say. I’m no different. It was both the best and worst year of my life, from an amazing high to a low I didn’t know existed. If you’re a reader of my blog at petergermany.com you’ll know I’m not going to go into details on those moments. I talk about them because they did have an impact of writing. As you will see from the words I wrote and edited last year.

So, let’s get down to business:

  • January – 9011 words written
  • February – 11171 words written
  • March – 5691 words written
  • April – 562 words written
  • May – 1454 words written
  • June – 517 words written
  • July – 4524 words written, 39962 words edited
  • August – 14641 words written, 55323 words edited
  • September – 20471 words written, 7495 words edited
  • October – 15773 words written
  • November – 50615 words written (NaNoWriMo)
  • December – 13698 words written, 4477 words edited
  • Totals – 148128 words written, 107257 words edited

I only started tracking the words I edit in July which is why there are no numbers for them before that.

I was also published in three anthologies:

  • Corona-Nation Street from Burdizzo Books
  • Beneath The Leaves from Burdizzo Books
  • It Came From The Darkness from Red Cape Publishing and Phillip Rogers

I am so proud of these stories. My story in Corona-Nation Street, The Wank Diaries, had been written with this anthology in mind but I didn’t like the ending and with everything in life I’d forgotten about it until I’d seen a reminder pop up about it. So I rewrote the ending, which totally changed the tone of the story and I bled into it a lot. In hindsight maybe a little too much, now that I think back to it. But what it adds to the story I think gives it an impact that wasn’t there before.

The other two anthologies are ones I was invited into, with my story in Beneath The Leaves written long before life took a hard turn. My drabble in It Came From The Darkness was easy to write, almost impossible to get it down to the required 100 words!

Looking back now I’ve got the numbers right there, yeah, I’m incredibly happy with how much I achieved as a writer in 2020. There was a moment late in 2019 that I quit, then during the darkest moments of 2020 I didn’t make a decision but writing wasn’t going to be something I ever did again. When I started pulling myself clear of the dark hole I’d slipped into the words started coming again. I remember when I started blogging again last year, I talked about how I was struggling to get the words out again. The Wank Diaries got me going again. There was a deadline and I got it done in time.

That story got me back to doing what I needed to be doing, writing. Many things have helped me to get to the good place I’m in now, but that was a very distinct moment. Writing to me isn’t just a career. It’s part of my soul. Written into my DNA at the most primal level, and I’m never going to stop.

Good Morning, Tuesday 8th of December 2020

Peter Germany Horror Writer, Insperation, Life, Nanowrimo, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Howdy, folks! my plans for today have changed as I’ll be working this afternoon/evening now. So I’m going to try and repeat what I did yesterday and write for a couple of hours before leaving for work.

I was super happy with how Penal Earth went yesterday. I liked the direction it took and I’m eager to get cracking on it today. I can see the end in sight now and feel positive about having this draft done by the end of the month. I feel the next draft may have a lot of tweaks but hopefully they’ll just be filling out world building elements, and not maybe plot points.

One thing I have been thinking about is for book two I might use a lot of the elements from the original draft I wrote for NaNo years ago. I still like a lot of the elements that it had and think it works better as a second book as I won’t have to do as much world building this second time around.

Seeing as Alexander Bailey and Armand Rosamilia shared their dry/erase boards…. I also do not apologise fir my handwriting 😁

I’m not going to just retrofit that first draft though. I’m going to start from scratch using what I remember and go from there. I think that’ll be more manageable. Not that I’m going to get to this one anytime soon. There’s at least three big projects to work on before I even think about Penal Earth 2.

I really do need to sit down and review where I am with projects and look at my goals for the next twelve months. Before we know it December will be rolling to an end and 2021 will be here.

12th of December 2020

Peter Germany Editing, Horror, Horror Writer, Insperation, Life, Mental Health, Nanowrimo, Outlining, Planning, Preparation, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Good evening, folks!

I’m actually on track this evening. I worked a few extra hours at work so I didn’t get much more than words written. I got 1289 done, but I’ve been wanting to get my final alterations on my zombie book done. Especially seeing as I’ve had an update from the cover artist and damn am I excited at how it’s looking! So that’ll be started in the next few days.

Due to yesterday’s falling asleep at the keyboard and today’s extra time at work I’m not as far as I want to be this month, but I’ve got Sunday off and a couple of days next week where I can really take advantage of the time I have.

A slow start to the month but a good one.

I’m in quite a productive state of mind at the moment. I’m making notes on Black Blood as I’m working on it, I’m also thinking about some visual aides that may be able to help with both Black Blood and Penal Earth. I’m going to try and execute some of those over the next week.

Tomorrow, I’m not expecting to get much writing done as I have a long work day. I will try and get a few words written during lunch though.

I’m super excited for this story now (title and character names likely to change).

I’ve printed off a draft of a story I wrote for NaNoWriMo 2018 (Lovers), and I’m going to read through that tonight, leave it till next week and then read through with a pen and make notes. This is one where it’s done, but I’ve never been happy with it. For a start it’s a romance, which I’m not exactly familiar with or known for; and secondly I always knew it was missing something. The other day I had an idea just pop into my head which changes the entire energy of the story and I’m really eager to get stuck into it. I’m going to be patient though and not start on it until next year. I want to read it those couple of times, make notes, and then let it simmer for a few weeks. I also need to watch a movie as I’m going for a format that this particular movie does very well.

I am thinking about my goals for the next twelve months, and where I want to be this time next year. Both in writing, work, personal life, and in who I am.

The rest of my evening will be a movie or two, some reading and bed. Some time to rest the body and mind.

I’m very much in a ‘let’s do this’ mindset. I’ve got some good happening alongside the bad news I had this week. This last week has also been a great reminder of how blessed I am to have the family and friends I do.

Right, folks! Rock on and have a good weekend. If you have a dream, do something about it and turn that dream into life.

3rd of December 2020

Peter Germany Cat, Insperation, Life, Lifestyle, Nanowrimo, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

All my plans for yesterday went right out the window when I fell asleep while writing and came within an inch of face planting my keyboard!

I did get a few words written, but a little less than half or what I’d planned to and I didn’t get any of the other half a dozen items I’d planned to do done.

Much of it is where I’m nearing the second week of my early’s at work, and it’s my fault because I need to be getting to bed a little earlier each night and as I said yesterday, I need to look at my work rota and adjust it to how tired I might be. Then even if I exceed what I’ve set a target for I’m not going to get annoyed for having not hit goals. Like I’m feeling a little at the moment.

I should have gone for a nice little target yesterday, but I was feeling overly confident from the day before.

Anyway! Today is a new day. I did get an early night last night, and I read for a second night running. Reading is something that I’ve not been able to pick up again after what this year has been, but I felt inspired by a friend and I’m making an active effort to read again.

I am not going to repeat yesterday’s mistakes. I do have a list of work I was planning to do yesterday, but I’m now going to aim to have that all done by the end of Sunday. I’ve got to stop being overly ambitious and be more realistic in my targets.

Dizzy sulking because I was reading and not worshiping her!

2-12-2020

Peter Germany Life, Lifestyle, Nanowrimo, Planning, Preparation, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Good evening, folks!

Yesterday I wrote 269 on Black Blood (NaNo 2020 project) before I got the bad news. Today I have managed to write 406 despite forgetting I had a two hour appointment tonight that I also hadn’t prepped for. So very little time to write, which was my own fault!

I have figured out my goals for the month and I need to start thinking about what I want to have done by this time next year. It’s something I need to really think about.

Something else I’m going to try and start doing is writing these blog posts from my desk. It’s the same as writing, when I’ve got my arse in the chair I write better. I think I’ll write deeper and more insightful blog posts doing the same. I might even start proof reading them before hitting publish!

Each night I’m going to try and do a list of jobs for the next day as well. I’ve tried this before, but I’m going to give it a real go this time around.

A lot of this revolves around me getting my arse in the chair, with the aim of an hour a day. So come on folks, don’t feel shy in calling me out if I report that I haven’t done it. I know there will be times due to work that’ll it’ll be difficult, but then I need to find ways of being productive during my lunch break again. On days with long work shifts even half an hour is going to be of use.

I’ve also got to learn how to look ahead with my work schedule and adjust targets in accordance with that. For example; if I’ve had a lot of hours one week I know I’ll start getting worn out by the end of that working week, so why not give myself a lighter writing load to compensate for that?

I know I can do all of this, I’ve just got to execute it.

1st Of December 2020

Peter Germany Editing, Life, Mental Health, Nanowrimo, Planning, Preparation, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I had some bad news today which took the wind out of my sails a little.

I had got some words written but I have tallied them up, and when I do I know it’s not going to be many.

I’m not going into details, it’s that one part of my life I don’t discuss in public spaces.

Back to the writing side of things. I did manage to set my goals for the month and put them on my dry/erase board. I’m thinking a lot about my NaNo story and the little details that’ll need adding in for the second draft. I’m probably going to finish this draft and then transfer it to Scrivener and back it down to scenes (haven’t got chapters sorted yet), and then I can rewrite the ones I know I need to and add and take anything else that it might require.

As with any NaNo project (well, of mine anyway!), I’ve got a lot of work to do on it to bring it up to an acceptable standard. The system I’m trying to refine is a four draft system: 1st draft, digital edit, paper edit, final draft. I’m not sure that’ll be how I end up working but that’s an aim at the moment. With a NaNo storey though, that first draft is going to be a lot tougher than a normal first draft. I’ve left maybe three quarters of the grammar and spelling mistakes and there’s a problems like characters being forgotten about, sub plots being left unresolved when I wasn’t intending for that to happen.

But, it’s NaNoWriMo. I know that’s the case. I know there’s a big cleanup coming and, honestly, I’m quite looking forward to it.

NaNoWriMo 2020: Day Thirty- Part Two

Peter Germany Nanowrimo, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

So, 7040 words between 9:30am and 5:55pm got me the win.

I honestly didn’t think I was going to get the win, and I was okay with that. Which in turn meant that I’d taken the pressure off myself.

I also learnt today that I can write to a deadline. Doing NaNo and getting 50k done in a month is one thing, but having a 7k day shows I do have the discipline to hit targets like this.

So, what’s next? Well, Black Blood isn’t finished. So I’ll be continuing with that and working on Penal Earth as well.

December’s gonna be a busy month.

NaNoWriMo 2020: Day Thirty- Lets Do THIS!!!

Peter Germany Life, Nanowrimo, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Here we are, the last day of NaNoWriMo for 2020. I need almost 7000 words to hit 50k and get nearer to wrapping this draft up.

I know I’m not the only person in this situation and I’m not going to break myself to hit the magical 50k but I’m going to give it a good go.

It’s not quite 9:30am and I’m looking to be closing my laptop at 6pm at the latest as I have an early work shift tomorrow.

So let’s fucking do this!