20th of December 2022

Good evening folks, just a quick post tonight. I’ve managed about 10k words of editing in the last couple of days. I feel like this story (NaNo ‘22) has a lot of potential, I just need to wrangle it a little.

I’ve been looking back at the last twelve months of writing, and I’m pretty pleased with it. They’ll be a more focused list on that soon, that post will also look at 2023 a little.

Right I’m off to bed, retail at Christmas is a workout and a half. So a good nights sleep is a great place to start.

NaNoWriMo 2022 Reflections

I wrote 50082 words for this years NaNoWriMo, hitting the target at about 9:40 last night.

This years NaNoWriMo got off to a slow start for me, I didn’t get caught up until the 23rd of the month, then I had a couple of days ahead of the goal, then a couple of days behind and then I brought it home on the last day.

It was a month where I was feeling like I was chasing the goal each day. My lowest word daily count was 247, while my highest was 4026.

The month started off with a busy schedule at the day job which didn’t leave me much time for wrangling the words. I’d write before work, then during my breaks and then get stuck in after I got home. Most of the time when I was writing at work I’d not really be able to get really in-depth with the work, but I did manage to get some words down. These feel more like I was thrashing out a synopsis of the scene/chapter I was working on. I’ve now got a lot of little synopsis to build from.

Other scenes I’ve managed to build a pretty solid part of the story which won’t need much tidying up when the time comes.

Where I’m at now is I’ve got a lot scenes scattered throughout the document and I’ve got to start figuring out how to connect them all. I don’t think it’s as bad as I might be fearing, but there is a bigger problem I’ve come up against. Originally I saw this as a three book arc, but was worried I wouldn’t have enough to fill three books. Now that I’ve started it, I think I’ve potentially got a lot more than three books worth of story to tell. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me with this one.

This story, working title ‘War Child’ has been one I’ve been wanting to tell for quite some time, but have been intimidated by it. I feared I wasn’t capable yet to do it justice. But after some encouragement from friends and peers I decided to dive in head first. I’m so glad I did. This is going to be one where I think I am going to be pushed as a writer. I’ve spent so much of the last year trying to get stories finished and ready to either self-publish or submit I’ve forgotten what it’s like to begin crafting a new world.

Away from the writing part of NaNo I didn’t get much chance to host or even attend write-ins. Between the manic work schedule at the start of the month and a slow cash flow it just wasn’t on the cards. The one I did manage to host turned into a solo session. Which was okay, I got words down. It’d have been nice to get a few faces there though, hopefully next year I’ll be in a better position to be the ML I really want to be. I don’t feel like I’ve had the chance to step up how I want to. Between Covid and non-writing matters that have cropped up I’ve not really been able to dedicate the required time and effort to it that I’d have liked.

What’s next? I’m going to continue with War Child, but I also need to get The vampire book ready as I’ll be releasing that via the Welcome To My Nightmare tier on Ko-Fi. So I need to pull my finger out and get that final pass of edits done!

30th October 2022

Good evening, folks! How are we all doing tonight?

I’m not likely to get the vampire book done by midnight tomorrow, but is it really the end of the world? I can multitask, especially in those early days of NaNo. The initial excitement of the month kicking off, that energy we all have as we jump off the start line like it’s a marathon and we’re sprinting over the start instead of taking a nice gentle pace from the gun.

I’m not going to try and get ahead early on like I normally do. Most years I prepare for the worst of loosing lots of days midway or at the end of the month, but this year I’m going to look at focusing on a steady pace and getting a good foundation of this story down. I’m going to try and push myself out of my comfort zone with this one. It’s one I’ve been wanting to write for a while, have even tried a couple of times, but haven’t felt competent as a writer to do this story justice. I’m not knocking my own abilities as a writer, I feel this story I’m going to need to dig deep, and go for a different energy to what I normally write.

Can I do it? can I make this work in the way that I want it to? Ask me in two weeks.

A random picture of the river Medway in Maidstone from Friday

5 Things I Need To Do Before NaNoWriMo 2022

1- finish this pass of Black Blood. This one feels more daunting then it is. I just need to sit my butt in the chair and work!

2- Make the final tweaks to Vamp book. This one shouldn’t be too bad either. It’s just a case of going through and making some corrections to spelling and the odd small continuity fix.

3- Finish the short story I’ve just started. Um, yeah this one could be challenging.

4- Type up the short story I’ve just finished. This should be fairly straight forward.

5- Do some NaNo prep………

4th of December 2021

I was going to have an off day, let some more of upcoming projects process but I ended up writing about 200 words.

Typically those words flowed really well now that NaNo is over!

Right, night all!

NaNoWriMo 2021 Day Thirty

The last day of the month is being wrapped up with 414 words, and a lack of satisfaction. Next year, I won’t let this happen again.

I do have some bits and pieces to work with, but it’s not been how I’d have liked it.

Signing off on NaNoWriMo 2021 with a whimper and not an explosive end.

NaNoWriMo 2021 Day Twenty-Nine

Good evening, folks! How are we all doing this evening?

I’ve written 331 words today. Um, still feel like I’m hitting my head against a brick wall but I’m quite proud of the fact that despite how hard it has been at times to write this month, I’ve still managed to get some words out.

I think some of it is my creative well needs to be refilled. I’ve recently watched Nobody Sleeps In The Woods Tonight, and it’s sequel. The first one was very good, but I wasn’t as keen on the second one. It didn’t feel as sinister as the first one. For me it focused on explaining things a little too much, and made it not as engaging as the first one was.

Speaking of movies, I’m going to pop into Grand Theft Auto V Online for half an hour and then find something to watch.

Have a good one, folks!

NaNoWriMo 2021 Day 28

368 today. It wasn’t like pulling teeth like it has been lately. I think I’ve found something that I might be able to get my teeth into.

I’ll be happy to hit 30,000 by the end of the month.

NaNoWriMo 2021 day 27

Only about 200 words today.

I just feel a little brain dead when I look at the stories. Maybe doing shorts wasn’t such a good idea, maybe I needed something I can really get my teeth stuck in.

Maybe that creative fire has died down too much and it needs some fuel put on it.