« Party Psychology. (No this is not a Tory leadership post) | Main | The Alternative Advent Calendar ; Days 1 & 2. »
December 01, 2005
What Next?
Ok so this will be my last NaNo related post for a while.. Promise.
Despite having Littleone off sick I did manage to finish the final chapter last night and finished off with;
|
So it was a bottle of wine, a box of chocolates and David Attenborough’s Life in the Undergrowth for me last night in celebration. Don't ever say I don't spoil myself.
And celebrate I did because there were one or two moments this year when I thought about giving up, once about a third of a way in when I thought I only had enough plot for a short story and then just over half way through when I got ill and didn’t have the energy to write. Compared to last year I found this one a lot more difficult to write, the plot is certainly tighter and more intense than last year and there are fewer characters so I had to dig a hell of a lot deeper to find something to write about.
Last year’s novel takes place in June, which I found very difficult to think about at this time of year so I swore that if I ever did NaNo again I’d set the novel in November, which of course I did but most of the action takes place by the sea at night time, so I found myself trying to remember the scenery from our holiday in September and then kind of turning the lights out, which of course didn’t really work. So I am in the process of trying to persuade my husband to take me on a nice romantic kid-free ‘research trip’ to the sea, and preferably soon before the weather improves too much because I don’t ask for much, oh no not I. Next year I should try combining the settings of NaNos 2004 and 2005 (a council estate in November?) and then maybe I’ll finally crack it.
I’ve got a list as long as my arm of bits that need fixing and of course it needs expanding into a more conventional novel size but I haven’t sorted myself out a new deadline yet.
It was my plan to put the whole thing away for a month and work on other stuff, so that I could come back to it afresh in the new year and I think the novel will benefit from a break. However last night after my glass of wine I became all misty eyed over my characters and began itching to fill some of the plot holes. So you never know.
I now have to start thinking about my next OU course and the fact that I have a long list of books I’m supposed to have read by the beginning of February. This year I am not going to fall into the trap of thinking ‘February? Plenty of time. That’s next year that is!’
Also results for the last course will be out by (whatever that means) the 16th Dec and I am slowly beginning to remind myself that I cocked up that exam big time. *shudder*
And then there’s that certain family holiday due at the end of the month for which I have done no preparation.
In the meantime dear blog, I apologise for my neglect during the month of November I do have about a hundred half-formed blog posts chasing around my head. So be warned.
No rest for the wicked I suppose.
Posted by purple elephant at December 1, 2005 11:33 AM