7th November 2014

HELLO FELLOW WRITERS!

I am writing this from work, so please forgive me if it's short and sweet. I just wanted to pop in and update y'all on this year's progress. So far, things are going well. I'm not going to say it isn't hard, but despite juggling the jobs and the MA I'm so far managing to stay on target for a 90k month (or, fingers crossed, a finished novel).

This wasn't my original intention, but apparently I can't help myself. And it turns out that having a slightly ambitious goal of 3k a day (rather than days when I write a MILLION words just to catch up) is working wonders. It's like being back at school again, because I have to sneak minutes here and there, write paragraphs on my lunch break, and forego TV watching when I do have an hour spare because WRITINGWRITINGWRITING.

My cheerfulness may well not extend past the weekend, what with another creative writing assignment being due on Sunday night (PLOTTING, AAAAAH), and I've also got my first tutorial with my tutor next week. Scary stuff!

Last night I bought myself a new laptop. Not to panic, my trusty one! It's not a replacement for my current machine, but rather a cheap little (11.6", 1.3kg) top-up I can carry down with me on my weekly trip to London. I found I was missing out on some good writing time having to wait for public computers, or feeling guilty for doing something... less academic? than the law students who often swarm the post-graduate library. =P

So, that's coming on Sunday. I'm freaking out. It's a refurbished machine, so I've saved myself £50 there. I just hope it can do some basic word processing and internet-browsing.

As for my novel, as of this morning I'm sitting at 18k words and, in theory, am on target to hit 21k tonight (unless something crops up). The plot is jumping in fits and starts, which is a bit awkward, but I'm sure I'll get there with it. Characters are great fun, which is all that's getting me through this looong loooong month. ;)

Anyway, time to get back to work. I've spent far more time on this than I should have - but whatever. That's what I get for working in an office with the tempting internet never far away!

18th September 2014

Today I had a revelation. After posting in the blog yesterday, suddenly I feel much better. There is probably little correlation between the two except that my post here sparked an interest in my old posts. On my lunch break today I read through my posts from October and November 2008; I reminded myself what it was like to genuinely enjoy myself, enjoy writing. I also began to remember the joy in adding to this blog, just a little bit here and there, and watching it grow.

For me, this blog has been more of a constant than any other journal I have ever tried to keep. Yes, it is seasonal. And yes nobody reads it any more - but that doesn't matter. Why should it? It's like a little personal slice of the internet. It's my happy place.

It's also my ranty place. My writing place. My angry place. It's quiet and I like it.

So maybe I'll write in here more often.

Today I was helping my dad to move from his old office building to his new one. It's fabulous. The only catch? We're moving in, but the new building ISN'T FINISHED YET. Yup. There are no doors on the toilets, the carpet tiles aren't finished, and neither is the handrail on the bannister. There are no drawers or doors on the cupboards, either, and half the technology doesn't work. But tomorrow, we are moving our butts in there, come hell or high water.

So tonight I didn't finish work until gone 8pm. We ate dinner at the unit and then Dad dropped me off here. I've been hanging out on the internet ever since, catching up with a few things and feeling generally lazy. Especially since chances are I'll be working late again tomorrow.

All that packing of boxes did give me a little time to think about my new NaNo novel, though. I'm plotting and planning and it's all going quite nicely. Slowly, but nicely. I think I've got names for some characters. Maybe. I'm not settled. I'm pretty excited about this project though, and you should be too. =D

Anyhow, for now I think I'm going to go back to my Gaian pals, post a little and think some more about witches and autumn, and look forward to the walk to work tomorrow at the new unit - praying that it's a beautiful, crisp fall day. <3 br="">

Welcome Back!?

Hello again, Friends.

I have thought a long time about returning to this little corner of the internet, but until now I have been ashamed. I have a horrible habit of disappearing, and the internet seems to make that a little easier. But I think that it has been long enough now (two years already?) for me to return without feeling guilty.

Without feeling too guilty. Haha.

Anyway, since we're going towards that fabulous time of year again (AGAIN?!) I thought I'd give anybody out there who still reads this a little update:

Last year I graduated university. Since then I've been working as a sales assistant for a clothing company, and very recently I also started working for my dad's company as a marketing assistant. The two job thing is to help fund the Masters programme I'm starting in less than a week. It's down in London, two evenings a week, Novel Writing (Crime-Thriller). So, that will be my life very soon.

As you can see, then, things will be very hectic for me during November - but that's never stopped me completing NaNoWriMo before. Actually, it's usually a good thing. We'll see if that proves true this year as well.

So, what will I be working on this November? ... I'm not ready to tell you that. But it's crime fiction, and it's probably going to be spooky and witchy and a little bit gothic. Because, you know, it's the right time of year isn't it??

I've not got much else to say, other than I hope I can get back into the habit of updating this little thing, even if it is only seasonal. :)

45 days until NaNoWriMo 2014.

3rd November

NaNoWriMo has begun! And while I'm not off to the 'flying' start of some previous years, I'm still doing very well for myself, I think. On the first day I wrote a total of about 6k (before and after sleeping) and yesterday I made it to almost 4k and had an early night (lol that 2am is early this week...)

So, my total as of last night is 10k. I think that's a pretty respectable start. I'm being thrashed by some of the Notts NaNoers (*cough*eventheoneinNewZealand*cough*) but that's okay because, uh, DISSERTATION. Yeah, that pesky thing. :P My novel is going pretty smoothly, with only a tiny bit of filler, and now my MC is trapped in the mansion due to ridiculous snow, I'm kind of excited to see what might happen next. It could be annyyyytthiiiiiinngggggg. Also, I might have killed somebody off screen. Oops.

On the academic side, I completed the presentation for my class, and the reading, so now my main concerns are the dissertation and the essay I have due Thursday. This weekend is essay planning, and Monday/Tuesday are essay writing. Since it's only 1,000 words, I think that should be sufficient time allowed. Meanwhile I will be adding a minimum (&indeed probably maximum) of 3k words a day to my NaNo. After that, I can STOOOOOORM. :)

Anyway, here's a little excerpt from the last couple of days:

“The brothers fought a long and bloody war,” Arthur continued, wearily, refusing to meet our eyes. He pinched the bridge of his nose and then sank into the armchair closest to the fire. He looked tired, as though the telling of this fable had drained him of his purpose. “And, because they were of the same blood they could not end this war through murder. Brothers, they knew, did not kill brothers. And so they sent army after army, attacking towns and villages and laying waste to the world that their parents had held so dear.
    
“Until one day, the elder brother, having grown wise in his old age and having grown fond of his own children, decided to stop. He held up his hands to the sky - a sky soaked in the blood of thousands of innocent men - and declared that from that moment, the night and the day would never be one again. He allowed that his son would take his place, but that they would never fight against his brother again because he was tired of the loss and devastation.
    
“And when he died, he left a family in exile. A family who understood all too well the risk of vanity and pride.” Arthur climbed to his feet and poured himself a glass of whisky from a tumbler. “He left behind children who admired him, and who hated their uncle for the unrelenting agon that he had caused with his vanity.”



Words written today: None yet. :D
Total word count: 10,034

29th October 2012

With two days to go until NaNoWriMo 2012, I would be lying if I told you things were going well and I wasn't freaking out. The funny thing is, I'm not freaking out about NaNoWriMo as much as I am about all the other things I have to have completed in the next two weeks.

Here is the list as we can see it currently (not including things like breathing, showering, eating, and class):

- Work on presentation for class tomorrow (and then do said presentation)
- Finish first 6k draft of fiction dissertation (1.5k complete)
- Read for class (ALL of the books...)
- Write essay.
- NANO.
- Buy things for NaNo swap buddy.
- Be alive, be sociable, don't drink too much coffee.
- Sleep enough.

So, it doesn't sound so bad, except that things like the dissertation, the essay, and the class reading take up SO MUCH FREAKING TIME. I would be quite happy right now with a time-stop bubble that I could only use once. Seriously. The dissertation is the thing that is most driving me crazy right now, because I've had so much trouble with the draft thus far. I previously had 4k words towards the total when I was told that starting over would be in my best interests, and now I'm in deep trouble.

As for the other things, I just want to sit in a corner, shout OMG SOMEBODY HELP ME and then cry a little bit. Like I said, it's doable, but I might go crazy in the process.

And, until now, I can honestly say I've not once questioned whether doing NaNoWriMo is the right thing for me. This is probably the crazy talking, but I've not missed a year of  NaNo since I first discovered it, and I'm not about to start now. It might just be a bit of a bum year.

Sadly, the university work comes first.

Still, I'm excited. And nervous. All at once. It must be that time of year. ;D

T-minus 2 days, 2 hours and 34 minutes until NaNoWriMo 2012!

11th October 2012

Okay! So, everybody knows that NaNoWriMo really begins when a person gets their plot. Well, for me, that would be today. Granted, I forced it to come to me because this year I'm on something of a tight schedule, but a forced plot that is fun is better than no plot at all! (especially because, let's face it, the damn things have got to come from somewhere...)

So what is this plot, you ask?

It's not complicated. Yet. It's a story about a girl who finds out she isn't who she thought she was. And there is intrigue. And death and magic. And all of that usual business.

Here is the summary I put up on the NaNoWriMo website:

One cold December night, Florence Tanner receives an invitation to a party. Lo has no friends, no enemies, no family; so who would invite her and why? She decides to take the chance, compelled by some unrealised fear to change her life for the better. What she finds instead is a hulking mansion, and eight other people she has never met.

And their host has an interesting proposition for his guests. Stop the Night King and regain their rightful places as ministers in the cabinet of the Wren Court. The problem is, Lo has never heard of the Night King, or the Wren Court; and she certainly doesn't have the skills required to stage a political coup.

Oh, and there's another problem. Their host will not let them leave until they have made a decision.

Sounds fun? I hope so. Sounds boring? Probably. I don't care. =D

Now, I have approximately 20 days until this wonderful nightmare kicks off again for another year (god can we believe this is year eight for Kitty?), so I really ought to get my butt in gear and work on those school projects some - before I can't/don't want to any more.

T-minus 20 days! Until NaNoWriMo 2012.

5th November

I haven't updated this last couple of days because I've not been very well. Friday was a very stressful day, and I was pretty sick (I think I'm allergic to all this American dairy) so my wordcount wasn't brilliant. I wrote about 4k yesterday. Today I've only written 5,000, but that brings me to a nice 25,000 which I'm pefectly fine with. After all, I have work to do!

ALSO, and this is amazing, MY COVER GOT MADE. So, NaNoWriMo have this thing where they recruit a bunch of awesome artists to create covers for a few Wrimos during November. You nominate yourself/get nominated, and then the artists have the final choice as to which cover they make. 30 people get covers made, and mine was one of the ones they chose. This makes me feel awesome!! lol.

And they got my character down (aside from her level of attractiveness, anyway!)

See?

On another note, my novel is getting super crazy. I don't know what's going on any more. And I do believe that I like it.

“Ah-hah,” Emmeline gloated. “I knew you couldn’t discriminate against this kind of beauty.”    

I waited to respond until I had reached the top, collapsing to my knees before I realised that we were actually sitting in - well, an area that was made for sitting. I pulled a face. “I don’t see anything beautiful,” I muttered. But I was glad that I at least wasn’t dead. And that I hadn’t made a fool out of myself. I couldn’t wait to tell Eris about all of this.

“It is beautiful,” Emmeline said, her tone forceful. “I’m sorry, but just wait. It really is nice up here. You can come and sit, and - well, it’s not that cold. Here, would you like a cigarette?” She patted down her pockets until she came up with an opened packet. They probably didn’t belong to her. She didn’t seem to care. I shook my head.
    

“I don’t smoke.”
    

“That’s what everybody says. But the tea makes it nicer.”
    

“The tea what?”
    

“Makes it nicer. Here, look.” She lit the end of a cigarette between her lips, and then passed it to me. I took it for fear that she might burn me with it, and then stared at the thing like an idiot.
    

“What the hell am I doing with this?”
    

“Smoking it,” Emmeline coached. I tried to hand it back. “Nope. Not until you’ve at least tried. If you don’t like it, you can give it me right back. Go on. The tea makes things taste different.”
    

I wasn’t sure how much of this I believed, but her offer seemed fair enough. I lifted the thing to my lips, inhaled, and almost choked. But Emmeline was right. It tasted like nothing I had ever tasted before. Like pomegranates and fresh water and sweet, sweet sugary apples.
    

“Wow.” I didn’t know what else to say. The smoke hurt my nostrils as it blew out, but the taste was divine.
    

“If you liked that, you should try sex.” Emmeline took the cigarette back and put it between her lips. “Seriously. It’s amazing. That tea - it’s god.”
    

“I’m not sure-”
    

“God.”

Words written: 5,021
Total word count: 25,051

2nd November

Annnd another day where I really can't be bothered to blog. I used all my finger power on ze writing (well, minus repetitive strain power, but I'd really rather not crack that out at all, kthnx).

So, today was both a failure and a success. It took me long enough to get my characters out of the house (fail), but I did finally manage it after 11k words (success) - and now I really don't know where to go with the novel (fail). Yet, I still hit 15k. I think it's going pretty well, and I'm sure I'll come up with something dramatic to keep me on my toes.

Want an excerpt? Of course you do.

Before I could react, if such a thing were even possible given his speed, his right arm flew back and came down on the side of my face with such force that I immediately saw star-spots across my vision. I reeled, but having nowhere to go simply stood still, stunned into silence. My mouth opened without my consent, in shock, but he didn’t care.
    

“Get out!” he ordered. “Now!”
    

I didn’t understand what he was saying, or why it was so important. Why did he want me to leave so badly? I trembled, but my whole body was frozen to the spot. I couldn’t have moved even if I had wanted to. Vaguely I heard Eris say my name, but my brain was too focused on Uncle’s face as it darkened from pale pink to scarlet with anger. He was holding his breath, but only so he could hit me harder.
    

His fist came down again, this time crashing into my shoulder so hard I swore I heard something snap. Still I didn’t move. I couldn’t. I was rooted to the spot, not knowing why but still knowing that I couldn’t move. Uncle didn’t seem to care; he’d stopped caring after deeming us useless  to him more than a year ago. My brain was whirring. I wondered why we were still living here, why he hadn’t kicked us out yet, or why he hadn’t gone and just auctioned us off to the highest bidder - all whilst he brought down his fist twice more.
    

I felt his knuckles connect with my jaw, and this sent me stumbling over, away from Eris and towards the door. That was the last place I wanted to go. Uncle darted after me, the alcohol I knew he must have in his bloodstream not doing anything to slow him down. I pulled myself to a stop, hit the floor hard on my knees, and felt my wrists crack as I landed on my hands. Uncle kicked at my side, sending me sprawling.
    

Eris remained silent. I wondered whether she was dead.


Word count: 7,140
Total words: 15,163

1st November

Off to a rolling start! I will not stick around for long, because I'm hurrying for an early bedtime. :) It's going well, and I'm not dead yet. I have my characters (although they're not doing much yet) and an emerging plot. This is good. I also managed to stay on top of my school work. I don't know how well that'll work tomorrow considering I have a paper due on Thursday, but all the more reason to get ahead now.

Anyway, an excerpt anyone?

When we reached the top, past Uncle’s room without any problems, I released my breath. I hadn’t even realised I had been holding it. My lungs burned and I took in several large gulps of air as we slipped through the door into our bedroom.
    

Eris still had her back to me. She stood looking out of the window which I had forgotten to latch. There was a cold breeze that snaked through and she appeared to be repeating my motions. I saw her shoulders roll as she took in breath after deep breath and let her head sink forward to rest on her chest. I was torn between going to her, laying my hand on her shoulder, and just leaving. I could go downstairs, leave her to sort herself out. I could make her fix it, this time.
    

But, I didn’t. I couldn’t. Not really. Eris, despite her dark humour and snarky attitude, was as fragile as some of the women that Uncle chose to bring here. That was, after all, what he had initially intended for us. I closed my eyes, leaning back against the door as I tried to clear my mind. There wasn’t anything that I could do for her. Not really. I could only be there for her, help a little to clean up - well, whatever it was. How could I prevent it from happening again?
    

“I really screwed up, Persey.” I opened my eyes at the sound of her voice. It was clear from the way she held herself that she was still in pain, but she didn’t sit down. The blood on her skirt was more obvious in the electric light that came from the bare, hanging overhead bulb. I shuddered, my hand involuntarily going to my mouth.

Word count today: 8,022
Total word count: 8,022

29th October, 2011

H'oooooookay. So very lame. I suck at keeping up with journals, blogs and - well, just about everything. Ignore me.

So, for those of you still following this, and for those of you who don't know: this year things are going to be a little bit interesting. This year I am going to attempt to take part in NaNoWriMo whilst studying abroad. In America. Chapel Hill, North Carolina to be exact. Omg. This is going to be crazy!

Having said that, so far I'm not freaking out too hard. I have a basic plot, some basic characters, and a determination to have fun. I'll keep this entry nice and short and just post up that little synopsis from the NaNo site. Hopefully soon I'll have a character sketch of some kind, but I can see tomorrow and Monday being very hectic. Halloween is a bigger deal out here, and I also volunteer at the local animal shelter on weekends. GAAH. I'm setting myself up for a tough deal this year. -___-

But whatever. I'm happy and excited. And my plot is batshit insane. WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG??

Synopsis:

Persephone and Eris have always been close. Or at least, Persey has spent most of her life cleaning up her sister's messes. They join "The Great Jeremiah Bach's Travelling Circus" with the hopes that things will be different for them here, that they will be able to start afresh.

And things do change - but not necessarily for the better. The people are nice enough, and the jobs aren't hard, but there's something a little bit strange about the whole set-up. There is a talking tiger who plays dead for a living; a chicken man who can sprout feathers at will; a woman who has had more affairs than her husband (which isn't the strangest but makes Persey feel odd); a man called Avel who lives in the "basement" (only nobody knows where the basement actually is); and a strange cloud that follows them wherever they go, like a perpetual storm is brewing over their heads. The star of the show is a unicorn called Nightverse - but none of the troupe members will say the creature's name, and nobody can even tell Persey why.

To top it all off, ever since they arrived Eris has been acting strangely. She avoids Persey's questions about where she goes late at night, and has a worrying knack for always being around when the worst of the trouble kicks off. Persey is beginning to get a little suspicious that Jeremiah Bach might not be telling her the whole truth.

The problem is, it's hard to pin down exactly what the problem is - because everything here is just the tiniest little bit outré. And then, of course, there is that rabbit hole...

So, yeah. That's a thing.

Also, I got nominated for 30 Covers, 30 Days again. Last year I didn't make the final cut. This year I hope to be a little luckier. Although, just being chosen for this is exciting enough. It means somebody is interesting in my novel. SOMEBODY IN THE WORLD CARES. That, in itself, is a mircale, folks. Truly.

1 day 23 hrs 26 mins until NaNoWriMo 2011

10th November

Ta-daaaaa. 50k has been reached! I've taken it nice and easy, with a few simple 2-3k days, and one day of writing nothing at all. Bwaha. I started to lose interest in my novel, added a couple of new characters, and BAM! It's all going well again.

I don't have much else to say, really. I'm feeling pretty chuffed, even despite how long it's taken me. XD I want to finish this novel now, damnit! :D

Any how.

50,000th word: Leo. (How boooooring. But fitting, no?)

Sentence: “Arabella...” Leo shook his head again and wiped his palms against his shirt.

Scene? Ah, here's a sneak peak! Warning: THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD.

Jemima nodded and reached out for Leo’s hand. “He was the one who wanted to talk to me,” she said. “But he left me with two other men. Gunner - and the... scientist.”
    

“Well, this Lemington is a scientist. He’s mad.”
    

“Doctor-”
   

“I’m sure it’s a long story, not worth delving into now.” Leo shook his head to clear the smoky whirls that were curling up from his cigarette. “The letter, though, was written by your father, Jemima. It’s clear that they are on familiar terms, although I’m not sure exactly what their relationship might be. There wasn’t the entire letter - and my memory is a little foggy.” He massaged his temples, and then looked up. His eyes were narrowed, and his jaw was tense again. “It was serious though,” he said determinedly. “That much was clear. It spoke about secrecy and subterfuge. I really...” He took another drag from his cigarette, and then clicked his fingers animatedly. “Yes! It said: The city will drown.” Suddenly his excitement was lost. He frowned again.
   

“Oh my god...” Arabella couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her fingers, holding onto the cigarette for dear life, began to tremble just at the prospects of what this idea suggested. “You mean... sabotage?”
    

“Pop’s going to try and destroy Glory?” Jemima couldn’t hold back her tears. “Why?” She flung herself onto Arabella, taking her by surprised, and buried her face in the older woman’s dress. Her tears were hot, even through the fabric, and made Arabella feel even less steady.
    

“Do you think it was literal, Leo? Oh, please...”
    

“I don’t know.” He ran a hand through his hair, and shook his head. “I don’t think there’s any way of telling. I don’t know what to do, where to go from here. Things are so different down here than they are back home. In London. We have police that don’t report everything on the evening news-”
    

“Things are different down here because they have to be.” Arabella stubbed her cigarette out against a burnt patch of the wood floor by her right knee. “We’re a nation made of working class and politicians. We have nothing in between. We never had to.”
    

“It’s a city of glass, Arabella,” Leo murmured. “How the hell are we going to survive down here?”

Words written today: 4,779

Word count: 50,131

3rd November

Paaahhh. I suck so badly. XD I updated my thread on Gaia yesterday, but was too tired to post here as well! It's funny really, I had a weird sudden attack of crazy illness. Like, I don't even know what it was. I had a nice warming bath before bed, thinking it'd relax me after all of the typing I've been doing -- and when I got out I felt kinda dehydrated. So, I got myself a glass of water, and then, almost immediately, like BAM. I lost my vision, felt extremely nauseou, couldn't walk properly or feel my feet or hands. I couldn't heart very well, and it was all very odd. Needless to say, throwing up wasn't fun. But, straight after that, I was fine. I felt a bit weak and shaky (still do, a tiny bit) but that was it. I really don't understand what happened!

In light of this, I think I won't try to put myself too hard with the writing. I'm pretty much on target to hit 50k on Saturday, which is the same time as last year. I think that's pretty damn awesome! Plus, there's no point rushing if I'm going to make myself ill again.

Anyway, the novel is going well. Although I have realised that Leo has a nasty knack of getting himself drugged and abused. It's the second time it's happened in 30,000 words! Yikes. Maybe I should keep an eye on him...

Arabella and Jemima have got a bit of a situation to get out of themselves. Yaaay!

Here's a little piece to be going on with, in all it's unedited glory!

“How am I supposed to look after her if she won’t even come out of the damn bathroom?” she asked. She rubbed her hands over her eyes, and stood there for a moment with her fingers pressed against the bridge of her nose. “What am I supposed to do?”

Leo gazed into her face, realising for the first time how young she actually looked. She had high cheekbones that accentuated the dark depths of her almond shaped eyes. The sadness in her face only served to demonstrate the severe lines of her chin, exaggerate the shiny quality of her eyes. He smiled sadly and shook his head.

“I don’t know,” he whispered. “I never got this far in the parenting book.”

Without thinking, he drew her towards his chest, like he used to do with Lorraine when she couldn’t cry any more. She didn’t resist, although she didn’t exactly seem happy at this contact. Yet, he drew her in, wrapped his arms around her waist and let her head fall onto his shoulder.

She was taller than Lorraine had been, thinner. When he held her it felt like he could, easily, hold her tightly without having to worry that she would break in half, right down the middle. There was a kind of wiry strength within her that he had not expected. It was comfortable, surprisingly so, and they stayed there for a few minutes. Leo breathed in the smell of her hair, a kind of warm cinnamon smell, and tried to think what it was that he could do to help her.

Words written yesterday: 7,237

Total word count last night (day 3): 27,364

2nd November

Another update - whut? Yes. That's right. I'm not dead. Although my fingers might disagree there, and my poor brain. It's been a long day of writing. I started writing after my uni work at around 2pm, and finished for the day about half an hour ago. How much did I accomplish? Quite a lot. XD

I got it into my head to see if I could hit 20k today, and with a lot of word wars, I did it! I'm very proud of myself, especially because it doesn't feel too much like I'm forcing it. Not like last year. I've enjoyed writing every bit of the novel so far, even if some bits have been tougher than other, and some bits sound like a three year old wrote them. The best part is that the characters are pretty much writing it themselves! My subconscious is coming up with all of these plot twists and turns, and I'm not yet running out of ideas, which is brilliant. As long as it keeps up like this, I'll write as much as possible. 50k in five days is possible so long as I'm enjoying myself like I am right now.

But before I go to bed, I have some stuff to do, so I can't spend too long talking about how awesome I am. :D Unfortunately, I have more reading to do. So now, I'm going to do it. However, here's a little excerpt from the crazy mass of words that poured forth today:

 Jemima started to sing. The verse of some song that Arabella hadn’t heard since her childhood filled the room, Jemima’s voice strangled and shaking. “Doo-doo-a-diddy. Doo-doo-”
   

 “Jemima. Mimi! What’s the matter?”
   

She wouldn’t stop singing. Arabella lowered her onto the floor, leaning her back against the wall of the room, and then taking a deep breath, she stepped into the parlor. The smell, at once, was frightening strong. It was a mix of perfume, strong and bitter, and something else. Something metallic. At first Arabella couldn’t see anything at all. The only lights in the room were the ones in the corner that flickered on and off. Shattered glass was everywhere; she could see it glinting even in the dim light.
    

She could just about make out the shapes of the two large armchairs that Vincent had procured from a colleague after he was deported, and the outline of the fireplace that was so similar to her own. And then she saw it. Deep inside her chest something snapped. A cold, icy dread filled her pores, and suddenly she felt as though she might faint.
    

In the middle of the room there was a wooden chair from the matching kitchen set. Jeanette — for presumably it was she — hadn’t made it out of the apartment. Holding her breath, Arabella took a step closer, and then she saw it. Against the dim backdrop of the delicately adorned parlour, the deep gash in the side of the woman’s neck appeared like a grotesque monster. Dark blood the colour of wine stained the material of her dress, soaking the front and the pleats of the skirts. Her head lolled sadly to one side, and it sickened Arabella to even look. Bile rose in her throat. She swallowed hard and backed out of the room, shaking.
    

Jemima was still sitting on the floor, her hands over her face, rocking back and forth. She continued to hum, but more quietly now. Every few seconds she clapped her fingers over her ears, and then moved them back to her eyes. Back and forth, back and forth.
   

“Mimi, honey…” Arabella could hardly speak. The lump in her throat was the size of a golf ball, felt like it was suffocating her, but anything was better than going back in that room. “Mimi, we need to go. Mimi? Mimi, come on honey.”
   

Eventually the young girl looked up. The shock on her face was reflected in Arabella’s eyes, and she sadly opened her mouth in an ‘o’ shape. Then she started to hum again. She got to her feet, grabbed hold of Arabella’s hand, and began to tug her back out of the apartment. Arabella grabbed the spare clothes that Jemima had dropped in her terror, and they stepped out into the hallway outside without saying another word to each other.
    

Arabella couldn’t explain it, but the horror of what she had seen had been more than just absorbed by the both of them. She felt like this monstronsity was sitting inside of her, and she was unable to tame it. One second she imagined simply running, screaming, crying — and the next she couldn’t imagine doing any of those things, all she could see was the blood, the glazed look of panic that had been ingrained into Jeanette’s dying face. Her slack jaw, her wide frightened eyes. Just one look at Jemima told her that she could feel the same monster clawing inside of her.
    

Once they were out on the sidewalk they stopped. Jemima dropped to her knees and vomited, wretching so hard that gave herself a slight nose bleed. Arabella picked her from the floor and wrapped her arms around her, unable to offer her any more comfort than this. Together they stood in silence for a long while, until the lights around them dimmed well into the evening, and they were left with nothing but a cold, pale glow.

Words written today: 12,012

Total word count: 20,124

1st November

And we're OFF!! Yeehaw! Already this year is going better than last year. So far I like my characters, my plot, and I'm having fun getting everything down onto the screen. Things aren't going as I planned, and I love it! So far today, Leo has tried to kill himself, failed, and ended up in the city of Glory. There he has tried to 'run away' from the hospital in which he's being kept, and been beaten to a pulp by a guy who is suspicious of his motives for being in Glory. XD Meanwhile, Jemima has been attacked by two thuggish gentlemen whom she has evaded and robbed of their gun.

Awesomesauce.

I also went to a write-in at the Norwich Millennium Library, which was good fun. It would have been better if I hadn't had to write on paper because my laptop decided to play silly buggers. However, I got a good thousand words written by hand, and won one of those awesome animal bracelets that springs back to shape whenever you take it off! I got one that's supposed to be a monkey in my survival pack at the weekend (doesn't look much like a monkey, but to hell with that!). Today, I got a purple kangaroo. One of the dares is, if you have trouble with your word count, to include the animal you have on your band. Well, we all know how much I like monkeys! (coughCHIZcough). So, we'll see how that goes!

Anyway, it's definitely time for bed. I have uni stuff to do tomorrow as well as writing. Ah, life is good.

Here's a little except:

“Previous occupation?”
    

Leo held his breath, counting to ten in his head. He had been in worse situations than this when Lorraine was alive, but none too recently. He didn’t know how to answer. What if this information was already something he had? Was it worth it? “Shop assistant,” he lied. It had to be for the best; at least until he knew exactly what was going on.
   

“Mhmm,” Hopkins said, raising his dark eyebrows. “Shop assistant?”
    

“Senior,” Leo corrected. “Senior shop assistant. I was almost the manager.”
    

“Uh-huh.” The doctor leaned over, his starched collar digging into the pink flesh of his neck. “Is that right?”
    

“Yes.” Leo gritted his teeth, knowing that it was probably obvious that he wasn’t being truthful. He hadn’t been in a situation where lying was necessary in a long time. Come to think of it, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had such a length conversation with anybody but himself. “You could ask anybody. Why’s it so important?”
   

“Because, Mr. Crane, we take our business very seriously here and we don’t want anybody to jeopardise that. Do you understand?”
    

“Jesus,” Leo muttered. What was this, the mafia? “Who exactly do you think I am?”
    

“The point is, Mr. Crane, this is exactly what I intend to find out.”
    

There was a dead silence. Leo could hear nothing but the steady hum of Doctor Hopkin’s breathing as he stood over him, watching as though he was affraid that Leo might rip himself free of his ties at any moment.
    

“Look,” said Leo eventually. “What has any of this got to do with anything? I’m confused, and I don’t know what you want with me. If you check your records, you’ll see that I wasn’t exactly in a good state of mind when I did what I did. I didn’t intend to end up here, for sure. I don’t even know where here is. I’d appreciate you keeping your end of the bargain.”
    

“Bargain?” Hopkins wrinkled his forehead in a pseudo-surprised manner. “I wasn’t aware that this was a negotiation Mr. Crane. Was it?”

Words written today: 8,110.

Total word count: 8,110.

Another update tomorrow. =D

~ Toodles!

31st October

NaNoWriMo!!!! Omg, SO SOON. I hereby promise to update this blog every day during NaNoWriMo 2010, even if it kills me. Amen? XD

I'm really pretty excited. Today I'm wanting to take it nice and easy, get ready for the Halloween party that I'm heading out to tonight, and then go into NaNo tomorrow feeling awesome. Bwah... It's entirely possible.

I have some character sheets still to fill in, which I'll do today before going out. I've already filled out Leo and Arabella, my two main characters, but I still have Jemima, Vincent and Louis to look at before tonight. That should be fun because I don't know much about them yet - and since Vincent is my villain I think it'll be important to get a better grip on him. I'm a bit worried about Jemima, since she's only 8 years old and it's been a long time since I was 8 years old... My sister is too old to ask questions as well, although she often acts younger than she is. Perhaps she can provide me with some valuable information when the time comes, ha.

I really want to have a bath, so that I can think things over better. But there are two problems. Firstly, I have three other housemates who might want to use the bathroom, since it IS the middle of the day. I can't just go hogging the damn room all day, can I? Well, not even all day... But if somebody needs the toilet, or to wash their hands/face, then I'll be in trouble. Blah. The second problem is that our bathroom is, to put it bluntly, disgusting. I mean, REALLY disgusting. It's like it's infested with everything that is possible. We have slugs and snails appearing from god only knows where, and no curtain on the window, which means anybody could see through while I was lying there. It's just not good. Plus, the bath isn't exactly clean. AND NONE OF THIS IS OUR FAULT. I can't stress this enough. We've only been living here for a month, and the previous tennants left the place in such a state it's not even worth talking about...

But, I REALLY want a bath. My neck is really sore from sleeping on it funny, and I really can't see any other legitimate way to relax in this place. Gaaaah. Whatever. Maybe I'll just suck it up and try to get the place clean enough to use the bath for 20 minutes. I mean, how bad can it be? And I have some yummy Lush bath products that I bought yesterday. Surely they'll make the room less... gross? SURELY?

Anyway, back to NaNo: I'm so freaking excited!! I can't wait to start writing. It seems like it was a billion years ago when the last NaNo made me so depressed. It wasn't NaNo, I guess, more myself and my homesickness. Well, this year is different. I have the Norwich NaNo group (not as awesome as back home, but still pretty damn cool!) and I'll be home for the second week, which means I can go to two of the meets back home too! Ah, best of both worlds. <3 I don't really know what I'd do if I couldn't go to a meetup... I'd probably just crash and buuuurn. But that's not going to happen. I'm aiming to write at least 100,000 words this year, if not more (we'll see how the novel goes). And, I'm allowed to make this plot as silly as I want to in order to have fun. Of course, I'll try to keep it serious, but writing seriously for NaNo never seems to work. However, if I start off with a serious outline and add silly stuff later, with any luck it'll be the kind of silly stuff I can get rid of later if the novel is worth saving. Right? Riiiiight?

I'm sure I'm right. Write. Bwaha.

Well, it's half past twelve, and I have some things to do. I have to do the washing up from last night (we had an awesome chocolate fountain party with like... 40 cupcakes that Smartie and I made, and marshmallows, and sweetieees. Nom. Messy, though). I also have to have that bath (or shower, we'll see), do my NaNo character sheets, and then prepare my outfit for tonight! I'm going as a zombieee. Of course. I got a shirt from Primark which I'm gonna rip up nice and messily, and other than that I guess I'll just paint my face and stuff. Pizza hut then pubcrawl tonight! Yeeehaw. Unfortunately, I have that 9am tomorrow morning... Oops!

Hopefully I won't be hungover. Or drunk. Hungover writing is no fun at alllll.

Tomorrow, it begins! Expect an update. :D

Toodles~

15th October

Now playing: Little Lion Man - Mumford & Sons

Weep for yourself, my man, you'll never be what is in your heart.
Weep little lion man, you're not as brave as you were at the start...

First off, that song is TOTALLY the song for my new novel. It's perfect! It fits my main character to a TEE. Seriously. I don't think I've ever felt like that about a song before. Omg.

Anyway. It's almost that time of year again. The time of year where I live purely hopped off coffee and sleep very little. Snacking instead of eating properly, meals that don't require washing up, dirty laundry and a "Who CARES?" attitude. Yep, that's right, it's almost NANOWRIMO! YEEHAW! Okay, this year I'm so totally psyched about the whole thing.

That's probably because last year was such a fail. I started two novels, didn't finished either of them, and in the process of pushing myself SO HARD to write an unnecessary amount of words I just totally sucked all of the fun out of the month. This year I've learnt my lesson. If I want to go out after having written my daily goal worth of words? I WILL GO OUT. If I want another coffee, or an early night - if I want my main character to become a hippy-transvestite in tights and a bandana? IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN.

In the process of trying to be better than ever before, I forgot that NaNoWriMo is about the fun of writing, and the hard work - but not to the point of almost killing your love for writing. I think my last fail has probably contributed to my lack of any success through the rest of this year. NaNo 2010 is going to be better. I'm going back to the beginning, enjoying every bit of it. Socialising with the uni writers, getting drunk and writing at half 5 in the morning when I have a 9am seminar? That's what I'm talking about.

Bohemia over working-class-deadbeat ANY DAY.

Okay, okay, I'm rambling. Whatever. Here's the plot synopsis for 2010. I'm hoping it should be fun to write, but if it gets too much I'll just throw in some drugs and have my characters trip through multicoloured rape, or some shit.  

THIS YEAR IS GOING TO BE SO MUCH BETTER THAN LAST YEAR. I'M PROMISING MYSELF THAT, RIGHT NOW. Bring it on guys, bring it ON.

A Broken Horizon, NaNoWriMo 2010.
In the 20th century, mass population increase led to the founding of 'New Glory', the impossible city under the sea. Politicians, labourers and the bourgeoisie flocked to the city with the hopes of finding a new life without the hindrance of the morally corrupt surface world.

60 years later, Glory is nothing but a legend. Widespread disease and famine has left Earth floundering, her resources running low. People are dying; civilisation is trying, unsuccessfully, to move on. One man, ex private detective Leo Crane, is so caught up in his own alcoholic sadness that one sunny May morning he fornlornly decides to walk into the North Sea, pockets weighed down with stones.

Rather than death, however, Leo finds instead the city of Glory in all her - Glory. What unfolds is a tale of discovery, passion and deception. After all, the scientists from the surface world will do anything to get hold of this thriving place and make it their own. And somebody needs to stop them.

Rate yourself and rake yourself, take all the courage you have left - wasted on fixing all the problems that you made in your own head.

10th October

Jeeeeze, is it getting towards that time already? I guess so. I've been so busy updating my shit on Gaia and the NaNo forums that I haven't bothered to come back here! I should. I've been keeping a writing journal instead, though, which has been a semi-substitute. It was encouraged by my new creative writing teacher (autumn semester, second year of UEA, whoo!) and so far it's going quite well. Although, a lot of my updates come through sounding whiny or overly negative. I just have a lot to complain about! Ha.

The new novel I'm planning is going well so far. Fantasy, underwater setting. Politics, crazy scientists, a little girl and a drunkard ex-detective from the surface world who is still holding out hope for finding his lost daughter. I'm hoping it'll have some kind of noir-detective ring to it, but I don't think it will go all that well considering the detective part of the novel isn't that strongly connected with the rest of it. Ah well. Planning is planning, and you never really know how it's going to go until you actually write the damn thing.

Anyway, I have to go and take Tom to the train station soon (his first weekend staying with me in my new Norwich house! Although 'new' probably isn't the right word to use...) We're just watching the end of Collateral first. Good film. :)

Updates soon! Hopefully...

I won't promise much, though. 

You know how it is.

Toodles! ~

29th March

Just a small update for me, but I thought I'd better show y'all that I'm not completely dead yet. Again. :B I've been very very busy again recently, what with coming home for Easter and playing the catch-up game with people, y'know... So, I've not had chance to do anything much.

I've still got an essay to write, which I need to get started on asap if I want to get a decent grade, really (not to mention I'll enjoy being home more when I have less to do), and since arriving home over a week ago I've not read any of Gunmetal and Lace. Shockhorror! I know I've been a bad girl, but I do plan on doing some reading of that tonight, or at least over this week. I really want to get that damn proof ordered sharpish!

So, I have my essay to write, GaL to reread a final time, and a bunch of other stuff to do. I'm sorry if I'm not very active online while I do it!

11th March

I felt a bit better today, and could actually smell and taste some stuff, too! Although, my hearing is still screwed up, and I still have a stuffy nose and a bad head. I think I'll go to bed after posting this, I'm that tired.

Today was, again, pretty standard. Rachel, Kate and me went to the module enrolment session today, only to find that everything they told us was in the pack they'd given us before (and which Kate and me had already read, so we didn't even need to be there!) Then I came back, ate and spent some time reading for my seminar, which started at 4. This was really interesting, as we were talking about the issues of both race, and sex, and my seminar leader Ben is really relaxed. We had a few jokes about Hillary Clinton and Margaret Thatcher, but generally the discussion was quite serious; it was really good, and I felt I learnt a fair bit, or at least got some bits of information I'd never really paid attention to before...

This evening I did very little. No editing, because I don't think my brain is up to anything like that yet, but I'm about to go and do some reading for next week before sleeping. We have to read Tarzan of the Apes which so far looks like a brilliant read, and Ghostwalk which I'm also really looking forward to (especially because the author of that is giving the lecture on Monday!) So, on the whole a good week for books, methinks - although if you ask me that after a weekend of crammed reading, I might answer differently!

Tom is coming to visit tomorrow, so before I sleep I should also hoover the room and make it tidy for when he gets here. That's also why I want to start reading now, so I have less to do while he's here. I should also buy food, but it's too late now, and I have little money. I'm sure he won't mind eating pasta... Haha. Ah well, it could be worse: I could have no food...

Anyway! Time to go listen to some crappy radio and read before sleepy time. I hope this cold will be gone, at least mostly, by tomorrow. I don't want to pass it on to any more people. :gonk:

Night guys!
x

10th March

I haven't really been feeling fantastic today. I knew I was going to get a cold on Friday when I started off with a cough. The cough got worse over the weekend (though luckily didn't ruin Wicked too much) and then yesterday I developed some nasty cold symptoms. Today has been awful; I've lost hearing in one ear, can't taste anything, and can't smell anything either. Ah well. Hopefully it'll go away soon!

I've done my washing tonight, watched two episodes of Dead Like Me, and am now talking to Tom. As of midnight (11th March) we start Skyping, and now I'm getting ready to go to bed. The lecture today was quite interesting, on sexism (with a focus on the feminine; next week we have a lecture of masculinity), but everything seemed kind of muffled. I was intending to maybe post about it, but I don't feel much like doing that now.

I went to the cinema with my flat mates. We saw the Green Zone. Not brilliant, but not bad. Action-y Matt Damon. I got what I paid for. :P Would have been better if I wasn't feeling so queasy while watching it. I almost fell asleep at one point because my cold was having a nasty attack. Good night, though.

Sleep time now. Cold blog not coherent.
Bed.
Night.
x

9th March

I don't really have anything to talk about today, so that kind of makes this blog post redundant. But, I figure I'll post it to let people know how I got on with my essay. It took me hours to get it written, but I did manage to get it all done in one day, which is a plus!

I also edited three chapters of GaL, so I'm on 18/21 now! =D

Talked with Tom about going to London in the summer, and we're contemplating seeing two shows (Avenue Q, We Will Rock You, and Oliver! are still in the running) and staying in a hotel over night. However, nothing will be booked/finalised until he comes to stay at the weekend. In two days (aka the 11th) we will have been going out for a year. It seems like much longer, yet time has totally flown. :3 I'm a very happy person right now.

I'm also very tired. I've been for my run tonight, and done some stretches (although I think I still probably managed to pull my calf muscle...) so I'm going to call it a night. Today's been somewhat productive, so I've got nothing to complain about, even if I didn't do my reading for tomorrow's lecture yet!

Happy, happy.

Toodles~
x

8th March

Today I have been bad. Sort of. Today I skipped one of my lectures (my Literature In History II module lecture on The Turn of the Screw) to go into town with Natalie and Isabel. Isabel's hamster, Peanut, died yesterday, so we went into town to buy cake from Number 33 to cheer her up. We ended up going shopping, for clothes and food, which I totally hadn't planned, but it was good because I ended up buying two nice new tops for a decent price. :) Things could be much worse!!

Other than that, today has been pretty uneventful. I wrote a plan for my essay, which I'm going to work on tomorrow, and did some editing. I've been speeding through that pretty well at the moment, and once I've been through it once, I'm going to read through it once more (hopefully finding little to no error) before I .pdf it and get it sent off for the proof. I think I should make my deadline of April 1st, because I'm currently on chapter 15 out of 21 of the first read-through, and I've only been working on it sporadically due to uni. Once easter rolls around, and I'm at home, I can spend a couple of days just reading through it, no pressure, and then I'll be done. Hey, maybe I'll get through it even before April! That would be brilliant, and give me plenty of time to make a cover and stuff for it (because I do want it to look good, really... >_>)

Ah well. It's half 2 in the morning now (which is only allowed because my 10am seminar tomorrow has been cancelled) and I need to sleep.

Hopefully more editing tomorrow, after that damn essay on Native Americans being portrayed as 'savage'. Yay.

Wish me luck!

Toodles~
x

7th March 2010

Jesus Christ. I know it's been a while. I've been putting this off forever.

I've had a serious problem with depression over the last few months (quite possibly a combination of homesickness and being on a new kind of medication that messed my body up quite badly) and so I haven't felt much like commenting here. Especially since it seems like NaNoWriMo was such a failure (with regards to the quality and dedication of my novels, anyway, if not word count), and I've not written much since then.

However, I am now no longer taking said medication, and I'm feeling much better! I'm much less homesick, and I haven't cried in weeks. =D It sounds stupid, but I'm much more productive now (and am even losing a bit of weight after having been trying for MONTHS), so I'm definitely much pleasanter to be around.

With regards to the lack of writing, there are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, I managed to finish Gunmetal and Lace in first draft form, and have since been editing it. This is now my major project, and until it is done the only kind of writing I'll be doing will be essay writing for uni. Secondly, the essay writing. It takes up a lot of time, and when I'm not writing I'm almost definitely reading for my classes or sleeping. In this case, then, writing isn't a good thing to be doing - I'd definitely rather sleep.

Once Gunmetal is finished, though, I've got a budding idea in the back of my mind about what I'll work on next (for the SuWriMos probably). After that, I plan on perhaps rewriting what I have of the third book in my trilogy, completely scrapping the original stuff and perhaps even changing narrator, concept and story-line. But, we'll see about that. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. :3 For now, GaL is enough to keep me occupied. My deadline for that is to have it completely edited, converted to .pdf with all the right page-sizes and margins for a book (if you know how to do this, please let me know!) and with a front cover to go on the book by April 1st. I want the proofcopy that NaNoWriMo offers so that my mum can read it on her holiday in May, and last time it took about 4 weeks to process and send. This will be one of the only books my mum has ever read, so I really would love for it to be finished in time...

On a completely different note: I went to see Wicked again yesterday with one of my flatmates!! I thought I'd never go again because, y'know, lack of Kerry Ellis and all, but Lucy really wanted to go and I thought I'd like to go again to see Dianne Pilkington and Oliver Tompsett again before they leave at the end of the month. I'm so sad they're going! The entirety of my favourite cast will be gone! I hear Lee Mead is playing Fieryo next, and I've never wanted to die faster. XD

Anyway, Alexia Khadime was playing Elphaba, and I have to admit I was almost worried about her. I knew she had to be good enough to be in the show, but Kerry's was a hard act to follow. She has a good voice, with a good range, and isn't totally useless with her power, but Kerry is by far more powerful. Alexia was good with the whole 'transformation' part of Elphie's role, where after the interval she appeared older, wiser, more cynical, etc., but I still can't get Kerry's final Defying Gravity out of my mind. Still, my heart was still going crazy during this performance, and I was on the edge of my seat, so it was by NO means a failure.

Basically, that show never fails to make me feel happy, productive, inspired and musical. :P I'm planning on seeing if I can take my sister to see The Lion King in the summer (Mum may want to go as well, but we'll see...) and I'm thinking about coercing Tom into spending a weeking/overnight in London to see one of the shows he'd like to see (Les Mis, or Avenue Q, I think), rather than do what we were originally planning to do (going on holiday together). This way he can save a bit of that money for when I'm in America in 2012 for my degree; he can come see me, then.

Aaaaannnyyyywaaaay. I have lots to talk about, but I won't. I'll just try and update more regularly in here again. I'll do my best! Even if all I have to talk about is university shit... :)

Toodles~
x

6th November

DONEDONEDONE!
Phew!
I wrote 13.5k today to catch up for being lazy and only writing 5.5k yesterday, and hit 50,000 words at 8:22 this evening! I'm so pleased. 6 days! That beats last years by like, a day and two hours. I'm proud. =D I also started a new novel yesterday, which is so much better than the first one. Shh. That explains the 13.5k day without death. >_>

Now I can settle back to a nice 3k a day and do some work for uni. I really need to do some work for uni. >_o Haha

50,000th word: "You're". How dull.
51,000th: "a". Not much better. XD
Sentence: "You're a young man!" Even worse =P

Ah well.

Sleep now. And uni work. And sleep. I have a poorly back. xD

*dies*

4th November

Today has been a day full of ups and downs, that's for sure. More servere homesickness, but since today has been my day off (well, strictly speaking I should have been doing reading, but oh well) I managed to hit my goal of 10k. :]

That puts me at 1k ahead of last year's schedule, even with that bad start. Maybe I will be able to do it in 6 days. Then I can feel better by doing lots of work for university. : )

Anyway. I'm super tired, so here's an excerpt:

“Goddamnit! Lockdown!” Her panic was contagious, and my heart began to thump so loudly it almost drowned out the alarm.

“What the hell set it off?” I demanded, facing each of the others in turn before finally resting my gaze on the locked and bolted window in front of us. “And how the hell are we going to get out?”

“Front door,” Lyn breathed. “We have to get out there - it’ll be the only one not yet closed.”

Before I had the chance to question her queer logic, or even demand a further explanation of our trouble, she had grabbed me by the arm and was pulling me out towards the main staircase. Above us we heard the scraping of chairs and a shout of dismay in the voice of a man, but this only made us move quicker.

We reached the front door in what seemed like seconds, the thudding out of feet the only way I had of keeping time. We flew down the staircase, manuscript carefully tucked away under Kysin’s arm, and found that Lyn had been right in her assertion. The front door was wrenched open with visible relief from all of us, and we fled out into the darkness of the night gladly.

We ran until we reached the cars, out of breath and exhausted. Panting I doubled over, resting my hands on my knees as I fought to regain my breath. Lyn beside me coughed. I began to laugh, uncontrollably, with the feeling of pure pleasure rippling through my body. We had done it! This was the first step, and we had won. Things could only get better from here, and then those other government oafs would simply have to believe me.

“What’s so funny?” Lyn asked angrily, tossing her head like a displeased horse. Leaf dropped to the floor beside his car and shook his head. “What’s with the damn cackle?”

“I never thought myself of a thief,” I spoke through my laughter, hiccuping until my chest hurt. “And I don’t think I’ve ever seen Leaf move so quickly in my life!”
Tomorrow is going to be a busy day too. I just hope my back stops hurting so bad. Damn this silly unversity chairs! > : (

Words written today: 9986
Total word count: 31,014

3rd November

So, last night was something of a disappointment, because I was attacked by severe homesickness. Luckily I managed to catch up today, which is good because it means I'm on target for hitting 50k on day 6 - one day earlier than last year! I just have to keep it up.

I don't know how much of this my poor back can take (it's seizing up like crazy), but I'm determined to give it my all. I also put an excerpt up on the NaNo author page of mine, if anybody cares, or is even reading this. I think I'm talking to myself... >_>

Anyway. Except:

It was almost midnight when I finally heard the doorbell ring. Lyn had been gone for almost eight hours - not that I had been counting - yet when I let her in she didn’t seem at all tired. If anything, in fact, she seemed more lively than she had earlier, and bounded into the foyer with a grin on her face.

“Morbid, much,” I commented, but she ignored me. Already I was fond of the dynamic that was growing between us, and found myself hoping desperately that she wouldn’t disappoint. I imagined she would make a fantastic questioner.

“Job done.” She jumped through to the sitting room and sat herself down on the same sofa she had occupied earlier. I watched her for a moment, allowing her to catch her breath, and then descended on the arm of the chair, like a wolf on its prey.

“Do tell me how it went,” I pleaded. It had been my intention to assert my authority here, claim importance and show my desire for knowledge, but I was so riled by the thought of just revenge that I couldn’t help myself. “Tell me. Did she cry?”

“Not much,” Lyn admitted, picking at something in her teeth. “She didn’t believe me at first, and we argued for a bit. Then I hit her and tied her to a chair, and she seemed more willing to listen. She said she was sorry, and she wouldn’t tell anybody about your dad - I assume that’s something you don’t want to talk about? And then, well, I just gave her a good last moment by making her watch me dance naked.”

“What?”

“I’m joking.” Lyn rolled her eyes. “I just shot her, okay? Is that good enough?” She huffed loudly and folded her arms across her chest in a childish manner.

“I’m beginning to think this was a bad idea,” I ventured, but Lyn stopped me.

“I did what you asked, and cleaned it up nicely. Nobody will even know she tried to go home. She’s buried out in a nice patch of cemetry outside one of those early little villages in East Side. They’ll never know.”

Word count for yesterday: 6,290
Word count for today: 9,486
Total word count: 21,028

1st November

NANONANONANONANO! =D

So, of course, NaNo started yesterday, and while I'm not up for a long update, I'll say that I didn't get as much done as planned, but am enjoying myself. I had a lovely time at the Notts NaNo meet, and now have my own pet rock - and then spent the evening with Tom and friends, doing Halloween things and then writing. It was great :)

Now I'm back in Norwich and should WRITEWRITEWRITE!

Here's a small exerpt of what's happening so far:

Outside I tried to hold my breath, panic rising at the thought that I had drunk enough to make myself sick. I hadn’t had that much! I could count on one hand the amount of drinks I’d allowed myself tonight, and they hadn’t even been strong ones. I gagged, body doubled over as I hovered in the gutter, trying my best to keep from vomiting.

“Shit,” I swore, my stomach lurching again. “Not good, not good...” I took a deep breath; feeling my ribcage rise and fall was enough to make me feel violently ill again. Head spinning, I struggled to keep myself upright, a sharp piece of brick biting into the tender skin on my palm. I clutched the hem of my dress, focus drawn from my stomach, but to no avail.

I didn’t even get the chance to ask for help before I felt my legs go inexplicably weak and I collapsed to the floor in a heap. My head hit the concrete hard, stars whooshing into vision against the black of the night sky. The music of the party was too loud, my body too tired to move. I lay on my back, arms sprawled out, and let my vision go black. The sickness subsided slowly, and I was left empty and cold, my body fixed in a half-state of levitation. I brought my knees to my chest and closed my eyes.

The only thought that was tangible enough to grasp, was how much I hoped I hadn’t ruined my dress. Little did I know, that was going to be the least of my worries.

Words written yesterday: 5,234
Wordcount overall so far: 8,743

22nd October

So, the countdown to NaNoWriMo 2009 begins!

I didn't forget about this blog, but I've been really busy lately. I've had another assignment to get sorted out before NaNo, as well as arrangements to go home for next week (because it's my reading week =D).

Also, of course, there has been NaNoWriMo preparation to be had. >D This year my idea came pretty late - but it was actually my last blog that got me thinking. A changeling child, an Alice in Wonderland spin... And, I came up with this:

In the world of Fane, the Changeling race are struggling to adapt to the rules of the modern world. In this new and growing world outside their own, children are harder to steal, knowledge harder to glean - life just isn't as prosperous as it once was. The rulers of the quarters of Fane (West, East, North and South) are doing their best to save a world they know is dying - and for West that means she will fight to the very last before she sees her fellow rulers collapse, no matter what the cost in collateral. Some call her mad; others avoid calling her anything at all.

Lo, a young Human working in the city, falls asleep one night under the stars, only to wake in a world where nothing is as it seems. Threatened, she will do whatever it takes to get back home - wherever that really is...

Yeah, the synopsis is a bit of a cop-out, but it's something to work with. Basically, a girl in her late teens get kidnapped by some kind of accident (i.e., her changeling family are very scatterbrained and their daughter is not a baby any more...). She has been working in a strip club, so has seen many things, but at first is convinced she's been drugged. The people are different, with rainbow coloured tinted skin and strange mannerisms, and everything is not as it seems. And, of course, there is a take-over bid and world danger. =D You know it's going to be good.

It's better than nothing, right? I don't think it will be as good as last year, but it should be fun at least.

I wrote a character sketch for West the other night. I'll post it here, and TRY to be more active between now and NaNo.

	Promotion The day I got my promotion was the day I stopped worrying about what everybody would think of me. It’s a difficult task, deciding to throw away a habitual life-time of pestering and preening, just to be sure that somebody likes you - but I made the jump because I knew that I wouldn’t need to care any more. And, when I say ‘promotion’, I mean nothing more than a lovely little jump up the social ladder. It was an accident, really. That’s what I tell myself. I guess I was just in the right place at the right time. A morning in early August, cool and bright. I’d been stood idly by one of the great bay windows in my father’s office, listening as he chattered incessantly into his intercom-phone. I’d been waiting for him for a good thirty minutes by this point, and he showed no sign of letting up with the conversation. The worst thing was: he wasn’t even talking business. “No, Marianne. No, no, not at all! She’s a lovely girl. -What? Yes! Don’t be silly. Of course I’ll let her know. Will you? Really? Of course...” And it went on like this, the same, over and over and over and over- In the end, I just walked up to him and put my finger on the receiver. “Oh, Wisteria, honey! I was having a conversation with poor Marianne. You know how rude it is to interrupt people when they’re talking. Why couldn’t you wait a little longer?” “You’ve been talking to ‘poor Marianne’ for half an hour longer than I care to listen to you talk to her. Why did you ask me in here if you’ve nothing to do but chatter away like some half-wit moron?” Dad always hated it when I talked to him like he was stupid, even if it did seem that this was the case. He lowered his snowy eyebrows into something of a frown, the shimmering skin around his lips growing taught as he held back a nasty response. I would have smiled, but there was a reason he’d called me here, and it wasn’t for this, so I held my tongue of my further comment and folded my hands on my hips impatiently. “I called you here to discuss a few matters with you regarding those new jobs opening up in the ladder. You know the ones I mean?” I shook my head. Office grunts like Wisteria West didn’t get to know these special kinds of information. We weren’t important enough, apparently. My dad took a moment to shoot me a funny look, and then changed his tune. “Well, then I’ve got news for you!” A beaming smile made its way across his face, and he leaned forward to tap my arm genially. Dad and I don’t get on at the best of times, so this contact was disturbing in itself. I shook him off. “Tell me, then,” I grumbled, folding my arms across my chest. “I’ve not got all day.” “You have now, daughter of mine,” Dad crowed happily. “They’ve been talking about a new system of government, based on votes-hereditary, which I’m sure you’ll have heard about-” I hadn’t, but I nodded anyway, wanting him to cut to the chase, “And the votes are in!” He paused expectantly. “What? Are you expecting me to say something witty?” I raised an eyebrow in annoyance. He didn’t seem to mind, simply leaned back in his expensive leather armchair - new? - and tapped his finger on the table in front of him. “Are you going to tell me what’s so exciting?” I asked again, stifling a yawn. If I was here any longer I was pretty sure they’d fire my ass and it’d be all his fault. “I’ve been chosen from four thousand government employees to be the new face of government for the west of Fane!” The grin on his face expanded, as did my annoyance. “You?” I scoffed. “Ruler of government?” “At the end of the current term,” Dad admitted. “I’ll be one of four new rulers of Fane. Doesn’t that sound marvellous? It’s what I’ve been working towards for years! And, now, it’s finally here! Goodness, your mother would be so proud. I wish she were here to see it...” “It was your obsession that killed her in the first place,” I muttered darkly, pouting. “Well, congratulations, I guess. I don’t suppose there are any perks for a girl like me in this new system of yours?” I asked lightly, highly doubtful. Dad had never much cared about me, or my job. To him I was a disappointment, simply because I was born with the wrong spirit. How could I help it if he’d made a mistake? Being a grounded Changeling was hard enough in the world of business, I didn’t need his pressure too. “As a matter of fact,” Dad commented drily, “there is something quite interesting about these new positions. I mentioned votes-hereditary, right?” “Right.” “Well, I’ve done the voting part, which means that the West family is in power for life! Or, at least as long as we are good for the people. Isn’t that smashing?” It took me a moment to comprehend what he was saying. Working my jaw to sooth my stomach I shrugged my shoulders. “What exactly does that mean?” “Well, if anything were to happen to me, naturally you’d be the new ruler of the west of Fane. It’s hereditary, like those Earth monarchies we used to hear so much about. You know?” “If anything happened to you...?” I repeated, a nasty feeling broiling in my stomach. “If I were to die, or become very ill suddenly, you would have to take my place.” Innocently Dad chuckled to himself and lit up a pipe. Mirroring him, I returned the smile. Little did he know what I had in store for him. Silly half-witted moron.

9 days until NaNoWriMo 2009!

8th October 2009

October is here again! You know what that means, right?

...

NANOWRIMO IS COMING! Haha. I'm excited about it this year, as always, although there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding how much time I'll have to write (what with my creative writing course demanding a lot from me) and whether I'll actually have an idea by November. It's entirely possible that I won't have an idea, which will be the first time in... Well, ever.

I think I'm having trouble because I've had to do a lot of work on my portfolio for my creative writing class recently, and getting a GOOD idea for that was hard and a lot of effort - so an idea for NaNo is also hard. Not to mention I've still got an unfinished novel that I need to FINISH, and which I don't really want to abandon. I guess I didn't really plan my year out very well, did I? XD Ah well, I'm sure I'll work something out.

Perhaps a story about a changeling child,
Or an Alice in Wonderland spin,
Or maybe a story about a person from a different world getting stuck in the local prison system.

Hey, maybe a combination of them all! It doesn't matter; it'll be a bit of fun. I look forward to it though :)

Tonight I'm going home to see my mum and my sister, and Tom. I get to see my DOGS AND CAT TOO! I miss them so much after not seeing them for three weeks. It's going to be good.

On the train I have a lot of reading to do, for my course, and maybe some writing too, depending on how long it all takes. :P But, it's going to be a nice relaxing journey, hopefully.

Also, I should start blogging more. After all, isn't that like... the tradition?
:3

Something like that. :D

I'll update soon!
~ Toodles
xx

19th September 2009

So, I would feel exceptionally guilty about not updating this place in so long if I hadn't been so busy over the last few months. I've not really had much time for the internet (as I didn't think I might), what with Jor coming, the huge party, doing loads of AWESOME stuff, Jor going, getting ready for exam results - EXAM RESULTS - GETTING INTO UNIVERSITY!! and stuff like that. You know, the whole shebang.

Speaking of university... OHMYGODILEAVEFORNORWICHTOMORROW. It's the scariest thing ever, knowing that I'm about to leave home and I may not ever come back for good. I'm at Dad's house at the moment, spending some last-minute quality time with him (or at least trying to anyway) and getting ready to go home at 4ish to pack Steve's car with all my shit. I have a lot of shit.

In fact, I have so much shit that I'm pretty sure it won't all fit in my room. I mean, I have a suitcase full of clothes, two boxes of food and toiletries, two boxes of bedding and bathroom stuff etc., and two more boxes of shit. Just shit. XD It's going to be insane! We're supposed to head off quite early though so we can get to Norwich at around 11ish. We can move into our accommodation from 10am, and I want to get there as soon as possible because I want to get unpacked and meeting people. I'm scared.

Mum's going to help me settle in, though, and then I'm meeting Becky (SHE GOT IN TOO) and we'll go exploring or something. Probably not for long since I have a ticket for the fresher's icebreaker in the evening and I don't think she wants to go much. Hopefully I'll get along with my new flatmates and they'll be going as well. :) Hopefully. *fingers crossed*

Other than that, though, I don't have much to talk about. I started writing a new novel, I guess, but the chances of that getting past 60k anytime soon are quite slim. I've not had much time to write, nor have I really wanted to. I'm just enjoying this stage in my life, and as soon as I'm settled down again I should be able to get back on it.

Also, the NaNoWriMo thread (one of them at least) is up on Gaia. I saw it and nearly wet myself. :D Can't wait to get involved in that again. =D

But, for now, quality time with Tom and Dad.
Toodles!
xx