NaNoWriMo - Next Week!

Well, with this great event only days away, I'm really getting excited and working out ideas for what I'm going to write.

Unlike last year, I actually have a bit of a plan about what I'm going to do this year. 

I'm following the pointers I've been emailed from the site. 

I'm going to write for around 2 - 3 hours per day; no matter what I've been doing - this means, I'll get up to about 2,000 - 3,000 words typed up each day once I get going.

Because it's a first draft, nothing will be held back; so I'm going to be working on getting my story out as fast and as much as I can.

Last year, I was going to meetings at the local library, but I found that they didn't work out too well - this is unfortunate - so I'm doing my NaNoWriMo here at home where I'm comfortable and able to concentrate better.

And the main thing: I may be off the internet for a while, unless I'm on here to update my word count every three days (I promise I'll do this as much as possible). 

Otherwise, I'll be looking at my last book - 'The Tour Guide' - as well as other social events on my calendar; as my life does become more busy at this time of year. 

So, are you taking part in NaNoWriMo this year? If so, keep us updated in what you're going to do with your month of novel-writing. Until my next post, happy reading - and writing! 

NaNoWriMo Prep

With National Novel Writing Month just a few weeks away, I've been in preparation mode.

Now, if you've done this great - and challenging - way of writing a novel, you'll know it's a very stressful way of getting your ideas onto a computer screen very quickly, pulling them together and writing as much as you can in a short amount of time; then logging it onto the NaNoWriMo site every day or so.

I've been doing it for only two years, and have written two lovely novels from it. However, just the first draft of those novels gets finished a the end of that month and then I spend most of the rest of the year rewriting and redrafting it just to get in and start on another novel; while I'm working on getting the first one published. 

It's fun, stressful and amazing all at the same time... and it gets a writer writing their best - or worse - stuff! However this year, I'm going to be doing it here at home. You see, last year, I attended a group; and even though there were only two of there, we had a lot of interruptions, there was only a 2 hour time limit and I wasn't all that prepared for it.
At home, I can concentrate in the comfort of my house, in a nice comfortable chair and the privacy of my home office. If I don't want to be interrupted by the phone, I'll just stick the cordless in the other room... and ignore it for the hours I'll be working on my NaNoWriMo time.

It'll be a lot easier for me to work on my books here... plus I'll be able to bring food into here; whereas the at the library, we had to smuggle food in there and were scolded by the librarians for doing so (yep, that old-fashioned value still sticks today).

But I'm more prepared this time around. I've been thinking of what I'm going to write, taken down some notes, have done some research and now I'm more than ready to get my writing brain into NaNoWriMo next month! 

How about you? Are you doing this great exercise in book-writing? Are you up for the challenge? Well, until my next post, happy reading - and writing!

Writers Groups

Yesterday, I was supposed to be at a market. However, due to weather problems here in Brisbane, it has been postponed for 3 weeks.

So, here I was sitting at the computer fluffing around on the internet, when I was invited out to the Logan Writers Group morning meeting at the Beenleigh Historical Village.

I had no idea where it was (so I Google Earthed it).

I really didn't want to go anywhere (I was really settled in).

I packed up my writing stuff and left the house anyway.

There's nothing better than being spontaneous about something in your life. And yesterday was a good day to get in and just get out of the house for the first time in a week.

The traffic wasn't too bad on the roads and I'm glad I did get away from the house and noise of the unit complex; as when I got off the highway - at the right exit, surprisingly - and around to the place, I found it very easy to get to the historical village.

And since it's been a long time since I was there last - around 3 years - I found there's been a big museum built, concrete pathways laid and better toilets as well as an industrial kitchen. The cafe also serves breakfast! Now, that's a great thing to have in a place like this! This means this place opens at around 8am... and when you're a tourist and you have friends staying who like to get going early, there's nothing like a good place to go to bright and early - which is a museum as well - and it serves breakfast!
Well, I arrived, found the cafe easily and also found the only other member of the Logan Writers and joined her to sit and write. But first, I grabbed something to eat and a nice hot latte. Yep, writing certainly takes it out of you!

I sat there for 3 hours planning my NaNoWriMo for next month. I planned who my characters were going to be, what the plot was going to be, and how it may end. I'm still not sure how things may wrap up, but I figured out the name of the second character and how the first one gets to talk to them in the first place. This is good, because when I arrived there yesterday, all I had was an idea, a character name and the brief half a chapter written up... so I did get a lot done.

But we did get a lot talked about with our writing, about editing, publishing and other things not about writing as well. This was a good day out! Then, after the battery on our laptop and tablet went flat, she went home; but I stuck around the the Historical Village and walked around. I took some great photos of the place (for another story idea I had and an art project) and then I walked into the post office and found two typewriters they used in the Chronicles of Narnia films! Now, that was a great find; as I love typewriters! Well, until my next post, happy reading!

Favourite Reads

It's October. It's that time of the year where it's Spring here in Australia and Fall/Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere; and it's the perfect temperatures everywhere to settle in and read a book without either sweating in the heat or freezing the snow.

It's also the time I get out some of my favourite books to read again... yeah, I love to reread books sometimes. Now, I haven't read that many books this year; but I did get through a few in a month or two over June or so when I had Laryngitis... and that was good. I'm reading other books over the last month; and have just begun 'Lisey's Story' by Stephen King - a great book I've had on my shelves for over a year; and yet I haven't read it yet.

I thought to add to this post a list of my favourite books as well, so you guys can see what I love to read otherwise. Some of these are books I've read years ago, while others have been recently added on.

'84 Charing Crossing Road' by Helene Hanff
'The Stand' by Stephen King
'Jigs & Reels' by Joanne Harris
'Time and Again' by Jack Finney
'The Wave' by Moreton Rue
'A Patch of Blue' by Elizabeth Kata
'Somewhere In Time' by Richard Matheson
'From A Buick 8' by Stephen King
'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - The Trilogy In Four Parts' by Douglas Adams
'The Day of the Triffids' by John Wyndham
'Snow Crash' by Neal Stephenson
'The Spare Room' by Helen Garner
'The Picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde
'I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings' by Maya Angelou
'The Monkey's Mask' by Dorothy Porter
'Fahrenheit 451' by Ray Bradbury
'Love Is A Mixed Tape' by Rob Sheffield
'He Died With A Felafel In His Hand' by John Birminham
'Other Colours' by Orhan Pamuk
'Old Man and the Sea' by Ernest Hemmingway
'Red Dog' by Louis de Berneires 
'The Bee-Loud Glade' by Steve Himmer

I've read about 9 of these books more than once; simply because the author has that wonderful way of pulling me in as a reader. This is something I've been working on doing as a writer myself over the years I've been writing books, stories and poetry - and believe me, when the hook and the story reads effortlessly, that's when you know it's been worked on the most. 

So, which books have you read the most from your collection? Or do you read a book once and that's it, you move onto the next ones in your Mt TBR pile? Until my next post, happy reading.