NaNoWritMo - Day 4

With a few slight digressions, I have now made a consecutive decision to change my story to something more close to my heart and which will no doubt allow me to more easily achieve the 50,000 word count within the 30 days.  Don't dispare, as Tilly is not forgotten, not have aI killed her off - quite the contrary, she will become my inspiration for a my next submission of a short story someone in the near future.  I will keep you all posted with my progress on this new storyline venture. 

NaNoWriMo - Oh No! - Day 3

Hmm, you guessed it, day three has arrived and I did the unmistakeable error of telling my husband the plot of my story, and worse still I went on to tell him the progression of the story-line.  Most would wonder why is that such a problem?  Well, let me explain and please don't roll your eyes; first as I am explaining my hard yards of word count he smiles at me; Hello, I can't begin to explain how patronising and off-putting that was.  And so, as a result I spent a restless night going over where I am taking my characters and now wonder if I need to revisit and change their direction? If I do, I'm sure to loose a few hundred words or more, that can't be good at this critical point of building my story and word count - surely?
Wonder if I should start a new story; completely different and not tell anyone the plot?

NaNoWritMo - Day 2 - Tilly comes to life

Already into day two of writing and I'm pleased to announce that I am right on track with my character's developing nicely.  However, I have to declare the genre of my story has already changed from my original idea of a children's book to now more of a focus on YA; something along the same lines of a Terry Pratchett auidence, or John Marsden even.  And in saying this, my main character Tilly just grew up slightly, becoming a teenager of thirteen. 

For those who haven't done so already, I have been doing the sums and worked out if I reach a word count of at least 1667 words a day I will achieve 50,000 words by the end of this challenge; not such a hard task...?

For those interested here is a little excerpt from my first chapter - already completed I might add.

'Tomorrow is pension day; it’s when all the old people have money appear in their bank accounts without having to go to work.  I can’t wait to be a pensioner.  Usually on pension day and even the day after we get really busy, but some of these so called pensioners don’t seem old enough to be a pensioner?  Some look younger than Aunty Helen, so she must be worried that her skin regime is not all what it is cracked up to be.' 

Stay tuned for the next installment! Day three is fast approaching.

NaNoWritMo 2012 - Day 1

Well as promised here is the beginning of what will become the next best selling childrens adventure novel! With the rain teeming down outside, I have found a quiet and warm nook within my study and are eager to get started.  I feel overwhelmingly optimistic that this venture just might be what I need.

So here is my synopsis:

Every Christmas holidays Tilly helps out her Aunt who is a volunteer at a st vincents de paul op shop, but this year is very different to last; now Tilly's eleven-years-old, she has been given the job as sorter, so she gets first pick at whatever comes through the doors as donations.  When Tilly discovers something odd about a bag of old clothing left at the counter, she asks her aunt if she can take the assortment of rags home to use as costumes.
What Tilly dosn't know is that she has stumbled across no ordinary bag of old clothing, instead she is about to discover some very valuable life changing secrets for the future; some which just might change the path of her life.

NaNoWritMo 2012

Well here we are once again; the inaugural writing event for thirty days solid with 50,000 words our ambition.  Bring it on, I think I really need a challenge like this right now - how about you?  So I am going to also keep a blog update on my progress; so now two commitments oh my!  What am I doing? Thats right, I'm going to produce something worthy of a novel.  Now I just have to decide is it going to be YA, childrens fiction or perhaps non-fiction, adult fiction?  Oh see what it has already done.  Thinking hat HELP!!!

Keeping up Appearances

While working on my latest piece of writing for the 2012 Soapbox article writing competition, I decided to go to the local library to kill some time before heading to my daughter's class room to help out.  With forward thinking, I went armed with the laptop and notebook in search of some much needed quite thinking time.   

What I didn't anticipate was the weekly toddler's sing-a-long and story time coinciding with the little spare time I have.

As I began banging out my sentences with ideas flowing nicely, my thought process was abruptly interrupted with "mother duck went out one day..'" and "if your happy and you know it clap your hands."  

The library, the very institution I thought I could find some solitude and meaningful quite time to think clearly, is apparently no longer that place; well not on Wednesday's anyway.   Trying to overcome the sudden shrieks and toddler outbursts, along with the ongoing songs which began to remind me of a time spent with my own daughter not so long ago, I found myself reading my work out aloud in an effort to continue with my duty as wordsmith.

As you can well imagine not nearly as much work was produced as I had first anticipated; including the fact that I was now producing work consisting of non-productive repetition.

Damn you mother duck and no I'm not happy and I'm not clapping my hands!  
Resolution: I am now resorting to burning the good old midnight oil to finish my work.  

Writers Festivals!

It seems to be that time of year; a writers favorite time of year mind you.  That's right, we have festivals coming out of our book ends.  Well Victoria seems to anyway!  So why are writers festivals so important and what can we expect to get out of going to one? 
Networking comes to mind as being first and foremost the most important reason to head along to a writers festival.  I remember my first writers festival experience at Ballarat when I was first undertaking my studies in Professional Writing and Editing.  I not only attended the festival, I also participated in one of their workshops conducted by Rhonda Whitton, co-arthor of 'A Decent Proposal,' and 'Mission Possible.'
This experience truly shaped how I was to go about putting together my proposal for my manuscript which now has been self-published as an ebook.  Without Rhonda's genuine and invaluable experience as an author / teacher along with her confidence in my concept, I'm not sure I would have pursued my endeavour to get my concept out there as strongly as I have. 
I also remember the buzz of meeting newly published authors, buying their books and having them signed. 
There is nothing more exhilarating than to  rub shoulders with publishers and editors who otherwise don't have a face.  You get to see and talk to them in 'real time' - no pressure and maybe, just maybe this personal contact may change your life as a writer as it did me. 
Take the opportunity and get along to a writers festival - even if it is just one - but be warned they are addictive.  Good Luck!
Some festivals coming up on the calendar:
Words in Winter July 29 - 31 August 2012
Bendigo Writers Festival  10-12 August 2012
Melbourne Writers Festival 23 August - 2 September
Ballarat Writers Festival 1-2 September 2012
Write around the Murray Festival 5-9 September 2012