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Hello all

*Your normal Tenacious service will resume sooner than anticipated*

I'm over 45,000 words now for NaNoWriMo, which means I am bang on schedule to finish this Friday.  Fickee-yupping-doooo.  Adios 'til then. 

xxx

*tap tap tap tap tap*

Where does time go?

Hello from the other side.  The other side of 25,000 words that is.

It's been a strange week for me - 

1. I've had The Kid with a blood filled mouth and bleeding nose after falling on the floor and impaling his lower lip with three top teeth, his upper gum with two lower teeth and bashing his nose all at the same time (and yes, I panicked. A lot.); 
   
2. I've said "Ta-ra 'til the New Year" to my Mummy dearest, who's off to play the campest Evil Queen Snow White will ever have come across in Pantoland;   
   
3. I've cleared up little pools of sick, after The Cat ate one of The Kid's errant grapes (I think) ; 
   
4. I've cleared up so many leaves from the Tenacious Towers' grounds I am beginning to think they breed on the floor of the vast orchard; 
   
5. I've been shocked at how much Anton du Beke is gradually morphing into Brucie;  
   
6. I've been avidly watching our graciously returned Sky 1 (that didn't take too long did it Virgin..?) in the vain hope that something else other than 'Ross Kemp on Everything' will be on.

But just for a laugh, I've also partaken in that old game "half fall/half slide down the stairs" whilst rushing to grab The Kid's teddy for cuddles.

On the up side, I didn't fall completely as I had grabbed onto the bannister; on the down side, I grabbed with the arm that had previously been privy to a dislocated shoulder so writing has been interesting.  I also crushed two toes on one of the spindley thingies. Ouch. Obviously, my utter silence as I limped down the stairs spoke louder than any words, as The Kid said "Uh-oh" and pulled out the chenille throw which is reserved for cold winter nights, illness and /or injury cuddles.  In amongst all this madness and mayhem, I have of course be slotting in keyboard hammering flashes, where I sit talking to myself like a demented mad woman, and create NaNoWriMo stylee.

Having now passed 36,000 words, I am onto the fourth (and final) part of "Taking the Fast Lane", which seems incredible - not the novel, but just the feat!  It's been a fascinating journey to sit down with nothing and create something.  Obviously still being at least 14,000 words off, I am hoping it won't be too rough a ride.  The whole NaNoWriMo experience so far has been brilliant  and has been made even better by the Pep Talk emails we receive. So far we've had wise words from Philip Pullman, Jonathan Stroud, Katherine Paterson, Meg Cabot and many from NaNoWriMo founder, Chris Baty at HQ.  If you are interested in reading any of the pep talks they are available online here.

I was also able to breathe a sigh of relief on Friday when a fairly hefty envelope from Screen East plopped in the letter box advising me (one envelope, four separate letters inside) that each of my screenplays had been received and logged.  I had started to panic a bit as four Royal Mail bags full of post had been found abandoned in a field in my area - and of course I had convinced myself my screenplays were in there...the acknowledgement letters weren't due until Friday, but I had nonetheless convinced myself my creations were being sifted by CID for prints.  Or something.

Anyway, if I get short listed for an interview then I should know early December.  If I am successful after the interview, it'll be a great Christmas, I tell you.  

Right, before cracking on with a few more pages of the novel, I'm off to see who out of the "Celebrity" jungle inmates, has had the most surgery.  Hmmm. Let me think....

I am loving the Red London Bus - it must have been dumped there after the closing ceremony in Beijing.

Onwards.

Twenty-Five Thousand Words and Counting

So, I'm writing this darn novel for NaNoWriMo right?  And I'm thinking to myself - you know what, it doesn't matter what you end up with - in fact, although it would be pretty cool to hit the 50k word target,  that really doesn't matter either, not in the grand scheme of things.  I heard here and there that a few people thought this NaNoWriMo idea was really very stupid and it didn't mean a thing as the point is "just to write - edit later" (if you want), but one thing it has allowed me to prove to myself is given a deadline, I can write to it.

Somewhere in my brain, there is a tiny cluster of cells that disagree heavily at the fact this is a waste of time.  These cells have driven me round the bend, making me type faster and faster, and weaving themselves in and out of characters and experiences like a demented spider, the more I move on in the story.

I no longer own this story, as it now owns me and I am firmly stuck in the world with HotCeleb magazine and all the people who feature in it.  Especially Jardin Moist (that's just to make Stevyn laugh again ;)

The mind is a crazy thing (well, mine is).  I was really worried I would run out of steam the further I moved on in the story, but the damn thing is writing as if I had planned it.  Great stuff, but most unnerving as I don't know where it's all coming from.  MacBook is possessed.

Well, regardless who's possessing what and when, I have just tipped the scales over the half way mark.  Wow, can't believe I've got to write all that again, word count wise!  

So here's to the 25k word benchmark!  Not too bad a feat thus far.  I doubt very much I'll be keeping up this pace for the other 25k, but you never do know.  Perhaps I'l just finish it in time to hear good news from Screen East. Here's hoping. 

x

Short films, Short books and a Short Fuse.

Hello again lovelies.

Actually I don't have a short fuse today - as per my post title - but thought it sounded more interesting. Tsk.

Just another quick dip in and out for me just now as a lot of today has been spent running through piles of leaves in the park, pushing swings with all my might and then trying to get the odd word typed here and there.   Time is very precious at the moment and I have to run my days like a Sandhurst text book operation, squeezing in all the usual stuff as well as keeping on top of my obsessive word count for NaNoWriMo.  As of last night "Taking the Fast Lane" was sitting at 12,680 words, so it's moving on.

First up, a couple more job opportunities:

1. Assistant Script Editor, BBC Drama Series & Serials, London : 6 month fixed term contract/Attachment (Maternity cover)
2. Script Editor , BBC Drama Series & Serials, London: 1 x 12 month fixed term contract/attachment and 1 x 6 month fixed term contract/Attachment (Mat Cover)

Well, back to NaNoWriMo.  It *seems* to be going ok, apart from the fact I keep panicking myself by thinking I'm running out of plot/words/fingers.  I have now completed "Part One" (of four) of the book and am wading my way into "Part Two".  When I had two minutes spare yesterday (a bit like now), I very bravely filled in the 'synopsis' and 'excerpt sections' of the  'Novel Info' page on the NaNoWriMo site, so if you want to read what kind of trash a totally unplanned novel reads like (no editing has taken place), then please feel free to check it out here. [Please note: it contains bad language, bad imagery & more than likely very bad writing].  

Urgh. I'm probably really going to regret that, aren't I?  [There's still time to remove the link... No!  Be brave, Tenacious You...it'll be ok - they're all lovely your bloggie-buds...]

Other than that, not a lot has been happening apart from the usual day to day writerly drift.  

I am still waiting to see what happens with my film, "three" - the closing date was the end of August and no decision has been made yet (the second round has also now closed...)!  So that really has been the longest wait on earth.  Never mind, next Monday is the closing date for Screen East's DigiBytes and Digital Nation , and seeing as they have a strict timetable to adhere to, all final decisions after interviews etc (hopefully) should be revealed just before Christmas.

Have a good weekend all.  Not sure what I'm  up to...ha ha ha. Onwards.

Life Mirrors Art in NaNoWriMo?

Remember, remember the 5th of November!  Oooooh, hello all!

I've been having loads of fun writing my novel for NaNoWriMo and am now totally obsessed with word counts.  The little word count widget I have on the blog sidebar doesn't seem to be working very well for me - it seems a little erratic - so I'll have to keep a note of my word counts as I go.

As I have already bemoaned, my weekend attempt was pretty crud. Having not actually started writing until the 2nd anyway, I did manage to get my fingers going and the word count has become as follows:

03/11/08: 4032

04/11/08: 8049

Obviously I am still going today, but I have just cranked over 9k so now I am fully committed and have to keep going! In addition to all that heart-stopping news I also now have a title - "Taking the Fast Lane".

I was quite interested to work out how many words per minute I am writing at the moment as this whole process is so totally different to screenwriting.  Bearing in mind I am 'making it up as I go along': I had no outline, no characters, no plot - in fact I had nothing until I sat down to start writing on Sunday - my average 'creation speed'* is 500 words an hour or 8.33 words per minute. However, this obviously varies greatly, as I know I managed to write 500 words in 15 minutes yesterday. It amazes me how hard it can be to think up many different ways to depict bad language, smut and loose morals without sounding repetitive. ;) Ho hum.

I must admit, I have never actually checked to see how many words made up any of my screenplays, so I set about looking at them as a little bit of procrastination and an excuse to spend ten minutes away from the ridiculously crass life my novel characters are leading. Needless to say,  I was quite shocked when I picked a random short and realised it was only made up of 2,245 words. How very funny.

Anyway, I really should get off and dedicate a  couple of hours to 'real' life now, before I re-embark on more 'Novel Hammering' (it's a new game, don'tcha know?) again this evening.  All I can say is I am so glad my life isn't as complicated and/or sordid as my 'Novel Lot".  *shudder*  

Sometimes my brain scares me with it's contents, you know.

;0)

Onwards.

*please note this is "raw creation speed" - not typing speed.  If it was typing speed I would indeed be looking for another vocation in life.