Sunday 16th October ROW80 Check-in

Goals met and I am feeling so so positive about my writing today! I can't put my finger on why but I guess it is because things are coming together in my head. After the 'lost' writing month of September I am loving the fact I am back to scribbling on post its, having ideas when I am driving and catching myself day dreaming about my NaNo murder mystery. Sigh. It feels so good!

The end of this week saw me finish watching the episodes of Upstairs, Downstairs and I have even more pages of scribbled ideas. I have been online researching which has thrown up some lovely details I hope to weave in to my story and also just things that make me smile. Did I mention I am setting my story at Christmas time? I am, because I love Christmas! Look at this vintage 1930s Christmas china I saw on Ebay.

This is definately going to feature!

I have some more bits and pieces to look up but I need, need, NEED to start plotting, planning, developing characters and everything else that needs to be done before November hits.

I followed a link retweeted by Gene today (whilst procrastinating I admit it!) and read this brilliant post by Larry Brooks about what to try when you get stuck in your NaNo prep. I found on this site a post from each day of October so far (and am assuming they will continue until November 1st) about NaNo and the preparation involved. They are great reads and are really helpful at identifying what you have already achieved in your prep and what you need to do. Todays as mentioned is about what to do when you get stuck in your prep. Larry suggests watching a movie and looking at each scene and literally plotting the story. Identifying plot points, focusing on what the scene means to the story. Guess what I will be doing later today?! He explains it much better than me so look here.

Ok, off now to check out some check-ins, do some more research and try out the activity above.

Before I go though can I just ask NaNo people that it is ok to write my NaNo on Microsoft Word Starter 2010? There are no rules about the software you write on are there?

Also IMPORTANT NEWS! Me and Lena have been working on our NaNo support group blog so hopefully it will be up this week! We will announce on both our blogs and on twitter when we are up and running! So exciting!

Wednesday 12th October 2011

Well this week has thrown up time challenges but I am managing to stay on track. On Monday I had a list of things to do as long as my arm and with unexpected phone calls I only managed 15 minutes of research into hotels in the 1930s. I made up for this before work yesterday with a further 15 minutes research on the same topic. Last night I had a friend to stay (who knows nothing of my writing) so I got nothing done. Therefore today I spent an hour watching one of the episodes of Upstairs, Downstairs and I now have 3 pages of notes on dress and language with little detail ideas scattered amongst it. Whilst this seems like loose research I actually feel like I am starting to understand the time period and feel like I can imagine my characters and location more.

Whilst I am on track I am struggling time wise. My workload for my job can be a bit relentless and I also am blessed to have a lovely social life so I am not getting as much done as I would like. But I have a lot of this weekend free so I am planning on tackling my plot and starting to put my story ideas down. I was rubbish at getting around to other people's check-ins and I want to do better at this whilst not using my writing time to do so. I guess it is all a balancing act.

One thing I am considering in my NaNo prep is early morning/before work writing. I think this may be crucial to my success. I figure even if I only manage 10 or 15 minutes before work (I am not great in the morning) then this will lessen my evening word count. I guess it is something I can try when November is here!

I am off to check out some check-ins and I hope everyone is doing well with their goals!

ROW80 Check-in 9th October

Well week one has been great in many different ways. I have met all my goals (30 mins a day on NaNo preparation and two check-ins).

On Thursday I spent time researching murder, hanging and arsenic. It is amazing what you can find by simply googling things as I starting point.

On Friday I spent time goggling events of my chosen year (1936) and also read lots of cases of poison from the 1930s.

Now the weekend I have been staying with some of my friends and we watched all 4 Scream movies in an early Halloween kind of extravaganza! Even though I technically need to do half an hour of something today I am going to count watching these as research as it did get me thinking about red herrings, motives and back storys. Also I had a good chat about writing with one of my friends which I loved as I so rarely talk about writing in my 'real' life. Also she has offered me her flat one weekend during NaNo as a bit of an escape as she will be away the saturday till sunday. I know I live alone so technically can lock the door, turn off my phone and settle in but there is something so inviting about a change of scene. I can't wait.

So time wise, I have done really well if I do say so myself! My Upstairs, Downstairs DVD arrived on Friday so I think watching an episode of that and taking notes seems like a great plan for tomorrow night.

Another lovely thing is that Nicole has asked me to be her ROWsista! I felt so touched that she thought of me and I look forward to getting to know her better as we drag carefully nudge each other in the right direction.

So week one, goals met and a happy me. It feels so good to be doing something productive towards my writing even though I get terrified when I think of plotting my NaNo murder mystery....better start soon in case I struggle. Off to check out some check-ins before bed.

ROW 80 Check-in 5th October

The start of this round has gone well for me and I think I am slowly getting my head back into this writing game. Thank goodness!

On Monday I sat down and realised that I know very little about the time period I have selected - 1936. This was a bit of a random selection but it was inspired by my Uncle's 75th birthday as he got lots of cards with info about the year 1936 and it just made sense to me. Can't really explain it! I knew bits and pieces like the Berin Olympics etc but I couldn't tell you exact fashions and I also wanted to find out if household staff were a big part of everyday life as this is integral to the loose plot I have in my head. So you guessed it, I googled. Actually, I tried to go to the library but due to government cuts the hours of opening of my town library have been cut so instead of being open till 7 it shut at 5 and I got there at 6 so that was a no go.

On Tuesday I was online again following up bits of information and found that the 3 episodes of Upstairs, Downstairs that the BBC aired last year were set in 1936. Guess what I was busy buying on Amazon last night! Love that watching them can be filed under research!

Tonight I have focused on language and common phrases used in 1936 and also at common names for the 5 decades before 1936 to get a feel for names. Think it is going to be fun to play with these characters.

So a positive start even though it is hard to get out of the word count mode I was in before but as I said October is all about the planning!

Hope everyone else is having a great first week!

ROW80 Round 4 Goals 2nd October

I know round 4 of ROW80 officially starts tomorrow but in keeping with my wed/sun posts I thought I would post my goals today.

I am going to keep it simple but hopefully effective to help myself get into the flow of things after nearly a month of no writing....can't believe it has been that long.

October Goals:
Goal 1 - 30 minutes a day of preparation for NaNo. This can be research, plotting, developing characters, anything to help me prepare for November and my first attempt at writing a murder mystery.

Goal 2 - Check-in every Wednesday and Sunday. I need this to keep me motivated and I love the support I get from others and the motivation I get from reading others check-ins.

From November 1st:
Goal 1 - Write 1,666 words a day as part of NaNo. I know this will be hard some days so will slot in a weekly word count goal - 11, 662 to help me try and stay on track. Wow that looks like a lot! I am not going to put a time goal on this but if I write at the speed I did in the summer it will be an hour to an hour a half a day. Eeek!

Goal 2 - Check-in every Wednesday and Sunday

Simple but effective. October is to prepare, November is to write.

I look forward to seeing everyone elses goals! Here we go....

Wednesday 28th September - Miniscule update

I have nothing to report today. Nothing. But I am here because I said I would be.


I have had more murderous thoughts (mwha ha ha) and a few ideas which are dotted here and there on post its but I haven't actually done anything.

I know that I have had lots going on and work and my weekends have been very busy but I was hoping I would be back in the swing of things a bit by now. The recent change in my personal life has thrown me completely and I know it is going to be hard for a while longer yet. I just need to ride it out, distract myself (hopefully with writing!) as this too shall pass.

I have settled on my ROW 80 Round 4 goals which I will post on Sunday but I really hope I start to get my plot etc. for my NaNo mystery down on paper soon. Maybe I need to accept that it might not happen before the start of round 4.

Hope you are all ok and those ROW80 goals are forming themselves beautifully!

Sunday 25th September - Tiny little update

I said I would continue to check-in on sundays and wednesdays between ROW 80 rounds so I keep the habit. What astonishes me is that I am so out of it in terms of dates I didn't realise there is only a week between rounds! Ha! I thought there was atleast two or three! Oh well...atleast I noticed!

In terms of writing I haven't written anything but have been reading murder mysteries and also watching murder mystery programmes/films to inspire me. I have been away all weekend on a hen weekend and had an amazing time and even managed to have some clever thoughts about my characters on the train on the way home today which I have stored in my phone. I hope they still seem clever after some sleep!

This week is going to be all about settling on my round 4 goals and also thinking about how I can incorporate NaNo into them. I think for the month of October my goals need to be research/plotting based and once November 1st hits I need to change my goal to simply writing 1,666 (or more!) words a day!

Hopefully by Wednesday I will have done some work on getting my initial plot ideas down as at the moment they are in my head and saved on my blackberry!

Hope everyone is enjoying the mini 'break' between rounds and have great weeks!