Another update.

Sooo it's been a while! It's not that I've been ridiculously busy although there have been moments I suppose... since my last post I've tried and failed at Nanowrimo again, started roller derby pre-minimum skills practice, worked, baked, danced and parented.

After Roller Derby practice.

Roller derby is hard work! It requires lots of fitness, running and jumping to warm up then lots of skating skills to master. It requires lots of kit: mouth guards, wrist guards, knee pads, elbow pads and of course roller skates. I started out with ok/the wrong gear and am slowly getting better things.

Old mouth guard.

New mouth guard.

I am finding it great fun, learning new things like cross overs, jumping on skates and transitions as well as it being a good form of exercise.  I've been trying to keep fit and healthy for a while now with differing degrees of success.

 So I've also been sporadically doing work outs around roller derby practice, as well as a little baking.

The end of November and start of December was busy with Christmas do's, leaving parties and club nights, so I got to wear sparkly things! I also had to fix the gutters, car and kitchen tap so  I've been a tad skint!

Unfortunately it doesn't look like I'll be doing much skating or baking for the next month or so as I have broken my thumb.  Luckily it is Christmas and there will be plenty of nice things to eat without me adding to them! I'm just hoping that I don't lose too much fitness by the time my thumb has healed.  Still at least there's a new Star Wars film to watch and a few weeks of work to look forward to.  (I'm going to see it on Tuesday.)

So if I don't post between now and then have a very Merry Christmas!

Update on what I've been doing lately.

So I've had yet another blog hiatus not because of anything bad or on purpose but mainly due to returning to work and being busy.

Since September I've returned to work 3 days a week, seen a few less films, started belly dancing again on a very occasional basis, read a couple of books, celebrated a friend's birthday in Leeds and watched a little roller derby.

This month I am taking on my annual writing marathon where I attempt to write a novel of 50,000 words in 30 days. So far I'm on track although the idea is a loose one at best and may or may not transform into something else. My main aim is to get back into the habit of writing regularly even if I have to carve the time out of the rare instances I'm not actively looking after my son.

Wish me luck! (I obviously need it.)

It's the end! Of this year's NaNoWriMo attempt that is...

After a few weeks of crawling along tapping out a few hundred words at the occasional stolen moment on a couple of half formed and part baked novel ideas I've decided to call it a day on my NaNoWriMo attempts for 2013.

I've decided to take the opinion that any words written this month are wins considering the tiny amount I managed to write in the last three or four months prior to this one.  Ok, it's difficult if not impossible to write with a newborn but I thought that after a few months things might get easier but it seems that I'm not quite organised enough to crack the writing regularly thing just yet.

So for now I'm going to have to write 2013 off as my least productive NaNoWriMo attempt so far but there will be other years and who knows maybe in the future I'll be able to persuade my son to write his own novel with me.

Not now NaNoWriMo.

I've only managed to crawl forwards a few hundred words from where I was the other day, so it seems like the momentum of my new story has proved short lived.

After reviewing my record over the last few weeks it doesn't look like I'll manage to write anything significant over the remainder of the month if I keep up my current form and to be honest it's hard enough just keeping my head above water at the moment.

I had thought that it wouldn't be too hard to write with a baby but I feel rude if I contemplate writing whilst my son is awake and when he's asleep I need to sleep myself, do housework or just relax from trying to stop the crying! (Ok, he doesn't cry all the time but when he does it's emotionally draining...)

 I've decided that I'll see what I can do over the next week and then make my mind up about whether I'm continuing with NaNoWriMo or not. Nearly everyone else I know who does NaNoWriMo as well as a full time job have given up so I wouldn't be in bad company if I did but part of me wants to carry on and have something to do other than housework and cat/child wrangling.

Yet another NaNoWriMo update.

So I decided to bite the bullet and put my previous story on hold and start the other one which has been plaguing my mind. It kept interrupting my train of thoughts then butting in when I wanted to write the other one.

I don't think either story is great but I'm feeling a bit better now I've encapsulated the start of my other story in a file.

As I'm finding it hard to write anything due to time, energy and Paul stealing my laptop in the evenings to play Minecraft I'm counting the extra thousand words this has given me.  For all I know the two stories could merge into one at some point.

Ok, it's not likely but some words written are better than having no words written!

I'm still woefully behind and think that it would take some kind of miracle for me to catch up to where my word count should be this year let alone win NaNoWriMo. Then again no one would ever get anywhere if they had that attitude all the time would they?  Wish me luck! I'll need it going forward.

NaNoWriMo the saga continues...

So despite it being slow going I've decided to carry on plugging away at this prose based challenge and keep trying to hammer a few words out as I sit next to the Moses basket and my son sleeps.

Unfortunately the young do not have all that predictable or useful sleep patterns. At least my son doesn't seem to! I have to be prepared for one of his few 15 minute naps and then leap upon the opportunity. Squandering it by making a drink will doom the writing session to the likelihood of the child awakening and demanding sustenance or the onset of the procrastination ogre.

So progress has been made, about 800 words which isn't bad considering but it's not going to help me meet any sort of deadlines I may have had. I am starting to think about giving up this year as a bad job.

Further tales of woe from the NaNoWriMo front line.

So after my blog post the other day I've had a bit of a word with myself and tried a bit harder to hammer some words out.

I've found that it helped to remove some of the word count pressure from myself and am now starting to approach the 2,000 word mark.  Sometimes you have to remind yourself that if you haven't written for a while you will be rusty and anything you get down is better than nothing.

Now if only I could convince myself of that then I'd be laughing!

Another NaNoWriMo update.

So another few days have elapsed and I've only just managed to crawl forward a few hundred more words so I've finally passed 1,000 words but am way behind my 11,667 word target at this point .

I'm not sure if this is more to do with the fact that I'm not keen on the story I'm writing or because I have no sort of peer pressure to keep me moving forwards.  In previous years I've posted about my writing on Facebook and updated my status on a daily basis about my word count but this year I haven't done that. (More fool me!)

To be honest it doesn't help that whenever Dylan's asleep I feel like sleeping myself and half the time I do because my night time sleep is so fractured at the moment. Maybe I ought to revise my word count target to 25,000 words... or less!

NaNoWriMo update.

So it's taken me a while but I've finally got around to starting one of my novel ideas.

It's very slow going as I have to wait until the baby is asleep before writing but I'm making more progress than I did last month even if I am miles behind where I was this time last year.

I just need to remind myself that this year isn't the same as last year I can't get up early to write before work or write on lunch breaks,  scribble ideas down on the bus and get my head down to do some serious writing in the evenings as there is no time before work anymore or travelling to work let alone free time in the evenings!

I've looked on a forum for people writing with babies and some people are doing amazingly which makes me feel a bit lazy but thankfully there are a few other parents on there in the same boat as me.

I'm still hoping that I'll be able to catch up to where I need to be but as I've only written 812 words and I should have written 6,667 to hit my 50,000 word target by the end of the month it looks unlikely.

NaNoWriMo 2013.

For the last two Novembers I've challenged myself to do NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) where I neglect housework, stave off watching much TV, ignore Paul and the cats to attempt to write 50,000 words in a month.

This year I didn't think I was going to do NaNoWriMo after finding out about my changed circumstances and failing to write a short story in June but I've been talked around and am currently trying to work out a story idea to launch into.

Obviously this will be hard work finding time and energy around breastfeeding a baby but what is life without challenges?

Wish me luck I think that I'm going to need it!

How not to write a novel the end of NaNoWriMo 2012.

So I ended up finding out a few things this November.

50,000 words is a lot of words. I mean a lot! It's hard to write 1,667 words of fiction a day, work full time and maintain a blog. (As well as buy a new laptop when your old one dies on you!)  Sadly the blog got put on standby a little.

Its taken some writing before work in the morning, a bit more writing during a few of my lunch breaks, a lot of writing in the evenings after work and most of my weekends but I managed to do it.  I managed to write 50,000 words in 29 days!

It was late on Thursday evening after coming back from seeing The Ravonettes that I won and got this badge.

It feels good to win!  Especially after not managing to reach 50,000 words last year.

This year I've found that telling people about my writing, talking to other people who were doing the same thing and looking after myself eating breakfast and whatever I fancied really helped.

I must admit that on the 30th of November I went to work, then got home and crashed.  No writing was done not even a blog post or gig review!  Since then I've fiddled with the novel a few times but have only written a few hundred words. 

I'm hoping to pick up the pace and complete a reasonable first draft by the end of the month or if things don't get too crazy by Christmas. (Mad! I know...)  Still I've promised to let people read this one so I better get cracking!

How not to write a novel: NaNoWriMo day eleven.

Today started a little later than expected but pleasantly as Paul brought me breakfast in bed.

When I eventually came around I got up and started writing and managed to knock out about 1,000 or so words before having a short break to sort out the house a little writing another few thousand words and going shopping.

After returning and playing freezer jenga, wherein you balance half the contents of the freezer around the edges of the open freezer, insert nine pizzas then try to shove everything else back in.

Then I had a cup of tea and some stolen Soreen. (Sorry Mum!) Got cracking on my writing again for an hour before starting to make my tea, a lovely Moussaka...

If you've ever made this you know it's not the fastest meal but on the plus side it makes loads! So guess what I'm having for tea tomorrow and my lunch the day after that...

I fitted in a few hundred more words when the Moussaka cooked in the oven and then finally managed to edge up to and then beyond my word count just after lunch. Brilliant!

OK, maybe I only managed to write 41 words more than my target word count but every little helps right?

So I'm starting the week on a word count of 18,374 and am hoping not to slip off target when I go back to work tomorrow.

Wish me luck!

How not to write a novel: day ten of NaNoWriMo.

Today was an unexpectedly lazy day. All week I had expected to have to get up around 8 and get Paul to work, because of this I had formulated plans to take my laptop with me whilst dropping him off and to write in the library as I waited.

Thankfully he didn't have to work today so I got to have a well deserved lie in.  Then I ended up in procrastination station having breakfast, having a bath, putting the washing on, doing the pots, popping to the shop for bread and milk, making lunch, watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, putting the washing out...

Eventually when it came to late afternoon/early evening I settled down to write and managed about 1,000 words before realising I'd have to sort out tea.

So I paused my writing made some chips, wrote about another sentence and then made an omelette to go with the chips and what felt like hours later had my tea whilst watching Burn Notice.

After that I had a bit of a slump and only felt like playing with my cats and reading things on the Internet but I tore myself away from the Internet, made another drink and managed to write another thousand and a bit words.

I could probably write more but I think that the standard might go down hill so it's probably best to quit when your not trailing as far behind as you were this morning and hit the sack for another writing marathon the next day.

How not to write a novel: day nine of NaNoWriMo.

Today has been the first day that I've gotten up early to write and I managed to get a good few hundred words down before I stopped to get ready for work.

Then I lugged my laptop in with me in my big black laptop bag which makes me feel like a turtle and threw a few more sentences together over lunch in the quiet room. (It kind of became the chat about NaNo room for a short while but SHHHhh! Don't tell anybody!)

I was on a training course all day and finished a little later than I expected but this turned out to be a good thing as I met Paul on the bus home.  Sadly my luck ended there as all my will to write left me as I entered the front door.  I don't know what it was but for some reason I could only muster up a few more lines before admitting defeat. Tomorrow, hopefully tomorrow will bring better things!

How not to write a novel: day eight of NaNoWriMo.

Today was a bit of a mixed bag in that although I didn't manage to reach the 1667 words minimum word count to reach 50,000 words in a month I still felt like I didn't do badly.

Obviously there's still a lot of catching up to do but I think I thrive under pressure and having deadlines and targets really helps me.

I've also spoken to a few other people doing NaNoWriMo by email today which has helped in getting tips and keeping motivated.

So I've written over a thousand words which is a big improvement on yesterday I just hope that I can keep it up.

How not to write a novel: day seven of NaNoWriMo.

Today was another low word count day.... I tried to repeat yesterdays success by bringing my laptop into work with me so I could write on my lunch again but this time I ended up going and getting fish, chips and a sausage for my lunch with a couple of the girls in my team instead.

Ooops! So I carried my laptop home and because I felt exhausted I bailed on my Bellydancing class.

I ended up moping about the house, having a nap and ordering a pizza.  When I sat myself down to write, it seemed as if I couldn't find a handful of words to put together and make a sentence so I gave it up for a bad job for the day.

How not to write a novel: day five of NaNoWrimo.

Today started off quite well for a Monday morning. I got up, ironed my clothes for the day, got the bus made some notes for the novel and went to work.

Everything went well up till about eleven o'clock when I started to feel tired.  Sadly I didn't get any less tired as the day progressed I actually got more drowsy and even the consumption of Malteasers couldn't help me!

So I've decided to call it a night and approach my writing with a fresh pair of eyes and hands in the morning.

Night night folks!

How not to write a novel: day four of NaNoWrimo.

Today didn't look as promising from the start as I had a bit of a lie in and then didn't start writing until after eating my lunch after two.

Strangely despite this I seem to have managed to write 3,187 words today....

How has this happened? I'm not sure... maybe it's because I've written a bit stopped, written a bit more had another break and carried on like this.

Another theory is that it maybe because my boyfriend has spent more time in the house today and has reminded me about not going on the Internet too much.

Maybe it's because I haven't left the house once today...

Then again is could be because the alternative to doing writing is ironing my outfits for the working week and because you cannot iron and eat Malteasers...

Whatever it was I hope I can keep some of this momentum up this week and am glad to be back on track.

Best get to bed now so I can get more written tomorrow. Night!

How not to write a novel: day three of NaNoWrimo.

Today was a day started full of good intentions!

I didn't have a lie in or a great deal of plans other than some nice company at lunch so I thought I might be able to beat my all time record of four thousand words in a day.

This was not to be the case...

I dropped Paul off at work, got home, washed some pots put the washing on jumped in the bath and then I spent far too long in the bath.

When I got out I thought there's still some time left so I wrote a bit of a review I was writing then wrote a bit of the novel before checking what the time was.  It was then that I realised it was nearly guest arrival time so I finished the rest of the pots and started to prepare the food.

After a nice lunch and a chat with my guests they left and I took Paul for some trainers, something I hadn't realised was on the itinerary... then trainers bought dropped him at the pub and finished that review off.

It was probably then I got the washing out of the machine and checked into procrastination station... looking at the Internet, checking Facebook, updating my word count every hundred or so words. It went slowly then I saw the time and went to pick Paul up from the pub but we got chatting and before we knew it the night was quite late!

So I whisked him away, got a takeaway then watched Stargate Universe and decided to call it a night.

Surely tomorrow has to go better?

How not to write a novel: day two of NaNoWrimo.

Well today didn't go as well as planned... then again I do struggle with the idea of planning and fiction writing.

Today I didn't write anything in the day again and hoped to get all my writing done after work but by the time five o'clock rolled around I was shattered.

Nevertheless I headed home, sorted out tea and then started writing.

Then I got all worried about the quality of what I was writting and if it was turning into a script rather than a book.  After a bit more thought I carried on writing but sadly I only managed to write just over one thousand words.

If I keep that pace up I'll never make my target of 50,000 words I know quality is better than quantity but sometimes keeping up writing is more important to improving quality than dithering about is.

Maybe I'm rambling... I've started to fall asleep a bit at the keyboard so I'm going to head to bed now and try to catch up tomorrow.