Monday, November 30, 2009

Day 30 - A real sense of accomplishment

Today is the 30th of November – I’ve done a blog entry every day this month, allowing you the readers access to my journey of NanoWriMo for 2009 and it has also given me an outlet to look back at in the future. To hopefully gain something from this time next year when I write a blog entry on how Nano went for 2010!

That feeling I had in the early hours of the morning in blog titled ‘Awesome’ (See Nov 1st) in which I expressed how excited I was at the thought of writing a 50,000 word novel in thirty days, but also the excitement and apprehension of writing my first EVER novel. That excitement is still with me, and the apprehension is there somewhat in relation to ‘where do I go next’ but I take both feelings at this point as a good sign, even though I’m yet to complete my novel as such (At this rate I think it will sit around the 60K mark – however when I edit it will probably drop back to about 55K if I had to have a guess)

What I’m most proud of, is that I worked really hard at this. I did my home work before the 1st of November, with notes in my little note book of characters, and plots, how the stories would arc and link back etc, and I’ve taken those notes and created something that I’m really happy with.

My lead characters name was always going to be Zoey and I’ve stuck with that, However Heath had a few different names from Tom, through to Cooper. However it was Heath that stuck as it’s not a name you hear often, which I think is important. I mean honestly how many books have you read over your time with the lead character called ‘Edward’ yet I’m sure that will be the boy’s name of choice for the next 10 years, just as ‘Harry’ is very popular once again.


Anyway with today being the last day of Nano – I’ve not really written enough to change my final word count (I’ve produced another 600 words) but I’m happy. I’m happy with the mammoth effort of writing 50,000 words in 27 days. I’m happy to be able to say to people. I’ve written a 50,000 word novel, and overall for me personally I’m in a really good place right now. If this is the feeling writing brings to my life, then I’ll definitely be pursuing it in the future. Would I love to be a writer as a ‘job’ yes I would, but I’ll be realistic, I’ll study to be a research librarian and I’ll write novels at night, allowing others to step into my imagination.

To all of you who commented throughout my NanoWriMo journey. I thank you, as your comments and support really did help.

To those who ‘lurked’ I don't bite if you comment I promise!

I hope you enjoyed this month’s daily update. I will attempt to write more often as this outlet has been good for me.

That’s all I’ve got.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

No Nanno

I'd originally planned to tie up the loose ends of my novel today, however that old saying the best paid plains (insert however it goes because I can't really remember it!) went south about mid morning when I had 'unexpected' visitors.

My Sunday mornings are well routine pretty much. I get up whenever I wake up, go out get the Sunday paper, bread, milk and a cake (Today was an apple pie) and I return home, make a cup of tea, and read the aforementioned paper which I purchased, usually eating the cake for morning tea. Or breakfast depending on how 'healthy' it is. As today's cake had fruit in it - I passed it off as a 'healthy' snack. Clearly ignoring the sugar encrusted on the lid of the pie!! But meh life's here to be lived and all that (Insert another cliché`)

With paper, tea and apple pie in hand. I had just taken the last bite and was washing it down with a nice gulp of tea when my dog answered the door for me (The bonus of not having a door bell that works. I've got a boxer dog who barks!) I stop what I'm doing an answer the door.

You know those relatives you never stay in contact with because you well - don't like them! It was those relatives. The ones who never show up unless they a) want something b) want something c) see a + b. I realise how nasty that sounds but I've not seen these particular relatives in FIVE years! FIVE and out of the blue they just happened to be in the area and thought they'd 'drop in', which is total bullshit as I've not lived in this house for FIVE years! But anyway!!!!!

I was a pleasant host. I offered them tea and coffee and the few assorted sweet biscuits I had left. They chatted generally..... Then they hammered me for information re another relative who has come into some money after their partner died. I was like you fuckers! I know approx what this relative got re estate money etc - but I wasn't telling them shit! I just point blank lied, and said I didn't know, though I couldn't help myself with the dig 'But I didn't see you at the funeral!'

Which brings me to the question I'd like to pose to you readers.

If you could 'remove' certain people who unfortunately you are related too. Who would you and why? No names required, just what they have done which is just shit that makes you wish you didn't know them, let alone be unfortunate enough to be related to them.



I got rid of them eventually. I pretty much got up and walked them to the door! My house was like a sauna and well to be honest I wanted nothing more than to relax in the ONE room I have with air-con. After they left I cranked up the air-con in my room, and went in for a Nanna nap. I've since had my 'almost four' nephew call me to share his tiny teddy biscuits over the phone with me, with the direct quote of 'Here's your one Sal (Sound of biscuit on the mouthpiece of the phone) Oh.. I'll eat it for you.... ok?'

Tomorrow is the 30th of November. The current plan as it stands now it to write tomorrow, and get some of the loose ends tied up. However having reached the 50,000 word goal I feel I've achieved something huge, but with the novel not finished. I know I've still got work to do.

That's all I've got.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Day Twenty Eight - Wasted Organ

It's hot here today - like hot and humid with hot westerly winds. I'm confident you understand that it's hot!

So today I did nothing. Not a thing. I've spent the entire day in my room doing sweet FA watching TV, playing video games and basically enjoying my own company. It's nice to have a day where you have to do nothing but entertain yourself!

I'm off to cook some sausages for dinner, as I'm in a sausage place after buying some while I was out yesterday. So with a very short update in the world of Just Sal. I will leave you some stuff I found today that I wrote some time ago - clearly I wasn't a happy camper when I wrote this one. I do know which Ex it's about though!

Your eyes are emotionless.
You have no soul.
This is why it's so easy for you.
To just take out my heart.
Like a doctor would an appendix.
Discard it like the wasted organ that you deem it to be.


That's all I've got

Friday, November 27, 2009

Day Twentyseven - LOOK a picture :P




They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well in this case it's worth 50,000 words. I have done it :) I've written 50,000 words in 27 days. To say I'm happy right now would be an understatement. My story however isn't finished just yet, so I'll continue to work on it over the next three days. But I made 50K I'm like feeling a real sense of accomplishment right now. This is all me, all of it came out of my head, my imagination... I'm like wow!

So with that HUGE news - I'm off out to have dinner with a friend, and generally allow the fact that I just wrote 50,000 words in 27 days to sink in.

Thank you all for your comments and support over the past month, I really do appreciate it, and some of you mean the world to me regarding the support you've shown me. If I could hug you all right now I totally would ;)

That's all I've got.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Day TwentySix - Family

Today was a solid day of family stuff (Plus the dentist!!) My cousin and I made our way to my mum's place which we timed well as my Aunt hadn't arrived at that stage, so we could 'literally' hide her son as the super surprise.

She finally arrived, he nicked around from the back to the front and rang the doorbell, in which I answered and told her there was a delivery for her out the front the 'lady' needed her to sign for it, as it was for her. So thinking nothing of it, she went out the front to be greeted by her son. As expected it was a lovely moment, as she thought he was still interstate.

Long day cut short.
Family stuff for morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner.

I went to my dentist appointment at 3pm. I told the dentist that while he's lovely. The smell of his office is very off putting, that combined with the sound of the whizzing drill from the patient before me sent my blood cold. Thankfully my teeth are all good, and no fillings were required, it was just a general check up.

Back to my mum's for dinner more 'family' conversing, and then I went home. I had planned to get into Nano this evening, but I'm a little stuffed after the long day Which I also managed to fit a haircut into! - Talk about multi-tasking!

So with my current word count sitting officially on the Nano site of 45,426 I'll head off and watch David Tennant on the Graham Norton show and goto bed.

I'll tackle Nano tomorrow and expand the notes I made during today. I've decided on a happy / bitter sweet ending...

(Scoman I'm sorry to tell you.... Heath won't make it throught Ninja school!!!)

That's all I've got.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Day Twentyfive - 1,200 words

I wrote about 1,200 words today which brings me to a total word count of 45,031 which is currently 2,531 words ahead of where I should be on Day 25. This has made me feel better as I spent the afternoon running about picking up family from the airport and other ‘stuff’

I’ve got my ‘nice’ cousin on my mum’s side of the family staying with me tonight – he’s the surprise guest for his mums birthday tomorrow. So I won’t get any more writing done tonight as I plan to catch up with him as I’ve not seen him in about three years. We’re about to head out to dinner at the pub (His mum lives in another town, so there’s no chance of us running into her!) Then we’ll probably kick back, watch a movie and just generally hang out. He’ll be staying with his mum tomorrow night – so this is the only real chance I’ll get to catch up.

So this is short and sweet, as he’s just got out of the shower and I’m sure will be dressed and ready to go in five minutes.

That’s all I’ve got

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Day twenty-four - Will be more than 50K

I didn't write anything today - I looked over the first 15 days I printed out, and have made some adjustments I'll put in once Nano is over. But after yesterdays effort I'm well ahead of the limit I should be at by today which is 40,800 Therefore I could afford to take the day off, besides I was a little Zoey and Heathed out to be honest.

So today I did nothing - not a thing, I watched some TV, did some washing, and general 'cleaning' around the house and spoke to my brother on the phone.

Tomorrow I'll be back into it as I've got a family thing on Thursday (My Aunt's b'day lunch) + a trip to the dentist :( Urgh the smell makes me nervous. I'm aware that Dentist play an important role on society. However I'm not a fan.


Tomorrow I'll make up for not writing today, and not having a lot of time to write on Thursday. But at this stage i.e where I'm at with the story arc I'll end up going over 50,000 words. If I 'wrap' it up now it will have a super 'rushed' and shit house ending, and I hate books that have a rushed shitty ending! So I'll push past the word limit, and just write the book I want to write. The comp after all asks you to write 50,000 words in 30 days - it doesn't say anything about going over the 50,000 word limit!

Until tomorrow.

That's all I've got

Monday, November 23, 2009

Day TwentyThree - 5K - Hell Yeah!

Five Thousand One Hundred and Forty!

Yes readers I cracked the 5k mark – Thanks to a little encouragement from Scoman (Linkage to him in the ‘sidebar)

Before Flash-forward I had 4,310 words – Sooooo close to 5K – too close in fact to let it slip – so I’ve just punched out the extra 690 words needed to make 5K going that touch further and punching out 830 words to call it a day on a total word count of 43,884 of 50,000

I’m exhausted though, I’m feeling better than this time yesterday – It was just a migraine (I say like like I’ve kicked my toe! Ohh it was JUST a migraine! FML sometimes!!) However the bonus of getting sick at my mum’s is she has the GOOD drugs – she had pain killers and anit-spew meds left over from her Cancer treatment and well – when it comes to me and pain killers for my head – you don’t have to ask me twice if I’d like the ‘stronger’ ones :P (I do NOT condone inappropriate use of prescription pain medication! In all seriousness!!!!!)

So with Nano roaring ahead. I’ll leave you with a snippet from today’s effort and call it a night.


‘Come on Heath – I said hit me!’
Heath jumped to his feet ‘If you stayed still long enough I would’
‘You’re attacker isn’t going to stand still for you. So come on!’
Again Heath rushed Zoey, though this time she didn’t move, and he run straight into her, pushing her to the ground.
‘Right you’ve got me here, now keep me here’ Zoey wiggled slightly, not putting any real effort into it, and Heath grabbed and pinned her arms down. ‘That’s good, but you’re forgetting something’
‘What?’
Zoey pulled her legs up and wrapped them around heath, rolled onto her side, and had him pinned to the ground before he knew what was really happening.
‘Hey no fair’ Heath Complained.




That’s all I’ve got.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Day Twenty-Two - I got my laptop back

Hello Blog readers.

Yes as you can see from the heading I got my laptop back :) YAY... I can now officially write in the comfort of the air-conditioning of my bedroom to finish out the final week of NanoWriMo in relative comfort.... Comfort right now is the key word.

I'm at my mum's as I type this. I came here today to get my laptop as she's borrowed it to check out Windows 7 before buying her beast of a PC (Which I'm currently typing on!) I arrived and promptly spewed in her front garden! *lol* I know that's terrible. Yet I find it highly amusing... you can all visualise it with me now 'Hi Mum - *Blurk* - 'Yeah not feeling the best!'

I originally put it down to a migraine as I had a headache before I left to goto my Mum's and simply assumed the headache turned to a migrane from the heat and the drive etc. But nooo I think I've got something else - a 'nasty' of some kind.

But I'd forgotten how nice it is to be sick and have someone there for you :) (It's something living on your own you really miss sometimes especially when you're sick - well I do anyway!) So I'm here in the air-conditioned house of my mums. Online on her PC that is lightning fast, doing a blog update to let all my followers (All 11 of you!) know that I'm still on track for Nano - I wrote 1,813 words this morning before heading to my mum's place. A) because I wanted to get that 1,700 word hump out of the way and b) so I could have a 'relaxing' afternoon. I'd originally planned to try and get the 3K mark when I got 'home' this evening - but I'm in no condition to write atm :(

So depending on how I'm feeling tomorrow (That's code for if my mum thinks I'm well enough to go home!) I'll be heading off mid morning, otherwise I'll be getting my Nano on from my Mum's place tomorrow and head home Tuesday. Thankfully I have a well travelled dog, who is the sort that goes everywhere with me - so he's here loving the house with full air-conditioning, and chasing the cats / birds / anything that moves including the sprinkler in the backyard at my mum's place. (That's code for my mum is spoiling him rotten!)

Speaking of Rotten! That's my cue - I'm out for the evening. I do hope everyone is feeling A LOT better than I am right now. As this nasty is exactly that 'nasty'

That's all I've got

** No snippet today as my file is on my PC at my place. (Sorry Scoman)

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Day Twentyone - Reflection

Not a Nano focused blog today followers. A small mention right at the end.

As I write this I’m waiting for my cousin to arrive to hang out for the evening. Today marks two years since her dad (my uncle) died. We got together this time last year, except we all meet up for morning tea at my parents. This year she’s coming to mine to just hang out and take the time to reflect on what her Dad meant to her, and to the both of us.

For me I lost an Uncle who was tough man, he’d lead a very colourful life, but you always knew that should you be in any trouble he have your back. He’d appear as the muscle in a situation if it required it, and gave me an admiration for tattoos as more than ‘tough stickers’ and items bikers have, but works of art someone has taken the time to create.

I remember my Dad telling him I was gay (My dad wasn’t keen on the news at all) and I recall him (My uncle) being a little taken back, as he simply assumed as most people did that one of the four boys I shared a flat with was my boyfriend! However he was accepting of it, and in a way helped with a situation I faced at the time

But overall my Uncle was a good dad to his three children. He was both their father and their mother, as his wife pissed off with someone else leaving him with three kinds the youngest not even one at the time. But he stepped up or as he would say it ‘manned up’ took on the responsibility of both parents and raised his children to the best of his ability.

My youngest cousin is gay also, and he came out to me quite a while ago now, but asked that I not tell a sole, as he was worried how his dad would react. I tried to let him know that if he was accepting of me, he’d be accepting of him, but his argument was, ‘All men love lesbians, they aren’t as keen on gay men’ (Unfortunately we live in a society that isn’t accepting of anything that isn’t the norm, yet they can’t give a definitive answer as to what is normal!) He did eventually tell his Dad he was gay, about 10 months before he died. I went with him the night he came out, for moral support, and things went fine. My Cousin and my Uncle hugged for quite a long time, there were some tears from both, as my cousins expressed he was afraid to tell him, which made my Uncle emotional telling him to never be afraid to say or tell him anything. It was a nice evening and ended with a lot of alcoholic beverages being consumed!

So as I wait for my Cousin to arrive, I’ve found some old home movies that contain her Dad, and if she’s up for it we’ll watch some of them this evening, if not, then we’ll watch what ever she chooses (A trip to the video store is on the cards) Or we may just spend the evening out the back cooking sausages on the BBQ in the soaring heat, and reflect on the good times, the ones that make us smile and most importantly laugh.

On to totally different topic. I managed to punch put 2K of words today, I’m still ahead by about 400 words for the word limit I should be by day 21. Nine days and counting. I plan on getting past that finish line complete with 50,000 words.

That’s all I’ve got.

** Quickly uploading this while my Cousin is on the phone to her boyfriend saying goodnight to her kids. I didn't get a chance before she arrived at 6pm.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Day Twenty - Wet and not in a nice way!



As the sweat runs off me in this chair - I'm wet and not in a good way. Good way being - well do I need to spell it out!! Clearly from WALKING in the rain!!! (You filthy readers who thought of something sexual! Shame on you it's way too hot for that kinda action!) Anyway I'm typing at record fast speed hoping for not too many typos as I can't be arsed checking them (That's code for it's too bloody hot to care!) So I'll give a super quick lightning fast update.

Today was hot (See picture above) and it's still is quite hot, though not 41c as it was at 3pm when I took that photo!

I've written 1,059 words today, giving me a total of 34,402 words which is 402 ahead of day twenty target of 34,000 words exactly.

I did manage to go grocery shopping, and bought some Jelly.. MMmmmm Jelly. I was never aware that Aeroplane Jelly put out so many flavours. I walked out the door with six different flavours. I have a lemon and lime one setting in the fridge overnight. As I personally believe on a hot day jelly and ice-cream counts as a part of a balanced meal :P (In my world it does!) Though I need to watch what I'm sticking in my head, as I was at my mum's the other day and got on the Wii fit I've put on weight since I last wii'ed (Is Wii-ed a word?) I'm sure you know what I mean. Though my argument is muscle weighs more :P

Anyway... Life is here to be lived, and if that means I eat white chocolate tim-tams with my cup of tea then so be it, at least I can say I died happy :P Have any of you tried the new white chocolate tim-tams - they are extremely sweet, but Oh so nice!

Anyway I digress.... It's hot, I didn't make the 1,700 word limit I'm suppose to for the day but I'm still ahead by 402 words - so that's a bonus and an early mark from the heat. I AM picking up my laptop tomorrow. So I'll be able to write in the air-con comfort, as with nine days left of NanoWriMo I'd best put the excuses on the shelf and start punching out words!

That's all I've got.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Day Nineteen - After a slow start

I started this morning with some distractions, 400 words in I went to the post office to collect this massive thing my brother had sent to my address for our parents for x-mas.

The trip to the PO however turned out well. I walked up the ramp to the post office and seen what I thought was rubbish. It was a book of stamps that I simply assumed someone had used and just dropped instead of putting it in the bin. So I picked it up and Woohoo a full book of 10 x 55c stamps. I then proceeded to go tothe parcel collection part, where I held open the door for a lady who was coming out with her hands full (Good Karma points there). I then collected the aforementioned parcel, and was going to post a package to a friend of mine in QLD - the line inside was epic. So I went outside, put four stamps on the parcel (I probably over compensated - but Meh they were free stamps!) and posted her parcel.

I retuned home, cooked up some Marinated chicken (Master food Portuguese marinade)It was HOT like burning your mouth to the fuck hot! But not green thai curry hot! If you like spicy food with a nice citrus tang I can higly recommend it. Anyway I ate the chicken with some steamed vegies and thought -

Need to Write....

The temperature at this stage hit 39c and well I couldn't be arsed sitting in the heat writing (No I've still not picked up my laptop!) So I watched a movie in the air-con instead. This afternoon however I've been much more productive - I made a salad roll for dinner. I've spoken to my nephew on the phone, Chatted to Scoman and various others over Twitter and I've written a total of 2,317 words so I've increased my word count by 1,900 words.

I was a little worried I maybe repeating myself - I sought advice from the great Scoman and he offered sound advice (Thanks Scoman) and so consequently I've checked over what I've written in the past few days. I don't think I've really gone in circles that I originally thought I had, and I'm forging on with another twist for Heath and Zoey.

I'll leave you with a snippet:

‘I’ve got the plans you want, anything else?’
‘Can you see who that arse was on the corner of junction 533, the one who ran out at us’
‘Yeah, how do I do that?’
Zoey jumped up and was at Heaths side in the time it took him to blink, she took a look at his screen and got him to input a search for....



That's all I've got.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Day Eighteen: Back on track

I'm back on board with Nano. Thank you all for your support :) I appreachite it more than I can express in words on here.

I wrote 2,575 words today, and I've got a total word count of 31,110 which is 500+ words over where I should be by day 18.

I've nothing to report, other than it's a lot cooler here today thankfully. I still haven't picked up my laptop, it's on the list of things to do tomorrow, along with dinner with my friend.

So here's a snippet.

As they passed the corner junction of 533, out of one of the houses ran a guy full pelt from his ship, leaping over the broken fence and charging at them. Zoey accelerated and swerved to her left evading the guy, he chased after them, but was wasting his time; he couldn’t keep up with a H11723 ENV Motorcycle.
‘Are you alright?’ Zoey could hear Heaths breathing increase.
‘What did he want?’
‘Us!, He wanted to rob us, they might not be able to steal this bike to ride it but they can soon strip it for the parts.’




That's all I've got.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Day Seventeen - I have nothing :(

Nothing to report today I'm sorry. I've written nothing for NanoWriMo today. I'm not 100% sure just why right now, I'm in a bit of a dark place I think, and I'm balancing on the edge of this sadness that I'm feeling right now engulfing me. I can't even explain why I feel this way. Depression is a fucker.

I spent today in my room (It has air-con) I read, watched TV (Dr Who) and slept. I got up to let the dog out to pee several time, and that was pretty much it.

I was suppose to go and collect my laptop this evening, but the mother of all storms was approaching, when I called my friend who currently has my laptop to ask if it was raining where he was, he said it's 'fucking hailing!' Hail and cars don't mix so well. So I'll head over to his place early tomorrow morning and pick it up.

A friend called me today to ask me if I've like to go to the midnight screening of New Moon. I think my laughter offended her some what! I asked her if she had tickets, her answer was 'no not yet' to my response I don't like your chances then as I'm sure it's sold out. I suggested she call the cinema and ask, she did then called me back to say it was sold out solid for the next 14 day! We're getting together for dinner anyway, so it will be nice to catch up with her, as I've not seen her in ages. I'm not a fan of new moon enough to part with my money to sit in a cinema of screaming teenage girls. I explained this to her on her return call to me, as an apology for literally laughing down the phone at her! She agreed that it probably wasn't a good thing to go opening night (Or in this case the first fortnight!) But I told her I'd see about going with her when all the hype cleared out.

So with nothing to report on my word count today, and being an overall bag of fucking misery... I'll head back to the comfort of my air-conditioned room. Watch some DVD's and call it a night.

I'll be right tomorrow.... I'll have time to bitch slap my self out of this hole and get back on track....

Until then, thanks for sticking with me.

That's all I've got.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Day Sixteen - If the bloody internet would work I could post this!

It’s hot – like super bloody hot, like sweating in your own bloody sweat hot – it’s 7pm in the evening and still bloody 37c THIRTY SEVEN it’s only November – I feel for those poor people in South Australia that’s had this heat for a week. One day I've had it and I’m already bitching…. I’m off to collect my laptop tomorrow night so I can sit and write NanoWroMo in the comfort of the air-conditioning in my bedroom.

I’m looking at breaking into the PS3 cash stash for air-con in the lounge room, they have a kelvinator split system on special atm installed for $800 that’s like beyond cheap… So I’ll make my decision in the next few days. PS3 or Air-con in the lounge room.

I got just over 2,000 done today. (By just over 2,000 I literally mean 2,004!) But I’m sweltering here even as I type this. So it’s ice-cream and DVD’s in the comfort of my bedroom this evening, that’s after I watch FlashForward. So I can be a good Flash Forward buddy to Scoman!

I’ll stop typing, upload this and go get my ice-cream on!

Here is today’s snippet.


Zoey pulled the door ajar wide enough to allow herself and Heath to slip into the gap, the movement sensors made the lights inside come on, and there amongst equipment that had belonged to her Dad such as vests, helmets, gloves, and clothing, primarily boots, some of which were still in their boxes. Was a H11723 ENV Motorcycle.
‘Holy shit! You have an ENV Motorcycle?’
‘No my dad had one, but I guess it’s mine now.’
Heath went over to get a closer look. ‘Can I touch it?’
Zoey laughed. ‘Of course you can, you’re going to be on the back of it shortly!’
‘Really, you’re going to take me on a ride on this thing?’ Heaths eyes wide with excitement



That’s all I’ve got.


Actually it's not all I've got - I've just had to load three different fucking browsers to get this page to load and I've been reduced to using IE FFS! People might shit on Internet Explorer but fuck me it's the ONLY browser I have loaded on this PC that's bloody working right now!

Now...... THAT IS all I've got!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Day Fifteen - The Half Way Point

Day fifteen of thirty and my official word count as of the NanoWriMo website is sitting currently at 26,634 I'm happy with that.

I'm writing this blog entry at about 6:30pm EST as I plan to have the evening off. I just need a bit of Sal time. Time to watch the crazy shit they put on TV of a Sunday night, eat pasta, drink coke and do nothing. Literally nothing!

Life in general is going alright. I'm happy with the progress I have made with my Nano - I'm ahead atm by 1,135 words. It's nice to be ahead. I'm also about to print out a hard copy of the first 15 days. From the outset I thought. Right I'll print it out at 25,000 words which is the halfway point. This will give me a chance to have a read of it, regroup and forge ahead. I've reached both both 25,000 words and ahead by day 15. So I'm feeling good about hitting the print button on my manuscript. I'll leave you once again with a snippet from today's writing.

Heath walked over to the large robot that looked like a very strong man.
‘So what you just hit it? Kinda like a boxing bag?’
‘No, it’s designed to be a training partner, it will attack you, and know when to back off, should you not be responding correctly, or consequently if to tell it to stop! One of these days I think this will replace the soldiers on the front line, but I doubt I’ll ever see it.’
‘Can I have a go?’


That's all I've got.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Day Fourteen - My arse has gone numb

My arse has gone numb from sitting in this chair re-reading over what I wrote today, and playing with it. I know you're not suppose to, but when your fingers can't keep up with the thoughts coming out of your head, you get typos like this:

Shopping, when the word I wanted was Suppose. I know I'm special!

I got home from my parents about 1:30pm today, and just went for a solid writing session to catch up, and mainly to get all the ideas I'd jotted down in my little notebook the previous day out of dot points and into actual prose.

So here is a snippet from today. I will leave you with that, and remove myself from this chair as now my arse is aching. It's pushed past the numb barrier, and into the pins and needles!!!!

Zoey got up and went to the utility cupboard, opened it and searched the shelves for what she was looking for.
‘I’m sure I seen one in here the other day.’ Speaking aloud to herself as per usual, she was a little startled when Heath answered her back.
‘Wow, you have a lot of stuff in here.’
Zoey smiled, ‘yeah, it all comes in handy from time to time.’ She reached into the far back corner of the second bottom shelf. ‘This is it’ pulling out a small yellow bulb like object. She showed it to heath.



That's all I've got.

** The little ticker thing isn't updating, but the total word count is currently just over 24,000 words on the official counter from the NanoWriMo site.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Day 13 - Ipod Touch Update

I'm writing this on my ipod touch while leeching the net from the neighbours at my parents. I'm having a 'sleep over' with almost four nephew. (He's asleep in the bed beside me right now, and is quite adorable!)

Consequently the word count for today is sitting at 768 (I think from memory) I wrote this morning before heading to my parents to spend time with my brother and his family and where I'm now staying the night. (Good thing I bought the dog!!)

I'm back home tomorrow, so I'll write more then. In the mean time I've made a heap of notes on where I will go tomorrow and I hope to punch out another effort of at least 4,000+

Until then.

That's all I've got.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Day Twelve - Donuts saved the day

After yesterdays effort for NanoWriMo and my family home I haven’t written anything today. As today was Astroboy day.

I can’t really bein to explain just how heart broken almost four nephew was when it was discovered that NO cinema’s in this area or an hours drive away were showing Astroboy anymore :( He was upset by it as you’d expect.

So we went with next best thing. Ben 10 on DVD at my parent’s place, who have a bloody HUGE TV screen. After finding out there was no screening of Astro boy in any of the cinemas in the area I live. I asked almost four nephew on the phone, what he’s like to do instead of watching Astro and his answer was quick and clear – Ben 10. So I called into Big W on my way to my parents, searched the isles of the DVD department and found Ben 10 on DVD. I brought three of them. (The were $10 each) and headed to my parents, stopping on the way at the Donut shop, collecting Twelve iced donuts and some strawberry milk. Then settled in for a day of Ben 10 on the ‘almost kinda big TV’, which thankfully was a suitable alternative. (Just quietly I think it was the iced donuts that won him over!) Consequently I held onto the Atroboy toy. I’ll give it to him for x-mas I think. He was already upset about not being able to see Astro, so turning up with a toy from the movie wasn’t a smart movie in my opinion.

I have just got home from being at my parents all day. I’ll head back there tomorrow for lunch, and educate both my nephews with ‘Count Duckula’ on Friday the 13th

With no progression in the word count for today.

That’s all I’ve got.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Day Eleven - I'm off and racing!

4,696 word for today – Yes blog readers that’s Four Thousand, Six Hundred and Ninety Six words! How RAD is that! Woohoo therefore would be an understatement.

With that mammoth effort today, this blog is going to be super short. Today as you can see was very productive, after getting ZERO done yesterday. (I’m thinking over 4,500 words kinda makes up for that!) I’m off and racing once again.

Tomorrow is ‘Astro on the BIG TV’ I’ll let you know what I thought of it, and how the day in general went in tomorrows blog. But for now – here’s a snippet from today:

‘How long can you hold your breath underwater Heath?’
Heath thought that was quite an odd question after what he’d just unloaded onto Zoey.
‘Err about 2 minutes I think, why?’
Zoey smiled. ‘Nothing I’m just teasing you, you just unloaded all that info on me, in one breath! That’s quite impressive!’



That’s all I’ve got.

** The little word ticker thing isn't refreshing atm - The total word count so far is now sitting on 20,004

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Day Ten: -------------------------

Word count = 0 Zero, zip, nadda, nothing, not a word onto the page / screen for today.

The reason for this is I’ve been out all day with various appointments (I actually thought they were next Tuesday but anyway). So my day has been taken up with poking and prodding from various people and ‘those in the know!’ In my time between appointments / waiting for results etc. I shopped for x-mas presents for my family. I also came across the massive amount of Astro boy merchandise released in conjunction with the movie. I bought my ‘almost four’ nephew a little action figure so he can have something to play with while I attempt to keep him entertained on the car ride to the ‘Big TV’ aka the cinema, and I bought my other little nephew a stuffed thing from that secret garden show he’s apparently right into the blue monster thing. (It’s fucking disturbing if you ask me!) I’ll break him into the good wholesome shows like Gumby don’t you worry!!!

Other than that, it was an exhausting day of various doctors, and other ‘shit’ and the conclusions is they still have no answers for me re my migraine issues. The advice they are giving me atm is to ‘increase’ the preventer medication…. Well fuck me sideways! I paid how much to hear something that I fucking worked out myself?!? Anyway… I’ll do as they suggest and talk to my brother about it when he gets here tomorrow. (My brothers a Doctor for those who don’t know) and see what his thoughts are on it all. I hate asking him medical stuff (For the record I rarely do, he however asks me to fix his computer all the time, so I guess the odd free medical advice makes up for it!!) The reason I don’t like to ask my brother for medical advice is well to me he’s just my brother, whilst he is a doctor, when I look at him, and speak with him he’s just my brother. If that makes sense.

So with ZERO on the word count. I have the following to achieve tomorrow before 3pm when my family arrives. Punch out a minimum of 2,500 words. No excuses, that’s just how it has to be.

That’s all I’ve got.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Day Nine: 2000 word limit achieved

So I stopped procrastinating, and punched out over 2,000 words today. I’m happier today with what I wrote than yesterday. Today I just fell into the grove of the character, and made her come alive on the page. This was aided by the council cutting down trees out on the front street at 8am! A bloody chainsaw going off at 8am! So I had some time to plan and think about the direction I was going to take her today while they made a massive noise out on the front street. They (The tree cutters) had wrapped up by 10:30am.

With a hot cup of tea, I knuckled down and just wrote, stopping for some lunch before heading back in and punching out about another 200 words. Calling it a day @ 2,356 words. I’m technically on even par according to the official Nano site’s little ‘graph’ on where I am and where I should be, by day nine. Though my math states that as of day nine @ 1,700 words per day that equates to a total of 15,300 and my current total is 14,963 – so 364 words short is well a bee’s dick in reality.

So here is a snippet from today’s writing.

Zoey took a deep breath, and snapped the splitter onto the frequency of the LED panel. She opened her eyes, and breathed a sigh of relief, it worked, and hadn’t tripped the alarm.


I'm off to bed as my uterus is currently falling out (Females will understand - and Scoman who got a delightful explanation on twitter!) Tomorrow I’ve got some appointments to go to, but will be ploughing ahead in time for my Astroyboy date on Thursday.

That’s all I’ve got.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Day Eight: Super Quick

I only wrote 1,557 words today. I've kinda lost the vibe. They say that would happen by day eight, and well I think mine kinda kicked in yesterday. But I'm still plugging along. I know where the story will lead to next, and what will happen after that event etc. So it's not like I'm at a point of 'what should I write now!' which is good!

I spoke on the phone to my 'I'm almost four' nephew this afternoon, he will be here on Wednesday, and has requested we go see Astro on Thursday please! I said that would be 'totally cool' (I'm educating him in the excellent descriptive words of the English language! we have 'Rad' down) So I've got a date with a beautiful boy on Thursday to see Astro on the big TV :)

That is reason enough to bitch slap myself in the face and sort my shit out to get back on track for this 50,000 word novel before then!

So tomorrow it's WORK... Writing writing writing, no excuses... I've got to get ahead, because on Thursday I'm going to see Astro boy!!

No snippet today, as the writing was a bit shit house in my opinion!

That's all I've got.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Day Seven: Part Two Quick Snippet

Just thought I'd throw a snippet in from today's writing. - Final word count in total is 11,019

The following is a piece of the conversation with Heath (The male lead) and his Grandmother.

‘It’s ok, because out of no where this girl came and saved me.’
‘Oh really? Who was this girl?’
‘You’ll never guess.’
‘I doubt I will, so just tell me, sweetheart.’ she was short, but meant well.
‘Zoey River, Gran! Zoey River saved my life!’
'Sergeant Rivers daughter?’
'Yes Gran, Sergeant Rivers daughter. She just appeared out of nowhere, and totally annihilated James and his boys, well she scared his gang off, but she totally kicked James’s arse.’
‘Butt sweetheart, or behind’
‘Sorry Gran, she totally kicked James’s butt, really taught him a lesson, he won’t be worrying me ever again.’

So my protagonists name is Zoey River. Her father's a sergeant in the military, and she's kicking 'arse' I mean butt!

That's all I've got.

Day Seven: A word count and an award.

I got a lot of writing done today, however it encroached on my word count. I edited it. I know we’re just suppose to ‘write’ but when I re-read over the previous days work to re gather a feel for it. I can’t help but edit. I did manage to write 1,270 words today, and I’m currently ‘writing’ atm. So the count will increase, before the days out.

In other news a fellow blogger named Wendy (Quillfeather) has shown the love and given me an award How Rad is that! It’s called The Honest Scrap Blogger Award’. I’m really chuffed as it’s my first award *ever* So thank-you Wendy :)



Here are the rules of the award:

1. 'The Honest Scrap Blogger Award' must be shared.
2. The recipient has to tell 10 (true) things about themselves that no one else knows.
3. The recipient has to pass along the award to 10 more bloggers.
4. Those 10 bloggers should link back to the blog that awarded them.


So here are ten things I’m quietly confident you don’t know about me.

1) I’m allergic to corn (That includes Maize!)
2) I’ve a fear of the dark – I don’t like it when I can’t see!
3) I can’t go a day without a cup of tea (White with one)
4) People who can’t use an indicator on their car shit me.
5) My favourite fruit are strawberries.
6) I broke my hand when I was thirteen, from fighting, not from an ‘accident’
7) I’m in super like with a girl on the other side of the world. But she’s not gay
8) All rapists and paedophiles should be castrated.
9) I adore black and white photography.
10) I’m too afraid to put my work forward to ever get published.

As I have only 12 people who follow me. With Wendy giving me the award (See above or in my sidebar for linkage to her blog) That leaves eleven. So I’m going all out and offering my loyal readers this award.

To you cool, hip and happening bloggers in this list who have more then twelve followers, your task to narrow down ten, maybe difficult. I however have taken the easy I mean generous way out, as I think if you’re following me, you’re either a) A stalker or b) Super cool! I’ll go with the latter :P

The following blogs are cool, because they follow me. Therefore they have been passed on this award. Go check them out and tell them ‘Just Sal’ sent you :P

“CarterMackenzie”
“Hillbilly Duhn”
“D”
“Rosie”
“C.J. Koster”
“ScoMan”
“Alyssa”
“makeanimpression”
"Sharp Finale"
"Cate Pearce"


This list is in no order - because they are all equally cool :P

I'll attempt to update the wordcount later if I remember. In the mean time I've tried to install a little 'ticker' with the official word count from NanoWriMo site. (it's suppose to update itself - we'll wait and see!) It's currently sitting on just over 10,000 words atm. However today's limit should be 11,000+ so I need to put my head down, and my arse up and start typing.

That's all I've got.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Day Six - Slack arse!

I wrote 200 words today! Just call me a slack arse!

I just wasn't in the writing place. I did 'try' but I just fiddled with the words I'd already written. Then my afternoon was out. I had lunch with some friends, had a bit of a shop, purchased the new Transformers DVD from Big W (It was the lowest price!) and then went over to my mum's to help her with the new computer she just bought. She ordered it Tuesday, they had it built and ready for her to collect today. So I went over and helped her set it up when she got home. (This also consisted of dinner being cooked. Lasagne that was just superb! Plus I got a 'take home' container, which I'll have for lunch tomorrow.

But back to the new desktop machine my mum's just bought (The first computer she's ever bought outright, as the one she had was bits and pieces from my old machines I'd put together for her.) I have to say I just drooled. The bloke gave her a brilliant price for what she got - it's a beast with quad core processors a massive 4 gig of Ram etc.

I've just got home, and have helped my cousins and his partner with some problems with their computer over the phone. If it 'all turns to shit' they are both coming to my place tomorrow in the hope I can fix it (I should start charging for my services!) I'm happy to help when I can and besides both boys are great fun to hang out with.

Overall though I think I needed today, a day free of thinking about plot lines, story arc, character development. Tomorrow I have nothing planned, so I'll attempt for an early start and get the word count back on track.

I'm off to watch the Transformers DVD I bought today.

That's all I've got.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Day Five - Word count healthy

I'm onto Day five - I came in this morning 1,000 words short from yesterday and had to make up the 1,700 for the daily limit. So head down arse up I wrote.

I started at 8am, punched out 1,000 words by 9:06am Answered the door. Got a delivery - Robot Chicken Season one (I'm about to start watching that!) Then proceeded to do some stuff around the house, cleaned the bathroom, put on some washing etc.

Got back into it about 11am, wrote until 12pm another 420 words. Stopped had lunch, and then wrote in the afternoon. Word count for today in total 3,115 words.

6,000 + words in and I'm finally cracking out some conversation. I have a run on stuff I write, it's either super chatty or it's kinda silent. This piece has started off silent, and if it goes to plan, then it will have a 'regular' amount of conversation within it, but I don't want it to be the driving force.

By Day five I should have a word count total of 8,500 I'm over that by 1,350 words rounding off the day with 9,850 words. I'm really happy with that, it's flowing well, and I'm determined to see this through.

So to leave you with another snippet:

The pain wasn’t pleasant, especially as her ribs were still sore from yesterdays events. This attack made Zoey angry. She thought of the revenge she’d like to give James at that moment, a zap back with a S14 military grade power taser, would suit her fine.


That's all I've got.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Day four - Part one - This is for Scoman

Thanks to Scoman for his comment on my blogs (You are a champion) Actually thanks to everyone who comments - it makes me feel worthy of your time.


However this one goes out to the Scoman! Here is a 'snippet' from yesterdays effort - which is the lead in line for todays writing.

Whether the cells did cause pain, Zoey wasn’t prepared to test it out. It was more than her life was worth to open that particular door right now.

So as not to leave you up in the air too much! *lol* Zoey has just described a security holding device, which is part of the security check points between sections within the larger zone.

I'll post another 'snippet' for you later today.

That's all I've got. For the moment :)

*Late update* This will be the lead in line for tomorrow (day five) writing.

she closed her eyes, and attempted to shut off her brain to the day’s events in the hope to start a fresh tomorrow.

So that's officially 'All I've got'

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Day Three – Quote of the day

I got an early start this morning. I was up about 7am, had breakfast, re-read over what I’d written (And failed to get written yesterday i.e my notes) and got stuck in early – got two loads of washing on the line, cleaned up, cooked lunch, did some writing, spent time with my mum – which included watching the Melbourne cup, and pretty much did what I could to escape from the heat. I managed to punch put 1,457 words for today. While it’s not the minimum of 1,700 words I’m currently sitting at a total word count of 4,799 words in three days which is 301 words short of the 5,100 by day three that I should be at to make it 50,000 words in 30 days.

The way I look at this is – if I force it – I’ll clamp up and will have no output.

I’ve got the main character, the story arc, who will be introduced, how, when etc their back story and how they are linked to the bigger picture – and finally one of two options for an ending. With my mum’s comment of ‘Please make sure you don’t kill off Zoey!'

For those who don’t know my main protagonist is a girl called Zoey.

Anyway tomorrow I have nothing on all day – I’m free to write when I feel the urge and I’ll undoubtedly punch out at least 2,000 words. Thus getting me ahead – if all goes well I’d love to write tomorrow evening with an update to say I’ve eclipsed 4,000 words! (That would be nice)

I’ve still got a mild headache from yesterdays on-slaught – but it’s nothing compared to what I was faced with yesterday, and I’m still a bit ‘off’ in the stomach – classic signs for me of a monster migraine – especially when I spew!


Highlight of today was "Quote of the day" from my mum. She came back here this afternoon, after her morning appointments to have lunch and watch the running of the Melbourne cup. In the wait for the cup to start, we had lunch, and she watched some of ‘The L Word’ with me. For those who don’t know the show. It follows the lives of various women who are all one large group of friends, but there is A LOT of girl on girl sex. This particular episode that my mum and I watched this afternoon seemed to have more than usual (That was probably only because I was watching it with my mum!) However the episode finished, and I said to my mum. ‘So what did you think?’

Her response was priceless. ‘Do you have that much sex! All those girls seemed to do was shag!’

I laughed my head off, and told her I only wished I had that much sex! So an insight for my mum into Lesbian-land ( The term Lesbian-land is a term of endearment used by my brother!) as portrayed on TV. Lesbians have a lot of sex. I’ll leave you all with that thought.

That’s all I’ve got.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Day Two - Just excuse me while I spew

Day two......

Off to a flying start - punched out 800 words in no time (I love fiction it's so much easier to write than assignment where you have to verify the facts!) Long story short... About 12pm I stopped for lunch, I'd not finished chewing the last mouthful of my sandwich (Ham and cheese if you're interested!) and I get the flashy lights and there's a disco happening in my right eye. For those in Australia who thought they could hear the shouting of the words Fucking fuck fuck FUCK about 12:50pm that was me! When I get a migraine I usually get signs of the tingles and then the flashes etc. This one today snuck up on me and flogged the shit out of me from behind! I'd lost all vision in my right eye in about ten minutes. So I drugged up and did the only thing I could do sleep.

About 45 mins into my dark room, floating drugged up feeling on my bed... this huge wave a nausea rolled over me and for one awful moment I though. That sandwich is about to become a Picasso like painting on the floor. I done the dash to the bathroom in time. My dog - bless him was all worried he knew something was up but just wasn't sure what.

Lemonade...... Lemonade is the champion beverage for any illness from migraines through to the flu! My personal preference is Kirks lemonade (Yes Kirks if you're reading feel free to send me from free stuff!) So I had a glass of Kirks lemonade, took more drugs, went back to bed, this time with a bucket and was out cold. like 'dead' cold as my mum came over and had to let herself in (she has keys) to find me sprawled out on top of my bed - fan on, bucket beside me, glass of lemonade near by. She physically had to 'shake' me to wake me up!

So today's word count is still sitting at 800. I've raised the total however all up to 3,326 as I wrote some more late last night. Working on the average of 1,700 words a day to get 50,000 words in 30 days I'm a bee's dick behind right now. However I'll make it up with out any dramas.

Right now though I'm going to go have some Vegemite on toast - the second best thing for illness.

That's all I've got.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Day One - Slight hiccup - but improved

Day one

I’m off and writing! I got up about 8am, had breakfast, cup of tea etc and then sat down to ‘get started’ it flowed out of me quite quickly as I knew what angle I wanted to start with, and I’d done some homework etc. I stopped at 1,000 words for a mid morning break, in which my mum phoned to ask how it was all going. (I’d told her I’d be having a break about 11am) So we talked on the phone and she asked how it was going etc. I said "Would you like me to read you what I’ve got so far?" She replied "oh yes please". I explained it was rough and only 1,000 words, but she was encouraging and said “we’ll that’s 49,000 to go Sal.

She then put me on speaker phone so that my Dad could listen also.

I read out the first 1,000 words of my story – my mum was ‘oh that’s quite good, I want to know what happens next’ (My mum is my best critic if it’s shit she will tell me!) so I was like – sweet I’m on a bit of a winner here if what I’ve written so far is enough to get people wanting more.

My dad however:

‘What’s the title?’
'I’ve not come up with one yet’
‘Oh’
‘What do you mean oh – are you telling me you only read books by the title?’
‘Well they play a significant part yes’
‘Forget the title dad – what did you think? Did it draw you in to want to keep reading?’
'Mmm yeah I guess, not really my thing’

In my mind I’m thinking – how the fuck can you tell if it’s not your thing when it’s only just 1,000 words which is a page and a half! Most people give the book they read at least 10 pages before making judgement – I’ve just read a very rough 1,000 words and he’s already decided it’s not his thing!

Normally at this point I’d stand my ground and ask to him to validate his reasoning for his thoughts on the matter, but I though fucking why bother! It’s just a constant loop. This is a repeat of my life – nothing I do is ever ‘good enough’ it’s never ‘valid’ as I’m not my brother!

I remember when I used to work in computers and coming home for a weekend and my father couldn’t accept that I was a girl and I knew stuff about computers, it wasn’t until I pulled my uncles computer apart in front of him, fixed it, put it back together and made it go that he actually realised that I fucking kinda new what I was doing!

Anyway back to the phone conversation. I just thought fucking fuck it – so I was a little abrupt and said. “well I’d best get back to it, I’ll talk to you both later” and pretty much ended the phone call.

My mum has since phoned back! I’ve had a rant / unload and have told her I’m happy for her to read it, but not him! I don’t want him to read any of it!

In other news – I *was* really happy with my progress this morning, I’ve got chapter one kinda done (I’m not a big fan of super long chapters) and I can clearly see now where the character of Zoey will go next.

However right now I’m fucked off – so I’m going to go have a cup of tea, play with my dog and get ‘zen’ with the world once again.

I’ll update some more later.


***************************************************
Update: I ended the day on 2,196 words, which I'm happy about. I managed to get my 'zen' back. The highlight of my day was my brother calling and I got to talk on the phone to my 'almost four' (That's what he says when you ask him how old he is - "almost four") year old nephew. He seen an advert on TV for the new Astro Boy movie, and asked if I'd take him to see it on the big TV (The cinema) I told him I would if he came to visit me while it's still showing. They are due to visit in two weeks so I'll take him to the 'big TV' and see Astroboy. He just lights up my life. He told me how his little brother is starting to walk, but he fell over and so he was a good boy and helped him up, and he also 'showed' me his new shoes (I'm still laughing over that) He was 'hold on I'll get them for you to see - puts down the phone and comes back - "See them Sal they are red!" I was like "Yeah sweetheart they are lovely."


So with day one of NanoWriMo out of the way which started off shit, it's ended well.

That’s all I’ve got

Awesome

I'm writing this from my bed on my Ipod touch. It's 1:29 am and it's just dawned on me that today (later on) I will start writing the first words of a novel. How awesome is that! It may never see the light of day. But at least I'll be able to say I tried. Will now try and post this and get some sleep.

That's all I've got