1. The 50th anniversary of the John F Kennedy assassination.
1b. The completion of the online University of Virginia course I was taking, The Kennedy Half Century.
2. The 50th anniversary of Doctor Who
3. A weekend visit by my dearest friend.
4. A seriously dented and out of the ordinary schedule.
5. The release of the second Hunger Games movie.
6. An unscheduled but not unwelcome trip to Worley Castle to see the parentals and eat all their food.
7. Rehearsals for Crimbo gig.
8. Big work project going live at last with all the related rushing and last-minute stuff.
I didn't get much time for writing, is what I'm saying... and yet, and yet...
The Kennedy thing was of particular interest because there was a time when the legends of faux-Camelot and the New Frontier fascinated me. I had an intense couple of days finishing up video lectures before my final exam on the course before its deadline, too... To think, without the Kennedys, I might never have chosen American Studies for my BA. Nah... it was always on the cards. Some of the things I've read and seen this week have been fascinating - not least a ditched Gerald Ford campaign advert I can barely believe a human being with a conscience could've created, let alone a whole team.
Almost the entirety of Thursday evening was a write-off thanks to An Adventure in Space and Time, the rather wonderful drama about the origins of Doctor Who, with a really tremendous performance from the always-solid David Bradley as William Hartnell and a surprise cameo at the end which had me tearfully cursing the emotionally manipulative sods at the BBC... and which was then followed by the first serial. I made it through two episodes before forcing myself to type... but to not much avail.
My week was, for good reasons and not so good, not per my usual schedule. As a person with - let's call 'em "some issues" - I find that structure lends some kind of balance to my life and this week wasn't too good for that given the list above.
Incidentally: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is a very good film which actually made me, the Great Unflappable, Walks Away from Explosions type person, flinch at one point. Hemsworth and Hutcheson's acting has improved somewhat, too. Sutherland remains Creepy As, and I can't wait for Mockingjay.
Sunday morning found Tasha and I at The Diner in Spitalfields eating brunch - I had forgotten how much I missed cornbread - and then after waving Tasha off on her way back to the South Coast, I sat down at home to write at last...
And it didn't happen. I read some bits of Peter Ackroyd's epic London and a couple of little books my dad lent me (Using the word lent as if I'm going to give them back. Ain't I cute?)... and did I mention there was a brand new epic episode of Doctor Who to catch-up with?
At least it meant I couldn't go on Facebook until I'd seen it thanks to spoilers, so I got 1971 done without too much of a headache, though I still need to send to a friend for some Spanish translations...
Generally and as usual, I underestimated myself. I had scribbled a fair amount of bits and pieces on buses and trains and in brief, stolen moments throughout the week and only needed to type it up. I had been piecing together the plot in my head throughout the week.
Seriously, the amount I can do on this just in my head... scary in a way, like the way some people can do complicated calculations off the top of their head, I can write novels. Whole flipping novels... if only it were so easy to get it from one's mind to the page.
I even switched a storyline around to make it more cheerful. Or rather, less grim. The nature of the story has taken me to some dark places and I just thought "Nah, let's do a happy ending for once..."
And I even took the plunge and gave some of what I have so far to my Trusted Readers to have a gander at. Feedback so far is good... but I find it quite strange that I haven't had the time to assess for myself - normally by now I know exactly what I think about everything because I've read and re-read the manuscript several times.
This writing-in-a-rush is a really interesting exercise in doing it differently to my natural way, and combined with the support of the regular Nanowrimo emails and blogposts is... it's just really a new experience in a lot of ways.
Anyway, the really short answer is this: I'm so nearly there. Which is just as well because it's 25th November (just about) and there's only thirty days in this month.
I have the 28/29 off work to finish off, but hopefully I won't wait until then... In the meantime, I've posted the (unedited) opening to the novel here so please do check it out.
Word Count: 46,800... So close, sooooooooo close!
Oh and, The Day of the Doctor: first impression is of "awesome" but no doubt I'll think more on it and change my mind at least a little.
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For more information on the Author: http://nanowrimo.org/participants/clare-worley
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more information on Radio Lollipop: http://www.radiolollipop.org/
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more information on NaNoWriMo: http://nanowrimo.org
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