27 Oct 2017

Oh, Balls,

Is November really that close? Already? Are you quite sure? Oh dear, oh dear, oh balls. 

I was ready 2 days ago, but this always happens. I feel like I'm hitting the peak too soon and I am ready for NaNoWriMo to start early and then, this happens. This being the craziness of feeling like the world is about to crumble, catch fire and ultimately end because Jesus H. Christ why am I doing this to myself all over again? WHY? 

I'll tell you why - I thrive on the madness. 

Every year I tell myself I will be a good girl and prepare myself for the impending craziness, like stretching when you want to exercise. I will prepare myself for what's about to happen to me and then every bloody year I go, nah, sack that and pants it like Superman. It is never a very good plan. 

This time around feels no different, though having cool news digs is making it feel slightly more sane, I don't have a freezer big enough to store all of the pizza I could possibly need to last the duration of this month, which is less than brilliant. I also did a potentially silly thing and joined a gym. Unlike most people, if I'm paying to be a member of the gym, I will attend it, but the problem I have there is that I naturally won't be able to write whilst doing so (maybe with my phone on the treadmill or the bike, but I am pretty sure that would factor into a list of weirdest places to write in so maybe not) so it is either going to cut into my writing time or my sleeping time and my sleeping time already takes a hit during NaNo. Oh this is just going to go wonderfully, isn't it? 

I'm really looking forward to this now...

Catch you later

16 Oct 2017

Oh, Bums,

Bums, what chapter were we up to? Had the protagonist moved into her stylish new apartment in town? I think she had. In fact, I think she was on her "holiday" back to her childhood home to look after Prince Pupperington...Well children, in tonight's chapter...

Okay, I don't think that voice suits me. 

Since writing last I have regained residence in my lovely flat, had my mother visit for the weekend, then the following weekend had both my parents visit, however that did lead to the acquisition of some glorious furniture and probably an extra couple of pounds of tummy flubber due to the Wetherspoon's breakfast. Ah, 'spoons.... 

The great thing about that is that I actually started feeling like this is nothing like student digs, and it is instead becoming an actual, adult apartment. Clearly, we can't be having that, so I got a pet.

This year has raced by, and quite frankly, I haven't cared really. Roll on the bit where I get to turn 25 - I hate even numbers. (Yes, I know, it's weird, but it's a thing.) However, I am not quite ready for NaNo to roll on quite so quickly.

Last year, my novel became my catharsis. My new job exposed me to a lot that I didn't know how to cope with and to say that I did cope with it would be a lie. I struggled, and it was because of that struggle that I was so glad to get my current role because part of it is to address that kind of struggle. (That was cryptic and vague, but I can't really say anything more.) As is often the case, I explored how I felt about some things in that novel and was able to express myself more capably in fiction than in any other form. The problem is that it does come at a cost. Last December I was really proud to have participated in my seventh NaNoWriMo, winning my sixth. Like the previous year, it was only one day early, which was such a distance behind on Day 19 in 2013, but things had changed. I wasn't a student anymore and last year I was MLing, working in one of the two best jobs of my career so far and also trying to write one of the hardest novels I have ever tackled. 

Clearly, I am insane because I am going to do it again. 

This year I am going to be just under a month into a new job (better than one day in, but not by much), will be MLing for a massive region that is also taking on new challenges (read the Facebook or the NaNo Forums) and will be taking on the continued challenge of that stupid book that part of me really regrets ever starting. It's quite a small part though. 

The problem with it is that it felt like several things I have been wanting to write for a very long time finally coming together in a bit of a series and that's difficult because it would be really nice to have something I could just crack out in 30 days and then pretty much forget about if I really wanted to, but no. This isn't going to be that task or book or series or whatever I want to call it. 

Joy to the world, I have created another mountain to climb. NaNo is coming, look busy. Catch you later.