I've Been Ignoring My Blog Again,

Yeah, so I have been ignoring this thing again, and really, the truth is that I don't mind that. These last few months have been busy with work and dating and hating dating and all sorts of things and now it's Camp NaNo and I have never felt less like taking part than I do at this moment.

This past week I have been constantly exhausted but unable to sleep, so the idea of kicking my butt into writing has probably been one of the furthest things from my mind. Add to that the amount of work I have on at the moment and some other things that, for once, I would rather not talk about, I really don't know how this month is going to go and that's a shame because my unofficial camp project was to finish draft one of the novel from November which now seems to be somewhat unending. Part of me is tempted to stay up tonight whilst the fancy is taking me and cement all the little pieces together and then at least that is done. And the other part of me pulls a 'Scream' face every time I so much as think about doing that. Editing is not my strong point. Pulling the pieces of the novel together is not my strong point. I don't do chapters. This is going to be hell on Earth!!!

Alongside all of this I have had the joys of attempting to find myself somewhere new to live. Now, whilst this is not strictly necessary because where I live now I could feasibly continue to live for a while, but the distance to work and having to share with two boys and a mouse is not an ideal situation. I would much rather be back to living on my own, but it takes so much time to find a place, look at it and then inevitably write it off for whatever reason.

I make no commitments to this blog now other than the commitment which I make to myself at the moment. I am trying to be the best possible version of myself.

Catch you later.

Woo!,

I've been pretty vocal about the fact that this week has been busy, and I was well prepared for the fact that my word count was going to kind of tank. (Well, not tank, but not quite get on the ladder really.) It's been difficult to see where I would be able to fit in writing and I really have been struggling with getting any sort of word count recorded. 

Thankfully (really?), well, thankfully yesterday I spent a scheduled few hours in hospital being poked and prodded and spun around at low speed with lights flashing. It was quite as *fun* as it sounds. The good thing is that between all the bits and pieces I was getting tested or questioned about, I was able to sit in the reception with my iPad and type furiously to try and catch up. I'm pretty blessed to have a myriad of writing tools and several of them are actually very portable which does help when I have spent 90% of the time I've actually been in my flat this week asleep. 

It's been annoying because I really want to work on the novel that I decided would be my project this time around. Thankfully I got well enough into it today that I've managed to not only get to the 10k I was aiming for this weekend, but actually caught up with how many words I was supposed to be on today - 11290 (and a little bit more). 

I'm going to try a little harder this week in order to get some words in on the train in the morning and on the way home, and maybe some at lunch time, too (though that might be pushing the boat out a little bit) because I really don't want to fall behind again. 

As much as it is Camp, and Camp is a lot more laid back in terms of deadlines and such than November, I don't want to fail when I've decided to go for a little bit less than the November target.

Ah well - we'll see how it goes. Catch you later. 

Well, That's an Unfamiliar Phrase,

Even though I am exhausted, and it's been a long week and my mouth has been in pain many times where I am missing a tooth, I can honestly say that I love my job. 

I started my new job on Monday morning and it is a very steep learning curve, believe me, but knowing a lot of different things for my job is not the problem. The "problem" which isn't really a problem per se is that I went into my last job with at least a small amount of knowledge, whereas with this I am learning pretty much from scratch. 

To say that I have not got as much writing done as I might have hoped would be the understatement of the century. I barely got a few thousand words done after the weekend, which means that I am struggling in terms of word count. It always seems that drafts of my novels end up as a sort of Frankenstein's manuscript with bits and pieces here and there that need to be sewn together. Part of the reason that they all need bringing together is because otherwise, I have no clue what my actual word count is; it's all guess work and underestimations. 

I don't miss my old job, but I do miss having the time to write whilst doing my job. Whilst in the call centre it was more than possible to be scribbling a few paragraphs or drawing up a little plan or something, but my new role is much more intense, and I don't have that luxury. Granted, having a few canine compadres wandering around more than makes up for it. Then again, I'm biased. I prefer most people's fur babies (dogs, cats, rabbits etc...) to actual babies because generally, they don't make quite so much noise - though I do love a terrier more than anything and they can be yappy little sods. 

So I have a million and one things to try and get done and nowhere near the amount of time I need to do they, but I'm just going to try and get stuck in. 

Catch you later

My Own Limitations,

Camp started a few days ago now and I can't say that I'm where I wanted to be. 

Last year I had this great starting day of fifteen thousand words, and yes, it nearly made me keel over, but it was excellent in terms of how much I got done. 

This time around I started in my sweat pants, so lord only knows where this is headed. I've also had to head to the dentist to get a tooth out. And I'm starting a new job. And trying to find a new place to live, too. 

We're only three days in and I'm already dressing like a hobo, but thankfully still making normal foodie things. 

And I really need to sleep. 

Erecting the Tents,

No, like actual tents. Well, metaphorical...

It's 10 days until the second Camp of the year kicks off and this time, I definitely feel a lot more committed to it, which is probably because I actually have a project on for this one. 

Yesterday I mentioned having finished the first draft of the first volume of The Single Girls' Collective, and the plan for Camp NaNo is to carry on with this project and produce a solid 35K as a draft for the next volume. I'm referring to them as volumes because I don't know right at this moment if they will be novels (50k+) or novellas. I'm just trying to run with what they are at the moment and then the framework can come later.

With Camp looming, we've all been talking about cabins, and events and such, which has been wonderful. I'm helping to organise a London based cabin, and there should be some really fun goings on. Also, there are five weekends in Camp this year, which is beautiful, because it gives me more blog time (if I stick to just Sundays, which is obviously the commitment I made at the beginning of the year) and also because, for those of us who work office hours, it gives us more time for solid writing!! 

Now don't get me wrong - Camp is still going to be intense and my estimate of 35K is still a daunting thought because it is a lot of work. It still takes a lot to drag your butt home after a day of work and sit and work or to do it before work, or on your lunch time. After NaNo, I know that it's easy to fit in about a hundred of so words whilst you go for your pee break from noveling, but still, it's intense. 

So the rest of this month is probably going to be making playlists, stocking up on snacks and making sure I have enough coffee to hit the ground running with this.  

I will be staying up from midnight a week on Thursday to welcome this into my life, and hit the ground running. Feel free to join me, one and all.

Catch you later.