Because I hate typing on this iPod touch, I'm going to try and sum up my day in a serious of unconnected sentences. Considering how little I did, I'll be lucky if I can get ten out of today.
1. I watched the first two episodes of Sherlock, which I thought were as interesting, brilliant and eccentric as their namesake.
2. I spent the evening typing up the cheapest, easiest recipes from all the cookbooks in my house as soon I'll going to have to cook for myself.
3. I'm currently watching 'Vexed' on iPlayer (which means I can't do anything else on my mum's laptop) and it's quite a good mixed of serious and comedy, although a far cry from Holmes.
4. I had my dessert at, like, 1 am, because I am such a maverick.
5. After the John Green talk yesterday, I was all inspired to write and spent ages awake in my bed thinking and I think I have a NaNoWriMo idea; basically.
6. I watched a lot of How I Met Your Mother and concluded that 'Showdown', 'The Stinsons' and 'Slapbet' are my favourite episodes.
7. We've got more plumbers and builders coming tomorrow but I refuse to get up even when they turn up.
8. I found what I thought was a lost Friends DVD which means I don't have to buy the whole series over again: rejoice! 9. Got a really interesting e-mail from my friend Alex which left me both excited and intrigued.
10. I cannot believe it is 3am; why stay up on a day when nothing is happening?
Well, at least it looks a bit longer than it would be if they were all in one paragraph. Promise to come up with something vaguely interesting to talk about tomorrow. Well, maybe not as strong as promise. I'll try.
Showing posts with label NaNoWriMo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NaNoWriMo. Show all posts
Monday, 16 August 2010
Friday, 16 October 2009
A Letter To My NaNoWriMo Protagonist
Dear Julian,
So, this is weird. You've been in my head for a long time - fully formed and raring to go. And I've been keeping you in, just waiting for the next month to start. But you're here now (almost), it's almost time to let you out so I thought I'd say hi. I know you're ready, and I can only hope I am too. I do not want to let you down or the story I know you have in you by, I don't know, losing the plot as it were (that was a bad joke, get used to them, they'll be following you around for all of November).
Because other than knowing you and your brother and a few ideas about general happenings, I have no idea how this is going to go; who you're going to meet, what food you want to eat, if you'll cry or even if you'll get out of this alive. Sorry, that makes it seem like you are completely in my hands but really, it's the other way round. I need you to let me know what you want, where you go, who you love and whether this ends well for you. Because until I meet you on November first, I am just as clueless about your life as I am about my own.
Because then, when I pick up my MacBook for what I'm sure will be the hundredth time that day, open TextEdit and make the document, I will finally get inside your head and understand you. And I'm so excited to finally meet you. I just know you'll be one of the best I ever write, best I ever meet even, because you are already three dimensional up here in my mind before you've even got a plot or friends to interact with. So you must be pretty charismatic.
The reason I love NaNoWriMo so much is because this month, your life and my life will merge and even the times I'm not with you, I'll still be thinking about you. It'll be a little bit like you're my husband, only it'll only last thirty days and you only exist in words. I hope we have a good time regardless of whether we win. We're in this together and it'll only work if we get on. So try not to be over complicated or do things out of character I then have to delete or get lost in a plot hole I have to work you out of. Just be yourself - no pressure. But let me know if I'm going wrong. Yell or scream or just hit a dead end. Anything.
I know you can't reply. I mean, you can but it'll really just be me and so... you can't. And also, if you were real and got this you'd be thinking you'd lost your mind. But just so you know, it's really helped me to write to you. I feel like it's really beginning and I'm nervous because, unlike last time, I know what I'm getting into; and I just want it to be as intense and wonderful as last year. So it's important to me that you're on my side in making this work.
I hope you're excited about this like I am. Japan means I won't be able to plan the way I want to, or might have done. And it also means the first chapter of your great American escapade will be tainted with jet-lag and the smell of a days worth of travel. But it'll be good - I promise! Or at least, I promise I believe that it will be.
So, by the end of the first of November I'll have given you a road-map, a car and a lot of emotional baggage. What we do with it is up to you.
Lots of love and lots of luck,
Grace
Your Writer
PS. I write much better when it's fiction. Promise!
If you want to know more about Julian or my novel, just comment or @ me. Or you can wait til it's over.
So, this is weird. You've been in my head for a long time - fully formed and raring to go. And I've been keeping you in, just waiting for the next month to start. But you're here now (almost), it's almost time to let you out so I thought I'd say hi. I know you're ready, and I can only hope I am too. I do not want to let you down or the story I know you have in you by, I don't know, losing the plot as it were (that was a bad joke, get used to them, they'll be following you around for all of November).
Because other than knowing you and your brother and a few ideas about general happenings, I have no idea how this is going to go; who you're going to meet, what food you want to eat, if you'll cry or even if you'll get out of this alive. Sorry, that makes it seem like you are completely in my hands but really, it's the other way round. I need you to let me know what you want, where you go, who you love and whether this ends well for you. Because until I meet you on November first, I am just as clueless about your life as I am about my own.
Because then, when I pick up my MacBook for what I'm sure will be the hundredth time that day, open TextEdit and make the document, I will finally get inside your head and understand you. And I'm so excited to finally meet you. I just know you'll be one of the best I ever write, best I ever meet even, because you are already three dimensional up here in my mind before you've even got a plot or friends to interact with. So you must be pretty charismatic.
The reason I love NaNoWriMo so much is because this month, your life and my life will merge and even the times I'm not with you, I'll still be thinking about you. It'll be a little bit like you're my husband, only it'll only last thirty days and you only exist in words. I hope we have a good time regardless of whether we win. We're in this together and it'll only work if we get on. So try not to be over complicated or do things out of character I then have to delete or get lost in a plot hole I have to work you out of. Just be yourself - no pressure. But let me know if I'm going wrong. Yell or scream or just hit a dead end. Anything.
I know you can't reply. I mean, you can but it'll really just be me and so... you can't. And also, if you were real and got this you'd be thinking you'd lost your mind. But just so you know, it's really helped me to write to you. I feel like it's really beginning and I'm nervous because, unlike last time, I know what I'm getting into; and I just want it to be as intense and wonderful as last year. So it's important to me that you're on my side in making this work.
I hope you're excited about this like I am. Japan means I won't be able to plan the way I want to, or might have done. And it also means the first chapter of your great American escapade will be tainted with jet-lag and the smell of a days worth of travel. But it'll be good - I promise! Or at least, I promise I believe that it will be.
So, by the end of the first of November I'll have given you a road-map, a car and a lot of emotional baggage. What we do with it is up to you.
Lots of love and lots of luck,
Grace
Your Writer
PS. I write much better when it's fiction. Promise!
If you want to know more about Julian or my novel, just comment or @ me. Or you can wait til it's over.
Monday, 5 January 2009
My 2009 Wish-List
So, I'm not doing resolutions this year: mainly because I'd rather decide things I want to do as and when them come to me rather than struggle to come up with some now, and also because I never meet them!
So, instead, I'm going to write a wish-list. Not just for my year but for media, politics and 2009 in general.
- I'd like the Supreme Court judgments on the same-sex marriages which took place in California before Prop 8 passed to again rule the ban unconstitutional, and over-rule Prop 8. If not, by the end of the year, I would like it to have been revoked in some other way, in any shape or form necessary.
- I'd like Luke and Noah to have sex. This may seem trivial, and shallow, but in reality I honestly think a teen gay couple having sex on daytime American television is a step which we should all support if the country is going to catch up with Europe in terms of tolerance in society and the law.
- I'd like Barack Obama to have a successful first year. Not only because it is an important year politically for the States, but because with all the pressure on him to make radical change, it would be a shame for him to loss that momentum before he has really had the chance to begin.
- I'd like David Tennant's final Doctor Who episode's to be entertaining and memorable. I really hope that the last, not only David Tennant but Russell T Davies episodes, will stand out in my mind as some of the best. I would feel better about saying goodbye if they went out in style.
- I would like to complete ScriptFrenzy and NaNoWriMo for a second year. I found NaNoWriMo, whatever the product, a very rewarding experience and it certainly made me question what I most enjoy in terms of what to do with my life. Before I become merchanary about writing, I would like to have two more months of pure, unadulterated creativity.
- I would like to see some of the bands we have been enjoying for nearly two years to enjoy to success they are predicted. Here, I am talking about White Lies, Nick Harrison, Mumford and Sons, Florence and the Machine etc. who are pipped as this years big bands (while we've known about them for ages!) They deserve all the success coming their way.
- I would like to get the grades in my AS exams I need to have the widest possible choice of Universities and would like to make sensible choices about them. My greatest fear is going somewhere and not enjoying it, so it's a summer of research I think. And some vague career idea (not plan, just idea) would be helpful with that...
- I would like to see some serious progress in countries who have faced the hardest 2008's: for example, Palestine and Zimbabwe.
- I would like to have a fruitful time in New York - of course, I'm going to enjoy it, but I feel like wasting the spare hours in the city (like I'm going to sleep!) would be a missed opportunity and would like a project. More writing maybe? But what?
- I would like to read newspapers on a more regular basis than I do. I read them on a very random basis, and am very selective on what I read, and feel it is becoming increasingly necessary for me to understand. If everything goes according to plan, we should be voting in the next election and I would hate to be mis-informed.
- I would like to have a summer of working to earn money, and reading. I feel I have not read enough novels in 2008, and would really like to get some solid reading down in 2009.
- I would like a film which everyone agrees is the Best Picture of the year to win the Oscar. There is no need to go for an outsider Academy - sometimes the best film is the one we all love too!
- And, possibly the most out-there, I would really like to film whatever I write in ScriptFrenzy this year. I have a couple of ideas, and I think they would not be that difficult to film, and I think it would be something lovely to look back on and work on with my friends.
So, this is what I would like to see. How many will happen? I don't know. I'm not going to go out of my way to see these things happen above my own sanity, but they are things I hope we would all love to see!
xXx
So, instead, I'm going to write a wish-list. Not just for my year but for media, politics and 2009 in general.
- I'd like the Supreme Court judgments on the same-sex marriages which took place in California before Prop 8 passed to again rule the ban unconstitutional, and over-rule Prop 8. If not, by the end of the year, I would like it to have been revoked in some other way, in any shape or form necessary.
- I'd like Luke and Noah to have sex. This may seem trivial, and shallow, but in reality I honestly think a teen gay couple having sex on daytime American television is a step which we should all support if the country is going to catch up with Europe in terms of tolerance in society and the law.
- I'd like Barack Obama to have a successful first year. Not only because it is an important year politically for the States, but because with all the pressure on him to make radical change, it would be a shame for him to loss that momentum before he has really had the chance to begin.
- I'd like David Tennant's final Doctor Who episode's to be entertaining and memorable. I really hope that the last, not only David Tennant but Russell T Davies episodes, will stand out in my mind as some of the best. I would feel better about saying goodbye if they went out in style.
- I would like to complete ScriptFrenzy and NaNoWriMo for a second year. I found NaNoWriMo, whatever the product, a very rewarding experience and it certainly made me question what I most enjoy in terms of what to do with my life. Before I become merchanary about writing, I would like to have two more months of pure, unadulterated creativity.
- I would like to see some of the bands we have been enjoying for nearly two years to enjoy to success they are predicted. Here, I am talking about White Lies, Nick Harrison, Mumford and Sons, Florence and the Machine etc. who are pipped as this years big bands (while we've known about them for ages!) They deserve all the success coming their way.
- I would like to get the grades in my AS exams I need to have the widest possible choice of Universities and would like to make sensible choices about them. My greatest fear is going somewhere and not enjoying it, so it's a summer of research I think. And some vague career idea (not plan, just idea) would be helpful with that...
- I would like to see some serious progress in countries who have faced the hardest 2008's: for example, Palestine and Zimbabwe.
- I would like to have a fruitful time in New York - of course, I'm going to enjoy it, but I feel like wasting the spare hours in the city (like I'm going to sleep!) would be a missed opportunity and would like a project. More writing maybe? But what?
- I would like to read newspapers on a more regular basis than I do. I read them on a very random basis, and am very selective on what I read, and feel it is becoming increasingly necessary for me to understand. If everything goes according to plan, we should be voting in the next election and I would hate to be mis-informed.
- I would like to have a summer of working to earn money, and reading. I feel I have not read enough novels in 2008, and would really like to get some solid reading down in 2009.
- I would like a film which everyone agrees is the Best Picture of the year to win the Oscar. There is no need to go for an outsider Academy - sometimes the best film is the one we all love too!
- And, possibly the most out-there, I would really like to film whatever I write in ScriptFrenzy this year. I have a couple of ideas, and I think they would not be that difficult to film, and I think it would be something lovely to look back on and work on with my friends.
So, this is what I would like to see. How many will happen? I don't know. I'm not going to go out of my way to see these things happen above my own sanity, but they are things I hope we would all love to see!
xXx
Monday, 1 December 2008
It's all over...
So, it's been a month since I posted. But not just any month: National Novel Writing Month. And I won!! A few days ago actually, but my completed novel (entitled Canopies & Grapes) is finished. Final word count was 64,094, and it feels very weird to have finished but also it's made me realise that, if you really want to do something, no amount of other things will get in the way.
And there are a lot of things: so many in face I have to use my iCal to remember. So I saw Emmy The Great on the 11th, and she was amazing. Loving the ICA and she was so sweet. In fact, the name of my novel (sorry I keep going on about it, but I am so proud) is named after one of her best songs, and when she played it as her encore I was so pleased!
Had a debate on the 13th: it was stressful preparing and the rules were so strange but I did enjoy it. Me and Alice won are debate, but we unfortuantly did not get through to the regionals. But we are having fun... and it was an interesting night.
Went to this great event with Envision called Chain Reaction. It was an event geared to making social change, and there were politicians, civil servants, businessmen and charities repressented. It was really inspirational, and it seems everyone at Envision is excited about our homophobia project, which finally looks like it is getting off the ground. If you have any ideas/ suggestions about how we should go about tackling homophobia in a secondary school, please e-mail homophobia.aware@gmail.com.
Been to Westfield's twice. I do like it: it's big and shiny, and had pretty much every shop in the world. There are still bits I have yet to explore but I think anything vaguely local is really useful and it has an Apple Store. Enough to have me convinced, tbh.
Had an Inset days, and then two extra days of school because of broken heating. Yay! It felt like a mini holiday and I did a lot of writing and a lot of sleeping. It was fun, and on the Friday we went to see Horne & Corden. It was really funny, and they were clearly having a good time. Even the warm-up guy was good: and Simon Amstell was in the audience. And, if you need more incentive to watch it, me and Ed were involved in one sketch so we might be on TV!
Parent's evening was alright: bit crowded, you know, but everyone seemed to say positive things so it's all good. Yesterday was awsome: went to see Monkey: Journey to the West at the 02. It was an incredible spectacle: funny, enchanting and impressive in equal meaure. Then, went to meet a friend of my parent's who is over from New York called Sharon. Had a lovely night, and am four Obama badges and an Obama wolly-hat richer!
GAY UPDATE: This has been an incredible quiet period for our favourite soaps. In Verbotene Liebe, Olli is gone of until Feburary, and the hope is that when he returns we will have a storyline to be proud of again. I still love them though, and even Christian brooding over Olli is good quality. Hollyoaks Later... was amazing! I love it, Hollyoaks with bells on: cliff-tops stunts, a marriage, many a reveal, I was truly shocked and enticed. But this is the Gay Update and... while I loved every mention of John Paul (and there were many) it was never going to be enough for me. And I did not get my phone call so. So, NUKE wins! I have been truly moved by As The World Turns recently and I am so pleased Luke and Noah are finally getting the storyline they deserve. Both are proving they can act, and as creepy a turn this story is taking, it is very soap and I am very pleased they are finding a more substantial place in the soap. And FYI, missed Spike in Hollyoaks, will have to catch up YouTube. New soap, Casualty! New guy, gay and seems very interesting. And James Sutton in it in a few weeks... I give it ratings!
No idea what'll be in the next post, but I'm sure it'll be amazing! And I will not wait a month to update this time, that is a guarantee!
xXx
And there are a lot of things: so many in face I have to use my iCal to remember. So I saw Emmy The Great on the 11th, and she was amazing. Loving the ICA and she was so sweet. In fact, the name of my novel (sorry I keep going on about it, but I am so proud) is named after one of her best songs, and when she played it as her encore I was so pleased!
Had a debate on the 13th: it was stressful preparing and the rules were so strange but I did enjoy it. Me and Alice won are debate, but we unfortuantly did not get through to the regionals. But we are having fun... and it was an interesting night.
Went to this great event with Envision called Chain Reaction. It was an event geared to making social change, and there were politicians, civil servants, businessmen and charities repressented. It was really inspirational, and it seems everyone at Envision is excited about our homophobia project, which finally looks like it is getting off the ground. If you have any ideas/ suggestions about how we should go about tackling homophobia in a secondary school, please e-mail homophobia.aware@gmail.com.
Been to Westfield's twice. I do like it: it's big and shiny, and had pretty much every shop in the world. There are still bits I have yet to explore but I think anything vaguely local is really useful and it has an Apple Store. Enough to have me convinced, tbh.
Had an Inset days, and then two extra days of school because of broken heating. Yay! It felt like a mini holiday and I did a lot of writing and a lot of sleeping. It was fun, and on the Friday we went to see Horne & Corden. It was really funny, and they were clearly having a good time. Even the warm-up guy was good: and Simon Amstell was in the audience. And, if you need more incentive to watch it, me and Ed were involved in one sketch so we might be on TV!
Parent's evening was alright: bit crowded, you know, but everyone seemed to say positive things so it's all good. Yesterday was awsome: went to see Monkey: Journey to the West at the 02. It was an incredible spectacle: funny, enchanting and impressive in equal meaure. Then, went to meet a friend of my parent's who is over from New York called Sharon. Had a lovely night, and am four Obama badges and an Obama wolly-hat richer!
GAY UPDATE: This has been an incredible quiet period for our favourite soaps. In Verbotene Liebe, Olli is gone of until Feburary, and the hope is that when he returns we will have a storyline to be proud of again. I still love them though, and even Christian brooding over Olli is good quality. Hollyoaks Later... was amazing! I love it, Hollyoaks with bells on: cliff-tops stunts, a marriage, many a reveal, I was truly shocked and enticed. But this is the Gay Update and... while I loved every mention of John Paul (and there were many) it was never going to be enough for me. And I did not get my phone call so. So, NUKE wins! I have been truly moved by As The World Turns recently and I am so pleased Luke and Noah are finally getting the storyline they deserve. Both are proving they can act, and as creepy a turn this story is taking, it is very soap and I am very pleased they are finding a more substantial place in the soap. And FYI, missed Spike in Hollyoaks, will have to catch up YouTube. New soap, Casualty! New guy, gay and seems very interesting. And James Sutton in it in a few weeks... I give it ratings!
No idea what'll be in the next post, but I'm sure it'll be amazing! And I will not wait a month to update this time, that is a guarantee!
xXx
Sunday, 2 November 2008
NaNoWriMo
Wow, I am on a roll this week when it comes to posting!
So, I was sitting in the Den at three in the morning thinking 'Hey! You know what I need! Another distraction from real world and reality in general!' So, I decided to take part in National Novel Writing Month.
Essentially, me and a ridiculous number of other people online will write a 50,000 word novel between Nov 1 and Nov 30 in order to 'win' NaNoWriMo. Great idea, right? Well, here's the thing... it is a great idea but I am really hoping this doesn't become this all consuming thing. To this end, I am going to try to do a little bit a day rather than one day a week writing 15,000 words.
I'll keep you up to date with how it's going (if I ever remember again to post on this) and will try and find somewhere to post the final novel (good, bad, ugly et al). So, yeah. Image on the side is my word count if you're interested and... hopefully I'll be able to turn that into a winners badge this time next month!
By the way, my novel is (of course) an homage to my favourite thing in the world - teenage gay characters in soaps. Hopefully I will able to draw on my incredible knowledge of the nuances and characters will make it readable AND an excuse to write while watching some classic clips.
Anyway, have a good month. Enjoy the freedom, I know I won't!
xx
www.nanowrimo.org/
So, I was sitting in the Den at three in the morning thinking 'Hey! You know what I need! Another distraction from real world and reality in general!' So, I decided to take part in National Novel Writing Month.
Essentially, me and a ridiculous number of other people online will write a 50,000 word novel between Nov 1 and Nov 30 in order to 'win' NaNoWriMo. Great idea, right? Well, here's the thing... it is a great idea but I am really hoping this doesn't become this all consuming thing. To this end, I am going to try to do a little bit a day rather than one day a week writing 15,000 words.
I'll keep you up to date with how it's going (if I ever remember again to post on this) and will try and find somewhere to post the final novel (good, bad, ugly et al). So, yeah. Image on the side is my word count if you're interested and... hopefully I'll be able to turn that into a winners badge this time next month!
By the way, my novel is (of course) an homage to my favourite thing in the world - teenage gay characters in soaps. Hopefully I will able to draw on my incredible knowledge of the nuances and characters will make it readable AND an excuse to write while watching some classic clips.
Anyway, have a good month. Enjoy the freedom, I know I won't!
xx
www.nanowrimo.org/
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