Buffy v Edward

Yes, yes, I hear you. So I didn't ACTUALLY do any writing yesterday... but I achieved other things. Very Important Things like:

1. Getting my cat Scout to sit on my lap and actually chill out for more than five minutes. It's only taken a year.

2. Eating spaghetti hoops.

3. OK, I'm struggling here. So I didn't achieve very much, but I am on HOLIDAY! Back to work on Monday and then I'll be achieving all over the place.

As I have no important writing news to impart, I'll treat you to a little Buffy v. Edward action. I tried to upload this and embed it here, but my computer ain't playing (or I'm just not very clever). Anyhoo, here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZwM3GvaTRM

Two posts in one day? 'That's not possible!' I hear you cry

20,000 words. Tra la la! And some of them are quite good ones. Oh happy day! I'm going to treat myself to... a cup of tea.

Er... I don't really have anything else to say right now. Just wanted to share my mini-milestone. 20,000 words hopefully = just under a third of a book. Aiming for about 70,000 words on this project I think, but that could change. Those naughty characters of mine aren't acting the way I expected them to. Tsk tsk.

Brr... hasn't it got parky all of a sudden?

I'm pretty excited about today. Here's why:

1. I'm just about to reach the 20,000 word mark on the WIP. Now compared to my last effort, that is super-speedy writing. I didn't quite meet my goal to write 2000 words yesterday, but who's counting? (Oh, me... yeah.)

2. This afternoon I'm heading to a book signing at The Golden Treasury Bookshop, which is somewhere in deepest Wandsworth. I've been hearing good things about it for years, but I've never got round to visiting before. Maggie Stiefvater, author of Shiver (awesome cover, don't you think?) will be there to talk and sign books. In case you haven't read it, Shiver does for werewolves what Twilight did for vampires. These werewolves are about a zillion times more interesting than the Cullen family. Also, Shiver contains a v. amusing scene involving quiche. How many books can you say that about?!

3. Am going to see Zombieland tonight - woop! And we all know that zombies are the new vampires... Uh-oh, I'm in danger of contradicting myself. OK, zombies AND werewolves are the new vampires. Or something.

Awesome YA book you really should read: see above

A whole heap of mean

After a LOT of faffing around yesterday and re-reading what I wrote aaaages ago on the WIP, I managed to write some more. About 2000 words, which maybe makes up for the 2000 words I cut from TFN at the weekend. But these are very different words. Well, some are the same. Like 'the' and 'a' and 'is'. But this story has a very different feel to the last one. It's lighter (despite some pretty dark subject matter) and more complicated (there's more people in it - people who have to do stuff and say stuff!). I'm enjoying it.

I had a bit of a realization as I was writing yesterday: I write MEAN teenage girls. They do utterly horrible things to each other. So I'd like to take the opportunity to apologize to any teenage girls out there who are not mean and don't want to read about mean. In the event that I get published, please do not buy a book written by me. You might not like it. (Everyone else should TOTALLY buy a book written by me. You might like it.)

Just to clarify: I like reading about mean people and writing about mean people. I do NOT like mean people. And I am not mean. Most of the time.


Song of the day: Hide and Seek, by Imogen Heap (She does good music to write to)

Snippety snip

Not so much Texas Chainsaw Massacre this time. Just a bit of delicate topiary here and there. This weekend I've been trimming TFN (The First Novel), and hopefully it will be ready for my Super Special Agent to send out into the big, bad, scary world pretty soon. A terrifying/exciting prospect.

I think I'm starting to lose perspective (if I ever even had it in the first place) on which bits to keep and which bits to get rid of. I find my finger hovering over the 'delete' button when I'm reading some of my favourite bits. Is this really necessary? Is it furthering the story in any way? Was it just complete self-indulgence on my part? So I have to be careful. It's like when I start going through my wardrobe, determined to chuck out some clothes. At first I can't find ANYTHING I can bear to part with... and then... well, some kind of madness envelops me, and I end up filling black bag after black bag with nearly every item of clothing I own. OK, slight exaggeration, but you get the picture, yes?

I think I'm nearly finished. Another 2000 words gone. Snip snip.

Friendly Wednesday

This Wednesday is good for the following reasons:

1. I'm going out for drinks tonight. This prospect always puts me in a good mood.

2. My lunch was not disappointing, even though it was from Pret.

3. I'm spending a significant portion of the day thinking about musicals.

4. I've just finished a massive editorial project at work that was REALLY getting me down.

5. I'm going to eat a sherbet dip dab this afternoon.

6. I've just arranged to go see Zombieland with the marvellous JNT.

Dammit! I was going for a five-point list, and now I've gone and ruined it.

Gloomy Monday

Came very close to not getting out of bed this morning. It’s a lights-on, keep-warm, don’t-even-think-about-going-outside sort of day. I briefly toyed with the idea of calling my boss and explaining that I just didn’t feel like working today, but I wasn’t sure that would go down so well.

Only nine tenths of the working week to go. And then I’m on holiday – WOOP! A whole week off. Joy of joys! I haven’t really decided what I’m doing yet, although I intend to write lots. Haven’t been able to do any this weekend, due to a parental visitation. This visitation has been much fun and has mostly involved food, drink, a bit of culture and a new vacuum cleaner. No time to even THINK about writing. But next week... no excuses, I promise. I will write and think and write some more. And I’ll hopefully report any progress on here.


No disappointing lunch for me today! A roast chicken sarnie, crafted by Mother’s fair hands... Ah, I could get used to this.

Song of the day: I know him so well, from the musical Chess