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NaNoWriMo Day Ten

10/11/2014

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Total Word Count: 23,043   Today's Word Count: 2,510

10 tips inspired by famous authors 

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1. Ideas / Originality
'Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don't see any.'  Orson Scott Card 
2. Inspiration
'There are two kinds of writer: those that make you think, and those that make you wonder.'  Brian Aldiss
3. Rewrite
'Books aren't written, they're rewritten.  It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn't quite done it...'  Michael Crichton 

4. Plot
Make everybody fall out of the plane first, and then explain who they were and why they were in the plane to begin with.'  Nancy Ann Dibble 
5. Storytelling
'Draw your chair up close to the edge of the precipice and I'll tell you a story.' F. Scott Fitzgerald 
6. Character
'I try to create sympathy for my characters, then turn the monsters loose.' Stephen King 
7. Beginnings and Endings
'Don't mistake a good setup for a satisfying conclusion -- many beginning writers end their stories when the real story is just ready to begin.' Stanley Schmidt 
8. Process / /Deadlines
'I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.' Douglas Adams 
9. Being a writer
'I get up in the morning, torture a typewriter until it screams, then stop.' Clarence Budington Kelland 
10 Rules
'There are three rules for writing. Unfortunately, no one can agree what they are.' Somerset Maugham

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NaNoWriMo Day Nine

9/11/2014

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Total Word Count: 20,533    Today's Word Count: 1,999

Lest we forget......

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In Flanders Fields, by John McRae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

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NaNoWriMo Day Eight

8/11/2014

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Total Word Count: 18534   Today's Word Count: 392 (so far: miles to go before I sleep)

10 things every serious writer has......

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NaNoWriMo Day Seven

7/11/2014

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Total Word Count: End of week one... 18,142 -Today's Word Count: 2,012

Hell, High Water and Harwich......

PictureDovercourt, Harwich, Essex UK

The dog needs a walk come hell or high water and today is both. I am tired at the end of week one of NaNo but happy to be ahead of the count. I use the walk to wake up, and a brisk pace in a howling gale wake the brain. 
My characters walk with me and tell me their story. 

I notice the surroundings and the weather, and describe it in my head. Sometimes I record snippets on my phone. 

'Poppy chased a squirrel across a bed of wet leaves and in the joy of the chase, forgot that it was raining. We made wet prints in the leaves as we sought the shelter of the trees. The sky and sea merged in the distance into a grey smudge and the sun barely rose, subdued and baffled behind it,' 



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NaNoWriMo Day Six

6/11/2014

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Total Word Count: 16,130       Today's Word Count: 3,048

Introduction to Self Publishing
A jargon busting session which explains the process of making a book and selling it online

I would like to share with you the triumphs and disasters I experienced whilst publishing 
The Art Forger's Daughter.
 It was a steep learning curve but I am now hooked! 

Would you like to publish your own work? It could be fiction, short stories, poems, or a book about your life, the life of someone you know well or have worked with. Or a book about your hobby which you can share with other enthusiasts.


Join us at The Hotel Continental on Wednesday 3rd December 10.00 - 1.00

You will be introduced to the options of publishing a paperback on Amazon 
and an e-book on Kindle
click her for more information
click here to book
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NaNoWriMo Day Five

5/11/2014

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Total Word Count: 13,082             Today's Word Count:........

Remember, remember the fifth of November. Gunpowder Treason and Plot.....

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Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Bonfire Night, is an annual even on the 5th November in the UK. It commemorates the events of the 5th November 1605, when Guy Fawkes, was arrested while guarding explosives which plotters had placed beneath the House Parliament. Celebrating the fact that King James I had survived the attempt on his life, people lit bonfires around London, and the day has been celebrated since in thanksgiving for the plot's failure.

English Folk Verse (c.1870)           
   
 The Fifth of November
    Remember, remember! 
    The fifth of November, 
    The Gunpowder treason and plot; 
    I know of no reason 
    Why the Gunpowder treason 
    Should ever be forgot! 
    Guy Fawkes and his companions 
    Did the scheme contrive, 
    To blow the King and Parliament 
    All up alive. 
    Threescore barrels, laid below, 
    To prove old England's overthrow. 
    But, by God's providence, him they catch, 
    With a dark lantern, lighting a match! 
    A stick and a stake 
    For King James's sake! 
    If you won't give me one, 
    I'll take two, 
    The better for me, 
    And the worse for you. 
    A rope, a rope, to hang the Pope, 
    A penn'orth of cheese to choke him, 
    A pint of beer to wash it down, 
    And a jolly good fire to burn him. 
    Holloa, boys! holloa, boys! make the bells ring! 
    Holloa, boys! holloa boys! God save the King! 
    Hip, hip, hooor-r-r-ray!

http://www.potw.org/archive/potw405.html
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NaNoWriMo Day Four

4/11/2014

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Total word count:  13,082                           Today's word count: 2,454


The Napkin Novel

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Team Peacock has gone into action this month, taking over my job as caterer in chief so that I can concentrate on writing. I was not allowed to do the shopping at the weekend, so I sat in Morrison's cafe with a cup of tea. I committed the cardinal sin of forgetting my notebook - I wasn't expecting to need it - and so I used the time to scribble on a napkin. This became the beginning of Chapter Three, which I started with a clear intention and then something else happened and the character (Jack) handed me a new thread to weave into the story. 

I am surprised that so far I am (almost) on plot but this is the nursery slopes. The setting up of characters before it all begins to unravel. That's usually when I do as well.


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NaNoWriMo Day Three

3/11/2014

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Total Word Count: 10,628: Words today 4,918

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Questions today:

What why where when who how

I keep six honest serving men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
and How and Where and Who. 


Rudyard Kipling



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NaNoWriMo Day Two

2/11/2014

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Word count to date: 5,710    Total words Today: 2,530

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Today I am thinking about the  impact of story telling
Take these examples:

You read an article in the newspaper about a road accident
or
A friend witnesses a road accident and tells you about it
or
You witness the road accident
or
You are involved in the road accident......


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NaNoWriMo Day One

1/11/2014

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Word Count: 3,180; Chapter One...

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Early hours. I tiptoe onto a blank page and hesitantly tap out CHAPTER ONE. I feel woefully unprepared like I need another week to hone the plot but I have a story and some characters so I will run with them. At least I will when I am warmed up a bit. By page six I am dancing and at 3,180 words urge myself on to the end of the chapter.

Tomorrow a whole new blank page awaits and I will approach cautiously until I feel the rhythm which may let me dance with words again.

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