Coming Soon

This year, I'm a NaNo rebel. Instead of a new project, I'm going to attempt to use the intense focus to finish something I started sometime in the mid to late nineties. Some of the characters in this go back to the mid eighties when I was quite a little thing, so the danger of being overly-precious about it is high. The only way to find out is to try!

Long overdue purge

Finally got around to taking last year's NaNo down!

No idea what I'll be doing for the next one, but looking forward to it all the same - it's always fun.

My 2010 NaNo novel is now out on submission. I hope you'll join me in wishing the Vera Lynn a good flight and let's hope it goes better than the last time she had a maiden voyage.

Coming Soon

NaNoWriMo!

It's that time of year again when, all bright-eyed and hopeful we set our sights on another month of writing like maniacs.

This is the time when everything's possible, all ideas are brilliant and a work of literary genius is sure to result. Breathe deep and savour it; ten days in most of us will be crying into our keyboards and wondering what drugs we were taking in September that made us think this was a good idea.

I'm taking a break from the Sci-Fi this year to return to my longer-term love of fantasy. After some nagging persuasion from Sunjumper, I decided to make an attempt on an idea I've had lurking in the back of my mind for a while that has a female protagonist. So, meet Myrtle. She's eight, but this will not be a children's story, I don't think I'm capable of writing something completely inoffensive. That fellow behind her is Winter. He may or may not be contemplating slitting her throat.

I'm going to do my utmost this time to finish, unlike last years car crash of fail. I have a reasonably good idea of why I failed last year, so - fingers crossed, good luck everyone and however it ends, enjoy the ride.

Purge time again - The Stacks did not fare well and has become a story I may, or may not finish. There's a lot wrong with it, but it's being kept somewhere safe and I will consider fixing it at some point in the future. I suspect I will fix it, because for all it's brokeness, there's enough right with it to make it worth the job, I think.

Hey ho - better luck next time!

Coming Soon

In a couple of months that crazy, brakeless and prone to de-railing train known as National Novel Writing Month begins again. Once more my ticket comes courtesy of 4L Engineering, but in a break from tradition, this time feet are staying firmly on Earth.
Szwejkowski is just thrilled about this.

Little bit of politics

Political interlude for anyone other than the eastern European spam sites that drop by here from time to time. Particularly the UK visitors:

Check out this thread and this thread to get yourself up to speed on the concerns and shenanigans surrounding the Winsor Report and the creeping privatisation of our police force.

I am, as many of you will know, a lefty liberal occasional protester - not a natural ally to the Old Bill, although I never went for chucking things at them either. After poking around a while to get some info on policing for the next outing of my 4L Constabulary, I came to the conclusion that our existing constabulary could do with a bit more public support than they're getting - or we're going to lose them.

Personally I'm happier writing about a totally fictional privatised police force. Please contact your MP (in person would be best, but email would be better than nothing) and voice your concerns too. Remember, they work for you.

The great purge

After a huge months-long overrun the 2011 NaNo finally came to an end for me last month with a complete first draft of 143,713 words. The time has come to take the first draft off the web page and stick it in a metaphorical drawer to await some editing. I already miss the boys, but I'm confident I will see them again in another marathon slog sometime.

A massive thank you to everyone who came along for the ride - if you missed it and want to check it out, PM me at my usual haunt and ask for .doc, .rtf or mobi.

Right now I'm taking a serious swing at editing the 2010 NaNo, STEAM and its every bit as hard as I thought it would be. The next NaNo seems impossibly close, but I'm going to try not to think about that until it's a lot closer. Lots to do, not much time to do it in, unless I become a lady of leisure.

Kick back, have a beer, think about future journeys into the unknown.