Jacey Bedford's Journal

Here's a list of things you might be interested in on my writing blog over on Wordpress.
No pressure.

• Christmas is Coming November 18, 2015


• Winterwood Cover Reveal October 31, 2015


• Gail Z Martin – Five Questions – Guest Post October 30, 2015


• Winterwood Cover Revealed at Fantasy Book Cafe October 30, 2015


• What has NaNoWriMo Ever Done for Us? October 26, 2015


• Fantasycon 2016 October 25, 2015

Well, I started out NaNoWriMo with every goodf intention of doing 50k words in a month. So far I've done just over 20k and we're 2/3 of the way through. Yeah, I'm behind. Way behind. Excuses? Let me tell you them...

Well, firstly, it was the Northwrite meeting on 4th November, so I had much critting to do for that beforehand and then writers to entertain from Saturday evening to Monday morning. Then the following weekend I did Novacon in Nottingham from Friday to Sunday. So by 14th November I'd lost 5 days of my potential 30. Yeah, that's fair enough, but... but...

What happened to last week?

Ah, I thought I might ask myself that.

I procrastinated. Yeah sure I had day job work to do, but I didn't need to watch TV or crochet a scarf.

The fact is, I've arrived at the middle of the story. I know what's going to happen at the end, but do I need something more to happen in the middle or shall I just jump ahead to the end and see what I've got? Hmmm... Yes, I'm liking that idea.

84,017 words so far: one explanation, one attempted murder, two killings in (more or less) self-defence, one rooftop escape, one cathartic conversation.

Am I going to write more tonight? Maybe... I seem to have got the bit between my teeth.

I'm up to 80,577 words today.

</td> </tr> </tbody></table>
But I have the feeling that I may have to extend the final word count to 100,000 because I just went back and used up a couple of thousand words for a new scene back in chapter two which suddenly became necessary.

</td> </tr> </tbody></table>

Adding 60,000 words to Spider on the Web during NaNoWriMo has given be a tremendous boost. I'm now up to 76,797 words out of a potential 90,000. I'm going to write a deathbed scene now.

I hit my target 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo in the middle of the week and just decided to keep on going. Result? at 11.54 p.m. Sunday with 6 minutes to go to the finishing time I clocked up 62,081 words on Spider on the Web.

I'm now on 71,027 words in total because I had the first two and a half chapters in the bag before I started.

This is definitely the beginning of the end that I'm writing now. Maybe another 20,000 words and it will be finished. It's unlike me to finish any novel in a mere 90,000 words, of course, but I live in hope.

Doing NaNoWriMo certainly gives you a rush. The sheer "I did it!' factor when you cross the fifty thousand word line (for me on 26th November) is delightful, but it's really not difficult to write that amount of words per day (especially since the NaNo standard is 'first draft and no revising until afterwards') if you have the time to do it - but making the time is the really difficult part and I can appreciate why people prefer the steady approach of Novel in 90 or just plugging away at their own pace. NaNo is not a pace you could keep up unless writing was your day job.

It does prove to me, though, that a)  I'm a burst writer. I like the all-out pour-the-words-on-to-the-page method of getting a first draft done before I go into the endless revision loop and b) I could do this writing lark for a day job. Yeah! In fact my lifestyle is already geared up to it. Long hours in front of a keyboard, strong coffee and weird nocturnal hours. (Note I'm off chocolate at the moment because I'm trying to keep the sugars down - and succeeding.)
:-)

NaNo does tell you to keep moving forward and not to revise or tweak or otherwise divert from the path, however I also find it next to impossible not to go back and insert a few rolling revisions and also impossible not to stop for a bit of research. So though I have managed 50k words in November I've also had a few side-trips via google and wikipedia plus a few emails to people and a bit of reading. I find leaving loose ends (even with notes to myself to go and tidy them up afterwards) makes me uncomfortable.

So having crossed the 50k line have I stopped?

No. I already had some of this novel in the bag before I started NaNo (so I broke one rule right at the beginning). My NaNo 50k now means I'm 60k words into 'Spider on the Web' and I'm looking at about another 20k - 30k words to finish the first draft. With Christmas approaching I know I'll get sidetracked, but I aim to continue working on it through the last few days of November and all of December and to finish the first draft in January. Hopefully in early January.

Still four more NaNo writing days to go and...

This afternoon I crossed the 50,000 word line.
50,229 and counting...

Went to York today and wandered through the town and the fair trade market before treating myself to a piece of Old Amsterdam from the cheese stall.  (It was about all I could afford after paying £9.50 for the car park, but the Park and Ride buses from my side of the city all go to bus stops on completely the wrong side of town. Bad planning that, they should do a circular tour of drop off points.) Then I met up with bluehairsue and her best beloved for lunch at Cafe Concerto (thanks, guys) before going with Sue  to what was supposed to be a NaNoWriMo get together in the cafe of York Art Gallery. All I can say is that I'm glad Sue was there because the three young women who turned up were pleasant enough but were either shy or...

Why do people come to meetings if they don't want to say anything? Why do people join NaNoWriMo if they aren't passionate about writing? (Note I don't expect everyone to finish NaNo because it's a hell of a thing to do, write 50k words in 30 days, but at least you should surely be interested in the writing process or else why are you signed up?) I think I've been spoiled by the level of commitment of Milford writers. (Though the young lady who had the baby during NaNo month has every excuse for ducking out, of course!)

Or... maybe the three quiet ones thought bluehairsue and I were a couple of cackly crones who totally  took over their  contemplative meet.

Oh well...

But one great thing was that over lunch S & R really helped to noodle a world-building glitch that had been troubling me in Empire of Dust. (Thanks, guys.) maeve_the_red, just hold that plot synopsis, will you, please, I have one very small tweak.

Another good thing was that last night I started to read the first draft of the magic pirate adventure quest novel that I did 50k words on under NaNo conditions last November, and having left it to mature for three months I actually found I was a) enjoying reading it and b) wanting to turn the next page because I'd semi-forgotten what happened next. This has to be A Good Thing. Of course the first draft is not quite complete yet. I have the final chapter to write. I intend to read through once and then write the last chapter. The outline (yes I actually wrote this one to an outline rather than my usual write-it-and-see mode) merely says: stuff happens and the good guys win.
:-)

This is the one I took to Milford in October 07 - then entitled The Elf-Oak Box - the one that got critted on International Talk Like a Pirate Day. At that point I only had 9k words, but now I have 78k and I reckon it will come in at about 85 - 90k when finished. That's just about the shortest first draft I've even managed. (Longest being 240k which was ridiculous!) I think (and hope) that this one has legs.