Sharp Words

I did it. And holy heck, am I relieved about it.

Hopefully normal service will resume soon. In all aspects of my life.

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I wish I could claim that I’ve done nothing but write for the past 16 days and am therefore miles ahead on my NaNovel (like last year), but alas, it’s not the case.

I’ve had a pretty crummy start to November, in fact, with several days when I didn’t write at all… but then I think I have mitigating circumstances in the facts that my friend’s house flooded mid-way through the first week of NaNo (not on the day I posted later, but a few days later), and then I had to fly home to Wales for my Gran’s funeral.

The strange thing about this November though is that I haven’t actually been tempted at all to give up completely on NaNoWriMo this year, despite having some pretty good excuses. I have bailed on a couple of write-ins, and I haven’t managed my daily goals very often, but with the knowledge that I’ve done (and surpassed) 50k in previous years, I’ve always been convinced that I’ll make it.

And I’m still convinced.

So here’s to a goal of 21,500 words by midnight tonight, which will put me 6,833 words behind, but still perfectly positioned to get caught up.

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Because I didn’t go out for Halloween this year, I thought I’d start writing at midnight. And I certainly wasn’t the only one. Six or seven us sat in the WriMo Ireland chat room and started off NaNoWriMo 2009 with a 10-minute word sprint. I managed 820 words in two sprints, about beating my usual first-day-writing record (I don’t typically do that well on day 1), though others managed a couple of thousand words before going to bed.

I’ve spent the day at my friend’s house though (where I was last night too), waiting to see if the flood in the road was going to get any worse, and then later, if it was going to go down again so I could go home. With not much else to do except check sandbags, take photos, and drink coffee, I got quite a lot of words done and haven’t finished yet.

So all in all, I’m feeling pretty damn good about my writing this year. And the flood’s thankfully receding.

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Thud!, Terry Pratchett. Own copy.
Comfort reading while I was feeling lousy with a heavy cold.

Feersum Endjin, Iain M Banks. Borrowed(?) copy, first read.
Another delivery from my Dad. Not sure I liked this one – it exposed to me how much I skim when I read, because of all the passages written phonetically. Plus I was ill, so found it hard to concentrate on. I actually found a post-it on the last page which read “Blah Blah Blah. The butler did it. The End.” – so clearly whoever had the copy before me wasn’t too fussed on it either!

The Blue Sword, Robin McKinley. Own copy.
More comfort reading. I had no idea how many times I’ve read this novel since I first got it out of the library when I was about 12, but I’d imagine that the answer is ‘quite a lot’.

Brasyl, Ian McDonald. Library book, first read.
Really excellent sci-fi, very imaginative and beautifully set in (of course) Brazil. And I’m meeting the author during November.

Excession, Iain M Banks. Borrowed(?) copy, first read.
Another of the deliveries from Dad. I liked this one a lot more than Feersum Endjin, mostly because it’s one of the Culture novels, and I find those fascinating.

Living with the Dead, Kelley Armstrong. Library book, first read and re-read.
A good addition to the Women of the Otherworld series – her first written in the third person and from multiple points of view. I found that an interesting change, and the story wouldn’t have worked in the usual first-person.

Sovereign, C J Sansom. Library book, first read.
The third in the Shardlake series; excellent historical mystery.

To Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis. Own copy.
My favourite of the novels of hers that I’ve read, for its sense of humour and ridiculous.

Nation, Terry Pratchett. Own copy, first read and re-read.
I can’t believe it I’ve left it this long to buy this novel – not like me at all; I usually pounce on Pratchett novels as soon as they come out in paperback. (Too stingy for hardback.) Finally though… this is a fantastic book. Just the right touch of seriousness and comedy, with intriguing parallels and morals that aren’t shoved down the reader’s throat.

Unseen Academicals, Terry Pratchett. Own copy, first read.
Hopefully this won’t be his last novel… It’s more mature and thoughtful than the earlier Discworld novels, with less reliance on puns and silly situations (much like the last couple have been). And it’s excellent. (Plus it has plenty of the Librarian.)

Total for October 2009: 10 + 2 re-reads

Ongoing total for 2009: 160 + 7 re-reads

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