Tag: nanowrimo

NaNoWriMo – reflection on 2017

You would think writing 50,000 words would be easier than this…

I’m a NaNoWriMo winner

Yes, I finished the NaNoWriMo month with 51,416 words in the bag.

So, yet again, I’m a NaNo winner! That’s quite an achievement because most people who start off writing in NaNoWriMo never make it to the 50K word mark,

And yet… and yet… it was hard for me this year.

Ruth Livingstone, writer, author and bloggerWords that wouldn’t flow.

51,416 words is a good total for one month, but last year I wrote 61,500 words for NaNo, and the year before I wrote 63,400. In those other years, the words just flew.

ant_LIThis year I stumbled and hesitated and edited and got frustrated with myself — and only just made it to the finish line because I was determined this would not be the first year I failed at NaNoWriMo.

I’ve been doing NaNo since 2010, with one year off due to onerous NHS commitments, and so this is my seventh year.

You might think it would get easier. Continue reading “NaNoWriMo – reflection on 2017”

October Writing Update: editing progress

Still working on that final, final draft.

It’s time to post an update on my writing for the 5 Year Project Do You Have Goals? blog hop. My goal is to write a novel (done) and get it published (working on it).

I’ve just finished editing chapter four of the final, final draft of the Orbital Contract. Feel ashamed not to have finished the whole novel by now, but I’ve been busy with the new grandbaby, dog walking, and enjoying Manchester. Continue reading “October Writing Update: editing progress”

Who can resist Yorkshire pudding?

Serving up food in a short story

sunday-roast-jpg-500

There are a couple of competitions coming up that ask for food-related stories. I don’t like cooking. But I do like eating.

Today, I intended to write a short story featuring a multi-cultural meal, full of exotic tastes and fragrances from around the world. But I started off inside the head of John, a very traditional English man, who yearns for the Yorkshire puddings his wife used to make.

John just took over the story, and the finished piece turned into something a little bit different from the one I originally intended. Continue reading “Who can resist Yorkshire pudding?”

Nano blues

Arrrghhhhhh, Ruth Livingstone does an impression ofBurn OutOk, I was behind.

And then I was catching up.

But then I got ill.

And then I fell behind some more.

But then I felt better.

And then I was catching up.

But then I fell ill again.

And so it goes on…

and on…

Nanowrimo participant and word count meterShould be over 25,000 words by now, but I’m not.

The good news is that I’m feeling somewhat better this afternoon. Managed to stay out of bed for 10 hours and did some frantic tapping and got some serious words down.

Slowly, slowly, creeping up and creeping forward.