Camp NaNoWriMo

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you'll already know that I love the NaNoWriMo events. I completed NaNoWriMo last November, and Script Frenzy this April. Now, a new event looms close on the horizon: Camp NaNoWriMo.

Camp NaNoWriMo has only been around since last year. It's exactly the same as NaNoWriMo, except that it takes place in June. Oh, and in August. Camp NaNoWriMo runs two sessions a year.

Well, as soon as I heard of this, I knew I just had to sign up. After last year's NaNoWriMo, I can't wait to race through 50,000 words again. I want to sit at my desk every spare minute, racing against the calendar. And this is novel writing. Much as I enjoyed Script Frenzy, I am a novel writer at heart.

So, I'm plotting a new story, washing my writing gloves and packing my bags for Camp NaNoWriMo. Anyone else care to join me?

Essay Disaster

Saturday evening. Two days before my essay was due. Sure the essay was fine. Hadn't I spent the whole week working on it? Dad'd probably point out where I'd started a sentence with 'However', chuck in a few 'that's and it'd be done. Ready to send.

Well, that's what I thought...

Dad looked up from the computer screen. "This essay's great, but it doesn't quite answer the topic. It's a discussion, not an exposition."

My heart sank. Not right? Didn't answer the topic? But I had one day! One day before it was due! I'd never manage it. And, as Dad explained my essay's shortcomings, I started to feel that this was the essay that would fail. I could never fix it so fast.

"It seems like so much work," I sighed when Dad had finished. "I don't know where to begin."

"Don't worry, I'll help you." Dad grabbed a handful of paper, his tablet pc and a pen and headed for the table.

The hours passed in a blur as we pieced together a new essay from the bones of my old one. Under Dad's explanations and our combined research, the essay was looking possible. By the time I headed off to bed, I had a plan, resources, and drive. And the essay looked more than possible. It was probable.

Sunday disappeared into my computer as I cut up my old essay and remade it, wondering all the while, would I finish it in time? Evening came, and Dad gave my essay one final read through.

"You've got it," he said finally.

I grinned, relief flooding through me. It was done, thanks to my genius Dad.

So, this was my blogging break. What have you done this past week?

A Brief Blogging Break

I am 'waving' goodbye for now

Much as I love blogging, I am curently forced to take a brief break. If anyone has noticed the lack of posts over the last week or so, it is because I've been working on a couple of large university assignments. While one is finished, I am still hard at work writing the other, which means I haven't the time to write blog posts right now. So I'll say goodbye until next Monday, when I should hopefully be back. In the meantime, I'll still be floating around the blogosphere, just essay writing, not post writing.

How To Become Intelligent (Or Not)

Charlotte with her new glasses

Charlotte was short sighted. She couldn't read projector screens. She couldn't read subtitles. She couldn't even read computer screens properly. Clearly it was time for a trip to the optometrist.

One trip later, and Charlotte's glasses were ordered. Now perfect sight was just a few days away. If she could last that long...

"Our rice pudding has a stick in it," Gemma-Rose declared one night, talking about a stick of cinnamon.

"Oh, I want a stick of celery in my pudding," Charlotte cried enthusiastically.

Everyone stared at her. Celery? Since when had we ever put celery in our rice puddings?

"Let's hope your glasses make you more intelligent," I said. "At least you'll look more intelligent with them on."

Charlotte without her new glasses

And so on for the rest of the week. Her favourite excuse became, "Oh, I'm blind as a bat you know. I couldn't possibly see that."

Today, another trip to the optometrist resulted in a brand new Charlotte. New, snazzy glasses adorned her nose with, "special glass to cut down on glare." A brand new, red glasses case came with the glasses, "because red ones go faster."

Has her glasses made her more intelligent? Well, I'm sorry to say she's still going round making random comments about celery. I suppose she'll just have to be the nutty professor instead of the intelligent individual. I can live with that.

This post was written with much encouragement and full permission by Charlotte herself.

Swords and Bows

I love weapons. Swords, bows, knives, anything remotely fantasy connected. I love them all. It might have something to do with the fact that I love writing fantasy novels.

My fantasy characters are so lucky. Somehow they all seems to end up with amazing weapons, and all end up knowing how to use them. I am frankly envious of my characters, who learn how to fight with a sword, or shoot with a bow and arrow. It just seems so unfair!

The closest I can come to this however, is imagining I have these awesome weapons. Which then brings up another problem. Which weapon would I choose to have?

Swords are always dear to me, with their showy sounding fights. A good sword fight is always welcome in a book. Plus you can always have a legend involving a sword, or have one with fancy engraving on the blade. Knives are fun too, especially throwing knives. I'm not so sure about spears though. And axes are definitely not my style.

No, out of all the weapons, I think I'd be a bow-girl. These weapons are so graceful, and very practical. You can defend yourself long range, and pick up a roast for dinner at the same time. Plus, there's something very elfish about bows.

What weapon would you chose to have if you could have anything? Would you have an old fashioned weapon like a sword? Or a more modern weapon like a gun? Can you suggest any other weapons that could be used in a fantasy story?

Magic, Minstrels and Script Frenzy

I've written several posts about Script Frenzy so far this month. I've talk about what Script Frenzy is, what I've been writing, and how I've been writing. I've posted about what scripting program I'm using and I've even posted some Script Frenzy inspired art. However today I want to share the news of my triumph. Yes, Charlotte and I have written our 100 pages of script.

It's been so much fun writing a script. Magic and Minstrels, our musical, finished up with 89 pages and a lot of laughing. Somehow, every script writing session had to have a laugh or two in it as the characters went from one hilarious situation to another.

But that's not our only project. We also started writing a TV series based off the Father Brown Stories by G.K. Chesterton. We've only just started the first two episodes. What about the rest of the series? Is it fated never to be written?

No! We've got plans for the rest of the month, plans that involve much, much more script writing. Fr Brown is quite safe while there are days in the month. We could stop writing...But we won't. Because we love it. Script Frenzy, the page count is going to rise.

Write Together

In an earlier post I talked about Script Frenzy and how Charlotte and I are co-writing a musical. To make our script writing last until 100 pages, we've also started writing a TV series, which give us two scripts to work on. Two scripts means we can both write at the same time. And two writers means a 'write in'.

Writing is almost always a solitary occupation. While Charlotte and I write the same script, we don't work on it at the same time. It's the same with novels. Always we write on our own. And that can get a little lonely.

We found the solution to this problem however. This afternoon, armed with music, chocolate and two laptops, we sat down to have our very first Script Frenzy 'write in'.

Out fingers flew over the keys. The sounds of two tortured keyboards filled the air. Somehow, the knowledge that someone else was working just as hard as me spurred me on to work harder, longer and better.

Together we worked of hours, hardly noticing the passing of the time. Two hours solid work past in the blink of an eye. Two hours I never would have worked through on my own. A marathon of writing, made easy by the fact that there was another person writing alongside me.

Writing together makes things more fun. Script Frenzy will fly by as long as I have Charlotte working alongside me. Write ins are amazing fun, and so productive. If you want to get a heap of work done, work with someone else. It's amazing what you can do.

Do you like to write with another person? Do you find it easier to concentrate and get more work done? Or do you fine it distracting?