Yikes!

Well, November has zoomed by in a haze of wedding planning, moving house, welcoming a new addition to our family - the cutest little maniac of a kitten who we call Jinx. Amongst all of this, two weekends ago before we moved, instead of packing (which I should have... most disorganised move ever) I had the sudden urge to write. Josh was out, and the place was quiet, so after watching a movie (The Mask! Oh man that was a blast from the past) I switched on my laptop and started furiously writing in the dark. I got about 3,000 words written and man did it feel good! So now I'm up to a total of 6,377 words with two days left of the month. Can I do it? Will the kitty let me or will she insist on chasing my fingers around the keyboard? I really don't know, but I'm going to try. I know 10,000 words is a tiny goal in the scheme of things, but it's a goal nonetheless, and it's good to have goals! How is everyone else going out there? Made it to 50,000 yet?

And here's a picture of the cuteness/procrastination tool that is Jinx...

Downsizing

I said from the very beginning that I wasn't expecting to finish NaNoWriMo this year, so it probably comes as no surprise to you all that I've decided  to downsize my expectations. While I don't want to give up completely because there is still a story in my head to be written, I know there's no way I can get to 50,000 words by the end of the month. There's the time thing, but there's also the mental energy that writing a novel requires that I just don't have at the moment. There has been a crazy amount of stuff going on in my life lately that has used up most of my mental energy to the point that, last week I spent most of the week with my brain partially switched off and just trucked along doing the bare minimum. I think that was my brain's way of saying, "ENOUGH! I can't think anymore, I'm out."

So I'm not giving up! But I'm only at about 3,000 words and I should be at nearly 20,000 by now, so I'm downsizing my goal to 10,000 words by the end of the month. It's not ideal, as there's a great story to be told, but it's something, and the rest of the story is going to have to wait until life slows down and my brain wakes up.

I'll still be doing updates though, so don't go anywhere! :)

The novel writing weekend that wasn't

After getting off to a great start and hitting the daily word target on Friday, over the weekend I pretty much forgot that I was doing NaNoWriMo. So I didn't intentionally procrastinate... I'd just made other plans ages ago and went ahead with them. On Saturday I spent the day with my bridesmaids trying to find shoes and other little wedding bits, then went to dinner at another girlfriend's house that night, then on Sunday I went to my parents house and worked on some wedding stuff. Guess I haven't quite got into the rhythm of it yet... and I guess I underestimated how much wedding stuff would get in the way. But hey, I'm confident I can catch up!

Anybody else having time issues already?

It's GO TIME!

I've been looking forward to today for months! At first I was like, "Sarah, don't be dumb, you can't write a 50,000 word novel in a month right before your wedding". But then I thought... naaaah I can do it! Well, I can at least try, right?! I'm so glad I'm doing it, because it just feels so good to be a part of something like this - it's like you and thousands of other people are working towards a collective goal, and I keep having to remind myself that I actually wrote a whole novel last year and I could potentially have two novels waiting to be edited by December - how exciting is that?! Halfway to my dream of being a published author!

So instead of rambling on about why I'm so excited, maybe I should just start huh? Yeah, good idea... catch you later with a word count! And good luck to the rest of you doing NaNoWriMo! :)

It's November on Friday!!

Wow that crept up quick! Here I was thinking November was aaaaages away, and all of a sudden it's THIS FRIDAY! So that means NaNoWriMo starts THIS FRIDAY! I'm really excited :D

What have I done to prepare? Not a whole lot... But I've still got a few days, so wish me luck. Fellow NaNoers - what are you doing to prepare? Are you nervous? Excited? Tempted to start right now?

Making a plan

We all have different ways of working - some of us like to plan, some of us like to wing it. For last year's NaNoWriMo I had an intro, and the conviction that I wanted to story to be told from the point of view of a jar of jam in a cute country cafe. I had no clue where the story would go, or even who the characters were, so I just made it up as I went along. When I got stuck, I went to my partner for help and filled a space on a wall at home with yellow post-its with a couple of words each - "sheep", "man falls from sky", things like that. It was fascinating letting the story take on a life of it's own, back tracking every now and then to shape my characters.

This year, I'm taking a different tack - I'm planning the story in the hope that I won't get stuck, because this year I don't have time to get stuck, I have too much else going on in my life to spend days agonising over my next step. I think the best way to start is the way I plan most projects - with a blank A1 piece of paper propped up on my artist's easel, as I always feel like I need loads of space to just let my ideas run free. So that's my task for this week: plan and prepare. I'll let you know how it goes!

How are you planning for NaNoWriMo? Or are you just winging it? Tell me about it in the comments!

Coming back to life... for now

Hi everyone! Long time no blog! Well, here anyway. I've been blogging over at my new home, The Green Room, and although it's been hard going fitting in blogging lately, I've been really enjoying it - it's great having a focus and a mission - I'm only trying to save the world, no biggie ;)

Anywho, I'm reviving You May Say I'm a Dreamer until the end of November because I've decided (against my own and probably everyone else's better judgement) that I'm going to do National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) again! For those of you who don't know already, I'm getting married on December 7th, so the month before is probably not the best time to write a novel. But screw it, I'm gonna try anyway. I don't have as much faith in winning as I did last year, but I'm hoping to make some headway the one of five novels I've started.

Last year I wrote 50,000 words worth of foodie goodness - a little country tale revolving around food told from the perspective of a jar of jam sitting high on a shelf in a charming cafe. This year, I'm exploring reincarnation with a story about a boy who lived twice. I came across a story on You Tube about a little boy who had all of these crazy details about a previous life in his head - a mum, a dad, a house by the sea, even how he died. He truly believed he had lived another life and when he died he saw a light at the end of a tunnel and ended up were he is today. The family, for the sake of the documentary, actually researched his claims and took him to the house he believed he used to live in and the look on his face - that of a grown man who has realised that everything and everyone he had known and loved was gone forever, not an innocent five year old boy - is burned into my brain. I can't forget it. So I'm using this story as a starting point for my own story about a boy who lived before.

So why am I doing this when I have a month until my wedding (when it starts)? Simply put, because I procrastinate a lot and let ideas fester in my head and it's a lot easier to get on with it when there are thousands of other people in the world doing the same thing and going through the same web of emotions with you. It's also cool to see that word count rise every day... or every few days.

I decided to blog about it here because I kind of miss blogging about random things. Plus, it holds me accountable.

So hello old readers and welcome new readers! Lovely to have you here. :)

Round two! Let's go!

NaNoWriMo: What next?

On finishing NaNoWriMo, I spent a blissful weekend doing not very much and not thinking about very much. As the next week began, I decided my novel and I needed some distance. We had spent far too much time together and needed a break from each other - personal space, you know? So we agreed to go our separate ways until January. Now, even though life is moving at quite the frantic pace, the few moments I have spare are spent wondering what on earth to do with myself now that I don't have a goal of 50,000 words to work towards. In those moments, all I can think about is getting my hands on those printed pages and a red pen and getting to work.
So, sure, I'm less than two weeks out from a two week break, and sure, editing is part of my day job, but screw it, I'm starting now! I suppose I can justify it by saying, I want to keep up the momentum, right?

I've decided to take up Createspace's offer of five free paperback copies of your novel for NaNoWriMo winners, but I have to have it ready before June...

So, 144 doubled-spaced pages printed, annnnnnd go!

"I’m a little nervous about all this you know. What is she playing at, seducing the nicest guy on the planet? Not that he would take much seducing - he’s absolutely smitten with her, it’s written all over his face when he looks at her, his body language when he talks to her.

I wish I could do something, stop the poor guy from getting hurt, but I can’t, I’m just a jar of jam. All I can do is watch as the foundations of this little town begin to crumble.

Oh Lily, I’m glad you came back, but you don’t realise what you’ve started."

Happy Monday :)

Morning all, hooray for Monday! And a beautiful sunny Monday at that if you're lucky enough to be in NZ! Hope you all had a fabulous weekend. I feel like I haven't stopped... Saturday: Went to a part of Wellington I've never been before - Mapuia - to go to an open day at Wellington Prison, which is closing so it's all empty and weird; had a pizza night with friends, then went to my first ever James Bond movie with them all. Sunday: Ignored the sunshine and stayed inside all day writing for NaNoWriMo, made it to 35,000 words; made apple crumble for the first time ever and it turned out amazing, possibly the best apple crumble I've ever tasted, and took it to the parents' house. And now all of a sudden it's Monday and, like most Mondays these days, I feel like I need another weekend to get over this one... but guess what, it's only FOUR WEEKS until Christmas Eve! Which means a whole two weeks off work for me!
Hope you all have a fabulous week! 50,000 words here I come!
xo

Feel good Friday

Painful is the first thing that comes to mind when describing this week. But it's a good kind painful. Shins, calf muscles, arms, elbows, neck, abdominals , and elbows are hurting like a bitch after getting my butt into gear and kick starting my fitness with an outdoor fitness class run by my brother's girldfriend called Fury. Man it's hard. Yesterday, within about half an hour, we had to do 100 push ups, run forwards 700m, backwards 300m, 200 saddle jumps, and 200 squats. I didn't do it all, but I did most of it, and am feeling super sore today, but I know it will be worth it in the end.
Joshua and I are doing it together, so it's great being able to support and encourage each other, and now that we've got through the first two sessions - which I'm told are the hardest, apparently it gets easier from here - we're feeling good, despite the old person grunts that happen when we get out of a chair... and out of bed... and when I have to lift my arms higher than my shoulders...
My brain has also been working hard this week, because I've been tanking NaNoWriMo - 28,006 words so far! Not quite on target yet but I'm confident I'll make it to the 50,000 by the end of next week. The story is really starting to take shape and build up to its climax - what's going to happen? I dunno... But it's going to be something big, something near-death, something that reveals the truth about everyone and opens old wounds and pours salt in them...
If there's anything I've learnt from this whole NaNoWriMo thing, it's to not spend to much time planning - if any - not to restrict yourself to a specific storyline, to just let the characters form and take you where they like. That's the exciting part about it, the not knowing where you're going but knowing it's somewhere exciting. It's like some otherworldly force talking to you, telling you what to write and saying, "trust me, I have a point, this will all make sense in the end, just go with it."
Have a fabulous weekend peeps xo

NaNoWriMo update

After a very unproductive second week on account of being preoccupied for reasons I can't (yet) discuss, it's been a very productive third week with the creation of an inspiration wall - the wall above my dining table being covered in postit notes, with ideas contributed by Joshua and myself. I'm now up to 26,709 words, so I'm over halfway, but not yet where I need to be.

The best part about week three: Cracking the halfway point and really getting to know my characters.

The hardest part about week three: Keeping the story interesting so I still want to keep writing it.

The funniest part about week three: Joshua getting a wee bit jealous of one of my main characters, a charmingly handsome irishman named Patrick Murphy, to be sure...

The cafe is always a happy place on a Friday, and I always delight in seeing the customers’ happy faces as they come in for their morning treats and pick-me-ups.
I especially delight in Patrick’s arrival, because he’s just so nice to look at. Even wearing scruffy clothes and work boots, he always looks a picture as he leans casually on the counter and flashes Joan or Janet a big Irish smile full of charm. Sometimes if one of them says something funny his big brown eyes will crease at the edges and a wavy lock of thick chocolate hair will fall over his eye, which he pushes back with a work roughened hand.

You guys... you know how I love New Zealand to the point of obsession? Check out what happened yesterday! For the second time this year! Wow. The power of mother nature just blows me away. Love this place.

Happy Monday :)

Morning all and a happy Monday to you all! Hope you all had a fabulous weekend. Ironically, considering my last post was about "summer" finally being here, the weather was kind of bad for us this weekend, with rain and wind and cold, but it was a good excuse to stay inside and work on NaNoWriMo, for which I have cracked 20,000 words! Although I should be at over 30,000 by now, I still think it's a pretty good effort and I still think I can make it to 50,000 by the end of the month. And now I'm going to be helped along by my awesome inspiration wall which is slowly filling up with ideas from the ever creative man in my life. Also went out to dinner with the best siblings a girl could ask for on Saturday night, and on Sunday took a trip to the Wairarapa to talk to a guy about my Tinui Project, spending most of the drive over begging the weather gods to give me some sunshine, but they didn't listen so instead of driving out to Tinui itself and exploring, I went home on account of the rain and the cold... and was treated to a beautiful homecooked pasta meal - which made up for the weather :)

Have a fabulous week lovelies! xo

And so the procrastination sets in

I'm now over the one week mark with NaNoWriMo, and that procrastination bastard has started to kick in. I'm up to about 11,000 words, so I'm still on track, but I don't really know where to take my story next so I'm "waiting for inspiration" but really, I'm just refusing to think about it.
Last week two of my colleagues who are also doing NaNoWriMo and I challenged each other to get to a word count of 10,000 words by the end of the weekend and, although I made it, this week's goal of another 10,000 words is not looking promising. But they tell you not to be too hard on yourself, so I'm trying not to be. But I do need to write something today. The idea was to write 2,000 words a day from Monday... so technically I have to write 8,000 words today... and I have no idea what to write. But I'm going to figure it out. Today. Because I don't have a choice. I have to get to the 50,000 words. I have to finish this.

Maybe you can help me with some ideas... basically I have a bunch of people who live in a small town, but none of them are from the small town, they're all running away from something. Question is, what are they running away from people?

Ready, Set, NaNoWriMo!

One by one the teardrops fall as I write you 
One by one my words come falling on the page 
One by one my dreams are fading in the twilight 
One by one my schemes are fading fast away 

This song came on as I was thinking about the start of National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo) and I thought, how perfect... For the month of November, I am sure many teardrops will fall caused by frustration and panic, but I hope most of the times the words will simply fall onto the page... but everything else will fade into the background, or into my favourite time of day, twilight, for safe keeping until December.

So today it begins! A 50,000 word novel in one month. Can I do it? Well, if this girl can write a novel a month for 12 months, I reckon I can do one!

NaNoWriMo virgin

You may have noticed a sneaky little logo that appeared on here yesterday >>>
Yep, I'm doing National Novel Writing Month this year for the first time! Although it's been going for years, I only just heard about it this year - I don't even remember how I heard about it - so I signed up about a month ago and then forgot about it, thinking I would just casually start writing in November, on my own, and not really tell anyone about it... but then my coworker asked me if I was doing it, and now that it's crept up closer, there's this huge buzz about it on Twitter, on Facebook and all over the blogosphere. Not as casual as I had thought. But that's made it all the more exciting. And it's put the pressure on me to actually do it because, not only do I have myself to answer to, but I have 116 of you lovely You May Say I'm a Dreamer followers and 400 Twitter followers to answer to.

I'm one of those annoying people who starts a heap of projects and never finishes anything - I drive myself crazy with it - so I thought NaNoWriMo would be the perfect opportunity to finish something.
Even if I don't get it published or even show anyone my 50,000 words, I'm looking forward to the satisfaction of getting something finished and showing myself that I can actually do it - I can write a novel - and get rid of the fear of finishing.
So expect to see many posts dedicated to the excitement, frustration and confusion of my first NaNoWriMo experience over the next month (and probably more after that - I plan to edit!) along with a weekly Friday update on my word count - but don't worry, I'll still find time for other posts! Feel free to offer advice or encouragement! Or to ask for it!

So I'm sure you're dying to know... what am I writing about?! Well remember that quirky little story I wrote a ways back about a jar of Strawberry Jam just for fun? Well I'm going to take that and run with it! I've got a few characters, a setting a general plot direction, but I've decided not to plan too much because all too often I "overplan" or "overthink" things and they usually don't turn out as planned, so I'm going to let the characters and the strawberries take me wherever they like. I'm so excited I actually have butterflies!

A jar of jam sitting high on a dusty shelf in a small town New Zealand cafe watches the comings and goings of the town, where everybody who lives there is running away from something. It's a fairly quiet and peaceful place until the cafe's elderly owner and the town's matriarch dies and her granddaughter arrives from the city, bringing her demons with her.

Who else is doing NaNoWriMo? If you are, leave me your username in the comments box and I'll add you! Or you can add me! My username is just Sarah Hardie :)

Good luck fellow NaNoWriMoers! xo

Feel good Friday

Because of Labour weekend last weekend, it's been a short and sweet week, with a very busy weekend coming up, which is kind of good because I suffer from what Joshua likes to call "Weekenditis" - if I'm not doing anything I get a little bit weird. It's definitely been an inspiring week, and also a week of reflection... so here's what's making me happy this week...

♥ The prospect of spoiling Joshua on his birthday with hugs and kisses and meatloaf wrapped in bacon for dinner tonight...
♥ Getting an email inviting me to the NaNoWriMo kick off party on Sunday - eep! I'm really doing this, what a nutbar
♥ Getting serious about my research for my novel, Missing Since Tuesday, by meeting with a Wellington Railways expert at the archives - think I might have to take a day off work sometime soon to trawl through all those amazing old photos, so fascinating!
♥ Having a rare "I have nothing to do" moment, which I spent cruising through my old Facebook photos, smiling over the little things that have changed and the little things that haven't over the last five years or so, and also smiling over the beautiful memories of summers past, wondering what memories are in store for us this summer