Now we're getting somewhere!

Well, this has been a satisfing writing month. I have managed to have a good output on all four Fridays, with fewer interruptions, and have been able to churn out a little over 13,000 words in total, to reach a new overall total of 81,176 words! This is my second-most productive month since I started the project, and only a couple of hundred words behind my best ever, so I feel very good about that. I feel as if the story is progressing as it should, at a suitable pace. I read back through parts one, two and three today to make sure my backstory was all straight and, instead of cringing and wanting to set fire to it as I do sometimes, I actually thought it was quite good! I'm not as unhappy with the overall structure as I thought I might be; things move along, characters develop, intensity builds...it might be all right after all!
No romance this week though - the heroine has had time to sit back and think about what she's doing, while also being confronted with further difficulties, the unfortunate result of having a murky past. Such is the stuff of novels!
I also completed by critical commentary of the Theroux book for my travel paper; hope I'm on the right track. It's so hard to know when studying extramurally if you are on the right track or barking up some completely foreign tree...I guess I'll find out in a few weeks when I get my grade. I have booked some great weekends away for the coming more wintry months, which should give me some good fodder for travel stories.

Recent reading
Not a great week for reading - too much sailing, taking advantage of the recent burst of awesome Indian summer weather - but I have started Labyrinth. Not far enough into it to comment yet!

At last, a love scene!

I don't usually refer to my WIP as a romance novel, although it definitely has a strong romantic thread. However, on Friday, finally, after 77,000 words and about 250 pages, my two main characters finally got it on! Well, not exactly, but they did have a good pash and that should make them both good and confused for next week! I kind of wasn't expecting a love scene to happen along but it seemed like a good time - they were alone, it was dark, something exciting had just happened - and the next thing I knew, they were locking lips like there was no tomorrow! It was during a piece written from the male character's POV and his desires are reasonable straightforward; it will be interesting next Writing Friday to get inside the female lead's head and find out what's going on: she has a few Issues that make getting into a relationship a bit Complicated, so maybe it's time to get back into those... I really enjoyed writing it, though - it seemed really natural for my characters to kiss at that point, and I found it came quite easily. Obviously I was in the mood!
Did some work on my non-fiction project also; wish I had more time to dedicate to it, as just as I am finding out interesting things and wanting to include them, I find I am out of time! Why do work days drag and writing days fly past? Mind you, the summer won't last forever and knocking off at 3.30 to go rum racing (sailing) seemed like the right thing to do to refresh my writing-weary brain...

Recent reading
Finally made it to the end of the Happy Isles. I did enjoy it but it was a bit over-long and he didn't cheer up until the very end, which I guess made for a satisfying narrative arc. Did some work on my critical commentary today - due next Friday - and found myself forming opinions about the text that I didn't know I had. I have just started Kate Mosse's Labyrinth but not sure I have the energy for another 700-page book...will see if the story grabs me enough. The start is promising.

So much to do...

Just a quick blog, as I am working against the clock to try to get a freelance edit finished by the end of today (Sunday), so I can get onto the next thing...I always seem to have more things to do than I have time for, but I kind of like it that way. Nothing worse than having nothing to do! I have been lucky (in a way) over the last six months or so that my husband has been building a boat and so hasn't been around much at weekends or in the evenings, which has given me lots of time to freelance and write. The boat is nearly finished and it will be a bit strange (in a good way!) to have him around again. In the meantime, I have to make hay while the sun shines!
Had a good writing day on Friday - still slow progress as I am in a descriptive phase where I am having to check lots of historical details, but I am nearly out of that section and back onto the fully made-up, emotional stuff. It has been fun though, and I feel confident about where I'm going and how it's progressing.
Did a Writers in Schools visit this week too, to a group from Auckland Middle School, at the Parnell Library. As usual, I'm not sure whether they took in anything I said - teenagers are very hard to read - but the teachers seemed to enjoy it! Scored a nice box of chocolates, too :-)

Recent reading
Still going on The Happy Isles; Paul Theroux still isn't happy! I have to write an 800-word critical commentary on this next week for my Massey paper - will be interesting!

Awards shortlist announced

Just a quick blog today because I am so tired from writing today: I did 3000 words on my novel then created a further 2000 words for the sports biography which should now - hopefully - be complete. At the author's request, I have rewritten the appendix on coaching this week so it's now 8000 words, with some really good stuff in it. But this is just rats and mice: the big news of the week was the announcement of the New Zealand Post (Children's) Book Awards shortlist, which I am on for my ghost writing of Mark Inglis's High-Tech Legs on Everest. This is the abridged, young-readers' version of his book Legs on Everest, which tells the story of his ascent of Everest in 2006 as a double amputee. It's a great, inspirational story and the book was lots of fun to work on, choosing what to put in and leave out, making the language appropriate to a 10-14 age group and selecting and writing additional sidebars on points of interest. I feel like a bit of a faker because I'm not the one who actually climbed Everest - I just got to write about it - but it is great to have my name out there, in the paper, in the glossy brochure, being talked about by people who know about children's books and who might otherwise have forgotten me... I also have a day speaking with Mark in South Auckland in May, prior to the awards ceremony, which is always fun.
I have a Writers in Schools appointment on Monday at Parnell Library too, so will be able to talk to the kids about the awards. It feels good to get some recognition for my work; it is always satisfying and a great acheivement to be published, but especially in a small market like this, awards nominations generate buzz and sales, which is all good!
Had an OK day on the novel today - got a bit bogged down in historical detail again but have broken the 70,000 word mark and have just about caught up to the averaging 2000 words a week mark (which equates to more than 100,000 words a year - that's a lot of writing!). I would be more excited about this but I am feeling pretty drained!

Recent reading
The Happy Isles of Oceania won the what-to-read-next contest. At 700 pages it's a bit of a whopper but I am enjoying it. I am currently up to Paul Theroux's adventures in Fiji and he is yet to find an island he likes...will have to keep reading!