Day Twenty-Eight

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Please post today's updates/excerpts/thoughts/etc. in comments.

Here's today's daily prompt for your updates, excerpts, any thoughts, etc.

Yesterday's post: Day Twenty-Seven


Still time to make your views heard on the Pico-futures thread.

Comments

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Oh... so close! But I came to a natural break in a scene with the last few hundred words still to go. I'll see what I can do with the start of the next scene.

But best of all, I have thrown down plot on Cold Heaven with exactly the kind of gay abandon that has been missing from eighteen months of slog and second-guessing. Hooray!



Because it's so expositional, I can't find an excerpt that isn't spoiler-filled, so here's an exchange between the heroine and the hero of my NaNo novel:

Kate: "This is turning into Educating Rita."
Elliot: "Am I Michael Caine or Julie Walters?"

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Yay for over 90%! Double yay for plot! (Is Cold Heaven the new title of the other novel or the NaNo one?)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Cold Heaven is the new title of the one that's been sucking the life out of me for a year and a half. The NaNo novel is Fine and Private Places.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Hopefully the CH woes will be conquered by the positivity of the successful nanowriter.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

God, I hope so!

[paranoidangel]

Wow, that's really great. And you still have 2 days to go.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I'll probably hit the word count target without doing all the scenes I wanted to do. But tomorrow and Thursday are going to be pretty busy...

[forodwaith.livejournal.com]

Hoorah for gay abandon.

[catskin.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on that one!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

And all that sail in it.

[edge-of-ruin.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad that NaNo has got you all loosened up!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

It certainly has! I jist hope I can keep going.

[tawek.livejournal.com]

You said: But best of all, I have thrown down plot on Cold Heaven with exactly the kind of gay abandon that has been missing from eighteen months of slog and second-guessing. Hooray!
Hooray indeed! That's great. Congrats :)

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Well, no words today, but I have a glimmer of an idea for my yuletide story which I think might just fly.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Ooh, good!

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

It hasn't evaporated this morning, which is a good sign.

[six-old-cars.livejournal.com]

A good sign indeed - especially if it still feels worthy.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Not sure my ideas ever feel worthy, but I think I'll try to press ahead with this one anyway...

[forodwaith.livejournal.com]

Glimmers are good. And if it hasn't evaporated, even better.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Not so much evaporated as blown up, sadly, but resurrection of slightly different form may yet be possible.

[catskin.livejournal.com]

So close! Even if a lot of what I wrote today was nonsense about picking locks, at least I ... well ... I learned how to pick locks...

The first time I’d stolen this stupid Virgin statuette, I’d had to chloroform two cleaners.

[forodwaith.livejournal.com]

And who knows when that may come in handy!

[catskin.livejournal.com]

*nods wisely* Just so.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Fantastic line, absolutely love it.

[catskin.livejournal.com]

^-^ Thanks. I feel the same about your Jadis icon.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Thanks ;-)

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Nice extract. Good luck with the final haul.

[catskin.livejournal.com]

^-^ Thank you!

[forodwaith.livejournal.com]

::falls over::

I think I will take two days off to rest my brainz, and then on to Yuletide...

[edge-of-ruin.livejournal.com]

Oo well done!

[forodwaith.livejournal.com]

Thank you! An argument for starting with low goals, I suppose; at least I made it.

[spiralsheep.livejournal.com]

Congratulations.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

WOO HOO! Fantastic!

Now have a lovely rest.

[forodwaith.livejournal.com]

I certainly hope to! Unfortunately that depends on how quickly the toddler with tonsillitis recovers...

[six-old-cars.livejournal.com]

Hurrah! Fantastic - well done!

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Fantastic! Well done. I hope you can find a way of rewarding yourself.

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! That's awesome.

[paranoidangel]

Woohoo! Well done.

[tawek.livejournal.com]

[Pulls up a thesaurus for "well done" to avoid repeating everyone else ...]
Overcooked! [erm... maybe that's the wrong word]

... Felicitations!!

[six-old-cars.livejournal.com]

OK, my word count on chapter 5 has reached 5690 and I think, just maybe, that's where it ends and chapter 6 begins. Since chapter 4 was 6230 my total for the month (excluding the two stock-pile scenes) is around 11000. I think I shall declare myself satisfied with that, and maybe take a couple of days off before cleaning them up a little and then attacking chapter 6.

Excerpt:
As he sought to bring out all the nuances of the Vision's contemplation, Michael was struck by how ordinary and how pertinent it seemed. The names had changed, but the idea of interrogation was very topical, and hiding thoughts behind a mask had become an essential part of life for him. Perhaps, he mused, that was why the Fathers had given him this particular Vision. But if so, what did they want him to make of it? Was it a warning against the course he was on, or against the bishop's approach?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

11000 words and 2 new chapters is brilliant - you must be chuffed to bits! :-D

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

That's very impressive, and (as I recall) well in excess of your original picoaims. Well done. I hope that you're going to give yourself a reward?

[forodwaith.livejournal.com]

total for the month is around 11000
Excellent!

[paranoidangel]

That's brilliant.

[tawek.livejournal.com]

Well done.

And you're underselling yourself. 5690+6230=11910.
That should round up to 12,000 words!

What was your original aim? 5,000 words?

I think you deserve a bonus :)

[six-old-cars.livejournal.com]

Ah, but that 11910 includes two stock-pile scenes, so I rounded down to account for them, giving 11000 actual new words.

But yes, my original aim was one chapter, being probably 5000 words.