Monday writing report

Today was a day off work. As my wife was gigging all weekend we decided on this day as our chance to have one last day out before Christmas and possible take in the Frankfurt market in the middle of Birmingham. It didn't quite turn out like that.

My father in law received, last Friday, a faster than expected appointment at the hospital to check on the result of some previous surgery. (It went well.) But it meant she was going to have to drive him into Leicester which put paid to our going out for the whole day. And then some other things happening in the next two days meant the only time that the main shopping to cover the period over Christmas could happen was this morning. That reduced the part day out to no day out.

Never mind. It wasn't an essential trip. In any case it would mean I had a chance to do a little more writing while wife/F-in-L did the shopping. (And before you ask they choose to not take either me or the M-in-L on these trips, we don't chicken out.) Then we could have the evening together before I head back to work tomorrow.

Yeah, well that plan was as likely to happen as the others wasn't it. And just as you might expect another phone call saw her heading off to yet another gig. Which is where she is as I type this. Or rather, on the back from it is where she is now. They would have finished playing at 11 (current time in UK 11:32pm).

So I did the only thing a writer could do when free time presented itself. I did some more writing.

Here is the summary

Today - 4,788 words.
Novella - 15,314 words
December word count - 29,242

There's a milestone or two in that summary. For one thing that's the most words I've committed to the page in a single day since before I started logging the daily word count. The most previously was the 4,073 of the first day of NaNoWriMo before No Man's Land started to bog me down a little. I'm happy with that.

Then there's the matter of the novella word count. I'm aiming this at 30K which means today it is at the halfway mark. That's a few days ahead of where I expected to be. I can't complain about that. And finally there is the month to date figure. At 29,242 words I am only 3K behind where I was when I was going for the 50K in NaNoWriMo.

Not bad when you consider I've had seven days in there when, through revising earlier novels for submission, headache or family/social commitments, I didn't add even one word to the count.

Away from the keyboard mangling part of writing today saw one rejection email arrive - for the YA Fantasy. It was friendly enough but a rejection is still a rejection even if they don't use the phrase 'it stinks'. Bugger.

Totally away from writing we have caught up on the DCU TV shows. I'm presuming they have now all stopped for the Christmas mid season break. Well if they have, they have all ended the first half of their seasons well. Arrow was particularly strong this week and left you on a real cliff hanger. I can't wait until it returns.

Yesterday we also finished the third season of the Bridge. Wow. All I can say, without giving away too much, is that the Swedes/Danes have no problems putting their characters through the emotional wringer. I hope that this series doesn't end here but if it does it's gone out maintaining its high standard through all thirty episodes.

Also watched Grimm; now this is a show I thought could be far too silly when I first saw it. After all lots of were creatures running around could become daft. Were-squirrel anyone? But I am so glad my worries were groundless. It's established itself as a favourite in our viewing schedule and this week's episode kept the standard up; progress the overall story arc enough without sacrificing the enjoyment factor of a single episode. And it featured the return of someone who has been absent from the screen for a while; in a manner which didn't come across as contrived. Good stuff.

Back to work tomorrow - a short week. Just three days and then I have ten uninterrupted days off. Intending to do a bit of writing (mainly during the inevitable gigs my wife has) and watching one or two more Scandi dramas - Jordskott being a strong contender for the first out of the box and onto the box.

Anyway - that's it. All caught up. Now to go relax for a few minutes and wind down towards sleep. Not sure it will be that easy with the Temples of Syrinx playing. Not going to switch it off though - music too good

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A writing update

Review of Ray Garton - Bestial

Attempts at regaining the writing saddle