Purple Monster

For the Questions on there own go here! And don’t forget to post a link as a comment on the originators blog here!

When and how did you find out about NaNoWriMo? How did you go?

I found out about NaNoWriMo the year before last – so that would be 2007 but as we were still struggling with our house having been flooded and I had no internet I a) didn’t find out about it until it was about half way through. I did some off line writing for myself for the time remaining and thought that it seemed very doable. I met my own target and worked out how much I would have to do to catch up but vetoed it as I was typing in a cramped bed in my husbands aunts attic and it seemed a stupid thing too do with Chronic Pain issues.

I found out about it from my friend Ella’s Live Journal – she not only completed it but had twice the word count – her novel is now a series that she has worked on with the help of last years nano too!

How many times have you done NaNoWriMo?

I haven’t yet – oh I was going to last year and mentioned it on my personal blog but as I was doing stuff for my MRes at the time – there just really was no time and I had a massive issue with my hands which ment that all typing time had to be given priority to coursework :/ I dictated a few days worth of stuff to my husband before he got too busy – I think I knew something like that was going to happen though as I hadn’t actually signed up to the challenge!

How many times have you won? If you haven’t won, what was your best result?

Erm I haven’t and as I haven’t officially participated yet I don’t know! But I have managed to write 85, 000 words of a novel outside of the challenge but my writing really was derailed by the being out of our home for so long!

How did you go last year?

This I think is answered in the above two answers .

Where do you write and with what do you write?

I write in a mirade of places with a mirade of objects (and does anyone know how to spell mirrade?). Mostly I end up sitting at the living room table using my laptop but I’m hoping to have my office space upstairs storted by November so that I can sit in my nice chair at my nice desk but it gets very cold in the office as it basically has no heating 🙁

On nice days I like to take my note book out side and sit at what I term my poetry table!

I used to take the laptop and write in Zanadoo – a place in the garden with an old mill stone for a table and a rock for a chair but my husbands aunt decided to plant lots of plants there so thats not really doable anymore 🙁

This year I’m planing on seeing if I can keep warm enough in the gazebo or summerhouse thing that I’ve spent the summer trying to make usable with my dads help! My father-in-law put it in a lifetime ago and it’s just on wooden blocks with no precerver or anything so was in and is still really – in a bit of a state – but I reason I can put the poetry table and chair in there on an old bit of carpet and have a parabolic heater in there and write away! With NO interuptions!

Well thats the plan anyway 🙂

How do you find time to write?

Well my little girl has just started school and will be going full time after the half term – just in time for Nano! But basically I come home and do 20 minutes of sitting down writing/checking emails etc… and 10-20 minutes of house work and alternate. This is part of my pain management – I struggle sometimes to pull myself away from the writing and hope that one day I’ll be back up to an hour a time!

Are your partners, friends and family allies or enemies?

Well that depends on who we are talking about really – my husband is really understanding and tries to give me space and time to write, my little girl wants to ‘join in’ so I can’t really write what I want to when she’s around!

My husbands aunt is having TIA’s and things meaning she forgets things and is sometimes a bit bargy in and shouty – normally right when I’m in the flow! And Mum thinks its a waste of time and sort of tells me off about not having a proper job! But then she did that with the illustrating too.

What are you strengths and what do you use to help you get to the end?

Strengths? Obstanant – if thats a strength – determined?

Good at research.

What are you weaknesses, obstacles and challenges that hinder you from finishing?

A tendency to panda to everybody elses needs leaving me no time to do me things, chronic pain flare ups – I can’t control when these will happen and I’ve been quiet bad this year, I also get fatigue with it which is a pain in the back side and I swear I get thicker – ho hum :/

My domestic stituation is a bit tricky and hubby’s away half the week.

Do you plot/outline/plan or do you write by the seat of your pants? How much do you plot or how unprepared are you?

For some reason I am going all out on the preperation for this Nano – hence this blog really!

Do you participate in the real life community, go to write ins and meet ups in your area?

I hope too – again this is one of the things I’m really looking forward too – I don’t know many people in the area still and so tend to end up feeling isolated even though we have been here for 4 yrs now. It is an excuess to get out and I work better with human feedback!

What are your writing aids? Special snacks, music, totems, rewards or punishments?

writing aids would be coloured pens which I tend to use in a rather OCD kind of way!

Special snacks would be cheerios carrot sticks and chocolate/yogurt covered nuts and raisins! And erm… Pizza :/

Music wise I’m compiling a few hours of listening for this sepcific writing project – it will be heavy on rock, thrash, electornica, emo, alternative etc… you know the type of thing – dystopia type music with some high tech sounding stuff – if I can get hold of some sort of music like the Aztecs etc… would have had along with some Elizabethan music I’ll be even happier!

Totem – I want to make a writing buddy Wiggly Pet.

Posted: Friday, October 23rd, 2009 @ 11:40 am
Categories: Uncategorized.
Subscribe to the comments feed if you like. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.