...yes, that is a shopping trolley on a beach. I can look at said beach if I get up from the dining room table and go stare out the kitchen windows in the direction of the lighthouse. It kind of represents my brain, actually: empty and shadowed and mired in sand.
I've been having an interesting time of it. As you can see I haven't been doing the NaNo updates, but that's a long story. Mostly it boils down to the fact that the other day I wanted to RAGEQUIT the whole thing. This video kind of explains that desire in a succinct little comment right at the end, although the rest of it is good for a laugh. And by Christ I've been needing a laugh.
Yes, yes, it's more Amnesia. Actually the stupid game saved my sanity somewhat, because on Monday I just couldn't write at all. ...well, I lie, I wrote nine hundred and thirty four words. And waited for inevitable RAGEQUIT. In the end I slept for thirteen hours, got up on Tuesday, and got on with it. Today is Wednesday and I have 55,547 words for NaNoWriMo and a completed first draft of Hibernaculum. It's a terrible first draft, but it exists. And I started writing this version of the story back in 2005 or 2004 or something. So, screw it. It's done. I can fix it later. It's done.
I am always terrified of waking up one day to discover I am a terrible writer. This is generally why I give up halfway through a novel, and why I rarely submit things. Hibernaculum has been bothering me for so long that finishing it really took it out of me, and I just couldn't see it happening. Well, here I am. And I did it mainly by promising myself that once I was done with it, before I returned to The Juniper Bones (a terrifying prospect for a myriad of other reasons), that I could indulge the Lovecraftian muse awakened by Amnesia and write a horrible story about evil fae. So, that is going to be my day tomorrow. I also have the urge to finish a story I started writing way back in early...2010? It could even have been 2009, I'm not sure. It seems suitable, considering the story was inspired by Fly My Pretties and I finished Hibernaculum right on the end of this beautiful song.
So, for posterity, here is the daily NaNo breakdown:
GREYWATER -- 153,732
01/11 - 157,787 (4055)
02/11 - 166,457 (8670/12,725)
HIBERNACULUM -- 187,374
03/11 - 192,376 (5002/17,727)
04/11 - 196,406 (4030/21,757)
05/11 - 202,421 (6015/27,772)
06/11 - 211,707 (9286/37,058)
07/11 - 212,641 (934/37,992)
08/11 - 223,863 (11,222/49,214)
09/11 - 230,196 (6,333/55,547)
Incidentally from the time I arrived here in Australia before NaNo I added 47,882 words to Greywater and I also wrote that ten thousand word story for Alara and Nan. I think I wrote something else. I don't even remember anymore.
...yeah, no wonder my brain is fried. Too bad Dr. Morgan will see me now. O_o
You know, I once thought of doing a book of photos of shopping trolleys (carts in the US) found in odd places. This would be a great addition!
ReplyDeleteI still can't get over that shopping cart on the beach. If I saw that in person, I'd just be amazed.
ReplyDeleteOoh, I've probably got a couple photos of shopping carts in odd places.
ReplyDeleteOne of the guys on the show Trailer Park Boys collects shopping carts and gets money for returning them to the stores...
Terrible writer? You???
Oh, that shopping cart. I think I found it the first time I was here; my father took me for a walk down to the surf club and he was trying to explain something to me about the ships and I was too busy taking pictures of the cart. Ha. I blame my fascination on the fact I went to the University of Otago, which has a river running through the campus which is actually about four or five metres below ground level in a concrete "valley" (I can't think of the proper word for it). Naturally it's just not a normal day unless you see a shopping trolley in it. I think if a student walks past and DOESN'T see one, they'll feel obliged to go and rectify the situation immediately. And possibly burn a couch to appease the Scarfie gods, I'm not sure. Dunedin is a strange, strange place, and not just because several of my overseas friends have been known to misspell it as "Dunedain." Um.
ReplyDeleteOf course [bg] I always think of Dunedain.
ReplyDeleteTo this day I'm surprised Peter Jackson didn't film some random scene there just for the punchline. Which only New Zealanders would have got. With that said, watching any of the LotR movies with a Kiwi is likely a painful experience; we spend the entire time either trying to work out where a particular scene was filmed ("I'VE BEEN THERE! ...that's where we had the Potato War of '97! No orcs, though...dammit.") or we continuously squint at random people on the screen before announcing definitely: "SHORTLAND STREET." Um. XD
ReplyDeleteIt's like the subway scene in Die Hard 3: "That's not New York! It's Lionel-Groulx station in Montreal!"
ReplyDelete