Written 25th November.....
I’m writing this offline on Black Friday.
Why?
Because we were supposed to move into our lovely new house on the 21st October, then a week after, then a week after, and so on.
Here I am, still, in our shoddy flat, surrounded by half packed boxes, one eye on this blog, one eye on my phone.
At least, thank God, there is an endless supply of tea.
I am grateful for all the things which don’t require internet; music, Scrivener, heat.
My new house has internet, lucky house.
So
as all those Black Friday deals indifferently pass me by, it is with
considerable trepidation and dread that I realise exactly what I can
fill my zero byte time with – NaNoWriMo.
Let’s
see, by the end of today, to be on track, I should have 41,675.
Currently I have 35,822. Plenty of room for improvement I’m sure you’ll
agree.
But
even on this low day, sulking in my pyjama’s I want to raise a toast,
to NaNo, to that slippery 50,000 demand. Because instead of being the
burden it was looking likely to be, starting when we moved, tearing me
away from painting and purchasing, it has instead been a friend in the
gloom.
As
I have sat and left yet another voicemail, been informed of a further
set-back, hoped and despaired, NaNo has been a persistent nudge in my
ribs, ‘Well, I guess you better write then.’ And so I would drop through the
bottom of this real, aggravating world, straight into my created one,
for an hour here and there, for half a day.
The insanity of NaNo has
somehow kept me sane.
There
is something therapeutic and soothing about giving in to your internal
voice, trusting it to yabber on and on across the page, believing it is
leading you somewhere, teaching you patience.
Speeding
up access to this dark world of mine, is my ever faithful playlist,
created purely to support my novel; the mood, atmosphere, the
characters. It is 80 ever shuffled songs which help me sink in. Later on
in the editing process I may choose to split these down my chapter,
tailor them. I know plenty of writers who need absolute silence. For
me, the songs are portals.
I’m going to go away and lean on my friend again now, see where I end up. I’ll leave you with a few snapshots of my soundtrack.
