Keep Calm...

Another 2017, making 16,257 - that's 27% done!

I hope tomorrow to have some time to go back over the first few chapters and tidy them up a bit - there's one scene I already know needs to be told from another POV, for example. I know that it's not the NaNo way to edit as you go, but I'm ahead of schedule, and anything that makes the revision process more bearable has to be good, as far as I'm concerned!

Right. off to tackle the ironing instead.

A little bit behind here, but not with the writing!

As of yesterday, I was at 12,087 and plan for another 2,000 today.

But not until we've been on an adventure with a kite for the daughter, a nice lunch for us (Waffle House!) for a belated anniversary celebration, and got the belly pork in the oven for this evening...

Also been plotting a new story - one I can't wait to write. But it has to get in line!

Forgot to update yesterday, mostly due to sleep deprevation. I did, however, hit my target - just!
8013 words, and still on schedule.

More later, when I get to do some writing today.

Thanks to the daughter having a nice long nap this lunchtime, I am now ahead of schedule on wordcount, but still a little behind on plot. Since I'm venturing into London this evening, just in time to catch the end of the tube strike, I think I'll take my laptop along with me for when I inevitably get stuck somewhere. At least if I'm writing, I might not be so cross about the delay...

Day Three Stats:
Starting word count: 4057
Wordcount at 16:00: 6576

Well, it's the second day, and I'm still on schedule. For me, that might just be a NaNo miracle.

I'm trying something a little new for the plotting and outlining of my novel this year. I started out by using PBW's block plotting method to help me hammer out the basics, then I split my story into thirty chunks, each with a sentence or two detailing what needs to happen. They're not scenes, because several of them include more than one scene. But as long as I write a chunk a day, and average around 2000 words or more per chunk, then I'm on target.

I'm about to stop for lunch, and so far I've hit my 4000 words, but am only two thirds of the way through the chunk. It's not a problem, I'll finish it tonight, and hopefully it will make up for some of the lighter chunks, when 2000 words would be stretching the action further than it wants to go.

So, lunch, then an afternoon playing with the daughter (shortly to return from nursery) and doing housey things, then an evening drinking peppermint tea and utilising Write Or Die to get my last 1500 or so words. So far, so calm.

Of course, I'm only writing this down so that in a couple of weeks, when I'm 10,000 words behind on my wordcount, my outline has been tossed, rewritten and tossed again, and I'm mainlining espresso, I can look back and cackle at my early, misplaced optimism.

November is here at last, which means it's time for NaNoWriMo!

I love National Novel Writing Month. Some years I use it to write an idea I love but will never get around to otherwise. Some years I use it to write something I've fallen behind on. Sometimes it's just great to kickstart an idea that stalled in the planning stages - somehow the deadline makes the plot fall in to place.

More than anything, it's a great excuse to spend thirty days concentrating on the writing. I have an excuse to beg off country walks or housework. I can say to my husband, "I need you to watch your daughter for the morning - I need to hit my word count!"

This year, I've stocked the freezer full of homemade meals to see us through no-cooking November, and I've got a fantastic headstart on the Christmas shopping. The house is in order, CBeebies is on the telly, and I am ready to write.

Unfortunately, the daughter spent most of the night awake, and I've had the Nina and the Neurons song stuck in my head since one am. Daughter's still all out of sorts, and wants to cuddle on the sofa (most unlike her) and keeps dragging me away from the keyboard.

And at this point, this post is longer than my NaNo novel so far...

That's right. I'd forgotten the other huge advantage of NaNoWriMo - perfecting the art of procrastination. I always get so much done when I'm avoiding writing my novel!

Getting back to the manuscript right now.

My brother, two of my cousins, and one cousin’s baby daughter invited themselves over for lunch today. That sounds worse than it was – my brother called and said, “We thought we might stop by next weekend,” and I said, “Lunch or dinner?”

Then, worrying that I’d been too abrupt on the phone, and they might not think we were delighted for them to come (which we were) I sent invitations, asking them to a Whitley-style Sunday Lunch.

My maternal grandparents, Olwyn and Elfed Whitley, had their four children, their husbands and wives, and the eight grandchildren round for a Sunday lunch at HQ every week throughout my childhood. When they started to get older, it became every other week, or we’d have big celebrations at my mother or aunt’s house instead.

Even now they’ve passed on, the family still makes sure it gets together for big events, usually at Sunday lunchtime, and now featuring grandchildren’s spouses, partners and children. We’re really quite numerous at this point, and many of us live far away from Wales (we're almost four hours drive, as are my cousins in London) but we all make the effort to be together for the big occasions.

Anyway, so when I was trying to decide what to feed my guests, since we were right at the end of our food budget for the month, I thought, “How on earth did Grandma do it? How do Mum and Dad do it now?”

And then I realised. They cook our favourite, traditional, heritage dishes – sometimes more, sometimes less. So I started making a list.

Today’s Menu:


Starters

Tuna pate on toast

(This was the start of every Sunday at HQ, because people never arrived at the same time, and it was something easy for everyone to nibble on. An appropriately aged grandchild – usually me or my brother - was nominated pate monitor on arrival, and had to make it and hand it round.)

Mains

Mum’s Devilled Chicken Drumsticks
Dad’s Rice Salad
Grandma’s Stuffed Baked Potatoes
Auntie Barbara’s Shallot Tart
Green salad
Bread
Crisps

(We will be eating leftovers for the next few days...)

Dessert

Brought by my guests!

Chocolate pudding and cream
Emma’s fairy cakes

(I also bought after dinner chocolates to pass round, like we always did at HQ, but I’ve just realised I forgot them and they’re still in the cupboard. Bother.)


I made the potatoes on Wednesday, because they freeze really well, and reheat in 40 minutes. The chicken I marinated last night, so it just needed roasting today. The tart was new for me, but turned out well. And everything else was very straightforward, and was prepared before people arrived. I love having family round, and realise now why my family have always catered in this way. And after so many years of helping Mum and Dad, or Grandma and Granddad, prepare, I found I knew exactly what needed to be done.

And now I’m having a cup of peppermint tea and a rest.