1. When the cats say “me-ow” with two clear syllables and the dog says “woof” with a well-enunciated “wuh” and a clipped “fuh”.
1a. Dancing with the dog to the ‘D.
2. Excited chatter from the both of us and our new projects as we dog walk – but only one of us swoops around and makes helicopter noises as we pass the field.
3. Surprisingly enjoyable bean and veggie enchiladas.
1. The bright colours and jolly patterns of our funderwear as it dries on the airer.
2. A trump threatens to be embarrassingly loud and squeaky while John is on a conference call. The beautiful thing is the relief when it, ahem, passes quietly. ;)
3. Little distracts me from my worries more than a good (real life) logic puzzle. (I wasn’t worrying about trumps then. Well, not exclusively.)
1. I’ve been “George’s Marvellous Medicine”ing a mackerel and pepper pasta dish – each “did I add this much or that little?” bodge taking it slightly further away from the desirable dish and being a bit less satisfactory. The one I whip up at lunchtime though is back on track again.
2. “I thought you wouldn’t forgive me if I didn’t bring her in,” he says with a laugh. I’m already on the floor getting spaniel love. Her ears are slightly woolly like a Welsh Springer and her face so delicate compared to our big beast.
3. Stripes on my top, swirls on my scarf and fuzzy checks on my wool bag: a pleasing pattern combination.
1. Horses rustling dried grass in the darkness as I pass by.
2. I spoon the dog, John spoons the cat and my legs while we watch people on the tv laughing with pure joy.
3. To finish a blue day by learning something new.
1. To not feel guilty about having some playtime in the middle of the day.
2. There has been a shocking dearth of cheese in our house recently so we go a little overboard in compensation. I weigh the resulting cheese mountain: 2.6kg!
3. The marinade on the meat is delicious – my contribution. Then it and the vegetables are cooked to perfection – his contribution. “Good effort Team Peach!” we say, full and content.
After all my rousing success last year and my advanced planning this year, I failed at NaNoWriMo 2012. Sigh.
“Inspired” by the Winners’ button, I made my “loser” button –>
Some of those 25k excuses: I failed through a combination of circumstance, distraction and disinterest. Written entirely in documents created by the (many, varied) characters, in three separate time periods, following myriad stories, it was never going to be easy but I think I underestimated how difficult I would find it to create certain types of documents/documents for certain characters, and how I would feel bogged down by the less enjoyable stories that I thought it needed to make it more rounded. Compared to last year’s effort (which finally closed at circa 150k and which I’m still editing), it felt emotionally distant, cluttered and soulless.
I’m not beating myself up about it though: the “loser” thing is really quite tongue-in-cheek.
I wrote 24,177 words I wouldn’t have done otherwise. I got to try writing in lots of different styles and in lots of different characters’ voices – some that I probably wouldn’t use in “normal” circumstances. I learned various different things in the name of research. I also learned there are some things I don’t like writing but some things I really, really do enjoy and that bodes well for things I have in mind for the distant future. I got to draw a completely made-up map like I used to love doing when I was a child – yay! I played with a storyline I’ve been dabbling with for a few years, fleshed it out loads and thought about how I could take it in a different way – definitely something to go back onto my ideas book. In fact, there are a lot of things like that — the first part (set in 1851, which is complete) could easily be used as a sourcebook for creating a larger, more involved story in the future, or if I strip out the things that bored me/come up with more compelling storylines, I think I could return to the original premise and complete it.
I might not have technically “won” but really I have :)
© 2024 Louisa Parry
