Diary of a typing klutz

Drafts on order

2008-11-30T14:27:00.002Z

That's it! Both covers done (in the gimp) and the interior text reformatted (still OpenOffice Writer, after a certain amount of cursing) like ye bookes that be prapper bookes.

lulu.com is my chosen printer slash publisher. I also looked at createspace, because they had a special offer for nanowrimo participants. Unfortunately, the offer was pretty much worthless for non-US residents like me. OK, your draft will be printed for free, saving you four dollars, but postage is still twenty dollars.
lulu on the other hand now appear to have UK printing, or at least a much cheaper deal than when I first used their service 3/4 years back.

OK, now what...

Probably, I'll just wait to get the drafts. Proof read, again, and then think about promotion.

Rewritten

2008-11-22T16:50:00.002Z

Just finished rewriting chapter 18.

	Original	Rewrite	Increase
ch 01	2,417	2,998	24%
ch 02	2,915	3,529	21%
ch 03	3,334	4,086	23%
ch 04	2,518	3,114	24%
ch 05	3,728	4,650	25%
ch 06	3,207	3,946	23%
ch 07	2,893	3,776	31%
ch 08	1,752	1,928	10%
ch 09	3,387	3,686	9%
ch 10	3,495	4,063	16%
ch 11	3,917	4,465	14%
ch 12	3,737	3,939	5%
ch 13	2,881	3,381	17%
ch 14	1,993	2,211	11%
ch 15	2,455	2,615	7%
ch 16	1,862	2,121	14%
ch 17	2,880	3,075	7%
ch 18	3,049	3,604	18%
Total	52,420	61,187	17%

Now I move on to the fun stuff - covers. It seems that the best way to get around any copyright royalty non-commercial situation is to draw or photograph the covers myself. The first cover will be Clown Down. Lucky for me, there are videos and instructions for how to draw clowns available on the internet. I'll be using The Gimp or coding PostScript by hand but I think the principle will be the same.

Anticlimax approaches

2008-11-21T22:21:00.002Z

All rewritten except the last chapter. The stats are a bit disappointing. Truman Capote once said that finishing a book is like you took a child out to the backyard and shot it. My chosen back-up site is down just now, bah.

	Original	Rewrite	Increase
ch 01	2,417	2,998	24%
ch 02	2,915	3,529	21%
ch 03	3,334	4,086	23%
ch 04	2,518	3,114	24%
ch 05	3,728	4,650	25%
ch 06	3,207	3,946	23%
ch 07	2,893	3,776	31%
ch 08	1,752	1,928	10%
ch 09	3,387	3,686	9%
ch 10	3,495	4,063	16%
ch 11	3,917	4,465	14%
ch 12	3,737	3,939	5%
ch 13	2,881	3,381	17%
ch 14	1,993	2,211	11%
ch 15	2,455	2,615	7%
ch 16	1,862	2,121	14%
ch 17	2,880	3,075	7%
ch 18	3,049	3,049	0%
Total	52,420	60,632	16%

Two more chapters rewritten

2008-11-20T22:05:00.002Z

I've decided I will just plug away until The Spike Garden is rewritten. That should be done this weekend. Then I'll do a cover for it and Clown Down.

Simplified stats now, since there is no target.

	Original	Rewrite	Increase
ch 01	2,417	2,998	24%
ch 02	2,915	3,529	21%
ch 03	3,334	4,086	23%
ch 04	2,518	3,114	24%
ch 05	3,728	4,650	25%
ch 06	3,207	3,946	23%
ch 07	2,893	3,776	31%
ch 08	1,752	1,928	10%
ch 09	3,387	3,686	9%
ch 10	3,495	4,063	16%
ch 11	3,917	4,465	14%
ch 12	3,737	3,939	5%
ch 13	2,881	3,381	17%
ch 14	1,993	2,211	11%
ch 15	2,455	2,615	7%
ch 16	1,862	1,862	0%
ch 17	2,880	2,880	0%
ch 18	3,049	3,049	0%
Total	52,420	60,178	15%

Two more chapters down

2008-11-18T22:11:00.003Z

Rewrote chapters 12 and 13 today. Maybe I'll just finish rewriting and then do a cover? I could do a cover for Clown Down too. If only there was an English lulu.com equivalent...

	Original	Rewrite	Increase
ch 01	2,417	2,998	24%
ch 02	2,915	3,529	21%
ch 03	3,334	4,086	23%
ch 04	2,518	3,114	24%
ch 05	3,728	4,650	25%
ch 06	3,207	3,946	23%
ch 07	2,893	3,776	31%
ch 08	1,752	1,928	10%
ch 09	3,387	3,686	9%
ch 10	3,495	4,063	16%
ch 11	3,917	4,465	14%
ch 12	3,737	3,939	5%
ch 13	2,881	3,381	17%
ch 14	1,993	1,993	0%
ch 15	2,455	2,455	0%
ch 16	1,862	1,862	0%
ch 17	2,880	2,880	0%
ch 18	3,049	3,049	0%
Total	52,420	59,800	14%

In need of a new plan

2008-11-16T21:46:00.003Z

Chapter nine seems not to have been a blip. The rewrite is now adding far fewer
words than planned. The wife's suggestion is to rewrite to whatever length the story will stand, rather than attempting to make it up to 75,000. I might do that, although not meeting a target, arbitrary as it may be, seems to be against the spirit of the nanowrimo.

	Original	Rewrite	Increase	120%	Extra words
ch 01	2,417	2,998	24%	2,900	Required:	25,000
ch 02	2,915	3,529	21%	3,498	Current:	6,678
ch 03	3,334	4,086	23%	4,001	Target:	18,322
ch 04	2,518	3,114	24%	3,022	Current day:	16
ch 05	3,728	4,650	25%	4,474	Remaining days:	14
ch 06	3,207	3,946	23%	3,848	Target rate:	1,309
ch 07	2,893	3,776	31%	3,472	Current rate:	417
ch 08	1,752	1,928	10%	2,102
ch 09	3,387	3,686	9%	4,064
ch 10	3,495	4,063	16%	4,194
ch 11	3,917	4,465	14%	4,700
ch 12	3,737	3,737	0%	4,484
ch 13	2,881	2,881	0%	3,457
ch 14	1,993	1,993	0%	2,392
ch 15	2,455	2,455	0%	2,946
ch 16	1,862	1,862	0%	2,234
ch 17	2,880	2,880	0%	3,456
ch 18	3,049	3,049	0%	3,659
Total	52,420	59,098	13%	62,904

A turn for the worse

2008-11-16T16:15:00.002Z

Chapter nine is a full-length one but I still only managed to increase it by 9%. I don't know but I think maybe the writing is better and therefore stands less improvement. Here's hoping things improve, or worsen, with chapter ten.

	Original	Rewrite	Increase	120%	Extra words
ch 01	2,417	2,998	24%	2,900	Required:	25,000
ch 02	2,915	3,529	21%	3,498	Current:	5,555
ch 03	3,334	4,086	23%	4,001	Target:	19,445
ch 04	2,518	3,114	24%	3,022	Current day:	16
ch 05	3,728	4,650	25%	4,474	Remaining days:	14
ch 06	3,207	3,946	23%	3,848	Target rate:	1,389
ch 07	2,893	3,776	31%	3,472	Current rate:	347
ch 08	1,752	1,928	10%	2,102
ch 09	3,387	3,679	9%	4,064
ch 10	3,495	3,495	0%	4,194
ch 11	3,917	3,917	0%	4,700
ch 12	3,737	3,737	0%	4,484
ch 13	2,881	2,881	0%	3,457
ch 14	1,993	1,993	0%	2,392
ch 15	2,455	2,455	0%	2,946
ch 16	1,862	1,862	0%	2,234
ch 17	2,880	2,880	0%	3,456
ch 18	3,049	3,049	0%	3,659
Total	52,420	57,975	11%	62,904

A short one

2008-11-16T15:05:00.002Z

Hmm. Only managed a 10% increase on chapter eight. It's more of a interlude and introduction to the second part of the book though. Coincidentally, 10% is how much I have lengthened the book so far.

	Original	Rewrite	Increase	120%	Extra words
ch 01	2,417	2,998	24%	2,900	Required:	25,000
ch 02	2,915	3,529	21%	3,498	Current:	5,263
ch 03	3,334	4,086	23%	4,001	Target:	19,737
ch 04	2,518	3,114	24%	3,022	Current day:	16
ch 05	3,728	4,650	25%	4,474	Remaining days:	14
ch 06	3,207	3,946	23%	3,848	Target rate:	1,410
ch 07	2,893	3,776	31%	3,472	Current rate:	329
ch 08	1,752	1,928	10%	2,102
ch 09	3,387	3,387	0%	4,064
ch 10	3,495	3,495	0%	4,194
ch 11	3,917	3,917	0%	4,700
ch 12	3,737	3,737	0%	4,484
ch 13	2,881	2,881	0%	3,457
ch 14	1,993	1,993	0%	2,392
ch 15	2,455	2,455	0%	2,946
ch 16	1,862	1,862	0%	2,234
ch 17	2,880	2,880	0%	3,456
ch 18	3,049	3,049	0%	3,659
Total	52,420	57,683	10%	62,904

Sunday afternoon

2008-11-16T13:51:00.001Z

I did not yield to the temptation to pop out for lunch, nor to have a microwaved Matteson's sausage. Beans on toast and fruit for me.

	Original	Rewrite	Increase	120%	Extra words
ch 01	2,417	2,998	24%	2,900	Required:	25,000
ch 02	2,915	3,529	21%	3,498	Current:	5,087
ch 03	3,334	4,086	23%	4,001	Target:	19,913
ch 04	2,518	3,114	24%	3,022	Current day:	16
ch 05	3,728	4,650	25%	4,474	Remaining days:	14
ch 06	3,207	3,946	23%	3,848	Target rate:	1,422
ch 07	2,893	3,776	31%	3,472	Current rate:	318
ch 08	1,752	1,752	0%	2,102
ch 09	3,387	3,387	0%	4,064
ch 10	3,495	3,495	0%	4,194
ch 11	3,917	3,917	0%	4,700
ch 12	3,737	3,737	0%	4,484
ch 13	2,881	2,881	0%	3,457
ch 14	1,993	1,993	0%	2,392
ch 15	2,455	2,455	0%	2,946
ch 16	1,862	1,862	0%	2,234
ch 17	2,880	2,880	0%	3,456
ch 18	3,049	3,049	0%	3,659
Total	52,420	57,507	10%	62,904

Sunday morning

2008-11-16T10:40:00.001Z

A full day's writing ahead of me. I'm still hopelessly behind at this stage, but generally happy with the standard at least. I've been wasting time doodling with my avatars too. Oh well.

	Original	Rewrite	Increase	120%	Extra words
ch 01	2,417	2,998	24%	2,900	Required:	25,000
ch 02	2,915	3,529	21%	3,498	Current:	4,204
ch 03	3,334	4,086	23%	4,001	Target:	20,796
ch 04	2,518	3,114	24%	3,022	Current day:	16
ch 05	3,728	4,650	25%	4,474	Remaining days:	14
ch 06	3,207	3,946	23%	3,848	Target rate:	1,485
ch 07	2,893	2,893	0%	3,472	Current rate:	263
ch 08	1,752	1,752	0%	2,102
ch 09	3,387	3,387	0%	4,064
ch 10	3,495	3,495	0%	4,194
ch 11	3,917	3,917	0%	4,700
ch 12	3,737	3,737	0%	4,484
ch 13	2,881	2,881	0%	3,457
ch 14	1,993	1,993	0%	2,392
ch 15	2,455	2,455	0%	2,946
ch 16	1,862	1,862	0%	2,234
ch 17	2,880	2,880	0%	3,456
ch 18	3,049	3,049	0%	3,659
Total	52,420	56,624	8%	62,904

Chapter five rewritten

2008-11-15T15:22:00.001Z

Did the farmers' market in record time, on account of getting a lift up there from my wife and hence arriving at opening time. Wrote before lunch. Wrote after lunch.

	Original	Rewrite	Increase	120%	Extra words
ch 01	2,417	2,998	24%	2,900	Required:	25,000
ch 02	2,915	3,529	21%	3,498	Current:	3,396
ch 03	3,334	4,086	23%	4,001	Target:	21,604
ch 04	2,518	3,114	24%	3,022	Current day:	15
ch 05	3,728	4,581	23%	4,474	Remaining days:	15
ch 06	3,207	3,207	0%	3,848	Target rate:	1,440
ch 07	2,893	2,893	0%	3,472	Current rate:	226
ch 08	1,752	1,752	0%	2,102
ch 09	3,387	3,387	0%	4,064
ch 10	3,495	3,495	0%	4,194
ch 11	3,917	3,917	0%	4,700
ch 12	3,737	3,737	0%	4,484
ch 13	2,881	2,881	0%	3,457
ch 14	1,993	1,993	0%	2,392
ch 15	2,455	2,455	0%	2,946
ch 16	1,862	1,862	0%	2,234
ch 17	2,880	2,880	0%	3,456
ch 18	3,049	3,049	0%	3,659
Total	52,420	55,816	6%	62,904

Finally did something this week

2008-11-14T21:44:00.002Z

Friday night, great. There were good excuses every day, except Tuesday. Tuesday was genuine because I didn't get home until midnight. OK, OK I could have not gone and volunteered at my local jazz club. Back to no excuses then. Happy?

	Original	Rewrite	Increase	120%	Extra words
ch 01	2,417	2,998	24%	2,900	Required:	25,000
ch 02	2,915	3,529	21%	3,498	Current:	2,543
ch 03	3,334	4,086	23%	4,001	Target:	22,457
ch 04	2,518	3,114	24%	3,022	Current day:	14
ch 05	3,728	3,728	0%	4,474	Remaining days:	16
ch 06	3,207	3,207	0%	3,848	Target rate:	1,404
ch 07	2,893	2,893	0%	3,472	Current rate:	182
ch 08	1,752	1,752	0%	2,102
ch 09	3,387	3,387	0%	4,064
ch 10	3,495	3,495	0%	4,194
ch 11	3,917	3,917	0%	4,700
ch 12	3,737	3,737	0%	4,484
ch 13	2,881	2,881	0%	3,457
ch 14	1,993	1,993	0%	2,392
ch 15	2,455	2,455	0%	2,946
ch 16	1,862	1,862	0%	2,234
ch 17	2,880	2,880	0%	3,456
ch 18	3,049	3,049	0%	3,659
Total	52,420	54,963	5%	62,904

Didn't get much done today

2008-11-10T22:26:00.000Z

Too tired and that

	Original	Rewrite	Increase	120%	Extra words
ch 01	2,417	2,998	24%	2,900	Required:	25,000
ch 02	2,915	3,529	21%	3,498	Current:	2,166
ch 03	3,334	4,086	23%	4,001	Target:	22,834
ch 04	2,518	2,737	9%	3,022	Current day:	10
ch 05	3,728	3,728	0%	4,474	Remaining days:	20
ch 06	3,207	3,207	0%	3,848	Target rate:	1,142
ch 07	2,893	2,893	0%	3,472	Current rate:	217
ch 08	1,752	1,752	0%	2,102
ch 09	3,387	3,387	0%	4,064
ch 10	3,495	3,495	0%	4,194
ch 11	3,917	3,917	0%	4,700
ch 12	3,737	3,737	0%	4,484
ch 13	2,881	2,881	0%	3,457
ch 14	1,993	1,993	0%	2,392
ch 15	2,455	2,455	0%	2,946
ch 16	1,862	1,862	0%	2,234
ch 17	2,880	2,880	0%	3,456
ch 18	3,049	3,049	0%	3,659
Total	52,420	54,586	4%	62,904

Less abruptness

2008-11-09T18:14:00.002Z

Chapter three is the first proper chapter. The first two are more of a preamble. Three is where the structure begins. I've now rewritten it with less abruptness and it comes out to ... around 20% longer.

	Original	Rewrite	Increase	120%	Extra words
ch 01	2,417	2,998	24%	2,900	Required:	25,000
ch 02	2,915	3,529	21%	3,498	Current:	1,947
ch 03	3,334	4,086	23%	4,001	Target:	23,053
ch 04	2,518	2,518	0%	3,022	Current day:	9
ch 05	3,728	3,728	0%	4,474	Remaining days:	21
ch 06	3,207	3,207	0%	3,848	Target rate:	1,098
ch 07	2,893	2,893	0%	3,472	Current rate:	216
ch 08	1,752	1,752	0%	2,102
ch 09	3,387	3,387	0%	4,064
ch 10	3,495	3,495	0%	4,194
ch 11	3,917	3,917	0%	4,700
ch 12	3,737	3,737	0%	4,484
ch 13	2,881	2,881	0%	3,457
ch 14	1,993	1,993	0%	2,392
ch 15	2,455	2,455	0%	2,946
ch 16	1,862	1,862	0%	2,234
ch 17	2,880	2,880	0%	3,456
ch 18	3,049	3,049	0%	3,659
Total	52,420	54,367	4%	62,904

20% seems to be average

2008-11-09T14:19:00.002Z

Chapter two is now rewritten. Again, it has come out to about 20% longer. Since I'm shooting for 50% longer, I have a significant shortfall. I'm not going to worry about that now. I have a few moves up my sleeve, as mentioned in the previous post.

Obligatory improved stat table:

	Original	Rewrite	Increase	Extra words
ch 01	2,417	2,998	24%	Required:	25,000
ch 02	2,915	3,529	21%	Current:	1,195
ch 03	3,334	3,334	0%	Target:	23,805
ch 04	2,518	2,518	0%	Current day:	9
ch 05	3,728	3,728	0%	Remaining days:	21
ch 06	3,207	3,207	0%	Target rate:	1,134
ch 07	2,893	2,893	0%	Current rate:	133
ch 08	1,752	1,752	0%
ch 09	3,387	3,387	0%
ch 10	3,495	3,495	0%
ch 11	3,917	3,917	0%
ch 12	3,737	3,737	0%
ch 13	2,881	2,881	0%
ch 14	1,993	1,993	0%
ch 15	2,455	2,455	0%
ch 16	1,862	1,862	0%
ch 17	2,880	2,880	0%
ch 18	3,049	3,049	0%
Total	52,420	53,615	2%

NotNoWriMo 2008 is late

2008-11-08T15:31:00.003Z

This year I will be rewriting last year's NaNo novel, The Spike Garden
It needs to be about 50% longer to really be a novel. I've had a bad cold and been off work, and wrimo, for three days this week, so it's a pretty late start. Hey ho.
But I think 50% is do-able:
- Smooth out the transitions between scenes
- Add even more of the narrator's rambling thought process
- Add descriptions of the gardens and the paintings

Insane plan: Complete the 50% increase in half the month, and then do a 50,000 word NaNoWriMo novel in the second half. Position now is as follows.

	Original	Rewrite	Increase
ch 01	2,417	2,998	24%
ch 02	2,915	2,915	0%
ch 03	3,334	3,334	0%
ch 04	2,518	2,518	0%
ch 05	3,728	3,728	0%
ch 06	3,207	3,207	0%
ch 07	2,893	2,893	0%
ch 08	1,752	1,752	0%
ch 09	3,387	3,387	0%
ch 10	3,495	3,495	0%
ch 11	3,917	3,917	0%
ch 12	3,737	3,737	0%
ch 13	2,881	2,881	0%
ch 14	1,993	1,993	0%
ch 15	2,455	2,455	0%
ch 16	1,862	1,862	0%
ch 17	2,880	2,880	0%
ch 18	3,049	3,049	0%

Winner's icons

2007-11-30T00:14:00.000Z

I deserve them
Since I started writing ataround 00h00 on the first day, it was tempting to try and write exactly 50,000 and take up to 24h00 on the last day. But no, my wife likes to see me every now and then apparently.

52,420 words

2007-11-30T00:13:00.001Z

ch 01	2,417	Total	52,420
ch 02	2,915	Day	29
ch 03	3,334	Projected	54,228
ch 04	2,518	Target	48,333
ch 05	3,728	Position	4,087
ch 06	3,207
ch 07	2,893
ch 08	1,752
ch 09	3,387
ch 10	3,495
ch 11	3,917
ch 12	3,737
ch 13	2,881
ch 14	1,993
ch 15	2,455
ch 16	1,862
ch 17	2,880
ch 18	3,049

49,371 words

2007-11-28T23:45:00.000Z

ch 01	2,417	Total	49,371
ch 02	2,915	Day	28
ch 03	3,334	Projected	52,898
ch 04	2,518	Target	46,667
ch 05	3,728	Position	2,704
ch 06	3,207
ch 07	2,893
ch 08	1,752
ch 09	3,387
ch 10	3,495
ch 11	3,917
ch 12	3,737
ch 13	2,881
ch 14	1,993
ch 15	2,455
ch 16	1,862
ch 17	2,880

46,286 words

2007-11-27T22:39:00.001Z

ch 01	2,417	Total	46,286
ch 02	2,915	Day	27
ch 03	3,334	Projected	51,429
ch 04	2,518	Target	45,000
ch 05	3,728	Position	1,286
ch 06	3,207
ch 07	2,893
ch 08	1,752
ch 09	3,387
ch 10	3,495
ch 11	3,917
ch 12	3,737
ch 13	2,881
ch 14	1,993
ch 15	2,455
ch 16	1,657

43,548 words

2007-11-26T23:09:00.001Z

ch 01	2,417	Total	43,548
ch 02	2,915	Day	26
ch 03	3,334	Projected	50,248
ch 04	2,518	Target	43,333
ch 05	3,728	Position	215
ch 06	3,207
ch 07	2,893
ch 08	1,752
ch 09	3,387
ch 10	3,495
ch 11	3,917
ch 12	3,737
ch 13	2,881
ch 14	1,993
ch 15	1,374

42,174 words

2007-11-26T21:28:00.002Z

ch 01	2,417	Total	42,174
ch 02	2,915	Day	26
ch 03	3,334	Projected	48,662
ch 04	2,518	Target	43,333
ch 05	3,728	Position	-1,159
ch 06	3,207
ch 07	2,893
ch 08	1,752
ch 09	3,387
ch 10	3,495
ch 11	3,917
ch 12	3,737
ch 13	2,881
ch 14	1,993

Home stretch. Sprint finish.

2007-11-25T21:52:00.000Z

Yeah

40,181 words

2007-11-25T21:51:00.000Z

ch 01	2,417	Total	40,181
ch 02	2,915	Day	25
ch 03	3,334	Projected	48,217
ch 04	2,518	Target	41,667
ch 05	3,728	Position	-1,486
ch 06	3,207
ch 07	2,893
ch 08	1,752
ch 09	3,387
ch 10	3,495
ch 11	3,917
ch 12	3,737
ch 13	2,881

37,300 words

2007-11-25T17:18:00.001Z

ch 01	2,417	Total	37,300
ch 02	2,915	Day	25
ch 03	3,334	Projected	44,760
ch 04	2,518	Target	41,667
ch 05	3,728	Position	-4,367
ch 06	3,207
ch 07	2,893
ch 08	1,752
ch 09	3,387
ch 10	3,495
ch 11	3,917
ch 12	3,737

33,563 words

2007-11-24T23:46:00.000Z

ch 01	2,417	Total	33,563
ch 02	2,915	Day	24
ch 03	3,334	Projected	41,954
ch 04	2,518	Target	40,000
ch 05	3,728	Position	-6,437
ch 06	3,207
ch 07	2,893
ch 08	1,752
ch 09	3,387
ch 10	3,495
ch 11	3,917

29,646 words

2007-11-24T16:57:00.000Z

ch 01	2,417	Total	29,646
ch 02	2,915	Day	24
ch 03	3,334	Projected	37,058
ch 04	2,518	Target	40,000
ch 05	3,728	Position	-10,354
ch 06	3,207
ch 07	2,893
ch 08	1,752
ch 09	3,387
ch 10	3,495

Half way...

2007-11-22T22:07:00.001Z

Half way is nothing to be proud of at this stage. I have just had to miss a couple of days due to sickness though. If I can have a great weekend, it's still on the cards.

26,151 words

2007-11-22T22:06:00.001Z

ch 01	2,417	Total	26,151
ch 02	2,915	Day	22
ch 03	3,334	Projected	35,660
ch 04	2,518	Target	36,667
ch 05	3,728	Position	-10,516
ch 06	3,207
ch 07	2,893
ch 08	1,752
ch 09	3,387

22,764 words

2007-11-19T22:42:00.000Z

ch 01	2,417	Total	22,764
ch 02	2,915	Day	19
ch 03	3,334	Projected	35,943
ch 04	2,518	Target	31,667
ch 05	3,728	Position	-8,903
ch 06	3,207
ch 07	2,893
ch 08	1,752

21,012 words

2007-11-18T22:26:00.000Z

ch 01	2,417	Total	21,012
ch 02	2,915	Day	18
ch 03	3,334	Projected	35,020
ch 04	2,518	Target	30,000
ch 05	3,728	Position	-8,988
ch 06	3,207
ch 07	2,893

SPOILER notes

2007-11-18T22:22:00.000Z

The Spike Garden notes
Characters
Water garden aunt
Names: Stare, Look, Aura, Tarot, Sight, Seer, Mist
Contemplative (originally Deep and romantic)
Interested in the occult
Told Echo to imagine herself with the man she wants whilst in “private ecstasy” This is when Echo bit into her mirror. WG aunt told her this, knowing it to be false.
A liar
Her death is first and a genuine accident. Narr is a witness and decides not to help her.
?She falls off her secret roof during an experiment to catch lightning. Narr had to help her as punishment.
Banned from her garden for switching an animal to be sacrificed. Mist had acquired a stray moggie but Narr substitutes a pet of one of the other aunts.
Loses a man through not being direct
Spring garden aunt
Aunt Blush
What happens in other seasons
Youth obsessed
Adopted faddish ways of talking
Hated her birthdays. Received presents but they were not called birthday presents
Portrait is of her as an old woman
Suffocated by a corset. This is the last death and the one most like a murder. Narr. Ties her up and gags her with a powder puff before tightening her corset to the point where she cannot breathe. He tightens it a little more with each cough.
?Kills herself when she starts to get wrinkles
?Her life stopped when she stopped being young (because she killed herself or let herself waste away)
Narrator was excluded for telling a man Blush's real age
Fruit garden aunt
Aunt Carbon
Wants to be a mother so that she can copy herself
Only wants daughters
Eats a lot
plays strip brag
But only wants sex for reproduction
MC sees evidence that her lover has an STD and does not pass it on. ?She asked him to check her lover's penis's apearance. he does so but then does not tell her what he sees.
Green garden aunt
Aunt Halo
Eternality and consistency
Liked exercise and used to go running in the gardens
Ate in moderation
Made long-term investments
Few new clothes
Obsessed by sleep
Died by sleeping draught overdose. Narr kept waking her, secretly, so that she took stronger and stronger doses.
Rose garden aunt
Aunt Echo
Obsessed by her own beauty
dies biting a mirror in ecstasy (narr. may have cracked the mirror first)
Had many nudes painted of herself, by painters that she was trying to ensnare
MC’s mother
Names: Stiletto, Mantrap
?died in childbirth
?weakened by childbirth
All the grace of a spider on the underside of a labourer's boot. A broken umbrella.
Her orifices are traps
Narrator
His artist
Narrative
Part one: Now
7 chapters
- starting a relationship
- with a painter who has been commissioned to do portraits of the gardens
- some of her sentences are like a full moon, others like a partial moon
- each portrait brings in an element of the aunt’s personality, like the mirror
- each portrait tells us a bit about the artist
- finally, he plays in the spike garden. Could be chasing his artist. Her name might be the same as his mother's.
- The aunts all hate each other but they hated his mother more.
- “Owning a penis makes you a rapist. Owning the spike garden makes you a madman”

Water
Spring
Fruit
Green
Rose
Mist
Blush
Carbon
Halo
Echo
6
5
7
4
3
Halo
Mist
Echo
Carbon
Blush
Breakfast
Fortune telling
Leaving a funeral
Picnic
Dressing for a ball
Sacrifice switch
Revealing her age
Giving a prophylactic to a man
?Tripped when running
Pushing her into pond
death 1
death 5
death 2

Fell
Corseted
STD
Overdose
Biting mirror

Part two: Childhood
5 chapters
- when I had more gardens, aunts and mothers (or but not mothers because his mother died when he was born or just after)
- descriptions of gardens themselves
- he is barred from the gardens, one by one, for doing various things in each one
- like pushing the rose garden aunt into the water (because the world in the mirror could not be entered because the mirror is hard) enough water to break your fall, but not enough to drown you, like a good depth of shame
Part three: Adulthood
5 chapters
- each aunt dies
- Narrator murders them with weapons that he has found harmful to himself
Part four: Before birth
? chapters
- told by his father
- how his mother met his father
she competed with and defeated all his aunts to gain the attention of his father
- Narr. father was killed by the defeated aunts
Bits
“An unstoned sinner”
“We do not sleep alone. When one is alone one cannot come to harm.”
“When I read the words Prison Creater I was in love.”

18,119 words

2007-11-17T00:16:00.001Z

ch 01	2,417	Total	18,119
ch 02	2,915	Day	16
ch 03	3,334	Projected	33,973
ch 04	2,518	Target	26,667
ch 05	3,728	Position	-8,548
ch 06	3,207

15,489 words

2007-11-15T23:18:00.001Z

ch 01	2,417	Total	15,489
ch 02	2,915	Day	15
ch 03	3,334	Projected	30,978
ch 04	2,518	Target	25,000
ch 05	3,728	Position	-9,511
ch 06	577

All free software novel

2007-11-14T22:43:00.000Z

Yup, as of today The Spike Garden is being written on free software
I am running OpenOffice.org Writer, which came with Debian linux
The word count is done in OpenOffice.org calc
This post was amde using Epiphany web browser

Up until now I had been saving in MS Word format but my hard disk had a hardware crash so I replaced it with linux. I found that the OpenOffice.org Writer was unreliable in updating its word counts so I've switched to its own ODT format.

13,953 words

2007-11-14T22:42:00.000Z

ch 01	2,417	Total	13,953
ch 02	2,915	Day	14
ch 03	3,334	Projected	29,899
ch 04	2,518	Target	23,333
ch 05	2,769	Position	-9,380

12,275 words

2007-11-13T23:09:00.000Z

ch 01	2,417	Total	12,275
ch 02	2,915	Day	13
ch 03	3,067	Projected	28,327
ch 04	2,518	Target	21,667
ch 05	1,358	Position	-9,392

SPOILER notes

2007-11-13T23:08:00.001Z

The Spike Garden notes
Or: a pointed person and the people impaled
Water garden aunt
Names: Stare, Look, Aura, Tarot, Sight, Seer
Contemplative (originally Deep and romantic)
Interested in the occult
Told Echo to imagine herself with the man she wants whilst in “private ecstasy” This is when Echo bit into her mirror. WG aunt told her this, knowing it to be false.
Spring garden aunt
Aunt Blush
What happens in other seasons
Youth obsessed
Adopted faddish ways of talking
Hated her birthdays. Received presents but they were not called birthday presents
Portrait is of her as an old woman
?Kills herself when she starts to get wrinkles
?suffocated by a corset
Narrator was excluded for telling a man Blush's real age
Fruit garden aunt
Aunt Carbon
Wants to be a mother so that she can copy herself
Only wants daughters
Eats a lot
“The fruit does not resemble the tree”
Green garden aunt
Aunt Halo
Eternality and consistency
Liked exercise and used to go running in the gardens
Ate in moderation
Made long-term investments
Few new clothes
Obsessed by sleep
Died by sleeping draught overdose
Rose garden aunt
Aunt Echo
Obsessed by her own beauty
dies biting a mirror in ecstasy (narr. may have cracked the mirror first)
Had many nudes painted of herself, by painters that she was trying to ensnare
MC’s mother
Names: Stiletto, Mantrap
?died in childbirth
?weakened by childbirth

parts
1. now
- starting a relationship
- with a painter who has been commissioned to do portraits of the gardens
- some of her sentences are like a full moon, others like a partial moon
- each portrait brings in an element of the aunt’s personality, like the mirror
- each portrait tells us a bit about the artist
- finally, he plays in the spike garden. Could be chasing his artist. Her name might be the same as his mother's.
- The aunts all hate each other but they hated his mother more.
- “Owning a penis makes you a rapist. Owning the spike garden makes you a madman”
2. childhood
- when I had more gardens, aunts and mothers (or but not mothers because his mother died when he was born or just after)
- he is barred from the gardens, one by one, for doing various things in each one
- like pushing the rose garden aunt into the water (because the world in the mirror could not be entered because the mirror is hard) enough water to break your fall, but not enough to drown you, like a good depth of shame
3. adulthood
- each aunt dies
- Narrator murders them with weapons that he has found harmful to himself
4. before birth
- told by his father
- how his mother met his father
she competed with and defeated all his aunts to gain the attention of his father
- Narr. father was killed by the defeated aunts

Bits
“An unstoned sinner”

10,317 words

2007-11-12T22:57:00.000Z

ch 01	2,417	Total	10,317
ch 02	2,915	Day	12
ch 03	3,067	Projected	25,793
ch 04	1,918	Target	20,000
		Position	-9,683

9,029 words

2007-11-11T22:39:00.001Z

ch 01	2,417	Total	9,029
ch 02	2,915	Day	11
ch 03	3,067	Projected	24,625
ch 04	630	Target	18,333
		Position	-9,304

8,399 words

2007-11-11T17:59:00.000Z

ch 01	2,417	Total	8,399
ch 02	2,915	Day	11
ch 03	3,067	Projected	22,906
		Target	18,333
		Position	-9,934

6,379 words

2007-11-11T00:01:00.002Z

ch 01	2,417	Total	6,379
ch 02	2,915	Day	11
ch 03	1,047	Projected	17,397
		Target	18,333
		Position	-11,954

5,332 words

2007-11-10T21:52:00.000Z

ch 01	2,417	Total	5,332
ch 02	2,915	Day	10
		Projected	15,996
		Target	16,667
		Position	-11,335

4,522 words

2007-11-10T18:03:00.000Z

ch 01	2,417	Total	4,522
ch 02	2,105	Day	10
		Projected	13,566
		Target	16,667
		Position	-12,145

3,451 words

2007-11-10T15:54:00.000Z

ch 01	2,417	Total	3,451
ch 02	1,034	Day	10
		Projected	10,353
		Target	16,667
		Position	-13,216

1,014 words

2007-11-03T23:00:00.000Z

The Spike Garden
Or: a pointed person and the people impaled

My mother had five sisters so I had five aunts, and the house had six gardens. Each sister had a garden of their own. There was the Rose Garden, the Green Garden, the Water Garden, the Spring Garden, the Fruit Garden, and my mother’s, the Spike Garden.
I never played there.
Now that all six gardens are mine, I wonder what should happen to them. I could decide, I could let nature take its course, I could keep the gardens as they are.
To let nature take its course would be to smudge them together into a wilderness. And what about the gardeners? How should they live with no gardens. A gardener needs a garden like I need … what do I need?
To keep the gardens as they are would be to build a flowery prison. Or should I say a rosey, green, watery, springy and spikey prison. What a prison that would be. What criminal deserves a prison of so many adjectives? What crime? A single prisoner, in a singular prison. A prison purpose-built to protect the outside humanity from one thing and one thing only. A prison purpose-built to punish one act, a set of acts, or should that be a sequence of acts? Acts that are individually criminal, and collectively more criminal. What should a series of such acts be called? A play? And yet, crime doesn’t play. Crime works.
But I am no prison-builder, no commissioner of punishment. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. That made sense when criminals were stoned to death. For more civilised times, a modernisation of the motto is needed. I have one: Let him who is without sin lay the prison foundation stone. What our lord never told us was the qualification for the second stone.
If I cannot build, and I cannot leave, then I must decide. To decide means to destroy. Decision is reduction. What is deduction?
I cannot decide on a garden to destroy. I can only decide to destroy all of them. But then one must be first, unless all are destroyed in an instant. That would not be possible if they were to be dug over. The digging would take time and one would be finished before the others. Then there would be a first destruction without a decision. Intolerable, which means impossible.
One gardener could be set to destroy each garden. Only if all six gardeners were copies, grown from the same seed or cast in the same mould or perhaps twins by six. I have encountered twins one or twice, though none were gardeners. I have read about twins by three; triple-lets they were called. But I have no information about their chosen profession or professions. I could track them down, approach them, offer them employment, wait for them to be trained, but I would still be three gardeners shy of the precise destruction required. I could search the world and never find twins by six; double-triple-lets I imagine they would be known as.
It could be my life’s work. Even if they exist and I found them they might reject my offer. If they did not reject it could be worse. What if one had been injured and worked slower than the rest? What if another became ill during the work? What if a third were to break his shovel? The fourth becomes melancholy in the eradication I demand and slackens. The fifth steals flowers from his garden.
He takes them home concealed in the pocket of a gardening garment that I cannot name. He stashes them in a compartment of some crypto-hortico-criminal equip that again, I cannot even name. Is it called a pocket and an overall? Is called a tray and a propagator? I do not know, I am no gardener. I cannot question what he brings or takes if I cannot even name what he carries. Picture the scene:
I tell him to turn out his pockets and he laughs. I have no pockets, sir he says. I tell him to open the trays of his propagator. It has no trays, sir he says. His brothers the other gardeners stand in a sector equal to exactly one third of a circle. They position themselves like the petals on a spare daisy. At once, they all shout laughter. Derided, I must let him past me as though he had crept and I was a sentry gasping in his garrotte. The seeds or seedlings or flowers or fruits are paraded out and he replants them. He nurtures them through season after season, year after year, generation after generation. The garden is not destroyed but moved, perhaps even made more, its seed sown. Now flowers spill over acres. Of course he must die at my hands, perhaps stoned.
The sixth gardener is free from damage, healthy, has a full set of tools in working order, is happy enough to uproot his assigned garden and would never stoop to theft. But he is loyal to his brother, a brother in work, in the soil and in blood. He must avenge and so he pursues me. He is implacable. With a taste for poetry in his justice, he uses a variety of gardening implements in his revenge. He asks me to identify each before striking me with it and shouting the correct name, which in all cases I have got wrong. Until it comes to the onion hoe, with which he would have struck the coup de grace. My mother made sure I could identify that particular tool. He is stunned by my correctitude. In that moment, I snatch the onion hoe and set it in him. He dies but has injured me so that I bleed to death. In the ebbing of my life’s tide I see the ebbing of my life’s work. Two brothers dead, two gardeners short, two gardens not destroyed; three if the fifth gardeners stolen beds are counted.
So no, I will not scour the earth for double-triple-lets.

The first 51 words

2007-11-03T17:09:00.000Z

My mother had five sisters so I had five aunts, and the house had six gardens. Each sister had a garden of their own. There was the Rose Garden, the Green Garden, the Water Garden, the Spring Garden, the Fruit Garden, and my mother’s, the Spike Garden.
I never played there.

That's them. I wrote them just after midnight 01nov2007. Since then, nothing. I wonder what it's like to do the nano and not be behind almost all the way through?

Final thoughts

2007-10-31T22:38:00.000Z

I realised that I haven't developed my novel ideas because I hate them

Why do I hate them:
Drunk on a Bus would be like inviting people for a stroll through my ideas and analysis
The Spike Garden would be like inviting people for a stroll through my Gothic fantasies

But as the late Mr Brown had it "I feel goo-oo-ood."

Last year I did far too little preparation. I didn't enjoy the process. I didn't show the finished work to two populations, neither:
a. people who read my blog, nor
b. People to whom I am married
(Population b is larger; prove me wrong)

Even so, I feel goo-oo-ood. I might even plan a bit now, which I can start writing in 75 minutes or so. Or I might spend the time choosing between OpenOffice Writer and MS Word.

The cats

2007-10-24T22:41:00.000+01:00

Why write when you could tickle a cat?

Spookie (would be played by Claudia Cardinale)

Tiger is her sister (would be played by Helena Bonham-Carter)

Badger is their mum (would be played by Miriam Margolyes)

Not so much panic as dread

2007-10-23T12:57:00.000+01:00

Do I hate writing? Do all writers hate writing? Or is it beginning to write that I hate?

The notes for Drunk on a bus are sparser than they need to be at this distance from the start.
Another title occured to me: The Spike Garden. I came up with that while running the fifteenth Elite Games on the gamesfaqs.com site. It'd be a sinister gothic comedy. I quite like writing that kind of thing and it comes fairly easily.

In other news, I got a copy of Black Static magazine posted to me. Probably because I took out a subscription to The Third Alternative some time ago. Yay, I thought Third Alternative Press has gone under but it looks like they haven't. I really ought to submit something, if only to secure a rejection as if I was a pro writer.

Characters in Drunk on a bus

2007-10-23T12:52:00.000+01:00

Notes on characters:
Doab guy (main character)
Could be married. If he is then he may be considering infidelity, or he may be flirting or just miss being single.
His drinking mates
They'll be his colleagues and mostly or exclusively male
Bus contact
Others met as a result of bus contact, probably female

Possible story-types:
Thriller: Bus contact has a plan, which may or may not come to pass.
People from different worlds meeting or Adventures in normality: Bus contact is the same as doab guy - makes contact because they are drunk

A fiction that occurred

2007-10-10T22:05:00.000+01:00

I'm jogging to work. On the street is a little girl, crying. I look around but no likely looking parent is in sight.
"Where's whoever looks after you?"
She just crys.
I don't want to call the police because isn't it better to engage with your fellow citizens than invoking the state?
"Have you got something with your address on?"
She turns round to show me what's written on her rucksack in biro. It's an address and post code and it's only round the corner.
I hold her hand and we go there. On the way I notice that she's only got one sock on and her shoelaces aren't tied.
The door's open. Inside is a dead person.
"Hello Daddy," she says.

Notes for Drunk on a bus

2007-10-09T12:42:00.000+01:00

Drunk on a bus (DOAB) guy has fun getting drunk and taking the bus. He thinks about fun stuff, does fun things, maybe talks to people.
But there must be a story, so...
When drunk he gets drawn into a story: by talking to somebody or doing something he wouldn't when sober. OK but what is the story? Some ideas:

He comes across evidence of a crime, like the film The Conversation.
He gets recruited by "Them". THEM are looking for a person who will do the things he does when he is drunk. (THEM could be a confidence trickster.)
Somebody likes him when he's drunk and starts a relationship

Whatever the story is, DOAB guy is attracted to it and has to get drunk and get the bus to stay in it.

NaNoWriMo 2007 is go

2007-10-05T12:51:00.000+01:00

I signed up
I haven't necessarily decided to do it again though
But realistically, yes, I'm going to do it again

Some working titles: Drunk on a bus, Infernonauts, Elves on crack, Extreme kiss chase

I hate elves but it might be fun to do a non-genre novel in a Sword & Scorcery setting.