NaNoWriMo Wrap-up

50,000 words in a month works out to 1667 words a day. I think. That is relevant information only if you can start on November 1 and can work every weekend. We had a wedding to attend on the first weekend, which was also Nov. 1st. I did 500 words that whole weekend, I think, but I enjoyed seeing two young people commit to each other in a ceremony that never ceases to move me.

Then there was Melbourne Cup - and we stop for that, even if the whole nation doesn't, quite. I made a (free-range) chicken terrine and took it up to the Mothership's and everyone except The Knitting Girlfriend lost money. It was a sad Melbourne Cup day - not because we lost - but because two horses in the race were put down which made me wonder if we'd ever bother again.

I caught up on some marking and then we had interstate visitors and a business strategy meeting,  some more marking and some French homework. I had an afternoon TAFE meeting which took up another day because I had to drive to Warragul and back and then I had some good teaching ideas for 2015 which led to a flurry of emails. I'd also signed up to a MOOC, which I wanted to finish just because it was so interesting.

However, I'm not, as Mademoiselle Rouge pointed out, working full-time and people working full-time complete their 50,000 words. She was right. I am, however, writing a historical novel which required research. There is nothing that stops me in my tracks so much as a question of authenticity. If my protagonist gets her hair cut, was there hairspray in 1942? Oh my goodness! Google! (The answer is no. Hairspray in aerosol cans was a by-product of World War II. Aerosol cans were invented for insecticides. It's pretty damned clever to look at an insecticide and imagine it spraying an up-do, but there you are. That's what makes people rich.)

Research took extra time, but I realised just how much I love it, which was a NaNoWriMo bonus. Doing much of it on the fly irritated me, and I really disliked not being able to edit as I went along. Actually, I did edit, at first, and then I realised how much time that was taking and simply steeled myself to resist it. That was probably the most difficult thing of all.

I did learn that a bit of planning really does help. I had a lot of this story percolating in my head for a year, but it was a story made up of anecdotes and it lacked a clear trajectory. The anecdotes are all family stories that had to be harnessed in some kind of way. I could start with them, but the final product needed a lot of fictional shaping. It was great to have so much material to work with and that allowed me to find the shaping quite quickly, I think. I have my fingers crossed here, because I know I have to do a radical editing job further down the track to get that working properly.

What really surprised me most, I think, was the amount of joy I took each day in sitting down to write. It's been a very focused writing experience and yet nothing else seemed to really suffer from my lack of attention. The Accountant will tell you he had to cook a couple of times - but we didn't come down with salmonella. There was a little more angst than normal at the start - but that has been more than made up for by sheer bounciness in the last half of the month. The Mothership will tell you there have been less movies seen - but a surprising amount of gardening was accomplished.

Would I do it again? In a heartbeat!

Now, what on earth will I do tomorrow?

Research

I love it! Last week my research took me on to the internet, looking up milk glass christmas decorations from the 1950s. Who knew that Japan had a brief resurgence in making these in the early 1950s and quite beautiful they are, too. Very cunning. Some of them were painted light bulbs and some of these, if you buy them, will still work.

Then I skimmed through a couple of books on collecting twentieth century ceramics, discovering along the way that I love Villeroy & Boch's 1970s Acapulco tableware design.

Then the girly and I went to Camberwell market - as a way of rounding off the week's research. It was very successful - both research-wise and bargain-wise - one black leather coat, one summer tank top and a very pretty embroidered tablecloth. The girly tried on lots of shoes and wants to do another (cough) research trip as soon as possible, this time leaving as early as possible in the morning (the market opens at 7.30 am! But I have put my foot down. It's Sunday - that is not a 6.00 am rising day unless you're catching a plane somewhere very exciting!