First up, Nanowrimo. I set the usual goal of 10,000 words and managed 10,095 despite being away for a few days. The usual caveats apply: I don’t know what I’m doing, half of the words will/should be cut, blah, blah, blah. My goal for December is to nail down the mechanics of the ending and, […]

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Or perhaps the mid-month slump. I’m on target for my NaNoWriMo goals but definitely feeling like I’m tap dancing like crazy and waving my jazz hands in an attempt to conjure up something meaningful to write. To take the dance from metaphor to reality, I’m also working on my piece for the next flamenco video […]

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I’m starting NaNoWriMo this year by … going away for a few days. Aiming for 10,000 words and a possible end of the first shitty draft of The Witch Novel. Going to try to avoid the black rocks to prevent being drowned by the waters of despair. We’ll see how it goes.

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I’ll no doubt curse myself by actually writing this but what the hell, let’s live dangerously. I’ve had a reasonably productive year (for varying definitions of productive). I alternate writing months with planning, plotting, exercise months and just came off writing 5,000 words for September. I’ll sign up for Nanowrimo for November, with a target […]

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Yes, September is the month in which Nancy goes to the rental cottage. Cookies are eaten, swimming is done, walks are walked, wine is drunk, some words get written, and books get read. Fewer books than I previous years, I admit, but then we did have guests for part of the time. FICTION Lolly Willowes, […]

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I had a target of 5,000 words for July, which I managed to achieve* despite everything that was going on in the rest of my life. I’m not persuaded they were GOOD words, mind you, or advanced the plots at all, but – as I am constantly being reminded – it’s easier to cut words […]

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It’s been an eventful few months. Some parts have been good (family visit, getting stuff done) and some parts have been bad (husband’s injury, death in the family). I’ve been getting a bit of writing done and, as always, a fair bit of reading. Here’s what stands out from the last few months. FICTION Termination […]

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After several months of twice-a-month rehearsals, there is finally a flamenco video featuring yours truly and two other (much more talented) dancers from the school. My husband kindly added the text but the video captures one entire performance – no edits. At least my hat didn’t fall off in this one. Check it out in […]

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Bad news: husband went to get out of bed one morning and couldn’t stand up. He’s now three weeks into serious pain in his back and leg, lousy sleep, multiple ineffective prescriptions, and physiotherapy, Things are slowly getting better. Good news: I’ve had to take over the grocery shopping and basic food prep and we […]

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Somewhat to my own surprise, I’ve now passed 100,000 words on The Witch Novel. Some of them are even good words, I think. This project had its beginnings in 2015, the year after COLD HILLSIDE was published. I’d gone back to some old, unfinished projects to see if anything might spark some inspiration. I made […]

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