Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all

Not been on much and not likely to be on much until the new year now. Well possibly tomorrow for a bit.

Had a nice christmas myself hope you all did to. Santa treated me to a portable DVD player which was nice, enjoyed spending some book tokens i got yesterday too. I know there a gift many people dread but i do like reaing books and having book tokens is the best excuse there is to buy them. Seemed to more more choccy gifts this year than usual, not complaining though.

Plan on celebrating new year in the traditional fashion of getting very drunk, i'll do well to make it long past the bells as i've hardly indulged in alcoholic excess recently, very remiss of me. Anyway hope everyone has a good time wherever they are.

Have reached that landmark 20,000 figure

Indeed it was reached not long after my last novel realted blog. I've not got it open just now but the current word count is 21,000 plus and chapter count is still 4/5 completed or close to completed. Christmas shopping has interrupted my schedule a bit and I've been finding it hard to concentrate on for any length of time just now.

One problem is that after getting quite a way into chapter 3 I checked my notes and realised that i had diverged quite a bit from what I had originaly planned. By no means an insurmountable problem it just means I'm that bit less certain of how I want certain events to unfold and how some planned character interaction should develop.

I really need to take a bit of time to sit down and read through it all again, reaquaint myself with how everything is going. Take a good look through my notes and get back into it. Not tonight though, hopefully tomorrow. I think i'll print out what i've down so far you can fed up staring at a screen after so long and the pleasure of reading is not really best enjoyed on a computer screen.

On a side note, it will be interesting to see what it reads like on paper. Some things i'm happier with than others. I think i'm going to find that I could be more visually descriptive. Certainly i've not really described some of my principle charcters, they could look like anything. How important that is i'm not sure, but certainly I think i'll need to amke sure that what i've written evokes a sense of where it's at as it were.

Words that come back to haunt us(kind of)

Politicians are all to often exposed as hypocrits when they are in power, it being far easier to keep to principles whilst in opposition it doesn't ever seem to matter that they say one thing and do another. One example of this is shown in the words of Tony Blair only two years ago when he said,

"When i pass protestors every day at Downing street... I may not like what they call me, but i thank God they can. That's called freedom."

Thanks to Section 132 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 it is more or less illegal to protest within a half mile exclusion zone from the Parliament where decisions that affect our lives are made. Well you can if you want to give 6 days notice to the police who can set conditions like a half hour time limit, and if you wouldn't mind leaving the placards and loudhailers at home. No spur of the moment peaceful protest is allowed, ask Maya Evans.

Near another landmark figure

After a fairly productive day yesterday i've got my magnum opus to almost 20,000 words long. Still writing chapter 3, although it's getting quite long and like with earlier chapters may well be split into two later in the editing process.

chapter 3 currently involves a hedonistic night out, although quite how wild is still to be decided. Excess alcohol and dodgy dancing or all the way to strippers and prostitutes? While i'm not going for the saucy bonkbuster style novel there is to put it bluntly shagging going on, however I think anything to seedy will be implied and left to the imagination.

oh and to prove that it is indeed a world of sheer fiction, just for the hell of it I make a small non plot related reference to scotland beating england 2-1 in a World Cup quarter final. Possibly more important details on what the hell it's all about revealed in a later post.

Soon be thinking cap time again

A rather productive day has seen me come close to finishing chapter 3, which would give me 4 complete chapters(Not withstanding reading through it and tweaking here and there). I've got a better idea of where chapter 7 is going to start from than I do chapter 5. Six depends on whether I definately finished with 3 yet. At a point where I can logically end it, I'll double check how long it already is and whether or not I htink events immeidately after what I've written already are better in chapter 3 or 6.

Still I better get back to thinking about where to take chapter 5, do have some ideas, as I hopefully be starting it tomorrow.

Anyone know the average word length of a novel. In the nanowrimo thing that sparked my enthusiasm for this 50,000 words was the target. shouldn't be a problem reaching that, I'll be thrilled when I get to 20,000 mind you.

current word count 17235.