Thursday, November 1, 2012

On the first day of NaNo...

...my email brought to me.....

One big fat rejection letter.

I think I broke the land-speed record from query to rejection on that one. Oh well, at least it was a nice letter.

It's not exactly the most positive way to start of a month-long writing fiesta, but I'm proud to say I didn't let it get in the way. Today's word count was a quite respectable 2,542. Not enormous, for sure, but more than the daily requirement and a nice start. If I can do that every day for the next 29 days, I'll be doing okay.

November is going to be a big month.

I'm in the middle of Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen, otherwise known as GISHWHES (the I did it last year, too). I have an absolutely wonderful team gals from around the globe, none of whom I've met face to face. We were randomly assigned together last year, and it was a random piece of wonderful in my life. We've kept in touch through social media and this year we have more or less the same team again, with a few lovely extras we've roped in to boost our team numbers to the required 15 (it was 10 last year).

GISHWHES asks you to do all kinds of things with the aim of breaking out of normalcy for a little while. It's a brilliant concept. I love the opportunity to do creative and silly things just for the hell of it. The prize is pretty awesome -- a trip to Scotland to stay in a haunted castle. I'd love to win just to meet the rest of my team.

So far for GISHWHES I've scoured charity shops for Barbie and Ken dolls, done a quick Philosophy 101 on Kant's deontological ethics, and defiled a Tickle-Me-Elmo doll (trust me, you do not want to know. I'm so ashamed). That's barely scratched the surface.

I'm heading to Singapore for work shortly, and I'm having a girls' weekend away in Queensland later this month. Plus I've got to present at a conference and attend another one.

Somewhere in there, I have to write 50,000 words. I've told myself I'm participating this year to have that extra bit of motivation that NaNo brings. Not necessarily to write 50k. If I get there, great. If I don't, I'm not going to be too hard on myself, because I'll know that I will have achieved more than I would have if I hadn't taken part.

So, I'd best get offline and do some writing. Oh, but I have to roast a Barbie and Ken doll in a compromising position surrounded by root vegetables first. Wish me luck. ;)

4 comments:

  1. Your life sure is interesting, Emmie. I'm not even going to ask about the Tickle-Me-Elmo doll :-) Good luck with NaNo, the conferences and the travel. And may you find every crazy thing you need to win that trip to Scotland!

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    1. Thanks Louise! So far so good!

      (And you really don't want to know about poor Elmo...)

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  2. Sorry about the rejection letter :(

    Good luck with the Nano - almost 2500 words is a fab start! I'm sure you'll do well.

    Love the idea of a girls' weekend away in Qld - lucky you!!! Enjoy! Will you be 'Nano writing' in the pool :P

    Hmmm - Barbie and Ken in a compromising position surrounded by root vegies - Ok, I wanna see a photo!!!!

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    1. Thanks Joanne! I would *love* to show you all a picture, but it's against the rules to post anything online until the hunt it over. But as soon as I'm allowed to, I promise I will post my favs!

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