The Weekend

After a very full week it was nice to have the weekend off.

On Saturday I was at Warwick Castle with my lovely Daughter and her family on her mother's side.  It was a great day, not too hot, not cold in the slightest and the castle itself was fascinating.  Too be honest, if I'm with my daughter it is always a good day but it was still enjoyable.  I think her highlight was playing around a tree with her cousin who is also her best friend, while we had lunch.

Unfortunately, I didn't look after myself.  I didn't drink enough and ended the day with the worst migraine I had experienced for years.  When I got home all I could do was drink some water, have a couple of Ibruprofen and collapse into bed.  After an hours sleep, I felt a bit better, enough to stick a pizza on for dinner anyway.  I really didn't feel like any food but I knew I had to eat and I'm glad I did.  I felt almost human afterward.

Today has been a relaxing day.  This morning I spent reading a set of comics I had really been looking forward to, I missed an issue so I couldn't read them all until today.  Then it was the Italian Grandprix in Monza.  What a race and what a result for Williams!  I think that may be in the top three for the year so far.

This afternoon I cut the grass and sat in the sun reading a new book - Fortune's Gambit for a reading group I've just joined on Goodread.  I'm not sure about it at the moment, nothing new or surprising.  I'll finish it and see what others think.

Now to water the garden, dinner and the BTCC.

Return For Vengeance

I really need to re-look at the title of this one.  I'm not happy with it.  I'll leave until after I've finished the first draft though.

Talking about the first draft, it is going well.  As I finished on 68,000 last week I wanted to get to 95,000 this week so I could round out the numbers again.  Monday put me 1,000 words closer and Tuesday dropped me back so I had an extra 3,500 words on top of the basic 5,000, to complete over the next three days.  It has been a real challenge, illustrated by me still at my desk at 7.00 pm and putting in a total of 45 hours work this week.  If you include lunch, that is a 50 hour working week.

I wasn't writing for the two hours after lunch today as I worked out the next big section.  It was worth it and I managed to get right on it and do what I wanted to.

I'll actually looking forward to writing the next bit, it's going to be a big action laced sequence similar to the raid on Tumbler's building but bigger, more complex, more characters and more POV's.  Should be fun.

Now off to put some dinner on and enjoy a well-deserved pint of cider (I still have quite a few in my cupboard that I had earmarked for hot sunny days but we've kind of run out of them).

Total now at 95,000 words (as I'm sure you guessed).

Return for Vengeance

It is days like today that make me think that I can really do this.

I set myself a challenging target of 5,750, to continue my catch up from Tuesday.  The problem was that I didn't really know what I was going to be writing about today.  To say I had a rough outline would be a gross understatement.  The first couple of thousand words were OK, covering a bit of the continued characters getting into position for the big finale.

After that I wasn't sure but I dropped in on Valerie where she is kind of out of the way at the moment and a great scene came to me.  I'd had this idea kicking around the back of my head for months, aimed for the third book as a maybe.  I put it into play now where Valerie was and it flowed really well.  I know have three new characters with their own back story and they are the closest to an alien race I am going to have.  Well I say that but there is always book four. 

I'm kidding, once Valerie has finished her journey I'm off to write some fantasy.  I've a couple of really good ideas that are killing me not to write at the moment.  I don't want to get distracted until Dark Vengeance is completed.

Total now at 89,250 words.

Oh and I passed the halfway mark on Tuesday without even noticing!

Return For Vengeance

Today was a very good day.  First of all I added another 1,300 words to a chapter I thought I had finished but it was just yesterday's funk crimping my creativity.  Wow, that sounds almost artistic like.  Not how I thought I would be when I started this.  I've never thought of myself in a creative way.

Anyway, secondly a chapter that I thought was going to be a couple of pages naturally and hopefully correctly ended at over 5,000 words.  It was a nice chapter that included character motivation and development, world building and protagging (double g in that?)  I really am very proud with how it turned out.

I wonder if any one will ever read this and then try and put all my comments together against the finished article to work out I am talking about?  I don't like to go into specifics just incase a reader is reading and I spoil the book for them.

Total now stands at 83,500 words.

Sin City 2

I just got home from seeing Sin City 2.  I have to say that I thoughly enjoyed myself.  It was an absolute blast to see.

The visuals were that mixture of film noire with splashes of colour mixed with Frank Millar artwork they used last time.  I saw the film in 3D and usually I'm not a fan but this it worked perfectly.  Every scene had that extra depth rather than the one or two.

All of the actors got into their characters fully without over playing them as can be the tendency for this kind of film.

There was gratuitous violence and nudity but it's an 18 certificate, everyone in the cinema was old enough and you don't go to see a film called Sin City without expecting it.

Out of the films I've seen so far this year I would say that Guardians of the Galaxy comes closest for having the most fun.

Return For Vengeance

Not my best day ever, that's for sure.  2,500 words to show for a full days work.

Valerie is in a building that I hadn't planned out, so when I started writing I was going all over the place and it didn't make sense.  It was like putting the cart before the horse.  After 700 very slow words I had to stop and start from scratch.

It wasn't really a waste as I was able to realise in my head the building, its mechanics and rules.  I was actually discovery writing.  The following 1,300 words was much better and every fit together.  It was still slow going and at one point I found myself telling rather than showing.  I was almost going to scrap it all again but I went and had a cup of tea and a think while it brewed.

I decided most of the 1,300 words was showing with only the last paragraph turning to tell so I switched it to a flash back.  I don't generally like flash back's, they're over used in my opinion.  I despair when a TV show starts with a dramatic scene and horrors of horrors the lead has just been shot!  It then switches to 24 hours earlier...  Very annoying.  Of course that isn't really a flash back but some shows do them too much.  The exception is Arrow, I like how they do it.

Anyway, I stuck in the flash back and I liked how it turned out.

I'm not happy with the word count today but I'm not depressed about it either.  I did a full days work and didn't let myself get distracted by Castle or Settlers - Rise of an Empire so it's not luck I sat around doing nothing.  What have a learnt?  Take some time on Sunday's to sketch out that weeks writing.  I've just done some of that so hopefully it will be easier for the next three days.

Total now at 76,500 words.

Return For Vengeance

After a very nice relaxing weekend it was a tough start this morning.  As I had done the read through of Thursdays writing on Friday I saved myself an hour this morning.  That was fortunate as it took me over three and half hours to write 2,500 words.  The afternoon was much better and by 6.00 pm I had done 6,000 words and was so fired up I wanted to keep going.

Being tired and right at the end of a chapter I decided to call it a day.  It made a lot of sense and it was a natural part of the story to stop.  I'm off to a completely different area tomorrow.

My plan is to do 6,000 tomorrow as well.  That will get me to 80,000 and back to whole 5,000's.  I can then start to gain ground again.

Total now at 74,000 words.