November is Upon me - help!

I attended the launch of the Pretoria area of NaNoWriMo this afternoon and it was great meeting so many new people - in the same semi-sinking, desperately coping situation of trying to get 50 000 words out in thirty days and still remain sane.

My plot outline is done - a murder mystery for a change - and I will post some of it here in my struggle to move towards that looming word count deadline.

Then again, if the struggle to find the murderer becomes too much, I could always commit the deadliest sin in creative writing - get a knight in shining armour to save the day. Yuck! Kill me before I ever stoop to that level.

So here goes my first NaNoWriMo novel - and the great lengths it will travel!

Lunch with Friends

Have you ever had the kind of week where you had the sneaky feeling that this was going to be the quiet before the storm? I am sure you can relate.

You know, the kind  where you aren't quite sure if panicking in advance or proactively seeking to prevent a crisis will be helpful in dealing with impedending disaster?

My solution is simple: have lunch.

Take the afternoon off. Join a good friend or two for a drink and a leisurely lunch. Chat about life, love and everything, and don't worry about it. My experience has shown that worrying never solved anything, and most of the time, the worrying is for nothing. The bomb will explode or it won't.

So here is my thought for today: its the weekend! Relax, enjoy. It is what I am going to do.

October Writing

Bad, bad, bad. Terribly clumsy fingers - my computer is definitely in better shape than I am. The October SUBJECT for the competition is PICTURES.

Creative Writing Competition: October Subject

With all the writing and plotting and other goings on, I completely forgot to post the SUBJECT for the October writing competition.

It is a SUBJECT month and the rules for the subject writing applies, as usual. So here goes - write anything about or with the word SHADOWS and send it to me by 15 January 2012.

So far the competition has generated some enthusiasm, but few submissions. Come on, everyone, dust the cobwebs from the creative thoughts and let the words flow ...

Géra's Gift update

Géra's Gift is on its way to the publisher. My first novel in the series of The Grandmasters is going to see the light very soon. I will post the cover here, with a link to where it can be found online when it is ready.

I am excited to find out what the cover will look like, and can't wait to have actual copies of it in my hands. Let's hope the magic of the written word won't take too long to reach this blog.

Tears

When this time comes it is often the words of others that best say what we cannot. I came across this quotation, and today it expresses the way a number of people are feeling, myself included.

There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are messengers of overwhelming grief...and unspeakable love.

       – Washington Irving

Start of the New Week

Weeks like this should not come very often. A colleague and a friend passed away from cancer within days of each other. Although they both were in great pain at the end, it is still hard on those of us that are left behind. One can only hold on to our faith that they have left this world for a better one -- where there is no pain, and no tears.

On a happier note: I got my camera, and I love it. It is easy to use, and produces amazing quality pictures. Just what I needed. I will post one or two here, not of the dogs as gorgeous as they are, to share with my writing. Perhaps they will inspire a new story or two, or grace the front cover of a book of mine one of these days.

Still working on a SF (science fiction) short story for a competition, titled: Hunger. I am not sure if the title will remain, but right now it is appropriate. It is a story of a genderless person who wishes to find love in a world where children can only be raised by couples of male and/or female partners. Isa, my main character, does not have much time left to find a mate and be transformed into either a male or a female. Love does arrive, but it only signals the start of the struggle. The ending is still in the making, as I have no idea if Isa becomes male or female as a result of the struggle.

Even a fictional story can surprise its creator sometimes. I do hope it will still be a good ending, irrespective of the outcome.