Something's brewing....

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...and it isn't a pot of tea...

...nor is it more illness! (Boy, have I had enough of that!)

...nor a storm (as moody as the first cloud pic is)


What's brewing is... I'm hoping to do something I've wanted to do since I was ten years old, and wrote a story about Clarabelle the goat, who butted everybody over (particularly memorable for me, if not for everyone else, was her driving her horns through a sheet hanging on the washing line, into Mrs Batty... it amused me anyhow! :-D )






Yes, those of you who I've talked to about this might get an inkling of what I'm talking about. That Frolicsome Kid, and Mimi have already accomplished it...







(...and... This must not be mentioned at work, those who might be reading that know me...)







... I want to finally write a novel... no matter how crappy. No matter how bad the plot/ the characters/ the dialogue... just to write one from beginning to end! The NaNoWriMo is usually in November, but I missed the boat getting into it then, because I only started blogging in October, and by the time I'd discovered this wonderful idea existed, it was already part-way into November, and everyone was under way. I wasn't brave enough to start it part way in!






Ever since I started blogging, more or less, I've been visiting Farris at his blog Freeform Fresno. He captured me with his first blog, with his stories about his young son, and the family's move to Fresno, California. He also has a 'speaking' blog called Freethought Fresno- worth listening to (Hey, why haven't I done a couple of lines in my Heroines and Heroes for him?!!! I really don't know... but I will! :-S )






Anyhow, not so long ago, Farris declared he was 'ramping up' and 'training' to do a personal NaNoWriMo in March... I've got Chris Baty's (one of the original instigators of the idea of the National Novel Writing Month) book on it now, and having read it, it's taken away one thing that's been holding me back all these years - fear of failure!

I've feared failing to make a story interesting, of the plot being rubbish/ non-existent, of the characters being 'flat', even of not finishing... oh, all sorts of things. And, though I've started many a story, they sit, neglected and rejected in drawers, bags, suitcases... a fire-hazard spread throughout the house!






This is something dear to me. Something I just have to do. So, come March 1st, I'm going to take the plunge, and do it (hopefully with Farris as my writing 'partner', to 'egg' each other on), and I hope, though I won't be posting everyday (and in fact might just put some photos up, if I'm all worded-out) that you might still visit and offer me words of support/ encouragement (or howls of mad laughter if I'm flagging :-) ). I'll post my word-count, so you can have a laugh! And I will sincerely try not to neglect you (my friends) and become totally anti-social. I consider you essential to my ongoing sanity!! :-D





But, first I've got some planning to do... there's only a few days left in February... and I've got a whole book to write in just over a month's time!! Yoikes! How did you do it, Mimi and Fk??!!






(By the way - all these photos were taken on one day - today! There were more , with bright sunshine, but I figured 'enough's enough' for now - British weather is so amazingly changeable! Sorry I haven't cropped off the bits of roof etc jutting into the pics- I couldn't start up my photo-cropping program :-) )


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