As I'm sure you know, if you actually follow my posts, I'm taking part in Camp NaNoWriMo this year, with a word-count aim of 60,000. I'm actually hoping to do more than that, but I was aiming to just do one thing: complete three novellas. In reality, if I could write an average of 3,000 words per day, and keep it up after July, I'd be at the point of writing as much as I'd want to.
However, for now we're just going to focus on the 60,000 words.
This works out at just under 2,000 words per day. That's doable. Extremely doable. Today I wrote a short story longer than that, and I was in work. Writing that every day for the first eight or nine days should bring The Hounds of Hell to completion. In theory. That leaves roughly 11 days for each of the next two books, The Blood of Leap and The Fires of Tara.
Now, I'm not just doing Camp NaNoWriMo next month. No, that would be too easy.
I'll still be writing on my blog every day. I'll still be writing poetry every day. I think I'm even going to force myself to start pitching articles to magazines, soon. That could mean having articles to write in the middle of all the other work I'm doing. What that means is that I could actually start earning money from writing while I work on the longer-term projects. You know, like other writers do it.
To top it all off, I'll be undertaking a large project with some friends, too. We have to set a start date and work out some finer details (and if they're reading this, and they're remembering what I'm talking about, they really ought to contact me to find out what's happening) but once it gets going, it'll take a fair bit of work to keep to going.
That's vague, but I'm trying not to spoil what I think is an awesome idea. For once, I'm not keeping it a secret from everybody before I write about it here, though.
I've also got to launch The Hounds of Hell during the month. In order to actually release more than one book in the space of a year in the series, it's necessary to actually publish it in July, while I'm writing the other books. I'm hoping that if I can work consistently from July 1st onwards, I'll be able to finish writing the series before the end of September.
That seems so far away right now, but I know that when I finish writing the final book, it'll seem like no time at all has passed since I started writing the series. It feels weird now to think that Balor Reborn was written last summer. A year ago, only three other people knew about it. Now I don't shut up about it.
Speaking of things I'm not going to shut up about for the next month, don't forget to enter my competition if you're taking part in Camp NaNoWriMo this year. Details can be found here: http://paulcarrollwriter.blogspot.com/2013/06/camp-is-back-on.html
Happy writing. Tomorrow, I'll give you the first update on my progress during Camp.
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Unexpectedly Exhausted - Have Some Tea!
In work, I half-complained about being tired and hungry. By the time I arrived home, I was exhausted. I went to bed with a glass of water, hoping to feel better by dinner time. Two hours later: nope. I might have even felt worse. I'm light-headed, and really not in a position to use words. With that in mind, and needing to post something tonight, have some tea!
The Disney debut in my collection was actually Dopey. I remember as a child staying in my cousin's house over night. I must have only been three or four. She didn't have much that would have been suitable for myself and my twin brother, but she did have Disney films (on VHS!). She stuck on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and when I saw the Dopey mug on the opening day of the Disney Store (back when the Queen visited Ireland, I believe), I couldn't help myself.
This one time, when I was Tower Records, I saw a flask. A Star Wars flask. My childhood screamed at me. My need for a flask screamed at me. I bought it immediately. Isn't it cool?
*cue Instagramafied pictures*
This first image takes me back to college. While it's not been a long time since I was in the building (I was there on Wednesday), it's been a month since I was there because I had to be (as opposed to just showing up to get my results a day earlier than if they'd been sent in the post.) Despite the No Food or Drink in the lecture room rules, I still brought a cup of tea in like this every day. It wasn't environmentally friendly, I'll admit, but a flash would have been too obvious.
Kermit the Frog makes a regular appearance. Who can say no to that face? I can't. Hence why I bought the mug in the first place in the Disney Store. Corporate greed aside, I love that place, and when The Muppets had been in the cinema, I couldn't help but grab the mug. I only wish I had the four other cups in the set, featuring Fozzie Bear, Animal, Miss Piggy and Gonzo the Great. They do have just aren't the same.
The Disney debut in my collection was actually Dopey. I remember as a child staying in my cousin's house over night. I must have only been three or four. She didn't have much that would have been suitable for myself and my twin brother, but she did have Disney films (on VHS!). She stuck on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and when I saw the Dopey mug on the opening day of the Disney Store (back when the Queen visited Ireland, I believe), I couldn't help myself.
This one time, when I was Tower Records, I saw a flask. A Star Wars flask. My childhood screamed at me. My need for a flask screamed at me. I bought it immediately. Isn't it cool?
This final cup - though I think it's actually without tea at the time of the photograph - was actually a present from a friend on my birthday. I don't normally like things that have my name all over them, but I do enjoy this cup. It's all about how great people named Paul are, so what's not to love?
That's about all the tea Instagram has seen from me. So far. I still have at least half a dozen cups that haven't made it online yet, but that'll all change some day. In the meantime, I'm going to take things easy and hope the feeling of being light-headed goes away soon. And, you know, I'll have a cup of tea.
Friday, June 28, 2013
Camp is Back On!
A couple of years ago, I took part in Camp NaNoWriMo. I was writing a Science Fiction novel, Bliss. I wrote sporadically and infrequently, and only had 24.5 thousand words written with five days to go. In the next four days, I wrote the remaining 25.5 thousand words that would bring me to victory. I later finished the book in the next NaNoWriMo, when I finally mustered the motivation.
This year, I'm doing it again.
As a result of my troubles with motivation and getting myself to write a lot and regularly, I've fallen behind on my writing schedule so far since college ended. So, I've set myself a Camp NaNoWriMo target (yep, we get to set our own targets in Camp, now!) of 60,000.
In reality, my target is to write:
- The Hounds of Hell,
- The Blood of Leap, and
- The Fires of Tara.
Yes, you read those correctly: those are the titles for the next three Modern Irish Myth books. And I want to have them completely written by July 31st.
More than that, I want to have The Hounds of Hell published by the end of that month, too. And I'd like to offer you a chance to win all five books in the series, including Balor Reborn and Old Gods Returned. One winner will be chosen from all those who:
1. Comment below with their Camp NaNoWriMo username and target word count.
2. Complete Camp NaNoWriMo 2013.
The books will be sent upon their release dates (so make sure you give me a means to contact you!), with any released books sent in early August.
Why?
I want to encourage more people to write, especially if you've never managed to finish writing a novel(la), and I want to offer a prize that has some monetary value.
Camp starts on Monday. Will you be joining me?
This year, I'm doing it again.
As a result of my troubles with motivation and getting myself to write a lot and regularly, I've fallen behind on my writing schedule so far since college ended. So, I've set myself a Camp NaNoWriMo target (yep, we get to set our own targets in Camp, now!) of 60,000.
In reality, my target is to write:
- The Hounds of Hell,
- The Blood of Leap, and
- The Fires of Tara.
Yes, you read those correctly: those are the titles for the next three Modern Irish Myth books. And I want to have them completely written by July 31st.
More than that, I want to have The Hounds of Hell published by the end of that month, too. And I'd like to offer you a chance to win all five books in the series, including Balor Reborn and Old Gods Returned. One winner will be chosen from all those who:
1. Comment below with their Camp NaNoWriMo username and target word count.
2. Complete Camp NaNoWriMo 2013.
The books will be sent upon their release dates (so make sure you give me a means to contact you!), with any released books sent in early August.
Why?
I want to encourage more people to write, especially if you've never managed to finish writing a novel(la), and I want to offer a prize that has some monetary value.
Camp starts on Monday. Will you be joining me?
Thursday, June 27, 2013
How Did FUFDay Go?
On the second time around, Face Up to Fear Day was less successful. However, that said, I forced myself to do a couple of things.
The big one was to record a poem for my YouTube channel that'll serve as an introduction to who I am. I figure that was something I should probably do, even if it meant having to put my face out there again, and try to figure out what to say. Since I plan on putting up a fair bit of poetry on the channel, I figured it was a good idea for a video. You can watch it below.
I still cringe at how up close it is, and how poor the quality of the camera is. One day, I'll be able to replace my set up.
Incidentally, the other bit of work I did today was to write the copy for a couple of gigs for Fiverr (which has just updated its model, so not everything is $5.) I'll be launching both gigs (as they were called the last time I checked) tomorrow, and I'll probably have to create a web-page to support them both on my website, as a way of driving traffic to them in some way.
I've avoided doing it in the past, for all the usual reasons, but I think I'm finally ready to do it. Plus, with my current working situation, I have plenty of time to address this sort of stuff.
While I didn't get to do everything on my list (again), I think the last-minute work I did tonight (after a less-than-exciting day) has paid off towards something. In the spirit of the day, I'll keep on working tomorrow. That's the point, after all. I'm supposed to be doing these things all the time, and for whatever reason, I haven't been able to of late.
Tomorrow's another chance to get things right. I wonder how many super exciting things I can get done in the space of a few hours.
The big one was to record a poem for my YouTube channel that'll serve as an introduction to who I am. I figure that was something I should probably do, even if it meant having to put my face out there again, and try to figure out what to say. Since I plan on putting up a fair bit of poetry on the channel, I figured it was a good idea for a video. You can watch it below.
I still cringe at how up close it is, and how poor the quality of the camera is. One day, I'll be able to replace my set up.
Incidentally, the other bit of work I did today was to write the copy for a couple of gigs for Fiverr (which has just updated its model, so not everything is $5.) I'll be launching both gigs (as they were called the last time I checked) tomorrow, and I'll probably have to create a web-page to support them both on my website, as a way of driving traffic to them in some way.
I've avoided doing it in the past, for all the usual reasons, but I think I'm finally ready to do it. Plus, with my current working situation, I have plenty of time to address this sort of stuff.
While I didn't get to do everything on my list (again), I think the last-minute work I did tonight (after a less-than-exciting day) has paid off towards something. In the spirit of the day, I'll keep on working tomorrow. That's the point, after all. I'm supposed to be doing these things all the time, and for whatever reason, I haven't been able to of late.
Tomorrow's another chance to get things right. I wonder how many super exciting things I can get done in the space of a few hours.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
The Results Are In!
Well, it happened. I received my exam results, and I'm finally free from the stress of those dreaded exams, coming out with an honours degree (and that's about as much about that as I'll say online).
There's something incredibly relieving about holding the final transcript of exam results that I don't think I can effectively capture in a few words. Four years of lectures, essays, teaching placements and exams, all down to one piece of paper - and this one's not even the degree! But the little piece of paper I received today doesn't say much about my time in college.
Yes, it reveals how well I did in my final year modules. Yes, it says how well I did in my research paper (incidentally, it was the best result on the page). And yes, it says how well I did in my teaching placement. But it says nothing about the amazing friends I've made in the four years that led to this day. It says nothing about the conversations over tea and spirits, sitting together at a dinner table or dancing like everybody's watching and we're the sexiest people to ever walk in the doors of whatever pub or club we've found ourselves in when the occasion struck.
It says nothing about the final curtain of my first performance in Drama Soc, or the lights going up on my own play. It says nothing about trips across the city for competitions, or fundraising for an important charity. It says nothing about bake sales and lunch time masses and inflatable slides suitable for a child's party, parked outside the canteen.
It says nothing about the scandals or the romances, the fights and the make-ups, meeting new people and saying goodbye to wonderful friends.
The results are in, and they say so little about what four years in college actually means. This was an opportunity for me, provided willingly by my parents. They didn't doubt my decision to go to this small college they'd never heard of. They supported me when I told them I was going for Drama Soc auditions in first year, and they sat in the audience when The Rest is Silence sold out in third year. They allowed us to have friends down at the house, hosting a post-21st-birthday-party party.
When they arrived home from work today, the first thing I did was hug them. I can never say thank you enough to them for everything they've done for me over the past four years, including all the worrying and the anxiety they went through, hoping that things worked out okay. From making lunches to ironing shirts when I was on Teaching Placement, or picking me up from the college when rehearsals in Drama went on too long; from allowing me to be upset that one of my best friends would be leaving the college, to supporting my choices in what I'd like to study in a Masters course in the future; there are too many things for me to be grateful for, too many to name and too many to think of, and I don't see myself ever being able to express it to them how much they mean to me, and how much these past four years have meant to me.
A little piece of paper told me about my academic results. Nothing can accurately summarise the results of the past four years on my life, on who I am and how I feel and think. There just aren't enough words, and I think I'm okay with that.
There's something incredibly relieving about holding the final transcript of exam results that I don't think I can effectively capture in a few words. Four years of lectures, essays, teaching placements and exams, all down to one piece of paper - and this one's not even the degree! But the little piece of paper I received today doesn't say much about my time in college.
Yes, it reveals how well I did in my final year modules. Yes, it says how well I did in my research paper (incidentally, it was the best result on the page). And yes, it says how well I did in my teaching placement. But it says nothing about the amazing friends I've made in the four years that led to this day. It says nothing about the conversations over tea and spirits, sitting together at a dinner table or dancing like everybody's watching and we're the sexiest people to ever walk in the doors of whatever pub or club we've found ourselves in when the occasion struck.
It says nothing about the final curtain of my first performance in Drama Soc, or the lights going up on my own play. It says nothing about trips across the city for competitions, or fundraising for an important charity. It says nothing about bake sales and lunch time masses and inflatable slides suitable for a child's party, parked outside the canteen.
It says nothing about the scandals or the romances, the fights and the make-ups, meeting new people and saying goodbye to wonderful friends.
The results are in, and they say so little about what four years in college actually means. This was an opportunity for me, provided willingly by my parents. They didn't doubt my decision to go to this small college they'd never heard of. They supported me when I told them I was going for Drama Soc auditions in first year, and they sat in the audience when The Rest is Silence sold out in third year. They allowed us to have friends down at the house, hosting a post-21st-birthday-party party.
When they arrived home from work today, the first thing I did was hug them. I can never say thank you enough to them for everything they've done for me over the past four years, including all the worrying and the anxiety they went through, hoping that things worked out okay. From making lunches to ironing shirts when I was on Teaching Placement, or picking me up from the college when rehearsals in Drama went on too long; from allowing me to be upset that one of my best friends would be leaving the college, to supporting my choices in what I'd like to study in a Masters course in the future; there are too many things for me to be grateful for, too many to name and too many to think of, and I don't see myself ever being able to express it to them how much they mean to me, and how much these past four years have meant to me.
A little piece of paper told me about my academic results. Nothing can accurately summarise the results of the past four years on my life, on who I am and how I feel and think. There just aren't enough words, and I think I'm okay with that.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
It'll Be Okay
Tomorrow, my college's website is going to crash. How do I know this? Because, historically speaking, it crashes every time exam results are released.
Yes, that's right, tomorrow is the day we find out if we passed or failed the Dreaded Exams. Some are calling it D-Day. Nobody is looking forward to it. Me? I'm trying to remain in denial about it for a while, which I think is perfectly acceptable for the time being. As it is, the results are in a state of being akin to Schroedinger's Cat; they are, for the time being, both a pass and a fail.
Fun, right? Damn scientists...
Anyway, in my move to Not Think About It, I'm going to get comic books. As I do every Wednesday. Yes, I'm treating it like any other day, even if it isn't. I'm even contemplating going to the college to collect my transcript, to avoid having to wait until Friday to receive it in the post (because I don't think the Irish postal system is going to deliver them by the next day.) It would be a relief, wouldn't it?
I'm not going to panic, though. I don't think anything good could come from panicking over this. Instead, I'll enjoy superheroes beating the crap out of each other. I'll read The Hobbit. I'll watch YouTube videos.
Basically, I'm going to have a ridiculously relaxing day, tomorrow, and I'm going to tell myself I deserve it. Simples.
It's all going to be okay. I've already done the hard work. I've already put myself in the position of worrying over exams. I literally cannot do anything now about the results, and so I'm not even going to pretend and try. Wish me luck if you want to, but as a friend of mine pointed out a couple of years back, luck can do very little at this stage.
To my fellow classmates, those in other years, I'm not going to wish you good luck in your results. Instead, I'd like to wish you a nice day, and encourage you to do something nice for yourself to help you relax. We've done our best, and our best is all we can do.
Peace, Love and Potter,
Paul.
Yes, that's right, tomorrow is the day we find out if we passed or failed the Dreaded Exams. Some are calling it D-Day. Nobody is looking forward to it. Me? I'm trying to remain in denial about it for a while, which I think is perfectly acceptable for the time being. As it is, the results are in a state of being akin to Schroedinger's Cat; they are, for the time being, both a pass and a fail.
Fun, right? Damn scientists...
Anyway, in my move to Not Think About It, I'm going to get comic books. As I do every Wednesday. Yes, I'm treating it like any other day, even if it isn't. I'm even contemplating going to the college to collect my transcript, to avoid having to wait until Friday to receive it in the post (because I don't think the Irish postal system is going to deliver them by the next day.) It would be a relief, wouldn't it?
I'm not going to panic, though. I don't think anything good could come from panicking over this. Instead, I'll enjoy superheroes beating the crap out of each other. I'll read The Hobbit. I'll watch YouTube videos.
Basically, I'm going to have a ridiculously relaxing day, tomorrow, and I'm going to tell myself I deserve it. Simples.
It's all going to be okay. I've already done the hard work. I've already put myself in the position of worrying over exams. I literally cannot do anything now about the results, and so I'm not even going to pretend and try. Wish me luck if you want to, but as a friend of mine pointed out a couple of years back, luck can do very little at this stage.
To my fellow classmates, those in other years, I'm not going to wish you good luck in your results. Instead, I'd like to wish you a nice day, and encourage you to do something nice for yourself to help you relax. We've done our best, and our best is all we can do.
Peace, Love and Potter,
Paul.
Monday, June 24, 2013
More FUF?
My Face Up to Fear Day (i.e. FUFDay) has the potential be a weekly affair. But the real question is, will it?
Last week, I had seven ideas for things I could do. I ended up doing two of them, and one other item that wasn't on the list. This week, I have the potential to do up to eight different things. Eight. That's one more!
This includes, of course, a repetition of a YouTube overload. However, I don't plan on doing that five-videos -in-a-day sort of thing again any time soon. Too much work, too little else done. Plus, I don't think my eyes enjoyed it every much. I do, however, have a number of other related videos that could over time, become a new playlist of poetry on my channel. And that's always fun, right?
There still remains, on the list, a few items I haven't even once addressed. One of these is simply to write a short story, to submit to a competition. The real "facing up to fear" aspect of it is the submission of the story. I've been avoiding competitions for a long time, partly for fear of rejection, partly because of the entrance fee. (I canny help being without money a lot of the time...and then I buy comic books.) However, I'm really going to give it a shot, and hope that I can produce something that's up to the standard's expected. Fingers crossed, right?
There are other things I can do more set-up for, as well, though they're more boring now than they have the potential to be, based on their success, and as with a couple of the challenges faced last week, they'll remain unspoken of until such time that they actually result in something happening. Or something. (I've got three this week that are like that, so, you know, don't expect to hear much about those for a while.)
Even now, I can see the potential for the continuance of FUFDay. It can get a great many things done.
However, it can also reduce me to only doing important things on a weekly basis, and that's not ideal. I think, maybe, once I get into the habit of doing two or three things per week that scare the content out of me, I'll double the FUFDay antics. Then double it again. And they I'll have a four-day working week set up for myself in which I make sure I'm always producing and publishing something, and hoping people find some value in that.
And hey, I think I can be okay with working for four days of the week on things I love doing and that I'm just too damned scared in a weird sort of way to not do anything about. FUF fo' life?
Last week, I had seven ideas for things I could do. I ended up doing two of them, and one other item that wasn't on the list. This week, I have the potential to do up to eight different things. Eight. That's one more!
This includes, of course, a repetition of a YouTube overload. However, I don't plan on doing that five-videos -in-a-day sort of thing again any time soon. Too much work, too little else done. Plus, I don't think my eyes enjoyed it every much. I do, however, have a number of other related videos that could over time, become a new playlist of poetry on my channel. And that's always fun, right?
There still remains, on the list, a few items I haven't even once addressed. One of these is simply to write a short story, to submit to a competition. The real "facing up to fear" aspect of it is the submission of the story. I've been avoiding competitions for a long time, partly for fear of rejection, partly because of the entrance fee. (I canny help being without money a lot of the time...and then I buy comic books.) However, I'm really going to give it a shot, and hope that I can produce something that's up to the standard's expected. Fingers crossed, right?
There are other things I can do more set-up for, as well, though they're more boring now than they have the potential to be, based on their success, and as with a couple of the challenges faced last week, they'll remain unspoken of until such time that they actually result in something happening. Or something. (I've got three this week that are like that, so, you know, don't expect to hear much about those for a while.)
Even now, I can see the potential for the continuance of FUFDay. It can get a great many things done.
However, it can also reduce me to only doing important things on a weekly basis, and that's not ideal. I think, maybe, once I get into the habit of doing two or three things per week that scare the content out of me, I'll double the FUFDay antics. Then double it again. And they I'll have a four-day working week set up for myself in which I make sure I'm always producing and publishing something, and hoping people find some value in that.
And hey, I think I can be okay with working for four days of the week on things I love doing and that I'm just too damned scared in a weird sort of way to not do anything about. FUF fo' life?
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