Almost there!

I was beginning to think that things were conspiring against me in relation to managing my NaNoWriMo commitment - and I know I'm not quite there yet - but a new laptop is halving the amount of time things take and lowering my stress level considerably. The old one had given good service over the years but was becoming increasingly temperamental, to my considerable irritation.

I'm half way through my fourth and final Digging Up The Family article. It will be a very modest achievement compared with the screeds many people around the country will have churned out this month but, in my present circumstances, the limit of what I could sensibly manage. I'm planning to collate the articles with other existing family history material I've worked on in the last couple of years; I'll then just have another half dozen or so articles / chapters to tackle before beginning to wrestle with my first attempt at self-publishing! Any helpful advice gladly received ....

Behind schedule ....

Evangeline and Grace

I came across a quote earlier today that really struck a chord - "If you can't get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance" (George Bernard Shaw). With the number of indiscretions, irregularities etc. in our family closet I could have a whole ballroom of waltzing skeletons! A plethora of material there to write about.

But now mild panic has set in as I realise the date - November 20th, two thirds of the way through NaNoWriMo - and here I am only half way through my pledged task of four completed Digging Up The Family articles in the month. How folks are getting on slogging through their 50,000 word novels I can't begin to imagine, when the prospect of failing to complete even 8,000 words looms here .....

But I'm not opting out - for a start, these two girls have stories well worth telling, to say nothing of their brother. So a few things (well, housework definitely!) are going to have to go on the back burner for the next ten days as I plough on regardless.

Picaresque

I have to admit that until recently I had no idea what "Picaresque" meant. If it's a new word to you too - look it up and you'll find that it describes "troubador adventurers who live by their wits". Yesterday I became a fully fledged member of just such a band!

"Picareque" is the name adopted by our troupe of local poets, led by the celebrated Jennie Farley; to quote from our press release we are eight women "whose adventurous journeys in poetry have produced imaginative meetings with rogues, rascals, saints and sinners - and moments of reflective magic". Yesterday evening we gave our inaugural reading at Global Footsteps in Cheltenham and were delighted to have a very enthusiastic reception. Next month we have been invited to perform at La Tasca, the Spanish restaurant in Regent Street in Cheltenham - it promises to be another great evening (with tapas thrown in!). If you're free on Monday December 9th at 7pm do come along to hear us; seats are limited so ring 01242 220775 to book.There'll be a £3 donation on entrance but I guarantee it will be well worth it!

A breath of fresh air

I've just come back from a week walking the Wales Coastal Path, a venture we started a year or so ago and of which we've now completed about 95 miles - which only leaves us another 775 to go! Given the very dicey weather, we managed not to get too soaked and to avoid getting blown off the cliff tops. Last Saturday afternoon the sea at Porthcawl had to be seen to be believed.

Nothing like striding out in the fresh air to clear the mind of everyday minutiae and to enable you to think constructively. I got very little writing done during the week but a lot of planning, most of it on the hoof. Much of the stretch we walked I had known in my youth - a very different existence! - and all sorts of recollections with writing potential came flooding back.

This month I've got to concentrate on the commitment I made for NaNoWriMo (and I've managed one of the four articles so far) but I'm squirrelling away a number of new ideas for use as and when opportunities arise later. As ever, we've come back with endless photographs and notes - I've learned from experience though that these need transcribing ASAP as jottings hastily scrawled in a damp note book as you're slogging up a cliff on a muddy, slippery footpath are virtually indecipherable a week or so later!.