Life is not fair

Iseult wouldn't let me write today. She hogged the laptop all to herself, and Valerie hogged the desktop all day.

I didn't get any writing done.

Wish I had stayed in Blackrock.

Dublin Write-In

As you may have noticed, my word count for Mango, the Unlucky Monkey has not really risen all that much in the last week. I blame Iseult for hogging the lap top, despite booking user time on it. She says I have writers block (as if!) and should just get on with it! The cheek! She thinks I am worried I can't write another book as good as Leaf and that I am afraid to write Mango because everyone will laugh at me and point their fingers. I think this is a delusional fantasy of Iseult's. If anything, I am afraid that Mango will be SO GOOD the world isn't ready for it yet.

Anyway, agreed to go to Dublin with Iseult and Janna to do some writing. Iseult says she isn't bringing me home until I've reached the word count I should have by this time (whatever that is). She says I am letting the region down by not writing and making her look bad as ML (as if I cared about that!)

I've taken Miss Monkey with me for moral support.

NaNoWriMo Meeting

I went along to the NaNoWriMo meeting in the DKIT last night. I felt a little shy because there were no other monkeys there and I didn't know all the people, but they all loved me, of course, and thought my novel sounded wonderful and wanted to hear excerpts from it. Inkpot very cruelly said I was lying about my age (as if!) and some other person, can't remember her name (I think it was Despot, or Polpot, or something like that) made a horrible suggestion about my book, saying Rainbow should become Mayor and Leaf run off with Mango and have adventures. I thought it was very disrespectful. I am not going to do that, and I don't want anyone sueing me for not using or using their ideas. I am involved in enough litigations suits as it is.

However, the meeting helped me realise my word count is quite far behind. It was nice of me to let them get ahead this week, because I wouldn't want to discourage people, but it is time I started to do some real writing. I might get up to 20,000 words by the end of the day (I might not feel like it) you never know. Watch this space.

How do you solve a problem like a sequel?

Writing Mango is proving hard than I anticipated. Now, I know that writing is easy, but I haven't done any for a couple of months and I am out of practice. Also, it is harder to write a sequel - having to reintroduce characters and give backstory and such - than it is to write an original novel. Being reduced to a monkey-cle doesn't help either.

Oh well, on to bigger and hopefully warmer things tomorrow.

Baby, it's cold in here!

Borrowing Iseult's ( or Pudgy White Fingers, as I sometimes call her) laptop for writing and her den is absolutely freezing! I am a monkey, I am used to (and expect) a warm climate. I must insist that she either gets a heater into this place or moves the laptop downstairs where I can write in the relative warmth, like a civilised person. How can I tap into my muse when my paws - and, more importantly, my massive brain - are frozen? Darn Irish weather, wish I was in New Zealand.

Mango: The Unlucky Monkey

An unlucky start for Mango. First Iseult didn't relinquish the laptop on time (and she had promised) and then the nanowrimo site was running slow and then there were a myriad other distractions, so didn't get as much done as I wanted and it didn't go as well as I had hoped.

Will make up for it at the weekend.

Note to self - change Iseult's diary so that I get the earlier slot in the afternoon. Let her give up her evenings to writing.

Feast of All Saints (or All Hallows)

A wonderful feast day in the Church's calendar.

Also the day that National Novel Writing Starts.

I had my slot booked in to use the laptop from 6 - 8 (need to use the laptop so I can access the net and update my word count and, of course, my blog) but Iseult got delayed (can't keep to a deadline for ANYTHING, that girl) and I am only starting writing now. I still want to be finished by 8, so I will have to type fast.

Can be done.

All hallows eve

Greetings all. I don't believe in this pagan nonsense of witches and ghosts, but I do respect the eve of the great feast of All Saints. The Feast of All Saints also happens to fall on the 1st of November, which everybody knows is the start of (inter)national novel writing month. (if you don't know about national novel month, how is that rock you were living under?) Anyway, as my fans will know, tomorrow being the 1st of November means that I will be starting my second book in the Leaf series (I'm planning 12/13 books) titled Mango. If there is anything you want to see in Mango, drop me a comment and you never know - I might put it in! (if I don't put it into Mango, the unlucky monkey, I will be sure to put it into one of my other books. Tottie, the demon rabbit slayer perhaps).

Mango's Progress

Did some more work on Mango (the book, not the monkey) today. I have most of the plotline worked out and only have to do a little bit more work for the end of the book. It is going great. I think this book is going to be even better than Leaf, if that is possible!

26 days to go

Popped over to Iseult's snore fest and saw that she has started a new boring blog - her nanowrimo blog, even more boring than her *laugh* writing one. She has titled her novel 7 days in hell, I think she is being optimistic to think she can write her book in 7 days. I think 30 days in hell will be a more accurate description of her November experience. Of course, it won't be like that for me. Quite the opposite in fact, I imagine. Can't wait!

Mango, the unlucky monkey

Spent yesterday, last night and this morning writing up the plot for Mango. I am so confident I can beat Iseult, I am tempted to write two books to her one! However, that might upset her (being beaten so badly) so I might just keep to one.