Tag Archives: Edinburgh Makars

NaNoWriMo – Everybody’s Doing It

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Participant 73x73

Okay so maybe everybody who signed up for NaNoWriMo isn’t doing it. One or two of the buddies (that’s a technical term meaning writing friends!) haven’t posted any words at all so far.

Life gets in the Way where a high pressure undertaking like NaNo is concerned. I don’t usually post about family matters, so I won’t, but there’s been a certain measure of other pressure to deal with. It means that I don’t expect to reach 50,000 words in NaNo, but I will be much further on than I was. So come on buddies, don’t keep us in suspense – how’re you doing?

Write A Novel In A Month – Everybody’s Doing It – and now some publishers are asking to read the results. Mills and Boon UK, for example, have offered to read any romances submitted by 7th December and offer a decision by 21st December. That’s quite something. Don’t get carried away though folks – they do have lines and your submission would need to match one of those.

Didn’t see any theatre last week – see above at family pressures, but hope to catch something soon. Plenty in the Snippets column for those interested.

NaNoWriMo Update Everybody’s doing It

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Participant 100x100 (2)     I’m not on target, but my NaNoWriMo is very nearly on target.

Highlights of NaNo include meeting lots of Edinburgh and Scottish writers I knew not of before.

A carriage full of lovely characters have been driven onto the screen by NaNo. They’ve been around since New voices 2011. I’m now hearing them talk – truly necessary for the way I write a play or a novel.

Today, I hope, the villain is going to slither from his hole. Who knows.

NaNoWriMo is all consuming – although life clearly gets in the way – now at 16,000 words.

I did make time to get to Tightlaced theatre’s double bill at the Storytelling Centre. Charlie & My ’45 by Robert Howat explored the exploitation of the young by war-mongering old men and the power hungry. A rather bleak exploration, but hit the mark for Remembrance week, I thought. The other play by Fiona McDonald, I Promise I shall Not Play Billiards, showed much writing promise. Using four actresses (yes, I’m unreconstructed – they were women) to good dramatic effect to explore a divided personality, McDonald re-told the story of Madeleine Smith. Perhaps relied a little heavily on what the audience would know about the girl found Not Proven of the murder of her lover/paramour/friend, but overall interst holding. Debbie Cannon’s performance as the baddie stood out for me. Titles are important and this play’s was counter-productive for me. Tightlaced theatre are bringing great productions to the Story Telling theatre.