The Background (Or Setting Goals - Part 2)

For me, writing a novel starts with believing you can.

Obviously there is always that doubting voice inside your head (I like to call him Warren) that questions your ability to do anything, but if you have a few skills and a general level of knowledge, you can always tell that voice, "Look, shut up will ya? I can do this, no wuckers!"

One aspect of this forms the part of Goal number deux: a little bit of background reading.

There are a number of books I would like to read and study before embarking on this wild ride called writing a novel. These books will help fill some of the dark spaces where my skills and knowledge should be. And we need to fill those if we ever want Warren to shut his trap.

The following books are on my reading agenda:

• On Writing by Stephen King (an account of the life of a writer, what makes a good one and the necessary skills required) - I'm halfway through this one and I have already found some helpful and reassuring tips.
• The Elements of Style by Strunk and White (a very concise publication about grammar, punctuation and style. A must for any writer).
• Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss (about punctuation; not completely sold on this one but I'll give it a go).
• Homicide: Life on the Killing Streets by David Simon (obviously not about punctuation, but a non-fiction account of a year with a Baltimore Homicide unit - good for police procedures, typical characters and interactions and a good read too!)
• Howdunnit (How Crimes Are Committed and Solved) by John Boertlein (good background knowledge for my novel of choice - crime).
• Forensic Science For Dummies (not sure of author - apologies) (background knowledge on the forensic science / csi side of things).

After reading these books and taking a few notes, I should have the necessary tools to tackle my first novel. And as a bonus, reading them will contribute to my 14 hours a week. So if I'm feeling tired, down or blue, I'll just pick up a book and read about shotgun wounds to the head to cheer me up.

To summarise: Goal 2 - complete essential reading to improve level of skills and knowledge.

Kick In The Guts

It didn't take long for the wheels to fall off. I'd only just started (C-Day was only two days ago) and I've hit my first big hurdle.

As you recall, Goal 1 was to complete at least 14 hours of writing / writing related activities every week for at least the next three months. My plan was to meet this reasonably achievable target by doing 2 hours a day, first thing in the morning before coming into work. If I get up in time, I am almost 100% guaranteed not to have any disruptions or feel tired / depressed in any way during those 2 hours. If my calculator is working correctly, this equals effective and efficient writing.

To facilitate this, I asked my boss whether I could regularly start my working day at 9.30am. I was under the misunderstanding that our company's "core" hours every day were 9.30 to 4 and that this alteration in working times would be no problem at all, thank you very much.

Wrong answer, Sonny Jim. Core hours start at 9am, not 930am. So that blew a big hole in my carefully laid out plans. It means, unless I get up at the sound of little birdies flatulating, I can only do 90 minutes in the morning, leaving half an hour hanging over like a dry dag on a sheep's bum.

Do I get up earlier? Do I go to work earlier, leave earlier and do 2 hours each afternoon? Do I come in at 930am anyway?

These are the dilemmas in my life. Not exactly exciting stuff (I can't see any plot lines for the next 24 season anywhere around here), but stuff nonetheless.

What would Jack Bauer do?

P.S. Does anyone like this new font? It happened accidentally, but I like it. Small things . . .

The Hours (Or Setting Goals - Part 1)

Last night I finalised my writing goals. These goals form the foundation, the support if you will, of my ultimate short term goal - finishing my first novel (sick of me saying that yet?).

Goal number one is "Commit to 14 hours of writing a week." This equates to 2 hours a day.

There are a number of reasons why I chose 14 hours. Firstly, given my work commitments and numerous household duties, 2 hours a day sounds about right. I've tried many variations on the theme of hours per week and have failed to maintain any of them. Funnily enough, all of those previous targets were less than 14 hours a week. I have adopted the "If you can't reach your goals, set them higher" school of thinking.

The other reason is: about 15 weeks ago, I set myself a goal of writing 310 hours over 31 weeks (roughly 10 hours a week - how about that, I didn't even need the calculator for that one; you see, I'm an accountant). Horrifically, I have only reduced that target down to about 280 hours with 16 weeks to go. Even though 14 hours a week wont get me there, it's a start. I feel pretty proud that I haven't altered this goal even though I have had holidays, slack weeks and injuries to curtail my success. Hooray for me.

Without going through the reasons in too much detail, I really struggle to write effectively after work. Therefore, I plan to try and knock off my 2 hours first thing in the morning. To facilitate this, I am about to approach my boss and see if he will let me start at 9.30am every morning, thus allowing me to squeeze in those 2 hours without having to get up at 5am to the tune of sparrows farting. Actually, sparrow fart is more like 7am in London at the moment, but the local sparrows are known to let a few early ones out now and then.

So to summarise: Goal 1 = 14 hours of committed writing a week.

BTW - only did half an hour this morning - lots of catch up weekend writing for this little black duck methinks.

No Alarms on C-Day

My Polar watch let me down this morning.

It was C-Day today, the first day in my renewed commitment to complete my very first novel (and hopefully get it published).

The plan was to get up early and squeeze out an hour of writing before heading off to my Advanced Excel course in Holborn. Unfortunately, my Polar watch was off with the fairies (still recovering from its own jet lag presumably) and the carefully prepared alarm did not go off. So instead of waking at 7am, I awoke an hour later - not enough time to scratch myself let alone churn out some much needed writing.

I managed to salvage some of the day's writing however, by coming home early after my course finished (I now know how to do cell validation, macros and the like - yipee!) and sitting down to approx 1 hour and 15 minutes of intense literary perfection. 45 minutes short of my goal but not too bad.

Yes, my goal is to write 2 hours a day - but more on that tomorrow. I've just created a pivot table which informs me the chicken is being overcooked, so I better get naked and get cookin'.

Jet Lag Blogging

Tired. So tired.

The Jingo and I flew in on the Red Eye this morning from New York City. Left The Big Apple at 6:55 pm, arrived in The Big Apple Core at 6:30 am with not one second of sleep. This is actually my second attempt at this blog, the first found me nodding off and drooling on the keyboard.

After a quick four hour sleep, I feel a bit better, but still tired. So tired.

So C-Day starts tomorrow and there wont be a bigger test of my commitment than attempting to wake up early with a severe bout of jet lag. On the plus side, I expertly scheduled an Advanced Excel course for my first day back at work - starts at 945, finishes at 5 - perfect. Should be able to squeeze in two hours in.

So we know what C-Day is about: my commitment to complete my first novel. But what does it entail? Over the next few days, I will be setting out the structure of this commitment, how I will go about fulfilling my goals, my planned writing schedule and an explanation about the double edged sword that's been hanging over my head these past four years.

I can't wait to get started. First thing on the list: sleep for 15 hours.

Goodnight.