Month One Count - Required - 85250 - Achieved - 85659

So a close call for month one, and certainly not the margin I would have hoped for, but there have been a number of problems this month, and ones that I wouldn't expect to crop up every month (because if they do, we'll be bankrupt by the end of the year due to multiple car failure and friendless due to everyone dying...).

So, if this is the worst that life can throw at me (and don't take that as an invitation to try harder world), then I'm quietly hopeful that this will be the start of a successful campaign.

This is John Dodd, at the end of Month one, notching up celebratory drink one for the end of the year, and Goodnight England, Wherever you are...

Day Thirty One - How to prove wordcounts for projects that aren't out yet...

A little quandry, some of the writing I'm doing is for commercial projects, and in at least two cases, totals 10,000 words, which is a reasonable chunk of what I need to do.  The problem is this, I don't want people to have to buy the items in question to see the words that I've done, but equally, I can't ask the people I'm doing the work for to give it away for nothing...

To this end, I will be getting a note for the wordcount on each project that I'm doing from the people I'm doing it for, this will be a form of credit note regarding the number of words that I've done for that person.  Those words will be independently verified by a number of people, so I need volunteers to check on those word counts, anyone can apply, just leave a note at the bottom of this mail.

Two chapters on the shift and a variety of words for one of the 10k projects done, but until they're completed, those words will make no difference (But it will be cheerful when I get them done...)

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire, and Goodnight England, Wherever you are...

Day Thirty - Dear World, knock that s*** off...

Would very much like it if the world could just p*** off now...

Got more repairs to do on the old car now, and while I understand that they have to be done, between travelling for an interview this morning, getting a tax disk this afternoon, having to repair the car tomorrow which could be an all morning job, and having to put together a proposal for a game that's being done shortly, I sometimes wonder if I've taken on too much...

However, almost on target and I'll get back on track for tomorrow

This is John Dodd, in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, Wherever you are...

Day Twenty Nine - What a difference a day makes...

Especially one where you don't have much else to be doing...

Good meetings had with a few people though, I know now what I'm supposed to be up to in the middle of the year and there's movement on two other fronts, nothing I can speak of immediately, but it will come to light in the very near future...

So, one very big shift update, and the world is well.

This is John Dodd, in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire, and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Twenty Eight - Plan in advance for Birthdays

Or you find yourself typing like mad when you get home.

Mum's birthday today, somewhat subdued by the events of yesterday, but still a case for celebration, short update today and I'll make up for it tomorrow...

This is John Dodd, in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Twenty Seven - Sometimes you don't have the heart to write certain things...

A friend of my mums died yesterday, she'd been ill for some time and so wasn't unexpected, but when something like this happens, it precludes you writing about certain things.  So, the chapter of the Shift that was being written got sidelined tonight and there's a chapter of World War Wolf in its place.

More tomorrow, but this is all I have for now

This is John Dodd, in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire, and Goodnight Pat Costello, family to mine in all but blood, Rest in Peace...

Day Twenty Six - Fast and Furious

Which is also the name of the film currently in the DVD player, the sixth to be precise...

There are those who say that the films are a good example of how to have unbelievable characters doing unbelievable thing at unbelievable speeds, but I think that those people are missing the point of such films.  It's entirely possible to enjoy a book or a film despite it being utterly rooted in things that are impossible and filled with characters that have complete script immunity, this does not mean they're bad, it means that you need to go into them with eyes wide open.

I should stress that neither of the two books that I'm doing at the moment have any characters that are immune from the script, just in case anyone is wondering, I don't believe in writing it myself even though I can enjoy things where certain characters have complete immunity from everything.

Still, been a productive day today, so todays update brings me back up to date and a little ahead again...

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire, and Goodnight England, Wherever you are...

Day Twenty Five - Poison of Choice...

Most of us get by on a variety of stimulants through the day, be they coffee, chocolate, proplus, or just plain old fashioned adrenaline.  I don't know many writers that haven't at some point practised some sort of physical art or sport.  By the very definition of what we do, we're sedentary creatures, but I find that if I don't train at least once a week, everything starts to get painful.  By that I mean that I don't walk around in pain, but I do feel the muscles start to atrophy, and that's not a good thing.  

Case in point today, worked out last on monday and survived most of the day on Coffee, which certainly has not helped, now more awake than I want to be and certainly more weary than I want to be.  There's a direct correlation between how much sleep you get and how productive you can be in the day that follows, and that's a sod, because I never get enough sleep to be that productive, so I don't know how truly good I could be if I put that amount of time in...

One day perhaps...

Small update today and hopefully the rest to be caught up on tomorrow

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, Wherever you are...

Day Twenty Four - Long Days of work are never fun.

Especially when you've had six long days of work in one week.

Note to anyone else trying something like this, only have one job, make it normal hours, and don't do anything else for the whole time you're doing it...

Still on target, but it's a close run thing.

Meaningful updates tomorrow

One more chapter of the Shift to read

This is John Dodd, in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire, and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Twenty Three - Help in unexpected places

Converted the car to LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) this morning and found myself in the middle of town with nothing to do for four hours while the works got carried out.

Cheerfully had brought the laptop with me and proceeded in a cold office with no desk to write...

Four hours and four thousand words later, happy...

Now I should stress at this point, only had the films that were on the laptop (Alien/Aliens), no internet, and no breaks for drinks or other things...

There's a moral in here somewhere I feel.

So, two updates today, a great number more words on World War Wolf and certainly something a little more in depth on the Shift.

If everyone out there is reading just the blog updates, do me a favour on this day and read the latest chapter of the shift, I want to make sure I'm gauging it right for what I'm doing.

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire, and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Twenty Two - Middle of the day and all is well

Wednesday to Friday are the only days I have to really get word count in, so those days really really have to count.  Problem inherent is that life gets in the way, the new car needs to be converted for LPG and I have a meeting at my other job, which is RPG manager for UK Games Expo on Friday, which is likely to take most of the day.  The problem here is that losing one day is bad enough, losing two days could be a serious setback, so it's going to be interesting to see what comes of the next short while.

The Shift new chapter now, World War Wolf to follow this evening when I finish Larentia's day...

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire, and Goodday England, wherever you are...

Day Twenty One - But don't let it eat your life...

It's been a bad couple of days, from car crashes to job losses to car problems, to illness and insurance.

The details, unimportant, the effect, i've been slower today than I would have liked, so no shift update today (and sorry for leaving such a cliffhanger on the last episode...).

But one more World War Wolf to keep me on target...

And a day off tomorrow, to let me catch up...

This is John Dodd, in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire, and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Twenty - Of exercising the mind and the body

Went back to the Iron yesterday, haven't been since the turn of the year and I was starting to feel like jelly all over... Cheerfully the ability is still there even if I can barely lift my arms now.

Lesson for today, Do the physical workouts last or be prepared for your typing to take longer...

I do feel better for it though, and the amount of sitting down I've been doing recently has been far more than is healthy, so I need to instigate some sort of plan if this is to continue and find me alive by the end of it...

And I just got another writing commission, so fear not if the word count drops slightly on the stories, I'm still aiming for one chapter of each till they're done and then I'll have to find something else, but when the commissions are printed, I'll be able to add those to the count for they'll be new words as well.

So the world isn't all that bad presently

Long may that continue...

This is John Dodd, in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire, and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Nineteen - Word Count required 52041, Word Count achieved 52996

So that's Nano in nineteen days...

Never done Nano before, always figured that there were other things to do than try and manage word counts over a short period of time.

Wait a minute...

World War Wolf continues well, but I have to wonder where I'm going with at least one of the main characters, there's a question to be asked on how close to the bone someone should go with the characters in a story and I don't know how to set the posts as 18+ (so if anyone knows, please tell me).

The Shift on the other hand was originally thought up as a series of short stories about the things that go on on the night shift and it's now developing into an opera all its own...

Cheerful problem to have work that's writing itself in your head, got to avoid starting another story and really starting to mess with my own head space...

And I need some sleep...

This is John Dodd, in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire, and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Eighteen - In Sickness and in Health

Although primarily in sickness to be honest, rough as anything today, voice has nearly failed and it's been a long day at work...

So it's a really really short update today, more in depth tomorrow

One more chapter of The Shift and one more of World War Wolf

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Seventeen - Of dark stories and darker moods

Mark lost his job today, not his fault, just a matter of making numbers meet, it's the usual policy of hiring twice as many people as you need and then cutting half of them to make sure you have the right number, and so, on the cusp of getting the money and full time job to pay for the car he's got sorted, he's back to trying to find a job again.

The thought of taking the shiny christmas hammer and visiting the workplace to carry out some instant negotiations did for a moment have precedence in my head, but then he returned and it was brought home that while I'd feel better for battering feck out of them, it would do nothing for Mark (unless I let him have the hammer anyway.) so I reconsidered, for now at least...

It did however, remind me of the useless nature of most management in companies and the problem that occurs when someone above see's someone approaching rapidly from below them and sabotages them so that their own position will remain secure despite their own ineptitude...

And that got me to finish the latest chapters, however, it's been a hell of a week and next week is going to be worse, so I'm hoping that next wednesday is a day of nothing but writing, or I will indeed have some catching up to do.  Still above target now, but it's close...

This is John Dodd, in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire, and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Sixteen - Of Writing groups and like minded souls

Went to Sheffield Scribble with the Monday Knights this evening.

The thought occurred as I went there that I haven't explained much about my support network of people for this challenge, so here goes.

In Alphabetical order (Because all writers have to have OCD somewhere...)

Jude Dodd - The reminder that I need to be a better man than I often believe myself to be

Mark Dodd - The reminder that I'm still the same age as he is inside.

Martin Kent - His Laurel to my Hardy (if Laurel had been tall and Hardy had been short).

David Moody - The voice for my conscience when I find it absent

Graham Palk - The hand that prevents me falling back

Lee Swift - The smile that reminds me the day is better than it could be.

John and Sue Wilson, the people that I trust most to tell me when I'm being silly...Which they haven't yet, but I'm sure it's coming

Sheffield Writers and Scribble - Because it's good to know that other people are doing this too

And all of this will not be forgotten, for steak dinner awaits us all at the end of this year...

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Fifteen - Sometimes you don't catch the breaks

Much car related mayhem today

New car today, Mazda 6, so fast I fear the accelerator...

And on the other foot, my mother in laws car got written off this evening, she is fine thankfully, but I fear the car will not make the insurance assessment.

New story today, World War Wolf, something I'm experimenting with, so let me know if it's working, and then the latest two chapters of the Shift

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Fourteen - Will doing Two stories allow twice the word count every day?

From tomorrow I've decided I'm going to try and keep two stories going at the same time, and I know that a lot of books on writing don't recommend that, but I've found something out in the last two weeks, and it's something that I'll be looking to expand on if I can as time goes on.  When you're writing at this speed, you don't have time for edits or revisions, there isn't time to turn around and decide you're going to do something else for a while because you've hit a sticking point.

You just have to write...

So, starting tomorrow, I'm still writing Shift, but I'm also going to be putting out the first chapters of WWW, something that I had a thought about some time ago and never got around to developing.  There are two different approaches I'm using and I want to see which one is working best for me.  The first approach is that of The Shift, where I have a bunch of chapter titles that occasionally expand themselves into other things, the second is what I intend to do with WWW, and that's to have some idea of how it ends, and try to reverse engineer it while I'm writing it.

Those of you reading will have to tell me how it goes...

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Thirteen - Sometimes the good days escape you

Some days there won't be many comments, I don't believe in saying things that are only going to be negative and the day has been filled with people who believe the polar opposite of that...

Plenty of words though

This is John Dodd, in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire, and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Twelve - And sometimes you write like its your last day on earth

And by that, I don't mean that you put the laptop away and decide not to write anything for the last day of your life...

I mean you finish the day with 4000 words more than you started with...

I've decided now that the sunday is when the word count is going to get updated, that way people aren't getting bored by the numbers going down slowly.  However, if everyone thinks that a daily count would be a better idea, then I'm more than happy to adapt :)

Today hasn't been a bad day, just finished watching the last episode of the latest season of Sherlock, I can appreciate that they've decided to take it in a different direction, but I feel that the lack of a villain introduced till the last episode, the changes made in both characters, and the nature of how they've made Sherlock more accessible to the average person, somehow have lost something in the translation.  For me, Holmes was never supposed to have been accessible, he shouldn't be understandable, he should be something more than that, something that remains distant from the reader (or viewer in this case) because when you have the reveal, it takes away the attraction.  I know that some love the mystery so much that they'll tell people they're wrong even when they've got it right, just to try and keep something of the magic back, but the point here is to have something that people can keep working on and try and rise to the level of those who read the things you write, but keep things in the writing that can allow the reader to keep up.

One of my pet hates has always been Deus Ex Machina, whereby something hitherto unforeseen turns up in the last act with a big sign above its head that says "It was me...". It suggests that the writer couldn't be bothered to come up with a decent plot and instead thought it was acceptable to string the reader along before throwing in the big reveal.

Should anyone ever find me guilty of that, call me on it, I'll repent...

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Eleven - Still on target, but a hard day today

So the first of the hard days, managed the count, but it was close...

Today showed a relentless day at work and as a result I was exhausted when I got back from work around 20:30.  Didn't get any words done through the day (lunch breaks....right....) and for the first time since the challenge started, I wasn't happy with what I came up with.  Now, this will not prevent me from making count, and in terms of the number of words I need to produce to be on target for the end of the year, I'm still ahead, but I wanted to have done more today.

Still, the trick, as with all things, is if you have a slight setback, don't decide to write off the whole thing, don't get back on the horse, never get off it in the first place.  If you get bucked, fall off, or that horse is a bad tempered mare that doesn't want you on it in the first place, tighten the reins, dig the spurs in, do whatever you need to to stay on the truculent beast and ride it till it understand who's the master.

Anyway, short update today, single Chapter of The Shift, fear not, won't happen again...

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, Wherever you are...

Day Ten - A matter of writing what you know.

Read what you intend to write, of all the various things I ever learned when reading the hundred books on how to write, it was to read the competition and understand what sells before you start writing your own book.  This is all well and good if you can write like the person whose books you're reading, but if you can write like the person you're reading, then you don't have a chance, because they're already out there with a following (whom you are one of) and you're just following in their footsteps...

The trick is to find a style all your own and then have other people want to copy that.  Sadly, this is not as easy as it seems, after all, we're in a world where reading has been popular for hundreds of years and remains one of the things that (in my opinion anyway) no child should be without from as early as possible. After all, if you can read, you can learn anything, and there's nothing more valuable than that.

However, deviating from the original point slightly, I've tried writing young adult fiction and found that the range for which books are written is immense, from the unbelievably gory Darren Shan novels (how they get a kids rating is beyond me) to the far more psychological stories such as Unwind, but I have trouble getting past my own proclivities, such as swearing and graphic descriptions, which I understand is down to me and most kids (and indeed publishers of kids books) have no problem with, but still...

So, I made a conscious decision this year to not try and do things that I don't want to do or change the tone of a story to suit an audience that it wasn't intended for.

One particular issue I have is that of intimacy in writing, I'm by nature very private in what I get up to, and so lies the problem, attraction is very much like engineering in a number of ways (and no, I don't mean they've both got fluids and moving parts), in that if you read a technical manual on the subject, you'll know how to do it, but when you understand it, you don't need the manual... So it is here, it's possible to describe everything in detail and have people understand exactly which digit is doing what and in which position, but it doesn't convey any of the subtleties of mental or physical attraction, and I find that more interesting, so apologies in advance for anyone who suddenly has a moment of "Hang on that's a bit strong" for the next few chapters of The Shift, but I'm not writing to order, I'm just writing what I know.

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire, and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Nine - Fantasia on a Theme

So do we listen to music while we work?

Does it inspire us to work harder, or faster, or do we sit there and conduct things in the air while we should be typing?

I fear in the matter of The Dodd versus Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (as conducted by Vaughn Williams), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxdOYgTXtH8 there is only the conducting to be done...

But it brings the question with it, does any writing hold you in the way in the way that music can hold you.  In the above example, anything from about a minute in to three minutes in has me unable to write for the goosebumps on my arms, but there are very few pieces of writing that hold my conscious mind in the way that this music does.

This is the thought that occupies me today, is your writing the soundtrack to your life?

Does what you listen to affect what or how you write, do you need silence to clear your head of things, cheerful music for bright scenes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ7UPiGtvns (Although I understand some people don't find it cheerful, I do) , for crawling horror the darkness of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST2H8FWDvEA (or anything by Britney for that matter...).

Do you find that in a certain mood, you write some things better?  If you're down, do you find it difficult to write happy things, or in contrast, do you find it easier to write happy things because you want them in your head?

For myself, it's quite divorced of connection, if i'm enjoying something enough to be moved by it, chances are I'm concentrating on it to the exclusion of everything else, which includes what my fingers are typing.  There may come a time when I still type through such things, but I think that then it will be because it no longer moves me in the way it once did...

and that would be a shame...

This is John Dodd, in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire, and Good Night England, wherever you are...

Day Eight - Of balancing Life and writing...

There is no Balance, writing wins every time.... :)

But seriously, every two weeks Me, Jude and Mark go down to see Sue, John and Ray, some of our oldest friends, and it's something that I'm going to be keeping up through the entire of this challenge, because if you do something to the exception of all else, you either live that for the rest of your days or you realise that when you're done, the life you were working towards ended some time ago.

Another three thousand words today, and that's in between administering UK Games Expo's RPG system, producing data from last years reports, organising things for Gencon Indy this year, and debating the possibility of getting a new car.  There can be life in between doing this sort of thing, and there needs to be, because anyone can put their life on hold and manage what I'm intending to do this year.

I mean that, anyone can do this if they put their mind to it, I believe that in my heart, what I'm trying to do is keep a life while I'm doing it...

Another three chapters today, and between angry birds, final fantasy 7 (Take that Ultimate Weapon...), and Fallen London (Rocket Heeled Jack strikes again), it's not been too hard a day.

There's going to be a second story starting soon, so make comments where you can, all feedback is good and it lets me know if I'm going in the right direction.

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Many Projects, not all of which can be public

I do work for a number of companies and myself, not all of which can be posted on the blog to prove word count, but all of which are destined for publication.  The key here is transparency.

Quest, my RPG which I'm intending on publishing later this year, currently has 57000 words written for it, and while I intend to count the words I do for it this year, only anything above 57000 words will count towards final count (and only when I publish it...).  With such things as Call of Cthulhu and the works I do there, wordcount will only apply when the works are published (so they'd better publish on time), but that way I'm not losing whole swathes of the day doing works that don't count towards final...

Of Hope, Stress, and Ambivalency....

The King looked from his throne at the jar, left there this morning by parties unknown.  Covered in the markings of the temple of Zeus, he studied it himself for a full morning, the whole thing sealed but with the occasional knocking within of something alive. With no trust of the men who worship Zeus to give him anything other than more requests for sacrifices, he determined to solve the riddle himself.

He summoned his men of medicine and they looked upon the jar, decreeing that nothing that lived could survive for long within the world, but anything that could be contained within a jar of this size would surely be a small animal or something of no significance.

He summoned his men of science to look at it and they came to him with puzzlement upon their faces, for there was neither hinge nor lid upon the pottery, whatever was within had surely been in there when the pottery had been cast, for the jar was seamless in its construction, and the presence of something moving within it would have caused too much stress, both on the pottery when it was being cast, and the living creature within.

With a heavy heart, he summoned the devotees of Zeus and bade them tell him of the meaning of the Jar. It was early in the evening when the Oracle deemed it necessary to rouse himself from his bed and attend the king. 

Upon sight of the vase, the Oracle fell to his knees before it.

“Zeus favours you, my lord,” The oracles tone was reverent, his eyes held the edge of obsession within them. “This is the Jar of Pandora.”

“The Jar that contained the hope the gods denied the world?”

“The gods did not deny the world hope”, the Oracle was indignant “They gave us something that we could strive to be worth of and now Zeus has sent this to you, that you can be the one who brings hope back to the world.  This is a mighty blessing Sire.”

“I have never believed in your gods, Oracle, why would they choose to give me such a blessing?”

“It is not for us to question the will of the gods, we must open the jar and give Zeus’ gift to the people.”

“I will consider what to do and make my decision in the morning.”

The Oracle paused in his reverie of the Jar

“Sire, you cannot withhold the blessing of the gods from the people.”

“Was this given to me Oracle?”

“It was Sire.”

“Then it is for me to decide what to do with the gift that Zeus has given me is it not?”

“It is Sire.”

“Then wait for the morning and you will have my decision.”

The Oracle’s eyes narrowed and he bowed low, leaving the room without paying the proper respect to the king.

It was early in the morning, the clouds gone from the sky allowing the gods to look down from Olympus through the lights of the stars.  The guards upon the walls of the castle watched as a crowd gathered upon the courtyard below, at their head, the Oracle of Zeus.  The captain of the guard called his men to the fore and went out to parley with the mob.

“You cannot be here,” His voice calm with the knowledge of twenty years of dealing with mobs “You are ordered to disperse.”

“On whose authority,” the Oracle stepped forwards from the crowd.

“On the authority of the king, whose land you tread upon now.”

“I am here from a higher authority, and he orders that we enter the palace now.”

“And whose authority is this?”

“That of Zeus, Lord of the gods and ruler on high.”

“The gods hold no sway here, men are ruled by their own laws, not those of uncaring deities.”

“You would do well to step aside and not impede the servants of Zeus, we come here to accept his gift to us.”

“You will disperse.” The Captain raised his hand and archers upon the walls drew back their bows

“Your men will not shoot me,” The Oracle spread his arms wide “For today Zeus sent us the gift of Hope.”

The oracle dropped his arms and the captain fell to the ground with a hundred arrows in his back.  The Oracle looked up to the archers and raised his arms in silent benediction.

That and they all worship at my temple…

The King rose from his chamber as the sounds of fighting could be heard within the castle, he gathered his guard to him and marched upon the throne room as the mob clustered around the Oracle, now stood upon the Throne as he raised the Jar above his head.

“I warned you that no man may withhold the gifts of the gods.” The Oracle called to him “Now we will share the bounty that you sought to hold for yourself.”

“NO,” The King shouted as the Oracle brought down the Jar, shattering it into pieces upon the floor.

The mob stood silently as the Oracle sifted through the remains of the Jar

“It’s empty…” he said “There’s nothing within the jar.”

Around him, the mob milled aimlessly, the gift of the gods had been promised to them and now they had broken the laws of the king and would surely be sentenced to death.  But the king himself was looking around at the palace without concern.

“Shall we punish these murderers sire?” The guard asked

“There is no need, we have the blessing of the gods now, we can hope that tomorrow they will be better.” The King smiled and walked to the Oracle

“But there was nothing within the Jar, Sire” the Oracle looked confused.

“But there was Oracle, now we have hope that the world will improve, you may all go home, I will hope that you and I do not have such a disagreement again.”

The next day came, no one arrived for work, no one attended for prayer and in his chambers, the Oracle understood. Before, everyone had simply hoped that someone else would do it for them, but without real hope, they had eventually got up and done what they needed to themselves.  Now armed with the hope given by almighty Zeus, they knew that the hope would be fulfilled, and so lounged in their houses waiting for the gods to deliver what they hadn’t worked for.

Zeus looked down from Olympus without concern, the ants had long been beneath his notice and he no longer had the stress of having to address their ongoing pleas.

Now all they had was the illusion of a brighter tomorrow and above them, the ambivalent stars…

Day Seven - Assistance in unexpected places...

The facebook post got a few interesting responses, not least of which from the people at work, and that would be the day job, not the variety of other jobs that I've got.  The responses were everything from "not possible" to "Can you really do that?"

Well, if I can't, then there's a whole world of merciless mocking for this man because they're never going to let me forget it, so there's motivation there at least...

However, there are a few other people who write at work, and one of them doesn't work the way I do, so I asked three people for a word each, explaining that it's possible to write anything if you're not worried about what you write, or if you've editted it, or if you need it to be part of a greater whole.  The result was the words Hope (I know you do Mark), Stress (I know you are Paige), and Ambivalent (Which I know Chris isn't, despite his best attempts to convince me otherwise)...

No prizes for guessing who the writer in the group was...

However, 1100 words later (and the end of my lunch break coincidentally, I had something to give to them all, and that's why there's three posts tonight and not two.  I could have done more than I did given more time, but that wasn't the point of the challenge, so if anyone else has requests, three words, leave them in a comment, nothing obscene, and I'll get something done.  Won't promise immediate, but everything helps towards the word count, and sometimes its nice to take a break from what you're doing to look at something else entirely.

So, todays updates, Next few chapters of the Shift and a story out of three words

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Six - The speed of writing

I can type (at full speed) at around sixty words per minute, of things I would have said would have been useful when I learned them at YTS (that's Youth Training Scheme for those not from England), I would have said that photocopier maintenance and typing would have been the least useful, and yet here we are, Twenty two years on and what skills do I use most from that course?

Not telephonic correctness, I can tell you that...

When engaged in a project like this, it comes home not how fast you type, but how long you can type for.  I got home this evening and honestly thought that there wasn't a chance I was going to make word count for today, but funny thing, three hours later, the count is done.  If i'd been typing at full speed, the count would have been done in less than an hour, but between thinking, making changes as I go, and sometimes getting caught on the barb of the story as more of it unfolds in my head, I was working at about a third of top speed.  

Which leads to the subject for today, which is when you're writing, are you racing for the end of it, or are you enjoying the journey of writing it?

I've only once done something like this before, and it was more than ten years ago (in truth it was before the turn of the century), and I enjoyed the writing of it more than anything I've done since, but a lot of things have changed since that man.  But I'm left with a quandry now.  Left to run, I could keep with this forever, but then it's not a novel, it's a story, and I'm not worried presently about keeping the word count down so it can fit in a book, but at the same time I'm aware that trying to keep up with so many characters and plot points can fatigue people (and I know I haven't introduced many yet, but they're coming.), so it's a question of short sharp bang, or rolling thunder that keeps on rolling...

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, Wherever you are...

Day Five - To the question of updating everyone

And this is the only time that I'm going to put this out to the whole list of people in my contacts list.  Prior to this I've only been sending up the updates for this blog to my immediate family list, but the thought occurs that others may want to get the updates as well.

So, I'm five days in, and including todays update, the latest chapters of The Shift, I'm around 15000 words in from the million that are owed this year.  A little ahead of the track and that's including the bad days at work, so I'm quietly hopeful, but I don't want to bug everyone with updates every day (Because that's what there's going to be), so here's the question.

If you're getting this update, then you're in my circles somewhere.

If you want to keep getting updates on the Million words in a year challenge, let me know on this update, and from tomorrow, only those who want to be getting the updates will be getting them.

That said, if any of the rest of you want to put the word out there that someones doing something this nutty, please do, the more people watching, the more likely I am to succeed at this (Failing in front of six people is nowhere near as bad as failing in front of six thousand.....). So, please, put the word out, but do let me know if you want to keep getting the updates.

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, Wherever you are...

Day Four - One against many

There's something to be said for working on one project to the exclusion of all others, and there's something else to be said for having several different things to work on at the same time.  I'm really enjoying writing The Shift at the moment, but that's because I'm trying something new. I'm not one for planning things in advance, I like to let the story evolve how it should without any preconceived notions and that's the way that I've always done it.

When it comes to The Shift however, I've written down chapter headings and just worked on the premise of putting a thousand or so words in each chapter.  There's another twenty or so chapter before I run out of material and I'm finding that when I'm doing the individual chapters, they're coming up with new things as I type.  The curious thing about this is that I'm not considering that the chapter headings have got many things in them and I haven't put any thought into them (and to be honest, most of the chapters are named after various things that I've seen in films or read in other books and I'm using them as a guideline to put me in the right frame of mind.  One example of this would be that Chapter two was originally titled "And they mostly come at night." Now obviously I can't use that because everyone knows where it came from, but at the same time, it made it very easy for me to put the ideas down on the page.

So, short on time today, to be continued tomorrow, as I'm up for work in around six hours, better planning and less Lethal Weapon 2 is required I suspect...

Still, This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, Wherever you are...

Of hooks and lines.

One thing that I've never done as a writer is consider what to do with the story when I've finished it.  I've only ever wrote for the pleasure of it, or on commission.  On a commission, I don't have to worry about what to do with it when it's finished, and on the pleasure of it, I'm not concerned because it's just writing for me.

One exercise that I've never considered was something to get the interest of the people who are looking to read the book, almost all print books and any successful ebooks have a good hook to catch the readers in with, so I thought to put together a hook for the back of a book that I haven't written yet, see if it got my interest, and then go from there.

So...

This is the tale of Templeton who watched Raphael, sat in the future reading of Martin, fighting Morgan upon a wooden boat constructed by Jesu in the time of Jason and Tibor, fighting in the ruins of Troy, when Albion was but a distant dream and Templeton slept beneath the earth.

I'm not sure where it's going, but it should be fun to find out.

Day Three - Sometimes the old things are the best

And here we are again, watching, of all things, the first season of Magnum PI...

Things certainly change, this was prime TV back in the 1980's, and all the things that they said and did were perfectly acceptable at the time (which is probably how they managed to get eight seasons out of it.), so it's amusing in the most extreme to find that all the women in the show are wearing Teflon underwear and somehow Magnum isn't taking advantage of any of them, whilst his co-stars are being completely non-PC.  I suspect that the reason shows such as Life on Mars were so popular is because they were clearly a throw back to shows like this one, which most people my age were raised on.  

That said, considering that every year I do my best to find a box set from yesteryear that will last my darling wife the entire year of viewing.  Year one it was Miami Vice, Year two was M.A.S.H, Year three was Macgyver, this year is Magnum.

Interestingly enough, you forget just how bats*** crazy 80's TV actually was.  There were aliens in Miami Vice (not just mexicans, actual rubber suit flying saucer aliens...), and time travel in Macgyver (not to mention Brian Blessed, which is always for the win.), I'm not sure what we're likely to find in Magnum, but I'm not discounting anything just yet.

The other thing that never changes are the oldest of the exercises, did some deadlifting today, made a mistake to try the Jefferson deadlift.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cr0OwrM_8o

In truth, I'd like to think that I did it wrong, but of course, the other conclusion is that the only people who can do this particular exercise are either gorillas or simply have...no...nuts... Either way, it's certainly not an exercise that I'm planning on repeating. 

Still, four and a half thousand words today, not all of which are going up today, because tomorrow and sunday are twelve hour deadman shifts and I'm not likely to make target unless the days are inordinately quiet.  There is something I had a thought about earlier and that'll be in a separate post today.

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, Wherever you are...

Day Two - When you've accepted that you've got to do something, it's like any other resolution

You either uphold it or you don't.

In this particular case, this has been an excellent day.  Got up reasonably late (past 8), proceeded to hack the terrorist beard off my face, then started writing around 9.  Didn't stop writing till just a short while ago, whereupon came into the front room to keep typing whilst watching Pacific Rim and then Castle.

On the subject of Pacific Rim, it is not the best film that I've ever seen, close, but not quite.  However, it is easily the most watchable film that I've ever seen.  Had the DVD less than a month, and in that time, including the Ultraviolet copy that's on the tablet, I do believe that I've had it on more than twenty times.  Not always to sit down and watch it to the exclusion of all else, but certainly to have on in the background while I was doing something else.

Which brings me to the thought for today.

When writing, does it matter if you do it in complete silence, surrounded by music, alone in the dark, or with a film on another screen and a Nerf gun in hand to shoot those who interrupt?

For me, there has to be an understanding, if I have something on in the background, it has to be something that I've seen before.  Not just once, but seen multiple times, I should be able to quote it backwards (and given my particular OCD that's not difficult), so that when its on, I don't stop what I'm doing to watch what's going on on the screen...

Anything else is a distraction, and this year, I can't afford distractions...

The other thought about writing was what do you use to put your writing out into the world?  In my particular case, it's both electrons and old fashioned coloured water on dead trees.  While I can write faster on the computer, there's always going to be a place for the pen, and those who know me, know that.

So I thought to make another aspect to this blog, that of what I use to write and why I like it, in turn this will develop into why things inspire (or fail to inspire) me, and what in turn gives me most back.

Thus, a few things today, a few new chapters to The Shift, enough to put me back on target for where I should be on day two, with some left over for tomorrow.

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, Wherever you are...

Day One - Elementary

The thing that concerns me most about the whole challenge is the idea that on some days, I work twelve hour shifts, and where I work is 34 miles from my house, so it's an hour each way, then 12 hours on shift (and it's a very busy call centre), which leaves me with particularly little time to write and keep the count up.  The solution may be to simply do 7000 words a day on each of the days I have off, which is fine till you get to weeks like this one, where you do an additional twelve hour shift on the back of your existing four shifts, and then go to see your parents in the evening for new year and then find out that the new series of Sherlock is airing on that evening (Damn you BBC One).  What I'm asking everyone for is to bear with me if on Saturdays and Sundays my update is either late or absent, I'm good for the words, just bear with me :)

However, it does give me an interesting point to start day one of the challenge on, and that is what do you do when the stories you're working on run out, as has clearly occurred in the first episode of the latest Sherlock. On the one hand, those you've been writing for previously have enjoyed the older things, but sooner or later, you have to come up with something new.  Thus Sherlock returns from the dead, with an initial sequence straight out of Mission Impossible and then a whole series of individual scenes where Sherlock proceeds to make a T*** out of himself with no regard for any of those around him.  I understand that as a high functioning sociopath, he'd have little to no regard for those around him, but the point of the first two series was that he was slowly coming out of that (because as we all know sociopathy wears off.....), and for it to turn into a slightly slapstick set of sketches before getting into the swing of things does suggest that perhaps the show may have jumped the shark...

I do hope not, because I really, really, liked the first two series and the serious nature of what went on in them was extremely well done.  It could be because Benedict Cumberbatch is significantly more mainstream than he was in the last series, and because he plays a Magnificent Bastard so well, it blurs the line slightly between characters.

To the business of writing, I started on something a short while ago, and the initial chapter will not count towards the million, but I intend to continue writing it on a daily basis and those words will certainly count.  Comments and feedback are appreciated, and it's the next post after this.

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, Wherever you are...