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To nanowrimo or not to nanowrimo?

It’s that time of year again – nanowrimo, or National Novel Writing Month. Thousands of people are devoting the entire month of November to writing 50,000-word novels.

I don’t actually have a plan this year, or even an idea of what my novel will be about. I’m just going to fly by the seat of my […]

I need your advice

I’m thinking about applying to UBC to do a master’s degree in creative writing. I could do it part-time, through distance education.

I’m feeling conflicted, though.

Part of me says “If you want to write, just write. You don’t need a master’s degree.  Just write.”

That same part of me also questions the logic of digging into my […]

Story ideas

Last year I read Stephen King’s Book, On Writing. It was really good, as books about writing go. One of the things that stuck with me was that there is nothing new under the sun. There are no new ideas, just new combinations of ideas. He says to take two unrelated things, and combine them […]

Tabula Rasa

GC and I are about to embark on National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo), which starts tomorrow and continues for all of November. The object of the exercise is to write the first draft of a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.

Last year I had a plan. I knew what my novel was about: two people […]

My novel: Inside Out Pork Bellies*

Remember the novel I wrote in 18 days last November, as part of National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo)? Remember how all I could blog about all month was how crappy my novel was?

The thing about writing a novel that fast is that there’s no time for editing or even reading what you’ve already written. You […]

Snapping the sheet

GC and I signed up for a short story writing course called Snapping the Sheet. It’s taught by Joanne Proulx, who wrote a novel called Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet, which is about a 17-year-old stoner who becomes known as The Prophet of Death.

The course consists of five weekly two-hour classes. The emphasis is […]

The End

On Wednesday afternoon, after 18 days of frenetic writing, I finished my Nanowrimo novel! I typed my 50,000th word, completed the sentence, wrote THE END and exhaled deeply. Woohoo. I hit the word count button, and it said my novel was 50,023 words long.

I don’t know what I expected…some sort of hoopla, I guess. […]

It’s a bad, bad book

My Nanowrimo novel continues to limp along. It’s up to 38,547 words now, or 101 paperback pages. If I were to choose one word to describe it, it would be “flaccid.” Lacking vigor or energy. Weak. Soft.

When you know your book is irredeemably bad, it’s hard to keep putting in the time and energy […]

I have a secret!

A sunbeam for Duncan

My house is full of sunshine today! Even the rooms that don’t usually get sunshine are sunny. Duncan’s in his bliss – sunbeams everywhere. Nothing he likes more than a snooze in a ‘beam.

The novel continues to surprise me. Duncan has found a spot for himself in it, and he […]

A sneak peek at my novel

Last night GC and I attended the National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) kick-off event, which was at the Yang Sheng restaurant at the corner of Somerset and Bronson.

My mother always said if you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all, so I’m not going to say anything at all about the […]