Pumpkins and some Rambling

So this year, I ended up with two pumpkins to carve, as they were on offer and Mum was feeling generous :)

I agonised over what to carve on them! I nearly carved Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as John Watson, then decided that isn't Halloweeny enough (ditto the Doctor and the TARDIS, though I was sorely tempted)

So I opted for these guys. Max Shreck as Orlok in Nosferatu, and Bela Lugosi as Dracula...probably in Dracula, that. ;)

I chose the Lugosi picture because he looks a little unimpressed...

History Lesson! Nosferatu was a rip-off of Dracula, made after permission was denied for adapting Bram Stoker's novel into a film. The Stoker estate took the makers to court and all copies of Nosferatu were supposed to have been destroyed, but some survived and now people go crazy over it.

 

Personally I like Shadow of the Vampire which is a bit of a black comedy centred around the making of Nosferatu. 

Well, NaNoWriMo is soon to start. Actually it's just gone midnight, so technically it has started for me. 

Originally I'd planned to write an in depth sci-fi/fantasy/religious/historical novel but my brain can't take it at the moment. I don't have enough background knowledge to write confidently. So I'm copping out and writing a sequel to last year's novel instead, as the characters have been knocking around in my head for about eight years, waiting to be written! 

...then again, I might sit down to start and completely change my mind on what I plan to write...

At the moment I don't have any motivation to participate at all, asides from a vague sense that I'd feel like I have failed if I didn't. Which is silly, because it's something I choose to do--nobody is making me! 

The lack of motivation is probably because the end of October has come really rapidly, I'm participating in a free iversity course, and mostly because I currently have a Project. Said project involves drawing/digitally painting a scene incorporating a bunch of my friend's characters. I'm giving myself a huge project in that I've drawn each character separately on paper, scanned the pictures, and am now in the process of painting over each drawing. Each individual character is taking about 8 hours to paint. Once I'm done, I'll combine them all into a scene, which I also need to paint... So far I've racked up about 23 hours worth of work! It's time-consuming and lots of things have fallen by the wayside as a result, but I'm enjoying it! So I'd rather do that than NaNoWriMo, I think. 

...but I'll probably start writing anyway. lol

Well, this post has ended up pretty rambly! 

Soon I plan to post something about soup...

NaNoWriMo!

 

It's already November, which means it's National Novel Writing Month! 

I have participated since 2010 and love the challenge of writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days!
Over the years I've become a very lazy writer and never get around to sitting down properly to write my ideas. NaNoWriMo is the ideal challege for me!

The idea of the challenge is 'quantity over quality': you don't go back and edit (you can do that in January, once the Christmas period is over!) you simply sit down and write.

I've added a word count widget in the bar at the right hand side of this blog. Over the past couple of days I've been writing like a mad thing but this year I'm not 'feeling it' as much as the past two years, so who knows where I'll get to...


If you're participating too, let's be writing buddies! :)

Happy Halloween ( + a small note)

Happy Halloween everyone! Hope your parties are fun and your trick or treating bountiful. :)

Tomorrow is November, the start of National Novel Writing Month! Are you participating?

If you are, good luck!

I took part for the first time last year and crossed the 50,000 word mark halfway through the month! I felt so accomplished that I'm doing it all again this year :)

Last year I finally wrote an idea that had been floating around in my head since I was about twelve!
The story sucked ass (my main protagonist was too old for the plot, really) but I loved writing without worrying about making it awesome, and found it astonishing how characters tended to develop of their own accord!

This year I'll be using another old idea, with some characters that have been sitting in my mind begging to be written about for the past five years or so.
What can I say? The older the idea is, the more time it's had to mature, like a good wine (that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

So the bottom line of all this rambling is: across November, I might not be blogging so much. I'll be writing (or rambling) for NaNoWriMo!

Best of luck to everyone else participating!