How the words count
I'm in Melbourne,so the writing has been s l o w. Only a thousand or so words since I left home. Total about 8000. Should be 15000 at this stage in the month. When I get home (tomorrow) I'd better get my writing shoes on and get going.It is so hot here I can't believe it isn't January. 35+ degrees today, and a breeze that is hot, too, so gives no relief. I can feel the moisture being sucked out of me. Beautifully cool in the Victoria State Library, and free internet access for 15 not-well-monitored minutes at a time. A queue forms. I'm taking notes for my novel in odd moments. Need a completely new subplot and haven't found it yet. Have something that might turn

The Big Write
Tomorrow the Big Write starts. 50,000 words in 30 days. See www.nanowrimo.org I have a kind of title and a main plot idea. Here's a very short synopsis: Ann's partner walks out and her job disappears in yet another government restructuring. So she leaves New Zealand for a tour of relatives and art galleries in Europe and the United States, thanks to a legacy from a childless uncle. To say that travel broadens the mind falls a long way short of describing her experiences. I've used this idea in a short story that has been read only by my partner and my writing group.I'll hardly have got going when I'm off to Melbourne for s

How long is long enough?
Today I signed up at www.nanowrimo.org for the write-a-book -in-a-month event. Starting on 1 November the aim is a 50,000 word novel by midnight on 30 Nov. That's 1600+ words a day for the consistent. Don't edit, is the advice, this is a first draft, edit later. That's new for me. Everyone who achieves the word count in the time set wins. No fee, but a donation requested if you make anything as a result of doing it. No prizes. Last year over two hundred thousand people worldwide started and sixty thousand plus finished. Crazy, why would anyone do this? I don't know about anyone else, but my reasons are to do with just making me write and ke

Reading
ReadingThe four most recent books I have read:Madame Bovary, Gustave FlaubertThe Anthropologist, Nicholson BakerFalling For Science, Bernard BeckettStreet With No Name, Kapka KassabovaA classic, a contemporary novel about poetry, popular science, a memoir/travel story (kind of). I am pleased to have read them all, one way and another. Then there are the new yorker and the london review of books, both of which I get via my letterbox and both of which I read cover to cover. I'm not sure why I so like both of these. The very good writing will have something to do with it. They are both kin

More marketing
Write a press release, is the advice - I'm reading the Smashwords Marketing Guide, which is free from their site. I would if I could think of something to write it about, given that Take It Easy first came out last year. Publishing as an ebook, hardly seems enough. So, pass on that one for now.Encourage your fans to write online reviews. This is the stuff that makes me cringe, so I probably won't do it. First cringe point - I don't want 'fans,' I want friends and readers. Participate in online forums. This is the one I am working on. (Will continue to buy my paper books from Unity Books in Wellington, a great independent booksto