Nanowrimo-orama

I’ve entered this year’s Nanowrimo! (cue lame drum roll and two sweaty palms). I’m in the mood for a challenge, plus I won’t be working full-time until December so I definitely have the time to do it. This started as an idea for a section (i.e. time filler) on my radio show. I’ve challenged other literary-minded (or addle-minded) listeners to join me in the race to write a 50, 000 word novel in 30 days and I thought, I bet people would love to hear about this on my blog too… I actually don’t know if you bloggy-type people would love to hear about this palpitation-inducing (mis)adventure or not, but you’re obviously going to hear about it anyway…

I’ve talked about Nanowrimo before, but in case you have a short attention span, here it is again. Nanowrimo is shorthand for National Novel Writing Month, a yearly madness that started in 1999. Folks sign up at the website; and agree to sign away their Novembers in the pursuit of writing 50, 000 words of a novel before the end of the month. The emphasis is on quantity, not quality (you can edit in December!) Writers are encouraged to leave their inner critics at the door and plough ahead, grammatical mistakes, clunky sentences and all. This will be difficult for me as I often re-read and edit my work one paragraph, even one sentence, at a time. I don’t even know what I’ll be writing about. I have the vague idea for a novel I was preaching about back in July but the idea is still just that: vague. I decided while writing Jinn Nation that a plan was definitely the way to go. Dunraven Road was a bloody nightmare to edit because my storyline was all over the place. So, that’s the first thing: a plan for a novel and an idea for a main character in the 11 days I have left before the start of November. Simples!

Um… Help?

Or if ya just want to laugh at me, I’m signed up over at Nanowrimo as Cazzy_Smith.

Life in a Sweat Box

I think I’m having a strange summer. The weather was beautiful until July (yes, I know us Brits are obsessed with the weather) and then it clouded over, trapping all the heat beneath and turning my little corner of the world into a clammy sweat box. I’m terrible when the climate is like this: I’m constantly uncomfortable and my brain turns to mush. I’m sure that knitting like a mad woman for the last two weeks to prepare for the upcoming street market I’ve signed on to do hasn’t made matters any better. Perhaps sitting for hours with a rapidly growing length of knitted fabric pooling on my lap isn’t the best way to cool down. I’m really looking forward to this market though. It’s in a village outside Exeter called Silverton on Saturday August 7 – Gates open at 10am (more details can be found on their website). I’ve actually attended this market before with a poorly thought out jewelry venture (basically, it was boxes of cheaply made costume jewelry gleaned from Ebay), but that was another lifetime ago. There’s always a theme at the Silverton Streetmarket and the locals dress up and compete in a fancy dress competition. This year the theme is musicals, so I’m hoping to see some Phantoms! (though I suppose the black cape would be a tad heavy for August…)

At least all the knitting has made me eager to start writing something new. I finished the first draft of Jinn Nation about two months ago; and I felt so drained when it was done I’ve barely started to edit it. Now though, a delicious kernel of a new idea is slowly turning and brewing in my overheated mind… I’m also planning to do something exciting with my zombie novella, The Undead Alliance – More details soon! I think knitting and crafting is a good excuse to let my mind wander and refresh itself, returning with new story ideas. I’ve been talking to some really interesting people through my radio show, Write Around Devon (every Thursday from 2-3pm UK! – www.riviera.fm) and last week I interviewed Susan Young, author of The Ultimate Defiance and creator of the Two Stories photographic exhibition. She’s also a keen wildlife photographer and she was telling me how waiting for hours, camera poised, for the perfect animal shot gave her plenty of time to plan her writing. I think this ‘planning’ time is important. Other people take a walk every morning and think about what they’re going to write that day. It all seems like quality procrastination to me and that’s where I am right now, entrenched in some high quality procrastination

I already have more local writers lined up to interview on the radio show and even more in the pipeline. Here’s a rundown:

22 July – Patricia Oxley – Creator and editor of the Acumen Literary Journal and organiser of the annual Torbay Poetry Festival.
29 July – Zion Lights – Author of More Things Should Be Thought Out Thus.
12 August – Graham Sclater – Author of Hatred is the Key.

I’m still looking for guests to interview and books to review, so if you’re a writer of anything in the South Devon area – fiction, non-fiction, poetry, even blogs – or if you have a new book out that you’d like to promote, send me an email and I’ll get you on the air

And finally… An old irritant has reared its ugly, botoxed head. Back in October, I pondered the question of why people buy glamour model Katie Price’s fiction when she openly admits to hiring a ghost-writer for every turd of a novel that has ever had the misfortune of having her name splashed across the cover. I never did get an answer. Well, she’s about to unleash more literary nonsense upon the world, prompting these search terms to pop up in my incoming links doo-dah on WordPress – “when is katie price next novel out” and “katie price new novel”. People!! If you’re so enamoured by novels to which the only contribution the so-called author has made is her name (and her signature on the hefty contracts), at least put me out of my misery and tell me why you read them. Please? Anyway… If you have come here from Google after following my ‘Katie Price’ tags, at least click this turgid link and send some Amazon Associates pennies my way (does this make me a two-faced, bandwagon-humping fool? Quite possibly).

Paradise (Hardcover) by ‘Katie Price’ – released July 22, 2010 (available for pre-order).

Blurb
When vacuous model Angel was forced to make a life-changing decision and choose between Ethan, the rich and famous Californian baseball player, and giving her marriage to poor-as-dirt, failing football player Cal another go, many were stunned when she picked Ethan. But life in LA is good: Ethan uses her and Honey to get his mug in all the celebrity magazines, making huge sums of cash; and their life could not be more glamorous. But nothing is perfect, and after a year together problems are beginning to surface: a stalker seems to have singled out Angel, her silicone implants have begun to sag; and when Ethan faces financial ruin the couple are ‘forced’ to star in a reality TV show about their life together, sickening the country and causing thousands to turn off their TVs in disgust. Despite everything, though, Angel is convinced that Ethan is the man for her. So why does she always feel breathless when Cal is around? (especially once he signs a new football contract and is able to buy a pink-painted mansion with a paddock out the back?) And why can’t she stop thinking about him and his new younger, even larger breasted girlfriend? But as the tabloid headlines have always been quick to point out, the path of true love for our moronic celebrity has not always been smooth (nor have the huge offers from OK Magazine for the exclusive rights to print pictures of her emergency bowel investigation always been forthcoming).

Sounds like a page turner!

Secret Squirrel

Sorry I’ve been such a slack Alice with the lack of posting – Must try harder! I do have some secret squirrel-type news though… I am now a radio presenter You’re impressed, right? I can hardly believe I’m doing it, actually. I barely recognise myself these days, I suppose a little self-confidence goes a long way. Anyway… I’m presenting on the same radio station I mentioned in my last post – Riviera FM. I must have done something right during my interview because I was asked if I’d like to present my own show, centred around local authors and book reviews. I didn’t need to think about that one for very long…

I called the show Write Around Devon and I’ve been broadcasting for three weeks, on a Thursday from 2-3pm (UK). Today is a special day because I’ll be interviewing my first guest – local author Tony Brown of Cadenza Press. I’m really looking forward to this. I’ll be asking him about his impressive back catalog of novels, where he finds inspiration and what motivated him to create his own press. You can listen in from anywhere in the world at the Riviera FM website – www.riviera.fm. Email the studio or click the Live Chat box to request a song or ask Tony a question. More guests are lined up for the future… Watch this space! (or blog… whatever ).