I spent most of Monday with my nan, since I had to take her to the hospital (just a last checkup before her hip replacement surgery today, which I have since heard appears to have gone well). While I was waiting with her, we started discussing an old story she had been toying with many years ago, which she had compiled notes for and even written a few chapters of before abandoning it to literary oblivion. Without giving too much away, it's a crime story with the potential for a lot of black humour. Since I'm busy with Dark and Silent Waters, I've contented myself with writing a very basic plot outline, as well as a few random notes for it (I seem to be doing that a lot lately). I've decided that it would make a good project for NaNoWriMo 2011. My nan regretted that she had never done much with the novel, since it was an interesting and original concept (I must admit, I've never seen a similar story in books/movies/TV etc), and thought that if anyone had the power to bring the tale to life, it would be her reclusive writerly granddaughter. As she said, "I've got the idea out of my head now, so it can rattle around in yours for a while." Thanks, Non.
One thing's for sure; I certainly won't run out of story ideas in this lifetime (or the next).
Tuesday was eaten up by work, because I had to do a double shift (ah, the joys of being short-staffed when a big catalogue is launched), and I've spent most of today trying to sort things out for when I go back to uni in a few weeks (still trying to finalise my subjects and topic for my thesis in IT/multimedia). Since the last check-in, I've probably written no more than 500 words or so. However, the next few days should be a lot quieter, so I'm hoping I'll get more done; not sure if I'll hit 20,000, but I reckon I'll get close to it.
Meanwhile, Judgemental Dog suffers from abandonment issues:
See how the other ROW80ers are going here.
I just love the judgmental dog. :0)
ReplyDeleteYour grandmother's story sounds intriguing. Maybe I'll get to read it someday.
Sometimes life gets in the way of writing, but everything's cool as long as you pick up back up and keep going. I think you're doing great!
Judgmental Dog is great! I also enjoyed the bits about your Nan's creative ideas...how fabulous to share that special connection.
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother was a wonderful story teller, and now I wish I'd written some of them down.
I'm sharing creative moments with my granddaughter, who is artistic and also enjoys writing (and reading). It's a treasure having her around. I spent time with her on the weekend, but skipped writing myself on those days. But now I'm thinking...we were being creative together, so that counts, too.
Here's my ROW 80 POST
The week isn't over yet, there's still time.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of you taking on your Nan's story. I feel safe having a backlog of ideas, I live in a perpetual state of fear that when I'm done, I'll have no new ideas to write about. :)
Congratulations on 500 words! That is so much better than zero. I've been struggling on my ROW80 and am finally out checking other's blogs. Love the dog pic - my animals would feel similarly IF I were meeting my goals! Keep on writing.
ReplyDeleteThanks guys :)
ReplyDeleteMy nan is awesome. She's pretty much the only one in my family who understands my need to write and draw - everyone else more or less thinks I'm just wasting my time. When I come to write her novel, I'll be doing it pretty much from scratch, since she doesn't have any of her original notes or prose she made for the story. It'll be a lot different to how she envisioned it (she worked on it in the early 1960s, whereas when I write it, it will be set in the present day), but hopefully I can still capture the same spirit of the story. In her old drafts, the story was simply a straight crime story, but after I suggested ways that black humour could be brought in, she agreed that it would make the story even better.
On top of my nan's story and my own novels, I also have my late grandfather's unfinished novel to complete (as I ranted about in my December 2010 post, 'Unfinished Business'). I think for both of my grandparents' stories, I will always worry if they've turned out how they wanted them to, but I suppose at the end of the day, I can only do my best.
How cool! (the idea and your nan) You might not think so, but I think you had a great week so far. :)
ReplyDeleteI did a post about how important my wife's support is to me, reading about your grandmother hits home. And to further that connection by finishing her work is as good as it gets in my book.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with everyone that Judgmental Dog is fantastic. He needs his own twitter so he can pass judgment on a much larger scale.
A Judgement Dog Twitter account, you say? Hmm *ponders* :D
ReplyDeleteAsk and ye shall receive :)
ReplyDelete