ROW80 Round 7: Final Update

I've missed the last several check-ins but I was at least able to make the final one :) I finally finished my marking after another bout of illness set me back a whole week, and I have about a week and a half before my next assignments come in. Next week is the semester break so I will finally have time to relax and do more writing and painting. I haven't done any writing or painting since last check-in apart from late last night and this evening, when I managed to squeeze in a few hundred extra words for my novel. I had one of those awesome moments where I was aimlessly browsing YouTube and stumbled across a music video that provided some much needed creative inspiration, so I've been hurriedly jotting down notes for scenes that I'll be able to write later.

I'm also contemplating whether or not I'll do NaNoWriMo this year (I know it's more than a month away, but still...). I do like the idea of just doing nothing but writing for a month (in my case it will be a bit less than a month, as I'll still have exam marking etc to do in early November), but I'm not sure it really suits the way I write. NaNoWriMo is mainly about just letting yourself go and writing and not editing, even if it's rubbish, and I can't really make myself do that; I would rather go a bit slower and try to concentrate more on quality than quantity. I did NaNoWrimo in 2010 and got 50,000 words, but I only ended up keeping about 12,000. I'd rather write slower and just get, say, 20,000 words and be able to keep a larger percentage of it. Plus, technically for NaNoWriMo you have to start a completely new novel and I'd rather keep working on Dark and Silent Waters (I have other story ideas/fragments but DASW is the one that I really care about, really want to see finished). Eh, I'll probably end up NaNo-ing anyway, if for no other reason than it will give me an excuse to consume insane amounts of chocolate and energy drinks without feeling guilty :D

Anyway, I'm off to try to do a quick drawing before going to bed. One day of uni tomorrow and then holidays :)

(edit to update: finally managed to get some art done :D This is my first soft pastel drawing, a pear drawn in Faber-Castell and Rembrandt pastels)

Judgemental Dog has his priorities right:

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ROW80 Round 7: 10th Update

Well, I'm finally starting to feel reasonably healthy again, just in time for the nice spring weather :) (it seems weird looking out the window and not seeing black clouds and torrential rain). Fairly short update this week; I wrote 500 words on Friday and Saturday and have finished one batch of marking, though now I have a second lot to keep me busy. My students for both subjects don't have assignments due til the end of semester now, so hopefully the next few weeks will be a bit quieter, giving me more time for writing and painting.

I've also dug out my folder with all my papers in it from last year for my Honours thesis. I'm hoping that going through it will give me some ideas for my PhD thesis. The deadline for applying for a scholarship is at the end of October, which is a while away, but I'm wary of time getting away from me; plus, once I come up with my idea, I still need to write it up properly as a research proposal. I've also decided that if I do get a scholarship, I'm going to get myself a tablet PC. I know I don't need one, but I have been wanting one for a while, and it would be pretty handy to take to uni, instead of my bulky laptop or big folders of paper. Haven't decided what type I'll get, though... Any suggestions?

Words of wisdom from Judgemental Dog:

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