NaNoWriMo and Second Breakfasts...

I didn't want to go to my day job today. Not because I don't enjoy it, but because I had Friday off and. It. Was. Amazing.

I mentioned last week that I booked some time off in November to do some writing specifically for NaNoWriMo, and Friday was one of those days.

I was so happy when I woke up on Friday morning to a clear sunrise - I don't know why, but if it's sunny outside, I feel like anything is possible. Sunshine definitely has a positive effect on my mood.

My first stop of the day was my local Starbucks - I'm aware this isn't exactly supporting small businesses but it had free parking and I knew it would (probably) have decent wifi. I ordered a hot drink and a chocolate swirl to 'keep me going' (I have a confession to make - this was actually my second breakfast of the day, but I felt like I had to order something so I wouldn't feel guilty about being there!)

The breakfast of champions writers! Don't ask what's happening with the cream

I stayed there all morning, before deciding to find somewhere new to have lunch and start my afternoon writing session - not that there was anything wrong with Starbucks, but personally I think it can be quite expensive and I wasn't prepared to pay through the nose just for a sandwich. So I went to the cafe I worked at for a couple of weeks earlier this summer, before I got my marketing job. It was lovely to see everyone again, and the upside of going somewhere I've worked before meant that I knew exactly where the radiators and plug sockets were.

Chicken burger and chips for lunch - fuel for the afternoon!

The only downside was that the wifi didn't appear to be working properly. It wasn't a huge issue, as I was only using it to listen to music and I had music on my phone - but I'm finding more and more that I can only get into a really good writing groove if I plug my headphones in and shut the world out. After a few hours though, it was becoming obvious to me that I wasn't get as much work done. Music plays a huge part in my writing and I felt that because I didn't have the right songs on, I was getting restless and not really concentrating. So I went home early, put the fire on, made cup of tea and finished my writing session at home.

Fell views on the way home - winter is definitely coming

In total, I wrote 10,000 words on Friday. That's a huge achievement considering I hadn't written anything for about a week. I was planning on writing 5,000 words each on Saturday and Sunday too, but on Saturday I had to help out on the family farm for most of the day and Sunday just seemed to pass in a blur. I wrote another 4,000 words altogether, which is still pretty good - I'm well below the official NaNoWriMo word count for this time of the month, but I'm happy. So long as I keep writing every day, I'll get there in the end.


I have another two days booked off right at the end of November and I'm already counting down the days - I had such a good time just being a writer and doing what I love to do, that I can't wait for next time! Next time though, I know to stay somewhere with decent wifi and not switch workspaces halfway through the day - it breaks my concentration too much!

Have you ever taken time off work specifically to write? Do you like to write in cafes or at home? Do you listen to music while you write?

Busy weekends and NaNoWriMo updates...

I have a confession to make - I haven't written a word for NaNoWriMo since about this time last week.

There are a couple of reasons for this - we went to see our friends in Cheltenham last weekend (my lovely friend Jess is also a blogger - check out her amazing food blog here! Be warned though - it will make you very hungry) and I had such a good time - we saw a firework show at Cheltenham racecourse, went to an organic farm shop and made chocolate apples (mmm....)

The only thing is, we were also away the weekend before that too, which meant I've had two weeks with basically no breaks - I'm not complaining because I've had such a good time catching up with people, but I've definitely noticed a difference in my mood this week. I've been so exhausted when I get back from work that I barely have the energy to make supper. It's been a struggle not to just fall asleep where I am on the sofa every night.

But I have some good news - I'm off work tomorrow! At the start of November, I booked a few days off with the specific aim of getting a load of writing done - and I'm planning on spending the whole day in a small coffee shop somewhere scribbling down my words for NaNoWriMo. I can't tell you how much I've been looking forward to this - not just because it's a well-needed break from my day job, but also because it'll be the first time in years (since uni in fact) that I'll be able to a) dedicate the whole day to writing and b) get out of the house to do my writing. I'm so excited!

So even though I'm down on my word count, I'm still happy. Am I going to give up because I've fallen behind? Nope. I'm going to keep writing, and see what happens - maybe I'll complete NaNaWriMo, but if I don't, well, I'll still be several thousand words ahead than I was in October. And that's all that counts.

I have all my notes, I have my notepad, and I have my laptop. Let's order in the coffee (and maybe a cake or three) and let's get writing! We can do this!

Happy NaNoWriMo, everyone! Keep going - you're all amazing xx

P.S. To keep you going, here's a photo of me meeting Batman in my workplace this week. Not gonna lie - it was awesome...

How is your writing going? Are you taking part in NaNoWriMo? What are your plans for the weekend?

IWSG November: My favourite part of being a writer is...

I feel like I’ve been so wrapped up in life lately, I completely forgot it was IWSG until I happened to check my blog this morning and see everyone else’s posts. I was originally going to post today on some other stuff but I think I’ll save that for December, after the craziness of NaNoWriMo has passed.

This month's IWSG question is:

What is your favorite aspect of being a writer?

I instantly knew what my answer to this question would be – world building. I adore getting lost in a book where the world building is so complete and intricate that you could believe that that world actually existed. I’ve read books where the world building has been so good, it’s taken me a few moments to readjust back to reality once I’ve stopped reading, or I’ve felt gutted when a book/series has finished and I know I have to leave that world behind forever.

I love good world building – I’m not just talking about descriptions of places, I’m also talking about the history of the world, its rules and regulations, its political system, its currency, different races and religions, gender and their roles in society…it’s all these things that really bring a book to life. As a reader, I think it can be obvious when an author doesn’t put as much thought or time into their world building as they should – but if they do put in the effort, it makes the whole book flow and reading it a joy.

In terms of being a writer, this is my favourite part of writing because although it can be a challenge to bring a world to life on a page, I love exploring the possibilities of new worlds and coming up with the little details that all add to the overall picture. In the fantasy novel that I’m currently working on, I’m taking the time to explore the backstory of my fantasy world and I’m absolutely loving it – whenever I don’t feel like writing a proper scene, I’ll write some folklore or dream up a new location in my world, and write about that for a while instead. It’s actually a surprisingly good way to get myself into the writing mindset – and I’m planning on using this technique to up my word count during NaNoWriMo if I get desperate!

What about you – what’s your favourite aspect of being a writer? Have you read any books lately with brilliant world building? What brings a book to life for you? If you’re participating in NaNoWriMo, don’t forget to add me at: REPattinson1!

It's time for NaNoWriMo!

In just over a week, aspiring (and established) authors from all around the world will unite and attempt to complete the daunting task of writing 50,000 words in one month. No, we haven't all been taking crazy pills (hmm...debatable), it's that time of year again - it's NaNoWriMo!

For those of you who may not know, NaNoWriMo is a "fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to creative writing. On November 1, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000 word novel by 11.59pm on November 30."

I've attempted to complete NaNoWriMo twice before; the first year, (in 2012) I only wrote about 100 words, the second year (2013) I wrote a grand total of 39,000 words - although I didn't realise you could add on words from different projects, so really, the finish total was more like 45,000.

I kinda forgot about NaNoWriMo for most of this year - with the wedding, moving house, starting a new job etc, I just didn't consider it. But now that things are kind of calming down (LOL), I thought, 'why not?' I've already thrown out the rulebook with my current WIP - why not try and move it on a bit by writing 50,000 more words? I have no plan for this WIP, just the background notes and random scene ideas I've already written, but as I'm attempting to write the first draft of this novel without a plan, I'm not too worried (yet).

So there you go - from November 1st, I will be participating in the craziness that is NaNoWriMo. The Engineer has been informed, I'm booking the days off work today (not the whole month, unfortunately, but a few days here and there), and I'm actually super excited to have an uninterrupted excuse to work on my novel. Let the writing begin!

Oh, and if you need a buddy to rant/cry/commiserate/bounce idea off of - my username is REPattinson1. See you there!

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo this year? If so, have you got a plan, or are you a 'pantser'? If you're not participating, what are you planning on doing in November?

Anxiety: A Conversation

The following is a conversation I imagine my anxiety would have with me, if it happened to be a real person. For background reference, I've been going through a pretty stressful time at work lately (organising your first event that also involves local TV and press will do that to you) and it just made me aware of how much my anxiety has been cranked up over the past few weeks. So, to help me destress, I came up with the following short story on the spur of the moment. Please, if you suffer from anxiety or know someone who is, by all means share this post and have a good laugh over it - after all, laughter is the best medicine (no matter what my anxiety tries to convince me otherwise), and we all know how hard it can be to raise a simple smile when you're suffering from anxiety.

***

"Ah, good morning Rachel, how are you today? Pretty good? Well, let's see if we can do something about that. You say you've been sleeping better lately? Not as many disturbing thoughts? Hmm, that's not quite right - I see here that back in university you were given our Anxiety 101 package deal for beginners, which included; panic attacks, a metallic taste in your mouth (to be taken daily) heart palpitations, a persistent feeling of 'unreality' and a nice healthy dose of fatigue? Ah! I see here that you also managed to take advantage of our exclusive offer of 'Disturbing Thoughts To Keep You Awake At Night And Obsess Over For Years To Come' - and how have you been finding that? Does it work? Good.

Hmm...looking at your notes, I can actually see that your stock of disturbing and obsessive thoughts have been dwindling somewhat lately, is that true? You've been feeling happier and calmer in your every day life? Well, I can offer you an anxiety upgrade to fix that if you like? How about our new, 'Rehash Old Thoughts And Make You Obsess Over Them In A New Light' package? Why don't you try our free trial for the next couple of weeks and see how you get on? And while you're here, could I also interest you in a brand new deal, put together just for you? Now, I know you tend to have migraines after a stressful period, so I think I have just the ticket - why not try our 'All-day Stress Headache That Will Also Wake You Up At Night With A Pounding Headache And Disturb Your Sleep So Your Anxious Thoughts Return' package? Does that sound like something you'd be interested in? No? Well, why don't you try it for a couple of weeks and just see how you get on.

Now, your brain told me you've got a very important event coming up - how exciting! Our new package will be just the thing! The All-Day Headache is a new concept that we're trialling just for you - you seemed to have coped rather well with everything else we've thrown at you, so we thought it was high time we gave you a different anxiety symptom to try - and since you're a long term customer, I'll also throw in our tie-in 'Wake Up Early In The Morning, Paralysed By Anxious Thoughts' deal for free too - I know how much you've missed those!

What's that? You don't want to try our new headache deal? But Rachel, how will your brain know you're throughly prepared for your big event, if you don't obsess over it over the weekend and wake up sweating in the night?! Why, it would almost be like you're completely calm and in control, and we can't have that! What on earth would your primeval brain do with itself?! Are you 100% completely sure you don't want to take advantage of this fantastic offer? Think about it carefully - would you rather wake up well-rested and happy, or grumpy and irritable because your sleep has been disturbed so much, BUT you'll have made mental notes on every single tiny thing that you have to do, even though you already wrote it down earlier in the day?

Since you're so exhausted at the moment, Rachel, I think I'm going to go ahead and order this brand new offer for you anyway, since you're clearly too tired to make rational decisions right now. We'll meet again in a few days time and see how you're getting on. Enjoy the headaches! And please, do fill out this questionnaire on your way out rating me on a scale of 1-10 of how much I disturb your life. See you soon, Rachel! Bye bye!"

***

Writing about my anxiety has been strangely therapeutic - I've never really done it before, but you know what? I've really had enough this week. Enough of my anxiety, enough of the constant headaches and enough of keeping silent about something I should've spoken up about a long time ago. So there you have it - there's my anxiety laid out it's all it's ugly glory. I really hope someone out there - whether you've been suffering from anxiety for years like me, or you've just started - finds this useful to know that you are not alone. Anxiety can take many different forms, and what might manifest itself in one person, might not show up in another, but that doesn't make it any less real or any less scary.

So, to sign off before I start a mega-rant about anxiety and how much it sucks, I just want you all to know - no matter what your anxiety tries to tell you, or how much it tries to drag you down, you are fucking awesome and you can do this. I totally, 100%, believe in you.

Peace x

What are your own experiences of anxiety? Do you stress out more over big events, or does it tend to show up all-year round? What helps you to deal with your anxiety?