Making Lists

I'm definitely a list person. Writing a blog post has been on one of my lists for a while! Over the last week or so, I've made:

• a Christmas card list - all ticked and posted
• a present list - all bought and many have been packed
• a general to-do list 

It's always good to see the list of things to-do get shorter and items get ticked off but this time of year as soon as one thing is done, another gets added! I'm looking forward to all the family arriving tomorrow and can't wait to share our grandsons' excitement in the build up to Christmas Day itself.

Recently, I've made a couple of other types of lists too. 

On November 30th, I travelled to Worcester for the launch of the Fifty Flashes of Fiction. This is the new anthology of entries in the Worcestershire LitFest & Fringe’s Flash Fiction competition in which I made the long-list. Congratulations to the winner, Linda Daunter.  I recognised Linda's name from her blog and Alfie Dog Fiction so it was lovely to meet her in person. It was the first literary event I'd been to and I was surprised how nervous I was when I read out my story.

On the same day, the winner of the Alfie Dog Fiction Short Story Competition was announced. Congratulations to the winner, Lori Windsor Mohr, and to Vanessa Horn and Veronica Bright who came joint 2nd. Their stories may be downloaded from Alfie Dog from today. I was very pleased that my story 'Missing Without Trace' made the long-list in that competition too. 

You-know-who makes lists as well! I'm just hoping my name's on the right list......

Wishing you all a very happy Christmas! Thank you for your support throughout the year and see you in 2015.

You may follow me on Twitter @JanBayLit and on Jan Baynham Writer Facebook page.

Was NaNo a No-no?
This afternoon, I wrote my fifty thousand, two hundred and eighty fourth word for NaNo. Yeah! 

This was my very first experience of NaNoWriMo and because I have a busy weekend coming up, I've reached the target three days early. When I think back to the start on November 1st, I could not have envisaged doing that so no, NaNo was not a no-no for me! 

I realise that all the really hard work starts now but taking part in the project has proved to me that I can:

• produce an extended piece of writing. Up until now, both my college dissertations were only 10,000 words each and my children's novel was around 13,000 words.
• sustain an idea and work through a plot and sub-plots
• get to know characters by immersing myself in their company. As I wrote, I found out things about them that I could never have imagined when I met them first.
• keep to the target word count and even exceed it. On the few occasions when I couldn't write, I made sure I made up for it by writing more the next time I came back to writing.

Here is what my stats chart looks like today:

Your Average Per Day

1,733 

Words Written Today

151 

Target Word Count

50,000

Target Average Words Per Day

1,667

Total Words Written

50,284 WINNER!

Words Remaining

0

Current Day

29 

Days Remaining

2

Goal Achieved On

November 28, 2014

What were the drawbacks?

• a lot of my time has been taken up writing. I'm retired so have the luxury of doing what I want each day. I can imagine that writers with full time jobs or young children to look after would have to find the time from their already busy lives. 
• I didn't edit. I just wrote....and wrote. I can see that I have most likely made the editing and redrafting of the novel much harder. 
• I don't know if the writing is good enough. By concentrating on getting the words down and keeping to the word count target, I didn't reflect on what I had written.
• I hadn't done enough research so there are gaps in the story where accurate details will need to be added to give the novel authenticity.
• I've neglected my on-line critique group. I've managed to attend all the writing group meetings locally and sent the odd message of congratulations or encouragement but I haven't taken the time to actually download a story and critique it. Sorry!

Thanks to these people for their support:

• My Nano writing buddies who have sent encouraging messages, especially Susanna Bavin, Sue McDonagh, Samantha Bacchus, Kath Eastman.
• Members of my on-line critique group, Write-critical. 

What next?

• Make and decorate a Man City football cake for Isaac, my grandson, who's going to be seven next Friday.
• And maybe....start my Christmas shopping! 

All our circumstances will have been different and so will our goals. I hope that NaNoWriMo 2014 was a good experience for you. Please leave a comment and share your experience if you took part this year.

Thank you for reading my blog.

You may also follow me @JanBayLit on Twitter and on my Jan Baynham Writer Face Book page.

NaNoWriMo Progress

Your Average Per Day

1,530 

Words Written Today

0 

Target Word Count

50,000

Target Average Words Per Day

1,667

Total Words Written

32,145 

Words Remaining

17,855

Current Day

21 

Days Remaining

10

At This Rate You Will Finish On

December 3, 2014

These are my stats so far and as you can see I have some catching up to do. I'm hoping that today's writing will improve the situation so this is will be a short blog post. Good luck to fellow NaNo writers as we go into the last lap! 

Thanks to CAFE LIT for publishing my WW2 story this week. The editor, Debz-Hobbs Wyatt said it was '..dedicated to all those who lost their lives fighting to give us the lives we have.' It was inspired by this photograph of my lovely Mum. I hope you will enjoy reading it.

Photographs are often used by writers to inspire their stories. What picture has inspired you?

Thank you for reading my blog.

You may follow me @JanBayLit on Twitter and on my Jan Baynham Writer Facebook page.

** STOP PRESS**

Have you ever wanted something so badly that you were tempted to do something drastic to get it? My story, 'I want' Gets Nothing, starts as a serial on Creative Frontiers today. Please click here for PART 1 if you'd like to read it. 

Why not pop in each day to see what happens?

PART 2
PART 3
PART 4
CONCLUSION

Thanks to everyone who has followed the story all week. :-)

Just a Quick Update
Six days into NaNoWriMo, how is everyone doing? 

This is my first attempt at taking part so I didn't really know how it would be. However, I've managed to write every day but each day has been different as you would expect. I got off to a flying start at the weekend as there was a lot of football on the television (!!) but Monday wasn't so good. I had my usual writing group meeting in the afternoon and my first attendance at a new monthly critique group Write Fiction in the evening. I wasn't at the first meeting due to holidays so I didn't want to miss it. There, I met another NaNoWriMo newbie, Sue McDonagh, and she is now one of my NaNo writing buddies so that was good. It just meant that I had to make up by writing more words on the following days.

Here are some facts about my week:

• Total number of words written so far:                       10,994
• Average number of words written per day:                1,832
• Number of days left:                                                        25
• If I keep up the same average daily average, I should complete my 50,000 words on November 28th - 2 days early!

So, have I kept to my pledges that I posted last week? Let me remind you what they were:

1. FB comments, Tweets and blog posts must be kept to an absolute minimum (...if at all!)
2. I must just write and not edit.
3. If I get stuck on one particular part of the story, I must move on and write another part.
4. I must try to write every day.

YES to 2. and 4. 

• Not editing has been hard. I'm itching to get back in there and improve the writing but apart from correcting the odd word her and there, I haven't edited.
• Writing every day has been good as I have immersed myself in the story and am getting to know my characters better.

N/A to 3. as yet

• At the moment, the story is flowing quite well but I know this will change as I get further into the novel. I'm concentrating on the 1965 story to start with. Having a rough plan was definitely as good idea.

And then there's 1. - PARTLY

• I don't think I have been on Facebook, Twitter or reading Blogs as much as usual but I have been on, especially when I have finished writing for the day and updated my NaNo word count.

Thank you to everyone who has sent me encouraging comments to keep going. Writers are just the most supportive group, aren't they?

Thank you for reading my blog. Please leave a comment especially if you are or have been a NaNoWriMo participant. How have you got on this week? What have been the stumbling blocks for you? What has helped you stay on track?

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...We're Off!
Well, that's it. No more prep. - I haven't done nearly enough! - so I'll know better if ever I do it again. In six hours time, NaNoWriMo 2014 will begin. My intentions are good so feel free to nag me! 

I have told myself that:

• FB comments, Tweets and blog posts must be kept to an absolute minimum (...if at all!)

• I must just write and not edit.

• If I get stuck on one particular part of the story, I must move on and write another part.

• I must try to write every day.

If anyone is looking for a NaNo buddy, my name is JanBayLit1 but I think you pick the names up from commenting on the forums. 

Here is a helpful blog post from Susanna Bavin today. She interviews Heidi-Jo Swain who gives her advice on how to keep up your word count. 

Finally, good luck to all  writers taking part in NaNoWriMo 2014!

Bye! See you in December!

Be Afraid....Be Very Afraid!
With Hallowe'en approaching tomorrow, there has been a wealth of posts and tweets about ghost stories and collections being published around this time. My author copies of 'The Day Death Wore Boots', the anthology in which I have my story, 'Rock-a-Bye Baby', published by Alfie Dog Fiction, are being dispatched today and will hopefully arrive on October 31st itself. For me, the cover superbly evokes a spooky atmosphere just right for Hallowe'en by containing images of a full moon, gravestones, a bat, the silhouette of a bird - maybe a crow - and tree branches in silhouette.

All this week, you may read another of Susan Jones's Redington serials on Creative Frontiers entitled 'Midnight on Colley Hill'. Tomorrow's instalment will end with a witch-watch at the top of the hill. 

On her blog this week, Evonne Wareham has detailed 'A Little Something for Hallowe'en?' where she and other ChocLit authors have produced a round-robin story. The result involves spells, musketeers, magic..

The Write Romantics have produced this collection of thirteen tales, each with a spooky twist. It has been described as creepy rather than gory which is what I prefer. For me, creating atmosphere and suspense can be more frightening than detailed bloody scenes. There's even a Hocus Pocus '14 Facebook party tomorrow from 10 am until 9 pm and the e-book is free until 1st November.



Samantha Bacchus has a story in 'Out Of Darkness', an anthology by The Short Story Group, where you can 'escape from reality and plunge into a dark world...' Download it FREE on Amazon.


Ghost stories have been defined as 'having supernatural or frightening elements' often featuring 'ghosts or spirits of the dead'. Throughout the history of literature there have been echoes of haunted houses, family curses, physical disturbances such as loud noises or objects being moved around without explanation. 

Have you written a ghost story recently? What was it about and what inspired you to write the story? Please leave a comment about what makes a good ghost story for you. 

Thank your for reading my blog. You may also follow me on Twitter @ JanBayLit and on my Jan Baynham Writer Facebook page.

P.S. I may be very quiet on here for the next four Thursdays when I attempt to participate in NaNoWriMo. Will keep you updated!