How very odd!

I haven't written since November. Today, I thought that I should check to see if anyone had left any comments...usually, it will be Mary Jane. Instead, I found a message from someone unknown, perhaps from Japan, I'm not sure. Then I checked my site meter only to discover that 42 people had visited my blog this week alone! That has to be the most visits I have received in one week in all the years I have been writing. My goodness! What a surprise? If any of the 42 read this, perhaps you could tell me what brought you so unexpectedly to my blog. I really would like to know.

I suddenly feel discovered!

Not only does it languish!

Alas, not only did my novel languish, it hasn't progressed since the first week. I am going to blame the fact that I have been battling a cold and an ankle injury for not making much progress. I can say that at least I am further ahead than I had been with my 'comedy horror' cult novel. I have a feel for the main characters and a good idea of most of the minor ones.

My leg is feeling better, thank goodness! I was beginning to wonder if it ever would. I'm back to swimming and seem to be doing better having had a week off. That's interesting!

School is...school! Our principal is still doing nothing about my time table and working conditions. Did I expect anything else? Probably not! However, I did manage to get something done about the lighting in my office and over my desk. Not in the rest of the library yet but that will happen later in the year.

Four weeks to Christmas! This year we can go all out because we have a new head of school who doesn't have a Christmas phobia. Yeah! I'm going to decorate the library next week and set up a Christmas tree. What fun!

Novel languishes!

My novel is languishing on my desktop. It hasn't helped that I fell and hurt my ankle the day before the month started and that it is still causing me problems, or that I now have a nasty cold and persistent cough! I did well the first week and have done absolutely nothing this week! I've been either too tired or had too much to do. I was at a conference last Friday in London and then another on Monday. Too much going on in my head for the novel to find room. I realize that these are but excuses. However, I have come to the decision that I will continue to work on the novel but that I won't beat myself up over not managing to keep up with the word count.

This weekend is Noah's 1st birthday. We are heading up to Swansea tomorrow morning, and taking GB with us to help them celebrate. James's family will be there as well. The forecast for the weekend is for torrential rain and gale force winds across the country. What fun the drive will be!

The 1st of November: Novel writing month has finally arrived!

I may not be writing here all that much during the month of November since I need to write nearly 1700 words a day just to stay ahead of myself in order to complete 50,000 words by the end of November. If you aren't sure what I'm talking about, I have joined the challenge to write a novel during the month of November. The link to the site if you are interested is: http://www.nanowrimo.org/ I will try to let you know about my progress from time to time and I think that you can set it up so that you receive a notification whenever I post. Wish me luck because at this point, I'm still not sure which novel I'm going to start. I have two possibilities. One is a children's book and the other a story about the dysfunctional relationship of a mother and daughter. I won't know till later today!

And of course, good luck to all my friends who are starting the journey as well!

The Best laid plans

I was looking forward to a weekend of swimming, gardening, a bit of shopping and starting my novel tomorrow for novel writing month. Well, I went to the pool, fell at the edge on a patch of water and will now be spending my weekend on the sofa with my laptop. I suppose that will be good for the novel! How annoying!

Musings over!

Yes, yes, as someone has pointed out, I have been musing for a long time. I didn't write anything more during our Queen Mary voyage, firstly because I was working on my book and secondly, because a day out of Southampton, I found out that my mother had had a bad accident while staying at our house just after we left for New York. My months since the trip have been taken up with concern for my mum, starting my new job and getting our new house sorted out.

However, I am musing at the moment about starting the Write a Novel in a Month challenge on November 1st. You are discouraged from beginning to write before the 1st but there is no reason why you can't sort through your ideas. And so I am!

Musings

Now we are on day 5 of our transatlantic crossing I thought that I would pull together some of my musings.

1. A lot of people exercise on board. They go to the gym, to one of the exercise classes or they walk or run the promenade deck. I haven’t had any chance to observe the people at the gym or in classes but I have become one of the walkers. Strangely, more people run or walk counter clockwise, than do clockwise. When I go out, I walk counter clockwise and it would seem wrong to do anything else. Now that is really strange. Does it have something to do with right or left-handedness? Who knows! However, I did observe to Cliff that a right-handed person draws a circle in a counter clockwise direction. Could it be that a left-handed person does the opposite and is there a link to the direction in which people walk.

2. There are a lot of people who don’t know how to use to a knife and fork. We went to dinner in the Chef’s Galley last night, an intimate restaurant for 20, where the chef cooks the meal in front of you and explains what he is doing as he goes. This was an environment where the dinners had a certain level of sophistication but even so some of them had difficulties. I’m not a table manners fanatic but it is interesting to note that, as with many aspects of manners, there has been a loosening of acceptability (to use a non-judgemental phrase). Goodness, I do sound like a prig!

3. Everyone is very ‘nice’! The crew is delightful and with only one exception has been smiling, happy and there to help with any needs. The passengers are ‘nice’ as well. Strangers talk to each other and there never seems to be any conflict among them. Though, I did hear today that the library had to stop providing Internet copies of daily newspapers because on a recent voyage two men almost came to fisticuffs over one of them. Does it have anything to do with stress or lack of it? Are people ‘nice’ because they aren’t stressed out? Do they get nicer as the voyage proceeds?

I’m off to an art auction now. More observations Friday after our visit to New York!