2008: The Year of a Million Words (hopefully)

Okay. *Cracks Knuckles* Here goes. *Deep Breath* The Year of a Million Words commences now.

The sad thing is that this Himalayan task must begin on the first of January, otherwise known as World Hangover Day. I spent last night at the Hogmanay Street Party in Edinburgh and it was great fun. Sitting here 24 hours later, I can’t quite figure out what was so good about standing in the drizzle for five hours surrounded by strangers without decent music. But it was BYO alcohol (provided you didn’t bring glass) and everyone was in the right frame of mind: I’m here to have a good time and so are you and the two things aren’t mutually exclusive.

I’m not sure I’ve been surrounded by that many well-behaved happy people before. It was a bit surreal. Or maybe that was the influence of BYO alcohol.

I think it was a combination of the alcohol, the lighting and the cold which affected my photography last night. Apart from the shots of random people I vaguely remember talking to and crappy videos of the too smokey fireworks, most of my photos look more like abstract paintings than digital snapshots. I have no idea what this (below) was, though I kinda like what it is now.

So, this million words thing. What’s up with that? Well, it’s forcing me to type when ordinarily I would have settled for watching Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life on telly tonight. And even if it’s just typing to the ether, it’s more productive than watching Angelina Jolie’s chest impersonate a video game heroine’s.

I had a crisis of faith a few days ago, realising that things like Christmas and weekends away make writing 3000 words a day really, really difficult, and that even when I’m not working and can write all day, actually churning out 3000 can be a struggle. To help, I’ve got a few short term goals: sort out something to enter the BBC short story competition; write something for the NZ Book Month Six Pack; and chip away with as close to 3000 words a day as I can manage.

I’ve come up with a few ideas for regular segments on this blog to help write more. You’ll just have to wait and see what they are, but there’ll definitely be a weekly word count summary with graphs and all the rest.

Okay, so after writing the above (c.400 words) and a 1200 entry on my travel blog, I’m a little over halfway and I have 2 and a half hours left in the first day of 2008. Jesus. What have I got myself in for?

Remind me next time I have nothing to talk about to write something on George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass. Thanks.