While living and working in Edinburgh in 2008 I set out to write one million words in 366 days... but only managed 800,737.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Thirty Ways of Looking at a Blank Page

I haven't had any public experiments for a while (I think April's was the last). Whatever have I been up to? But do not fear, November will be different.

November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) but I've already sworn off novels for the rest of the year. Rather than go nuts for a month and produce one 50,000 word narrative, I'm going to think small. I will write a self-contained story in one hundred words every day and post it in the sidebar. At the end of the month I'll compile the stories into one 3,000 word post.

[Technicalities: 1) As I'm away in London, Estonia and Latvia in the second week of the month, I won't be able to post every story on the day on which it was written, but I'm sure I'll find the time between sub-zero tourism and stoner rock concerts to jot down my daily dose. 2) I've chosen to post in the sidebar initially as I still intend to post status reports and ad hoc items, but I don't want to break up the flow of wee stories...]

As with my 8-words a day story, I'll try my hardest to write fresh everyday: that means no jotting down ideas for later use, not drafting seven stories on a Sunday afternoon and polishing one up a day for the rest of the week.

As fond of graphs as I am, I think this might provide a more interesting way to chart my moods and muses through a thirty day period. We shall see.

Vaguely related YouTube of the day: 'Ahead by a Century' by The Tragically Hip




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