89,000 words

89,000.

the main character has no friends. i love this aspect of the book, and by the fact that there isn't much to learn or guess about him from the start, you can feel like you know a lot more about him.. if that makes sense. I don't want the reader to be filling in the gaps, but instead to know what the gaps are, or that there are no gaps. Ok, I'll stop talking about gaps now.

88,500 words

Ahh, the laddish conversation in the club turns to girls. Been planning this scene for quite a while, so it's good to get into it.

88,500

88,400 words

Working on the first of the two nightclub scenes.

The second one of these is near the end of the book, when many of the book's storylines are resolved within one pretty dramatic scene.

88,000 words

Started and finished the next hospital radio scene. Happy.

Little editing session

Edited some of the second train scene.. my last work on the book for today.

87,200 words

Inserted more into the second of the two train scenes. Trying to make things flow better.

"I threw that diary away years ago but it didn’t work because the heart kept a diary of its own. It must have kept a tiny one, tucked away in an artery or something."

Running

Time for a quick blog.

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I'm currently training for the Great North Run on September 19th. It is a fascinating thing, and really challenging to keep increasing the distance. It ceases to amaze me what the body is capable of. For 30 years, it's had no clue how to run long distances, and yet it can still learn and get used to it.

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Yesterday, I was running for 84 minutes. It was quite surreal actually... like time kind of stood still while I was running. Anyway, it's been a bizarre way to discover new areas of York too.. running round Haxby, Huntingdon, the University area, Hull Road, Fulford.

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I am looking forward lots to the day itself. I don't have much sponsorship but actually aren't too bothered. In fact, if I'm truly honest, I'd rather people give to help Pakistan right now :-( But I will make sure I get enough sponsorship to reward Kidscan and York Hospital Radio - rewards they richly deserve.

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I am wondering about what my next big project will be and here are some ideas I have been thinking about and aiming for...

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1. Seeing if I can help out at Minster FM radio.

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2. Mentoring teenagers who are struggling and their families want extra help (that is through a charity)

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3. Becoming a commentator for York City games through York Hospital Radio (really difficult job - i've been recommended but it seems like it's gonna be so hard if I do it)

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4. Becoming a Samaritans trainer

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5. Becoming a social worker as my next job. Yeah, that is in very early stages of thought lol and I might change my mind tomorrow, but it's something that's been appealing to me with my job due to finish on October 29th.

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Anyway, these are all things I'm finding out more about and seeing if they will suit me.

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I'm fortunate enough to visit Minster FM studios tomorrow and sit in on my friend John's 3-hour live show. I can't wait - even though apparently their studios aren't as good as the Hospital Radio ones.

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Ok, off now.

Milestone reached - Book Summary Written

Been wanting to do this for ages, and finally tonight have written a complete summary of the book. Will post it on my Web site at some point.

87,000 words

87,000 -- kept going into the night here, really glad i've hit my target and really tired now.

Going over some fun scenes

Just had a fun editing session.. going over old fun descriptive scenes.....

working til about 11 on it tonight...

86,000 words

It keeps going. Some big changes in the direction of the book lately......

Mainly...

1. I've decided to make it more York-like. i.e to reference the buildings more and to get the reader more familiar with certain streets and landmarks.

2. Less and less involvement of other characters. Much more monologue and involvement of the main character.

3. Less dialogue and more of the main character talking about what happened instead of having the dialogue.

4. Less scenes that don't have a real edge or uniqueness to them. If it doesn't feel on the edge, I don't want it.

5. More truth!!!!!


86,000 woohoo!

Editing Session

Just given myself a really free editing session which is something new, as before I've always had real purpose to the editing. It was nice to work at little bits here and there.

Coming along well. The further I get into it, the further it is becoming monologuey and the less of a part the other characters are playing.

Fully edited the last 1,000 words

I'm really pleased with today's work.

A few days ago, I saw my friend Donna Hay - she was one of the people who inspired me to write a novel. She has a few published and successful novels, and wrote on her Web site that she had always said she wanted to write a novel before she was 40.

This long-term goal made me realise that it was also the kind of thing I could try and achieve and that there was no big rush. Anyway, when I met her the other day she didn't know I was writing... so I was like "by the way, you've inspired me to write 80,000 words of a novel" to which she looked really uncomfoortable hahaha

Time to close the book now. It looks a nice day out there.

84,000 words

84,000

and i'm feeling a better sense of direction than I was last time around. Ultimately, the direction with the book is to tell the story of my life - i must remember that - and the storylines are only nice ways of gluing things together. gluing? glueing?

It's very tempting to just say sod it and make it into a diary format, but that would completely be destroying the object of a novel format, and I've done so much great work on the novel format that it would be silly to lose it. I still have the excitement for this project, and I'm really glad that I set my target to finish as the end of 2013, because it means I can work on the book without panicking about the time scale or the amount of time I may need to edit it after all the words are written.

:-)

83,000 words

83,000...writing more of my personal journey...

Looking back, the previous 2000 words I havent been very happy with, compared to what I thought when I wrote them..... so it was a pleasant change tonight to write some stuff i think is better.

Catch up - Tour of the North-West

Ok, catch-up blog on my mini-holiday with Paula...

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Friday saw Liverpool... and I tracked down my old friend Jonathan Walker that I wrote about in the previous post. He was pleased to see me, however didn't want to go for a pint.

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It was only when I got home and reflected on things, I felt sad that age 10 years old, I had ended the friendship, and I owed him an apology. Anyway, he's happy we've reconnected, so I hope to see him soon when he's in York.

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Liverpool it rained lots but we made the most of it.

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Blackpool Saturday. Saw a live stage hypnotist show which was really good. Saw a fortune teller who did a face reading by constantly staring above my head. Sunday, visited Hawkshead Park in Cheshire -- which is so much more scenic and beautiful than it sounds - ie not a park. Monday, met Paula's kids for the first time - all 4 of them! - nervy but great cos they're lovely kids.

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Add in large doses of michael mcintyre, scenic roads, heartfelt chats, background music of Jonathan and BT, cute cafes, happy pubs, and a lot of smiles and laughter. A wonderful break with wonderful company, and it actually felt like a holiday LOL.

82,000 words

82,000.

Another monologuey reflectivey bit, with a nice bit of progression in there.
More, working through the truth. The book is not necessarily my truth, but works through the truth if that makes sense.