Unbought Delicacies: The novel

Wednesday, 26 November 2008

The novel

As you may have read, I'm taking part in NaNoWriMo - a month-long challenge to produce a novel (first draft type thing) of 50,000 words in the month of November. I am doing quite well, I think, and better than I thought. I had the outline of the story mapped out in my head before I started, which helped enormously - I had a beginning and an end, and all sorts of middle bits. I also have the back of the proverbial envelope/s, scribbled all over, making sense to only me. Turns out this book is an amalgamation of lots of bits that were milling around in my head waiting to be written down. It's a book I would like to read myself, and I'm writing about what I know - so, I've followed all the theories, and have now arrived at 42,084 words this morning, which I'm really pleased about. I even managed to find and insert into the right place the 2,000 odd words I lost in "My Documents" somehow, so it was a bit depressing last night to find my word count down by quite a bit; it's alright now, though, and I'm back on track. If all goes according to plan, I'll work further on it after the end of the month, add illustrations, add in the extras (can't tell you about them yet LOL) and get it ready for publishing. Oh yes, I need a title too...........:)
Whether anyone will actually want to read it I'm not sure, but, all things being equal, I'll have proved to myself that I can do it.

Edited to alter terrible typing..........LOL

2 comments:

Willow said...: Well done you! It takes alot of discipline to write every day .. I've tried, and always seem to get distracted! It's great that you've managed to get all those ideas that were buzzing round in your head, onto paper! Am intrigued about your story!
Willow x; 26 November 2008 at 13:45
Eileen said...: Awesome! - Good for you!!! I used to write a gardening column for a local paper, my uncle wrote a story about being a protestant child growing up in rural catholic Ireland, and my son writes wonderfully. Years ago I wrote the outline of a short story about "Fencerows" that, when I retire, I'm going to turn into a childrens book and illustrate it - well...it is good to have longterm goals isn't it??? I'm happy for you almost reaching one of yours...can't wait to hear what it is about!!; 26 November 2008 at 21:26

I have found such joy

I have found such joy in simple things;
A plain, clean room, a nut-brown loaf of bread,
A cup of milk, a kettle as it sings,
The shelter of a roof above my head,
And in a leaf-laced square along the floor,
Where yellow sunlight glimmers through the door.
I have found such joy in things that fill
My quiet days: a curtain's blowing grace,
A potted plant upon my window sill,
A rose, fresh-cut and placed within a vase;
A table cleared, a lamp beside a chair,
And books I long have loved beside me there.
Oh, I have found such joys I wish I might
Tell every woman who goes seeking far
For some elusive, feverish delight,
That very close to home the great joys are:
The elemental things- old as the race,
Yet never, through the ages, commonplace.

~ Grace Noll Crowell

Ideas for handmade gifts

Small knitteds - gloves, scarves, hot water bottle covers, hats, tea cosies, phone covers, little toys,,cushion covers, bags. Some of these can be felted/fulled for extra interest.
Edibles - chutneys and jams, pickles, nice teas in a vintage/retro tin, sweeties, toffees, mustard, home made wine and liqueurs, home dried fruits, ketchups.
For the home - trimmed tea towels, handknitted dishcloths, quilted wallhangings, small samplers, restored picture frames, pot pourri, lavender bags, covered coathangers, little scented bags for hanging on handles, framed photos of family,etc you've taken yourself, pincushion,needle book, scissor keeper, book of promises (eg babysitting, 1 hour's housework, the ironing, etc)
Bathtime - homemade soap, bath oils, bath salts, knitted washcloths, herbal bags for the bath, hand sewn toilet bags, trimmed hand towels, homemade lotions and potions packed in pretty jars and bottles.
For the garden - home saved seed in handmade decorated packets; homemade handcream, exfoliating soap, wheat bag for those digger's aches and pains!

Handmade books, personalised printed notepaper and envelopes.
Hamper of bits and bobs from the above lists, packed in a pretty lined basket.

I'll add some more as and when I think of them; These can be used all year round and easily tailored to the recipient - everyone loves a homemade gift. :)

Inspiring thoughts.............

I saw a man, an old Cilician, who occupied an acre or two of land that no one wanted.
A patch not worth the ploughing, unrewarding for flocks, unfit for vineyards;
he, however, by planting here and there among the scrub cabbages or white lilies and verbena and flimsy poppies, fancied himself a king in wealth, and coming home late in the evening, loaded his board with unbought delicacies.
Virgil

I had no theories to prove. I merely wanted to try living by my own hands, independently as far as possible from a system of division of labour in which the participant loses most of the pleasure of making and growing things for himself. I wanted to bring in my own fuel and smell its sweet smell as it burned in the hearth I had made. I wanted to grow my own food, or forage after it. In short I wanted to do as much as I could for myself, because I had already realised from partial experience the inexpressible joy of doing so.

Harlan Hubbard, Shantyboat: A River Way of Life

Pages

Wednesday, 26 November 2008

The novel

2 comments: