Well, unsurprisingly, NaNoWriMo is off to a bad start for me. Instead of writing, I have been baking. I haven't written a word (apart from this blog and two to-do lists) but I did make some rather delicious, chewy choc chip cookies.
I've also been tidying up for an Abingdon NCT meeting (I am the newsletter editor, don't you know) which I wasn't supposed to be hosting this evening but stepped in at the last minute, 'cos that's just the kind of girl I am. To be honest, it's better to host since I don't have to get in the car. Plus, it is a newsletter and events planning meeting so it makes sense that I should have it here. Unfortunately, only one person turned up. Thank you to that person but I'm disappointed you didn't have more than one cookie. Still, I can get rid of some tomorrow at my book group, which is very good news as I will be making birthday cupcakes for Lady M, and I cannot be having lots of sugar laden cakey type things in the house. Lady M is a year old tomorrow - happy birthday Lady M!!!
**Edit to add: One more person turned up after the meeting had finished and took away two cookies. Hurrah! Bless her, she had been driving around my village trying to find my house for ages - what a complete star. I'm just really sorry the meeting had finished and all the decisions had been made - next time you will get a say, new membership secretary!
So, I suppose I'll be writing 5,000 words on Thursday on account of celebrating Lady M's birthday tomorrow. Luckily, she's going to stay with the old folks for a few days so I will be child-free for two days, which means lots of writing can be done. But first I need to decide what this next novel is going to be about.
I've found that the best way to start writing is just to, well, start writing. The characters seem to make up their own story as I go along. Of course, I have an idea of what the general storyline is going to be but the little incidents and scenes that make the story come alive seem to appear from the dialogue and character traits. Minor characters become major characters, people do things that weren't in my plan, characters become superfluous. Some things change completely - the ending of my first novel is completely different to the one I had in mind (and the beginning has changed entirely between the first and current drafts!) - the hero and heroine had other, better, ideas. I hope that this next set of characters do the same thing!