ROW 80 Check In 4 - the 30 Hour Novel

Photo stolen from the Kernel's 30 Hour Novel post.

So, on Saturday and Sunday I've agree to sit down and do the 30 Hour Novel. Of course I knew it was ridiculous: writing for 15 hours a day two days in a row. But you know, there are 24 hours in a day, so why waste them doing something that isn't writing? 

Well, as happens often in Buffyworld, I agreed to the challenge, and then did the maths: this means starting to write at 8am in the morning and not stopping until 11pm at night. 

But my bedtime is 10pm. And when do I eat? And waking up before 8am on a weekend just seems cruel. Can I include my tea breaks in the 15 hours?

Add to that I have now been asked out on 2 (two!!) dates on Saturday. Seriously? Nothing for years, and then 2 dates on the same day? I've had to say no to both, because I'm writing. What, all day? Um, actually, in this case, yes, all day, and a bit into the night. 

Felt like telling them they could be like my pit crew and bring me energy drinks during the day (though I'm trying to be super healthy because I'm going to The Golden Door Retreat for their 7 day health program, which is going to be super amazing (and is super expensive, thank God I won the lottery) but can't have any caffeine or sugar while I'm there, so trying to cut down now so I don't spend the whole week curled up in a ball crying. On that note, made super delicious date and almond balls, with just a hint of vanilla... highly recommended!). 

Point of that long side track: no binge energy drinking for me during my 30 hours of madness, or other sugar packed props which were my regulars during all nighters at Uni.

Also, feel I cannot ask people who want to go on a first/second date with me to be my personal slaves. Not just yet. But if I have any volunteers from people who actually know me... Just to bring me supplies and check that I haven't tried to kill myself, that would be great. :D Anyone? Anyone at all?

Anyway, this week I haven't been focused on my writing as I know I have this mammoth weekend effort, so have been doing other things. (That is my neat way of saying: no, I haven't met my ROW 80 goals). 

Started the Celtic mythology book my sister gave me for Christmas, as thinking maybe the 30 hour novel will be a mythological fantasty. Though, am seriously struggling with the names. I'm sure they have made up sounds. 

Managed to get Telstra to cancel my contract without charging me (which since in 3 weeks they hadn't managed to get my internet actually working I think is fair.) Also renewed my lease on my super cute apartment for another 12 months, and managed to negotiate the rent down (pretty proud of myself for that, though probably means I was paying too much before, but still.) So am going to get naked dsl set up here if I can. (So instead of Telstra's 4GB per month, I'm going to be getting like 50GB, for less. In your face, Telstra. Not that I'm bitter or anything.) 

Haven't written any more articles, even though I really should have. So, might try and do one tomorrow. 

Pretty proud of my last blog post. I know it looks like I just copied Pat Flynn, but it was a lot of conceptual work to realise that what is what I wanted, and to make sure it all worked for writing, and delineate all the different aspects. Well, I just hope it is useful. And now I have to put it all into practice for my own work! (Yeah, I teach because I can't do :D). So have write the required number of blog posts. 

And that is pretty much it. 

I should point out that the 30 Hour Novel is closing for entries today. The big advantage of the competition is that everyone gets to upload theirs at the end, then its open to a public vote (no, that's not the good part, that might be quite horrific depending what you write). However, HaperCollins has actually said they will publish the winning entry! Okay, so I don't really expect to win, but still, it's a great motivation - cut through all the trouble and hassle of trying to find an agent and then a publisher. Just saying. 

Will be tracking my progress on my Facebook Fan Page. Stop by if you want to see how I'm going and leave me any encouraging message (or you can leave them here on the blog, either is fine).