znaddanz

Well, it's the last day of Movember, and as you can see the mo is in full effect and looking pretty full. We're heading to the Mo Gala tonight and tomorrow I will very happilly shave it off and return to my Mo-less existence.

Thanks to Katie, Mum, Ben, Mike, Chris, Adrian, Matt, Nat, Keri and Craig for donating- together you contributed $488 for men's health. Big claps to you!

Speaking of victories:

I win! I have now completed the first draft of my third novel. Please read it! Just a disclaimer for those that do/have read it: I know it's a bit odd. It was really more of an experiment for me than anything else. I just found that in my previous nano entires I was extremely plot-heavy, and didn't take much time to really describe environments, or people or thoughts. My favourite literary discovery of last year was Ian McEwan, who I've been very inspired by, and I wanted to, well, not mimic him exactly, but certainly be more like him where I could. So I thought it might be an interesting experiment to write a book that wasn't about people doing things, but rather about trying to evoke the feeling of being somewhere, or try capture small moments completely.

Unlike The Trusted Professions, which I always intended to be the first and last draft and never be changed, warts and all, I will take some time with this one to edit and improve it. I think it really went off the rails in Chapter 18, I originally wanted Cammie to actually fall for Anthony, but when it came to it I just found I didn't have it in my to convincingly write that- and I found, as I wroet it, that there was something pleasingly cyclical about the idea that, wheras he seemed to want to change her life by dying, she might sacrifice her life to save his. That's a sort of love, I suppose. I also originally wanted to be vague about when exactly Alison visited Cammie- before or after the spider incident. I thought it might be fun to play with the idea that Cammie was testing his honesty with the spiders, but that you could read it both ways, if you wanted to. However again, when it came to it, I couldn't make that idea work right away so went with the easy option. As it is, the timeline seems screwy. So there's a lot to work on and improve, so any suggestions would be welcome- don't worry, I won't be offended! I am my greatest critic.

Thanks to all.