First draft finished, well sort of !!!!

Now I am not claiming victory in the mini race with JJ, who by the way has done really well this week, but I have been struggling all week and have come to the conclusion that I have gone as far as I can for the time being. I have a bit over 70000 words and I have four pieces of research to pull together, which will get me close to my target of 85000 words. Now I have to start the second draft. It has taken me three years to get to this point and I feel the need to take a fresh look at the whole ms. It has to be a complete overhaul and I think I need to step back for a while before starting again. I also have a lot of other work to be doing over the next few weeks leading up to Christmas.
So I am taking some time off from my wip and I shall start the second draft in the new year. This will give me some time to do some other bits and pieces of writing and blog a bit more hopefully.
Sorry to leave the race early JJ but I shall be following your progress and will not accept any slacking. Perhaps you in turn will ensure that I get back to my wip in the New Year and not allow any bleating from me!!!!
Maybe we can have a race for second draft finished, no only kidding, one thing at a time, no multi tasking on the wip front. Although I might just make the odd note for my next wip.

Sunday word count 8

Oh dear a very bad week, only 500 words and they felt like pulling teeth. I seem to have reached a bit of an impasse. I have been writing this first draft for THREE YEARS [started October 2006!!!!] and it has been written as and when an idea comes to me. Now I am not quite sure where I am. Finding where the continuity is missing is proving hard work. So like JJ I have to spend some time working through what I have already written and filling in the missing bits plus a bit more research to do. Atleast for that I have some friends in England who have very kindly agreed to help.
I think next week will be hard too but I am determined to sort myself out and get the rest of the draft finished.

Sunday word count 7

Well another week gone by in a flash, where do the days go? I did another coffee morning for the Novel Racers last Friday which is my excuse for not posting here.
Now I won hands down last week but it was a rather hollow victory as JJ has been in England looking after her parents, and she may still be there. Where are you JJ?
Anyway my words for last week a reasonable but not spectacular 2800. This gets me over the 70000 mark so I really feel as if I am on the home stretch.
Just a few more weeks and I will have the Holy Grail, a first draft of my first novel woopee!!!!!!
There's no stopping me now, but a few cheers along the way will still be very welcome.

Sunday word count 6

A better week even though I didn't manage a post about the builders, I did host the Novel Racers coffee morning on Friday. I have got a bit stuck with some research I need to actually finish my wip so asked for help from the Novel Racers. They have given me some good ideas about where to go for help. So hopefully next week will see more progress.
Anyway back to the word count, I managed 2800 words, better than last week but not as many as I would have liked. So over to you JJ how was your week. Not too stressful I hope.

Sunday word count 5

It's been a terrible week due to Builders which I will post about tomorrow, I have only managed a paultry 1000 words this week and even that was hard going, so it's a win for JJ this week but only just. So back on the treadmill tomorrow.

Sunday word count no. 4

Where does the time go ,it's Sunday already and I am hoping for another win over JJ I had a slow start to the week but then got on a bit of a roll when I saw JJ spending valuable writing time shopping, again!!!!

So a bit of a drum roll for a magnificent 3900 words this week. Beat that Bangkok tea drinker!!!

A blog award

I got this award from the lovely DJ The "Your Blog is Fabulous!" Award stands for: Integrity. Commitment to Excellence. Stubbornly Optimistic.The Rules:List five current obsessions: (What, only five?)

[I seem to have lost the award somewhere in the ether, never been very good with technical things, oh well it's the thought that counts. If you want to see what it looks like pop over to DJ's blog.]

My current obessions in no particular order are:

The Builders, if they don't finish soon they will probably take up residence. They started in Feb and should have finished in April, enough said. It's just as well they are nice people otherwise I would have buried them in their own concrete by now.

The mini-race with JJ this has really got me back at my desk. I am a very competitive person and I just hate losing, so watch out JJ.

Running. I run 5 times a week and get very grouchy if I don't get my regular fix. I have been running since I saw the first London Marathon and decided I wanted to do that. I competed in and finished the Race in 1989. I won't say how long it took me!!

Cooking. I just love cooking, I make my own sausages, bacon, ham etc. Plus all sorts of pies and pastries. When I've got my new kitchen up and running I shall be in seventh heaven.

Reading. Never without atleast two books on the go, and have the luxury of a decent TBR pile at the moment, so lots of choice.