Sunday word count and Village fete

Well I've just about managed to beat JJ this week, but only just. I have written 3100 words so have fallen 400 short of my weekly target. I could blame the fact that we are spending several hours every day putting up HUGE sheets of plasterboard, getting covered in the stuff I use to stick the boards to the walls and ending up looking like Mr Pastry[who is he you are probably wondering, but I am not going to show my age by telling you] or that it's our village fete which lasts for three days and involves live music in the square every evening starting at 10.30pm and going on til 2 or 3am !!!!! But to be perfectly honest I got a bit bogged down with some research.
So next week I will have to keep my head down and try and do better.
Still it's good to be a winner again and I understand that JJ has another busy week coming up, oh dear [smirks quietly] of course she could be trying to lull me into a false sense of security.
So another evening of dancing and music then back to the grindstone tomorrow.

Sunday word count

Well another on target week with just over 3500 words. Considering the noise and mess the builders have been making I am quite pleased with the weeks work. However I know that it's going to get harder the closer I get to finishing. Because then I will have to do something with it!!!! While it's not finished I can keep it under wraps and keep those demons at bay. You know the ones, sit on your shoulder and tell you what rubbish it all is and you can't possibly let anyone else read this twaddle.
Still a way to go before that, so JJ how has your week been. And shouldn't you be with your family instead of indulging yourself in a Starbucks??????
I'm off to market now for a bit of people watching, so catch you later JJ.

Building work continues

Before and after photos of the new extension at the back of the house which will eventually be our new kitchen. The OH did the demolition of the old sheds, it was quite a job as the previous owner had used enormous beams for his construction, and all held together with 6 inch nails!!!!

I start a mini race with JJ and the builders return with a vengence. They have been replacing the tiles and some of the timbers on the old part of the house and at times the noise is too much to bear. It sounds like a herd of elephants with clogs on tap dancing!!!!!! And every job seems to be more complicated than anticipated, due I think to some previous rather eclectic building methods. Still the builders assure us it will all be alright in the end!!!!

Yesterday was so bad I took myself off for a walk, found a bench in the sun overlooking the village and managed about 700 words. Not bad in the circumstances. Today is not much better so may try the same again. At least the weather is on our side. Lovely warm sunny days.

I just can't wait for them to be finished and gone. Now I must try and do some of my wip.

Sunday word count

Thanks for all the enthusiastic comments, as the weeks go on I shall need all the help I can get to keep going. I know what I'm like so all "boots up bum" will be gratefully accepted.

So the first week went well, just about 3300 words which is close to my target of 3500 words a week for ten weeks. I also had a few ideas while I was out running yesterday which is encouraging. All I have to do now is keep it up for the next NINE WEEKS and who knows I might win the mini race. Although as Chris H said we both win if it helps us finish our wips.

Anyway it's a day off from writing today as I don't normally write at weekends but if JJ gets too far in the lead I may have to!!!!

Must go and check on the opposition now, see what sort of week JJ has had. Now if she's had a bad writing week do I have to offer her encouragement[while quietly sniggering]? Yes of course I do, and I'll try not to gloat.

Mini race with JJ

JJ and I have decided on a mini race to try and finish our respective wips before the end of the year. I have updated my word count to include recently typed words plus approx 3500 words written but not yet typed up. Now I need to get my head down and aim for 3500 words per week for 10 weeks which will get me to 85ooo by the end of November.

This may be wishful thinking on my part as the builders have just returned to replace the roof of the old part of the house. They haven't quite finished the extensions yet so I have to hope that they get a move on and leave me in peace as quickly as possible.

So I suppose I had better go and make a start. Now where's my notebook as I haven't seen it in a while!!

Virginia Dare

Every day I receive to my inbox The Writers Almanac with Garrison Keillor which is basically a poem and a list of birthdays of writers, poets and other significant people with a short precis of their lives and achievements. It gives me the opportunity to read a diverse range of Poets and to come across some interesting and original people. And it sometimes sparks a creative idea.

A couple of weeks ago it gave the birthday of Virginia Dare. The first recorded birth of a child to white parents on the North American continent. She was born to a colony of more than 100 men women and children who were trying to establish themselves on Roanoke Island off the coast of N.Carolina. The date was recorded because her Grandfather was the Governor of the colony and returned to England for more supplies. To cut a long story short his return to the colony was delayed by three years and when he did finally make it he found no trace of the Colony.

The disappearance of "The Lost Colony" and of Virginia Dare has been the subject of countless books and films and has passed into American Folklore.

I found this story very intriguing and this poem came to me:

Virginia Dare or The Birth of a Nation

Born 18th August 1587
A tiny mewling baby all red and splotchy
And already fiercely independant.
What joy filled their hearts as her cries
Drifted on the scented air.
So many hopes and fears swaddled tight,
One small bundle with the future of a nation
Grasped briefly in her chubby pink fingers.

What became of Virginia Dare
And the others of the "Lost Colony"?
How long did they search
With no trace ever found.
Only the grey eyed Indians
Perhaps held the key.
How long did she live?

Such an heroic name for little Virginia Dare
One name remembered amongst a multitude
Of others long forgotten.


And I thought I was quite brave moving to France and taking up Sheep farming.