Slats of rain

I leaned against the chill of the window frame looking out. Slats of rain played straight eights with a persistent hand. My fingers missed the typing.

At the piano I played what I could remember of a Brahms Intermezzo, wanting a distraction, but that scene of Rory running through the valley played and replayed through the music. The dream-like action jolted to a sudden close just as my words did every time in my text, leaving the story hidden from me there again.

I left my notebook open on the table, just in case. My pen was waiting.

As the rain fell quieter, I walked through grey streets as if I'd left something precious behind. November 30th. My first day without you, except you were with me all the time.

***

In the rainiest November I can remember, I discovered that I could sit in front of the computer screen for long enough to type 50,000 words for Nanowrimo, with more left to say on top of that.

Yesterday, I came to a pause at 64245, having heard my piano calling me by rattling her keys - which, I have to say, ARE so very much more beautiful than any computer keyboard could ever be! And today was my first "day off" from it since I had a free day mid way through November.

Before I brace myself and start editing, I'm attempting to leave this project to one side for a few weeks. But I have a funny feeling that the new threads I want to look at in my notebooks this week might edge towards that other story that I'm trying to leave alone for a bit, and that the piano might have something else to tell me.

Red roofed shed

Granite clouds peel away the blue. Dark capes race the gale. Gravel spits up at gritty windows. A rainbow rises to glide above the valley hunched town.

Hail bites in, reminds the street that it was once a stream, a sheep run, a meander that can never hurry. It's been a week of stormy skies.

I can't believe I've been out and about a lot this week and so far, I haven't been soaked to the skin. But instead of dodging the deluge and running for cover, I wanted a panoramic window, a wide angled view of the sky. Possibly a cabin out in the midst of the sky drama, like this red roofed shed which is at Rye Harbour.

Anyway, Nano has benefited from all of this. Currently at - 58121.

Last line - " Before and after Sunny. Her life seemed fall into two parts."

Why wait?

I was going to wait until tomorrow for this, however.....I just went over the Nano word count and saw that little slot turn to GREEN!! There are still more words to add there, so I'm just going to keep going, though I might reward myself with a day off this week! Thanks to everyone who has been following my progress - it has been a huge boost.

At 50079 my last line was - " The colours surprised him. they seemed too gaudy, too plastic, too bright like the shout of party clothes. "

AND - I have been trying to keep quiet about this since I found out, but today, the results were announced for the Bridport Prize, and released on line.

I am so pleased that one of my poems - Straight from the stick - made it onto the shortlist in my first year of entering. Here's the link to the poetry prizewinners page. Unfortunately, only the winning poems are there, but I will let you read mine soon.

Right, time to party!!!

Grids

Maybe all those parallel lines of text are finally getting to me this week?

Out and about for short trips with my camera, in between the rampages of wind and gale, I was drawn to the horizontals and verticals of grid like patterns.

Nano currently at 47226

Last line - "His words were like a force of Nature running wild in him."

Skyscapes

Nearly every walk I've had this week has involved running for cover. No point in taking an umbrella, except perhaps to use as a sail to fly home by.

But it has felt so good to be out in such dramas and to see the sky scape transform in front of you, as if someone has started to scrub dark pools from the surface of a watercolour painting.

Na no currently at 40,338.

Last sentence - He stared at the drawings until it was time to go to work. They held a more fascinating world for him than the real one.

redletterday

I had fun putting together a mock-up of a book cover for my Nano project which now has a title - redletterday

You can take a look at my Nano page here. Don't miss your chance to read a synopsis and an extract never before seen in real life or anywhere else except there.

In case you have a Romantic image of me burning the midnight oil every night, it's my usual habit of working an hour here and there among the other stuff that is getting me through. The reality is - a living still needs to be earned and broccoli needs to weeded especially when it has rained as much as it has this week.

Here's my last sentence from today's words -

"He could see it behind his closed eyes, felt a hint of orange warmth on a face that wanted him to be set into the breeze, walking bracken deep on the deer track meanders of an endless moor."

And the word count stands at - 32045.

And I'm very happy!

Elsewhere

I have a tiny piece up on A handful of stones today.

You can read it here.

Thanks to Fiona for posting it,

Evolving

Go on! Click.

Found on Crosby beach when I was up there visiting my family at the end of last month, I can't tell you how much I wanted to bring this beach find home with me. No such luck. It was unbelievably heavy and wider in every direction than the span of my arms.

The more I look at it, the more there is to see. Somehow, the elements have helped this piece of ordinary board evolve into something beautiful.

I'm hoping that's about to happen in my Nanowrimo project this week, as it is all starting to feel a bit chaotic. And while the free writer in me is having a wild ball, I know I want some of the threads to start singing together in better harmony.

At 22308 - last line - "The rails grind and scream a call of belly flute guttural, a throat swipe, a breath gash, a red hot spit of air speed bright."

14,000 and rising

It's been a normal week in many ways.

I've done my music practising, rediscovered a gorgeous piece I had long forgotten about, made soup, done the washing, bought groceries, done a normal week's work, had a great playing session with some music buddies, been out for a beer, finished reading a novel and started reading another, had long blustery walks in the Autumn greys of the beach.

But my lovely writing notebooks are missing me since I started my Nanowrimo project. As I predicted last week, the big challenge for me is sitting at a desk, indoors.

However, before you get used to the picture of my enforced word bashing, my words are on the go, big time and my characters are starting to do their own thing. It feels like a wild place to be and I love it.

Often, playing an instrument, I've looked down mid piece and watched my own hands playing as if they know exactly what to do without any intervention from me. This week, I've discovered they like playing on the computer keyboard like that as well.

Today, the word count rose above 14,000. That calls for a glass of something tonight, I think.

Ps. As requested by Gordon, here's the last line I wrote on my Nano pages earlier today.

"I have lost who I once was."

Another place

In the beech blur

and mist whisper

I tried to lose

the sounds

of my own steps.

In another place

I always find myself

at home.

Swaying in the forge

of high speed track

lost in iPod heaven

I began my wordrush.

A little later than I expected,

my Nanowrimo adventure has begun!