Status
100 words a day/100 days — Still going, having completed 26 days as of this writing. Whereas I’m starting to see the value in not saying “I must write X number of words of fiction every day that is original and assigned to Y project,” I think the idea of letting your mind wander and writing something every single day is a good one. For one thing, it’s getting much easier at this point to sit down and bang out 100 words. After being away from the keyboard for a while, the muscles are feeling better for being exercised regularly. Which reminds me; back to the gym tomorrow after work.
Knitting
This was somewhat sidelined this week with Christmas insanity. I’m still working on the sleeves for the diagonal jacket, haven’t looked at my PI shawl at all and while I’ve made a good start on my shawlette, still haven’t touched it in a couple of days. Did manage some knitting last night when I finally managed to catch my breath for a few minutes, but that’s another thing I need to get back to this week.
Books
Have been reading this week, though the Thalberg bio has been proving very dense and Wolf Hallhasn’t seen a good chunk of time devoted to it. Am about halfway through another Christmas themed anthology, which I’m hoping to finish today.
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Aside from helping to get the muscles back in shape, my efforts at writing 100 words per day have created another side effect: a new character has popped into my head and started to come to life on the paper. I don’t know quite what to do with him yet, but he has a story to tell and I’m going to let that develop for a while and see what happens. It was Christmas Eve when I realized this was happening, that Harry Poirot (he prefers you pronounce it “Perrot”) had his own tale to tell. Usually, when this happens, I go diving in great guns, determined to get it all on paper now. This time, I’m going let him develop a little, discover who he is and what story he wants. He’s a lovely character, saddled with an unfortunate name and a con artist grandfather (who’s partially responsible for that name), who’s finding himself stuck in a situation he really doesn’t want to be in — and it’s going to be a comedy.
He’s just a small glow at the moment, though, so I’m going to let him grow and not push as I normally do.
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If you need some new wallpaper for a new iPad or computer (or just need to change your background), Enchanted Serenity of Period Films is featuring some lovely ones.
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We had rain here much of the week, which produced a gorgeous rainbow on Wednesday afternoon. Since we don’t usually have the atmospheric conditions for those here in Los Angeles, this had everyone oohing and ahhing. I was in a meeting when it happened and we all stopped to look out the window. The LAist blog has some pictures — and, yes, we could see the full curve from our meeting.
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Over on Writer Unboxed, JC Hutchins has a marvelous post on not asking your characters “why,” but “why now?” There’s some definite food for thought there, especially since I’m heading into the discovery class I’m starting in a few weeks.
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I know everyone has probably seen this already, but if you haven’t it’s worth a couple of minutes. “Silent” monks sing the Hallelujah Chorus at South Kitsap High School, Port Orchard, WA.
Have a peaceful and relaxing Boxing Day — and if you’re heading for the mall to attempt after-Christmas sales, be careful out there.