Bob's odd November...

It’s November, which means a couple of things for me:

1. My room is flipping freezing! With no central heating and a single glazed window which moves in the wind 15’C is average to warm for this side of the year. Time to find out the blow heater, ski socks and start sleeping in a jumper again!

2. Second year report viva:S So the big report is written and handed in, but now I need to go and get feedback both here (Rothamsted) and up in Warwick. I’m just waiting for people to realise that I really should not be doing a PhD. I mean what were they thinking letting me loose on a research project?

3. and most importantly: NANO! Nanowrimo is short for ‘national novel writing month’ which is basically a month in which you are challenged to write 50 000 words in 30 days. It started in America but has slowly spread and last year my local library’s email told me all about the crazy challenge and I thought ‘hey what the hell?’


I mean I already write stuff all the time. Usually getting to about 8000 words and then getting bored and moving on to something new. How hard can it be to stick with something long enough to reach 50 000 words?

The answer is pretty Damned hard!

Somehow, through either luck or miracle, I got to 50K last year (go me!) then carried on to complete (the first draft) of an 80k novel (double go me!) It still needs a lot of work and probably a complete rewriting in places, but still I feel a huge sense of achievement just to have finally got from the start of something to the end.

So it’s not all that surprising that my brain went ‘the end you say? What is this strange thing? Nope we are not done yet, there is more...’
Which is why this year I’m back (as Elenelathuin if you are bored enough to go have a search) and writing the sequel.

In book 1 Con realised that his brother in law is a demon, his grandfather trained a Fairy to be a PI and he might be a little bit gay. (Well he did sell his Name to find the only woman he would ever love, and then she cheated in him!)

So now in book 2 Con gets kidnapped and it’s up to his ‘potential’ new boy friend (yeah they were just about to have that big moment where they work out whether they really do like each other or if it was just the whole near death experience thing when the goblin who sometimes looks like a clown broke in on them. Typical!) to go save him.

I’m over 30k in now and loving every minute. Although it is so easy to get distracted by ‘the forums’. Here there are games to play, questions to answer and people in serious plot hols in need of shovels. I could spend all day running round them...but I can’t. November remember: must write, must also do work, and insulate room...fun.

Oh and apparently I’m organising the Christmas party for my department...which may become the Christmas party for the whole of Rothamsted...O dear...Help!!!