It has been a slog. I spent more days behind the quota than ahead of it. The first fifteen thousand words or more could be cut off and nothing of substance would be lost. The story has no end because the plot barely started to congeal before it fell apart. But I'm okay with all that because I kept writing anyway. And I do love Apollonia, Marcus, Abraham, Ersilia, and Muriel and I think they could get together into something with a real plot at some point. Maybe next year even. :D

Well I haven't updated in a while so here we go.

NaNo: Last Sunday and Monday (the 8th and 9th) I didn't write at all so the whole week has been a slog of trying not to fall any further behind. I had a good day today and finally, finally hit a spot where the words didn't require concentrating until I sweated blood to get the out. I'm still behind but I wrote 3k today and if I can manage that again tomorrow I will be caught up.

Knitting: I've got eight inches done on the vest for my Mom for Christmas. That's about 40% complete since Mom is shorter than I am.



I'm a bit farther along that this now, but I haven't taken a new photo and probably won't until I'm ready to divide for the arm holes in about five inches. ( Older stuff under the cut. )

Still no plot really, but there are a few more characters, which will help. Of course two of them were mostly filler, though I don't think Muriel is inclined to stay that way. Other than that there was also some world building today, or rather, world enhancing since I think I'm writing what amounts to "this world plus supernatural beings".

This is mostly so when I'm freaking out next year I will have proof that in 2009, as in 2007, I didn't have anything until a character showed up on the 29th.

I don't know what Apollonia does but she's making herself comfortable.

Now I need at least a genre and maybe a second character, based on past NaNo novels I can get something if I have that much.

Yes, I intend to write another partial novel this year. I have no idea what I am going to write but the odds are it will be something in the science fiction and fantasy continuum as usual.

Also as usual, I've been getting pings off my older NaNo attempts. Last year's story was really hard to write, I spent the first half of the month whining (sorry Kris!) and writing was about as easy and pleasant as pulling teeth. Once I moved the story from England to New England it started rolling for me and ended up picking up things I hadn't expected, like alchemy and alchemists that aren't what they seems and occult books that manipulate events and people around them... and Lovecraft's cousin. Needless to say that story is a bit of a mess. The last few days have found my brain turning that tangled knot in all directions and tugging on things that look like they might lead to loose ends. I think I might know how to untangle it now.

And that is how I know that NaNo is coming, because my brain never gets enchanted with the older stories until it knows it has to start coming up with a new one.

First, as of 10:32pm EST yesterday:



50,041 words in one scrambled mess that might be salvageable if I work on it some more. I need a break first though, the characters were getting whiny in that last 2000 words or so.

The same night I finished this:



Yes, it's the wombat from Ursula Vernon's (ursulav @ LJ) "Red Wombat Tea Co." labels.

My tension was all over the place because I'm practicing knitting continental style in order to have one yarn in each hand. Toward the end I was getting the hang of it. It may even out some in the wash, but the green yarn had many weak spots so I'm a bit afraid of tossing it in the washer.

I don't think I'll ever convert to continental knitting entirely, it makes my left hand hurt something awful, but for double knitting and stranded colorwork it's an handy skill.

For my next trick I shall learn to knit backwards so that I don't have to turn my work for things like bobbles (which I don't like and therefore don't anticipate knitting many of) and entrelac (which I do like the look of).

And my Thanksgiving day knitting:



It's four inches long now so I added two and a half to three inches in about four hours of knitting. Just eleven more inches to go.... (I think this might cure me of my vague urges to knit a skirt and jacket with this stitch pattern.)

I'm still behind on my word count for NaNoWriMo but I'm catching up. I should have been at 35k today but I just broke 30. I should be caught up in two more days, three at most. And if I keep up my current pace I will pull ahead.

On the knitting front, I've mostly doing the knitting equivalent of doodling. I haven't worked on my sweater this month, it just takes too much time to do a set of rows. I haven't worked on my shawl since July so I'll probably pick that up again after NaNo with the sweater.

Things I have knit since the last knitting update:

( Click for pictures. )

Ian returned to the room with a suspiciously thick book, about twice the thickness of most pocket diaries of the size, a small box, and a pair of keys. The last was just a bit too much for Sarah.

"You have a lock and key fetish don't you?" She clapped an hand over her mouth in the next instant, blushing fiercely, "I'm sorry, that was incredibly inappropriate. I'm sorry."

Prudence laughed, a delighted and full throated chortle, "I knew you had a wicked turn of mind, dear cousin!"

Ian just blinked, staring at them both, "I suppose I do, actually, is it that obvious?" He managed to look oblivious and confused just long enough for Sarah to start to wonder if he really was that guileless, and then he broke into a wicked smile and winked at her. "If you want to know for certain I'm sure I could free up an evening for you, dearest Sarah."


Unedited, needless to say, but I am amused. I had no idea Ian would be such a flirt when I started writing him.

Well this year isn't off to a good start so I've been not saying much. To remedy that, a word count widget to make my pathetic attempt more public.



I seriously need to figure out what Prudence is trying to get from the clockwork and alchemy shop under the street. Knowing what she's looking to do would be so very helpful in getting something written. :D

Edit: Widget may be up or down as it is hosted off NaNoWriMo's site and they are pretty much a yoyo.