So, after a slow start and being behind for the first time, I’m all caught up and dashing ahead of target. Woo.

Today I have explored the secret life in insects. And I have just, moments ago, seen the ant nation, after a failed attempt to take voer the world which got their fearless leader Adam squished by a steamroller that wouldn’t stand and deliver led out to ritual sicide by Prince Charming.

HAH!

I am so amused at my insanity. It’s great. One month a year when I can say stuff like "I just made a defeated ant nation commit mass suicide, appropos of absolutely nothing, and get away with it!

Oh, I’m also at almost 28k words now. Woo. I love Nano. I love writing, I love stories, both normal and insane.

So, Nano is going ok, depsite being insanely tired. I am actually coming down with something that I really hope isn’t the flu but really suspect is, which would explain my totla lack of energy and motivation.

But I’m doing alright. I’m over 19k as of today so on track for the 50k - and in no way out of reach of the 60k I would like to get. Planning a writing afternoon on Thrusday, illness allowing, so will hopefuly make some headway.

And my imp is really quite cool, I like him so much that I’m already setting up next year’s Nano with him

In other news, the Deadly Dolls ebook is out on Amazon Kindle Click here Now, it’s not just me, there are some really good writers in there and it’s a good price. Unfortunately, as of yet it is only on Kindle, and those things cost far too much, but hopefully it’ll be more widely available soon…

Oh yes, friends, it’s time again for National Novel Writers Month.

At least, time again as of midnight tonight!

If you’ve missed it, basically during November, a whole lot of very strange and insane people attempt to write a novel of at least 50,000 words in 30 days.

First of all, last years nano is up and ready for reading - the long way round is via Library -> NaNoWriMo -> scroll down and click. Or to save time you could just click here.

I had so much fun last year killing all my male friends in random weird ways, that I’m doing something similar this year…there is an evil imp by the name of Rappel, and his hobby is to whisper in people’s heads and convince them to do thigns they would never normally do…
And this year, he is mostly persuading women to commit suicide in weird and wonderful ways.
All the women are gonna be based on friends of mine.
And I’m looking for lots of suggestions of things you’d like to see me find a way to use in these death scenes!
Suggestions so far include a giant sterilising vat, an inventive angry mob, and prawns boiled in gin with strawberry sauce - so knock yourself out, do your worst, I love a challenge!

You know what sucks?  Being ill. That sucks. A lot.

I don’t so much mind being ill, as not being able to make myself feel any better.

See, I had this horrid and very bad cold which laid me flat out for like 4 days. But I also have asthma, and as usual a couple of days before the cold arrived I got chesty, then asthma got bad, and then I get ill. First off, I was more ill, and for days longer, than I can ever remember being with a cold before. Second off, my chest, instead of getting a bit bad with the cold, then retreating with it too, kept getting worse.

And the fun thing is, with a cold, I have a giant selection of lovely tasty things to make myself feel better - menthol sweets, sore throat tablets, lemsips, painkillers, and so on.

For asthma due to a chest which is bricked up with phlegm, I get a bit more inhaler, and cough medicine with expectorant in it. So when they don’t work, I am, as I am now, screwed. My sleeping posture resembles sitting upright more than it does lying down cos I can’t breathe otherwise. My ribs and stomach scream every time I have a coughing fit, which is approximately every two minutes when I do anything which makes me forget to only take shallow breaths. And my chest sounds like it has rice krispies in it. So last night I got to sit in a hospital with a nebuliser stuck to my face, something I’ve not had to do in over a decade. And now I have a spacer again to help me get more of my inhaler down into my lungs which, again, I haven’t had to use in like 10 years.

 And it’s annoying simply because it’s a virus. A horrid, nasty virus. And the only thing I can do is keep trying to control my asthma, while waiting for it to decide to go away.

So as I said, being ill sucks when you can’t take stuff that makes it feel better.

But enough of that, I don’t bitch very often but I’m quite grumpy due to total exhaustion and so on.

I was thinking the other night about angry mobs. Like…how uninventive is the collective consciousness? They break into where the bad guy is, drag him out and hang him or just stomp him to death depending on how impatient they are. Or they corner him in some building somewhere and set him on fire.

And I just really want to see an angry mob come up with something inventive for a change, something fresh and new for the young folk out there who are tired of the same boring old mob stuff and want something dynamic and exciting to persuade them to get into the angry mob business - heck, it’s a profession just as about old as prostitution. As long as there have been people, there have been other people wanting to lynch them for real or imagined crimes.

I’m thinking I may have to fit in a death by angry mob scene into my Nano novel this year.

Cos yes folks, it’s that time again! November 1-30th, I will be writing a novel of at least 50,000 words.

I’m working on editing last year’s now, so that should be up for reading soon, it doesn’t take long cos with the Nano novel all I really do is check spelling and wording and basic formatting - I wouldn’t know where to start in actually trying to edit that stuff into a proper novel, it’s just fun, and funny.

If you remember - or if you just go back and read about it - last year I spent the month accepting challenges for things to include in murder scenes - cos I had my main character murdering all her exes, who were all based (usually quite loosely) on male friends of mine.

Well this year, I am once again accepting challenges for things to use in suicides - because this year there is an evil little imp by the name of Rappel who gets his kicks by convincing women to kill themselves in strange and surreal ways. The females in question will, of course, for balance, all be based (probably loosely) on my female friends. So suggestions are welcome, and I will do my best  to use as many suggestions as I can to create the most insane and surreal suicides I can possibly manage!

Firstly, apologies for the recent downtime. Been changing my domain and web hosts and the blog has skipped backwards about amonth cos I got a bit ahead of myself and forgot to update the backup first. Still, we’re back now, and I have cunning plans for the site over the next few months.
But more of those later…

I must announce my eager participation in a forthcoming anthology by the name of Deadly Dolls (Femme Fatales in Fright Fiction). Written entirely by female authors, all about the female heroes we don’t see nearly enough of.
My particular story answers some questions I’ve had myself about how Lana became involved with the Shadow Walkers…
Anyhow, it’s looking to be out in the fall, first as an ebook then hopefully in print form too. I’ll keep you posted!