When novel writing fails, go buy some new ones
My novel seems to have stalled. I’ve been stuck at the 6,000 word mark for the past two weeks and it doesn’t look like I’m gonna be writing much more. Charles, my professional whistler character, will remain unlaid in Africa. Which really is quite a sucky position to be stuck in but he’ll just have to be patient till the next NaNoWriMo when I get my act together.
Of course, I have my… umm… reasons. Like being caught in the middle of brainstorming for a major new campaign for 2007 for a major client. And the pitch that really wasn’t a pitch except that it was, just not in a creative sort of way. And the fact that I have been feeling somewhat enervated of late which has made me crave sleep more than anything else, including writing on this blog. Note that I am not giving excuses, I’m just saying that it’s not my fault.
On the brighter side, I did manage to make it down to the Penguin warehouse sale today thanks to a tip-off from Yvonne. As a reward, she got dragged down to the Expo with me where our eyeballs promptly fell out. The books were laid out on huge tables like so much fish at a market and everywhere people were picking and flipping and choosing. Beholding such a sight was, quite frankly, magical for people like us and we descended upon the rows of tomes with vigour. Until ten minutes later, that is, when I found my eyes telling me to “Stop soon or we’ll make a run for it" and Yvonne starting doing spontaneous jigs. The thing about two reading aficionados heading down to a book sale is that we both kept picking out books that the other party already had. So there was a lot of “Hey, I have this already” and “Don’t buy that, I’ll lend it to you” and “Oei, I brought this book for you today lar”.
Anyway, here’s my disappointingly short list of scores (all for just the mind-bogglingly miniscule sum of fifty bucks!):
The End of Faith – Sam Harris
Not Quite the Diplomat – Chris Patten
Long Way Round – Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman
Most of Us Are Here Against Our Will – David Levinson
Making Friends with Hitler – Ian Kershaw
A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
How to Be Good – Nick Hornby
Add to these Vanessa’s Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman which I have yet to finish and the recently borrowed I Am a Cat plus the recently purchased The God Delusion and I think I’ll have enough reading material to last well into the new year. With any luck, all this literature will give me enough inspiration to write a proper novel, and this time, let’s just hope it isn’t about a professional whistler.
Of course, I have my… umm… reasons. Like being caught in the middle of brainstorming for a major new campaign for 2007 for a major client. And the pitch that really wasn’t a pitch except that it was, just not in a creative sort of way. And the fact that I have been feeling somewhat enervated of late which has made me crave sleep more than anything else, including writing on this blog. Note that I am not giving excuses, I’m just saying that it’s not my fault.
On the brighter side, I did manage to make it down to the Penguin warehouse sale today thanks to a tip-off from Yvonne. As a reward, she got dragged down to the Expo with me where our eyeballs promptly fell out. The books were laid out on huge tables like so much fish at a market and everywhere people were picking and flipping and choosing. Beholding such a sight was, quite frankly, magical for people like us and we descended upon the rows of tomes with vigour. Until ten minutes later, that is, when I found my eyes telling me to “Stop soon or we’ll make a run for it" and Yvonne starting doing spontaneous jigs. The thing about two reading aficionados heading down to a book sale is that we both kept picking out books that the other party already had. So there was a lot of “Hey, I have this already” and “Don’t buy that, I’ll lend it to you” and “Oei, I brought this book for you today lar”.
Anyway, here’s my disappointingly short list of scores (all for just the mind-bogglingly miniscule sum of fifty bucks!):
Add to these Vanessa’s Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman which I have yet to finish and the recently borrowed I Am a Cat plus the recently purchased The God Delusion and I think I’ll have enough reading material to last well into the new year. With any luck, all this literature will give me enough inspiration to write a proper novel, and this time, let’s just hope it isn’t about a professional whistler.
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