Summerbook

Spent today in brighton; amongst the self consciously bohemian and artistic. Where the ratio of awesome cafes and delis and record shops and bars per square mile threatens to break all records. It’s like most of the best stuff from london, squeezed into an easily traversible space, a bit less stressful and with more vegans.

I spent most of the day imagining an existence here as a writer. It containing for me, all the essential elements needed to write;

• The Sea.
• Proximity and abundance of good coffee.
• Excellent people watching opportunities.
• Lots of birds overhead.
• Multiple windy streets for writers-block-breaking walks at crucial creative junctures.

This evening spent trying to maintain progress in the project. Most of todays writing mines my own chequered work history, as establishing our protagonist as a minor retail slave, with him going to work the day after his break up. This goes with the bad interview scenes written earlier last week. Yes. Connections.

Today I appear to be mostly channeling Douglas Coupland, Gibson, and Palahniuk. I think the reception wasn’t great though.

Total Wordcount so far (after nine days): 7,992

Daily Wordcount: 1,001

Trying to get back into the swing of things after yesterday’s non-writing.

It’s interesting and suprising to me how many people have, reading these updates on the site or on facebook, a) Enquired as to the progress of the project b) wished me luck on the project and c) asked the eternal question;

So. What’s this book you’re writing about anyway?

This is probably the hardest question to answer.

It is also probably the best question to be asked, as it is so difficult to answer, it makes you check and re-evaluate yourself. Check your motives and your ideas and first principles.

It’s one of the barriers against falling into a self fulfilling self indulgent maelstrom of bullshit. It’s what stops you going native. It’s what keeps you honest.

So. What is this bloody thing about anyway?

In short; I’ve only had a week.

The way I write. In particular the way I’m writing this, is that a lot of the plot and the narrative will become clear during the process. It’s not so much that the thing writes itself. It’s more that, as you write you are forced into making decisions. Storyline decisions, character decisions, tonal and thematic decisions. Making these decisions, and then crucially looking back on those decisions and realising that something either works (and should be kept) or doesn’t (and should be binned).

In this way, you kind of sculpt the thing out of rock. Slowly uncovering, archaelogically, the parts that are true.

So. What is this thing about?

As of today. It’s about a person who finds himself at a point in his life that he never intended to get to, and doesn’t want to be. It’s about him discovering that his own situation is something that has recurred. That has happened to people in his family, for generations and cycles. It’s about his own work in uncovering their stories, to understand his.

Of course, this could all change by tommorow. Or next week. Or the week after.

Total Wordcount so far (after eight days): 6,991

Daily Wordcount: 881

A write off today (Sunday). First day where I didn’t get to a computer until it was too late to get anything meaningful done. I guess you could call it a weekend.

It’s strange to think that this used to be normal. A day where I got some serious writing done was a relatively rare occurrance. Now the opposite is true.

What’s good is that this habit has built up quickly. That I feel guilty for not writing bodes well for the future success of this project.

Total Wordcount so far (after seven days) 6,110

Daily Wordcount: 0

Week Two goals:

• Catch up yesterdays missing words, so that my (so far) above expectations of progress continue
• Begin to stitch together some of the disparate stuff written in week one
• gulp. Start to plan a structure that I can hang my two main story threads on. maybe.
• Start to edit and proofread week one’s writing

Big thank you to all who have shown interest, followed this project, and commented via facebook or twitter or email or the site or in person. I seriously wouldn’t have continued without the continual threat and knowledge there is an audience out there.

Cheers!

Tom