Hoo yeah!

Yeah, that's 51,568 words officially... and 52,158 words if you include the acknowledgements and chapter headings! I am SO freaking pleased with myself!!

Rowan's

So I went bowling again tonight but with peeps from Lordship mainly. Nicky had organised it so, of course, Sarah and Alex came along, as well as Dan, Niamh, Noel (who works with me), Steve and Cliff.

We had a 7.30pm start at Rowan's in Finsbury Park on Stroud Green Road. It's quite small, some may even say dingy, but it was a relatively good atmosphere and, of course, the company was first class so it was a good night! As I've mentioned in my blog before, I'm not the best bowler in the world, but I can get the skittles down. I got a reasonable score of 117 so not too bad - I do aim to hit 100 before the end!

Everyone was drinking except me cos I was driving home and Sarah, who's on meds. Cliff takes to drink really well and, after a couple, decides that his bowling is pretty bad. It is. He enthusiastically throws the bowl down the lane and it hits the gutter before its halfway down. He decides enough is enough and suddenly he's running halfway down the lane and chucking the bowl from about five metres... and he still didn't get all the skittles down! We were laughing so much! And Noel was flirting with every female who had a pulse! This woman in the lane next to us got a strike after Noel's first bowl and started gyrating to the group of people she was with. Noel is standing there, bowl ready to throw a second time, and is just watching her, even mimicing her slightly. Ten minutes later he's buying her a drink, much to the chagrin of her boyfriend!! I may tease him about it Monday morning...!

All clear!

So Dr Greg seems like a nice guy. He said my teeth were lovely (as per usual) so I like him! He x-rayed my wisdom teeth to check my tooth freckles but no holes as yet. Tooth freckles are just brown marks on the enamel where the 'mix' isn't as pure, hence they are rare and if they occur, it's usually on the notoriously troubled wisdom teeth. They can be weaker spots than the rest of the enamel so its good to x-ray them.

He shared that my brother's x-rays were possibly the worst he's seen in a while, so I'm thinking that I shouldn't tell him a great deal!! He also said I should see a hygenist. Hmm... £34 for someone to brush my teeth for me? Don't think so!

Dentists

I have to go to the dentist tomorrow. I haven't been since... Oh, I think I was at UKC and I came home in the January and it was snowing... I can't remember quite when. It was at least six or more years ago. My usual dentist, a lovely woman called Dr Bromley, had left so I was tranferred to Dr Pearl. Now, all respect to Dr Pearl and everything because he was doing a long shift, but whilst looking at my back wisdom teeth, he asked me out. Well, he asked me out on behalf of one of his clients who was also tall and was single and did I want him to fix a date? I told him to check the other side of my mouth. And I didn't go back again. I just took real good care of my teeth.

But I have to go now because I'm worried about a couple of my teeth. The new dentist there, Dr Greg, seems okay. He also happens to be administering no less then seven fillings for my brother tomorrow morning so it should be a fun day for our household! My brother said he's looking forward to having the anaesthetic, which I think he's only saying just so he sounds weird...!

Sex and Samantha

So I finally got to write my gratituous sex scene for Samantha. I wanted to write the story so you could imagine everything clearly in your head as you read it, and that goes for everything! However, I didn't want minors coming across the scene accidently and, despite the 15 rating I've given my story on the disclaimer page, I don't want to be overly graphic, although it would certainly boost my word count. I wrote a really graphic scene that spanned a couple of pages, but decided that it was for the best to trim it down to a couple of paragraphs. I didn't want a smut fest.

So I have a semi-steamy bit. It's kinda cool I guess. And I had to have one. It is chick lit after all!

Sudocrem

Yes, the stuff you use for babies' nappy rash. I'm having to slather it over my hands. Well, only patches of one hand but it still looks stupid and I smell like a baby's bum.

I have a really weird case of dermatitis, brought on by the sudden cold snap we're having. It started with my right thumb knuckle getting real itchy. And then my right ring finger joint got itchy. And then the middle of my little finger developed some little red lumps. Horrified at my hand turning into an itchy scaly mess, I went out and bought E45, a cream everyone was recommending. It did nothing but sting and make the area even redder.

Then Heather gave me a pot of Sudocrem, saying it helped her when she developed mild ezcema as a child. This stuff is the best and my hand is almost normal again. But it don't half smell.

Halfway point

I've reached the halfway point - 25,000 words. Actually, it's 25,715 words but I can't be bothered to work out which word was my 25,000th. Only another 25K to go...

I've decided that Kevin will seduce Samantha with strategically-placed alcohol and The Reason by Hoobastank. Before it was just alcohol, but I've found something to really pull at the old heart-strings and a further twist into Samantha's increasingly lonely soul. Yes, all mush and angst. It's all going swimmingly now I'm in Week 3...!

The Lord Mayor's Show

I went to the Lord Mayor's Show on Saturday with Rosemary and my grandfather, a sort of traditional thing we do every year. For those of you who don't know, the Lord Mayor is elected every year by the Corporation of London to run the capital. Most of the money is from taxpayers but the Lord Mayor can actually spend up to £3/4 million of his own money. This year he will be concentrating on the tourist attractions for London to try and boost our chances of the 2012 Olympic bid. I don't think we'll get it and I don't want to get it. The Government will spend ridiculous amounts of money on strangely designed buildings that will fall into disrepair as soon as the athletes go home. My proof? The Millennium Dome. Paris will get the bid, almost certainly.

Anyway, back to the show...! The procession gets longer every year and we stood in the cold watching it for an hour and a half. It was fun and I always enjoy it, but I was so cold by the time it was over, my legs hurt when I tried to walk away. I couldn't feel my fingers or my feet and toes. It was madness.

We walked from Mansion House to the West End and ate at Salieri, opposite the Savoy and Simpsons. The décor is fabulous - murals on the walls, all sorts of various lampshades hanging from the ceiling, and a rather interestingly designed toilet...

Anyway, Rosemary and I were knackered by this point so we left the restuarant and jumped into a black cab to Westminster Abbey to walk around the Garden of Remembrance. Surprisingly for a 12yr old, Rosemary was quite touched by the sight of hundreds of minature crosses planted in the grass. It was great to know she saw it on another level, other than "Nice, a bunch of crosses!" The only relative I have that died during the actual warfare was my great uncle Bob Lambeth - his plane was shot down over occupied France. A few of my other relatives died as a result of the war, through injuries.

So I didn't do any Nano. Too tired. Sleeeeeeeeeeep....

Second wind

I needed to write Chapter VI. It was a difficult one though and I kept putting it off. I was supposed to write it last Sunday but found lots of excuses not to write it: car needed fixing, blogs needed reading, fellow Nano-ers blogs needed reading...

I went on to the forum and found everyone was light years ahead. I'm talking 20K or so. I felt like a failure. I had a detailed chapter plan sitting in front of me... and I was a failure. It was horrible and depressing. I whinged to Jenny and about six hours later (damned time difference) she gave me a pep talk.

I now have a 4,403 word chapter. It's not the best chapter in the world and it will be tweaked before posting. It needs much more dialogue and character building, so I'm definitely going to be upping the word count.

But it's done. Now I can really get to grips with the novelling. Thanks Jenny!

Pseudonyms

For the NaNoWriMo, I have my usual Athene19 as my username but have the pen name of Clare Tallamy-Benton, my regular name with my mother's maiden name inserted in the middle so I don't sound American. Benton is an American surname, what with several places named Benton Town, Bentonsville, and Benton Harbor. None of my ancestors are American so I don't really understand...

Anyhow, Anna and I were watching Fallen Angel (TXF - S1) and Max Fenig says that Mulder uses the pseudonym M F Luder, which is a pretty lame pseudonym - an anagram of F Mulder. So Anna says to me, "Why don't you have a pen name that is an anagram of your name?"

So we came up with a list of them:

Real C Benton - This makes me sound like a gangster
Cloe Brennat - Cloe should be spelt Chloe, so this annoys me
Lacee B Tronn - aka Lara Croft? I sound like I belong in a computer game
Bree Clannot - A Country & Western singer
Lena C Bronte - Charlotte Bronte's ancestor? I like this one!
Anne T Creole - I'm anti-what?
Albert Nonce - I'm not a guy. And 'nonce' means something in Britain...
Electra Bonn - I'm a Bond girl. I like this one too!

What do you think??

Ear piercing

My brother got his ear pierced. Not in his earlobe, though; in the cartilage through the side of his outer ear shell. It looks really cool - a small silver sleeper with a ball threaded through on the ring. Unfortunately, Dad wasn't so enthralled. 'Went ballistic and hit the roof' describes Dad's feelings a little more accurately. He demanded that Chris pay him back all the money he owes him immediately. This includes (and is not limited to) two electric guitars, a high-tech and heavy-looking amp, and several leads.

I think Dad wanted the money anyway and is just using the earring as an excuse. It has, however, made me seriously reconsider my plans to have a few piercings done myself. Of course, I could do them on the quiet...

Past the initial 10K

Okay, it's half past eleven at night and I have to be up early for an appointment at the garage for 8am tomorrow morning. The guy looked at it Saturday morning and reckons the heater doesn't work because of the thermostat. *sigh* More money...

It is now with semi-triumph that I announce I have just finished and posted Chapter V of Samantha and I now have a total word count of 11,474. Not as many words as Jenny or Melissa, but a decent total for little ol' me.

My story is picking up I think. The last chapter isn't as boring as the others. Its all about setting the scene before the story actually gets going so you know where you stand amongst the characters. I can't wait until Chapter IX. And Chapter XVI is gonna rock! I'm really looking forward to writing those chapters.

Okay I need my bed. But I sleep with a sense of pride!

Fireworks

Fireworks. They're pretty aren't they? Its just a shame that everyone has to have their own display every night over two weeks when it's enough to have them just on the 5th November. Parliament nearly blew up one evening, not nearly every evening over a fortnight.

I did admittedly go to the public display in Enfield tonight. Its a good show, organised by the District Scouts, and all the money raised is pumped back into the community, going towards the upkeep of Scout huts, uniforms for disadvantaged Scouts, and equipment for groups through the borough. So its for a good cause and I get to see fireworks. Its just that I've been seeing them (and laying awake at night listening to them!) for days. The courier at work is one of the Scout organisers for the display and advised me on the advance tickets so that was good.

And the display was cool. I know the one at Alexandra Palace is bigger and better and done with lasers and Capital Radio playing in the background but its always too crowded and not worth the hassle of getting there and having to navigate the upward hill walk... The downfall is that its free with only suggested donation entry. Its asking for crowd surges, really.

I love fireworks. Just wish I didn't have to hear them at 2am.

The ball is rolling

Two days in and I have two chapters out of twenty already written up. Word count total so far is 4,214 - way over the targets I've set myself. Now who's a slow poke...?!

NaNoBlogMo

Wahey! The NaNo starts today and I have a blog set up for the sole purpose of being a home to my NaNo entry. These type of blogs are fondly referred to as a NaNoBlogMo and mine is simply called Samantha, the working title of my NaNo entry. The link is in the margin or, if you're lazy, click HERE. It won't be updated daily as Chris usually has the internet cable under guard most evenings, but I will be updating at least every weekend so you'll have to set aside your Sunday mornings for a good read.

In other news, Anna insisted that I have a 'decent' tape for when she's in my car, since she doesn't seem to like my current playlist. She wants Westlife in there. So I obligingly put together a few tracks together and give her the list for her approval.
"You have fifteen tracks," she notes. "That won't fill two sides."
"It's only for one side," I say. "I don't think I can take two sides."
"Fine then! You will probably get eleven tracks on to one side."
"Fine. I can knock four tracks off."
I duly cross off two tracks which they didn't release, Uptown Girl because the original by Billy Joel was better, and Flying Without Wings because it's cheesy.
Anna takes the list and gasps. No, really gasps. "You took off Flying Without Wings!"
"Yeah, so?"
"You can't do that! It's like their signature song!"
"The video is contrived and god-awful! They swing their arms out like five-year-olds playing Airplanes in the playground! They strut down a corridor wih flowing white coats and..."
"It's an important song!" she yells, and starts to re-do the list, crossing off Fool Again and Bop Bop Baby, and putting back on Flying Without Wings and Miss You Nights, a song they didn't release.
I snatch the list back and say that I want my original choice. She protests that a Westlife tape without Flying Without Wings is not a proper Westlife tape.

*sigh* So it made the final cut plus my original eleven choices. I'll try and squeeze on all twelve tracks but if push comes to shove, it's not going on there. I do have to listen to it too, you know!