WriMo

Tools of the Trade

One of my co-workers at my first job had a sign which said "Aim low to achieve your goals and avoid disappointment".

November has come and gone, bringing with it the annual writing challenge known as National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, which I previously discussed on this blog this time last year. You can read about that here.

Anyway, I opted not to do it this year, as I don't think it's the best challenge. The fact that I'm working in a job that's five days a week rather than four days doesn't help either. However, I still wanted to take something from my previous attempt.

With that in mind, I opted to pay lip service to the challenge by simply doing WriMo. This notion took on the following differences:

1. No enrolment. NaNoWriMo involves registering on the website to monitor your progress with your circle of Writing Buddies. I did nothing of the sort, but I did keep in touch with numerous participants on Twitter, offering encouragement.
2. No special projects. I've heard that many participants often use NaNo to experiment with genres they don't normally write in. I originally did that, but this year I focused on my existing WIPs.
3. No word count goals. In order to keep on target, you have to write an average of 1,667 words a day to meet the 50,000 word goal for the month. My goal was simply to write every day, as I've been a little out of practice lately.

So, what did I manage? Well, I managed to write every day, but there are good days and bad days. Work is quite numbing, and I attend a writers' group some evenings, but even then I managed to write at least a paragraph. I've not made a lot of progress, but what I have written has been quite well-received. On top of that, I've started taking a notepad into work, and am often sketching out scenes. So, if anything, this home-spun challenge has taught me to become a better planner.

Whether you managed to write 50,000 words or not, I'd like to offer my congratulations for managing to make it through the month. Seeing it to the end is something to be proud of.

Happy writing, and if I don't post anything else here soon, Merry Christmas.

Book Review - Kindred Spirits: Tower of London

I love a good ghost story every once in a while. A while back, I'd won a competition after taking part in a launch event with a few other Swanwickers, and opted to pick up Kindred Spirits: Tower of London, the first book in a series of paranormal historical novels by Jennifer C Wilson.

Taking place in contemporary times, we follow the numerous ghosts inhabiting the Tower of London as they interact with each other and play tricks on unsuspecting tourists. I suppose the main plot thread is about the last Plantagenet king Richard III as he seeks the ghosts of 'The Princes in the Tower' - his nephews whom he had been accused of killing. Meanwhile, he asserts his leadership over the other ghosts in the tower, including Henry VIII's former wives Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard.

If anything, I think there are lot of characters to follow, so much that there is less attention paid to Richard's story about finding the princes; to the point where it seems more like an anthology of shorter stories than a novel. However, when the main story arc is involved, it pays off really well. Richard seems like he is searching for inner peace, seeing the public's perception of him as a historical figure while seemingly regretting his actions in life.

However, are the other events and diversions a bad thing? Not at all. Despite more time being spent on the ghosts' numerous interactions with each other and human visitors, they still work off each other really well. All the ghosts were actual historical figures (there's a dramatis persona at the end of the book), and their interactions seem reminiscent of Old Harry's Game, a radio series set in Hell which I'm also fond of.

If you're interested, you can find the book on Amazon here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kindred-Spirits-London-Jennifer-Wilson-ebook/dp/B016TRKU2A/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

If you fancy a few ghost stories, then I recommend it. I certainly enjoyed it.