A lot’s happened in the last month. For a start, I’ve turned the big four-ohhhhhhhh, much to the amusement of my friends. Then I went to Las Vegas to celebrate heavily and sleep lightly, before returning and enjoying the Christmas and New Year festivities. Soon after, I set about editing my book and applying for jobs. In between, I mourned the passing of my favourite teacher.

Happy birthday, happy birthday

Turning 40 wasn’t too bad. It was, of course, inevitable and something that I’d constantly been reminded of would happen for about the last two years now. I’m not sure whether I have had my mid-life crisis or whether it is to come, but I guess leaving my job and writing a novel, plus throwing myself off tall buildings and partying until 6am with people half my age are signs.

My actual birthday was excellent. Shell’s present was a hand-made DVD in a box within many other boxes around it. When played, it not only surprised me with details of tickets for the Grand National, Michael McIntyre tour and Segway racing, but also Kylie Minogue sang me happy birthday. Ok, she didn’t actually say my name, but I’m sure it was solely for me.
The rest of the day was spent celebrating with mine and Shell’s family, and it was great to see everyone.

What goes on in Vegas…

Vegas was…well Vegas! They say a picture paints a thousand words, so if you can, check out all the photos on Facebook for the whole story. I survived six nights on very little sleep and lots of food and vodka, plus jumped off the Stratosphere for good measure, as you can see to the left.

Christmas came and went in a blur as usual. Not a drunken blur, mind – it just goes so fast when you’re older, don’t you think? We spent our time with each family over several days, nice and relaxed with great food and presents. I even played my first game of Shove Ha’penny and a strange game called “Tip it”. I think the Powell family are hoping that the latter will be a late entry into the Olympics.

Back to work

After Christmas it was back to reality, whatever that means to me nowadays. After a break of over a month (as recommended), I’ve gone back to my novel’s first draft and have started editing it. Trouble is, I’m finding it not exactly straight forward, for the following reasons:

1. I’ve got out of the habit of working on it every day.
2. It’s not like writing in the sense of having a goal of a set number of words to do. How do I know I’ve done enough today?
3. I’m not entirely sure where to start or how to edit it all. Different people say different things. Some say it could take a couple of months, others a year. One writer said he did about ten drafts and wouldn’t let anyone see if before at least draft six.

I’m struggling for discipline and distractions right now and if I’m honest doing everything I can before I sit down and edit it. There’s always something else to do, even with a lot of time on my hands. But I’ll work it out – I want to and I have to. There’s no point in me doing all the hard work to get to first draft and not seeing it through. Shape up Andy – you’re gonna make 2012 happen…and the hard work won’t do itself.

Job-wise, I’m in the hunt again. I’ve been keeping my eye on things for a while but have just started applying to jobs these last few weeks. It’s about time I got out there again and I’m looking forward to a new challenge. Sure, the book thing will continue, but I’m happy to do what most writers have to do, i.e. do it in their spare time. So, if any employer out there is reading this and has a need for a fantastic software Development Manager or similar, then please contact me via this website. Give me a department, project or product and I’ll deliver the results. Plus I can run a mean sweepstake.

4D vision

My final section is on the sad passing of my favourite teacher, Mr Deakin. He was our form tutor in our final year of juniors, class 4D, and not only gave us a good education but plenty of memories, too. He believed in us, and gave us a great start in life, going up to the scary world of senior school.
I always remember that he liked my stories, so I dug out my old report with his comments:

When I considered starting writing again a few years ago, it was partly due to thoughts of these comments that reminded me that I used to write some good stuff as a kid and that maybe I could do it again.

All I can say is that I’ll try and do him proud.

This time of year always feels a bit strange for me, more so this year than any other before. It’s partly because I’m unavoidably sliding down a big tube marked “My 30′s” and in a few days I’m gonna crash through to the adjoining one. But it’s also because I’ve just spent the last four months writing every weekday, so now I just feel like I’m in between the work done and the work to be done.

As advised, I’m not going to touch my first draft until after Christmas. I know I should continue writing something, but I wanted a break, and with birthday and Christmas plans, plus updating my CV and beginning the job search for next year I’ve decided that I’ll only update my blog for the moment. Any experienced writers out there might be thinking right now “Uh-oh – he’s showing signs of stalling – will he actually get back to it or will it be left on the side, gathering dust?” but I assure you it won’t be the case.

I’m actually already looking forward to the editing. I can hear the story calling me, telling me to come back and make it better. The characters deserve to be improved – sharper, funnier, louder, sexier, more evil. The places need to come alive. The story has got to say “This will sell!” I will make a plan – much like I did for writing it – to make sure I edit x number of pages a day. I’m not exactly sure how I will edit it, but I will read up some more and then try it and tailor it to how I feel it will work for me.

I’ve also started the thought process on my next book. What – you thought that was it? I have been known to start the odd fad and never pick it up again, but with running and now writing, I very much want to keep them going. I really enjoyed writing 26 Miles to the Moon, and loved the initial process in coming up and developing ideas. So the thoughts have been coming – nothing firm, just a few seeds drifting in the air that I’ve grabbed and kept, perhaps growing them later. I’m also toying with a sequel; well if Tom Cruise is considering a Top Gun sequel then you can follow anything.

This period’s also given me a bit of time to reflect on things. I’ve been so self-absorbed in my book that it feels all a bit “me-me-me”. I’ve been amazed how interested people have been in it and my progress, and as much as I love telling people when they ask how I’m getting on and what I’ve been doing, it does all feel a bit trivial at times. I’m not helping anyone, battling adversity, enriching my community or doing much for anyone right now. I’ll think about what I can give back in 2012.

For the short-term, though, the Andy Show will continue. My next post will let you know how it feels to turn 40.  If the old adage is correct, my life should just be beginning…

“The End” – two of the most glorious words I’ve ever written. 105,000 words preceded them to make up the first draft of my novel, ’26 Miles to the Moon’, but those closing two meant phase 1 is now complete. And I’m absolutely chuffed.

Reasons to be cheerful

1. I got to the end. From what I’ve read, so many writers start a novel and fail to finish it, either due to a lack of time, loss of enthusiasm or because they just get stuck on the plot part way through. I was lucky to have given myself five free months to plan and write it with few distractions in between, so I had the time. Enthusiasm waned at times, but I always wrote. And yes, I did get stuck occasionally, but with time to think and help from others I always got going again.

2. I like the story. Sounds daft? Then consider the stereotypical image of a writer from years gone by – sat hunched over a typewriter surrounded by balls of screwed up paper on the floor. You don’t always like what you’ve written, even as it comes pouring out from your brain to your fingers. There were times when I really didn’t like some parts of what I’d written and some days I thought the whole thing just wasn’t going to work. Of course, I might not like the story as much when I go back to it and read it all from beginning to end, but I’ll at least have something to work on.

3. I met my goals. I knew I would get easily distracted and I knew I would procrastinate. ‘Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow’ is often my motto. So to set a goal of writing 1500 words a day for almost every week day for 4 months was for me like asking Alex Ferguson not to chew gum at every match.  Also, at the beginning I set out an entire plan for the novel with a rough word count and all the sections. Yes, I revised it a lot, but I met my goals by starting on time (Aug 1st), writing on every day I had planned to for the full 1500 words and finishing a week earlier than my original target end date (Dec 2nd).

Appropriately – given the novel’s subject – I think my marathon training helped me with the discipline. I had a date and mile target and had to run even when I didn’t feel like it…and that’s pretty much what happened with the first draft.

We’ve only just begun

So what next? Surely it’s only a matter of time before it’s in the shops and you can buy it? Errr, I think not. Now, the real work begins.

People have asked me “So when can I read it?” and “So do you just tidy it up now or what?” which are fair enough questions. Even I didn’t know the process initially.

The best analogy I can give is a classic one: that of a painting. I’ve just done a pencil sketch – it depicts the subject and is detailed…but it’s far from being the complete article. I may rub bits out, add bits, change areas. I will add colour, clarity. Polish it off until it is exactly the best I can make it. No-one’s going to buy it in its current state – many would look at it and say ‘It’s ok, but don’t give up your day job.’ (unfortunately that’s too late for me anyway!)

So, the next steps are:

To take a break until after Christmas. This gives me distance from a project I’ve been working on or thinking about for five months.

Read it from start to finish. When I pick it up again, it will be with fresher eyes. This’ll be scary, and a good test on whether I still like it.

Plan how to edit it. I’ve got to check things like whether the story is believable everywhere, consistency and that all my facts are correct. How do I improve my characters? Is there enough drama? Are there twists? Is it too predictable? I  will need to improve the dialogue so that every line every character says is the best it can be. Is the pace right? Have I too many chapters? Are they of the right length or should I even them out a little? Are the story and emotional arcs right?

Once planned, I then start to edit it. I shall let a few people read it to get their opinions, as they will always see things I can’t. The editing process is going to take several months, I expect.

Throughout this process, I shall read advice, get tips and also work out my desired route to an attempt at publication.

It’s going to be a long journey, but the main thing is that I now have a product and the dream is starting to take place.

As Jackson, the fitness instructor in my novel might say to me, “Males you pussy! You think the last five months was pain? You’re just about to enter a whole new world of hurt…”

It is with great pleasure that I can inform the world that as from 11:12am today, the first draft of my first novel 26 Miles to the Moon is now complete!

More to follow, but just had to post this to say how chuffed I am at this achievement.

Of course, I am aware that this is where all the hard work really begins…

My previous interest in Mexico ended roughly when Maradona took on the entire England team and slotted in one the best goals ever seen, back in the World Cup in 1986. 25 years on (ugh!), I’m here on holiday.

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooool Carrooooooooooooooooolllllll!
Actually, let’s the get the footy out of the way first. Will Andy’s Football Holiday Curse continue? Ever since my first trip abroad in 1987, it is almost 100% guaranteed that when I go away, Liverpool lose; last year I hadn’t even got out of the airport before we crumpled to Blackpool. I used to wonder as a kid if anything I did had a baring on our results, like if I had a good holiday it had to be counteracted by my team losing. Yeah, as if karma would think I was the most important supporter in the world. (then again, maybe I’ve not been good enough for the past 21 years). But I caught a bit of the Mersey derby and was pleasantly surprised to hear the Spanish commentators announce the first goal of two in typical fashion. And there was more – England scrape through to Euro 2012. Maybe I should just stay out here.

But enough of football. I’m in Mexico, south of Cancun and should really be relaxing for two weeks and not concerning myself with sport results, emails and keeping up with Twitter and Facebook. Or blogging. Hmmmm… Here’s some highlights so far…

The journey

Hey – funky Yotel hotel! If you don’t know, it’s a short-stay hotel actually inside Gatwick where the rooms are tiny but the style is cool. Purple lighting, folding bed and everything you need. Like the Japanese capsule hotel I stayed in, except about ten times as big. We checked in at night, so by 7am we’re ready.

Man, this plane is having more ups and downs than the FTSE 100 recently. Not sure if we’re flying or sailing across the Atlantic. I get the proverbial bloke-in-front-with-seat-broken-leaning-back-onto-my-lap just to add to the fun. Still, the ten-hour flight goes quite quick; I guess the more long flights you do the less they bother you.

Hotel first impressions: it’s huge! Four hotels in one, all-inclusive, swimming pools, beach, restaurants, wildlife and plenty of transport. Our room is big, with two balconies, air con, two TVs, jacuzzi and a bed that could sleep an entire Mexican family, with space for a guest. We decide to do a tour of the hotel grounds via a mode of transport we haven’t tried yet…

Segway to heaven
We get a detailed demo on how to use the Segway. It’s like half a motorised bicycle with no seat. It looks easy to ride, but then Shell’s first attempt results in her running over the instructor’s foot, curtailing his fledgling football career, it seems. With a little practice, we’re soon zooming around, turning, doing 360s and bunny hops. Ok, perhaps not the last one of those but we’re sorted for the tour and spend an hour going round the whole complex.

Wish you were here? Probably not
The alarm goes off at 6am – we’re gonna see a sunrise! Nothing better than watching the sun slowly appear out of the water, and my camera’s all primed. I groggily look out of the window…hang on…is that? Oh my god, it is – it’s raining! This isn’t how it’s supposed to be – England basking in a heatwave of Florida proportions whilst we sit in watching torrential rain in Mexico. I’ve had enough of rain back home and now have swapped sunny skies for tropical storms. I’m sure no-one will be sympathetic back home, though, even if I come back whiter than everyone else who stayed in the UK.

Chicken Pizza
Our first tour: going to one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, Chichen Itza. Weather is iffy – it could pour down any time it wants to. The crew on the coach bust a gut on the three-hour journey to provide pastries, beer and information. It’s better service than a flight.

Our first stop is a cenote – an underground pool. The weather has got worse and it is spitting as we get off the coach. We experience our first set of Mexican vendors who wish to sell you anything with every step you take. Everyone is stopped to have their photo taken, presumably to be sold it later. One older couple refuse and make a break for it, pursued by the photographer like they were trying to escape over the border. We change and go down to the pool, which is actually very beautiful, in a cave where you look up 100ft to the entrance. The water’s cold and has fish swimming in it, but we both brave it and soon get used to it. I try out my underwater camera pouch to mixed effect. There’s an opportunity for a small cliff jump, which naturally I have to do. It’s a little high, but I don’t think about it and just go off with a little woo of joy in mid-air. Nice – another little bit of dare-devil completed.
Lunch is at a designated stop-off. The food’s not great, with little choice, but it’s included in the price of the tour. The entertainment consists of two men and two women banging their shoes loudly on the floor, dancing round a maypole and one whistling – albeit skilfully – bird calls. Unfortunately this grates after a while, although they up the game by balancing bottles and glasses on their heads. Their finale was a strange dance with a pig’s head(?) and other props. Strictly Come Dancing it wasn’t.

It’s pouring down. My biggest fear today was torrential rain when we were trying to go round and take photos. We step off the coach and the locals make a killing in selling plastic ponchos. Of course we’ll get some, won’t we? “Nah,” says Shell, “It’ll stop and then we’ll be drenched in sweat.” I know there and then that this is one of those couple moments where (to go back to footy talk for a sec) at the end of the day, the final result will be either:
“Shell, you were totally right. Good call.” OR
“Shell, I’m drenched. I’m never listening to you again.”
It’s heavy rain, but there is sun around. I decide to go with her instincts and take the gamble. We get our tickets, go through the barrier and what do you know: it stops and suddenly it’s like standing in a microwave. We are taken round the ancient site by our guide who is very expressive in all his gestures and has eyebrows which could have a career in the West End. We hear about the Mayan culture and eventually we are taken to the big pyramid, which is actually a large calendar. Not the sort of thing you could sit on your desk, though. You can’t walk up it any more, which is a shame but understandable. It’s pretty stunning, aligned perfectly with the stars and with the exact amount of steps to represent their calendar. The only thing that spoils it are the hundreds of sellers who want your cash. “Come! You look!”, “Only one dollar!”, “Almost free!” I have my choice of thousands of miniature pyramids, skulls, ponchos, necklaces and masks. Every few seconds someone blows into a thing that you could buy that makes a jaguar noise (the animal, not the car) which could probably be heard in Cuba. As we left, it started to rain again. Good call.

Birthday girl

Wednesday brings Shell’s birthday. It’s also my cat’s birthday, but as he’s not here to celebrate, I guess the cake I secretly arrange will have to be eaten by us. We’re up around 7:30 and Shell opens her cards and presents. She said she didn’t want anything more than what I’d bought her at home, but I’m not fooling for that female trap. We have breaky and then I pretend to need to rest in the room as I’m waiting for the surprise cake delivery at 10am. The cake does me proud – a choccy mousse affair that we start on and put the rest in the mini bar fridge. It’s a magic, always-replenished fridge, so you never know, the room pixies might create a new one each day.
The salt water pool is our first destination, one that we share with the fish that are swept in from the sea. The water’s a tad murky but we can do a bit of snorkelling. Large, ominous dark clouds begin to descend on us. It’s gonna rain…it’s gonna rain…it’s raining. We retreat to a beach hut and then to beach sun beds when it eases off, but decide to relocate to the spa pool in preparation for our spa treatments later.

Mexican Masochistic Massages
Shell opts for a facial, me for some combo massage thing that is due to last 80 minutes. I lie down after a Spanglish explanation that I could only work out that it involved elbows. Oh crap.
About twenty minutes into the massage, I decide to never to inflict myself the misery and agony of one ever again. Is this woman tenderising me for some Mexican cannibal banquet? My right shoulder gets a pummelling. Just when you think she’s gone as deep as she can go, she digs in deeper; it’s all I can do to stop the internal screaming from leaping out. Worse thing – the left shoulder is whimpering at the anticipation of its turn.
The actual massage bits – rubbing of the head, stroking arms etc – are great, but it’s not worth the pain. Eventually it’s over and I feel not much different, just more relieved.
I assume Shell’s facial was more relaxing, but she comes out saying that she had been zapped by lasers. If you love pain then Mexican spas are for you.

Dinner was at Ribs ‘n’ More, one of the many a la carte restaurants here. With no money to pay, there’s not a great deal of incentive for great service, so our experience of the non-buffet places hasn’t been particularly fantastic. Tonight though, the waiter is tip-top, even more so when I mention it’s Shell’s birthday. She ends up getting a happy birthday message in sauce with her dessert and then come the tequilas. Our waiter bangs it on the table and then pours it down her neck, before doing the same to me. Our aim is to get drunk and dance the night away, but to do that you need the right entertainment. They have a disco here but when we walk in at 11pm it’s deader than Carlos Tevez appreciation night. We decide to stay, and are rewarded by swathes of party goers coming in after the show outside. This is better, surely? Err, no. Apparently it’s bikini night, which sounds great, aside from the fact no guest is in a bikini and the only semi-naked people are the male entertainment crew. Worse still, the music is a mix of Spanish/Caribbean rap. We wait for it to get better, but it doesn’t. Perhaps we’re too English, too old or have different tastes, but we leave to go back to our room disappointed.
Never mind, there’s still plenty to do and talk about in part 2 later…

Did you ever enthusiastically start something, leap into it with all guns blazing, get halfway through and then suddenly think, ‘Oh shit – what the fuck am I doing?’ Well that’s happened to me in the last week with my novel. Crisis? As Bon Jovi once sang: you got to keep the faith.

Buckle up

When writing, confidence is like a roller coaster. So much so that if I represent my confidence in my novel as a graph, it would look something like the below, which to me looks a damn good coaster to ride on:

A - Initial planning. Not too sure if it’s gonna work, so playing around with ideas.

B – Idea sorted, the select few people I’ve shared the idea with seem to like it. Let’s get it on!

C – Writing away,  going well. It’s gonna work!

D – The first few chapters are read by a select few. A good response, but there’s more editing required than I realised.

E – Accepted all comments. Confident that story is still sound and once edits are done will be much stronger.

F – I subject my idea to a forum. It doesn’t receive much support. Maybe I didn’t explain it well. Or maybe it’s doomed…

G – Bounce back. I’ve learned a lot from F, and realise that it was the wrong audience. I still believe!

 At F, with over 50,000 words done and you read from the odd person that the idea doesn’t look interesting, backed up with a few quizzical comments from others, you start to doubt yourself. Then you worry. Then you slip into a hole where all you can see is pages and pages of text that won’t sell, won’t be of interest to anyone and before you know it you’re thinking what a waste of time this is and shouldn’t I stop playing at being a writer and get a job?

That’s when you crank up Bon Jovi.

You don’t give up your dream because a few people doubt you.

You don’t tear up your work because it’s not in a perfect shape.

You don’t discard your ideas at the first hurdle when you really do believe in them.

What you do do is: you get on with it, finish it and then make it the best piece of work it can be. 

There’ll be plenty of bumps, twists and turns to come yet, I’m sure. I’m determined to ride it out until the end, jump off and shout, “Let’s go round again!”

I went for a run today and killed someone. They didn’t see it coming and arguably didn’t deserve it either. It was a bit harsh, but had to be done. Got to make things interesting, you see. I guess I feel a bit guilty, but I didn’t know them that well anyway. Mind you, I suppose I could have a change of heart later and let them live. Oh the power of being a writer…

Thinking on my feet

I’m getting into my running a lot more at the moment. I’m not training for anything in particular, although I’ve entered a 10K race at the end of September. Running exercises the muscles that just lie around unused whilst I’m sitting at my desk writing. It also provides an updated insight to how it feels to run distances and speeds when you’re struggling (good research) and gives me alone time to think about my novel’s plot and characters. Ideas can come at any time – talking to people, listening to people, reading something, watching TV, film or when your mind is desperate to think of anything else other than how the heck it is going to drag your legs home when you just want to lie in the nearest ditch and go to sleep. Sometimes all I can think of is the running – how fast I am going, how long left, monitoring my body for pains, working out my likely finish time. The best times are when I can switch off and leave the body to it, running on auto pilot, and occasionally it gives me time to think of my novel.

A tension deficit disorder

Almost all novels contain conflict. Think of the last book you read – did the main character struggle to overcome obstacles that kept being put into their path? Most likely. For some reason, the concept of having a goal and adding conflict throughout appeals to us. Look at crime novels – they’re always complicated affairs with plenty of problems for the protagonist to solve. And with sci-fi, it’s never a straightforward affair to beat the aliens either, is it? Books and films without conflict are of course possible, but how often do you finish one and feel something was missing? I’ve read nice books with happy endings and then thought, “Well, that was a walk in the park, but nothing really happened.” Think what if Harry Potter destroyed every foe with a single flick of his wand without even breaking sweat? No, you have to make your characters work for it.

But it isn’t easy to get the balance right. You’re writing along, page after page, adding dialogue, descriptions and building the story up and before you know it you’ve done several chapters. You then read it back the next day and realise that there’s about as much tension and excitement as in an England friendly. How do you fix this? Throw in rabid dog to liven things up? Turn off gravity in their world for a few seconds? Add an unexpected visit from the mother-in-law? Well perhaps, but only if it fits in with the story and is not obvious that it’s been added purely to give conflict. I do get annoyed with films where everything that could go wrong does go wrong for no apparent reason.

Captain! We have over an hour before rendezvous with Starfleet Command and nothing is likely to happen until we get there…but my chair wheel has just snapped and I’m careering towards the auto destruct button!

He’s dead, Jim. Then again…

So I’ve obviously got a few things lined up as part of the plot but don’t want to make it easy for my main guy, hence the killing off idea of another character. But is it too much? Would his reactions to it be what I want? I can’t have him shrug and say, “Never liked ‘em anyway” nor can I have his character be someone who would take it so badly he’d just stop and shout, “Why them? Oh, the injustice!” and pack up and go home.

So I’m still to decide on this. Maybe they’ll live or maybe they’ll die in a freak yachting accident.

Their fate is literally in my hands.

My first month of writing is over. I started my novel on August 1st and now have over 30,000 words in the bag. I’ve had one short story accepted somewhere. I’ve also now been jobless for two whole months (but I prefer the term “free”.) My running is coming along as I gear up to start beating my records. Overall, August was a good month for me. Shame the weather was bloody awful.

Lessons learned

I feel happy going into September with a solid month behind me. The main lessons I have learned this month are:

1. I can write. By that, I mean I can physically sit down every day I plan to and write a set amount of words. You might think that’s it’s the bare minimum you need to be a writer, but you’d be surprised how many people say they write when in fact all they do is think about writing. I should know – that used to be me a lot.

2. I believe in my idea. I’ve had doubts along the way, but with the positive feedback I’ve received from a few sources and my own genuine enthusiasm for the idea, I truly believe it has a chance of making it. Needless so say, it’s absolutely vital that I believe this more than anyone, otherwise how can I convince others?

3. To handle comments on my writing. It’s been a while since someone has analysed my writing, and so when you give an edited piece to a loved one to read and it comes back with a lot of comments, suggestions, queries and corrections it does kind of hit you a bit. But it’s a great experience in the end – you know it’s going to improve not only the piece they’ve reviewed, but your future writing, too. Of course, when you also get the good comments back it’s like receiving gold. Nothing more satisfying than hearing “I laughed at that bit!”

4. Discipline is hard to maintain. As I write this, I should be writing my novel. My schedule says start every day from 9:30; it’s now 10:15. OK Andy, put this down and come back to it later…

…and I’m back. See? That was a bit of discipline, stopping midway through a sentence. (I’ve actually returned two days later to this!) I started off very well in the first week of August, then as soon as you start breaking the habit you find you’re surfing and emailing at 10:30 and ending up finishing the writing at nearly 6 in the evening. It’s time to get it back on track.

5. I’ve got a lot more to learn. I need to educate myself on the craft of writing to make the next draft so much better. I have to re-read my how-to books, create better similes, find out how to write better dialogue.

6. I can enjoy running with no goal in mind. It was an injury-free month, enabling me to run harder and faster without anything in particular to train for. It helps with the discipline, knowing that you should get out there regularly without a real need to.

7. That whenever the press in spring announces, ”It’ll be a barbecue summer” that you might as well stock up on umbrellas and gazebos now. I’ve just heard we’re gonna have an early winter, so I now expect to be on the beach in November.

That was the month that was

Here are the stats for August:

Days planned to write: 21

Days actually written: 20 (1 turned into a planning day, so still productive)

Daily target reached: 100%

Words written: 31,631

 As for my runs, see the chart below for the log. I achieved my fastest mile on the 12th August, too.

I’m hoping to beat a record or two in September, so why don’t you? Aim for something you might be able to achieve, whether it’s sporting (like a run), money (earning it or raising/giving to charity), production (words, widgets), time spent with your kids/spouse/cat or even buying your earliest Christmas present.

It feels good to go out there and achieve, so what’s stopping you?

Now that I’ve been letting people know I’m writing a novel, I naturally get questions back asking me what it’s about. Am I writing an erotic thriller set in Japan in 2020? Perhaps a crime novel, involving a serial killer with a penchant for grenades and Big Brother? Or an unlikely romance between a librarian in Bognor Regis and a Triad leader? Well, maybe I’ll explore those ideas in other books, but if you want to know about this one then take a look at this post’s title – it’s also the name of my novel.

How should I describe 26 Miles to the Moon? Here are a few one-liners that I could use:

One man’s chance to take a risk for once in his life and grab the opportunity to write himself into history.

Ten runners compete in a marathon to win a trip to the moon.

Running, risks and rockets.

Story questions

Will Jon risk his job, his decency and his cat for a shot at the prize?

Why are DPI Adventures offering the trip…and can they actually pull it off?

Is there nothing Nicki won’t do to win?

Category

It’s humorous, will have a love interest and has already got some nudity in it. Its category is best described as mainstream fiction, or even as lad-lit, and its aim is to be entertaining  - the sort of book any adult could pick up for a light read round the pool on holiday. I hope to provide both an insight into marathon running but also to inspire, as well as write a story that I’d want to read.

How it came about

If you’ve read my posts over the last month you will have seen me mention my idea about a character running a marathon. I took this germinal idea and played around with it, expanded upon it and then mixed in a bit of extra flavouring for what I hope to be a unique mixture. There’s plenty of books on true experiences of marathon runners, but not much fiction, so I thought I’d jump in to help fill this gap. I didn’t want it to be just about someone running the marathon, nor did I want a clichéd reason of why they took up the challenge. I’m also keen on sci-fi, so blended in the moon concept as an integral part of it as something inside me just demanded that I use it.

Interested?

If you’re a publisher or agent then please contact me via email:  andy (at) andrewmales (dot) com. I’m currently 23K words in, but aiming to finish a first draft by end of November. Initial chapters can be provided upon request. (I know it’s a long shot, but you just never know who ends up looking at blog posts).

If you’re a friend, feel free to let me know what you think, good or bad. It might sound awful to you, not your thing, or you may have questions or suggestions. Oh, and before you ask – no, you won’t be a character in it!

For everyone else, I guess you’ll have to follow the blog and wait!

17,000. Seventeen thousand. 17K. Whichever way you put it, that’s a lot of words, especially for just 11 days’ work. Unfortunately it’s just a small proportion of what’s needed for a novel, so there’s still a long way to go. I thought this blog entry would provide a brief look at some of the statistics involved.

Daily express

As you should see from the chart below, since starting on 1st August I’ve achieved my word count of 1500 words a day on every day I’ve intended to write. One or two days I’ve even exceeded it, when the writing was flowing and I didn’t want to stop.

I don’t write at weekends and I decided on Friday 12th that I would spend some time reviewing what I’d written and tidying it up, so no new words were planned to be done that day.

Word up

I’ve also been logging how many words I do on average each hour. Although I’ve reached my word count every day, some days I finish earlier than others, and some I start much later. I usually have two sessions a day (morning and afternoon, surprisingly enough) and so the chart below tracks the words in each session.

The peaks are when I’m really motoring and have a good grip on the story, usually when I’ve planned or can see a scene easily. The troughs occur when I’m struggling to know what to put and often involve bits of research on the Internet to help get a feel of the scene.

Chapter and worse

I average about 4.5 hours of writing a day, but on top of that I plan and research, so on some days I’ve spent the whole working day on it. It’s getting harder now, too, as I get further into it. I had the start mapped out in my head for some time and then planned out the scenes, but now I’ve done that I’m into vaguer territory, so it’s harder just to sit down and write it as there’s more thinking to do.

Some days when I know I have to get the words done, I can feel my writing getting worse. when it’s edging towards six o’clock and you’ve clocked up 1200 words, you just want to get it done. Is that bad? I read the other day that Nick Hornby ‘can’t move on until I’ve got a paragraph right’. Well, I’d still be stuck on page 1 if that was the case! Yes, I do consider what I’m writing and sometimes go back and re-write, but as a first-time author my number one mission is to get the words done and complete the story. I know me – if I look for perfection I’ll eventually find it but by then I’ll be teleporting my book to the grandkids on the moon.

I’m up to possibly chapter 9 now. Why ‘possibly’? Well, it depends on how you split the novel. Some parts are obvious breaks, but other bits seem too short to be chapters, so I may well combine them. I’m trying to provide the hooks and intrigue at the end of each one to make the reader continue turning the page.

You’re shit, and you know you are…

With the football season now finally started (I’m a Liverpool fan if you didn’t know and have expectations that we’ll finish fifth, for the record) I’ll add a comparison to the great game. Unlike Man City’s Aguero who stormed onto the pitch in the second half of his first ever game for the blues, scored one, set up another and then launched a screamer to grab a brace, I’m not sure my debut as a novelist will be as good. Or even good at all. Perhaps even not rubbish. I have self doubts, and I’m not afraid to write about them here. Sure, 17,000 words…but are any of them good? I read about all these other novels currently around, the months of research, the English degrees and journalistic experience these other authors have, and then there’s me with a few research photos, the odd published short story and a degree in 1′s and 0′s. My novel at times seems basic, low-brow, silly in comparison, being written by a neophyte who’s trying to get in with the Premier League big boys.

But I have belief. I play to my strengths. Just as I know my left foot isn’t capable of the most tricky of skills (and my right foot barely more than standing) I play football the way I know I can play, and doing that means I can hold my own on the pitch. My novel may not end up having the sophistication of an epic set in sixteenth century France, but I’m determined to make it a damn good read.

I want to write to entertain, to tell a story people will enjoy. Will it be sellable and give me stats in £? We shall only find out in time, but I’m giving it a good go.