Cover and Pseudonym...

Ah, writing procrastination... and shameless use of google image search photos without permission. But it's just a rough idea.

Spooky? Not at all

Yes, it is halloween. And I have nothing else to say about that, except perhaps I should add 'candy' to my grocery shopping list.

Quite a to-do list today. Tomorrow begins Nanowrimo and I will disappear into novelling madness. My romance novel is all planned out and ready to be written.

Writing a blog post (possibly the last for some time) was on the to do list, along with...
- phone Nana (check)
- phone rest home to organise kids' visit (half-check... I phoned & someone will call me back)
- phone and organise to pick up unpainted blackboard... save the painting of it for another day - a good nanowrimo break activity, in aid of avoiding RSIs.
- email booking to hotel in wellington
- book flights to wellington
- remind Luuk to book car for weekend in wellington
- fold laundry
- touch up paintings for Delta
- add a layer to mum and dad's christmas present painting
- walk to do groceries, unless the weather packs in
- finish up other stories (only 2 or 3 chapters to go) before focussing my fiction-crafting energy on bigger fish
- email celia awesome recipe, affectionately nicknamed 'breast milk pork' because it makes your milk AWESOME and your baby sleep for longer at night. Did I mention it was awesome? It's actual name: Dong Po Pork. And it's awesome.
- make a stack of baby food - apples/pears mix for Louis' breakfasts, and some of mum's awesome chicken and vege soup, which he likes, and which has vegetables in it, and no jam! These are all things in its favour. Louis is being a right pain with food at the moment, decorating the room in general and making a lot of fuss, being contrary as ever - loving cheese one minute and screaming about it, flinging it across the room, the next. Frustrating.

Sigh. Better get on with it all then.

Long weekend, short week

I haven't mentioned it in a while, but in interest of representing life more accurately, Louis still loves to jolly-jump!

Had a lovely long weekend. Luuk home means I can nap while Louis is awake! Also, he constructed greater child-proof capabilities for the computer/stereo cabinet/desk thing. Meanwhile, I constructed a novel outline...

Louis completely lost interest in the increased-security computer desk, of course.

I made fish pie. Yum.

And today I did as little as really possible. So tired at the moment. Went back to bed when Louis went down for his morning nap, then took my time getting going after that. Went into office then did groceries.

Louis has been in an adventurous mood, which means exhausting but good for photos...

and video...

 

He can be determined... but didn't quite pull down every magnet before terrorizing the plants on the windowsill became the more appealing option.

Guess I'm re-stacking the nappy liners this evening during 'Castle'.

faff day

I always feel like a weekend day should be well spent (read: that you shouldn't spend it watching an entire tv series and eating toasties). But an extra day? A public holiday? A Third weekend day... bring on the tv and toasties!

It's like a free-to-faff day. I already spent my weekend well. This is like monopoly money. Can't use it anywhere else.

Weekend was pretty good. Had lovely breakfast out on Saturday (we were out of bread... what else could we do?) at Browsers - a cafe with a fish tank, which kept Louis entertained while we ate our meal at a normal, leisurely adult-not-parent pace. Joy!

Then we bought bread. And mandarins. And grapes. And a present for a 21st birthday that night. And I bought a lovely new top for my cousin's upcoming wedding. And a new black glassons cardi - so handy. Wear it all the time. Need several in case they ever stop making them.

Was worship leading at church on sunday. Went pretty well okay... who knows. Fine, I think. Read a prayer written by Jane Austen. Fantastic. Then had a lazy afternoon, watched tv, napped, made fish pie, watched the rugby. And that was when the weekend got really stressful. Holy Cow. Thank God that's over. When Richie McCaw was asked how he felt at the end, I thought he must feel just like I did after Louis was born - pure, unadulterated relief. Thank god that's over. And done. And, we won. But mainly, whew!

Today, we've watched tv and parented poorly. Louis has been horrible and tired. It's 11.14 and he's down for his second nap! It's the classic 2-days-after-late-night-it-hits. He's up and down like a bouncy ball. Cute and exhausting and thank god he'll sleep.

I'm eating a delicious pineapple and cheese toastie. We're watching a hilarious sit com called 'Community'. Hi-larious!

"You just wrinkled my brain." - Troy. Current fav. line. Will try to incorporate in a conversation soon. Classic.

Creating Characters

The first thing you have to do when writing the first draft of a novel is creating your characters. I put together this questionnaire that I do for all my main characters. Feel free to use it, edit it, whatever! It's a lot of work to do but pays off when you're writing. The characters drive the plot, or else you're in trouble. So, in light of the nanowrimo coundown, start hashing out those characters!

Characterisation Work-up

Full Name, nickname and preferred name
DOB/Age/sign
Sex/Gender/Sexuality
Temperament/ personality type
Strengths/Abilities/ skills
Negative Traits
Quirks/eccentricities
Insecurities/Fears
Upset/embarrassed/ irritated by
Opinionated about
Made happy by
Amused by
Fight style
What others think of them
Philosophy is...
Bedroom is...
Carries with them...
Theme
Challenges to face
Career/ dreams goals/desires
Motivations/values/ vows/promises
Ethnicity/Nationality
Current abode

Physicality
Height/Weight
Hair
Eyes
Distinguishing Ft.s
Clothing style/ make-up/ careful?/ cost/ fashionable/ comfort/ accessories
Movements/walk/ hands/greetings/ posture/nervous habit
Dis/Likes about appearance
Health
Smell/scent
Voice/pitch/pauses/ fav. words/ greetings/ grammar/accent

Habits and Behaviour
Daily/weekly routine
Bad habits
Eating habits
Exercise habits
Relational habits
Neuroses
Desired behaviour

Preferences and Favourites
Music
Movies/TV
Sports/games
Colours
Political groups
Religious groups
Holiday activities
Time of year/season/ weather -best &worst
Decor/environment
Animals
Books
Foods/drinks
Pet Peeves
Hobbies/interests/ obsessions
Keeps/throws away

Relationships
Closest friend/s
Closest family members
Lover/s
People they dislike
Friendships they'd like to invest in
Relationships they'd like to limit/end
Views of kids/marriage, etc.

History
Fondest memory
Family
Secrets
Relationships/sexual history
Socio-economic bg.
Education
Employment
Past abodes
Worst memory/ regrets
Greatest sin
Rebel against
Aspire to be like...
Major events in life

Summer has come to Christchurch

After a frankly terrible start to the day/week, today turned out to be quite lovely. Was very tired so went back to bed when Louis went down for his morning nap... and work up at 10.50! The whole morning was almost gone. But then I felt just terrible. Louis woke up, so had had his lunch out in the sun. Wasn't very interested in his lunch, and I wasn't very interested in a food fight, so when we started chatting to the neighbours through the fence I gave up on lunch and we went to visit. Louis played with the kids next door (first time on a trampoline!) and I discovered he is not the only child who puts stones in his mouth. Good to know.

 Gorgeous summer-like day. The Kowhai is in full bloom. Never seen one so glorious!

I let Louis play in the garden, but it was really hot and sunny and he refuses to keep his hat on. I sun-blocked us both and let him explore the camelia-sheddings, while I sewed a strap onto his hat. This was a truly brilliant moment of mine, I must say. I found a tiny premie size onesie in the sewing stuff and cut off the strips down the front that have all the domes on them. I shortened these and sewed them onto Louis' sunhat, then put it on his head and snapped it in place. Aha! Mum wins. Hat stayed on after that.

 Louis wearing the un-movable hat! Score 1 for mum. But he's eating my apple. Little thief. I wanted that. Score 1 for Louis.

I had a slightly less brilliant, but not far-off, moment later on: gave him some naked time and squirted water from my drink bottle onto the playmat (it's kind of rubbery - I think it was once a physio floor mat) which Louis happily splashed around in and got totally wet. We'll be playing that game again this summer methinks.

Frantic and Antisocial... for what?

For a favour for a friend.
And a bunch of money.

So Luuk and I have become bad parents and neglected the rest of the world as well. We have spent the last two days working on a project that a friend needs finished. The deadline he had was wrong and so we're helping him out. It's a contract he has to fill and he's splitting the funds. So that'll pay for christmas maybe. And Luuk's 30th birthday party.

We have to write 60 of these short scripts. Fun! Creative! I thought.

But the scripts are to explain computer hardware and networking... so the script writing is less fun and creative than I was expecting.

On the other hand I am learning all sorts of interesting things, like how a CD writer works, and the difference between a modem and a router, and why some websites are constantly updating, but others make you hit F5. Fascinating! (I'm not certain how sarcastic I'm being. There has to be a little sarcasm, but it is interesting, so I'm not being entirely sarcastic.)

Meanwhile, poor little Louis. We stuck him out on the lawn when we got tired of him trying to climb up on the computer desk. Luuk's keyboard makes tapping noises as if it wants to be a typewriter - so appealing when your 11 months old... apparently.

When he's inside he's been working his way along furniture, walking and wobbling and holding on tight. He can now go around corners... very carefully and with occasional bursts of tears which are soon abandoned because he needs all his concentration for not falling over.

Speaking of falling over, there were quite a few spills today. Luuk caught one on video and put it on facebook. It's very cute... and then horrible. Poor little louis.