Nano blues

I must be meant to concentrate on Nano - which I have been, dutifully - because the novelette has a bit of a problem. I'm fixing it and trying to create a cover for it, but... I have a terrific photo, it just emphasises the wrong character.

I'm entering the worst part of Nano, the mid-nano blues. It's the time when you've been at it for fifteen straight days, writing and struggling as you begin to lose impetus and other distractions become apparent.

The dust bunnies have taken on monstrous proportions and are stalking each other. The carpet is beginning to feel like a gravel road. Your neighbours start calling because they haven't seen you for a couple of weeks. The grass isn't grass any more but a jungle where wild animals lurk and the dog is afraid to go out. And the laundry pile is procreating.

Like writing any book, this is the hard slog. This is where you grit your teeth and push on. Where you kill someone, have a couple get together, instigate a political crisis, all to move the book on, be it towards 50,000 or towards the end of the book.

If it's all planned, no problem, you've simply got to write the words. But for those - like me - who don't plan, the characters are beginning to sulk because nothing is happening.

That's fine for one of my characters, he's a patient villain. The more time the others waste, the more established he becomes. I'd love to have a confrontation, but it's just not the right time.

I think I'll have to hit the history books and see if there's a catastrophe I can use...