Sunday, October 27, 2013

Countdown to Nano

I thought I'd ease back into work - but it Murphy's Law stepped in and it's been a bun fight. Long hours to catch up on the work that should have been done while I was on leave, but wasn't.

Anyway, insert a whinge, a whine and a suitably grumpy tirade. All done? Then let's move on.

Friday sees the start of Nano, the National Novel Writing Month, an annual writing frenzy that the editors in all the publishing houses fear.

I have a title (Monarch, Tyrant, Slave), an as yet unnamed lead character and a scene and a half. Yeah, okay, I have three groups of people with competing ambitions and the question of how choice clashes with duty. After that, who knows what will happen?

It should be a fun ride finding out.

I suspect there will be thousands of people setting fingers to keyboard on midnight 31st October, anxious to get started; I shall not be one of them since I have to work on Friday (see above whinging) but I will be throwing heavy-duty word counts around. Well, I'm gonna join thousands of others in trying!

Tuesday, October 08, 2013

Awesome Lives Here!

New Zealand should put that on an oversized sign in every airport.

The scenery is spectacular, the food is amazing, the people are friendly, helpful and, well, awesome.


Fifteen days of travelling around this glorious country resulted in over eight hundred photos. Yes, some of them are less than useful, but that's on me - no faulting the landscape, I don't think there's an unattractive area in the Land of the Long White Cloud.

I've decided I really like campervanning and New Zealand is the perfect place for it. The roads are good and the holiday parks planted in just the right locations for some early morning photos - if, of course, you're an early riser like I am (my siblings, not so much).

We started in the north island, at Hobbiton - as you do. There are plenty of photographs out there of the set, but here's one I think a lot of people miss from the Green Dragon Inn:


It was on a pillar, near the second bar and the roaring fire. If we had a Green Dragon Inn near where I live? I'd be there most nights.

I've been sorting through the photographs and pausing, remembering how and where I took each shot; needless to say, I've not been able to finish the entire lot. When I do, I'll post - there could be quite a few given the photogenic nature of the country. I'm also still sorting through my adventures, getting them all in order. When you're having a good time, no, a great time, every day is fabulous and runs together.

Maybe I'll be able to put together a better travelogue, once I've settled the squealie fan-girl moments.

But I'm already planning another trip next year.