And the Winner of the Writing Race Is...

Glenda Larke with 17320 words, followed by me at 16601 and Carol Ryles with 16000. Given the sudden out pouring of obstructive energy by the Universe - we all were hit in various ways - I think we did well. We each have a large wodge of new words down and, in my case at least, I managed to resolve some plot issues I hadn't thought through properly. So I think the experiment was a success - and even more important, it was fun and encouragement and all those other things a solitary writer can lose sight of. No NaNoWriMo for me this year because of other commitments but this makes up for it.

More on the Writing Race.

My grand total for the weekend is 1466 words and some plotting fix ups. It might not seem much but given the problems I'm having physically typing at the moment I'm not really unhappy with what I've achieved. This race has got me back to my usual writing pattern which is a good thing. It had been under stress for lots of reasons given this has not been a good year. Ah well the next must be better.

My fellow racers, Glenda and Carol, have also had their own problems distracting them. Did we set off some kind of jinx? I suppose anything is possible.

Despite everything I'm not giving up - and nor are they. I'm off to crank out a few more words. My poor characters don't know what they're in for. I do. Hehehe. Rubs hands with glee.

Writing Race Update.

So it's now the beginning of Day 6. I've managed a total so far of 8969 words in five days - and day four was a dead loss because I was out all day. That sadly puts me just over 1000 words behind target - and that means head down, tail up and frozen pizza for dinner - unless Pisces gets inspired and decides to cook. Nah, that won't happen.

Writing Race.

I'm in a writing race with Glenda Larke and Carol Ryles to see who is the first to reach 30,000 words. Yesterday was the first day and I surprised myself with a total of 2,364. Maybe this is the kind of spur I need.

What Were They Thinking.

In Western Australia there is a system whereby if you have your your driver's licence suspended for an offense and can prove exceptional hardship you can be given permission to drive in certain situation. For example if it is impossible for you to get to work any other way you might be permitted to drive to certain places at certain times of the day. Whether this is a good thing or not is sometimes questioned but personally I think keeping someone productively employed could qualify as a valid reason. One would assume that such cases would be rare and that the decision would be made only for those who were truly unable to travel any other way and would otherwise lose their job. At least that's how I assumed it would work. Apparently not.

Recently a young man lost his licence for a well reported series of offenses involving alcohol. Fair enough, you might say. I certainly thought so. It would cause him a degree of inconvenience that he might learn from but not jeopardise his employment. He could use buses and trains like the rest of us when he couldn't get a lift with his work mates. That's when we stepped out of the real world. He applied for a restricted licence because of hardship because he can't get to work.

His reason - he doesn't know how to catch public transport! What? Millions of people all over the world catch public transport every day - old, young, even school children - and he can't learn how to catch a bus! It gets worse. He - a strong, tall, fit man - doesn't feel safe waiting at a public bus stop at a well lit bus station in the early evening. Wait, there's more. He doesn't like to travel on public transport because people ask him about what happened.

So being presented with these bizarre reasons does the Court say 'Tough. Punishment is supposed to impact on your life so you will learn and not repeat the offense'? Nope. He's given permission to drive to training and games.

I'm astounded.

WOW!

My Clarion South mates have done it again. Ellen Datlow has released her list of honorable mentions for Best Horror of the Year Volume One. On it are Lyn Battersby, Christopher Green and Michael Greenhut from my fellow students and Simon Brown, Margo Lanagan and Robert Hood who were among our tutors.

Being somewhat parochial, Western Australia has its mention as well with Lee Battersby, Lyn Battersby, Stephen Dedman, Cecily Scutt, Martin Livings and Ian McHugh. Ian no longer lives here but has to be claimed because he is also in the book itself.

There is, of course, a generous smattering of other Australians as well and for the complete list go to here where editormum has extracted and listed them all.

Everyone who is mentioned deserves special congratulations. They are in very good company.