Correction

I wrote the last post in a hurry and made a huge mistake with a well known saying. Unfortunately, correcting it doesn't change the mistake on the blog list for my main blog. So, I'm sweeping it under the carpet by writing this - even when I have less of value to say than usual - so the nasty mistake goes away.

XX

PS will be catching up with everyone's blogs soon - the day job's calling with a task that's even nastier than the mistake - want to ignore it, but if I don't do it I won't get paid.

Naming Names

I have trouble with names. My daughter is the best example of this: Before she was born, we decided on a name, but once I'd met her, the chosen name didn't suit her. Nearly six weeks later, with the statutory deadline looming, her father and I were still arguing outside the registrar's office. She ended up with three names. And that probably explains why I sometimes still call her CatBaby - because, for nearly six weeks, that's all we called her.

I'm the same with my fictional characters - just can't decide. A name's so important and can tell you so much about a person - for a writer, names are a very handy shortcut to describing a character's age and social position. And, of course, there are so many characters waiting to be named - it's a never ending chore and I'm always looking for  for ideas.

There are some names I can't possibly use. Names of people who have upset me (there are many) unless for villains, of course. And unusual names of people I know - I wouldn't want them to think I'd stolen their identity for my story.

At my age, I know a lot of people, so it does somewhat limit the choice.

Daily Word Target: Help or hindrance?

I've never made a secret of the fact I failed at NaNo.

Spectacularly.

Twice.

Personally, I blame the strict daily word target (this is much easier than taking personal responsibility). The first day's always fine, the second okay. But if I hit a day when, for whatever reason, the word count falls behind, it can be very hard to recover.

However, I desperately need something to give me a giant kick up the writing backside. I need to increase my output. I have ideas - lots of them - and I want to get them written. So, I'm toying with the idea of setting a daily word target - not as many words as NaNo requires, but maybe 1,000 or so. Just enough to encourage me to start writing regularly again.

Sure even I can manage 1,000 words a day?

What do you think? Would it be a help or a hindrance?