Paul Schiernecker

Category: Other

  • NaNoWriMo: Day 3.

    Word count: 5,007
    Recommended word count: 5,001
    Proposed word count: 10,000

    So I didn’t write anything from when I put up yesterday’s blog up until today and there’s a good reason for that, I didn’t want to. I got far enough ahead that I was covered for three days for a reason and today is Saturday and my room is becoming a hub of activity as I drink gallons of tea, and listen to as much vinyl as possible and burn the candle from both ends and endeavour to double my word count by the end of the day.

    Just because I mentioned it yesterday Jack White was awesome last night at the Alexandra Palace, I got to see him with his male backing band, when previously I saw him with the ladies. Each time that guy holds a guitar it just looks right. You can see him orchestrating the band with his free right hand in between strokes, he really is his own maestro. It’s a beautiful thing to see given the way The White Stripes ended, to see him rise again like a phoenix. He is most excellent.

    Right, I had better crack on. Ridiculous self imposed word counts won’t complete themselves you know.

  • NaNoWriMo: Day 2.

    Word count: 5,007
    Recommended word count: 3,334
    Proposed word count: 5,007 (stick)

    So it turns out this writing thing is really easy.
    I’m joking. I’m joking! It’s not.
    I’ve just got into this thing a lot quicker than I thought I would, or that I thought was possible, I can’t remember the last time I wrote so much in a twenty-four hour period, possibly at a weekend when I was working on Situation One. The difference being that yesterday I was at work for seven hours, and then went to my improv group. The words just poured out of me in between.

    No doubt that I will now spend the weekend creasing my brow, and running my hands through my hair and trying to uncramp my brain as I struggle to get beyond that first chapter. I woke up suddenly just after five this morning and felt compelled to write. Taking a queue from another NaNoWriter I propped myself up in bed and wrote another 1,200 words before breakfast.

    I now feel rested for the day ahead. I’ve not got a book, I’ve not got any notes, I’ve not got my laptop, I’m just going to commute today, and then try and write hard through tomorrow and Sunday.
    I’m going to see Jack White tonight at the Alexandra Palace which I am very much looking forward to. The last time I saw him (at the Apollo) I felt compelled to write a review as soon as I was on the train home. It’s just pure and hard and brilliant.

    Peace.

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  • NaNoWriMo: Day 1.

    Word count: 0
    Recommended word count: 1,677
    Proposed word count: 2,000

    My god, this backpack is heavy. It’s the first time I’ve ever had to cart it into work. It’s got my lunch, my pass and my old iBook in it. All set for day one.
    This is also the first day in over two years that I haven’t taken a book into work with me. I always have a book to read on the train but today I’ll just be starting to write one.
    Good luck to everyone taking part, stay crazy.

    X

  • All Hallows/ Last day of freedom.

    And so it would appear that NaNoWriMo is upon us. I would like to wish everyone the best of luck with it and ask that if anyone needs a break or a chat about how it is going then they turn to me because I know that I will need the same.

    I’ve got a very basic plan of how this whole thing should roll out and I’m hoping that it picks up snowball momentum along the way, capturing offshoots of story and development of characters and that at the end of it I haven’t just typed fifty thousand words, but I have the bulk of a story in place because I’m not really one for redrafting and will probably try and push the job onto someone else (thanks Ben).

    I’m going to try and find a way of writing my blog as well but can’t make any promises. I have written a post every day (to my knowledge) since February and I’m going to try not to break from this self-imposed tradition but who knows what could happen as we get close to the wire.

    Follow my progress here.

  • Clear head.

    Felt much better waking up today than I did yesterday. I honestly tried to get things done but it is so much harder when you’re crippled by a hangover. It was all my own doing and I know that, but I think I feel better for having got not a lot done.

    It meant I went to bed at about ten last night and then got up at half five to do a little bit of redrafting before NaNoWriMo starts. I am however now in the rather unfortunate position of having to complete three short stories in three days and then have my novel all set in my brain by Thursday to get cracking on it. It’s a bit of a challenge, even when I’ve set it up myself but we will just have to see what happens. I’ve got a couple of days off at the end of November when I’m hoping I will just be able to power through the end of the book and be in a good position before I have to start looking back over it in December. I’m also planning on recording again after November, I don’t know what because I haven’t written anything but I just like the idea of it. I would like to hide away in a cabin and do it in one solid block but I might have to improvise on that.

    Up and atom.

  • Another Friday.

    My, how this week has flown by. Maybe because I haven’t had the chance to do anything, I’ve just been dragged from my bed to work and then back to my bed again, or at least that’s how it feels.

    This weekend is technically Halloween for anyone over the age of consent which means splattering ourselves in fake blood and standing outside in the cold to get into a club. Doesn’t that just sound fantastic. Meanwhile I have a number of short stories to finish before next Thursday. I reiterate that this is a deadline I’ve placed entirely on my own head which means I’m even more determined to finish it.

    I really need more sleep, I can’t think straight today.

  • An assignment? How exciting.

    Ask and you shall receive. That’s a saying right? Well it worked because I did and I have. I emailed the author of a respected film website and he’s offered me an article on Jack Kerouac. Can’t say too much more because no doubt I will jinx my own good fortune but…. exciting times. Everything seems to be very much on the up at the moment, except my bank balance which remains very red and sore fathoms below my comprehension. Who cares though right? I don’t care too much for money, money can’t buy me love.

    I’m on the train reading On The Road for the second or third time this year. I’m now spotting all the missing segments from the film. I’m sure I heard somewhere that the original cut of it was heading for five hours, I would watch that with absolutely no qualms, maybe a few toilet breaks though.

    Right, back to those doldrums.

  • A week to go….

    until NaNoWriMo and I’m pretty settled on the winging it strategy. I have the basics set aside in my head and I’ve been reading a lot of Kerouac and Thompson to get into that totally free and rambling sensibility but beyond that I have very little really planned. I haven’t done a spider diagram or character development or settled on a title, I’m just going to let it pour on 1st November which should have been a Saturday if they wanted me to work hard from the off. As it is I’ve been scoping out the best position on the train to get a free seat for me and my laptop.

    I think I’ve found it. Far beyond the platform is a jetty that sticks out and hangs off the end of the world. The last carriage comes in there and carries me safely to London. It has the added benefit that if we have a collision or the train derails then it is unlikely I will be injured as the bulk of the train will minimise the impact. These are the kind of things that haunt my mind at 7:25am on a commuter train to the big city.

    Now I must finish Rum Diary and read something girly (for research).

  • An open letter to a friend.

    Don’t give up.
    I know it’s hard but don’t.
    You’re one of the few people still pushing for that great thing, unhappy to just settle into tedium and perceived inevitability. You’re better than that. I know there will be times when I look back to you for strength because you’re trying really hard and it’s such a noble characteristic when we are still so young. So I’m saying exactly the opposite of what that moron said. That’s one opinion. This is another. All that matters really is that you listen to you. If any writer stopped after a piece of bad press we would have no literature.
    This is the journey. The destination is unknown.
    X.

  • Come on skinny love…

    Last night I went for dinner with my best friend, Ben. Since childhood we have both been plagued with ‘being skinny’. We got into a conversation about how overlooked the issues of being skinny can be. This isn’t going to be a post where I compare my own (or indeed our own) suffering to the injustice in history because I am well aware of how ridiculous that would be. It’s just a personal bug bear, it just grinds my gears, and that’s what this blog is here for.

    Ben said last night that he would consider both of us to be of an athletic build, which I completely agree with. The fact of the matter is that on the Body Mass Index we both come in as being slightly underweight but who is to say that’s such a terrible thing.

    The key difference between being underweight and being overweight is that people feel they have every right to tell you that you look thin, or to tell you that they want to feed you up but I could never approach someone who was medically obese and say to them “oh, I’d love to take you for a run and get some stuffed vine leaves down you” because apparently that’s not acceptable. I don’t understand what the difference is. There are a variety of reasons that people are overweight and some of these could be down to deep-seated psychological issues but could the same not be said of underweight people? As it goes Ben and I have a perfectly good relationship with food, you should have seen us put away a mixed grill and a rainbow trout last night followed by dessert. That doesn’t change the fact that there are some people who are underweight and it isn’t just because they are of a slight frame, they have the same psychological issues with food; albeit at the opposite end of the spectrum, as an overweight person.

    So next time you are confronted by gaunt cheekbones and sunken eyes have a quick think about what they would say about you if they felt they had free reign over their condemnation of your appearance.