skyring

I've been thinking of NaNoWriMo. It's always a lot of fun, and I've been re-reading the blog part of Manly Books which was perhaps my best effort.

I wrote that in ten days and I did it by writing blog and BookCrossing entries, which is what I do anyway, so it wasn't as much trouble as writing out a big slab of text each day. Perhaps the best part was that I got to make contact with all sorts of BookCrossers who took an interest. BookCzuk, for one, who always has the capacity to make my day sparkle.

That was 2004. 2003 had been a convoluted tale about an incident in the Civil War and I spent rather too much time researching and not enough writing. I got the wordage done, but it never ever added up to a full novel.

2005, I wrote a novel based on "the dream cafe", which was a whimsy. Good idea, but I can't say that I handled it well, especially when I procrastinated to an astounding degree.

2006, I had a half-hearted go at a novel, but realistically, I never got the time. I had just started taxidriving, doing six twelvehour night shifts, and my mind was on the job, with a lot to learn. Writing 1 700 words a day just wasn't possible, not if I was to produce something halfway readable. And sleep and have a life.

Well, I'm working fewer hours, I'm more comfortable with my job, and maybe I've got a better idea of what makes a good novel. Fewer characters, for one thing - my second last attempt got lost in a tangle of relationships. Another thing is to stick with a format that feels good for me, which is first person narration and a blogging type of presentation.

Listening to Shane Maloney speak last week at the Australian BookCrossing Convention gave me a few ideas. Would anybody think that a taxi-driving private detective working the night shift is feasible? Not a dick for hire, but just someone who solves the murder mysteries that turn up. Heaven knows I can write a book just on the sleazy or classy things that happen to a night cabbie, and juggling the real-life episodes into accommodating a murder mystery shouldn't be too hard.

I've been making notes, probably perplexing the day driver as he looks through the Moleskine journal we use to keep track of passenger pickups, and sees a bunch of notes on blank pages.

I'll think about it some more.