Week 4 or 28 Days Later

28 days later.

I am pleased to report that four weeks into my 12 month novel plan, I still have a wife and friends, I have avoided the temptation to sign up to Facebook and most incredibly of all, when I look out of my window I am pretty sure there are no virus infected zombies roaming London's streets. And if that's not enough, I have written quite a nice scene set in a cafe.

Despite a family funeral and an irate incident with an incandescent news agent (don't ask), I have completed the next chapter of my novel. A full chapter in a week - actually a two-day session that almost wore the letters from my keyboard - has got me more or less in tact to the end of month 1.

There have been some surprises already. The first was that the writing software that I have been using for two years was no longer up to the job.

It was a bit like when you look in the mirror and that favourite shirt that you thought made you look like George Clooney, is now giving off a decidedly George Formby vibe. My previous piece of writing software had become as appealing as a piece of chewing gum left on a lamppost overnight (note to self: stop watching old movies in the afternoon when you should be working).

Drastic action was called for. So I trawled the net, read some reviews and downloaded some trial software. 20 minutes later I was up and running with Scrivener - a piece of writing software that actually manages not to get in between the writer and the writing. I highly recommend it: here's the link where you can download a free trial and practice using its many features http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.html

Speaking of practice, week three's tip - culled from Kate Mosse's 52 Tips for writers http://www.mosselabyrinth.co.uk/advice/02.asp was Practice (be sure to visit Kate's site - there's even a link to the best blog on the net!).

Kate suggests taking a paragraph and then re-writing it without using any of the original words. Instead of trying this as a quasi-academic exercise, I applied it to the last paragraph of the chapter I had just finished.

When I re-wrote it using Kate's idea, it suddenly fell into place. It reminded me of the old joke: a man stops a passer by in New York and asks the best way to get to Carnegie Hall. "Practice my friend, practice", comes the reply.

Next week will see me spending more time than I would like on our railways so I'm going to have less time to keep my novel on track. Luckily, the next tip of the week is "Reasonable Objectives".

Now there's timing Virgin Trains can only dream of.