Thursday 3 December 2009

I survived Nano!


and I won!
I never thought it would be so exhausting. Since I'm such a slow writer (I found out), the most I wrote in one day was 4500 words. And that meant hours sitting down at the desk trying to type something legible. My back wanted to kill me for putting it under so much strain. And let's not talk about the quality or the coherency (is that a word?)...
But I made it, and I'm sort of proud of it. I was probably too sure of myself at the beginning, and crumbled a bit toward the middle and the end, but I made it to the finish line JUST one hour before the deadline! OK, I cheated just a tiny bit by adding the whole lyrics for a song (calling it extra features) but it was an important song, very meaningful (not really...)
I guess I should start editing and rewriting pretty soon, but I'm taking a week off to recover. Right now even thinking of going back to The Novel makes me feel queasy.
I was writing in Italian, and as I struggled to think up words in my own language (how many times I had to look an English word up to translate it into Italian, you'd be amazed!) I realised I need to start reading in Italian again asap, so I can expand my vocabulary - again. This is a bit embarrassing considering I'm not even THAT fluent in English. I'm already forgetting my native tongue. In other words, I should go back to school. Me not happy.

Other non-Nano-related news...I turned 30.
Holy Moly.
It's scary even to type it.
But anyway, let's not dwell on that unspeakable round number. The fun bit is that I got to go to London to see my long lost brother (I hadn't seen him in I don't know how long, 3 years maybe?), see The Gossip gig (loved it!) and meet two of my best friends. It was lovely even if very short. It was literally a 24-hour visit. I felt a bit overwhelmed by London and all those people running about...Dublin is so provincial in comparison. Or maybe it was just the short stay that made everything feel very rushed, even the emotions.

On the books front, I haven't got my bookworm mojo back, yet. I'm still working on it. But I finished the new Nick Hornby, Juliet, Naked, which was nice. I enjoyed it, it took me ages to finish it, but I did enjoy it. There was a kind of low-key cynical mood to it, which was pleasant at times, and a bit boring at others. I loved the dialogues though. They were never ever boring. And the metaphors. I wish I could come up with those myself.
Awww will I ever be able to read a book again without thinking "Hmm this turn of phrase is brilliant, why did I never think of that?"
I'm reading Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, now, and I'm doing the same thing. It's good though. It means I'm learning something...right?
I'll stop blabbing now. I just wanted to apologise for not answering to all your comments lately and for neglecting the book blogging community. I promise I'll go back to being a better blogger soon!
In the mean time, thanks for your supporting comments, I really appreciate them:)

12 comments:

Melody said...

Congratulations, Valentina! That's so awesome!

Amanda said...

Good job, Val. I never realized English wasn't your first language - how sad is that of me?

Celine said...

Congratulations! and happy birthday :0)

martish said...

Holy Moly!

mariel said...

Congrats on finishing Nano! And a very happy birthday to you. I love being 30 already, though perhaps the reality has not hit me yet?!

Glad you had fun in London :)

Anonymous said...

Very happy for you! Lovin' your blog, ChattyGirl

Ana S. said...

yay for finishing! And when I wished you a happy birthday I didn't realize it was the big 30! Not all that many years left to go until mine...aaaaaaah!

soleil said...

wow! i don't know that i could participate in that. i think of it but it's too intimidating. great job!!!

i know what you mean about the language thing. when i returned to the states from a six month stay in france i had a difficult time acclimating going back to english and felt like i had lost some of my words. they come back though with regular use. :)

valentina said...

thanks everyone!
@Amanda, that's actually a huge compliment,thank you! that means my written English is not that bad :P

@Mariel:you're 30 as well? can you teach me how to love it? me hasn't started loving it yet...

@Nymeth, you didn't realize cause I kept it secret! it's a disgrace, I'm telling ya!

@jehara
you should try next year. It's definitely something that we should all try to do once in a lifetime, at least. It's a great experience.

I hope that it will come back eventually, but since I don't have serious plans to go back home anytime soon, I wonder when that would be!:P

Memory said...

Congrats on finishing NaNoWriMo, and happy belated birthday!

Serena said...

Congrats on the Nano Win and happy belated birthday!

Kelly said...

Congrats on your NaNo win! You deserve to be proud of it, silly. :)

I know what you mean about it changing how you read. It helps you learn how to improve your own writing, but it sure delivers some daggers to the heart from time to time.

What are your revision plans? I think I'm going to start to think about maybe attempting a revision in January. :)