NaNoWriMo 2019: I Drink From the Goblet of Victory!

Erm… so yes. I won. 5 days, I achieved the challenge I set myself. I’ve beaten my best over time by 5 days.

I win.

I’m a little giddy, and excitced, and over the moon. I don’t mean to be a dick, because I do realise how stupid a 5 day NaNoWriMo is, but I also needed this challenge.

And for the hard work I’ve earned this:

My gin goblet of victory, a healthy measure of Malfy’s Sicilian Blood Orange gin, and tonic, with ice. But please do drink responsibly.

I was going to look up some author’s cocktails, and celebrate that way – but There was nothing I fancied, so I did my own thing instead. Been saving this gin for a while, and it is lovely. If you are drinking, drink responsibly, and from my experience, writing drunk “to get through writer’s block”, or for “inspiration” rarely actually works.

So anyway, I’ve not been this happy and excited in a long long time, so I’m not going to say anything meaningful, other than thanks to the NaNoYorkshire goes, who’s regular sprints, kind and support words have brought me to where I am.

Official 2019 Winner’s Badge

I’ve just said I’ll never do this again… but four days is only 12,500 words, I could manage that, though NaNo does start on a Sunday next year , so that’d be three days off work. Will see – I’ll admit five days was a tough hall, and actually tiring.

So yes, I won. Yes I’m super happy. No I’m not done, the story itself needs finishing, there’s a couple of chapters missing that need filling in, and a lot of detailing work to get to a finished 1st draft. So plenty more words to add to that total yet.

And if you want to see someone that looks ridiculously happy, and exciting and barely able to string a thought together, (even forgetting to put an Hawaiian shirt on, even though that’s a thing he does for every video) – here’s my terrible but hugely happy Vlog for today:

And just because these are for social media and I have done 5 days in a row 😀

Happy writing everyone, no matter what time you do it in, or even if you don’t quite make it to the end of the month with 50k, be proud. You’re doing so much better than those that didn’t bother starting.

Tell your story your way.

Daily Flash Fiction Challenge 8: The Rambo Trout

This is the eighth in a series of 365 Flash Fiction stories I’m writing from 2nd December 2012 until the 1st December 2013. It’s intent is to keep me writing throughout the year, and not just in November. you can find out more about the challenge here.

The Rambo Trout, by Jonathan L. Lawrence, 7th December 2012

Word count: 759

Theme: random acts of violence, crazy, anthropomorphic animals, revenge

The story:

How a trout came to be carrying a blunderbuss, no one knew. Everyone knew, or thought they knew, trout were good for two things. Eating, and swimming. This one, however, was different.

He came walking down the street, carrying his blunderbuss with a very intent face.

Many conspiracy theorists have postulated that it was a set up, that the trout knew what would happen. That he even planned for it, making it cold blooded murder. I can’t speak to the trout’s intent, but I can testify to what i saw at least.

The trout was walking along the Queen’s Promenade in Blackpool, carrying the antique gun as I already stated. Now being that he was a fish very much out of water he did attract a lot of attention from cats. These cats weren’t like this strange trout though, they were just normal cats, and they didn’t realise what the trout carried.

As the army of cats approached, he turned, aimed the blunderbuss which was about as odd a thing as I had ever seen, and he fired.

Continue reading “Daily Flash Fiction Challenge 8: The Rambo Trout”