I’ve just completed and posted the penultimate episode of the Dutch NaNo Podcast, the last regular episode actually during NaNoWriMo. It’s been nice doing the podcast, but part of me is also glad to be done with it. Added to trying to do all the normal stuff, and writing as much as possible, I’ve certainly felt the time it took to do the podcast.

I’ve also learned a few valuable lessons for (possible) future podcasts. First and foremost: don’t do a show that depends on Skype for each episode without a better recording/mixing system. It’s been fun talking to people about each topic. And it has been worth the work. But that was knowing I’d only have to do it for 11 or 12 out of 14 episodes. It’s certainly possible to do this dependably and with a high (or at least good) audio quality, but it’s quite a bit of work.

And the one big relief about being done (at least until a special with recordings from the TGIO party) is that it won’t eat any more of my writing time during NaNoWriMo. I probably shouldn’t complain, since I’m at 114k words. But even so I want to have my hands free for the final sprint.

I’m currently procrastinating. I know this because I’m typing a blog post instead of writing. My main target for this weekend isn’t today, but tomorrow – I hope to get 8k so I’ll be at 50k for all the Sundays of the month alone. Still regardless of that I want a few thousand words today at least.

One problem is that the writing has been slow for me all week. I don’t really know why, and I suppose that with more than 100k words written I shouldn’t complain. Even so it’s clear I need to change something, probably sit down and plot out a few scenes (which I rarely do) just to get me going again. That’s certainly what I should be doing, but instead I’m writing this.

I guess I should stop doing this now, but it has given me some more time away from actually writing. I just hope that something in the back of my head has started plotting while I was here.

We had elections today here in the Netherlands. There are some surprising results, not least that we look to have the closest thing we can get to a hung parliament. We have a proportional representation system with a tradition of coalitions, which means it’s practically impossible to get a hung parliament in the British sense of the words.

But this year, more than in previous years, we’ve had a clear definition of two major blocks. The current right of centre government versus the left of centre opposition parties. But enough votes have gone to small parties, that don’t really fit with either of the main potential coalitions, and often not with each other.

Even the two biggest parties, just left and right of centre, would need a third. It’s very rare indeed not to have at least one option for a government that only needs two parties for a majority. That may not always turn out the be the government we get, but usually there is at least a two party option to explore. Now it looks like it will have to be at least three.

Speculations are in full swing already, and we’ll have to see how things turn out. But it certainly does look like we’re in for an interesting time while the new government is formed. Let the spin-doctoring begin!

I believe I may have discovered the ultimate way to determine the quality of a TV-series or movie. the one problem it brings with it, is that it requires the product to be out on DVD. It happened as I was watching Babylon 5 on DVD. I felt the need to go to the bathroom.

That’s is nothing very strange. I need to go to the bathroom several times a day as a rule, and this need has never yet cared whether I was watching DVDs, or anything else for that matter. What is strange is that I spent the next five minutes pacing, constantly turning my head so I could keep watching the DVD and fighting the need to go to the bathroom.

Which brings me to the ultimate mark of quality I have discovered. I was so engrossed in the DVD that it simply didn’t occur to me that I could pause it and go to the bathroom for those first five minutes. Anything that can make you forget you can pause the DVD, or even just leave and then rewind it, has to be very good indeed.

I reached another personal target last night. The 100% surplus, in other words 100k words done, rather than just the required 50k. My next goal, probably for tomorrow (I’ll have to check how to fit it in with the podcast) is going to be 105k, 500 words more than the personal best I set for myself last year. After that, who knows what can still happen this month.

I’ve been neglecting this blog a bit. I’ve been too busy writing to blog about writing recently. NaNoWriMo is in full swing and I’ve been setting a new record pace for myself. But today I recalled the blog guiltily, so I’ve returned to make a quick report about NaNoWriMo.

It’s been a record breaking, perhaps I should say record shattering, month so far, though I’ve had a bit of a slow down the last two days. I thought I did great last year, when with a ten thousand word sprint to the finish I managed to reach the fifty thousand word target on the 13th of November. This year I made it in just one week, and that included a sixteen thousand word sprint. I’ve slowed down a bit since, but have managed another big day at twelve thousand words.

The last two days have been a bit of a slump. I’ve been very tired for some reason, and evenings are usually my primary writing time. I don’t much mind having a few slow days to relax now, with 75k under my belt. I’m sure I’ll be back into it full speed soon enough.