Not Going To Make It

So life sadly has just been way way way to busy to write a 50 000 word novel in one month. Kinda sucks in my opinion, coz I was really keen to do it! I did jump into it on day one with no preparation, and all this writing has not inspired me in a different direction. Anyway, it hasn’t killed my dream and I still intend to write the book. I have however come up with a totally different story arch wich for the most part means I am going to need to re write the first few chapters. It may not be a 50 000 word novel, who knows… but I am definitely on a mission to write it, coz I think it is going to be a great story. A story that needs telling, hehe

So good luck to all those still going strong in the NanoWrimo08 comp, can’t wait to read the winning entries!

08 – Drifting Parties

Days had fallen off the calendar like leaves off an autumn tree. Ian’s life seemed to be just flying past, without him having much control of the situations around him. All the things he really wanted to do just never happened, and weird stuff he actually didn’t care about, happened.

‘What is going on?’ he thought, ‘Its time for some form of an intervention, get my life back on track, get it to the place that I want it! Is there something wrong with me being selfish and wanting my life to go somewhere, somewhere I want it? What can I do?’

It certainly wasn’t autumn, it was nearly the middle of summer and nothing should be falling off anything like leaves off autumn trees. The past few day had been a blur though, with everything that had happened.

Ian had had a huge turn out for his Birthday party, with 15 people coming through to his dinner and probably another 15 coming through to the Red Room afterwards. He wanted to have a designated driver, so he could let himself go a little, turned out that all of his friends were pretty busy people and driven by the fact that he needed to take his car up that part of the world to visit his dad, it just made logical sense that he should drive himself.
Ian had prepared and dressed for the Red Room, but had covered his Donny Darko shirt with a simple long sleeve dark grey shirt. It was something he was getting good at, partying elsewhere before heading through to the red room, and normally partying somewhere before meant a slightly less ‘dark’ look.

Cindy arrived wearing a simple grey T-Shirt and a pair of black, very short shorts, she had done up her hair and was all prepped for a night of partying.

‘Looking pretty sexy there!’ thought Ian
‘Allo Luv!’ She said
‘Allo Luv, look at you! Grrrr!’
‘I dress to please!!’ Cindy laughed, giving Ian a subtle look

A JamJar, bowl of spaghetti and a Tequila Sunrise later, but Ian couldn’t feel the effects of having had two pretty large drinks. A JamJar is usually served in a glass jar giving you roughly double the amount of alcohol that you would get in a normal cocktail, the next biggest option after that was the teapot, in which your drink is all mixed up in an old aluminum teapot.

The bill was settled and gifts gathered up and loaded into his car. The orchid would have to travel with Ian in the front.

‘Who gives someone an Orchid as a present, when they know they’re going partying afterward?’ mumbled Ian to himself in the car as they all drove out of the parking lot and headed for the Red Room. Not that Ian had anything against an Orchid for a gift, this would bring his Orchid collection to a total of five. ‘Why were all the girls so concerned that I wouldn’t be able to keep this one alive, 2 years later and all of mine are doing pretty damn well, one is even reflowering right now!’

As soon as they got to the Red Room, Ian took off his grey formal shirt, and feeling a lot like superman showing his true colours he revealed his Donny Darko shirt. A few of his friends got the odd smile on their faces and he knew what they were thinking. He wandered through the front door and the heavy metal music from within filled his ears, a whole bunch of familiar faces turned from inside and looked at him with smiles. It was a small community of people who frequented the Red Room, with every week the odd new face that would never be seen again, but the regulars all knew the other regulars there seemed to be an unsaid form of respect.

‘Oh its gonna be a good night!’ thought Ian, he went over to his best friend and said, ‘Guess I’ll see you later!’, it was a little thing between the two of them, ever since their college days whenever they knew it was going to be a good night of drinking and potential memory loss that was the saying that summed it all up! Somehow though, Ian has no memory of ever forgetting a party, but there in lies the rub. He would never truely know!!
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Written Date: 12/11/08
Word Count: 731 – Total Word Count: 3800 – Total Words Remaining – 46200

07 – Gum Blister Work

The stresses of life had landed Ian with a gum blister right near the back of his mouth.

‘Damn, I hate the way cuts in your mouth always make other parts of your mouth sore!’, thought Ian

The aching from the gum blister was creating false pains across his entire right back side of his mouth, feeling like he had major cavities in most of his teeth.

‘Aaagh, these things take ages to heal! Gonna have to live with this rubbish now till after my birthday probably.’, muttered Ian as he wandered through the house with his cuppa coffee. He had just finished his revision for his exam on Tuesday. Revision was one thing, the next few days were gonna be the worst committing all this to memory, Ian hated that part because the only thing that worked for him was repetition. Go over the same thing in his head, over and over. He’ll think about that later.

Right now the only major thing on his mind was to try and get a huge deadline out of the way at work. His boss had asked him to do something he did not specialise in, so it was causing him huge amounts of grief. It was a constant battle to try and understand what this boss wanted. Ian’s boss was worse than a little kids changing their minds about what toy they wanted to play with. Actually his boss had no major creative direction to give anyone, you simply had to start working and then he would tell you that he didn’t like it.

‘What kinda direction is that?!’ said Ian to his colleague
‘The kinda direction where if it looks pretty then he will like it, he’s a visual creature.’
‘I hate it, we need to serious direction from him. He is the creative director after all’

One thing Ian had to look forward to was dinner and movies with Gill. He was really keen to see her and was excited to see the clock hit 5. They had planned to meet at 6:15, so it didn’t leave him anytime to get home and wash up. He had thought about this the night before and was all dressed and ready for a date.

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Word Count: 380 – Total Word Count: XXX – Written Date: 07/11/08

06 – Old Friends

Outta the blue, Ian received both a phone call and an email from two old friends. Susan had taken maternity leave from her job some 5 years ago now, and Ian had gone into replace her. Once she came back to work, they had hit it off and became really close friends. It was so good to hear her voice, to chat and just catch up.

The second phone call was an acquaintance he had made only a few months ago, however both Gill and Ian had crazy busy lives and just never got to see each other. Gill was suddenly keen to catch up. Ian easily cleared his schedule and emailed her back. Gill was a romantic interest of Ians so he was always keen to spend time with her. It couldn’t be tonight though, he had planned to see his dad and get a few business problems straightened out.

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Word Count: 159 – Total Word Count: XXX – Written Date: 06/11/08

05 – Delicate Life

Life is beginning to take its toll on Ian, burning the candle at both ends. The last visit to his Dada had not given any good news. Turns out that during the week he has developed blood clots in the lungs and the doctors are now not willing to release him. The clots are making it hard to breathe. He is going to spend another 5 days in hospital, that effectively doubles the time that he should have been there. It worries Ian, his dad is a huge part of his life, a support structure, a wealth of knowledge Ian only wishes he could somehow tap into. Seeing his father with an oxygen mask on to try help breathing just digs up old painful memories of his gran mother. His last memories of her were, on her dying bed breathing through an oxygen mask, it just seems to terminal.

Ian just couldn’t handle going to the hospital to see him like that again, he had made plans on Sunday with Cindy to see a movie this evening, and simply didn’t feel like canceling on her. He needed to get distracted, to have his mind removed from all the stress in his life, and here was his ‘out’

Plans for his birthday party were coming together nicely, he had bulk text’d everyone in his phone. ‘I don’t have time to think about who to invite, and I’ll just hope who ever is keen comes on through!’, thought Ian. So far about 12 people had RSVP’d which sounded good to him.

Ian didn’t seem his normal self, ‘Life is flashing by me, and I feel like nothing is happening in my life, its stagnant! I’m getting older, but everything is happening to everyone else, why?!’ it had been a question on Ian mind for sometime now!

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Word Count: 302 – Total Word Count: XXX – Written Date: 05/11/08

04 – Work Days

The theology exam is approaching fast and since its summer Ian is taking full advantage of the sun being up early. He needs to get a good bit of studying in each day, according to his schedule. Keeping his dads business running has also been piled on top of his normal routine. Ian has a full time job of his own, luckily he only needs to be at work by 9am. He gets himself ready for work by 8 then gets into all his dads work for 45mins and then races through to work. This morning however, things didn’t go quiet as planned, he woke up in time to do half of his studying had to a sudden influx of orders which needed sorting out and invoices making.

‘Man, how am I supposed to get all this work done, eat, shower and get to work?!’, thought Ian.

Just as he had thought that Jayne came in, ‘Morning! We’re making scrambled eggs would you like some?’

‘Aaah, that sounds awesome!’

‘Okay, should be ready in 15mins’, said Jayne

‘Legend!’

Jayne was his brothers Fiance, she was currently staying with the family, the wedding is only 4 weeks away and life around the house is kicking into fever pitch as all the planning is coming to fuesion.

Ian got dropped off at work by his mom, since his car was still not working. He had organised with his mechanic to drop it off that evening. So that was one less thing to worry about. Work introduced stresses of its own, Ian has never had a great relationship with his boss, which has never made for a conducive work environment. The office was a beautifully designed open plan area that used to be a restaurant, it had two levels a lower ‘pit’ and an upper wooden deck where Ian sat. He hated the layout because during the summer months all the heat from the computers and people below would drift up and effectively bake his brain! You can’t work when your brain is fried! He had commented to his boss many times about the heat problem, and was constantly blown off with random excuses!

One consolation at work was a new girl working at another firm in the building. She has taken Ian’s fancy and seeing her always lightens the mood. Ian looks forward to seeing her at lunch as the whole building comes together for lunch at the canteen.
Only last week Ian had asked her out on a date, and she had given him quiet an answer. An answer that has kept him rather puzzled.

She had responded, ‘Yeah I am keen, I’m really keen.. but I must just tell you I am involved… but I am keen to go do drinks!’

It made him wonder if the ‘being involved’ was simply an ‘out’, or was she truely involved. Considering the latter he wondered why she would be so keen to go for drinks and considering how many times she’s winked at him, it all seemed rather odd.
Today however she was not down for lunch, he was sitting with his friends around the boardroom table when she came wandering through the canteen on her way out, she waved and winked at him again!

‘What?!’, thought Ian

Ian has decided to play it safe, he is enjoying the attention but right now his life is way to crazy to get involved with someone.

The joys of Ian’s boss continued that afternoon when he came into see Ian’s work and must have had a schizophrenic attack earlier in the day. Everything he had asked Ian to do in the morning had suddenly changed by the afternoon. That was the nail in the coffin for Ian!

‘I cannot work for this guy, constantly changing his mind, questioning my reasoning behind doing something, always watching over my shoulder! He’s a freaking back seat driver! Why doesn’t he do some work himself instead of designing stickers for his motor bike!’, thought Ian.

When Ian lost it, he lost it well and truly, but somehow he manages to maintain his behavior around other people. So he looks cool and collected, but he’s actually a volcano waiting to blow. His boss is gonna get a surprise sometime in the near future when he just quits and leaves them hanging! Its not like he doesn’t have other job offers around!

‘That’ll teach ‘em!’ thought Ian

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Word Count: 735 – Total Word Count: XXX – Written Date: 04/11/08

03- Recovery

Ian opened his eyes to find himself lying in his tent! It was still standing and the sun was shining against its walls, making the rain drops glisten. He rolled over and checked the time on his cell, 5:37am. He was not going to stay for brunch at the party, he wanted to get home, shower and be up at the hospital by 11 to see his dad. Ian could see how much the time he spent with his dad meant to him, it must be terribly lonely lying there all day in weird environment with strange people.

He just lay in bed, contemplating his next move, should he get up and start packing or just take it easy.

‘I hate that I am always up before everyone else’ though Ian, ‘why am I always the early bird? Oh well I’ll give it a few minutes!’

The day go under way pretty quickly after he heard a few tents unzipping and that was the sign. A cup of coffee and some patting on his tent to speed up the dying process, he was well on his way to getting out of there by 9am. The sun was drying the tent nicely, coz the last thing he wanted to do was fold up a wet tent. Turned out the bottom was still wet, so no matter what his plan he would have to set it up later at home again.

9am rolled around and Ian was on the road. Nice to be rolling and on his way home to another cuppa coffee and a good breakfast. Whilst unpacking the car he heard a hissing sound from under is bonnet.

‘Good grief, what’s that now, ergh, this car!!’, said Ian

Ian popped the hood and found a huge spray of water coming from a burst water hose. ‘Great! How did I miss that yesterday?’ thought Ian, ‘Dammit’

This caused huge complications, he could not fix his car now. He did not have an extra water hose to replace it with. He had lunch plans that afternoon. How was e gong to get around? He managed to organise that his friend would pick him up and give him a lift to and from lunch, and caught a lift with his mom to see his dad. Ian has a great relationship with his Mom and Dad, he still stays at home so when little irritations like his car become big irritations he has a support network to fall back on.

Dad was coming along fine, the operation had been successful and the recovery seemed to be going well. It was good news that Ian’s dad was able to get up out of bed on his own and walk around. The doctor had said that he would need to be only lying down or standing for the next 6 weeks. Having 3 vertebrae fused in your back is never fun. It disturbed Ian because he was tall and thin like his dad and the last thing he wanted to experience in life was a similar thing.

The rest of the afternoon was spent having lunch with Cindy. Ian and Cindy were close friends but only platonic. They enjoyed each others company and often partied, caught movies and had lunch together. It was a beautiful hot sunny day in africa, the gentle breeze gave a cooling touch to their skin. It made for the perfect summer day.

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Word Count: 568 – Total Word Count: XXX – Written Date: 03/11/08

01 – Its Gonna be a Rough Day!

He woke up, and sniffed to clear his nose.
Its been a weird past few days with life gaining momentum towards the birthday party, the theology exam, the bachelors party and finally the wedding! All this whilst maintaining a full time job and an active social life.

‘It feels like a cold coming on!’, He thought, ‘Now would not be a good time to get a cold, especially with dad in hospital! Ergh, suppose I better get up, everyone needs to pull some extra weight whilst he’s in hospital’

Ian got up, pulled on a pair of jeans and buckled the belt, which he had left in from the night before. He stood for a minute letting the world settle in for a second. It looked like he was contemplating weather or not to put on a T-Shirt, but finally did!

‘Okay so whats the plans for today?!’ He thought, ‘Hopefully I can just lay low and avoid doing any work today, it is Saturday after all!’

Even with that said Ian’s schedule was pretty packed compared to a regular weekend. He has some running around to do for his father, has to stay at the house to look after the gardener. In the afternoon He has to head up to the hospital during visitors ours, after which He was off to a camp over 29th birthday party at a friends farm.

‘Morning’, said Ian’s Mom

‘Morning’, muttered Ian as he headed for the toilet!

Chirp Chirp, went his cell phone in his pocket. His phone actually does sound like a bird. He had forgotten that was still there! It was a text from a friend to see if they could go running shoe shopping this morning. It had been 2 months that they had been trying to go shopping together, so suppose it was time to stop procrastinating and do it. It got added to the list of jobs!

Ian was just out on the road to start the first of His chores when the water temperature indicator started winking on the car. ‘Dammit!’, he said! He didn’t have time to fix something like that right now, especially not when meeting up with Rob to buy shoes in 30mins. He would have to fix that little annoyance at the next stop.

‘Its gonna be a rough day!!!’, mumbled Ian under his breathe

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Word Count: 392 – Total Word Count: XXX – Written Date: 01/11/08