Hi everybody!
Just opening my laptop and getting on with it! My chapter is a bit sparse on details which means that I get to play around and have fun, hehehehe.
Sure! Get 'em in early.
WHAT!? 
Well, thanks for that, PF. Nothing like a bit of pressure to aid the digestion. I’m so much more than discombobulated I think I need to lie down.
Is Belinda Balloons a priestess … or … a princess? Pangur’s lost his spectacles … 
:
So, I have a soft/hard deadline query: I’ve been caught up most of the day, and it’s now hit past midnight in my timezone - by the time I wake up it’ll be about 8pm UK time… So long as it’s in a few hours after that (but not after midnight UK time), is that still acceptable (if not ideal)?
Sorry for the delay!
Sent. As much as I “disliked” the premise, I found this one particularly easy to write. I’m sure you will once again tell me “READ thE DAMN BRIEF AND START OVER”.
some things I think I did better on this year.
• Never had more then 2k words. one year I had over 7k that I cut back to 2k
• I think I had a decent character moment of realization (probably not supposed to be there but IT’S MY FORKING CHAPTER!!!
• The use of adult language was better.
• Piggy made it dang near impossible to get any livid sex in there, but vic-k will still find it.
Things I completely sucked at…
• I prefer boxers so I didn’t pack briefs.
• I think I may have tried to hard to have a character moment. It feels a bit forced but I still like what’s there.
• I don’t have the appropriate canine companion so I kind of dumped this out with less playfulness.
• I forgot to make breakfast.
Looking forward to
- Piggy’s normal rejection of my initial submission
- Seeing who barely makes it in on time.
- Reading the collected short stories and thinking “How the fork did I go so far from what was clearly so obvious to everyone else?” Aka my normal feeling about NiaD.
Finally…
WHEN IS THE NEXT NIAD!?!?!?!
Remember to blame Grrrrrr for this.
Halfway through my rough draft and taking a break because I have to have breakfast and take my pills. I’m hoping I don’t lose my thread while I’m eating.
How’s everyone else doing?
Midnight is the absolute hard deadline. But don’t tell anyone that as any more than just a few at that time make my life harder. 
That said though, if anyone is coming up on the 8pm “soft” deadline and think their draft would benefit from a break for a cup of tea then another quick look over, then I’d much much* prefer people do that than send me another version at 10:45pm after I’ve already compiled an earlier version!!!
*much
GO GO GO
This one just rolled off. Was at the writing table at 6 to do a rewrite on about 300 word to meet the first person, got that done and made coffee about 6:10. Looked up and realized… I’m one at 8:30!
God I love NiaD weekend. Piggy sets a epic quest! We all do our best version of being Fordo! Then we all get to laugh at the results! It all just reminds me how grand my life is.
Oh good. I won’t spread it around, but I can barely keep my.eyes open and figure that a coherent chapter will be better than none! You’ll have it before the hard deadline, at least
Sorry for making life that little more difficult!!
Do you use chapter titles, sai Piggy? I created one to keep myself focused on my piece, but I can delete it if need be.
Not “start over” but I have emailed you on one point…
And the expected rejection letter has arrived…
So having got a first draft all the way through now (which exceeds the target, thankfully) it’s painfully clear that I’ve filled in a lot on the first half of my chapter brief and not very much on the second half! I suspect the second half is important for setting up my successor, so the next task is to try and find the mental energy to put into the second bit and make it feel less like a random collection of half-baked thoughts…
It’s fun this lark, isn’t it
I’m almost done! I just need to check it through once more, Maybe twice. Maybe thrice? Then get nervous about it before I click “send”.
Hey there Goth… If you think about most story archs I think you will find that the post climax portions are … deflating letdowns at best. I tend to focus on the brief the same way you do. Which is setting my chapter up base on my climax. What I started to do with this year is actually write the end first THEN write the setup. There is still more to the first part … the “fore-story” if you will … but the climax really delivers.
Now if I could only successfully apply this to other activities…
We’ll only have the chapter name and your author byline.
Understood, thank you. I’m about halfway through!
First draft all done. Now, I’m going to take an hour break, and that will leave me three hours for editing. (Hopefully, it will only take me one!)
Sorry to all writers, I didn’t mean to cause a curfuffle with my early submission, I just have a flight to get on and didn’t want miss the deadline!