Remember the 'Vember!

I wrote this last week and didn't post...

Well, it's only a few days - two weeks, actually - until I go travelling for a bit, returning in 2012. I've been trying to resist the urge to bundle 2011 up prematurely and start making all those promises to myself that I did last year (write more, finish the novel, become a better person...) but there's still, like, a tenth of it to go, so who knows what's coming next?

I couldn't help but moan in frustration when I got an e-alert from a writing forum, entitled 'Silly Season approaching' - the silliness in question being the mustachioed men of Movember and the 'I've-always-had-a-book-inside-me' ambitions of NaNoWriMo. Predictably - I rarely see things in black-and-white these days - I have mixed feelings on the latter although, ultimately, if someone can write a decent novel in a month, who am I to judge, simply because I can't do it in a year! Some people need the discipline of a strict time-frame, and I should probably include myself in that category. Having said that, I understand why people react negatively to projects such as this: to the casual observer, it can make writing seem easy, like you can just pick up a pen and out comes this bestseller, as if writing is a hobby on a par with crossword-filling and stamp-collecting. A few hours set aside here and there, and a well-structured, grammatically immaculate 90,000 word gem comes out. Voila!

Anyway, since I last updated, we've had Halloween, Bonfire Night, the seven billionth person on the planet, a resignation from Berlusconi (if he really exists) in addition to signs Europe is on the brink of financial collapse... oh yeah, and more annual poppy controversy (including Royal intervention). With all this in mind, it does feel as if there is a certain silliness in the air, or at least a lot of trivialisation and crassness. And I don't really want to qualify that comment much further, except to say :P

I'm hoping the next week or so goes smoothly, catching up with old friends, wrapping up work projects etc, and I'll continue to update until I head off.

Embracing the "silliness" in the meantime!