Welcome
Las Ketchup - The Ketchup Song
Welcome to NaNoWriMo 2019. As well as being the 1stday of the awesome novelling adventure, the 1stof November is an auspicious date in Austria. On this day in 1814, the Congress of Vienna, chaired by Metternich, took place and I bet they chain-smoked their way through the negotiations. Well, not any more. Today Austria introduces a ban on smoking in cafes, restaurants and bars. This could play quite a crucial role in my novelling, as this year’s protagonist won’t be drifting around Vienna for meetings in smoke-filled cafes. So he either has to give up (unlikely) or stand shivering in doorways. I could, of course, set the novel in pre-ban times, and put Domingo’s appearance at the opera at the end of the novel. Hmmm, plenty to think about.
Day 1 did not start well. 127 words and writer’s block set in. But refilling the coffee cup, turning off the playlist and polishing my pen all helped to get me back into the groove and I soon had 1800 words under my belt. I had forgotten the sheer joy of just allowing the story to unleash itself, and despite careful character planning, they are already taking on new personae. Fingers crossed that I can keep the momentum going.
Basking in the triumph of having started this year’s novel, I wanted to get my words uploaded and start earning my writing badges, but NaNo has changed its website and I can’t see how to upload text for word-count verification. I’ve tried the forums and Twitter, but at the time of writing, no luck on finding a solution, so I’ve had to manually input the figures. I don’t suppose it matters, but I miss the frisson of excitement of watching the dial whir round and deliver a validated word-count. Hey-ho …
And as for the content? We start with a scene in the protagonist’s flat, where he’s trying to pull together the evidence of the scandal that will shake the foundations of the art world. Ok, so I don’t know the details of the scandal yet, but that’s the joy of participating in NaNoWriMo.
The first track on the playlist is The Ketchup Song, by Las Ketchup. I’m opting for a cheerful playlist this year, revisiting songs that I associate with happy memories. The Ketchup Song provided us with many laughs and giggles in the Währinger Strasse years. Disappointingly, I discovered that I had forgotten the dance movements …
Word Count: 1843
Cumulative Word Count: 1843