Word count: 1100
My worst fears have come to pass. I use electronic apps to borrow library books. They are super neat. I have also recently taken to placing a hold on books that are very popular. I do tend to read a lot of older stuff because it’s often at a reduced price. So as part of my book buying, I now check if the library has a copy before I cough up the cash.
I reserved: The shape of Water by Guillermo del Toro, Norse mythology by Neil Gaiman, Time Travel by James Gleick, Call me by your Name by André Aciman and I recently grabbed a physical copy of An absolutely Remarkable thing by Hank Green when I saw it on the ‘new releases’ shelf. [I know I’ve read the book and the screenplay for Call me by Your name but this is the audiobook. It’s different, I tell you. Different.]
The app tells you how many copies the library has, how many people are waiting for each copy, and where your place is in the queue, along with an estimated date when it will automatically ping onto your electronic shelf.
I had them all nicely spaced out. One was meant to come in 2019. But NOOOO… they all came in within the space of two days. EEK. And I’m doing Nanowrimo!
Goddammit, universe.
What happened? Did a loved one buy them all a copy? Was there a sale on audiobooks I missed? I used to take pride in returning a book early but now I worry that maybe I too, am messing up someone’s carefully spaced library borrowing schedule. Should I wait until it is electronically ‘returned’ from my account? What IS the etiquette on library holds?
Plus, today kid 1 plonked down on the couch and announced he was going to watch ‘I Claudius’. What? No… I’m trying to write here!
To expand: I saw the series decades ago when it was on TV. [it was maybe 1978? Decades… seriously.] It has always been on my ‘to buy’ list but I had trouble finding it. Then, recently, I was in my local Target and a lot of things were on sale before a store reorganisation and I saw a boxed set of British Drama DVDs. It had: I Claudius, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The first two series of Poldark (the 1970’s one), and Lady Chatterley (the Sean Bean version) and it was $5. Insane price. I already had Sean, but it was a no brainer.
So I’m sitting metres away with my headphones on but I wasn’t listening; really, I wasn’t. I kept shouting “I’m not listening” occasionally to confirm it. But omg Brian Blessed was so young (and beardless… it’s just WRONG). And Ian Ogilvy (sighs)… and was that Inspector Wexford? And gah the ladies…
But this post is about Nanowrimo, right?
Today, I battled some monsters and trundled out 1100 words, no problem. But what I realised was I was pantsing it. I have no plan, and no plot. Besides the fact that I’m still trying to work out how 4theWords works*, I don’t even know what the heck this story is about. I don’t even have names for my main characters. With the heatwave, I was watering my plants, and I suddenly shouted, “Sage!” as I watered my herbs. Is that my heroines’ name? I don’t know. Tonight I might take a couple of hours and scribble it all out on index cards.
Oooh… what if the hero’s name is Ian? [Look… they were doing the Roman body scrape thing and he was naked… and I am weak…] Or Sean? Wait… what was the name of Lady Chatterley’s game keeper? Oliver.
Ha. That’s it.
*it seems I signed up in May 2016 and I really have no memory of that.