It was exactly a year ago today I started this novel-writing adventure. I feel a little mixed about the whole thing actually. I mean, ultimately it’s cause for celebration (which is why I hunted down this birthday-tiramisu-with-one-candle pic…)
But it is also the day when I had planned to have the novel completed, so I have a bit of guilt around that. Could I have done better this year? Could I have watched fewer episodes of The Simpsons? Could I have spent more than a half-hour average per day working on the novel?
Yes, yes, and yes.
But on the positive side, I am still writing (wrote some this morning in fact, in celebration…) and I’m still excited about the novel. Compared to my previous track record in the world of novelling, that’s a huge success.
Right now, I think Christmas is a realistic goal. I’m into Part 3 of four sections, and the story is starting to really click together. All it takes now is sitting down and doing the work.
In other news: I got caught up in a neat little Twitter trend last night: #ClassicRockNovels. As the hashtag suggests, it is a mashup of rock songs/rock-related things with book titles/literary things.
Yes, I know. Ultimately it’s a useless exercise that’s only a few rungs up from The Simpsons in the Classic Time Wasters category. But hey, it was also a lot of fun and it got my creative juices flowing.
Here are a few of my favourites (see the end of this post for the latest suggestions):
- 2001: A Space Oddity
- Fleetwood MacBeth
- I Never Promised You a Sound Garden
- Alice Cooper Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
- Fahrenheit 867-5309
- Pride (In the Name of Love) & Prejudice
- Oliver Twist & Shout
- Horton Hears The Who
- Ali Baba O’Riley & The Forty Thieves
- In-A-Gadda Da Vinci Code
- Misty Mountain Hop on Pop
- Burning Down the House of Green Gables
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Earth, Wind, and Fire
- I Know Why the Freebird Sings
- I’m Rick James and the Giant Peach, Bitch!
- Lady Chatterley’s Turbo Lover
- The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective Village People
Here are some favourites of the ones I came up with:
- Hey Cujo
- I, Mr. Roboto
- Who Let the Dogs Out of Africa?
- The Proper Order of Things We Said Today (by friend-of-the-blog Tara Benwell)
- On the High Road Again (by friend-of-the-blog Terry Fallis)
- The Boy from the Invisible Sun (by friend-of-the-blog Duncan Weller)
- Jessie’s Girl, Interrupted
- Living on a Prayer for Owen Meany*
- Are You There God? It’s Me, Maggie Mae…
- The Three Little War Pigs
- Jack and Jill and Diane
- Rock Around the Clockwork Orange
- Fight Club 54
I tried to come up with one for The Great Gatsby, but failed. It’s a tough one — there were actually a few attempts, but the best one I saw was: The Great GatsB-52’s. Not quite perfect, but not bad.
Did you see any favourites? Have a couple of ideas of your own? Drop them in the comments below!
~Graham
Novel Writing Hours
Today (so far): .5
To Date: 172.75
*This one seems to have been repeated by a few others, but if someone else came up with it first, I didn’t see it before I wrote it… That’s true of all of my “entries”.
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