So, from today I will only be updating www.thezombiechimp.com. So please head over there and follow me, like me, favourite me, or whatever you had done on cheddarnightmares.wordpress so you don’t miss out on my rantings.

See you on the other side.

Jim

Why did I do this? For a number of reasons really. I’m the same person writing on both blogs so why should I split up my audience? This also leads to the much more practical solution of only having to look after one blog, one Facebook page, one set of updates etc. Everything just gets sooo much easier this way.

This will likely take me a bit of time, so please bear with me if the posts become a little scarce on the ground during this time. When the time has come to unveil it, I’ll write a post, set up re-directs, contact affiliates and any followers etc.

I haven’t even looked at how this bad boy will be made, but I hope to get something out by the start of the new year. I’ll keep you posted. (You see what I did there? Clever eh?)

That’s not to say that I haven’t done any writing, on the contrary I’ve been averaging a few thousand words a day but they have all been on other projects or blogs, so it’s a complete ball-ache to have to come back and write more. The emphasis is on the ‘have to’ part of that sentence.)

So, what ingenious way am I going to get through today’s Dailypost? Well I’ve thought long and hard about it (Well, more sort of half-assed and quickly but the result was the same.)

I urge people to just write a comment. It doesn’t have to be about this, it can be about something that’s peed you off or something you just have to say, or maybe some random thing about an iguana getting a haircut, it really is up to you…

…oh, and don’t just put a link to your blog in there, unless it’s done in a constructive or interesting way of course.

What are my expectations here? Honestly they’re pretty low but if I can get five comments I will consider this as a success.

So, over to you…

It's a tenuous link to the Flash Fiction. I know it's not a good link.

Since I crossed the 50,000 word count mark last week, I haven’t had ‘much opportunity’ to write much more. Well no, OK that’s not strictly true I have had time to play Skyrim and the Star Wars : Old Republic beta test so I guess I did have the time I just didn’t use it for writing.

My problem was that on the 23^rd I wrote myself into a literary cul-de-sac. I didn’t worry about it too much then because I had enough idea’s to get me the word-count I needed. Unfortunately, I then had to break my flow as I went back to the  planning stage to figure out just what the Jesus-cribbins I was going to do for an ending.

I then I get busier than I had been in a while and I it slipped a little further down in my priorities list. Maybe the pressure of the set-word count was all it took to keep me writing and to keep up my focus.

Maybe that’s the solution then. It wouldn’t be a bad thing if I started tracking my word count. Not just the word-count for my novel, but generally making a note of how many words I write over the day, whether it is for my blogs or my novel or an article etc.

Ah, you gotta love an excuse for a spreadsheet… Yes, I’m a nerd. Sorry.

Where was I going with all that? Oh, yes. Well I managed to write another 1000 words today bringing my novel up to 51k. More importantly, I have nearly all the ending sorted. There’s a few gaps here and there but I’m sure they’ll get filled in when I get to them.

Anyhow, another 100 word ’3 out of 5′ flash fiction.

The words are…

• morals
• crown
• rebel
• nanny
• turf

Sarah and Monkey didn’t like their nanny. She had always said ‘it was for their own good’ and that it ‘hurt her more than it hurt them’, but how could it?

Every time she had stuffed turf into their mouths when they had sworn, or made them wear that rusty metal crown while she locked them in the coal cellar. How could that be hurting her at all?

She said that they couldn’t tell their mummy or daddy about it. She said they would be angry at them for being naughty.

They don’t mean to be so naughty.

The five words are…

• reason
• walking stick
• politician
• tattoo
• lighthouse

…and this is what I did with them.

***

He still couldn’t remember the night he had gotten his tattoo. The picture of a lighthouse that adorned his calf was a constant reminder of what an empty stomach and a bottle of JD could do.

Getting the tattoo was a mistake but it was nicely done. However, there were also two pairs of very expensive lingerie and a walking stick littering his bedroom floor that morning. His groin ached a little and he was sure that he had enjoyed himself the night before, but who were they and where had they gone?

So once more I delve into the random word generator that will give me the five words from which I am to choose three to use.

Normal stuff from here, if you want to have a go by all means do so, if you want to comment you can do that as well.

Here you go…

• False teeth
• Strategy
• Fight
• Cottage
• Barber

Interesting words, and this time I shall try to not end it with a death as my flash fictions tend to.

P.S. Well I avoided death but it’s not a happy story.

P.P.S Photo courtesy of www.chuckmanchicagonostalgia.wordpress.com

***

The barber snuffed out the last remaining candles. His cottage was lit only by the moonlight that struggled to fight its way through the clouds.

He tightly gripped on to the banister rail, his knees creaking with every step as he entered his bedroom.

Sitting on the bed, the barber picked up the sepia photo from the dusty bedside table and stared at the young woman smiling back at him through the polished photo frame.

That happy and energetic woman in the photo was how he would always remember her.  Could she still remember him?

...Why do I get the feeling's it's now 'over'?

I’ve planned my heart out today so the end of my novel is starting to come together. Unfortunately this has left me with very little time to write my Daily Post.

So, in the format familiar to many of you, below are five words. I’ll be using three of them to write a piece of 100 word flash-fiction.

As always, if you wish to have a go yourself or just leave me a comment, please do so.

Words incoming!

• butcher
• figure
• graph
• opera
• crash

…and off we go.

***

The nickname hurt him. They called him the butcher. Not because he killed and maimed people or worked in a butcher’s shop. He was the butcher of opera, of arias, song’s and medleys.

He was a little unpractised, sure, but he was a good singer. With a little more practise he could be famous, he just knew in his heart that one day everyone would know of him.

After the crash, no-one ever called him by his nickname. With each telling of the tale, his talent became a little  more exaggerated.

‘The Butcher’ never knew how famous he was destined to become.

Leaving NaNo aside for at least a day, I’m going to do a small piece of 100 word flash fiction, in a similar style to ones I have done before. I have to write 100 piece of flash fiction using the following 3 words.

If you want o have a go, by all means do so. Either link to your blog or copy and past it directly in the comments.

The three words are

• zebra
• order
• taxi

So, assuming I side-step the rather obvious ploy of writing about a zebra trying to order a taxi, It might take a bit of thought, this one.

***

He carried on about his day, he picked up people, drove them around and then dropped them off. There was nothing different about the taxi driver’s day so far.

Yet there it sat; the brown bag with the orange zebra print, waiting for its time. It had been left there by the last passenger. He had ordered the taxi to drive him to the embassy and to wait until he came back. The taxi driver looked at his clock, and watched the meter tick. It had been nearly 10 minutes.

They say the explosion was heard three miles away.

Related articles

• Fiercely Fresh Flash Fiction (danielleheath.wordpress.com)
• The Infinite Possibilities Of Flash Fiction (pittsburghflashfictiongazette.com)

I did it.  I finished NaNo. I have climbed the first step in my 100+ step journey to getting a novel published.

As I have probably mentioned on several occasions, these are my next steps…

• Go back to the planning stage, and sort out exactly how this mongoose-poop crazy novel is going to end.
• Finish my first draft (Definitely the over-arching priority)
• Do the other gazillion steps.
• Get published.

So, a smug and nauseatingly happy smile to everyone in NaNo this year, and good luck for those last few days.

Now, I know that barring any freak accidents I am going to complete NaNo.  It made my paranoia at the start of the week look even more silly, but I’m just so psyched that I am going to do this.

I know this might be a little premature, as I still have to write those last few words. Then I have to finish the novel itself but for now I am happy to revel in a near completion. Of course the real reveling will be either tomorrow or Thursday when I finish NaNo itself.

If anyone deserves chocolate tonight, it’s me…

P.S. There’ll be more chocolate tomorrow as well…

Related articles

• NaNoWriMo Follow Up (inurbase.wordpress.com)
• NaNoWriMo Update (nilaewhite.wordpress.com)