Violence solves nothing but it sure makes the headlines

You know what's sad? That people in a modern civilised society feel they have to fall back on violence as the only way they'll be listened to. Because the ideas that David Cameron puts forward about 'asking the public' about where they want the budget cuts and 'measuring happiness' are just gimicks, and not even convincing ones. David Cameron doesn't care about the British people or the vulnerable members of society or the potential that's being wasted by making further and higher education fees prohibitively expensive except for the rich - but I think he does genuinely care about Britain and its economic prosperity. The budget cuts are tough and highly unfair, but you can't fault him for cutting spending. Unfortunately, he's hamstringing the average person as he goes.

And to anticipate one of the tiredest and most depressingly selfish arguments I've heard about this whole matter, it does affect everyone. OK, so some people went straight into work and never got the chance for university, but what if they had wanted the chance? What if they wanted more than anything to be a doctor or an environmental scientist? Hell, what if they wanted to be a plumber and needed a vocational qualification? What if they wanted to be a teacher? For that matter, what if the next great film-maker or an inspiring politician who could one day be PM doesn't follow their dream because they can't afford it? Just because you never had the opportunity (and are just fine without a degree), it doesn't mean your kids shouldn't have the opportunity. You're going to be the one telling them they can't study law because you can't afford it. You're going to be the one who has to put everything you earn into paying for their degree because with all the funding cuts, surely universities are going to only provide the minimum amount of bursaries they have to. If your children are grown and got through university already, how will they feel about their children coming out of university with truly crippling amounts of debt? Launching into the start of their adult life owing tens of thousands of pounds already with no guarantee that they'll get a job any time soon. This affects everyone. Except the people who are implementing it, because they can easily afford the new fees.

In this article in the Guardian the education secretary says that he will respond to arguments but not violence. Because, frankly, violent protests do not achieve anything beyond vilifying those who commit the violence. An awful, awful lot of people who would otherwise have shown sympathy for the student protests now say "Yes, but I can't condone or associate myself with a cause that involved violence towards the police." Hell, I truly care about the top-up fees issue (or, rather, the wider spending cuts issues) but I have a good friend who's a special in the Met (and would have been a full police officer now if the recruitment hadn't been cut) and if he was injured, my sympathy with the cause would be really difficult to maintain. But to anybody who justifies it by saying that to make an omelette, you have to break a few eggs - well, I suspect that's rather the PM's attitude too. And stop having a go at Nick Clegg - he's certifiably a slimy bastard who's ruined his political career now, but he probably did have pretty good reasons for betraying his voters.

My problem with the above quote from Michael Gove is that it's a lie. People tried arguments and no-one listened because as long as violence isn't involved it's OK to ignore protestors. The coverage is limited to one or maybe two articles per newspaper and it just reads a variation of "Students protest - nothing interesting happens". When peaceful protest is ignored, people who are both ideological and frustrated will take matters into their own hands, and they will get an awful lot more coverage in the newspapers. That photo of a hooded, anonymous student spraying 'Revolution' on a wall is now iconic. It's not right, and it's counter-productive, but it's also the way things go. Ignoring public dissent about measures that directly influence their finances and even their livelihoods has far-reaching consequences.

Sometimes the reverse is true, too...

So after yesterday's fluffy and bubbly post about how amazing NaNo is, I read Nicola Morgan's post on how some people might feel pressured into it. I guess I never even thought about it like that. For me, I never feel like I should do NaNo. For me, it is fun, pure and simple. It's the one month of the year where I feel I have a legitimate excuse to just sit down and write. I'll make myself write rather than playing computer games or wasting time on the Internet because 'it's just for one month' and after that I can go back to wasting time. I'll feel like a bit of me is missing if I don't write every single day. Basically, November is how I should be living my life if I ever want to be a published author. So I suppose for me it's a month of pretending I'm a real writer.

But seriously, it's geniunely not for everyone and, frankly, I don't produce my best work in November. I don't use any of the projects that are close to my heart for NaNo because I know I'll have to make some compromises of planning and thinking to get the daily word count. OK, the last two NaNos I've done have been things I don't think I would have ever produced without NaNo, but certainly the first one is distinctly pedestrian and the second one is an absolute mess. I never get a free bound copy of my book from the NaNo offer because it's never fully drafted by the time the offer expires, so it would be a waste to me.

I love NaNo and try and make sure everyone knows about it, but it's not useful to everyone and could in fact set some people back. I suspect I'm always going to do it, though, because it's a month to just go for it, not thinking, not doubting, not looking back. It's refreshing and revitalising and (eventually) exhausting, like an impulsive and ill-advised sprint down a beach that leaves you panting and painful, but was totally worth it. But not everyone sees the point in running down a beach, or even understands your motivation in doing so. And very few people want to sprint all the time!

An update

It's three days in and I'm already behind. Food and water are getting scarce and I think I heard something rustling in the bushes last night...

I've only done about 1200 words of my primary NaNo but about 3000 words of a secondary one which is designed to stop me from putting more adult content in my primary (which is a Young Adult novel) by giving me somewhere else to work out those violent, sexy, foul-mouthed and cynical itches I can't put in my primary. It currently looks like my primary is the winner right now, but I'm trying to work on both so I don't get bored. Not sure how I'll work it out in the end, since I had started my secondary before November, so it's technically cheating, but I'm hoping that added together the words I write in November on the two pieces will make 50,000. Must...resist...temptation to just write the violent, sexy piece and actually write the other one, because if I don't, the characters that need to be in it will never exist.

One of the best aspects of the NaNoWriMo site is the large archive of pep-talks dating from 2007 to the current year. These pep-talks are also sent out via e-mail to participants who've signed up on the website, but it's good to have past years archived. They're definitely worth looking at, as event organisers Chris Baty and Lindsey Grant write regular pep-talks for every week of the process and one before and after November itself, and they also get established authors to write pep-talks, which are often wonderful if you're a fan of the author. You'll find Philip Pullman, Neil Gaiman, Gail Carson Levine, Robin McKinley, Jonathan Stroud, Piers Anthony, Meg Cabot, Kelley Armstrong, and many, many more. Also, Kristin Cashore, whose blog (and writing!) I am a big fan of, wrote a pep talk one year and still blogs about NaNo, and Nicola Morgan is also supportive of it on her blog. The one thing to be wary of is that while Chris Baty's pep-talks are organised and dated by year and date (so you can tell at what point in the month you are meant to read them), the others are organised alphabetically and it's impossible to tell what time of the month they refer to, which can occasionally be an issue. So I made myself a handy chart of 2008/2009 (I wasn't doing it in 2007) so I could remember when to read the pep-talks. Of course, most of them are just general advice, but it's a bit unnerving to open one up and read "Congratulations! You've finished your novel, isn't it a great feeling?" when you're only a week in. They are definitely worth a read, though, and a really great motivator.

The Forums are lovely and a great place to go if you feel lonely or angsty or frustrated. There are word wars, inspirational prompts, dares and challenges, and plot-solvers aplenty. It's a great community and a fun place to be. For those who've formally signed up and are keeping their wordcount up to date (I'm infamously bad for forgetting to do so), there are cool charts and stats for your progress, as well as guilt-tripping things saying you're behind schedule and what your current cumulative goal is. There's almost daily news on the site throughout November, videos, the personal experience of spotlit NaNo writers, a massive cumulative wordcount of all NaNos put together and a 'Procrastination Station' where you can find challenges, dares and suggestions of things to do when you're bored. Overall, the support provided by the Office of Letters and Light is phenomenal and a big part of why NaNo is so brilliant and successful.

On the downside today, if the university puts up its fees for the second year of my part-time MA in accordance with the government report, I will probably not be able to afford to do my second year. But that's fine, though, because I'm being self-indulgent by doing further education in a non-vocational subject, right? I mean, I should probably get a real job and become a useful member of society instead of splitting my time between a part-time job, a part-time degree and working towards what I hope will someday come to fruition as a writing career. After all, survival is what matters, not self-fulfilment or being all you can be. The intellectual disciplines are dead because they are not useful, and do not serve the great Capitalists in the sky, unless I'm rich enough to cough up almost treble the previous fees or poor enough and doing a pre-decided subject area that means I can get support.

Ugh, sorry, I sound like an overexcited Socialist (not that I have anything against Socialists in general), but it really gets me down. We're ending up in a world that is putting the divides back up so the only people who can access purely intellectual disciplines are the rich, and the poor must become the workers once more. I'm glad I've got my BA at least, but I really feel sorry for those who are coming to the end of their schooling and have to start making decisions about university. What the hell legacy are we leaving? Without the arts and humanities, you end up with a functioning society that works like clockwork, but that's not enough for a civilisation.

On the other hand, today brought good news of the developments of medical technology: read this report on a retinal implant to help a blind man and see if it doesn't warm your cockles just a little.

It begins

Oh God, it's the 1st of November. That means NaNoWriMo 2010 has officially begun.


I have a load of reading for tomorrow's seminar and I'm working extra today to make up for the hours I have to spend at my seminar. I have an idea but haven't started work yet. I have another thing weighing on me for stuff I have to do that is way overdue.


*sigh* sounds like the month's begun. But you know what? That's totally OK, because one of my friends got some awesomely awesome promising project news on Saturday about her artwork and I am suddenly insanely happy for her, and hopeful for the rest of us who are still working towards that first step. She deserves every success this brings her, and so much more in the future :D


So ups and downs, and starting the month at a nice even keel. Unlike last year, I didn't start my novel early (I made compensated for it in the word count), and unlike the year before that, I do have an idea before I start writing. In fact, I basically have the whole thing plotted out roughly, which is good (and unusual). I'm psyched about the idea but I won't die inside if it doesn't come to anything or turns out awful.

BPAL of today: Fearful Pleasure :)

"I try to leave out the parts people skip" - one of my favourite quotes about writing, from Elmore Leonard.