Day 7

I have a confession. I wrote earlier that I have sworn myself off books until I finish mine (or the month of November, whichever comes first), but that wasn’t completely true. In the metro I sometimes read magazines (The Economist), newspapers (The Gazette or Le Devoir), or William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White’s The Element Style. It’s a book on writing. I haven’t yet made it pass the first chapter. As interesting as punctuation and syntax may be, I think many will agree that it isn’t enthralling just any old time. So I’ve been reading it slowly. Still, I figure that it’ll be a positive influence on my writing. I can’t say that I am applying everything for the simple reason that I haven’t been paying a lot of attention to punctuation and syntax, but I figure it’ll seep in some way.

Good news! My word count as of today: 12,543. 25% is already done! I’m starting to wonder about (and fret a little over) general layout; will this novel even fit nicely in 50,000 words? I might run out of space...

This evening I wrote in two Montreal cafés: Café République on Bernard (in Outremont) and Café Express on Parc/Bleury corner Milton. The Café Express has a huge table in the middle that would be perfect for a Nanowrimo write-in. Pity I only know one other person in this city who’s doing it, and there doesn’t seem to be any “regional leader.” Oh well.