Sprinting + Away

Sprinting. Not the kind that involves sweat and pain. The kind that involves you and a bunch of other like-minded writers all writing together at the same time.

When I first heard about sprinting I have to confess I was a little sceptical. How could sprinting be any different from any other time I am writing? How could it possibly help get more words out?

During 2008 NaNoWriMo I joined in, not wanting to disregard it completely. Confession time. I was wrong. I was pushing out numbers in 30 minutes that I had no hope of doing on my own. I am a convert.

So over the past week I have been sprinting. Not as often as I would like, but the few occasions I could spare. And in those few nights of sprinting I managed 30 pages. THIRTY pages. I was stunned when I sat back and counted. Thank you to those wonderful ladies who have been sprinting with me.

Why does it work? Because it's a short burst, separated by chatting with the other sprinters in a chat room. To know others are writing with you, trying their hardest to get as many words out pushes you along. At the end you report back, congratulate or commiserate. Chat about how it is going or ask for help. But above all there is a feeling of companionship, understanding and friendship.

I love Sprinting. I just wish it burnt calories like the other kind.

Please forgive me if I don't respond to any comments to this blog for a week or so. As of tomorrow I will be internet-less (eek) for week while the family and I are on holidays.

Word Counts

50,000 words.

That is my goal. 50,000 words. My work in progress is aimed at Harlequin Mills and Boon Sweet so the size of my ms is already determined.

But how do I tell just how many words I've written?

I know there are two different ways of calculating word count.
1. The actual word count
2. The number of pages x 250 (when your page is set up to hold 25 lines).

Originally I'd been following the first method. But then I heard on the grapevine that publishers were more concerned with the number of pages in a book, so I switched to option 2.

Last night I celebrated breaking the 20,000 mark. But then I was told that Harlequin tend to just want the actual word count these days, back to 18,000. Bang. Just like that.

So how am I supposed to count my words?

Awards Dinner

Last, but certainly not least, in my series of blogs about the RWAust Conference and what (not) to wear, is the awards dinner.

I saved this one until last as it is the only event for which I have absolutely no idea what the dress code is!! I would guess probably not formal wear (which is a shame, because that I could do). But just how dressy, or informal, is the night?

Please, if you can cast any light on this matter I would love to hear from you.

Not really knowing where to turn to hunt down an outfit for the dinner, I turned to the experts - the desginers at the Paris Fashion Show Fall-Winter 2009.

So ladies, according to them, I guess this is what we should be wearing:
Alexander Wang



Dolce & Gabbana



Donna Karan




Ralph Lauren





As for what I'm wearing... I've no idea! My wonderful CP has offered to Trinny and Susannah my wardrobe, so I guess I'll work it out the day before. Aack.