Mad month

November is going to be a crazy month.

I've signed up to tackle NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month. The aim is to write a novel of at least 50,000 words during November. Plots, outlines and characters can be created beforehand, but the actually penning, or typing, of the text must take place in November.

At last check, more that 173,000 writers across the world had signed up. That's a lot of words, coffees, late nights and tortured creative types. So if a writer you know seems particularly stressed in November, cut them a bit of slack.

First steps, fear and following through

I’ve discovered a new phobia: Twitters-fear.

I’ve joined Twitter - @AlexFairhill - and I’m stumped about what to write for my first tweet.

I’m reasonably new to the social media game. I’ve had a Facebook account with the privacy set to maximum for years and have tried hard to avoid the ‘what I had for breakfast’ trap, but blogging and Twitter are foreign lands and languages. So why, you may ask, am I doing it? Two reasons: to sharpen up my writing skills, and because I need to. And I do love to travel, even if it is while chained to a desk.