How are you getting on with Nano as we approach the end of the second week?
I've found this past week to be really productive, and the milestones have started to clock up. On Monday, I reached the 20,000 words mark, followed by 25,000 words by Wednesday (which signaled the half-way point of my Nanowrimo word count goal) and this afternoon I leapt through 30,000 words.
Being part of a Nano writers' group is definitely a great help and provides a lot of motivation. I achieved my personal best daily word count on Tuesday because, after reaching my goal of 2,000 words (plus a little bit more) during the day, we had a Zoom write-in where I wrote almost 2,000 more.
Another big motivation is the words tracker on the Nano website. It's a small thing, but it's really encouraging to update your word count and see the bar moving closer to the end. I also like the stats the site provides, such as the graph that shows you if you're staying on track, how many words you need to write that day to keep up, and your average daily word count (mine is 2,431 words).
We've got another write-in tomorrow on Zoom, which I'm looking forward to as I find motivation for writing at the weekend is lacking. Hopefully I'll get stuck in and write another 2,000 words towards the end goal of 50,000!
I love reading the Did You Know? section on imdb after watching films and TV shows, so today I'm sharing 12 behind-the-scenes facts about my new book, The 12 Christmases of You & Me.
1.
One of the first things Maisie hears whenever she travels back in time is a festive song. The inspiration for this came from Gavin & Stacey, where most of the episodes begin with a phone call between the pair. I liked the idea of having a ‘rule’ that signaled the start of each time-travel episode and thought a festive song would be perfect.
Jonas Brown’s name was inspired by characters from Netflix's Dark (Jonas Kahnwald) and Back To The Future (Doc Brown)
4.
50,000 words of the first draft of the book were written during November 2019 for Nanowrimo. It was my first attempt at Nano and I’m doing it again this year.
5.
If you've read The Little Teashop of Broken Hearts, you might recognise Val's Cafe.
6.
While I was planning the book, I was re-watching Glee on Netflix and decided to name Maisie's siblings after characters from the show.
7.
If you do the maths, Maisie’s ‘present day’ is 2020 – but there isn’t a hint of Coronavirus (it wasn’t a thing when I started writing the book in October 2019, and I prefer Maisie’s Covid-free world).
8.
The pubs frequented in The 12 Christmases of You & Me can be found in some of my other books:
The Star Inn (The Little Teashop of Broken Hearts)
The Farthing (The Wedding Date and Everything Changes But You)
9.
TV also inspired Anya's name, because I was re-watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and then Angelwhile writing the book.
10.
And speaking of Buffy and Angel... one of Jonas' looks was inspired by Spike from the shows.
11.
The character of Karina Davis was named after one of my newsletter subscribers. I put a call out for a name in one of my newsletters and Karina's name was picked out of the hat!
12.
The 12 Christmases of You & Me starts on 12th November ('we’ve only just survived the onslaught of
trick-or-treaters, and Bonfire Night was only a week ago') and this date was chosen for a specific reason; it's a very important date in Back to the Future as it's the date when not only does George kiss Lorraine at the Enchantment Under The Sea Dance for the first time (thus ensuring Marty is born), it's the night the clock tower is struck by lightning.
What if you could go back in time and fix the biggest mistake of your life?
Two years ago, Maisie’s best friend walked out of her life and she hasn’t heard from him since. When she wakes up in 1994, she naturally assumes she’s dreaming. But when she finds herself in the past again the next night and her actions in the dream alter her present-day life, she begins to wonder if she’s somehow hopping back in time. And if she is time-travelling, can she save her friendship with Jonas?
When Maisie is forced to relive Christmases of the past, will she face up to her mistakes, or make them all over again? The 12 Christmases of You & Me is a magical tale of friendship, first loves, and learning to live in the present.
In my time-travel rom com, The 12 Christmases of You & Me, Maisie travels back in time to Christmases of her past, and we're going to travel back with her and find out what was happening during the years she goes back to.
First up is 1994, when Wet Wet Wet was number one in the charts for a million weeks (15) with 'Love is All Around', The Lion King was topping the film charts, and Grant Mitchel was about to drop a bombshell in The Vic...
Christmas Number One:
Stay Another Day (East 17)
Big Chart Hits in the UK:
Love Is All Around (Wet Wet Wet)
Saturday Night (Whigfield)
Stay Another Day (East 17)
Baby Come Back (Pato Banton)
I Swear (All-4-One)
Without You (Mariah Carey)
Always (Bon Jovi)
Crazy For You (Let Loose)
Things Can Only Get Better (D:Ream)
Doop (Doo)
Highest Grossing Films:
The Lion King
Forrest Gump
True Lies
The Mask
Speed
Events, Music & TV:
Chaka Demus & Pliers have the first number one single of the year with 'Twist & Shout'
The New Adventures of Superman, starring Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher, airs on the BBC in January
The first lesbian kiss before the UK's watershed is shown on Channel 4's Brookside
One Direction's Harry Styles is born on 1st February
Eastenders increases its episodes from two per week to three
Channel 4 broadcasts Frasier for the first time
The Channel Tunnel officially opens on 6th May
Lidl opens its first stores in Britain
The 1,000th episode of Eastenders and the 2,000th episode of Neighbours are aired on the BBC, while The Simpsons reaches its 100th episode on Sky1
The X-Files is aired on BBC Two for the first time
Oasis release their debut album, Definitely Maybe
Sharongate - in Eastenders, the tape recording of Sharon confessing her affair with her brother-in-law, Phil Mitchel is played in front of everybody in The Vic by husband, Grant
The first episode of The Vicar of Dibley airs on 10th November
The National Lottery is born in the UK, with its first draw on 19th November. The show is hosted by Noel Edmonds
The last ever edition of The Generation Game hosted by Bruce Forsyth is aired on Christmas Eve
Boyzone appear in the charts for the first time with 'Love Me For a Reason', reaching number 2
Police Camera Action! airs for the first time
Pets Win Prizes, Animal Hospital, SMart, Harry Enfield and Chums, Room 101, The Fast Show, Ready Steady Cook, Mind the Baby, Mr Bean, and Don't Forget Your Toothbrush also have their British TV debut.
What if you could go back in time and fix the biggest mistake of your life?
Two years ago, Maisie’s best friend walked out of her life and she hasn’t heard from him since. When she wakes up in 1994, she naturally assumes she’s dreaming. But when she finds herself in the past again the next night and her actions in the dream alter her present-day life, she begins to wonder if she’s somehow hopping back in time. And if she is time-travelling, can she save her friendship with Jonas?
When Maisie is forced to relive Christmases of the past, will she face up to her mistakes, or make them all over again? The 12 Christmases of You & Me is a magical tale of friendship, first loves, and learning to live in the present.
I'm a big fan of time travel fiction; I grew up watching Quantum Leap and the Back To The Future trilogy, and some of my all-time favourite films contain a time travel element. So I've wanted to write my own time travel adventure for a long time, and I've had the idea for The 12 Christmases of You & Me floating around my brain for a couple of years. But something was stopping me. I had Maisie's story playing out in my head, I knew I wanted her to pop back to the 90s and early 2000s, and I knew it would all take place over the festive period (twelve of them, in fact) but could I pull it off? This fear held me back. Until June 2019, when one of my brothers recommended Dark on Netflix.
Dark is a German series, which follows teenager Jonas Kahnwald as he tries to find out what happened to a missing child from the town he lives in. What follows is three seasons of mind-blowing plot that I was hooked by. At the time, there were only two seasons (with the third arriving this summer) and by the time I'd finished watching the available episodes I knew two things:
1) Waiting a year for the third instalment would be AGONISING
2) I had to write that time travel story I had in my head
And so I did. Planning the book was relatively easy, since I'd been musing over Maisie's time-travel adventures for so long, and I loved writing every single word. I'd wake up each morning eager to whip open the laptop so I could continue Maisie's story (believe me, this doesn't always happen for the entire manuscript. There usually comes a point where I'd quite happily toss my laptop in the wheelie bin). And this enthusiasm carried through to the subsequent drafts and edits, which really was unheard of.
So, Dark was the kick up the bum I needed to get the story out of my head and onto paper, but all those time travel stories have inspired me along the way. Marty McFly and The Back To The Future trilogy, Sam Beckett in Quantum Leap, Gary Sparrow in Goodnight Sweetheart and so many more (you can see my favourite time travel in film & TV here).
But that's only half of the story, because there's also the festive setting. Not only am I big fan of time travel fiction, I'm an even bigger fan of Christmas. I'm one of those annoying people who get into full-on festive mode by November (*coughs* October, maybe even September). And what better time is there to set a magical story than Christmas? There's a reason a lot of the Hallmark Christmas films contain wish-come-true scenarios (and this in itself is a reason I love those films).
Christmas is already a magical time for children, so why can't we keep hold of those feelings as adults? Why can't wishes come true, if only in fiction? Why can't someone be transported back to Christmases of the past? If it's good enough for Charles Dickens, it's good enough for me.
What if you could go back in time and fix the biggest mistake of your life?
Two years ago, Maisie’s best friend walked out of her life and she hasn’t heard from him since. When she wakes up in 1994, she naturally assumes she’s dreaming. But when she finds herself in the past again the next night and her actions in the dream alter her present-day life, she begins to wonder if she’s somehow hopping back in time. And if she is time-travelling, can she save her friendship with Jonas?
When Maisie is forced to relive Christmases of the past, will she face up to her mistakes, or make them all over again?
The 12 Christmases of You & Me is a magical tale of friendship, first loves, and learning to live in the present.
If you're taking part in this year's Nanowrimo, I hope you've got off to a good start.
For Nano this year, I'm writing the first chunk of Book 13, which is a Christmassy rom com with a sprinkling of magic. I've surprised myself with the amount I've got down so far, but I also know that I won't necessarily maintain this amount for the full month as I could hit a brick wall (aka The Slump) or life could get in the way. But I'm going to celebrate my word count milestones as and when they arrive!
On Sunday, my local Nano group 'met' up on Zoom. Last year, we met at the library but this isn't possible at the moment due to coronavirus, and we weren't sure how a write-in would work out online, but it went really well. We had a chat and we wrote with the screen split between our Word document (or equivalent) and our Zoom meeting, and I managed to write a further 2,000 (ish) words, bringing my daily total to 3,811. Which I think it is a pretty good starting point.
We also have a Facebook page, where we can update our word counts, cheer each other on and discuss any problems we may be having. It definitely helps having a support network! Last night we had another meeting where we discussed opposites in fiction, and I found it really interesting and it's something I'm going to give more thought to going forward.
As I'm writing a Christmas novel, I've been getting myself in the festive mood by listening to Heart Christmas (any excuse) and I've got the festive mugs out a month earlier than usual.
My aim is to write 2,000 words, six days a week, which gives me either a day off a week or the chance to catch up if I fall behind my schedule. And so far I've managed to reach that target - and a bit more each day this week. And on Tuesday I reached my first milestone - 10,000 words.
There are still a couple of days left of Nano's first week, so I'm going to get as many words down as I can, while the motivation is still high.
How are you getting on? Let us know in the comments below :)
I love using Pinterest when I'm plotting, bringing together inspirational images that will help form the story. But with The 12 Christmases of You & Me I went one step further and created a board of pins with key points from the book, from a gorgeous fairy-tale wedding dress that begins Maisie's story, to festive songs and jumpers, and nostalgic items. Even The Big Breakfast's Zig and Zag are in there!
If you've read the book, can you pinpoint the scenes from the book that each pin represents?
What if you could go back in time and fix the biggest mistake of your life?
Two years ago, Maisie’s best friend walked out of her life and she hasn’t heard from him since. When she wakes up in 1994, she naturally assumes she’s dreaming. But when she finds herself in the past again the next night and her actions in the dream alter her present-day life, she begins to wonder if she’s somehow hopping back in time. And if she is time-travelling, can she save her friendship with Jonas?
When Maisie is forced to relive Christmases of the past, will she face up to her mistakes, or make them all over again?
The 12 Christmases of You & Me is a magical tale of friendship, first loves, and learning to live in the present.
We're on Day 2 of Nanowrimo2020 and I've just started a new project, but this time last year I was working on The 12 Christmases of You & Me. It was the first time I'd ever attempted Nanowrimo and I wasn't sure if I had it in me to bash out 50,000 words in one month.
I'd just joined a writing group in my town, and they were taking part in Nano. I knew all about Nano, but I'd never given it a go because I always seemed to be in the middle of a project whenever November rolled around. And November 2019 was no different; I was around 20,000 words into what would become my eleventh novel (and later, The 12 Christmases of You & Me) but I decided to stop making excuses and have a go anyway. If I managed to reach the 50,000 word target, it would bring me tantalisingly close to The End, which was very encouraging.
I attended the Nano writing sessions at the library with my writing group as well as writing every day at home. The library sessions were a huge morale boost and those, along with updating the word count on the Nano website and seeing how much my novel was growing, gave me the enthusiasm to keep going towards that 50,000 word goal.
And I did it! I manage to write 50,000 words during November (I know the title is a bit off in my certificate). The book wasn't anywhere near publishable (I didn't even quite have a first draft yet). But I had a massive chunk down in a short space of time, and it wasn't long before the first draft was finished.
After a break over Christmas, I tweaked and polished the book until I was happy to send it for a professional edit, and now, a year after I started Nanowrimo, the book is out in the world, being read and hopefully enjoyed.
What if you could go back in time and fix the biggest mistake of your life?
Two years ago, Maisie’s best friend walked out of her life and she hasn’t heard from him since. When she wakes up in 1994, she naturally assumes she’s dreaming. But when she finds herself in the past again the next night and her actions in the dream alter her present-day life, she begins to wonder if she’s somehow hopping back in time. And if she is time-travelling, can she save her friendship with Jonas?
When Maisie is forced to relive Christmases of the past, will she face up to her mistakes, or make them all over again?
The 12 Christmases of You & Me is a magical tale of friendship, first loves, and learning to live in the present.
