NaBloPoMo or the art of drivel

I've just signed up to NaBloPoMo - which is not, as you might think, a hitherto-undiscovered strain of swine flu (or 'flu - hands up if you still write that, and 'cello, and 'phone). It's National Blog Post Month. Or something like that, anyway. And since I've recently decided I need to up my word count if I'm going to stand a chance of ever being able to write this novel anything like as well as I would like to, I've decided to give it a go.

Much like practising the oboe, which seems to bascially consist of making the same mistakes and then some new ones day after day until it all magically falls into place (apparently), if I churn out enough drivel, one day I will write something good.

Lucky you, you get to read the drivel.

I have to admit, I was hoping NaBloPoMo would come up with some kind of Daily Prompter, but all it has is a theme.

This month, the theme is "Big".

Which is lucky, because something "big" happened to me today. Well, it's actually something very tiny, but I am bouncing up and down and unable to concentrate on anything else so well, what better topic for this, my first of this month's thirty blogposts.

Rob Lowe tweeted me!

Rob Lowe!

You know, Sam Seaborn. From the West Wing. That programme I go on about endlessly and have probably mentioned or alluded to in every blogpost since time immemorial.

Sorry, Janel Moloney, but even getting a signed picture of you in the post this week does not trump this. (Though, to clarify: I bounced a little then, too.)

I have to say, I have not been this excited since I got my first tweet from Josh Malina - and then - even more excitingly -a DM from him - then a retweet - and then, oh miracle, he started following me. Goodness knows why - I doubt he enjoys my daily adulation of Bradley Whitford. (They have some kind of rivalry going: it amused me greatly when I spotted a line that Brad made Josh say in a West Wing episode he wrote - "I can't act; I'm a terrible actor." Josh deserves it though - he does things like tear out the last page of books before the person has read them. Ouch.)

And he still hasn't unfollowed me - I know this, thanks to Qwitter, which I don't suggest you sign up for if you have any issues with self-confidence. And who doesn't.

Quite why any of this should be so exciting eludes me. Somewhere in my list of blog posts to be written is the title "fame - the illusion of greatness". There's one to ponder. But first, sleep.

Starstruck.

This has got to be my favourite tweet in the world, ever.

Robloweprofile

1. Hi! (competitive) RT @purpleclaire: if @robloweprofile ever tweets me, I may have to switch my allegiance back from Josh to Sam.#westwing11 minutes ago via UberTwitterRetweeted by you and 2 others

I just thought I would share that with you.

Dilemmas of a Christian writer, part 1

I'm a Christian. I'm a writer. (Well, I write, which may not be the same thing.) But I'm not what you would call a "Christian writer". I loved Patricia St John's books as a child, read them over and over again, and on some of my holidays in the South of France an American pastor's wife used to lend me Christian equivalents of Little House on the Prairie, and then a detective series. (Anyone know either of those?)

But that was the last time I read any Christian novels. Until, that is, I picked up James Scott Bell's Deadlock, having been pointed to it by his book on Plot and Structure. I loved it, I have to say: I didn't know there was such a thing as well-written, decent "Christian fiction" that was not only intelligent but also set in DC. So, all in all, perfect for me at this stage of my life.

Anyway, I digress, because my point is that I am not writing a Christian novel, and this brings me a couple of issues. I've made my peace with the fact that since my characters are non-Christians in their early 30s, living in the 21st century, they will probably not be signing any abstinence pledges, for example.

But dialogue. Dialogue is a whole other situation. I don't usually swear, except in dire emergencies such as when I lose my shoe running for the train, or the doorbell rings in the middle of a Josh and Donna scene. So writing in swearing does not come naturally for me, and I'm not sure we need much of it, anyway.

Here's the thing, though: in real life, people swear. Particularly the guys in my story - I see them swearing, but more than that I see them saying "God" a lot. Americans seem to do that, possibly more than the British. (And they are Americans.)

I'm really not comfortable with blasphemy, even what must seem very mild blasphemy. What do I do? Will the novel seem fake if I don't use those kinds of expressions? If no one ever blasphemes, and hardly anyone ever swears?

Readers, what do you think? And writers, what how about you?

Reasons I should move to America...

1. I am fascinated by the US, its culture, its history, its people. So much to learn.

2. More sleep. Staying up to tweet people about Healthcare Reform and the like is playing havoc with my body clock.

3. Starbucks! (though if I refer you to the previous point, which may render this one irrelevant.)

4. To help Obama keep fighting the good fight and get him re-elected. (I'm almost certain he can do it without me, though.)

5. To live in a country whose politics I have some kind of grasp on, however shaky

6. (The alternative is the UK, and I'm not going back till the nation sees sense sometime in 2014.)

7. Sleepovers with two of my childhood friends. I bet it's still fun.

8. Not to have to worry about whether I will get to see the Good Guys when it comes out, and various other TV related things

9. To get a job in publishing in New York City, which is apparently the literary capital of the world

10. Which would also make it a great place to publicise my novels from

11. Unless of course I go and study political science at Harvard or Yale, and/or creative writing at American or Columbia. (Thinking big is quite the thing over there.)

12. My chances of meeting and marrying Bradley Whitford would be greatly increased.

12. As would my chances of becoming best friends with Janel Moloney. (Ditto Alexis Bledel, Lauren Graham, and Melissa Fitzgerald.)

calling other bibliophiles...

Dear people who read a lot,

I was hoping you could help me out.

Writing the end of this novel is turning out to be a lot like passing healthcare reform, only without the publicity. I've lost count of the number of levels I'm stuck on...

For inspiration, and help on navigating certain things, I'm looking for:

- books where the heroine sacrifices herself (in whatever way) for her hero...

- books where there is some kind of book club involved as either a main theme or just a sub-plot...

- books where a character is passionate about politics

- books where a character is a piano player and/or loves jazz...

Any recommendations?

Thanks in anticipation

Claire L :)

Books that I would like to write...

... or co-write. Or ghost write. Or adapt. Or translate. The list is endless...

Obviously, there is Inevitable, then the Muffin House and then the novel that will be loosely based on my time (hopefully) working for the Obama campaign in 2012.

But non-fiction-wise, I wouldn't mind working on the following (and leaving aside every variation on Inside the West Wing you can imagine)...

... Janel Moloney's biography

... the translation into French of Marlee Matlin's autobiography, "I'll scream later" (Marlee, if you're reading - you can check out my credentials on LinkedIn)

... So you're British and you think you can spell? - An adaptation of this great book of "Killer Quizzes for the Incurably Competitive and Overly Confident"

... Bradley Whitford's autobiography, which he really should write himself* , if the episodes of West Wing he did are anything to go by - but maybe I can proofread it for him, and advise him on which pictures to put in. You know, that kind of thing.

... Being Donna Moss: Adventures on the Campaign Trail

to be continued as inspiration strikes...

*For you clever clogs out there, I realise that an autobiography is by definition written by the person concerned. Is it, though? Jason Donovan's wasn't. Not that I am putting Jason Donovan in the same league as Bradley Whitford, although one thing they do have in common: my devotion to them. (In my defence, I was 10 when Jason was in his heyday and I was in love with him. There is no defence for my Brad devotion. I like to think that none is needed....)

Books that I would like someone else to write...

... because they'd write them far better than me, or I want to hear their take on it, or the whole point is that it's stuff I want to know without doing ridiculous amounts of research.

Or in one case, because if such a book existed, and were non-fiction, that would make me an unspeakably happy girl.

Making the horse drink...

How to motivate adult language learners to learn their verb conjugations

and its sequel

Blood from a stone

How to get adult language learners to use their imaginations

The Missing Years

Or my take on seasons 5 to 15 of the West Wing

by Aaron Sorkin

Find Me Valuable

(How an ordinary British girl won the heart of an ageing yet still desperately eligible Hollywood actor)

Destined for Greatness (or a far wittier title)

The autobiography of Bradley Whitford (with lots of photos, and plenty of inside info on the West Wing that we fans don't already know... and politics... and what it's really like to be an actor... and all that stuff)

American politics and history from the beginning for not-quite dummies

(aka reasonably intelligent Brits who knew nothing, literally nothing, about the US until they got addicted to the West Wing)

to be continued...