Outline.

OK, so the more astute will have gathered from the link to the left that I have signed up for Nanowrimo.

Yesterday I suggested that I have had an idea for a while that I wanted to expand. Part of Nanowrimo's rules are that the novel must be started on the 1st of November... but plot outlines are allowed (and encouraged). I am trying very hard to not mentally start writing the prose, and stick to gathering information.

That said, I do have a rough idea for each stage of the novel. I know my protagonist's name, what he will encounter (to an extent) and to a degree I also know the geography of the setting... though the reasons for that may become apparent in the tale itself.

A few months ago, as I was trying to get over my fear of flying, I started to write a novel following the HMS Pickle. I even said as much in my blog here. This will not be that story. This story is somewhat named after a ship as well, though this ship is fictional, and I am putting it to another use... it was just the inspiration.

I imagine that over the course of November that I won't be blogging very much, and instead focusing on Nanowrimo. Not that I ever blog that often anyway, of course. I may use this space as an outlet, or to hack out ideas, and at various junctures I may post bits of my project here, unless of course I am very unhappy with it, in which case it will never see the light of day.

So, what can I tell you? Not much, without spoiling it. There are dragons (but not that sort) and the protagonist is called Mathúin and I'm looking forward to getting to know him. The title? Heahengel. There might be a sword involved somewhere, and someone may get hung, but I haven't quite decided yet and probably won't until I get there. The character in question probably has a 50/50 chance of survival, so pray for them, won't you?

That all said, please don't think of it as a fantasy fiction tale it's more of a... well, you'll have to wait and see (and kick me if I lapse, and stop writing).

Nanowrimo.

Last year a few bloggers took part in Nanowrimo, whereby you attempt to complete a 50,000 word novella before the end of the month of November, starting only after the 1st of the aforementioned month.

At the time, I didn't take part because of two factors:

1. I wasn't convinced that I would be able to put the required time into the project.
2. I have a habit of rewriting anything seven or eight times (after several weeks of planning) before it becomes anything I am remotely satsified with.

For the latter reason in particular, most of my writing up until now has largely been in the form of very short stories. However I have had one really BIG idea running through my head for the last few years, and while I haven't fixed any key details down, I do find myself daydreaming a few aspects of it from time to time. I'm not convinced that I can still write anything without going back over it repeatedly yet, but I could give it a shot.

The former reason has become irrelevant. My job is so dull and quiet that I think I could easily put in the hours inbetween tasks. Not skiving, but being a little more productive than reading BBC News fifteen times a day.

I haven't signed up yet... should I?

Things Wot Occurred.

Today I have seen:

Someone decide to not park in the free, perfectly sized space, left vacant at the side of the road, but rather instead park on the almost exactly car-length of double yellow lines next to it.

Today I joined:

The 21st Century. Yes, I now have an MP3 player. No crappy iPod for me, no siree, I have a "free" Sandisk Sansa m230 which I got for joing Napster or something. I now have a larger variety of music in my car, and no need to worry about that black spot from my drive into work where I lose radio signal.

Today I have:

Found out I didn't get the job. Bugger. Apparently it was "close" and well, I knew I screwed up one bit when the fire alarm went off, so hey-ho.

Tip of the Day.

Always remember, do not drop brand new, extra large bottles of Olive Oil on tiled kitchen floors.

That was a bugger and a half to tidy up.

Interesting.

So today was the big day, the day of the presentation, the day of the day-long interview, the day of pretending I'm really interested in the job when frankly I'm not entirely sure.

Today was also the day that everyone else got to meet the potential buyer for XYZ Publishing.

So what can I say, today went... OK. As well as any other interview, I guess. Good points, bad points, you know the drill and I won't bore you with it.

What is more interesting is that which I missed out on. The buyer is apparently... "nice." He wants to keep my office open (whether that means I would even have a positions there, or even doing something akin to what I want to do is another matter), and he even wants to keep the office open in Orange.

He buys quite a few publishing companies, and has quite a Portfolio. He likes to ensure they keep their own identity. And anything anyone can say, is that seems quite "nice."

Which is nice.

Telemarketers.

Long blog on its way. If you want to read a good rant, print it off and take it to the loo with you.... I hate 'em (not loos, but telemarketers). I hate that they do what they do, and I'm about to tell you why. The transcriptions are from memory, but are (more or less) how things happened.

Yesterday at work...

Me: "Good afternoon, XYZ Publishing..."

Other: "Sorry, I have the wrong number."

Me: "OK then, bye."

After about, oooh, five or six of these, all from different people, I started to think something was amiss. So before hanging up, I asked:-

Me: "Who are you trying to get a hold of?"

Other: "My mum."

Me: "Really? OK then, bye..."

A bit of digging revealed that they were calling from (or on behalf of) Bowater Home Improvements, and when they realised they were calling a business line, they gave the standard excuse, and hung up.

Let's see if we can get them to stop.

Other: "Sorry, wrong number."

Me: "I don't think it is. You're calling from Bowater Home Improvement and you're trying to sell me something."

Other: "...yes."

Me: "Can you remove this number from your list?"

Other: "You'll need to call another number to do that."

Me: "Will I? OK, what's the number?"

So I hang up (after getting the number, and before saying goodbye) and call it. Add the number to their do not call list, and look forward to a productive afternoon.

Then the phone rings.

Me: "Good afternoon, XYZ Publishing..."

Other: "Sorry, wrong number."

Me: "I don't think it is. You're calling from Bowater Home Improvement and you're trying to sell me something. I have just called your other line to get this number removed from your database."

Other: "Oh, that can take a while to work"

Me: "Can it really. What's your Managing Director's name?"

Other: "I... Why do you... I can't give you that, why do you want it?"

Me: "I am intending to make a formal complaint addressed to him. We have had about ten calls from you this afternoon, which is verging on harrassment."

Other: "You... I can pass you to my manager?"

Me: "I'd much rather not waste my time. What's your name? I would like to get my details correct in the complaint."

Other: "You're going to complain about me?"

Me: "Yes. So far you have lied to me, and you are now refusing to co-operate in allowing me to address the problem. Do you appreciate how much time has been wasted in dealing with your cold calls today?"

Other: "No, I cannot appreciate that."

And then he hung up. He hung up!

Not to worry, someone else called a few seconds later. Poor them: I was angry now. So I did what any rational person would do.

Other: "Sorry, wrong num..."

Me: "Sorry to butt in, but I can put you through to the correct number, please hold."

And then I got my mobile phone out, loaded up the ringtones, and played them the Knightrider theme, repeatedly. A few minutes later, they were still holding, so I hung up on them.

In the meantime, a colleague got (yet another) call from the same folks. Being much calmer than I, he took the opportunity to discuss the situation with the line manager who refused to believe there was anything wrong with their system that allowed the same number to be called repeatedly, but agreed to get it removed from their database "immediately" though we may still get a few more calls.

An hour later, they ceased. Between us we estimate that we took over forty calls from these people, and not one of them admitted that they were cold calling unless we prompted them. Probably not technically illegal, but damned annoying.

So you see, I hate telemarketers.

Look at me! I'm still alive!

My God, I've been a bit rubbish about the whole blogging situation (or actually being around situation) of late, haven't I?

Well, I'm still here, which is nice, and I have the second interview which follows up from this one on Tuesday.

I think at some point I said I was "bricking it" before that one. How pathetic for a one hour interview. This one on the other hand starts at 09:00, finishes at 17:00, includes giving a ten minute presentation to people I haven't met, with a twenty minute question and answer session after it.

Oh shit. The presentation has to be on

“ What change would you like to make in your current/most previous area of work to improve its overall effectiveness?”

Which should be relatively straightforward at least, and a genuine concern is that I limit myself to ten minutes. I think I'll focus on communication, and how the lack thereof affects employee engagement as well as consumer relations yadda yadda.

The day also includes various solo and team "activities" (I bet that the Beer Game will be in there somewhere) and the dress code is informal, which is at least something to look forward to.

Ah well, it's all good practice I suppose.