The genesis of Pig Tails

National Novel Writing Month is a global online challenge. The target: a 50,000 word draft novel in 30 days. The guinea pig mother blurted out the first draft of Pig Tails during NaNoWriMo 2010, in Hobart, Tasmania, thanks to the encouragement of C., a former schoolfriend residing in São Paulo, Brazil.

Excerpts from a conversation between the GPM and the Culprit:

27 October 2010

GPM: Hey C. – are you doing it? Have you done it before? I have just been looking at the site and it looks a scream! I think I should do it!!! That is less than 2000 words a day… :)

C: I’ll be doing it, or at least trying. Nano last year required me to cease all ‘normal’ function… you know… like eating, sleeping, going to the bathroom… minor stuff like that ;) . I’m out for a large portion of the day and writing with pen and paper is sooo slow. But yes, I try. One day, I may actually finish something too LOL.

And yes, I think you should do it :) .

28 October 2010

GPM: I have signed up!

This should at least make my friends happy who have nagged me for years – they want guinea pig stuff, and they want perils-of-internet-dating stuff – not sure if I could mix the two, hehehe!

Three weeks later…

22 November 2010

GPM: Hi C. … I could thank you for putting me onto NaNoWriMo, but it has turned me into a crazy guinea pig writer. I now know why all other (normal) functions stop. The first week I thought I would die. Now I have only 5,000 words left and the pigs haven’t nearly finished with me. I am exhausted. However I am losing some weight because I keep forgetting to eat the food put outside my door. ;) 

C: I’ve been wrestling with seeds and life and a few alien invasions. Ok, I wish I could blame aliens. My excuses are far more ordinary :) … I’m dying to read the guinea pig sagas! … Now, please go and eat. I will not be held responsible for your starvation ;) .