Despite keeping up the pretence, even to myself, that I will make up the defecit caused by my feeble efforts on work days, by fully committing to going above and beyond on weekends with my novel-writing, I appear to have squandered another Saturday and the target of 50,000 words on or before the 30th November…
The James Proclaims NaNoWriMo/NaBloPoMo Adventure – Day 12
It’s Friday evening and therefore the weekend. I don’t have any half-marathons to run this weekend, though I think it’s fair to say that I’m still feeling the effects of last Sunday’s endeavours on that score. Still I am fairly optimistic that I’ll find some time to write over the next two days. I’m less…
The James Proclaims NaNoWriMo/NaBloPoMo Adventure – Day 11
Irrespective of how good my novel is (and it really isn’t), I can’t help but feel that these accompanying posts are a little prosaic in nature. Were I just completing the NaBloPoMo challenge on it’s own, I might have mixed things up a bit. Or more likely descended into posting endless haikus. As it is,…
The James Proclaims NaNoWriMo/NaBloPoMo Adventure – Day 10
Day 10 of this NaNoWriMo/NaBloPoMo journey means I’m a third of the way there chronologically. In terms of NaBloPoMo, I’m ticking all the boxes, but my NaNoWriMo journey is still some way short of close to being on target. Nonetheless, I remain very much in the game and today I have once again written some…
The James Proclaims NaNoWriMo/NaBloPoMo Adventure – Day 9
Day 9 of my thirty day novel-writing challenge and progress is slow. I’m falling asleep as I write this, which is less than ideal, and I experienced a similar affliction when I attempted to work on my ‘masterpiece’ earlier. I did, nonetheless, manage to write some words today. 265 of them to be precise. This…
The James Proclaims NaNoWriMo/NaBloPoMo Adventure – Day 8
It turns out running a half-marathon is tiring. I already knew this, because I did run a few in the noughties, and indeed one in 2014, but yesterday’s efforts still took it out of me more than I expected. Perhaps this is because I’m getting older, perhaps it’s the added challenge of being a parent,…
The James Proclaims NaNoWriMo/NaBloPoMo Adventure – Day 7
In a change to the usual format (of this relatively new thing I’ve been doing), I’m posting today’s NaBloPoMo effort before I’ve even had a chance to start working on my NaNoWriMo effort. Given that the two ‘projects’ are inextricably linked (just look at the title of the posts) this may seem like an odd…
The James Proclaims NaNoWriMo/NaBloPoMo Adventure – Day 6
As I stumble to the end of day 6 of this folly, I am sad to report that I have not had the productive Saturday that I might have anticipated. I chose, instead, to spend much of the day entertaining Little Proclaims in various endeavours. She has, I think, had a good day, and I…
The James Proclaims NaNoWriMo/NaBloPoMo Adventure – Day 5
It’s the 5th of November and here in the UK it’s the day of the annual pyrotechnical festival known as Guy Fawkes Night. Or Bonfire Night. Or Fireworks Night. It’s also Friday, which means that the weekend is here, and that always brings a smile to my face. I didn’t watch any firework displays this…
The James Proclaims NaNoWriMo/NaBloPoMo Adventure – Day 4
November is but four days old and I continue to persist with my attempts to write an entire novel this month in honour of NaNoWriMo. I seem to be maintaining my rate of roughly 500 words per day, which is, just about, enough to keep the dream alive, although I’m definitely going to have to…
The James Proclaims NaNoWriMo/NaBloPoMo Adventure – Day 3
On to day 3 and it has to be said, things are not going as well as could be hoped. I started the week with the remnants of a cold. I thought I would have recovered by now, but, while the virus itself seems to have abated, I still seem to have some very blocked…
The James Proclaims NaNoWriMo/NaBloPoMo Adventure – Day 2
It is day 2 of November 2021 and consequently day 2 of my pledge to produce a badly written novel of circa 50,000 words by the end of the month in honour of NaNoWriMo and to simultaneously blog about the experience of writing said novel in honour of NaBloPoMo. If this ever seemed like a…
The James Proclaims NaNoWriMo/NaBloPoMo Adventure – Day 1
And so to day 1 of the month that is often referred to as November and my, almost certainly futile, endeavour to successfully navigate the choppy waters of NaNoWriMo and in doing so, produce a full-length novel in 30 days. I’m simultaneously participating in NaBloPoMo, meaning I have committed to blogging everyday this month. An…
A Post That Has Very Little To Do With Halloween Despite Being Written On Halloween
Happy Halloween everybody! If indeed that is the correct greeting. Although maybe a ‘happy’ Halloween is not a successful Halloween. I wouldn’t know. I’m not a great observer of this particular holiday, mainly because, in the UK at least, it isn’t a holiday at all and the only reason I didn’t go to work today…
Another Saturday Chez Proclaims
When last I troubled the blogoshpere, it was at the end of a horrible weekend which saw Little Proclaims briefly hospitalised and the entire Proclaims family housebound while she recovered from her ailments and I grappled with a deadline for a course that it was in my professional interests to complete but in which I…
A Weekend To Not Remember
As I write this it is Sunday evening and I’m watching highlights of last week’s Reading Festival on the television. Specifically I am watching Liam Gallagher’s set. As I discussed in last week’s post, even though it takes place a mere ten minute walk from my house, I didn’t make it to the festival itself…
A Poem About How Bad This Poem Is
If I didn’t write this poem Then probably no-one would And that would be a shame Because it might have been quite good If someone else had written it It couldn’t be any worse They might have even said something Before the second verse Or stanza as it should be known If we’re going to…
Of Portaloos and Potties
As I write this, it is Friday morning. I am at home, as has been the case for the last five weeks, because school is officially ‘out for summer’ and I work in a school. Not that I haven’t had a fair amount of paperwork to do in the ‘off season’ because I have. I…
Rhyme Crime
Sometimes I write bad poetry In itself that’s not a crime But perhaps it is a little sin That I often rhyme ‘crime’ with ‘rhyme’ Writing poems does amuse me And they rarely take much time And it’s not all that unusual For me to rhyme ‘time’ with ‘rhyme’ Sometimes my bad poems Find an…
Daddy, I Dropped A Wee On The Carpet
It’s Saturday morning as I write this and Chez Proclaims we are embarking on what is arguably the toughest challenge we have ever faced as a family. Little Proclaims is learning to use the potty. Given that she turned 3 a few weeks ago, we are actually rather late to this particular party. We did…
A Rapid Rhyme About Breakfast
Tis said that breakfast is important I don’t know if that’s true But I know before I’ve had it My faculties are few I can’t function til I’ve had it In one of it’s many guises My heart says eggs and bacon But muesli’s what my head advises. And though my head’s advice Is for…
Of Bubbles And Bubbly
As I write this I am a little inebriated. I’m currently sitting in my garden on a Saturday afternoon drinking a bottle of pink sparkling wine, which does not appear to subscribe to such platitudinous labels as Champagne, Cava or Prosecco but is rather its own thing. Not that I could tell the difference between…
No Tifications
I have no Tifications And that makes me sad Because life with no Tifications Is quite clearly bad There are no emojions That could ever quite convey The true depth of my FOMO At the lack of tificating on display I do not like the appsence Of likes upon my page And I really cannot…
The Perils Of Success
It has, at the time of writing, been but two days since Tokyo 2020 ended but I’m already feeling somewhat bereft. This is often the case when a major sporting event concludes but is perhaps more acute at the end of these Olympic Games because it marks the denouement of what has been a fairly…
A Blog Post About Watching Sport On The Telly
As I write this, Team GB has just won a bronze medal in the noble sport of dressage. I don’t know much about dressage, it looks like dancing horses and doesn’t really seem like a sport, but, as has been the case for most Olympic games during my lifetime and certainly since, like many of…
The Anticlimactic Nature Of The Thousandth Post
It’s time to crack open the bubbly. No, not champagne. I can’t really justify the cost of champagne for an occasion such as this. To be honest even cava or prosecco would be overdoing it. I think I could stretch to a glass of sparkling Lambrini. And a cake. There must always be cake. For…
A Post About Bubbles
As I write this I am sitting in my garden enjoying what can only be described as a glorious Saturday morning. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and the general tranquillity is punctuated only by the delighted sounds of Little Proclaims who is running around the garden making bubbles with a cheap plastic…
A Post About Not Blogging With A Brief Interlude About Vaccines
As I write this, it has been just under a month since I last posted anything on this blog. By the time this actually hits the blogosphere, it will have been just over a month. I’m writing this on Friday but I intend for my ‘comeback’ to be on Monday. According to the Gods of…
On The Fifth Day Of The Fifth Month, Here Are Five Things I’m Not Afraid Of
I’m not afraid of a little hard work – I am terrified of a lot of hard work. I’m not afraid that I won’t live up to my potential – I’m worried that I already have. I’m not afraid to stand up for what I believe in – I’m just not entirely sure what it…
May The Fourth Be With You – Always
Happy Star Wars Day everyone! I’m not sure when people started celebrating ‘Star Wars Day’ on May the Fourth. I’m not even sure if people do celebrate it. And although I could just look up the answers to both of those things on the internet, I’m not going to. Because I don’t really care. I…
May The May Be With You
Long time readers will know that last May I spent the entire month blogging about nothing but Star Wars on the flimsy premise that people often regard the fourth of May as ‘Star Wars Day’ (because you can say ‘May the Fourth be with you’ on that day and only a few people will think…
James Proclaims! 