I¹m writing this in Mo:blog on my Dana as a test of its blogging capabilities. If it works, it should make it easier for me to keep up this blog, especially as I can write entries offline wherever I am and then upload them when I have access to a wireless network.

[Edited online] The posting certainly worked, but the datestamping and category were lost (I wrote the actual entry on August 31) and strange end-of-line characters appeared. I think a little more experimentation is needed!

Well, I've tried an alternative (u*Blog) and just got an error message, so it's back to mo:Blog - maybe if I read the manual I'll get it right this time :)

So, I'm writing this at work (where I now have wireless access on the Dana!) - I will save this entry and try to upload it later.

[Updated online: well, it got the saved datestamp and line-endings right this time - all I have to do is get the hang of setting categories! Think this program's a keeper :) ]

On the recommendation of a member of Forward Motion, I've bought a copy of "The Marshall Plan for Novel-Writing", which aims to help beginners to outline and write a novel that will sell :) I'm using it to outline my NaNoWriMo story thoroughly so I can concentrate on the actual writing, but I want to leave some gaps so that I can still invent stuff on the fly - otherwise it will be boring to write, and thus to read!

I've been playing with the Marshall Plan for a few days, and although it's very good for getting the thoughts flowing, I've decided I'm not going to follow its structure too religiously.

After a week of struggling with the middle of my plot, I finally had a rush of inspiration and have now outlined about 60 of the projected 88 scenes!

Forward Motion is running a series of NaNo-prep marathons in October, so I'm going to do as many as I can fit around the wedding (only eight and a half days to go!). Starting tonight, and fired up as I am after an evening of coffee and critiquing, I'm aiming for a minimum of 2500 words of character development in 48 hours...