Justine Larbalestier

reading, writing, eating, drinking, sport

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San Miguel: End of Day 6

Word count: 15,000

Average word count: 2,500 a day1

We arrived in the middle of the anniversary of the first Mexican revolution. Many days of holidays in a row. We arrived to cars being shut out from the Jardin and centre of town (bliss!), to fireworks and rockets going off every night (pretty!), to so many mariachis we could hear them all the way out to our place (besame mucho!), to people dancing in the streets in period costume (pretty!). To quiet mornings and days (except for the occasional rocket blasts) and melodiously noisy nights. ¡Viva Mexico!

Until Monday morning 7AM, holidays over and the the builders go back to work next door. Eighteen months ago when we first rented this house, they were laying the foundations. They’re still not finished. They work on and off from 7AM until around 5PM. Sometimes there are many of them, sometimes just one forlorn guy with a hammer. The best thing is they use no jackhammers, no pneumatic drills, no nothing powered by electricity. The bad thing is if they had they might be finished by now . . . I just stick headphones on and turn the music up a little louder (right now, listening to songs with the word “don’t”; in the title—I’m psyching the builders out).

So far I’ve heard the first four chapters of Scott’s new novel. It rocks. Out loud! And, yes, it is set in the Peeps universe. Cool, eh?

Have I mentioned that I love San Miguel? So green, so many flowers, butterflies, hummingbirds—hummingbirds! I think they’re my favourite birds in all the world. We don’t have them back home, but here I see several every day, just outside the window. So little, so powerful, so elegant. Ahhh . . . Don’t think I ever want to leave.


The view from where I sit to write. Look close and see the wicker couch I rest my feet on and the top of my laptop.


The other view from where I write. Flowers! Pretty!

  1. Look, I know word counts are spectacularly boring to everyone accept the person counting the words, but, mate, I’m bloody screaming along! Normally, when I’m starting a book I can barely scrape a thousand words a day together. I can’t believe how the words are pouring out of me! I mean, it’s the final book of me trilogy, I thought it was going to be horrible agony. I thought I had no idea what was going to happen. And here the book is practically writing itself! Maaate! Fingers crossed that I have not spoken too soon. Not superstitious, me. [↩]

Posted by Justine at 19:06, 21 September 2005 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Scott's books, Travelling, Viewing | 5 Comments »

Comments

  1. marrije Says:

    Excellent word counts! And not boring to read about at all, but perhaps that’s because i know from experience (having been there) how spectacular these are. Go justine! and pastries and hummingbirds too, most wonderful.

    September 22nd, 2005 at 11:03 AM

  2. woofy Says:

    No, I’m bored, though it is good to know you guys are still in existence. How’s the pussy cat.

    September 22nd, 2005 at 8:25 PM

  3. Cherie Priest Says:

    Oooh! I wanna go to San Miguel!
    [:: is deeply jealous - of location AND literary progres ::]

    Keep it up!

    September 23rd, 2005 at 11:42 AM

  4. Lauren McLaughlin Says:

    2500 words a day! Not boring. Darn impressive. I was at 2000 a day for a few weeks, but now I’m back to around 1500. San Miguel sounds magnificent. Any cool butterflies?

    September 26th, 2005 at 6:37 PM

  5. 5. Justine Says:

    Marrije, Cherie & Lauren: Thank God, other writers understand the word count thing! Thanks for the good wishes. I’m having such a fantastic time. Coming home is gunna hurt.

    Woofy: Word counts are tedious. I can’t imagine any but writers would care. Millhouse is in Buenos Aires, so I have no idea how he’s doing. There are no cats in this house. Lots of lizards, hummingbirds, and butterflies though.

    Laruen: the butterflies are absolutely spectacular. Some are bigger than my hand. Lots of white ones with black tipped wings. Then there are the huge orange and black striped ones. The biggest ones are black with a thin white stripe at the bottom of their wings. There are also plain yellow ones and black and white striped ones. Bloody gorgeous!

    September 26th, 2005 at 8:01 PM

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