Moutaineering with moi!

Today is rant or truth day and although in the past many things have irritated me it seems that today I have woken up particularly perky! Who’d a thunk it?

I had no real idea but I have a story that sort of (as in totally does not) related to the month I have had. As some may know, I have been writing a novel for NaNoWriMo this month, and it hasn’t been easy but neither has it been too hard. The quality is questionable but that’s why its just a first draft and I am nearing the end of November, the end of the novel and the end of 50,000 words. It has been a real learning curve for me as I have never written so much before, and never finished a story idea that I have had, so I guess NaNo has worked in giving me a kick up the bum, and its down to me to carry it on, with some of my own self-kicking!

I want to compare it with climbing a mountain…or rather I am going to compare it with climbing a mountain. Once I reach the end of the first draft (I see this as the mountain peak in this scenario) I am going to come down the other side which I think will be much dicier than going up, especially for clumsy folk like myself…You see…imagine if you will…a hot day in Israel…

My sister, friend and I had woken up before dawn to catch a coach to take us and tens of others to climb Mount Masada and to watch the sunrise from the top of it.  We had the unfortunate luck of being on a coach where the last person on it had been sick. It was a typical old style coach with that carpet like fabric covering them, the kind that retains the stench of death and this persons vomit, and we were sat near to it.  It had been cold when we boarded the coach but by the time we reached the base of Mount Masada it was hot.

Before the actual walk up (it wasn’t a climb – more like step aerobics) there was a small hill to the bottom, we reached there and there was some shade and a bench. My sister decided she wasn’t going to walk to the top. She wanted to wait for us on the bench and would watch the sunrise from there. My friend then decided on the way up that it was some kind of race to the top – I was happy to trail behind – and I never made it to the very top by the time the sun came up. I was about 5 feet from the top – almost but not quite! (story of my life, tsk!) and I sat down with others (my fellow almosts but not quites) and watched the sun come up. It was beautiful and after watching it I carried on to the top. I had a brief look around and decided I should go back down to wait with my sister.

So I started wondering down (as you do) and about half way down I was going a tad too fast for my legs (something about momentum) and tripped over a loose stone (honest guv!) and lurched forward, my sister who was sat at the bottom of the mountain watching my descent felt her heart in her throat as she was about witness her sister go flying head first off the side of a mountain! Fortunately, I’m still here so we know that didn’t happen, there was a metal railing along some of the route. I ended up lurching forward into that. I was suitably too tall to pass under it and too short to fall over it (just call me Mary Poppins!). I remember laughing to myself on the way down and thinking “that was close, good job no-one saw that” only to reach my now pale-faced sister!

So with that in mind, the continuation of the work on my novel, with a mere death toll of seven, will be one that is taken with caution.

Happy Tuesday!