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Greyboxing

So I am in to my second day of writing for Nanowrimo.

I am trying something different in how I write. I have been reading Blood Sweat and Pixel by Jason Schreier[note]Fast becoming one of my favourite Games Journalist. With this and His article on Visceral Games[/note].

One of the many thing informative things that stuck out for me was ‘Grey Boxing’. It is when the designer of a game created basic level that are grey so they can try and test out different ideas. This resonated with me. I and one of those writers that get obsessed with getting everything perfect before moving to the next thing. And grey boxing is great for me to just try and get everything down as quickly as possible. Especially during NanoWrimo.

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Nanowrimo Start Your Engines

So I have started NanoWrimo.

Nanowrimo is the National Novel Writing Month. Which mean that you have to do Fifty Thousand Word by the end of November. This is about one thousand six hundred and seventy seven words written every day.

I am aiming to do about two thousand to aim high and build up a buffer.

My Nanowrimo Account is AdamDavidCarter1.

I will post with updates to my progress.

Wish Me Luck.

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Scrivener 3. It’s Finally Here

Kevin and the guys and gals at Latte & Literature have finally announced Scrivener Three. It has only taken seven years. And it is not a subscription model. Unlike Ulysses writing app.

I have been looking at Ulysses as replacement for Scrivener for a long time but that became less pressing after the Scrivener for iOS was released.

There has been a constant stream on blog posts on their website.  One of the post that really shows what they will bring to the table is the Linguistic Focus mode. This allows you to focus on different parts of the text, be it direct speech or adverbs, etc1.

Scrivener 3 as new feature called linguistic mode
The all new Linguistic Focus mode.

 

When it comes out later this year I will totally be buying it2.

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Quarter Horse Coffee

The Quarter Horse Coffee1 shop is an odd one. Located on the Bristol Street road which is on the Queensway dual carriage way through Birmingham.

I say odd because it is slightly out of the city and not the place normally connected to Indie Coffee shops. No footfall of office or shop workers. And another odd thing is that they have their own roaster on the premises. I guess it must get hot in the summer months when that thing gets going.

Now I have not had a coffee there as I am suffering a bout if insomnia. As it was about three pm when I got there I had a Chai Latte. It was perhaps the best chai latte I have had in a long time but I cannot tell you what the coffee is like. I will add an addendum to this post when I have had chance to get one.

The plus side with it not being in the city centre is coffee shop was nice and airy. I sat at a simple wooden bench at a simple wooden table. If I had to use one word I would use the word ‘Minimal’. White walls, high ceiling and plenty of windows lead to it feeling spacious. Calm and quiet which is very nice to write in. One down side is the table where I sat rocked slightly. Quite nice all around though.

A side note that Quarter Horse Coffee was originally opened in oxford. When looking to expand they decided on Birmingham and to have enough space for their roaster. Which might explain the location.

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SixEight Kafé

As I write this I am currently enjoying a nice latte at sixeight Kafé.

It is located near Pigeon Park (Or St Philip’s Cathedral of Birmingham. located on Colmore Row. I have no idea why it is called Pigeon Park). It is just behind House of Fraser on Temple Row by the Grand Western Arcade.

Not that I say this lightly but it has some of the best coffee in Birmingham City Centre, which no small feat. What I like about it is there is a consistency to the coffee that I do not get in other coffee shops. One of the reason I avoid the High Street chains is whether you get good coffee can change from person to person. I used to like the coffee from Nero’s in the Bullring but the person who made coffee left and since then the coffee has not been as good.

But my favourite bit about sixeight kafé is the large basement underneath or the speak-easy style as they call it. It is nice and cool which nice on a hot day like this. It is also very quiet as well which is very good for writing. They also have a great selection of local sourced cakes.

The only down side is they don’t take ApplePay/AndroidPay but take contactless payment but with a 25p surcharge. It still on par with the High Street chains for a coffee & cake so I am happy to pay for the much better atmosphere.

If I was going to try hosting a writers group, I would do it here.

Cheers Peeps

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Coffee Shop Update #1

Costes Cafe Bar is where I’m currently writing today. It is just off the Business Quarter near the Ring Road. It is possibly the biggest coffee shop on one floor and best decorated but definitely has that compromised design that you get when a building serves two masters. The best way I can describe it is a ‘Pub Grub’ family restaurant during the day and ‘Aving it Large’ pub at night. In the end there is a compromise to do both and well rather than do one brilliantly. I Didn’t write as much as I had hoped as my neck was aching but that can happen.

I had a Flat White