I am at my favourite writing café and internet place in Saigon. It is a huge building with exposed brick walls, a tall corrugated iron slanting roof and an open front which lets in the ever present sound of the motorcycle horns. The staff know me and ask if I would like a Diet Coke or Café Sua while a write. Right now a tropical rainstorm is pummeling down on the iron roof. It is a good peaceful(ish and peaceful as anywhere in Saigon is) to type up my writing and update this blog.
1650 words today, not bad. I aim for 1000 a day to finish by the time I jet off to NZ but sometimes it is more – when I am somewhere that facilitates writing like Saigon and sometimes less – like when you spend the day being barked at in a Chinese Police Station or in a 10k long beach town with lots of rats the size of kittens but nowhere to sit quietly and think.
The chapter I have just written is what I have named a ‘root chapter.’ I’m sure there is a fancy technical name for it but to me that means a chapter which allows several storylines that need to come into play to happen. It is an important scene for this reason and needs lots more work but for the moment I think it’s there and I can move through the story.
Like most writers I know, in London I had shelves and shelves of technical writing books, structure, theme, editing, selling. Here I have nothing and, though I could look something up on the internet, at the moment I am just going with my instincts, letting the story out as it pleases, following a crumpled A4 piece of paper with the chapters written down on it. I refuse to let anxiety stop the writing. In Auckland I can buy books, sort it out properly, but for now I just want the words on paper then I can carve something more streamlined with more economy and fancy writing tricks out of what I have. That’s the idea anyway.
 Ok off for a Café Sua (pictured above) and to stock-up on pens – they have incredible, huge stationary stores here - who said Saigon wasn’t rock and roll…..
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posted by Kerry at 
