Truly, these last few days have been utterly blissful.
After a very hectic week of finalizing wedding details (every man and his dog wanted final payment and confirmation of every x, y & z at least 14 days before the wedding date, meaning last week was a finalization frenzy!) I have had a very relaxing and energizing few days.
Thursday evening was 42nd Street ~ I’ve seen it before, many years ago (featuring a pre-celeb Catherine Zeta Jones as a hoofer in the chorus, no less), and as an avid tap fan (and one-time hoofer myself) I LOVE it! This production wasn’t quite as polished as it could have been, it lacked a little “Kazaam!”, but there were some great routines in it and you just can’t help but be uplifted by the outstanding songs.
And then on Friday my wonderful, gorgeous, talented and adorable best friend / bridesmaid treated me to a spa day at Serenity Spa at Seaham Hall. Amazing. Words cannot do justice to the experience ~ a two hour body scrub, massage and facial (I drifted off and actually snored at one point!) followed by a delicious lunch of Thai tapas and a languid afternoon of stewing in the pool, steam rooms, Jacuzzi, hot-tub and sauna. The perfect antidote to bridal stress and strain. I swear I look five years younger now. There was some reluctant dragging of feet as we eventually forced ourselves to leave…..
Most of our time around the pool was spent deep in girl talk, but those moments that weren’t found me reading my way steadily through Lucy Diamond’s “Anyway you want me”. More on this later….
A few perfect days can do wonders for your spirit.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Friday, April 27, 2007
Write off....
....That's what this last week has been, basically. A few nasty personal issues have bubbled to the surface (nothing like an impending wedding to shine a very bright light on some unsavoury stuff lurking in corners!) but getting it all out in the open has proven to be very cathartic and probably flagged up some essential relationship mends that need tending to before they become irreparable.
I'm still bemused by the irony that planning a wedding puts you under such monumental strain ~ we've seen it happen to a few other couples over recent years too, so we are fortunate in the knowledge that its not just a fundamental weakness in our relationship. I suppose its beneficial in the long run ~ if you're prepared to go through all of this without giving up then I guess you know that you really, truly do want to be together. And we do.
**********************************
Liz Fenwick is very generously running a series of racer profiles over on her blog here. It's nice to get to know a little more about the people involved in our little community, and I shall be tweaking and airbrushing a wee biog of myself to send over to her in the next few days.
**********************************
And a big hearty congratulations to Caroline Smailes ~ In Search of Adam is on sale now. My copy is ordered. Make sure yours is too. Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Keep on running....
For some reason, recently, I’ve spotted a lot of babies socks lying on the pavement ~ at least one a day, and on Saturday whilst out running I saw three. Maybe the babies are trying to tell us something...
Sunday was a gorgeous day (apart from the point when I think a speed camera nabbed me, I hope it was just the sun glinting off it but I'm not overly optimistic…) and after taking my grandma for lunch the fiancé and myself did a bit of gardening (I’ve planted some courgettes ~ hope they come to something. I was quite successful with peppers and tomatoes last year). But the odd thing was, there was a strange flying thing (not a wasp, but similar), which hovered at head-height on the side path and wouldn’t let us past. It was literally squaring up to us, and intermittently it would fly a few feet away in order to ‘challenge’ another of these peculiar flying things before returning back to the exact same point of its hovering sentry duty. What ever it was, it was very territorial.
And then last evening a bat flew past me, right outside my front door. I’m sure I should be reading something into these ‘signs’.
“Two years ago I couldn’t run a mile”, says Jane. Me neither. But there was something about running that fascinating me, kept pestering me the same way the pesky novel kept digging me in the ribs until I sat down and started writing it. I persevered: from my inaugural run (where I managed the grand total of 89 steps in a row ~ seriously, I was so inept there was no point trying to time myself or measure distances, I counted those early runs in terms of total steps) I have managed to complete the Great North Run, and regularly take part in local 10k runs. I can’t imagine my life without running now. And I’m particularly interested in Jane’s section on what to do when you’re running and you need the loo: the only time I ever suffer from penis envy is when I’m caught short in the middle of a long run….
Today I ordered a copy of Lucy Diamond’s “How do you want me?” and I’m really looking forward to reading it.
Writing tip of the day, courtesy of Stephen King:
Never look at a reference book while doing a first draft
You want to write a story? Fine. Put away your dictionary, your encyclopedias, your World Almanac, and your thesaurus. Better yet, throw your thesaurus into the wastebasket. The only things creepier than a thesaurus are those little paperbacks college students too lazy to read the assigned novels buy around exam time. Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule. You think you might have misspelled a word? O.K., so here is your choice: either look it up in the dictionary, thereby making sure you have it right - and breaking your train of thought and the writer's trance in the bargain - or just spell it phonetically and correct it later. Why not? Did you think it was going to go somewhere? And if you need to know the largest city in Brazil and you find you don't have it in your head, why not write in Miami, or Cleveland? You can check it ... but later. When you sit down to write, write. Don't do anything else except go to the bathroom, and only do that if it absolutely cannot be put off.
Tip-top-tastic luck to all the marathonees this weekend ~ I'll be watching, in envy and admiration.
Sunday was a gorgeous day (apart from the point when I think a speed camera nabbed me, I hope it was just the sun glinting off it but I'm not overly optimistic…) and after taking my grandma for lunch the fiancé and myself did a bit of gardening (I’ve planted some courgettes ~ hope they come to something. I was quite successful with peppers and tomatoes last year). But the odd thing was, there was a strange flying thing (not a wasp, but similar), which hovered at head-height on the side path and wouldn’t let us past. It was literally squaring up to us, and intermittently it would fly a few feet away in order to ‘challenge’ another of these peculiar flying things before returning back to the exact same point of its hovering sentry duty. What ever it was, it was very territorial.
And then last evening a bat flew past me, right outside my front door. I’m sure I should be reading something into these ‘signs’.
***********************************
I’m enjoying reading Jane Henry’s blog about her marathon memoir “Running on Empty”, and I shall be ordering a copy asap. I am officially in awe of anyone who has completed a marathon, seeing as how I have only tackled a half marathon thus far. It’s on the “one day I will…..” list, and I did try (unsuccessfully) for a place in the FLM ballot this year. Maybe next year.
I’m enjoying reading Jane Henry’s blog about her marathon memoir “Running on Empty”, and I shall be ordering a copy asap. I am officially in awe of anyone who has completed a marathon, seeing as how I have only tackled a half marathon thus far. It’s on the “one day I will…..” list, and I did try (unsuccessfully) for a place in the FLM ballot this year. Maybe next year.
“Two years ago I couldn’t run a mile”, says Jane. Me neither. But there was something about running that fascinating me, kept pestering me the same way the pesky novel kept digging me in the ribs until I sat down and started writing it. I persevered: from my inaugural run (where I managed the grand total of 89 steps in a row ~ seriously, I was so inept there was no point trying to time myself or measure distances, I counted those early runs in terms of total steps) I have managed to complete the Great North Run, and regularly take part in local 10k runs. I can’t imagine my life without running now. And I’m particularly interested in Jane’s section on what to do when you’re running and you need the loo: the only time I ever suffer from penis envy is when I’m caught short in the middle of a long run….
Today I ordered a copy of Lucy Diamond’s “How do you want me?” and I’m really looking forward to reading it.
Writing tip of the day, courtesy of Stephen King:
Never look at a reference book while doing a first draft
You want to write a story? Fine. Put away your dictionary, your encyclopedias, your World Almanac, and your thesaurus. Better yet, throw your thesaurus into the wastebasket. The only things creepier than a thesaurus are those little paperbacks college students too lazy to read the assigned novels buy around exam time. Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule. You think you might have misspelled a word? O.K., so here is your choice: either look it up in the dictionary, thereby making sure you have it right - and breaking your train of thought and the writer's trance in the bargain - or just spell it phonetically and correct it later. Why not? Did you think it was going to go somewhere? And if you need to know the largest city in Brazil and you find you don't have it in your head, why not write in Miami, or Cleveland? You can check it ... but later. When you sit down to write, write. Don't do anything else except go to the bathroom, and only do that if it absolutely cannot be put off.
Tip-top-tastic luck to all the marathonees this weekend ~ I'll be watching, in envy and admiration.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Hi everyone,
Kate Harrison raised the issue of writing rituals in this weeks coffee break: I don't think I have any writing rituals or superstitions (other than keeping it all a closely guarded secret from everyone bar my fiance until i feel I'm at a strong enough point to start sharing). I write in longhand in notebooks with a fountain pen to start with, and then transfer it all onto my laptop, but I'm not sure if thats really a ritual or just the fact that I am a bit of a luddite.
WIP: I have made some progress, and also some not progress ~ the word count has ground to a near standstill as life is getting very very hectic (upcoming wedding ~ don't know if I mentioned it about a billion times or so, plus the usual "real life" stuff that clogs up the flow ~ I don't so much need a room of my own as a soundproof isolation chamber that locks from the inside. Maybe I can get one of those when I get the lottery win that will allow the day job to take a running jump....) so I am fairly behind on the novel, my A215 course and a short story I am working on too. I think i'll have the face facts that there will be very little headway made until after the honeymoon, but I only plan to marry once and so I'm gong to make sure that I really enjoy this.
So, little word count process, but the ideas are still bubbling ~ as this is the first novel I've tackled I don't quite know what i'm doing yet, and I came to realise that whilst the tension between my two main protagonists is central to my plot I don't quite know enough about my supporting cast of characters to provide a fully authentic "colouring in" of the rest. So any spare novel time this weekend will be spent "interviewing" my peripheral characters in order to beef them up a bit. I'll be doing some "hot seat" question and answer sessions just as soon as I've devised soem suitably searching questions.
Hope the sun is shining on you all, happy writing,
Kate
Kate Harrison raised the issue of writing rituals in this weeks coffee break: I don't think I have any writing rituals or superstitions (other than keeping it all a closely guarded secret from everyone bar my fiance until i feel I'm at a strong enough point to start sharing). I write in longhand in notebooks with a fountain pen to start with, and then transfer it all onto my laptop, but I'm not sure if thats really a ritual or just the fact that I am a bit of a luddite.
WIP: I have made some progress, and also some not progress ~ the word count has ground to a near standstill as life is getting very very hectic (upcoming wedding ~ don't know if I mentioned it about a billion times or so, plus the usual "real life" stuff that clogs up the flow ~ I don't so much need a room of my own as a soundproof isolation chamber that locks from the inside. Maybe I can get one of those when I get the lottery win that will allow the day job to take a running jump....) so I am fairly behind on the novel, my A215 course and a short story I am working on too. I think i'll have the face facts that there will be very little headway made until after the honeymoon, but I only plan to marry once and so I'm gong to make sure that I really enjoy this.
So, little word count process, but the ideas are still bubbling ~ as this is the first novel I've tackled I don't quite know what i'm doing yet, and I came to realise that whilst the tension between my two main protagonists is central to my plot I don't quite know enough about my supporting cast of characters to provide a fully authentic "colouring in" of the rest. So any spare novel time this weekend will be spent "interviewing" my peripheral characters in order to beef them up a bit. I'll be doing some "hot seat" question and answer sessions just as soon as I've devised soem suitably searching questions.
Hope the sun is shining on you all, happy writing,
Kate
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
(pre-) Dawn of the Dead
Word count so far this week = not much at all: I'm getting married soon, and myself and the fiancé have spent most available evenings and weekends on wedding stuff which never seems to end. It’s all very exciting, but very time consuming too.
On the plus side my new laptop EVENTUALLY arrived, so as soon as I have a few free evenings (which won't be until towards the end of the week as there are 120 invitations to be written over the next couple of evenings and my mum is running it like a military exercise) I can get on with the task of transcribing my reams and reams of handwritten stuff.
I am ruthlessly keeping the laptop internet free, as I have realised that I do not have the willpower to avoid trawling cyberspace for total crap in the name of "research". And despite the word count being low the words that did make in onto paper were written in a couple of early morning, pre breakfast sessions, and as a staunch non-morning person that’s some pretty impressive behaviour for me. I have come the realisation that if I am to commit many words to paper/screen over the next few months I am going to have to cultivate a fairly unshakeable daybreak attitude to my writing. It’s the only way in light of the tidal wave of bridal matters which will be slapping me full in the face between now and the wedding.
In fact, I am so resigned to the diminishing hours available for doing my two favorite things (running and writing, in case you’re wondering. Eating, sleeping and the other are going to have to go onto the back burner for a while!) That I even bopped out of bed at an ungodly hour this morning and attempted a quick three mile run. PRE-EIGHT A.M.!! My body hated it, and hated me for forcing it to do such an unspeakable thing at such an unspeakable hour. The rebellion took the form of a total refusal to co-operate, rather like a toddler that won't put its anorak on: legs and brain put up a fairly impressive protest, which I gamely ignored, so much so that the attack advanced and I developed a sort of temporary hysterical blindness in one eye. Nice. Anyway, I lived to tell the tale, and am feeling undeniably smug now (cos, you know, I ran three miles before 8 o’ clock this morning. I’ll shut up about it now….)
Hope you other racers are all speeding ahead ~ I have theatre tickets for tonight, so I see another early start for the writing tomorrow. Yawn.
On the plus side my new laptop EVENTUALLY arrived, so as soon as I have a few free evenings (which won't be until towards the end of the week as there are 120 invitations to be written over the next couple of evenings and my mum is running it like a military exercise) I can get on with the task of transcribing my reams and reams of handwritten stuff.
I am ruthlessly keeping the laptop internet free, as I have realised that I do not have the willpower to avoid trawling cyberspace for total crap in the name of "research". And despite the word count being low the words that did make in onto paper were written in a couple of early morning, pre breakfast sessions, and as a staunch non-morning person that’s some pretty impressive behaviour for me. I have come the realisation that if I am to commit many words to paper/screen over the next few months I am going to have to cultivate a fairly unshakeable daybreak attitude to my writing. It’s the only way in light of the tidal wave of bridal matters which will be slapping me full in the face between now and the wedding.
In fact, I am so resigned to the diminishing hours available for doing my two favorite things (running and writing, in case you’re wondering. Eating, sleeping and the other are going to have to go onto the back burner for a while!) That I even bopped out of bed at an ungodly hour this morning and attempted a quick three mile run. PRE-EIGHT A.M.!! My body hated it, and hated me for forcing it to do such an unspeakable thing at such an unspeakable hour. The rebellion took the form of a total refusal to co-operate, rather like a toddler that won't put its anorak on: legs and brain put up a fairly impressive protest, which I gamely ignored, so much so that the attack advanced and I developed a sort of temporary hysterical blindness in one eye. Nice. Anyway, I lived to tell the tale, and am feeling undeniably smug now (cos, you know, I ran three miles before 8 o’ clock this morning. I’ll shut up about it now….)
Hope you other racers are all speeding ahead ~ I have theatre tickets for tonight, so I see another early start for the writing tomorrow. Yawn.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Would I lie to you baby ?
(The Eurythmics one, not Charles & Eddy, you philistines!)
This is an interesting piece from the Guardian, about lying and the possible root causes. Like most people I had naively divided untruths into "white" lies designed to protect other people's feelings ("We would love to come to your civil war re-enactment meeting but sadly the boiler has packed in & the the plumber can only come this saturday ~ drat!") and the blacker, darker variety which have a more self-serving and destructive intention.
However the guardian piece raises an interesting point: "it became clear to me for the first time: the brutal cruelty of your mouth acting against you, of wanting so much to communicate and not being able to use the words you choose". This bit leapt out at me, as I am planning to play around with the reliability of my narrative voices in the novel, with the seemingly most reliable protagonist ultimately being the least dependable in terms of truthfulness. This isn't intended to be a malicious character trait, more along the lines of him being a "head in the clouds" musical type who rarely touches ground level (by contrast the polar opposite character is someone with an almost autistic inclination to always be honest, regardless of how painful that truth might be). Maybe I'll alter his make-up a wee bit now, with him being entirely authentic and honest when communicating through music, but a rather tongue-tied and inelegant communicator in everyday discourse.
I love it when the connections all start sparking!
This is an interesting piece from the Guardian, about lying and the possible root causes. Like most people I had naively divided untruths into "white" lies designed to protect other people's feelings ("We would love to come to your civil war re-enactment meeting but sadly the boiler has packed in & the the plumber can only come this saturday ~ drat!") and the blacker, darker variety which have a more self-serving and destructive intention.
However the guardian piece raises an interesting point: "it became clear to me for the first time: the brutal cruelty of your mouth acting against you, of wanting so much to communicate and not being able to use the words you choose". This bit leapt out at me, as I am planning to play around with the reliability of my narrative voices in the novel, with the seemingly most reliable protagonist ultimately being the least dependable in terms of truthfulness. This isn't intended to be a malicious character trait, more along the lines of him being a "head in the clouds" musical type who rarely touches ground level (by contrast the polar opposite character is someone with an almost autistic inclination to always be honest, regardless of how painful that truth might be). Maybe I'll alter his make-up a wee bit now, with him being entirely authentic and honest when communicating through music, but a rather tongue-tied and inelegant communicator in everyday discourse.
I love it when the connections all start sparking!
Monday, March 19, 2007
Next step, or running before I can walk?
Righty, having bitten the bullet and abused my poor Mastercard to the tune of a new laptop I am finally in a position to start typing my reams of handwritten material into some semblance of order.
But, I'm in two minds about how to proceed: should I submit a couple of chapters and a synopsis to a publisher/agent whilst I'm still in the process of writing? Or am I better off waiting until I've finished the majority of the writing so that I have a more complete product to offer?
How did other writers approach this issue?
But, I'm in two minds about how to proceed: should I submit a couple of chapters and a synopsis to a publisher/agent whilst I'm still in the process of writing? Or am I better off waiting until I've finished the majority of the writing so that I have a more complete product to offer?
How did other writers approach this issue?
Monday, March 12, 2007
Pulped fiction
This is a rather disheartening article, from the Independent this weekend:
The average author earns about £16,000, a third less than the national average wage, it is revealed. So what? They're doing what they love. But hidden behind that figure released by the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) is a grimmer truth: when you take away the superstars who are earning shedloads, the actual figure for the rest is closer to £4,000.
That's less than it was last time anyone looked, seven years ago, and far less than the distant days when the Net Book Agreement kept prices high. Forget living on baked beans in a garrett; this is barely enough to buy stale bread and a tarpaulin for shelter.
And it is only for the lucky ones: fewer authors are being signed up unless they're famous, advances are shrinking, and those who sell only moderately well are dropped, ending careers early.
It's the sort of thing that makes hearing about the £million advances paid to the likes of Wayne Rooney (for an "autobiography" he is unlikely to ever read, let alone write, a single word of!) even harder to stomach.
[Incidentally, an university comtemporary of mine, Lucie Cave, ghost-wrote Jade Goody's "autobiography". I'm guessing that she did it for the cash, and fair play to her, but I've often wondered if she was ever tempted to slip a few veiled references to the Bakhtinian carnival or the odd bit of feminist theory in there, subliminally cloaked within a gripping pasage about being falsely accused of having a verucca whilst in the BB house. In fairness she may have done, I haven't actually read it....]
But, back to my original point, it doesn't take a Mensa candidiate to make the connection between dwindling author incoming and the internet/supermarket phenomenon of selling books at less than half their cover price. Apparently even the niche bargain bookstores are struggling. The current trend for "cheaper, cheaper, cheapest" worries me, and not just in relation to book selling. We've become a society that sees it as our basic right to acquire as much as possible as cheaply as possible, and yet the obvious conclusion is that when prices are cut back to the bone then someone, somewhere, is losing out. I'm thinking specifically of the likes of Primark and the other cut-price fashion outlets ~ I shudder to think what the foreign manufacturers/employees are being paid, so that we can exercise our god-given right to buy a t-shirt for £2.00.......
Monday morning rant over. And on a lighter note, this just in from the "You couldn't make it up (and if you did you couldn't use it in a work of fiction as no-one would believe you)" corner: Man cleared of murder by Curb Your Enthusiasm wins damages.
The average author earns about £16,000, a third less than the national average wage, it is revealed. So what? They're doing what they love. But hidden behind that figure released by the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) is a grimmer truth: when you take away the superstars who are earning shedloads, the actual figure for the rest is closer to £4,000.
That's less than it was last time anyone looked, seven years ago, and far less than the distant days when the Net Book Agreement kept prices high. Forget living on baked beans in a garrett; this is barely enough to buy stale bread and a tarpaulin for shelter.
And it is only for the lucky ones: fewer authors are being signed up unless they're famous, advances are shrinking, and those who sell only moderately well are dropped, ending careers early.
It's the sort of thing that makes hearing about the £million advances paid to the likes of Wayne Rooney (for an "autobiography" he is unlikely to ever read, let alone write, a single word of!) even harder to stomach.
[Incidentally, an university comtemporary of mine, Lucie Cave, ghost-wrote Jade Goody's "autobiography". I'm guessing that she did it for the cash, and fair play to her, but I've often wondered if she was ever tempted to slip a few veiled references to the Bakhtinian carnival or the odd bit of feminist theory in there, subliminally cloaked within a gripping pasage about being falsely accused of having a verucca whilst in the BB house. In fairness she may have done, I haven't actually read it....]
But, back to my original point, it doesn't take a Mensa candidiate to make the connection between dwindling author incoming and the internet/supermarket phenomenon of selling books at less than half their cover price. Apparently even the niche bargain bookstores are struggling. The current trend for "cheaper, cheaper, cheapest" worries me, and not just in relation to book selling. We've become a society that sees it as our basic right to acquire as much as possible as cheaply as possible, and yet the obvious conclusion is that when prices are cut back to the bone then someone, somewhere, is losing out. I'm thinking specifically of the likes of Primark and the other cut-price fashion outlets ~ I shudder to think what the foreign manufacturers/employees are being paid, so that we can exercise our god-given right to buy a t-shirt for £2.00.......
Monday morning rant over. And on a lighter note, this just in from the "You couldn't make it up (and if you did you couldn't use it in a work of fiction as no-one would believe you)" corner: Man cleared of murder by Curb Your Enthusiasm wins damages.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Dear novel racers....
Just a wee apology that I have not got a lovely novel racers section in my sidebar ~ I have just upgraded my layout and am still fumbling in the dark a little but I'll be getting onto it over the next few days.
I seem to have lost my word counter into the bargain ~ then again, maybe thats no bad thing.....
I seem to have lost my word counter into the bargain ~ then again, maybe thats no bad thing.....
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Zinnia's list
Zinnia has a fantastic post here for scene summaries. I'll be giving it a go over the next couple of evenings.
Oh, what a beautiful morning......
....oh, yesterday was a beautiful day!
Actually, I've been having a lovely time since Monday evening (yes, sorry, that does sound unbearably smug and "Pollyanna"...). I spent ALL of monday evening reading and writing, which felt extremely satisying and productive. And then yesterday I made an early start as the fiance had to be up unfeasibly early for work, so i attempted some morning pages (ok, morning page, singular) despite the fact that my eyes were barely open. I've never quite got the hang of morning pages, so i wasn't best pleased to see them rear their head in A215: I attempted them previously when I was working through The Artist's Way, but I am really not a morning person so I've never managed to keep them up for very long. Plus, I have a friend who had a very nasty experience where uncensored subconscious outpourings + prying eyes of someone who really shouldn't have been looking = hideous big emotional mess. Hhhmm, might perservere with them a bit longer, as I can see the benefit, but I doubt i'll ever be able to write in a truly uncensored fashion....
Then yesterday evening I went for a lovely run of 5.55 miles. It was intended to be a 6-miler, but I had to snip a wee bitt off the end because I felt like I needed the loo. The only time I suffer from penis envy is when I'm caught short on a run....Anyway I reasoned I desereved the treat of not doing the last half mile as I has broken a personal record over the first 4.5 miles, and was feeling like I'd worked hard enough already. Its lovely now that it stay lighter for longer, and it was just heading into dusk as I set off, which makes everything look mauve and grey and pretty (even if I WAS running through an industrial estate!) Nice hot shower, steak sandwich and chips, Life on Mars on the TV ~ pretty perfect all round!
Fiance is out tonight so I will get a tonne of writing done. Think I've finally got my mojo back now that we're shaking off the cold clamp of winter. I have an assignment for A215 to do, so i'll get that done tonight and see if submission of our first tuorial pieces goes any way towards shaking awake the graveyard which is my online tutorial group...
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Thick & Fast....
No, that's not what they used to say about me at college ;-)
Ideas ~ ideas are flowing thick and fast at the moment, but sadly no ideas for plot development. Over the last few days I have been inundated with ideas for alternative projects: a children's book, several short stories, a few themes that I am keen to develop. I wonder if this is usual? I suppose its always the case that whatever you're in the middle of, everything else always seems ten times more fascinating.
I'm not going to get much in the way of words done until the latter half of the weekend as this has been a week of hectic scoial engagements: last night I even surreptiously scribbled down a few notes on a scrap of paper whilst at a birthday meal for a friend! A tad rude, maybe, but I have learned the hard way that telling myself "I will not forget this brilliant idea and wil write it up the minute I get home" is doomed to failure in 100% of instances.
Ideas ~ ideas are flowing thick and fast at the moment, but sadly no ideas for plot development. Over the last few days I have been inundated with ideas for alternative projects: a children's book, several short stories, a few themes that I am keen to develop. I wonder if this is usual? I suppose its always the case that whatever you're in the middle of, everything else always seems ten times more fascinating.
I'm not going to get much in the way of words done until the latter half of the weekend as this has been a week of hectic scoial engagements: last night I even surreptiously scribbled down a few notes on a scrap of paper whilst at a birthday meal for a friend! A tad rude, maybe, but I have learned the hard way that telling myself "I will not forget this brilliant idea and wil write it up the minute I get home" is doomed to failure in 100% of instances.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Place
I am feeling very energized about my writing right now ~ think the combination of joining the novel race, and thinking about my writing so much more on a daily basis has worked wonders for me.
Having said that, I haven’t updated my word count yes because a) I errrr don’t know how to and b) call me old-fashioned but I write up my first drafts in longhand (and in fountain pen too ~ at least it’s not a quill!). Then when I’m relatively happy that there is something on paper that could stand to be transferred to screen I start the process of typing up, which helps in the editing and rewriting too. I know it is probably not the most efficient way to do it, but I adore the glide of the pen nib across the paper, and seeing the words spill out in lovely glossy ink…
Also, whilst I’ve not been actively pounding out a huge amount of words I have been tussling with a few ideas that will inform the narrative ~ I’m looking to play around with the idea of the unreliable narrator, and as I have a couple of narrative voices in the novel I’m aiming to make the least likely character the most unreliable one. This has thrown up a lot of possibilities, so I’m allowing those to gestate right now. Additionally I have been spending a lot of time thinking about the concept of place, of home ~ how where you are from informs who you are. This is a topic I have always been fascinated by: on holiday I always love the difference in the quality of light in a foreign environment, and how waking up each day of your life under that particular square of sky might impact upon character.
In other news, A215 is a bit of a mixed bag so far: I am enjoying the course, and the exercises certainly seem to be goading me into action, but it is an online course so I am finding the lack of active participation in my tutor group very frustrating. Also, the tutor has yet to post up any of the promised exercises. Hhhhmm, I’ll give it another week or ten days or so, but if it doesn’t pick up I’ll look into requesting a transfer to another group. I want to wring every drop out of this course, and whilst I’m trying not to be too offputting to my fellow students by being too “full on” I’m not going to sit in the corner in silence when that is not the way the course is structured.
Any other A215-ers out there?
Having said that, I haven’t updated my word count yes because a) I errrr don’t know how to and b) call me old-fashioned but I write up my first drafts in longhand (and in fountain pen too ~ at least it’s not a quill!). Then when I’m relatively happy that there is something on paper that could stand to be transferred to screen I start the process of typing up, which helps in the editing and rewriting too. I know it is probably not the most efficient way to do it, but I adore the glide of the pen nib across the paper, and seeing the words spill out in lovely glossy ink…
Also, whilst I’ve not been actively pounding out a huge amount of words I have been tussling with a few ideas that will inform the narrative ~ I’m looking to play around with the idea of the unreliable narrator, and as I have a couple of narrative voices in the novel I’m aiming to make the least likely character the most unreliable one. This has thrown up a lot of possibilities, so I’m allowing those to gestate right now. Additionally I have been spending a lot of time thinking about the concept of place, of home ~ how where you are from informs who you are. This is a topic I have always been fascinated by: on holiday I always love the difference in the quality of light in a foreign environment, and how waking up each day of your life under that particular square of sky might impact upon character.
In other news, A215 is a bit of a mixed bag so far: I am enjoying the course, and the exercises certainly seem to be goading me into action, but it is an online course so I am finding the lack of active participation in my tutor group very frustrating. Also, the tutor has yet to post up any of the promised exercises. Hhhhmm, I’ll give it another week or ten days or so, but if it doesn’t pick up I’ll look into requesting a transfer to another group. I want to wring every drop out of this course, and whilst I’m trying not to be too offputting to my fellow students by being too “full on” I’m not going to sit in the corner in silence when that is not the way the course is structured.
Any other A215-ers out there?
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Ready, Steady, GO!
Kate Harrison has very kindly added me to the Novel Race, so i am metaphorically lacing up my Asics this very minute.
As I said previously, I haven't a hope in hell of winning this race, but then again I had less than no chance of winning the Great North Run but I still entered: my only desire was to finish, and in one piece, and I managed that, so i am transferring that same wish to the novel in hand: finish it, without it finishing me first!
And anyway, it's not the winning, its the taking part that counts, isn't that right?
Friday, February 02, 2007
bits and bobs
Just a few bits and bobs:
1) As of tomorrow the OU's level 2 creative writing course, A215, officially starts ~ I've had the course materials for a while so I'm already immersing myself in it, and I'm happy to say that the first couple of chapters seem centred around engendering a good regular writing habit. This is just the caffeine shot in the arm I need, although I'm slightly concerned that course related matters may nibble into my novel writing time. Still, all time spent writing is good, right?
2) I have just finished reading The Accidental by Ali Smith, and if you haven't read it yet then I urge you too. The narrative style is very fresh, and I found the plays on the nature of constructed story-telling fascinating: we only ever know what we know about a person or situation, and that is never the complete story. I'm intrigued that one of the Amazon reviewers regarded it as "a deeply coded and concealed attack on the values of ordinary people". Really? I thought it presented a highly neutral characterisation, in which no-one character was whooly good or wholly bad ~ I found the characters to each be a complex blend of desirable and undesirable aspects, as indeed we all are.
3) Still working through Perry's "Writing in Flow" ~ and I'm probably the fartherst into that I've ever got through any writing manuel!
1) As of tomorrow the OU's level 2 creative writing course, A215, officially starts ~ I've had the course materials for a while so I'm already immersing myself in it, and I'm happy to say that the first couple of chapters seem centred around engendering a good regular writing habit. This is just the caffeine shot in the arm I need, although I'm slightly concerned that course related matters may nibble into my novel writing time. Still, all time spent writing is good, right?
2) I have just finished reading The Accidental by Ali Smith, and if you haven't read it yet then I urge you too. The narrative style is very fresh, and I found the plays on the nature of constructed story-telling fascinating: we only ever know what we know about a person or situation, and that is never the complete story. I'm intrigued that one of the Amazon reviewers regarded it as "a deeply coded and concealed attack on the values of ordinary people". Really? I thought it presented a highly neutral characterisation, in which no-one character was whooly good or wholly bad ~ I found the characters to each be a complex blend of desirable and undesirable aspects, as indeed we all are.
3) Still working through Perry's "Writing in Flow" ~ and I'm probably the fartherst into that I've ever got through any writing manuel!
Guess who's back?
(Apologies for the Eminem quote ~ for some reason my mp3 player keeps throwing this up on the "not-at-all random" random option when I'm out running, hence it's a bit of an ear-worm right now)
The novel is still ticking along, but nowhere near as quickly as i'd like, so inkeeping with my new 2007 "seize the day" persona I have elected to join Kate Harrison's novel race. I've been toying with this ever since she first announced it, but kept shying away from some vague paranoia that I would "show myself up". However I have slowly (it takes me a while) come to the realisation that I need a decided kick up the proverbial if I am going to make the desired progress with this book. So from today I am committing to the race. I'll be the one near the back, huffing & puffing with a face the most fetching shade of puce (as indeed will be the case when I take part in next saturday's 10K for muscular dystrophy ~ but hey, i'm used to being near the back, so plus ca change....)
Off to get me one of those nifty wordcount-ometer jobbies now .....
The novel is still ticking along, but nowhere near as quickly as i'd like, so inkeeping with my new 2007 "seize the day" persona I have elected to join Kate Harrison's novel race. I've been toying with this ever since she first announced it, but kept shying away from some vague paranoia that I would "show myself up". However I have slowly (it takes me a while) come to the realisation that I need a decided kick up the proverbial if I am going to make the desired progress with this book. So from today I am committing to the race. I'll be the one near the back, huffing & puffing with a face the most fetching shade of puce (as indeed will be the case when I take part in next saturday's 10K for muscular dystrophy ~ but hey, i'm used to being near the back, so plus ca change....)
Off to get me one of those nifty wordcount-ometer jobbies now .....
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
After a brief hiatus...
I've been AWOL for a while, from both the novel & the blog ~ there's been a deluge of interesting, time-consuming & amazing personal stuff happening over the last few months, and I don't really see my feet touching the ground till after Christmas & the New Year.
I think I've also hit a secondary gestational period with the book: there's a fair bit written, and a fair bit mapped out, but I still don't quite know what's going to happen with some key points and some character relationships. I'm letting it all casserole slowly in my head, so hopefully there'll be some tender meat & rich gravy to feast on in the end.
In the meantime I am reading this: Writing in Flow, Susan K Perry. I bought it a couple of years back (along with the plethora of other writing books which are sucking up space & gathering dust in my house), but I'm working through it steadily and making notes as I go. I'm finding the psychology foundation of it very reassuring (especially as I studied Csikszentmihalyi and "flow" in great depth in the social psychology section of my Bsc, even going so far as to learn the spelling of his name for the exam ~ which I subsequently never used!). I crave the escapism of flow, and get into it so very rarely, but for me it is one of the fundamentals of writing: writing myself into that parallel world where everything is possible if you're brave enough to take the first step and write the first word.
Anyway, normal writing procedure should be resumed soon ~ I'm itching to get back on the page and getting frustrated that the last few months have been too chaotic to allow for much writing. Nice to be back in the blogging saddle, though.
I think I've also hit a secondary gestational period with the book: there's a fair bit written, and a fair bit mapped out, but I still don't quite know what's going to happen with some key points and some character relationships. I'm letting it all casserole slowly in my head, so hopefully there'll be some tender meat & rich gravy to feast on in the end.
In the meantime I am reading this: Writing in Flow, Susan K Perry. I bought it a couple of years back (along with the plethora of other writing books which are sucking up space & gathering dust in my house), but I'm working through it steadily and making notes as I go. I'm finding the psychology foundation of it very reassuring (especially as I studied Csikszentmihalyi and "flow" in great depth in the social psychology section of my Bsc, even going so far as to learn the spelling of his name for the exam ~ which I subsequently never used!). I crave the escapism of flow, and get into it so very rarely, but for me it is one of the fundamentals of writing: writing myself into that parallel world where everything is possible if you're brave enough to take the first step and write the first word.
Anyway, normal writing procedure should be resumed soon ~ I'm itching to get back on the page and getting frustrated that the last few months have been too chaotic to allow for much writing. Nice to be back in the blogging saddle, though.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Back of the van...
Prose extract:
"The smell of sweat mingled with the aroma of stale Brown Ale, vying for supremacy over the lingering fart odour. That there were girls prepared to venture into the back of the van, to allow the stench to assault their nostrils as we assaulted their underwear, was testimony to the tremendous aphrodisiac quality of having your band name appear third from the bottom of the bill next Friday night at the Rex. It was better than Christmas."
"The smell of sweat mingled with the aroma of stale Brown Ale, vying for supremacy over the lingering fart odour. That there were girls prepared to venture into the back of the van, to allow the stench to assault their nostrils as we assaulted their underwear, was testimony to the tremendous aphrodisiac quality of having your band name appear third from the bottom of the bill next Friday night at the Rex. It was better than Christmas."
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Sex, Brown Ale and Rhythm and Blues : The Life That Gave Birth to The Animals
I've been trying to get hold of a copy of "Sex, Brown Ale and Rhythm and Blues : The Life That Gave Birth to The Animals" by George Pearson, but sadly to no avail ~ Amazon emailed today to say that they's been unable to source a copy, and I've tried all sorts of other online searches and come up with squatuntott.
So, if anyone out there knows of a copy going spare please let me know. I'll pay and stuff.
Incidentally, I'm not writing about The Animals per se, but era & area are roughly the same & I was really looking forward to getting the Pearson book to add a bit of depth to the context and background.
Oh well, back to the Google searches I suppose......
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Skirting around the edges.....
....which is sort of what I've been doing with The DeadBeats novel recently. Not a great deal of progress has been happening on it, but I've been working on related matters.
One of which is a short story I'm working on for a competition at the end of September. Now its not technically directly related to the novel, but it does feature a character that I'm developing to be a hybrid of Hendrix & Mozart (trust me, it works really well ~ genre-breaking prodigies, died too young, mythologized to near saint-hood.....) so I'm spending a lot of time thinking about the whys and wherefores of prodigious musical talent, which is useful as both of the two main protagonists in The DeadBeats are brilliantly creative, complicated individuals.
Another rock-related "phenomenon" which has been puzzling me: the smashing of the guitar at the end of - or indeed in the midst of - a show. Why? Is it designed to show a cataclysmic out-pouring of uncontrollable artistic spirit? Because I'm not buying that. It's as much of a cliche as the whole "TV out of the hotel window / car in the swimming pool" malarkey. I saw two bands doing this on the Leeds / Reading coverage over the bank-holiday, and it struck me as being as quaintly out-dated as asking a girl's father for her hand in marriage. It's something that they did a long long time ago, in that foreign country known as the past. And it's horribly wasteful ~ aren't we frowning on the conspicuous consumption/destruction of luxury items nowadays?
Speaking of Leeds, anyone got any feedback/tips? We've just bought tickets for next year's festival (in order to escape the seven hours in stationary traffic which was endured en-route to the V Festival this year. And the fact that the V festival is now over-run by annoying posh 19 year-olds trying to look like Pete Doherty / Peaches Geldof. And the fact that Dick Branson doesn't need anymore of my money. And the fact that I'm 32 and don't need talking down to like an errant schoolchild, thank you patronising "steward" at least ten years younger than me.) But I have heard that it can be a bit rough & your chances of getting your tent ransacked are about 1 in 3. Hhhhmm. It may all be academic anyway ~ the real plan is to get the final draft of the novel finished by June next year, and to hopefully have a baby on the way as well, so with any luck next August will be taken up with sonograms and publishing doo-dahs. Tickets may well end up on ebay instead (open to offers.....)
And I've also been indulging myself by reading Zelda's Cut by Philippa Gregory. It's not what I would normally choose to read (I'm not saying I'm a literary snob, but, well, it's the type of thing that strikes me as sort of "housewifely". Dreadful judgement, I know) But it was gripping in a thriller-ish type way. Three reasons why it's relevant to the blog: 1) it pays to read outside your usual zone. See what works, what doesn't, how things can be different, etc., 2) There are some very odd plot developments in it ~ i can't tell if they're brave or foolish, but I didn't realise how daft they were until long afterwards. As I was reading I simply accepted them as part of the story because they were part of the story. Lesson learned ~ you can get away with stuff & 3) one of themes revolves around artistic worthiness vs. commercial selling out ~ something to think about for both myself as the novelist, and my band as they negotiate their way through the music business.
One of which is a short story I'm working on for a competition at the end of September. Now its not technically directly related to the novel, but it does feature a character that I'm developing to be a hybrid of Hendrix & Mozart (trust me, it works really well ~ genre-breaking prodigies, died too young, mythologized to near saint-hood.....) so I'm spending a lot of time thinking about the whys and wherefores of prodigious musical talent, which is useful as both of the two main protagonists in The DeadBeats are brilliantly creative, complicated individuals.
Another rock-related "phenomenon" which has been puzzling me: the smashing of the guitar at the end of - or indeed in the midst of - a show. Why? Is it designed to show a cataclysmic out-pouring of uncontrollable artistic spirit? Because I'm not buying that. It's as much of a cliche as the whole "TV out of the hotel window / car in the swimming pool" malarkey. I saw two bands doing this on the Leeds / Reading coverage over the bank-holiday, and it struck me as being as quaintly out-dated as asking a girl's father for her hand in marriage. It's something that they did a long long time ago, in that foreign country known as the past. And it's horribly wasteful ~ aren't we frowning on the conspicuous consumption/destruction of luxury items nowadays?
Speaking of Leeds, anyone got any feedback/tips? We've just bought tickets for next year's festival (in order to escape the seven hours in stationary traffic which was endured en-route to the V Festival this year. And the fact that the V festival is now over-run by annoying posh 19 year-olds trying to look like Pete Doherty / Peaches Geldof. And the fact that Dick Branson doesn't need anymore of my money. And the fact that I'm 32 and don't need talking down to like an errant schoolchild, thank you patronising "steward" at least ten years younger than me.) But I have heard that it can be a bit rough & your chances of getting your tent ransacked are about 1 in 3. Hhhhmm. It may all be academic anyway ~ the real plan is to get the final draft of the novel finished by June next year, and to hopefully have a baby on the way as well, so with any luck next August will be taken up with sonograms and publishing doo-dahs. Tickets may well end up on ebay instead (open to offers.....)
And I've also been indulging myself by reading Zelda's Cut by Philippa Gregory. It's not what I would normally choose to read (I'm not saying I'm a literary snob, but, well, it's the type of thing that strikes me as sort of "housewifely". Dreadful judgement, I know) But it was gripping in a thriller-ish type way. Three reasons why it's relevant to the blog: 1) it pays to read outside your usual zone. See what works, what doesn't, how things can be different, etc., 2) There are some very odd plot developments in it ~ i can't tell if they're brave or foolish, but I didn't realise how daft they were until long afterwards. As I was reading I simply accepted them as part of the story because they were part of the story. Lesson learned ~ you can get away with stuff & 3) one of themes revolves around artistic worthiness vs. commercial selling out ~ something to think about for both myself as the novelist, and my band as they negotiate their way through the music business.
