What's it All About?

Versatile Blogger Award and Blog of the Month

2012-02-11T17:57:00.000Z

A while ago I received the Versatile Blogger Award from Rabia Gale. Thanks very much Rabia :)

According to the rules I need to:
* post the Versatile Blogger icon* (done)
* link to the person who nominated me* (done)
* share 7 things about myself* (see below)
* pass on the award to another 5/7/14 people* (it might have to be 3)

7 things about me
a) I'm a Lancashire lass, born in the north west of Britain.

b) I love folk music and used to clog dance - I've danced the one being shown on the clip. I still have my clogs.

c) As a child, one of my heroes was Robin Hood. He robbed the rich and gave to the poor. There was something about that caring for those who were poor, and found life hard, which appealed to me. (I managed to ignore the criminal side to his nature! ).

d) One day a week I work at Hidcote Manor Garden in Gloucestershire

e) History fascinates me, particularly the period between the two world wars - which is when my first novel is set.

f) I detest mobile (cell) phones.

g) My favorite holiday destination at present is the west of Scotland - it's a magical place and I've fallen in love with it.

I pass on this award to:
Bertie Bainbridge
Sari Webb
Emily Casey

Reading List

2012-02-09T12:03:00.000Z

Just updated my reading list with the first two books started this year. See here for more details.

First book in the Scotland Street series

Second book in the 44 Scotland Street series

Full Moon

2012-02-07T19:06:00.000Z

I just had to share this.
I went upstairs to close the curtains and saw this large, golden moon rising over the roofs. No time for a tripod so I grabbed a pile of books to rest the camera on. Not ideal - many of the piccies were blurred, but these came out ok enough.

What an amazing colour!
I'm fascinated by the phases of the moon and have an iGoogle Gadget on my Google webpage, so even when it's cloudy I can see what the moon is doing.

I remember visiting Avebury stone circle on the way back north from Salisbury. Night was falling and the stones looked stark silver and black in the bright moonlight. It was a very special experience. (I'm fascinated by stone circles too).

Sunday Summary

2012-02-05T22:34:00.000Z

Life
It's been cold this week! The temperature plummeted and I've been swathed in my thickest pullover and a fleecy blanket trying to keep warm while typing. Yesterday we went to the theatre in the afternoon and came out to a world made white by falling snow. Consequently the road past our house has been quiet today as most people have hunkered down and stayed home.

The roads didn't seem too bad so we went out into the Cotswold Hills to take some photos. This one was taken as we were returning to the car late in the afternoon, the light fading fast.

Writing
I finished revising my short story this week! It seems strange to have done with my characters, especially Jess the dog, and the wonderful setting of an isolated Scottish glen. After spending so long writing and revising, it is impossible for me to assess the story, so it is now with three people who are going to read it and pass comment.

Since sending the story on its way, I've been unable to settle on anything other than the essay for my ancient Egyptian evening class :)

Friday Food

2012-02-03T16:10:00.000Z

Food is really important, and food seems to creep into all the stories I write. When in the mood, I like to cook and experiment with new flavour combinations. I watch every cookery programme on tv and have a collection of cookery books which numbered around 90 at the last count.

One of the pleasures in life is cooking and sharing food with friends, sitting round a table, chilling out together, sharing a meal, sharing conversation and laughter. It takes some beating.

As I am unable to do that with you, I thought I'd share a few of my receipes which you can try, or perhaps change and make your own.

We have tomatoes in the shops all year, but during the winter months they have a distinct lack of flavour. This receipe arose out of desperation a few years ago, when I either did something drastic to a bag of tasteless tomatoes or threw them on the compost heap. Here's what I came up with.

Prue's way of Perking up Tired Tomatoes

Tomatoes cut in half
Olive oil - the more flavour the better
Sugar
Dried herbs (I use an Italian herb mix from Schwartz)

1. To a pan large enough to take the tomatoes in a single layer, add a generous glug of olive oil - enough to thinly coat the pan when hot.
2. Heat the oil and put in the tomatoes, cut side up. Don't get the oil too hot or the sugar will burn.
3. Sprinkle the cut surface with sugar, dried herbs and a twist of freshly ground pepper.
4. Cook for a few minutes then turn the tomatoes over. Spitting occurs so take care.
5. After a few minutes to slightly caramelize the sugar, turn tomatoes over again and turn down the heat to low.
6. Leave a few minutes more until the tomatoes are cooked through.

Amounts can be varied according to taste.

If you try it, let me know what you think :)
And if you come up with alternatives, then feel free to share.
Bon appetit!

Blog of the Month

2012-02-01T21:19:00.000Z

February's Blog of the Month goes to

Blog About Writing

Snowdrops at Cerney House Garden, 2010

Short-story writer, poet and creative writing tutor, Helen Yendall, is based in the Midlands (UK). I enjoy reading her cheerful and informative posts which appear every few days, and her blog is a source of information about writing competitions.

Sunday Summary

2012-01-29T15:52:00.000Z

Life
Here in the middle of England, it's a bone-chilling cold day with grey skies and mist. In spite of this, I saw a few hawthorn leaves fully opened yesterday, and patches of golden crocuses. The delicate white heads of snowdrops are appearing too so spring is not far away. Freezing temperatures are forecast for the week ahead so I won't be putting my winter woolies away just yet :)

Today we did The Big Garden Birdwatch run by the RSPB. We sat in the warmth of an upstairs room overlooking the back garden to count the birds seen in one hour. As usually happens all the birds disappeared, but after half an hour watching there were a few unexpected visitors like a flock of goldfinches who came to eat the seeds from the birch tree. Even this early in the year they are brightly coloured and a real treat to see on a grey day.

Writing
Life has been hectic, energy low (I caught Mr Prue's cold) so I've had a break from writing.
Tomorrow I get out my short story again and sort out where those chapters should go!

I seem to work for longish periods, writing or revising regularly - and then there's a break. I don't know if I need it or whether other things push it out?

Sunday Summary

2012-01-22T23:10:00.000Z

Life
Mr Prue has had a cold and this brought back some of the symptoms he had with pneumonia. He had been making such good progress too. I'm hoping he'll get over this setback soon. In spite of this we've seen two films - Las Acacias and Habemus Papem; both subtitled, both intruiging and entertaining.

And we were up early on Saturday for a geology meeting arranged by the West Midlands OUGS (Open University Geology Society). Five speakers, all very good; three of them were excellent. I love listening to talks by people who can speak about their work in an informative and entertaining way, and whose enthusiasm shines through. It's infectious and energising :)

In a few spare moments, I've been reading about the First Intermediate Period (2160 - 2055 BC) in ancient Egypt. Historians try to piece together what happened in those far-off times using small amounts of information which have survived, against all odds. It's like working out the picture from a 5000-piece jigsaw where ninety-nine percent of the pieces are missing.
And I find it fascinating! :D

Writing
Typing-in all the revised words and sentences for The Green Ribbon. It's finished but there's the not-so-small-and-very-confusing matter of breaking it up into chapters. Sometimes the break is clear; sometimes it isn't. More information can be found here.

Sunday Summary

2012-01-15T17:20:00.000Z

Life
One of my unwritten New Year goals was to try different receipes. Yesterday I cooked Stuffed Tenderloin of Pork; a lengthy receipe but well worth the time spent. It's from the first cookbook I bought The Cookery Year , thumbed so often that it's falling apart.

The stuffing has a bread-crumb base, dried fruit, orange zest, parsley and tarragon with a smidgeon of garlic. There's also an apricot sauce subtly flavoured with spices more commonly found in Indian receipes. I was dubious but it turned out to be a stunning combination with the stuffed pork! It looked colourful too :)

Writing
I began the final lesson of Holly Lisle's How to Revise Your Novel for my short story - details on my writing blog. A pleasing feeling to be on the home straight and yet I also feel bemused that the end is in sight as I've been working on it for so long.

My plan is to finish typing-in by this time next week.

As the end approaches, my internal editor, quiet for so long, has kicked into action and gives me no peace.
"Trash. Utter trash. It's no good. Just press the delete key, and don't even think about letting anyone read it," and similar comments are frequent occurrences.

Maybe that's why I took to the kitchen yesterday afternoon and made that wonderful meal? Never has prevarication been so pleasant :)

Blog of the Week

2012-01-11T22:29:00.000Z

I limit myself to a selection of blogs, otherwise I could sit at my computer all day and be entertained by the huge amount of blogging available - and do nothing else!

So, in celebration of the blogs in my life, and as thanks to those who provide information, entertainment and interest, I give you my 'Blog of the Week'.

First off is What ho Hidcote! by Bertie Bainbridge.

This is a glorious blog to look at. Bertie, who works at Hidcote Manor Garden in Gloucestershire, posts lots of photos of the garden. Some are early morning shots, others late in the day; times when the garden is closed to the public.

Bertie has a great collection of photos of individual plants too, and he shares his knowledge about plants and gardening in a very easy, accessible, fun way. His blog has been going for a year or two now so there's plenty to see and read.

What ho Hidcote is great at any time of year but is particularly good viewing in the depths of winter. Get along there and remind yourself what sunshine looks like :)

Films Added

2012-01-08T22:17:00.000Z

I've added a new page to the right-hand bar: films.
Mr Prue and I go to the cinema regularly at the local arts centre. There's a nice balance between the more popular mainstream films and foreign films.

I really like sub-titled films even though it means more work as I don't speak any language - other than my own - fluently enough to follow a whole film. These films are usually very different from mainstreams; slower in pace (although not always), often beautifully filmed, and leave me with a greater feeling of satisfaction at the end, or something to take away and think about. It's a bit like eating a chocolate brownie (sub-titled film) compared with a stick of candyfloss (high-action mainstream).

At the end of the year we can never remember which films we've seen, so this year I'll try to keep a note of them here.

Come and have a look - there maybe something which takes your fancy. Or perhaps you could share your favorite film.

Sunday Summary

2012-01-08T14:34:00.001Z

Life
The New Year is well under way; no snowdrops yet but the hazel catkins are beginning to swell and today I saw some of the reddish female flowers on hazel trees in Hampton wood, my local nature reserve. Spring is still some way off but at least it's on the horizon.

I'm just getting round to reading the biggest of my Christmas books: Britannia's Daughters: The Life and Times of Diplomatic Wives by Katie Hickman, daughter of one of those ambassador's wives. The book is beautifully illustrated and enjoyable to read although my hair stands on end when reading about the trials and tribulations some of these women had just travelling to their destination, let alone dealing with what awaited them once they arrived. It reminds me to read again Passenger to Teheran by Vita Sackville-West when she accompanied her husband, Nigel Nicholson, to Teheran in the 1920's.

Writing
I re-read Mystery in Morocco prior to starting work on it again (one of this year's goals - others can be seen on my writing blog). It's been about a year since I looked at the novel. Leaving it that long meant I saw lots of things which could be changed - for the better.

Have started Lesson 20 for HTRYN on my short story set in Scotland. The lesson after this one is the last in the course - the type in. And then I'll be looking for readers!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T17:33:00.000Z

The title says it all. May you have a happy, healthy and successful year in 2012.

My goals for this year:
1. Start reading Mystery in Morocco to get it fresh in my mind before taking up revision again.

2. Continue revising Will Ye No Come Back Again?

3. Keep a reading list (on this blog).

4. Blog regularly

5. Find someone to tidy my front garden!

That should do it :)

What are your goals for this year?

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T13:27:00.001Z

The rain has stopped and the sun is shining. The tree is decorated, and there are presents underneath. A bowl of pot-pourri in the hall is gently perfuming the air with tangy citrus and cinnamon. Mmmmm.

All I need to do is make some mince pies and then we're set for Christmas.

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

One Week to Go...

2011-12-18T17:36:00.000Z

...until Christmas Day! 'Holidaze' is how the site 'What Kate Wore' describes the period. Very apt in my opinion as the parties, lunches and general fest hits us.

Life
After the essay from hell was out of the way, I looked forward to an evening Christmas social with the geology society. It was one of those get-togethers where everyone brings food for a shared buffet. Wonderful! I did my favorite cajun spiced chicken legs and a bowl of bite-sized celery pieces with primula-with-herbs smoothed into the curved space.

Then there was a similar contribute-to-a-lunch on Firday. Different people, different food and equally good. It's easy to eat way too much. :)

Other than that, we've been engrossed in Masterchef the Professionals. It has been a revelation to see what can be done with food. This is Michelin-star quality food being cooked - and I want some! The food tastes good (according to Michel Roux Jr and Greg Wallace, the judges) and looks like a work of art. Stunning!

Food is really important to me and this programme has encouraged me to try new things. Ok, the herring the other evening were a bit of a disaster. Tonight is lamb tagine with apricots and roasted root vegetables, so fingers crossed it will be better. I love food with good flavour, especially herbs and spices, and a rich tagine is just what's needed as the temperatures slip below freezing!

Writing
I finished the essay from hell. Next week, I've promised myself to get back to my short story even though Christmas is on the horizon.

Sunday Summary

2011-12-11T17:06:00.000Z

Life
Highlight of the week was a Steeleye Span concert in Birmingham Town Hall. The German Market was on and the centre of Birmingham buzzed. It's great because there's no traffic and the waterfall in front of the Town Hall makes it a great place to be, winter or summer.

It's been getting colder, with sharp frosts at night. The garden looked silver and black in the moonlight last night, frost sparkling on the trees.

The moon was glorious when it came up last evening. We'd been over to Burford, one of the Cotswold towns, to get our Christmas cake. Coming back at dusk, a large, deep-golden moon rose above the hills and smiled at us all the way home.

Writing
Not much of this happening. I've been ill and my brain has refused to work. When I've written anything it's been for the Ancient Egyptian essay which must be in on Wednesday.
Must go and do a few more sentences before I make our evening meal.

Ancient Egypt

2011-12-08T13:03:00.001Z

Prehistoric Egypt
Egypt is famous for its pharaohs with all their wealth, pomp and pyramids , but people were living along the narrow oasis of the river Nile long before pharaohs, and their complex religious cults, came into being.

The Sahara
I was amazed to learn that between 8,000 to 9,000 years ago, the Sahara was savannah grassland and not dry desert. This Sahara-savannah supported herds of gazelles, giraffes, elephants and other wild animals; and small bands of people, hunter-gatherers, moved in the hunt the wildlife.

Climate changed, and about 4800 years ago the Sahara began to get drier. As water became scarce, people and animals moved away and, inevitably, some ended up in the Nile Valley.

Agriculture
Next on the scene was agriculture, probably introduced from the Levant. This new technology changed life forever.

I find it difficult to imagine what life would have been like without wheat - no bread for one thing (and no cookies either!). Farming tied people to the land, population slowly increased and hamlets, then villages, then towns grew up along the life-giving Nile.

Pottery came into use and some examples can be seen here. It is simple and yet so beautiful.

Early Villages and Towns
The early Egyptian peoples are grouped together into the 'predynastic' period - that time in Egypt's past before pharaohs started their long rule over Egypt. It is possible that each town had its own leader. Does this copy of a wall painting from a tomb show those first town-dwellers of the Nile going about their business?

The upper part of the Libyan palette shows small crennelated squares - thought to represent towns - with pictures within (maybe early hieroglyphs, perhaps giving the name of the town). Above each 'town' is an animal; it is thought that leaders/early kings were associated or represented by animals.

King Scorpion
That life-like scorpion occurs in other places and has been linked to 'King Scorpion'. More about him and what he got up to next week.

It's Sunday Again!

2011-12-04T18:33:00.000Z

This week has gone by with little to show for it. Pain gets in the way of many things and stopped my brain working. However, things got a whole lot better when my 'donut' cushion arrived and I can now sit down in comfort. Not being able to sit is a real pain - in more ways than one :)

Life
This revolved round reading, trying to take my mind off the discomfort. Mostly reading text books for the evening class essay on Ancient Egypt. I'll post more about this subject later in the week as it is fascinating me.

Still on the Egyptian theme, Mr Prue and I went to Oxford's Ashmolean Museum yesterday to see the newly opened Ancient Egyptian gallery. It claims to have the best predynastic exhibits outside Cairo, and I can well believe it. Overall there is too much to take in at once. Our evening class has only got to 2500 B.C.E. so halfway round the gallery we decided to call it a day and return early next year.
You can view some of what we saw here.

It was the highlight of my week :)
Oh...and I did a little Christmas shopping too.

Writing
Sadly, I did no writing this week. This coming week there is a 2000 word essay to write about the factors leading to the unification of Egypt way back around 3000 B.C.E. or thereabouts.

Sunday Summary

2011-11-27T19:10:00.000Z

Life
Our old oven is on its way out, so we spent some time this week looking for a replacement. The variety of ovens available is bewilderingly large, and we found ourselves beguiled by the high-end space-age ovens. They can even be turned on while you're still at work by sending an email to the oven! As the price is sky-high we reluctantly abandoned these awesome machines; but there's still a lot to choose from. It will be after Christmas before we get an oven so I hope the old one keeps going - or we might be outside barbequing the turkey on Christmas Day :)

Emily Casey and her post about cooking a new reicipe (eggs benedict) inspired me to make something different, so I tried panna cotta. I first had this desert a couple of years ago while on holiday. It was gloriously creamy, with a subtle flavour of vanilla, served with raspberries.
My first effort was a disaster. Too much gelatin set the cream so solid it could have bounced off the floor! The second try gave a soft just-set cream, and the raspberry sauce was a tangy foil for the richness of the pannacotta. It really cheered me up :)

Writing
I'm half-way through Lesson 19 and feel excited by the way this lesson increases awareness of words. What a difference changing a single word can make to the meaning of a sentence or phrase. It's slow going but satisfying, and exciting.

Mystery in Morocco, my first and still seriously flawed novel, has been in my thoughts again. Yay! I spent a couple of hours working through and identifying what the problems were. Amazingly I've solved two serious plot problems. Even more amazingly, I achieved this by making only small changes to the plot! There are still some serious problems to work on but I feel encouraged by finding solutions which won't require major rewriting.

A Change of Perspective -- is a Beneficial Thing!

2011-11-23T15:56:00.000Z

It's not one of my days for posting but I've just read Kristen Lamb's latest blog post, and I think it deserves as wide an audience as possible.

It fits in with one of Holly’s early lessons in HTTS, and is a wonderful example of positive thinking.

I had to chuckle because I’d done a lot of the chores in the top half of Kristen’s list – and was far from feeling anything like gratitude Having been offered a different perspective on what changing the sheets means (and washing clothes, doing the dishes), I felt a whole lot more positive about my morning’s work.

And not only that, I have had some time to sit and revise my short story today AND I am able to go to evening class tonight. My life seems suddenly richer. I need to print that list of Kristen’s and pin it up where I can see it — every day!

I hope you can find time to look through it and I hope it does for you what it did for me

And for all those who live on the opposite side of the Pond from the UK, have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Kristen Lamb's Blog - Offer for November

2011-11-21T17:12:00.000Z

I've been following Kristen Lamb's blog for some time. You can find her blog here.

Kristen is doing a great series of blog posts about novel-writing. During November, she's also offering, to everyone who leaves a comment on her blog, to put their name into a hat. By commenting and linking back to her blog you get your name in twice, and if you also mention her book We Are Not Alone - the Writer's Guide to Social Media then your name goes in three times.

Each week during November, the prize is a critique of your first five pages.
And that's not all! At the end of November, Kristen will pick a winner for the grand prize: a free critique on the first 15 pages of your novel.

So get on over to her site here, read what she has to say and get your name into that hat.

The Week in Summary

2011-11-20T15:20:00.000Z

Life
Films are a source of entertainment which I love; and a period drama goes down particularly well. So last Sunday I went to see Anonymous - almost obligatory as I live near Stratford-on-Avon, home of the Bard.

The story is about Shakespeare who didn't, according to this film, write the plays attributed to him. This has caused much gnashing of teeth in Stratford, with one group going round the Warwickshire country signs, placing tape over the word 'Shakespeare's' in Shakespeare's County. As you can see here. We have a great attachement to Will Shakespeare in these parts - his birthplace is in Stratford, he's buried in the town's church - and it appears that, for some at least, the claim that he didn't write his plays is tantamount to a literary form of blasphemy. Feelings have been running high!

Not in me though. I set off with every expectation of a enjoying the evening. Derek Jacobi, Vanessa Redgrave and Sebastian Armesto are in the film, after all. And enjoy it I did. However, there are young and older versions of some characters and they are played by different actors. As I was coming down with a cold, I wasn't the sharpest tool in the box and got a bit muddled so would benefit from seeing this film again :)
Apart from that, and the fact I was distracted by the Earl of Oxford reminding me of a Peter O'Toole in his younger days, this film entertained me and gave a very believable reason why Shakespeare didn't write the plays - and who actually did.

Things got a bit snuffly after Sunday because of the cold and my evening class was cancelled because the tutor was ill. But on Friday I made it to Hidcote Manor Garden's Enchanted Evening. Seeing the garden I know so well decked out in lights was awesome. The beech alley was my favorite. You can see it in daylight here and here. It was lit by one large white light on the ground at the start of the alley, where the photos are taken from. The light reflected off the trunks, getting fainter and fainter along the length of the alley. It was as if I'd stepped into Lord of the Rings territory, and fully expected to see a silvery cavalcade of Elves thread their way between the trees.
It was breath-takingly beautiful and slightly eerie.

Writing
Not so much of this happening this week. I'm still inching forward with Lesson 19 of HTRYN but disaster struck when I lost the latest version of my short story! A big thanks to Carole, whose suggestion led to my finding the missing story saved into the wrong folder.
No, I have definitely not the sharpest tool this week :)

Here's to a better week next week. Have a good one!

Lolz

2011-11-16T11:19:00.000Z

Today got off to a sleepy start - it's one of those still, grey November days that makes me want to hibernate. Once the coffee kicked in (thanks Mr Prue!) and the computer whirred, things got a whole lot better.

My emails held riches - I won this book! All I had to do was say what format I wanted. Thanks Mari! I look forward to reading your book. Mari Fee's website can be found here.

Then I wandered on to Lolcats and came across a cat in a computer. The idea of gigglebytes made me laugh :D
Also this: So many people are creative, and creative in different ways. I write, occasionally knit and sometimes garden. This guy draws cartoons and sings.

A great start to the day with a few goodies to perk things up.
May your Wednesday be equally bright :)

Sunday Summary

2011-11-13T16:00:00.000Z

It's Sunday again! The sun is shining and surprisingly warm for mid-November although the wind has a cool edge to it. Still plenty of leaves on the trees, some are even green but there's plenty of gold, orange, pinks and deep reds around.

Plant of the month:
Persian ironwood tree Parrotia persica. See a picture here. Beautiful spreading trees which come into their own at this time of the year. The leaves turn multi-coloured as shown here.
I love trees of all kinds but at this time of the year, this is one of my favorites.

Life:
Much of my spare has been spent reading one of the recommended books for the Ancient Egyptian evening class Mr Prue and I are doing; The Oxford Book of Ancient Egypt edited by Ian Shaw.

It starts off back in Palaeolithic times around 700,000 years before pesent and goes through to 394 AD, so it covers quite a chunk of history. For all that, even though it goes through every king and pharaoh it doesn't read like a dry list. There aren't many photographs, and those provided are only in black and white. However, with the Internet a click away, it's possible to access a lot of good colour pictures - as well as a lot more information - very easily.

One of the visually pleasing on-line sites I've been frequenting this week has videos and games, in addition to information. This is Mark Millmore's Ancient Egypt. Full marks for the videos which keep me coming back to this site.

Writing:
Due to interruptions of various kinds, I've done less than usual. Now on Lesson 19 of Holly Lisle's How To Review Your Novel, so I'm still making progress.

I've also been out and about on the Internet, looking at sites and blogs concerned with publishing, critting etc.

Do you need a Psychopath?

2011-11-07T18:52:00.000Z

If you want to write a real bad villain, then head over to Sari's blog. You'll find a list of qualities, some of which your villain needs to be realistically psychopathic.

Sunday Summary - on Monday

2011-11-07T18:30:00.000Z

Writing
NaNo started last Tuesday and I'd issued a 'write-at-least-one-scene-for-NaNo' challenge to those people who felt unable to do the whole 50K. So I felt obliged to have a go.

I wrote another 3 scenes for last year's NaNo novel. Actually it was more a collection of scenes with a plot in mind. While it reached the winning wordage, it wasn't finished by a long way. Another way of saying there were a few good ideas embedded in a whole lot of waffle :D

One day I may have the writing ability to do justice to the plot and characters.

Life
I caught a stomach bug. Amazing how something as miniscule as viruses can bring a body down! Even when symptoms subside, it takes time to fully recover. I notice that I've been very forgetful this week.

Owing to feeling grot, I embarked on some comfort reading of Anne McCaffrey's Pern series. She's a fantastic writer, and I especially like her earlier books. One fascinating thing to notice if you read through the whole series - at least, those books she wrote alone - is that her story-telling changes over time.

This week
I've edited and in part rewritten a piece of non-fiction. It is finished. AT LAST! :D
Lesson 18 of HTRYN beckons - it's time to do the next step.

Peter Barry estate agents offer a competition, details of which can be found here. Closing date 12th December.
I've had a few ideas and need to start working on them.

Have a good week. And may you have a bug-free autumn!

It's NaNoWriMo Time

2011-11-04T22:47:00.002Z

More tomorrow...it's been a long day and it's too late to write sensibly. Until tomorrow, or even Sunday, I leave you with th thoughts of Kristen Lamb. You can see what she has to say about NaNoWriMo here.

Interval

2011-10-31T17:48:00.000Z

I took time out to write around 1000 words for a competition entry.

Mark Bellingham has written the beginning of a crime story; all you have to do is finish it. Details are here - please note the closing date is midnight 4th November 2011.

Two prizes: “Author’s Choice” prize and £1,000 to spend at hive.co.uk. PLUS the entry with the most public votes will win £250 of books.

Terms and conditions are on the website – along with some very good stories.

I’ve worked on this all day and am reasonably satisfied with the story. It’s not the sort of story I would have considered writing but having started, it was fun to write. It was a challenge trying to match the voice of the first bit of the story written by Mark Bellingham. While this wasn’t a condition of entry, it’s what I wanted to do, giving a funny yet dark story.

Amazing what can be done if one focuses!

Saturday Summary

2011-10-29T16:21:00.001+01:00

Writing
Finished cutting and rewriting my short story. It was an unpleasant surprise when I got a strong and sudden lack of confidence about the story. So I put it to one side and wrote something for a competition.

The mini-saga competition is on Helen Yendall's blog. Only open to subscribers, the story must be 100 words or less and inspired by a lovely autumnal picture provided by Helen. Closing date is midnight GMT on 31st October so not long left.

I like the way short stories make me aware of the function of each sentence, phrase and even each word. I figure practicing on shorts will enable me to extend this to a longer short story and eventually a novel. So thanks Helen :)

Life
Week 2 of Ancient Egyptian history galloped us through Dynasty 0. I've been reading up about Pre-dynastic (before kings) Egypt and am still amazed at the thousands and thousands of years when all man had was stone tools - and the fact that my computer was obsolete after 6 years!

The new refridgerator arrived and is so quiet I find myself listening to see if it's still working. Occasionally it burbles to itself. It's often the little things that count in life - like the pleasure of being able to open the fridge door fully, and without it sounding like something from a house of horror movie, and without the bits of plastic dropping on the floor.
The old fridge served us well but also became obsolete...a long time ago. R.I.P.

And Finally...
After being unable to eat chocolate for the last 8 years (resulted in migraines) I've found I can now eat small amounts of milk chocolate without any ill effects! Today I had a few Maltesers. They were wonderful :)

What small things do you value, that you would really miss if they disappeared?

Sunday Summary

2011-10-23T20:32:00.000+01:00

Writing
In spite of a fluey bug, I cracked on with revising my short story. Exciting and motivating to see it come together and represent more accurately that wonderful story I have in my head. What is teasing me at present is how writers find beta-readers. Not quite ready for others to read it yet but getting closer. Yay!

Life
Mr Prue and I started an evening class on ancient Egyptian history. Strange to think that a few thousand years ago the Saharan desert was once covered in grass with herds of gazelles bouncing around! *lol* I seem to have a tendency to write 'dessert' instead of 'desert' :)

My main reason for going is background information for the next book after Mystery in Morocco.

Next week
Carry on rewriting my short story - nearly half-way through!
Finish editing a document I agreed to do.
Catch up on emails.
Catch up with the more necessary household tasks abandoned this last week.

New Link

2011-10-16T19:45:00.001+01:00

Simon's Cat has been added to Fun Stuff.

Head to Simon's site and see the latest cartoon of his cat.

Sunday Summary

2011-10-16T10:42:00.000+01:00

Life
I went to an 80th birthday party this week and enjoyed immensely the canapes, champagne and cakes in a wonderful setting.

Mostly this week was overshadowed by Mr Prue's health. We found out that he has a latent TB infection. While this isn't causing him problems now, it could do later in life, so he's decided to have treatment to kill it off; a large dose of an antibiotic for 6 months. Fingers crossed he gets none of the possible side-effects from this aggressive drug.

We celebrated (yeah, weird I know but the results from the tests could have been much worse) by going to the Motorhome and Caravan show at the NEC. Caravaners, motorhomers and campers seem to be a friendly bunch and we had a fun day.
Now all we need is to have a modest win on the lottery! :D

Writing
I wrote a poem this week based on a vivid dream. Last Sunday morning I went back to sleep. On waking the dream seemed an hour long but had only lasted five minutes. This discrepancy gave me a strange feeling of dislocation - it was as if I'd been in a timewarp.
I wrote the poem that night and worked on it so it represented my dream and that dislocation.
And then I sent it in to the National Poetry Competition!

Short story revision going well and I'm about to do my 'laundry list'. Can't wait to start cutting and rewriting and getting the story to be more like it is in my head.

Reading
Just finished 'Birdsong' by Sebastian Faulks. It is beautifully written and yet harrowing in places as much of it's set on the battlefields of the First World War.
On the basis of this book, am now reading 'Charlotte Gray'. Set in the Second World War this is another of the French Trilogy (Lion d'Or, Birdsong, Charlotte Gray).

Next week
A cold snap is coming - must look out warm clothes!
Make list for cutting short story.
Evening class starts: Ancient Egyptian history. This will provide background (and hopefully inspiration) for the book after Mystery in Morocco.

Have a good week, all :)

Free Read

2011-10-03T19:04:00.000+01:00

I've added a new page to the blog: Free Read.
You'll find my competition entry, 'The Importance of Iterruptions to a Writer' there.

Sunday Summary

2011-10-02T13:47:00.000+01:00

Sunday also summery! For the 2nd October 26 degrees C is extraordinary.
Writing
Plodding on with revising my Scottish short story. Lesson 9 of Holly Lisle's How to Revise Your Novel. I can hardly wait until I can start the rewrite.

My novel Mystery in Morocco is still on hold but has started to demand more notice. It seems my muse has been working on it unknown to me and now a few ways of sorting it out are starting to surface. Yay!

The Big News this week is the publication of my piece of 'nano-fiction', The Importance of Interruptions for a Writer, in an anthology (see yesterday's post). A small but satisfying start to my writing career.

Life
A busy, sleepy and fun-filled week. It's been broken up by lots of one-off events and I went from one to the next dripping quietly in the heat! It's been too hot and humid to sleep at night - unusual for this time of year.

The week ended with the Warwick Words Literary Festival and collecting my copy of the anthology. To celebrate Mr Prue and I went for lunch at Catalan and had tapas with pink bubbly Cava. After a post-prandial snooze we enjoyed the new film version of Jane Eyre at the local arts centre

Short Story Published!

2011-10-01T18:23:00.001+01:00

The Warwick Words Literary Festival began today. To celebrate the 10th festival, there was a competition earlier in the year. Write a short story - fiction or non-fiction - of 200 words, or a poem of 20 lines or less. Winning entries to be published in an anthology.

So I entered a story and my work was one of the winners!

Today, that book 'Warwick Words', was released at the start of the Literary Fesitval. Andrew Davies the script writer came and gave a small speech and it was all very exciting.

Not as exciting as seeing my work in print!
There's something very satisfying about seeing my work in a real book which has an ISBN number :)

Now, on with the next - much longer - story and let's see what I can do with that :)

Managing Your Time

2011-09-30T11:22:00.000+01:00

Thanks to my sister for forwarding this link http://procrastinatingwritersblog.com/resources-for-writers/

It has a useful post about managing time by creating an un-schedule :)
If you want time to write, first you need to work out how much time you have - and this shows how to do it.

Sunday Summary

2011-09-25T10:49:00.001+01:00

Life
Autumn is coming, leaves are changing colour and the sun is shining while the air is cool and fresh. We've taken advantage of the good walking conditions and been out and about. Lots of other things to do too. Now Mr Prue is getting better, it's been lovely to go out to a film or concert and go out with friends.

Mr Prue was told that the lung infection he's had for so long has gone but its after-effects could hang around for another 18 months! I want to wrap him in a large, soft duvet and cosset him all winter. Going out for walks to increase his fitness, strength and appetite is probably more useful :)

Writing
Revision of Will Ye No Come Back Again creeps forward. I love my characters and am enjoying revising this short story. It's helped to keep me sane this year so I want to polish it so it shines.

Time to start thinking of another story. I'd like one story in revision, one being written and one in the planning stage...but first, I need to take control of my week. I have Monday and Thursday free to do some writing - in theory.

Problem !
Plenty of space in the diary on Mondays and Thursdays. If anything needs doing, I put it down in these 2 days. So I allow my writing time to be eaten away.

Solution
For the next few weeks, I've put WRITING in big letters in Monday and Thursday and scribbled in the space around that word. It is now impossible to write anything in for either day. That should work!

Josephine Myles Blog Tour

2011-09-19T23:11:00.005+01:00

A big CONGRATULATIONS to Josephine Myles whose book is being published by Samhain tomorrow!

To celebrate the publication of Barging In, her first full-length novel, Jo Myles is doing a Blog Tour from 19th - 30th September. Details can be found here.

For all those who follow her on the Blog Tour and comment, Jo will enter every commenter into a prize draw for a 10" by 7" signed and mounted print of her photograph of the Kennet and Avon canal, near Bath. Her photo is used on the cover of Barging In.

Details of the prize draw can be found at the link above.

Jo's writing is full of life, warmth and humour and I'm a big fan. Her ten steps in making a cup of tea on a narrow boat which appeared on one of the Blog Stops today had me in stitches.
The genre Jo writes is m/m romance and has some homoerotic content.

What Ho Hidcote!

2011-09-16T14:05:00.000+01:00

I've added Bertie Bainbridge's blogspot What ho Hidcote! to my list.

Do take a few moments to visit Bertie's site because he's got some cracking pictures of plants at Hidcote Manor Garden in Gloucestershire, UK. It belongs to the National Trust and was their first garden, given to the nation in 1948 by its then owner, Lawrence Johnston.

It was LJ who created this 10 acre Arts and Crafts garden, made up of small garden rooms which get bigger the further from the house you go, gradually becoming more and more natural until one gets to the edge of the property where the garden merges with the surrounding countryside.

The garden has over 25 different areas, all different and all change during the seasons. I work there as a garden steward. Bertie Bainbridge is one of the garden

Alice in Wonderland?

2011-09-15T23:04:00.000+01:00

That's me!So much to do, so little time and I end up feeling as if I'm running fast just to stay in the same place.

I've found that I don't say 'No' enough. All those interesting things people want me to do or suggest I might like to do look so fascinating that I say 'Yes' before thinking of the consequences. Must learn that if I take on more, there will be less time for writing.

Writing
Talking of which, I've managed to do a little more revision of Will Ye No Come Back Again, my sweet romantic story set in a remote Scottish glen.

The golden labrador has become a real character. She's wonderful, good humoured and brave, and was a complete surprise :)

How's your writing going? Had any wonderful surprises which you wonder where they came from?

Music...and British radio

2011-09-01T11:41:00.001+01:00

Oh my! What a day. I haven't done much writing (composed two haiku though) but...BUT...
I found out who composed Elizabethan Serenade: Ronald Binge.

Thanks to Google I found he also composed Sailing By. This piece of music is always played on Radio 4 before the shipping forecast at 00:50. They play various length bits of it, sometimes all of it, depending on how much time there is to fill after Book of the Week has ended.

I imagine sailors round the coast of Britian with their radios on, doing whatever sailors do and then hearing this music and racing to the radio to hear what the weather has in store for them. Maybe a storm is coming. Maybe the storm they're battling is going to pass. I'm usually snuggled under my duvet and thankful to be warm and cosy.

The other thing I think is wonderful is after the shipping forecast and before the National Anthem (which indicates the end of Radio 4 broadcasting and hand-over to the BBC World Service), the newsreader always says goodnight. They've even been known to say 'Good night and if you're about to sleep, sleep tight'. I love it! :D

Musing on Commas

2011-08-29T14:55:00.000+01:00

,

Such a tiny punctuation mark. Hardly anything at all but potentially misleading if omitted or misused!

The omission I saw was on one of those electronic boards over the motorway - M1 on Saturday - and made me chuckle. I was in pedantic mode as I often am when reading. Here's what I saw:

don't litter
bin it

The 'bin it' was on a lower line because the upper line had been all used up.
I reckon that a comma was needed after 'litter'.
Strictly speaking (or reading), the above says 'don't litter bin it' i.e. don't put your litter in a bin. If indulging in even greater grammatical pedantry, I would say a hyphen between 'litter' and 'bin' was omitted.

Still, back to the comma or lack of it. A comma would render the above a suggestion. Had a full stop, or even an exclamation mark, been used after 'litter' it would have become a command. No: a comma would be preferable in my opinion.

don't litter, bin it

As for getting commas in the wrong place, how many of us do that? Jane Austen seemed to use a comma where one would stop to take a breath if reading out loud. Other writers seem to have a bag of commas into which they thrust their hand after writing a page of words, sprinkle the page liberally - or with a veriest pinch - and go on with writing.

For the most part, errant commas may result in mild irritation but beyond that, what do they matter?

Well, this example shows the comma could make the difference between life and death:

Kill not, to fear the deed is good.
Kill, not to fear the deed is good.

Personally I'd go for a colon after 'kill not' but colons are another matter altogether :)

Success!

2011-08-26T17:33:00.000+01:00

Well, that sorted out a problem which has taken me well over an hour. Still, I triumph over modern technology which doesn't happen very often :)

So, if like me you've fallen foul of IE9 this is how I solved the problem:
1. Go into Settings
2. Scroll down to Global Settings
3. Select post editor
4. Click on 'Updated editor (recommended)'
5. Click on 'Save settings'
6. Try posting.

Good luck :)

Testing...Testing...

2011-08-26T17:15:00.000+01:00

To see if what I've done enables me to post in IE9...

Problems with Google/Internet Explorer?

2011-08-26T15:34:00.002+01:00

I am unable to post on my Google blog when using Internet Explorer 8. Others have found the same problem with Internet Explorer 9.

Today I received an email from a friend who said they were unable to post any comments. I don't know what browser my friend uses.

So there seem to be problems right now if you are using Internet Explorer.

To post this, I've used Firefox.
If you're having problems you might want to try a different browser too.

Old but Still Relevant?

2011-08-23T22:49:00.003+01:00

I've been cleaning out my Favorites' list and came across this from years ago Evil Overlord - How Not To. I remember how it made me laugh.

Since then I've got into writing and still read - SF and Fantasy amongst other things - and it seems to offer some good advice. It made me laugh again too!

Enjoy :)

HTRYN second time around

2011-08-20T17:58:00.002+01:00

I've started revising my short story with Holly Lisle's How to Revise Your Novel.

This is the second time around as I used Holly's course for a NaNoNovel. This time the lessons are familiar, I know what I'm doing and why I'm doing it - it makes it all a lot more manageable!

Last night before sleeping I had a flash of insipiration for the middle of the story. What I wrote is ok but the way I will modify it will introduce more conflict and make it a 'better' story.

Holly Lisle, your course rocks :)

Finished!

2011-08-11T18:36:00.002+01:00

*removes dust off blog with feather duster, removes cobwebs similarly*

Just to say I've finished my short story. Working title: Will Ye No Come Back Again? Woohoo! :D

I'll let it sit for a few days and then run it through Holly Lisle's How To Revise Your Novel.

Phew! I made it this far!
*feels slightly stunned*

Progress...and The 10 Minute Rule

2011-05-24T09:08:00.005+01:00

Mr Prue seems to be improving slowly which is a relief. He still can't move around as he did before but he looks better and is no longer in pain.

As is often the case after a period of change or stress, I've gone into sleep mode. My brain seems to have shut down and even thinking is difficult. The writing routine I got going no longer exists and I need to start it up again. Easier said than done!

Time to remember the Ten Minute Rule.

Even if I can't put in an hour's writing, I can write for just 10 minutes. 10 minutes is not a big deal. I use this for getting started on so many things and once I'm in action, it's easy to keep going. It's the getting going that seems to be my problem!

Ok...I'm off to do 10 minutes of changing the sheets although ten minutes sleeping sounds a much better idea :)

Another day...

2011-05-12T13:26:00.000+01:00

...and another upheaval!

Mr Prue is in hospital but at least we might find out what is wrong with his lung. He was kept in overnight and today has been starved prior to a scan.

Yesterday, the consultant returned with a group of students and described Mr Prue as 'an interesting case' :)
Never have so many fingers tapped on his torso in half an hour! :D

So what happens this afternoon I'm not sure. I do know that my Muse has taken a holiday as have all my characters and those cool ideas for three short stories. Ah well. Plenty of ironing to do...

Back to Writing

2011-05-09T15:35:00.003+01:00

Another week begins and with Easter and the bank holidays out of the way (and Mr Prue back to work) I've turned my attention again to writing.

HTTS
Mystery in Morocco still hangs round my neck but I'm focusing on short stories. I figure that these will be less complex to write than a novel and will allow me to concentrate on a few characters.

Lesson 3 resulted in three lightning flashes and ideas for three short stories, all romance with a hint of mystery. I feel excited by the ideas and have based them on things from my SSM. Lesson 4 beckons

Special Occasion
Before I get too carried away with the writing, I need to make sure we have something to eat tonight. Thanks to a friend sending a reminder, I now know it's our wedding anniversary. With all the concerns about Mr Prue's health for the past few weeks, it had clean gone out of my head!

So I'm off now for a walk to the shops in the sunshine in search of a card for Mr Prue and some flowers for us to share :)

Split Prudence :)

2011-05-03T21:35:00.003+01:00

I have an HTTS Walkthrough blog at http://prudencewombat.wordpress.com/ which I intend keeping for my progress with HTTS.

This blog will keep going, and hopefully be more active than it has been recently.

Mr Prue is still ill with a lung infection which has caused fluid to accumulate. He's still taking antibiotics, is unable to walk very far and sleeps a lot. He looks better than he did (not difficult!) but thankfully is no longer loosing weight. He gets to see a specialist soon.

We seem to have had a lot of holidays in the UK recently - Easter and then the long weekend just gone. I had no intention of watching the royal wedding but really wanted to see The Dress and then I was hooked and drawn in by all the pagentry and pomp. The trees in Westminster Abbey were delightful and it's good to know they will be planted at Highgrove along with a number of other plants in the Abbey.

I've done very little writing for some time - partly because I've been ill, partly because of the holidays and the break in routine. Today I had energy and spent all day restoring the house to some degree of cleanliness, changing sheets, washing clothes and digging the garden. Felt good to be able to move without coughing! The glasshouse is cleaned out, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, parsley and courgettes planted and seeds sown.

There are a number of jobs still to be done and some workmen coming in later this week so I've given myself the rest of the week off as far as writing is concerned and will start again next week.

It's good to get back here! Hope you're all well and enjoying life :)

Tuesday Tip

2011-04-19T21:31:00.004+01:00

What Story Do I Want to Write?

Whether pantsing or plotting out scene cards, sometimes I find my self in a position where I can see the story going one of two ways. It can hold me frozen while a flick back and forth from one to the other.

I guess one way of dealing with it is to toss a coin!
What seems to work better is:

Take a piece of paper (working with pen and paper somehow helps me think more clearly but that's just me) and turn it landscape.
Then divide it into two columns.
Across the top of each column I write a short summary of each scenario eg JV fell in love with her at the ball at the beginning and JV fell in love with her much later in the story.
Under each heading I brainstorm all the consequences of that heading.

Usually, it becomes clear fairly quickly which is the better option.

I'd really like to have a clear, fixed idea of the story I want to tell; to be able to make quick decisions about where the story is going. Instead, I need to spend time working it out.

How does your storytelling go? Clearly? And if not, what steps do you take to winkle out that story that your Muse is hanging on to?

Music and Atmosphere

2011-04-15T14:41:00.005+01:00

Heh! I triumph over technology and have sorted out the problem with Firefox.

I'm listening to Turkish music right now; tracks from the film 'Crossing the Bridge'.
This track is by Mercan Dede and may not be to all tastes but listen long enough (about 1 min 20 seconds into the clip) to hear the breathy, haunting sound of the woodwind instrument. I don't know what it is. I just know that this music evokes the desert for me and is just right for Mystery in Morocco in a strange sort of way. The rhythms of the music almost mesmerise me.

Do you find music helps create atomosphere when you're writing? And if so, what have you found 'fits' your story?

2011-04-14T15:32:00.003+01:00

Another day...

2011-04-05T16:34:00.005+01:00

...another post and the hope that the problem has been sorted and no. It hasn't.

And now...another search engin.
Let's see if this is two lines or one line.

Tra-la! Firefox fixed it.

It's amazing the amount of time which can be spent on messing around with computers!
I've started a WordPress blog but there have been problems with that too.
Tomorrow is another day...

Blog Problems

2011-04-01T11:58:00.002+01:00

I've been on Help and the problem with loosing spaces is something others are experiencing. It seems to be only a problem for those with Internet Explorer. Changing to Firefox gets rid of the problem. But it's only been for a few days and I'm hoping the guys (or gals) at Google can bug hunt the problem.

What's Happening?

2011-03-29T16:41:00.002+01:00

I've lost a post - my Sunday summary which wouldn't let me put spaces between paragraphs. Huh??? Sorry Ken B. I know you made a comment and I have a record of that comment but where the post has gone goodness only knows. The blog informs me the page no longer exists. To go back to the Create a Character Clinic - I'm finding it so useful. I need a little spare time to sit down with the Man-in-Black and get to the bottom of what he's doing and why he's doing it. Before that, household chorse call. Due to the fine weather for the past week, I haven't been doing much at home. The dust bunnies have been out in force. We haven't got tumbleweed rolling round the house, it's tumbledust :D

Wonderful Wednesday

2011-03-16T22:15:00.006Z

Nothing to do with writing but I must record this somewhere!

I went to a geology lecture this evening about the rocks of Antarctica. It was fascinating.

More fascinating was the small collection of rocks the speaker brought along. Most of these had been collected either on Scott's fated expedition, or on Amundsen's expedition.

Picking up a small rock, about half the size of my palm, I noticed a piece of paper in the box. It had the date 16/3/11 - today's date.
I asked because the writing looked a little faded. It was not today's date but 16th March 1911 - the day that particular piece of rock had been collected.

How amazing to handle a piece of rock from the South Pole which has been handled by a great explorer, collected exactly 100 years today. I love that :D

Sunday Summary

2011-03-12T22:44:00.004Z

Life
It's been a week of meetings and things going astray from a hand on the alarm clock disintegrating to my husband loosing his gloves somewhere in Shropshire, a six-inch crack developing on my windshield, a chunk of the tv aerial falling off and so on.

Yesterday (Saturday) I was helping at an event at the local museum. I got to watch John Lord, flint-knapper, making a hand axe out of a chunk of grey flint.

A visit to the local theatre to see four short plays by Chekov. I didn't know he'd written any comedies - they were done well and it was an entertaining evening.

Writing
Writing has suffered because of all the coming and going. I finished doing some beta-reading which I enjoyed tremendously - the first I've ever done.
Also going through Lesson 1 of HTWAS to see if I need to make any changes to Mystery in Morocco if it is to be the first of a mystery series.

It's time I was getting back to Mystery in Morocco. It seems that I work on it for a while, then need a break. It consoles me that Colin Dexter (of Inspector Morse fame) took three years to write the first of that series...

Monday Musings

2011-03-07T22:12:00.003Z

Owing to a walking-cum-geology trip yesterday, Sunday Summary has become Monday Musings.

Life
Owing to sunshine and life speeding up things have been hectic.
Convinced that Saturday was 12th March I dragged us off to a geology day we were helping with at the local museum - only to find that it was next week *blushes*
It's been like that recently. Perhaps I need a holiday.

Writing
Owing to life being as it is, my carefully prepared writing timetable has gone out the window recently. As always, if time is short I find it easier to drop into learning mode. So even though Mystery in Morocco has gone on the backburner, I've turned my attention to How to Write a Series.

Reading
When circumstances throw me into the fast lane of life, things can get stressful. Under these conditions, some people comfort eat. My appetite fades away, so I 'comfort read' instead.
Comfort reading books have to have the following qualities:

They are easy to read
Nothing very terrible happens in them
High feel-good factor
Preferably a happy ever after end
Often have an element of gentle humour

Some of my comfort reads are:
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Linnets and Valerians by Elizabeth Goudge
Thornyhold by Mary Stewart
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
The Hills is Lonely by Lillian Beckwith (or anything by her)
The Brother Cadfael books by Ellis Peters

I was wondering if anyone else 'comfort read'? And if so, what helps you to unwind/escape/tune off from hectic modern life?

Saturday Special - Haiku

2011-03-05T14:23:00.004Z

Haiku are short Japanese poems which are written in a specific way. An offshoot of these is English haiku. These try to maintain a form as close to Japanese haiku as possible but are, of course, written in English.

English haiku consist of seventeen syllables arranged in three lines. Lines contain 5, 7 and 5 syllables respectively.

I've been writing haiku for years and started when I found a chatroom on the Internet where everyone posted in haiku :)
We kept to the seventeen syllables and didn't go in for any further nuances such as a mentioning or implying season, or putting in a break (usually with a full stop).

Some years ago, it was claimed that Japanese software had replaced Microsoft error messages with haiku poetry. These computer haiku can be seen here.

A haiku I wrote yesterday in reply to pageofswords comment was:

Sharing thoughts with friends
Is cool, summer or winter.
Connection of minds.

Here's one I wrote in the winter:

White snowflakes falling
Dancing with the cold north wind.
Raindrops in ballgowns.

And I really liked the one on pageofswords blog about spring.

They're short and really focus the mind on words.
If you write haiku, perhaps you'd like to share yours? If you've never tried why not have a go? They're fun :)

Fabulous Friday

2011-03-04T12:32:00.003Z

It's fabulous because the sun is shining! :D
There has been continuous grey cloud sitting over Britain for some time so this is glorious.

It's also fabulous because I've finished an entry for a writing competition. I've had a rough week in some ways, derailed from some of my routine, so I was astonished when details of a local competition came through (Warwick Words Book Project) and I planned and wrote a 200 word story in a couple of days!

Ok, I admit to having a prevarication pixie sat on my shoulder for half an hour but after I shrugged it off the writing got done.

The story is printed out and put in a drawer to be read next week. There's plenty of time as the closing date is April 16th. I'll be submitting next week and, in a sense, I will have won when the work goes in. I will have broken that first hurdle all would-be writers need to get over: submitting their first piece of work, however short.

It would be difficult to write a shorter piece - haiku perhaps? The sense of achievement and pleasure I feel is out of proportion to the word count involved :D

I wonder what happened?

2011-03-03T09:39:00.004Z

One day a week I work in the Historic Environment Records based at the nearby county town. I put data onto the database and currently I'm working on gardens. Old gardens in the county which appear on old maps but have long since disappeared under housing developments; and old gardens which still survive in some shape or form.

I'm going through two large books which were the product of a survey done in the late 90s. I read the background information on the property, enter relevant data on the data base and then plot the garden on a modern map.

I love working with maps and I love gardens so this is a cool job :)

One other thing I like about it: there are all sorts of interesting snippets of information. The other week it was finding that George Elliot lived near Nuneaton and on the old map the house and garden could clearly be seen.

This week, Brownsover Hall, near Rugby provided some drama. The Hall belonged to Sir Theodosius Boughton of Lawford Hall. After the murder of Sir Theodosius in 1780 and the sale of the bulk of the estate, Brownsover was retained for Sir Theodosius' sister, widow of the murderer, Captain Donellan. Later she married again; Sir Egerton Leigh of Harborough Parva, Warwickshire and they settled at Brownsover Hall.

I wonder what happened, what the story is behind that?

Today, the Hall is an hotel - but is said to be haunted.

Wonderful Wednesday

2011-03-02T13:48:00.005Z

Wednesday is the day when I go to Hidcote Garden. It closes in winter and is getting ready to open later this month. The link takes you to Hidcote blog; click on the main photo then click on photo gallery to see different areas of the garden. Do have a look at the photos and see where I spend Wednesdays most of the year (and also Thursdays in July and August).

Hidcote is a National Trust property and was its first garden. It's a glorious place and I love working there as a Garden Guide. I get to meet visitors and answer any questions they have whether about Hidcote or, in the case of overseas visitors, just about anything to do with Britain.

The garden was begun in 1907 by Lawrence Johnston. He lived with his mother and it was she who bought the property which is situated in the Cotswolds. Johnston and his mother were Americans but he became a naturalised Brit in 1903 when he went off to South Africa to fight in the Boer war.

After moving to Hidcote, Johnston began to create a garden. The original garden was relatively small but eventually Johnston converted over 10 acres of farmland into garden over a period of 20 years or so. Its heyday was in the 1920's and 30's.

Hidcote is an Arts and Crafts garden with small, strongly structured garden 'rooms' close to the house which get bigger and open out to a more natural area further away from the house. Beyond the garden is the Gloucestershire countryside, and very beautiful it is too.

Lawrence Johnston donated Hidcote to the National Trust in 1948 when he went to live permanently in his other house at Menton on the French Riviera. What a great gift to the British nation. Come and visit if you can.

The writers amongst you may be interested to know that Lawrence Johnston was a friend of Edith Wharton who also lived in the South of France.

************************************************************************************
I've replaced my grin with the av I use on Holly Lisle's Bootcamp forum. I miss seeing it - and it reminds me I have a book to finish :)

Tuesday Tip

2011-03-01T18:56:00.006Z

What gives you a lift? What makes life worth living? What keeps you going? What tops up your batteries?

And when your get-up-and-go has got up and left, what do you do about it?

To do anything creative, like writing, we need to keep our minds in good condition.
Some people, myself included, find exercise gives us a buzz so that when we sit down to write our Muses are warmed up and ready to go.

For Emily Casey running does the trick. For me, it's brisk walking for at least half an hour.

And exercise doesn't only help with creativity. During exercise, the brain produces endorphins - natural 'feel-good' substances which increase feelings of well-being.

But there are lots of other things we can do to recharge our batteries when life has run them low.

For me some of these are:
In winter, looking at books with photos of spring and summer gardens
Meeting up with friends regularly
Going to cinema/theatre
Looking at photos taken on holidays
Joining groups of like-minded people and getting involved with projects
Walking - even in winter
Reading 'good' books
Growing vegetables (and eating them)
Going on mini-expeditions - places we've never been but are close enough to get there and back in a day
Doing relaxation/meditation

Perhaps it's a good idea to set aside some 'top-up time' and top up before we need to?

What do you need to keep you going - what would be on your list?

Sunday Summary

2011-02-27T18:57:00.005Z

Life
Life slowed down this last week because of a wonky knee. Resting it has done it good and now I can walk without pain. Being an active person, all the sitting around has reduced me to a dozy heap! It hasn't done a lot for the housework either :D
It was great to go out for a short walk yesterday, round the Cotswold town of
Chipping Campden The buildings are all made out of local limestone and date back hundreds of years.

Writing
You might think sitting around for a week would be a Good Thing for getting a lot of writing done but lack of activity makes me sleepy so I got less writing done than usual. I've nodded over my keyboard, fighting to keep my eyes open and often not succeeding :)

I've got through 40 scenes working out who know what in relation to the plot. It's slow work but reading through the revised ms is useful. Taking the ms through Holly Lisle's HTRYN has improved my work enormously. Yes, there are still a few plot holes to close up but I'm amazed at the difference. I feel a tingle of excitement and the realisation it may be publishable quality by the time I've finished.

Tomorrow I have a slot booked with my sister to talk over my 2010 NaNoNovel which won't be quiet and stay in the metaphoric drawer where I put it. It keeps floating through my mind, demanding attention. It's a potentially dark and scarey fantasy set in Iron Age Britain and it feels too hot to handle at the moment. How can I have thought up a book and be scared of it? Now that's a new experience :D

It was my second idea from Holly Lisle's How to Think Sideways course and I put it through NaNoWriMo as it wasn't the one I really wanted to write. I saved my favorite idea to take through HTTS but, strangely, this idea has dwindled to nothing.

Or perhaps what I thought was my second choice was actually the one my Muse really wanted me to write...

Further to Tuesday Tip

2011-02-23T17:57:00.002Z

Ok...here's what I've done. It's untried and untested but I'm going to go with it although it reminds me of being back at school :D

A Writing Timetable

I have so many projects on the go that I'm losing track. Mystery in Morocco is getting attention but all the others are fading away.

Days of the week down the side.
Across the top are the following headings:
M in M (HTRYN) - 10.30-11.15 11.30-12.15 every day except Tues and Fri
HTWAS - Fri 10.30-11.15
Short story (HTTS) - Thur 2.00-3.00
Holly's online workshops - Mon 2.00-3.00
Mini Series - Sat 2.00-3.00
Critting - Wed 2.00-3.00
Blog tba

Tuesday is my day off except for doing my blog - I'm elsewhere all day.

That's based on the times I write now. It isn't perfect, it may not work but I'll give it a go.
At least it ensures I work mainly on MinM but do something of all the other projects on one day a week.

Watch this space for an update.

Tuesday Tip

2011-02-22T22:06:00.006Z

The Time Sink
There are actions in my life which seem to act as a time sink. When I do these things, it's as if time speeds up and flows down a big hole. You know how it is...you sit down, you only mean to spend ten minutes or so...you look at the clock and half an hour has gone, or a whole hour - and it comes as a surprise or even a shock.

My Time Sinks are:
Surfing the Internet:
It's so interesting and I love doing research.
Bootcamp forum:
But only if I stop to answer a post.
My Blog:
Writing new posts eat up time quicker than anything!
Writing:
When I'm in the story and words are flowing.
Talking to friends:
In person or on the phone.
Playing the piano:
Like writing, it happens only occasionally.

Time sinks are not to be confused with those activities where I have a conscious awareness of time passing. These time-consuming activities are not nearly as enjoyable as Time Sinks.

Time Sinks pose a problem because I have a lot of committments.
The only solution to Time Sinks is to set a timer.
Often, I forget.

So, I'm wondering how you manage your time. Do you have time sinks? Does a timer work for you? Or have you found a different solution which works better?

Monday Musings

2011-02-21T12:01:00.007Z

Life
The weather is grey and dull and rain is pouring from the skies. Great that we went out yesterday and visited another snowdrop garden. I love snowdrops - green clumps with the dainty white heads hanging down, gently dancing in the breeze. You can see a selection of British Gardens open at snowdrop time here. As we race towards the end of February, crocuses and hellebores are in bloom and green shoots of a variety of plants are poking through the earth. It seems magical. It's been a long, cold winter in Britain this year and this show of new plant life gives me hope that the winter will end - right now it seems as if winter will carry on forever. I can't imagine what it would be like to feel hot sunshine on my face :D

Entertainment seems to be something which has been around for me this week. I want to entertain with my writing. I also want to be entertained and I'm getting a clearer idea of what I find entertaining (and what I don't).

We went to the geological society meeting and heard a young man speak about his work with the British Geological Survey. He gave a cracking good talk - lots of up-to-date interesting information, presented well. What I really enjoyed was his obvious enthusiasm for what he does and I found his talk hugely entertaining :) Some of his work involves donning a hard hat and harness, then abseiling down a cliff face with a high pressure water hose. He turns the water on and sprays the cliff face to clear away dirt and lichen - and of course, the laws of physics being what they are, he swings away from the rock face. That's not a problem until he finishes spraying. Turning the water off means he swings back in and has to make sure he stops himself crashing into the rock! All this so that imprints can be taken of fossil remains in the rocks. These fossils are some of the oldest on earth, from Precambrian times (over 500,000 million years ago).

And our entertainment didn't stop there; we went to a local theatre at the weekend - usually a good evening out - but The Lieutenant of Inishmore was a black comedy with lots of gore. Buckets of it, literally! Fortuately we had a seat at the back, well away from the splash zone :D
I was impressed by the actor who had some sort of harness round his ankles and was winched upside down for at least 15 minutes! (He was being tortured). He managed to speak his lines and bring some humour into his acting.
This provincial theatre puts on plays of a high standard. This one just wasn't to my taste; too much violence to be entertaining.

Writing
I finished reading the revised Mystery in Morocco last night and while there are a still a lot of continuity mistakes and errors of various sorts, I liked it :)
So, I've achieved one of the things I set out to do: write the sort of book I want to read. One I find entertaining. Woohoo! :D

I'm now filling in my table of what each character knows and doesn't know, and what the reader knows and doesn't know - otherwise known as collecting my red herrings which I strewed so generously through the story. It's slow work.

For a mystery to be entertaining, I think most loose threads should be tied in. The book has to reach a satisfying conclusion; and while I can't anticipate what readers will find satisfying, the ending has to satisfy me. It also needs to be the ending which the story is heading towards. The 'wrong' ending can ruin a good book.

This book will be the first of at least two books. So Holly Lisle's new course, How to Write a Series came just at the right time for me to include the information in my revision :)

Over to You
As entertainment has been around for me this week, I'm wondering what you find entertaining. Is entertainment important to you? Do you want your book to be entertaining? Or are there other considerations which are more important?

Tuesday Tip

2011-02-16T11:10:00.003Z

Yes, I know it's Wednesday but imagine you're reading this yesterday :)

I'm writing a mystery and thinking I was on the home straight with very little book left to write, it was a shock when a brick wall appeared, I ran into it and bounced off. This happened when all the major characters gathered together. They'd started off together, then gone their own ways, but eventually meet again. It would be unnatural if they didn't do a bit of catch-up with each other - a lot has happened since they last met.

It's been so long since I started this story and during revision there have been major changes. I've lost the thread and the plot.

So, I want to look at what each character knows, and what they cannot possibly know at this point. I need to fill in the gaps but not rehash the whole story otherwise the reader might go to sleep. So, I think a little table will do nicely, with the following info on it:

* each of the characters involved
* what each character knows
* what each character doesn't know
* what the reader knows at this point
* what the reader does not know but needs to know.

The table should make it clear what information the characters need to drop in their chat together so the reader is fully informed.

Agatha Christie was great at doing this. She made it easy for herself though by having one character who carried all the information and who usually did the resume at the end.

How do you keep track of what your characters do?

Get the Writing Habit

2011-02-14T15:56:00.006Z

Thanks to Saribelle for sharing her Writing Habit button.

Read all about it on her blog - click on Writerbelle in the Links
section.

Monday Musings

2011-02-14T11:09:00.003Z

I've decided to try and introduce an element of structure to my blog. A review of the previous week seems a good place to start on a Monday.

So, I give you Monday Musings; musings on the previous week.

Life:
Unfortunately, due to a heavy cold last week my energy disappeared and so did my ability to think, be creative and do anything very much other than surf the net or read a book (light novel).

Cold over, the main activity was sorting out all our books, novels first. It's not a straightforward job because we keep finding little nests of novels tucked away in a corners :)

I'm surprised by what we don't have! There are what seem like curious ommissions. And there are a large number I've never read *rubs hands with glee*.

Getting the books out and on shelves so cool! It's been a dream I've carried for nearly 20 years :) It makes me wonder if I should have been a librarian :D

Writing
Mystery in Morocco - 2595 words.
Hit a wall because the section near the end is so messed up (it was my first NaNoNovel, no planning) that it needs a major rethink before any more writing is possible.

Reading
In the major re-sort of books, I found Selected Poems by Laurie Lee. This took me back to my school days; he was the only poet whose work I enjoyed.
Now, I'm enthralled by the way he uses words and feel that I get mildly drunk on the experience :D
His work inspires me.

As I focus more on my writing, I find myself turning to poetry again after many years of abstinence.

Do you enjoy poetry? If so, who are your favorite poets? Does poetry have any place in novel writing?

New Link Added

2011-02-13T19:21:00.002Z

Just to draw your attention to the Write a Book With Me link.

This link takes you to the WABWM blog where all writers are welcome.

There is a very generous Prize: Create a Character Clinic by Holly Lisle. A prize worth having. To see the details, head on over to the site.

I haven't done this particular course of Holly Lisle's but I have done How to Think Sideways (to write a novel) and How to Revise Your Novel (speaks for itself).

There are a whole host of other courses, reasonably priced and some freebies. Click on the link to Holly Lisle's site and have a look.

Holly's site is full of information. There are lots of tips for writers and links to other sites.

Stratford Literary Festival 2011

2011-02-10T18:45:00.001Z

At www.stradfordliteraryfestival.co.uk

Raindrops on roses...

2011-02-10T17:05:00.003Z

...and whiskers on kittens. Both of these are my favorite things as are bright copper kettles, wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings and silver white winters that melt into spring.

I get inspiration from things of beauty, and those things which draw me to them; the sea crashing on rocks, a babbling brook in a still, silent valley, a misty-blue vista seen from the top of a hill, my wooden bookshelves gleaming softly in the light, full of real books.

Not only do I feel inspired by beautiful things and places, I'm also inspired by people. Writers sat in a room, often alone, tap-tap-tapping away at their keyboards, working at making their dream a reality. And not only that; sharing their process, ideas, snippets of life, extracts of their writing and much more. These float round the world in the ether; electronic inspiration arriving on my computer screen. I love it! :)

The fact that a group of people scattered round the world, with a shared goal of getting a book written and published, forming a community even though many of them may never meet, supporting each other and having fun doing so is something I find enormously inspiring!

So, I pass on the question I read on a blog the other day (thanks Rabia!) which started all these thoughts:

What inspires you? What helps your motivation change gear?

The Beginning

2011-02-07T14:42:00.003Z

Link on the right to my writing journal page.

This is so I can keep all the information on my writing in one place. It's scattered at present which makes it difficult to look through.

I don't know how much use it will be but by writing down what I'm doing, I'll get a sense of my goals, what I'm doing to achieve them and how I'm getting along. The information will be in one place instead of at least three places as it is at the moment.

The End...or is it?

2011-02-05T18:08:00.003Z

I saw something this week in passing, didn't make a note of it, and now can't remember where it was or exactly what it said. It was about ending a book, and that novice writers often end with a cliff-hanger because they haven't thought out the ending. Or something like that.

It made me pause for thought: my first novel has, if not a cliff-hanger, an ending which is not resolved. It's not resolved because I couldn't bring myself to kill the baddie. In fact, I wanted him to get away because I can think of some cool, dastardly things he could do in the next book!

Then a group of coincidences occurred, as they often do, all to do with endings: a short story I read had an ending which I found totally unsatisfying; a play on Radio 7 (totally absorbing and wonderfully read) had an ending both ambiguous and sudden. Yes, I know the programme was an hour long, it was coming to the end of the hour but really, it felt as if the author had suddenly looked at the clock and whack! Brought the axe down and finished the story there and then.

Unsatisfying? Certainly. Frustrating? Exceedingly.

But it did make me think about endings of books. I don't have any experience of writing an good ending...yet. I will be making changes to my wishy washy ending and trying to make it the 'Right Ending' for the story I told.

That doesn't mean it has to be a Happy Ever After ending. It seems to me that any book, which tells a story, sets up expectations in the reader. If the author is experienced then the reader may not be aware of those expectations. The reader's right brain/Muse/instinct or whatever you care to call it will have registered them, though. And if those expectations which the author raises are not met, then there will be a feeling of dissatisfaction for the reader.

Those expectations raised by the author will point towards a certain type of ending. So an ambiguous ending is fine provided the reader is, on some level, expecting it.

So, can I write the 'Right Ending' for my book?
Seems a tall order right now but I feel a whole lot better because I knew, really, the ending I had just wouldn't do.

Another coincidence happened today. Emily Casey did a post on her blog about endings which you can see at http://emilycaseysmusings.blogspot.com/

How are you with endings? What sort of endings do you prefer? And how about the Ambiguous Ending?

Be Aware...be very aware!

2011-01-27T18:56:00.002Z

I've been under the weather today - one of the many bugs circulating in the UK at this time of year found its way into my winter-worn system. Swathed in a fleece throw, huddled in front of the computer screen half-asleep, I've not done much today and was feeling pretty miserable about it.

It's now evening and I went to post my word count. About to write 'No words today,' I stopped. No writing this morning but I did do a little tinkering this afternoon with the end of yesterday's scene. Finished it off, in fact. I checked yesterday's word count and today's word count. The difference?

420 words.

I wrote 420 words today but was convinced I'd done nothing! :)
True, a lot of chores went undone. True I didn't do any planning for my short story.
But I have inched toward my goal, my main, all-important goal, of finishing the rewrite of Mystery in Morocco.

*fanfare of trumpets*

Sometimes I wish I could add new bits of software to my brain and delete others :)
I find it so easy to focus on what I haven't done, rather than what I've accomplished.

Did you achieve what you wanted to achieve today? And did it include your main goal?

Revision, revision and forward planning

2011-01-20T15:28:00.003Z

I'm so pleased with the regular writing I've managed to do since a group of us on Holly Lisle's Bootcamp have signed up for the '500 words a day or bust!' challenge.

Working my way through the rewrite of Mystery in Morocco - which is really a write-first-time for most of the scenes - I'm now on scene 42 out of 62. The rate of progress is slow but steady and that feels good.

What's more, I'm finding time to refresh my mind on the HTTS lessons I've done so far and planning to start HTTS afresh with a new idea and take it through...or do I take my original idea of iGenie? There's plenty of time to decide.

So while I'm flexing my writing muscles and getting my Muse to limber up and get used to the idea of delivering the goods on a regular basis, I'm also planning ahead. When I started with NaNoWriMo in 2009, all I wanted was to write a book. Since joining Holly's Bootcamp, and rubbing virtual shoulders with writers around the world, my sights are set higher; I have every intention of sending my ms out when it is finished, with a view to getting it published.

Now that I find scarey! I'm familiar with words but publishing? Editors? Agents? Pitching? Yikes!

So I'm doing some forward planning. Not a huge amount, just a toe in the water here and there to start with. One thing which has helped are blogs. Many of you writers out there share the useful links you've found. So here is mine, found on...sorry, I can't remember whose blog I found this on initially. It's http://queryshark.blogspot.com

I figure if I read it from time to time then I'll get my head round the sort of things which are required.

Hope you find it interesting.

Either/or...neither/nor

2011-01-16T17:16:00.004Z

I'm working my way through the bookshelf, reading books I've not read before. Today was the turn of The Alchemist by Kenneth Goddard.

I ground to a halt on page one. Not because of some awefulness in the story (although there is plenty of that later on). It was because either was used with nor, instead of or.

You either use or with either or nor with neither :)

I looked at the mistake for a while and then realised the reason for the whoopsie. I think it happened because the author used 'not' before 'either'. So:

I did not understand either the question nor the answer

This is incorrect and should read:

I did not understand either the question or the answer.

Negatives in sentences are not usually a problem...although it was here.
Sentences with double negatives, on the other hand, can be downright confusing. For example:

I don't want not to go means I want to go.
I don't want nothing - often used in Britain to mean 'I want nothing' actually means I want something.

Great if I want my character to say something which misleads another character but otherwise best avoided!

My preferred alternative for the above incorrect either/nor sentence is:

I understood neither the question nor the answer.

Mmmm. I really enjoyed that :)
More about the book later...

Persistence

2011-01-10T14:37:00.004Z

On 15th December last year, I read LadyQ's blog and took her personal goal as a challenge for me: 500 words a day or bust! I wanted to make writing a daily pursuit and to change my attitude from 'writing is something to be done when everything else has been done first' to a more professional attitude.

Then I went onto the HTTS forum and posted my acceptance of the challenge. It was a pleasant surprise when a number of people joined me :)

Since then, I've written something most days. Sometimes it's been less than 500 words, sometimes it's been more. And I've kept that up five days out of seven (two days off per week) with a bit of a stumble during the long Christmas/New Year holiday.

Know there was a group of people all with a similar goal in mind has helped me stay focused on writing. I find it energising seeing others saying what they have achieved whether words written or brainstorming or the next lesson of HTTS. It's all good :)

My total words since 15th December: 19,500!

Persistence pays.
So does being part of a supportive group :)
Come and join us.

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T00:36:00.001Z

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!

Hope it's a good one for all of us :)

End of the Year

2010-12-31T18:45:00.002Z

This has been a year of many parts. The only one I'll mention is my Writing which has become very important to me.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote this on someone's blog in response to their post. I put it here because it is something I need to remember.

"A novel is like a pearl. It starts off as an irritant, a tiny piece of grit. Over time, layer upon layer upon layer is added to the grit and eventually a pearl begins to form and grow. Each one is different. Each one fashioned over time.

Of course, what I want to do is open a secret chest in my mind and fish out a handful of pearls all ready made; no effort, no sweat :)"

It reminds me I need to work at my writing, whether it's planning the outline, or working on a character, writing a scene or revising the work. Each part matters and each does not come right first time - at least, it doesn't for me :)

For 2011 I have one goal: to write.

What are your goals for the coming year?

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T11:08:00.003Z

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Enjoy the 12 days of Christmas whever you are and however you spend them :)

Here in the Midlands, as in so many parts of the UK, we have a white Christmas. It's magical...and cold!

HTRYN

2010-12-15T10:24:00.005Z

Mystery in Morocco
I'm picking up Mystery in Morocco again. I feel good about it and have read through the rewritten scenes (not many). There are a lot of new scenes to add so I'll take it through HTRYN again. Holly's message comes back to comfort me: the first time is the worst.

The Challenge
As seen on Rabia's website: 500 words a day or bust!
So I've agreed to run with her on that one. Not all my words will be new ones because it's Lesson 17 rewrite; there will be a lot of new ones though, so I think it will count :)

Holly's Motivation Mini-Course
It started off easily and has become more and more intensive. Five exercises and I'm on the last one, working out my goals and working out what needs doing for them.
This was something I could do so well at work but transferring those skills to home and to writing has not worked very well.

NaNoWriMo
After doing 50,000 words I did no writing during the first two weeks of December. I have 13 scenes which are well structured and will make up part of a book. "Time to Go" is a fantasy set in the first century AD in Wales, and is about time travel, magic and a tangle of human relationships.
Very different from last year when I sketched out a whole book in 50,000 words and then spent the next 8 months pulling it apart and trying to work out where the scenes were :)

It's December and the year is about to turn. What have you got planned for 2011?

Crossing the Line

2010-11-28T18:02:00.002Z

After being unable to write every day for this year's NaNoWriMo, I pulled out all the stops and managed a mammoth 5250 words on Friday! Never have I written anything near this amount in one day.
The secret?
I abandoned what I was writing and focussed on a scene where a main character gets swept out to sea and the tide takes him towards some rocks. There is a rescue attempt from the shore; someone swims out with a rope tied round his waist. It's during the Iron Age in Britain so no high tech methods available.
My fingers couldn't keep up with the pace of my thoughts. It was a blast to write, incredibly exciting and I lost all sense of time and place.

This year's NaNo was very different from last year's.
Since last year I took the NaNoNovel 2009 through Holly Lisle's How To Revise Your Novel course. And then I began her How To Think Sideways course.
I'm not sure I followed my Sentence to the T but I do have a series of scenes which have all the bits a scene should have. I derive a certain degree of satisfaction from that :)

Now that I've finished the 50,000 words there are so many writing options available to me so I don't feel so let down and flat as I did this time last year.

I downloaded Scrivener for Windows beta so tomorrow I'll load all my scenes into it and have a look at just what there is and what else needs to be added. It is disjointed at present and a few things need ironing out, stiching together and generally prettying up.

And next year...I intend to start planning for NaNoWriMo in July!

If you entered NaNoWriMo this year, how did it go for you?
And if you didn't, you might want to consider joining in the fun next November 1st.

The Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness...and NaNoWriMo

2010-11-07T11:48:00.004Z

My head is so full of ideas and courses and writing exercises, I'm almost brought to a standstill. My blog is way down on the list of priorities; the main one at present being NaNoWriMo.

I'm using one of the 3 ideas produced on the HTTS course.
I managed more planning of the story than for last year's NaNo but not nearly enough - but hey! what is enough? I'm a pantser, preferring to let the ideas unfold as I write. I have my 30 word Sentence standing sentinel on the horizon; working towards it, I keep veering away from the path to explore interesting byways :)

Got off to a slow start and spent 3 days just thinking about the book, surfing for information and I found a lot of Celtic information, much of which is either on my Sweet Spot Map or needs to be (seasons, trees, different types of wood), the four elements. This has kicked my story onto a whole new level and I'm so excited about the concepts that it's difficult to focus on the characters and plot!

I'm catching up. At present I need to write about 1800 words a day to make the 50k by the end of November, so it's becoming much more do-able. I usually sit down around 10:30am for an hour and again at 2:30pm for an hour or so a few days a week. Then whatever I can manage in the evenings on the days I work.

I'm writing a sketch of a book again - skipping over the surface of the story and not worrying too much about depth. That can come later. Last night I left my Protagonist and her partner inside a stone circle on an isolated headland. The mist crept up and encircled the stones then a voice spoke...

Quite what that voice is going to say I'm not sure, although I know what will happen next to the Protagonist and her partner.

For those of you who are doing NaNo, have a productive and entertaining month.
For those of you who've never tried, or who've never heard of it, then go to http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/whatisnano

Above Ground - Writing Practice

2010-10-23T15:13:00.004+01:00

Here is the first 10 minutes writing practice I did for the online workgroup 6th October 2010.

What I intend is to add to this until the short story is finished. Then I'll work on it and add the revised work.

Comments and feedback appreciated.

Above Ground

Above Ground was not the place to be if you were as small as Jerilla. The underground tunnels and living quarters were dark but had the advantage of being cool in summer and warm in winter. Warm, that is, after they had all braved the dangers Above Ground and brought back vegetation seared by the hot summer sun. The softer plant stuffs were hightly prized and sometimes even fought over as they made luxuriously soft, warm bedding for the long winter nights.

Above Ground the air already had the tang of summer's end but the air in the tunnels was dry and had its usual earthiness; a comforting, homely smell. Jerilla made note of this and of the slight changes which told her she was at the intersections of passages. She scuttled down a winding passsage to her day's duty; today was safe. No Above Ground today because she was on creche duty. The babies and infants were always kept safe at the centre of the complex and would not see light of day until they were old enough to keep up with the work parties. Above Ground and all its dangers was not for them. Yet.

Jerilla knew that her turn to go Above Ground, that huge, immense and dangerous place, was coming soon. Last time she had ventured up there was - she almost paused in her travel. It must have been spring. Yes, that's right. The new vegetation brought a pleasing tang to her nostrils so that she knew everything was growing again even through it was a dark, moonless night. Above Ground was never safe; the most dangerous times were the bright moonlit nights with sharp shadows and silver light.

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Ragged and raw. I realise that even though it's a short story, The Sentence still applies and I had thrown that out of the window :)
I realised this afternoon that while people can, and do, write good stories without The Sentence or even much planning, it is the use of these tools that can result in a much neater, tighter story.
It seems hard, like putting on a straight jacket, and yet I know the benefits will be enormous!
I'm lazy and I need to sit down and go through PACTS, produce a Sentence and then put writing as good as I can produce, on that framework. And it will be better for it.

Started!

2010-10-22T23:52:00.002+01:00

HTTS:
600 or so words on the HTTS novel. No working title yet.
It's a fantasy/comedy but the first chapter isn't much fun...hmmm.

I've been wandering around feeling that I'm not ready to start, that I need to do more planning. Yet I know if I do too much, I'll lose interest. Could this be a touch of 'safe never starts'?

The ice is broken. I feel less than enthusiastic. What is bothering me is that a wonderful story being planned and kept in my head for the last year has suddenly 'woken up' again. I feel too inexperienced to start it. I want to do it well because it's a complex story. There's one scene which is not just a candy-bar scene, it's a candy-bar store!

Maybe I should try writing it...just that scene and get it out of my head. Or perhaps try planning the book, on paper. I know the beginning, some of the middle but as yet have no end.

Other Writing:
Yes, there is other writing. I feel amazed. I've been doing some work in the work group and have come up with a short story. A short story I rather like.

I hope you can hear the amazement in the above sentence :)
I don't read short stories. I don't like short stories - after connecting with the characters, I come to the end feeling like Oliver Twist, wanting more. That I should have written one is, well, bizarre.

Will look through the first part tomorrow and post it here. Yes. That's what I'll do. After making the red pepper jelly.

Disruptions come in many forms...

2010-10-15T17:49:00.002+01:00

I can cope with the phone call out of the blue and a sudden change of plan; I can cope with a friend coming round who is then unable to make it (I got some HTTS done. Yay!). My days are often disrupted, one way or the other. Cold calling by phone is a monster and recently I discovered I can turn off the ring tone and disconnect the extension in the kitchen. Silence. Bliss.
Disruptions are part of my life.

BUT

when my husband, who works 4 days a week, changed his day off from Monday to Friday, I'm so confused that I don't even know what day it is. At my age, that's disconcerting. I know I'll get used to it but I'm surprised at the effect it's had.

HTTS:
Creeping back into action with this one and I've surged on to Lesson 8. Just finished all I intend doing as I'm a seat-of-pantser rather than a detailed planner. Lesson 9 is printed out, waiting to be read.
I'm getting excited about all the conflicts between my poor, unsuspecting protagonist (male) and the Genie.
Just had the idea of making the reader doubt whether the Protagonist is actually seeing the Genie or whether he's hallucinating - as his girlfriend thinks. She phones a friend who, instead of offering reassurance, suggests it's a sign of schizophrenia.

NaNo:
Is looming ever closer and I'd get excited if it wasn't for not knowing what day it is which is having a knock-on effect of not knowing what month it is *grins*
I have a plan of a story but need a few scenes with Sentences Lite. More details later.

Reading:
I'm reading cookery books at present - I collect them - looking for receipes for preserving various fruits and vegetables. Many of the books contain information about food as well as receipes and make for interesting reading.

The Three Musketeers is a good bed-time read as it's slow - even the fight scenes. There's intrigue and romance and a good bit of swashbuckling with some interesting twists!

Preserving:
Red cabbage is the latest and something I haven't tried before. This has to be one of the easiest things to make. Easier if you buy pickling vinegar.
We had some with a pork/sage and thyme/onion/apple/potato casserole yesterday. The bright red cabbage looked good and was crunchy and zingy.

Home

2010-10-14T14:05:00.002+01:00

All the miners are back on the surface!

It's good when something works out right :)

Getting Back

2010-10-13T09:10:00.003+01:00

The first five of the miners trapped underground in Chile have been brought to the surface. Hurrah! This is humanity at its best - striving to preserve life no matter what it takes. Three cheers for everyone concerned, not least for those who have been underground for so long, in unpleasant conditions, with no guarantee that what was being done was going to work; for those doing what they could to get to the miners; for their families who had to wait.

My thoughts will be with them all today; my prayers are that the miners will all come up safely and they, and their familiers, will be none the worse for the experience.

President Pinera said, "when Chile is united, we are capable of doing great things."
That's true of all of us.

Yay Chile! Have a good day :)

Unenthused

2010-10-05T21:58:00.003+01:00

I'm unenthused about most things at the moment. Life has taken a nose-dive. There have been many small losses of different sorts recently and they all seem to add up. Add to that a wonky knee and the inability to go for vigorous long walks regularly and here I am, in the doldrums. I've got the blues and they're a deep blue shot through with streaks of deep red. Not a pleasant combination.

What really gets to me is the way some (many?) people treat each other; as if people are of no value and to treat them inconsiderately and like shit is ok. I've witnessed many instances of that in the past few weeks and I wonder if it's becoming more common.

One good bit of news today though, amongst all the dross; a friend whose job was about to disappear has got her contract renewed for another year. Yay!

I need a pick-me-up. The only thing I enjoy doing at the moment is critting someone's writing. That perks me up no end. It's an exciting process and one which I'd like to do better on my own work!

What perks you up when you're down in the dumps?

HTTS: Is languishing.

Reading:
I'm gently going through Alexandre Dumas The Three Musketeers for the nth time. It's a delightful book. I notice my reading is influenced by memories of The Four Musketeers with Michael York as D'Artagnan, Oliver Reed as Porthos, Richard Chamberlain (?) as... and here my memory peters out. Must go and Google.

Back Again

2010-09-22T18:59:00.003+01:00

Back again, brain still on holiday, gradually catching up with the various threads of life.

HTTS:
Lesson 4, The Sentence *groans*.
I know I do things in far too much detail but I'm not getting anywhere near a sentence with two of the ideas. True my brain's not been working since coming home but this is Hard Slog.

Today I realised I was focussed on what I wasn't achieving (a sentence) and missing what I was achieving and was a bit stunned by this. Since NaNo last year I've thought how amazing it would be to actually plan a book. I realised this would come eventually as I progressed through HTTS.

I missed the fact that I WAS planning the main storyline of the book. For a few moments I felt like a 'real' writer :)

GARDEN:
One week away and we return to mayhem in the form of weeds, long grass and huge, inedible cucumbers in the glasshouse. Harvest the tomatoes and have another go at oven-drying and storing under oil and vinegar.
The tomato jam I tried before the holiday didn't set. Today I emptied it into the preserving pan, added a finely chopped apple, boiled for longer and potted up. The set isn't great but I don't want it solid. I felt a considerable amount of satisfaction :)

The Muse Awakes

2010-09-04T15:17:00.005+01:00

With the arrival of full computer use, my Muse seems to have woken up! I desperately need to do so many things, not least is getting back to HTRYN and HTTS.

House:
After being ill with an energy-sapping fluey cold for the last few weeks, the huge population of spiders have been spinning webs everywhere. We're tidy people but the house has gradually become more and more untidy. So I've been spring cleaning. I know accepted psychological wisdom states that one can work effectively in an untidy environment - I certainly did at work. Here, at home, that just isn't true. And anyway, my desk is so covered in paper that I'm in danger of disappearing under a paper-lanche. Glad I don't have to do a Health and Safety risk assessment :)

HTRYN:
This is still on the back burner. This both concerns me - I want to get it finished - and it doesn't concern me because I'm learning new things with HTTS which means I'll do a better job of the rewrite. My excuse anyway. That and the lack of energy. Rewriting new scenes, of which there were many, was excruciatingly slow.

HTTS:
This is where the Muse woke up. I took my breakfast coffee back to bed this morning and actually opened my HTTS file. Lesson 4 - thinking about describing the protagonist (noun and adjective, both significant and snappy) and protag's need. My original idea I'd been so thrilled with seemed pedestrian and flat and more seriously, I was unclear about the protag's need. At this point, the Muse stretched, yawned and suggested making the antagonist the protagonist. Now that makes a huge difference; the protagonist's need is now clear - as is the new antagonist's. Thanks Muse :)

Gardening:
The Marmande tomatoes are ripening and we had the first two today. Years ago, the cookery writer Jane Grigson (Sophie's mum) wrote about this variety in a way which set this tomato above all others. We've been eating small tomatoes for a couple of weeks - and very tasty they are too - but it was the Marmande variety which I was waiting for. What a disappointment. Slightly mealy and with no more flavour than winter tomatoes bought in the local Co-op. Rats! I'll try cooking with them and see if that improves them any.

Prue's receipe for Cooking Tomatoes
Cut each tomato in half.
Heat olive oil in a pan big enough to take all toms in one layer - as little oil as possible.
Place toms cut side up in hot oil, over medium heat
Sprinkle cut surface with a little sugar and dried italian herbs (or marjoram, or your own mix)
After a couple of minutes, turn the tomatoes over
Turn heat down or sugar will burn
Cook until heated through and softenend.

The olive oil, sugar and herbs can make even the most tasteless tomatoes taste much better!

Up and Typing

2010-09-03T15:45:00.003+01:00

Ah! Back with the Blog. I have a working computer. All is well :)
Now I'm getting used to the different look. This weekend I'll have a look at Word 7. I hate having to ditch everything I got used to over 6 years. I'm of the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' - although many people do like new things from time to time. I'm not one of them.

My husband laughs and says that all the pictures on the walls are in exactly the same place as we put them 15 years ago just after we moved it. He jokingly threatens to move them around when I'm out one day :)

At least I can now type and communicate. That's great!

Computer

2010-08-28T12:37:00.002+01:00

My computer and I have come to the end of a long and, recently, frustrating road. I'm off to get a new one so will be off line for a while - neither my husband nor I are easy with computers so setting up a new one is going to take a little time.

Back with y'all soon. Have fun!

Trudi Canavan

2010-08-28T10:28:00.005+01:00

Writing
'The Magician's Apprentice' arrived this morning. I didn't know where it stood in relation to the Magician Trilogy - it comes before; a long time before.

For anyone who wants to read about Trudi here's the link http://www.trudicanavan.com

Persistence is what is required; cartloads of it.
And some degree of sacrifice.

How do you score on the persistence scale? I have loads but writing is a new field and I'm no longer young. Words like 'fish' and 'out of water' come to mind :)
I need to crack on with that novel and keep writing, writing, writing :)

Happy writing everyone. Keep going. Believe in yourself!

Lolcats

2010-08-27T14:41:00.004+01:00

Words matter and how they are used. Words and language fascinate me; how languages change over time, how different groups of people will create their own words.

Txt msg words leave me cold because I like vowels (one reason I learned Dutch); leet speak reminds me of a bizarre sort of algebra (I never could understand why anyone would want to add letters together! :D) but I've taken to lolspeak in a big way.

Lolspeak is what the lolcats use in captions on Icanhascheezeburger (link on the rhs of this page). I love cats and this site shows, if nothing else, the range of expressions to be found on cats' faces. Strange but true. Have a look :)

The grammar is off the wall too. Usually I'm hot on grammar but cats - well, they would have their own.

HTTS
Finished Lesson 3. I am proud owner of 3 ideas for novels.

HTRYN
I did a bit this morning but still not up to usual speed. Getting better slowly though.

Writing exercise
I've located Don Quixote - the book, not the man :)
So far, it remains unopened.

Garden
Has been rained on torrentially for two days. My runner bean wigwam collapsed - the bamboo poles just split open and over it went O.o

Reading
Half-way through Mistborn. I'm really getting into the story and the world now. It occurs to me that I could be doing the writing exercise on this book but I just want to gobble it up and enjoy.