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!
Showing posts with label HTRYN. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HTRYN. Show all posts
Sunday, 20 November 2011
Sunday, 13 November 2011
Sunday Summary
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.
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.
Monday, 7 November 2011
Sunday Summary - on Monday
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!
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!
Saturday, 20 August 2011
HTRYN second time around
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 :)
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 :)
Sunday, 27 February 2011
Sunday Summary
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...
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...
Sunday, 13 February 2011
New Link Added
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.
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.
Wednesday, 15 December 2010
HTRYN
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?
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?
Sunday, 28 November 2010
Crossing the Line
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 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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
