It's the first IWSG of the New Year! Happy 2014 to anyone I haven't visited yet this year!
Thanks as always to Alex J. Cavanaugh and to all the other administrators of the group.
This month is a time of New Year's Resolutions and positivity - a time to turn over a fresh page and enter a new mind-set. In this vein, I'm hoping to feel a little less insecure this year. I've done a lot of thinking and have had a long break from writing (which did me a lot of good) and have managed to feel a lot less 'keyed up' about writing. There is no pleasure in it for me when it becomes a compulsion - and I do not want to lose that pleasure! A schedule in my diary, an old kitchen timer to write to and a fresh approach are how I'm starting this new year.
Good luck to everyone with what they want to achieve - and if I can offer you one piece of advice, it is this: write the way that suits you, in the amount of time that suits you, and try not to resent other areas of your life for infringing on your writing time. I used to obsess about word-count each day - now I am content if I have moved my story on, whether that be by adding 1000 or 200 words. Moving forwards is the key, however small the steps.
Wishing you all a Happy Writing New Year.
Thank you for visiting!
Wednesday, 8 January 2014
Wednesday, 1 January 2014
Just for Fun... New Year's Haiku
Happy New Year! I hope 2014 brings you all everything you need or wish for :-).
In the interests of stretching my creativity, I have decided to include some haiku in my blog every month in 2014. Call it a New Year's Resolution!
Now, I know there are some rules around haiku, but from what I've read it seems that they aren't set in stone. I understand the lines should flow into one another without stops and starts, although I have read many where this isn't the case. I hope you will forgive me any glaring errors in the form and it would be fabulous if you would like to contribute some haiku yourself in the comment box.
Yesterday, the last day of 2013, my husband and I took advantage of an hour or so's break in the persistent rain we have endured throughout the Christmas period and escaped to the countryside for some air.
Today's experiment is an offering of 5 haiku, inspired by yesterday's walk. (The photos were not taken yesterday, but on a December walk in the same place a couple of years ago.) Thanks for being here and for reading!
A Walk in the Country
Chilled beyond the bone,
bright cheeks, frozen toes and ears,
crisp grass underfoot.
A church spire, lonely,
spied across a furrowed field,
dark clods stiff with frost.
A soup of wet mud,
boots slipping in the scramble
to claim grassy verge.
Determined boxer,
face screwed, eyes wild with delight,
escapes to greet us.
Hot breath on cold air,
pub fire, conversations hum.
Refresh, refuel, thaw.
(The pictures are taken between Dedham and Flatford, the home of John Constable the artist and subject of many of his paintings.)
In the interests of stretching my creativity, I have decided to include some haiku in my blog every month in 2014. Call it a New Year's Resolution!
Now, I know there are some rules around haiku, but from what I've read it seems that they aren't set in stone. I understand the lines should flow into one another without stops and starts, although I have read many where this isn't the case. I hope you will forgive me any glaring errors in the form and it would be fabulous if you would like to contribute some haiku yourself in the comment box.
Yesterday, the last day of 2013, my husband and I took advantage of an hour or so's break in the persistent rain we have endured throughout the Christmas period and escaped to the countryside for some air.
Today's experiment is an offering of 5 haiku, inspired by yesterday's walk. (The photos were not taken yesterday, but on a December walk in the same place a couple of years ago.) Thanks for being here and for reading!
A Walk in the Country
Chilled beyond the bone,
bright cheeks, frozen toes and ears,
crisp grass underfoot.
A church spire, lonely,
spied across a furrowed field,
dark clods stiff with frost.
A soup of wet mud,
boots slipping in the scramble
to claim grassy verge.
Determined boxer,
face screwed, eyes wild with delight,
escapes to greet us.
Hot breath on cold air,
pub fire, conversations hum.
Refresh, refuel, thaw.
(The pictures are taken between Dedham and Flatford, the home of John Constable the artist and subject of many of his paintings.)
Monday, 9 December 2013
Insecure Writer's Support Group going Large!
If you are not a member of the Insecure Writer's Support Group then you really should pop over there and see what it's all about!
In a nutshell, a group of us blog on the first Wednesday of every month about... well, anything to do with writing and either feeling insecure or having smashed our insecurities that month! You are just as likely to find upbeat posts as posts looking for some friendly encouragement.
In a nutshell, a group of us blog on the first Wednesday of every month about... well, anything to do with writing and either feeling insecure or having smashed our insecurities that month! You are just as likely to find upbeat posts as posts looking for some friendly encouragement.
This month there's a contest with some really great prizes, details of which you can find here, all in the name of spreading awareness of the IWSG. Personally, I've met some really nice people through the IWSG and I'm delighted to have discovered that there is now a Facebook page too. If you're a writer, you'll know that connecting with other writers is invaluable - and I think we all have our insecurities at times! So what are you waiting for? If you're not already in the group, come and commiserate or celebrate with other writers. I am positive you won't regret it!
Thursday, 5 December 2013
Lexa and Julie's Dream Destination Blog Hop
I'd normally be taking part in the Insecure Writer's Support Group over at Alex J.Cavanaugh's blog but I'm giving my usual incessant whingeing a miss this month in favour of letting my thoughts meander to a less-stressful, non-writing place (which pretty much tells you how I'm feeling about fitting writing into my life just now!)
Lexa Cain and Julie Flanders are hosting this Blog Hop, so please hop over to their blogs to say "Hello" and to take part in the free Rafflecopter Giveaway! There are around 20 prizes up for grabs!
And now... a dream destination. Hmn... I'm really torn between somewhere hot and somewhere deliciously cold and snowy. I've always found the thought of a log cabin with a roaring fire, fur (but not real fur - yuk!) rugs to recline on and snow drifting down on pine trees outside the window very appealing. I'm a bit of a sucker for Wham's 'Last Christmas' video too!
So... maybe this would be my Dream Destination:
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| (Hotel Kakslauttennan, Lapland/Finland border)
Or this:
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... although I must admit it's not exactly a cabin! Holiday Inn is one of my favourite films, though - and it gave us that wonderful early rendition of 'White Christmas'.
Well, now I'm feeling all cosy and quite Christmassy, I'm off to Julie's or Lexa's blog to take a look at everyone else's Dream Destination. I'd love you to come with me!
Wednesday, 6 November 2013
Losing my nerve! IWSG November.
Yes, it's November already! Thanks as always to Alex J Cavanaugh for running the group. You can find a list of the participants and information on what it's all about over on Alex's blog.
I was determined not to whinge this month, but I can feel a bit of a whinge coming on. The title of this post is pretty whingey, for one thing!
I had the summer off writing as I had a full schedule and was feeling pretty stressed. My brain didn't stop working and I didn't stop making notes, but I did barely any structured writing. Actually, it was lovely just being 'normal' again (e.g. watching TV, seeing friends, reading, going out with family, etc.)
THE TROUBLE IS... now I want to write again (and have had an idea for a serial provisionally OK'd by a magazine) I seem to have forgotten how to sit down and concentrate. I deliberately subbed the idea knowing that it would force me back to the keyboard, but my reaction to getting the go-ahead to write the first part was as much terror as joy! It's been hanging round my neck and terrifying me for over a week. I started it and don't like what I've written and my cotton-wooly brain won't co-operate with coming up with alternatives. I still don't feel as though I've got enough time (or understanding support in the home, tbh) to write it.
I WILL write it - so watch this space - but something tells me it's going to be a long and painful process!
Does anyone else feel unsupported at times? I get a lot of "Wow, that's great," and "How much are you getting for it?" when something's accepted, but when it comes down to being allowed uninterrupted time to get words on the page, I may as well forget it unless I'm alone in the house, which I rarely am.
Whinge over. Feeling better already!
Going to write now!
I was determined not to whinge this month, but I can feel a bit of a whinge coming on. The title of this post is pretty whingey, for one thing!
I had the summer off writing as I had a full schedule and was feeling pretty stressed. My brain didn't stop working and I didn't stop making notes, but I did barely any structured writing. Actually, it was lovely just being 'normal' again (e.g. watching TV, seeing friends, reading, going out with family, etc.)
THE TROUBLE IS... now I want to write again (and have had an idea for a serial provisionally OK'd by a magazine) I seem to have forgotten how to sit down and concentrate. I deliberately subbed the idea knowing that it would force me back to the keyboard, but my reaction to getting the go-ahead to write the first part was as much terror as joy! It's been hanging round my neck and terrifying me for over a week. I started it and don't like what I've written and my cotton-wooly brain won't co-operate with coming up with alternatives. I still don't feel as though I've got enough time (or understanding support in the home, tbh) to write it.
I WILL write it - so watch this space - but something tells me it's going to be a long and painful process!
Does anyone else feel unsupported at times? I get a lot of "Wow, that's great," and "How much are you getting for it?" when something's accepted, but when it comes down to being allowed uninterrupted time to get words on the page, I may as well forget it unless I'm alone in the house, which I rarely am.
Whinge over. Feeling better already!
Going to write now!
Friday, 11 October 2013
Finally, I think I get it!
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| © Spartak | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images |
Eyeball-burn, life-burn, general burn-out.
That was me back in July and as a result I stopped writing almost altogether.
For years I have been a strictly keyboard writer, my theory being that my mind works faster than I can write - or at least write legibly - but, do you know, I was getting sick to death of staring at a screen! It seemed to be ruling my life and instead of writing I was spending hours procrastinating on Facebook, surfing this and that, and my eyes were burning (even though the screen glare is as low as it will go). I felt stressed, time-poor and pretty miserable. Worst still, I had mislaid my love of writing.
I had all of August off from writing, all of September and have just started writing again - with one difference... BY HAND.
It's a joy. No temptation to go on the internet, no eyeball-burn and OMG - there's no need to write full sentences! I also don't then keep going back over and over them editing even though I know I shouldn't. My first draft is not going to be much more than detailed notes and I can relax, knowing that when I type it all up I'll be doing the first edit at the same time.
I know you lot all knew this all along, but I feel as though I've made a writing-life-changing discovery!
On another subject, I want to apologise for not visiting many blogs lately. I have a lot of trouble with Blogger pages not loading properly - on every other page I seem to get a message from Internet Explorer telling me it encountered a problem and has to close the page, or the page just freezes for ages, or I get an error message saying there's something wrong with the page. I use Internet Explorer and this ONLY happens on Blogger. Obviously, I want to keep up with your blogs, but with the above happening, it's so time-consuming I often have to just give up and go do something else. Please - does anyone else have this problem? Should I be using Firefox or Google Chrome instead? Is Blogger doing it on purpose because of the Google connection - trying to make me change to Google Chrome? I'd love to hear about your experiences and solutions regarding this!
Friday, 27 September 2013
The Cephalod Coffeehouse - My favourite book this month
This is a new bloggers' 'Book Club', organised by The Armchair Squid. The idea is that on the last Friday of each month we blog about the best book we've finished over the past month. If you'd like to be part of this, the details are here.
For me, this is a tricky one because I've already blogged about the book I've enjoyed this month - That Sadie Thing by Annalisa Crawford.
However, there is another book that made me laugh aloud and that was an absolute delight to read this month and that was The Road to Rouen by Ben Hatch.
This is an hilarious, often painful tale of marriage, kids and a summer spent touring France so that struggling writer, Ben, can write a travel guide. I loved the dialogue - the kids are so funny - and also the honesty with which the relationship between the parents is portrayed. Needless to say, it's not all a smooth ride - in fact very little of it is! My favourite part has to be the escapade with the donkey - but if you want to know more about that, you're just going to have to read the book! And as for Ben's misadventure over the border in Spain... mind-boggling! If France, or the idea of France, seduces you, this delightful romp will charm the pantalons off you. This book isn't just a comedy, though. Ben examines his life so far, his motives and his relationship with his father as well as pondering on his future. There's also some back-story on the couple's lives 'pre-kids', which plumps out the characters of Ben and Dinah very effectively. I was left sympathising greatly with (long-suffering) Dinah, and longing to re-visit France. I also wanted more, because there's nothing so wonderful as an easy read that makes you laugh. Real escapism!
Please hop around now to find out about other September favourites! Here's the list:
Thanks for visiting!
For me, this is a tricky one because I've already blogged about the book I've enjoyed this month - That Sadie Thing by Annalisa Crawford.
However, there is another book that made me laugh aloud and that was an absolute delight to read this month and that was The Road to Rouen by Ben Hatch. This is an hilarious, often painful tale of marriage, kids and a summer spent touring France so that struggling writer, Ben, can write a travel guide. I loved the dialogue - the kids are so funny - and also the honesty with which the relationship between the parents is portrayed. Needless to say, it's not all a smooth ride - in fact very little of it is! My favourite part has to be the escapade with the donkey - but if you want to know more about that, you're just going to have to read the book! And as for Ben's misadventure over the border in Spain... mind-boggling! If France, or the idea of France, seduces you, this delightful romp will charm the pantalons off you. This book isn't just a comedy, though. Ben examines his life so far, his motives and his relationship with his father as well as pondering on his future. There's also some back-story on the couple's lives 'pre-kids', which plumps out the characters of Ben and Dinah very effectively. I was left sympathising greatly with (long-suffering) Dinah, and longing to re-visit France. I also wanted more, because there's nothing so wonderful as an easy read that makes you laugh. Real escapism!
Please hop around now to find out about other September favourites! Here's the list:
Thanks for visiting!
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