When I was in Primary School, we used to sing a hymn that began: "I'm going to paint a perfect picture, a world of make believe..." Creating a fictional fantasy world is something that many authors who write in the fantasy vein have to do and it was also something that I had to do today to prepare to write my novel.
I have to admit it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, afterall how do you create a world from scratch. My earliest design started as a large diamond shape made up of 4 diamond shapes (the 4 kingdoms making up my world) but I quickly realised that this wasn't suitable fof my needs. Being a bit stuck I decided to seek help a la google, so I typed in 'how to create a fantasy world' by which I found a link to Holly Lisle's website http://hollylisle.com/. Holly is a published fantasy author with some great tips to wannabe writers and using her help and that of my artistic house mate I was able to create my world.
Creating the world and the objects in it was the easy part, naming all of the villages, towns, rivers, forests, deserts, mountain ranges, oceans and lakes was the difficult part. That's the part which has taken me hours, through dozens of internet searches from river names locally to latin translation websites I looked everywhere trying to name everything. It's not happened, my main mountain range which all my characters will have at some point have to cross still hasn't be named but I will cross that bridge (or should I say mountain) when I get to it. :-)
The next stage for me was to download pictures of the various places that I have imagined for my book. I am no great artist and can barely draw to save my life, so I have been googling for images and have also been using Deviant Art which is where my background image of my fairytale castle comes from.
I thought researching my previous novel which was set in the 18th Century was hard as i was trying to be as realistic as possible in terms of architecture,fashion, history and customs; but this fantasy novel which I have free rein on is so much more difficult to write as I am having to literally make things up as I go. At least I can use the internet to help me, I don't know how writers such as Tolkien and C S Lewis coped with out it when creating Middle Earth and Narnia. I don't even know where they came up with some of the names from. All I can say is that they must have had amazingly overactive imaginations.
Saturday, 18 December 2010
Thursday, 16 December 2010
Happy Birthday!
It's a very special day today as two very important people were born on this date. My sister was born 22 years today and ruined my chances of being an only child forever :-P . As for the other very special lady, I think it would be fair to say that "it is a truth universally acknowledged" that she is very well known would have been celebrating her 235th birthday had she been alive today.
I am of course talking about Jane Austen, author of my favourite novel Pride and Prejudice. She has been a huge influence on my writing and I absolutely love all of her books. I have to confess something to you though. I only properly discovered Jane Austen earlier this year. I had heard of her of course but I had never read any of her books or seen their televised adaptations- it's very embarassing to me having to admit this to you.
For christmas last year, I was given 100 Classic books for the Nintendo DS and seeing the novel on there I decided to give it a go and ever since then I am quite literally hooked on Austen to the point of obsession. After reading the rest of her novels and falling in love with Mr Darcy I felt inspire to write again, despite having never written anything other than fanfiction and the odd few stories in my childhood.
It was P&P which made me feel like I could do anything, and that was when my first novel idea popped into my head. It's an incomplete Regency story with the powerful head strong Austen inspired heroine and a multidimensional male lead. Incomplete as it may be, the idea that I had got me writing again, and I think that had I not read p&p I would not have completed my first novel in Nano and would not be sat here typing this now.
I am of course talking about Jane Austen, author of my favourite novel Pride and Prejudice. She has been a huge influence on my writing and I absolutely love all of her books. I have to confess something to you though. I only properly discovered Jane Austen earlier this year. I had heard of her of course but I had never read any of her books or seen their televised adaptations- it's very embarassing to me having to admit this to you.
For christmas last year, I was given 100 Classic books for the Nintendo DS and seeing the novel on there I decided to give it a go and ever since then I am quite literally hooked on Austen to the point of obsession. After reading the rest of her novels and falling in love with Mr Darcy I felt inspire to write again, despite having never written anything other than fanfiction and the odd few stories in my childhood.
It was P&P which made me feel like I could do anything, and that was when my first novel idea popped into my head. It's an incomplete Regency story with the powerful head strong Austen inspired heroine and a multidimensional male lead. Incomplete as it may be, the idea that I had got me writing again, and I think that had I not read p&p I would not have completed my first novel in Nano and would not be sat here typing this now.
Wednesday, 15 December 2010
Good Tidings we bring...
I have excellent news which I wanted to share with all of you. I am pleased to finally announce that I have completed my first draft of my novel 'the stepmother'. I have decided to leave the editing of the novel until after christmas and have a short break from writing.
I have to say I am very relieved to have finished. Once nano had ended i found it increasingly difficult to keep the momentum going despite the fact that i only had 3 chapters to write after the end of nano. This normally would have taken me 3 days and no more than a week, but for some reason i found it incredibly difficult to write. It wasn't so much because i did not know what to write, because i did but i just couldn't sit down and do it. I had lost my motivation.
I was talking to my sister yesterday, who is unemployed as a result of government cuts brought on by the financial crisis. She is very depressed about it and I am trying to help her by giving her something to focus on each day, and knowing that she is a fan of the Twilight Saga and a reader of fanfiction, I suggested that she write her own story. My sister is not a writer and creator of stories as i am but she is a good poet, she told me she would not know what to write about. I am not very familliar with twilight- haven't read or seen and don't intend to (not into vampires or werewolfs at all)- I asked her to imagine that two of the characters were in the back of my car right at that moment and i asked her to think about what they would talk about. We had a short discussion about it and upon my return i decided to try out my own advice in a roundabout way and wrote a letter to my MC. It really helped me and i think i may have been suffering from a mild case of writers block. Nevertheless that block has now been lifted and today I wrote the last two chapters without any problems.
As a result of the completion of this draft I shall be updating my blog over the next few days, but i do intend to keep this going. I have another idea for a novel which has been bubbling under since mid nano and I intend to write that, and then go back and edit 'The stepmother'. I will use this blog to continue to show my daily trials with writing and documenting my efforts where possible.
I have to say I am very relieved to have finished. Once nano had ended i found it increasingly difficult to keep the momentum going despite the fact that i only had 3 chapters to write after the end of nano. This normally would have taken me 3 days and no more than a week, but for some reason i found it incredibly difficult to write. It wasn't so much because i did not know what to write, because i did but i just couldn't sit down and do it. I had lost my motivation.
I was talking to my sister yesterday, who is unemployed as a result of government cuts brought on by the financial crisis. She is very depressed about it and I am trying to help her by giving her something to focus on each day, and knowing that she is a fan of the Twilight Saga and a reader of fanfiction, I suggested that she write her own story. My sister is not a writer and creator of stories as i am but she is a good poet, she told me she would not know what to write about. I am not very familliar with twilight- haven't read or seen and don't intend to (not into vampires or werewolfs at all)- I asked her to imagine that two of the characters were in the back of my car right at that moment and i asked her to think about what they would talk about. We had a short discussion about it and upon my return i decided to try out my own advice in a roundabout way and wrote a letter to my MC. It really helped me and i think i may have been suffering from a mild case of writers block. Nevertheless that block has now been lifted and today I wrote the last two chapters without any problems.
As a result of the completion of this draft I shall be updating my blog over the next few days, but i do intend to keep this going. I have another idea for a novel which has been bubbling under since mid nano and I intend to write that, and then go back and edit 'The stepmother'. I will use this blog to continue to show my daily trials with writing and documenting my efforts where possible.
Thursday, 2 December 2010
So I succeeded...
Hey readers, it's me I am back for good as Take That once sang. This last month has been tricky and I found it next to impossible to keep my blog and novel for Nano going at the same time, and as a result the blog suffered. On a more positive note I did manage to hit my 50,000 words for Nano and am officially a winner (Yay!) I do still have some work to do and have three more chapters to write but the end is certainly near and this makes me so very happy.
The problem I have now is motivating myself to write those last three chapters to finish, now that nano has finished the pressure has been relieved and as a result I haven't finished like I should have done, and this is something I seriously need to get on and do, especially as I know I will feel so much better when it is done. Strangely enough the next few chapters should be some of the easiest to write and I have them planned out in detail in my head. I just have to sit down and convince myself to do it.
I actually have quite a busy weekend ahead of me, I am out all day tomorrow, I am out tomorrow night, working saturday, and then out saturday night so I do have limited time available, but I shall persevere and get this novel finished if it kills me.
On a slightly different subject, I understand that Amanda Vickery's series on the Georgians began tonight although unfortunately I missed it. I hope to watch this over the next few days and once I have I will post a review for it.
Will be in touch soon xxx
The problem I have now is motivating myself to write those last three chapters to finish, now that nano has finished the pressure has been relieved and as a result I haven't finished like I should have done, and this is something I seriously need to get on and do, especially as I know I will feel so much better when it is done. Strangely enough the next few chapters should be some of the easiest to write and I have them planned out in detail in my head. I just have to sit down and convince myself to do it.
I actually have quite a busy weekend ahead of me, I am out all day tomorrow, I am out tomorrow night, working saturday, and then out saturday night so I do have limited time available, but I shall persevere and get this novel finished if it kills me.
On a slightly different subject, I understand that Amanda Vickery's series on the Georgians began tonight although unfortunately I missed it. I hope to watch this over the next few days and once I have I will post a review for it.
Will be in touch soon xxx
Sunday, 7 November 2010
Invasion of the literary kind
So I have hit just over 20k on my first week of Nano and am quite rightly over the moon about it, but something terrible has happened. An idea for a second novel, a fantasy novel, has popped into my head and I have been faced with the most awful dilemma. What should I do about it?
I have written down the idea and made some notes on character names and places but thats about it... well actually it isn't whilst sat at work the other day I wrote the first chapter/ prologue. Unfortunately we are losing our external email and internet access at work tomorrow so I had to email my writing to myself so that I did not lose it. Knowing as I did that it might distract me from the novel i am writing for Nanowrimo I composed a letter to myself for the email attached to the file and I thought I would post it here as it's quite funny:
This is the excerpt you wrote on that lunch the other day- hopefully by the time you've read this you will have completed the final 1300 words for today, if not no chocolate for you tonight!!!!
You are not allowed to open this until you finish novel one- do not even think about it even though you want to- I know you are thinking about it now so Stop it Stop it stop it!
You will never be able to finish 1 if 2 is in your head
PS novel 2 can be commenced in approx 2 weeks if you get your act together!!!
BTW I did complete the final 1300 words if you were wondering and the chocolate was eaten.
I have written down the idea and made some notes on character names and places but thats about it... well actually it isn't whilst sat at work the other day I wrote the first chapter/ prologue. Unfortunately we are losing our external email and internet access at work tomorrow so I had to email my writing to myself so that I did not lose it. Knowing as I did that it might distract me from the novel i am writing for Nanowrimo I composed a letter to myself for the email attached to the file and I thought I would post it here as it's quite funny:
This is the excerpt you wrote on that lunch the other day- hopefully by the time you've read this you will have completed the final 1300 words for today, if not no chocolate for you tonight!!!!
You are not allowed to open this until you finish novel one- do not even think about it even though you want to- I know you are thinking about it now so Stop it Stop it stop it!
You will never be able to finish 1 if 2 is in your head
PS novel 2 can be commenced in approx 2 weeks if you get your act together!!!
BTW I did complete the final 1300 words if you were wondering and the chocolate was eaten.
Saturday, 6 November 2010
One week in...
Ok so, I am one week in and I have already committed mass murder by killing of three people no less, two of which were... children! so not only am I a mass murderer but I am also a child killer, and there is more death to come.
It has been a difficult week and an exhausting week. This was my first full week at work and my first attempt at writing 3k words a day and it was hard, challenging but also fun and rewarding. 3k may seem quite a high target when the minimum you can do for nano each day to hit your target is 1667, but I write regularly anyway and whilst I could have done the 1667, I prefer to write in chapters and have been aiming to do a chapter a day, and for me a chapter works out at 3-5 scenes at around 3k words in total.
Throughout the week my preferred method of writing was doing approx 1-1500 words before work and then the rest after work,or alternatively writing on my lunch hour, when i could not write before work. I was surprised by exactly how well I committed myself to the task in hand despite the many committments i had outside work. When I think about it I know that I worked 35 hours had 5 hours worth of work lunches the last two of which i wrote in, I also had guiding and also dance classes and yet I managed to schedule in enough hours to do my nanowrimo.
As the week wore on it did get more and more difficult to write, but for me this was because I was exhausted and ran out of steam. Yesterday was a bad day for me. I did not write before work, I then managed only 500 words on my lunch hour which i knew were dreadful and I had written 1000 only the day before in the same time of approximately 30 mins after i had done all my other tasks i do at lunch like eating and so on. When I got home I could not motivate myself to write 2500 words, I was too tired and i knew that what i had already done was nowhere near good enough. Holes had started appearing in my research and I had no names for the minor charactors who were new to my plot, I could not even come up with names for them off the top of my head.
I had to take a break from nano, even if it was for one night only. I went onto our Nano region chatroom but word sprints were going on and it just made me feel worse than I already did. so I logged out of the forums and the chatrooms had a few games of solitaire and spider solitaire,turned off my computer and went to bed. As a result I woke up feeling much better, and even more beneficial to me, my main characters inner voice had returned. She had gone on a days holiday on friday but now she was back and she was talking to me and telling me her story once more. In the three hours that we had in our Nanowrimo meet up for our region in gloucester I wrote 2000 words despite being surrounded by distractions of children, a very busy coffee shop and also the alarms on the coffee machines. I was really pleased with myself and this evening I easily completed my last 1000 words. Yes its true that I am still technically 3000 words behind where i ideally wanted to be, but I don't care and I am still going to make it. Besides I may still catch up anyway.
so 6 days in 15500 words down and 34500 words to go approx. Yay!!!
It has been a difficult week and an exhausting week. This was my first full week at work and my first attempt at writing 3k words a day and it was hard, challenging but also fun and rewarding. 3k may seem quite a high target when the minimum you can do for nano each day to hit your target is 1667, but I write regularly anyway and whilst I could have done the 1667, I prefer to write in chapters and have been aiming to do a chapter a day, and for me a chapter works out at 3-5 scenes at around 3k words in total.
Throughout the week my preferred method of writing was doing approx 1-1500 words before work and then the rest after work,or alternatively writing on my lunch hour, when i could not write before work. I was surprised by exactly how well I committed myself to the task in hand despite the many committments i had outside work. When I think about it I know that I worked 35 hours had 5 hours worth of work lunches the last two of which i wrote in, I also had guiding and also dance classes and yet I managed to schedule in enough hours to do my nanowrimo.
As the week wore on it did get more and more difficult to write, but for me this was because I was exhausted and ran out of steam. Yesterday was a bad day for me. I did not write before work, I then managed only 500 words on my lunch hour which i knew were dreadful and I had written 1000 only the day before in the same time of approximately 30 mins after i had done all my other tasks i do at lunch like eating and so on. When I got home I could not motivate myself to write 2500 words, I was too tired and i knew that what i had already done was nowhere near good enough. Holes had started appearing in my research and I had no names for the minor charactors who were new to my plot, I could not even come up with names for them off the top of my head.
I had to take a break from nano, even if it was for one night only. I went onto our Nano region chatroom but word sprints were going on and it just made me feel worse than I already did. so I logged out of the forums and the chatrooms had a few games of solitaire and spider solitaire,turned off my computer and went to bed. As a result I woke up feeling much better, and even more beneficial to me, my main characters inner voice had returned. She had gone on a days holiday on friday but now she was back and she was talking to me and telling me her story once more. In the three hours that we had in our Nanowrimo meet up for our region in gloucester I wrote 2000 words despite being surrounded by distractions of children, a very busy coffee shop and also the alarms on the coffee machines. I was really pleased with myself and this evening I easily completed my last 1000 words. Yes its true that I am still technically 3000 words behind where i ideally wanted to be, but I don't care and I am still going to make it. Besides I may still catch up anyway.
so 6 days in 15500 words down and 34500 words to go approx. Yay!!!
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Honesty is the best policy
Just wanted to give you an update on my Nano progress. To date i am just short of 10k and doing well so far. One of my main problems at the moment is that I am spending all my writing time on my Nano and so i know my blog is suffering for which i apologise. I think if it wasn't for the fact that i work full time and am doing funny hours this week it wouldn't be so bad, but it is the way it is and what i've been doing is an hour before work in the mornings and then an hour or two until i hit my 3k target in the evenings starting at ten pm.
So sorry if i have been neglecting you but I am updating my twitter page with my progress too and twitter updates appear to the right hand side of this page so as long as i've updated for the day I have an excuse.
Whilst nano is on my blog posts will inevitably be more infrequent however I will do a minimum of 2 blog posts a week to keep you updated.
To all the other Nano participants this year good luck to you.
_________________________
9119/50000 words
So sorry if i have been neglecting you but I am updating my twitter page with my progress too and twitter updates appear to the right hand side of this page so as long as i've updated for the day I have an excuse.
Whilst nano is on my blog posts will inevitably be more infrequent however I will do a minimum of 2 blog posts a week to keep you updated.
To all the other Nano participants this year good luck to you.
_________________________
9119/50000 words
Monday, 1 November 2010
and the race is on for me vs me: NANOWRIMO Day 1
This is a very short post as it has been a very long day.
I stayed up to midnight on the 31st October and I wrote 1k words and upon return from guiding tonight (and after work) I wrote another 2k although I cannot post this on the NANOWRIMO sight as it has been up and down like a yoyo today.
With 3k done I am officially cream crackered and looking forward to sleeping in 30secs time. Todays chapter was also difficult but the characters voice (its a first person point of view) seems to have got louder in my head and I feel like she is telling me her story and I am just writing it down and not so much the creator.
Fingers crossed this continues, and I will try and get a word count tracker for on here to show my progress tomorrow but for now....
1 day down 3k written and 47k to go so thats 3000/50000
I stayed up to midnight on the 31st October and I wrote 1k words and upon return from guiding tonight (and after work) I wrote another 2k although I cannot post this on the NANOWRIMO sight as it has been up and down like a yoyo today.
With 3k done I am officially cream crackered and looking forward to sleeping in 30secs time. Todays chapter was also difficult but the characters voice (its a first person point of view) seems to have got louder in my head and I feel like she is telling me her story and I am just writing it down and not so much the creator.
Fingers crossed this continues, and I will try and get a word count tracker for on here to show my progress tomorrow but for now....
1 day down 3k written and 47k to go so thats 3000/50000
Sunday, 31 October 2010
No more chocolate!
It's been a busy day today. I had my first Nanowrimo meet up which was so much fun and the people are so nice and now I can't wait to start on Nano I am counting down the hours already and plan to start writing at midnight (despite being on an early shift tomorrow!)
It's been busy tonight as well. My parents do not do halloween and last year we didn't do it either as were working and had other stuff going on. This year we decided to do it and I spent hours cutting up bin liners to frame the porch with I put an orange sainsburys carrier bag over the porch light, printed off pictures of pumpkins and posters with 'knock if you dare' and 'Happy halloween' on which I then coloured in (I had no colour ink only black). We had two bags of bitesize chocolates- Mars and Maltesers and I tipped them into a bowl and then had another bowl which i filled with newspaper and tissues etc and then covered each with newspaper and the kids had to choose between each bag.
Within half an hour the Mars and Maltesers were gone, so i went digging in the cupboard and tipped in a packet of penguins- we had more kids and those went too! my housemate came home and she had some club bars so we put those in and then they went. At 8pm we'd run out and we must have had 35 kids in all based on the amount of chocolate they went through and we had groups of 4, 5 and 6. The kids were like buses it would be quiet for 15 mins and then we would have people knocking every few minutes 3 or 4 groups at a time. It was crazy!!! Finally, we ran out of chocs unfortunately so I took down the decorations and turned off all the lighting and to date we have had no other visitors.
My only disappointment is that all the chocs are gone :-(
It's been busy tonight as well. My parents do not do halloween and last year we didn't do it either as were working and had other stuff going on. This year we decided to do it and I spent hours cutting up bin liners to frame the porch with I put an orange sainsburys carrier bag over the porch light, printed off pictures of pumpkins and posters with 'knock if you dare' and 'Happy halloween' on which I then coloured in (I had no colour ink only black). We had two bags of bitesize chocolates- Mars and Maltesers and I tipped them into a bowl and then had another bowl which i filled with newspaper and tissues etc and then covered each with newspaper and the kids had to choose between each bag.
Within half an hour the Mars and Maltesers were gone, so i went digging in the cupboard and tipped in a packet of penguins- we had more kids and those went too! my housemate came home and she had some club bars so we put those in and then they went. At 8pm we'd run out and we must have had 35 kids in all based on the amount of chocolate they went through and we had groups of 4, 5 and 6. The kids were like buses it would be quiet for 15 mins and then we would have people knocking every few minutes 3 or 4 groups at a time. It was crazy!!! Finally, we ran out of chocs unfortunately so I took down the decorations and turned off all the lighting and to date we have had no other visitors.My only disappointment is that all the chocs are gone :-(
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Still plodding along
I am happy today. Why you may ask? Well I did more work on chapter 12 and it is now complete - well sort of as I had to split it into two chapters and so the second half of chapter 12 is about to become chapter 13 which I will be working on in the next day or so.
I am really happy about this as from my previous posts you probably saw that I had been struggling a bit with this chapter and although I need to do some editing etc., it is almost there. What makes this all the more special is I actually have been working today and did a full day shift but still managed to come home and do 1500 words so I know that I will be able to cope when NANOWRIMO begins on monday.
As for whether I am sticking with my current plan of working on the stepmother for nano or whether I write something completely different and totally unplanned I haven't decided yet but I think I probably will stick with this idea for now and work on the next novel after NANO.
On the negative side I have sacrificed my zumba class tonight to stay in, however, as i'm still suffering from the cold that I previously mentioned and am also working til late I had very little time to squeeze the class in.
Oh well.
So now I am going to reward myself with some Nanoforums yay!
I am really happy about this as from my previous posts you probably saw that I had been struggling a bit with this chapter and although I need to do some editing etc., it is almost there. What makes this all the more special is I actually have been working today and did a full day shift but still managed to come home and do 1500 words so I know that I will be able to cope when NANOWRIMO begins on monday.
As for whether I am sticking with my current plan of working on the stepmother for nano or whether I write something completely different and totally unplanned I haven't decided yet but I think I probably will stick with this idea for now and work on the next novel after NANO.
On the negative side I have sacrificed my zumba class tonight to stay in, however, as i'm still suffering from the cold that I previously mentioned and am also working til late I had very little time to squeeze the class in.
Oh well.
So now I am going to reward myself with some Nanoforums yay!
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
You're only as good as you think you are
Well it's been a very busy couple of days for me, what with trips to ikea in Bristol for bookcases, new car batteries and then back to work today. I've got to tell you that I'm a bit knackered.
I had planned this weekend to go to a pre-Nano meet up but I ended up waiting in all day for a plumber... who then didn't turn up, so I didn't go. I should have instead spent the day working on chapter 12 whilst waiting for him to arrive, but I didn't.
It's strange as I had been looking forward to writing this particular chapter since I started writing the novel's first chapter, but I found it difficult to sit down and write it, not so much due to time constraints, but due to the excuses I kept coming up with not to write it. Finally, I forced myself to start, and tonight prior to this post I have written 2000 words or so, and I think I know why I had such trouble just getting on with it.
Chapter 12 is a very important part of the whole book and features some hugely key scenes and the deaths of some characters and these deaths are pivotal in my novel as they set my MC on her path of destiny so to speak. When I planned the novel in my head, I imagined that it would be a great thing to write, words would come easily to me and it would show off my writing talent to it's full potential. I thought that when I read it back I would go 'Wow, that's amazing! I wrote that'.
So what was the problem?
I had put so much pressure on myself to make this an excellent chapter and planned things so well that when it came to writing it I was scared. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to do such great ideas (which I think they are) justice and then this would affect the tone of the whole book and in effect demotivate me and ruin the novel. So I procrastinated and thought negative thoughts and this reinforced my negativity towards the chapter to the extent that I was dreading writing it. In the end my only solution to the problem was to 'just write', and so laptop in hand and opening line ready I just...wrote. It has been the hardest chapter I have had to write so far in terms of just doing it and it is the only one I have not completed in one go when I had the opportunity (I did one chapter the other day in 2 sittings because I had to go out).
So what happens next?
I know that it will be a few days now until my next chapter (and next post too), now that I am working and also I won't have time tomorrow due to shift patterns at work, dance class after work and just generally lack of free time, so I am targeting myself to finish the chapter by the end of the week, and then I will go from there. I may post less often this week for the same reason so apologies in advance for this.
On another note Nano starts in less than a week - yay!- and I am faced with a dilemma- do I carry on with this novel which is planned out and has approx 55k to go or alternatively I have been flooded with ideas for another novel- but this one fantasy- which randomly came to me when I went shopping. Problem with novel Idea 2 is that lots of planning is needed and I don't have time, so I'm going to think on it and decide what I'm going to do. Any suggestions would be welcome.
I had planned this weekend to go to a pre-Nano meet up but I ended up waiting in all day for a plumber... who then didn't turn up, so I didn't go. I should have instead spent the day working on chapter 12 whilst waiting for him to arrive, but I didn't.
It's strange as I had been looking forward to writing this particular chapter since I started writing the novel's first chapter, but I found it difficult to sit down and write it, not so much due to time constraints, but due to the excuses I kept coming up with not to write it. Finally, I forced myself to start, and tonight prior to this post I have written 2000 words or so, and I think I know why I had such trouble just getting on with it.
Chapter 12 is a very important part of the whole book and features some hugely key scenes and the deaths of some characters and these deaths are pivotal in my novel as they set my MC on her path of destiny so to speak. When I planned the novel in my head, I imagined that it would be a great thing to write, words would come easily to me and it would show off my writing talent to it's full potential. I thought that when I read it back I would go 'Wow, that's amazing! I wrote that'.
So what was the problem?
I had put so much pressure on myself to make this an excellent chapter and planned things so well that when it came to writing it I was scared. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to do such great ideas (which I think they are) justice and then this would affect the tone of the whole book and in effect demotivate me and ruin the novel. So I procrastinated and thought negative thoughts and this reinforced my negativity towards the chapter to the extent that I was dreading writing it. In the end my only solution to the problem was to 'just write', and so laptop in hand and opening line ready I just...wrote. It has been the hardest chapter I have had to write so far in terms of just doing it and it is the only one I have not completed in one go when I had the opportunity (I did one chapter the other day in 2 sittings because I had to go out).
So what happens next?
I know that it will be a few days now until my next chapter (and next post too), now that I am working and also I won't have time tomorrow due to shift patterns at work, dance class after work and just generally lack of free time, so I am targeting myself to finish the chapter by the end of the week, and then I will go from there. I may post less often this week for the same reason so apologies in advance for this.
On another note Nano starts in less than a week - yay!- and I am faced with a dilemma- do I carry on with this novel which is planned out and has approx 55k to go or alternatively I have been flooded with ideas for another novel- but this one fantasy- which randomly came to me when I went shopping. Problem with novel Idea 2 is that lots of planning is needed and I don't have time, so I'm going to think on it and decide what I'm going to do. Any suggestions would be welcome.
Friday, 22 October 2010
key to my world
I've had an unusually stressful day today.
My car has battery problems with have got so bad that I have to jumpstart it everytime I want to use it- which is a bit of a pain- and i have made 4 journeys and on 3 of those I had to jumpstart and now my radio needs to have the key code put in to make it work again. It's gotten so bad that I'm getting a new one on sunday.
I am back to work on tuesday following my accident, so less time for writing unfortunately and this will make nano or the more intense and interesting as i will be doing it on a full time job.
I also saw my friend today who gave birth four months ago, but due to my accident and not being able to drive I hadn't been to see her so it was lovely to catch up with her and her baby is adorable and so well behaved.
I came home this afternoon, to find that the central heating still hadn't kicked in and it was 13 degrees celsius in my living room, and after checking the thermostat programmer called the rental agency. They sent someone out, and he said it was due to the pressure and he just had to push a button internally to fix it and asked for the boiler key. My response- what key? Without the key the boiler could not be opened and my heating could not be fixed. The guy who came out is coming back tomorrow hopefully if he can obtain one, and in the meantime I have been looking for a non-existant key which I think may have been taken by the chap who did our last boiler inspection as he would be the only one who touched it. I certainly had no reason to take apart the boiler. So I am sat here under multiple layers of blankets and bedjackets, my fingers turning to ice, wondering whether I will be cold tonight and would it be worth getting out the hot water bottle.
As for tomorrow, we are having a pre-nano meetup in my town which I would like to attend, however, this will all depend on what time Mr fix-my-boiler turns up and leaves by, as I will have to wait in all day for him until he turns up.
As you can see today has been a day of keys. Keys to boilers, radio keycodes, even the key turning the ignition after using jump leads on the car leading to a power pack. There are many definitions as to what a key is and does but the best one i found was, "something that affords a mean of access". This definition automatically makes me think back to my novelling project on NANOWRIMO, as a novel can give you access to worlds you never dreamed of like in gulliver's travels, alice in wonderland, the wizard of oz etc. but they can also give you the access and means to escape your world whether it be for just a few hours, half an hour, ten minutes or even a few minutes.
Novels give us artistic license to use our imaginations to their full potential,and they are marvellous tools which can influence our dreams and lives. Novels tell us that the impossible is possible,that anyone can be what they want, do what they want, believe what they want, and go where they want to without any fear of judgement.
Novels can change your own world my making you think differently about something, and some novels are a reflection of the real world allowing you to view it through different eyes. If novels are keys then that only leaves one question: Where do you want to go today?
My car has battery problems with have got so bad that I have to jumpstart it everytime I want to use it- which is a bit of a pain- and i have made 4 journeys and on 3 of those I had to jumpstart and now my radio needs to have the key code put in to make it work again. It's gotten so bad that I'm getting a new one on sunday.
I am back to work on tuesday following my accident, so less time for writing unfortunately and this will make nano or the more intense and interesting as i will be doing it on a full time job.
I also saw my friend today who gave birth four months ago, but due to my accident and not being able to drive I hadn't been to see her so it was lovely to catch up with her and her baby is adorable and so well behaved.
I came home this afternoon, to find that the central heating still hadn't kicked in and it was 13 degrees celsius in my living room, and after checking the thermostat programmer called the rental agency. They sent someone out, and he said it was due to the pressure and he just had to push a button internally to fix it and asked for the boiler key. My response- what key? Without the key the boiler could not be opened and my heating could not be fixed. The guy who came out is coming back tomorrow hopefully if he can obtain one, and in the meantime I have been looking for a non-existant key which I think may have been taken by the chap who did our last boiler inspection as he would be the only one who touched it. I certainly had no reason to take apart the boiler. So I am sat here under multiple layers of blankets and bedjackets, my fingers turning to ice, wondering whether I will be cold tonight and would it be worth getting out the hot water bottle.
As for tomorrow, we are having a pre-nano meetup in my town which I would like to attend, however, this will all depend on what time Mr fix-my-boiler turns up and leaves by, as I will have to wait in all day for him until he turns up.
As you can see today has been a day of keys. Keys to boilers, radio keycodes, even the key turning the ignition after using jump leads on the car leading to a power pack. There are many definitions as to what a key is and does but the best one i found was, "something that affords a mean of access". This definition automatically makes me think back to my novelling project on NANOWRIMO, as a novel can give you access to worlds you never dreamed of like in gulliver's travels, alice in wonderland, the wizard of oz etc. but they can also give you the access and means to escape your world whether it be for just a few hours, half an hour, ten minutes or even a few minutes.
Novels give us artistic license to use our imaginations to their full potential,and they are marvellous tools which can influence our dreams and lives. Novels tell us that the impossible is possible,that anyone can be what they want, do what they want, believe what they want, and go where they want to without any fear of judgement.
Novels can change your own world my making you think differently about something, and some novels are a reflection of the real world allowing you to view it through different eyes. If novels are keys then that only leaves one question: Where do you want to go today?
Thursday, 21 October 2010
A tale of two... buses?
I like to think of myself as quite an intelligent person, I passed the 11+ or Grammar School test as it's also known, I achieved good grades at GCSE and A Level and I have a 2:1 from the University of Gloucestershire in History and Sociology. Despite this I had a bit of a 'funny five minutes' this morning and as a result felt thicker than two short planks put together.
I had a Doctor's appointment at her clinic this morning, but due to car trouble - sore subject - I decided to catch the bus into cheltenham this morning. As I had a flat battery on the car (it keeps happening!!!!) I thought i'd get a gadget to sort it out myself when it breaks down instead of relying on my mum and dad, and my breakdown service, who now won't come out as it's the same problem. I plotted out my route's on the bus, one bus to town for dr's, one to halfords for gadget, then recatch same bus home and walk remainder of the way.
Before setting out I called my mum regarding arrangements for family dinner tonight, and following a chat thought I'd leave off getting the gadjet, which bus-wise would mean catching the same bus back as I caught going out.
I went to Doctors (back 2 work next week boooo!), and for some completely weird reason unbeknownst to me decided to stand at this random bus stop round the corner from the bus station- as i had convinced myself the bus went that way. I stood there for 5-10mins and a bus pulled up to drop someone off, I recognised the number and got on. The bus driver gave me a weird look and said that this was a dropping off point only, but he'd let me on (I had a pass) and then he drove round the block to the bus station where everyone except me got off and then all the new passengers got on.
The bus set off but it didn't turn off where it normally did, and then i realised what I had done. I'd got on the wrong bus the one that I'd thought about catching to Halfords but changed my mind about, and i had confused myself with the route numbers. I felt like a right idiot not only had I got on the bus in the wrong place but I was on the wrong bus in the first place! The bus does go near my house but there is a longer walk when you get off to my house, and the bus goes miles out of the way and takes longer. How thick was I?
On novelling...
Well that's another story entirely haha!
The First draft of chapter 11 was completed yesterday and chapter 12 is in the indepth planning stage, as it is a key chapter which plays an important role and goes on to set the tone for the rest of the novel. As I have said previously there will also be a death *enter stage right grim reaper*. I expect to write it either tomorrow or at the weekend due to time constraints which I hope won't affect my ability to blog.
I had a Doctor's appointment at her clinic this morning, but due to car trouble - sore subject - I decided to catch the bus into cheltenham this morning. As I had a flat battery on the car (it keeps happening!!!!) I thought i'd get a gadget to sort it out myself when it breaks down instead of relying on my mum and dad, and my breakdown service, who now won't come out as it's the same problem. I plotted out my route's on the bus, one bus to town for dr's, one to halfords for gadget, then recatch same bus home and walk remainder of the way.
Before setting out I called my mum regarding arrangements for family dinner tonight, and following a chat thought I'd leave off getting the gadjet, which bus-wise would mean catching the same bus back as I caught going out.
I went to Doctors (back 2 work next week boooo!), and for some completely weird reason unbeknownst to me decided to stand at this random bus stop round the corner from the bus station- as i had convinced myself the bus went that way. I stood there for 5-10mins and a bus pulled up to drop someone off, I recognised the number and got on. The bus driver gave me a weird look and said that this was a dropping off point only, but he'd let me on (I had a pass) and then he drove round the block to the bus station where everyone except me got off and then all the new passengers got on.
The bus set off but it didn't turn off where it normally did, and then i realised what I had done. I'd got on the wrong bus the one that I'd thought about catching to Halfords but changed my mind about, and i had confused myself with the route numbers. I felt like a right idiot not only had I got on the bus in the wrong place but I was on the wrong bus in the first place! The bus does go near my house but there is a longer walk when you get off to my house, and the bus goes miles out of the way and takes longer. How thick was I?
On novelling...
Well that's another story entirely haha!
The First draft of chapter 11 was completed yesterday and chapter 12 is in the indepth planning stage, as it is a key chapter which plays an important role and goes on to set the tone for the rest of the novel. As I have said previously there will also be a death *enter stage right grim reaper*. I expect to write it either tomorrow or at the weekend due to time constraints which I hope won't affect my ability to blog.
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
Celebrating 100 years of screaming girls
I don't think I've ever mentioned this before, but when I'm not writing, dancing, sleeping, working or eating, I am a guide leader with girlguiding UK, in fact my username on here 'Thistle', is the name my girls chose and now call me by (like brown owl in brownies).
2009/10 has been the 100th Anniversary since the girl guides were set up in the UK, and there have been one year of celebrations which are due to end this month.
This evening I went to a party to celebrate the end of the centenary at cheltenham racecourse, and my girls aged between 9-11 came too. It was a brilliant night with singing and we all got to remake our promise at 20.10 on the 20/10 2010. At the end there was the most amazing firework display lasting approx 10 minutes and these fireworks were played against a soundtrack of Take That's Greatest Day, another track which i didn't know but which sounded classical and was very firework like, and for the finale don't stop believing (the glee version -btw did i mention i'm a fan...)
I've heard don't stop believing many times in the last year, but today I heard it differently as all the girls spontaneously started singing it all 4,500 of them, and those that had glowsticks/bracelets waved them and the girls with flashing music all swayed to the music with them on their heads. It reminded me of another girlguiding event called the big gig - a music concert with acts from x-factor contestants to sugababes and the hoosiers usually held at places like wembley or birmingham and with guides from across the uk- I don't think I ever saw so many bunny ears in all my life as I saw the night I went to the big gig in 2008! Tonight, though smaller was just as amazing and I must admit I felt a bit emotional and I was so proud to be a member of such an amazing organisation, I thought I might break down.
Now as I sit here typing with the memory of the screams of 4500 gloucestershire rainbows, brownies, guides, senior section and even those of leaders and the trefoil guild, still resonating in my ears, I feel so happy and found it so rewarding for it is days like today which remind me why I volunteer.
Tuesday, 19 October 2010
All in all a very productive day!
I've actually had quite a good day today, as i have done not just one chapter but done a third of the next one too. I would have finished the second chapter, but im too tired to type anything further, and when i'm tired I find it difficult to write as i run out of ideas.
So what have i written? Well I sorted out chapters 8 and 9 which dealt with my MC's wedding and wedding night respectively - that was fun i can tell you- I've never written an 'x rated' scene before and as i wrote it i couldn't help but think that if it ever got published my mum, and both of my grandmother's would read it and i found that a bit cringeworthy, although i tried not to tone it down too much. One hint i've come across from somewhere was 'not to mention fluids' (if i find the link where i read that i'll post it) and so i didn't.
Chapter 10 was really nice to write as my MC and her new husband moved to there new home, and i wrote this really sweet bit about how she was so exhausted on arrival that he carried her to her bedroom, and would not allow the servants to do it, and then didn't attempt to seduce her and instead let her sleep. There was further x rated stuff the next day and a puppy and then by the end of chapter 10 she was 'up the duff' (unsurprisingly)
Chapter 11 is the birth of the child, and i was greatly inspired for the writing of this passage by the novel 'Innocent Traitor' by Alison Weir (who i am a bit of a fan of). She writes Tudor fiction and non fiction and I have two of her novels 'IT' and the Lady Elizabeth, but I also have her non-fiction book 'The lady in the tower' which is based on her research under Anne Boleyn. I absolutely love Tudor History and fiction - I studied the Tudors at degree level and loved every minute of it - however I am not writing Tudor fiction because the market is saturated with it due to leading Authors such as Alison Weir and Philippa Gregory who I also enjoy (despite the accuracies, outlandish theories and assumptions made in both- they are 'fiction' after all). I know there are plenty more out there but for me I love the Georgians particularly the clothing and the gowns like the Mantua (see above)and other wider court gowns (like that shown at the very top of this page).
I hope to finish chapter 11 tomorrow, and then i get to start work on the really dark and nitty gritty stuff (enter stage right: Grim Reaper), which is where my research on smallpox comes in. I can't wait!
I'm going to end with something funny today. I had a bit of a scare as i wrote this as i realised i had LOST 3000 words and chapter 11 had been saved as chapter 10 (I save under individual chapter names), I panicked, the real chapter 10 was nowhere to be found- all those hours of research and work wasted!!!! I went into recent documents and i saw that there were 2 chapter 10s and luckily I found the missing 3000 words saved in the wrong folder, but not before almost giving myself a heart attack. And if you thought that was funny see what you make of the picture below showing an 18th century lady in wide court dress over huge panniers so big she has to enter through a door sideways!
Monday, 18 October 2010
From Gobbledegook to prose: turning that crap into something wonderful
I was ill yesterday as you probably saw from my post, and i managed to write 3000 words of complete and total rubbish. I'm not sure how I did it, reading back i can see all the key things i wanted to be in the scene are all missing. The events are right but the ideas, thoughts and feelings i wanted to convey in the scene are not there. So i decided that rather than continue with the next chapter and edit at the end of the novel I would rip the chapter apart now and fix it. I could have waited but i just didn't feel right continuing until everything was put the way it should have been. I also thought i would be more difficult to continue with the following chapter until the previous one was corrected.
In my editing some of the chapter just went completely but on the other hand i also added a great deal. As it stands i am halfway through the chapter's editing and the word count has jumped up to 4000 words. Increasing the word count and knowing that i will be increasing it even further in the second half of the chapter has made me think about splitting my one chapter into two, however, I don't know whether it will be worth doing until i have finished tidying the second half of the chapter.
One of my favourite mistakes known as nanoism in the NANO world was my opening line for the chapter - we were married 6 months later in the spring. I then spent the next 2000 words describing how she was about to get married and the ceremony and the clothes and wedding night. What was the point in saying they were married and then going back and telling the story of the wedding. It didn't work and defeated the object of the first line. so i got rid of it and got a slightly better line which im much happier with.
I've still got a lot to do on this chapter and can hopefully fix the rest tonight but i have learnt a valuable lesson. Im glad i wrote yesterday because I proved I can write when im ill, unfortunately i cannot write anything coherent but I can work on that, and by spending time on the chapter when i was ill i still managed to churn the words out and create something that i could work with. I also learnt that i shouldn't be afraid to do major editing at the end of a chapter if something doesn't work it doesn't work and isn't it better to fix it when your in the mindset then come back and do some major changes when your not? Thats up for deliberation but if anyone wants to comment then please speak now or forever hold your peace...
(nb im sorry i've just written a whole chapter on marriage including the words of the ceremony itself and i couldn't resist.)
In my editing some of the chapter just went completely but on the other hand i also added a great deal. As it stands i am halfway through the chapter's editing and the word count has jumped up to 4000 words. Increasing the word count and knowing that i will be increasing it even further in the second half of the chapter has made me think about splitting my one chapter into two, however, I don't know whether it will be worth doing until i have finished tidying the second half of the chapter.
One of my favourite mistakes known as nanoism in the NANO world was my opening line for the chapter - we were married 6 months later in the spring. I then spent the next 2000 words describing how she was about to get married and the ceremony and the clothes and wedding night. What was the point in saying they were married and then going back and telling the story of the wedding. It didn't work and defeated the object of the first line. so i got rid of it and got a slightly better line which im much happier with.
I've still got a lot to do on this chapter and can hopefully fix the rest tonight but i have learnt a valuable lesson. Im glad i wrote yesterday because I proved I can write when im ill, unfortunately i cannot write anything coherent but I can work on that, and by spending time on the chapter when i was ill i still managed to churn the words out and create something that i could work with. I also learnt that i shouldn't be afraid to do major editing at the end of a chapter if something doesn't work it doesn't work and isn't it better to fix it when your in the mindset then come back and do some major changes when your not? Thats up for deliberation but if anyone wants to comment then please speak now or forever hold your peace...
(nb im sorry i've just written a whole chapter on marriage including the words of the ceremony itself and i couldn't resist.)
Sunday, 17 October 2010
On Smallpox, Colds and Libraries
If you have seen my twitter feed today you will know that I am feeling a bit under the weather and suffering from a virus. I'll live but this feeling ill has cost me today. (more on this later and please forgive the constant sneezing)
As you may have noticed it's been a couple of days since my last post for which i apologise, but sometimes 24hrs isn't enough hours for one day. Since my last post i attended a further two lectures at the Cheltenham literature festival, one on Jane Austen and one on fairytales, and both of these were excellently delivered and very enjoyable. I had hoped to go to a further talk on saturday on (Atchoo!) Catherine of Aragon, however when i went to purchase a ticket on thursday it had unfortunately sold out. I was very disappointed at this but what can you do...
On the bright side, Stephen Fry was the Cheltenham Literature Festival on Friday and whilst I could not justify spending the money to see him talk, i did see him signing books in the waterstones bookcase after the talk, so yay!
On Friday and Saturday I did not write anything further on the novel, however on saturday I managed to borrow a very important book for the research for my novel. My MC and her family are going to get smallpox and for some of them it will be... Gasp!...Fatal!!!! Anyway I obviously needed to readup on Smallpox in 18th Century, i knew quite a bit about the discovery of the vaccination as the guy who discovered it (named Edward Jenner) lived in Berkeley, Gloucestershire not far from where I live and have grown up from, and all kids from gloucestershire automatically get the smallpox lessons at some point (usually primary school). Whilst I knew all about Edward Jenner and how the cure was discovered I knew little about the illness itself other than it was often fatal especially in kids, and Queen Elizabeth I suffered from it. I wanted to find out a bit more what it was like to live with it but really struggled to find anything on this, other than passing references to someone with it, the stats or the aftermath or a lecture on Edward Jenner - YES I KNOW WHO HE IS FOR THE TENTH TIME!!! Sorry you have to forgive me I'm ill don't you know...
I found this book in the gloucestershire library catalogue called princes and peasants smallpox in history, but couldn't work out which of the libraries in Glos actually had it. I also tried to reserve it but with no luck. So i popped down to my local smaller library which is 5mins walk from here and has novels but not much else and i asked them about it. They told me its at Gloucester, they ring up Gloucester Library and are told its in 'the basement' do i really want it. Well duh? why else would i ask for it? They promise to check they definitely have it i give them my phone number and make my way home via the co-op for groceries and half an hour later they ring me, so i told them i would pick it up in an hour. As i was making a special journey to the main library I thought i would check their catalogue for some other books i wanted, and then turned up with a list but could not find a single one. I can find 3 books on Georgian History thats it for well over 100 years of history yet the victorians get two shelves not fair! I give the list to the library woman- not a nice lady and a bit rude who tells me these are in the basement do i want them? (I got fed up of people saying this to me) Yes i do. She asks me if i want other similar books if she finds them, and i'm like yea ok. 15mins later she comes back with one book off the list one on 18th century art a couple of others which aren't really relevant but are on the georgians and one on the French revolution! (These people are supposed to be experts with books!)
I gave up picked up a book on samuel peyps, the smallpox one and one or two others and make my way home by bus and it tips it down with rain.
I went to bed last night with a sore throat and having done no chapters, my throat got worse last night affecting my sleep and today i have gradually worsened with the temp and drippy nose that comes with a cold. Having spent the day in bed I started word on the chapter mentioned in previous post, but reading it back its pretty terrible and desparately needs a re-write asap. I copied the marriage ceremony text out of a book from "dearly beloved" to "I now pronounce you man and wife" just to get the word count, and then i wrote the consummation of the marriage which isn't too bad i suppose but isn't too great.
In conclusion, today was a waste of time, i should have stayed in bed - i'll rephrase that I should have stayed in bed and not written my chapter.
I'm going to sneeze so I will leave you all in peace now and stop babbling on about nothing, which i am prone to do when ill. Hopefully will be better tomorrow, to sort out that chapter, (Too late Achoo! Achoo!) and am going to spend the rest of the night on the Nanoforums.
Nighty Night x
As you may have noticed it's been a couple of days since my last post for which i apologise, but sometimes 24hrs isn't enough hours for one day. Since my last post i attended a further two lectures at the Cheltenham literature festival, one on Jane Austen and one on fairytales, and both of these were excellently delivered and very enjoyable. I had hoped to go to a further talk on saturday on (Atchoo!) Catherine of Aragon, however when i went to purchase a ticket on thursday it had unfortunately sold out. I was very disappointed at this but what can you do...
On the bright side, Stephen Fry was the Cheltenham Literature Festival on Friday and whilst I could not justify spending the money to see him talk, i did see him signing books in the waterstones bookcase after the talk, so yay!
On Friday and Saturday I did not write anything further on the novel, however on saturday I managed to borrow a very important book for the research for my novel. My MC and her family are going to get smallpox and for some of them it will be... Gasp!...Fatal!!!! Anyway I obviously needed to readup on Smallpox in 18th Century, i knew quite a bit about the discovery of the vaccination as the guy who discovered it (named Edward Jenner) lived in Berkeley, Gloucestershire not far from where I live and have grown up from, and all kids from gloucestershire automatically get the smallpox lessons at some point (usually primary school). Whilst I knew all about Edward Jenner and how the cure was discovered I knew little about the illness itself other than it was often fatal especially in kids, and Queen Elizabeth I suffered from it. I wanted to find out a bit more what it was like to live with it but really struggled to find anything on this, other than passing references to someone with it, the stats or the aftermath or a lecture on Edward Jenner - YES I KNOW WHO HE IS FOR THE TENTH TIME!!! Sorry you have to forgive me I'm ill don't you know...
I found this book in the gloucestershire library catalogue called princes and peasants smallpox in history, but couldn't work out which of the libraries in Glos actually had it. I also tried to reserve it but with no luck. So i popped down to my local smaller library which is 5mins walk from here and has novels but not much else and i asked them about it. They told me its at Gloucester, they ring up Gloucester Library and are told its in 'the basement' do i really want it. Well duh? why else would i ask for it? They promise to check they definitely have it i give them my phone number and make my way home via the co-op for groceries and half an hour later they ring me, so i told them i would pick it up in an hour. As i was making a special journey to the main library I thought i would check their catalogue for some other books i wanted, and then turned up with a list but could not find a single one. I can find 3 books on Georgian History thats it for well over 100 years of history yet the victorians get two shelves not fair! I give the list to the library woman- not a nice lady and a bit rude who tells me these are in the basement do i want them? (I got fed up of people saying this to me) Yes i do. She asks me if i want other similar books if she finds them, and i'm like yea ok. 15mins later she comes back with one book off the list one on 18th century art a couple of others which aren't really relevant but are on the georgians and one on the French revolution! (These people are supposed to be experts with books!)
I gave up picked up a book on samuel peyps, the smallpox one and one or two others and make my way home by bus and it tips it down with rain.
I went to bed last night with a sore throat and having done no chapters, my throat got worse last night affecting my sleep and today i have gradually worsened with the temp and drippy nose that comes with a cold. Having spent the day in bed I started word on the chapter mentioned in previous post, but reading it back its pretty terrible and desparately needs a re-write asap. I copied the marriage ceremony text out of a book from "dearly beloved" to "I now pronounce you man and wife" just to get the word count, and then i wrote the consummation of the marriage which isn't too bad i suppose but isn't too great.
In conclusion, today was a waste of time, i should have stayed in bed - i'll rephrase that I should have stayed in bed and not written my chapter.
I'm going to sneeze so I will leave you all in peace now and stop babbling on about nothing, which i am prone to do when ill. Hopefully will be better tomorrow, to sort out that chapter, (Too late Achoo! Achoo!) and am going to spend the rest of the night on the Nanoforums.
Nighty Night x
Wednesday, 13 October 2010
What a carry on!
So i've spent today doing research for the next chapter if my novel. My MC is getting married so i've been reading up on marriage customs to find out what would happen at the wedding but I've also been reading up on the wedding night.
I've never written a 'consummation' scene before so to get some ideas i turned to my phillipa gregory and alison weir historical fiction to get inspiration on how to write these type of scenes. What this has meant was going through the previously mentioned novels with a pile of post it notes and marking the relevant pages.Now that I have done that I am ready to write my chapter, either this evening or tomorrow.
I have also spent today following the chile miner rescue which has been given 24hr coverage on bbc news,and I have to say it is the greatest feeling knowing that they will all be rescued by tomorrow and hopefully by the end of the day.
I've never written a 'consummation' scene before so to get some ideas i turned to my phillipa gregory and alison weir historical fiction to get inspiration on how to write these type of scenes. What this has meant was going through the previously mentioned novels with a pile of post it notes and marking the relevant pages.Now that I have done that I am ready to write my chapter, either this evening or tomorrow.
I have also spent today following the chile miner rescue which has been given 24hr coverage on bbc news,and I have to say it is the greatest feeling knowing that they will all be rescued by tomorrow and hopefully by the end of the day.
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
Another chapter done
Well it's been a good day today. I wrote chapter seven so thats all finished and I am very much looking forward to chapter 8 because i've never written anything like what is about to happen in chapter eight.
This morning I went to another of the talks at the Cheltenham Literature festival and this one was on courtiers at kensington palace during the reigns of King George I and II. I found this really useful because the characters in my novel meet King George II and his wife Caroline, and as a result of the talk i attended this morning I realise I made a slight error which i intend to put right.
The talk was an excellent one and was given by Lucy Worsley and i enjoyed it very much as in addition to telling us about the people at the court of both king georges she also told us more about their history, the clothes they wore and also about the places they live and i found it fascinating and most enjoyable.
Its been a long day and so Im keeping this post short and im looking forward to a quieter day tomorrow to. Im also starting Zumba tomorrow night so that should be fun!
This morning I went to another of the talks at the Cheltenham Literature festival and this one was on courtiers at kensington palace during the reigns of King George I and II. I found this really useful because the characters in my novel meet King George II and his wife Caroline, and as a result of the talk i attended this morning I realise I made a slight error which i intend to put right.
The talk was an excellent one and was given by Lucy Worsley and i enjoyed it very much as in addition to telling us about the people at the court of both king georges she also told us more about their history, the clothes they wore and also about the places they live and i found it fascinating and most enjoyable.
Its been a long day and so Im keeping this post short and im looking forward to a quieter day tomorrow to. Im also starting Zumba tomorrow night so that should be fun!
Monday, 11 October 2010
You wait ages for a bus...
Don't you just hate buses? I know I do. I left my house this morning at 9.30 to catch a bus in order to be at cheltenham town hall for 10am. Normally this is a 10-15min journey and a bus turns up every 10mins. Unfortunately I just missed one bus but no fear, I thought, I will catch the next one due in ten minutes and so I waited. One bus went the other way and i thought ooh won't belong he'll be back in a minute (we are right at the end of the route), I waited, and 5mins later another went pass the other side the road and then a few minutes later and a third one went the other way.
Suffice to say I was getting a little worried. the reason I was going to Cheltenham Townhall was for the Cheltenham Literature festival where Amanda Vickery, Author of 'Behind Closed Doors' and 'a Gentlemans Daughter', was doing a talk there which started at... 10am. Finally at 9.50am a bus turned up. I jumped on and off he went, but as we had to stop at virtually EVERY stop and there were 5 or 6 people queuing at each stop and then one of the buses and our bus kept overtaking each other. When I finally got to my stop to walk to the townhall it was 10.05am. I legged it to the box office, "Is it too late to go to the Amanda Vickery Talk?" I asked. The lady radio'd someone- no we can sneak you in. I paid my £7 and finally walked in at 10.10am and fortunately appeared not to have missed too much.
Amanda was brilliant her talk was very relevant to my most recent chapters that I have been writing about relationships and proposals in the 18th Century. She talked about several case studies and of the diaries she had come across in her research at the many archives but the one that I found of most interest was that of a gentleman by the name of Dudley a man of means who proposed a total of 8 times to various women before marrying. I had read of this case study in her book but it was the way Amanda put the case study across that made me enjoy it all the more. I have sat in on many lectures previously but very few were like this, and Amanda's sense of humour made her delivery of her lecture all the more enjoyable.
I was also very interested in the research side of things and at the end of her talk she was asked a question pertaining to how easy it was to find diaries which were relevant to her topic. She said that this wasn't easy at all, for example she had heard that at a particular archive there was a document called the Personal records of x (I forget the name) but upon her visit to the archive she discovered that instead it was a book of lists. Instead she had to be versatile in her methods and instead she moved her focus to that of diaries of bachelors and widows who were more likely to write of relationship matters in diaries due to loneliness.
All in all it was an excellent talk and at the end I had the opportunity of meeting the author when she did a book signing. I complemented her on her talk saying I had enjoyed it immensely and she was kind enough to sign both copies of the books i had brought with me 'behind closed doors' and 'a gentleman's daughter.'
I also understand that there is to be a documentary series to be shown on the BBC based on her books which will air in three weeks time and I cannot wait to see it and if you have access I also recommend you do the same.
I am off to another talk tomorrow this one on Courtiers specifically those at the court of George I and George II by Lucy Worsley Chief Curator of the Historic Royal Palaces. The description of the session advertised in the official brochure of the Cheltenham Literature Festival is as follows:
"During the reigns of King George I and his son King George II, the elegant assembly room at Kensington Palace was a place of Skulduggery, where fans whistled open like flick-knives. Lucy Worsley, Chief Curator of the Historic Royal Palaces, unlocks its secret world and brings to life its memorable characters in this eye-opening talk based on her book Courtiers."
I shall update you all with a review of this talk when I attend tomorrow.
Suffice to say I was getting a little worried. the reason I was going to Cheltenham Townhall was for the Cheltenham Literature festival where Amanda Vickery, Author of 'Behind Closed Doors' and 'a Gentlemans Daughter', was doing a talk there which started at... 10am. Finally at 9.50am a bus turned up. I jumped on and off he went, but as we had to stop at virtually EVERY stop and there were 5 or 6 people queuing at each stop and then one of the buses and our bus kept overtaking each other. When I finally got to my stop to walk to the townhall it was 10.05am. I legged it to the box office, "Is it too late to go to the Amanda Vickery Talk?" I asked. The lady radio'd someone- no we can sneak you in. I paid my £7 and finally walked in at 10.10am and fortunately appeared not to have missed too much.
Amanda was brilliant her talk was very relevant to my most recent chapters that I have been writing about relationships and proposals in the 18th Century. She talked about several case studies and of the diaries she had come across in her research at the many archives but the one that I found of most interest was that of a gentleman by the name of Dudley a man of means who proposed a total of 8 times to various women before marrying. I had read of this case study in her book but it was the way Amanda put the case study across that made me enjoy it all the more. I have sat in on many lectures previously but very few were like this, and Amanda's sense of humour made her delivery of her lecture all the more enjoyable.
I was also very interested in the research side of things and at the end of her talk she was asked a question pertaining to how easy it was to find diaries which were relevant to her topic. She said that this wasn't easy at all, for example she had heard that at a particular archive there was a document called the Personal records of x (I forget the name) but upon her visit to the archive she discovered that instead it was a book of lists. Instead she had to be versatile in her methods and instead she moved her focus to that of diaries of bachelors and widows who were more likely to write of relationship matters in diaries due to loneliness.
All in all it was an excellent talk and at the end I had the opportunity of meeting the author when she did a book signing. I complemented her on her talk saying I had enjoyed it immensely and she was kind enough to sign both copies of the books i had brought with me 'behind closed doors' and 'a gentleman's daughter.'
I also understand that there is to be a documentary series to be shown on the BBC based on her books which will air in three weeks time and I cannot wait to see it and if you have access I also recommend you do the same.
I am off to another talk tomorrow this one on Courtiers specifically those at the court of George I and George II by Lucy Worsley Chief Curator of the Historic Royal Palaces. The description of the session advertised in the official brochure of the Cheltenham Literature Festival is as follows:
"During the reigns of King George I and his son King George II, the elegant assembly room at Kensington Palace was a place of Skulduggery, where fans whistled open like flick-knives. Lucy Worsley, Chief Curator of the Historic Royal Palaces, unlocks its secret world and brings to life its memorable characters in this eye-opening talk based on her book Courtiers."
I shall update you all with a review of this talk when I attend tomorrow.
Sunday, 10 October 2010
When one chapter becomes two
So i planned my novel first by doing a full synopsis and then did a chapter by chapter outline detailing what was going to happen in each chapter. In my original chapter outline I had approximately 23 chapters that was until a minor change in the plot at the beginning which resulted in chapters 3 and 4 being about something different so 2 more chapters were added. result 25 chapters. Then chap 5 also under went some alterations and needed another chapter so i was upto 26 chapters until i came to write chapter 6 did my detailed chapter outline and realised it was too long and too much happens so now i've split the events over two chapters and i'm upto 27 chapters.
I am happier with the novel being as it is now. in the scheme of things nothing major has changed, I just wanted to show more character development and had some better ideas. It does however mean i have more work to do and also the word count has gone up dramatically.
The first draft of chapter 6 done means chapter 7 is the next thing i have to do. Events in chapter 7 are slightly Austenish but then reading her novels this year have greatly inspired my own and allowed me to pick up a pen and write after suffering from writers block for longer than I care to remember. chapter 7 is going to be exciting with declarations of love, a proposal and the consequences of the proposal which truly set the novel in motion and its definitely going to be more fun than it was writing chapter 6 (I spent ages looking for an 18th century song which would have been in existence at the right time and was in English).
Anyway I'm knackered which is why this post probably reads a bit weird so im off to chat on the Nano forums and nibble poppadoms dipped in mango chutney Yum- don't judge me!
I am happier with the novel being as it is now. in the scheme of things nothing major has changed, I just wanted to show more character development and had some better ideas. It does however mean i have more work to do and also the word count has gone up dramatically.
The first draft of chapter 6 done means chapter 7 is the next thing i have to do. Events in chapter 7 are slightly Austenish but then reading her novels this year have greatly inspired my own and allowed me to pick up a pen and write after suffering from writers block for longer than I care to remember. chapter 7 is going to be exciting with declarations of love, a proposal and the consequences of the proposal which truly set the novel in motion and its definitely going to be more fun than it was writing chapter 6 (I spent ages looking for an 18th century song which would have been in existence at the right time and was in English).
Anyway I'm knackered which is why this post probably reads a bit weird so im off to chat on the Nano forums and nibble poppadoms dipped in mango chutney Yum- don't judge me!
Saturday, 9 October 2010
Lets start at the very beginning... A very good place to start
You're probably wondering what the above quote from the sound of music is doing here. Well I worked on my prologue yesterday, which of course comes write at the beginning - (ed. lol i meant right at the beginning). I had had a really good idea for it and had been looking forward to writing it but it turned out to be much more difficult than I expected.
So what was the problem? Well I knew where the MC was, I knew what she was doing and i knew what was going to happen to her. my problem was that my reader knew none of these things. they didn't know who she was, they don't even know her name at this point so why would anyone care about her? And if they didn't care why would anyone read on?
As usual once i got going I was ok and i came up with what i thought was quite a dramatic opening, well at least i think so. The prologue starts at the end of the story and something is about to happen to the character which is very unexpected, and something you would not normally find at the beginning of a story - the end.
What makes it all the more dramatic is the mc knows what is about to happen but the audience doesnt know and they don't find out until the last lines of the prologue.
My goal here was to shock my reader to make them want to read on to find out how the character got to this point in the first place. If it was a murder mystery it would be a why dunnit and how dunnit rather than a who dunnit. I wanted them to react to my writing with words to the effect of OMG!
So how did I do it?
I set my scene and did it as simply as possible not wishing to dwell too much on long descriptions. Long descriptions can come later in the novel for now the basics were enough as vagueness can also work in your favour allowing the reader more artistic licence and free to imagine what they wish based around the simple start you give them. After setting the scene I had the mc do an action- she walked down some stairs- again giving only a minimum description of the environment. The other reason for this is I don't want people to necessarily know at this point where my character is. I then had my MC reach her destination and sit down as requested now i was able to give some more detail but only on what my mc was thinking and i used her thoughts to open up the picture more and more until you realise what is going on.
It's a bit like doing a jigsaw in which you don't know what you're making, in that you gradually build up the picture piece by piece until it's finished and then you've got the full picture.
All writers do things differently and others may not agree with the way I have done my prologue and may have other ways of doing it, what do you think? I can post the prologue here if anyone would like to read it- if you'd like to see or comment on anything please feel free to use the below comments facility.
So what was the problem? Well I knew where the MC was, I knew what she was doing and i knew what was going to happen to her. my problem was that my reader knew none of these things. they didn't know who she was, they don't even know her name at this point so why would anyone care about her? And if they didn't care why would anyone read on?
As usual once i got going I was ok and i came up with what i thought was quite a dramatic opening, well at least i think so. The prologue starts at the end of the story and something is about to happen to the character which is very unexpected, and something you would not normally find at the beginning of a story - the end.
What makes it all the more dramatic is the mc knows what is about to happen but the audience doesnt know and they don't find out until the last lines of the prologue.
My goal here was to shock my reader to make them want to read on to find out how the character got to this point in the first place. If it was a murder mystery it would be a why dunnit and how dunnit rather than a who dunnit. I wanted them to react to my writing with words to the effect of OMG!
So how did I do it?
I set my scene and did it as simply as possible not wishing to dwell too much on long descriptions. Long descriptions can come later in the novel for now the basics were enough as vagueness can also work in your favour allowing the reader more artistic licence and free to imagine what they wish based around the simple start you give them. After setting the scene I had the mc do an action- she walked down some stairs- again giving only a minimum description of the environment. The other reason for this is I don't want people to necessarily know at this point where my character is. I then had my MC reach her destination and sit down as requested now i was able to give some more detail but only on what my mc was thinking and i used her thoughts to open up the picture more and more until you realise what is going on.
It's a bit like doing a jigsaw in which you don't know what you're making, in that you gradually build up the picture piece by piece until it's finished and then you've got the full picture.
All writers do things differently and others may not agree with the way I have done my prologue and may have other ways of doing it, what do you think? I can post the prologue here if anyone would like to read it- if you'd like to see or comment on anything please feel free to use the below comments facility.
Friday, 8 October 2010
Spotlight on... Research
Researching my novel has been one of the most challenging things i have had to do in order to prepare my novel. I thought i had done quite a bit of research before i started anyway but i also borrowed a few books from the library and have also bought some books most notably 2 books of Amanda Vickerys which look at women in Georgian England.
I keep finding that as i make progress on my novel i am having to do more and more research. I intend to write a love letter in one of my up and coming chapters and in order to do so i wanted to look at some existing love letters from the period. Some of the most notable letters were those of Napoleon Bonaparte. His letters were written approximately 60 years after the period in which my novel is set but he was quite a prolific writer and his letters tell a lot about his relationships with all of his lovers. Some of the letters i found the most relevant to what i intend to write are the letters he wrote to Marie Walewska. His language is so passionate one of my favourite lines is:
"I saw no one but you, I admired no one but you, I want no one but you.
Answer me at once, and assuage the impatient passion of N"
From this and others that i have read i am really looking forward to having a go at writing one myself.
On another note i have just heard some great news. i live in Cheltenham in England and the Cheltenham Literature Festival started today, I had a look at the programme over the next few weeks and you won't believe this but Amanda Vickery is doing a Seminar based on her two books behind closed doors and the gentlemans daughter! I am so pleased and am definitely gonna book myself in to see her and perhaps even get both books signed!!! Even better it's taking place on Monday so only a few days to go.
I keep finding that as i make progress on my novel i am having to do more and more research. I intend to write a love letter in one of my up and coming chapters and in order to do so i wanted to look at some existing love letters from the period. Some of the most notable letters were those of Napoleon Bonaparte. His letters were written approximately 60 years after the period in which my novel is set but he was quite a prolific writer and his letters tell a lot about his relationships with all of his lovers. Some of the letters i found the most relevant to what i intend to write are the letters he wrote to Marie Walewska. His language is so passionate one of my favourite lines is:
"I saw no one but you, I admired no one but you, I want no one but you.
Answer me at once, and assuage the impatient passion of N"
From this and others that i have read i am really looking forward to having a go at writing one myself.
On another note i have just heard some great news. i live in Cheltenham in England and the Cheltenham Literature Festival started today, I had a look at the programme over the next few weeks and you won't believe this but Amanda Vickery is doing a Seminar based on her two books behind closed doors and the gentlemans daughter! I am so pleased and am definitely gonna book myself in to see her and perhaps even get both books signed!!! Even better it's taking place on Monday so only a few days to go.
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Spotlight on.... Opening lines
It's been four long days since my last post but what have i been upto? Well I have another chapter drafted and ready for editing, chapter 5 is complete and it was one of the most difficult chapters so far. Why was this you might ask? Well I knew what i wanted to write and I knew how i wanted to write it, but i just could not get going. My best chapters which flow straight from brain to fingers to laptop are the ones which have an excellent opening line. As long as I have a good opening line i have very few problems in writing as everything else just comes to me.
But how do you write a good opening line?
If i knew the answer to that question I don't think I would have had problems coming up with one. Most of the opening lines I have written for my chapters so far have varied depending on what's in the scene. The prologue (once written) will be a quote from the character on perceptions of truth, Chapter 1 sets the scene with an landscape description, chapter 2 depicts the change in time, chapter 3 is what my character can hear, chapter 4 is the weather and chapter 5 was my characters emotions.
So I have: Weather, landscape description, thoughts, feelings, and the senses, all forming the main basis of my opening lines.
From other novels I have read I have also come across opening lines which are quotes and dialogue. I do intend to do some dialogue opening scenes later but I find those type of openings dramatic and believe they should be used sparingly where they can be truly effective.
I have recently joined the NaNoWriMo community and am enjoying the conversations that take place in the forums. I expect these to really help inspire me not only with my novel but also with this blog for post ideas.
For those of my readers who are not familliar with NaNoWriMo, this is a novel writing challenge due to start on 1st November. The aim of the game is to write 50k words during the month of November. Now whilst it is true that i have already started my novel (5 chapters down another 20 or so to go), I am expecting it to be well over the 75k mark, and by setting myself the target of 50k for november that will really motivate me to get the novel hopefully finished by the end of november.
So wish me luck.... and for any of the NaNoWriMo Community who are reading this Good Luck to you too x
But how do you write a good opening line?
If i knew the answer to that question I don't think I would have had problems coming up with one. Most of the opening lines I have written for my chapters so far have varied depending on what's in the scene. The prologue (once written) will be a quote from the character on perceptions of truth, Chapter 1 sets the scene with an landscape description, chapter 2 depicts the change in time, chapter 3 is what my character can hear, chapter 4 is the weather and chapter 5 was my characters emotions.
So I have: Weather, landscape description, thoughts, feelings, and the senses, all forming the main basis of my opening lines.
From other novels I have read I have also come across opening lines which are quotes and dialogue. I do intend to do some dialogue opening scenes later but I find those type of openings dramatic and believe they should be used sparingly where they can be truly effective.
I have recently joined the NaNoWriMo community and am enjoying the conversations that take place in the forums. I expect these to really help inspire me not only with my novel but also with this blog for post ideas.
For those of my readers who are not familliar with NaNoWriMo, this is a novel writing challenge due to start on 1st November. The aim of the game is to write 50k words during the month of November. Now whilst it is true that i have already started my novel (5 chapters down another 20 or so to go), I am expecting it to be well over the 75k mark, and by setting myself the target of 50k for november that will really motivate me to get the novel hopefully finished by the end of november.
So wish me luck.... and for any of the NaNoWriMo Community who are reading this Good Luck to you too x
Apology
Dear Readers,
You may have noticed my recent absence from my blog for the last 4 days. I would like to apologise for this but I have been exceptionally busy as we had a house inspection (we live in rented accomodation) and so most of my free time has been spent on cleaning as to put it bluntly my house was a pigsty. We had the inspection yesterday so now i have time to focus on my blog.
I can also offer another excuse as I have recently discovered NaNoWriMo and have become addicted to the forums on there lol, and seem to spend most of my time reading and posting on there.
I promise you in future to spend a little of each day keeping my blog updated and if i am not able will in future provide a much better excuse.
Again I wish to offer my sincere apologies to you all.
Yours truthfully and Respectfully
Thistle xxx
You may have noticed my recent absence from my blog for the last 4 days. I would like to apologise for this but I have been exceptionally busy as we had a house inspection (we live in rented accomodation) and so most of my free time has been spent on cleaning as to put it bluntly my house was a pigsty. We had the inspection yesterday so now i have time to focus on my blog.
I can also offer another excuse as I have recently discovered NaNoWriMo and have become addicted to the forums on there lol, and seem to spend most of my time reading and posting on there.
I promise you in future to spend a little of each day keeping my blog updated and if i am not able will in future provide a much better excuse.
Again I wish to offer my sincere apologies to you all.
Yours truthfully and Respectfully
Thistle xxx
Saturday, 2 October 2010
Are we all children at heart?
As my novel moves on from chapter to chapter my main protaganist and her brother are seen to be growing up and moving from childhood to adulthood. Shortly I will no longer need to write about them as children and instead write about them as adults. Unfortunately I have been unable to work on my novel. Todays excuse is that i have been busy doing chores and getting ready to go out tonight.
As i mentioned previously I am going to a cancer benefit evening being held in the form of a line dance which is being held in Bristol, which is forty five minutes away from where i currently live. This week i have talked about things I have bought such as the pair of earrings which were the topic of my blog post, "Are you an impulse buyer?" The theme for this evening is based around the colour pink and it is the same theme every year. What people wear varies mostly its jeans and a top or skirt and a top in usually pink or white (last year i wore a pink top and white trousers). This year i wanted to wear something different so i am wearing a pink prom dress i bought from the bhs sale in the summer.
Now i am ready to go out (we're leaving in an hour) I can see from my reflection that I look nice - or at least i think i do- although i know that i may look a bit overdressed, but i don't really care and part of me is overdressing for a particular reason. I want to be noticed, I want people to see me and look at me and I want the attention that it will inevitably result in. Why is this? Well I'm not pretty - and no this isn't a lack of confidence thing - and i make up for my lack of looks with my quirky and bubbly personality. I dressed up tonight so that i would shine, I am a very good dancer and i want people to watch and admire me (I'm not vain either).
To be honest though the main reason i dress up is because I like to dress up. I've enjoyed dressing up since a child when i used to dress up as a princess or a mermaid, and for me this is the next step to this and a further extension. Dressing up, doing my hair, putting on jewels (fake of course) and make up takes be back to when i was a child wrapping sheets around my waist and veils on my head pretending to be a princess. It's part of the reason I love history so much, even now i absolutely love costume history, particularly the eighteenth century such as the gown worn by the woman in my wallpaper behind this post (a painting by Gainsborough)and i can spend hours looking at the gowns in paintings - another favourite of mine is any picture of Madame Pompadour, check out images of her on the internet to see some examples.
To finish my blog post today I want to say that I think there is a child in all of us it can be seen when we play when we dress up when we laugh and it keeps us feeling young, at the end of the day a 'grownup is a child with layers on.' (Woody Harrelson).
As i mentioned previously I am going to a cancer benefit evening being held in the form of a line dance which is being held in Bristol, which is forty five minutes away from where i currently live. This week i have talked about things I have bought such as the pair of earrings which were the topic of my blog post, "Are you an impulse buyer?" The theme for this evening is based around the colour pink and it is the same theme every year. What people wear varies mostly its jeans and a top or skirt and a top in usually pink or white (last year i wore a pink top and white trousers). This year i wanted to wear something different so i am wearing a pink prom dress i bought from the bhs sale in the summer.
Now i am ready to go out (we're leaving in an hour) I can see from my reflection that I look nice - or at least i think i do- although i know that i may look a bit overdressed, but i don't really care and part of me is overdressing for a particular reason. I want to be noticed, I want people to see me and look at me and I want the attention that it will inevitably result in. Why is this? Well I'm not pretty - and no this isn't a lack of confidence thing - and i make up for my lack of looks with my quirky and bubbly personality. I dressed up tonight so that i would shine, I am a very good dancer and i want people to watch and admire me (I'm not vain either).
To be honest though the main reason i dress up is because I like to dress up. I've enjoyed dressing up since a child when i used to dress up as a princess or a mermaid, and for me this is the next step to this and a further extension. Dressing up, doing my hair, putting on jewels (fake of course) and make up takes be back to when i was a child wrapping sheets around my waist and veils on my head pretending to be a princess. It's part of the reason I love history so much, even now i absolutely love costume history, particularly the eighteenth century such as the gown worn by the woman in my wallpaper behind this post (a painting by Gainsborough)and i can spend hours looking at the gowns in paintings - another favourite of mine is any picture of Madame Pompadour, check out images of her on the internet to see some examples.
To finish my blog post today I want to say that I think there is a child in all of us it can be seen when we play when we dress up when we laugh and it keeps us feeling young, at the end of the day a 'grownup is a child with layers on.' (Woody Harrelson).
Friday, 1 October 2010
Should we place pressure on ourselves to achieve the impossible?
It is an interesting question and one which applies to all of us, I think at one time or another. I know that in my own life i can currently think of two examples, one is attempting to write my 18th Century novel, and my second example came up today in conversations i had with my doctor.
As i have previously briefly mentioned, I broke my left wrist back at the beginning of August whilst on holiday in turkey and had to have two operations, one to fit a metal plate in my wrist and a second one just over a week later to repair the tendon in my thumb. As a result of my injury, i have been signed off work since returning to the UK as I work in a call centre seven hours a day, and one of the main things i do is typing on a keyboard. Only having use of one hand for the last 6 weeks and then having 1 week in a splint I had little movement in my wrist or fingers and was having Physiotherapy.
Anyway, I was hoping to return to work on Monday 4th October as i have a lot more movement in my fingers and some movement back in my wrist and i even informed the management staff at my works, that i expected to be cleared for work on monday when i went to my hospital appointment today. Unfortunately that didn't happen and i am now signed off for another three weeks as i still don't have sufficient movement despite all my exercises.
Initially i felt disappointed when i heard this. I felt guilty knowing that I wouldn't be returning as i said i would, and felt in some way as if i was letting down my 12 or so other work colleagues who are having to cope at the call centre without me at one of our busiest times. I also felt like i was letting my manager down as i had said i would be back but i am not. I have been feeling all of the above to a degree for sometime and looking back i think i was being over ambitious in believing i could go back so soon, after all i still cannot drive, i struggle to do most of my chores like washing up, and don't use my left hand now. Going back to work next week could be more detrimental to me, as if i over did it at work by straining my hand i could do even more damage and be off work even longer.
I rang work and updated them and they were fine, but even now i still feel the pangs of guilt inside me.
Are we programmed as humans to try to do too much?
I think we are, we juggle busy lives trying to balance our work life with our personal life. We place pressure on ourselves to be perfect at everything, we work 40 hours a week come home, then start the routine chores of cooking, cleaning, vacuuming, dusting so that by the end of the day we have probably spent more time doing some form of work than we have relaxing and so the balance that we strive for simply does not exist. Yet society finds this acceptable! Why is this? They say that 'nobody's perfect' so why do we try so hard to be perfect?
Sometimes trying to achieve the impossible is a good thing and it is essential to society. If you think about it if no one ever tried to achieve the impossible, there would be no electricity, no lightbulbs, no cars, no telephones, no computers, no internet, and so many other things - You certainly would not be reading this now unless all the 'Blog' had been invented - and in this context trying to achieve the impossible can be a good thing.
So placing pressure on ourselves to try to do the impossible - is this a good or bad thing? I think it depends on what that impossible thing is that your trying to do, and as long as you remember that you're only human, and that sometimes things are called impossible for a good reason then only you will know whether you are being over ambitious or not.
I know that I have set myself an impossible task, I am trying to complete my first draft of my novel by the time i return to work in three times. Is this possible?For most people - yes - for me? All i can say is watch this space and I'll let you know!
expected number of chapters in novel : 26
completed: 4
As i have previously briefly mentioned, I broke my left wrist back at the beginning of August whilst on holiday in turkey and had to have two operations, one to fit a metal plate in my wrist and a second one just over a week later to repair the tendon in my thumb. As a result of my injury, i have been signed off work since returning to the UK as I work in a call centre seven hours a day, and one of the main things i do is typing on a keyboard. Only having use of one hand for the last 6 weeks and then having 1 week in a splint I had little movement in my wrist or fingers and was having Physiotherapy.
Anyway, I was hoping to return to work on Monday 4th October as i have a lot more movement in my fingers and some movement back in my wrist and i even informed the management staff at my works, that i expected to be cleared for work on monday when i went to my hospital appointment today. Unfortunately that didn't happen and i am now signed off for another three weeks as i still don't have sufficient movement despite all my exercises.
Initially i felt disappointed when i heard this. I felt guilty knowing that I wouldn't be returning as i said i would, and felt in some way as if i was letting down my 12 or so other work colleagues who are having to cope at the call centre without me at one of our busiest times. I also felt like i was letting my manager down as i had said i would be back but i am not. I have been feeling all of the above to a degree for sometime and looking back i think i was being over ambitious in believing i could go back so soon, after all i still cannot drive, i struggle to do most of my chores like washing up, and don't use my left hand now. Going back to work next week could be more detrimental to me, as if i over did it at work by straining my hand i could do even more damage and be off work even longer.
I rang work and updated them and they were fine, but even now i still feel the pangs of guilt inside me.
Are we programmed as humans to try to do too much?
I think we are, we juggle busy lives trying to balance our work life with our personal life. We place pressure on ourselves to be perfect at everything, we work 40 hours a week come home, then start the routine chores of cooking, cleaning, vacuuming, dusting so that by the end of the day we have probably spent more time doing some form of work than we have relaxing and so the balance that we strive for simply does not exist. Yet society finds this acceptable! Why is this? They say that 'nobody's perfect' so why do we try so hard to be perfect?
Sometimes trying to achieve the impossible is a good thing and it is essential to society. If you think about it if no one ever tried to achieve the impossible, there would be no electricity, no lightbulbs, no cars, no telephones, no computers, no internet, and so many other things - You certainly would not be reading this now unless all the 'Blog' had been invented - and in this context trying to achieve the impossible can be a good thing.
So placing pressure on ourselves to try to do the impossible - is this a good or bad thing? I think it depends on what that impossible thing is that your trying to do, and as long as you remember that you're only human, and that sometimes things are called impossible for a good reason then only you will know whether you are being over ambitious or not.
I know that I have set myself an impossible task, I am trying to complete my first draft of my novel by the time i return to work in three times. Is this possible?For most people - yes - for me? All i can say is watch this space and I'll let you know!
expected number of chapters in novel : 26
completed: 4
Thursday, 30 September 2010
Are you an impulse buyer?
No I'm not referring to the toiletries product range. I am talking about buying a product or service on the impulse or spur of the moment.
Today it was a handbag worth £16 in Claire's Accessories, I had gone in for a pair of pink and black earrings and wanted to see what they had as I needed them for a breast cancer charity line dance I am attending on saturday. I found the earrings they were £4 and exactly the kind of thing i was looking for, but whilst I was in there I saw a pink and black handbag. I checked the price £16- the higher end of my budget for handbags - and picked it up and walked to the till.
Whilst queuing I had a proper look at the bag, it was nice and but I found myself thinking, 'I don't need a bag and it's a lot of money', but then the other voice in my head said, 'but it will go so well with your pink and black dress you are wearing saturday.'
Still queing I argued the pros and cons, finally I decided I couldn't afford it and I had a black handbag which would do me just fine, and I felt so very proud of myself for putting back, but stilled gave into the impulse of some cheap pink nail varnish on the till point, and now home I feel a little guilty about it.
Shops are well aware of the impulses a customer have to buy things on the till, thats why most supermarkets have sweets, cd's, magazines and dvd's available on the till to buy. It's a clever marketing ploy, you don't normally have enough time to really think about your purchase you just 'do it' and before you know it your £20 shopping bill becomes £25 pounds. Sometimes you justify the purchase to yourself with excuses or if you're like me you just pay for the luxury separately on your credit card and feel guilty afterwards.
It's not just purchasing of products that can be done on an impulse, how many times have we said something or done something on the spur of the moment sometimes with a detrimental effect on someone else. We mean what we say, but we don't mean what we say, the way we say it.
I haven't worked on my novel today, I have been neglecting other things that needed doing so have been catching up on these, but it hasn't stopped me thinking today about it. I was wondering about my novel's protaganist Margaret and what sort of things she would do on an impulse or on the spur of the moment. I know that she will have to make some major decisions later on which may also be based on an impulse, she will consider doing things that aren't necessarily good and will be based on the voices in her head, but it is what you do with the voices in your head which count.
After all we are merely extensions of the voices in our heads.
Today it was a handbag worth £16 in Claire's Accessories, I had gone in for a pair of pink and black earrings and wanted to see what they had as I needed them for a breast cancer charity line dance I am attending on saturday. I found the earrings they were £4 and exactly the kind of thing i was looking for, but whilst I was in there I saw a pink and black handbag. I checked the price £16- the higher end of my budget for handbags - and picked it up and walked to the till.
Whilst queuing I had a proper look at the bag, it was nice and but I found myself thinking, 'I don't need a bag and it's a lot of money', but then the other voice in my head said, 'but it will go so well with your pink and black dress you are wearing saturday.'
Still queing I argued the pros and cons, finally I decided I couldn't afford it and I had a black handbag which would do me just fine, and I felt so very proud of myself for putting back, but stilled gave into the impulse of some cheap pink nail varnish on the till point, and now home I feel a little guilty about it.
Shops are well aware of the impulses a customer have to buy things on the till, thats why most supermarkets have sweets, cd's, magazines and dvd's available on the till to buy. It's a clever marketing ploy, you don't normally have enough time to really think about your purchase you just 'do it' and before you know it your £20 shopping bill becomes £25 pounds. Sometimes you justify the purchase to yourself with excuses or if you're like me you just pay for the luxury separately on your credit card and feel guilty afterwards.
It's not just purchasing of products that can be done on an impulse, how many times have we said something or done something on the spur of the moment sometimes with a detrimental effect on someone else. We mean what we say, but we don't mean what we say, the way we say it.
I haven't worked on my novel today, I have been neglecting other things that needed doing so have been catching up on these, but it hasn't stopped me thinking today about it. I was wondering about my novel's protaganist Margaret and what sort of things she would do on an impulse or on the spur of the moment. I know that she will have to make some major decisions later on which may also be based on an impulse, she will consider doing things that aren't necessarily good and will be based on the voices in her head, but it is what you do with the voices in your head which count.
After all we are merely extensions of the voices in our heads.
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Ever had one of those days...?
Today started out extremely well. I won 66p on online bingo lol and planned to complete chapter four of my novel. I was also expecting two amanda vickery books from amazon called,'The Gentleman's Daughter: Women's Lives in Georgian England' and 'Behind Closed doors: At home in Georgian England'. Well the day started by the book not arriving, but i wasn't to worried, as i have two other books from the library which were sufficient for my current needs.
Anyway, I decided to write chapter four using the website 'write or die'. I set the timer for two hours, set the word limit for 3000 words and then I was off, 1hour 20 mins later i was 1750 words in so i thought i had better save and then i was going to have lunch. I knew i wouldn't get to 3000 by the end of the two hours but that was ok. I've never used 'write and die' before so with the timer running i highlighted my words and pushed the keyboard shortcut keys 'CTRL C' for copy.
Well at least I thought I did... I actually pressed 'SHIFT C'
Now on my screen was a blank page and the letter 'C' - not what i wanted to 'c'. Being a microsoft word user, i didn't panic and i pushed two other keys 'CTRL Z' to undo. Nothing happened so i tried it again. I was panicking now so checked the website for help, searched blogs and websites but i found nothing. My 1750 words was gone what a waste of approx one hour and a half.
Feeling totally dejected i went downstairs to my kitchen for that promised sandwich and what do i see behind my front door? One of those green 'sorry we missed you cards' and on it the delivery bloke has put that he has put it by my green recycling box. OK thats fine i think, So i open the door... Oh guess what typical british weather its absolutely tipping it down, the water has soaked through the carboard packaging and my books are wet.
I've just spent the last 2 hours retyping my chapter 4 - Its complete woohoo (said slightly sarcastically - I could have been half way through chapter 5 by now)Oh well never mind what can you do?
So after a crappy day - good chapter i think - I am now approx 12k words into my novel Yay!
Lets hope tomorrow is better...
Anyway, I decided to write chapter four using the website 'write or die'. I set the timer for two hours, set the word limit for 3000 words and then I was off, 1hour 20 mins later i was 1750 words in so i thought i had better save and then i was going to have lunch. I knew i wouldn't get to 3000 by the end of the two hours but that was ok. I've never used 'write and die' before so with the timer running i highlighted my words and pushed the keyboard shortcut keys 'CTRL C' for copy.
Well at least I thought I did... I actually pressed 'SHIFT C'
Now on my screen was a blank page and the letter 'C' - not what i wanted to 'c'. Being a microsoft word user, i didn't panic and i pushed two other keys 'CTRL Z' to undo. Nothing happened so i tried it again. I was panicking now so checked the website for help, searched blogs and websites but i found nothing. My 1750 words was gone what a waste of approx one hour and a half.
Feeling totally dejected i went downstairs to my kitchen for that promised sandwich and what do i see behind my front door? One of those green 'sorry we missed you cards' and on it the delivery bloke has put that he has put it by my green recycling box. OK thats fine i think, So i open the door... Oh guess what typical british weather its absolutely tipping it down, the water has soaked through the carboard packaging and my books are wet.
I've just spent the last 2 hours retyping my chapter 4 - Its complete woohoo (said slightly sarcastically - I could have been half way through chapter 5 by now)Oh well never mind what can you do?
So after a crappy day - good chapter i think - I am now approx 12k words into my novel Yay!
Lets hope tomorrow is better...
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Your destiny awaits...
I have good news today. That third chapter, the one I have been having such difficulty with is now finished to my satisfaction (pending further editing later). I have even picked out the actor who I would want to play one of the parts if I ever managed to get the book published, it became a success and was turned into a movie. Yes Rupert Friend (Albert in The Young Victoria) I am talking about you, consider yourself hired at some point in the next 10 years.
I don't know if I will ever finish the Novel let alone get it published, be successful, become a movie etc. but I am one of those people who believe that if its meant to be it will be. I believe that things do and don't happen for a reason but we don't always know why and sometimes we're not meant to find out why. I think that we all have a destiny at the end of our life's journey, there will be many paths to reach our destination and we may take a wrong turning, and get lost, get delayed but eventually we find our way back to the road or path and ultimately reach our destination usually learning valuable lessons on the way.
The main character in my novel, Margaret, has a destiny to fulfill. She will also go on a journey and make many choices on the way, some good and some bad. Things will happen which she won't understand the meaning of and will affect her and shape her character. I can't tell you her destiny, or what obstacles she will face, but i can tell you that she is a fighter and she will overcome them.
What about your destiny? Do you believe in Destiny or fate? Are things just coincidence or are they meant to be? Do you know what your destiny is? Should we worry about our destinies?
If you'd like to venture an opinion please feel free to do so in the comment section below.
I don't know if I will ever finish the Novel let alone get it published, be successful, become a movie etc. but I am one of those people who believe that if its meant to be it will be. I believe that things do and don't happen for a reason but we don't always know why and sometimes we're not meant to find out why. I think that we all have a destiny at the end of our life's journey, there will be many paths to reach our destination and we may take a wrong turning, and get lost, get delayed but eventually we find our way back to the road or path and ultimately reach our destination usually learning valuable lessons on the way.
The main character in my novel, Margaret, has a destiny to fulfill. She will also go on a journey and make many choices on the way, some good and some bad. Things will happen which she won't understand the meaning of and will affect her and shape her character. I can't tell you her destiny, or what obstacles she will face, but i can tell you that she is a fighter and she will overcome them.
What about your destiny? Do you believe in Destiny or fate? Are things just coincidence or are they meant to be? Do you know what your destiny is? Should we worry about our destinies?
If you'd like to venture an opinion please feel free to do so in the comment section below.
Monday, 27 September 2010
A sight for sore eyes - is too much planning a bad thing?
I went to the hospital today to have some eye tests. Whilst I was sitting in the waiting room, waiting whilst everyone else was being called in, I used the rare time to myself to think about my novel. In my very first post I detailed my method of writing my chapters explaining that I do this first of all by hand and then type in to the computer correcting any errors and adding where necessary. My third chapter of the novel has proven to be my most challenging one to write so far and even now I am only half way.
I had previously planned chapter three in detail as to exactly what would happen, but I had the difficulty of not being able to 'get going' on it. Yesterday I managed to write only 483 words which was not like me at all. I was considering this whilst waiting for my appointment, why couldn't i get going and why was what i had written - to put it bluntly - so terrible.
So often we plan things in our lives, but even the most well laid plans sometimes do not work out, and a minor detail can result in our plan being thrown out altogether, despite all the work we may have put into it. You just have to look at the Titanic to get my drift. I think that sometimes planning can do more harm than good, as you can miss out the freedoms of creativity and not knowing where you are going can be half the adventure of getting there and not to mention the half the fun.
Do we also plan too much? Or should we just go with the flow? It can be good to have a routine or structure as it can help keep you focussed, but is too much focus a bad thing, and are we missing out on things because it is part of our routine to stick to our structure?
Returning from my own appointment I decided to go straight to my laptop and rather than opening my saved file of chapter 3 I opened a fresh page and began with a stronger sentence inspired by my time at the hospital this morning. I changed my plan, and the time period my novel was set (only by 20 years or so)and followed my heart instead of my head. Now I am feeling much happier and although I haven't yet finished chapter 3, by changing my planned way of doing things I am half way through the chapter and looking forward to finishing it rather than wanting to give up on it.
Personally, I believe that although, planning can be the writers best tool, it can also be the writers biggest obstacle, and unless the writer acknowledges that things don't always go to the plan then he or her will be constantly disappointed.
PS Comments are very much welcome :)
I had previously planned chapter three in detail as to exactly what would happen, but I had the difficulty of not being able to 'get going' on it. Yesterday I managed to write only 483 words which was not like me at all. I was considering this whilst waiting for my appointment, why couldn't i get going and why was what i had written - to put it bluntly - so terrible.
So often we plan things in our lives, but even the most well laid plans sometimes do not work out, and a minor detail can result in our plan being thrown out altogether, despite all the work we may have put into it. You just have to look at the Titanic to get my drift. I think that sometimes planning can do more harm than good, as you can miss out the freedoms of creativity and not knowing where you are going can be half the adventure of getting there and not to mention the half the fun.
Do we also plan too much? Or should we just go with the flow? It can be good to have a routine or structure as it can help keep you focussed, but is too much focus a bad thing, and are we missing out on things because it is part of our routine to stick to our structure?
Returning from my own appointment I decided to go straight to my laptop and rather than opening my saved file of chapter 3 I opened a fresh page and began with a stronger sentence inspired by my time at the hospital this morning. I changed my plan, and the time period my novel was set (only by 20 years or so)and followed my heart instead of my head. Now I am feeling much happier and although I haven't yet finished chapter 3, by changing my planned way of doing things I am half way through the chapter and looking forward to finishing it rather than wanting to give up on it.
Personally, I believe that although, planning can be the writers best tool, it can also be the writers biggest obstacle, and unless the writer acknowledges that things don't always go to the plan then he or her will be constantly disappointed.
PS Comments are very much welcome :)
Sunday, 26 September 2010
Is a good deed really a good deed?
I did a good deed today. I helped a man pick up some things he had dropped in the street; and it got me thinking a bit about the characters in my novel. The main protagonist is a young girl and the novel follows her life from her birth to middle age. I wondered what good deeds my characters would do if they were real and had existed. Would the girl- I'll tell you her name, it's Margaret-what good deeds would or could Margaret do? Who would she do them for? Why would she do them?
Why do people do good deeds in the first place? For me, it was the way I was brought up, it is natural for me to help people, I like helping people it's a big part of who I am and what I do. I also do good deeds because it is the right thing to do or at least that is what I believe, and I think it would have been rude and selfish to have walked passed the gentleman without helping.
I remember watching an episode of 'friends' where this very subject was explored by two of the main characters Joey and Phoebe. In the episode they discussed the role played by selfishness when doing a good deed. For me not to have helped would have made me selfish, but was I being selfish by helping. One of the advantages of doing a good deed is that it makes you the person feel good about doing something for another. Did I help the gentleman just for the sake of helping or did I help him to make me feel good? And if I only did it to help me feel good, does that mean I am selfish?
After I picked up the lighter which had dropped to the floor, I handed it back to the man. He thanked me, and I said 'it was nothing, it happens to all of us'. I was downplaying the thanks I had received from him. Was this modesty pure and innocent or again was it part of that same selfishness making me feel even better? I admit that if our positions had switched and he was the one helping me I would have been grateful and would have acted in the same way.
On a personal note I have recently broken my left wrist, and have had two operations to repair bones and tendons and my scars are clear to be seen. Maybe this gentleman thanked me so enthusiastically out of guilt and pity, because he thought I felt it was expected that I should help him despite my limited mobility?
Do we also have high expectations of people in helping others and does this differ from country to country? I broke my wrist in the simplest way possible. I fell down a high kerb in Kusadasi, Turkey and landed awkwardly on my wrist. At the time I felt like I was screaming for help for ages, and felt ignored by the people around me who didn't come to my rescue, or that's how I perceived it at the time. Now this could just be me, after all I speak no Turkish whatsoever, and few people had any English over there, so this could have just been the language barrier, but it still took time for anyone to react.
Political correctness also plays a part in all this, are people more afraid to help now than ever before? In case they get sued or accused of anything (more in the case of a child than me as I'm in my mid twenties), or are put at risk of diseases which people are afraid of eg. Aids.
I can't answer any of these questions and I don't even know if anyone is reading this, but if anyone is reading this- What do you think? Is a good deed a good deed after all? please feel free to use the comments below.
Why do people do good deeds in the first place? For me, it was the way I was brought up, it is natural for me to help people, I like helping people it's a big part of who I am and what I do. I also do good deeds because it is the right thing to do or at least that is what I believe, and I think it would have been rude and selfish to have walked passed the gentleman without helping.
I remember watching an episode of 'friends' where this very subject was explored by two of the main characters Joey and Phoebe. In the episode they discussed the role played by selfishness when doing a good deed. For me not to have helped would have made me selfish, but was I being selfish by helping. One of the advantages of doing a good deed is that it makes you the person feel good about doing something for another. Did I help the gentleman just for the sake of helping or did I help him to make me feel good? And if I only did it to help me feel good, does that mean I am selfish?
After I picked up the lighter which had dropped to the floor, I handed it back to the man. He thanked me, and I said 'it was nothing, it happens to all of us'. I was downplaying the thanks I had received from him. Was this modesty pure and innocent or again was it part of that same selfishness making me feel even better? I admit that if our positions had switched and he was the one helping me I would have been grateful and would have acted in the same way.
On a personal note I have recently broken my left wrist, and have had two operations to repair bones and tendons and my scars are clear to be seen. Maybe this gentleman thanked me so enthusiastically out of guilt and pity, because he thought I felt it was expected that I should help him despite my limited mobility?
Do we also have high expectations of people in helping others and does this differ from country to country? I broke my wrist in the simplest way possible. I fell down a high kerb in Kusadasi, Turkey and landed awkwardly on my wrist. At the time I felt like I was screaming for help for ages, and felt ignored by the people around me who didn't come to my rescue, or that's how I perceived it at the time. Now this could just be me, after all I speak no Turkish whatsoever, and few people had any English over there, so this could have just been the language barrier, but it still took time for anyone to react.
Political correctness also plays a part in all this, are people more afraid to help now than ever before? In case they get sued or accused of anything (more in the case of a child than me as I'm in my mid twenties), or are put at risk of diseases which people are afraid of eg. Aids.
I can't answer any of these questions and I don't even know if anyone is reading this, but if anyone is reading this- What do you think? Is a good deed a good deed after all? please feel free to use the comments below.
Saturday, 25 September 2010
Here we go!!!
Day 1 Blog 1
I have finally typed up chapter 2 of my novel. It's been a work in progress for well over a week but finally i have 3000 black words on white paper. so thats a total of 6000 down 69,000 to go. I have also bought some books today of which Amanda Vickery is the author to help with my research into the time period of which my novel is set which is the 17th-18th centurys. These books are: 'The Gentleman's Daughter' and 'Behind Closed Doors' and they will make a welcome addition to my two existing books 'The English Marriage' and 'The prospect before her', can't remember the authors so will look up and post in my next post tomorrow.
Next up of course i have to think about chapter 3, its kind of in my head already, i know roughly what i want to happen so i just need to set about writing it. My personal system is to have all my notes on my pc, on onenote and i have a page of notes for each character as well as my synopsis and my chapter by chapter outline. I then write my first draft by hand in a notebook then type this up as a second draft adding and editing where necessary. The first handwritten draft is the most difficult which is why i do it by hand- i have no internet distractions then such as email, gaming, blah de blah blah blah...
Hopefully i can keep up this blog to keep myself motivated to write and one day (fingers crossed) get this published and so on and also deter from writers block.
I have finally typed up chapter 2 of my novel. It's been a work in progress for well over a week but finally i have 3000 black words on white paper. so thats a total of 6000 down 69,000 to go. I have also bought some books today of which Amanda Vickery is the author to help with my research into the time period of which my novel is set which is the 17th-18th centurys. These books are: 'The Gentleman's Daughter' and 'Behind Closed Doors' and they will make a welcome addition to my two existing books 'The English Marriage' and 'The prospect before her', can't remember the authors so will look up and post in my next post tomorrow.
Next up of course i have to think about chapter 3, its kind of in my head already, i know roughly what i want to happen so i just need to set about writing it. My personal system is to have all my notes on my pc, on onenote and i have a page of notes for each character as well as my synopsis and my chapter by chapter outline. I then write my first draft by hand in a notebook then type this up as a second draft adding and editing where necessary. The first handwritten draft is the most difficult which is why i do it by hand- i have no internet distractions then such as email, gaming, blah de blah blah blah...
Hopefully i can keep up this blog to keep myself motivated to write and one day (fingers crossed) get this published and so on and also deter from writers block.
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