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 :-(

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!

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.

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?

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.

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.

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!

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.)

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

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

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

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).

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