October 2008
2 posts
Oh, little tumblelog, how I have neglected thee!
My excuses:
1. The financial crisis.
2. I have been spending less time online.
3. I finally gave in to an overwhelming urge to rewrite my completed-and-never-to-be-tinkered-with-again novel. I learned a lot from my last round of submissions to agents, and waited until all the rejections were in before making the final decision to take time out from my WIP and rewrite this novel...
September 2008
3 posts
Hazy Dazy
The weather was beautiful today: warm, still, and magically hazy. So I took a lunchtime walk along the river. The world seemed slow, as though pause had been pressed.
In the soothing atmosphere, I began to feel sleepy while walking. I crouched down to stroke the comfortable grass of the riverbank. It was wet.
With heavy eyelids, I wandered home to my desk.
I’ve run out of cappuccino pods for my Tassimo coffee machine. And the shops are shut! How can I possibly do any more writing?
I know … I’ll drink espresso and submit a short story.
Stark, Staring Mad
My paternal grandmother used to scream: “Have you gone mad? Have you gone stark, staring mad?”
Well, actually, I’ve been unwell with a stomach problem, which seems to have also affected my brain.
Yesterday, I felt so much better. But today… I have a raging headache, and have spent time debating whether to rewrite my completed-and-never-to-be-tinkered-with-again novel in first person. Which...
August 2008
11 posts
ASIM
I have just received a rejection from Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, along with a wonderfully constructive comment.
Time for a rewrite.
Thank you Andromeda Spaceways!
Low
Though I’m only human (yes, really!), I hate to admit that today I feel a little bit depressed. Perhaps because of the grey, wet weather; perhaps because I have a cold; perhaps because I’m reading a novel set during WW2, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak; perhaps because my adrenaline levels are lowering back to normal after an intensely dramatic episode. Who knows?
What I do know is that life could...
Short Story, or Novel?
Inspired by a real-life event, I started making notes for what I thought might be an exciting short story idea. Fifty pages later, with a plot that’s still developing, these notes could form the outline for a novel. But. Is this a novel I want to write? Could I stay the course of something much darker than my first completed novel and my current WIP? I’m not sure. Not sure, at all…
I once...
Live and Learn
Things that seem too good to be true — usually are.
Hockey
A couple of nights ago, I caught my first glimpse of the Olympics. The event was Women’s Hockey, Argentina v. Great Britain. I watched the clash and crash of hockey sticks and the hard little ball fly across the field for five to ten minutes then switched off the TV.
I had been transported back to the muddy, school hockey field on a wet winter’s day. (Yuck.) Hockey was my least favourite sport;...
After testing several new themes I’ve decided to settle on this one … at least for the moment. I really like that it allows you to edit straight from each post, without having to first click back to the dashboard.
Silvester Gordon Boswell
Last night I finished rereading “The Book of Boswell: Autobiography of a Gypsy” by Silvester Gordon Boswell (published 1970). This is the first book I have completely reread, and the reason was primarily for character and voice. I’m using the word ‘voice’ even though Gordon Boswell, who was not an educated man, dictated most of the book. He wrote only the prologue and part of chapter...
The River
I left home at 4 and took a walk along the river. We’ve had a lot of rain, and the river was full to overflowing with brown water. I found a place with a section of choppy water surrounded by smooth. Where one texture met the other, it created a line that appeared to be pitted with pebble-sized holes, spaced 8 to 10 inches apart. I have never seen anything quite like it; holes in the water, that...
A New Blog
No sooner do I take temporary retirement from blogging than I establish a new blog — a tumblelog, or tlog, to be precise! Sometimes we don’t know what we want, or don’t want, until we take one action and find that it leads to another.
I felt such time pressure. I was concerned that I wasn’t properly focused on my writing and had begun to feel guilty about blogging.
I now...
Shhh...
A quiet place to write.