Midnight Ramblings

I had a very restless sleep last night and found myself up at 2am flicking through old books in the bookcase. I had done some writing on my novel at around midnight and at 2am thoughts of it were gushing around in my head. I'm a girl who likes her sleep so I felt a bit like poor Old Lady Macbeth as I stumbled through the quiet house looking for something to do. And here's the thing - I wasn't sure if the ideas I was having for my writing were just the ramblings of a sleep deprived woman or if maybe they were as useful as I thought they were. The upshot is I'll never know because I couldn't bring myself to turn the laptop back on. I wonder if other people write in the middle of the night and what the writing reads like in the cold, light of day? If I'm up at 2am tonight I might as well give it a go I've decided.

A few more words

I have written about 600 words today I think. I'm following the tip of little and often - thanks Liz - and it seems to have given me a surge of writing energy. The plan is now to maintain it! I am perplexed about some of the technical aspects of blogging and shall try and get to grips with A: when I mentionn someone, such as Liz above how do I give a link to their blog? And B how do I make the word meter show 85,000 rather than 85 which doesn't look as impressive so therefore not as motivating. I shall ponder thses when I have time and hopefully work them out.
So much to learn!!!!

I can see clearly now...

I'm having a reflective day today after attending a really useful writing workshop yesterday at the Jubilee Library in Brighton. It was 3hrs long and looked at how to write a synopsis for your novel. It was led by Debbie Taylor (ex Mslexia editor and novelist) It deconstructed what a synopsis is and I was really interested to heat DT stressing that it was 'not a piece of creative writing but rather a map of what happens in your book.' She gave us an exercise where you had to write down the 10 main events/action/realisation that happen in your novel and it was fantastic. It really made you think. We also had to write a 'summary paragraph' of your book in 25 words. Her tip was to focus on your main character's crisis. Really hard to do but really made you think. I'm now sitting her on the sofa, late Sunday afternoon, listening to lovely music, having a glass of wine and looking back over Y'Day's notes. I feel that it has really helped me to see my story as a whole which is great for me as I was feeling overwhelmed by it all. But the mist has risen and I can see my story clearly now...the exciting thing is I think I have a complete story.

Snow, Sleet and Sunshine

Well so far today it has snowed, sleeted, blown a gale and now the sun is shinning and it's only lunchtime - freaky!!! I looked at my novel wordcount and sad to say I can't update it. But I have been working on a short story and clocked up 1300 words on that. My writing time comes in tiny, wee snatches at the moment due to 'paid' work committments and I can't really tackle the novel in a 20 or 30 min window but a short story I can. So at least I am writing. But more importantly I'm off to do some online shopping as I have just fallen in love with a gorgeous smock top in a glammy magazine!!! Oh how wonderfully shallow and so good for the soul!!!!

Sun is Shinning

Oh how lovely to pop in and find words of support and empathy. I have not managed to add to my word count this week due to work/life again!!!! But it is bubbling away in my head. I think for me the worst part of writing this novel is when the characters dissappeared and the day dreaming stopped. It was really strange as though all the energy was just sapped from me about the story. But now they're back, the sun is shinning and my next target is 60,000 - WOW that will be amazing!!! Happy Writing everyone!!!
15 March 2007 15:03

Cracking the Bubbly

I did it - My glass ceiling of 50,000 words has been cracked, shattered, smashed and annihilated!!!!! Those 59 words that got me over the mark are the sweetest words I have ever written. I finally think I can finish this story. I reckon about 30,000 to go and I'm done. I'm off to the gym now to use my writing high to get me through the slog of a workout. I'll have my music up loud and know I'm returning to a bottle of chilled bubbly. I feel like I've earned it!!! That's my Saturday night taken care off. Husband cooking and me slurping with a silly, happy grin on my face. Hope your Sat night is also a good one!!!!

Writing is a Tease

Why is it now that I am in sight of the elusive 50,000 word milestone and have my writing energy back that I don't seem to have any time to write YET last week when I had time to write, I didn't write. There is something odd about the universe I've decided - it couldn't possibly be me could it? Maybe my Chakras are out of alignment or the moon eclipse is having a freaky impact. I have decided that this is what is going on. Last week the gray skies were getting me down and I'd used up all my reserves of summer energy that I store to get me through the winter - the result was I had no energy for anything. This week with the sun shinning and spring within sniffing distance I have energy again. So far so good - but then that weird thing happened. You start to do one thing and feel good about it - in my case it was working on my novel again and as a result of that momentum other things start to happen and you get the snowball effect.
Result is - this week lots of energy - lots of things on the go - equals no time to write!!!!
Goal for next week - Make it to 50,000 words - by either getting up earlier or going to bed later - I shall create more time.

Making the most of the day

I seem to have been given a new lease of writing life by starting my blog and the mantra I like for now is 'making the most of the day'. I find this really hard to do in February when my creative energy levels plummet. This then means I have to battle with myself daily over being lazy and undisciplined whilst another voice says 'Yes but I really need some sunshine now, my energy reserves have hit rock bottom.' I used to think that writing in the dark, winter months was great but that was before I left Australia to live in the UK. After eight winters here I'm reviewing my position on that one. I've just received an email from my gorgeous Aussie friend and in it she 'secreted a bucket load of sunshine, and a little sand from Clovelly beach (Sydney)'. It seems to have helped because despite the greyness beyond the window I am cheered on the inside. I am also buoyed by the fact that I have joined a writing community and thrilled to have had three visitors to my blog! The memory of dark February is slowly being eroded and I can almost smell Spring in the air.

First Posting!!

I've been thinking about having a blog for a while but I've been too scared. It's a frightening thing to put your thoughts out there and I suppose I am using it as a form of therapy to try and stay sane and motivated as I attempt to write my first novel. I've been writing in various forms for a long time and never thought the novel route was for me, then a couple of years ago an idea popped into my head and I eventually realised it had the potential to be a novel. As I write this my word count is 48,000 and hasn't grown much in the past few weeks. I've hit that brick wall that writers talk about and a mixture of fear, anxiety and inertia has gripped me. I really need to get past it so I've decided to blog to see if it helps. It's gotta be cheaper than paying a therapist that's for sure!!!

I am a regular reader of about four other writer's blogs but they are all published novelists and make their writing existence sound a lot more exciting and glamorous than mine - maybe they lie? - and like me they are still in their pyjamas at 4pm - hitting the word count button every five minutes and wishing that the phone would ring and some over hyped salesperson would be on the other end trying to sell them a stairlift. Or the other possibility has struck me that every other writer I either know or read about really does lead an exciting and glamorous life whilst I languish alone, waiting for the muse, even though I know deep down that I shouldn't be waiting, that I should just be writing!!!!!

At the moment I'm waiting for the postman - the highlight of my day. I think he has me tagged as a potential stalker type and has taken to paying random strangers to rush up to the front door and shove the mail through whilst he hides behind a tree.

Maybe my thoughts will strike a note of familiarity with some other struggling writers out there. If not I shall blog on in silence and accept the fact that my writing life is an unexciting anomaly.