Where do you write?

I'm always interested to know where people like to write. I indulged myself earlier this year with a new ultra sleek and light laptop so I could lie in bed and write without being burdened by my weighty old beast of a laptop that was very heavy. I also like to lie on the sofa or curled up in an armchair. I don't really like sitting at my desk when I'm writing creatively - it's ok for business type stuff but I like to sprawl. I have a friend who has a disused prison cell for her writing studio. The cells are rented out cheaply to writers, artists etc. She says it is very quiet - eerily so - but she loves it. I dream of having a little summer house at the bottom of my garden where I can escape to and write. There is a space for it and every summer I eye the space up and say 'this year'. I've been out there today sizing the plot up and I'm thinking 'definitely this year.'

Bubbles, Wine and a Good Read

I was planning to go to the gym today but dipped out at the last minute - just couldn't face it. I'm going to lie in the bath instead with a glass of wine and read a new collection of short stories I got today by Sarah Salway - Leading the Dance http://www.sarahsalway.com/I shall then catch up on a few episodes of ER - my indulgence on the side - whilst the house is empty. I have a big bar of chocolate chilling in the fridge to accompany this part of the evening. Hormonal moi???? Absolutely!!!! I did write about 600 word today so feel pleased about that and did tidy up all the clothes I have left strewn around the bedroom in the past few days as I've been going through the 'I have nothing to wear that '- A - fits me, B - fits the occasion, or C - fits the season. Definitely hormonal!!!!!

Streaky legs

Does anyone else ever have this problem I wonder? I have really pale skin that is a range of different tones depending on where you look. My face is simply pale with cheeks that go rosy - my legs are luminous white and my arms are blotchy white. Last summer I decided that I could stand it no longer and wanted to enjoy at least one summer with a tan - so off I went to have a spray tan - it was a thoroughly unglamorous experiecne being sprayed like a used car getting a second chance at life and the result was... well it was hilarious. I didn't leave the house for 36 hrs afterwards as I didn't want to scare small children. So I won't be doing that again. This summer I'm trying the Dove 'glow' gradual moisturising tan - the colour is lovely but I can't seem to get my legs the same colour all over. Can't decide if it's better to be white or blotchy brown?

Frustrated!!!

Now that my word count is zooming up I just want to be writing but here it is Saturday morning and I have about 3 hours of paid word that has to be done today and I don't want to do it!!! I feel a tantrum coming on and I know the longer I waste throwing negative thoughts at it the harder it will be just to get it done. I have thoughts of my story and characters erupting through my head yet I have to ignore them and do this very dry paperwork. Oh to have a generous benefactor!! Ha ha. Time to leave fantasy land behind and knuckle down - actually I feel better for having outed my terrible thoughts. Maybe I can get the work down in 2 hours and then have an hour to write. This needs chocolate and a steady supply of coffee - can I do it? I'm off to find out!

Blistering Session

Can there be anything that feels as good as a few hours of writing where you actually wrote rather than made copious cups of coffee, scrubbed the kitched floor, read writers blogs or tacked the pile of ironing that has sat there quite happily for months? Well there might be a couple of things that come close - but for sheer creative pleasure this is the most exhilarating feeling. My word count has hit 60,000 and I actually feel like I moved the story on. Maybe the antihistimine I washed down with a large latte gave me a boost. Whatever it was, I love it! Well I must now return to the real world as my hay fever has turned my eyes into mad, itchy, burning orbs - not pleasant! Looking at the computer screen has now become impossible. So much for the antihistimine. But despite my suffering I am deliriously happy!!!! And what I really want now is to go shopping and buy something new to wear. Maybe I'll just pop to Matalan or visit 'George' at Asda for something cheap that won't break the bank but still give me a little hit! Or maybe I'll just go to the pharmacy and see if they've got something stronger!

Finding love in Shanghai

My It Guru has been and my wireless network is functioning again!! Hooray. Since I discovered the joy of wireless over a year ago I have become addicted. I can lie in bed, on the sofa, in the garden and it is bliss. The past week has seen me confined to my desk and study again and I felt greatly restricted. I think better with my legs dangling over the side of the sofa in the sun room as I gaze at the garden - well I try not to gaze too much because then I see all the work that needs doing. Fortunately though the hedges which separate the lower and upper sections of the garden have gained quite a bit of height over the wet winter so they hide the mad borders beyond that need attention. I will get to them - I will!!!

This week my lovely husband and celebrated the 9th anniversary of our meeting in a little bar in downtown Shanghai. We had actually spent the whole evening at a traditional Chinese banquet where husband to be had stared at my back all evening and I had tried and pretty much failed to find something vegetarian on the many dishes that landed on our table. So we didn't actually get to meet properly until a group of us had decamped to a little club somewhere down a back alley. My Mother had warned me about doing things like this in foreign countries but there I was doing it and loving it.

We were trying to recall what time it was when we emerged to find dawn rising over the city. We had spent the night chatting, dancing, drinking too many Heineken's and giggling at the secret Karaoke rooms where the locals were going for it with great gusto. Several hours later my future husband revealed that he had a flight to catch back to London that afternoon and I was bound for Sydney the next day. And so began our long distance love affair. No prizes for guessing what my first novel is based on - that and Michael Jackson's fondness for a brand new toilet seat every time he uses the loo. The two are connected!!

The writing has been flowing this week though I feel like the word count is never going to rise beyond the 50,000 mark - I am impatient to hit the 60,000 mark. So I best get on with it!!!

Lost Post and a bit of string

I've had a week of internet problems - I still have them but am working around them using a bit of old string and some shiny cellophane paper - standing on my head also seems to be helping. I wrote a heartfelt post y'day and lost it. I feel deflated. I'm so glad it's not a full moon as well as Friday 13th. I'm having one of those days where I shouldn't be reading Mslexia or any other publication that is discussing writing - I am having a moment of lost perspective with regards to my writing. I think it is to do with my internet problems actually. I have spent many hours faffing around and have finally resorted to booking a call out with my very good but very expensive IT Guru. He can't come until Tuesday so I hope the bit of string and shiny paper hold out until then. It is the worst aspect of having your office based at home with no IT Guru within cooe distance. I am proud at least that I have bypassed the problem for now. I shall cheer up and be grateful that I have internet again. I shall go and visit some more writers blogs which will help me feel less isolated. Whatever did I do before the internet?

OOps it's April

Well I have nudged my word count up slightly - beginning to think I am the slowest writer on the planet. I really want to have a first draft finished by the end of June and I can still make it - I just have to push on. The more I write of the latter part of the novel the more I sense how much work I will have to do back at the start - something to deal with on a second draft. I shall banish that niggle and forge on. But for the next few days I will be consuming easter eggs and gardening - what a fab combination!!! Happy Easter!