Belated Happy New Year. I cannot believe we are already on the 19th day of January. Christmas seems a long time ago. I'm already reading my fourth book of year, and I've had some good news too. After submitting a piece six months ago to Aayo magazine I received an email on New Year's Day to say they were going to publish it. You can read The Tomorrow Box here.
I have also had another piece of work published with Streetcake ezine. This caused me some problems in formatting and is different to my usual work. Issue 88 can be downloaded for free. My piece, Poetry Sudoku can be read near the end of the magazine.
I had a rejection of a short story with TSS, but I received some very helpful feedback and some lovely comments. They are going to be running some feedback and close reading sessions and I have signed up. I'm sure this will prove helpful.
At the end of the month I will starting a nine week online course with Indie Novella, and speaking of novellas, I've discovered a plot hole in the novella I've currently been editing. Hopefully, I can work that out. I have to say I'm a little stuck on my ending which I am changing from the original. There's still a bit of work to do on this.
I hope to send out more submissions this year as I rather missed doing so much of that last year. Meanwhile, I'm still waiting on replies to my novella submissions last year. I wonder how long one should wait before either querying or trying somewhere else?
My new writing diary is getting some use. and I will try to keep that up.
It's been almost a month since I last posted. And here we are back into lockdown, albeit not so hard as the last. In fact not a great deal seems to be different. There are lots of cars on the road, the buses vary, sometimes busy, other times quiet, and the high street doesn't appear much different either. Places are open for takeaways, and I used one myself yesterday. I don't feel as low as I did the first time round, in fact I feel quite positive. Having said that, I was with a friend on Wednesday, the day before lockdown. We were in London and managed to fit in some writing together outside before it got too cold. When we said our goodbyes, and I was on my way back to the station, I felt sad to be leaving London. It was the strangest feeling, like saying goodbye to an old friend.
So what have I been doing in the last month? Well, several things really. I've begun looking into self publishing and am currently taking a course in how to do it. It's a free course and very thorough. It covers the pitfalls, all the downsides as well as how to make and reach goals. You are warned that you will be overwhelmed. Yes, I am! But for now I'm just going through everything and making notes to see if this is what I want to do. Some of the information won't be for me, but I am learning a lot. I found the section on book covers particularly interesting, formatting work totally mind numbing. So, I am allowing myself a year to consider this and might put a toe in the water eventually.
Meanwhile, I have been submitting more than I have in a long time. I know I have a poem coming out in one of The People's Friend annuals very soon, and I was thrilled to hear last week that one of my 'lockdown' poems has been chosen for an anthology. More news on that soon. I have signed up for a course with The Poetry Kit, a three week course on Poetry and Music. And I have also joined Jo Bell's Try to Praise the Mutilated World initiative with daily prompts for however long lockdown goes on. I find I am mixing with poets whose books I've read, seen read and admire, as well as a former poetry tutor! Could be quite intimidating, but not, Everyone is lovely.
I'm hoping to take part in another virtual choir this month. Quite excited about that, but not about the prospect of having to record myself again It is always a fraught time and I have warned my son in advance!
When I'm not writing I try to get out for a walk. While the weather is in a warmer sunny mode I am taking advantage of it. Yesterday I even managed to sit on the garden bench and read for a while. Bliss.
I think I have been more places and taken more photos this year than I would in a normal year. I have found peace in walking, being with the trees and by water. This masked, restricted way of life is now becoming normal. I guess that's how people in war zones feel after a while because you cannot live in that kind of high anxiety forever. You accept what it is and get on with life the best you can. Not that I can compare Covid 19 with what Syrians have to deal with, but you get the picture. Life does go on, it has to, so you accept it and live.
I've been so busy in the last couple of days that I have barely watched the news, which I think is probably good for me. I seem to have set off into my own little world. I rise early. This is the second morning I've been up around 5.30am because the light wakes me. I come down for my first mug of tea and my son's pet rats are climbing up the cages for their treat of the morning. They are most often waiting for me! I chat to them - I'll talk to anything - flowers, trees, myself, and then, if it is not my morning for jogging, I read before coming on to my laptop. Maybe I will do my poem of the day or work on my novella before stopping for breakfast around 8-8.30am. After that I usually get dressed. If it's a shopping morning I go out into the crazy world of social distancing and shop where I can. Yesterday, I finally got into Waitrose and stocked up on my regular washing power (cruelty free) and such like. I also got into Wilco. It really was my day.
A slight diversion coming here. It has been difficult to keep up my pledges to ditch plastics since lockdown. Nearly everything comes covered in plastic and I've had to revert to using fabric softener because I have difficulty getting the large white vinegar bottles I've been using. Still, I have managed to stick to cruelty free versions at least, but I have ordered online for my washing up liquid from Natural Collection. I found they stock quite a range of food and since stocks at Holland & Barratt are dwindling I've ordered soya chunks and tins of braised Tofu. My son tried ordering from H&B's online store but both times only received part orders. It has been very disappointing. For us veggies and almost vegans it has been hard to source everything we need. The smaller local shops have little choice even in everyday stuff sometimes. So, I have had to make some compromises, but cruelty free products I will not compromise on.
I have been binge watching art programmes including Grayson Perry's Art Club which is great fun. Last week he was talking about portraits and I did this one of Boris Johnson. I think drawing faces is the hardest thing, and it must be decades since I've attempted one. There was one tip that artist Maggie Hamblin offered about art in last night's programme - draw every day. Sounds like writer's advice. There are great similarities between art and writing, I feel.
Pencil and charcoal
Another project I have become involved with is a music one. An ex-musical director of the choir I sing with is forming a virtual choir for a mental health charity and was asking people to record themselves singing the song he posted up via YouTube and email it to him. He will then stitch all the parts together and the finished video will be posted on YouTube around the 18th May. So, a lot of Sunday afternoon I was upstairs in the bedroom learning the song (it only has four lines) and getting used to using the camera on my laptop (yes, I had to ask one of my kids to help me with that...oh the shame!). It took rather a lot of takes to get it right, but it is now with Ben and he is happy with it. When it appears on YouTube I will share it with you.
Still, on the subject of music, I have started an online course with FutureLearn about songwriting. Several years ago I took one with Coursera, but this one feels a lot different and I am enjoying it. I got so caught up in it that I completed the first week in one day. The theme this week is home/place. There are playlists, videos and advice. My first set of lyrics weren't that great, though I was pleased with the chorus. I decided to have a second attempt. I'd hoped to save the chorus but I ended up with something different. I'm more pleased with these as they offer a better nostalgic feel. I began my writing adventures as a young teen writing lyrics, so I am going back to my roots here.
And still more about music, watching Ben working with mixers and loops on his YouTube channel is making me itch to have a go, though I have no idea where to start. I've been looking at tutorials for Audacity, which I had on my old laptop for the Coursera course. Back in my day..oh eons ago...I devised my own way of recording two tracks by using my brother's cassette recorder for a first voice and guitar. Then I'd play the track through my stereo and harmonise with myself and sometimes add a basic rhythm using the body of my guitar (though I also had some drum tracks on cassette I would also use at times). When I bought Dan Morgan's book on guitar it was this method he suggested. In those days mixing decks weren't widely available unless you worked in a studio and the internet and music software was a thing of the future.
You may be able to tell that I am a little excited by all this, but then I've always been fascinated by musical things. I enjoy watching musicians warm up, I want to know where the leads go and why, what they do. The equipment looks daunting but I would love to know how it all works. I know that if I'd been born later I'd have been into all this big time by now. Now, if I could just overcome my fear of Zoom!
It seems that the nearer to my goal I get the harder it gets. With just under seven weeks to go before I end my one-a-day-for-a-year poetry challenge, the blank page taunts me. Some days I am throwing words together to get something down.
This morning, however, I was reading about David Jones, artist, in the book Unquiet Landscape by Christopher Neve and one line shot out at me, something Jones had said about a place he stayed in, and I used that line to form a poem.
Isn't it great how the imagination clicks into place? I savour moments like these. Where would I be without them? I quickly dashed off a poem using each verse to describe different elements and their affect on the person (not Jones, particularly, but someone).
I have (apparently like Simon Armatage, so I read), been writing rather a lot of poems about Covid 19, but it is easy to get bogged down with them. I was, before that, bogged down with climate change poetry. It seems that a lot of my poetry this year has been about what has been going on in the world, so it is nice when something else breaks through. I write a lot about nature, the elements, and then there are those I call rather 'off the wall' poems, or a little risque, or indeed the ethereal. I also return to subjects I have written about before as if I am not happy with what I have previously said, and by covering it again I might just get to what I really mean.
I think most creative people do this returning to things. I have written about this before - artists certainly do it. We become obsessed with one particular subject, or several subjects, as if we really need to pin it down. I'm not sure we ever do, but we keep on trying.
Well, having written my poem of the day I now have many hours to fill while staying home. So far, my plans haven't quite worked because the weather has been so beautiful. I have a bench outside the kitchen door (featured a lot in this blog!). It's a suntrap and I have been spending a couple of hours or so there each day reading. I have to make the most of it because the weather is due to turn colder by the weekend. However, I have signed up for an online course, Introduction to Geology with OpenLearn. I have had a fascination for it going back to school days and watching volcanoes on an educational film in the classroom. My science is zilch, much like my maths, but my interest hasn't waned. My favourite fossil is the Trilobite, should you be interested, and tectonic plates fascinate me. So, there you go. I've just completed the first week of four. on that course. Where will all these lead, I wonder? Maybe to some new poems!
I am well on the way to finishing the Kickstart Your Creative Heart month. This is what I have found so far:
* It has prompted me to write almost every day but I haven't always gone with their prompts. I don't think this matters because the aim is to get writing again. That seems to have been achieved!
* Some prompts fired off ideas straightaway and I started writing the moment I'd finished reading the email.
* I've written a lot by hand and my second notebook of the year is finished.
* I have written three short stories, though one is long (over 6,500 words)
* I have returned to poetry (yes, didn't I say never again?) and written three or four over the last week.
* I feel that buzz I used to get from writing and that excited feeling when I've written something I am proud of.
* My output has greatly increased as has the hours I am spending writing.
* Some days I actually get back to my first-thing-in-the-morning writing routine. My ideas seem better then.
I apologise that I don't have many pictures of my walk. I've been unable to transfer them from my Tablet so far and have only a couple taken on my old phone.
On the Tuesday of my week at Swanwick I had some time out. There were courses running including a procrastination free day, but I fancied a walk. The weather was superb and I set off after breakfast towards Butterley Railway (East Midlands), run mainly by volunteers. I went there last year but didn't look at the engine sheds. This time I did. It made a lovely morning out and the walk was wonderful. So much beautiful countryside around there and next time I hope to do more walking. There is a pathway you can follow along the track side which I'm keen to investigate.
On my return to Swanwick I had lunch and then headed up to where the labyrinth is and sat in the garden for a couple of hours undisturbed. No one seems to go up there much. Maybe it's the trudge up the hill people don't like. It's a great place to sit and read or write. In the evening there was an event, 'In conversation with....' Hosted by Simon Hall it was a chance to find out a little more about Sue Moorcroft (fiction writer) Jon Mayhew (writer of children's fiction) and Steve Hartley (writer of children's fiction). Questions included 'where were you when you heard your first book had sold?' and 'whether being published had changed you.' One thing became evident writers never quite believe they have made it even when they have. Sue Moorcroft admitted she rang her agent the following day just to check she'd heard right. Lack of confidence seems to plague writers. As one person said 'you think someone will find you out.' A very enjoyable evening with lots of laughter.
I certainly seemed to be taking it easier this year as on Wednesday the only course I did (apart from the third session of Writing Popular Fiction) was in the afternoon with Hazel Prior, who not only writes but is a harpist (see website). With only an hour we skipped through some of the essentials looking at the order of editing - structure, beginnings and voice. All useful stuff.
Then came the last full day and my last Writing Popular Fiction session followed by a brilliant short course in Murder Investigation. I don't write crime/murder but I am fascinated by it and try to get to as many of these courses as possible. Our tutor Stuart Gibbon is an ex police officer and he ran through how an investigation runs from who attends, initial steps, the Golden Hour Principle, Post Mortem and things like the Murder Investigation Team (Ranks), what the police need to know and how they go about it, various authorities they have to acquire, forensic evidence, the detention clock and custody procedures. Wow! a lot of information and I was scribbling away like mad. A wonderful informative course.
The last evening was a chance get-together in the hall, time for thanks and some fun - a few songs (popular songs with the lyrics changed to something suitably writerly) including S Club 7's Reach for the Stars. In the morning those not departing to the station by coach came and waved us off. All over for another year.
I didn't think I was that tired this time but yesterday I spent the day dozing and it took me a while to get going this morning. I even forgot to check on Paragraph Planet yesterday to see my latest flash fiction published there! It may take me a little longer to return to normal (or normal for me). If you have never been to Swanwick, I'd highly recommend it. You'll be with others who are passionate about writing. That alone is wonderful because writing is a lonely task and for a week it stops me boring my non-writing friends about what I'm doing!
A couple of photos taken on the walk
The view from my window at 6.30am on the morning I left to go home
This past week I have taken time out to indulge in the world of writing. I have just returned from Swanwick - The Writers' Summer School. This was my second year and it was good to see some familiar faces as a group of around 70 of us waited for the coach at Derby station on the 12th August.
On arrival I was able to lead a few newbies in the direction of Lakeside accommodation where we picked up our welcome pack. As I arrived at my door I realised this was the room I had last year. To say I was excited is an understatement. I all but leaped across the room! It was like coming home. Soon the kettle was on and I was unpacking. So began my week - a chance to say hello to old friends and to meet lots of new people. After dinner on the first night we had Stephen Booth (crime writer) come and speak to us. He was a delight to listen to as he told us about his way into writing and about the books he writes, the characters and how readers get so caught up in his plots and characters that they make suggestions or go to visit the places where scenes took place. His anecdotes were funny and his passion for what he does shone through. There was time for questions before he sped off to sign copies of his latest book.
Courses began the following morning (Sunday). With so much to choose from it was often a difficult choice, though I had highlighted my preferred options as soon I received my brochure through the post! For my specialist course I chose Writing Popular Fiction with Sue Moorcroft which ran over four mornings, an hour each session. Over the course of the week we looked at various aspect of writing starting in session one with the difference between popular fiction and niche markets; we were given advice on knowing where to look for up to date advice into trends, what is selling etc. In the second session we looked at the shape of a novel - how to improve the saggy middle, about prologues, endings and what to include in the first couple of chapters. Sue gave us a great insight into her plotting for her latest book - a string of A4 sheets stapled together in concertina fashion. We all had a laugh at that. She also explained mind maps and timelines. Session three was the dreaded submission process - covering letters, synopsis and the first three chapters of the novel. This was really useful as Sue explained what to include in the letter and what not to and how to set out (format) a synopsis and chapters. Session four dealt with themes and messages of novels, characters (central, secondary and walk-ons), viewpoints and how to go about self-editing. Sue was generous with her time and answered multitudes of questions. I found the course insightful. I only have to use all this information to write my bestseller!
My work zone! Though here I am catching up with the World Athletics live stream!
I can only comment on the courses I took during my week at Swanwick. There was a choice of four other specialist courses (Fiction for Children & Young People, Scriptwriting, Non-Fiction and A Year in Poetry). Then there were the short courses - different choices each day each with two sessions. My short course on the Sunday was Short Stories with Della Galton. I would have loved to attend Forensics & CSI one but I need help with my short story writing! I did buy the CSI book though (by Kate Bendelow who tutored the course). I heard a rumour that 40 copies were being placed in the book room one evening and I got there early. There was already a queue to pay for copies which were going fast. Anyway, the short story course was interesting. Though geared mainly for women's magazines (not my area) I have come away re-thinking it. The parameters of what the few magazines accept has widened and it might be worthwhile reconsidering this market. Having said that the market is shrinking and the day after the course we heard that the fiction editors of Women's Weekly have all left so they are no accepting anymore submissions for now. It seems that to save money magazines are either letting their fiction editors go or only employing them for something like five hours a week. Very sad. At least I'm armed with tips - how to, how not not, good endings, bad endings and lots more.
Our evening speaker on Sunday was Sophie Hannah. Again she was excellent, funny and happy to tell us her route into writing and how she came to write a Poirot continuation novel.
The first Monday short course I chose was Writing Intimate Scenes with Liz Hurst. She writes under two names. and writes mainly erotica. This class was lively to say the least! At times it felt like being back at school with everyone trying to think of new words for certain body parts! We had a go at writing about a kiss and later to write an erotic scene of our own. Our starter was a female in a room where she knows a man is watching her in another room via a camera in the room. She gives him the turn on of his life without taking her clothes off! Some brave souls offered to read theirs out. I learned about alternative lifestyles (some I'd never heard of!). It was enlightening that's for sure.
I then attended a workshop in Writing for Competitions (which I do a lot). Our tutor was Ingrid Jendrzejewski who has won competitions and now judges them. We got through an enormous amount of information in one hour - the difference between the longlist and shortlist and how to get further. Ingrid gave examples from real competitions of why some entries didn't make it, how to do good beginnings and endings, common themes, how to do them better, editing, choosing the right contest and about submitting smart like reading previous winners, researching the judges, keeping records and taking time out to research new opportunities.
There is still so much to say but I shall leave it to the next post. I will say there were early morning half hour sessions to do before breakfast for writing and for mind (meditation by the lake was one) and evening entertainment and opportunities. I have to say this year I took more time out to re-charge and I slept better than last year. That helped a lot as between courses there is all that eating to do, refreshment breaks (with more cake if you can find a space for it!) and chatting. However, I did make the Facebook and Twitter meet up during one tea break.
Hobbies - I have too many and my friends have given up trying to guess what I will do next. The big ones have stayed throughout my life - music, sport, reading and writing, but I've taken courses on subjects such as learning to change, the ancient Olympics, textiles in Ghana, starting with psychology, religious orders, art history (Brighton Pavilion), philosophy of religion, forensics and revolutions in sound recording. Then there's the courses on writing and poetry and literature!
However, since September I have been attending a belly dancing class. I am not a Strictly fan (I'm one of very few who doesn't watch it) - my love of dance comes from Bollywood, Belly Dancing and Street Dance. I don't think I could quite hold it together for street dance - at 60 I'd be a novelty I suppose!
I've always claimed I am a late developer. Maybe I'm living my life backwards. If only the age would go backwards! Anyway, I own a coin belt and am keen to shake it and shimmer while ironing (oh yes, I do!). It is hard work, belly dancing, as you have to isolate muscles. While you are trying to master that there are arm movements and walking to contend with! Sometimes my co-ordination goes out of the window but the music invites me to dance. I cannot keep still. I now have lots of moves I can do (or at least try) and we have started putting together a dance routine in class.
This is a style of dancing I've wanted to do for years but the class clashed with other things. This year I felt it was now or never. I have to get it out of my system. With only four of us in class I can't hide! It's fast and energy sapping. One hour and you know you've had a work out.
This dancer is so fluid. Amazing to watch,. Think it might be a while before I'm this good! At least I can do some of these moves.
I only found out about NaBloPoMo yesterday through a post by poet Josephine Corcoran. I've never heard of this November challenge before, where you write a blog post every day for the month. Last year I took part in NaNoWriMon and that was pretty wild! I ended up with a 50,000 word draft of a novel (still unedited!).
Well, I'm always up for a challenge, so here goes. You will find a slightly different content here for November, more perhaps an overlap of what I write about on my other blog. I have no idea what's coming! Anyway, to start off I thought about an A-Z post, not only about writing but other aspects of my life. Here is the first half. Hope you enjoy it.
See M - for music
A – is for articles. I have only written one article that
I’ve been paid for. The editor liked the idea but wanted me to interview people
and supply photos. The article was about vegetarianism
and faith. I’m a shy person and interviewing people I don’t know is terrifying
for me. I nearly chickened out but asked a Priest at my church for advice and he gave me
the names of two people to contact – So I did my interviews (one I did by
phone) and got my photos. The third person I interviewed was a friend of mine
(much easier). I remember I was paid £45 for it. A lot of hard work and stress.
B – is for books. As an avid reader I get through between
50-60 books a year on average. I read all genres but during the last eighteen
months I’ve been drawn to crime novels. I particularly enjoy books by Andrea
Camillia and Elly Griffiths.
C – is for cold. I hate the cold and since I was a child I
have suffered from chilblains. When I get too cold my brain seems to stop
functioning. The cold makes me miserable!
D – is for dawn. Considering I used to hate early rising I
am quite an early bird now. Before I married I used to lay in bed until at
least 8am (11am on a weekends). When I had children that all changed! Although
my two sons went to a local primary school, when they attended secondary school
I had to get up at 6.30am to make sure they were out of the house by 7.30am.
Nowadays I still get up around 6am to 7am. No one else is up. It’s my time to
read or write. Often I’m at the laptop between 7-7.30am and have 1,000 words
written by breakfast time (if I’m lucky). I love watching the sky change
colour, the sun come up, hearing the birds. These things often prompt a poem.
E – is for escape. I love my days out and I’m happy to go
alone if no one is free or not interested in a particular exhibition I want to
see. I adore London and I’m always amazed how many green spaces there are,
hidden parks and hidden spaces. I love seeking them out. Occasionally I’ll take
myself off on a retreat. I can be quite antisocial at times. Even at home I
need my space. Unfortunately I don’t have a room of my own to escape to and it
could be a long wait for one of the kids to leave home!
F – is for fun. My father was the joker in our house and I
think I have inherited his humour. He could see the funny side of anything,
even in dire situations. He made us all laugh. I also enjoy making others laugh
and my humour comes out in my writing. Lately, I have been pushing the
boundaries on that in a particular novel I am writing. It’s like the shackles
have come off and I’m just going for it. I still love the comedy I grew up with
– Monty Python, Dave Allen, Dad’s Army, Fawlty Towers and ‘allo ‘allo.
G – is for growth. Each day there is the capacity to learn
something new and add it to experience. I am capable of much more now than I
was a year ago, and last year more capable than the year before. I learn
something and that leads me into new areas. Knowledge and experience grow and
all that adds to my ‘life portfolio’ – such a help when I write.
H – is for holidays. I love getting away from everything. I
am particularly drawn to places by water, whether that is a river or the sea. I
have rather a passion for Italy since visiting Sorrento a few years ago. It has
to be up there as one of the best holidays. Iceland was also pretty great. I
have rather a long list of countries I want to visit but I still love the UK.
There are many places I haven’t been to. So many places, so little time!
I – is for ideas. I have an ideas book. This is relatively a
new idea (the book). I write odd things down. Names are one. If I come across a
name I like or think of I write it down. This is because I’m not good at
thinking of names when I think of characters. If I’m not careful I end up using
the same names in what I write! Quite often I sit at the laptop trying to think
of a name and stare at objects in the room – names on books, bits of paper,
objects or I google names! One of my characters got his name from a packet of
seeds my eyes made contact with! In this book also I write bits of dreams that
might develop into some writing. Ideas come from everywhere – poetry often comes from something I see through the window or while walking, maybe read about or are personal
memories. My fiction often comes through dreams or ‘night thinking’.
J - is for Justice. I grew up with ideas others had no time
for. Justice for me is for everyone whatever race or religion they are. This
also extends to justice for animals and the planet. I try my best to buy things
that do not harm animals, the planet or people. I thank my maternal grandmother
for this. She set me thinking when I was a child about the cruelty of circuses. There was no
stopping me after that. Sometimes my views make me unpopular. There are things
I will not do or take part in because I feel they are morally wrong.
K – is for Kids. I’m very proud of my kids. I may moan about
them but I’d fight for them and I love them. Both are now in their twenties. They
are very different. One is sporty and independent; happy to holiday alone, he
also cooks…adventurously, and goes out underdressed in winter (at least I don’t
say ‘are you wearing a vest?’ like my mum used to!). My other son is a computer
geek; he’s my tech-mate and is caring and thoughtful (apart from when he
doesn’t bring his plates and mugs back and puts all his washing out in one go!)
We often have great conversations.
L – is for learning. As my regular readers will know I am
always signing up for new courses, often online ones through Coursera or
FutureLearn. They are free and so well put together. I’ve learnt so much over
the years. I hated school and left at the age of fifteen with no qualifications.
I have studied short courses and a certificate course with the Open University
and it’s like I cannot stop now! I see something that interests me and I sign
up. Most courses sit under the umbrella of ‘humanities’ but I also have a
strange passion for early history and forensics! I’m sure there is more to
come.
M – is for music which I am addicted to (I am listening to
an ATB Chillout Mix from YouTube as I type this). I grew up with music. My
parents (and aunt) sang in a choral society (my dad was a choir boy too), my
grandfather played piano in a pub and worked as a piano tuner to some famous
people including Tommy Steele. My mother wanted to be an opera singer and she
went to the same school as Petula Clarke (some claims to fame!). I play guitar
badly (self taught) and keyboards even more badly, don’t really read music,
though I took some basic lessons last year (another thing to follow up
sometime). I have two guitars – acoustic and electric, began writing songs
before my teens and have an awful lot of cassettes full of my efforts! I also had
dreams of working as a sound engineer. Still, I’ve been singing in a community
choir for the last seven years and love it. I especially love performing, and as
long as I know the tune of a song I can work out harmonies for myself. Too long
without music and I start getting grumpy! I use playlists when I write,
sometimes the same ones over and over again (Trance mixes - I’m a huge Shane Collins
fan).
♫ Best of Progressive House Sessions ♫ - Sounds from Above Vol 14 (Shane Collins)
How strange. I finished the third edit of the novel on Sunday and I haven't wanted to write since then. I have no desire to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard (except to blog and annoy people on Facebook!). Instead I thought - I have time to do other things. I need some distance from the novel as I did edits two and three back to back. That wasn't intended, it just happened that way. Now I need to let things settle for a while.
Yesterday, I heard that one of my poems has been selected by OU Poets for their next Anthology (poems are voted for by members). That is the only light in my submissions book. Everything else so far has been rejected.
One completed page
So, what have I been doing instead? Well, reading a lot. I have two books on the go, though that's nothing unusual. I have also taken to colouring. I bought the magazine Art Therapy as a one-off (not getting into that year on, never ending cycle of magazines as I've done in the past). It has several pages of designs ready to colour how you like. It is indeed therapy. It's a great stress buster. Of course, it takes me back to childhood - those days when as I was ill in bed and mum bought me colouring books and dot-to-dots. I loved them! When I worked for Solicitors and had to photocopy house deeds, I loved colouring in the plans, different colours for the house, rights of way and sometimes something bigger with more colours. I was in my element, keeping within the lines and making it a work to be proud of.
I was talking about colouring to my son and he told me that a friend of his was also keen to colour and said that the art shop Cass Art sell adult colouring books. Oh boy! We have such a shop in the next town, so at some stage I must go and look.
One in progress
I've always felt that as adults we miss out on fun after childhood. I am, of course, the eternal child - I am a Gemini! It seems so unfair that at fourteen you are no longer allowed on the swings! Having kids (well, young ones) was my licence to abuse that! The kids are grown up now and I will probably be in my 70's or 80's before I get grandchildren the way things are going, so I've set my sights on one of those motor scooters for when I can no longer walk.
My younger son is shortly going off with friends to an adult play centre. My ears pricked up. I believe that it is similar to a soft play area but for grown ups. Of course, with this there is drink involved (I can do without that) and you can stay there all night. I rather envy him. Whoever came up with this idea gets my vote. Why should kids have all the fun!
Rather different, I am taking part in two online courses with Coursera. One is entitled Plagues, Witches and War. It is basically a course about historical fiction, what it actually is and how authors go about writing believable historical eras in fiction novels. Because there is no deadline with this course, I can dip in and out as I am able. There are 11 modules and I have completed four so far. We have looked at mainly older historical fiction by authors such as Walter Scott, Cooper and William W Brown as well as Dickens. There are interviews with modern writers too, though none of them I know. One is Jane Alison who wrote The Love Artist based on Ovid. I enjoyed hearing what she had to say about the way she works, where ideas, moods come from. Although historical fiction is not my genre I have found that I am drawn to perhaps read some of these books and I find the background information very interesting. I've got better in my note taking (so on the second review I passed first time - you get three goes). I try to do a little every week and I have to say it is broadening my horizons.
The other online course is also with Coursera and I signed up on the day it started after thinking about it for a week. I wondered if I would have time to take part as this one is run over five weeks, and has deadlines. The course is entitled Miracles of Human Language: An Introduction to Linguistics. I am completely hooked! I was on there first thing this morning watching videos and reading follow-up resources. I already have seven pages of notes. The subject is fascinating. I had no idea I would be so caught up in this. I found one thing which might be of interest to writers and that is a book - Historical Thesaurus (I think from Oxford Books). You can look up to see how people spoke in different eras. The professor on the video was saying that in Downton Abbey there are some sayings used which were not around at that time, though on the whole they've got it right. I might just have to look out this book, just for the interest value.
These online courses are free and well put together. The only thing I don't like are the forums because there are thousands of people taking part and you get lost in the system. I''m never sure how you follow up with comments. I killed off following 'rooms' because my Inbox was inundated with messages. But I am quite happy to just take part and learn what I can. Some courses come with a Certificate of Achievement (free) and others you can pay for a Validation if you want.
So, that's what I'm doing right now. If things are a little quiet on this blog, you will know why. However, I may be over on my other blog, so do drop by.
Happy writing....or anything else you may be doing!
I love online learning and feeling I needed something else in my life I have just signed up for a new course. It just so happens that it is on writing. The title of the course is Plagues, Witches and War: The Worlds of Historical Fiction and it is run by Coursera. I'm hoping it will expand my horizons in what I read and help me get to grips with understanding research.
While not exactly a 'how to' writing course it does look at how authors use research to aid their novels. It sounds like a comprehensive course, though the tutor admits it can never cover everything because the subject matter is so big. I'm looking forward to starting the first module tomorrow.
The shelf with all my writing files and other stuff is a mess (again). So this morning while trying to fit a box file in and not succeeding I began looking at what was on the shelf - what I could maybe dispose of.
I came across the file containing the assignments I completed for The Writers Bureau. I began this course way back in 1991 and I was still going in 1996. However, I never completed the course and gave up about half way through. Looking at the file was quite a sad experience. The course dealt with a whole array of writing but the assignments I completed were mainly on reader's letters (I was quite successful with those and even got a few cheques) and articles to magazines, including fillers. I had a few good ideas but I hated fillers and articles were always a struggle. As I flicked through what I had written up I felt much as I did before - that my heart wasn't really in it. I didn't want to write articles for women's magazines like Take a Break and Chat. I didn't feel I had anything in common with them. Whenever I do anything in life (that includes a job) I have to believe in what I am doing and believe in the 'product'.
I never got to the good bit in the course - story writing. Instead I struggled over assignments in non-fiction and the idea of writing a cookery book! The reason it took me so long to get through half the course is because mentally I quit several times and then roused myself for another go. But it was hopeless.
I did actually manage to sell one article some time after I gave up the course! The rest of the articles I wrote now look so dated and to make room on the shelf I'm about to throw the file out.
I'm not sure what to make of it all. The whole things leaves a sadness in me and I'm not sure why. Is it because I gave up and never completed the course? Is it some of negative comments about my ideas? I always felt the course tutor was pushing all the time for me to get stuff out there but apart from the letters I had no confidence and felt way out of my depth with articles and all the rejections didn't help! I like to think I've moved on and that my writing has improved, that I have found my place in writing through poetry (I actually always wanted to be a lyricist!) and now attempting novels but when I look back on this period of my life it transports me to those days. Obviously the yearn to write has always been there but often I feel I'm banging my head against a brick wall and all those doubts come flooding back.
Okay, I'm having a wallow. Surely, I'm better than this? I have moved on but am I still kidding myself? I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. We all go through these down times. I was doing fine until I picked up this file. So I think the best thing is to ditch the file. I'll keep the workbooks for a while - maybe I should dig out the one on novel writing - but they are probably out of date too now - not in the content as such but technology has moved on a lot since then and most things are done online.
Writing about this helps get it out of my system. Maybe I can now get back to the present because if I wallow too long I might just lose my mojo! And then what will the world have missed?!!
I never do anything by halves. I've signed up for various events being run by The Poetry School on their Campus site. I'd recommend this to everyone who wants to write poetry as on the 7th May Campus will be opening up stuff for the first time from previous courses for you to see. The day will have poetry challenges, a show-us-your-poems section, live chats and workshops. It's all free and anyone can join. All you have to do is sign up here.
I have also just started a Writing Fiction course with FutureLearn. I thought it was about time I tried to learn more about fiction writing, especially as I am attempting a novel (talk about cart before the horse). This one is run by the Open University and is free! When I will find the time for all this I don't know as my brother is coming to stay on Saturday for several days and I will also be away for a time in the middle of it all! Still, as it's online I can go at my own speed and catch up when I can.
I had an email recently saying thanks for entering their competition but I couldn't remember sending anything! I had to look back through all my entries for the year and there it was back in March. No wonder I couldn't remember. I have no idea why I sent it so early, very unusual for me. Actually, why did they wait so long to thank me? Hummm!
The online poetry feedback course with The Poetry School has now ended. It was useful to see where I can improve the poems I contributed and I really admired others contributions. There were some very good poets in the group. We all started off a bit gingerly but each week the poems just got better. There were some amazing poems. I'm a bit relieved it's finished though as giving feeding back on so many poems was very time consuming and I'm not that good at it! Good practice though.
I'm not sure where I am going next. I've not signed up for any new courses and what I'm thinking is maybe to do more editing of poems I have to try and improve them. I want to take time to read more. I'd like to take a break from writing for a while and then just mess around with words - no thinking about publication and deadlines. I do still have a story to edit and I still can't seem to motivate myself to start.
I'm not going to make any decisions now. Christmas is coming up with lots of other things needing my time and I find I get stressed even when I think I'm not! So some time out will be good. I'll review things in the new year.
I could say see post for day 20 (What motivates me!) because a lot of that applies. As it happens today I have been to a workshop at The Poetry School in London on the theme Poetry of Place with Ann Sansom. The morning session was devoted to writing and Ann got us writing from the first moment by giving us a sentence to start us off. We wrote poems with various prompts - from postcards that we'd been asked to take with us, from prompts Ann gave us and we shared these if we wanted to with the rest of the class. After lunch we gathered to share a poem we had written either in class or one we had prepared earlier. We shared firstly with the person next to us, getting feedback, editing in necessary and then we shared our poem with the whole class discussing what changes, if any, were made. I came away with lots of draft poems and ideas for others. These I can now develop at home.
So, attending a workshop or course is a great way to get you motivated. I tend to schedule my writing to the academic year and begin collecting brochures - physically or online - before the start of new terms. Then I look through them all and see what I feel is right for me at this point. Courses and workshops are great ways to generate new work. I can only speak for poetry here, though recently I did attend a workshop at Morley College on flash fiction which was good fun (and I came away with some hand-out sheets). So go for it, learn what you can, get feedback and above all write!
