Still Not Enough Hours...

My plan (this year) to use my diary better to keep a track of deadlines, as well as meetings/appointments, has shown me I'm very busy two weeks of every month, and have one week clear and another partially filled.

March is probably the exception as I'm doing my reading role for the writers' club's national competition which takes up some of those free days...

Despite all that I've resumed draft 2 of the work in progress.

Making progress
at last...

As I revealed on Facebook- apologies writer friends who already know this- I'm trying a slightly different method for the rewriting and additions in this draft.

When I started writing my first (abandoned) novel I kept my chapters separate, so each chapter was in its own document. I was using a Brother Word Processor with floppy disks then- that's how long ago it was!

Then a few years ago someone suggested it was better to keep novel chapters all in one document.

Actually I did find that really helpful for the first draft. I made progress through my chapter outlines better, so repeated the process with another longer story that was blocking (the next one in the queue).

When I started the 2nd draft (yet again) I wasn't totally happy. There seemed to be so much that I needed to correct: a major plot point; missing scenes, and secondary characters that had arrived later in the 1st draft but also needed to appear earlier, while some of these extras had missing motives too. It was overwhelming me.

So rather than give up I decided to try each chapter as a separate document, allowing me to concentrate on what I needed to do in each one as I work through.

It surprised me how everything suddenly seemed manageable just by focusing on a smaller piece of the whole- which was the total opposite to writing my 1st draft.

Late last year I was seriously thinking maybe I was only okay at producing the ideas and writing the first draft, but the past weeks I've learnt my characters will not allow me to abandon them or their story.

Confidence is just about restored...

Snow and More Snow but Inspiration Too...

It's rather cold and snowy in my part of Nottingham.

Where's that come from?

Where does the road start?

Usually we escape or just get a light fall that melts the moment it stops, but yesterday evening it started snowing and didn't stop; today hasn't been much better as the cold wind keeps blowing the snow everywhere...

Sadly the bad weather meant the writers' club had to cancel the regular meeting yesterday evening (Wednesday) and tomorrow (Friday) I'm not going to attempt the journey to Leicester for the RNA chapter.

I always take pictures of the snow (when we do get it) as it can be very useful to refer back to when I'm writing a story set in winter. It can help with description and recalling the thoughts and maybe memories that go with the moment- at least that's how it works for me!

Not sure how helpful these pictures will be this time!

Wednesday evenings (when I'm not at the writers' club) I'm usually on Twitter for #writingchat between 8-9 pm (GMT), so for a few minutes before and after the session I catch up on the tweets and images. There were quite a few snow pictures of course.

That was when I had one of those YES moments, when I saw a particular image, an empty snow strewn street in Stamford.

The best way to describe it is a sensation, as if an invisible pebble has dropped inside me somewhere and the resulting ripples are the possibilities. I've learnt that for me it's a visual trigger and somewhere in my subconscious cogs are turning. It won't necessarily be used straight away, but could be months or even years to come, but it will be used.

Some of those moments will immediately create a scene which will be the starting point for a story to develop from, others find their way in later as with my current WIP.

I was researching the history of Goose Fair in the local studies library for a story project- it was a long time ago and my writing has improved a lot since then- and I came across a book of newspaper cuttings and there was a recollection of an unusual weather event. I noted it down, although I lost the piece of paper with the details on, the event stayed in my memory.

Very many years later one snowy winter travelling up the motorway a local news report mentioned a rider who had been thrown off their horse and injured, of course the horse had gone back to its stable, and the rider located, but sadly it had not ended well.

These two separate events though years apart clicked and the synergy produced an image. (It's actually part of the back story of my WIP but I only discovered that much later.)

You can still read that very early story from the Goose Fair research- I did say I've learnt a lot about writing since then, didn't I?

Sadly the ' and " " symbols have turned to little squares, as it was loaded onto the site in 2003, and clearly doesn't format well with modern systems. You have been warned, it's here.

Hope wherever you are the bad weather hasn't given you too many problems. Stay safe...

Writing Sequentially... Until the Gaps

I'm pleased to say my characters have returned and I'm ready to resume rewriting the current work in progress.

In previous years I've had scene ideas but they've never been more than a few glimpses of action and dialogue, so I've noted them down for later use, then added them when I get to that stage.

Now I write sequentially (and have done for some years) so it's a bit disconcerting to have a scene I feel I need to write out, even though I'm not quite sure where it goes- yet.

Originally it started out as a passing thought late last year. It would give my (1802) hero and heroine an opportunity to meet socially, and that was where the idea stopped.

X months later with the return of my characters after a long break, numerous possibilities of how it can help and advance the story have occurred.

So unusually, I'm going with the write the scene down and save it for later method.

Writing sequentially has always allowed me to keep the story moving in a natural progression. Also my characters develop as the story goes along, so by the end they have changed in some way.

Perhaps it's just that I'm working out the gaps in this second draft, that were missing in the first.

Filling in those gaps in the story...

There were a couple of points where I knew I needed a scene, but didn't know what the exact content was- as in the new idea. Another early scene I know who's in it and where it takes place, but not the tone of the conversation...

I don't think I'll ever be able to write a story using out of order sections and then fit them together. My mind doesn't seem to work that way.

But I do know that I'm learning how I write a longer story; then hopefully the next one will be swifter to complete.


Are you an in sequence or out of order writer?

Getting Back to Normal- Almost There...

My aim is to get back to work at some point this week.

It's been three weeks of mess, shifting things around and no quiet.

During the second week my Internet router died, and then my keyboard- fortunately I had a spare that came with my computer- and yes a third thing happened but I can't remember what it was!

It was wonderful to get a couple of nights in a local hotel as there was no heating or water while the house was re-plumbed (new boiler, new radiators and new pipework). It was a cold mid-January weekend and we had snow!

Sunday morning snow...

The electrics side was officially completed Tuesday just gone.

I spent Wednesday trying to adjust to the lack of disruption- along with the worry about the continuing silence from my characters...

With everything going on their disappearance hadn't bothered me too much, but when Wednesday morning came round and they were all still missing... it was just blackness on the periphery of my mind where they usually lurk.

 It was very scary. But thankfully just as I was settling to sleep that night, my current pair of characters returned with a revealing scene...

The house is still disorganised as we've been stripping old wallpaper off (and some of it was very willing to be removed) while there's nothing obstructing the walls. But of course it does mean redecorating. I'm pushing for paste the wall wallpaper...

Drying plaster on my
 office wall...

      So this week it's dust my office (again) and return         everything to where it was, or was going to be located.

Most of my framed pictures are still in storage, but I do still have my coaching print to look at...

 Sadly my office wallpaper will be remaining in pieces for a   while. But I don't mind as it doesn't stop me from writing.

I've planned a new routine to try and make the most of my time this year, and hit a new word count.

How's your new year gone so far?

Lights and Pipes...

Lights and Pipes sounds like it should be a non-fiction book title, but actually that's what it's been this past week.

The much talked about rewiring and re-plumbing has begun and by early next week should be on the tidy up stage.

This week it's all the downstairs plug sockets and those that are being added to my office wall- about 18 inches from my right arm!

As all the light pendents were going to be replaced I asked the Electrician what sort of light fitting could work for my recently diagnosed eye condition, as my office is quite dim in the winter months, but good if it's a sunny day as I face the window.

I did have to use a desk lamp just for one night - this was the scene above my head that evening- hence the shadow...

Awaiting the new
light fitting...

It was actually quite safe, as the bit sticking out was only one end of a long piece of flexible plastic that was wedged between joists under the floor upstairs.

The next day my new light fitting was connected up to the new wiring that was put in. It looks brilliant, and my eyes don't tire as easily as they were doing with the one light...

My new lighting...

Yesterday the new pipes for the plumbing were measured up, cut and positioned ready for connecting up later this week-that's when the boiler and radiators get changed for modern and energy efficient versions.



Meanwhile the floorboard upstairs are getting a good work-out (up, down, up, down...) and they will eventually disappear back under carpet.

The underworld...

Although there's a lot of tidying up to do and reorganisation before we start unpacking the storage unit, I'm nearer getting back to a regular writing routine than I was, and I'm eager to get back to start again...

2017 Has Been a Year of Highs and Lows...Part 2

Welcome back to Part 2 of my Writer's Year.

Although I didn't mention it in part 1, I did set myself an unspoken/written target on my word count this year.

Not only did I want to improve on my 2016 total (see further down the page) but I wanted to exceed 40,000 words. I have to the end of December...

My year Part 2...

(My typing speed is improving.)

So here's July to December.

July
It was an exciting month. My daughter finished University and we attended the graduation ceremony at Trentham Gardens.

I also led my first workshop.

August
This month can be summed up with the word boxes. We have work to be done on the house, rewiring and re-plumbing (to start with).The storage unit was sorted and we began sorting, disposing of, and packing.

The quote for the rewiring was selected with a provisional starting date of October.

Guest post by Sally Quilford.

September
The writing stopped for most of this month. But I did attend a book launch in Waterstones Nottingham, for Cathy Bramley's The Lemon Tree Café.

October
This was a good and bad month.

Having signed up to Readly earlier in the year, I was researching what magazine filler slots there were available.

As well as sorting and packing I had other time consuming commitments. But they all faded into the background when my OH was hospitalised for a short spell, and recovery was slow. Very happy to say he's okay now and is feeling much better than before that happened.

My shelf sorting revealed my box of old floppy disks of short stories, articles and my first novel (unfinished). Even better I can access them for future use.

November
Eye issues and new glasses. The unpleasant winter cough and cold bug. :(

December
Two Christmas parties.

Looking back, I haven't made as much progress as I'd hoped on my main project, which is a big disappointment.

But there's been positives across the year. I still co-host #writingchat on a Wednesday evening on Twitter (when I'm not at the writers' club).

I have been a Belmont Belle for 18 months (the Leicester Chapter of the RNA), and celebrated my second Christmas party with them all. :-)

Both of these have given me insights and knowledge I didn't have when I joined them, and in turn they've increased my confidence in so many ways- thank you all.

My 2016 word count was: 34.612
My 2017 word count (currently): 35,884 - to be updated after Christmas.

So to my targets for 2018...

Get that second draft completed.
Continue to be open to writing opportunities and experiences.
Rewrite/revise a few of those short stories I found on my floppy disks.
More reading and much more writing.

And especially to keep writing while all the work is being done on the house...

Think Eyes...

Yes, I'm still here.

It's been a month of good and bad since my last post.

It's been a month of sorting, packing, dismantling, cough & cold- feeling very weak- and getting new varifocals.

New
glasses...

I'd been having problems with my eyes for a couple of months, so booked my annual eye appointment at the Opticians - two months early. The good news is I'm less short-sighted than I was, but the less positive news is that I have the start of macular degeneration.

I now have new super-duper glasses, with lenses that transition in bright light; less issue from glare and fuzziness with car headlights and illuminated bus signs too. But best of all I can look at the computer screen without doing head contortions to focus, and my eyes aren't tired after a couple of hours.

I'll have to get a new photo taken next month so I can update my profile picture with the new specs.

It also means I can get on with some writing now- when I'm not packing boxes!

Meanwhile here's some useful advice from the College of Optometrists re Screen Use.

Eyes are an important work tool for every writer so look after them...







Image from Pixabay.

Finding Treasure in Boxes...

Now I need to say at the start this treasure is not the archetypal pirate treasure- coins, jewellery and other goodies along with the odd skull.

This treasure is my past writings.

As a teenager I used a pen and pages of A4. I moved on to a portable typewriter, and from there to a Brother Word Processor- work was saved to floppy disks. (Yes we're talking 20th century...)

Then I moved onto my first computer (an XP) with a floppy disk drive in the tower, so I carried on using them.

When that computer eventually died Windows 7 was the latest operating system; but it didn't have a floppy disk drive anymore, so I had to buy an external version with the USB connection.

I was able to access some of the items, but others were unreadable. I left them in the storage box and resigned myself to searching for a programme that would enable my computer to read my saved work. It never happened and I packed the box away somewhere.

After all I did have some of the work printed out ...somewhere.

Then last weekend, clearing one of the shelves in the corner bookcase- it needs to be moved for the rewiring work- I pulled out a compact blue box from the corner. I knew what it was instantly. My floppy disks.

A box of treasure

Downing the small paintbrush (for dusting books) and soft cloth I went to my office and rummaged on the shelf for the floppy disk reader- would it even work on the Windows 10 desktop?

I plugged in the USB and nothing, it wasn't recognised. All my excitement at my discovery went pancake flat. As a final check before unplugging I opened File Explorer and there it was.

Floppy disk reader, old manuscripts
file box...

Reviewing the floppies I chose one labelled short stories 1, inserted it into the reader, listened as it whirred noisily, and then a box opened on my screen displaying numbered stories (SS1, SS2 etc).

Clicking on the first one, Notepad opened the story; I scrolled down and I immediately remembered writing that tale- it was one I'd wanted to rewrite, but thought lost forever.

Opening more,assured me they were okay, so I set about copying and pasting from Notepad into a Word document.

Then I found the disks from my first incomplete novel; I'd started writing it in 2000 and got to about 40,000 words where I'd reached my planned ending. That was when I realised that I'd only gotten half way, there was more story to follow- the possibilities had quickly started flowing through my mind.

 But I stopped there. I realised that I didn't have the skills I needed to complete it- I didn't know anything about writing drafts. I had to go and learn how to write properly. That was how I came to join the local writers' club.

So it was with some trepidation that I now slipped the novel disk into the reader, but all that came up was a box showing formatting and asking me what I wanted to display it in, there were three choices, and in my disappointment I didn't really take in what it was asking me.

As I tried the other disks the same problem, my disappointment grew until I stopped and read what was being asked. I chose an option but nothing happened; it was a frustrated turn of the mouse wheel that scrolled down the box a bit,  and there among the little formatting symbols was text I could read!

I began the copying and pasting again but accepted I needed to do this a bit at a time, so saved and backed-up everything I'd transferred.

That box isn't going to be packed away anywhere for some time.

So if I'm ever irritated by something Windows 10 does, please remind me that it helped me retrieve my early writing that I thought had been lost forever...

Sorting the Office Out...

You may have noticed I've been absent for a while. Well we're having a massive sort out at home.

Lots of things are going into boxes and into storage so we can create as much space as possible for the Electrician/Plumber to do the work needed.

This week it's the Living Room and Office.

It has given the opportunity to shift furniture around to improve the space we have.

Of course it's meant no writing is getting done- not what I'd planned for the summer- but it has given me the opportunity to catch up on my to be read list that was building up.

I'm currently reading Bill Bryson's 'The Road to Little Dribbling'. I picked up the paperback in Waterstones a few months ago, and friends have said how much they enjoyed his books, so I thought I'd try one.

I'm enjoying it so far, and I do like his writing style/voice.

Yesterday, keeping out of the way while the new storage unit was being put together in the kitchen, I read Stephanie Laurens 'An Irresistible Alliance' on Kindle. This was much better than the first of the three Devil's Brood Trilogy, and I'm looking forward to having time to read book 3, 'The Greatest Challenge of Them All'.

And a few days before that I read the first two books of Debbie Young's Sophie Sayers Village Mysteries ( Best Murder in Show, and Trick or Murder?). This is cosy crime with murder but no graphic detail. It as much about Sophie, bookshop owner Hector and the assorted villagers as the murder involved. Fun to read books most definitely.

That's my time up, back to sorting and packing...

sorting & boxing...

Windows 10 Reinstallation is Not Scary...

I spent the weekend doing a clean reinstall of Windows 10.

For my friends who have already heard this- I apologise- but decided as I blogged about my initial trials and tribulations of setting up my (new) Windows 10 computer last year, I thought I might as well reveal this latest issue and solution.

At some point in the last 6-8 months something interfered with the Windows update system-despite the security and malware systems. I had the rare update fail to install, but usually they reinstalled the next time.

One of the advantages of Windows 10 is that the security updates are checked for and installed in the background, so unless you actually go into your settings and look at the update history you don't know whether anything important has failed to install.

It was pure chance I happened to look and saw a couple of big updates from the March Security update had failed, and failed... The system kept trying to install these updates and they kept failing. When I did the manual update they kept failing too...

Sadly the system doesn't alert you to this, which is a weakness. So I'd definitely suggest checking your update history now and then.

So off I went to the online tech support for Windows, and over the next 24 hours, five different (but very understanding) techs from across the globe tried to resolve my issue via remote access. Sadly each time this wretched update failed at the last moment- after the tech had signed off.

An important. task..

If you ever have an update that keeps failing you'll find an option to fix problems in Windows updates. You'll need to check your computer/laptops settings as they can be different.

Go to your computer's Control Panel, choose the Systems and Security option.

On my machine it's then Troubleshoot Common Computer Problems, and on clicking that you should be able to find Fix problems in Windows updates. Sometimes it will also say during the process something about administrator permissions, so just click that and then the next button. It will do it's magic and show you what has been fixed.

Every time my system was fixed, but it didn't stay fixed...

Eventually tech no.5 in Israel told me I had 2 options: a refresh, or reinstallation. Apparently the refresh would be a waste of time, and I'd be better off reinstalling. They sent me an email with the link to the info I needed.

March and April are the busiest months for me, so I put it off. Other security updates were installing okay.

Then this horrible ransomware issue emerged on Friday in the UK.

This was when my uninstalled big update of various patches became serious. My computer was not patched. And although I was not a company or big organisation, my computer was still vulnerable because of the missing patch.

So I did a final back up of anything not yet backed up. (You might like to read Simon Whaley's latest post over on his The Business of Writing site about backing-up your work.)

Then I read up on clean installation process, it was actually relatively easy. I was also able to reinstall from the Anniversary edition (that was released last Summer) rather than from the memory stick with the original version.

Go to your computer settings, then Update and Security. Select Recovery from the list on the left-hand side, it's just a matter of following the instructions and selecting the option you need.

The longest part was the downloading- though it does say you can continue to use the computer meanwhile. Once the installation begins you do need to be there as you're required to set the country and language, but it doesn't take too long; you just need to sign into the computer again each time as it needs to restart through the process.

Of course once it's all back in place you then need to go through all the settings just as if you'd just got the computer.

Most of the programmes (apps) I need I've reinstalled, and that important security update installed first time.

It's also solved some minor display problems I had: the missing sign-in at the top right of my blog screen reappeared, and on Facebook, where the stats show for individual posts, in the insights on my Carol Bevitt-writer and Serena Lake pages, they came back too. I hadn't associated them with my computer issues.

So far all is going okay.

I'll be blogging with some news and links on Sunday, so I'm glad the computer is fixed...



image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

Reading is Essential...

It's been a busy few weeks, so having time to think ahead for writing blog posts has been like wading through a room full of individual macrame strands hanging from the ceiling. You get through one set and can breathe for a moment before tackling the next set...

Despite the disruptions I've been able to do some writing- my 1920's based story- and I've finally started reading a few of the many books in my digital to-be-read list on my Kindle.

Every year I buy a few books that are set against a Christmas backdrop, and I always intend to read them over the Christmas holiday, but I never do. Now it's almost Spring, and I'm reading an historical romance set at- you guessed it- Christmas.

Actually I'm also reading a couple of Simon Whaley's books too, one chapter at a time when I have a spare ten minutes; The Positively Productive Writer, and Volume 1 of his latest book, The Business of Writing.

Books and Bath...

I've signed up to Readily.com, so I can read a number of different magazines each month- and back copies too. When many of the magazines are £3 and upward an issue, a monthly charge of £7.99 isn't bad. And it's a good way of finding filler opportunities.

The latest issue of Writing Magazine arrived today, and it has the first of the two competition specials they produce each year.

Next week isn't as busy as the second half of February was, so I'll be getting back to the keyboard and raising my word count.

And I still need to sort out the dates and bookings for my trip to Bath.

All that will keep me out of mischief... :D

A Very Slow Start...

Getting back to the normal everyday routine is not going well.

So this coming week I really must be tough with myself.

Over the years I've learnt to listen to my inner writer, it's that little voice that says you really should or shouldn't do something, whether it's writing or generally. When I ignore it I usually find later that it was the wrong thing to do.

Well that's what happened the other day, and it was quite a shock.

You may have previously seen me mention an epistolary story that I'd written for one of the quarterly prose competitions at the writers club, and that I intended to rewrite it for a Writing Magazine subscribers competition currently running.

Well I made a copy to work on from the version on my external drive, settled down to read through it and see where improvements and additions could be made to increase the overall length to be within the required word count.

At the time it was originally written I had a sneaky feeling it needed to be longer, but I had no idea in what way; so I was fairly confident that I'd be able to work on it now.

Having decided how I could extend the 900 word story without losing the best bits of the existing story, I considered how I could create a slightly more resolved ending.

That was when my inner voice screamed: STOP! Don't do it! It's NOT FINISHED! There's a bigger story behind this. You need to tell that story before you write the end!

And that is not an exaggeration...

After a few deep breaths and half a mug of coffee I felt calm enough to look at the text again, and I knew that inner voice was right. It won't work at the required length for the competition.

It's certainly not a full length work, nor a short novel. Perhaps it's a longer short story or a novella.

So it's being put aside to brew whilst I get on with other stories.

Will I be able to write epistolary story to fit the entry requirements? I don't know. But I do know the decision I made about this existing one was right.

Like the plants in the picture, some stories are neat and compact, and others keep growing where they want to...

Stories can be like
these plants...

November Means the Bad Sex in Fiction Shortlist...

Around this time in November the shortlist for the Bad Sex in Fiction Award is announced.

The Award  was established by Auberon Waugh, the then editor of the Literary Review, and literary critic Rhoda Koenig.

It has been awarded every year since 1993.

"the Bad Sex in Fiction Award has honoured an author who has produced an outstandingly bad scene of sexual description in an otherwise good novel. The purpose of the prize is to draw attention to poorly written, perfunctory or redundant passages of sexual description in modern fiction."
Literary Review

When you consider how many books are produced, it's going to be the mainstream published type that will get the most notice, and readers who think these books deserved nominating...

You can read about a few of the nominated authors who escaped the shortlist in this Guardian article about this year's list.

(The new US President Elect was nominated apparently, but was excluded because it wasn't fiction...)

So this year's contenders:

A Doubter's Almanac by Ethan Canin

The Tobacconist by Robert Seethaler

Men Like Air by Tom Connolly

The Butcher's Hook by Janet Ellis

Leave Me by Gayle Forman

The Day Before Happiness by Erri De Luca


Having read the entries for this year, I can't see why Gayle Forman was included...

Whoever wins will likely see a rise in sales following the announcement on the 30th November.

Of the candidates this year, it has to be Erri De Luca's The Day Before Happiness. But Janet Ellis does deserve a commendation for The Butcher's Hook...

Which will win?

image courtesy of       & freedigitalphotos.net

Spam is doing the Rounds...

I've been so busy this past week that I haven't had time to check into my blog until today.

Unfortunately some potentially offensive spam was able to be posted on the comments on one of my more recent October posts. :(

If anyone was offended, please accept my apologies...

Sadly the spammers found a way around Blogger's system for detecting spam postings, so they appeared in the visible comments.

It does mean I'll be altering my settings on past posts to avoid any more incidents like this; so if you do comment on an older post I'll review them and then be able to confirm it's okay and allow it to be published.

I don't want to have to review every comment first, so I hope Blogger will quickly pick up these spammers posts.

An evening view...

Back to Work and Poetry...

An orderly routine at home has been restored with the academic year beginning, so that means undisturbed writing time.

Well that's the general plan...

I've bought my portable hard drive so I now have an ultimate back-up;  as I retype my Nottinghamshire short novel it's being saved onto it as well as the memory stick.

(Plus anything else I don't want to lose has been saved.)

Three forms of saving must be enough?

As friends on Facebook will have seen, I discovered that not only had I lost the first three chapters of draft 2, I had lost the whole 1st draft too.

The situation could have been horrible, but as mentioned last time, I print out each chapter as I complete it, so there is a copy of the completed first draft to work from.

Surprisingly I didn't panic, that is after the initial moment of horror at discovering the file was gone.

Rather than retyping the 1st draft again- which would take me too long- I decided the most practical solution is to retype the first three chapters from draft 2 (as planned), then once I start chapter four I'll rewrite using my print copy and the notes I'd previously made for draft 2.

The way forward...

Prevents me wasting time and ensures I still make progress despite the set-back.

As I read through and retype I've also started compiling reminder notes on a file card for each chapter. Not something I've tried before, but in the circumstances I thought I'd see if it helps with the rewriting and editing of future drafts.

Being open to new ideas is good. Which now ties into the poetry item...

I attended a short workshop about writing poetry (last night at the writers' club). The aim of the session was to encourage the attendees that even if they didn't think they could write a poem, they could discover methods that would help them do so.

Negativity was not allowed.

Admittedly by the end of the evening I was quite enthusiastic about working on the last poem I wrote, about an old glass bottle with the chemist's name - we were given a selection of objects to choose from and the little glass bottle immediately drew my attention.

Whether I can actually make a decent poem out of it I have no idea, but I said I'd try.






Image courtesy of Stuart Miles & www.freedigitalphotos.net

Lost and Found...

Saving the story...

I've now got my portable hard drive, so I'll be saving my work in progress as I go along, not just on a memory stick and a print copy (you can never have enough back-ups :D ).

There was near disaster when I discovered that one of the memory sticks lost the first three chapters of my second draft of my Nottinghamshire story. It was on the memory stick, then the next time I plugged it in, it was gone.

A writer friend suggested I download a retrieval programme and see if it could find it. Sadly it was gone forever.

Fortunately I print out the completed chapters as I go along, so I haven't lost all that work I did earlier in the year.

But it will mean retyping it into a new document. :(

So I better go and get on with it... :-)

Have you ever lost work due to digital mishaps?

Discoveries...

For those of you who had a Bank Holiday on Monday, I hope you enjoyed it.

I did a little gardening, but spent most of the day sorting through the memory sticks (aka flash drives, thumb drives, USB sticks) to find out what was on the unlabelled ones- not my fault... :-)

There was one stick that would no longer open on my computer, or my OH's laptop. I think I know what was on it- it was the first two chapters of an idea that just didn't work at the time. I do have one stick that has a lot images and files on, so I think that some of the lost items are also on there- and it still works.

There were quite a few duplicates- a few of the photos had three or four copies between the different sized sticks, so I was able to free up a couple of them as a result.

Holding memories and
tales to be told...

Among all these old documents I found a few stories that I'd started and either didn't finish, or the idea didn't appeal at the time. So I'll be looking at them to see if there's anything I can salvage now.

I bought some white strung tags so every stick is now labelled with subject and memory size, so I can easily find the one I want.

If you buy a new computer with Windows 10 on it, as I needed to, it will have the 3.0 USB slots. Though you might have a model with both 2.0 and 3.0 USB slots, so it's worth checking.

Fortunately my computer still opens the 2nd generation sticks I have, but that's not guaranteed on all new computers apparently, as I discovered when I was searching to find out why one of my sticks wouldn't open or be recognised.

Needless to say I will be investing in a good portable hard drive as soon as possible to transfer essential items. That way I don't have to use the one my OH bought for his computer files.

Where technology is concerned I opt for the 'change only when necessary', but sometimes you just have to do it sooner...

Making Lists Again...

Almost at the August Bank Holiday again- where has summer gone?

I'm going to be grabbing writing time here and there for the next few weeks as the new academic year approaches.

My son at university, starts his third and final year, but will also be on the other campus this time, so he'll be in a shared house. This means we'll have to go out with him to buy the additional items he'll need before he moves in early next month.

Son at college goes back for the final year of his computer course mid-September, so that will be full steam ahead with writing on the two full days he's there. He's also waiting for the results of his GCSE Maths- due this coming week.

Still working...

I'm filling up my 2016/2017 diary with appointments and other events, so I'm going to have to be stricter with myself to ensure I have writing and reading time between now and Christmas.

I haven't made as much progress as I'd hoped, but that's been my time management issues this year.

When my children were younger and at school I used to write more in the morning, but now they're older and I don't have the time restraints, it's lunchtime, early afternoon before I settle. So I need to get back some of my mornings to write.

It would probably help if I didn't stay up until midnight too. :D

There are a few deadlines for projects approaching, so they'll be the top of my list- they are writing so that's okay.

As for my 1920's project, it's slow going. Whether I can get the pocket novel tone is quite another issue...

Right, I'm off to consult my diary and see what free time I have this week...







image courtesy of Salvatore Vuono at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

First or Third Person Viewpoint...

I've always preferred third person viewpoint, both writing and reading.

Occasionally I have written a short story from the first person viewpoint, but I hadn't intended it. I started writing and that was how the character and story seemed to fit.

Now I'm in the same situation again with this 1920's story- hopefully a pocket novel.

As I've been writing blocks of dialogue from the ideas in my head, I've been getting inside the mind of my heroine, but I do wonder if that will remain once I start adding description and narrative, or will I find I'm writing in the third person as usual?

Though the idea of using first person would fit this particular plot well I'm really not sure I can carry it off!

I suspect there will be a lot of editing by the time I've finished it-whichever direction it goes...

So what's your thoughts on viewpoint in your writing? Do you prefer a particular viewpoint, or does it depend on the story you're writing?

First or Third?

Image courtesy of jesadaphorn at www.freedigitalphotos.net

Regrets and Serendipity...

Thank you all for all your support and kind words recently, it encouraged and reminded me that sometimes I need to step back and relax and not feel guilty for it.

And of course, when I did stop worrying, my creativity returned.

That was when I regretted not buying that old book last month.

The old book that I picked up, browsed, then put back down on the book stall during the rainy day at Lowdham Book Festival. I'd left it, deciding it wasn't useful. :(

While it's noisy at home at the moment, I decided to do some research for an idea that may be suitable as a pocket novel, as it's buzzing around my brain at the moment.

If you want to know about Steam Locomotives there's lots of information on the internet, and plenty of photographic examples, but interior views of the carriages on the line I am interested in, no. I could find a few pictures for the 1890's.

So I decided that the start would need a rethink and put it aside.

Then today I popped into an Oxfam book shop that I'd never visited before, and a very well-worn cloth bound book caught my attention. The books of the early 20th century were often cloth-bound, so I always look at these when I see them.

I'd found a gem. The Blue Guides to England. They are still going and you can read more here.

There were a few pages loose, but they were there. There were little maps of different regions of the country, information on stations, buses, fares and hotels, as well as the standard tourist information of the time. Everything a visitor to England might need to know in the late 1930's. And no adverts.

From America to England the steamer took 5-10 days, and just like now it cost more to travel in the summer season; off season was 10% less.

The rail route I was interested in described the views as the train travelled from London to Brighton, the classes available and how long the journey could take.

Of course all the fares and hotel charges are in pre-decimal currency, so £-s-d.

I'm old enough to remember those, and many of the coins shown here. My pocket-money as a child was a thruppenny bit (three pence). :-)

It's going to be fun to dip into the pages and learning more about places I've visited, over the years.

But I will be getting on with the writing/editing too.