Autumn Colour...

My assumption that I would be back to normal in a few more days has proved to be over-optimistic, as my ability to concentrate is still short term, so I'm holding off on my planned post- probably until next week.

In the meantime I thought I'd share a few autumn views. Even these simple images inspire ideas in my brain...

You may have seen my butterfly pictures from previous summers, so as soon as the Buddleia bush is trimmed back-to avoid fence damage in autumn high winds- I can enjoy the view of the Cotoneaster with its ripening berries, and the arrival of Blackbirds to gobble their way down the stems- between now and next spring.

Cotoneaster berries- inspiring story ideas...

In the Summer this bush gets swamped by the long branches of the Buddleia bush next to it.

This wasn't planted by us, but was seeded by the birds from droppings many years ago.

A few weeks ago the berries were at the
orange stage.




The Ivy has to be trimmed regularly, but it looks wonderful in the snow...

Ivy growing around the Buddleia

And the reminder that winter is on the way, but spring will return...

Last roses of the year...

Making Progress...

Have just finished the first draft of Chapter 4.

It was just the end of the scene which has been swirling around in my head each night as I'm going to sleep, and the fact I haven't been able to finish it (until today) was irritating me.

I think having had to write the synopsis for the Mary Street competition entry, to go with the first three chapters, has got my brain working in the background, building on those ideas, so chapter 4 was nearer my normal 3,000 words per chapter.

I've also discovered, that by having the image board by my desk, my brain never completely switches the story off, so even when I've not been able to get back to the story for a week, having the visuals close by has made it easier to pick up where I left off at my last writing session.

Looking back, the last couple of years have been a big learning experience.

I've found what works best for me and my life, so I'm making progress...

Making progress...

Image courtesy of artur84/ http://freedigitalphotos.net

The Image Board Works!

That cork board for pinning images has been really worthwhile.

Since last weekend additional pictures have been added - bearing in mind the senses I know what cologne my hero wears and there's a picture of the bottle on the board now.

I also didn't have a title I was happy with when I  bought it, but three days later the new title jumped into my conscious, and a quick check on existing book titles on Amazon didn't show a book with that exact title. It also fitted the plot perfectly.

Sadly it will be a few months before I can reveal the new title, as my first three chapters and synopsis have gone off for submitting to the judge.

The first three chapters went through intense rewriting, and I needed to take bits of chapter 4 and make them part of chapter 3, which in turn created a better, but new, Chapter 3 ending. Then it was minor tinkering, changing a word here, a sentence there, or cutting a complete paragraph.

No doubt by the time I finish the complete first draft there will be more ideas I need to include early on, but I'm going to get on with it while my brain is co-operating.

I will certainly be carrying on using the image board with my other stories in future too, as they just made the connections between characters and ideas easier to include or discard.

Also I've realised that for me, writing a little and often soon builds up, and may actually work better for my sometimes hectic family life...

Working hard...






Image courtesy of supakitmod/ http://freedigitalphotos.net

Memories Inspire...

I've just been posting an album, to my personal Facebook page, of some of the photos that I took in Bath last month- a few I'd previously used in my blog posts, but there are others I didn't use...

That got me thinking how often my story ideas are inspired, triggered, by visual images; or an image brings buried memories to the surface.

I admit that I am one of those annoying people who will be watching an old movie on TV and say, 'oh, this is the one where...' I'm sure you know someone like that. I apologise. :)

A lot of my photos would mean little to anyone else because they are connected to a particular idea I have, a thought about a possible scene, or a specific character. Some are just to capture how something looks.

I even have images for ideas that don't even exist yet, but something told me I needed to take a photo of it- I just put it down to how my brain works.

If I have a camera at hand, good, but if I don't then some images get stored. I don't have a photographic memory, so perhaps it's more a 'selective' memory, though perhaps we all do that...

I haven't touched my Dorset novel for over a year because I've concentrated on the novella, but I will be coming back to it soon - even if it means alternating weeks on the two stories.

I was looking through all the photos I have saved from my research trips to Dorset, and I found one particular one that I can see my hero Marcus reproducing, but I have to write the rest of the story (chapter 4 onwards) to reach that stage.

This is my husband late afternoon on Chesil Beach looking out to sea. The picture is from 2008-sadly the pixels were low on the camera I was using, so it's not as good as I'd like...

 But it does remind me of the light, and the movement

Looking out to sea on Chesil Beach...

 of the sea when the weather is calm.

Images capture a moment in time, and whenever we look at them they remind us of the past- both good and bad.

Glad to say, this is one of many happy images...

Expanding Talents...

I've been looking to replace my digital camera for some time, but have been frustrated by how small many of them are.

April Evening Sky

Now my hands are not slim- they are quite wide, so I have quite a bit of trouble holding a compact camera securely and pressing the button without getting my fingers across the image somewhere.

So I went to my nearest camera shop- a small chain, and explained what I needed, what I wanted to use it for, and what I'm able to do so far. I came away with a bridge camera.

A Bridge camera is a mid-point between a Compact and a DSLR. If you haven't ventured beyond a compact then have a look at this link to find out a little more.

Hawthorn in Bud

I've been trying out the different settings, attempting to familiarise myself with everything. I've not tried the manual adjustments yet...

Now my trip to Bath is booked, I want to be able to take some reasonable photos to capture all I see there.

I have images in my memory from other short visits, but I've never been able to see the city at different times of day- how light falls can give completely different impressions to places.

It will be used for a story one day...

Here's a few images from my first attempt, with no
 image adjustment.

Me

I even took a shadow selfie - deliberately (in case you thought it was a mistake) because I liked the evening light falling on the brickwork. It wasn't intended for anything, just an experiment, hence the window ledge, washing line and the pipe in view...

There is a world of potential images and memories ready to be captured with a camera; whether it's on your phone, tablet, or other device.

Not sure how many images I'll end up taking in Bath, but the memory card will be more than enough for what I'll need... :D