Not one to be left out, heres a bonus post for you today, for those of you into stats!
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 31,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 7 Film Festivals
Or should they be called goals?
No, no To Do List today….this is my 2nd week off 🙂
Ok, I make a list every year (don’t we all?) but I can’t share with you last years list as I don’t know what I’ve done with it lol. I thought I’d stuck it on my blog, but I didn’t 😦 I think that means we can safely assume that I didn’t stick to them lol
So, what am I planning this year?
1. Read a fiction book a week/a writing guide each month. I’m so fed up not being able to find the time to read, well, that’s what I tell myself, that I don’t have time 😦
2. Have at least 1 writing session per week “out” somewhere. Go to a coffee shop, or the library, anywhere to get me out if the house to write!
3. Tidy and declutter the house. *groan* but it really needs doing.
4. Continue with the diet. I lost a stone, but half of that has gone back on (what can i say, its Christmas! lol) but I need to keep going to get back to what I was in 2008 🙂
5. Go to the gym more. Isn’t that on everyone’s resolution list?
courtesy of Stuart Miles/freedigitalphotos
6. Write every day! I’m use to this, I’ve done it for a whole year already. Plus I’ve joined Sally Quilfords 100K in 100 Days Challenge.
7. Get WIP finished by the end of Faber course. First 5000 words of The Last Word Cafe needed for February.
8. Go out somewhere once a week. We use to do this, I’m not too sure why we stopped lol
9. Cut down the smoking. *gulp*
10. Keep a “Writing Journal.” Like Jill Dawson described.
I have a few other goals like drink more water, have a Peter Jones style Boxing Day once a month, plus cook more lol. But the 10 above are the ones I really wanna stick to 🙂
Wish me luck! What are your Resolutions/Goals for 2013?
If you’re off out partying tonight, have a good one. It’ll be a quiet one here on the sofa as hubby’s not very well. Not that we’d planned anything anyway lol 😉
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
As from the first of January I’ll be changing the blog schedule (and the layout) and will only be posting 4 days a week. It’s gunna feel weird, as I’m so use to posting every day, but, it will free up my time to do other things.
So the new schedule looks like this:
Mondays: Plans for the week
Tuesdays: Faber until April
Wednesdays: Nope, sorry, day off. Apart from one post once a month, IWSG!
Thursdays: Fraid not.
Fridays: A random post.
Saturdays: Faber once a month until April and random stuff.
Sundays: I’ll be chilling 😉
Some of the random posts will be fiction, inspirations, reviews and I’ll even share some pages from my journal. I’ve been working on a timetable (which I may share at some stage). And so far I have filled 12 hours every day with stuff I need to do *gulp*
Awwwww, it’s the end of an era! 😦 What will I do with myself? lol. Probably start wading through this lot and trying to write a novel *snigger*
I’d just like to take this opportunity to say THANK YOU to everyone who’s commented, liked, followed and read my blog. 2012 hasn’t been a bad year all told. There have been moments where I wanted to give up (blogging and writing), but I’m glad I stuck with it. I’ve met some fantastic people on this journey, and I’m so looking forward to sharing 2013 with you all 🙂
Don’t they say a change is as good as a holiday? 😉
Got any plans to change your Blog for 2013?
Continuing on from yesterday’s post about committing to daily writing I thought I’d share with you this wonderful resource 🙂
Jerry Seinfields Dont Break The Chain which I actually discovered last year.
Seinfeld’s method for success: Each January, he hangs a large year-at-a-glance calendar on his wall and, for every day he writes, he has the pleasure of drawing a big red “X” over that day.
Drawing those Xs is fun and rewarding, so he keeps doing it. Soon he creates a chain of red Xs.
The idea is to never break the chain.
This programs your body and mind to sit down and write daily – but it also motivates you to continue the beautiful string of big, red Xs. If you don’t write one day, you don’t get to draw the X.
It doesn’t matter what you write. Blogs, articles, fiction, your memoir. It can be anything, as long as you’re actively and daily pushing yourself and more importantly, writing every single day!
So if you want to give it a go (I will be again this year) you can download your copy of the calendar from the Writers Store here! It’s free of charge and once you’ve downloaded it once, you can just print it off every year.
I failed miserably with mine last year (I think I got to March lol) but that was probably because I didn’t have a desk or a wall I could stick it on (I was using my dining room). But this year, now I have my own little corner I have somewhere to put it 🙂
Fancy it?
Firstly, my apologies…..I am so behind with blog reading (about 3 days) but I will catch up over the weekend, I promise 🙂
On the 31st December I am due to finish using Judy Reeves book, A Writers Book Of Days which has been my companion throughout 2012. I’m a firm believer in a daily writing practice and I have no hesitation in saying that using Judy’s book has improved my writing ten fold. Yes, it’s been hard work at times. There have been days when I really haven’t felt like writing, there have been days when the prompt given didn’t really inspire me. But I still did it, and have written a piece for every single prompt in the book (well, ok, it’s not the 31st yet, but do you honestly think I’ll give up now? Lol). There are about 400 prompts in the book (the 365 plus bonus ones) and if you average it out as 500 words per prompt, plus my Nano work I reckon that in 2012 I wrote, approximately….220,000 words! 🙂
It was only after Nano that I realised that the book was actually coming to an end. When I turned that page and saw December. Now, I could just start all over again on January the 1st, but that’s not really a challenge is it? I want something new, something different. So, I’ve decided that during 2013 I will be working with this.
The Daily Writer by Fred White looks brilliant! I’m so excited to be starting another year round challenge (I don’t make life easy for myself do I?). I’m hoping there will be lots of inspiring ideas in this one that I can share 🙂
But to keep me on track with the WIP (The Last Word Cafe) I’ve joined Sally Quilfords 100K in 100 Days challenge. Which is to write 1000 words a day every day…piece of cake after Nano right? 😉 I did it last year but didn’t keep track of how many words I wrote every day, (and this year Sallys set up a FaceBook group!) so I’ll be more aware of my word count 🙂 It’s so hard when you hand write a lot though….so 2013 will see me using the MacBook Air for all my writing. I will kind of miss my notebooks, but I’m sure I’ll be able to fill them with lots of other stuff 🙂
Fancy joining me this year? committing to writing daily?
To continue with the theme of editing this month I came across an excellent video on YouTube where writer David Farland gives a talk that describes his editing process.
Farland breaks his editing down into 6 separate processes/types of edit:
1. Triage
2. Voice Edit
3. Descriptive Edit
4. Shotgun
5. Syllabic
6. Line Edit
It’s a very interesting talk, and yes, it is long. So grab a coffee, your notebook and pen and enjoy. A lot of what he said made total sense to me, although the idea of editing my MS 6 times is a little daunting! Lol
I think I’m beginning to know where to start now. How about you?
Boxing Day was traditionally the day that people gave their servants a Christmas Box, a small gift to recognise their loyalty and service.
As a child, I thought it literally meant that they had boxing matches on this day 😉 Most of my childhood was spent knowing that Boxing Day meant a large spread of buffet style food and a visit from family. A chance to all get together for a party!
As an adult, I’ve still kept the tradition of having a spread, but, as we don’t have family to invite round (all say awwwww lol) it’s turned into a relaxing day, almost a pyjama day! Lol.
It made me laugh when I first read Peter Jones book, How To Do Everything and Be Happy (which I HIGHLY recommend by the way) because he has adopted the idea of having a Boxing Day once a month, which I do try to do.
So today I’m going to spend the whole day reading 🙂 I’m not gunna even pick up a pen or go on my iPad…..if you see me online SHOUT AT ME!
See you on the other side!
courtesy of digitalart/freedigitalphotos
what are your plans for today, now that Christmas Day has been and gone?
Been up since just before 5am….. A combination between excitement and knowing there’s a lot to do today 😉 Unfortunately, it seems I’m the only one in our house today who was eager! So I spent the next 3 hours sodding about on Facebook and Twitter (which were quite dead as everyone was busy opening presents!) catching up with blog stuff and writing my prompt. Two cups of tea later and feeling pretty bored I finally had company.
As far as I’m concerned you should open your Christmas presents in the dark, don’t you think? It’s not the same when it’s daylight outside, that’s just wrong! Right, that’s it, next year I’m getting them all up earlier!
Not a great amount of presents under the tree this year because the kids ain’t kids anymore *deep sigh*
But, it does appear that I have been a very good girl! There was only 1 thing on my Christmas list this year and it seems that Santa* thought I deserved it 🙂
A MAC AIR! *squeals* It’s still in its box but I’ll be fiddling with it later 🙂
Am now recovering from a hearty Christmas dinner 🙂
Hope you’re all having a lovely day….can’t wait for my pudding!
*Huge thank you to the hubster 🙂
Yeah yeah, I know it’s officially To Do List day, but, I’m having a couple of weeks off 🙂
It’s Christmas Eve people! 🙂 Are your stockings ready?
This is our tree 🙂
I will be posting tomorrow (because I have to or I’ll break my blog every day for a year challenge) but it will probably only be pics of my pressies.
So all that remains is for me to say…..
Courtesy of digitalart/freedigitalphotos
Have a lovely day 🙂
And I hope Santa brings you lots of good stuff! 😉
Now….I’m off for a mince pie! I may be a little quiet…it will depend on whether Santa brings me what I wanted 😉
A quick post today I’m afraid, but with the link to a fabulous resource!
Courtesy of Stuart Miles/freedigitalphotos
Those of you who read the Womag blog would have seen this, but for those of you who don’t…..
Wendy Clark has a very clever husband! He has designed a Story Timeline template for other writers to use (and share, on condition she is credited).
Follow the link above to download, and if you’re going to share please credit Wendy (or rather, Mr Wendy) with a link.
Have fun! I’ve downloaded mine already, and boy, is it gunna come in handy!
PLEASE NOTE:
A newer version is now available with extra features. Find the details here : Story Timeline
The View Outside 