More Choice…..

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…..means the harder it is to choose lol. Well, that’s what I discovered yesterday when I was still sitting there at lunch time not having a clue what to write for the someone cheated prompt lol. I finally had a brain wave and managed to write a short story….phew 😉

Yesterday was the first day of normality…..hubby went back to work…..the house was so quiet. It felt odd. The diet starts on Saturday, the house cleaning starts on Monday, so I really should take the opportunity to put my feet up and eat chocolate shouldn’t I? He he he

Stumbled across this website today. Well, I say stumbled, it was actually a link on another blog I read 😉 Anyway, looks interesting…. One to keep an eye on me thinks 😉

Sent my cheque off yesterday, so i guess I’m now officially enrolled with The Write Place where you will find me on Wednesday evenings from now on 🙂 Really looking forward to my first session next week. I’m going to go to the later sessions, as I think they will be more beneficial to me, where my writing is, at the moment.

I did think that I was a ‘novel’ writing person. But, the more I practice writing short stories, the easier I’m finding it, and the more enjoyable its becoming. Unfortunately, at the moment, most of them seem to be under 500 words. I guess that’s ‘flash fiction’ then isn’t it? Is there a market for that? Most magazines seems to want around the 2000 word mark.

Today’s prompt is write about the passing of hours and, through word association, what sprang to mind was Michael Cunningham and Mrs Dalloway lol 😉 I went to see Cunningham at The Southbank Centre in the summer. He was doing a talk as part of their Literary Festival….lovely man 🙂

To round off, I have a quote from Roddy Doyle……”Regard every new page as a small triumph”

I do try to 😉

Another One Added

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Oh dear lol….. My Amazon Wish List is getting longer and longer 😉

I read A Round Heeled Woman back in 2007, so although I knew the basic story, I had forgotten all the references to Trollope lol…..so now, I’m thinking, perhaps I should actually read some Trollope lol

Yesterdays prompt, walls the colour of tears was hard. I’ve really struggled I have to say 😦 But, I managed to come up with a story about a guy who is so obsessed with decorating his house that he isn’t with his wife when she dies. I do like my drama’s lol.

Today’s prompt is someone cheated Now that’s gunna be pretty easy 😉

I had an e mail today, the January Newsletter from Judy Reeves. She talks about setting goals for your writing and says “setting goals is a way to accomplish specific projects and create a discipline for your writing” So, regardless of the daily goal (one sentence, two hours, 250 words, two pages) the important thing is for it to be realistic, achievable for you. There’s no point setting goals you haven’t got a chance in hell of sticking to.

Also in the newsletter Judy refers to the Don’t Break The Chain Calendar which you can down load for free. I’ve printed my copy off and have put a very satisfying cross on each of the first 5 days 🙂

So as I originally started this post referring to my Amazon wish list I shouldn’t be surprised to end on a similar note 😉 In Judy’s newsletter she recommends a book by Carolyn See Oh dear, so that’s Vikki 0 Amazon 713 😉

Memories Of Childhood

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Yesterday’s prompt, the courtyard, brought back memories of Hever Castle in Kent. A place I visited many times when I was a child, and then as an adult with my own children. My grandmother made costumes for my mum (who was a dancer) and the one I always wanted to wear was the Ann Boleyn dress. All that red velvet, lace and satin. It was a beautiful dress and had taken my grandmother hours to sew….but I digress 😉

Soooo, Hever Castle, I couldn’t get it out of my head, the courtyard as you go through the entrance, my childhood fascination for Ann Boleyn (although I have to say all my illusions were shattered when I watched The Other Boleyn Girl)….. I guess it was inevitable that my courtyard story would be set there 🙂

I ended up writing a story about an artist who goes to sketch the courtyard. A man who looks familiar is watching her and it’s only when she gets home that she see’s she has sketched him and that actually, it appears to be Henry.

I’m so sorry I’m not posting my stories, but if I want to use them for subs to magazines I can’t put them up on the net 😦

We went to see A Round Heeled Woman last night…..absolutely brilliant!!!! With a set stage set they used the ‘room’ for every single scene….. Very clever and Sharon Gless was amazing. Even my hubby thoroughly enjoyed it 🙂 Disappointed that there wasn’t a script available as it would have been nice to see how the use of the stage set was written in the script.

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Today’s prompt is walls the colour of tears

Should be interesting 😉

Screenwriting

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I managed to get another short story written yesterday, around the ashes prompt. A happy little tale about a woman in her car on the motorway, crashing into the back of a Sainsburys lorry *snigger*……I’m so sadistic 😉

Today’s prompt is you’re in a courtyard

I’m hoping I can come up with something a bit happier this time 😉

A friend of mine pointed me in the direction of The London Screenwriters Festival web site and I’ve signed up to be on their mailing list. The first e mail they send you is a link to a video that was filmed at the festival last year, entitled 50 Ways Into The Business. After watching that video I’m not so sure I’m cut out for script writing, it all sounds so scary lol. I took 2 pages of notes during the 1.5 hour video….some very interesting information that can equally be applied to other forms of writing.

I don’t know who the guy is who’s leading the panel, but, I love his theory….. The Success Triangle 🙂

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He says the more you take action, the luckier you’ll get and your experience then grows. Those 3 things working in harmony will get you to the top of the triangle…..and to success 🙂

Tonight we’re going up London to see a play…..I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow 🙂

Is That It Then?

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Is it over now? All that Christmas and New Year malarkey ;o) Can I take the tree down?

So today, a return to normality? I do hope so 🙂

I managed quite well with my first writing prompt yesterday. I want to use them to inspire short stories. Yesterday’s one ended up being about a woman waiting for her son to come home from a New Years Eve party. Only, he’ll never return……no matter how many News Years Eve’s she waits for him. A bit sad and morbid I know, but what can I say…..it’s what came to me 😉

Today’s prompt is write about ashes

No ideas springing to me immediately, so I guess I’ll just start writing and see what comes up.

I haven’t done any work on my course these last couple of days, so I really should try to get some done….I’m just not feeling very motivated at the moment. Oh well, perhaps that’s to do with the holidays 😦

I made my first entry in my Mslexia Diary yesterday and had a quick flick through all the competitions, see which ones I want to enter…. There are loads so I better pull my finger out lol

I made my first post to the FaceBook Group Status Stories yesterday….You have to write a short story of less than 100 words. I’m determined to upload one every week 😉

And just quickly before I go…. A great quote I read yesterday regarding the New Year and resolutions…… “all manner of wondrous things are possible” Victoria Moran….2012 is gunna be a good year…. I’m excited 😉

It’s 2012!!!!!!!

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Happy New Year!!!!!

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OMFG….it’s 2012…..can you believe it?

We had a quiet New Years Eve….decided not to go anywhere this year. We’ve done the fireworks up London, the parties, even went away to a posh hotel last year….so it was kinda nice to just snuggle on the sofa with a glass of bubbly 🙂

I had a bad dream the night before last, so I spent much of yesterday mulling it over and turning it into a story idea lol. Not sure hubby would find it amusing though….. What if, on a normal weekday morning you woke to find your hubby/wife wasn’t in bed next to you. That they’d completely disappeared? Some clothes were gone, along with their passport, some money you’d been stashing and a few personal effects. They weren’t answering their mobile, their car was gone and they didn’t arrive for work? Hmmmmmm…..I have an idea for what has happened in that scenario, but I’ll stop there 😉

I don’t often have dreams, only usually nightmares, but I’m beginning to get into the habit of writing them down and seeing how I can turn them into stories 🙂

Today, I will be starting The Writers Book of Days……and the first prompt is:

things that enter by way of silence (after Mark Strand) …who? Ahhhhh, the poet Mark Strand

Interesting…….will mull it over with a cup of tea before I put pen to paper 😉

Thinking About 2012

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New Year Resolutions….or in my world, New Year Goals 😉

I’m the kind of person who always has so much she wants to do in life lol, just never enough time, money, energy and determination to do it all lol.

So I guess 2012 will be no different to any other year in that regard 😉 I always look forward to a New Year, it feels like a fresh start, a time where we can wipe the slate clean and begin new projects, change things…..but with that also brings the whole concept of failure 😦

I don’t like failure…..nasty, horrible word, and yes, I know all the proverbs and mottos that say its all about taking part, or practice, and picking yourself back up again.

This year I’ve decided to divide my goals up into categories (I don’t like calling them resolutions)….. Me, Writing and Home in the hopes that rather than write an endless list, I can just have a complete set of goals under each heading. So here goes, the official 2012 goals list 😉

ME
In 2012 I want to lose weight and get fit 🙂 I want to have a healthy diet, walk more and look after myself a little bit more. Perhaps even cut down on the fags *shock horror gasp – where did that come from?* I want to cook nice meals, healthy meals, and not have so many take aways lol. Go to the gym at least 3 times a week, and go out, 1 day a week for an adventure. To explore the world, see things and experience stuff 🙂

WRITING
I want to continue writing every day. Enter competitions, submit work to publications. I want to join another writing group (I do actually miss my involvement with The Mermaids the support of it) and enrol on some kind of play writing course, an avenue I’d really like to explore. Use Judy Reeves book everyday and my Mslexia Diary 🙂

HOME
My house is a mess 😦 Seriously! I really haven’t taken care of it over the last few years (for various reasons I won’t go into). It needs a thorough clean and tidy, the garden is a jungle and I’ve got crap everywhere that I don’t know what to do with. Downsizing seemed like a good idea at the time, but you can’t fit the contents of a shoe box into a match box can you? Hell, I haven’t even put my summer clothes away, and my winter boots are still in a black bag in the loft 😦

So there we have it! My New Years Resolutions Goals for 2012 🙂 Of course, 1 that should be listed above but isn’t is write my Blog every day but hey, that goes without saying and anyway, i started it in 2011 😉

Four Days To Go…..

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Until I come to the end of my Project 365 journey. On January the 2nd 2011 I downloaded the Project 365 App to my iPhone and began to take a photo a day, uploading them to FaceBook and the iPhone Project 365 Website

I’m feeling a little sad that it’s all coming to an end…..I didn’t miss one day 🙂 But it’s often been very hard, especially when you’re ill or just not in the mood to go out anywhere lol. A lot of the photos I’ve taken have ended up in my writing notebooks, to use as prompts for stories and character sketches.

Now, the question is…..do I do it again in 2012? Lol…..I haven’t decided yet 😉

I managed to get a couple of early morning hours yesterday to do some writing. I ended up with 3 short plays, a short story and a character sketch. Not a bad mornings work eh? 😉

So, I’ve been thinking a lot over the last couple of days about my new years resolutions. I make them every year, and every year I don’t stick to them (I think I made it to June with one a couple of years ago lol). This year, things will be different. This year I’m only going to make a couple, and maybe, actually have a chance of keeping them 😉

One of the resolutions I’m considering is the 100k in 100 days challenge. I’m not too sure I can manage it, I’ve never really counted how many words on average I write every day…….

*goes off to count how many words excluding this blog and FaceBook status updates she’s written today*

Wow so far today I’ve written just under 1500 words….. But, do I want the pressure of having to do 1000 words every single day? Is that just a little bit too much?

Death And The Maiden

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Went up to London yesterday, to the Harold Pinter Theatre to see Death And The Maiden by Ariel Dorfman.

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WOW! some quality acting and a great story, if not a difficult subject matter. Hubby bought me a copy of the script and I spent the evening flicking through.

Oh boy, would I love to write a play 🙂 I came away feeling really inspired.

I managed to get my research done…..I already knew the ‘definitions’ of the words, but it’s good to look them up and view examples.

Didn’t actually get any writing done (other than the research) but the brain cells were certainly ticking over 😉

Today, I need to move onto the next section of the course…..Imagery…..looks interesting 🙂

A Very Productive Day :)

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I really wasn’t in the mood to do any serious studying yesterday, but, if I’m going to get my assignment in on time on the 20th, I really had to pull my finger out 😉

Sooooo, I spent the afternoon doing exercises regarding Adjectives, Verbs, Adverbs and Syntax. I wasnt able to upload the actual pieces I used, as they’re short stories I want to use at a later date for submissions. Anyway, some very interesting things emerged. The fact that my Syntax is kinda ok (no major problems anyway!). I don’t tend to use Passive Voice, which is good, but I do need to sort out my use of Authorial Comment 😉

I’ve finished Note Book number 8. It’s always a bit sad when I finish/fill up a book….but, it’s exciting to start a new one. All those clean empty pages….I can’t wait to fill it with writing and notes 😉

My next task on the course is to research the following:
Simile
Metaphor
Imagery
Figurative Language
Cliche
I enjoy doing research…..sometimes, you think you know exactly what a word means, but it’s interesting to delve a bit deeper 😉

I started reading Maeve Binchy’s Quentins last night. I haven’t read anything by Binchy before, so I’m eager to see why she is so popular 🙂

Tonight on TV, a new adaptation of Charles Dickens Great Expectations

Living only a couple of miles from where Dickens lived (and living in the town in Kent he loved so much) I’m always interested in watching anything Dickens related. I was hoping that this modern version might actually use some of the real locations from Rochester for the filming, so I was a bit disappointed not to see Restoration House used as Miss Havisham’s home 😦

Now, where did I put my copy of The Old Curiosity shop? I’ve only been reading it for about 2 years lol