Tag Archives: Online Writing

Time

Posted on by

I was reading today about time, well, lack of it to be precise……

Victoria Moran says “When you take control of your time, you take control of your life” Hmmmm, ok, I can see what she’s saying, but how? 😦 I never seem to have enough hours in the day. I started yesterday morning with a to do list, and I only managed half of the things on it lol.

Now, Moran says “To gain this control you sometimes have to stand up to time and call its bluff. Time will intimidate you if you give it a chance. It will try to convince you that there isn’t enough of it and that it’s racing past you at warp speed. You won’t win by arguing. Just say thanks for the information. I’m still going to sit here with this novel or notebook or newspaper and savour every minute.”

I think I get it lol 😉

“In this moment, there is plenty of time. In this moment, you are precisely as you should be. In this moment, there is infinite potential. You get to live in this idyllic state when you refrain from worry and regret. Most of us adore worry and regret: they’re so dramatic. Lamenting the dreadful thing that might happen or the awful thing that did is as good as watching a soap opera, and the characters are easier to keep track of.”

Woah…..stop right there…..isn’t that like saying there’s no consequence? My assignment is due on the 20th but hey, I’ll just sit here and read my book lol….. What about deadlines? What about real life? Kids needing picking up, dinner needing to be ready? Oh, if only I lived a life like Victoria Morans 😉

Soooooo, in my effort to kill birds 😉 my prompt yesterday (about silence) I used as part of The Write Place homework which I then extended with today’s prompt about the stars. All I have to do now is type it up as a short story and I can use it as my OCA assignment 🙂 Oh yes!

Today’s prompt is write about falling asleep

Lol, something I’m rather an expert on, or not 😦

Damn & Blast

Posted on by

Why is it that I always come up with ideas for stories when I’m in bed trying to get to sleep?

They say you should have a notebook next to your bed, which is all very well if you want to sit up, turn the light on, and completely lose that sleepy feeling lol…..but, if you suffer from insomnia like me and you feel yourself finally drifting off, there is no way you’re gunna jump up and write an idea down in your note book 😉

So Friday night/Saturday morning (I think it was gone midnight) I came up with the first couple of lines for a story…..but, do you think I could remember it by 6am when I woke up? 😦

Yesterday’s prompt, where the road leads was ok. I wrote about a woman who is a bully. She marries a man who’s life she dominates. The tables turn when she discovers she’s infertile and her husband blackmails her with the promise of IVF treatment (I’m such a happy soul).

I spent Friday night (while hubby was watching 24 lol) looking at all the possible competitions I could enter. There’s actually 4 I’ve got my eye on, all with closing dates before the 1st February. I’m building up a nice collection of stories, but most will need elaborating on (and some major editing) before they can be submitted….so that’s the aim over the next week. So what with the writing and the fact that I promised I’d start decluttering the house, and start cooking healthy meals, it looks like its going to be a busy week lol

Today’s prompt is on the horizon

I’m gunna try to think outside the box with this one. So far, I’ve been taking these prompts pretty literal, so I’m going to push myself a bit more. I did come up with an idea in bed last night, and I’ve actually remembered it lol 😉

More Choice…..

Posted on by

…..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 😉

Is That It Then?

Posted on by

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 😉

All I Want For Christmas………

Posted on by

…….is……..actually, I’m not sure lol….. J K Rowlings life? A room of my own like Virginias? To look like Cheryl Cole? Ha ha ha…..yeah, I’d love all that, but….I am a realist 😉

I managed to get some early morning writing done yesterday. A couple of short stories that could possibly be turned into longer pieces at some stage. I tried my hand at a bit of chick lit, but, I dunno, I’m not sure I can really pull that off. Didn’t I read somewhere recently that chick lit is dying out? Let’s face it, it’s been done to death 😉 When I was 14 I wrote a bit of erotica (don’t look so shocked, I was full of hormones lol) but I’m not sure I could write stuff like that today…..Now, i shy away from sex scenes lol…..Its not something i enjoy writing, and I’m a firm believer in writing something you enjoy (which is why i could never write horror or sci-fi). If you enjoy writing the story, that will come across on the page. My hubby said a couple of days ago that most of my stuff is quite dark…..is that a bad thing? What does that say about me d’ya think? Lol 😉

I was up in time this morning (as I am most mornings) to watch the sun rise. I love this time of the day… So quiet. Its the time I write my Blog and make notes in my notebook. I re-read anything I’ve written the day before and make notes on any characters I’m developing. But being Christmas morning, it’s even quieter, not even the sound of a car going past, and I’m feeling a bit uninspired.

I still haven’t done the 3000 word competition entry….and the closing date is the 31st December! I’m not sure I’m going to be able to get it done. I still haven’t even decided exactly which short story to expand for it lol

Oh well, i must love you and leave you now…..I want to open my pressies…..ESP as hubby has let slip that I have rather a large amount of books 😉

Merry Christmas…..have a good one 🙂

Comparing Is Never Good

Posted on by

You should never compare your writing to someone else’s, that’s a given…..but when you see the work of others who are doing the same course as you, you can’t help it can you 😦 So yesterday I found myself totally disillusioned and self critical, to the point where I just about managed to finish my character work, but that was it lol

I will pick myself back up…..you have to don’t you 🙂

Today I’m going to see a play…… 3 Days In May It’s probably not my normal sort of thing, but, as hubby gets dragged along I thought it might interest him from the story point of view. For me, having recently done some work on my course regarding play writing, I’ll be there to analyse 😉 So I’ll enjoy it no matter what!

I joined Mslexia a couple of days ago and noticed they are running a short story competition. I really must pull my finger out in the New Year. I said, just after returning from Swanwick last year, that I was determined to go back in 2012 with something published. So I think I will try my hand at the Mslexia competition 🙂

My problem is, I have so many ideas, so many stories written in rough 1st draft form, but I never get any further with them lol…… They just seem to stay in rough form and then I’m moving onto the next lol.

I treated myself to a Mslexia diary…..love it! 🙂

20111210-075234.jpg

So won’t be getting any writing done today, but I will be taking my notebook 😉

Picture Prompts

Posted on by

The assignment has been submitted YAY lol. So I’ll give myself a couple of days break and then I’ll start on the next section 🙂

Yesterday I wrote a few short stories. I love using pictures to inspire ideas and I have a separate notebook for writing stories and doing characterisations that are inspired by pictures. I try to stick to just 2 pages for each picture, to make it short and just an outline. I use photos that I have taken myself along with any interesting shots I’ve come across in magazines and newspapers.

The one I especially enjoyed writing yesterday (which was inspired by a woman in dark glasses shaking hands with a guy in a straw hat in a shop) is about a woman who’s husband is a well known, charismatic and successful author. The guy she’s meeting, or rather, bumping into, is her husbands ex agent. She lets slip to the ex agent about the book launch next week. The ex agent is put out that he hasn’t been invited so she pretends his invite must have go lost, and says she’ll post another one. She knows her husband will be furious for inviting him and on the verge of a panic attack she makes her way to the toilets. She removes her glasses and splashes her face with cold water. In the mirror she gently prods her black eye, hoping that it will have gone down in time for the book launch, and praying, that she won’t get another one.

I enjoy writing stories like that 🙂 A friend said to me recently “don’t you ever write anything happy?” lol…..I can do happy, but happy is boring, happy is chick lit or Mills & Boon….and anyway, the story above could be happy…… She could leave him and then we could discover that it’s been her all along writing the books 😉