Tag Archives: Short story

Self Sabotage

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*shudders*

I hate editing…..with a passion 😦 lol

But…..I know it’s got to be done.

So this article will come in handy today I’m sure 😉

I spent yesterday continuing to type up some more short stories and today I will try to do some editing. The plan is to have at least 2 or 3 pieces ready to send out on Monday. Not too sure that’s gunna happen lol 😉

So along with editing, I was reading about self sabotage last night, and that a lot of the time we don’t even realise we’re doing it….for example:

Comparing your writing to others I am so guilty of this.
Allowing others needs & wants to get in the way of your writing time Easy to do when you have a family.
Stopping when it gets hard or you get stuck How many unfinished pieces have I got exactly?
Setting your standards & goals too high Perfectionism?
Thinking that if a piece is rejected it means you’re no good A classic….anyone who’s had a rejection letter will know exactly what that feels like.

A few times recently I’ve just thought, shall I just jack this all in? Is writing really for me?

The prompt about the counting breaths turned into a story about a heavily pregnant woman who’s fiancé is in the army, posted to Afganistan, but my mind went blank on yesterday’s one about the skin on her cheek. Today’s one is driving a gravel road which instantly brought back some childhood memories 🙂

Prompts…..Good or Bad?

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An update from a blog I subscribe to hit my inbox a couple of days ago from Courage to Create.

Now, it is a great post, well written, and obviously the authors opinion….but, then I read the comments…..everyone agrees with him, whereas I read it and was like *ahem* no way!!!!!

Sooooo, go read, What Moves You Most Right Now? and tell me what you think? Am I one lone voice among thousands who uses prompts and feels that she actually benefits from them?

I use prompts because I have a hectic life. I use them to get my brain working, for direction. Yes, I’d love to walk with nature and be inspired. Why does it matter that the destination you arrive at never looks like the original prompt?

If I sat at my table every morning and just asked myself “What moves me the most right now?” well, I would probably end up writing about the shopping, the fact that I’ve got to change the bed linen, how many baskets of clean washing have to go upstairs, and how much my psoriasis is killing me on my hand lol. I’m positive that the 6 weeks worth of stories I’ve come up with so far this year would never have been written if it wasn’t for using prompts *folds arms and stamps foot*

Ok, rant over, apologies for that 😉

And now……

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It’s by Tad Hargrave…..I got it through a FB friend….made me chuckle and calmed me down from my rant lol

I spent most of yesterday editing and re-editing my short story called Eating Out. Initially it was a story about a husband and wife, but now I’ve changed that to mother and son, so that it will fit I with the competition Swanwick are running on the theme of A Sense Of Duty. I have to be honest, I prefer it as husband and wife, but, as my homework for The Write Place was to find a competition and write an entry, the Swanwick one is the one I want to try 🙂 If it doesn’t get anywhere I’ll revert back to husband and wife and submit it somewhere else lol 😉

Went to The Write Place class last night where we mainly looked at fillers and checked through magazines looking for writing opportunities…..really enjoyed it 🙂

My prompt yesterday about living as he did turned into a piece about a detective going into a guys rented room as the guy had been found murdered…..really enjoyed writing that one 🙂 Today’s prompt is counting his/her breaths which sounds interesting.

It’s Just Not Working

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This whole story board malarkey lol. Perhaps it just doesn’t really work with a short story. Anyway, here is my 2000 word short story, split down into scenes of a story board.

Eating Out

Not much of a plot exactly is it? *snigger* 😉

After a really unproductive day, I had a really productive evening. I managed to extend “Eating Out” into a 1100 story and even used Autocrit to check it over, which was very interesting LMAO…… I’m now hooked, paid for an annual subscription, and will be using it a lot 🙂

So I guess the Mslexia competition is out the window…..I’ll just have to find one that’s up to 1200/1500 so that I can use this story. Will spend today doing some more editing before taking it to The Write Place tonight.

Yesterday’s prompt was eating out, and developed into the story I’ve been using today. A couple in a restaurant, and I’m not saying anymore 😉 Today’s prompt is living as he did…. so I haven’t got a clue where to start with that one.

I finished note book number 9 yesterday. It’s sad finishing a notebook, but soooo exciting starting a new one. I’m now using a lovely purple one 🙂

Story Boards

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Yesterday I tried my hand at using a story board to plan a story. I have a 300 word piece of flash fiction that I need to turn into a 2000 word short story.

The story board template I’m using (which I found on a Google image search) splits the story into 6 scenes. The 300 words I already have is basically 1 scene (but i can split it into 2) so I have to come up with another 4 lol. The problem is, what I have written so far puts my character into a particular situation, so now I have to come up with a reason as to why she’s there in the first place…..

…..and I’m struggling…… Perhaps this isn’t the right story to extend?

I’m trying to kill multiple birds again (not literally, obviously!) as my next part of the course is to use a method for plotting that I don’t usually use (the story board) and The Write Place homework is a short story to enter in a competition.

So, is it really the story, or the method that’s letting me down? Lol.

Yesterday’s prompt about bad blood ended up being a 1st person POV about a serial killer *snigger* and today’s prompt is eating out and as I do a lot of that I should find it pretty easy shouldn’t I 😉

Such A Shame

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A friend on Face Book posted a link to this Guardian article Friday. Sooooo sad….but there’s a story there if ever I saw one 🙂

If I see an interesting article in a newspaper or magazine I either tear it out and stick it in my notebook, or, if it’s online like this one, I write down notes about it, and list it in my notebook as a story idea 🙂

Then yesterday, this e mail hit my inbox…….and I totally agree. I will never, ever be completely ‘book-less’ 😉

I managed yesterday’s prompt, even with images of Edward Cullen floating round in my head lol. I did a short piece about a woman getting ready for her wedding.

The Write Place homework this week (the session I missed) was to find a current short story competition and start writing the short story. I’ve decided to go for the Mslexia one and use my prompt story from the 2nd January. I wrote a piece of flash fiction that centred around David Bowies Ashes to Ashes song. It’s gunna need a heavy re-write to extend it to the 2000 words required in the comp, but, I’m up for it 😉

Tomorrows prompt is someone is reading a poem which shouldn’t be too hard. At least I haven’t got any visuals influencing me 😉

Today looks like its going to be a good writing day…..there won’t be much else to do lol

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A Productive Day

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Yesterday was a good day on the writing front 🙂 I managed to get up to date with my prompts and do some studying!

My next OCA exercise was to take a character you’ve created and apply a ‘What if?’ to them. I had a choice of four ‘What if’s’. I chose a character I’d created recently and one of the prompts just completely jumped out as being the obvious one to use. So I then, had to write how that would affect my character. Really enjoyed doing this….my ideal writing task. Creating a character and then completely mucking up their life *evil snigger*

Go have a look at how poor Stephen Saunder’s life is just about to crumble around him. Does he deserve it d’ya think? 😉

The prompt about watching someone sleep ended up being about a jilted boyfriend who appears in a woman’s bedroom. She wakes up to find him sitting there holding a knife. The one from yesterday about the grandmother, a sorry tale about a girl being warned about men who’s eyebrows meet in the middle (what film did I get that from? Lol)

Today’s prompt is her button was undone which sounds very interesting.

Went to see The Importance of Being Earnest in London last night, and I have to admit, I wasn’t too impressed with the first half. The second half was much better, but all in all, very good 🙂

I’m off to Southampton today…..more about that tomorrow 🙂

Research

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I went to Baggins today and managed to, ahem, buy a couple of books lol

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5 books, to be precise…..about local history and local ghosts. Creeping myself out a little bit reading all this ghost stuff lol

I managed to finish the summer garden prompt. The start of a short story about a young girls discovery in her absent fathers shed (don’t ask me what she finds, I haven’t got that far lol). The word unspoken ended up being an argument between a married couple, the word unspoken was the word gay. Yesterdays prompt, the longest day is proving difficult, I’ve gone completely blank, and, as I want to stick to my goal of writing every day, I did 2 character sketches instead 😉

Watched Mud Men this evening. A new TV show all about searching for artefacts in the mud of the Thames. Some great ideas for stories 🙂

Before that I watched Crimewatch as I haven’t watched it for years. Another couple of ideas for stories 😉

It amazes me that it doesn’t matter what you watch on TV, you can always get a story idea from a programme…..great fun 🙂

Today’s prompt is write about a shade tree and, as I’m going to a Writing Group meet this morning, I’m hoping to get there early, to get some writing done before everyone arrives 🙂

Titles

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I spent most of yesterday writing and typing up a short story for my OCA exercise re, marrying 2 notebook ideas together. I’m not gunna publish it on my blog as I think it might be good enough to send somewhere for a short story comp. it’s really annoying that these competitions request that your story cannot have appeared anywhere else *pout* 😦

Anyway, so I have a completed short story….now, a title lol.

I never start with a title, I always write the story and then when it’s finished I think about what to call it. Most of the stories I’ve written don’t ever have titles (do you think they mind? Lol), but I like to ‘name’ those that get typed up 🙂

I have pages and pages of title ideas in my notebooks. I tend to find them everywhere. Something that I overheard someone say, the chapter heading in a book (non fiction), the title of a piece of art, 2 or 3 words from a poem or quote…..I have hundreds lol. So when it comes to naming a piece, I go back through my lists and pick something appropriate. Unfortunately, sometimes I come unstuck lol…. My last Nano novel was/is called Deliberate Act which I thought suited it perfectly. But then hubby pointed out to me that there is a film called that……oh dear, will need to rethink that one then 😦

Yesterday’s prompt, the one about nearing midnight inspired the story of a woman waiting for a phone call. Her son is on a life support machine, but, how should she feel about that when he’s a rapist and murderer? Lol….. I really will write something happy one day, I promise 😉

Today’s prompt is write about a summer garden

I’m really proud of myself that I’ve kept to my ‘goal’ of writing everyday 🙂

Tonight I’m going to see Lesley Pearse give a talk. I’ve never read anything of hers, but I’m always interested to hear what an author has to say 🙂

Playing Catch Up

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Ok, so I’ve caught up with both my prompts. The first one about describing something unfamiliar, I went for a gun…..because I went along the lines of thinking that if you put your hand into a bag and couldn’t see what you were touching, surely, most people would know the feel of a gun. Now, I have no way of testing that theory, so if anyone has, don’t hesitate to let me know 😉

Yesterday’s prompt, a place where wings unfurl, I came up with the idea of an old lady sitting in a tree, and all the people who walk by, not noticing her. Don’t ask me who she is, or how she got there, but I liked the image of it 🙂

Today’s prompt is what is seen through open windows

I’m liking that 🙂 and I already have some thoughts…..will tackle it later though, as first things first…..editing my assignment *groan* 😦

I hate editing! When I’m rich and famous cant I pay someone to do that for me?

And talking about being rich and famous lol, I’ve decided…..I’m going to finish my OCA course and then rather than enrol on anything else I’m going to concentrate on competitions and submissions. At the moment I feel that I’m writing what I’ve been told to write, instead of what I want to write 😉 I’m not sure I really am a potential ‘novelist’ I think I’m probably a potential ‘short story writer’ 🙂

Got sent this link through another Blog I subscribe to. It gives me hope that it not too late 🙂

Running Behind

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Ok, so yes, I ended up doing 2 of the daily prompts yesterday lol….. The first one, which was actually Fridays was when she looked up. I wrote a 1 page piece (better than nothing) describing a woman walking through a village when a plane crashes nearby. Yesterday’s prompt (the one inspired by Turgenev) was totally uninspiring lol….I ended up with a description of a woman entering a room full of books, taking one down from the shelf and finding a handwritten note. I don’t know why she’s in the room, who she is, or what the note says…..yet 😉

I finally completed my Write Place homework. I decided to use one of my stories that I did for the prompt, and just adapted it. I promise I will post it here after Wednesday when I read it out in class *gulp*

I know as an aspiring writer, one of the best things I can do to ‘hone’ my craft is read. But at the moment, I’m in a reading slump. My current read has been sitting next to me bed for 3 weeks lol. I read more blogs and short stories on line at the moment than actual books (is it that time thing again?). So today, I’m determined to read at least a couple of chapters lol.

Don’t get me wrong…..I’m enjoying finding things on line to read, web sites like this are a complete time suck, but sooooo interesting 🙂

So other than reading, the plan for today is to have another fiddle with my assignment, and do today’s prompt, which is write about an unfamiliar object. I’m feeling much better about the daily prompts now I’ve taken the pressure off myself to actually complete a short story every day…..but, saying that, I did have a lightbulb moment recently, and I now realise, thanks to Liz @ Libro that if I’m not enjoying what I’m writing about I struggle big time 😦 To quote Liz……. “it’s vitally important to choose a topic you’re interested in and can commit to….”

Yes, ok, I know it’s obvious!!!! Lol….. Reminds me of Iain McEwan and that I read recently that in a lot of his books it comes across that he doesn’t really like his characters (was definitely the case in Saturday which I read recently). So how does he do that? Lol