The Daily Writer & A New Challenge

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

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?

Who Am I?

Posted on December 22, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

I wanted to rope the hubster in on this one, but I got impatient. So I thought I’d try it on my own. Write the answers down as quickly as possible. I got to about number 12 without pausing…then it got hard lol

Who Am I?

1. Vikki
2. A Woman
3. A Mother
4. A Wife
5. An Animal Lover
6. A Cat Owner
7. Unfortunately, A Smoker
8. An Aspiring Author (snigger)
9. Online, AngelChild
10. A Member of Weight Watchers
11. A Book Addict
12. A Blogger
13. A Fan of Oasis
14. A Chocolate Lover
15. A Procrastinator
16. A Person Who Finds It Hard To Make Decisions
17. A Carer (to everyone!)
18. A Tea Drinker
19. An iPad User
20. A Convertible Car Driver

He he he…..ok, 2 things struck me.

1. Are these answers more about “what” I am, rather than “who” and is there a difference?

and

2. There is a distinct lack of personality traits. Nothing below the surface, if that makes sense?

Am I shallow? Are these the things that are most important to me about myself and what define me?

I guess it’s more about how you interpret the question? Has anyone else tried it yet and did you find yourself skimming the surface?

Ok Laura Hopwood (my MC in The Last Word Cafe) you’re next!

One final time….. Who are you? The owner of 9 Blog of the Year Stars now! Thanks to Pat Wood 🙂 Thank you so much honey! I will do some more nominating tomorrow!

A Prompt A Day…..

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

A couple of months back I had the chance to see Ros Barber talk about her new book, The Marlowe Papers and hear her read some of her poetry. Wow! :o)

Ros runs a website with fellow writer Kate Marillat called Be The Writer You Dream Of Being and together they run writing courses and do talks. I can highly recommend it 🙂

So when Kate requested that readers submit articles, I jumped at the chance (you know me, I do like to waffle on about writing stuff lol).

Head on over to Ros & Kate’s website to read my article, A Prompt A Day Keeps Writers Block Away where I talk about my experience of using writing prompts.

Please leave a comment. Oh, and let me know what you thought of the article? 🙂

How To Turn eBay Into A Writing Tool

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

You Can Get Almost Anything on eBay a post recently on Writer Unboxed, got me thinking….. As soon as I saw the title I was inspired lol.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen on eBay? Come on, there must be something? I once saw an old piece of rope. Well used, a bit manky to be honest, but, it actually sold.

I don’t know about you, but I’m conscious of the fact that every single item on eBay has a story behind it. Like the Wedding Dress – New/Never Worn or, more sadly, a selection of newborn baby clothes, with their tags still attached (ok, let’s not be too morbid there, and pressume the baby grew too quickly….but you get my point).

As I was mulling this idea over, and having a look on eBay (for research of course) I came across an article on List Verse about Bizarre eBay Auctions. Ha ha ha, wow! 😉

The following is an example from the List Verse list, written by Cedric Mandanas.

In 2005, during a live interview with Jodie Marsh, Kerrang’s Tim Shaw told the glamor model he was prepared to leave his wife and their two children for her. His wife Hayley was listening and said her husband’s flirtation was the “last straw” in their relationship. After having a few drinks and while her husband was still live on the radio, she listed his Lotus Espirit Turbo for sale on eBay with a “Buy It Now” option of 77 cents. The description read: “I need to get rid of this car in the next two to three hours before my husband gets home to find it gone and all his belongings in the street.”

The car sold in five minutes. Mrs. Shaw said: ‘When he said he would leave me and the kids for Jodie Marsh, that was it for me. I am sick of him disrespecting this family for the sake of his act. The car is his pride and joy but the idiot put my name on the log book so I just sold it. I didn’t care about the money; I just wanted to get him back. There is no hope for reconciliation.’ A Kerrang spokesperson said the DJ was ‘absolutely gutted.’

I’m asking myself was he gutted about his wife, or the car? Lol

Courtesy of M-Pics/freedigitalphotos.net

Wow! What a story *sniggers* 🙂

Have you ever been inspired by an item for sale on eBay?

10 Bizarre eBay Auctions (listverse.com)

Faber Session 3 – Kidnapping A Character (or permission to stalk)

Posted on October 27, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

I never thought when I arrived at class this morning that I’d be asked to do some stalking lol

The ground floor Faber hallway.

But that’s exactly what Tim asked us to do today. We had an hour and a half this morning to go out, find a character (somebody we found interesting), and follow them. We had to make notes on their clothing, the way they walked, talked (which meant if we had to resort to asking them directions so be it!), what they looked like…. Everything we could possibly observe about them, to build up a picture.

I found a guy in the British Museum who walked in a very distinctive way. I followed him and his family around the museum, out to a book shop, and then through the streets until he got into a taxi. I learnt his name, who the other members of the family were, plus got most of the physical details Tim was looking for.

When we got back to Faber everyone admitted they had initially been apprehensive about the task, but most of us had loved it. It was really good fun! One girl even got on a tube to follow her character! There’s dedication!

Tims advice had been “try not to get busted” ha ha ha! And there was me wearing a bight red coat! Lol. I’m sure my guy was thinking “why is that woman in the red coat everywhere I go?” 😉

My classroom

The afternoon was spent doing work on our characters, including pairing up and creating scenes where our characters met for the first time.

So I had a good day, which included Sushi from Wasabi mmmmmmmm 🙂

Back home relaxing now….I’m shattered 🙂

I just can’t wait to go stalking again 🙂

Would you do it?

The Secret to Generating New Ideas is Streetcombing

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

An e mail recently from Daring to Live Fully had me jumping up and down! Ok, not literally but you get the gist 😉

The post talks about “Streetcombing” a system created/developed by Richard Stomp which is based on beach combing. Remember beach combing? You must have done that when you were a kid, hell, I still do it now! 😉

Anyway, it’s aimed at the business world, but in my opinion, it works very well for us writers. But I’m afraid you will need to actually go out. That’s right, leave your desk! Yeah, I see ya, looking out of the window and shivering (well, thats you and me both here in the UK!). I wish I’d stumbled across this in the summer, sorry about that, but, if I’m game, I hope you are 🙂

So once you’ve put your jumper on, got your brolley, get your camera and we’ll begin 🙂

1. Go for a walk. Find an interesting street, preferably one with shops on.

2. Watch for anything that catches your eye. Have the mind of a child, be curious in everything.

3. Take photos of things you find interesting. Take lots of photos. Don’t ask yourself why you’re attracted to taking the photo of that old milk crate, not yet.

4. Go home, have a nice warm drink and upload your photos to your PC.

5. Look through the photos and ask yourself the following questions of each one:
What is the concept behind this photo?
Why did I take it?
What makes it interesting?

6. Take the concept you found and use it to start generating ideas, orrrrr for us writers, use the photo itself to generate a story/character idea.

If you’re not too sure what Mr Stomp means about concept, watch this video. It’s only 7 minutes long. I found the sound to be very quiet so you might have to max your volume.

Mr Stomp suggests you do this once a week, but I’m thinking once a month would be better for me 🙂

Right at the end Mr Stomp says that the idea could be adapted into “Museumcombing” or “Supermarketcombing” etc. I’m just loving those ideas, the possibilities are endless!

So I will be Streetcombing at some stage when this rain stops (and after Nano lol) How about you? Fancy it?

Waving, Not Drowning

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

Inspired by Saturdays photo prompt…..

Marisha stood on the damp sand and stared out to sea. Normally, on a clear day, you could see Essex. But not today, as a dense bank of fog swept its way, creeping silently up the Thames Estuary. She shivered, as her skin was splattered with fine droplets of water, spray from the waves. Invisible to the naked eye, but picked up by every hair on her bare arms.

She walked slowly towards the water. Stumbling on stones that shifted beneath her bare feet. Every few steps she winced, as something sharp met with her sole.

Stopping at the edge of the murky waves she watched the water lap at her feet, beckoning her forward. Glancing around, she checked to make sure she was alone. It was unusual for anyone to be on this part of the beach in October, especially at 6am.

Her teeth chattered as the water lapped at her ankles. The biting cold was painful. It felt like the waves could reach through her skin to her bones. With her long black hair trailing behind her she walked forward until the water was up to her waist. Just a few steps more, that was all it would take. She found herself wondering which one would end her 18 years? The water or the bitter cold?

A dog barked in the distance. She turned, and for a brief moment panicked, losing her courage. Whoever said this was the cowards way out? But what was the alternative? Go back home? No, she couldn’t bare to bring so much shame on her family. She was still in shock that her father had actually had her followed. When he threw the photographs at her and called her a whore she had fled the house. Tears welled I’m her eyes when she thought of Tom. The photos had shown their brief kiss. That was all it had been.

She’d known the risks when she’d agreed to go on the secret date. Tom was nice, she’d known him since school. when he’d asked her to go to the cinema, she’d jumped at the chance. Marisha just wanted to be like any other English girl, but deep down she knew she never could be. It had all been a fantasy. For Marisha had been promised to a Prince, since the day she was born.

Rather than give you a photo today I thought I’d embed this. It’s a video I took about a year ago. A place called Allhallows, where I use to spend all my holidays as a child. It’s in Kent, and on a clear day you can see Essex 🙂

Awwwww, poor Marisha 😦 you know I just can’t help it lol. Who is the person with the dog? (I have my own theory) and will Marisha go through with it?

Any comments and suggestions are most welcome?

Six Sentence Sunday 7th October

Posted on October 7, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

Today’s six sentences come from a piece I wrote a couple of weeks ago.

Paula stood in the empty dining room and smiled. Finally, the house was hers. It had taken months of negotiations, solicitors, and that awful nephew, who got greedier and greedier as the weeks dragged on.

Paula pitied him. The deceased owner had loved this house, it had meant more to her than money. If only he’d taken such an interest in his aunt when she’d been alive.

I’m thinking that this could actually be the start of a romance. What reason could there be for “the nephew” being greedy?

Six Sentence Sunday 9.30.12 (tmoniquestephens.com)

Silent Saturday

Posted on October 6, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

This weeks photo prompt: One of my cameras.

I’ll post what it inspired me to write on Tuesday 🙂

Any immediate thoughts?

Six Sentence Sunday 30th September

Posted on September 30, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

This weeks six sentences come from a prompt I did earlier on in the week 🙂

Stuart had never really liked women, it all went back to his childhood, his mother. The contempt she felt for him was evident in her daily actions. The way she spoke to him, the way she looked at him.

As a young adult he was convinced that women were not to be trusted. That they would lie and cheat to get what they wanted. Numerous relationships he purposely sabotaged, incapable of loving, incapable of accepting love.

image curtesy of chrisroll/freedigitalimages