When I started this blog I never ever imagined I would end up with over 100 followers. I am in shock, and truly honoured that people want to read my ramblings *blush*
I just hope you don’t all get fed up with me, and that you’ll continue to enjoy my daily musings on my writing journey.
So, thank you again, from the bottom of my heart 🙂
Ella, who has been removed because I want to use her for my Nano 2012 novel.
Sorry you missed it 😦
Awwwww, I actually feel quite sorry for her….its like shes on a hamsters wheel 😦 I think she loves her kids to bits, but secretly dreams of some thing more. Does she crave excitement? Has the fun completely gone out of her life? And what about that husband? Will he run off with the next door neighbour? 😉
Yesterday’s prompt about the summer fling turned into a story about a guy having a holiday romance. The trouble is, he’s fallen in love with her…..hmmmmm, where’s that gunna end up? Lol. Today’s prompt is something to be sorry for. Oh dear, that could end up quite depressing lol
I joined the Insecure Writers Support Group last month.
I’m not too sure where to start lol, so I’m sorry if this becomes a ramble.
Yes, I’m insecure, in many areas of my life, not just my writing…. I’m quite shy, lack confidence and have self esteem issues, but i try not to wallow (don’t get me wrong, I do sometimes).
I’ve spent the last 12 years of my life searching. For what? I’m not exactly sure lol. But, i realised a few days ago (as I sat, reading the winning entries in a competition I had entered, and feeling totally out of my depth) that my constant searching has been more from the point of view of wanting to find something I’m good at, than just finding something. Does that make sense? It does in my head lol.
I left school with no ambition, no dream, all I wanted was to get married, have kids, a nice home (nothing extravagant) and look after my family as best I could. As the kids started getting older I started to realise that I’d lost myself. I didn’t exist outside of being a mother & wife and it hit me hard. That was in about 2000. I suddenly wasn’t content anymore to just cook, clean, and be a taxi service lol. I was 32 and wanted to achieve something.
So here I was in 2010…..still feeling I hadn’t achieved (various courses, ideas, jobs and voluntary work, all of which seemed to crumble round my ears when I really started to enjoy them, or feel that I was getting somewhere) and then I discovered writing. Like any other interest I pursue, I’ve thrown myself into it 110% but……I don’t feel I’m good at it. I think ive improved, but thats about it lol. I constantly compare my writing to that of others, and think, well, you might as well give up now Vik lol.
I’ve recently had a couple of lovely comments about my work. One of the ladies at my writing group read one of my short stories and said “…my over-riding impression was that you may not realise just what a talented writer you are…..” WOW that blew me away….because I can’t see it.
And then there was the lovely comment on a fellow bloggers blog. C.B.Wentworth said recently of my blog -“The View Outside – This blog is one where I literally wait for a new post. Vikki writes amazing posts about her journey as a writer. There’s everything from prompts, flash fiction, and experiments in inspiration. All of which are written with an infectious sense of optimism that always inspire me to keep writing – no matter what!” Thank you soooo much honey!!!!!)
Sooooo, why do I still find it hard to believe this stuff? Why do I still think I’m not good at anything….will I ever feel that I am?
I will visit as many as I can of the other blogs participating today, to give my support 🙂
Onwards and upwards eh? 😉
To those of you reading this who aren’t members of the group, please feel free to share your insecurities 🙂 If there is one thing I probably am good at its sympathy and virtual (((((hugs))))) 😉
Dominic, who has been removed because I want to use him for my Nano 2012 novel.
Sorry you missed it 😦
Dom’s weekly supplies 😉
Ok, so I’m thinking….. should he try to find his father? Would it change anything? Or should his girlfriend just give up and find someone who does want to settle own and have a family? Could finding his father lead to more problems?
Today’s prompt about the stranger turned into the start of a story about a sleepy little village where a young guy moves in….not sure where it’s gunna end up though. Today’s prompt is write about a summer fling after Kd Lang and I’ve already got an idea 🙂
Clarissa, who has been removed because I want to use her for my Nano 2012 novel.
Sorry you missed it 😦
Christ Church College Oxford
Hmmmmm, so is Clarissa sad? Is she hiding her true feelings? I’m not too sure, I think she thinks she’s happy 😉
Yesterday’s prompt about the hot wind was totally uninspiring….was it the prompt, or the fact that I was in Starbucks writing it? Lol….. I ended up with 2 pages of dribble about a guy getting off a plane in Tenerife 😉 Today’s prompt is a stranger came to town. Now that’s more like it 😉
…..and with a photo this time! LMAO
Sorry, I don’t usually post twice in one day, but I just had to share.
It seems I’m in the May issue of Writers Magazine Writers News section, talking about a Facebook Group I’m part of called The Seriously Serious Scribes (The SSS for short lol).
Bloody hell….this is getting serious!!!!!! Lol 😉
Benjamin, who has been removed because I want to use him for my Nano 2012 novel.
Sorry you missed it 😦
Well, the first thing that strikes me about Benjamin is that he’s not a very nice bloke and I feel sorry for Cleo….. Just what is she getting up to while he’s out all day? I think that she knows about all of the affairs….so why does she stay? 😦
Yesterday’s prompt about ordering in turned into the start of a story about a couple who order pizza and the delivery guy ends up being her brother she hasn’t seen for years….curiouser and curiouser lol. Today’s prompt is write about a hot wind……is there such a thing? 😉
Abbie, who has been removed because I want to use her for my Nano 2012 novel.
Sorry you missed it 😦
So that’s my first character, do you like her? I’m not sure. I think she’s the type of girl who is lovely when you get to know her, but on first meeting you’d probably get the impression that she thought she was something special, if you get what I mean lol.
Thank you soooo much to Janet at Postcard Fiction for The Versatile Blogger award. I am deeply honoured 🙂
I will have to do the “7 Things About Me” and nominations in another post, perhaps stagger it over a few days lol.
Yesterday’s prompt about the antidote to pain turned into the start of a story about a girl who suffers from CIPA which I haven’t got an end to, but, has been an eye opener to write. Today’s prompt is write about ordering in which is something we’re experts about in this house 😉
I’m starting to think about characters…..people, for my A-Z Challenge which starts tomorrow *gulp*
Everyday most of us come into contact with other people. We live with them, work with them and think about them when they’re not there. Some we like, others we cant bare the sight of!. Meeting new people can be fun, but for a writer, it can be a facinating 🙂
In real life, when you meet a new person you learn a lot about them in the first few seconds. That’s the crucial moment when you form opinions and judgements. You base those on the way they walk, how they sit, if they’re smiling or what they’re wearing. You try to figure out what they’re thinking by their facial expressions. Even small details like the smell of tobacco or a stain on their tie will influence your opinion.
Then there are their gestures. The way they look over their glasses, the way they throw back their hair or constantly play with a ring on their finger.
Characters need to be real, as real as you and I 😉 They’ll have faults, bad habits, talents and tastes. They will have complex personalities, and all of it needs to come across in our stories, if we want our characters to delight our readers.
F Scott Fitzgerald said “Plot is character and character is plot.” I rest my case 😉
So people watching is a great idea when you need inspiration for characters. A cafe, park, restaurant, even a waiting room can have me scribbling away in my note book 😉
Do you people watch? Do you use what youve seen in your stories?
Try describing a friend or family member (they never need to see it). Its great fun and you can use certain aspects to create a fictious character 😉
The photo above is The Bookcrossers meeting the Hen Night Bunnies….. dont ask lol 😉
Yesterdays prompt about the backseat turned into a story about a young woman who arrives home to find that the birthday cake she had just bought is gone and in its place is a bag of money and a gun…..not sure where thats going yet lol. Todays prompt is the antidote to pain. That sounds very interesting 😉
I’ve been awarded the Sunshine Award by C. B. Wentworth so thank you so much honey 🙂
It’s lovely to be nominated for these awards, such an honour 🙂
My only problem is that for some reason my pictures come out scrambled *stamps foot and pouts* and I don’t know why 😦
Anyway, I’m not going to go down the traditional route with this, what I will do is write about sunshine 🙂
Wednesdays prompt was “write the horizon at dusk” and as i sat here, trying to come up with some sort of story it sparked a memory…..soooo, as it also involves sunshine, i’ll copy here what i wrote 🙂
As a child i spent all my summers at my grandparents caravan on the Kent coast. My cousins and I would spend our days running through grass, searching for crabs on the beach when the tide went out and enjoying the sunshine.
We’d make secret hide outs in the bushes, play hide and seek among the sand dunes and have glorious adventures accompanied by the British weather. (Ha ha ha…for those of you in the UK you’ll know exactly what i mean about British summers…..rain! lol)
But the part of the day that i loved the most was dusk. The sun dying on the horizon, the seagulls making their way home (where do seagulls go at night?) and the children being called in by their parents.
We would go in to steaming hot mugs of tea and biscuits, for dunking 🙂 Sometimes, we’d sit on the steps outside, clutching our mugs, watching the sun dissappear. The dampness the evening always seemed to bring would start clinging to our clothes. Then my grandmother would tell us to come in and the door would be shut. If you left the door open it was as though dusk would creep into the caravan and slip into your bed. No one wanted a damp sleeping bag.
Sometimes i’d sit at the front, at the large window and watch the final glimpses of daylight in the distance. I remember wondering what would happen if the sun didnt rise the next morning. But it always did, and then, we would be running through the grass again. The early morning dew seeping through our flipflops, the grass tickling out toes, as we made our way back to the beach.
Nothing ever changed in the night, but we wished so hard that it would. The night always seemed so magical, as if anything could happen while we were tucked up asleep.
Happy days 🙂 I’m afraid i havent got a photo of the caravan, but i have got a photo of the beach.
Yesterdays prompt about eating it raw turned into a strange story. It started with a wife moaning at her husband for eating raw cake mix and turned into an argument about her brother who had just been released from prison LMAO 😉 Todays prompt is in the back seat so im sure i can come up with something for that 🙂
The View Outside 