Signs of Spring.

Signs of Spring

Weather here in Cornwall is steadily improving. Although we are still getting bouts of heavy rain and white stuff, (could be snow could be hail), they take the form of showers and between the showers glorious sunshine. As you can see from the above picture the spring bulbs are beginning to poke their heads out of the cold soil.

With the coming or at heralding of Spring I have started to look at my goals for the year. I want to publish my first novel in December this year. This is my top goal for this year.

Today I realised that nearly two months of 2014 have passed by and my work in progress (WIP) has not progressed very far. I need to increase my productivity and regain some of the momentum that I had in the later part of last year. I need to finish my first draft by the end of April. Then I will have time to rest the manuscript and revise it before sending it to be edited.

At this point I am committing to writing 10,000 words a week. This works out at 2000 words for five days a week. This will give me the flexibility to achieve my writing goals while working shifts in my day job. With approximately ten weeks till the end of April I will have written 100,000 words by this point.

All the best goals are based on rewards so I am hereby committing that I will only be allowed my Friday glass of wine if I have written my quota of 10,000 words in the previous seven days.  I like wine so this should work.

Words written here don't count.
Wish me luck everyone.

A change of plans.

A Lego Lair



Today is a day I normally reserve for writing and generally completing the tasks that are difficult to accomplish with small children in tow. However, today this was not possible mainly because a poorly car means no transport. So I have spent the day playing Lego and watching Curling at the Olympic Games. Well done to GB men's team for getting through to the final. I hope the women's team manages to pick themselves up and win the bronze medal after their narrow defeat today.  Love Curling!

We managed to get out and about today there was a break in the weather when the rain turned to drizzle so we went for an adventure. It didn't last very long as little legs became tired but we did see some rare sunshine.

I have also been playing around with Wattpad some more today. My graphic design skills are non existent but I need to improve on my appalling cover art. I currently have a short story on Wattpad called Dimitri. It is set in the future and tells the story of a young man locked in a secure facility. But it needs a better cover.

So I have been looking at creative commons images in the hope of finding something that I can turn into a cover. Then I need to work on the blurb to entice people to read it. I think that Wattpad is a good training ground for an aspiring Indie author. I am certainly learning how not to rush my work out for the sake of publishing. With the long road ahead of me to publish my first novel, (I'm aiming for December 2014) there will be much temptation to say "good enough" when actually I have many more months of editing and revising to go before the book is the best I can make it.

In April my number of scheduled writing days will increase. Anything I accomplish before then is a bonus, and leaves me lots of time to play Lego and go on adventures with my children.

Click here to see my Wattpad profile

Dealing with failure.

Signs of Spring.

Success and failure tend to go hand in hand. Here in the UK the news has been full of what the Chelsea manager Jose Mouriniho said about the Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. In short Mouriniho accused Wenger of being a specialist in failure because he hasn't won a trophy for nine years.
But despite his lack of trophies Wenger has been a success at Arsenal qualifying for the Champions League more often than not. As a supporter of the mighty Norwich City I can only dream of such things. I'm just glad that we are in the Premiership. It is all a matter of perspective.

As a writer at the beginning of my career I am learning to celebrate my small successes. I am ridiculously pleased that a handful of people actually read this blog. (unless of course the google stats are lying.) I am also getting used to failure.
Failure hurts its not a very nice feeling. Recently I have had a couple of failures I submitted a short story to a magazine and it was rejected. A wholly predictable response seeing as it was one of the first short stories I have ever written but disappointing none the less.
My second failure hurts more, I recently applied for promotion in my day job. I didn't get the job because I messed up the interview. My brain froze and my answers to the questions answered weren't logically coherent. Not great. This has forced me to examine one of my main assumptions about myself. That I am good at interviews.

It turns out I'm not good at interviews. I'm not sure if this is a recent post children thing or something that has always been the case. I hope that this is another effect of 'baby brain'. Not that it matters much as either way I need to improve my interview technique so that my brain doesn't freeze again. 

This won't be the last time I have a story rejected or fail an interview but all I can do is keep trying. If I give up on writing or striving for excellence then I will truly have failed. In life we are used to the cycle of the seasons summer to autumn to winter and finally to spring. The winter gives us time to ponder the lessons of the spring and work on solutions to problems that arise. I have time right now to perfect my writing craft and learn from the lessons that need to be learnt from my failures.

What lessons have you learnt from failure or setbacks?