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?

A difficult writing day.

Today has been a bad writing day. I have a low grade headache and have struggled to get things done. In fact this is the main reason why I am writing this post today so that I have at least accomplished a small writing goal today.
For most of the day I have flitted from one task to another unable to settle on anything. Should I concentrate on cover art, writing the main tale, reading widely or improving my grammar via an online course. I am currently working on a number of projects: short stories, novella prequels and the main Portals series. In short I have begun to run before I can walk.

I think the problem today is twofold.
1) I have committed myself to a deadline that is taking the fun out of writing a little bit.
2) I am aware of just how far I have to travel on my writing journey and have become overwhelmed by the enormity of the task ahead of me.

Having just written the above and clearly identified the problem I now realise what the answer is. I need to focus on what I enjoy about writing and continue to work on the quality of my Portals series.
My solution is simple. I need to focus on one project at a time. My immediate priority is the novella prequels for the Portals series. These stories will introduce you all to the Universe of Portals and allow me to effectively build the world the main story takes place in.

A pleasant day spending time with the family has been the other reason for by lack of productivity but going to the park and enjoying the rare sunshine was more important. 

I've joined Wattpad.

I recently joined Wattpad. An online community of readers and writing. I plan to publish my work here on a regular basis. In the meantime please have a look at a short story I recently published on the site.
I am excited by this medium and will use it to hone my storytelling powers. (At this point I am visualising  these as a superhero power much like Ironman's Suit something to be constantly modified and improved.)
I am currently working more on short stories, I like the immediacy of the form and am learning more about how to craft a good story. Sometimes my writing has a tendency to ramble and become predictable. I hope that I can eliminate these tendencies while working on perfecting my craft.

My next story is inspired by how people cope when placed under extreme pressure. An idea came into my head while discussing Scott of the Antarctic at work. One member of the ill-fated expedition a man called Oates who's foot became badly frostbitten sacrificed himself by walking off into the wilds of Antarctica. Saying "I may be sometime," as he left.

This got me thinking how do we really know that this is what happened. After all we only have the word of the other men on the expedition that the choice was his. I will play with this idea more during the forthcoming week.

But for now I'm tired. I am fighting off a cold and have just finished a long shift at the day job. (Got to pay the bills somehow.)

If you'd like to connect with me on Wattpad my id is somemaid.

St Michaels Mount at dawn.

Fear and Excitement.

Penzance Prom

For the last few days fearsome storms have been battering Cornwall's coast. My home town of Penzance has been the scene of enormous  waves that have been breaking over the road. The effects of the storm have been tremendous with the rail link between Cornwall and the rest of the UK  swept away at Dawlish. It will be many weeks until the damage is repaired. Read more about it here.

As a Penzance lass in previous years I would have liked nothing better than to go down to the prom and experience the waves first hand. The power of these waves is very scary. With concrete slabs and huge hunks of granite being thrown about by the power of the sea.  You'll sometimes hear people talk about the worst storms in living memory. That is what we are witnessing now. There have been bad storms before but never this many, this strong and this close together.

I was talking about the storms with my son and showing him pictures friends had posted over on Facebook. "Its very bad Mummy, very very bad." he said.  I disagreed saying that it was exciting. This got me thinking about the relationship between fear and excitement, but also about how the landscape around me has influenced the type of fiction I enjoy.

I was once told that fear and excitement are psychologically the same. They produce within us the same type of reactions. I suppose that is why I was trying to resist going out to get soaked by the waves and my four year old didn't.

I have always enjoyed stories about people standing firm against incalculable odds and surviving. Think of Frodo in Lord of the Rings, or characters in The Fionavar Tapestry. I don't think I am alone in liking books like this. Part of my love I think comes from the landscape around me. The rugged cliffs and beautiful beaches are part of who I am. Cornwall is a small rocky outcrop that gets battered by the waves coming in from the Atlantic at all points. We are used to the sea throwing everything it can at our cliffs and for the most part the county stands firm.


Botallack Mine, St Just.

Cornish communities are used to pulling together in adversity just as all communities do. My favourite books contain scenes where neighbours help each other out, and communities pull together. undoubtedly the book I am currently plotting and writing will include these elements too. I am currently playing with a few ideas in my head but one of them involves a temple set in surroundings a bit like those surrounding Botallack Mine. I can't say much more for fear of giving too much away.

The damage from the storms will take many months to fully put right and I hope that the communities effected will survive stronger than ever. I leave you with pictures of two of my favourite places in Mount's Bay. The Jubilee Pool a fantastic art déco swimming pool built in the 1930's on Penzance Prom and the path along Newlyn Green which is now totally ruined. Both places hold special memories for me and many others. Moonlit walks along the green in summer, the moon shining on the water arm in arm with my husband; or swimming in Jubilee Pool as a teenager with friends.

 

 

Using the seven senses in writing.

Most people believe that there are only five senses. In fact there are seven. By this point you are probably mentally listing the five senses. I'll make things easier for you and list all seven of  them now.
Taste
Touch
Sight
Hearing
Smell.
Proprioception
Vestibular

I support adults with cognitive and physical difficulties. Many of the people I support have difficulties in processing the information given to them by their bodies or senses. My role basically involves thinking of new ways to help involve and empower them to greater participation and control over their own lives. I never expected that my day job might inform and help my writing.

As a writer, I spend my writing time describing the experiences of my characters. I have been trying hard to help my readers feel what my characters feel. Trying to translate the thoughts and feelings of my characters into words that convey that experience to my readers.  Today I was looking at articles on how to improve my writing, when I came across a post on the writing lessons learnt from the Alfred Hitchcock film Rear Window.

One of the tips involved writing using all of the five senses. Including things about tasting food, or hearing sounds, describing smells. All of these things are vital and help a reader imagine themselves in a character's shoes. However, there are seven senses. This got me thinking.

How can I write about proprioception and vestibular senses in a story?

Proprioception is the sense that deals with your body. If your muscles ever hurt after a workout that was proprioception. Having pins and needles in a limb is because of proprioception. Lying in bed and feeling the weight of the duvet or blankets is due to proprioception. Some people need to have this sense stimulated to provide comfort in times of distress.

Vestibular is a posh name for equilibrium or balance. If you've ever been really dizzy after spinning round in a circle that was due to your vestibular sense. I am particularly prone to ear infections and sometimes have felt like the room was spinning round when lying in bed. This was due to my vestibular system. The system is basically all the little fluid filled tubes inside your inner ear. These tubes act much like a spirit level.

But how to write about these 'new' senses? There are many helpful and accepted ways of describing the other five senses. But writing about the other two is more difficult. In my gut I think that I need to try and incorporate these two senses into my work more.

In other news I have just discovered the music of Pete Seeger who died last week. I'm loving it and feeling inspired to pick up my fiddle once more.

Links:
The article I was reading that inspired this post.
http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/there-are-no-rules/6-writing-lessons-from-alfred-hitchcocks-rear-window 
Dr Temple Grandin who is an authority on Sensory issues and Sensory Processing disorders.
http://templegrandin.com/
Where have all the flowers gone by Pete Seeger
http://youtu.be/T1tqtvxG8O4