Wednesday 23 October 2013

Everest Awaits

  
One success this pretty non-productive month has been finally receiving the anthology to feature one of my poems. This makes it three
Third Anthology-just out. Have One poem in it !
anthologies so far...sent them a chaser email and it magically arrived by the next post.....This poem was a departure for me as it didn't rhyme and was focussed upon imagery. I might try some more poems in this vein. Ultimately I would like to have a whole anthology of some of my work but that is to come. I might construct an ebook and see how that goes down.   Apart from this book, I have this month sent three poems off to a National poetry competition, but I am aware that this is a poor showing and I must try harder. I was encouraged by the others in the group who have been very good in submitting this month.
As far as my proposed novel is concerned I have done very little to it apart from more work on the chapter planning and character notes.
I feel I am at the foot of Everest and just need to get to base camp.....sometimes it all seems out of my reach and why am I even attempting this, but then why not ?! There is a famous saying that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Just making that step is important. I need to stop procrastinating and just 'do it'......
My goals next are to submit much more flash fiction and gauge the reaction and to begin writing the 'novel'. I know that once I start writing I shall be away but I do need to plan it.
Will keep you informed of how Sherpa Tensing and I are getting on.........

                                                                           
Helen



Monday 7 October 2013

Progress?

Way Out - Maria A Smith

This post is late, well overdue, my excuse if you're interested is overwork, holidays, illness and well, frankly bad planning. September  was a dreadful month, I was way too busy, and if I am totally honest, I'm only just beginning to come out of the deep black hole I fell into...my own fault, and I will learn to plan stuff better. Won't I?

I managed a little work on my novel, a few flash fiction pieces and I sent a letter off to a magazine. I also sent a short story off to a competition too.

What of the next month then? Better planning is a must, and learning to say 'no' to doing stuff I don't really want to do. Easier said, than done, real life tends to run riot every now and again. I'm going to try hard to use my time to best effect.

I'm concentrating on my novel, doing a new outline, and then I'll be doing a rewrite. Yes, a rewrite is necessary. I'm not as daunted now, and feel I can get to where I'm going with my new plan.

On a positive, I did get my personal story in Chat magazine published. Hurrah! I attended Phoenix writers as and when I could for motivation, and the company of other writers which really does make a difference to my enthusiasm. Subs Club met to discuss what everyone has been up to, and lots of writerly things are afoot.

Now I have to go and be productive...

Maria


Friday 4 October 2013

Never Throw Anything Away

Picture Credit - Don Hankin

Well, I’ve done it,  finally sent off an entry to a competition:  a Flash500 piece. I’ve been working on about three or four pieces this month without any great enthusiasm for any of them especially when my chief critic, him indoors, and ancillary critics, my two sisters, all say that they are not too keen on any of the pieces I read out. “Oh, that doesn’t sound like you at all,” is the general chorus that greets my efforts. “We like your funny pieces best.” Well, news flash, so do I but I only write what comes into my head, and obviously, what’s inside there at the moment is not tuned into the right  wave length. In fact, him indoors is sufficiently  moved to ask, ”What goes on in that mind of yours?” And I can honestly say,  ”I really don’t know.” The reiki master who works her magic once a month remarks that my third eye is blocked so maybe I’m not seeing things in the usual way, which is odd because there have been some funny moments which have definitely tickled my sense of humour and given me  ideas for non-fiction pieces.

Earlier in the month we went to see some friends who have a little dog, a Boston Terrier, all wriggling charm and wet tongue. I dissolve into laughter as they tell me tales of taking him to puppy crèche in the Bark and Ride bus, and the puppy socialisation classes on Sunday mornings, not to mention the scented poop bags and puppy wipes. Well! I think, here is the substance for an article about the modern young couple and their pet. But wouldn’t you know it? I open one of the Sunday supplements and there is the self same article I’d thought of writing, only much better than anything that I could have come up with. 

Then I go to a surprise 60th birthday party and think I have enough ammunition for a piece on surprise parties. But yes, you’ve guessed it :  someone’s got there before me.

But I think I have learnt a couple of lessons this month. Four years ago, on one of the sisters’ Annual Away Weeks, we found ourselves on a tour of the Flodden Field, I say we, but my older sister and her husband, the Blue Badge Two,  don’t do walking, so they were left in the car whilst the other four of us trekked round with a very knowledgeable guide. This week,  I’ve been  rereading all the notes I made at the time and discover that actually, it’s possible, if your words are chosen wisely, to be both interesting and amusing even when the subject matter is the detail of an horrific medieval battle. So, first lesson, I need to work on retuning the funny button. The next thing I notice is that I have masses of material about the battle. This is the 500 Anniversary and it’s big news. So, second lesson, never throw anything away, because you never know when it might come in handy.

Sheila

Thursday 3 October 2013

Blue Sky Thinking

Clouds Over Corn - Wayne Kelly
So, October is upon us and, if you saw my post in September, you will have an idea of what I was hoping to achieve - my main short term goals being:

To submit 2 short stories for competition by the end of September.
To submit at least 3 pieces of flash fiction for competition by the end of September.

I am thrilled to say that I achieved both goals, having submitted 2 short stories and 5 pieces of flash fiction. I will update you if I have any success. I am keen to keep up the momentum in October, but will be shifting emphasis a little. For October I aim to:

Submit 2 more short stories - 'Inkling' and 'Still Life'

Edit 'Beach Hut Monsters' to create another draft ready to submit to the Dark Tales competition in November.

Produce rough outline of my novel, 'Let Sleeping Gods Lie' to allow me to solve current structural issues.

The novel outline will require some serious blue sky thinking and lots of help from some of my fellow writers to allow me to get back on track with my first draft. If all goes to plan, I will be hammering out the final chapters with fresh vigour in November - working towards one of my longer term goals of finishing the first draft by January.

Watch this space and feel free to take a look at my personal blog Kelly's Eye for more writing inspiration and comic asides.

Stick to the Plan

 
Stalag Luft 111 - Image USAF Academy Library


Just over a month now since I posted. The days slip by – merge into one another. Progress is slow. The end of the book is in sight, but I’m finding that the words are stumbling and the writing is flat. So close, yet so far. The escaper holed up in a safe house in Seville must have felt frustration. Not out of danger, but so near to Gibraltar. The last leg – maybe one more journey? He had no choice. Stick to the plan, follow advice and instructions, maintain focus. I did the same.

The scant notes and anecdotal information I had on this part of the escape were insufficient for the writing to fire. I needed to see and feel Seville as it really was in 1943, I had to walk the streets, live the scenes, hide in that safe house. Stick to the plan. Cue – books, images and old film footage of the city = result and kick start.  

My goals are pretty steady, but they’re challenging, realistic and achievable. I’ll stick to the plan.  
Long Term Goals

•Submit manuscript, synopsis and letter of introduction to literary agents.
•Publish my book

•The Escape Line blog link to reach 30,000 hits by 31 December 2013 – On course at 27,500
•Win prizes in Flash Fiction Writing Competitions

Short Term Goals
•Draw up a timetable and targets for short term goals (September-December 2013) by 31 August 2013.   Done

•Complete manuscript by 31 October 2013 - A fortnight behind schedule.  Catching up

•Submit to agent with accompanying letters by 30 November 2013
•Continue to blog weekly – Done

•Enter 2 Flash Fiction competitions by 31 December 2013   One down. One to go

•Write 2 Flash Fiction pieces a month – Done and ongoing

 

Keith

Tuesday 1 October 2013

Leah - September...? Kicked Its Butt ^_^

Gooooooooooood grief! It's been a bit of a whirlwind month with more highs and lows than the ripply back of a moody camel.
Okay... moodier than this one...
Looking back at my goal list at the start of the month I think I've been both successful and unsuccessful. If that's possible. I think it is.

I have achieved a lot this month. Let there be no mistake about that. Despite that, I have not completed everything on the list.

But it doesn't matter!

This month I have:
  • Certainly earned monies fitting with my £50 per month goal.
  • Completed a short story draft (the next in the Meeting Each Other Series) and am about a fortnight away from sending it to my editor
  • Readied myself to publish 'Vicki & Lara' through self publishing means
  • Not gone crazy
That last one is key as I've been quite ill for the past fortnight. And so have my boys. *whimper* I've also done a bunch of small things that all add towards the bigger goals. Things like paying for editors, finding paying work, buying ISBNs, organising potential taxes for here and the US, reading my magazines, maintaining my blog, running competitions (woo!), LARPing and so on and so on. Like I said... busy.

So... coming up we have October and these are the things I would like to do by 31 October:
  • Hit 'GO' on Vicki & Lara
  • Be ready to tackle NaNoWriMo 2013
  • Have secured another £100 of earnings
  • Decide what I'm really going to do about Silk Over Razor Blades (fiddle? rewrite? query?) and put it aside or get to work

Now these goals are less SMART that the last ones I wrote, but I've been setting myself weekly targets on my own blog so that is the SMART aspect. I've broken the long term goals down into short ones, then the short ones into even shorter. This way I'm actually getting things done. It's a nice feeling.

An important part of goal setting is also setting appropriate rewards. I've not thought about that perhaps as much as I should, just because I tend to reward/treat/bribe myself whenever I feel like I'm going to fall to bits if I don't get a nice treat. If I don't, things like this happens:
I did cry by the way. Just a little bit. The single tear, y'know? Very Hollywood.
This month, however, I have an idea for an actual reward. Assuming I can get to the end of the list above, I'm going to let myself have a spa/pampering day. Something a friend of mine has been trying to convince me to have for some time... she thinks I need it. Ha, go figure. ;-)
But I'm actually going to do it. ^_^

How are you guys getting on? Hope you've got some good things to tell me!