I’ve been trying, on and off, to sell a story to The People’s Friend ever since I started writing fiction, but got precisely nowhere. Now, at last, SUCCESS. I’m delighted. It just proves what I’ve been saying all along – never give up and you WILL get there. That makes my tally so far this year three stories sold to magazines but none written to replace them. Obviously that’s not the ideal state of affairs. I’ve written some fiction this year, but it’s been for competitions. However desperate My Weekly were, they would NOT be interested in the crime story I wrote for the Harrogate competition.
Finding the time is proving difficult. I have several projects I need to work on which, if I’m to make any real progress, take priority over short stories. Some of these projects are – the book I’m working on now (SAVING MY INNER CHILD), a chapter by chapter outline of a book for NAWG, and last but not least, a follow up to the ideas book.
Not only that, now that my lodger is leaving, there’s lots to do to make sure the move goes smoothly. I’m giving him some of my furniture, and all kinds of other bits and pieces to help me make a clean start.
I keep telling myself how much easier it will be to work when he’s not around. Losing his rent will hurt at first, but there are so many benefits to his being gone – no arguments, nobody shouting at me, only myself to clean up after, nobody to make me cry. It’s going to be scary going it alone, but I know, deep down inside that it will be worth it.
Tonight it’s off to play for the quiz league. We are so far bottom it’s embarrassing but it’s a night out. There’s an ONLY CONNECT special on tonight so I’ll have to record it for when I get in. It’s my favourite quiz show, and, IMO, the hardest on TV, so I will NOT be applying to go on it. It’s hidden away on BBC3 or 4 at 8.30 if you’ve never heard of it.
Monday, 30 January 2012
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Sunday
Saturday, 28 January 2012
A TRULY RED LETTER DAY.
John, aka my lodger, went to see a flat tonight, and the good news is, he’s going to take it. That means, one month from now, I will get my life back.
I’m back to working on the book. Added a thousand words today which, when you consider that I’ve been taking bits out as well as putting bits in, isn’t too bad.
I’ve booked a place on another Spice workshop based on the book FEAL THE FEAR AND DO IT ANYWAY. I figure that with John gone, I need all the help I can get.
I’m back to working on the book. Added a thousand words today which, when you consider that I’ve been taking bits out as well as putting bits in, isn’t too bad.
I’ve booked a place on another Spice workshop based on the book FEAL THE FEAR AND DO IT ANYWAY. I figure that with John gone, I need all the help I can get.
Friday, 27 January 2012
Stressing out
Right now I feel like a pressure cooker that’s been left on the stove while everyone has gone out for the day.
My lodger having not made much headway finding anywhere to rent, I went to a talk last night about how to get rich by investing in property. While I was there, it occurred to me that I might be able to buy a flat that John could rent, so I spent this morning looking into equity release from the house and the possibility of mortgages. Net result, not that good. There’s only one lender who might consider giving me a buy to let mortgage (my income is too variable plus I do my own accounts) , whilst equity release doesn’t give me as much money as I’d thought. I also need to know how equity release would affect my ability to sell the house should I want to. I.e. what are the costs of paying the money back early? To that end, an advisor is coming to see me next week. Then at least I’ll know what the downside is.
Meanwhile John phoned one flat which is coming up for rent soon (guess who spotted the ad?) It sounds ideal.
The owner is going to call tomorrow to arrange for him to view it. All I want right now is for John to go, then I can think straight and decide whether I want to go back into property or not.
What I also need is to need on with some work without worrying about John’s problems.
I’ve just said yes to one– to–one sessions at Swanwick, and earlier I said yes to having Leah back to stay as her owners have a family emergency. It sometime seems that however hard I try to plan my life and to get the important things done, fate has other ideas.
Here’s a link to an online interview which I forgot to mention when it first went live (sorry Morgen)
http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/2011/09/03/blog-interview-no-115-with-autobiographer-novelist-and-short-story-and-%E2%80%98how-to%E2%80%99-author-linda-lewis-aka-catherine-howard/
I’d like to thank everyone who’s been so kind about my appearance on The Chase. If yu missed it, it’s available to view on itv.com.
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Haggis, The Chase, and another story sale
Life is a roller coaster.
I went to Heydays this morning for the writing class and read the dark poem I’d written, but al the feedback she gave to everyone was glowing so I have no idea if it’s any good or not. I did get the impression though that she didn’t think it suitable for the end of term reading. They tend to go for light and frothy rather than dark and deep. I might enter it for a competition and see what happens.
The lunch time group had us singing ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE, but with people singing the backing parts. It was way too complicated for most people there, not helped by the fact we weren’t divided into high and low voices so people with deep voices had to cope with the top line and vice versa. I’ll se what happens next week before deciding whether to stop.
Came back home to my second short story sale in two days. This time to My Weekly. Then it was time to check that John had everything set up OK to record my TV appearance. Despite having days, nay weeks, to work out how to do this, it transpired he still hadn’t bothered so with ten minutes to go, I was not a happy bunny. If I’d been asked to do something for somebody, something that was important to them, I would have at least tried to do it, and if I couldn’t, or made a mess of it, I’d have felt very upset. John hardly seemed to give a damn, and ended up shouting at me (as usual). I could go into a full scale rant about him here, but that’s not going to help me feel better. I just pray that he will find somewhere soon and move out. I really can’t express how much I’m looking forward to it. Anyway, back to the world of TV. Sitting there for an hour, watching a fatter version of me, not winning any money, was oddly weird. They’d edited some of it, so that very long wait while Anne and I both tried to work out a simple sum in our heads was cut down to a few seconds. They also managed to disguise the fact that I wanted to throttle the other woman in the team for taking a thousand pounds off our total.
Now that’s out of the way I can start thinking about which show to maybe apply for next. Something a bit less stressful maybe…
Tonight is Burns night so I cooked my fist ever haggis. I was neither disappointed nor pleasantly surprised. It was very edible and tasty but for me, it was pretty much like a couple of Brains’ faggots with extra oats (four times as expensive too), But I’m gald I at least tried it. Now to try and find a decent drop of whisky.
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
First sale of the year - hooray!
Today is a dedicated short story day, so that’s what I’ve spent most of (not all) my time doing. The result is a story sent to Australia, 2 to The People’s friend, and one to The Weekly news.
I also had to type up a poem that I wrote two days ago. It’s homework for the writing class at Heydays. The problem I have with poetry as I have no idea what’s good and what’s not. I’ll see what the tutor says tomorrow and depending on her reaction, think about entering it in the writers circle competition.
I went for a walk round the sops this afternoon. I had a headache and hoped the fresh air might shift it. I bought a haggis for tomorrow plus a couple of things to try out on the mind games/quiz group I’ve been asked to take over on alternate Tuesday afternoons. One was Mastermind, the game from decades ago where you have to work out what colour pegs your opponent has lined up behind their wall. John, a.k.a. my lodger, went to an auction for me, to bid on a chair I wanted to go in my den. The one I had wasn’t comfortable enough. I’m also thinking ahead to when he leaves as he may want to take some of my furniture (which I’ll be happy to see the back of) with him. he ame back with change from £25. We’ll pick up the chairs on the way back from Heydays tomorrow morning.
Just after six tonight, I had a call from Marion Clarke who chooses the short stories for Yours. She wanted to buy one of mine for the 2013 Yours annual. I was happy to say yes. So I have my first story sale of 2012 which is great.
When I was out, I also bought a box of Mensa Mind Games, a mix of puzzles games and exercises so I’ll have a go at some of those tonight and see if any of them are suitable for the group. I’m a bit odd – I find quizzes and mental exercise (like cryptic crosswords) relaxing!
Now for yet another quick reminder about tomorrow. I’m on THE CHASE.
ITV1 5 – 6 p.m. It’s going to be excruciating watching myself squirm!
Monday, 23 January 2012
HAPPY (CHINESE) NEW YEAR!
After yesterday, I’m still on a bit of a high. It was such a good workshop. I just hope I can remember the things I’ve learned and put them into practice.
Tensions are running high at home right now, and I guess they’ll remain that way until John moves out. We can’t seem to spend more than five minutes together without problems.
I haven’t got as much done today as I wanted to, thanks to the freezer. I hadn’t shut the door properly, which meant that it had iced up. It took an age to sort. In the end I resorted to chipping some of the ice off with a hammer and chisel. DO NOT DO THIS AT YOUR HOUSE!
Tonight, I'm having Chinese food to celebrate the New Year. After that I'm foff out AGAIN.
I’ve been asked to play for our quiz team. We’ve had a horrible season so at least I don’t have to worry about getting answers wrong. We’re bottom of the league so I can’t make things any worse.
What a wonderful weekend
I spent Sunday at an amazing workshop called How to attract ad Maintain your Ideal relationship. It ran from 10.30 to 4 and was crammed full of fascinating stuff. It was run by this amazing couple. You could see how connected they were to each other. To write down all that went on would take me all day, so here are some highlights.
To demonstrate the power of positive energy, four ordinary women (one of them me), lifted a very solid heavy man out of his chair using two fingers each.
It went like this. At first we tried without positive energy and he didn’t budge. I thought, how is this ever going to work? It felt impossible. Then the woman running the workshop made us all say out loud that we could do it, not only that, it was going to be easy, and it was. When we tried again, we were able to lift the man way up in the air with little effort.
Another demonstration, this time it’s one I’ve done before, was to work in pairs. Person A holds out an arm and the other person tries to push it down. This is done three times. The first time as a standard, the second time after stating a negative self belief (I used ‘I’m not good enough’ which I don’t really believe anymore, thank goodness). The third time, after saying a positive affirmation which was the opposite of the negative one.
The results were spectacular. After saying negative things about ourselves, we all found it much harder to resist the pressure and our arms moved easily, but after the positive talking, my partner couldn’t move my arm at all.
Those two demos really did prove to me that positive energy isn’t just a concept, it has power.
Of course, the main focus was on relationships. To boil the day down to a nutshell what I learned is this. First, don’t look at people through filters. Put simply that means don’t make assumptions about them, due to previous experiences, or because you have negative beliefs about yourself. One example for me would go like this. Previously I would assume that no man my age, and definitely no man younger than I am would want to date me. I see now know that might not always be the case so my age range for a possible partner has gone from 55– 65 to 40 – 70.
Secondly, make sure that your list of things a potential partner must have is as short as possible so that you at least get to meet somebody before ruling them out.
Thirdly, you have to love yourself before you can expect anyone else to love you.
There was such a lot more, and I’d so love to share it, but I have to get some work done or starve!
If you want to find out more go to www.connecttoyourpotential.com or www.dianemacdowall.com
I must end by saying sorry to anyone who’s been waiting to hear from me. I hope to catch up soon.
Saturday, 21 January 2012
Saturday, day one of a busy weekend
Today I met Phil Caplan of Scratching Shed publishers, and director of independent bookshop, Philip Howard (Rotherham, and Roundhay Leeds). He ran a q and a session for Leeds Writers. It was great. He was positive, and talked such a lot of sense. I asked if he’d do a book launch for me and he said YES, so that’s one problem neatly solved.
I learned a lot, mainly about the value of books as opposed to their cost.
Since I found out that my book would be ready for sale sooner than I’d expected, I’ve felt as though I’ve been running round in circles. After meeting Phil, I feel I’ve finally got somewhere. I’m already starting to get excited.
Tomorrow I’ll be spending the day in Sheffield, attending an all day workshop on attracting (and maintaining ) the perfect relationship. If it’s half as good as the blurb, it will be BRILLIANT. Even if it isn’t, there has to be a story in there somewhere.
I learned a lot, mainly about the value of books as opposed to their cost.
Since I found out that my book would be ready for sale sooner than I’d expected, I’ve felt as though I’ve been running round in circles. After meeting Phil, I feel I’ve finally got somewhere. I’m already starting to get excited.
Tomorrow I’ll be spending the day in Sheffield, attending an all day workshop on attracting (and maintaining ) the perfect relationship. If it’s half as good as the blurb, it will be BRILLIANT. Even if it isn’t, there has to be a story in there somewhere.
My first Boxing Day ( a day late!)
My first ‘Boxing Day’ has been both interesting and unusual. The idea is to do whatever comes into your head, with no planning. I’ve done some work on a story for a comp, put some wallpaper up round a very tricky window in the kitchen,, sorted out a filing cabinet, had a general clean and tidy, changed my Twitter name to writingiseasy ready for the new web site, and I’m not sure what else. I’ll definitely be giving the idea another go next month.
I had a lucky escape today. The one dog I looked after last year that I really didn’t want to take care of again, Molly, her owner called today to see if I’d have her again. Luckily the dates he wanted were both times I was unavailable. One of them happened to be the weekend I’ve just booked to go for Liverpool so that was a lucky, close escape.
Oh and the other thing that happened today – had another argument with John. Mind ou that’s hardly news.
He’s talking to somebody next week who may have somewhere to offer, accommodation–wise – the man I rented a house from for three months when I first moved up here (I rented while I was completing my purchase rather than lose my buyer).
As I’m aching all over (the wallpapering was very very difficult and at full stretch over the sink!), I’m closing down now. I might watch Mastermind, or a film. I’ll just have to see what comes to me. After all, it’s still Boxing Day until midnight.
Tomorrow I’m at a workshop/q and a session with a publisher/bookseller/writer. No idea what to expect but it sounds interesting
I had a lucky escape today. The one dog I looked after last year that I really didn’t want to take care of again, Molly, her owner called today to see if I’d have her again. Luckily the dates he wanted were both times I was unavailable. One of them happened to be the weekend I’ve just booked to go for Liverpool so that was a lucky, close escape.
Oh and the other thing that happened today – had another argument with John. Mind ou that’s hardly news.
He’s talking to somebody next week who may have somewhere to offer, accommodation–wise – the man I rented a house from for three months when I first moved up here (I rented while I was completing my purchase rather than lose my buyer).
As I’m aching all over (the wallpapering was very very difficult and at full stretch over the sink!), I’m closing down now. I might watch Mastermind, or a film. I’ll just have to see what comes to me. After all, it’s still Boxing Day until midnight.
Tomorrow I’m at a workshop/q and a session with a publisher/bookseller/writer. No idea what to expect but it sounds interesting
Friday, 20 January 2012
Thursday, 19 January 2012
Feeling stressed
I’ve been feeling a bit stressed. Now I know (fingers crossed) that John's going to leave once he’s found somewhere else to live, I'm finding having him here even more annoying/distracting/upsetting than ever.
I also remember only too well when I got rid of him before. I became very depressed living by myself and although I ALMOST know for CERTAIN that I'll be happier without him, it’s still scary (I lose the car too - I don't drive).
It's going to be hard but it's something I have to do for me.
Today I managed to finish the five tasks attached to the creative Competitor week long writing challenge and sent them in early to get them out of the way. I’m out on Saturday and Sunday, so wouldn’t have time then and tomorrow is my first BOXING DAY. The idea is to have one day a month when you do whatever you feel like at the time. No planning allowed. You can find out more about Boxing days by reading Peter Jones’ motivational book HOW TO DO EVERYTHING AND BE HAPPY.
I also squeezed in my cryptic crossword class. One of the highlights of my week. Plus I bught a new shelf unit which matches rather than clashes the others in the living room. It was a bargain but boy was it heavy to carry home.
Tonight, I want to sort out some of my paperwork. I AM NOT ORGANISED enough and I’m fed up searching for things (like my PLR reference number/passwords/blog sites, etc etc etc etc. I need to make a LONG list of things to do, with everything I can think of written down, then choose the 3 (only three) to work on first. Again this comes from Peter’s book which has become one of my bibles.
Now to get on with it.
I also remember only too well when I got rid of him before. I became very depressed living by myself and although I ALMOST know for CERTAIN that I'll be happier without him, it’s still scary (I lose the car too - I don't drive).
It's going to be hard but it's something I have to do for me.
Today I managed to finish the five tasks attached to the creative Competitor week long writing challenge and sent them in early to get them out of the way. I’m out on Saturday and Sunday, so wouldn’t have time then and tomorrow is my first BOXING DAY. The idea is to have one day a month when you do whatever you feel like at the time. No planning allowed. You can find out more about Boxing days by reading Peter Jones’ motivational book HOW TO DO EVERYTHING AND BE HAPPY.
I also squeezed in my cryptic crossword class. One of the highlights of my week. Plus I bught a new shelf unit which matches rather than clashes the others in the living room. It was a bargain but boy was it heavy to carry home.
Tonight, I want to sort out some of my paperwork. I AM NOT ORGANISED enough and I’m fed up searching for things (like my PLR reference number/passwords/blog sites, etc etc etc etc. I need to make a LONG list of things to do, with everything I can think of written down, then choose the 3 (only three) to work on first. Again this comes from Peter’s book which has become one of my bibles.
Now to get on with it.
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
A good day
Today Heydays started again. I went along to the creative writing to see who the tutor was and what she had planned for term. I’m not sure what I think yet – will have to give it another week before deciding whether to switch to play reading. It was nice to see old friends and to catch up with what’s been going on.
I’d been given a place on one of the lunchtime events which billed itself as being about musical performance. So far it’s all been about singing, but again I’ll have to give it another session before making up my mind. UI managed to talk to Nicky about promoting the new book. She’s going to put up a small poster and see if there’s a slot one lunchtime when I can answer questions, talk about the book and so on.
When I got home, there was a message waiting from Leah’s owners saying I could take her home any time I was ready, so I asked John for a ride and took her back straightaway. They were very happy to see her in such good condition and gave me a bottle of wine as a bonus – French too, as the first. Once Leah had gone, I only had time to hoover up the worst of the hairs before heading off to a new writing group. It’s called east Leads Writers and is held in a nearby library. I had no idea what to expect so was very happy to discover that I know the man running it. He’s Peter Spafford, the man I met at East Leeds FM when I read a story on air and later took part in his readathon. I’d sent him an email a few days ago asking if he could give me some airtime for the ideas book. It turns out that he’s more than happy to do that for me so as soon as I have a launch date, a price and a cover, all I have to do is get in touch. The group itself was small, which is good, well balanced (in other words no one person took over), well organised and generally my cup of tea. It’s only once a month so I can find a way to squeeze it into my diary.
Overall, it’s been a successful, though tiring, day, even though I haven’t actually done any writing.
I’d been given a place on one of the lunchtime events which billed itself as being about musical performance. So far it’s all been about singing, but again I’ll have to give it another session before making up my mind. UI managed to talk to Nicky about promoting the new book. She’s going to put up a small poster and see if there’s a slot one lunchtime when I can answer questions, talk about the book and so on.
When I got home, there was a message waiting from Leah’s owners saying I could take her home any time I was ready, so I asked John for a ride and took her back straightaway. They were very happy to see her in such good condition and gave me a bottle of wine as a bonus – French too, as the first. Once Leah had gone, I only had time to hoover up the worst of the hairs before heading off to a new writing group. It’s called east Leads Writers and is held in a nearby library. I had no idea what to expect so was very happy to discover that I know the man running it. He’s Peter Spafford, the man I met at East Leeds FM when I read a story on air and later took part in his readathon. I’d sent him an email a few days ago asking if he could give me some airtime for the ideas book. It turns out that he’s more than happy to do that for me so as soon as I have a launch date, a price and a cover, all I have to do is get in touch. The group itself was small, which is good, well balanced (in other words no one person took over), well organised and generally my cup of tea. It’s only once a month so I can find a way to squeeze it into my diary.
Overall, it’s been a successful, though tiring, day, even though I haven’t actually done any writing.
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Fillers and other things
A lady who bought my book HOW TO MAKE £10 IN TEN MINUTES on Kindle (89 pence) sent me this question (thanks, Sharon!)
‘If we continue to send fillers and letters out, will the mag office teams cotton on to the fact that you trying to make a few quid? Do you space your material out a bit? I don't want them banning me if I send too much stuff in!’
I don’t do many fillers any more, I have so much else going on. When I did, I cheated a bit. I used friends’ and family’s names and addresses and they cashed the cheques for me. At one time, I had an account with Nationwide which allowed to pay in cheques in other names. I now have one with HSBC where I can pay in cheques in 4 different names, but as I said, I don’t do many fillers now. I used them mainly to keep me going when the gaps between story sales were very long. For a couple of years I DID make a lot of money out of fillers averaging more than £50 a week. Magazines NEED fillers, if yours is the right one for that slot, they will take it whether you were in there a month ago or not. I’ve had tips in the same mag, two issues in a row, using the same name.
There are also a LOT of magazines out there. If you send one filler a week to a different mag each time, it will be months before you have to repeat yourself. My advice is try them all, even the ones that only pay £5 or give small prizes (like The People’s Friend and The Weekly News). Targeting lots of different mags hones your market research skills and it gets you writing. The great thing is that sometimes it also brings a big financial reward.
Fillers aren’t a substitute for writing other things, they’re a step on the way to becoming the writer YOU want to be. I hep that helps, but please, if you have any queries, do let me know, and PLEASE keep buying the book and if you find it helpful, please leave a review.
I went to my therapist this morning. She’s going to try and help me with a problem I have – I feel that saying I’m good at something is bragging. As you can guess, with a book coming out soon that I need to promote, this problem is getting in the way. Any thoughts, welcome!
‘If we continue to send fillers and letters out, will the mag office teams cotton on to the fact that you trying to make a few quid? Do you space your material out a bit? I don't want them banning me if I send too much stuff in!’
I don’t do many fillers any more, I have so much else going on. When I did, I cheated a bit. I used friends’ and family’s names and addresses and they cashed the cheques for me. At one time, I had an account with Nationwide which allowed to pay in cheques in other names. I now have one with HSBC where I can pay in cheques in 4 different names, but as I said, I don’t do many fillers now. I used them mainly to keep me going when the gaps between story sales were very long. For a couple of years I DID make a lot of money out of fillers averaging more than £50 a week. Magazines NEED fillers, if yours is the right one for that slot, they will take it whether you were in there a month ago or not. I’ve had tips in the same mag, two issues in a row, using the same name.
There are also a LOT of magazines out there. If you send one filler a week to a different mag each time, it will be months before you have to repeat yourself. My advice is try them all, even the ones that only pay £5 or give small prizes (like The People’s Friend and The Weekly News). Targeting lots of different mags hones your market research skills and it gets you writing. The great thing is that sometimes it also brings a big financial reward.
Fillers aren’t a substitute for writing other things, they’re a step on the way to becoming the writer YOU want to be. I hep that helps, but please, if you have any queries, do let me know, and PLEASE keep buying the book and if you find it helpful, please leave a review.
I went to my therapist this morning. She’s going to try and help me with a problem I have – I feel that saying I’m good at something is bragging. As you can guess, with a book coming out soon that I need to promote, this problem is getting in the way. Any thoughts, welcome!
Saturday, 14 January 2012
LIGHT FINALLY DAWNS!
As I’ve been working on this new book – Saving The Inner Child – I keep having moments of deep revelation. The latest one came to me this morning after watching, of all things, an episode of Boston Legal on TV last night. That and the altercation I had with the man in Tescos the other day.
I’ve been a victim of bullying all my life.
My parents bullied me, two of my husbands bulled me, people generally bully me, why because I let them. I’m so glad I’ve finally cottoned on. It helps me make sense of why the same patterns of behaviour have happened, over and over. Especially with Mum. She bullied me, told lies, said cruel hurtful things, and I let her. So she kept doing it. The worm has finally woken up. I don’t know if it’s turned yet. I’ll have to wait and see.
I’ve been a victim of bullying all my life.
My parents bullied me, two of my husbands bulled me, people generally bully me, why because I let them. I’m so glad I’ve finally cottoned on. It helps me make sense of why the same patterns of behaviour have happened, over and over. Especially with Mum. She bullied me, told lies, said cruel hurtful things, and I let her. So she kept doing it. The worm has finally woken up. I don’t know if it’s turned yet. I’ll have to wait and see.
THE CHASE
Vikki asked about The Chase. I filmed the show back in May 2011. It’s scheduled to go out on January 25th. Until it does, I can’t say who the chaser was, only that it wasn’t the one I wanted. I did get a hug from that one though, after the show.
If anyone knows how to record the show onto DVD, get in touch. I'm happy to pay for a copy.
If anyone knows how to record the show onto DVD, get in touch. I'm happy to pay for a copy.
Catching up
Posting early today as I couldn’t get the blog to load last night.
I spent most of the day working on lessons for my 2 new pupils, then working on the book. The book has slowed down regarding the word count, in fact, it went backwards, yesterday as I cut out a few bits and edited others, but I’m getting there – page 65 out of 175.
I have finally decided that my lodger has to go so I’ve given him notice. Being soft, kind, stupid (!), I’ve given him until the end of May so that he should be gone by my end of June birthday. It’s a big decision for me and one I really pray I can stick to. Sharing space with somebody you really don’t get on with can be very draining, especially emotionally, and if I want to get back to writing good short stories, I don’t need that in my life.
I spoke to my publisher (I stil think that sounds amazing) yesterday and he’s talking about fixing a lunch date about two months after the book is actually ready so that he can market it, send out advance copies and so on. I think that’s a great idea. It gives me time to drum up some interest. I haven’t decided on the date yet. I’m thinking April Fool’s Day……
I spent most of the day working on lessons for my 2 new pupils, then working on the book. The book has slowed down regarding the word count, in fact, it went backwards, yesterday as I cut out a few bits and edited others, but I’m getting there – page 65 out of 175.
I have finally decided that my lodger has to go so I’ve given him notice. Being soft, kind, stupid (!), I’ve given him until the end of May so that he should be gone by my end of June birthday. It’s a big decision for me and one I really pray I can stick to. Sharing space with somebody you really don’t get on with can be very draining, especially emotionally, and if I want to get back to writing good short stories, I don’t need that in my life.
I spoke to my publisher (I stil think that sounds amazing) yesterday and he’s talking about fixing a lunch date about two months after the book is actually ready so that he can market it, send out advance copies and so on. I think that’s a great idea. It gives me time to drum up some interest. I haven’t decided on the date yet. I’m thinking April Fool’s Day……
Friday, 13 January 2012
Thursday, 12 January 2012
Thursday.
It’s been a bitty day.
I sorted out the slides for the web site and took them into the shop to be put onto DVD. Found a story to send to My Weekly for January. Chased up the publisher to find out what’s happened to the e version of my novel.
Updated my web site so that my guide to writing fillers (hard copy) is for sale there.
Found a new writing pupil for whom I devised a questionnaire and 2 first lessons so that she can choose the one she wants to do.
Went to crossword class, then spent an hour after that class struggling with the one we didn’t get time for, and not getting very far.
Took another booking for my second favourite dog – Louis, who’s coming to stay in February too. That meant doing the paperwork (invoice, confirmation etc) as I don’t like to leave that waiting.
Work–wise, I now have a list of the things that I would like to do with the top three things highlighted.
The idea is to tackle those three, and only those three, until one or all of them are done. THEN I can add a new one to the list. This is meant to stop me doing a bit on several different stories, working on three books, competition entries, etc etc and never actually getting anything finished. I’m happy to say that, so far, it’s working.
I have nothing planned for the weekend which in some ways is a drag, but it does mean I should be able to get some work done. Last night’s quiz was disappointing. I was on a table with a couple I sat with the quiz before last, and another woman, with my back to everyone else, staring at the back of the bar. Nobody wanted to make conversation, only talking about the quiz questions. The moment it was over, zap, they disappeared, leaving me sitting by myself at the table. I put up with it for ten minutes then went and asked John if we could leave. He was chatting nineteen to the dozen, having a gay old time (I’m using the 19th century meaning of the word). I know I could have gone and sat at another table, but that’s something I find every hard to do. I might have a word with the organisers and see if they can keep an eye out for this kind of thing because if they’d introduced me to the people on another table, I would have been fine.
If you haven’t visited my web site recently, I’ve added another book for sale. It’s the hard copy of the filler writing guide that’s on Kindle. Sadly it’s a lot more expensive as a proper book, but I still think it’s well worth it (but then I would say that!).
www.akacatherinehoward.weebly.com
I sorted out the slides for the web site and took them into the shop to be put onto DVD. Found a story to send to My Weekly for January. Chased up the publisher to find out what’s happened to the e version of my novel.
Updated my web site so that my guide to writing fillers (hard copy) is for sale there.
Found a new writing pupil for whom I devised a questionnaire and 2 first lessons so that she can choose the one she wants to do.
Went to crossword class, then spent an hour after that class struggling with the one we didn’t get time for, and not getting very far.
Took another booking for my second favourite dog – Louis, who’s coming to stay in February too. That meant doing the paperwork (invoice, confirmation etc) as I don’t like to leave that waiting.
Work–wise, I now have a list of the things that I would like to do with the top three things highlighted.
The idea is to tackle those three, and only those three, until one or all of them are done. THEN I can add a new one to the list. This is meant to stop me doing a bit on several different stories, working on three books, competition entries, etc etc and never actually getting anything finished. I’m happy to say that, so far, it’s working.
I have nothing planned for the weekend which in some ways is a drag, but it does mean I should be able to get some work done. Last night’s quiz was disappointing. I was on a table with a couple I sat with the quiz before last, and another woman, with my back to everyone else, staring at the back of the bar. Nobody wanted to make conversation, only talking about the quiz questions. The moment it was over, zap, they disappeared, leaving me sitting by myself at the table. I put up with it for ten minutes then went and asked John if we could leave. He was chatting nineteen to the dozen, having a gay old time (I’m using the 19th century meaning of the word). I know I could have gone and sat at another table, but that’s something I find every hard to do. I might have a word with the organisers and see if they can keep an eye out for this kind of thing because if they’d introduced me to the people on another table, I would have been fine.
If you haven’t visited my web site recently, I’ve added another book for sale. It’s the hard copy of the filler writing guide that’s on Kindle. Sadly it’s a lot more expensive as a proper book, but I still think it’s well worth it (but then I would say that!).
www.akacatherinehoward.weebly.com
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
Bullied
I was upset today by a bully in Tescos who started loading his shopping onto the belt before I’d finished loading mine.
The strange thing was that when I got home, Leah who has been more like a living white rug than a dog (she IS 11) suddenly came to life. For the first time since I’ve known her, she followed me upstairs then she wanted to play with a ball in the garden. Another first. It was as though she knew I needed cheering up. Aren’t dogs great!
Tonight it’s off to a Spice quiz with my lodger. We’re definitely playing on separate tables. If I have to spend much more time with him today, I might just possibly murder him!
While I remember, here’s a date for the diary for anyone who wants to see me squirm – January 25th ITV1, The Chase.
The strange thing was that when I got home, Leah who has been more like a living white rug than a dog (she IS 11) suddenly came to life. For the first time since I’ve known her, she followed me upstairs then she wanted to play with a ball in the garden. Another first. It was as though she knew I needed cheering up. Aren’t dogs great!
Tonight it’s off to a Spice quiz with my lodger. We’re definitely playing on separate tables. If I have to spend much more time with him today, I might just possibly murder him!
While I remember, here’s a date for the diary for anyone who wants to see me squirm – January 25th ITV1, The Chase.
Missing a day
I couldn’t blog yesterday for a number of reasons, mostly Mozilla was acting up, so I’m playing catch up now.
I spent most of the day working on the book and finding it very hard. Sometimes I can write a thousand words in no time at all. Yesterday, every word felt like a trudge through mud. I’m reworking parts of the book I wrote about my childhood to go into the new book. Since I went through this latest therapy, I can see things far more clearly regarding my parents’ treatment of me but the thing I see most clearly is how much I despised, hated and loathed myself. When I read about some of the things that happened, it’s as though they happened to somebody else. I want to scream and shout at old self, why did you put up with that? For goodness sake, why didn’t you do something? Why didn’t you leave home?
It was, frankly, quite upsetting but then I expected that it might be. I knew this book was going to be difficult to write because things that need to be said are often the most difficult to find the words for.
Last night was the gardening club’s first meet of the year and Graham Porter from radio Leeds came to talk about designing small gardens for which he charged £100. All he did was get us to draw sketches of eleven factors he suggested for maximising space. He hardly spoke at all. I wasn’t annoyed because it was a fun idea, just miffed because even if I’d had an idea like that, i.e. get the audience to do most of the work, I wouldn’t have the nerve to pull it off. that a – I hadn’t thought of something like that, and b, cross with myself because even if I had, I wouldn’t be able to do it because I worry about giving value for money.
Talking about value for money, Byker Books has released my guide to writing fillers on Kindle – HOW TO EARN £10 IN TEN MINUTES. Last time I checked it was for sale at 89 p so if you can spare the money, please buy a copy and leave a review.
I’ve been sent this code to get 25% off my Lulu books so if it’s of any interest, these are the details.
25% off any of my books
Coupon Code: LULUBOOKUK305
Coupon expires 31 January 2012
The web site is www.lul.com and my books can be found by searching under my name. If you want to buy one, do check that they aren’t cheaper direct from me
(www.akacatherinehoward.weebly.com)
Today, I plan to do other things like plan my new web site, do a critique of a story, and go to Tesco’s. Tonight is my first Spice event of the year, a quiz about 2011. As I neither read newspapers, nor watch the news on TV, I’m not going to be much of an asset to my team, but it’s a night out.
I spent most of the day working on the book and finding it very hard. Sometimes I can write a thousand words in no time at all. Yesterday, every word felt like a trudge through mud. I’m reworking parts of the book I wrote about my childhood to go into the new book. Since I went through this latest therapy, I can see things far more clearly regarding my parents’ treatment of me but the thing I see most clearly is how much I despised, hated and loathed myself. When I read about some of the things that happened, it’s as though they happened to somebody else. I want to scream and shout at old self, why did you put up with that? For goodness sake, why didn’t you do something? Why didn’t you leave home?
It was, frankly, quite upsetting but then I expected that it might be. I knew this book was going to be difficult to write because things that need to be said are often the most difficult to find the words for.
Last night was the gardening club’s first meet of the year and Graham Porter from radio Leeds came to talk about designing small gardens for which he charged £100. All he did was get us to draw sketches of eleven factors he suggested for maximising space. He hardly spoke at all. I wasn’t annoyed because it was a fun idea, just miffed because even if I’d had an idea like that, i.e. get the audience to do most of the work, I wouldn’t have the nerve to pull it off. that a – I hadn’t thought of something like that, and b, cross with myself because even if I had, I wouldn’t be able to do it because I worry about giving value for money.
Talking about value for money, Byker Books has released my guide to writing fillers on Kindle – HOW TO EARN £10 IN TEN MINUTES. Last time I checked it was for sale at 89 p so if you can spare the money, please buy a copy and leave a review.
I’ve been sent this code to get 25% off my Lulu books so if it’s of any interest, these are the details.
25% off any of my books
Coupon Code: LULUBOOKUK305
Coupon expires 31 January 2012
The web site is www.lul.com and my books can be found by searching under my name. If you want to buy one, do check that they aren’t cheaper direct from me
(www.akacatherinehoward.weebly.com)
Today, I plan to do other things like plan my new web site, do a critique of a story, and go to Tesco’s. Tonight is my first Spice event of the year, a quiz about 2011. As I neither read newspapers, nor watch the news on TV, I’m not going to be much of an asset to my team, but it’s a night out.
Monday, 9 January 2012
Happy Birthday
Today, January 9th, 2012, my third husband, the one who died at 46, would have been 61. It’s been a long time, 1997, to be precise, but I still like to make the day a bit special.
I worked on the new book until I’d written a thousand words, then went out, just for a wander round the shops. Luck was with me as I found a handbag at half price and in my favourite local clothes shop, Buzz, a dress that was reduced all the way down to £3. I tried it on and it fitted. I think I’ll wear it tonight. I’m playing for the quiz team as others members aren’t available. We’re bottom of the league by a long way so it doesn’t’ matter if I make a mess of all my questions (it’s a HARD quiz!).
When I came back, there was an email from Byker books saying that my book about writing fillers (How to earn £10 in ten minutes) is now for sale on Kindle. I checked and ther it was – 89 pence. A bargain if I say so myself. If anyone is able to spread the word about his book, please please do what you can. There’s no point having the book for sale if nobody knows about it.
The email also gave me the launch date for Radgepacket 6, their latest short story collection in which I have a story. The launch is going to be in Newcastle on the 10th of March. That’s the day Woody and Snoopy go home so I’ll need to speak to their owners and find to when they want to collect them. I could let John, my lodger, hand them back, but I feel it’s better if I can be there. It looks more professional. Once they confirm their booking, I’ll give them a call. I checked the trains to Newcastle and for less than £25, if I book early, I can get there and back in a day, arriving home by about 6p.m.
Overall, it hasn’t been a bad day.
I’m glad I’m needed for the quiz tonight otherwise I would have had to go to the Writers Club instead. That sounds bad, me saying that, but I don’t really enjoy manuscript evenings and those, apart from competition evenings when we hear from the judges, we don’t do anything else – no speakers, no writing exercises, just manuscript evenings. Gareth would much rather I spent his birthday at a pub, answering questions. He did love a pint!
I worked on the new book until I’d written a thousand words, then went out, just for a wander round the shops. Luck was with me as I found a handbag at half price and in my favourite local clothes shop, Buzz, a dress that was reduced all the way down to £3. I tried it on and it fitted. I think I’ll wear it tonight. I’m playing for the quiz team as others members aren’t available. We’re bottom of the league by a long way so it doesn’t’ matter if I make a mess of all my questions (it’s a HARD quiz!).
When I came back, there was an email from Byker books saying that my book about writing fillers (How to earn £10 in ten minutes) is now for sale on Kindle. I checked and ther it was – 89 pence. A bargain if I say so myself. If anyone is able to spread the word about his book, please please do what you can. There’s no point having the book for sale if nobody knows about it.
The email also gave me the launch date for Radgepacket 6, their latest short story collection in which I have a story. The launch is going to be in Newcastle on the 10th of March. That’s the day Woody and Snoopy go home so I’ll need to speak to their owners and find to when they want to collect them. I could let John, my lodger, hand them back, but I feel it’s better if I can be there. It looks more professional. Once they confirm their booking, I’ll give them a call. I checked the trains to Newcastle and for less than £25, if I book early, I can get there and back in a day, arriving home by about 6p.m.
Overall, it hasn’t been a bad day.
I’m glad I’m needed for the quiz tonight otherwise I would have had to go to the Writers Club instead. That sounds bad, me saying that, but I don’t really enjoy manuscript evenings and those, apart from competition evenings when we hear from the judges, we don’t do anything else – no speakers, no writing exercises, just manuscript evenings. Gareth would much rather I spent his birthday at a pub, answering questions. He did love a pint!
Sunday, 8 January 2012
Sunday Sunday
Dogs are funny.
I was a bit unsure about having Leah to stay this time as previously she came as a package of 2, the other being the spaniel, Milo, who I feel in love with but who died in the summer. For the first three days she spent 90% of the time asleep, didn’t each much, and didn’t bark once. Her trick is to bark when she wants something and you have to guess what it is, treat, bonio, a walk, the garden, whatever.
When she was here with Milo I couldn’t use my Wii machine as it upset them. I played the Wii fit yesterday with no problems but today when I challenged John to a few games of tennis, Leah suddenly became animated, leaping about and barking. We had to stop playing.
Feeding her is still a challenge as she turns up her nose at most of the food she’s meant to eat. She’s perfectly happy to help me with my cold meat at lunch time and other left overs. I bought special food from the butcher, it looked rather like anaemic cooked minced beef. To tempt her to try it, I put some on a spoon as though it was my food, and offered it to her. That got her interest. Tonight she had a tin of sardines.
Didn’t get far with her walk this evening. I think somebody must be letting fireworks off somewhere or another. I couldn’t hear them, but I’m guessing that’s what it was.
Now she’s gone back into her usual ‘standby’ inert mode. I forgive her. She IS old.
I’m signing off soon to go and watch Sherlock. I thought last week’s was very good, so here’s hoping this one is too.
Writing–wise I finished my Harrrogate Crime entry, and two short stories for a fun competition with my on line writers group, theme cherry blossom!
I think my crime story is very good. Sadly, it’s not my opinion that counts!!!!
Almost forgot, I also made a batch of 18 cranberry and cherry buns!
I was a bit unsure about having Leah to stay this time as previously she came as a package of 2, the other being the spaniel, Milo, who I feel in love with but who died in the summer. For the first three days she spent 90% of the time asleep, didn’t each much, and didn’t bark once. Her trick is to bark when she wants something and you have to guess what it is, treat, bonio, a walk, the garden, whatever.
When she was here with Milo I couldn’t use my Wii machine as it upset them. I played the Wii fit yesterday with no problems but today when I challenged John to a few games of tennis, Leah suddenly became animated, leaping about and barking. We had to stop playing.
Feeding her is still a challenge as she turns up her nose at most of the food she’s meant to eat. She’s perfectly happy to help me with my cold meat at lunch time and other left overs. I bought special food from the butcher, it looked rather like anaemic cooked minced beef. To tempt her to try it, I put some on a spoon as though it was my food, and offered it to her. That got her interest. Tonight she had a tin of sardines.
Didn’t get far with her walk this evening. I think somebody must be letting fireworks off somewhere or another. I couldn’t hear them, but I’m guessing that’s what it was.
Now she’s gone back into her usual ‘standby’ inert mode. I forgive her. She IS old.
I’m signing off soon to go and watch Sherlock. I thought last week’s was very good, so here’s hoping this one is too.
Writing–wise I finished my Harrrogate Crime entry, and two short stories for a fun competition with my on line writers group, theme cherry blossom!
I think my crime story is very good. Sadly, it’s not my opinion that counts!!!!
Almost forgot, I also made a batch of 18 cranberry and cherry buns!
Saturday, 7 January 2012
Another Saturday night and I ain't got nobody (Cat Stevens)
Getting back into writing fiction after so long a break brings up a mixture of emotions. I’m happy that I can still come up with ideas with ease, but a little worried that I might not be able to put them to as good use as I once could. The proof, as they say, will be in the sales. I’ve almost finished my crime story for Harrogate but as there are still a good few days before I need to send it in, I’m going to put it to one side until Monday, then come back to it. I find that’s the best way to see if it needs changing in any way.
A writers group I belong to on Facebook has set a challenge for the weekend, writing on the theme of cherry blossom, 250, 700 or 1000 words. I had a bit of a brainstorm and drafted 2 stories which I will finish and tiny up tomorrow morning in time for the Sunday 5 o’clock deadline.
I’ve just been out for a walk with Leah. Much of the time it’s hard to remember she’s even here as she spends most of the time asleep. It must be her age. She’s eleven now.
I sent my ideas for the cover of the new book to the publisher. I can hardly wait to see what he comes up with. As soon as I have a picture of the cover (and the price!) I can start promoting the book and get the web site sorted.
I’m still wishing I had more things in the diary this week. I seem to be spending far too much time either by myself or arguing with John (my lodger who I once had the misfortune to be married to). I am convinced that he will never find anybody else mainly because he doesn’t seem the least bit interested in trying. If he wasn’t so rude, obnoxious, bad tempered, lazy, untidy, irritating, forgetful, smelly (he doesn’t seem to understand the concept of deodorant) I would try and fix him up with somebody myself, but there’s nobody I dislike enough to lumber them with John.
A writers group I belong to on Facebook has set a challenge for the weekend, writing on the theme of cherry blossom, 250, 700 or 1000 words. I had a bit of a brainstorm and drafted 2 stories which I will finish and tiny up tomorrow morning in time for the Sunday 5 o’clock deadline.
I’ve just been out for a walk with Leah. Much of the time it’s hard to remember she’s even here as she spends most of the time asleep. It must be her age. She’s eleven now.
I sent my ideas for the cover of the new book to the publisher. I can hardly wait to see what he comes up with. As soon as I have a picture of the cover (and the price!) I can start promoting the book and get the web site sorted.
I’m still wishing I had more things in the diary this week. I seem to be spending far too much time either by myself or arguing with John (my lodger who I once had the misfortune to be married to). I am convinced that he will never find anybody else mainly because he doesn’t seem the least bit interested in trying. If he wasn’t so rude, obnoxious, bad tempered, lazy, untidy, irritating, forgetful, smelly (he doesn’t seem to understand the concept of deodorant) I would try and fix him up with somebody myself, but there’s nobody I dislike enough to lumber them with John.
Friday, 6 January 2012
Short story day, well almost!
Today is my first dedicated short story day. I got the idea to use my diary to make a fiction writing appointment with myself from Peter Jones’s book. Of course it hasn’t gone as planned.
I started well, drafting a crime story for the Harrogate Festival competition. I had planned to try and draft another but when I went on line to check my emails, there was one from People’s Friend, saying she’d passed another story up the line to the editor, and would I care to tweak another one as she wanted a different ending. I make it a rule that if any editor asks me to work on a story, I drop everything and get on to it straightaway, so that’s what I did.
As I was on line, I thought I might as well send another story to The Weekly News. I found one that looked possible, made it a bit longer as they now prefer stories to be around the 1000–1200 word mark, was about to send it off when it vanished. The page is now blank. This has happened to me before. That time the story magically reappeared when I switched the PC on the next day. I hope that happens again, but it’s so annoying! Earlier my printer wouldn’t print either, so I had to restart everything.
I really need to get out and about amongst some positively energised people. Why does everything take so long to get going again after Christmas? Heydays doesn’t start until the 18th!
I’m going to take a deep breath, see if the story has come back, and if it hasn’t, turn off and try again later.
I started well, drafting a crime story for the Harrogate Festival competition. I had planned to try and draft another but when I went on line to check my emails, there was one from People’s Friend, saying she’d passed another story up the line to the editor, and would I care to tweak another one as she wanted a different ending. I make it a rule that if any editor asks me to work on a story, I drop everything and get on to it straightaway, so that’s what I did.
As I was on line, I thought I might as well send another story to The Weekly News. I found one that looked possible, made it a bit longer as they now prefer stories to be around the 1000–1200 word mark, was about to send it off when it vanished. The page is now blank. This has happened to me before. That time the story magically reappeared when I switched the PC on the next day. I hope that happens again, but it’s so annoying! Earlier my printer wouldn’t print either, so I had to restart everything.
I really need to get out and about amongst some positively energised people. Why does everything take so long to get going again after Christmas? Heydays doesn’t start until the 18th!
I’m going to take a deep breath, see if the story has come back, and if it hasn’t, turn off and try again later.
Short story day, well almost!
Today is my first dedicated short story day. I got the idea to use my diary to make a fiction writing appointment with myself from Peter Jones’s book. Of course it hasn’t gone as planned.
I started well, drafting a crime story for the Harrogate Festival competition. I had planned to try and draft another but when I went on line to check my emails, there was one from People’s Friend, saying she’d passed another story up the line to the editor, and would I care to tweak another one as she wanted a different ending. I make it a rule that if any editor asks me to work on a story, I drop everything and get on to it straightaway, so that’s what I did.
As I was on line, I thought I might as well send another story to The Weekly News. I found one that looked possible, made it a bit longer as they now prefer stories to be around the 1000–1200 word mark, was about to send it off when it vanished. The page is now blank. This has happened to me before. That time the story magically reappeared when I switched the PC on the next day. I hope that happens again, but it’s so annoying! Earlier my printer wouldn’t print either, so I had to restart everything.
I really need to get out and about amongst some positively energised people. Why does everything take so long to get going again after Christmas? Heydays doesn’t start until the 18th!
I’m going to take a deep breath, see if the story has come back, and if it hasn’t, turn off and try again later.
I started well, drafting a crime story for the Harrogate Festival competition. I had planned to try and draft another but when I went on line to check my emails, there was one from People’s Friend, saying she’d passed another story up the line to the editor, and would I care to tweak another one as she wanted a different ending. I make it a rule that if any editor asks me to work on a story, I drop everything and get on to it straightaway, so that’s what I did.
As I was on line, I thought I might as well send another story to The Weekly News. I found one that looked possible, made it a bit longer as they now prefer stories to be around the 1000–1200 word mark, was about to send it off when it vanished. The page is now blank. This has happened to me before. That time the story magically reappeared when I switched the PC on the next day. I hope that happens again, but it’s so annoying! Earlier my printer wouldn’t print either, so I had to restart everything.
I really need to get out and about amongst some positively energised people. Why does everything take so long to get going again after Christmas? Heydays doesn’t start until the 18th!
I’m going to take a deep breath, see if the story has come back, and if it hasn’t, turn off and try again later.
Short story day, well almost!
Today is my first dedicated short story day. I got the idea to use my diary to make a fiction writing appointment with myself from Peter Jones’s book. Of course it hasn’t gone as planned.
I started well, drafting a crime story for the Harrogate Festival competition. I had planned to try and draft another but when I went on line to check my emails, there was one from People’s Friend, saying she’d passed another story up the line to the editor, and would I care to tweak another one as she wanted a different ending. I make it a rule that if any editor asks me to work on a story, I drop everything and get on to it straightaway, so that’s what I did.
As I was on line, I thought I might as well send another story to The Weekly News. I found one that looked possible, made it a bit longer as they now prefer stories to be around the 1000–1200 word mark, was about to send it off when it vanished. The page is now blank. This has happened to me before. That time the story magically reappeared when I switched the PC on the next day. I hope that happens again, but it’s so annoying! Earlier my printer wouldn’t print either, so I had to restart everything.
I really need to get out and about amongst some positively energised people. Why does everything take so long to get going again after Christmas? Heydays doesn’t start until the 18th!
I’m going to take a deep breath, see if the story has come back, and if it hasn’t, turn off and try again later.
I started well, drafting a crime story for the Harrogate Festival competition. I had planned to try and draft another but when I went on line to check my emails, there was one from People’s Friend, saying she’d passed another story up the line to the editor, and would I care to tweak another one as she wanted a different ending. I make it a rule that if any editor asks me to work on a story, I drop everything and get on to it straightaway, so that’s what I did.
As I was on line, I thought I might as well send another story to The Weekly News. I found one that looked possible, made it a bit longer as they now prefer stories to be around the 1000–1200 word mark, was about to send it off when it vanished. The page is now blank. This has happened to me before. That time the story magically reappeared when I switched the PC on the next day. I hope that happens again, but it’s so annoying! Earlier my printer wouldn’t print either, so I had to restart everything.
I really need to get out and about amongst some positively energised people. Why does everything take so long to get going again after Christmas? Heydays doesn’t start until the 18th!
I’m going to take a deep breath, see if the story has come back, and if it hasn’t, turn off and try again later.
Short story day, well almost!
Today is my first dedicated short story day. I got the idea to use my diary to make a fiction writing appointment with myself from Peter Jones’s book. Of course it hasn’t gone as planned.
I started well, drafting a crime story for the Harrogate Festival competition. I had planned to try and draft another but when I went on line to check my emails, there was one from People’s Friend, saying she’d passed another story up the line to the editor, and would I care to tweak another one as she wanted a different ending. I make it a rule that if any editor asks me to work on a story, I drop everything and get on to it straightaway, so that’s what I did.
As I was on line, I thought I might as well send another story to The Weekly News. I found one that looked possible, made it a bit longer as they now prefer stories to be around the 1000–1200 word mark, was about to send it off when it vanished. The page is now blank. This has happened to me before. That time the story magically reappeared when I switched the PC on the next day. I hope that happens again, but it’s so annoying! Earlier my printer wouldn’t print either, so I had to restart everything.
I really need to get out and about amongst some positively energised people. Why does everything take so long to get going again after Christmas? Heydays doesn’t start until the 18th!
I’m going to take a deep breath, see if the story has come back, and if it hasn’t, turn off and try again later.
I started well, drafting a crime story for the Harrogate Festival competition. I had planned to try and draft another but when I went on line to check my emails, there was one from People’s Friend, saying she’d passed another story up the line to the editor, and would I care to tweak another one as she wanted a different ending. I make it a rule that if any editor asks me to work on a story, I drop everything and get on to it straightaway, so that’s what I did.
As I was on line, I thought I might as well send another story to The Weekly News. I found one that looked possible, made it a bit longer as they now prefer stories to be around the 1000–1200 word mark, was about to send it off when it vanished. The page is now blank. This has happened to me before. That time the story magically reappeared when I switched the PC on the next day. I hope that happens again, but it’s so annoying! Earlier my printer wouldn’t print either, so I had to restart everything.
I really need to get out and about amongst some positively energised people. Why does everything take so long to get going again after Christmas? Heydays doesn’t start until the 18th!
I’m going to take a deep breath, see if the story has come back, and if it hasn’t, turn off and try again later.
Thursday, 5 January 2012
Paperwork!
In another life, I used to be an administrator. You would think that dealing with the paperwork connected to dog boarding would come easily to me! I’ve obviously been away from it for too long. I THINK I’ve done it all right, and haven’t forgotten anything.
It was so good to hear from Louis’s owners last night (my favourite chocolate Labrador) , booking him for both Easter and a week in September. Obviously I will need to find a few more customers to make it worth my while – the licence and insurance don’t come cheap – but I need to take it slowly.
I had a reply from Writers News saying they will run a short piece about the new book (once I have a photo of the cover AND the price!). I’ve more or less figured out how many pages I need on the web site and what will be on them. I can find some photos over the weekend. Tomorrow has been designated a short story day. I haven’t done any fiction writing for months and have, frankly, been putting it off in case my mojo is still AWOL. I’ve been reading HOW TO DO EVERYTHING AND BE HAPPY in which Peter advises using a diary to make appointments, even with yourself, so I’ve taken that one step further and booked in some designated short story days so that I HAVE to get on with it.
Leah, the Samoyed, is sitting by me as I type this. I just took her for a walk. When we reached the end of the road, she heard some fireworks and that was that, she wouldn’t go any further so I brought her back home. She’s obviously still a bit nervous, otherwise she would have gone into the other room to one of her favourite spots, behind the sofa, or curled up against the French door.
I need to stop here and make sure I have things ready for the morning. There’s nothing worse than settling down to write a story when you don’t know what it is you plan to write. A quick flip through my ideas files should do the trick.
It was so good to hear from Louis’s owners last night (my favourite chocolate Labrador) , booking him for both Easter and a week in September. Obviously I will need to find a few more customers to make it worth my while – the licence and insurance don’t come cheap – but I need to take it slowly.
I had a reply from Writers News saying they will run a short piece about the new book (once I have a photo of the cover AND the price!). I’ve more or less figured out how many pages I need on the web site and what will be on them. I can find some photos over the weekend. Tomorrow has been designated a short story day. I haven’t done any fiction writing for months and have, frankly, been putting it off in case my mojo is still AWOL. I’ve been reading HOW TO DO EVERYTHING AND BE HAPPY in which Peter advises using a diary to make appointments, even with yourself, so I’ve taken that one step further and booked in some designated short story days so that I HAVE to get on with it.
Leah, the Samoyed, is sitting by me as I type this. I just took her for a walk. When we reached the end of the road, she heard some fireworks and that was that, she wouldn’t go any further so I brought her back home. She’s obviously still a bit nervous, otherwise she would have gone into the other room to one of her favourite spots, behind the sofa, or curled up against the French door.
I need to stop here and make sure I have things ready for the morning. There’s nothing worse than settling down to write a story when you don’t know what it is you plan to write. A quick flip through my ideas files should do the trick.
Wednesday, 4 January 2012
Covers and web sites
Today was spent mostly thinking about my new web site. I have a rough plan now but will sleep on it for another day or too. The other thing I've had to work on is the front cover of the book. I’ve put a few thoughts down on paper and will send them to the publisher tomorrow.
The book is called The Writer’s Treasury of Ideas which is not the most inspiring title but at least it explains what the book is about – training yourself to think of ideas for stories. The cover ideas I came up with were a treasure chest overflowing not with coins but lumps of gold embossed with the word idea on them, or a cartoon of a woman, posed as Rodin’s The Thinker with an empty speech bubble on her head. If any has any better ideas, I’d love to hear about them.
Leah, the Samoyed, who is staying until the 18th is not giving me any trouble. If anything she’s TOO quiet. The contrast between her and the last 2 dogs couldn’t be more marked. They were full of energy and would eat anything they were given while she spends most of the time dozing and has to be persuaded to eat.
I went for lunch with a friend today. She’s having a hard time at work, and could afford to pack it in, but she’s hanging on for an increased pension. I find that very sad. I guess I’m lucky in that I don’t have a lot of outgoings. There are other things more important to me than money. That said, I’d be happier if I could get back to doing something more creative, like writing! Hopefully it will get easier as time passes and I’ve had more experience of marketing/publicity and so forth.
For the last few days I’ve been feeling a bit low. I’m finding my lodger a bit wearing as he never seems to want to do anything, gets up late, and just drifts about. It’s a bit distracting, annoying too as whether he gets up or not, he still gets his pension credit. I have to concentrate on me and what I want, and forget about him.
Good news just in, Woody and Snoopy’s owners have just called to book the dogs in for a week in March. Horray!!!!
The book is called The Writer’s Treasury of Ideas which is not the most inspiring title but at least it explains what the book is about – training yourself to think of ideas for stories. The cover ideas I came up with were a treasure chest overflowing not with coins but lumps of gold embossed with the word idea on them, or a cartoon of a woman, posed as Rodin’s The Thinker with an empty speech bubble on her head. If any has any better ideas, I’d love to hear about them.
Leah, the Samoyed, who is staying until the 18th is not giving me any trouble. If anything she’s TOO quiet. The contrast between her and the last 2 dogs couldn’t be more marked. They were full of energy and would eat anything they were given while she spends most of the time dozing and has to be persuaded to eat.
I went for lunch with a friend today. She’s having a hard time at work, and could afford to pack it in, but she’s hanging on for an increased pension. I find that very sad. I guess I’m lucky in that I don’t have a lot of outgoings. There are other things more important to me than money. That said, I’d be happier if I could get back to doing something more creative, like writing! Hopefully it will get easier as time passes and I’ve had more experience of marketing/publicity and so forth.
For the last few days I’ve been feeling a bit low. I’m finding my lodger a bit wearing as he never seems to want to do anything, gets up late, and just drifts about. It’s a bit distracting, annoying too as whether he gets up or not, he still gets his pension credit. I have to concentrate on me and what I want, and forget about him.
Good news just in, Woody and Snoopy’s owners have just called to book the dogs in for a week in March. Horray!!!!
Tuesday, 3 January 2012
Feeling grumpy, mainly with myself
I have managed to get myself into a miserable grumpy mood, so now I’m cross with myself for wallowing in it when I know perfectly well that I can do something to snap myself out of it.
I was doing OK this morning, contacting various people trying to get something organised for when my book comes out – I had no idea it would be so soon.
This afternoon I’d signed my lodger, John, up for a new Quiz/Mind Games group at Good Neighbours but said I’d go along the first week to boost the numbers. When we got there, the organiser had called in sick, but nobody had bothered to call me so we were the only ones there. We had a game of Scrabble rather than go back straight out into the hammering rain and gale force winds. On the way home I went into Tescos where a saleswoman was rude, sarcastic and offensive because I started to use one of the self checkouts not knowing that there was a queue.
It just goes to prove that my dread fear of confrontation is still with me and I need to work on it I should have said, ‘what’s your name? I want to talk to the manager about your attitude,’ but I just ran away, all upset. The net result is I haven’t done a thing I meant to do, just moped about instead. The worse thing is knowing that I’m choosing to behave this way. I decided to forget about today and get back to working hard tomorrow, then I had a call from a friend I’d promised to meet up with in the New Year – yes, tomorrow. Oh well, I guess it will have to wait AGAIN.
I’ll switch off the PC and go and give the dog a cuddle instead. She’s been so quiet since she got here, it’s as though she’s not the same dog as she was last year.
I was doing OK this morning, contacting various people trying to get something organised for when my book comes out – I had no idea it would be so soon.
This afternoon I’d signed my lodger, John, up for a new Quiz/Mind Games group at Good Neighbours but said I’d go along the first week to boost the numbers. When we got there, the organiser had called in sick, but nobody had bothered to call me so we were the only ones there. We had a game of Scrabble rather than go back straight out into the hammering rain and gale force winds. On the way home I went into Tescos where a saleswoman was rude, sarcastic and offensive because I started to use one of the self checkouts not knowing that there was a queue.
It just goes to prove that my dread fear of confrontation is still with me and I need to work on it I should have said, ‘what’s your name? I want to talk to the manager about your attitude,’ but I just ran away, all upset. The net result is I haven’t done a thing I meant to do, just moped about instead. The worse thing is knowing that I’m choosing to behave this way. I decided to forget about today and get back to working hard tomorrow, then I had a call from a friend I’d promised to meet up with in the New Year – yes, tomorrow. Oh well, I guess it will have to wait AGAIN.
I’ll switch off the PC and go and give the dog a cuddle instead. She’s been so quiet since she got here, it’s as though she’s not the same dog as she was last year.
Monday, 2 January 2012
Web sites and me
I contacted my publisher to wish him a Happy New Year and ask if he had any vague idea when my book would come out. He said February! I had no idea it would be that fast, so now I’m in slight panic mode. I have no bookings or events planned before May so need to think how or where or what I’m going to do for the launch. It’s also time to think about another web site. I alread have one courtesy of Weebly (www.akacatherinehoward.weebly.com)but don't always update it as often as I perhaps should If only I was more into technology but fiddling about with things like web sites isn’t my favourite thing to do, not by a long chalk.
I have found a lady who’s willing to help me with the web site, but what to include/not include, and so on and so, I haven’t got a clue yet. Any ideas anyone?
The book is called THE WRITERS TREASURY OF IDEAS and is all about teaching yourself how to come up with ideas for fiction.
This afternoon, I went, with my lodger as he’s the one with the car, to collect Leah, the 11 year old Samoyed who’s staying with me until January 18th. I’m just a tiny bit worried how she’ll get along as last time she had the lovely Milo (the spaniel I fell for rather heavily) for company. She seems fine at the moment, more friendly than I remember her being. I’ll know more after tonight.
I started work yesterday, writing my next column (Short Story Success) for Writers Forum. It’s taken me a lot longer than usual as I’m feeling a bit unsure about my writing at the moment. I need to find a bit more confidence as I want to start writing short stories again soon.
The past few days have been mega quiet. Tomorrow, a new quiz based group starts at my local Good Neighbours group. I’ve said I’ll go along to the first one to show support as it must be dreadful to go to the bother of starting up a new group and having too few people turn up.
The next job on my list, once I’m happy with the column, is to get back to Saving The Inner Child. When that will happen I’m not sure. A lot depends on how Leah settles in.
I have found a lady who’s willing to help me with the web site, but what to include/not include, and so on and so, I haven’t got a clue yet. Any ideas anyone?
The book is called THE WRITERS TREASURY OF IDEAS and is all about teaching yourself how to come up with ideas for fiction.
This afternoon, I went, with my lodger as he’s the one with the car, to collect Leah, the 11 year old Samoyed who’s staying with me until January 18th. I’m just a tiny bit worried how she’ll get along as last time she had the lovely Milo (the spaniel I fell for rather heavily) for company. She seems fine at the moment, more friendly than I remember her being. I’ll know more after tonight.
I started work yesterday, writing my next column (Short Story Success) for Writers Forum. It’s taken me a lot longer than usual as I’m feeling a bit unsure about my writing at the moment. I need to find a bit more confidence as I want to start writing short stories again soon.
The past few days have been mega quiet. Tomorrow, a new quiz based group starts at my local Good Neighbours group. I’ve said I’ll go along to the first one to show support as it must be dreadful to go to the bother of starting up a new group and having too few people turn up.
The next job on my list, once I’m happy with the column, is to get back to Saving The Inner Child. When that will happen I’m not sure. A lot depends on how Leah settles in.
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