Afternoons are a funny thing. You wake up in the morning being (hopefully) bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, raring to go and ready for anything. In the evening, you're either settling down to watch TV or a lovable family film, before snuggling down into your nice, warm bed to drift off to the land of nod - or, you're getting excited about painting the town red and seeing your best girl (or guy) friends, before stumbling in at 3am and collapsing onto aforementioned warm bed....
Which leaves the afternoons. Afternoons are weird. They seem like they last forever, yet, it's only a few hours long. Maybe it's just because I don't have any more coursework to complete and I don't yet have a full-time job, but I always get into a lethargic state in the afternoons. It's that period of the day which SHOULD be the most productive....these four or five hours where it's just me and my imagination, and I should be cracking on with writing my first-ever literary bestseller....
Instead, I'm sitting here forcing myself to keep tapping at the keyboard, whilst constantly checking the clock and wondering whether it's acceptable to go for an afternoon nap. I'm twenty-one. I should not think that afternoon naps are acceptable. And yet, I find myself going for one more and more. Why? Because, honestly, it gives me something to do that isn't work or housework. Sad, isn't it?
I know, I know, I should be sitting here feverishly writing page after page after page....but all I want to do is sit and stare into space, until that magic hour of 4pm, when I'll jump up, make a cup of tea and have that long-waited for chocolate biscuit (or, judging by the state of my cupboards, a chewy/stale Caramel Snack-a-Jack). What is it about the afternoons that makes us so sluggish and, in my case, grumpy? Is it because, now that we've got (most of) the housework out of the way and eaten lunch, we simply want to hibernate until it's time to perk up again to make dinner?
The Duchess of Bedford had the right idea when she thought of Afternoon Tea...however, I'm finding it hard to muster the energy to go and turn the kettle on, let alone bake a Victoria Sandwich cake, a dozen scones and some macaroons thrown in for good measure.
So, how about you? How do you feel about the afternoons? Maybe you love them and, for you dear authors, it's your favourite time to sit down and write. Or maybe you're like me, and you're more of a morning person....or maybe there's just something medical wrong with me, and I better go and get checked out, pip pip.
xx
Monday, 21 May 2012
"The Stylish Blogger's Award..." - Thank You!
Yesterday I was delighted to see that Gossip_Grl awarded me a 'Stylish Blogger's Award' and I would just like to say thank you to her for thinking of me! It's my first ever blogger's award and naturally, I was excited to see that I'd been mentioned!
So, the way that the award works is that:
1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award
2. Share five things about your blog
3. Award five recently discovered great bloggers
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award!
(All thanks must go to Gossip_Grl for the above list - I shamelessly took it from her blog! Hope you don't mind :)!!)
So, the five nuggets of information I'm going to share with you lovely people are:
1. I started this blog to share my journey/thoughts on the writing/publishing process (with quite a lot of random thoughts thrown in).
2. I promote this blog A LOT on Twitter....you have been warned.
3. Everyone who's commented on this blog, or whose blog I've visited, have been amazingly friendly and supportive - this is way I want to be an author, so I can hang out with lovely people all day long!
4. I always mean to add more info/tabs to this blog, but somehow, I never get round to it...
5. I have a very short concentration span - I'm currently not working on any of my WIPs mentioned on this blog and have decided to start something completely new instead!
I'm off to award my own five 'Stylish Blogger's Award' now, so I will be back soon with yet another post updating my progress on my current WIP!
xx
So, the way that the award works is that:
1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award
2. Share five things about your blog
3. Award five recently discovered great bloggers
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award!
(All thanks must go to Gossip_Grl for the above list - I shamelessly took it from her blog! Hope you don't mind :)!!)
So, the five nuggets of information I'm going to share with you lovely people are:
1. I started this blog to share my journey/thoughts on the writing/publishing process (with quite a lot of random thoughts thrown in).
2. I promote this blog A LOT on Twitter....you have been warned.
3. Everyone who's commented on this blog, or whose blog I've visited, have been amazingly friendly and supportive - this is way I want to be an author, so I can hang out with lovely people all day long!
4. I always mean to add more info/tabs to this blog, but somehow, I never get round to it...
5. I have a very short concentration span - I'm currently not working on any of my WIPs mentioned on this blog and have decided to start something completely new instead!
I'm off to award my own five 'Stylish Blogger's Award' now, so I will be back soon with yet another post updating my progress on my current WIP!
xx
Friday, 18 May 2012
Holy Fizzsticks! Motivation?! Me?! Well I never....
Okay, so if you follow me on Twitter, you'll notice that this morning that I said I was signing off the interweb for an hour or so to concentrate on writing. I have a confession to make....I broke that resolution after about ten minutes.
BUT, I wasn't social networking or procrastinating - I was looking up ways to write out a plot outline. You would think, after having an interest in writing for about ten years and studying Publishing for the last three, I'd have some idea about how to write out a plot outline. Don't get me wrong - I've done it before, but the reason I was looking it up was because I was just wondering if there was any easier way of writing down a plot where you're not too sure yourself what's going to happen...and there isn't.
Turns out the easiest thing to do is to just....write.
Okay, let me explain - I am not currently working on any of the WIP's I have mentioned on this blog. Over the last week, a new idea for a novel/series has come to me and this time, I decided to give into the SNI (Slutty New Idea). Why? Because my old manuscript was frustrating me and I wanted to try something new. So I let this idea develop in my head and in a series of rambling notes on my phone, and today I decided to bite the bullet and do something about it.
It's very VERY likely that I'll give up on this idea after today. But I really hope I don't. So far this morning I've written the prologue to the book, fleshed out a few major plot lines and, the most fun bit in my opinion, written about my characters. I'm not generally into the whole 'what's your character's favourite colour?' and 'which side of the bed do they sleep on?' level of detail that most authors go into when thinking about their characters. I like letting my characters develop and see where they take me - to me, it's a lot more fun discovering that they hate cheese halfway through a story, rather than pigeon-holing them right at the start.
I've only taken one brief break to pop to the shop, make a cup of tea and write this post. I'm going to go straight back into it now - I'm terrified that if I leave this idea for more than 30 mins, I'll lose all motivation - so I'm going to develop it some more now!
Oh yeah, I also had a thought that in order to keep me interested in this project, I might try and complete a draft of the first book within 30 days, just to see if I can do it. Have any of you fellow authors ever attempted this?? If so, how did it go?
I'd love to hear from you! Let me know your writing motivation thoughts/horror stories!
xx
BUT, I wasn't social networking or procrastinating - I was looking up ways to write out a plot outline. You would think, after having an interest in writing for about ten years and studying Publishing for the last three, I'd have some idea about how to write out a plot outline. Don't get me wrong - I've done it before, but the reason I was looking it up was because I was just wondering if there was any easier way of writing down a plot where you're not too sure yourself what's going to happen...and there isn't.
Turns out the easiest thing to do is to just....write.
Okay, let me explain - I am not currently working on any of the WIP's I have mentioned on this blog. Over the last week, a new idea for a novel/series has come to me and this time, I decided to give into the SNI (Slutty New Idea). Why? Because my old manuscript was frustrating me and I wanted to try something new. So I let this idea develop in my head and in a series of rambling notes on my phone, and today I decided to bite the bullet and do something about it.
It's very VERY likely that I'll give up on this idea after today. But I really hope I don't. So far this morning I've written the prologue to the book, fleshed out a few major plot lines and, the most fun bit in my opinion, written about my characters. I'm not generally into the whole 'what's your character's favourite colour?' and 'which side of the bed do they sleep on?' level of detail that most authors go into when thinking about their characters. I like letting my characters develop and see where they take me - to me, it's a lot more fun discovering that they hate cheese halfway through a story, rather than pigeon-holing them right at the start.
I've only taken one brief break to pop to the shop, make a cup of tea and write this post. I'm going to go straight back into it now - I'm terrified that if I leave this idea for more than 30 mins, I'll lose all motivation - so I'm going to develop it some more now!
Oh yeah, I also had a thought that in order to keep me interested in this project, I might try and complete a draft of the first book within 30 days, just to see if I can do it. Have any of you fellow authors ever attempted this?? If so, how did it go?
I'd love to hear from you! Let me know your writing motivation thoughts/horror stories!
xx
I'm back!...Again...
So it's been a while since I last posted...what with finishing uni/education FOREVER, applying for every job I see, having (occasional) interviews and then toddling back up to North for a week, it's been pretty hectic...I can't actually believe how fast time is going at the moment....
Before I begin, I see that in my absence I've acquired a couple of new members to my blog! A big warm hello and welcome to all of you :)! Don't be scared...yes, I am a bit crazy.... :)
I'm going to try and keep this short and sweet (and writing related!), although knowing me, it'll just end up being a huge ramble about nothing anyway...
I've really been looking forward to finishing uni - not just because it means I'll never have to do another piece of coursework again, but also because it means I'll finally have the time to do what I want to do...mainly write, play The Sims and, in all honesty, bum around a bit...
However, even though I now have the time to do all these things, I'm getting a funny feeling that I'll do what I always do when I have free time...nothing. Even though I have the whole day ahead of me, I know that I'll probably end up just reading Harry Potter for a majority of the day, and wandering around aimlessly for the rest. Not really that productive, is it?
So, I've been thinking - in order to keep myself motivated, I might try working on several different writing projects at once. I know, I know, you're not supposed to do this as you'll lose focus/won't get anything done/brain will turn to mush etc etc, but I want to try to see how I get on - if it gets too much, I can always just leave one project and focus on another. My rationale behind this is that I hope it'll keep me interested in writing - don't get me wrong, I want to be an author more than anything, but even I have to admit that I have serious attention focusing issues...so I'll try this approach to writing and see what happens...
So what about all you lovely fellow authors? Any of you out there currently working on several different projects? If so, how's it going? Does it make it easier to write, knowing that you can take a break from one project to do another? Or is it incredibly hard?
I'd love to know your thoughts!
xx
Before I begin, I see that in my absence I've acquired a couple of new members to my blog! A big warm hello and welcome to all of you :)! Don't be scared...yes, I am a bit crazy.... :)
I'm going to try and keep this short and sweet (and writing related!), although knowing me, it'll just end up being a huge ramble about nothing anyway...
I've really been looking forward to finishing uni - not just because it means I'll never have to do another piece of coursework again, but also because it means I'll finally have the time to do what I want to do...mainly write, play The Sims and, in all honesty, bum around a bit...
However, even though I now have the time to do all these things, I'm getting a funny feeling that I'll do what I always do when I have free time...nothing. Even though I have the whole day ahead of me, I know that I'll probably end up just reading Harry Potter for a majority of the day, and wandering around aimlessly for the rest. Not really that productive, is it?
So, I've been thinking - in order to keep myself motivated, I might try working on several different writing projects at once. I know, I know, you're not supposed to do this as you'll lose focus/won't get anything done/brain will turn to mush etc etc, but I want to try to see how I get on - if it gets too much, I can always just leave one project and focus on another. My rationale behind this is that I hope it'll keep me interested in writing - don't get me wrong, I want to be an author more than anything, but even I have to admit that I have serious attention focusing issues...so I'll try this approach to writing and see what happens...
So what about all you lovely fellow authors? Any of you out there currently working on several different projects? If so, how's it going? Does it make it easier to write, knowing that you can take a break from one project to do another? Or is it incredibly hard?
I'd love to know your thoughts!
xx
Wednesday, 2 May 2012
IWSG #2!
Okay, so I just thought I'd quickly scribble this down before I forget...gosh, I can't believe it's been a month already since the last IWSG...where does the time go???
Today's post isn't going to be a long one - I'm currently trying to finishing my VERY LAST PIECE OF COURSEWORK EVER and it needs to be done by 12.30pm on Friday....sssoo, I haven't actually done a lot of writing lately! Been too busy stressing about uni work/life after education/life in general....
So, the last time I wrote for the IWSP, I said about how I hated my manuscript and wanted to burn it - think I've slowly gotten over that phase now, although I am still having trouble focusing my mind on that one piece of work - random scenes keep popping into my head for other novel ideas - it's useful cos I've scribbled them down and can use them in later literary works of art - not so useful because it's slightly distracting me from what I'm supposed to be doing...but still, I'll just keep slogging away until I run out of ideas/steam :).
I'm sorry this post is so short - I may add to it later, but I've really got to get on with my coursework today :(. But I'm looking forward to seeing everyone else's IWSG posts during my lunch break :)!
Happy Wednesday, everyone!
xx
Today's post isn't going to be a long one - I'm currently trying to finishing my VERY LAST PIECE OF COURSEWORK EVER and it needs to be done by 12.30pm on Friday....sssoo, I haven't actually done a lot of writing lately! Been too busy stressing about uni work/life after education/life in general....
So, the last time I wrote for the IWSP, I said about how I hated my manuscript and wanted to burn it - think I've slowly gotten over that phase now, although I am still having trouble focusing my mind on that one piece of work - random scenes keep popping into my head for other novel ideas - it's useful cos I've scribbled them down and can use them in later literary works of art - not so useful because it's slightly distracting me from what I'm supposed to be doing...but still, I'll just keep slogging away until I run out of ideas/steam :).
I'm sorry this post is so short - I may add to it later, but I've really got to get on with my coursework today :(. But I'm looking forward to seeing everyone else's IWSG posts during my lunch break :)!
Happy Wednesday, everyone!
xx
