THE STORY SO FAR

Thought of the Week

“Like stones, words are laborious and unforgiving,

and the fitting of them together, like the

fitting of stones, demands great patience

and strength of purpose and particular skill." ~ Edmund Morrison - Author

The Good and the Bad

Number of words in Journal : 5750

May not all be usable but… words all the same

Number of short stories: 1

Submitted to The Peoples Friend – following a rejection letter I received from them earlier in the month. At least they replied.

Number of queries and pitches: 1

Submitted proposal for HR on Elance though have not been successful with any bids to date

Number of articles : 1 (Suite 101)

follow the link if you are interested in Galileo

Number of rejections : 2

I think, for magazine articles. On the positive side it looks like the pitches have been read and there seems to be a genuine interest, however, wrong time, wrong place

Time-wasting activity level : 5/10

I spent a couple of hours looking at websites that looked interesting and then are not but followed links to even less interesting sites. Went through my ‘How to’ File and realised that I should consult it before sending off short stories.

I’m not going to share with you the number of glasses of wine consumed or banned foodstuffs ingested but I love a ‘rosso’ and Bounty bars (hard to come by in Italia).

May the Force be with you…

Having finally sorted out a pile of photographs on the PC and catalogued them into some sort of meaningful manner, I have quite a few images, which may have some potential. So, I duly spent an hour plus, looking at relevant markets and gathering my pitching skills for attack. However, I nearly had a major tantrum when all the images, which I had ‘burned’ to CD, with the help of my ‘Man Friday’, all disappeared! And I had emptied the recycle bin. I tried very hard to contain my despair, but not all was lost, so to speak, as my wonderful Man Friday saved the day and rediscovered them. Needless to say they are all now back safely on the hard drive and on the spare lap top and under the settee. Technology – it drives me bonkers but seems to be the driving force.

Novel Beginnings

Well as you can see from my weekly word count, things are progressing. I can’t at this stage vouch for the quality of the writing - that is if I can read what I’ve written. I’ve taken to writing my journal in bed, first thing in the morning as it has been so hot here in my adopted home, its messed up my sleep patterns. Trouble is my lovely Man Friday, not yet accustomed to my presence and requirement for uninterrupted silence, often starts to make conversation just as I am in mid flow. I should imagine it is rather like other premature interruptions, where the satisfaction level is never quite recovered. However, with regular beatings and the odd hard look, I’m sure he will learn very quickly.

Joking apart, I am actually quite pleased with the progress and have never felt quite so in touch with my star character. I have also completed quite a bit of research, which has been ambling along for an eternity, and I’m sure that has helped.

In terms of short stories, I have made a pact to start writing/editing at least one a week and to have a target of submitting one per week and that includes resubmissions of previous stories. As you may know, my tendency for procrastination may mean this will take a while to get going but at least I’ve set a target! The one I am working on now is called Chasing Rainbows, and once I’ve plucked up the courage I may even post a few.

To Be or not to Be

I’ve worked quite hard at generating ideas for articles and the non-fiction writing I am trying to get going. I like this style of writing because it’s factual and I’m quite interested in things and people. Having to date written 15 four hundred-word articles for Suite 101 I was thinking maybe, I could use these as a basis for longer articles. I’m also going to concentrate on three or four markets rather than spread my wings too far (or my butter too thinly). I know there are advantages and disadvantages but I think a bit of focus would suit me better. So as a recovering procrastinator (see earlier comment), I’m going to put this in black and white here in my blog and then report progress. Sorry if this gets boring, I will try and make it as entertaining as I can (eventually).

So for starters and in the spirit of ‘write what you know’:

• History – This of course includes biographies, anniversaries and special events, family genealogy and everything old!
• Health – well, with by background I couldn’t miss this one out but would like to include ‘body and soul’ kind of health here too
• Market No three – I haven’t decided on the title of this one yet but it would include business type things to do with human resources, organisational development and all those things I prattled on about in a previous life

On My Bedside Table (no, not strange pieces of boudoir equipment)

In this section, I will talk about and maybe review the current book I’m reading. As a young girl, I remember hiding under my duvet with a torch to finish the book I was reading- at that time anything from the Famous Five to The Valley of the Dolls (without the knowledge of my parents I hasten to add). This activity probably preceded my current need for reading glasses but well worth the sacrifice. Now it takes me much longer to read a book as I start analysing almost at the beginning – style, characters, plot, structure etc. and it can take a while for me to just get on and read. That is, after I have located my glasses by which time I’m ready to douse the light.

The book I am reading now is ‘Star of the Sea’ by Joseph Connor. I’m only a few pages in and it has a strange style but I’m persevering. Watch this space…