WRITING ROUTINES

Current Work: Short Story preparation, Editing - have to finish!!
Listening to: Silence again, it seems to work for me
Reading: The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

Creature of Habit I'm writing this blog on a Tuesday. For the past few months I've been posting entries on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. But now I've decided to post on a Tuesday and a Friday. Routine scares me a little although it forms a great part of my life. In fact I think I have more routine now, than I ever have done, which is quite strange when you think that I no longer have a boss or employer and I live in a country where most things can wait. So why is that I wonder? I have a writing routine because its the only way I get things done, yes that's right , my lists, my 'to do's', my ball and chain. But it does work. However, a change is as good as a rest so they say.

Cliches and Sayings Are cliches such a bad thing? (did you notice how I changed the subject there? Creature of habit? Me? Pahh). No but seriously, as I go through my first big editing process, I have noticed that I do use them, only now and again and only when I think they are appropriate, yet all the 'experts' tell us to avoid them. What do you do?

The Book Worm Yes, I've reintroduced this - part of my change in routine - or is it just a return to the routine? Well, it doesn't matter anyway. This is where I'll review the last book I read.





The Book Thief by Mark Zusak is a fine read. It is narrated by 'Death' which alone is a very different style and one that took some getting used to, but once you got into the bones of it, so to speak, it was very comfortable and extremely compelling. It is set in Germany during the persecution of the Jews in World War II. Again, the setting is quite different to run of the mill novels with this setting. It's main character is a little girl, probably a Jew who describes the death of her brother in the first few pages. It is this girls life that we are shown and all the important people around her. Her character is quite entertaining, a little tom boyish (she beats up a classmate) yet vulnerable (she has nightmares about her brothers death). But most of all she loves to read which is ironic as this was the time Hitler burnt all books. So the title is very befitting and links the relationships she builds and the people she meets and then loses. Death is majestic and compassionate which was a surprise and his tenderness has left me with a sense of satisfaction for those who were taken.