WRITING BOOKSHELF

Current Work: My main aim this week is to get a Faerie story out of my head and onto paper (and if I have to on the screen)
On My Bedside Table: Assegai By Wilbur Smith - his latest, just finished it...
Listening to: The ice starting to form around my ears - my office is freezing!


What's On Yours?
Bookshelf that is. And I mean books on writing. I can't tell you how many I've got. I'm just putting together an inventory out of pure interest. I can tell you how many I've read. Very few. So one of my 'goals' this year is to work my way through them. Last week I read Stephen King's On Writing and I've just skipped through one on 'Novel Writing' - skip being the operative word. I'm not going to go into any in-depth reviews here as I'm planning to start a new blog just dedicated to book reviews but today it really struck me. Whilst these books are interesting, informative, even educative, they only tell us about one writers way of going about 'their writing'. Whilst, I know that there isn't anywhere on this great earth that holds the 'writing secret' I do believe that we can always improve our craft and I suppose what better way than to read how other writers 'do it'. Some writers are very technical, with gadgets, widgets and all sorts of techy little programs which help them to get the words down somewhere. Others are more organic, more freestyle and allow themselves to be taken along on the shirt tails of their characters. Others are very organised, methodical and pedantic with their rituals, their lucky charms and their routines. I'm a blend of the last two. Which ever way a writer writes - it's the right way for them and in that way it is unique. I enjoy reading about the 'how to' but am always reminded of the dog eared familiar words that ' a writer has to write...' So I'm going to keep on flicking through my bookshelf, but I've made another promise, that every book I read, I'll write about it. Hence the new blog, so watch this space.


Don't Think Just Write


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TOOLS OF THE TRADE

Current Work: For this week my key targets are finalising a short story for submission, writing a few thousand words for WIP The Good Life and completing research on the WIP The Promise. Also have to complete some more editing for my critque partner and Writers Abroad; Suite 101 submissions and all those other things which pop up!

Listening to: Radio 4 - A play

Reading: Just finished The Ice House by Minette Walters and haven't chosen my next...

Writers Tools

I'm a bit of a one for writers gadgets, maybe I put too much faith in them but never mind. I've just stumbled across a great little tool which helps with getting words down on paper. You know, the stuff writers should do, putting letters together, making words and hopefully making sense. Yes, you've got it - writing. Its a kind of free writing tool, you can set the time (I have set it for 5 minutes but will build up to 15 I think) and then you can set it to 'strict' so you can't type anymore after that time. Then you hit 'write' and it gives you a prompt and off you go! I'm not usually one to write straight onto the PC so its taking a bit of getting used to but its fab! You can save what you've written in word document and therefore add to your 'bank' of stuff to whip out and develop further. Here's the link, give it a go... Write Everday

Confucius Says... (Writers on Writing)

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you. ~Ray Bradbury

SUPERSTITIOUS?

Current Work: Query submissions, admin and follow ups

Listening to: Donna Summer Love to Love You Baby

Reading: Bad Luck and Trouble (Lee Child) You Can Write a Novel (James Smith Jnr)

First Thought for the Day:

Knowing what / Thou knowest not / Is in a sense / Omniscience. -Piet Hein, poet and scientist (1905-1996)

Friday 13^th

Well, lots of people get in lather when this particular date lands on a Friday. I don’t but it did get me thinking about superstitions when I got my journal out this morning. So I did a bit of free writing and have just submitted a query based on those ideas. My maternal grandmother was very superstitious and I can remember as I child thinking that I would be banished to hell if I ever made the mistake of doing something I shouldn’t. Hmm… I suppose they are like any other story, if they are told often enough they become more believable.

Writers Tools

I’ve written about my procrastination many times on this blog and it’s a cross I know I have to bear. On Wednesday I mentioned a piece of software that claims to help organise your novel. Well I have started to play around with it and after a couple of glitches (see the technobabe entry for a bit of background on my IT skills) it seems fairly straightforward and I can see why it might be helpful. I need to use it a little more before I mention here though. But the reason I mention procrastination is because on the website where I found this particular item, there are many tools and toys to play with and guess what? Yup, I wasted probably at least an hour playing about with them. They are not something I would use on a PC – one was a brainstorming tool- but it gave me an excuse not to do something else.

Something for the Weekend?

Well, for me it looks like it is going to be a very snowy one. We’ve already had two storms and although the sun is shining brightly the temperature is low and the weather man says ‘neve, neve’. So no gardening then, maybe some rugby and definitely some reading then. And if the whim takes me, I may do a bit more outlining of a new idea I have for another novel – I did a bit of research this week and it has me hooked and… I need to make up an hours worth of procrastination.

And Finally, the Last Word of the Day:

canard

PRONUNCIATION:

(kuh-NAHRD)

MEANING:

noun:

1. A deliberately misleading story; hoax.

2. An airplane with small forward wings mounted in front of the main wings; also such a wing.

ETYMOLOGY:

From French, literally a duck. The term is said to have come from the French expression vendre un canard à moitié (to half-sell a duck, or to take in or swindle).

USAGE:

"Lyndon Johnson's half-truths about the Gulf of Tonkin, supported by subservient media, embroiled the United States in a nasty war that took the lives of millions of souls. Ultimately, the Vietnam War's distortions and canards prevented him from running for a second term."

Mansour El-Kikhia; Realists Conquer Politics With Lies; San Antonio Express-News; Nov 28, 2003.