WHAT IS THE POINT OF BLOGGING?

I've been asking myself the same question about writing today. One of those 'never get off the starting block' days where I had great plans and they all fizzled out into nothing. It's not writers block, I can write, but it's just not coming together. Which got me thinking about my blogs. I try to make sure I do them regularly and for me they are quite cathartic and a good thing to look back on.  I do wonder if they just exist in the ether along with hundreds and thousands of other blogs, gathering a kind of space dust of some kind. 


Maybe it's just me. Maybe its because I write a lot and I write a lot about writing.
Maybe I should try something different. A diversion. 
But then I have enough of those. Tomorrow will be different...


Don't Think Just Write

ONE STEP AHEAD

Current Work: Editing a short story and non-fiction article for submission, preparing queries for the next two weeks and critiqueing a novel (not mine)

Listening to: The rumbling of thunder - storms are on the way

Reading: When Good Friends Go Bad by Ellie Campbell

So it's Monday and we are busy preparing ourselves for family visit on Friday. Its a very welcome visit as I haven't seen my granddaughter and grandson since last December, so I'm very excited. But that also means that I won't get chance to get my writing tasks completed. So this weeks aim is to get as much prepared as I can so I can just hit the 'send' button and voila! (or eccola! in Italian) it will only take a second. Hmm, things never seem to go that well to plan.

The Power of Image

We are watching the series Band of Brothers - which most of you may know is set in World War II and told from the many perspectives of an American parachute troop. Its been fascinating, entertaining, thrilling (as you know, I'm a bit of a World WarII nerd) but last night was shocking and the most thought provoking of all. The soldiers came across some POW camps as the war ended and the Germans fled. The scenes were... indescribable. It made me think about how you could write down those sort of images. Images which are not sweet, or funny or full of action, nor full of dialogue. You didn't need any of those trimmings. The images were enough and I haven't got them out of my mind all day. So powerful - words can say so much but never as much as an image...so when writing we need to think image first, then words.

Confucius Says (Words of Advice on Writing by Writers)

'Words need to be crafted not sprayed. They need to be fitted together with infinite care.' Norman Cousins

(and I have to admit, I did not know who Norman Cousins was so I Googled him. Cousins was an American journalist and author who advocated for world peace, so very apt considering my blog. Serendipity is a word that comes to mind.)

CATCHING UP

Current work: MS preparation - definitely off the desk today
Listening to: The sun shining (yes it's stopped raining)
Reading: Not sure yet...

A promise is a promise Well, I'm just doing a quick catch up , only one blog last week really so, this week it's three. This is a short one.

Book Worm

Wideacre by Phillipa Gregory


Characters: Miss Beatrice, her brother Harry and others
Setting: Wideacre estate in Surrey somewhere, back in the days of Squires and Ladies - those of 'Quality'
Plot: Beatrice Lacey will do anything to gain control of her families land at a time when females were not part of the game plan.
Quick Summary: Well, the plot says it all really. This is a tale of love, passion, murder, deceit, sex, rivalry, chauvinism, feminism set in the woodlands of a country pile. Some of the most enjoyable bits are about the 'workers' who have a much better way of seeing the world as it really is.
Recommendation? I've read many of Phillipa Gregory's before including 'The Other Boleyn Girl' and found them entertaining and exciting. For me this was overlong (well in excess pf 120,000 words) and the pace sagged a little. Very unlike previous novels. Perhaps a glitch. I would still read another of hers. So that's perhaps a yes then.

Confucius says...Quotes on Writing

'Rules are fatal to the progress of art'
Marcel Duchamp

PIC 'N MIX?

Current Work: Editing (priority), non-fiction (light relief), blog (gossip)
Listening to: The news on Radio 4 - another shooting, depressing
Reading: The Fastest Way to Write Your Book by Dave Haslett

Midweek Assessment:
I'm plodding on with the first edit of my novel and regularly adding to printed scenes in an A4 folder. My Man Friday is very bravely reading them through and making very encouraging remarks. I really do value his input. (I know, I'm a soppy old thing, but it's true. He would and will be critical, I know.) W

We, and that is Louise and Charles of this relationship, are working hard on the flit lit draft. Its great fun as it is based loosely on our experiences. Its been great to revisit memories and places and then give them a bit of a literary twist to make it funnier, sadder, (though I remember it being funny and sad enough!). My Man Friday reads me out little snippets which have us rolling about in laughter and we talk about consistencies, character development and plot. It really is great writing with someone else. I must admit I was a little worried at first but its really working well. Famous Last Words? Maybe, but there you go.

I've also managed to submit my latest edition to Suite 101 about Captain Joshua Slocum, an American/Canadian writer and adventurer who sailed around world solo and disappeared at sea.

My main theme of this blog is that variety is good. Whilst I'm doing one thing, I'm mulching or developing something else in my mind. It refreshes my mind and also relieves the tedium sometimes involved in editing - searching for that word, deciding on punctuation and checking facts. I must admit I do like all parts of the writing process though. It means that no one day is ever the same as the next. It suits my nature. What about you?

The book I'm reading at the moment is a piece of inspiration I must say. And I've only read the introduction...

TIME IS TICKING BY

Current Work: Queries, novel editing and admin

Listening to: Italian radio to improve my understanding

Reading: Fleshmarket Close (Ian Rankin), old diaries

First Thought for the Day:

A time will come when a politician who has wilfully made war and promoted international dissension will be as sure of the dock and much surer of the noose than a private homicide. It is not reasonable that those who gamble with men's lives should not stake their own. -H.G. Wells, writer (1866-1946)

Friday Fumbling

It’s been a strange day, they very often are here! I and my Man Friday are still trying to get to grips with the Italian Health System. Today we were up at a sparrow’s song, in the dark as MF had to have an eye examination. The poor chap suffers from Type 2 Diabetes and this is one of the regular checks he has to have, the service is very good and very similar to the UK, just with a few (or should I say many) misunderstandings. We reached the hospital at 7.30 am (no 9-5 here) and the waiting room was full of octogenarians smiling a toothless grin at the stranieri (foreigners). Anyway it turned out that he should have other tests before this one and now we have had to rearrange it for next month.

You may well be asking what all this has got to do with writing? Well, I for one believe in making everything an opportunity for writing and this will be no different. I managed to scribble a few character sketches, add more to a piece I’m putting together on our experience which will also fuel the novel in progress. So never look a gift horse in the mouth – OK enough of the cliché’s they get a bit boring but sometimes they just tumble out.

Weekly Assessment

Not bad, I’d say 8/10. Not bad for the Queen of Procrastination? I have lots of red ticks in my diary against actions (it’s a lovely feeling – sad aren’t I?). I’ve started editing my draft novel which feels strange but its lovely to get together with it again and the characters feel as fresh as when I was writing about them.

Today is my query and admin day, though with the trip this morning I’m running a little late and we have to go out again in about 10 minutes.

Plans for the Weekend

I like weekends. Sunday particularly as I try as much as I can to keep it sacred (to me and my other half, not for any other reason). If we’ve had a Red Cross parcel from my dad, I’ll demolish the reading material or catch up on the novel on my bedside table. I’ve just finished a biography about Rosalind Franklin, the silent but considerable contributing scientist to the discovery of DNA which led to a Nobel Prize. Not for poor Rosalind though, it’s a fascinating read, not only because of how women were viewed at the time but also because she was the great Aunt of my brother in law! And he’s brainy too!

Dogs are also on the weekend agenda. Bertie’s sister is coming to stay for another week and we’ve been bracing ourselves! Lots of exercise thought to balance the overindulgence with the vino rosso!

Until later….

And Finally, the Last Word of the Day:

nubilous

PRONUNCIATION:

(NOO-buh-luhs, NYOO-)

MEANING:

adjective: 1. Cloudy, misty, or foggy. 2. Vague or obscure.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin nubilosus (cloudy), from nubes (cloud).

USAGE:

Antonioni is probably best known for Blow-Up, a nubilous 1966 drama set in swinging London about a fashion photographer who comes to believe that a photograph he took of two lovers in a public park also shows, hidden in the background, evidence of a murder."

Rick Lyman; Michelangelo Antonioni, Subversive Filmmaker; International Herald Tribune (Paris, France); August 1, 2007.

"All of which nubilous musing serves little purpose, except to show that cloud-gazing, as a way of passing time, has appealed to all humanity since the earliest of times."

Andy Drought; We Really Don't Know Clouds At All; The Herald (Glasgow, UK); Oct 27, 2001.

MORE BAD THAN GOOD

Obscure Word of the Week

Miscible – capable of being mixed

[Medieval Latin related to MIX}

Not sure when you might want to use this word in writing but then it’s a funny old business isn’t it?

The Good and the Bad

Journal Jottings - 2000 words approximately

Short Stories - 0

Queries and Pitches - 0

Articles Articulated - 0

Rejections Received - 0

Time-wasting activity level - 10/10

Not much time spent on anything this week! Firstly, I went down with a lingering headache, possibly heat induced. Then a planned family visit arrived, as predicted, a very welcome distraction, which I was looking forward too. And, then an extremely low internet connection for the last few days – the lowest being 4.8kpbs, which hasn’t (or maybe has) helped things along.

On the positive side, well there isn’t one. But in my defence, time wasting activities have included playing scrabble which is good for my vocabulary, sitting on the beach helps with settings and descriptions and visiting restaurants to observe character traits (and gain a couple of pounds but unfortunately not the folding kind).

So, it’s not been a positive week in terms of writing and submitting. However, I have done a lot of background reading, research and planning which is helping to hone my writing skills… (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!)

A Writer Must Write

All the advice tells me so and up until now, that is exactly what I have done. But, I have also talked a lot about my novel, with my Man Friday and my little sister, whose family very provided a welcome break to our solitude this week. I have been reluctant to talk about my progress with my novel, again because the ‘advice’ has told me not to. However, I am beginning to understand that advice about writing (and about anything for that matter) is a very individual thing. Advice really needs to be taken into your own personal context and what works for you. Talking things through and having to explain what it is I’m trying to write has actually clarified quite a lot of loose ends for me this week and I’ve even changed the name of my main character!

To Plan or Not to Plan

I’ve also spent some time looking at the various methods for planning a novel and have decided that I really do need to invest some time in this. I’m looking at the index card method for mapping out chapters and scenes and have started to transfer these from my ‘journal jottings’. It has been quite cathartic as a process – which is not by any means finished – and I have made some editing changes, which has helped things along. I wish I had started at this point at the beginning, but (so I’m told) sometimes it’s best to start in the middle! (If you ask an Irishman for directions, they would reply ‘if I was going to there, I wouldn’t start here!’ – so my Irish educated Man Friday tells me.)

Bedside Table

I still have ‘The Star of the Sea’ on the go. I’ve probably read about four chapters - its very complex with quite a few characters and as I said previously, it’s written in a strange style. There are quite a few footnotes, which I find a bit distracting, but impossible to ignore and graphics at the end of each chapter, the significance of which I am still trying to work out.

Sis and Bro-in-law have kindly left a couple of novels in return for ones from our bookshelf. It’s a great system, a little like a library but with less turnaround and resources. I’ve been thinking about setting up an ex-pat book swap with other honorary Italian citizens in the area, but it might not be a practical option given the rural area we live in.

Over and Out

My writing magazines fell from the postie’s hands at the weekend and I’ve been absorbed reading about the famed ones, searching for that one great tip which is going to make everything happen. Which of course, it’s going to… isn’t it?

Post Script

I’ve just read an article about blogging and it talks about daily rants – yes, this does contribute to time wasting but sometimes it’s worth it. I’m not sure the world is ready for a daily deluge from me, but I can see their point about developing a writing habit. So, for now I shall stick to my weekly habit for therapeutic purposes and hope you don’t suffer too much.