Archive for June, 2008
Signed up for NaBloPoMo in July
Remember how fantastic NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) was for ensuring that I actually got my fingers to the keyboard? A couple of weeks ago I found the blogging equivalent, NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) which not only has a weirdly cool name but also seemed like a great idea to get me focused on [...]
Writing deadlines, procrastination and impatience
I was just thinking in the shower (it’s no secret it’s my favourite place to think), and I realised there is one step more to my writing procrastination problem that I need to deal with: impatience.
My mother (among many others, no doubt) can well attest to the fact that I have something of an impatient [...]
Resolution: Choose one thing to write
I’ve got a square Post-It note on the pin-up board above my desk that’s a little bit overflowing with writing-related paraphernalia. Luckily, though, since one of my cats developed an obsession with drawing pins, she’s managed to pull down a lot of the stuff I didn’t need any more (along with some sharp pointy drawing [...]
New ideas and new chapters for my first novel
It’s nearly a month since I lovingly printed my first manuscript to send it out into the world by its little ol’ self. For a couple of weeks I didn’t think about it at all, but confusingly, since I got properly started on my second novel, ideas for changing the first one keep popping into [...]
The excuses for not writing that I’ll never use again
I discovered a great fiction-writing blog called Drops of Blood recently and this week Carolyn started a series which is right down my alley … she’s taking note of the various excuses she provides herself when she doesn’t work on her fiction writing, and then trying to find ways to avoid having that excuse rear [...]
My dilemmas of first or third person voice
As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve started out writing this second novel using three different first person voices. When I wrote my first novel, it started out being in first person but then I rewrote it in third person (limited). All I keep thinking is this - why couldn’t language just have one possibility for voice, [...]
The first chapter is well underway
Don’t worry, dear Cadbury factory, you won’t be going broke: it appears that I will be allowed to eat chocolate again. My second novel is finally on a bit of a roll.
On Saturday night, in front of a TV show, curiously, because my concentration doesn’t normally work that well there, I got some notes down [...]
Places where writers write
A post this week at the Writer’s Technology Companion tipped me off about a page at that often-lovely newspaper, the UK Guardian, featuring a collection of writers’ rooms. There are links to some 50 or more photographs and anecdotes about where a bunch of successful writers actually write. I’ve seen quite a few stories like [...]
Deal with myself: I will write the first chapter this weekend, or I will never eat chocolate again
It was no idle or random thought that led me to subtitle this blog with the tag “a whole lot of procrastination”. Despite my repeated promises to plan my second novel I have made barely any progress. But I know if I don’t get some serious words happening this weekend, the whole procrastination thing is [...]
Getting ready to start novel #2
As I’ve mentioned before, I have quite a collection of novels sitting up in my head. With the first one down in a reasonable form - I do have some changes to make to it, but I want to let it sit just a little longer - it’s time for me to get started on [...]