Save the Words

I really just have to point you in the direction of a wonderful website I discovered via WriteWords.

Save the Words is a rescue shelter for almost obsolete words. You can adopt your very own word and even have it made into a t-shirt. I have adopted 'primifluous' - that which flows first. Knowing me I'll take another few home; the kitties will have to squish up and make room.

In other news I have had a poem accepted ('Arthur's Seat', see right) for the Every Day Poets Anthology II and three poems accepted for Static Movement's Static Poetry IV. More on those later!

Three-Lobed Burning Eye

The latest issue of speculative fiction magazine Three-Lobed Burning Eye (Issue 20) has appeared today, and will soon also be available as a PDF and an e-book. I am delighted that it contains my story The Birdstories of Jaywalker. Also, I just love the artwork.

This has to be one of my favourite stories I have written. It was inspired by a writing prompt over at WriteWords for a story involving a member of the crow family. I hit the books/internet and discovered that jays, one of my favourite birds, are a type of crow. In myth Jays take stories and news down to the underworld and they are slightly feared because of this.

Thinking of stories, the scene jumped straight into my mind: my husband and I had been to the Welsh Storytelling Festival with my father-in-law, John Roberts, who was performing one of his beautiful puppet shows there. What a good place for collecting stories. His famous storytelling rug makes a cameo in this.

I moved the action to Scotland and shamelessly pinched the word 'dreich' I had heard from Highlands writing friend Caroline because it is such a wonderful and evocative word. Use it three times and it is yours.

There is some hint that the Three-Lobed Burning Eye Anthology will be out at the end of the year. I am very much looking forward to that.

Knee-Deep in Novel

I haven't blogged recently because I've been writing. So, I really shouldn't tell myself off for not blogging.

I have read various books about writing by writers, people like Ray Bradbury and Stephen King, thinking that they must be doing something right.

What leaped out at me from their books was their sense of discipline. Stephen King writes 2000 words every single day. Ray Bradbury sits (sat, now) down on Monday and wrote a story. He rewrote it on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and on Saturday he sent it to a magazine.

I have been getting into a routine of writing 2000 words a day. I used to write and edit simultaneously, going back and rewriting chapters endlessly before moving on. Now, I have taken some very good writerly advice that says 'Plough on! Re-writes are for second drafts, just get the words down.' And they're right.

By creating what I'm calling the Critical Mass, the writing starts to take your ideas and run with them. The characters begin to pull their own weight and, without you knowing, keep on working when you're not. So, you sit back down at your desk to find they have had all sorts of thoughts that you would never have had on your own.

The price of this productivity is jettisoning all short stories and poetry for the time being, as well as my lovely writing community over at WriteWords. They wander in and interrupt the secret meetings my characters are having behind my back, demanding their own meeting rooms and interactive white boards. So I've had to sent them on extended leave, at least until this first draft is done.

Giving Thanks

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. What a wonderful, inclusive festival: taking time out to give thanks... and eat big piles of food.

It is also my first proper Thanksgiving in the States and 12 real, actual Americans are coming round to our house where they will be getting a slightly British twist on the whole thing: turkey, roast potatoes (Americans don't do roast potatoes, which is just plain wrong), Bisto gravy, mince pies and brandy butter (why not?), stuffing, and all the usual trimmings. They'll be bringing such legendary dishes as green bean casserole (possibly with marshmallows?), yams and various pumpkin-related fare. Don't expect me to be able to move for the next few days.

I've been thinking of things I've been thankful for over the last year. Obviously, I got married and came out here, which was all very exciting.

Writing-wise I realised that this time last year I had never had anything published outside of work-related magazines and university newspapers. In fact, this time last year I was feeling decidedly despondent that my novel was deemed 'not commercial' (but well-written, which I took hope from).

I only had my first piece of fiction published in The Pygmy Giant about six months ago. Since then I have been scribbling away at flash fiction, short stories and poetry and have had some successes, with more in the pipeline.

I am thankful for the sharing environment and constructive criticism of my lovely online writing groups at WriteWords, as well as for their incredibly high standards that have pushed me and pushed me.
I am thankful for everyone in my life who has encouraged me to write, or at least not laughed at me too much.
I am thankful to everyone who has published any work of mine. They certainly didn't have to!
I am also thankful for tea and cake.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! What are you thankful for?

New Challenges

It's always good to set yourself new challenges.
Generally, I get thoroughly enthused and start a good five or so at a time. This week, it's my new Word Count Per Week challenge, my Exercise Everyday challenge (does walking to an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet count?), my Keep on Top of the Washing Up challenge (cheating by buying a dishwasher ha ha), my Blog More Often challenge (working well, thank you) and my Write Something Different challenge.

I have found that blogging has stretched me in a slightly different direction; it is snappy and cheerful and thoroughly unlike my novel writing and poetry. I find this trains my brain in the same way that swimming and resistance work helps with running. Even if I am just writing short snippets, in the words of the Great Vileness Tesco, Every Little Helps.

So my Write Something Different challenge is all about... writing something different. I started writing poetry as a moody teenager but, surprisingly, I was quite good at it. Until a few years ago I couldn't imaging writing imaginative prose. I had written articles for school, university and work publications but one day I sat myself down and wrote a thousand words of a novel. They weren't very good and 900 were swiftly axed, but at least the process had begun.

I have joined a forum on WriteWords (mentioned in my last post) that to me seems like a boot camp for short stories.

Short stories terrify me. I don't know how to write them. This forum kindly nudges you for weekly attempts around a theme of less than, say, 600 words. 600 words! That's nothing! I write paragraphs of fewer words than that.

Which is why I joined. 600 words or fewer on the theme 'the artist' by Sunday.
Left, Riiiight! Left, Riiiight! Go! Go! Go!



Thanks to Let'sGoDigital for the photo of Mount Everest.

Procrastination

I have to write a synopsis. Actually, I have to write two. There is the chapter breakdown and then there is the shorter summary synopsis.
The reason for this is that a kind friend in America said he might wave them in the way of a literary agent or two over there and see if they bite.

Obviously, American literary agents are better-looking than this nice fishy and they probably eat more salad.

I started it yesterday and went through each chapter and tried to write down the salient points. It sounded flat and lukewarm.

Now, I should have started several weeks ago when he first made the offer but my first attempt was ripped apart so badly (by somebody else) I can't say I prioritised it. Which is stupid. What a wuss.
So I had it hanging over me and thought I should get started. By Chapter Four of insipid prose I was checking ICanHasCheezeburger every five minutes. Ooh! A new kitteh!
Then I checked the weather, the latest news (Gail Trimble's team were disqualified? No!) and the various brands of white tea sold at Sainsburys.
All very interesting stuff.

It is far harder to write a good synopsis than a novel. This is your opportunity to really 'sell' your book and without it your shining novel will never reach anyone. But I can't sell!

(By the way, this is a photograph of a closed-down shop)

And then there is the fear that this is an opportunity I could completely stuff up!
American literary agents want things presented a little diferently than British aagents, who mostly want a one-page synopsis described as a 'book jacket blurb with an ending'. In face, quite a few of these do actually end up as the book jacket.
But Americans want a full chapter breakdown as well as the snappier bit, which apparently can't sound anything like a book jacket blurb with an ending. It has to fully describe the book and the action. I suppose one reason for the difference is that British agents (all sounds a bit 007) also ask for the first three chapters usually whereas the Americans don't let you get that far unless they've been hooked by the synopsis.

And my half-finished synopsis currently isn't good enough to use as toilet paper.

Then this morning I remembered the online writers' community I joined a few months ago, WriteWords. You do have to pay to join but at least there are some friendly souls there who will quite happily give you feedback. It's a good place to start. If they rip my synopsis to shreds then I can have a second chance, something that certainly won't happen if a literary agent uses it to line the kitty litter box.
So maybe I should stop chatting and get on with the f@+$ing thing?