The Times last weekend also had a section on sleep and it highlighted the following:
Lack of sleep kills creativity - According to Professor Foster, a good nights sleep increases the likelihood of developing novel solutions to problems. If your grey matter won't produce a solution to a vexing problem - sleep on it.
Go to bed early - One study suggests that the most creative part of our sleeping occurs in the first half of the night, during slow-wave sleep. So if you need an answer to a solution and are short on time, it's best to go to bed early and get up early, rather than to stay up late.
Mull over a problem before you go to bed - Try to direct your creative powers by thinking about the problem you want to solve, but don't fret over it - you won't be able to sleep.
Saturday 29 November 2008
Keeping Going: Don't Give Up
The Times (22/11/09) had an article about stress and rejections (I think it was linked to the credit crunch and loosing your job) and I was interested in what Judy Blume (children's author) said about the rejections she received for two years before getting her first book accepted.
"I would go to sleep at night feeling I'd never be published, but wake in the morning convinced I would. Each time I sent a story to a publisher, I'd begin something new. I was learning more each time. Determination is as important as talent."
"I would go to sleep at night feeling I'd never be published, but wake in the morning convinced I would. Each time I sent a story to a publisher, I'd begin something new. I was learning more each time. Determination is as important as talent."
Saturday 22 November 2008
NaNoWriMo Pep talk from Janet Fitch
Hitting a wall - Where to go next...
I explained I was afraid that if I chose route 6, then I would be eliminating all the other possible routes. What if route 15 was better? I couldn't commit. I was stuck.
"I know it feels like you have all these options and when you make a decision, you lose a world of possibilities. But the reality is, until you make a decision, you have nothing at all."
So you have these options, but which one to go for? When in doubt, make trouble for your character. Don't let her stand on the edge of the pool, dipping her toe. Come up behind her and give her a good hard shove. That's my advice to you now. Make trouble for your character. In life we try to avoid trouble. We chew on our choices endlessly. We go to shrinks, we talk to our friends. In fiction, this is deadly. Protagonists need to screw up, act impulsively, have enemies, get into TROUBLE. The difficulty is that we create protagonists we love. And we love them like our children. We want to protect them from harm, keep them safe, make sure they won't get hurt, or not so bad. Maybe a skinned knee. Certainly not a car wreck. But the essence of fiction writing is creating a character you love and, frankly, torturing him. You are both sadist and savior. Find the thing he loves most and take it away from him. Find the thing he fears and shove him shoulder deep into it. Find the person who is absolutely worst for him and have him delivered into that character's hands. Having him make a choice which is absolutely wrong. You'll find the story will take on an energy of its own, like a wound-up spring, and then you'll just have to follow it, like a fox hunt, over hill, over dale.
http://www.myspace.com/paintitblackbook
I explained I was afraid that if I chose route 6, then I would be eliminating all the other possible routes. What if route 15 was better? I couldn't commit. I was stuck.
"I know it feels like you have all these options and when you make a decision, you lose a world of possibilities. But the reality is, until you make a decision, you have nothing at all."
So you have these options, but which one to go for? When in doubt, make trouble for your character. Don't let her stand on the edge of the pool, dipping her toe. Come up behind her and give her a good hard shove. That's my advice to you now. Make trouble for your character. In life we try to avoid trouble. We chew on our choices endlessly. We go to shrinks, we talk to our friends. In fiction, this is deadly. Protagonists need to screw up, act impulsively, have enemies, get into TROUBLE. The difficulty is that we create protagonists we love. And we love them like our children. We want to protect them from harm, keep them safe, make sure they won't get hurt, or not so bad. Maybe a skinned knee. Certainly not a car wreck. But the essence of fiction writing is creating a character you love and, frankly, torturing him. You are both sadist and savior. Find the thing he loves most and take it away from him. Find the thing he fears and shove him shoulder deep into it. Find the person who is absolutely worst for him and have him delivered into that character's hands. Having him make a choice which is absolutely wrong. You'll find the story will take on an energy of its own, like a wound-up spring, and then you'll just have to follow it, like a fox hunt, over hill, over dale.
http://www.myspace.com/paintitblackbook
Saturday 15 November 2008
Jurgen Wolffs thoughts on NaNoWriMo
Here are the positive aspects:
* It forces you to focus on your writing
* If you are precious about the number of words you can write in a session, this will help you overcome that
* If you do it along with friends in your area or online, it can be fun
Here are the negative aspects:
* If you start and then stop, you may feel worse about yourself
* The novel is not likely to be very good--frankly I doubt that it will be good enough to use as the basis of a rewrite that will eventually be good enough, but I could be wrong
* It uses up time that you could be spending on a project more likely to have a good outcome
My suggested solution:
* Tell people you are taking part, and ask them to help give you the writing time you need for it
* Put in the same amount of time you'd spend if you were actually writing an entire novel, but...
* Secretly (or openly) use the time to plot a novel and get done only as much as you can without a loss of quality. In practice, this may mean spending the first two weeks just plotting, the third week fleshing out your characters, and the final week writing the first chapter
* When people ask whether you managed to write the 50,000 words that the exercise expects, say no but you are really happy with what you achieved
* Take advantage of the momentum you have created for your book and continue to write a reasonable number of hours per week until it's done.
http://www.timetowrite.blogs.com/
* It forces you to focus on your writing
* If you are precious about the number of words you can write in a session, this will help you overcome that
* If you do it along with friends in your area or online, it can be fun
Here are the negative aspects:
* If you start and then stop, you may feel worse about yourself
* The novel is not likely to be very good--frankly I doubt that it will be good enough to use as the basis of a rewrite that will eventually be good enough, but I could be wrong
* It uses up time that you could be spending on a project more likely to have a good outcome
My suggested solution:
* Tell people you are taking part, and ask them to help give you the writing time you need for it
* Put in the same amount of time you'd spend if you were actually writing an entire novel, but...
* Secretly (or openly) use the time to plot a novel and get done only as much as you can without a loss of quality. In practice, this may mean spending the first two weeks just plotting, the third week fleshing out your characters, and the final week writing the first chapter
* When people ask whether you managed to write the 50,000 words that the exercise expects, say no but you are really happy with what you achieved
* Take advantage of the momentum you have created for your book and continue to write a reasonable number of hours per week until it's done.
http://www.timetowrite.blogs.com/
A quote care of Jurgen Wolff
"The deepest craving of human nature is the need to be appreciated." - William James
Monday 10 November 2008
NaNoWriMo 2008 - Day 10
Receieved a pep talk from Philip Pullman www.philip-pullman.com/ and I can't agree more:
One of the hardest things to do with a novel is to stop writing it for a while, do something else, fulfill this engagement or that commitment or whatever, and pick it up exactly where you left it and carry on as if nothing had happened. You will have changed; the story will have drifted off course, like a ship when the engines stop and there's no anchor to keep it in place; when you get back on board, you have to warm the engines up, start the great bulk of the ship moving through the water again, work out your position, check the compass bearing, steer carefully to bring it back on track ... all that energy wasted on doing something that wouldn't have been necessary at all if you'd just kept going!
One of the hardest things to do with a novel is to stop writing it for a while, do something else, fulfill this engagement or that commitment or whatever, and pick it up exactly where you left it and carry on as if nothing had happened. You will have changed; the story will have drifted off course, like a ship when the engines stop and there's no anchor to keep it in place; when you get back on board, you have to warm the engines up, start the great bulk of the ship moving through the water again, work out your position, check the compass bearing, steer carefully to bring it back on track ... all that energy wasted on doing something that wouldn't have been necessary at all if you'd just kept going!
Thursday 6 November 2008
Just in case you thought it was another excuse....
......here is a copy of the scan photo at 11 weeks and 5 days. As I said this has given me a lot to think about, and when I have the energy something to write about on my baby blog.Perhaps that clairvoyant was right after all and I am destined to write childrens books!!
Tuesday 4 November 2008
A year on.....
Well, I started this blog on the 22nd October 2007 with every intention of completing a novel in the year. This did not happen. "But why not?" I hear you cry. "You had all that time." Especially as I gave up work and became (for a few months at least) a 'full time writer' (otherwise known as unemployed!!)
I know. If it was me looking at someone else. I would have said "You lucky buggers. It'll be easy if you aren't working," and then "What did you do in the year then?"
I know. If it was me looking at someone else. I would have said "You lucky buggers. It'll be easy if you aren't working," and then "What did you do in the year then?"
I have already done a review of my life during the first 6 months - full of excuses, excuses, excuses - although I do think having a miscarriage and an operation to remove a cyst that did not go as planned are better than having a cold or not having the time..... I also completed my NVQ Teaching Assistant course and worked as a Teaching Assistant one day a week. Currently I am working 3 days a week for the library services (started full time 17th July, down to 3 days since 17th September). So, I am sticking with one of my favourite quotes: There is nothing wrong with failure. The real sin is not trying.
And the big excuse I am giving you today is the fact that I am 14 weeks pregnant. God that really is an excuse - what with morning sickness (horrendous for 2 weeks) and the tiredness (currently easing off) writing has had to be moved to the bottom of my list. Its enough making sure I go to work, eat well and keep the house and car and animals running smoothly. Although I am pleased to report I have kept (just about) up to date with my pregnancy blog - so I have managed to do some writing!!
So, what next?
Looking at my list of dates, competitions etc. I realise how long it has been since I have even thought about writing something. When I started this blog I took part in NaNoWriMo 2007 and managed 18,377 words. However, we are already 5 days in and I have not started. Although saying that I didn't complete all the 30 days last year so I could try the month backwards.....I have looked on the official site and some of the other participants seem to have got off to a slow start. Perhaps I might be able to catch them up!
I have received my first email bulletin with regards to the 2009 Debut Dagger - closing date: 7th February and I would love to enter something again this year. I don't know whether or not to abandon the novel I started in 2008. I have received mixed reactions about it and again I seem to have collected loads of paper and in reality not enough writing has been done. Lots of ideas, but nothing concrete. However, that would give me 3 started (and not finished) novels.
If I am going to start a new novel. I need to do it properly this time. Ideas / Synopsis / Timeline / Chapter by Chapter - then start and keep writing until the words The End appear before me. I know I have been guilty over the last year of aiming for perfection and what happens is that I can't get past the first few chapters as I am constantly checking and tweaking and therefore The End never even comes near.
Well, I am pleased with my little self tonight, as have finally managed to address the 'writing' pile and feel I have got somewhere. Perhaps the tiredness is finally easing off...
Off now to look for ideas......
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