Christmas came and went - leaving only a copy of the Writers and Artists Yearbook and a terrible cold..... That and being 21 weeks pregnant means that I have spent the last couple of weeks absolutely shattered and unable to do much more than eat my mince pies and watch the Christmas telly (which seems to be one repeat after another).
However, I was well enough to return to work this week and its the best thing I could have done as I feel so much better physically and mentally with something to focus my mind on. I bought myself the MsLexia Diary 2009 and have started to write a 'To Do' List for each week. The diary started last week and already I am ahead of myself - could this be the year? I must say I am impressed with the diary as it contains lots of facts / information and also inspiration. I have added a section for myself within the 'Blank Pages' which includes my goals for 2009:
1. To complete (at least) one novel.
2. To enter one competition a month of any format.
3. To continue to write both blogs.
I have also included some of my own notes regarding 'Time to Write' and 'Writers Block' as well as a piece on 'Statistics' which details the number of words I need to complete every week in order to achieve my goals!!
HAPPY NEW WRITING YEAR!!
Tuesday, 30 December 2008
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Giving ourselves time....
My MsLexia Writers Diary has arrived and looks impressive so I am having a few days 'planning'.... The final email from Chris Baty at NaNoWriMo sums it up nicely:
Giving ourselves time is so important. Because the world can wait. It's what the world does best, in fact. It was hanging out for 4.5 billion years before we arrived, and it'll be waiting around for another few billion after we're gone. Our dreams, however, have much shorter shelf-lives.
Whatever you think you are, you are more than that. You possess a fearsome array of skills and abilities, and the most satisfying of these may be completely unknown to you now. Your curiosity is a dependable guide; follow it. Put yourself in unfamiliar places. Kindle passions. Savor the raw joy of making things, and then remake the best of those things until they take someones breath away. Wrestle bears. Actually, skip the bear-wrestling.
But do keep trying big things, okay? Sometimes we can wait so long for a clear sign that it's time to begin, that the opportunity sails right past us. Life is so short. Adventures beckon. Let's get packed and head out on a new one today. I think it's time.
Giving ourselves time is so important. Because the world can wait. It's what the world does best, in fact. It was hanging out for 4.5 billion years before we arrived, and it'll be waiting around for another few billion after we're gone. Our dreams, however, have much shorter shelf-lives.
Whatever you think you are, you are more than that. You possess a fearsome array of skills and abilities, and the most satisfying of these may be completely unknown to you now. Your curiosity is a dependable guide; follow it. Put yourself in unfamiliar places. Kindle passions. Savor the raw joy of making things, and then remake the best of those things until they take someones breath away. Wrestle bears. Actually, skip the bear-wrestling.
But do keep trying big things, okay? Sometimes we can wait so long for a clear sign that it's time to begin, that the opportunity sails right past us. Life is so short. Adventures beckon. Let's get packed and head out on a new one today. I think it's time.
Monday, 15 December 2008
How to be Inspired.....Part 2
Following on from my entry regarding sleep (29th November) the December 2008 Brainstorm E-Bulletin from Jurgen Wolff www.timetowrite.blogs.com / www.yourwritingcoach.com highlighted the The creative power of sleep. Research is revealing more about the importance of sleep in the creative process. I've written before, he writes, about how writers, inventors, scientists and others often have an "aha!" moment that reveals the solution to some puzzling problem, either in a dream or immediately upon waking. Recent research at Harvard, conducted by Dr. Jeffrey Ellenbogen, suggests that if the time you spend trying to find a solution includes a period of sleep, you are 33% more likely to make creative connections. In other words, you're more creative after sleep, even in the absence of those aha! moments.
ACTION: the next time you're stuck - sleep on it! Short naps (15 to 20 minutes) are best, otherwise you go into a deep sleep cycle and will wake up groggy if you don't sleep for the entire 90 minutes.
ACTION: the next time you're stuck - sleep on it! Short naps (15 to 20 minutes) are best, otherwise you go into a deep sleep cycle and will wake up groggy if you don't sleep for the entire 90 minutes.
Thursday, 11 December 2008
Free your mind......
.....and the rest will follow. Lyrics from En Vogue (1992) that keep going around in my head. Spent all yesterday plotting and planning my future as a writer and then last night had the weirdest dream. I am walking up a spiral staircase. I know when I get to the top I will be doing something I enjoy. In the dream it is painting, but the emphasis was defiantly on the creative side. However, I am carrying too many things up these stairs and have to keep stopping to pick things up that I have dropped. I think what the dream is highlighting is that I am a bugger for procrastination and wanting to check / research / include everything - just to make sure - which means my writing still remains out of reach!!
Yesterday I started planning my New Years writing. One thing about being pregnant is that over the last few months I have - through necessity - scaled back my social commitments. This means that now I am feeling more like my old self I actually have some time for my writing.
As Tom Stoppard said: After 40 years, the problem remains, each time. You can’t start writing until you know what you’re doing, and you don’t know what you’re doing until you start writing. I still have to resist the false intuition that I need to know as much as possible in advance. The essential thing is to know as little as possible. Ideally, when things fall out well, you shouldn’t feel clever, you should feel lucky.
Diana Cambridge writes in January's Writing Magazine: The thing to think about is – don’t over-think! Often, that’s all worry is – just over-thinking. Move into action. She goes onto say: If it is worrying you about what to write and how to fit it into your routine (and worrying about this can be a worry in itself!) try to make a timetable in your new diary for 2009. Just make ‘appointments’ with your writing self to be there at your desk at certain times. Then – show up! As Woody Allen says “80% of success is showing up”.
A letter in Writing Magazine defines Writers Block as 'Simply a lack of motivation to initiate and maintain a writing schedule.'
So, I have subscribed to http://www.mslexia.co.uk/ for women who write (4 issues a year) as I feel I need something a little bit more highbrow than my usual Writing Magazine http://www.writersnews.co.uk/ which I will continue to subscribe to as it is still to be highly recommended. I also invested £12.99 in the The Mslexia’s Writer’s Diary 2009. It promises to contain everything you need to manage your life as a woman and as a writer. I will let you know.
For myself, I have put together a little spreadsheet to keep note of how much I write every day. But first I have set myself a series of targets to be completed before the year is out and then a number of competitions to enter in January / February. Of course, top of the list is the The CWA Debut Dagger 2009 www.thecwa.co.uk/daggers/debut/index.html - closing date 7th February - just over 8 weeks away!! I intend to enter at least one and possibly two novels.
And finally, just had an email from one of the Poison Pens saying I am delighted to tell you that I have finished the book and one of the agent's has been pestered this week! Now, if that isn't an incentive I don't know what is!!
Yesterday I started planning my New Years writing. One thing about being pregnant is that over the last few months I have - through necessity - scaled back my social commitments. This means that now I am feeling more like my old self I actually have some time for my writing.
As Tom Stoppard said: After 40 years, the problem remains, each time. You can’t start writing until you know what you’re doing, and you don’t know what you’re doing until you start writing. I still have to resist the false intuition that I need to know as much as possible in advance. The essential thing is to know as little as possible. Ideally, when things fall out well, you shouldn’t feel clever, you should feel lucky.
Diana Cambridge writes in January's Writing Magazine: The thing to think about is – don’t over-think! Often, that’s all worry is – just over-thinking. Move into action. She goes onto say: If it is worrying you about what to write and how to fit it into your routine (and worrying about this can be a worry in itself!) try to make a timetable in your new diary for 2009. Just make ‘appointments’ with your writing self to be there at your desk at certain times. Then – show up! As Woody Allen says “80% of success is showing up”.
A letter in Writing Magazine defines Writers Block as 'Simply a lack of motivation to initiate and maintain a writing schedule.'
So, I have subscribed to http://www.mslexia.co.uk/ for women who write (4 issues a year) as I feel I need something a little bit more highbrow than my usual Writing Magazine http://www.writersnews.co.uk/ which I will continue to subscribe to as it is still to be highly recommended. I also invested £12.99 in the The Mslexia’s Writer’s Diary 2009. It promises to contain everything you need to manage your life as a woman and as a writer. I will let you know.
For myself, I have put together a little spreadsheet to keep note of how much I write every day. But first I have set myself a series of targets to be completed before the year is out and then a number of competitions to enter in January / February. Of course, top of the list is the The CWA Debut Dagger 2009 www.thecwa.co.uk/daggers/debut/index.html - closing date 7th February - just over 8 weeks away!! I intend to enter at least one and possibly two novels.
And finally, just had an email from one of the Poison Pens saying I am delighted to tell you that I have finished the book and one of the agent's has been pestered this week! Now, if that isn't an incentive I don't know what is!!
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