Bleed a little....

It is only when you open up your veins and bleed onto the page a little that you establish contact with your reader.  If you do not believe in the characters or the story you are doing at that moment with all your mind, strength, and will, if you don't feel joy and excitement while writing it, then you're wasting good white paper, even if it sells, because there are other ways in which a writer can bring in the rent money besides writing bad or phony stories.

Paul Gallico quoted in Writers' News - February 2015
www.writers-online.co.uk

The Worst Thing You Ever Write

The worst thing you ever write is infinitely better than the best thing you never write.

Quote from Nick Ahad in Writing Magazine - July 2014

He also says; You just do it.  You wake up early, you go to be late.  You sacrifice a Saturday night, or a Sunday lie-in.  You remain motivated by lots of things - by the past rejection or by the desire that you know you have stories that need to be told.

www.nickahad.com/ 

Post Karen Maitland....

I can't believe what a lovely night it was.

Going to The Collection in Lincoln and seeing all those writers / readers made me realise what I have been missing.

The stimulation of a good book talk, the anticipation of a good novel (yet to be started) and hearing about the logistics of writing.

I loved it and I realised I missed it.

Karen Maitland at The Collection

Had a fantastic night seeing Karen at The Collection in Lincoln. Her webpage for those not familiar with her work is:   http://www.karenmaitland.co.uk/      

She talked about her new book The Ravens Head but also The Vanishing Witch; of which I bought a copy, as it is set in Lincoln.

Her plots (she says) are character driven.  Who they are, their role and their dilemmas drive the plot.

Usually after she has written the first third of the book, her characters become 'friends' and they take over!  She 'knows' the personality and how they will behave....

She said that she types straight onto the computer in order to get it down as fast as she can, as if recording what she is seeing.  She never edits the same day, but waits a day, and will only edit it once  - as opposed to perfecting each page before moving on - and then she is back into the voice / mood for the next day to start writing again.

Just got to find some time to read it....

Failed!!

Have been taking some photographs recently, but mostly of friends and family.  Today I took Jamie and his cousin to Whisby Nature Reserve http://www.naturalworldcentre.co.uk/ for a craft morning.  We arrived little early so I decided to take some photographs in the reserves itself.  Saw a lovely shot of a couple of Robins.....

But had omitted to check on my battery life before leaving the house.....