When life gives you lemons... write about it

Niagra Falls at night and first night of camping - Niagara Falls, United States Travel Blog

2011-09-14T16:09:00.000-07:00

Niagra Falls at night and first night of camping - Niagara Falls, United States Travel Blog

Departure for the USA - Newark, United States Travel Blog

2011-09-12T00:34:00.000-07:00

Departure for the USA - Newark, United States Travel Blog

Only 5 weeks until the trek starts - London, United Kingdom Travel Blog

2011-07-21T05:39:00.000-07:00

Only 5 weeks until the trek starts - London, United Kingdom Travel Blog

Test - Link to my travel blog

2011-07-17T09:51:00.000-07:00

Only 5 weeks until the trek starts - London, United Kingdom Travel Blog

Another hit and updates

2011-06-18T05:33:00.000-07:00

This week has been a strange one but a great one. Just after I announced my intention to take an earlier than planned sabbatical from Womag2Weekly (I shall return after my US travels in November) I got an email from Jill Finlay at The Weekly News saying she would like to buy my story Thirsty Work. I received such a great critique from my writing group, its a crucial part of why I am selling stories and for that I thank them. I don't know what I would do without their help and support. As if the buzz from selling a story wasn't enough it was quickly published and appeared in this weeks copy. I am really pleased with how it looks.

I am still editing and subbing stories despite taking a break from writing them and the novel rewrite is almost there. I was knocked off schedule as I was off sick with tonsillitis and a fever last week but I am back to it this weekend.

A slight blog tweak

2011-05-29T02:22:00.000-07:00

For those of you have read my blog and have done for a while, you will know me as Lily. I picked the pseudonym when I first started the blog - for anonimity mainly. I still find it strange when people call me Lily, not bad strange - is there a good kind? But after much deliberation I've decided to have my real name on here, That's all!

Happy writing

Cheryl (and for the guy in Vodafone - yes it is just like Ms Cole's name but I had it first so ner!!)
x

Massive Action Day - Saturday 28th May with Jurgen Wolff

2011-05-18T14:42:00.000-07:00

'YOU ARE INVITED TO BE SUPER-PRODUCTIVE AND FOCUSED

on

Saturday May 28

The next MASSIVE ACTION DAY!

It starts at 9am UK time (10am on the Continent) and ends at 1am Sunday UK time.

On the day, pick something you want to work on and log on to our private website.

I (Jurgen) will stream a live video for about five minutes at the top of every hour with some productivity and time management tips and will give away some prizes, too.

You can use the site's chat window to declare a goal for the day and what you intend to accomplish in the next 55 minutes. When the top of the hour rolls around, come back and tell us how you did and your goals for the next session. Come for the whole day or just a couple of hours-either way you'll find it's a great way to focus and get lots done.

As usual, it's all free and it's all online. Here's where to sign up-and you do need to sign up even if you've taken part before:

www.WritingBreakthroughStrategy.com/MAD

Feel free to invite your friends to sign up, too, the more the merrier!

(ps: your goal doesn't have to relate to writing-it can be anything you want to accomplish).'

Cracked the womags!!!

2011-05-04T14:50:00.000-07:00

It is with the greatest pleasure and relief that I can finally announce I have sold a story – to That’s Life! Australia. My very first sale to a Womag (to any publication actually!!)

After over a year of writing stories with Womag2Weekly I have written 20 stories, subbed 35 times and had 21 rejections. I can honestly say I never thought I’d make a sale and I was about 3 months from giving up completely. In hindsight its easy to say but I implore anyone who feels this way IT CAN HAPPEN!!!

I cannot wait to see my work in print!!!

I'm still here!

2011-04-27T05:31:00.000-07:00

I would just like to say a big thank you to all those of you who haven't stopped following me. I am still writing, still busy subbing stories left, right and centre (and then dodging them as they come flying back). I'm taking a bit of a blog break as there isnt any new and exciting news going on. Unless you count my taking three months off work to go travelling round America in August but believe me there will be more on that nearer the time.

Hope you all had a nice Easter and haven't turned into a chocolate egg like me!!

Back soon!

Lily

x

Catching up

2011-04-12T05:57:00.000-07:00

Wow - that was a productive weekend! I sadly got no sun but I did manage to clear out my entire email. From there I was able to re-organise, re-edit and re-sub 8 out of 16 short stories. 4 of the remaining 8 are seasonal so are on hold for now. The novel isn't really coming along as well as I'd like. I have another idea which has been burning a hole in my head for a while now and I am debating about whether to take part in Sally Quilford's writing challenge: May - You Write Your Novel. 80,000 in 80 days - not bad considering you can go around the world in that time. If you've worked on a novel before you'll know that it can be a lonely business so the support you are likely to get is invaluable. I coudn't have completed the initial draft of CIM without knowing that the novel racers blog was only a click away so I am huge fan of this kind of thing.
Anyway, if I decide to work on something new I will be taking part but for now I shall keep going with the short stories during the week and the novel at the weekend.
If anyone's interested in signing up for Sally's challenge you can sign up here

I would just like to mention that this weekend was down to the Massive Action Day run by Jurgen Wolff. Jurgen ran the MAD between 9am Saturday morning until 1am Sunday with hourly tips and even giving away prizes! I stayed on until 11pm (with a brief break for a few cheeky fat frogs). Jurgen will be running another one in around a month or so, in the meantime you can sign up here for more information.

Winners!!

2011-03-14T12:38:00.000-07:00

The 2 winners of ‘Rachel's Holiday' by Marian Keyes Keyes are:

The lovely Debs and Sangu.

Congratulations! Please do email me (address on my profile) your addresses and I’ll arrange for a signed copy to be sent out to each of you.

Free Book Giveaway - Marian Keyes

2011-03-08T11:52:00.000-08:00

While I haven't been stuffing my face gleefully with pancakes today, I have been busy distributing the rest of my World Book Night books. I chose Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes and so far they have been greatly received by friends and strangers. As a special treat I have saved 2 copies of the special edition copies to give away here.

Synopsis:
'How did it end up like this? Twenty-seven, unemployed, mistaken for a drug addict, in a treatment centre in the back arse of nowhere with an empty Valium bottle in my knickers'. Meet Rachel Walsh. She has a pair of size 8 feet and such a fondness for recreational drugs that her family has forked out the cash for a spell in Cloisters - Dublin's answer to the Betty Ford Clinic. She's only agreed to her incarceration because she's heard that rehab is wall-to-wall jacuzzis, gymnasiums and rock stars going tepid turkey - and it's about time she had a holiday. But what Rachel doesn't count on are the toe-curling embarrassments heaped on her by family and group therapy, the dearth of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll - and missing Luke, her ex. What kind of a new start in life is this?

This is an oldie but a goody and I want to share them with you.

All you have to do is leave a 'pick me' comment by 8pm Sunday 13th and a copy shall wing its way to the 2 names I pick out of a hat.

This competition is open to all.

Back on

2011-02-21T05:43:00.000-08:00

So my relationship with dusty old novel was rekindled (FINALLY I hear you cry) last week. It truly is a very rough piece of work and pre OU and writing group Lily had a lot to learn. I'm loving rewriting it though but feeling quite depressed at having to spend all my time earning a crust when I just want to spend all my time canoodling with my characters. I've taken a little break from Womag2Weekly and shall be heading over to Chaper2Weekly for some much needed novel critiquing. I do believe we are in need of some members so if your interested do shout. 2 more rejections happened upon my door step on Saturday so I had an excuse to drown my sorrows and internal organs in Sauvignon Blanc in Prezzo on Saturday night. Yesterday was spend knitting, eating chocolate and feeding the obsession that is Colin Firth. I watched Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (again!) and A Single Man (truly beautiful and let me indulge in my currently sombre mood).

This weekend will be a quiet one as I spend some quality time with my rewrite - just the two of us (and Colin probably).

A good deal for those who can't read enough!!

2011-02-10T05:49:00.001-08:00

http://www.kgbdeals.co.uk/national/deals/11919/pound30-audio-book-voucher---weread4you---national

Review: The King's speech

2011-01-28T12:46:00.000-08:00

Hurrah I have (hopefully successfully) completed my creative writing course with the OU so I am busying myself with lots of my other favourite to dos. Last week I saw The King's Speech which I LOVED!!

Please check out my review:

http://filmsworthtalkingabout.blogspot.com/

Please do comment, I'd love to hear what you thought of the film.

THE KING'S SPEECH

2011-01-28T12:41:00.000-08:00

Stars: Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, Geoffrey Rush, Michael Gambon, Guy Pearce, Timothy Spall

The Plot: The King's Speech is a true story about Britain's King George VI (Colin Firth) who suffered a debilitating stammer and was helped to address a nation over the radio at the onset of World War Two by his Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush)

Rated: 12A

Running time: 118 minutes

Award Nods: 12 Academy, seven Golden Globe, 11 Critics Choice and four Screen Actors Guild awards nomination.

It would be a HUGE injustice and understatement to say this is the film of the year since its only January but using my power of foresight I can see it being hard to top this one in my eyes. It’s a rare thing for me to be gripped by a film, the last being Inglorious. I admit I was a little dubious as it had so much hype and its not my normal sort of film. Firth is splenetic, humourous and heartwarming all rolled into one sexy British ball. It is no surprise he is favourite to win best asctor award. Helena Bonham Carter is wonderfully charming as Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon and Geoffrey Rush is a great comic actor. My favourite scene being with him sitting in The Coronation Chair.This film has it all: great actors, a great story and a pretty interesting lesson in British history. I came away with a lot of knowledge and a desire to know more. I was on Wikipedia the next day! Its dramatic, funny and engaging and I was left wanting more.

A big fat five stars!! Cant wait to see it again.

Just popping in with a useful link

2011-01-25T05:45:00.000-08:00

Mema sent me a good link today for us budding novelists who haven't quite got it together yet. I'm starting the rewrite this weekend (course ends Friday!!) and am quite looking forward to it actually.

http://www.acornselfpublishing.com/2011/01/acorn-independent-press-launches-write-your-novel-this-year-scheme/

I signed up for all three newsletters as I could use all the help I can get.

My final assignment is very nearly there - just a few tweaks needed and then I shall press that dreaded send button.

Also, following a rather epic hat trick rejection from The Weekly News all in one email I have managed to sub 3 more stories - 2 to Take a Break and 1 to That Life Australia so fingers crossed.

I also found this site while procrastinating on facebook:

http://www.theliterarygiftcompany.com/

Just. Brilliant.

Back soon!

Things I loved about 2010

2011-01-01T11:27:00.000-08:00

As I welcomed 2011 in with a peach lambrini (because I just wanna have fun and it doesn't taste like sick) I thought about 2010 and what a good year it was:

1. My beautiful neice Lola - I met her last week and I would do anything for her, even move back to Plymouth (yes really!)

2. I lost about 12 stone - in boyf that is. Sorry that sounds a bit bitchy - its not meant to but it was a good thing. I can see that now. A big change is afoot and it probably wouldn't have come about had I been "involved"

3. I learnt ALOT - despite not selling anything this year I did become an old hand at subbing stories. It's second nature to me now and I would just like to thank everyone over at Womag2Weekly for being such a supportive bunch o' writers.

4. I did well work wise - when I'm not attempting to be the next JK Rowling I have another job which really took away a lot of my time in the first six months of 2010. While I wasnt conplaining about it I was actually working quite hard and it didnt go unrecognised. I was voted MVP for 2010 and left me feeling a bit smug (with all that lovely hindsight).

Those were just a few things and despite the tears it really was a good year so thanks to all my readers for being there when I was down and for such lovely comments throughout last year.

Wishing you all a fab 2011

Lily

x

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T05:53:00.000-08:00

ETMA 1 Part 1

2010-12-22T09:07:00.000-08:00

In 500 words, write a mini portrait of a character, in either the past or present tense. In this story, note, there needn’t be any significant plot; concentrate instead on describing both character and place, and on conveying a particular mood – and state this mood as the title of your story. (For example: Happiness: Jane had short red hair and ...)

Despair
Sarah got up from the sofa after another sleepless night and let her unshaven legs carry her to the bedroom. She looked out of tear sodden eyes into the room that she and Dan had once slept. It had been a month since she’d been widowed and a month since she’d seen their room. It looked grey despite the fact that they had only recently painted it a warm terracotta colour. Dark dankness swallowed the warm glow that had once occupied this room. The floor creaked below her aching feet as she leaned against the door jamb, its sharp edges pressing deep into her bony side. She caught her reflection in the dusty mirror and held out a moisture starved hand, pressing against the glass as though it might lead the way into another world. Her roots no longer matched chocolate brown tresses and the ends were withered and lifeless. She looked older than her forty years but she felt like a child who’d lost her way. The room stood still, and she echoed its sentiment as if cemented to the spot. A tear threatened her eye as she stepped over Dan’s pile of washing to pick up the crime thriller she had leant him. Holding it close, as if it were her last link to him, Sarah sunk down onto the unmade bed and opened the book to where he had turned the corner of the page down. She hated when he did that but she left it as it was and replaced the book in the position it had been left in.

A flicker of an autumnal ray made its way through the slit in the blinds and the warmth lit up her pale and tired face. Sarah’s eyelids hung low as if protecting her from the light of day as though she might disintegrate under such brightness. Her body lost itself in the empty double bed as she curled herself into the foetal position and hugged the bear that perched on her pillow. Her mobile called out for the fifth time that morning. She didn’t rush to it, what would be the point? It wouldn’t be him. She only kept it charged so she could call his voicemail whenever she missed the sound of his voice. It would be her mother again and immediately she felt guilty. She would call her back later and tell her she was fine; she’d be back to working in the shop as soon as she had time. Sarah wiped away yet more tears, as if her tear ducts had sprung an endless leak.

Sarah rose from the bed and trudged bare footed into the living room. She cranked up the heating; she wasn’t especially cold but Dan always liked it warm in their flat. She could hear the noise of continuing life outside and felt her heart ache. Sympathy cards lined the work tops just next to his mail and his unwashed coffee cup. Everything would just stay as it was.

A few cliches aside it did rather well with a 40 out of 50. It was based on the strength of this piece that I managed to get a Good Pass. I think a lot of us were more in tune without part 1 - not sure why but I agreed with the comments made. I will publish part 2 in my next post.

The results are in:

2010-12-21T12:49:00.000-08:00

So for those who didn't see my facebook on Friday (drunken status updates ahoy) I scored a 72 for my first assignment. I am soooo pleased with that. I scored a 40 out of 50 for part 1 of the TMA and 32 for part 2. I shall post both in separate posts so you can see my work. I know I keep saying it but it will happen. Work is winding down for the year and all that hard work in the first 6 months WAS worth it as I was awarded the MVP (most valued person) at my work do on Friday. I think it was fair to say that between becoming an Auntie, scoring a 72 and getting the MVP, last week was pretty brilliant

Friday was definitely about the champers:

Crimbo has come early

2010-12-14T05:32:00.000-08:00

I had the best news EVER yesterday. My beautiful neice made her way into the world making me an Auntie for the very first time. I am super proud and cannot wait to meet her.

So I am on form today and am raring to go with Block 3 of my course. I am eagerly waiting the result of my first TMA (scores due by Friday) and all I can do for now is get on with the rest of the course. I spent the weekend visiting friends in Hove and mooching the shops in Brighton whilst sampling the tastiest mulled cider. Between this and the X-factor I had little time to post anything at the weekend so for that I apologise. I would quite like to post up some of my work on blocks 1 and 2 which my fellow students are giving some great feedback so keep a look out this week for that if you're interested.

I just finished reading A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - I really enjoyed it and it left me feeling very festive.

Finally settled!

2010-12-09T05:48:00.000-08:00

This is the first lunch break at work I have had where the hour didn't get gobbled up by present searching, coursework, bill paying, flat hunting, various other things that I have possible blocked out for stress inducing reasons. I'm better now I am happy to say. Everything from that knot in my stomach to that crater on my face - all gone! Not sure whether it's the Kalms that I've been taking or the lack of crap things happening of late but I actually feel quite relaxed. I got my first TMA into my tutor last week (more on that in my next post) and we FINALLY have internet (can I get an Amen!! - it was definitely a miracle we got it in the end). O2 were useless blaming everything but themselves for the delay. There was one saving grace though - in their Glasgow branch. A very nice man called Clive. He is definitely on my Crimbo card list and my list of people who to call should I ever decide to move again (never again!!!)

Womag 2 Weekly is closed for short story submissions until January so I have until then to pull another shorty out of the bag. Sadly I am yet to report a short story sale. I remain optimistic as I still have some with The Weekly News (sending good thoughts your way Jill! - as if that's all it takes :S). This will give me time to work on the novel also as I have become a member of Chapter2Weekly which the lovely Suzanne Jones has founded for us novel wannawriters or in my case finishers.

That's all for now. I promise to come back soon with more about my OU course (which I am LOVING btw)

Important - Please read!!

2010-12-01T05:59:00.000-08:00

Help Talli Roland's debut novel THE HATING GAME hit the Kindle bestseller list at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk by spreading the word today. Even a few sales in a short period of time on Amazon helps push the book up the rankings, making it more visible to other readers.

Amazon.co.uk: http://amzn.to/hNBkJk

Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/hX2ieD

No Kindle? Download a free app at Amazon for Mac, iPhone, PC, Android and more.

Coming soon in paperback. Keep up with the latest at http://www.talliroland.com/.

About THE HATING GAME:
When man-eater Mattie Johns agrees to star on a dating game show to save her ailing recruitment business, she's confident she'll sail through to the end without letting down the perma-guard she's perfected from years of her love 'em and leave 'em dating strategy. After all, what can go wrong with dating a few losers and hanging out long enough to pick up a juicy £2000,000 prize? Plenty, Mattie discovers, when it's revealed that the contestants are four of her very unhappy exes. Can Mattie confront her past to get the prize money she so desperately needs, or will her exes finally wreak their long-awaited revenge? And what about the ambitious TV producer whose career depends on stopping her from making it to the end?

Back again and birthdays

2010-11-01T07:20:00.000-07:00

I have 2 birthdays to acknowledge today. Firstly today is my brother’s 31st birthday. Joel – happy birthday if you're reading this

Also, and I can't believe I forgot but it was my blog's 3rd birthday which was in September. Happy belated birthday blog.

So, I have finally moved…yay. I have to wait for internet…boooo

On Saturday my Open University course started. I have missed out on some of the intros and welcome messages but luckily I have internet at work (thank heavens for the office job – I knew there was a reason I did this!!) I am catching up slowly but the writing has been put on hold due to the packing, lifting, back ache, searching for coffee cups, tripping over boxes and rogue coat hangers, bed building, mattress ordering, sofa sleeping and more back ache. Lolly and I are getting there and the new place is just wonderful. I love my new desk (thanks landlord) and the epic built-in wardobes. I just need to finish unpacking and find more hangers.

Despite the back ache I will venture into the depths of the unknown and work out in the gym tonight. I haven’t been there in over 2 weeks due to the delay in the move which meant logistically it was unrealistic to travel from parents house to my not-so-local-anymore gym. It will be quite nice to get back to it and I am determined to get fit. After lugging sofas and other bulky and awkward furniture up a flight of stairs I’ve realised my body needs oiling for want of a better word (sounds like a euphemism for something but its not – im just a bit stiff – oh forget it!)

Taking a blog holiday

2010-10-11T13:44:00.000-07:00

Seeings as the move isn't quite going to plan (landlords are being total PITA's - that's Pains in the Arses) the well deserved time off is being put on the back burner. So until the move is over I'm going to take a break from blogging instead. I love blogging but aside from not having anything writing relating to post, I really don't have much going on but work, sleep, work, sleep, work and a little bit of writing when I can. My OU writing course starts at the end of October so I'll be back to share everything with you but until then I shall see you over at your places...

Have a good October

Lily

x

I want some time off!!

2010-10-04T05:55:00.000-07:00

Not quite sure where that weekend went but it wasn't my most productive one. I helped Lolly move her belongings into storage ready for her to leave her flat on Saturday. Only one more move left (this month) and then hopefully the heart palpatations will stop and I can take some well earnt time off.

Friday was good, I got my reading anthology from the OU for my 'Start Writing Fiction Course' which starts at the end of the month. It's been a while since I paid for it and as a result I'd kind of forgotten about it so it was good to receive something to get me feeling a bit more animated.

No rejections to report (thank you editors) this week although all bar one are with Jill Finlay at The Weekly News. One of which I posted nearly two months ago now. I usually get a ~~rejection~~ response after a month so not sure if it's a good thing or she's just very busy. I posted my crime story to Cecilia at You, South Africa. I don't know how that will go as I've never read the magazine but I had a look on their website http://www.you.co.za/. Cecilia is on holiday until 22 October so my story won't be picked up by anyone until then. I shall just forget out that one for now.

On a final note I went into Boots for my lunch and was surprised at the things I saw. With that in mind I shall leave you with this final thought:

81 sleeps, 11 hours, 8 minutes & 57 seconds till Crimbo!!!!

Tis very exciting as by then I shall be cool aunt Lily :-)

Catching Up

2010-09-26T07:55:00.000-07:00

Not quite sure where the weekend went but the getting ready for work rituals are fast approaching and I'm getting that familiar feeling of dread which comes with having to prematurely drag my arse out of my warm and cosy bed on a Monday morning. It's OK - only 5 days until the weekend.

I've been productive this weekend. I finished reading my book and started a new (well more like quite old) one on my side bar. I really like it so far but then you can't go wrong with Judy Astley.
Pops got me Twenties Girl and Mini Shopaholic (both Sophie Kinsella) so am looking forward to reading them.

I wrote another short story to add to my growing supply (which sadly still unpublished but I'm still optimistic).

I got 2 rejections - one from People's Friend who would have received it Tuesday and got it back to me Thursday (fastest rejection EVER!!) and the other from Take a Break. I have other markets in mind so I'm not beaten just yet. And of course there's always the competitions. Something I haven't done in a long while and which I mustn't forget provided me with my first published (albeit unpaid) short story. I have 4 stories out there - all with The Weekly News so I am keeping everything crossed.

Good news is Lolly and I have found a flat. It's lovely and if references all go well (hopefuly BFF didnt really say I'd just been released from prison - I haven't btw - its just her wicked SOH) we shall be moving once again in a matter of weeks.... hopefully that will be the last time I move... until I buy somewhere...but where... as if location is my only obstacle!

Branching Out

2010-09-13T12:05:00.000-07:00

In a bid to keep myself busy (as if I'm not already being a little over-ambitious) I've started a new blog. So far it's just an amalgamation of posts from this blog but I thought they deserved a home of their own. So, if you've enjoyed my film reviews please go here for old and new. I won't post them here anymore so I'd love it if you could bookmark the new site and take a look.

It's still a little hectic in my world what with writing and editing short stories - I will get one accepted before the year is out I will! I'm finding it a little easier to rework rejected stories and with the comments from W2W I feel more confident to get them out there.

I'm still looking for somewhere to live and I only have a few weeks left eek! If anyone has a furnished 2 bed flat in Sunbury they would like to let, please let me know!

Film Review: The Runaways

2010-09-07T06:11:00.000-07:00

Stars: Kristin Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Michael Shannon
Running time: 106 minutes

This film is a biopic of the first teenage all-girl rock band who made it big back it the late 70's with hits such as 'Cherry Bomb' and 'Queens of Noise'. The film charts the first few years from the formation of the band right through to the trials involving drug addiction and fights within the band.

What I liked about The Runaways: the style, the music and Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart in roles a million miles off what I have seen before. As far as music biopics go it seemed quite short or perhaps not as in depth as I would have liked. I had read a little bit about the band when I had heard the film was being released last year which made me want to see more however it ended a little abruptly for me. I'd not heard any of the band's music before nor did I know anything about the band themselves - thankfully they didnt scrimp on the music or the costumes.

The film focuses mainly on band members Cherie Currie (Fanning) and Joan Jett (Stewart) from when the band was formed, to them getting signed by Mercury Records right through to Currie parting ways with the group and Jett releasing her first solo album.

Fanning makes the transition from child star to adult actor well and looks great as the lead singer of The Runaways. Stewart shows there is more to her than the Twilight films (and general all round powtiness - hey it works for Team Edward/Jacob so don't knock it).

In the film there is only one family back story which was for Cherie Currie, whose autobiography the film was based. This made for a more intimate insight into the character.

I would have like to have had one for Joan Jett also as there is an interesting character tale there, and one there was definitely room for.

My favourite quote from the film was from the band's Manager Kim Fowley played by Michael Shannon:

'The Runaways were... a conceptual rock project that failed.... Do I regret that they turned on me? No, I'm glad they turned on me. It shows spirit. If I'm training a wild dog, and the dog bites my hand, I know I've trained him well... '

A great film despite its scantiness, and a great soundtrack to boot!

7 out of 10

What I've been getting up to (for those of you who don't see my random facebook updates)

2010-08-26T09:02:00.000-07:00

Almost a month has gone by and I haven’t blogged (slaps wrist). Sorry for my silence but I’ve not had much to report really. I got a certificate through the post for the mini creative writing course that I did. Thanks to all who sent messages of congratulation of Facebook. Twas very lovely you! Of course you might not have seen me announce such things if we are not buds so please let me know if you want my FB name or give me yours and I’ll add you.

I hosted the last 2 coffee mornings over on the novel racers blog. I had some great feedback so if you haven’t seen my posts or the comments please visit the site.

In non writing related news I’m still packing and the other night I watched ex boyf cram all his worldly goods into his mary poppins handbag type car boot. I thought that would be hard to watch, it was but only because I was trying to watch the BB final and he kept leaving the front door open letting the cold air and noise in. We’ve come out of things unscathed and I don’t feel any bitterness at all. I’m just glad we’ve stayed friends, I know some ex couples aren’t so lucky.

Monday night I saw a spiritualist. Before that night I felt so lost, not knowing what the hell to do with myself. I had become unable to trust my instincts and make my own decisions. I’d kind of become a bit poor me and what’s the point. I had questions about life, love and my career. She told me I would have 5 children (eek) and meet someone soon. More importantly she told me I would be successful with my writing but that I needed to stop holding back and be more colourful. I know some people think its all rubbish but she helped me find my way, like a kind of therapy. Best of all I didn't have to pay for her time, so there was nothing untoward going on there.

Inspire and Mentor with Marie Claire

2010-08-02T05:57:00.000-07:00

A couple of week's back I made my way up to 'That London' and attended the super glam offices of Marie Claire for a 'How to get Published' Seminar. I didn't think I'd be dissapoined and I wasn't in the slightest.

After the free champers and canape's on the balcany overlooking fab views of London we all congregated into a well air conditioned room. There in our seats we were greeted by a very well received goody bag of beauty products, Harriet's new book I Remember You (which she so kindly signed after), Marie Claire mag and a Jaeger purse. Once we'd gotten over the excitment of the free stuff we stopped talking and paid attention. This is a little break down of how it went:

Talk by Harriet Evans – Author

Harriets top 10 tips for getting your novel published

1. Work for it. Be serious.
2. Treat it like a separate job.
3. Think about your pitch to agents. Be able to say what its about. Don’t waffle in your letter because they don’t always read them.
4. Peak interest. Look like a commodity
5. Don’t expect it to change your life
6. Be prepared to rewrite it all
7. Get people to read and comment on your work
8. Read loads and loads and loads
9. Find writers you like and aim your work towards their agents. Find out who they are.
10. Do it for yourself and others second.

Talk by Jonathan Lloyd – CEO, Curtis Brown

Why are literary agents essential?

The publishing world is a jungle and there are very few retailers left; WH Smiths, supermarkets, amazon. This caused independent retailers to suffer.

There used to be 20 publishers you could offer a book to but now they are all under one cheque book. There is comfort in being represented by a company with power.

Most publishers don’t take unsolicited manuscripts.

Publishers will take work more seriously if from an agent than direct from yourself.

How to get an agent

Do your homework, know where to address your letter to. Learn the differences between various agencies through their websites.

Personalize your approach to an agent rather than sending the same letter to each agency.

Talk by Kate Espiner – Publishing Director, Harper Collins (works in the fiction department)

There are 6 commissioning editors publishing new authors.

They don’t take unsolicited work hence the need for an agent

Different mediums:

Digital publishing
Online publishing
Self publishing

Remember!

Read read read
Write write write
Edit edit edit

Talk by Carla Bevan – Associate Editor, Marie Claire

The Blogosphere is a great place to start. “Blogging is a great way to hone your craft” says Carla.
Send a link to your blog and she will visit
Features editor – you should contact them to get articles published.
Start at building a portfolio with local newspapers and online mags before you try more famous publications
Tesco mag has a massive readership.

Q & A

1. ‘The Help’ was rejected and is now doing well, discuss

Harriet admits as a publisher she rejected ‘Chocolat’, The Island and Labyrinth. She says she wasn’t the right publisher for those books at that time. "It happens but someone else will love your book and turn it into a best seller." says Harriet.

2. After 6 years Harriet became a full time writer. 'How did you make that transition from working at the day job to working as a writer full time?'

Once she was given a deal Harriet informed her boss and went to 4 days a week. She didn’t tell people the reason and noone even noticed. Holidays and weekends were spent working on the novel. This soon turned into a 3 day week in the office until eventually she was financially stable enough not to work. Harriet admits that she misses the office environment.

She puts a positive spin on the bad things in life like not having a boyfriend (a spin that was well needed!)

3. Do you agree that you need to be a celebrity to get published these days?

Harriet understands the celeb culture in writing these days but wholeheartedly believes that what it always comes down to is the quality.

Hope that was of some help to those of you (namely newbie writers) who need a bit of advice. It really helped me and made me feel better about my work and those dreaded R's.

Down but most definitely not out

2010-07-24T03:38:00.000-07:00

This is a hard post to write for me. It not something I have to write or that people would expect me to share but when I started this blog almost 3 years ago (eek) I wrote that it would be about life and love and when the worst is happening to write about it. So here I am. I thought July was going to be my month, work would have calmed down (which it did to a tedious level – but I’m not complaining there at all), I would start hearing back from the womags – not necessarily expecting them to beat my door down to buy stories but some feedback from real live editors would really spur me on. Life would just be better – or so I thought. This week I received not one, not two but three short story rejections – one of which was a silent rejection from That’s life Australia so not all bad but still a rejection nonetheless. I also received one two weeks ago today from The Weekly News. Quite possibly the nicest rejection ever but at quite possibly the worst time. That day my boyfriend and I broke up. I am of course sad to lose someone I’ve shared my life with for 6 years but also so much happier that the pressure of trying to make things work (from both sides) has disappeared and we can just get on being great friends. So now comes the stress of moving again in a month (we are still co habiting – which actually makes things easier as I don’t have the heartache of not seeing him so suddenly). So there you have it. Things got really crap for a while there but I have to look forward – it's time for a fresh start and to get more work out there. I only have one story out there with Yours and I can feel the rejection writing itself (sorry for the pessimism – I’ll try and rein it in a little). I also have great plans for next year – which I shall reveal should I get good news. I did get some fab news this week – that my brother and his girlfriend are going to have a little girl in December (hurrah I shall be an aunty finally!!). I couldn’t be more over the moon, a little baby in the family that I get to give back when she starts crying! So there you have it – sorry for not commenting/blogging for so long but I just had to feel sorry for myself for a bit and take time for myself. I am still writing of course – thanks to W2W, the only thing right now keeping me writing.

I also went to a How to Get Published Seminar which was brilliant and shall blog about this weekend.

Thanks for listening!

Lily
x

Film Review: Get him to the Greek

2010-07-02T11:56:00.000-07:00

Stars: Russel Brand, Jonah Hill, P Diddy

A small cast but a stellar one and it didn’t just rely on sick humour to get you through the 120 minutes. I was quite peeved because the film times for Wednesday (orange Wednesday baby) are a bit rubbish and I feared I’d be pining for my bed after about an hour. It was not just funny but cleverly hilarious. For those of you who have seen Forgetting Sarah Marshall you will know that this is a spin off about the character Aldous Snow played by Russell Brand. Jonah Hill plays Aaron Green, a young record company exec who is entrusted by his manager (P Diddy) to fly to London and ensure Snow makes it in time for the 10 year anniversary concern at the Greek Theatre in LA. A move to make millions for the record company and revive Snow's flagging career. What ensues is a not so tedious but hilarious battle to get Aldous to where he needs to be whist enjoying a 'Jeffrey', some furry wall stroking, late night partying (including a cameo from a certain Harry Potter villain), plane hopping and even a few poignant moments where you see a bit more to the troubled rock star. It’s not a complicated plot and doesn’t require you to think very hard but that’s not the aim here. The film makes for a great night out and judging by the roars of laughter emanating from the audience it’s safe to say other people are of the same opinion.

Brand is excellent once again as the debauched character but is most defininately not the only reason to watch. Jonah Hill is as funny and awkward as ever and the two make a great double act as the straight and funny comedy act . P Diddy for me is shining star here, I wasn’t aware of his great comic timing and the script writers quite rightly gave him some stonking one liners which were delivered with gusto.

A definite must see!

Becoming a student

2010-06-30T05:57:00.000-07:00

I have FINALLY bitten the bullet and booked a writing course. This will be the first writing course I've signed up to (if you exclude the one day freelance course I did) and I am super excited. I had originally planned to take a Novel and Short Story writing course with The Writers Bureau but then I decided to take a look at the OU. Not sure why I hadn't looked on their site before really. Anyways I am going to take the Start Writing Fiction course which is a three month course starting in October and it is with the aim to start writing short stories better than I do as I feel I tend not to have any discipline or follow any kind of structure. My writing becomes quite confusing as a result and I know it could be a lot better given some more help and advice. I will see how it progresses and then who knows, I may even study for a Diploma but right now I am itching to get started and can't wait until October.

Caroline Smailes - Like Bees to Honey new widget

2010-06-26T06:41:00.000-07:00

OK so if you, like me, were totally addicted to Stray's Black Boxes widget (below right) then you will love the new one. Stray has now created, to coincide with the launch of Caroline Smailes new fantastic book Like Bees to Honey, a fab new widget to the right of this blog post. It works in a similar way to the Black Boxes widget where by answering questions you can makes lots of new bee friends. I now have 10 which I think is pretty good (I have been playing for a while now). You can ask questions too, mine being:

'To bee or not to bee'

Sorry, couldn't resist!

Another award!!

2010-06-24T12:55:00.000-07:00

Yay me, the lovely Gaelikaa has awarded me ‘The Prolific Blogger award’. Gaelikaa is among a great new group of bloggers I have found through Womag2Weekly which I joined when it was set up in the new year. You can find her here and here.

There are a few rules that come attached to this award:

Every winner of the Prolific Blogger Award has to pass on this award to at least seven other deserving prolific bloggers.

Each Prolific Blogger must link to the blog from which he/she has received the award.

Every Prolific Blogger must link back to This Post, which explains the origins and motivation for the award.

Every Prolific Blogger must visit this post and add his/her name in the Mr. Linky so that we all can get to know the other.

I wish to pass on the award to the following seven bloggers:

Qwerty Queen
Spiral Skies
Writing at the Window
Get on with It
Debs - Daydreams in the Shed
Not Only in Thailand
Chez Aspie - DJ Kirkby's blog

How to Get Published evenings

2010-06-18T10:25:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post as I am on hols and don't have long to spend on here but I just wanted to let you all know about Marie Claire's How to Get Published evenings.

They are taking place next month in various cities across the UK, with London being host on 20 July and I am definitely going. Well I have paid anyway (I was a bit thrown by one of the comments saying it was sold out but it let me buy a ticket).
As part of the evening you will get the chance to meet author Harriet Evans in person, alongside a panel of experts, and discover what it really takes to get your name in print.

The events are 2 hours long starting at 6.30pm so is 9-5 friendly. It gives me just enough time to get up there and hopefully learn something. The tickets are very reasonable at only £20 which includes champagne, canapés and a fabulous goodie bag, including a copy of I Remember You.

I think that makes for a pretty good evening. If you're interested you can buy your tickets here:

http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/features/343907/how-to-get-published.html

An Award and some things you may not know about me

2010-06-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

A huge thanks to the lovely Debs for this award. I love getting awards so this really made my day. Debs is the Editor for Little Black Dress Thursdays at Novelicious. Her fab book reviews can be found here.

As per the award rules I must list 10 facts that you didn’t know about me and pass them on to other bloggers. I’ll try and list something completely exclusive but if you’ve heard about it on here or on facebook I apologise and I promise not to make anything up…I hope!

1. I live with my boyfriend of 6 years. He is very supportive of my writing (mainly because it means he can play Call of Duty on the X-box without me trying to talk to him.

2. I can read and write short hand. It has come in no use whatsoever but I’d like to think it will someday.

3. I once went for an admin job at MI6. I didn’t get it which is just as well as I am the most indiscreet person you will ever meet. I can keep a secret but I am just very loud!

4. I am tone deaf yet somehow I made the school choir. I also got picked along with other less vocally challenged school friends to sing at a local nightclub when I was about 10. We sang ‘Any dream will do’ with a male stripper for a charity event (don’t worry he didn’t strip).

5. I would quite like Italy to win the World Cup. I got them in the sweepstake at work so am in with a chance of winning £100 (although it would be super cool if England win).

6. I’m totally short sighted. I once mistook my sister for a parking meter. I hate wearing glasses and when I’ve been on a night out and have worn contacts I always wake up the next morning in a blind panic (excuse the pun) because I can’t remember taking them out.

7. If I won the lottery I would still continue in my quest to sell a short story to a womag. It’s not the money but it would be cool if my work was that good someone wanted to pay me for it. I would also love to go to Uni and study Creative Writing. I know I would never need work again but I love writing that much.

8. I hate flying. It makes me nervous and prompts all the following questions in me – what have I forgotten? Can I use the toilet yet? Why does the person next to me keep checking their watch? When is the food coming round? When will you let me off this sodding plane?

9. I have never broken a single bone in my body. I put that down to my lack of adventure as a child and my love of ~~dairy~~ milk.

10. I have super powers – OK just kidding but I have run out of interesting facts if you can call the above interesting. I suppose I could mention what I do for a living (snooze). I work for an IT Company in the Contracts and Compliance Department. I like it some days and other days I hate it. It’s not always easy to do the job properly when deals need to be done quickly and then there’s my total lack of ability to speak anything other than English and on bad days complete nonsense.

I'd like to nominate the following five brilliant bloggers:

David
Suzanne
Gaelikaa
JJ
Carol

A busy old week

2010-06-07T14:59:00.000-07:00

Last week as the title suggests was really quite a busy one... and a good one. The bank holiday weekend was spent in Swindon watching the men cook up a bbq and then forage for fire wood. Boyf and I spent Bank Holiday Monday watching my very best friend and her fella get married. We spent the night in this beautiful old Manor House where we skipped breakfast and opted to spend our Tuesday off lying in and having a breakfast of tea and complimentary cookies. These were soon worked off in my Body Pump class which I have only just recovered from - I didn't realise I had quite so many muscles to annoy. Sadly it was back to work on Wednesday, Thursday brought a bbq for my neices birthday for which I received just in time my copy of Stunt Bunny: Showbiz Sensation by Tamsyn Murray. It would seem she's a little too young to read herself so I shall take great pleasure in reading it to her. Saturday I spent sizzling on Brighton beach with Lolly before heading off for a late afternoon wedding where 2 of my very good friends also tied the knot. The gorgeous food I have consumed has played havoc with my waistline and as a result I have been suffering from chronic heartburn - me thinks my body wants a word no?

Somehow in amongst all of these wonderful (and tiring) goings on I still managed to find time to get in my short story for my fortnightly writing group. It was received better than all of my previous stories so I was really pleased with that. It was a Halloween piece which with the helpful comments I received from the other members I was able to rework and send off to Jill at The Weekly News today. Fingers have been glued cross (which makes for difficult typing so am going to stop now)

Have fab tomorrows everyone

x

Roll on June

2010-05-24T05:49:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy couple of weeks with more stresses and strains in the work place leaving me little time to write/comment/post. I hate that. My manager who replaced the manager who is on sabbatical has now left and I am alone again and trying not to break. Sabbatical boss will be back in 4 weeks which will leave me feeling a lot less agitated and much more focused on writing when I get in from work.

In my bid to destress/lose my writers body/train for race4life/heal my back I have joined the gym (yes you really did just read that!). I am loving it and I am feeling a lot more energised when I get home and sleeping very well. I have lost a couple kgs already, clothes are yet to fit properly though - that maybe a good excuse to go shopping! I went to my first physio session in months at the weekend (insurance co. have agreed to 3 more - I am seriously sick of them now) and I have been given plank work to do and as a result I feel like I have been kicked in the ribs. Still, only 2 more sessions left and the whole car accident nightmare should be over. The training for Race4Life is going well and we are only £5 off target so I am very pleased about that. I am feeling good things for June - no work stress, some time off, no more physio, my clothes may hit and hey - I might even get around to starting my writing course!!

Feeling Funktastic - but I'm over it now

2010-05-11T05:31:00.000-07:00

Where does the time go I ask you? I had fully intended to blog on Friday. I was in good spirits, that was until I got home and saw the A4 envelope waiting for me. My story rejected by Peoples Friend for being too weak. It smarted and it set me deep into a funk. I'm fine now though, I've sent a (different) story out to Take a Break Fiction Feast. This is my favourite of all the womags and the first time I have subbed to them so I am a little nervous about it. It's out there now so I just have to get on with other things while I try to ward off the postie bringing me more bad news.

The weekend passed by in a blur. Friday I went to see a great band with boyf and some friends and had a few too many vinos. I woke up early Saturday morning to discover someone (I don't know who) had hung all of my washing on the line from the night before. Boyf swears it wasn't him, which I can believe so I can only deduce it was the elves. Still one less thing I had to do before my sister picked me up for an all day hen party in Brighton. Unfortunately by 9.30 pm the cocktails and the bad kareoke had taken its toll so me and my sister headed back to our hotel to watch (very poor) Saturday night telly. Sunday I got back and enjoyed short stories a plenty from my writing group which just get better each fortnight.

Tonight I will start a new story for Womag 2 Weekly, not leaving it till last minute like the last one. Although saying that I struggled for ideas on the last one and I can't help feeling it was my best one yet!

It's been a productive week

2010-04-29T05:59:00.000-07:00

It's been a week since my last post and I'm pleased to say that its been a productive one. The weekend was spent in the garden with the manuscript which I have split into 4 folders for ease of reading. Part one of four is currently covered in red pen and black might I add as I wrote a scene which I was quite pleased with. I started writing the novel with one main character in mind but I felt she needed someone else there, not just as a secondary best friend type character but as a strong lead who she can learn from. That was the reason for the extra scene as in the beginning there isn't a great deal about character 2.

This week so far I have sent out three womag stories so now I have 6 stories out there and 2 left to rewrite and sub. I now have to work on a story for the next fortnight and as such I am drawing a complete blank. I spent last night visiting various places such as Inspiration Corner and the S/Cally Generator and even here which I quite like but I wasn't getting anywhere. I think the problem was I was proper knackered last night and ended up retiring to bed at 9.30pm!! - its this healthy eating kick I'm on which means no choc :-(

Anyway I won't lose heart - the generators have worked for me before and I have my Womag 2 Weekly prompts so I am going to try again tomorrow night. Tonight I am off out to a Thai restaurant for my Dad's birthday. They do delicious food here http://www.patchareethai.com/patmenu1.html mmmmm must stop reading menu and drooling.

Why you shouldn't read interesting articles whilst waiting for your bus....

2010-04-22T13:22:00.000-07:00

Not the fun packed email I mentioned in the last post but today has been a strange old day. I spent 3 hours of my work day sitting in an empty office listening to the distant sounds of a fire alarm being drowned out by my mp3 player. Then when they (not sure who 'they' are) finally managed to stop the alarm we had to endure power cuts a plenty.
I escaped the madness of the office and picked up a copy of Writers Forum. I was engrossed in an article by Amanda Brittany about Writing Groups (including Womag2Weekly - yay we are famous!) whilst at the bus stop later today when I looked up to see my bus leaving without me and my magazine!

No writing tonight as I spent the best part of the evening clearing out the spare room so that I can get a desk in there. It's a lovely cosy warm room and I can't wait to be able to sit at computer at a proper desk instead of slouching in bed.

Anyways I am all ready for the weekend. The novel is printed and I have ~~stolen~~ borrowed some red pens from work so now all that's left is for me to get out the sun lounger and wait for the weekend. I just hope the sun keeps up his end of the bargain!

And send....

2010-04-21T14:43:00.000-07:00

I managed once again to press that Oh so scary send button on my computer (actually its on the screen but whatever!)

I subbed a story to That's Life Australia this very eve and it's a story I really really like. I just hope they like it even more and want to buy it!

No updates really. I finished reading Fishbowl today which I really enjoyed. I am now reading Light as a Feather by Helen Dunne.

I have no shorties to work on at the mo as the deadline for womag 2 weekly is tomorrow so I shall spend the weekend working on the novel. It will go out this year if it kills me!

I plan on getting more stories subbed in between the novel. I have one for Peoples Friend and a few for TABFF. I need to check how many I can send at once though.

Sorry for the scanty post but theres not much going on except for the writing and subbing at the mo.

Hopefully I'll have a more fun packed post next time!

Back in the saddle

2010-04-14T13:41:00.000-07:00

Yes more terrible sayings ahoy...

I am back on the horse. I have resubbed my rejected story today to Woman's Weekly. I very much doubt it will be accepted (yes confidence knocked quite a bit but they are a tough market). Why did I chose WW I hear you cry? Well my reasons are threefold:

1. I checked out the guidelines on Womag's blog and I saw at least 3 times a mention of them willing to accept crime/mystery stories.
2. I was going to sub to TABFF as I know they sometimes run a 'crime time' story but I already have 2 stories I want to sub there and I don't want to bombard them.
3. This reason is quite a lazy one. I had already subbed to The Weekly News who require double quotes for speech as do WW so it seemed silly to change to single for TABFF and then back again.

In other news I have dusted off the novel that has been resting since October. It's very daunting but the foundations have been laid and now I just have to build on them (that was the last one I promise)

It had to happen some time...

2010-04-13T14:06:00.000-07:00

I got my first rejection today. The story I had submitted to The Weekly News last month was put out of its misery with a short but sweet no thank you. It is a very good thing that I spend half an hour last night reading 'Your Writing Coach' - the section on rejection and how even publishers had rejected Harry Potter before it hit mega sales and people went Harry, Ron and Hermione mad.
I won't let it get me down. I know you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette and many other cheesy clichés such as that so I shall get back on the horse and not put all my eggs into one basket.

Also, with the best intentions, I have drawn up a work planner to see what can be fitted in and where. I have stuck to it so far getting the balance between writing, blogging and reading in there as well as free time. There's loads I haven't managed to work in there but I'm sure things will get easier and who knows maybe one day I may get that 3 day weekend.

I'm sure there was more stuff I had to say but I'll be back tomorrow (it's in the timetable), that and Shameless is on 'PAAARTYYYY'

Beatiful Blogger Award

2010-04-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the bad bloggage of late. There's not really been a lot of news on the writing front. Work has been hectic and my holiday feels like a million years ago. Luckily I have planned the next trip away. Myself, boyf and my parents are off to Jersey for four days in June. I am looking forward to the long weekend and of course we have family there so it will be lovely to see them again.

Today I got a lovely fresh new book in the post. Your Writing Coach - Jurgen Wolff which I saw advertised over on Calistro's blog. I had some points on my Waterstones card so it only ended up costing me about £3. I had a quick read on my bus ride home and I think that's £3 very well spent. I'll keep you posted on what I learn from reading it.

Also, and this brought a smile to my face while waiting for the bus this morning checking my emails. The lovely Suzanne has awarded me The Beautiful Blogger Award:

In getting this I can pass this on to ten other bloggers so here goes:

1. Calistro - I have learnt so much from her blog

2. Debs - for having the most awesome shed I have ever seen!

3. Karen - for always writing side splitting posts and her help with my first womag story

4. Amanda - for setting up the wonder that is Womag 2 Weekly

5. DJ Kirkby - for liking my captions and making me laugh with wild and wonderful pictures every Wednesday

6. Carol - for displaying beautiful works of art and sharing her recipes

7. Emily - for never giving up and for her great column over at novelicious

8. Suzanne - I know she gave this to me but I want to award her with it for her great comments and stories on W2W.

9. Womag Writer - My go to blog whenever I want to sub a story. I love her blog!

10. Colette - another fellow W2W. A great critiquer and writer.

Having a lovely time...

2010-03-24T13:56:00.000-07:00

Well except of course for right this minute where I am listening to football chat where I haven't the slightest clue what anything means. Boyf is watching the Pompey/Chelsea game while I have sat here dutifully not asking which team is which, drunk my wine and been glued to my net book (which I am secretly loving). So far in the time that a bunch of wet blankets have managed to kick a ball in a net* I have managed to finish and send my story for womag 2 weekly, sink an entire glass of wine, make a new friend, ignore some football chatter, facebook some friends and read up on blog posts. Not bad for 45 minutes work - and no injuries whatsoever. I know who the real winner is here!!

So yes, here I am in sunny Cyprus for the third time in 2 years and I still love it. This time we decided to visit Paphos where it is pretty quiet but the weather is glorious and the sea, just a stones throw from our hotel, is a silky blue bed of come get me heaven and the sun never fails to give me a nice warm hug whenever I step outside in the morning. I haven't ventured in the sea though as despite the sun leaving me with burnt bits here and there, the water is still bloody freezing. Just 2 and a bit days left and I feel properly chilled. Car insurance paperwork and scrapped cars are but a distant memory but I know it can't last forever. I may stay here forever. Call it research....

*Apologies to any hard core footballers/fans - I just cannot stand being a football widow!!!

Saturday 20 March 11am - 5pm - Picador Day

2010-03-10T05:21:00.000-08:00

Just had the following info from one of my writing groups. Sadly I shall be jetting off to Cyprus that day so can't make it but thought you might be interested:

Saturday 20 March 11am - 5pm

The Gallery at Foyles, 113-119 Charing Cross Road, London WC2H 0EB

Picador Day

In association with leading literary imprint Picador, we invite you to spend the day with top authors and publishing insiders as they discuss literature from all angles.

11am - 12pm Family and Self
Things are getting personal in the first session of the day, as our panel of authors discuss the ways writers bring their nearest and dearest into their work, and reflect on literature's greatest fictional families. With:

Jackie Kay

Jon Ronson

Kate Clanchy

William Fiennes

Abi Grant

12.30pm - 1.30pm Writing of Place
How do you conjure up the spirit of a place in writing? And how important is the setting in shaping a work of literature? Our four literary explorers will attempt to find out. With:

Graham Robb

William Fiennes

Jim Crace

Charles Lambert

1.30pm - 2.30pm Break

2.30pm - 3.30pm Poetry and Beyond
How easy it for a writer of prose to create poetry? And what happens when a poet decides to put verse to one side? Discover the answers with our multi-talented panel. With:

Kate Clanchy

Jacob Polley

Jackie Kay

Gerard Woodward

Paul Farley

(chaired by Don Paterson)

4pm - 5pm Becoming a Writer
If you've ever dreamed of getting published then our final panel, including freshly published debut novelists and experienced creative writing teachers, will guide you through the whole process, from writing your first sentence to seeing your book on the shelves. With:

Gerard Woodward

Trezza Azzopardi

Ben Myers

Simon Lelic

Naomi Wood

(chaired by Paul Baggaley)

Tickets are £18/£15 concessions covering admission to all four sessions. Tickets include a goody bag. - I AM SO GUTTED I CAN'T GO!!!!

http://www.foyles.co.uk/events.asp?#picador

Here in my car...

2010-03-04T13:51:00.000-08:00

So following my accident back in December it has only taken my insurance company Diamond 3 months to inform me that my car 'Maisy' is a Total Loss. I am gutted. My Dad bought me my Peugeot 106 for my 21st and now sadly 8 years later I have to say goodbye. I am very upset.

As the accident was not my fault I have been supplied with a courtesy car until my money comes through.

So in the space of 1 day I have gone from a red Peugeot 106 with a pink bonnet, rattling exhaust and mouldy windows

to this.....

I don't want to sound ungrateful but I really don't like it. It's too new and shiny for my liking. The brakes work too well which means I pratically hit my head on the dashboard every time I even so much as tap the brake pedal. It's too smooth a ride and its unnerving. I miss driving in my tin can and being able to feel every bump in the road and actually being able to hear the engine. It has power steering though and OMG I have never parked so quickly in my life!!

No writing news today as this whole car business has been stressing me out. I will get on with my story for my short story group tomorrow. I bought two magazines today, Yours and Peoples Friend. I might try and aim for these markets but I need to take a look first as I know they are aimed at an older market. The stories look eye catching to me though so I might be able to try my hand at this market.

About time too!

2010-03-02T05:38:00.000-08:00

No I haven't been published, nor have I received a massive cheque for any amazing stories I may have written. I know it's a long time coming but that isn't my news.

WE HAVE INTERNET!!!

Only 3 months late but I'm not one to complain...much. Normal blogging/commenting/surfing/procrastinating shall resume. I am slightly afraid that my writing will suffer as a result of me now having the gift of website surfage but I shall try and be good. I can now start my course...well after I get back from holiday at the end of March.

I now have another womag story 'out there'. One at My Weekly and the other with the Weekly News which I sent yesterday. I did receive an immediate response from the Editor but only to tell me I'd hear back in around a month. Not sure if that's a good thing but I won't dwell, I shall just work on more stories for my short story group Womag 2 Weekly and get them out into the big wide world.

I hate Sky!

2010-02-21T09:11:00.000-08:00

So it's now been 2 months and still counting that boyf and I have been waiting for Sky to pull their fingers out of their arses (pardon the phrase) and sort us out with some much needed internet. I shouldn't complain, I have been leant a dongle which, albeit it painfully slow and limited, is an absolute godsend. I also have mobile internet but it makes it difficult to view blogs and can also be slow at times.
We were assured out router would arrive and a switch would be flicked by 17th February. This, as we suspected, did not happen and now we are being told this will not happen until 1st March. So there, I hate Sky and will not be recommending them to anyone in a hurry. The service is p*ss poor and we are in a long list of unhappy customers. I had to laugh when boyf asked the customer service advisor (if that's what they can call themselves):

Boyf: 'Does this sort of thing happen all the time or is it just us getting treated like this?'
CSA: 'Oh no Sir it happens all the time'

So that makes it all OK then!

Catching Up

2010-02-14T07:29:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all those being patient with me right now. I've not been blogging or commenting a lot recently due to still not having normal speed or regular internet access but fingers crossed it will be sorted this Wednesday.

Since my last post this is whats been happening:

- I FINALLY treated myself to a netbook. I love it. Its got up to 7 hours battery so I can go out with it without fear it will run low in the space of an hour. It also plays movies really well so I can watch movies when I'm not writing on long journeys. I just need to get used to typing on it!

- My insurance company finally came through and I am getting some treatment for my bad back. I had acupuncture yesterday which I personally didn't really like but I'll try anything if it helps. I have been told I can't go running but I can sign up for this years race 4 life so I am feeling confident about feeling better soon.

- My writing is going well. I'm hoping to start the novel rewrite soon but for now I have been concentrating on writing stories for Womag 2 Weekly. I love the group, the critiques and reading some really great stories. I am planning to sub some stories next week once they have been through a final edit.

- I took part in Womag Writer's magazine swap. I received 2 Australian womags which I intend to study well before getting some stories down under! Thank you Womag and Claire!

- Work has calmed down a lot and I feel a lot less stressed out. I scored well in my appraisal on Friday and it turns out that arguing with my boss pays off. He said it showed him how much I care about my work and that made me feel a lot better. He also gave me some really good advice which I can apply to my writing which is to set myself achievable goals and to break things down into half hour segments. I also need to be realistic about my goals and to tick things off to get a sense of achievement. He also told me to take a cigarette break to access situations but as I don't smoke I might just ignore that but I get his point. It's all about time management and writing this blog post is something I can tick of my list. I'm now off to get tea and a muffin (that's a very achievable goal for me).

Teeny Tag Post

2010-02-06T09:09:00.000-08:00

Just a quickie as the ongoing tinternet saga continues and I have a short story to get written. (I am also off out in a bit for a spot of Birthday Bowling).

I have been tagged by Debs. The rules are:

1. Name a song that makes you happy - This is a tough one as there are so many songs that have a positive effect on me. Most recently a friend at work thought that Adele's Chasing Pavements was meant to be Chasing Payments. We quickly adopted this as our theme song while doing credit control.

2. Post an image that makes you smile - This photo makes me smile as it has to be one of the most special times in my life. The first of my siblings to tie the knot this made me really proud to have him as my brother. Awww all growed up (gets all choked just thinking about it).

I shall tag Colette to carry this MeMe on.

What's on your page 69?

2010-01-30T11:55:00.000-08:00

Just a quicky post as dinner is almost ready (mmmm boyf is making home-made burgers) and I am still having tinernet issues.

I wanted to share with you something I heard on Saturday Kitchen on ermm Saturday. Laila Rouass of Footballer's wives fame was on the show and shared with chef James Martin that if you want to see if a book is going to be good to turn to page 69 and if you like what you read there then you will probably enjoy the whole thing. Interesting I thought. Whats on page 69 of my book I wondered? So I loaded up the dusty old word document and what was going on there?

A crucial page turning part of my story!!! My main character gets a letter from someone and it's a stonker. I won't say anymore but it's a real page turner I can assure you!! So what's going on in your page 69? Maybe your own WIP or just the book you're reading now? Or even a fave book? Be interesting if this works!

Crazy week and awards

2010-01-16T10:27:00.000-08:00

It's been a funny couple of weeks. Work wise it's been a nightmare. I won't go into detail but things are going on that are putting me to the test and stressing me out no end. I was pretty fed up on Thursday and actually contemplated quitting. Friday was another day though and after a heart to heart with my manager I am feeling a lot better. I don't know how long this will last though but I can only hope things get better.
At home things are going well. I'm trying not to nag my boyfriend out of our first home together and he (I am assured) is not leaving wet towels on the floor on purpose. I still only have limited internet until (fingers crossed) the end of this month. This dongle I have been leant is a life saver but unfortunately pages load at a snails pace and my impatience kicks in pretty quickly.
We have a holiday booked so there is something to look forward to and I have already started packing the sun lotions (not going away until the end of March)!

Writing wise it is going well. I owe it all to Amanda for setting up Womag 2 Weekly because without that I probably wouldn't do any. I am working on a story with a genre I have never tried before or thought I would enjoy so much. Who knew!

Also, to round the week off nicely I won 2 awards. This one from the wonderful DJ Kirkby:

And this one from the lovely Colette:

This one I have to pass on so I pass this to all on my blog roll cuz i think you all have lovely blogs!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-09T13:10:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a lovely break. I did and from blogging. Only kidding. I have really missed this but I’ve barely had time to catch my breath. I’ve had a house move, been crazy-busy at work, writing and posting coffee breaks on the NR blog, and writing and commenting on Womag 2 Weekly. It’s all been hectic but I’ve somehow managed to keep the writing going so I am really pleased about this. Also in amongst all the madness me and boyf took a 3 day trip to Edinburgh over xmas. For anyone whose thinking of visiting or if you’d just like to hear about my trip allow me to share.
We got a 2 day Edinburgh Pass which cost £36 per adult. With the amount there is to do there this is a real bargain. We were going to do a bus tour as included in the EP is a £2 off ticket for the open top tours. The reasons we ended up passing on this is three-fold. Firstly it was way too cold, secondly we were short on time and thirdly we had already seen quite a lot.

Mercat Tours

Free of charge for those with an EP there are plenty of different tours to choose from here. The staff in the ticket office just off the Royal Mile were really friendly and we decided to go on the Historic Vaults Tour. Our very friendly tour guide took us and 6 others (they usually have groups of 30 but it was quiet this time of year) under the South Bridge and around the authentic 18th Century Vaults. There we learnt why they were created and who used them as well as hearing all about the notorious Body Snatchers. The guide also made me jump out of my skin on various occasions with her creepy stories.

The Stand Comedy Club
Holders of the EP get 25 % of tickets to comedy nights. We went on the Sunday night where we saw Tom Stade, Joe Heenan and Mark Nelson. We got in about an hour and a half before the show starts and the only seats left were at the front of the club. We were practically sat on the stage. The host was hilarious and had me crying with laughter even when she zoned in on us and ripped the absolute piss. Luckily I am good at laughing at myself.

The Writers Museum
This was the place I really wanted to see and was really surprised that it was free entry. I was convinced it was £10 entry. A very inspiring place and a few humourous things for writers in the gift shop.

The Shops
I live in London so there wasn’t really anything I hadn’t seen before. There were a few tourist shops that sold all things tartan.

Edinburgh Castle
We went up in the hope of seeing the one o’ clock gun go off although unfortunately we were queuing for about half an hour and missed it. We asked when we got through the ticket stalls why we hadn’t heard anything and it turns out the gun had frozen so hadn’t gone off. Plenty of different things to see from the Prisons of War Cells to great views of Edinburgh.

Camera Oscura
Again free for all EP holders this was probably the best place we went. A tough walk up but you get to have a little sit down when you get to the top and look at people walking around outside from a table in a dark room. You even get to pick those people up and squash them with a bit of card. The World of Illusion rooms are really interesting and a lot of fun and makes the long walk down a lot more bearable. I would actually do them on the way up if I went again. There’s no difference really – just easier on the legs.

Edinburgh Dungeon
I really didn’t want to go in here as I had visited the chambers in Madam Tussauds which has Live actors. This was just as terrifying with more of a story from each actor. They don’t just chase you round trying to nick your handbag (like those in MT). There were 2 rides included, one was the boat ride where water trickles on you from above and you are left sat in the dark in the middle of an indoor river for about 5 minutes. The other ride was called Extremis which is meant to simulate the Grassmarket noose. Luckily, due to my bad back, I was excused but I had to stand alone in the dark for what seemed like an age. I wouldn’t go again but if you like a good scare, you’ll love this. Tip: if you are easily frightened try not to appear so as the actors will zone in on this as I later learned.

Carlton Hill
Bit of a struggle this one as we had to walk up a steep icy hill. The top of the tower gives great views of the town. You need strong legs for this one!

3D Loch Ness
Does Nessie really exist? Watch this 3D video of eye witness accounts, photos and illusions and judge for yourself. We started off with this as it was snowing and only took up about 25 mins.

Pubs
We weren’t too impressed with the service in the places we went to have food. We went to The Filling Station on the Royal Mile where we ordered a simple meal of burger and chips and it took nearly an hour and one reminder to get our food. Still the food was nice and the atmosphere was lovely.

I can't remember the name of the pub but the one right opposite the Hotel Ibis where we stayed served us our food within 5 minutes of ordering but was unfortunately a bit chewy. Clearly precooked hours before I wouldn’t recommend the food here. Still, this one was of few pubs that were showing the football.

Food
I couldn’t visit Scotland without trying some good old Scottish Haggis, neeps and tatties. This was delicious, nothing too fancy although a bit too much pepper was used.

Airport Tranfer
We were given free airport transfer with our Edinburgh Pass which was a saving of £7.50 either way.

John Knox House at the Scottish Story Telling Centre.
We didn’t attend any story reading here as there was only one which we missed but we took a look around the museum. There wasn’t a whole lot to look at but interesting nonetheless.

A very Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year!!

2009-12-24T09:45:00.000-08:00

Hurrah! No more work for me and as I settle down with a drink in hand I would just like to wish you all a very lovely Christmas and New Year. I am very much looking forward to 2010 and posting my very first Coffee Break on the Novel Racers Blog. Hopefully I shall see you there if I don't see you here or indeed at yours first!

Ahhh a day off!

2009-12-14T06:09:00.000-08:00

I am trying to be productive today as it is my last day off before the xmas holidays (if you exclude the weekend of course). My room is a mess and the floor is full of empty boxes that need filling and bags of shopping that need emptying (from yesterday) and truth be told I can't be arsed to do a thing about it. Thanks to those wishing me a speedy recovery on my last post. Annoyingly, my back is still hurting - I'm not in agony but I am yet to find a comfortable sitting position which is a nightmare as I sit at a computer all day. I have a solution to the problem but as it involves copious amounts of white wine I shall probably have to forget that one. I had a lovely evening yesterday, hence the day off. I went with my Mum for a wine, dinner and wine, and then more wine. We chatted about the novel and what she liked and disliked and I was feeling pretty good about it so we had more wine to celebrate. I woke at 6am still dressed, makeup smeared across my face, and the room fully lit. Luckily the morning after headache that usually comes complimentary with the wine was not included and my day hasn't been ruined at all. I am perfectly capable of ignoring all my tasks without the help of a little bunny banging symbols inside my head. No, I am procrastinating just fine without you thanks! So anyways, I must go and get on with my story for Womag2Weekly.

Busy Bee

2009-12-10T13:35:00.000-08:00

I apologise for my lack of bloggage of late. It's been a mad week. After the drool fest that was Friday night with Gerard Butler, I had a fabulistic time at Cally Taylor's book launch. I met the most wonderful people: Cally herself - who I was pleased to say recognised me straightaway and introduced to me to lots more lovely people such as Leigh Forbes and Spiral Jen. Then Karen Clarke arrived and I was so pleased to meet her and be able to thank her for all her help with my first womag sub in person. Everyone I met that night was so interesting and friendly and I was sorry to have to drag myself away from the speeches and the singing... yes singing (not from Cally though which was a shame - there seems to be no end to her talents!).

Sunday brought me quite literally to a screeching halt when someone drove their car into the back of mine. As a result I now have a sprained back and I am due to be moving house soon. Oh the joy! Luckily my car came away unscathed (well from the look of it - I am yet to have her looked at by the car doctors) and noone was seriously injured.

Monday saw an early start with me having to go to Amsterdam for the day with work. Sadly I had to head straight to Brussels once the day was out so I saw nothing of the City except for some window ladies, and A LOT of bikes.

Work has been hectic due to my boss going on sabbatical for 6 months to Central America while I attempt to fill her shoes. I am bricking it! So while I try not to let the work thing get to me I have the womag group to concentrate on, along with all things christmassy and my house move. So I may be a bit quiet until the new year. I will be floating around your blogs leaving comments and what not. I just wanted to let you all know I am still here!

Film Review: Law Abiding Citizen

2009-12-05T04:53:00.000-08:00

Stars: Gerard Butler, Jamie Fox

Synopsis:
At the start of the film we are in introduced to Butler’s character Clyde Shelton, a family man who is attacked at his own front door by two burglars who brutally murder his wife and child before his very own eyes. Shelton is devastated after Fox’s character Assistant DA Nick Rice makes a plea bargain with the murderer to keep his conviction rate high. Cut to ten years later, the man who murdered Shelton's entire family is free to walk the streets. Shelton, however, has spent the last ten years studying the legal system in order to bring revenge on all involved in the case.

This film was great. I thought it would just be blood, guts, explosions and more blood and while it was that it didn’t just rely on that to reel people in. It told the story of one mans revenge and Butler does it in a way that keeps you on his side. You understand why he does what he does and he’s funny with it too.

Despite the fact that I am easily scared, I loved this film. It keeps you on the edge of your seat, in suspense and wanting more. The settings were great, plenty of scenes that have you jumping out of your skin and one in particular that makes you not want to answer your mobile ever again!

Don’t let Butler’s dodgy American accent put you off though (Lolly thought he was being Irish). He is a great actor aside from this, delivers some hilarious lines, and looks great in the buff too. Not quite sure why he needed to get naked in one particular scene as there was no shower or love making involved but hey who am I to complain!

I think the ending could have been better, as a few questions for me were left unanswered. That said this is a great revenge film, very clever and in parts laugh out loud funny.

A great revenge film and a good laugh. Definitely recommended from me!
8 OUT OF 10

Happy Birthday Lolly

2009-11-29T12:02:00.000-08:00

It's lil sister's b'day today. She is 24. She is the baby of the family and the older she gets the older we feel. We had a lovely day out in the rain but soon swapped the giant puddles for giant bowls of chicken caesar salad. Happy Birthday Lolly!!

A new group that is right up my street...

2009-11-28T10:27:00.000-08:00

It's been over a week since my last post. This is not good! To be fair I've had a crap week and just haven't felt like boring you all with my whinging. There are people worse off than me and I know that so there's no way I'm going to moan about being a bit fed up - sorry think that was kinda me doing just that. Anyways yesterday was a lot better - me and the boyf went to see Lily Allen at Brixton Academy which was brilliant. She put on a great show with a great mixture of new and old material, a few covers such as The Kooks 'Naive' and Britney's 'Womaniser' anyone?? Not sure what that was all about but I think it was all a bit tongue in cheek. There were wig and outfit changes a plenty and she chats to the audience like they're all her mates. I really enjoyed myself and I think the 2 pints of cider helped also.
Then today after a very unsucessful day of house hunting I opened my email to see a message from Amanda over at Writing Allsorts telling me all about her new Womag writing group Womag Two Weekly. If you're interested I think there still may be room so head over there and send Amanda an email. I think it's a great idea and am really impressed at how well Cally Taylor's Story a Fortnight group has done since it was set up. So here's to getting a lot more than one story 'out there'.

I have finally subbed!!!!!!!

2009-11-18T14:33:00.000-08:00

So much for blogging daily huh! Anyway I am back now after a busy old week and a bit and I am pleased to say I have FINALLY subbed a story to My Weekly. It took a few hours here and there, over the course of a fortnight, to write the story after which the very lovely and talented Karen Clarke kindly offered to read it. So on Sunday evening I sent it over to her. I was shaking with nerves each time I opened an email from her: the first to say she had received it and the second to say the attachment wouldn't open. By the time I received a third email with her critique I was quaking in my boots. What if she didn't like it? What if she told me to give it up? I needn't have worried though. She didn't tell me I was completely useless nor was she too nice to say where I was going wrong. Thank you again Karen!! It was an invaluable learning experience and with any luck I might make a sale (I can but dream). So there it is, a promise to myself kept - I am no longer a womag subbing virgin. Now its back to the Heaven short story for Cally Taylor's competition. Its just non stop!

Book finished but story not so much

2009-11-09T13:06:00.000-08:00

Had the day off from blogging yesterday (am trying to make this a daily recurrence). Was too into my book to write anything. Have just finished This Charming Man by Marian Keyes which (and I am glad Karen told me to stick with it) I LOVED!! I thought it was funny, sensitive issues were dealt with such care and attention, well put together, great characters, great syles of writing for each character POV. I loved loved loved it. Was sad to finish in a way but am looking forward to the next book on my '5 to read in November' list:

I did some writing yesterday, as I read throught Della's 'How To' book (see previous posts) chapter by chapter I'm revising and trying to make my womag story better and subable. I like the story but its just not there yet. I'm not trying not to give myself a hard time but the standard is high in these womags and I want to give myself a story that, even if it isn't quite right, I'd be proud to put my name to.

The state of my bed at present is like this:

Right better get back to it!

Google eyed!

2009-11-07T11:22:00.000-08:00

I've not written a thing since Thursday night as last night I indulged myself in a bad but badly funny film (Superhero movie - will so not be reviewing it but had some cider in me and convinced thats why is made me laugh). Today I managed to stay away from my poorly neglected telly, which is probably wondering what it did wrong that I would ignore it so. I had a much needed lie in and got stuck into my book (not my book no Marian Keyes' one on the right 'This Charming Man). I've nearly finished and the closer to the end I get the more I have to read. I finally forced myself to put it down in order to do a bit of research for my womag short story. (Oh the wonder of Google...). Some conflicting info to start with so took me a fair bit longer to get answers to my questions than anticipated. I then shut my computer down to make hot dogs and then back to reading Della's 'How to' book and then on to writing this. So no writing done today either (unless you count this) but the first draft is almost complete. It has a beginning, middle and end. 3 characters (one that isn't present but relevant to the story), and a problem for the main character. Not sure if there will be a twist yet but as I've already written the ending I doubt there will be. I don't think it would suit the story anyway. It's definately a love story and has a positive message to it. I really like it anyway and I havent even finished it yet so thats got to be a good thing right? Anyway best get on with it if I've any chance of subbing it before this year is out.

More mags + a womag related question

2009-11-06T12:07:00.000-08:00

Just realised yesterday in the Take a Break Fiction Feast I bought the other day that the December issue was out today so rooted around the womags in WH Smiths in my lunch hour and grabed TABFF and My Weekly. I'm leaning more toward subbing to TABFF because I seem to prefer the stories in there. I feel more comfortable reading it - not sure if thats because I love the stories, the layouts or because I recognise some of the names of the writers. I would eventually like to sub to a variety of womags but thought it best to stick to 1 or 2 for now just while I'm starting out. So as I was flicking through TABFF I saw 3 more of Karen's stories and 1 from Cally Taylor. I'm a huge fan of their writing and their blogs. There were also 2 from Della Galton who's book I am currently reading and LOVING 'How to Write and Sell Short Stories'. I'm learning a lot and the more I read the more confident I feel to write something worth sending out there. Rejection I can handle (she says now) - its happened to the best of writers, but sending out crappy work I cannot and so I won't no matter how much I want to do something I promised myself I would. I'm fairly happy with my work so far. Last night I wrote 609 words of my short story (didn't watch a morsel of telly which is like cold turkey for me - just goes to show how much I love writing once I get going). Not sure if I'm aiming for 700 words but its not really a twist in the tale so not sure if its needs to be longer or I need to get a twist in there if I'm to keep it to one page.

Question: Is there a limit to how many stories I can send to TABFF at one time? I only plan to send one but for future reference would be handy to know in case I'm on a roll and want to save on stamps!

Review: Michael Jackson's This Is It

2009-11-05T13:10:00.000-08:00

Cert (UK): PG

Running time: 111 mins

Director: Kenny Ortega

I have to admit that although I call myself a huge MJ fan I hadn’t bought a ticket to his concert. Having already seen him perform at Wembley Stadium back in 1996 I figured that I had seen as good at I was going to see live. I was wrong. This film gives us front row seats to the rehearsal stage of the shows and lets us in to see him as a director and performer.

We don’t see the show to its full potential which is a great shame because the dancers, the singers, the sets, the band, the films inserts are all are worthy of applause and standing ovations - something you don’t get in a cinema (someone did try and get a clap going at the end but it didn’t quite catch on). Jackson’s dancing is amazing as ever – not quite as energetic as the younger dancers on stage with him, but then what do you expect – the man was in his 50’s, and he can show them a thing or two as they look on in awe as he dances to Billie Jean.

Jackson is hands on and isn’t afraid to say just how he wants something done and its ‘all with love’. He settles for no less than perfection and it’s important it be perfect for his fans and indeed for the performers who he strives to get the best out of.

All my favourites were there including: The way you make me feel, I just can’t stop loving you, Human Nature and even some of the old Jackson 5 hits that made him famous such as The Love you Save and I want you back.

He’s not shown in conversation a lot but when he is we can see his professionalism and passion but we also see his humour in what he does with some very bizarre dance moves and in how he would choose to sing a certain line of a song.

What I disliked:
The cringey comments from the singers and dancers at the start
Kenny Ortega butt kissing Michael throughout.

What I loved:
The Thriller and Smooth Criminal film inserts.
Michael's Billie Jean performance

If you’d bought concert tickets or even if you hadn’t, this is a must see. By no means anywhere near as good as what the live show would have been but it’s a fitting tribute and a testament to the hard work that was put into the show and a nice memory to be going on with.

I will sub, I will!

2009-11-04T11:17:00.000-08:00

Managed to get everything done on my list yesterday and even mnaged to export my blog and import to another. Sounds pretty simple doesn't, well it was, but it took me ages. Still I got there in the end and I was quite pleased with the result. No more Lily Sheehan, well not until I get published at least (fingers and toes crossed).
I had another night last night of short story ideas whirring around in my head yelling
'write me down, write me down'
until I could ignore them no more and wrote them all down in my notebook. I had one story in my head about snails. Sounds a bit weird/rubbish I know but it was there in my head and it had to go down before I could get to sleep. Even worse I HATE snails. Maybe writing about them will help them get over my fear.
So today I thought about something I had written on my blog this time last year:

'I will at the very least submit a story for sale to a magazine'.

I'm dissapointed to say that what with finishing the novel, holidays, nagging doubts and other tools of procrastination, I have not done this. So I went out to WH Smiths and grabbed 3 magazines:

Also noticed on the first page of TAB a story by Karen Clarke which I really enjoyed. A really good Tale with a Twist. So I aim to read through and get a feel of the stories and see what I can come up with. I will sub a story this year I WILL!!

**Tonight will be writing free however as I'm off to the cinema to see 'This is it'**

Have Good Evenings All

What will I do today...

2009-11-03T01:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I decided to to take today off. Boss said:

'Doing anything nice?'

'Yes', I replied 'sleeping!'

So here I am not sleeping and writing a blog post instead at 09.46 (well was when I started this post). Such is life! Still I am not grumbling. I have already had breakfast, put the washing on, checked my facebook (I am still winning at scrabble yay), searched for flats to rent on the tinternet and checked all my (junk) emails. So as the day progresses what do I hope to get done:

clear out my emails - last night I was looking through my old short stories and noticed a few missing. These ones were from last year that I'd submitted to Eurofiction and I hadn't bothered saving them! Luckily they were still in my sent items. So time to sort that out.
Write a short story - just as I was drifting off last night I was thinking about something I had read on one of Calistro's old blog posts about how she couldn't start a short story without getting the voice and the first line right in her head. I don't normally approach my stories like this and I think this is where I am going wrong because it got me thinking and just as my body started to shut down for the night my brain had other ideas. A shortie that refused to go away until I had written it down (I have a crap memory so no point thinking it will be there in the morning.
read some more - I am currently reading This Charmless Man by Marian Keyes and in non-fiction I am reading How to Write and Sell Short Stories by Della Galtan. Both great books and definately worth buying/reading/adding to book collection.
Work on my competition entries - there are a few competitions I am working on short stories for. While I am letting the novel rest I need to keep writing and shorties are a great way of doing that. Plus they are much more fun than novel editing - that can wait until the new year. I have read the novel too many times now and too recently to be objective. I do know that my opening chapter isn't going to be there when I'm finished with it but I don't want to think about that right now.

I 'm sure there are other things I need to be doing but they are clearly too boring to add so I won't. I shall let you know what I actually did get done in my next post...

Novel ideas and shorties

2009-10-29T14:11:00.000-07:00

I've had lots of ideas floating around my head this week - mostly when I'm half asleep on the bus in the morning - I really need to carry a notepad as my short term memory is is.... what's that word again?? Sorry lame joke! One idea I had was for a novel. An idea I like even more than the one I developed into a novel. It's just an idea for now with 3 characters in my head. I won't plan anymore unless anything else pops up from out of nowhere and with any luck I will have a notepad on me. I don't really want to start a new novel until I can commit to it properly and I've got one to rewrite already - but not until I start my writing course next month.

I've also been working on two short stories for the Heaven Can Wait short story competition. I won't say much as its all anonymous but they are both completely different styles and I like them equally. Problem is I can only submit one entry. So I'm going to work on both ideas and go with the favourite. I will definitely have to go with a 2nd opinion here. The original idea I was working on had was discarded after I was told the idea was a bit too familiar and Cally Taylor's advice here is not to go with the first idea you have, to write all your ideas and go for one of the final ones as they are less likely to be used by others.

Also, still enjoying the reading. I am really enjoying This Charmless Man. Some of it is quite hard to take - very intense and emotional, something I've not found from Marian Keyes before. I'm enjoying the read though and cannot put it down.

Getting my read on!

2009-10-26T13:31:00.000-07:00

This is the current view of my beside table. 5 lovely books to be read over the next 5 weeks.

Yes, I was feeling a little taskless so I decided to set myself a challenge. I've hardly read any books this year so I've picked 5 books some old, some new, to read between now and December. I have:

1. This Charming Man by Marian Keyes I had started this once before putting it to one side to read Heaven Can wait and it was easy to get back into

2. The five people you meet in heaven by Mitch Albom Not my usual sort of read but the author was recommended so I'm looking forward to reading this

3. The starter marriage by Kate Harrison Also a recommended author

4. The Accidental Family by Rowan Coleman I LOVED The Accidental Wife and the prequel to this The Accidental Mother

5. Dear Fatty by Dawn French Other than reading Chick Lit I love to read autobiographies and I think Dawn French is just lovely and hilarious.

Book Review: Heaven Can Wait by Cally Taylor

2009-10-24T06:18:00.000-07:00

I held his face in my hands and kissed him back. I felt that life just couldn’t get any more perfect. I was right, it wouldn’t…..

'Lucy Brown is the happiest she’s ever been. She’s about to marry the man of her dreams – kind, handsome, witty Dan – and everything she’s always wanted is finally within her reach. But the night before her wedding Lucy has a fatal accident.
She is offered a choice: accept a lifetime’s separation from her soul mate to go to heaven or stay with Dan forever… and become a ghost. For Lucy, there is only one option – she will not leave Dan. But it turns out things aren’t quite as easy as that. If Lucy wants to become a ghost she has to find true love for a complete stranger…
And when she discovers that her so-called friend Anna is determined to make a move on the heartbroken, vulnerable Dan, the pressure really is on….'

I’ve been waiting for so long to read this book and I was so pleased once it arrived on my desk at work. I was actually excited to get into work in the morning, I must get more books delivered there!! I love Chick Lit be it writing or reading but this was different to those I had read before. It had a Supernatural spin to it. I love the idea of the unknown and ‘the other world’ so combined with my love of reading Chick Lit I already knew I would enjoy reading it. I have followed Cally’s blog since 2007 and have read her published short stories so I knew she was a great writer. My expectations were high and I was not disappointed!

I’ve never died (obviously) but I still really related to Lucy, which is why I couldn’t stop welling up and getting a lump in my throat when she described how much she misses Dan and laughing (and snorting like a pig – on the bus of all places) when she did and said silly things. Lucy is kind hearted, loyal and funny and that’s why she is a loveable character and you can’t help but care what happens to her. The emotions of the characters are conveyed well which helps us to sympathise with Lucy as well as other characters such as Dan and Archie and her 2 ‘undead’ housemates Claire and Brian.

The story is by no means predictable having me hooked at every turn of the page. The story develops well and has it all – humour, sadness, suspense and even a mean old biddie! I really enjoyed this book, reading it in just 3 days – that’s a record for me. I can’t wait for the next one!!

Cally Taylor’s debut novel ‘Heaven Can Wait’ is available here and at all other good book retailers.

Read, read and read some more

2009-10-22T13:41:00.000-07:00

Look what kept me company at the hairdressers.....

No not Peter Andre, it was Cally Taylor's new novel 'Heaven Can Wait'. As I was getting my new 'red do' I had my head stuck in the book for the entire time. I got the book on Tuesday and I have nearly finished. I have about 30 pages left (which I'm saving for bedtime reading) and I am loving it. I don't think I have EVER read a book so quickly, I just CANNOT put it down. I have no idea how this will end and I can't wait to find out! A real page turner. This is not my review by the way, will post a proper one at the weekend.

So anyway while I haven't been spotted all over town with my nose in a book I have been doing a bit of course searching. Today I rang The Writers Bureau, after I got some encouraging advice after my last post. They were sooo friendly and helpful and have helped me make my mind up. I have decided to enrol myself on The Novel and Short Story Writing Course. I am so excited to do this but will have to wait until December to enrol.

In the meantime I have set myself a little challenge for the month. I am going to read at least 5 books between now and December. Not sure which ones yet but will post them next time. I know it doesn't sound a lot (or does it?) but a friend told me she has read at least 100 books this year!! I haven't even read 10!! I watch way too much TV, most of which is repeats and predictable shite. There are some amazing stories out there from what I hear about at work (I'm constantly left out of the reading club - my own fault though!) and I'm missing out on them. So, I'm looking forward to selecting the books and letting you know!

ps - yes my head is hanging in shame as I have Peter Andre The Next Chapter on in the backgroung :S

Back home, Heaven Can Wait and a little advice needed

2009-10-18T11:14:00.000-07:00

I 'm back! I had a lovely week of lunching, sunbathing, shopping and spending time with my mum and sister in Cyprus. My batteries are recharged and I am raring to go. Well almost. I am not looking forward to dragging myself out of my toasty bed in the morning. I am however looking forward to getting back to the writing. I made a bit of a start on the rewrite for CIM, couldn't resist but then I started to relax and leave it well alone, just so I could enjoy my week off and let my brain switch rest for a bit. I have made a start (only in my head) on a shortie for this short story competition which celebrates the release of Cally Taylor's debut novel Heaven Can Wait.

I've heard great things about this novel so far and cannot wait to get reading my copy once it arrives and of course posting a review.

With regards to the writing course I'm a little annoyed as I haven't received a single reply from either of the two creative writing tutors I emailed before my holiday. I'm seeing this as a sign of things to come and am leaning a lot further to The Writers Bureau Course. I know some of you have done this but I'd be interested what courses you took as there are quite a few. I'm thinking either this one or this one? I could really use some advice/recommendations.

Anyway, I am off to watch The Last King of Scotland again. 2 great male leads - great great film!

Yassou!

2009-10-12T07:14:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody peeps.

Sorry I've not blogged sooner, I spent a couple of hours yesterday catching up on all your great blogs and well there was drinking to be done, sun bathing etc etc.

Well I am baking hot here in Cyprus, and it was only a couple of days ago that I was moaning that is was too cold as I sat shivering under my duvet. Me and my mum have been to the beach today and we are wiped out. It's strangely tiring doing nothing, I had a doze on the beach and I'm convinced I'm a sleep jogger because I was still knackered when I woke up. We arrived quite late Friday night, picked up by my sister at the airport and came back to a fridge full of cider and a halloumi pie, yummy it was too. Saturday we went to Paralimni town for a walk around the shops which were shut due to half day closing but still a nice walk. We went to Sensos Café for Frappés which gave me the shakes as I usually only have half of a half teaspoon of coffee. Tasted lovely but clearly too strong as the heart palpatations indicated. Saturday evening we stayed in with a bottle of Aphrodite and watched Blowdry (blowj*b as my mum thought it was called!!) - a film starring Josh Hartnett doing the worst northern accent I have EVER heard and considering he played a barber the worst haircut too. I have seen this before but it was for research purposes as one of my characters in the novel is a hairdresser. This means watching Cutting It over and over again and going for my 2nd visit to the hairdressers in a month! It's a hard life (I knew I would enjoy the research side of things).
Yesterday we had a walk around Protaras and had lunch in the Friends Bar (where they play random episodes of Friends - I thought I'd died and gone to heaven) where we met with my sister. Then it was back out in the evening to watch the x-factor. I know I couldn't resist. I had missed the saturday night show after all but there's always You Tube. Also, very sad to hear about Stephen Gately, 33 is no age and he was always my favourite of the group, so was very shocked to hear the news).

Also, as I was a bit zoned out when writing my last post but I just wanted to say a massive THANK YOU to everyone who gave me loads of encourage this last few months. It really spurred me on to know I had support from so many people, so well done to you all for being so great as well!!

Right well I shall get back to the big Chill, just reading This Charming Man by Marian Keyes. I'm not 'hooked' yet but I'm not that far into in yet so I'm having faith, I really like her books after all.

Finished!!!

2009-10-08T15:02:00.000-07:00

2 years 6 months later and the first draft is complete. My final word count is 78,760, not quite the 80,000 I was going for but the final scenes are written and I am more than happy with it. I'm letting it hibernate until the new year, just enough time for the elves to break into my computer and raise it to book shelf standards! There is research to be done, courses to be taken (if the tutors ever bother to email me back!) so its not finished by a long way but I am ready to let someone else read it and that's a big thing for me.

S0 that's it for me and the novel for a while, we are officially on Sabbatical and will reunite in the new year. I'm looking forward to reading, writing shorties, commenting and blogging more over the next few months. But for this next week I am looking forward to sleeping, eating, drinking and just generally chilling out.

See you in Cyprus! (where I hope I can connect and blog lots!!)

Still not finished yet!

2009-10-04T15:10:00.000-07:00

Well, unfortunately I am not yet gracing the end stages of my novel just yet but I am getting there steadily. My current word count stands at 77823 and as I have a fair few scenes to put in I reckon I'll be exceeding the 80,000 word target. I've got until Thursday to finish and then I shall be leaving it to rest while the new year.

Enough of banging that same ol' drum, I'm sure your just thinking hurry up and finish already (I know I am) so I'm preparing for when I do finish. I emailed a couple of tutors at my local college in Richmond Upon Thames (RACC) about some courses I have found. One is The Hero's Journey and the other is Developing your Novel. Not quite sure which one would be best so I'll hopefully get a response on that soon (I'm rooting for the cheaper option!).

In non writing relating news I went to Wimbledon dogs on Friday night and had a great night. My first EVER bet and I won £74!! How jammy am I. I didn't win a thing after that but I still managed to have a free night out.

Last night I went with boyf and my parents to see Michael McIntyre at Wembley Arena. We had great seats (not too close to get picked on) and he was hilarious. There were a few crude jokes in there that I didn't think were his style but they had me crying with laughter.

Right, I'm off now as its back to work tomorrow :( and after that hectic weekend I am pooped!

I almost forgot my Birthday!!

2009-09-29T15:21:00.000-07:00

In all my writing madness I very nearly forgot that today is my blog's 2nd birthday. Happy Birthday Blog!! It's been 2 whole years and I'm loving blogging more than ever. Thank you to everyone who visits, comments and supports my blog. It means a lot to me (and my blog!).

Writing, cleaning and almost being washed away

2009-09-27T13:40:00.000-07:00

It's been another week of mad writing, and I'm happy to report that things are nicely on schedule for me to be finished before I go to Cyprus in just under 2 weeks. My current work count is around 68000 words which I think is just under 10000 words since last Sunday. This week I have struggled though: words just not flowing, tiredness taking over, a generally busier than normal work week. It all starts to gang up on me after a while but I'm not feeling deterred and I don't dare take more than a day off from it. For one reason I really miss it when I do take a day off and can't resist doing at least 100 words to keep JJ company over on the 100 words a day blog and for another it's harder to get back into once I've spent time away from it. It's definately become a habit now and I'm sure it will feel weird when I finish the first draft and have that break until the new year but I'm sure I'll keep myself occupied with a few short stories here and there.

In other news I finished Hens Reunited! Firstly I just want to say I finished it a week ago but didn't have time to blog (hence the Sunday only blogging) and it's taken me almost 2 months to finish purely because I have been writing so much and the only time I get to indulge in a good book is before bed and by that time it's late and I have to force myself to stop reading. There just wanted to explain that before you all wondered. You probably didn't and now you think me weird so I'll shut up now (nervous laugh).

So, yes... Hens Reunited which the lovely Lucy Diamond signed and awarded to me when I won her anagram comp. I LOVED it. I loved the three different characters, who although I didn't relate to one in particular, did have different traits I could relate to in some way. Katie and her meticulousness, Alice and her timidness and Georgia with her attitude to certain things. Thank you to Lucy for a great read and I look forward to reading about Laura (I read the interview too!)

It's not all been writing, writing, writing. Yesterday boyf, boyfs bro and g/friend and myself went to Beachy Head in Eastbourne to soak up the sun and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Whilst me and boyfs bros g/friend (thats hard to say) sunbathed the 2 boys went off to catch crabs (not what some of the dirtier minded of you are thinking). I had a little doze under this months edition of cosmo before I was woken by the tide coming in! Boyf and his bro did a bit of frisbying and luckily I only got hit by it once! I also did a spot cleaning today as my mum is back from Cyprus for a week on Wednesday. Mum if you are reading this we clean every Sunday not just cuz you are visiting, honest).

Thats all for now as I need to get back to the writing. Hopefully I'l squeeze a midweek post in but if not I'll see you Sunday.

How I seem to be writing so much right now

2009-09-20T06:12:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all the kind words over my ever increasing word count. I am still aiming to be finished by 8th October, ready to take to Cyprus with me for my mum to go through it. My word count currently stands at 57,775 words which is still a way off but I'm going for a daily word count target of just over 1000 words which I've been exceeding. I've managed about 2,000 words today so this is just a quick blog post before I get back to it. While I have a daily word count to stick to I realise that it is still important to have a life so I have to make up for days I've missed at the weekend. Today I have to make up for Thursday where I went to see Ray Lamontagne at the Royal Albert Hall. It was the first time I had been there and I was amazed. It's a beautiful building. Ray was amazing, I cannot get over his voice.

Some of you wonder how I've managed to fit the writing in and keep it going. Well firstly there's:

Speed - I type pretty fast. I make shed loads of spelling mistakes which future me can deal with but for now I think dealing with spelling mistakes will only disturb my flow.

Wine – this tends to help when I've been at work and need to relax. I don’t have a problem, it's just the one glass of wine, not bottle. It is amazing where my imagination goes when I've had a drink or two. I still have to do the read through so I wouldn't take this as a tip or anything.

My family - I get plenty of encouragement from them. My mum tells me off for farting around on face book. She is in Cyprus but still she knows these things. My sister constantly sends me well done messages on my word count which along with all yours is a real boost. And my dad, constantly helping out with my research aids and as it's just us living in the gaff while my other 2 supporters cheer me on in sunny Cyprus, he never moans when I come in from work and park myself on my bed, lap top on lap and I don’t resurface until the word count is complete.

Treats - after every 1000 words (500 on weeknights) I allow myself a treat, be it a glass of wine, a quick peak at facebook or a look at someones blog. I remain strict with it though and it seems to be working.

Novel Racers - Ever since I became an official racer I've not stopped with the writing. Also Helen's 100 words a day blog helps as well!

I haven’t become a total hermit. I have a boyf, who is totally understanding when I say I have to write. He doesn’t mind having to go to the pub with the lads instead. Also my friends have all ventured into the world of motherhood so are a little preoccupied lately. but hey, this is my baby so I can't complain.

Also this writing increase has only been a recent thing, so I've not been that good. I starting writing my novel 2 years ago. I've faffed, procrastinated, taken lengthy breaks, concentrated on short stories. Only now am I finally getting my arse into gear. I hope to finish soon, and move to phase 2 in the new year. So while I'm not working my fingers to the bone (quite literally) I can concentrate on blogging more.

Writing, catching up with friends and looking miserable behind Derren Brown

2009-09-13T09:35:00.000-07:00

I managed to stop just shy of 50000 words complete today. I think that makes it roughly 9,000 words this week which isn't bad as I've had a bit of a busy week socially speaking. As you'll have seen from my last post I went to see Inglourious Basterds with boyf on wednesday (which can I just reiterate is bloody brilliant!), thursday I had the day off to go and see Derren Brown tell us how he predicted the lottery which aired on Friday. You may have seen me looking a bit miserable behind him. This was because it took about 4 hours to film and my feet were killing me. Still, he was very nice chatting to people between takes. I wish I could remember the name of the warm up guy on the Derren Brown show because he was so so funny and kept us in belly laughs between takes.

Then on Friday I went with a friend to see Dorian Gray. I didn't do a review for this as I have not had time. Hopefully I will get time tomorrow but I will say I didn't really enjoy it so much but I am so glad Colin Firth was in it because I might just had walked out halfway through. Still I like to keep an open mind and I have seen worse (Dance Flick anyone??)

Saturday was meant to be a catch up day writing wise but a good friend of mine was in town so we met for coffee and I spent the rest of the day in the pub soaking up what was left of the sun. I don't feel at all guilty because I do think I earnt it. I have been typing away so much this week I might be starting to wear down my fingerprints.

I also did a teeny bit of procrastinating where I came across this great site. If you click on the pic above you can see some other great pics and I especially love the 'will write for chocolate' merchandise. It's almost as if it were made especially for me as the half eaten giant bag of M&M's at my side will prove.

Anyway I shall leave it there as I am hoping to have this novel finished in.... dare I say it.... 3 weeks. Just in time for my trip back to Cyprus to see my Mum who has so kindly agreed to read over the first draft with me. Ahhhhh proof reading friend!!!

Film Review: Inglourious Basterds

2009-09-09T16:14:00.000-07:00

Stars: Brad Pitt, Mike Myers, Diane Kruger, Christoph Waltz, Mélanie Laurent, Samuel L. Jackson (narrator)

Directed by: Quentin Tarantino

Plot: The movie set in Nazi-occupied France begins with SS officer Colonel Hans Landa (Waltz), nicknamed 'the Jew Hunter' discovering a Jewish family hiding under the floorboards of a farmhouse and killing them with only the daughter making an escape.
Aldo Raine (Pitt) puts together the Basterds, a team of 8 Jewish-American soldiers who specialise in killing Nazis. They leave their mark by gruesomely scalping the dead and marking those left alive. Despite the title the film isn’t all about them and as a consequence they aren’t on film all that much.
We are then moved on a few years later where in Paris we see Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) the daughter of the family killed by Lander, has created a new life for herself under the new identity of Emmanuelle Mimieux and is now the owner of a cinema which is to host the unveiling of Joseph Goebbels' new film ‘Nations Pride’ starring a German Soldier besotted with Shosanna/Emmanuelle. This night brings the film to its climax with each of the characters intertwining.

Funny scenes: There are plenty of funny moments but one in particular was the German officer(s) playing the game 'who am I' where they have a card with a famous persons name stuck to their head. Pitt and Waltz’s characters are very funny. Waltz is brilliant at portraying evil and hilarious all at the same time.

Look out for: Mike Myers, I didn’t realise it was him until about 5 minutes into this scene. See if you can spot him!!

Unfortunately: you might find some of the scenes a bit lengthy but thankfully, for me, Waltz was a joy to watch. His cool, calm and collected voice just reels you in and you just love him. You know you shouldn’t but you do. The film moves from French to English to German (even a little Italian) so can get a bit confusing and what I find with subtitled films is that you miss a lot when you are staring at the bottom of the screen for half the film. It was also a bit too gruesome in some parts for me but hey you might like that sort of thing.

The film manages to poke fun out of history but also stirs up emotions. Fictional characters are mixed with real life historical figures including Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels. The film contains plenty of blood and gore and one scene in particular that looked like something out of Scarface.

Verdict: Excellent. I love Tarrantino films and I was not dissapointed here. This has to be his best one yet. It's not at all historically accurate but its not a documentary after all!! Waltz was the shining star of the film for me.

9 out of 10!!!!

I told a porky but I liked it!

2009-09-06T13:24:00.000-07:00

I've had a productive week this week. Since Monday I have managed to write 10918 words which has meant that I have finally reached the half way mark. It took me just over 2 years (how bad is that!) to get this far but I am so focused right now I will not let it take me another 2 years to write the other 50%. If I can keep up the momentum I might even finish before the 23rd December. I aim to start the rewrite after mine and boyf's mini break in the new year so I would like at least a month off from the novel before it all kicks off again.

It wasn't all work and no play for me. My brother and sister in law had their 2nd wedding reception last night. It was a great night but the highlight for me was when my sister in law's 8 year old neice asked me what I did for a living. This, I thought, was an odd question for an 8 year old but I obliged nonetheless. Now, in my defence I thought that explaining to an 8 year old that my job involved drawing up contracts for IT contractors was more than just a tad boring and perhaps hard to explain so, I lied.

"I write books" was my reply. (Write books, writing a book, well almost the same thing.)

DO YOU??? she said as though I had just told her I sing in a really famous girl band or something equally as popular to an 8 year old. She looked at me in awe. Unfortunately it didn't last long as she proceeded to ask me if I was an illustrator (there was no bending the truth there) and then she asked why I was wearing green tights (I couldn't really explain that one away). Bright girl but asks way too many questions. That moment made me feel so proud to be doing this and I cannot wait to say I have written a book. I guess that, as well as being an official NR now is what is keeping me going.

Sophie Kinsella and some writing progress

2009-08-31T12:42:00.000-07:00

I got a reply back from Sophie Kinsella late thursday night which I found really helpful. I asked her whether she'd had any writing training (as I am still undecided on the whole course thing). Here was my reply:

Hi Cheryl (my doppelganger)

I have never studied novel-writing (can you tell?!) However many years ago I went on the Robert McKee screen-writing seminar Story which has lots of useful ideas for structure. They can be applied to novels too. So I would recommend that.

Sophie

How cool is that!! So anyway I looked this up and it looked really good. He is running seminars in November but as I am saving for a house right now I decided on the cheaper alternative in the meantime:

I picked this up at my local Waterstones (where I got double points!!) and so far it's been quite insightful. I'm only a few pages in so far as I've been busy writing but I'll keep you updated on my thoughts.

My writing progress today is quite newsworthy. I did no writing on Saturday as I was nursing a hangover and was out later that day with a friend. Sunday I somehow managed to spend a whopping 5 hours (no idea how that happened) playing scrabble on facebook - luckily for the novel I am rubbish at it so the addiction didn't last much longer than that. Today I made up for it though. I (somehow) in the space of 7 hours managed to write 4545 words taking me to around 34,000 words so I'm nearly half way there. I've a few evenings to myself this week so I aim to take advantage of that and get myself to that light at the end of the tunnel just that little bit sooner.

Facebook - not a total waste of time

2009-08-27T11:46:00.000-07:00

Wow, it would seem that skiving off on facebook can be beneficial. Yesterday while scrolling through some updates I noticed the Chicklitisnotdead.com status update say that Sophie Kinsella, author of the Shopaholic books is giving some great insight on starting and finishing your first novel. I headed straight over to the Barnes and Noble website and posted a question off to her. I haven't had a reply yet but shes only on till tomorrow so I should (hopefully) get one soon. I've had a look through the Q and A’s and got a few nice tips from her so far. It's definately worth a look.

Other than my total devotion to Facebook I have managed to squeeze in a bit of writing here and there. Work has been crazy busy all week which meant I lost my lunchtime writing slots and my brain was sozzled the moment my arse hit the couch. Luckily it's a Bank holiday weekend and also boyf is away all weekend so I intend to make as much use of my free time to write write write.

THANK YOU!!

2009-08-17T05:23:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to say a huge........

THANKYOU to all those fellow writers and novel racers (yes I really get to say that now) for all your lovely comments and for welcoming me into the fold. I managed a whopping 1,189 words yesterday in amongst trying to avoid b2b episodes of my favourite tv show which were showing on Comedy Central. I aim to keep up the momentum so I shall leave it there for now and thank you once again.

Some News....

2009-08-15T07:25:00.000-07:00

My Holiday is over... Boooooo
I go back to Cyprus in 8 weeks... Hurrah
I have gone a week and have done no writing... Booooo
I am officially a Novel Racer... Hurrah

OK enough of that. Yes following a depressing wait at baggage reclaim at Heathrow I returned home to 91 emails. After deleting most of what had escaped the junk mail filter I found some great news. I have received my invite to be a fully fledged novel racer. I am sooo pleased and feel spurred on to get my novel finished.

My holiday was great! The wedding was beautiful and all went without a hitch. Here is a pic of me and the family. I am the one on the end...in the dress that is.

I had some great pics of the sunset at Cave Greco which seems to have dissapeared off my phone so once I get the other pics off my camera I'll post them. Anyways despite being back from a too short holiday I am glad to get stuck into the writing again. I may have some more time off from work to concentrate on my writing but more on that in my next post. I'm now off to post on the Novel Racers blog for the very first time! Hurrah!!!

Look what I got....

2009-08-02T07:07:00.000-07:00

Yes, its my very own signed copy of Lucy Diamond's book Hens Reunited which I won. I was so exited when I got this I showed it off to everyone at work when it arrived. They were quite impressed with the message from Lucy as well!

I also bought myself:

I haven't started any of them yet as I am saving Hens Reunited for my holiday and I can't decide which of the three to take away as well. Also I am still reading The Matchbreaker by Chris Manby. I have been slow at reading this week as I have come down with a stinking cold. First my boss had it and then thought she'd share it with her staff. Luckily, as we had first thought, it wasn't the dreaded swine it was just a cold which she has slowly recovered from so hopefully the coughing, runny nose, and sniffing coming from me will be over with by the time my holiday starts on on Wednesday and more importantly by Friday when my brother will be getting married. Not only do I not want to be sneezing at any crucial moments but I don''t really want to look like crap on the day. I just had a bit of pampering at the Green Room where I had a facial and my eyelashes tinted. To me they look no different but boy did it sting so I'm telling myself it was worth it. It's hard to tell when there are faint remnants of blue/black dye around my eyes. She did warn me that would go in the next few days. She had better be right!

So as I approach the day in which I was supposed to have finished draft one I am feeling slightly guilty that I have yet again done no writing this past week (either that or the fact that i have just scoffed an entire pack of fruit pastilles which you apparently can't count as one of your 5 a day). New deadline as I previously had said is now christmas so I'm getting back to it right after this post. I may not post again between now and when I get back from Cyprus so I will see you all then!

Testing 123....

2009-07-28T14:17:00.000-07:00

Just topped up with orange Pay as you go canary tarrif which should now let me blog on the go. Hope this works! Oh thats just a random pic of my computer for no reason

I won!!!

2009-07-27T13:28:00.000-07:00

I had the best news today. After, as mentioned in my last post, anagramming my butt off and only coming up with one, I only went and won the competition over on Lucy's blog!! As the winner I am lucky enough to receive a signed copy of Lucy's new book Hens Reunited. I was in great company with the very funny Karen Clarke who never fails to make me laugh and last years winner Pat Posner (I am not worthy). As you can imagine I had the biggest smile on my face all afternoon, even in the face of this laughable summer which has slowly been impacting on my mood. I am off to Cyprus next Wednesday where my brother is getting married next Friday. Will I be able to resist reading Hens Reunited before I jet off? I am thinking not but as luck would have it I still have Waterstones vouchers reserved especially for the occasion. Thanks to everyone for their recommendations. I am now struggling to decide which books to buy (all) and which to take (I have to be realistic here and know that I don't read as fast or as much as I talk!) I am back off to Waterstones tomorrow, as today I got all the way there and realised my vouchers were still in my bag under my desk. I shall post then with my purchases!

Anagrams and book request

2009-07-23T13:14:00.000-07:00

After a couple days off the writing I am back to... well the writing. Ok not really quite yet but all in good time. There are 2 hours until I'm staring at the backs of my eyelids. I have just spent the last hour (not included half an hour last night and my lunch break today), trying to anagram my butt off. If you like them and more to the point like Lucy Diamond's books and want to win the new one Hens Reunited then head over to Being Lucy Diamond where you too could be anagramming your butt off.

Also on a separate note can anyone recommend a good book or two? I have some Waterstones vouchers and am stocking up for my holiday in 2 weeks! I will of course being buying this one if I don't win it but it's not on the shelves until after I leave for pastures sunny.

Film Review: Brüno

2009-07-18T04:38:00.000-07:00

I have been so looking forward to seeing this because I think Sacha Baron Cohen is hilarious. I was in a bit of a panic when me and boyf settled in to watch the film and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince came on. Turns out they had sent us to the wrong screen. After that initial panic we got seated in the correct screen and 2 seconds into the film I was laughing my head off. I mean proper belly laughs, which were so loud boyf got a bit embarrassed and told me to stop laughing so loudly. It wasn't just me, one girl laughed so hard she snorted.

This film stars none other than the ballsy Sacha Baron Cohen himself and tells the story of Brüno, presenter of Funkyzeit who after he is banished from the fashion world following an incident with his new velcro jumpsuit, heads to LA to be the "most famous Austrian since Hitler". What ensues in his attempt to become world famous is a series of hilarious stunts such as swapping his i-pod for an african baby, trying to bring peace in the middle east but getting Hamas confused with housmous and in an attempt to get himself kidnapped tells a terrorist leader in Lebanon that he thinks Osama Bin Laden looks like a “dirty wizard”. Luckily for Cohen he is just asked to leave at this point and it seems throughout the entire film gets away with not being killed. The simulated gay sex scene at an anti-gay fighting ring gets quite violent as the crowd start throwing metal chairs at him.

The film is full of stunts and the odd celeb wind up, trying to make a sex tape with Ron Paul -the 2008 presidential candidate and interviewing Paula Abdul about her humanitarian work while they use his mexican gardeners as chairs.

There are a mix of actors and reality stars in the film, some so unbelievable its almost hard to believe they are not acting. One mother had no problems with her baby 'losing 10 pounds' for a photo shoot!

The film is more shocking than Borat ever was. Just think the naked fight scene times about 10. How most of this footage got passed the cut I don't know because it was for me without doubt one of the most shocking films I have ever seen but possibly one of the funniest. Baron is a truely dedicated comedian who will see a joke right through to the very end.

My day off...

2009-07-15T10:27:00.000-07:00

As yet I have still not done any writing and my day off is now officially over. Time doesn't seem to go this quickly when I am at work! I didn't sleep the day away though as I was tempted to do. I managed a 4 mile walk (broken up by half an hours shopping in between), bought some swimming goggles for my holiday so that I can wear contacts whilst swimming (I really hope I didnt buy cheap and crappy ones. I also managed a spot of house work and cleared some space on my desk to do no said writing. I just don't think I'll manage a lot tonight as am seeing boyf/making spag bol/slobbing about in front of Hollyoaks, Big Bro and Ugly Betty. Yes that is my evening mapped out. It is a cop out I know but just because I enjoy writing doesn't mean it is easy and my brain has also taken the day off.

Nintendo DS Health Coach

2009-07-11T02:43:00.000-07:00

After just the most horrid week of work and leaky bathroom ceilings I have decided I can't wait until my holiday for a break. I need the day off. My holiday is 3 and a half weeks away and I've had enough of work. So I have decided to have Wednesday off to get some writing done. I plan to get some done this weekend but I've already planned a day of shopping so it would seem tomorrow is my only day. Once the weekend disappears a lot quicker than it arrived I shall pick up where I left off on Wednesday. I am praying for sunshine so I can write in the garden. A change of writing atmosphere might do me some good.

In other non-writing related news I have just weighed myself and I have lost half a stone in 5 weeks! I can't believe it. I put it all down to this:

It came with a free pedometer which is a bit huge=mongous but it really works. The programme sets you an amount of steps to do per day based on all your stats which really encourages you to get up and walk around more. I no longer wheel over to the filing cabinets on my chair at work, I actually get up and walk those 3 or 4 steps. I go walking at lunchtime instead of surfing the net. If you have a nintendo ds I really recommend this if your trying to lose weight or if you just want to get fit. It comes with loads of hints and tips for eating well and exercising and even sets you challenges for the day which you feel a little guilty if you don't complete.

Right I'm off shopping!!

Big Brother - Big Bother!!

2009-07-05T13:42:00.000-07:00

Why do I do it to myself every year. I say I will not watch but I always get sucked in by the addictiveness that is Big Brother. In fact as I write this I am listening to the housemates bitching and arguing right now.

Sorry for the mundane post but this is what it does to me.

I have no news or writing progress reports as I hardly did anything this week. Truth be told I have been knackered all week and this weekend has barely shown itself to me. Today I finally sorted my tip of a bedroom out so I have now space to walk across the floor without amputating a foot in the process. Yesterday pops and I went to a lovely Cornish Market at our local where we bought lashing of clotted cream and scones. One complaint though was the fact they had no scrumpy - whats all that about. I still have to recommend it though - www.cornwallinyourkitchen.com The Cornish Yarg is particularly yummy but not strong if you like that sort of thing. Here's to next weekend!!

I completed the 5k now back to the writing....

2009-06-28T09:29:00.000-07:00

Race for Life is now over and I aim to put my energy into other things. I completed the course in just under 3o mins which (considering I walked some of it) is a personal best for me. I will keep up with the running but once winter sets in I shall start swimming again which is a preferred sport for me. So now this is all done until next year I aim to put everything into the writing. I managed to post on the 100 words a day 3 times last week (surpassing each amount by the entry so I'm happy with that). Next week I'll try harder. I've even sent my details to the Writer's Bureau for a some more details. I figure with some proper training I'm bound to gain in confidence and writing skill.

Michael Jackson

2009-06-26T00:55:00.000-07:00

I was so sad to hear the news last night that Michael Jackon had passed away at the age of 50. I was a huge fan of his and was massively affected by his music when I was growing up.

Rest in peace

Bookcrossing

2009-06-25T12:22:00.000-07:00

A while ago I linked to and posted about my love of Geocaching. Bookcrossing is just like this but with yep you guessed it... books. The concept is simple, once you finish a book and want to pass it on you can register the book on the site and leave the book in the wild. You can also search in your area to see what books have been left recently in charity shops, pubs, airports, tubes, buses and even your local parks.

If your interested and you have a spare 5 mins you can:

Register...

It takes a couple of minutes to register your details, name, address, you know the usual

Go hunting...

There are currently 6,036 out there in the wild in Britain. It also includes Thailand, the USA and Ireland to name but a few.

I am yet to register a book (as I'm being a lazy reader and writer) but once I do I'll be leaving it somewhere for someone to find. Hopefully I'll find a novel racers work (not that I don't buy them already but it would still be cool to find one!)