231 Words!!

I managed 231 words of my novel yesterday. At this rate I will have to pass this book to my grandchildren to finish in my honour! I shall try and manage at least double that when I get home from work. Anything is better than nothing I keep telling myself.

In holiday mode

I am off on holiday next week which is good, however, I cannot concentrate on anything. I cant think about anything else. I am already sipping cocktails by the pool and not having a care in the world. I need to concentrate. I need some focus. I am setting myself a goal and I am going to stick to it. I will be writing something every day and I will be blogging about it. I dont want to make it a chore but its for my own good. I know I will feel better for it once I get going.

The Y's and wherefores of proper planning

I've heard a few people mention using YWriter and I have been meaning to download it for a while now. Today I finally got around to doing it and so I have spent the last 30 mins getting to grips with it. If anyone has any hints/tips for making the most of it I would be truly grateful if you can share them with me. It looks like it will be useful in organising my novel and for slotting things in here and there. I have just started setting up my character bios/goals/pics etc. I had previously started this in excel but it didn't really have the desired effect I wanted. Now I will have everything under one roof.

Aside from my novel I haven't done any other writing. I am thinking of setting up another blog though. It is writing related but more to do with mind,body and spirit - something I am also very passionate about but don't really get time to indulge in. I'll keep you posted on that as I haven't thought it through enough to start yet and I certainly wouldn't want to spend less time here because of it.

Getting ready for Summer (if we get one)

Today I went and bought sun loungers (£15 from Asda - not to shabby either) and a bbq for the garden. I really hope they get some use this year. I also bought some new sunglasses to replace the last pair after I sat on them. Hopefully they will get more than one wear out of them. BBC have forecast rain this coming Sunday and Monday. Please someone tell me they are wrong!!

Why do you want to be a Journalist?

Well thats just it I don't. But I did. Or at least I thought I did, that is, until someone I worked with asked me 'Why do you want to be a Journalist?'. My answer plain and simple was 'Because I love to write'.
'Then why don't you be a writer' she spat back at me. If my answer had been something along the lines of 'Because I'm interested in people' then I probably wouldn't be here writing this now. I went away from that conversation feeling deflated. Every bit of effort towards a career in News Reporting was a waste of time I thought. Maybe it was but it made me realise that 'Why don't I become a writer? Why the hell not? I love to tell stories and I love to share them so that is what I am going to do.

My Character has a Cat!

Today was the first day where I had nothing to do during my lunch break. No errands to run, no money to buy things in the shops with, no emails to check, websites to search....Not a thing. So... it hit me...DO SOME WORK ON YOUR NOVEL YOU LAZY... and we'll leave it there. I couldn't think of where to start as I have sort of written a mini version of Confidence in Me and its now just a case of padding it out with ALOT of padding. So I thought I would give my character her own cat. Its a bit of a cliché I know but why not. I've always wanted one but can't (house rules) so there's no sense in us both being miserable. Anyway I have called my cat Sparky (after the cat my family had as a child). I have linked the cat to her father who I had not mentioned in the story before now. I find that in most chiclit stories that I have read the father doesn't seem as prominent as the mother - something to think about me thinks.

Back to London

I went back to work today after my long weekend spent in Devon. Plymouth was where I spent most of my childood. As I showed my boyfriend around for the first time I never quite realised how beautiful Plymouth is. I lived there for 15 years before I moved to London and its amazing how much I took it for granted. Sights such as the Plymouth Hoe where you can see Smeatons Tower, overlooking the open air pool. This is also where Sir Frances Drake played Bowls in the 1500s and where the Beatles filmed part of the Magical Mystery Tour. There's the Barbican where you can walk the cobbled streets surrounded by quaint little shops. Mind when you fall out of the Maritime Pub drunk though, its a bit tricky. I felt a sense of pride while I was there. I also never realised how nautical it is. I knew it was a Naval town as we moved there because my Dad was in the Navy but it didn't impact on me quite as much as it did when we went this weekend. I'm looking forward to my next visit and doing all of the things I didn't do in the 15 years that I lived there.
I definately think I will use it as a setting for any future stories and I won't ever take for granted the history that is on my doorstep.