not enough hours in the day

Now I have got over the shock of losing my work when my USB stick corrupted (note to self, email everything to my inbox!) I am taking advantage of some of the half term holiday to plough on with Albie. This has been very therapeutic, as I now feel that I am making better progress. However, as I am rather schitzophrenic in that I have many personalities, only one of those is the aspiring author. Others include mother, wife, daughter, sister, teacher, friend and cleaner (!). Trying to fulfill all of my obligations and responsibilities becomes rather huge. I also decided to add cook to that the other day and spent several hours experimenting with mini cheesecakes - but that's a whole other story. Add to that the many people who have taken up residence in my head and are trying to come out onto paper (well, lap top for now)....you can imagine I am constantly in a state of turmoil!!!!!

So my quandry is, do I put the writing away and get on with tidying the house? Or do I leave the housework, visit my beautiful parents, who I see every week but wish I saw more. Do I take my son out for lunch, prepare some lessons for next week or carry on writing. I also need to hit the gym some time today.......

Not that I'm complaining, but I could do with a few more hours in each day.......!

A sneaky little taster from Sadie's House

Time seemed to stand still; everything had gone quiet save the sound of the leaves rustling as the trees shook in turn, and we looked at each other, then back at the garden, and out to Simon Andrews. I lifted my head, half expecting to feel a sudden breeze, but there was none, and yet still the bushes were shaking, long tendrils of the largest and longest plants and weeds lifting and falling and all the time like a botanical Mexican wave headed in the direction of the unpleasant man who had come to verbally attack me. He could see it too, and retreated even more quickly than before, not sure what was going on. He looked in surprise.

                 ‘I don’t want my children playing here, is that clear?’ he cried out.

                ‘Keep them away then!’ said Chloe, shouting now as the man retreated.’ Bloody cheek’ she added, for good measure.  As he turned to leave, the foliage on the ground seemed to reach up, wrapping themselves around his legs and down he went again. He swore furiously, stood up and returned to his car, driving off in noisy haste.

Some links I liked this week

A busy few weeks, but it's half term now, so I hope to bury myself in writing. Off to Haworth (home of the Brontes) for a couple of days in the name of research (honest!!!!) and hope to crack on with "Albie".
Meanwhile, I keep my facebook pages going - check out Sadies House Book One-The Key, and lots of great things keep popping up which I will keep sharing.


Nothing to do with my book, I just love this photo, it made me smile, and on a cold October day, that's only going to be a good thing!

#







Thanks to iAuthor on facebook for the shares - check out the page - some good stuff!

A helping hand

I thought it might be useful to share this I came across from

http://www.awritersquest.com/2012/09/30/the-week-in-writing-and-publishing-30th-september-2012/

The Art of the Content Edit: 10 Ways To Make Sure You're Doing It Right

http://litreactor.com/columns/the-art-of-the-content-edit

Thank Goodness for my notebook!

A huge warning to aspiring writers to keep on backing up your work! I have done this (of course!) but then have to ask myself, how reliable is technology? My lap top has gone to the great techshop in the sky, my daughters is playing up, I have lost 1 USB stick, another has failed and then today I spent two hours writing just to have the USB corrupt itself bang smack in the middle and before I had time to back it up! SCREAM!!!!!
So, like the heading indicates, thank goodness for my note book. Its very disorganised, but so are my thoughts, as I jump from beginning to end, back to the middle, have 3 ideas for a twist half way through, then some character details, notes from research, back to the end and half of chapter 7. But its all in there, so I can rewrite. Technology Smeknology. Give me a pen and paper!!!!!

Mistakes - I avoided a few

I have pages and pages of notes now for Albie. Down at the gym the other day, I was struck by an idea for a twist in the tale, and have written the skeleton to the whole story.  Yesterday I spent over an hour on research about divorce and the names of film stars (as two separate subjeccts!) in the 1920s. The I realised that I had confused myself, because I was actually still writing about 1908 at the time, to set a bit of historical context to the story. So that research was somewhat wasted, and had to be repeated this time using the correct time frame. All this for about 5 lines of text!!!!But there is no excuse nowadays, with the availabilty of endless information at our fingertips, to make stupid mistakes and not get historical facts correct. I enjoyed the whole process, and as Albie grows day by day, I watch fondly over him, guide and direct him, and he is flourishing. Like Sadie, the book seems to be writing itself and I am merely a vehicel through which the words appear on the screen. Can't wait to see how it all turns out! xxx

From a bit of my "other" life - nice to know we are so appreciated!