Helllllloooo!
Do you know what I've been doing lately?
Writing. (If you've seen it, read it in the voice of that Patrick Stewart skit where he talks about acting.)
I have been! I've been writing a lot, so many different stories, and I haven't blogged at all. It saps my writing mojo, y'know. (I've also done other things - I went to Japan for a month, and left Australia not speaking a word of Japanese! I moved house! I helped my boyfriend's parents buy a flat! I've also started on anti-anxiety meds that crushed my creativity for a few months there too, but it's much better now.)
My goal for 2013 was to get a story finished and e-published. As always with deadlines, I'm not anywhere near close. BUT. I have made progress. (Some of it is backwards but ultimately it is good.)
Through Reddit, I recently found a fabulous Beta/writing partner AND an awesome writing/critique community called Scribophile. I also posted the first part of my latest and favourite story up for critique on Reddit. Between beta-ing for my partner, beta-ing and critiquing on Scribophile, and reading the comments on my Reddit thread, I've decided that honestly NOTHING I have written so far is publishable to real standards. If I release something, I want to be proud of it - and thinking "I'm just gonna bang something out and get it finished and it will BE OUT THERE IN THE WORLD" is not really a great mindset to be in. I think I'll still stick with my same story, but the 10K words I've got so far will probably be scrapped. The 10K words of outlining should still be okay though! I just need to speed the story up a bit and add a little more personality. I think that will help.
Anyway. Now I'm on Scribophile I'm basically just thinking about writing all of the time (especially at work, which is DANGEROUS.) I've joined a few groups and one of them posted a cute prompt that I really enjoyed. Here's something I wrote up in 5 minutes.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Maybe This Explains My Towel Obsession
“Arthur blinked at the screens and felt he was missing something important. Suddenly he realised what it was."Is there any tea on this spaceship?" he asked.”
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
As May 25th, Towel Day, passes once again and we bemoan the loss of my favourite author of all time, people start reposting these great tributes, and I sit back and think of everything Douglas Adams gave me. If nothing else, his gleeful ignorance of deadlines ("I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.") is something I can appreciate as a writer.
There was the time when after the breakup of my long-term relationship, the saddest part was when I was unpacking in my new flat and realised that my ex-boyfriend had taken my entire well-loved collection of the Hitchhiker's Trilogy, a series I'd spent years collecting from second-hand bookshops. The pages were soft like fabric and the spines were ready to flutter apart at the slightest touch. I loved them and carried them around like a toddler with a blanky.
I remember the time one fateful Towel Day when, dressed in my pyjamas and with a towel slung over my shoulder, I took my camera and tripod to the nearby 'Dent St', set the self-timer, and stood under the sign with my thumb proudly raised. Yes, this photo is still on the internet. No, I'm not going to show you.
I'm also a die-hard Doctor Who fan, and in anticipation of the latest series final, the other day I rewatched one of the greatest Classic Doctor Who serials of which Douglas was the Script Editor - the City of Death. I wonder how much modern Doctor Who gets from Douglas' inspiration - especially the idea that no matter where the Doctor intends to go, his Tardis always takes him where he needs to be.
As for the lost Hitchhiker's series? I bought a box set from Ebay to replace them - all excited, I unwrapped them to find out that the books looked nearly identical to the set that had been taken from me. Identical, down to the creases in the cover and crinkly looking spine. To my horror, the creases had been scanned from someone else's beloved dog-eared copies, and printed on to the new pristine cardboard covers. It was all wrong.
I haven't touched them since that day. Instead, I relive my favourite Arthur Dent moments on the internet and through the ereader apps on my iPhone. Perhaps Douglas Adams would appreciate that.
Friday, May 17, 2013
Aaaaauggghhhhh
It’s raining outside! It’s raining and cold and I finally
have the perfect excuse to sit inside all night and all weekend and just
computer it up. I’ve also just emerged from a two month unplanned Internet
hiatus (don’t ask about it, suffice to say that dealing with landlords and
telcos together is a nightmare).
You would think that with the weather and the lack of communication network and cat videos that I’d have gotten a lot of shit done, and I sort of did, but I sort of spent way too much time and 3G data checking reddit on my phone and also watching actual honest-to-god Free To Air television. (You guys? Commercial television is absolutely horrible.)
I did get some writing done but I think that my desperate clamouring for anything online (as well as the last few Doctor Who episodes for the series, which have had to be planned around the actual television showing) made me too distracted to focus. Now that I have internet back again, I've written more than I did in that two months of enforced offline time. How about that?
You would think that with the weather and the lack of communication network and cat videos that I’d have gotten a lot of shit done, and I sort of did, but I sort of spent way too much time and 3G data checking reddit on my phone and also watching actual honest-to-god Free To Air television. (You guys? Commercial television is absolutely horrible.)
I did get some writing done but I think that my desperate clamouring for anything online (as well as the last few Doctor Who episodes for the series, which have had to be planned around the actual television showing) made me too distracted to focus. Now that I have internet back again, I've written more than I did in that two months of enforced offline time. How about that?
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Guys?
How do you title a story without just referencing the main character's name?
I'm in agony here.
I'm in agony here.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
In the dying days of February...
This is the way it goes with all blogs, right? At least it is for me.
It has been two months since I posted that last one in early December, brimming with so much promise. I was excited that I'd moved into a (sort of) new role at work as we were readying the big release of a new product. I got permission to work at home and out of hours, and I figured 'Well hey. That's gonna free up SO MUCH of my 9-5 time I'll be able to just write whenever I get the itch.'
Two months later after many 10 hour days, cancelled Christmas breaks and working weekends, I'm kinda tired. This new role is so full-on I've barely had a spare minute even at home! It's actually fun and rewarding but it is to the detriment of my creative brain.
So you know what I decided to do? I've been sick the past couple of weeks and after a few hours each day sitting in bed emailing and updating work stuff, I'd give myself a couple of hours of downtime. And then I would just write a whole bunch of crap, and post it on Fanfiction.net without a backwards look.
Oh yes. I'm writing fanfic. I don't even know why the idea came to me but I was thinking of Twilight and how ridiculously Bella handled the whole thing. What if she wasn't a doormat? What if everything else happened the same but Bella called people out on their shit and didn't cry at the drop of a hat?
And so I opened up the first chapter and, paragraph by paragraph, read a bit, wrote a bit. I've only read Twilight once, and the Edward version on Ms Meyer's website (called Midnight Sun) so going through it again is just as horrifying as the first time. The first thing that struck me is when we first meet Bella she's doing this wonderfully noble thing for her mom, so that she and he new husband can have some time together. That's great, Bella! You're a nice girl.
BUT THEN, Bella, who seemingly already had no friends and did nothing more than babysit her mother, moves to this town with her dad who is the sweetest Dad ever. Her dad tells her he bought her a car, and all she can do is wince and ask is how new and nice it is. Bella, who we are told is a big reader, moves her small amount of stuff (where's her ten boxes of books? I would say I have a normal amount of books and even then it took five boxes last time I moved, AFTER a massive cull), and then does nothing more the first day than CRYING HERSELF TO SLEEP and moaning about how shitty everything is.
Bella. Honey. You are nice to your mum, sure. But you are strange and depressing.
Now Edward's side comes in and he starts taking notice of her and realizing through his creepy spy-vision that she is lovely and selfless.
You're lucky you can't see in this girl's brain, buddy. Because she is possibly the most selfish character I have ever read. And I've read 'A Christmas Carol.'
Okay that's enough. I could bag this story out all day. Instead I'll go and write another chapter. Surely my Isobel has to notice that Edward's a vampire soon. I mean, she's a 17 year old girl in 2004 who knows how to use the internet properly.
Oh, uh. It's here: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/4539186/ElsieFinch
It has been two months since I posted that last one in early December, brimming with so much promise. I was excited that I'd moved into a (sort of) new role at work as we were readying the big release of a new product. I got permission to work at home and out of hours, and I figured 'Well hey. That's gonna free up SO MUCH of my 9-5 time I'll be able to just write whenever I get the itch.'
Two months later after many 10 hour days, cancelled Christmas breaks and working weekends, I'm kinda tired. This new role is so full-on I've barely had a spare minute even at home! It's actually fun and rewarding but it is to the detriment of my creative brain.
So you know what I decided to do? I've been sick the past couple of weeks and after a few hours each day sitting in bed emailing and updating work stuff, I'd give myself a couple of hours of downtime. And then I would just write a whole bunch of crap, and post it on Fanfiction.net without a backwards look.
Oh yes. I'm writing fanfic. I don't even know why the idea came to me but I was thinking of Twilight and how ridiculously Bella handled the whole thing. What if she wasn't a doormat? What if everything else happened the same but Bella called people out on their shit and didn't cry at the drop of a hat?
And so I opened up the first chapter and, paragraph by paragraph, read a bit, wrote a bit. I've only read Twilight once, and the Edward version on Ms Meyer's website (called Midnight Sun) so going through it again is just as horrifying as the first time. The first thing that struck me is when we first meet Bella she's doing this wonderfully noble thing for her mom, so that she and he new husband can have some time together. That's great, Bella! You're a nice girl.
BUT THEN, Bella, who seemingly already had no friends and did nothing more than babysit her mother, moves to this town with her dad who is the sweetest Dad ever. Her dad tells her he bought her a car, and all she can do is wince and ask is how new and nice it is. Bella, who we are told is a big reader, moves her small amount of stuff (where's her ten boxes of books? I would say I have a normal amount of books and even then it took five boxes last time I moved, AFTER a massive cull), and then does nothing more the first day than CRYING HERSELF TO SLEEP and moaning about how shitty everything is.
Bella. Honey. You are nice to your mum, sure. But you are strange and depressing.
Now Edward's side comes in and he starts taking notice of her and realizing through his creepy spy-vision that she is lovely and selfless.
You're lucky you can't see in this girl's brain, buddy. Because she is possibly the most selfish character I have ever read. And I've read 'A Christmas Carol.'
Okay that's enough. I could bag this story out all day. Instead I'll go and write another chapter. Surely my Isobel has to notice that Edward's a vampire soon. I mean, she's a 17 year old girl in 2004 who knows how to use the internet properly.
Oh, uh. It's here: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/4539186/ElsieFinch
Sunday, December 2, 2012
And So November Is Gone Again...
...And I can blog without feeling guilty that I'm not working on my novel instead.
It's December Second and along with thousands of others I'm writing up the annual 'Where did I go wrong with my NaNoWriMo attempt' post. I should have written it yesterday but it was 40 degrees (that's 100 for you American readers) and in between moaning to my cat about the heat and rebuilding my Facebook Sim house, I was soaking in a cool bath, eating a cheese sandwich, and preparing myself for a pool party (which was awesome, thanks for asking).
I guess this is why the creators of NaNo made it in November. It must be dreary and cold over there in Northern America, perfect 'stay inside and write' weather. You can have as many cups of tea as you like without overheating, you can stay inside of a weekend when it's rainy and awful instead of sunny and breezy and lovely. It's harder for us Southern Hemisphere types!
Anyway.
My final word count: 18,454 between three seperate stories. (Yup, three.)
That's not 50,000. It's not even close. I didn't sit down every day to try and write my allotted words because goddamnit, it was November and it was gorgeous outside. I didn't stick with one story and plod along filling it with shitty unplanned dialogue just to get to the 50k word limit. At the end of Week 1, I quit my planned story and picked up an old one. In Week 2, I took stock of what I had and I acted. I let my inner editor out of her flimsy NaNo cage and shamelessly deleted all the lines that didn't work. I also started a new story and wrote out a big, completed outline so I know where it's going. And I even broke my own rule and wrote a 'main character describes herself in the mirror' paragraph. Yeah. So there.
I read a lot of great books, too. I really should update my GoodReads. Maybe that's a task for this afternoon.
So where am I going from here?
I'm sticking with Story Number Three. It's got more words already than the other two stuck together and whenever I do sit down to write (on my shiny new laptop), it flows quickly. It's sort of autobiographical (but of course, with much more drama and better-looking characters) so I guess that helps. First novels always are a bit like that anyway, right?
Wish me luck.
It's December Second and along with thousands of others I'm writing up the annual 'Where did I go wrong with my NaNoWriMo attempt' post. I should have written it yesterday but it was 40 degrees (that's 100 for you American readers) and in between moaning to my cat about the heat and rebuilding my Facebook Sim house, I was soaking in a cool bath, eating a cheese sandwich, and preparing myself for a pool party (which was awesome, thanks for asking).
I guess this is why the creators of NaNo made it in November. It must be dreary and cold over there in Northern America, perfect 'stay inside and write' weather. You can have as many cups of tea as you like without overheating, you can stay inside of a weekend when it's rainy and awful instead of sunny and breezy and lovely. It's harder for us Southern Hemisphere types!
Anyway.
My final word count: 18,454 between three seperate stories. (Yup, three.)
That's not 50,000. It's not even close. I didn't sit down every day to try and write my allotted words because goddamnit, it was November and it was gorgeous outside. I didn't stick with one story and plod along filling it with shitty unplanned dialogue just to get to the 50k word limit. At the end of Week 1, I quit my planned story and picked up an old one. In Week 2, I took stock of what I had and I acted. I let my inner editor out of her flimsy NaNo cage and shamelessly deleted all the lines that didn't work. I also started a new story and wrote out a big, completed outline so I know where it's going. And I even broke my own rule and wrote a 'main character describes herself in the mirror' paragraph. Yeah. So there.
I read a lot of great books, too. I really should update my GoodReads. Maybe that's a task for this afternoon.
So where am I going from here?
I'm sticking with Story Number Three. It's got more words already than the other two stuck together and whenever I do sit down to write (on my shiny new laptop), it flows quickly. It's sort of autobiographical (but of course, with much more drama and better-looking characters) so I guess that helps. First novels always are a bit like that anyway, right?
Wish me luck.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
NaNoWriMo, Week 2: The Writer's Dilemma
So of course, as you may know, it's November, which means I've been trying my hand, and failing hopelessly, at National Novel Writing Month. For the uninitiated (what are you doing here?) this is where writers keen to destroy themselves plan to write around 1700 words per day to finish a 50,000 word novel in the month of November.
For one, this could not have come at a worse time for me. It's springtime, the weather is gorgeous and I want to be outside. It's also the start of gig season in Sydney and my boyfriend has had at least two shows per week with his bands. Work is extremely stressful as we head into the final stretch of our big release, which is due out on November 30. (They did give me a pay rise, though, which is helpful but would have been nice if it came the day BEFORE I carefully budgeted and bought myself a new laptop rather than AFTER.)
For two, I can't get a handle on either of my Big and Promising Stories. I started NaNo innocently enough, figuring I could take the rough, unfinished outline and perfectly executed first chapter of my 'Regular Lady Falls In Love With A Movie Star' story, which I was inspired to write a few months ago when I read a terrible ebook offering on the same subject and figured "Pssh, I could write something a million times better than this."
The first weekend of November, 4k words in and struggling to work out a decent plot and emotional ending, I changed my mind. I'd rather focus on something that's been a brain-worm for the better part of a year now - a modern Sydney adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma (which I began long before I found the amazing and wonderful Lizzie Bennett Diaries on YouTube).
Now I'm stuck again. I'm 4K words into this and all I can think of is: I. Don't. Like. My. Emma.
Austen's Emma is beautifully naive and even though she does mess things up a bit for her poor Harriet I still think she's a wonderful character. That's why she (and even her 90's counterpart, Clueless' Cher) has served the test of time, I guess. My Emma? Well, from what I've found out so far, she's just a bit of an idiot - I wish she'd just pay her own rent already and learn to respect her friends rather than trying to not-so-subtly engineer their love lives. I'm also so jealous of Emma's lifestyle I want to strangle her. I've ended up respecting my Harriet, who's a hard-working nursing student struggling to pay her rent in a inner-city suburb, a lot more than my main character, and I can't figure out why she shouldn't be with her Mr Martin even if he is a bit of a wishy-washy stoner and lives in Kensington.
I don't know what to do.
I guess today I need to sit and brainstorm and figure out if I'm going to salvage anything from my NaNo attempts. Wish me luck.
For one, this could not have come at a worse time for me. It's springtime, the weather is gorgeous and I want to be outside. It's also the start of gig season in Sydney and my boyfriend has had at least two shows per week with his bands. Work is extremely stressful as we head into the final stretch of our big release, which is due out on November 30. (They did give me a pay rise, though, which is helpful but would have been nice if it came the day BEFORE I carefully budgeted and bought myself a new laptop rather than AFTER.)
For two, I can't get a handle on either of my Big and Promising Stories. I started NaNo innocently enough, figuring I could take the rough, unfinished outline and perfectly executed first chapter of my 'Regular Lady Falls In Love With A Movie Star' story, which I was inspired to write a few months ago when I read a terrible ebook offering on the same subject and figured "Pssh, I could write something a million times better than this."
The first weekend of November, 4k words in and struggling to work out a decent plot and emotional ending, I changed my mind. I'd rather focus on something that's been a brain-worm for the better part of a year now - a modern Sydney adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma (which I began long before I found the amazing and wonderful Lizzie Bennett Diaries on YouTube).
Now I'm stuck again. I'm 4K words into this and all I can think of is: I. Don't. Like. My. Emma.
Austen's Emma is beautifully naive and even though she does mess things up a bit for her poor Harriet I still think she's a wonderful character. That's why she (and even her 90's counterpart, Clueless' Cher) has served the test of time, I guess. My Emma? Well, from what I've found out so far, she's just a bit of an idiot - I wish she'd just pay her own rent already and learn to respect her friends rather than trying to not-so-subtly engineer their love lives. I'm also so jealous of Emma's lifestyle I want to strangle her. I've ended up respecting my Harriet, who's a hard-working nursing student struggling to pay her rent in a inner-city suburb, a lot more than my main character, and I can't figure out why she shouldn't be with her Mr Martin even if he is a bit of a wishy-washy stoner and lives in Kensington.
I don't know what to do.
I guess today I need to sit and brainstorm and figure out if I'm going to salvage anything from my NaNo attempts. Wish me luck.
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