It's Just.....

Yesterday I went through my manuscript looking for words I overuse. I checked each one and if it wasn't necessary it got cut. I cut over 100 of the word "just".

Really, what an innocuous word, but it had taken over the entire manuscript.

Another one I'm halfway through checking is "that".

I was also pretty bad with "yet"

What words do you overuse? Are you aware you overuse them?

Do I really want to see the answers to this blog post? I daren't check for any more overused words- I might not have a manuscript left!

Networking While Writing

Networking while writing. How do people find the time to network with fellow writers when in the throes of writing?

As you know, I've have failed miserably at keeping my blog up to date as I do this last push to completion. It's not just the lack of upkeep though. Blogging works and is important, not because of the things we write in our posts, but because of the connections we make with fellow bloggers and writers (if you're a writer and reading this).

Writing is an isolating hobby/job. It's something you do on your own. So for me, connecting with my fellow bloggers is important. It is you, yes you reading this, that are important to me. So the problem comes when you're pushing so hard at your work in progress that you can't keep up with the people you probably need a friendly word from, a cheer as you gallop towards the last hurdle of the current stage in the quest for the golden gauntlet of publication.

How do people marry up this difficulty. Spend a little less time writing? Or hope that those friendly blogger you think are so great, will wait patiently for you? Or is blogging a fickle world?

How do those crazy people (only my opinion) manage to do NaNoWriMo and then go on to socialise on the official site? I couldn't do both!

How do you write and network? Can both happen in a working persons life? I'd love your views on this.

The Wanderer Returns

It's been a while since I last came on my blog. There are a couple of reasons for this.

Firstly, because, on a personal note, I've generally had a terrible month and my blog and Facebook were forgotten about for a while. I continued in my attempts to keep moving my writing forward but there was little energy left for much else

Secondly, when I did find a place where the personal stuff had been dealt with in my small headspace, the writing took over. I've been so busy with a self imposed deadline of mid November to complete this by, that I'm going into a bit of a panic and doing little else but writing when I can. This again affects my blogging as you have seen.

The reason for this push on the writing front is when I've finished the manuscript I'm sending it out into the big wide world on submission. A scary process but one as writers we have to take.

I realised though, that I should start to give my blog some love again and catch up with everyone. So I hope some of you remember me. I'm looking forward to catching up and finding out what you've been up to.

How Do You Write?

I've been wondering about this for a while now, but as you have noticed, I haven't been big on blogging recently. The main reason is my hours have been changed at work, so I'm working longer days, but on the flip side, I do get extra days off, so it's all swings and roundabouts. The other reason I haven't been here a lot, is that any spare time I do get, I'm spending on my Work In Progress (WIP).

I'm on the fourth draft now and it's really starting to take the shape of what I imagined it to be. I've added the pressure, by creating a self imposed deadline for finishing it. That deadline being the end of this month. Now you can see why I'm taking every opportunity I can to sit and work on it. It's no chore though, seeing it take shape is exciting and I can't get enough time with it.

As it's my first novel I've had to feel my way around the creative process and I've come up with a way of working that appears to be working for me. (Ask me if I still think that when I send my baby out!) It works, as in, it keeps my flow and focuses me.

I thought I'd share how I've worked this book. It's in drafted stages.

Draft one - Free write.

Draft two - Plotholes.

Draft three - Timeline.

Draft four - Character building and fact checking.

Draft five - Edit.

Each draft has come with it's own issues and frustrations, but setting myself a definite task of what I was working on during each current draft helped focus me on that and helped me complete what I set out to do. EG - Repair that massive gaping hole in the plot two thirds of the way in.

I'm on draft four. I'm rounding my characters and checking my facts and filling in the holes I left when I didn't know definitive facts. I'm so close, I can taste it!

How do you work when writing? Are you structured or do you just keep going through it until you feel it's right?

Knowsley Safari Park

Yesterday the family and I took a trip to Knowsley safari park. The kids are back at school next week so I took a days annual leave to make one last day trip of the holidays. It turned out to be a lovely sunny day and I loved it. I'm a big kid really.

Little man and I had the opportunity to hand feed a giraffe. I think it was good timing for us. We were on the viewing platform when the manager came out with a handful of leaves and started handing them out. I was as giddy as the children on there. The manager was handing out the leaves to the kids and little man had a few. I had to ask if it was ok for grown ups to do it! Giraffes are beautiful creatures.




Did you know giraffes have blue tongues?

We also drove through the monkey enclosure. Our car was covered in red bottomed baboons who thought it was great fun to pull on the windscreen wipers.





We had a close encounter with a camel who actually walked into the side if the car.





Just look at the colour of the sky!

The lion enclosure was amazing. Huge, sleek, powerful animals.









And for anyone interested in creepy crawlies, I leave you with a spider.

Living With The Spoon Theory

I'm starting to understand the spoon theory. The theory created by one girl trying to describe to a friend how she only has limited reserves of energy a day as she lives with a life long medical condition. Full details can be found here.

I knew I was feeling more fatigued this past year but this week it's actually dawning on me how it works, in practical terms for me living with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome.

Today I did an nine hour shift at work. There was an hours drive each side of that, so I was out the house eleven hours. When I got in I wanted to head straight into my home office before sitting down and getting too comfortable, and do some work on my WIP. Tea had been sorted by my wonderful other half. But my little man had come in upset after a disagreement with his friends and he wanted to watch a film with me we had recorded last week.

That's where the spoon theory and choice came in. I didn't have enough spoons (energy) to watch the film and spend quality snuggle time with little man, and then get up and do some work. I chose the main priority. Little man. There are plenty of days he plays out and doesn't want his mum but I felt a little frustrated as I have self imposed deadlines for work I'm doing and I have to accept I can't do everything.

I do actually have to spread out the things I want to do and work hard as hell on the novel when I get chance. Today wasn't that day. I will make it up at some other point though.

It's about living and recognising and planning. I can do everything, just maybe not all at the same time.

Sparkfest Blogfest

As previously posted, I am taking part in Christine Tylers, Sparkfest Blogfest.


The reason and rules of the blogfest are these: 

What book made you realize you were doomed to be a writer? 

What author set off that spark of inspiration for your current Work in Progress?

Or, Is there a book or author that changed your world view?

As writers, we're always striving to get out a message of inspiration to others. This blogfest is a celebration for those who have done this for us. Join the Spark Blogfest, aka Sparkfest, by posting your answer to any of the three prompts above (or make one up as long as it fits the theme).

I'll make it worth your while!

• There will be three Amazon Gift Cards ($15, $10, $5) awarded to random participants!
• The blogger who writes my favorite entry will get an interview on my blog so they can tell us more about their awesome source of writerly inspiration!
• By networking with other writers, you gain followers and comments for your own blog.

Only one Sparkfest post August 22-26 is required to participate.

My response to What author set off that spark of inspiration for your current Work in Progress?

I can't quite remember the timeline of how this happened, but it was around the same time. I started my current (and first) WIP (Work in Progress) and read Stephen Kings, On Writing within a matter of weeks of each other. 


I read On Writing without having read any of Stephen Kings novels. It was recommended to me by a friend and I'm so glad I read it. It is part biographical on how it came to be that King started writing and his early life, and part writing advice. 


The book is practical and not preachy. He advocates writing what you want to write and how you want to write it and it gave me so much enthusiasm for following my dream and making sure I wrote the book I wanted to write.


This current book is about sitting down and writing it in the style I want to write it. It's not about writing what I think the book market wants, it's about putting my passion into my work and enjoying doing it. Why write if you don't enjoy it? 


If any writers out there haven't read this book, I'd recommend it and if any writers out there haven't read this book and are stuck in a rut or not quite feeling it at the minute, I'd highly recommend this motivation piece of writing. King writes with honesty and a great understanding of what he writes and who he writes for. Go on. Take a peek.