A quick update

Thought I'd let you know how I was getting on with my reduced schedule.
I have probably written about 2000 words so far on my Topsy project and my submission for the Australian agency is ready to go and will be emailed tomorrow night. On top of that I have submitted the entry to Gcities which I mentioned in my previous entry and I submitted a short story to a magazine in South Africa. This afternoon I'm also going to submit another short story.
This will be my most productive week in ages so I'm starting to think that less is more if you catch my drift.

Durham Cathedral

I read about the Gcities website in Writers News and thought I'd have a look. I submitted an entry about Durham Cathedral which they accepted. You can see it at http://www.wcities.com/en/record/162,360493/46/record.html

w/c 28/10/2007 This week I will...

1. concentrate on Topsy. It's non fiction and fairly topical, relevant to stuff at the moment so needs to be worked on now. Target - 3000 words (but hopefully more)
2. submit BTL to the Australian agency.

That's all I'm going to commit myself to this week. Of course that isn't to say that it is all I will do just that even if I don't do anything else this week I Am going to do these two things. Like I said in a post earlier this week I need to focus on the furure, the bigger picture, call it what you will. I need to get more structure to my writing if I am going to be serious about this thing.

That structure forming starts now.

w/c 20/10/2007 Last week I ...

1. wrote 1000 words on Topsy
2. wrote 1000 words on NMBK
3. submitted 4 very short pieces of fiction

Something to work out

I had a new idea yesterday which has excited me a lot and I started to put some things down onto paper today. It was while I was doing that, that it occurred to me that I really need to learn to concentrate on a particular project. It's ok to have a few things on the go at once but while I'm working on lots of things at once nothing is getting finished. i don't know what the answer is but I know that I need to work it out.

Spring clean - the order of the day

I've just been having a look through my writing cabinet where all my work in progress is stored and realised how much there is. I have masses of stuff that isn't quite finished or needs a final polish. I really need to go through it all. I won't throw any of it away but I need to get it sorted, finish the good stuff and work on the rest.
So even though it's October I think a spring clean is required.
I also really need to go through all the work I've got archived.
Best get the mop and bucket out.

Deadline met hoorah!!!

The deadline for getting the editing done to the piece commissioned last week was Monday Australia time. I didn't want to mess it up by not getting it there on time so I finished it and sent it off on Friday night. It is so important to meet deadlines so the last thing I wanted to do now that I seem to have got a toe in with this magazine is blow it.
The weekly targets that I set myself are not written in stone and when the ugly stuff finishes maybe I should become a stone mason.

w/c 21/10/2007 Next week I'll

1. write 1000 words on each of NMBK and Topsy
2. Finally submit the steps story.
3. Try and clear up a few loose ends.

w/c 14/10/2007 last week I....

1. had a story commissioned by Thats Life! Australia.
2. Had a story rejected by Woman's Weekly.
3. Finished Roxie's story
4. Edited the Australian commission.
5. wrote 1000 words on Topsy ans NMBK

All in all considering everything else that's going on I'm pretty pleased with this week(apart from the rejection of course.)

Another hit down under

I've had another story commissioned in Australia which is good news. I've been asked to cut it to fit which isn't a problem apart from the fact that the dealine is tight. In fact I really need to get in with it.
I had a story rejected by Womans Weekly today which was disappointing but goes with the territory. Maybe I should try it in Australia. To be honest I was wondering if I should try to get myself an Australian publisher for my book as they seem quite keen on my stuff (well at least two editors are.)
Must get on - I need to lose a couple of hundered words.

An apology in advance

I said that I would submit this week but to be honest I haven't and I won't before this week is out so apologies for that.
I just can't get my head around submitting anything new at the moment because the ugly stuff is starting to get really ugly so the writing is my distraction. I also apologise for not being around much but I want you to know how much I appreciate you dropping by and your good wishes.
Thanks - you are a lovely lot.

Focus on the plan

I've just checked my list and I only have 7 pieces of work out there in the world which is nowhere near enough. Submitting work has been a problem for me recently. I write it, I edit it, I polish it but then I don't do anything with it. Okay, so I know I've got all that other rubbish going on at the minute but I could submit at least one piece of work a week. The other stuff is actually starting to get a bit harder but I have to look beyond the present to the time when it will be over. I need to focus on the plan and part of that plan is writing.

w/c 14/10/2007 Next week I'll...

do the usual stuff, you know, work on Topsy and NMBK. In addition to that I will

1. Finish Roxie's story.
2. Polish and submit the steps story (ok I know that was on last week's list too)
3. Submit at least one other piece.
4. Do anything else that takes my fancy

w/c 07/10/2007 Last week I

1. Worked on Roxie's story
2. Worked on Topsy
3. Worked on NMBK

It doesn't look a lot on paper but considering the week I had I am fairly pleased.

Thanks to Womagwriter

Womagwriter recently tagged me for a meme. I've taken a few days to have a think about my answers so here goes.

Total number of books
I probably personally own (Himself would want no part of my Auten collection) about 100 books. However we have about 500 books in the house ( at least half of them in boxes because the bookshelves are full) so I'm never short of something to read.

Last book read
A pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy. It was a present from Himself for no reason other than he saw it and thought of me (that's what he tells me anyway.) Really good book and apparently a bit autobiographical.

Last book bought
Relics - Pip Vaughn Hughes. I've got no idea what it's about but Himself got very excited when I mentioned I'd seen it so I had to buy it for him. I honestly can't remember the last book I bought for myself.

5 Meaningful Books
The Girl with the Pearl Earring - Tracy Chevalier: An incredibly erotic book without any sex.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee - Dee Dee Williams: The true story of the Native American which is nothing like Hollywood.

Ghosts - Ed McBain: It introduced me to one of the best writers of dialogue that I have ever come across.

Tess of the D'Urbervilles -Thomas Hardy: I identified with Tess so much. I am probably the only person I know who understood her.

The Trial - Franz Kafka - I couldn't help but enjoy it even though I didn't know what was happening.

Now the hard part because every one I read has already been tagged before. But the blogs I read the most are Sally Quilford, Womagwriter, Cally Taylor, A Writer and Leigh Forbes. There are plenty more that I pop into now and again but these are the ones I read the most.

Thanks for the chance Woamgwriter

Just stopping by

I want to write an entry here but I don't know what to say. It's kind of ironic really because I've just read an article about someone who says that they want to write a book but don't know what to write about.
I've had the afternoon off work to take care of a few bits and bobs and that's done now and I find myself with an hour to spare. Do I clean the bathroom (or any other room you'd care to mention)? Do I attack the mountain of ironing that is officially the highest point above sea level for miles around? No I switch in the computer and write. Okay, well writing might be stretching it a bit. I answered a couple of emails, wrote an entry on the private blog I'm keeping about the rubbish that is still going on in my life, had another look at my fiftybeans story just to make sure it really was there and now I'm here.
Maybe I'll read an old story and see what I can do about/with it. Yes that's what I'm going to do. I'll let you know how I got on.

Something else for the CV

A while ago (quite a while ago in fact) I submitted a 50 word story to The Meridian 50 Beans project. I'd given up on it and to be honest forgotten about it. But I heard today that it's been published on the fiftybeans website www.fiftybeans.com It's not a paying piece but it's still an achievement and something else for the CV.

w/c 07/10/2007 This week I'll...

1. work on my Topsy project
2. work on NMBK
3. work on Roxie's story
4. polish the steps story and submit it to the competition it was written for.
5. Submit something. I've just had a count and I only have 8 pieces of work out there. That is nowhere near enough. Most people trying to bew serious about this would submit in a week.
6. Not be too hard on myself because this is the week that Himself and I should have been in Rome. But the "rubbish" that I refer to from time to time has meant that we have had to cancel. Needless to say I may be a little down this week but by that same token I will be looking for distractions too. I'd got a magazine interested in some photographs of Rome but they say that they'll still look at them when we do go.

w/c 30/09/2007 Last week I

did pretty much what I said I would I think. I...

1. worked on NMBK
2. worked on the story that Roxie is writing
3. wsorked on NMBK
4. worked on my Topsy project

I also had an acceptance this week which I enjoyed.

The blog won the raffle

I almost deleted the post I made around midnight because I don't know what it was all about. But one of the things I said to myself at the beginning was that I was going to write as I felt at a particular moment. So last nights nonsense stays.
Like I said I couldn't sleep and I wanted to talk to someone. The blog won the raffle.
Just in case anyone is interested, I went to bed just after I'd posted the blog and went to sleep after about 10 - 15 minutes. I did wake up a couple of times but wasn't too tired this morning.

Watch this space

Roxie did write today and so did I.
Roxie's story is coming along nicely but not progressing as quickly as I would like it to. My work is mainly a distraction from the real world.
I've just remembered a competition I meant to enter. I wrote the story so I need to check that I didn't miss the deadline. I don't think I did, I'm fairly certain that it was November but I need to check that.
maybe I should also go to bed. It's 12.15 (that time may not show on the blog but I assure you it's real) and I've been to bed once but got up again because I couldn't sleep. Maybe I'll give it another go.
Watch this space for any more entries tonight because if I still can't sleep I'll be back.

Roxie writes again

I'm writing with renewed vigour this week on the back of my success in Australia. Today I worked on the story that Roxie (my erotica writing alto ego) is working on. When I'm scribbling I can see people looking at me and I dare say some of them are wondering what on earth I am writing in my tatty little note book. If only they knew.
I must get around to sending my book out to another agent/publisher ( I haven't decided which one to try yet) I do have another agent to try that an author recommended to me so maybe I'll try them first. Either way I need to stop thinking about it and send it out there again.
Roxie will probably be writing again tomorrow as her book is small and neat and fits discreetly into my handbag.

Hit me again

I spent a lot of time just hanging around yesterday so I worked on Topsy and wrote probably about 1000 words or so. I tried to work on NMBK but by that time there was another woman hanging around too and she insisted on talking. It was okay though.
Just checked email to see if there was any news on the story shortlisted by the Australian magazine and found that there was a message from them. It wasn't about the shortlisted story though but about one that I sent them about a month after I sent that one. (Are you still with me?) They are going to use it in their Summer Fiction Special. How good is that? I guess that if they're going to use the one that they told me was shortlisted I should be hearing about that fairly soon. Watch this space.
A great big Happy Birthday to Himself who is 50 today.