The last post

...from this laptop. You don't get away that lightly.
The good people at Dell have prmoised that the new one will be here tomorrow and this faithful old friend will be tucked away under a bed or somewhere "just in case." The internet connection is decidedly dodgy but at least I've stayed in touch with everything even if sending an attatchment has meant lots of plugging and unplugging.
What I am going to do now - well in 10 minutes after I've checked emails - is clear out what is euphamistically called my "desk" which is not a desk at all but a set of three drawers that are choc full of notebooks and bits of paper upon which are written ideas, half written stories and some finished stories amongst other things. The drawers are so full this sort of stuff that you can't open the top drawer without them all opening. The other day I bought myself a lovely big box with a lid and I'm going to sort out the mess that is in the drawers and put all of my WIP stuff in one place. It will mean a lopt of sorting but it'll be worth it. I mean who needs three different versions of the same thing or the bit of paper that has the original idea written on it for a story that was sold a year ago? Not me that's for sure.
Spring is on the way and it's time for a spring clean.
Might have a cup of tea first though.

An award from Jarmara

Thanks Jarmara for the ""Creative Writer" Blogger award" which is tucked away with the rest. I would have put it in this post too but thatnks to those flamin'gremlins I can't do that. Nor can I add links which is VERY annoying.
The rules are:
1. Thank the person who gave you this award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you.
4. Tell up to six outrageous lies about yourself and at least one outrageous truth.
5. Nominate 7 creative writers who might have fun coming up with outrageous lies.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know you nominated them.
Well I've blown number 3 for a start. Also I beg forgiveness for number 5 because I'm going to struggle to find only 7 people to nominate. I want to hear everyone's outragious stories. So I give the award to the first 7 creative writers that want to pick it up.
Here are my tall or not so tall stories.
1.I had a proposal of marriage this week.
2.I speak 5 languages fluently.
3.I once posed naked for an art class.
4.Last year I copmpleted my 11th marathon.
5.I've had breakfast with Lloyd Grossman.
6.I own 106 handbags.
7. I breed homing pigeons.
So can you tell which is the odd one out?

Can anyone help?

Can anybody give me a definitive answer on how That's Life (Australia) work. I've had 3 or 4 stories published by them and the way it has happened for me is that I've sent the story in an email and 6 or 7 months or so later I've had one back from them accepting it. I've also had my fair share of rejections from them which have arrived also via email either within days or several weeks/months. However I've read in a few places that these days they "shortlist." How does this work? I have sent them 3 stories since November but haven't heard anything.

Would you believe it?

You may recall that I haven't been able to comment on my own blog for a while due to one gremlin or another. So this morning I tell the laptop that it's replacement has been dispatched by the good people at Dell and what do you know - I can comment. Maybe I should have threatened it earlier.
Off to reply to comments now before it thinks "what the hell" and packs in again.

A few days off

I'm off for four days now, well three because today was one of them and I plan on finishing the first draft of the article that I am working on and writing a short story. I have about half of the article down but I want to get it finished and then that will leave a few days for polishing and then polishing again. This is the first time I've had an article commissioned and I am terrified of getting it wrong. I have the bare bones of a story in mind but if I can get that worked on as well as the article I'll be happy.

Watch out you gremlins!!!

Himself had finally bitten the bullet, got his wallet out and ordered a new laptop. Hoorah! It's going to be a few days before it gets here but hopefully when it does all of my blogging gremlins will be gone.

Possibly on the wrong road

I'm wondering if the fiction road is the right one for me. I mean, I have had another hit and once again it is non fiction. This year there has been the article in the local paper that was for the day job, a piece that will be in My Weekly in the summer and there is a memoir type piece in the March edition of Prima. All non fiction - all since Christmas. Maybe I should concentrate on that.
The piece in this months Prima is the competition entry that I had forgotten about that I mentioned a few months ago. I didn't win but as a runner up I get a years subscription to the magazine which is not to be sniffed at.
I'm talking nonsense of course because I love writing fiction but I'm enjoying getting non fiction published too.

Another problem

Okay so now I can't comment on my own blog which means that I can't reply to comments left. Be assured though that I do read them all and as soon as this laptop issue is resolved I will reply to them all. Or maybe it will sort itself out tomorrow - who knows?

Busy doing lots of things.

Flushed with the success of selling my first non fiction piece (for real money) last week I have spent this week mainly on other non fiction projects. I have another article that I have to write but the dealine for that is three weeks away and that is still in the research stage. I have to say that I am finding it very intersting though. More so than I would have imagined. That might have something to do with the fact that I have actually been asked to do it which means that I spend my time actually doing the research rather than faffing around surfing the web and doing nothing in particular. After that, I want to work on an article that I had the idea for yesterday that will include research and talking to someone. I'll need to set my own deadline on that one.
I'm also spending time working on some short stories and I want to find time this week to pitch my novel at an editor. The only thing that seems to be suffering is the second novel which has come to a standstill at the moment.
Oh well must press on. Lots to do.

Green around the gills

Why is it that I can never open an email from an editor without feeling sick - even when I know that it's good news.
PS Has the way that you insert links changed or is it just mine that's not working. Prtobably the latter but thought I'd ask.

Goodbye old friend

It is with regret that I tell the world that my faithful old laptop has gone to that great laptop hill in the sky. I'm gonna miss that gaffer tape that held the screen together and the fact that it had to be propped up inside another older laptop. Hopefully it will be replaced later this week. In the meantime I'm working on the "emergency" laptop which can only do one thing at a time.
Having said that there aren't the little icons here that would allow me to insert photographs or links so maybe it can't cope with that.
Never mind - at least it works - sort of.

Good news

I am happy to tell the world that I have just heard from Galdys Sturrock at My Weekly to say that they want to buy an article I wrote. This is very good news as you will appreciate especially as I haven't sold a non fiction piece before.
Can't get the smile off my face.

waffle

I had to go on a long train journey yesterday so I thought I would take my notebook with me so that I could start work on a longer piece that I have in mind. I almost sent the premise off the other day and then thought "hang on, what if they want to read it and its not even started." So that was the plan but sadly I only managed that foe the first 40 minutes or so. After that the various trains were all too busy and I was stood up for part of the time so not condusive to writing. I made a start though and that's the main thing. I had to content myself the rest of the time or at least the time that I was sitting down in reading a book. Well that and listening to a never ending phone conversation between a woman and what was (I think) her young daughter about what they were going to do about 2 girls at school.
I write this only by way of a waffle because I don't really have any news but as I've been without the internet for a few days I just needed to blog even if it was for the sake of it.
My laptop has undergone surgery this morning and is currently in ICU. There are a couple more procedures it needs tomorrow and I fear it may be terminal. In the meantime I am set up on an old one which isn't quite up to the task (I'm told) but it seems to be doing okay. At least this one lets you log on.
I had a bit of a sweat on until I got everything off the old one. All the Woed documents were saved but there were some photos etc that hadn't been backed up. I managed to get those after this mornings operation.
Hope to start the planning stage of my next W2W story later. I see that someone has already posted do I need to get a wriggle on. There's a lot going on in the day job as well so I guess I'm going to be a busy girl.
Anyway enough waffle. Well done to those of you that stayed with me to the end.