Don't tell mother.

Laying in a bath full of bubbles this afternoon I was thinking about the post I wrote this morning and to be honest it felt a bit self indulgent. Now there's nothing wrong with indulging yourself now and again but I would prefer it to involve chocolate than whatever that was that was going on this morning. I almost deleted the post but like I have said many times, I regard this blog as a conversation between friends and as we have all probably learned to our cost once something has been said it can't be unsaid.
Frances said something in a comment she made that just confirmed what I had concluded. Frances said that writing is something that you should do because you love it and that is so true. I do love writing and I will continue to do it. However for now at least it will be just for me, myself and I. Its not the disappointment that I can't stand because it really doesn't bother me. I get over it very quickly and move on. I think that for now I need to write for enjoyment and while I am being truthful when I say the disappointment doean't bother me I can't pretend that I enjoy it.
So sorry and all that but I guess the blog is about me then and I thought that I would tell you some things that my mother doesn't know about me.
1. I enjoy listening to Andrea Bocelli and Il Divo even though I have no idea what they are singing about most of the time.
2. I have had articles and stories published in national and international magazines.
3. That I enjoy baking and bake a cake almost every week. I made a carrot cake this morning.
4. That I have 5 clocks in my living room for no other reason than I like them all.
5. That I don't take milk in tea or coffee - actually she might know that but just choose to ignore it because she is the only person who ever puts it in.
That's enough for now. Don't want to overload you with information.

The way I'm feeling

Well I know that I would have been quick enough to tell you good news so its only right that I tell you that bad. Well not bad really because its just par for the course but disappointing to say the least.
There was a huge thud on the mat the other day when the two stories that I sent to PF landed there. Who knew that 10 sheets of paper (approximate because I didn't count them) could make such a noise? Or was that the sound of my hopes crashing.
Anyway there you go, it happened they came back but if its any consolation they had been there for a couple of weeks instead of the couple of days and the pages were crumpled so I can be sure that they were read.
As you have probably realised, this blog os about writing but I'm thinking that I might have to start sharing a bit more of me and my life because to be honest I am thinking of giving up on this writing lark or at least on the trying to get it published. I will probably still do it for pleasure. So its either give a bit about myself or not blog
Please be assured that this is not an attempt to get anyone to say that I should keep at it and I'm really good etc etc etc its just me telling you how I feel today. I can take the disappointment and to be honest I got over the disappointment the other day very quickly and on reflection even though the stories IMO were good (in fact I think one of them is very good) maybe they are not right for the short story market (well obviously not because they were rejcted.) So its not this weeks disappointment it is just me being realistic.
Anyway, I'll have a cup of tea and have a think about it and I may be back with really inetersting facts about me (yaaaawwwwnnn)

Feeling good

This morning I have written the first draft of my first new short story in almost two years and it feels fab. At the moment its 2000 words long which took me a couple of hours to get down and I don't know where the time went. I noticed there were a lot of red and green squiggly lines throughout the text so lots of typos due to the fingers and the brain not working at the same speed but that can be sorted later. I'm now going to ignore the newly stored story for a few days and then go back and edit it and correct all of the mistakes but for now, I feel good.

Finding positives.

Well, there's still no sign of the two stories that I sent to PF over a week ago which is definite progress given my track record with them so thats good. Also on a positive note I filed my tax return for the writing I did last year and paid the bill and while the extra tax revenue won't have had George Osborne doing cartwheels I feel better that it is filed and paid. If I ever meet Sir Philip Green (highly unlikely I grant you) I will take great pleasure in telling him that me and the tax man are square and then ask him if he can say the same. Also (also) on a positive note I started a new short story. "So what's the big deal about that?" you may ask especially those of you that do that on a weekly if not almost daily basis. Well the big deal my friends is that it is the first new short story that I have started/worked on in almost two years. I have finally climbed back in the saddle so I fully expect a little soreness later on.

Desperately Awaiting Postman

I'll be desperately waiting for the postman tomorrow - not that I'm expecting anything good but to see if my PF submissions come back.
My current record for the longest time they have taken to return them is 4 days (shortest 2 days) so given that I posted them on Wednesday and today is a Sunday so no post if they don't slap down on the doormat tomorrow I will consider it a bit of a result. Not much of a result I grant you but when you are trying to crack a new publication you have to grab any ray of sunshine you can.

A dilemma

I'm sitting on the horns of a dilemma which, thankfully for me is not as painful as it sounds.
Picture the scene if you will, one of your main characters is dealing with a problem and they have to deal with said problem in a certain way for the story to progress in the way you anticipated it going. However, after getting into the characters head and writing they have behaved in a different way meaning that things may not turn out they way you thought they would. Actually they probably will but the character of teh character(J)has changed. Maybe they were misunderstood all the time. There's a thought. I'd never planned on people sympathising with her. My book may have just taken on a whole new direction. Not in the outcome of the story but in terms of the journey. Maybe I don't have a dilemma at all.
Thanks for listening.
On a different note I sent off the two stories that I was planning to submit so fingers crossed that I don't get them back in today's post.
And on a totally different note as you can see, I have paragraphs. Thanks dark Skipper for solving the problem.

A question

Okay so this may be a bit of an odd question but all I can say is remember that I am going back to basics. I have 2 stories that I want to send to the same editor and oddly enough this is a "problem" that I haven't had before, so what I would like to know is, is it okay to send them together or should the be sent seperately? Also is Shirley Blair still the Fiction Editor of People's Friend? All guidleines I read for PF say that I should address the submission to "The Fiction Editor" which I will do if that's what they prefer but in my head I would like to know the name of the person that I am writing to.

Lesson learned

With reference to my last post which told you all of my latest rejection I wanted to share the lesson that I learned from the process of writing it. I won't keep you waiting because I'm sure that the suspense is killing you so here it is. The lesson is that, and I say this with no offence to anyone who writes for them, but writing for M & B is not something that I would like to do on a regular basis. They have moved on and you are allowed a bit more realism but keeping within their framework makes the stories, how can I put this, unrealistic. That is only my opinion of course but I'm entitled to it so I'm giving it. So, I'm glad I gave it a try but I won't be trying it again in a hurry. This morning I'm going back to basics as it were and preparing a couple of short stories to be sent out into the world. Last year was my most successful (although still very modest) year as a writer but the wheels seem to have come off my wagon so to speak so its time to back-track a bit I think. Just out of interest, can anyone please tell me how to get paragraphs on here? I'm still not a fan of the neww format and since it changed I have never had paragraphs. I could live with it at first but now it is irritating me.