Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Back for a Bit

NOTE: this post was written on the 28th of March, but I never finished it! So here's one of the fab photos taken on the photo shoot at Cafe Florian at DIFC and surprise - I am about to travel again - ho hum


Well, I think I'm in Dubai as the weather is warm and my bed isn't stuck in the lift - long story.I am yet again sitting here booking flights and trying to sort out crazy travel schedule. I have so much to report - all the sessions I attended at the Dubai Literary Festival for one...and along those lines I quote one stanza of Jeffrey Deaver's poem in my post on the opening ceremony - well here's the link to the full poem http://www.jefferydeaver.com/Other_Projects/Death/death.html. Picked up the link to the whole poem from Twitter and the very useful Emirates Lit Fest twitter person here - worth a follow http://twitter.com/EmiratesLitFest.

Following on from there (pun intended) I am off for a photo shoot today with wonderful photographer, Shruti Jagdeesh, I met at the festival. I had mentioned I needed a new photo for my website when looking over her shoulder at the pictures she had taken and next thing you know she she she would happily take some proper photographs... I love twitter and the Dubai Lit Festival....

Now onto to something writerly...I am off to the York Festival of Writing over my birthday weekend. I am excited and slightly dreading it (as it involves pitching to two agents).

During the preparation process I made a HUGE discovery for me...while I was doing all the synopsis work. I had been stalled on the rewrite of A CORNISH HOUSE for quite a while - something didn't feel right. I wasn't sure where I wanted to take one of the secondary story lines and my head was muddled and as a result I wasn't going anywhere. All the work on the synopsis to try a show the key conflict in the story told me there was plenty of conflict without this particular sideline. It also told me that if I hadn't hid my head in the sand and done a proper synopsis in the first place I would have saved myself several rewrites and headaches along the way. Note to self - after first draft write proper synopsis.


3 comments:

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

What a fabulous photo that is.

Good luck with your pitches at the York Festival. I'll be spending my birthday weekend in or around the shed, so not quite as exciting. Have a great time and a fun birthday.x

Karen Roderick said...

Good advice, I will use that myself. Thanks, Karen.

Nell Dixon said...

Lovely pic. I really should get a better one on my website - Mr Nell took it in the garden and I look like I have a rhododendron flower growing out of my ear.