Today It Begins

Today dd is back at school. It feels like she hasn't been at school since the new year began and I wouldn't be far wrong in saying that. Since the 6th of January start there has been the Islamic New Year, The George Bush holiday and two rain days. Nuff said. Time for a routine - hers and mine - to appear. Of course the only glich is that the DH is home.............

So today THE ROOM will be properly christened with actual writing not just tweaking the books on the shelves and testing out the bed for lying down and reading said books in peace!

I have also decided to take the plunge into the Dickens Challenge thanks to Lisa here. Through her enthusiam I went to have a look to see what this is all about and then thought what the hell. I need to start writing again before I explode. So for the Dickens challenge I will writing something different from my 'normal' work. I will be writing in first person which is definitely not how I work. I am hoping this way I will spur on my creativity but not conflict with the serious editing that I must begin on A Cornish House.

I have really had too long a break from writing. I know I have had a very valid excuse but my brain doesn't except that so hopefully the challenge will give it an outlet while letting me get on with the import work of bashing ACH into something resembling saleable shape (she says hopefully).

Will report back in tomorrow and how the first day went- fingers crossed!!!!!

Now there are loads of things I want to blog about and everything is rushing about in my head so I will try and make some order of it. First a huge thank you to Phillipa Ashley who kindly posted a photo for me of my beloved Cornwall here.

I am sadly behind in my blog reading having been enjoy the Eid holiday here. When we were away for a few days i was without Internet access which the DH thought was a very good thing but now I have so much to catch up on..........So here's a wonderful link over at Ray-Anne's blog on beats. I couldn't begin to explain it but she does the most amazing job. I don't think I could write this way but I do think as she points of a fantastic tool for writing if a scene isn't working.



I have been tagged by the fabulous Lisa at http://eudaemoniaforall.blogspot.com/. It is a fabulous book meme which I look forward to doing but I realize that without my books with me I can't really do this properly so I will have to wait a month until I am in the villa and the boxes of books are unpacked......so I must post a reminder in the my diary as my brain is not too good at remembering these days.



Now for a bit of a rant. I have spoken about the refresh problem and the wonderful J came to my rescue. I have discovered that doesn't always work ( a 75% success rate) so I am doomed while living here to be behind. I will learn to live with it. I have also found that on Facebook I can't update my virtual bookshelf as that is a banned site. I am also finding that I can't google certain people. The wonderful author Rachel Hore is one. I hope she will find this amusing but I wanted to check to see if she listed who her agent was on her new website( which is beautiful btw) and couldn't remember her web address so I googled it - hah. Big red sign saying banned. Fortunately I remembered that it's was linked from Hilary Johnson's web page and I made it there in the end. This morning it won't let me go to Lisa's blog??? Or visit one of the people who commented on my post below. Arghhhhhhhhhhhh.


Having said all the above living in Dubai is great......I just want to get into my own home!!!! Enough rant. I must catch up on blogs........BTW dd is on half term this week and ds2 arrive Thursday and dds1 arrives on Sunday so posting and visiting may well be erratic at best.

Plotting

There's a great post on plotting over at Lisa's blog. It started me thinking as these things do but it was the comment from Shauna Roberts Shauna Roberts who said:

"One technique I use for both my fiction and nonfiction is the List of Twenty. You set a timer for 10 or 15 minutes and then jot down as fast as you can at least 20 things that could happen next (or 20 titles or 20 mishaps that could befall someone on a pilgrimage or whatever your sticking point is). The time limit forces you to write, not think.

The first few items on the List of Twenty are always predictable and boring. Then you get desperate and start putting down surprising things. Most are junk, as you'd expect, but usually your subconscious dredges up something interesting."

Now this an idea I think I could get on with and it might just end up there with my set a timer for twenty minutes and just write.......

Good Stuff

Yesterday's post got lost in the craziness of the day and becoming Dubaified! There are headaches galore with transferring as much as i have done but there a treats as well. Somethings which in UK are so expensive than they are a once in a blue moon treat are a regular ritual here. So I am no longer cloven hoofed, dish-washer handed and I'm blond again. Unfortunately at present it's a bit too hot to top up the tan but that will come!

There is so much wonderful stuff out on the web right now that i want to bring to your attention to. First for a great laugh Lisa linked a great article in the Boston Phoenix by Steve Almond. Lisa was blogging about writing sex scenes and linked here. If you have ever struggled to write a sex scene or read a really appalling one this article will tickle your funny bone.

This leads me back to Julie Cohen's Tightening Your First Page discussion here as she writes fantastic sex scenes and occaisionally teaches workshops on writing them. Yesterday she spoke of getting internal conflict on the first page and another wonderful tip:

"Generally the best path is to start the story as late as you possibly can. Not just the first page--a rule of thumb for all scenes is to begin them as late as you can and end them as early as you can. Get in there, do what's necessary, and get the heck out. "

Finally have you all seen this article in The Book Standard. So how do you feel about Slush Pile's proposed approach and would you try it?