Life in progress

Category Archives: Life


by 60 Comments

G is for … Greatness

Ah, the dream. I write, I edit, I send my baby out to agents and publishers who will surely snap it up and make it an instant bestseller, and that’s when the fame and fortune starts rolling in.

Suddenly I can’t walk down the street without someone approaching me to ask for and autograph. Actors are calling me at my unlisted number to beg for a juicy part in the upcoming movie based on my book. Life is grand.

But wait. Is it? Is it really?

You want me to do what? Travel around the country doing book-store appearances? Living out of a hotel? Interviews on public television? And… public readings? I can’t read in front of an audience! I was happy sitting in my room behind my computer, half in the can with a bottle of wine! Quick! Somebody grab me my Haagen-Dazs and a spoon. I’m going to hide in the closet!

Is this you? Or is it just me? Because seriously, as much as the money would be nice, it’s not as though I can quit my job and go on the road. My kids are my job – they’re not quittable. I’ve never wanted fame. And I’m sure I’m not the most introverted person on the planet who chose to sit and write books. But does it necessarily have to be part of the package when a novel gets noticed?

I found this on Facebook this morning:

1798178_614968745252074_168239836086261850_n

and it really rings true.

It’s a lot to think about. Are you ready?

 

 
Admittedly, today’s fiction has nothing to do with today’s topic; it’s a day I wouldn’t have otherwise written anything over there. So here it is, the continuation of the A-Z Fiction Story: http://lindaghillfiction.wordpress.com/2014/04/08/g-is-for-great-balls/ Enjoy!


by 28 Comments

F is for … Finding Characters

Characters are everywhere. Inspiration can be found for them in both the most obvious places and, at times, from the most unexpected.

Take for example when I was searching for inspiration for my Short Story course: I sat in the food court at the mall, alone, eating my Chinese noodles with chopsticks, (I wonder if I’m a character in someone else’s story?) and I people-watched. I do this as often as I can.

While I was slurping up my noodles, I noticed a thirty-something man, casually dressed, walking with an elderly lady on his arm. The woman was just about ready for a walker, but if she’s anything like my own mother, she probably wasn’t ready to admit it. Plot and conflict came to me instantaneously. All I had to do was look at the man and figure out what his problem might be. He became a guy with a career and a weird fetish. His elderly mother could no longer take care of herself so he was faced with the decision of either living his life the way he wanted to, or looking after his mother. At that moment the short story, “On Loyalty” was born, for which I received a mark of A+.

Settings, for me, are the light bulb that rarely flashes inspiration but when it does, it’s usually brilliant – not me, the light bulb. The main characters in my novel came from an abandoned bicycle (who left it there and where were they going?) and a burned out railroad station (a mad magician takes his kidnap victims there to experiment on making them disappear). I put the two together and ended up with a 214K word novel. The mad magician turned into a good guy, but here you can see where I got the idea from. The train station makes an appearance in the story – fixed up and turned into a night club.

Characters can be found in the strangest places. I think even non-writers get ideas for people they see – it’s part of what we do as human beings when we notice the way people are dressed and listen to the way they talk. Yes, it’s slightly judgmental, but whether or not we comment on it, our brains connect situations from past experience to what we are seeing – like it or not.

Do you ever consciously do it? Do you sometimes make up stories for people you see? And if you’re a writer, what is the weirdest place you’ve found a character for a story?

For the corresponding short fiction on the subject of finding characters, click here: http://lindaghillfiction.wordpress.com/2014/04/07/f-is-for-friends-will-be-friends/


by 20 Comments

Random is as Random Does

I love days like this: 6:40pm and I’m still in my pyjamas. I spent most of this glorious day working on my manuscript, refusing to be distracted. I’m flying through it – twenty-three pages in seven hours! At this rate I should be finished by Christmas of 2018. 😛

For anyone who has been reading the story that is developing on my fiction blog through the A-Z Challenge, please note that I’m flying by the seat of my pants. I have no idea where the story is going. In fact, I didn’t even realize there would be a story when I started it. My intention was to write twenty-six short pieces. So if it suddenly veers off in a completely unexpected direction, (with or without squirrels–thanks Paul) that will probably be me either having had a very bad day or winning the lottery. Preferably the latter.

In the interest of keeping this post completely random, here’s some weird snow:

DSC00086

Photo taken late last week

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s warmed up considerably since then (10 degrees today – time to get the shorts out!) so this little squirrel snow-fort is probably gone already.

And last but not least, we had great success with this weekend’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday, picking up a few new participants. Go here: https://lindaghill.wordpress.com/2014/04/04/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-april-514/ and check the comments to make sure you didn’t miss any!

Hope everyone is having a great Sunday (or Monday, depending where in the world you are).

Cheers!


by 15 Comments

Just Do It! – Stream of Consciousness Saturday (Do/Don’t)

Just do it. Such simple advice – so why is it so difficult to follow sometimes? I can have a million things I have to do, but when faced with them, I’ll often say, well, maybe I’ll just have a cup of tea first. Or maybe I’ll check my stats, or do this sudoku, or the worse one of all, maybe I’ll just have a bite to eat. Then before I know it, the day has run out and I’ve done nothing but gained weight and the satisfaction of having completed a puzzle.

It’s like the dream I was having last night. I was trying to go somewhere in a hurry, but every time I started to run, my rhythm somehow went off and I veered off into a circle. Don’t ask me how this makes any sense, but I can tell you it was extremely frustrating. At one point I even tried to sing a song, in order to run to the beat of it, but my feet just wouldn’t cooperate with my head. In the end I didn’t make it to where I needed to go.

Just like real life.

Why, oh why do we procrastinate? I’ll think about it while I boil the kettle.

 

This post is part of SoCS. Find this week’s prompt here: https://lindaghill.wordpress.com/2014/04/04/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-april-514/ and join in!

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” or “Begin with the word ‘The’.”

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people will come and read your post! The way to ping back, is to just copy and paste the URL of my post somewhere on your post. Then your URL will show up in my comments, for everyone to see. For example, in your post you can copy and past the following: “This post is part of SoCS: (https://lindaghill.wordpress.com/2014/04/04/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-april-514/)” The most recent comments will be found at the top.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. Have fun!


by 11 Comments

One-Liner Wednesday – A Pelican

pelican

Seize the moment.


by 8 Comments

The Simplest Things

DSC00084

click on the photo to see the detail

It’s funny how the simplest, and sometimes the ugliest, things can be made beautiful by nature.

The frost along the edge of these dried leaves captured my attention this morning while I was outside with Alex, waiting for the school bus.

Speaking of Alex and going to school, I thought he would be staying at home today. Yesterday he came home with a little itch on his wrist. No biggie. I couldn’t see anything, and he seemed to forget about it as he got involved in things to do. Then before bed it began to itch again. I encouraged him to ignore it and just go to sleep but he wouldn’t stop scratching. He was miserable.

After listening to him whine in bed for about half an hour, I went back upstairs to see him. He was covered, head to toe, in a red, angry-looking rash. There were bumps and actual weals on his legs, some of which were five inches across. It was horrible! I gave him an anti-histamine and let him sleep on the couch where it was a little cooler.

This morning, when he woke up, he’d forgotten about it. All that was left of the rash was the scratches he inflicted on himself with his fingernails.

The cause, as well as I can theorize, was stress caused by the simple little itch he had on his wrist – which was also gone this morning.

Funny how the simplest things can take on a life of their own, when given a touch of something extra, isn’t it?


by 41 Comments

A is for … About

“I’m writing a novel,” I say, with trepidation.

“Really?” they reply. “What’s it about?”

“Well, it’s about a girl who leaves home and meets a magician.”

“Oh. That sounds … nice.”

“But his family has this deep dark secret.”

(Best case scenario.) Their eyebrows lift a notch. “That sounds intriguing!”

(What usually happens because I lost them after the word ‘magician.’) “What? I was paying attention to something else.”

Explaining what your story is about can be the most difficult thing. From what I’ve discovered by experience, it’s even harder than writing a blurb – because at least with a blurb, if someone is going to bother reading it, they’ve probably committed themselves mentally to paying attention to at least two sentences – one more than you’ve got to grab them with in conversation.

Trying to explain what I do, off the top of my head, is never easy. I don’t have a natural gift for talking about myself. That’s why I write. And so I’m thinking that this may be one of the major reasons that it’s not a good idea to talk about being an author at all.

Before I do, however, publish my novel, I’ll be sure to write myself a sentence which I will recite verbatim whenever anyone asks.

For the short fiction that goes with this post, please visit my fiction blog here: A is for … Aarin, the Topless Pirate.


by 37 Comments

Gearing Up For A Challenge

Ah, I do love a good challenge. It’s just as well, when you think of it: my entire life is one big challenge. I remember saying to myself, before my son Alex was born, I’m in such a rut. I need some excitement in my life! Now THAT was a lesson in being careful what you wish for, right there. Between surgeries, deafness, feeding issues, pneumonias and meanwhile trying to run a business, the first eight months of his life were anything but boring. But I digress. For what I have coming up in the month of April is nothing, by comparison.

Yes, the A-Z Challenge. Since I’m going to write about writing, I thought why not extend the challenge and write a fiction piece a day to illustrate the article I post here? It’s only twice the amount of work, after all! And besides, there’s no reason I shouldn’t show rather than just tell…right?

We’ll see how far I get.

For now, I’m attempting to put all my accumulated notes in alphabetical order. It only seems to make sense, and why put it off? I’ll have enough to do, starting tomorrow.

Don’t you love a challenge? How will you be challenging yourself in the upcoming month?


by 14 Comments

Power Over a Dream

I have a recurring dream of being stuck in an elevator. Over the years, I’ve connected it to being stuck in a rut, being undecided about something, or being worried about which direction my life is going. You see, the elevator doesn’t just stop – it takes over. It has a life of its own, going up, down and sideways. Sometimes it is much smaller than the shaft and it swings on its cables. Sometimes it stops between floors and the doors open – revealing to me the scariest thing of all: the dark, dirty elevator shaft.

I had the dream again last night, but this time it was a little different. The elevator continued to have control, but I overcame the dream.

I was in a three storey building and I got into the elevator with two men. I wanted to go from the third to the second floor, but for some reason I couldn’t push the button, so the elevator went to the first floor. The men got out, and I pushed the second floor button, but I ended up again on the third. I allowed the door to close, vowing that if I missed the second floor again, I’d get out on the first and take the stairs. Of course, when the doors closed, the elevator took control. We went up to the roof and started going sideways. I had a window in the elevator then (why? It was a dream) and I could see the tops of the other rooves from where I was.

Instead of panicking, however, as I usually do in this dream, I pulled a piece of paper and a pen out of my bag and I sat down and started writing. I figured if the elevator wasn’t going to do what I wanted it to, I’d make the best of it with the time I had on my hands.

Pretty cool, eh? If only I could remember what I wrote. It might just have been brilliant.


by 26 Comments

Nothing

There are days when I wish I could just let everything go; empty my mind of all worries, thoughts, desires, and fantasies. Being empty allows me to fill myself up with whatever I want. A clean slate to write on. I wish to be a blank page.

I want to be clean. To stand in a rain storm and scrape away my cares. To unearth my stress and toss it over my shoulder–discarded–not to be seen again.

I want to drive fast down a highway with the windows open, looking forward to the horizon with no destination.

I want to sink to the bottom of the pool, unbreathing, weightless, peaceful.

I want to meditate. To drift off into the ether; to become one with the universe, and there, commune with spirits of those unliving. To join in their stories.

I want nothingness. With nothing inside me, I can fill myself with what I need.
CAM00049