Life in progress

Tag Archives: writing


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Random Update

I spent a fun-filled day playing Scribblenauts Unlimited on the WiiU with Alex, John, and John’s youngest daughter. That’s only slightly sarcastic – I could do without playing the game again, but we did have a few laughs. Alex is generally glad to be back home. He enjoys playing with his half-brother at his dad’s but routine is routine.

On the Camp NaNo front, I was within 1,600 words of completing my goal of 25,000 and there are still ten days left so I upped my goal to 30,000 words. I know I’m not going to be able to stop writing this one until I’m finished but I am forcing myself to take a break occasionally and edit the first one.

However, I’m having a bit of a difficult time with genre issues – or at least theme. The issue is with my new villain. She’s oversexed so of course the topic of sex keeps coming up. Where the first novel has its erotic moments, (and okay, a couple of decent sex scenes) this one is beginning to compete with 50 Shades of Grey, if not with the constant porn then at least the mention of body parts and, let’s say, warmer feelings. I may be able to tone it down but I can’t cut it out and keep my character in character. You can see my dilemma, right? What would you do? Have you ever read a sequel that strayed far away from the tone of the first… and did you like the second one? Or is this just a recipe for failure?

On that note, and in the spirit of randomness, here’s a picture of the sun setting over Boston Pizza.

 

sunset

 


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I’m Away!

I made it to Kingston again! Remember, that place where I got so sick last week on holiday that I ended up in the hospital? Yep, same place. But a different hotel this time.

I’m sitting now in the same motel where one of my characters fled after finding out some very bad news in my novel. I’m finding out little details about the place. Like, for instance, how the rooms are numbered, what the rooms actually look like and oh yes! That it took ten full minutes for my WP stats page to load on their pathetic free WiFi service. I’m typing this in a document and will try to post it when… oh look, now no internet connection at all. I can’t really complain though. My character didn’t have a lot of money to work with, and you get what you pay for, right?

I did spend some time downtown again tonight. I went to a delightful restaurant (with no food poisoning this time) and sat on the patio with a glass of Pinot Grigio and a grilled seafood salad that was entirely divine. Then I went to for a walk by the lake and took a few pictures.

Strangely enough, I felt lonely. That doesn’t happen to me very often, but tonight, seeing all the couples hand-in-hand and noticing that even the ducks were in pairs, made me feel a little sorry for myself. Most of the time, as I said, I’m happy to be alone. But there are times when I feel sad at the prospect of growing old alone. I wonder if I’m missing something. Scratch that – I know I’m missing something. Just reading my own novel makes me remember what it was like to be young and in love. Ah, the things we throw away without realising the consequences. By the time we’re wise enough to see it, it’s too late.

Anyway, that’s where I am, and that’s what my connectivity is like. I’ll catch up with everything tomorrow when I get back home.

Hopefully I’ll actually get this posted before I get there.


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for SoCS July 19/14

Friday’s here again–this week has gone by so fast, as time off is wont to do–and that means it’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday tomorrow. I’ve been so absorbed in my novels for the past few days that I haven’t really put much thought into this week’s prompt. So I’m just going with a random, just ‘coz word for everyone to play with in their post.

Your Friday prompt for Saturday’s Stream of Consciousness post is “side.” Add a prefix or a suffix or use it as is.

After you’ve written your Saturday post tomorrow, please link it here at the prompt page in the comments so others can find it and see your awesome Stream of Consciousness post. Don’t hesitate to join in!

Here are 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 paste the following: This post is part of SoCS: https://lindaghill.wordpress.com/2014/07/18/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-1914/  The most recent pingbacks 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!


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WordPress – If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it

It seems every week WordPress is changing something else. I’m still flabbergasted over clicking on my “posts” button and seeing them all in a reader-type list instead of a list where I can easily find twenty of them and edit them quickly in one click.

Then, was it last week? we had to start going into our dashboard to open a full screen with all the options (including being able to preview our post) in order to write something – instead of this “beep beep boop” crap I keep seeing.

Today, it seems, they’ve changed something else. The “Freshly Pressed” button is gone. Not that I often check the page, but where do I find it now?

Is there anyone out there who has found these changes an improvement? Or am I the only one who thinks they’re more of a pain in the ass?

 

Edit: My notifications box isn’t lighting up today either. Is anyone else having this problem? Check your notifications just in case!


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One-Liner Wednesday – Writing

I’m so totally absorbed with my writing that I forget to eat, to sleep; even to turn the lights on four hours after the sun has gone down.

~ True Story

 

______________________________________________________________________________________

Anyone who would like to try it out, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do, you can ping back here to help your blog get more exposure. As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday, if you see a ping back from someone else in my comment section, click and have a read. It’s bound to be short and sweet.

The rules that I’ve made for myself for “One-Liner Wednesday” are as follows:

1. Make it one sentence.

2. Make it either funny or inspirational.

Have fun!


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Stream of Consciousness … Errr … Monday – The Best Laid Plans

…and SoCM pretty much sums up my weekend.

It was a lovely Friday evening when I arrived in Kingston. I walked a bit, I managed to get some editing done, and then I went out for a late dinner. I took some pictures of the moon which will follow. It was, so far, the perfect getaway.

Then Saturday morning happened. By the afternoon I was being pumped intravenously with a cocktail of drugs to treat what the hospital thought was likely a migraine. Luckily my dear friend and saviour once again, John, was able to rescue me and bring me home, and then go back for my car on Sunday to tow it back to town.

That’s the news. (I’m okay now.)

It occurred to me however, when I was laying on my apparent death-bed in the hotel, that there are various ways to get away. There are vacations, there are trips we can take using mind-altering substances, there is meditation, there is sleep. Then there are the times we just WANT to get away – like when I’m so sick I say to myself, why can’t I just hurry up and die and get it over with? But fortunately I’m still here.

As I sat on the steps of the hotel, pasty-faced and braless, in a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt that was three sizes too big, waiting for John to pick me up in the car with nothing but a bundle of tissues in my hand (I was too weak to carry my purse) and adults avoided looking at me with the same intensity as the children stared, I thought to myself, this must be what it’s like to look homeless – only I just spent almost $200 for one night in the same hotel I was sitting on the steps of. I had to rush back in to throw up and the desk clerk didn’t recognize me. (John checked me out.) I thought she wasn’t going to let me use the washroom for a millisecond, but then I saw the look in her eye that said it’s probably better than cleaning up after me.

It goes to show how quickly things can change. Getting away isn’t all it’s cracked up to be when all you want is your own bed, your own toilet, and your own space.

I might try to go back on Wednesday to do the research I wasn’t able to do on the weekend. On the other hand, I may just stay home.

P.S. I’ll catch up with everyone’s SoCS posts ASAP! Thanks to everyone who participated! It looks like it was another great weekend. 😀

This is (kind of) a post for Stream of Consciousness Saturday. https://lindaghill.wordpress.com/2014/07/11/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-1214/

 


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for SoCS July 12/14

As you might already know, I’m going on vacation for a few days. I’ll be leaving soon after I write this post in fact! Though I’ll be kidless for a week, I’m only actually going somewhere for the weekend. While I’m there I’ll to do my best to stay away from the web. Therefore, I want to remind you kiddies out there to play nice and please do your best to visit each other’s SoCS posts, since I’m going to be slacking off. 😀

In celebration of my holiday, your Friday prompt for Saturday’s Stream of Consciousness post will be kinda based on that.

This week’s theme is “getting away, or getting out.” Do anything you’d like with it!

P.S. I’m looking forward to reading all your posts when I get back!

After you’ve written your Saturday post tomorrow, please link it here at the prompt page in the comments so others can find it and see your awesome Stream of Consciousness post. Don’t hesitate to join in!

Here are 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 paste the following: This post is part of SoCS: https://lindaghill.wordpress.com/2014/07/11/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-1214/  The most recent pingbacks 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!


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Method Writing

Writing characters who are vastly different to ourselves is something many of us do, or at least strive to do. It’s not easy to extract one’s personality completely from the page – we can only write what we know, after all. Yes, imagination is a far-reaching avenue, but how do we make it stretch as far as it can possibly go?

I have a theory that is probably not all that unique, but I’d like to share it anyway.

When I was in high school drama class, I learned about something called the Stanislavski Method, or, Method Acting. For a full description of what it is and how it came about click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislavski%27s_system In my own words I can tell you it’s a method of acting where the actor studies the motivations of the character and makes use of empathetic observations in order to “become” the character. Its a way of bringing about realism and believability.

This is the method I have striven to bring to my writing. To “become” the character I’m writing makes my dialogue and my character’s actions come to life. To do so I need to be able to concentrate and to empathize with what they are experiencing. I often try on their expressions and imagine, as though I’m watching them on a screen, moving in the ways that their emotions dictate. There are times, therefore, when I must go through a scene twice or more times in order to get the nuances just right from each perspective, but by doing so my scenes are much more lifelike and full of what makes my readers able to envision them.

I believe empathy is something that is essential to a writer. It’s why we people-watch; to gain insight on how people emote, their body language and what causes it. Without empathy, we can only write characters who are cardboard cut-outs of stereotypes.

I realise this is hardly a groundbreaking idea, but the Stanislavski Method of Acting is certainly one to pay attention to for a writer. The more we know our characters and what makes them tick, the more our readers are able to sympathize with their plights. We want our readers to love them or hate them. For this to happen our characters must display passion, and for them to display passion we as the writers must feel it first.

Do you ever imagine yourself watching your scene play out before you? Are you able to put yourself in your character’s shoes? I’m very interested to hear what other writer’s methods are.

 


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Just Jot it July – Busyness

On Monday, Alex started camp, and silly me, I thought that meant I’d have time to myself this week.

Monday morning started at 4am, with a very excited camper. Most of my day was lost having a nap.

Tuesday wake-up time was better, but I still had to go to camp to feed him, since it’s not “allowed” at YMCA day camps for the employees to “do anything like giving kids medicine, etc.” …which apparently lumps in feeding my kid because he’s tube fed. … It’s FEEDING! You’re not going to overdose him! After that, I had to go and meet a real estate agent at my mother’s condo. I’m trying to sell it since she’s in a retirement home. The good news? I may be able to get $1,000 more for it now than I bought it for five years ago. (Yes, I own it. Long story.) (And yes, that’s only three zeros.)

Tomorrow, Alex’s brother, Fred, is going to feed him, but I have to go in the morning to bottle my white wine (at this point I’m thinking maybe that should be whine) (unless my dear dear best friend does it for me *bats eyelashes*) and then I’m picking up mom for a trip to the bank and the doctor. Woohoo! Fun times.

THURSDAY, I have 124 papers to deliver in the morning, then take a nice hour long drive to feed Alex because they’re going on a field trip that day, and an hour back home. To the same city I’m going to for my vacation on Friday. Because I needed to drive there twice.

But the bestest news is, I’m on vacation next week!! Four days and three nights in Kingston to do research/get inspired for my novels (I can say novels with a plural now, because I’m almost 8,000 words into the sequel) and then a week at home all by my lonesome. Isn’t that awesome??

Now all I have to do is get through the next couple of days.

P.S. For all you SoCS participants, I’ll be posting the prompt early Friday and scheduling my own Saturday SoCS post but I won’t be online for the weekend. More about that on Friday.

P.P.S. If you’d like to join in Miss Lou’s Just Jot it July, go here to find the rules: http://misslouella.wordpress.com/2014/07/07/just-jot-it-july/


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Just Jot It July – 1st Edition

Miss Lou over at Miss Lou Acquiring Lore has done me the great honour of taking up the gauntlet in the “Just Jot It” series I began back in January, with Just Jot It July.

So this is me, just jotting about her month-long event for anyone who wishes to take part.

The rules are easy– you can find them here: http://misslouella.wordpress.com/2014/07/07/just-jot-it-july/

I think it’s pretty well known here on WordPress by anyone who has been around for at least one summer (like me) that July and August are the slowest months hereabouts. Posts drop off because of holidays, people go on hiatus… hiatuses… hiati… Heck they sometimes even to to Haiti!  …where was I… Oh yes! Vacations! They also mean that there aren’t as many people read our posts, so our view counts tend to go down.

For these reasons, it’s great to have prompts to keep us going. And that’s what Just Jot It July is all about.

So go and check it out, jot down your own post, and join in the jotting fun!