Is it me or is it them?

Good morning everybodies!

I just have a little rant I need to get off my chest.  I was driving to work this morning on my normal route which takes me past the hospital.  As I head towards work one lane turns into two as I approach some traffic lights, where I eventually turn left.

I was approaching the lights today and had my signal on to indicate my intentions when the person in front of me also signalled left but was pulling over at the side of the road.  I found this quite irritating and so proceeded to go around them, and then felt bad when an ambulance came past with its lights flashing.

In hindsight though I really don’t know why the car in front pulled over, it was a two-lane road and there was nothing in the right hand lane.  If anything it could have caused an accident as it was unclear for her reasoning.

I am not completely clear of fault as I didn’t see the ambulance coming and just pulled round but the other car is not totally clear I feel.

Anyway, just had to get that out of my system so I can proceed with my day with a clear head.

Has anyone else had similar annoyances on the road?  Answers on a postcard!

Until next time,

H xxx

Progress ...

So, again my scheduled blog is a day late but I'm keeping on track with it. There was a couple of times in the week that I thought about posting something and I wish I had done now. I really want my blog to flow naturally and reflect my thinking at the time. By having a scheduled time to do it makes for a rather stilted entry.

I've had a good week writing wise. I've been writing in my notebook every day with at least 600 words at a time. I've been doing this since the last week in December and having just had a quick flick through I can't quite believe how much I've written down. It's not in any workable format at the moment, more a fountain of ideas which I can delve into now and again when I feel less inspirational.

I'm nearly ready to submit the short story I've been working on, although I think it'll be going to a different one than intended. I have found a different competition with less of an entry fee and all entries receive feedback on their submission. I haven't had much feedback at all on my work yet, the main reason for that being that I don't actually show anybody, so I thought it would be a good opportunity.

Incidentally, I have been considering posting stories or extracts of my work on this blog and would certainly welcome any feedback that you lovely readers would care to offer. Once I've settled more into my writing routine I might make it a regular thing. I will keep you posted.

Until next time,

H xxx

So far, so good ...

Hi folks,

So my weekly blog is a day late this week but this weekend seemed so busy. Ask me what I did though and I probably couldn't tell you. I didn't do any writing whatsoever on Saturday and that felt really quite strange.

I am really quite pleased, I managed to get up at 6am each day last week and write my morning pages before doing anything else. I've found this quite useful to gather my thoughts and get something written down.

I also managed the first draft of a story I'm hoping to submit to a competition at the end of the month. I sat down and wrote about 1500 words in one sitting. I've put it away for a few days and will start tweaking it a bit later today. It's such a good feeling to be on the way to finishing something. This is key for one of my goals for 2012. I hope I can continue it.

As for my weekly word count I have achieved:

Sunday – 1109

Monday – 2181

Tuesday – 679

Wednesday – 615

Thursday – 608

Friday – 1130

Saturday – 0

That's a total of 6322 for the week.

I have another goal to add to my list, and I hope this is not going to tip things over in terms of what I can manage. I was reading in my Writers Magazine that to write the first draft of a novel as little as 500 words a day would be enough to finish it in about 6 months. I don't know if this is a touch too ambitious but I'm going to give it a go and see how far I get. At this point in time I'm looking at my writing very much as a hobby and not putting too much pressure on myself. I'm just going to ease myself into it.

Until next time,

H xxx

A New Year, A New Perspective!

Hi folks!

First of all I would like to wish everyone a very happy new year and I hope that Christmas was enjoyed by all!

It has been quite a few weeks since my last post for which I send my apologies.  The back end of last year saw my attentions focussed elsewhere which left no room for my creative side.
I am glad to say though that I am now back, with a renewed fire inside to get on with my writing.  This year is going to be one of positivity and achievement. 
It is the year that I will be published.  The time that I have had off work over Christmas has really given me a chance to get myself into the right frame of mind to achieve what I want to.

Awhile ago I read a blog post that gave me the gentle nudge I needed to focus my goals into smaller steps.  It is such a simple idea but a valuable one.  To take a look for yourself just follow this link - http://mirrormaskfiction.com/2011/12/02/a-look-back-retrospective-on-2011s-challenge/

My own goals for 2012:

* Write one short story every two weeks
* Submit to one writing competition each month
* Regularly write 3000 words each week

I will officially be starting work on these goals on 1st January 2012 but so far this week I have already written over 1500 words, which is definitely a good start.

I aim to update this blog each week with my word count as well as progress on my projects.  I want to use this blog as an account for myself as well as for you lovely people who give their time to follow a fellow writer.  Your support is greatly appreciated!

Until next time,

H xxx

Struggling a little bit ...

Hi folks,

I hope everyone is well.  I'm having a bit of a down week myself.  I've really been looking forward to this week, I'm on holiday from my actual work and was hoping to spend a lot of my time doing writing on different projects.
Unfortunately things haven't really gone to plan.  It's already Wednesday and this blog post is the first thing I've really been able to sit down and write properly.

I tried to do some work on my NaNoWriMo project last night but annoyingly the other half was watching Holby City and I was just too distracted by it to concentrate properly.  I know I should have just packed up my netbook and taken it upstairs out of the way but I just had to see if little baby Freya survived.  I'm glad to say that she did but it was a total waste of one hour in my evening.

Talking of NaNoWriMo, that isn't going very well at all.  I've only managed a measly 2000 words and by now, day 9, I should be on about 15000.  Over the past couple of days I have thought about giving up on the whole thing, but I shall persevere and try and get as much done as I can.  Even if I'm sure what I'm writing seems to be a lot of waffle at the moment!

Until next time,

H xx

Optimism and positive thinking ...

Hi folks!

Well I'm gearing myself up for NaNoWriMo now, less than 12hrs to go, eek!  I've got a story outlined, I know roughly who the characters are and what the ending is going to be.  Once I sat down and started making notes I found the story really took on a life of its on.  I'm not quite sure exactly how it's going to begin but I'm hopeful that once I sit down to it tomorrow the words will come poring out.  What can I say, I'm an optimist!  It's an average of 1667 words a day to reach the magic total so I'll keep you updated as I go.

Another hurdle overcome this week was that I actually submitted a short story for a competition yesterday.  It was a ghost story for the Fiction Garden competition, and although I'm not holding my breath for any kind of result it's a personal achievement for me that I actually managed to submit something.  Now I've got the first one out of the way the process should become easier.  Again, ever the optimist.

I'm really making progress as well with planning my writing now, I have a few different things I'm trying to juggle and find that list making is invaluable.  I just have to make sure I keep them altogether so I don't forget anything!

Until next time,

H x

NaNoWriMo - Have a Go!

Hi folks!

It's been longer than I'd anticipated since my last post. So many things seem to have happened all at once.

My little girl trapped her finger in a door and had to have an operation to have her fingernail put back. That was really the worst thing I've gone through since having her.

The scales then tipped the other way though as I am now engaged! The wedding is in nine months so I'm on the verge of going into full organisational mode.

All I can say is thank goodness for my writing. Whether I'm feeling down or so excited I feel I may explode, writing never fails to ground me and give me something to focus on away from the distractions. It's my very own form of therapy.

I'll have that more than ever in November, something which I'm not sure if I'll cope with yet, as I am taking part in NaNoWriMo for the very first time – that is National Novel Writing Month.

If you've never heard of it before, basically it involves being challenged to write 50000 words in 30 days. You get to work on a novel you've been sitting on for however long and get it (or most of it) written in a month. It doesn't matter if you don't finish the novel, as long as you hit the 50000 word target you have won!

For more information go to http://www.nanowrimo.org/

I am going to get to work this week on my characters and layout then I'll be ready to start come 1^st November. I'll probably have plenty to blog about as I get through the month, if I get time that is!, and I'll let you know how I'm getting on. Let me know if you plan to have a go too!

Until next time,

H x