My Writing Odyssey

Most writing enthusiasts will have heard something of NaNoWriMo throughout their journey.  I heard of it about three years ago when a Deviantart friend entered, but I had not decided to try going further with my writing career at the time, and hadn't really appreciated what it was or what it meant.  The second time I heard of it was on another blog.  This time I knew what it was, but it was the middle of November, and far too late to try.  This year I have registered well in advance for NaNoWriMo, which means I have either had some sort of epiphany, or gone mad again! I really must apologise to my patient followers for my two month silence.  Stepping away from my blog was not intentional.  In the space of three weeks I began and deleted a dozen blog posts before deciding to give it a rest.  My writing batteries had somehow managed to run down completely, to the point where I opened a word document or new post and did nothing more than stare at it.  Eventually the slump be

After my first visit to the doctor in January regarding my stomach pains, I finally went back to the hospital to find that my results all came back clear.  However, I am now being referred for more tests because they believe that my stomach pains are caused by the very thing that the doctors convinced me were nothing to do with it! This was the result of an unexpected phone call on Monday morning, when I was asked to go to see the consultant on Thursday.  Like any self-respecting 25 year old I chose the most mature option and panicked like a long tailed cat in a rocking chair factory.  Luckily my mum was on hand to come with me and stop me from mewling like a damp kitten whilst I waited to be seen.  One thing that I am very, very  good at is panicking for no real reason.  As it happened I had nothing to worry about, but by the time I got to the doctors I had diagnosed myself with everything! Fortunately I was wrong, and now have more tests to look forward to in the future.  But fo

The more eagle eyed of readers for my last post will have noticed that the title promised "and other stories," which did not materialise.  Truth be told, I completely forgot with the shiny excitement of blogging on my phone. Since then, I have tried the office capacity, for reasons I will explain, and was thoroughly impressed.  Much simpler to use, and with its help I think I got the hang of typing with my phone.  That been said, now I will never be able to type anything correctly using my phone again - silly me! Once I had posted my last entry, I noticed that my blog had found itself a tenth follower - hello J L Dale and thank you for following my blog.  I must be doing something right, after all, now that my followers now add up to double figures. Anyway, the other stories... The most exciting one is that I finally bought and paid for my wedding dress today!  I also got the chance to try it on for the first time and felt like a princess.  My mum had told me that not

After eighteen months of putting up with my horrible old phone, the time finally came where I could upgrade.  So yesterday I went to my local shop and am now typing from my swish new HTC 7 Mozart!! I had been eyeing the Windows phones for a few months, and I had heard some very positive feedback about the HTC phones. Everyone who doesn't have one seems to want one, so I'm pleased to have one of my own. The main reason for getting this phone was the built in Microsoft Office, which I...er...haven't tried yet.  However, I will be having a play with it as soon as I get the hang of the way this phone works.  Anyone watching me yesterday would have been sick of the cries of "What's it doing NOW ?!" as compared with my old phone it is extremely fast. So, here is my test post.  Hope it turns out okay . HC x

Living in a flat situated at the heart of a small city, I am used to finding my postbox filled with what ould only be referred to as "crap:" flyers, takeaway menus, catalogues from Peter Jones just because I bought a Mrs Tiggy Winkle music box for my mum many years ago...not to mention business cards and other nonsense that simply leaves me dumbfounded.  Most of it gets thrown away, although my fiance and I have been known to make use of the coupons sent to us by our local McDonalds. Today was no different - coupons for the online store of a clothing store who happen to own a shop almost across the road from my flat, and something from the electricity provider.  But I also recieved an unmarked white envelope with my name - correctly spelled - on the front.  But when I turned to read the back I was immediately intrigued by the word "Mslexia." Whilst my entry for the magazine's annual competition at the beginning of the year failed to impress the judges, it w

In the offices where I work (until I become the Next Big Thing, of course) there are a good number of us who own and love a Kindle, and another good number who are interested in owning one.  Amazon was truly on to a wonderful thing when it invented its e-reader. In the early afternoon today (whilst working very hard at the same time - just in case my boss-lady happens across my post - naturally!) we enjoyed a lovely conversation about our Kindles and how they had affected our book-buying habits.  One of my workmates commented that she no longer buys books now that she has her Kindle.  Whilst I can see the sense in it, I still felt sad.  Despite buying my e-reader I have still bought books, and my favourite store still remains my local Waterstones, where I buy most of my books. Our discussion made me think on about a comment that was made by John Cowton  on my last blog post.  I love every single comment I receive for my blog and appreciate every one that is constructive, but this o

Last week I had an accident whilst waiting for a colonoscopy which resulted in a serious blow to the head and the eventual cancellation of the appointment.  It will never have a place among my pleasant memories, the afternoon in A&E gave me a lot of time to think.  During that time I admitted to myself that no matter how hard I try, I will never be the next Terry Pratchett... ...no matter what I do I just can't grow a proper beard! Beg pardon to all of you for that silly bit of naughtiness.  It has been a long week full of stresses.and recovering from all my bumps and bruises, and it's left me prone to attacks of silliness (although it is true that the most I can achieve in terms of facial hair is a rather sparse moustache, so a beard is completely out of the question!). I have been in a "Poor Me" rut for quite some time, which has also left me with the attention span of a butterfly in many cases.  The last week was just a breaking point, although the blow t

It would appear that the world will not be ending on May 21st after all.  It is beyond me why these supposed men and women of learning seem so determined to determine the exact date of Judgement day.  The outcome is still going to be the same either way, and considering that God and God alone is supposed to have the knowledge of this day, the reaction of said deity would not necessarily be positive... Before I begin, let me point out that I do not for one minute intend for the beginning of this blog entry to be a slight against any fellow christians, just against the notion of marking the day of oblivion on our calendars. Now, with the dawn of a new day (although it is currently tea-time as I type) I thought I would begin with a little thanks and reflection.  Since December my group of followers has gone from none to eight - all within the space of five months.  Each time that I see that my blog has gained yet another follower I feel both excited and humbled in the knowledge that

2011 has been a disappointing year thanks to these unfortunate stomach-aches that I have been plagued with since January.  Finally things seem to be stabilizing and I've finally stopped struggling with belly-ache, although my stomach seems to be anticipating the pains and tensing.  Maybe once all of my tests are over I may be able to turn a corner. In other news, wedding plans have taken a busy turn.  I had to order my wedding dress three months early and so will be seeing my actual dress in August rather than November.  That doesn't sound like a bad thing, does it?  At the time - thanks to some works unpleasantness - I'd had such a dreadful day that it felt like the End of The World!  But having had time to think and calm down I feel considerably better about it. Right, I created this blog to talk about something...what was it..? Oh yes, writing! I really must apologise to all of my lovely and above all patient watchers (7 of you now - thank you all!) for puttin

To say that I have been absent this past month would be an understatement.  I have just looked and realised that a whole month has passed without me paying any attention to this blog! Apologies to all of my patient followers who have been with me so far.  The stomach cramps that I have mentioned in the past continue to plague me, although now I have visited the hospital and am going for further testing.  Whilst I have been able to continue working through the cramps, I have found that they are draining me considerably, leaving me with little energy to even indulge my favourite pastime of writing fan-fiction.  I have, however, been able to catch up with my reading. It's during this catch up that I found myself in the sci-fi/fantasy section of my favourite bookshop, or rather the section next to it.  Once upon a time the section was crammed with graphic novels and the pitiable collection of manga that the store provided.  But now I find that the selection is being reduced conside

My mother and father-in-law have very generously offered to pay for our wedding flowers, and today we went to the florist to make the arrangements.  In all honesty I had no clue what to begin with when it came to flowers, but this florist knows what she is doing.  She listened to my sketchy ideas and numerous "well I like that flower...what's it called?" and turned it into a lovely bunch of ideas.  On the way to the florist, we passed many things, but one thing caught my attention.  We had driven past a street of shops, but one was shuttered up.  I only passed it briefly, and wouldn't have paid it much heed if the words "Church Centre" hadn't caught my attention. What a funny place for a church centre to be - right in the middle of shops!  But that's when it occured to me that many churches are having to find new homes.  In fact my own church has been practicing in a former nursery school for many years, although it is still not recognised by the

After a hectic month of overtime, illness and doctor's appointments, I have finally realised that it is time to give up on the Write Space competiton. If I'm honest, I think that I was going to give the entry up at any rate.  I was struggling with a concept for the theme, and the two entries that I had actually started were turning into something else entirely!  This is a common occurence in most of my writing projects, but normally I can rescue it. Some of you may have noticed that I have added some new tabs to the top of my blog.  These are pages for th new novel-related projects that I have got planned.  At the minute they are all bouncing around in my head, fighting for my attention (I thought I had troubles with fan-fiction !!!) so maybe if I give them a home here I will reclaim some head-space and...just possibly...get some writing done. I've had an unpleasant month with my continuing stomach pains (for which I now have to put up with a 3 month wait just to see

This week I got my first letter from my auntie of the year.  She writes to me very regularly, as well as to various other members of our family.  Today I popped my reply into the post, which should be starting its journey down to Buckinghamshire. Let me tell you some things about my auntie.  She does not have Facebook, or Twitter, or even an email address.  She has not even been familiar with mobile phones for very long.  She is in her early fifties, and used to teach at primary school.  She's never married or had children, but has been writing letters to her nieces and nephews since we were all little.  They have been something of a constant in my life, and she has always had something to say. Whilst I was writing my response, I began to think about this new and modern world that we live in.  Nowadays the "done thing" is to send an email, or message the person you want to speak to using the social network of their choice.  Just how many people sit down and actually w

Posting the Mslexia competition entry seems like an entire lifetime away, especially since my recent bad health has slowed down my momentum.  Whilst I have been itching to start something else, a niggly little voice at the back of my brain kept wondering if my last competiton entry had reached its destination on time... Most competitions allow for the entrants to get acknowledgement for the receipt of their stories.  Let's face it - if you devoted weeks or even months on writing something, you are not going to be pleased if it gets lost in the post!  As someone who is naturally paranoid anyway, I had sent the standard SAE with my entry so I could be assured that my entry had arrived safe and sound. My flats have outside post-boxes, the limited space of which is balanced by the fact the sorting office is across the road.  For the past ten days I have been opening up the post box and peering hopefully inside. I have had lots of post, both welcome and unwelcome (I have a chinese

This has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with my writing, but the thought is a good foundation for a new blog entry.  I am determined to keep the dust from re-settling over here. I'll admit that I've been a little bit lax this week.  I've had lots of nice food and have enjoyed visits from some excellent friends.  I've taken a moment to catch up with my DeviantArt profile, and had a lot of fun reading the blogs I follow. I've been very fortunate to gain two new followers to my little blog!  A very big welcome to Chloe and my mystery follower.  Unfortunately Blogger has left you nameless, so I can't welcome you personally. Unfortunately, I have been unlucky with my health again.  The sleeplessness is slowly sorting itself out, with some credit due to my Sominex sleeping pills, but it has been replaced by the most intense stomach cramps I have ever experienced.  On Wednesday night they became so bad that I was struggling to breathe, and wound up snivellin

The Mslexia entry is finished at last - editing is completed and it was posted today - 4 days before the deadline.  I have been cutting it very fine, but I have had other factors to consider, and at last it has been completed Tuesday night, I put my foot down and started typing like a woman possessed (hence the title).  I was determined to make sure I met my first competition deadline of the year and was not about to let sleeping issues beat me.  I'm actually proud of what I wrote, although it was a violent scene that I am not accustomed to writing.  As such I doubted that I was going to do very well with it, certainly as I was feeling unwell.  But I found that I could type out the scene with relative ease.  Could it be that I have secretly been wanting to write about blood and murder?  Or that I've been reading C.J Sansom books too much (which aren't short of a grisly murder or two) and have been influenced by it?  Or maybe I just knew exactly what I wanted and didn

It's been over a week since I last posted on my blog.  I've been trying to get my short story completed, but I'm still struggling with getting my sleeping pattern back on track.  Things are now getting close... Friday is going to be my deadline for this story entry - it being the 21st.  I'm feeling optimistic about getting it completed, provided my methods of writing it continues the way it has been. At the minute I am writing the story in what can only be described as wild spasms of frantic (but constructive ) typing, spaced between periods of inactivity where I stare at the laptop screen, then the keyboard, then the screen, and so on, while pulling various facial expressions at both.  I've been very good, managing to reduce my evening usage of Facebook, Deviantart, Youtube and my Kindle (er.....better than I thought I would, actually :D) to a minimum.   Once this story is over and out of the way, I will give myself a couple of days to rest and catch up with my

Well, happily my last blog post was all about inspiration, and I can confirm that my story entry stands at 922 words!  The story is at present almost halfway finished, and my word count does not include all the words and sentences that have been moved or replaced.  I have not got as far as I would like, but considering the events of the past week, I have done rather well! Before I begin waffling on about my reasons and excuses, let me begin by welcoming Ryan to my list of followers.  I hope you enjoy the journey!  Also many thanks to Nari, for her continuing encouragement :) Since Boxing day, my sleep pattern has messed itself up tremendously.  It started where I was restless, and woke up constantly every night.  Happily, I had booked some holiday time from work, and could counter the wakefulness with some lie-ins.  I put it down as my body reacting to the end of the stressful period that is the countdown to Christmas where I work, and thought it would settle down. That was two we

After finding out that my Write Space competition entry was not due in until February, I shelved it in favour of the Mslexia entry, which is due in three weeks.  But thanks to the lack of a theme, I was stuck for ideas to enter.  Cue Writers Forum issue #111 with just the thing... That magazine has a lot to answer for - if I am ever fortunate enough to become the Next Big Thing I must make sure it is credited appropriately. Character is important in any story, and I am the type to prioritise character development over the plot.  Because of this, I am determined to not make my characters perfect and therefore make them believable.  Therefore I spend a lot of time developing them and working out who they are before I throw them into their intended plot line.  For anyone who has looked at the "Character Profiles" section of this blog, you will note that only my oldest character, Krypta Syra, is noted.  This is because I have been developing Krypta since my early teens, and

On the first day of 2011, I think it is time for a little reflection.  But first let me wish everyone who reads this a very Happy New Year and all the best for 2011! What a busy month December has been for this little blog since its revival!  The dust has been well and truly blown away with me publishing numerous posts.  December has seen my blog receive its first ever comments and now has two followers!  A special welcome to Victoria - thank you so much for following me!  This first month has been wonderfully revitalising, and may that continue well into the new year and beyond. 2010 has otherwise been a very unpleasant year for personal reasons, but it is now ended.  2011 will be a new start, full of possibilities and hope.  This year I hope to actually make something of my writing dreams... Yes, I say that every year, but this is the third time - maybe it will be lucky? This year, inspiration is my key word.  It is my goal to find inspiration in as many places as possible: v