My Writing Odyssey

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 ...

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 un...

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 wou...

Christmas is almost upon us all now.  The presents should for the most parts be bought, wrapped and labelled.  Some of the more prepared of you may even have gifts under the tree, although mine are currently in the spare room with the christmas munchies... Sometimes presents are not a surprise to us.  In fact, maybe some of us hate getting presents that are unexpected.  It saves disappointment in a lot of cases. However, some surprises can brighten up even the most nightmarish weeks, and I am happy to say that I have had three!  My guardian mask from Hing Lung restaraunt  The first arrived on Thursday afer a late night shopping trip led us to our favourite chinese restaraunt.  We go there regularly, and the week before I had sent them a christmas card.  They have made the last year, throughout which we have visited them very frequently, and my fiance and I felt that this deserved some acknowledgement.  Upon arrival, the owner happily thank...

  That's the opening line of my proposed entry (or first entry, if I feel ambitious) for the Write Space competition on the theme of "Moving On."  But more of that in a moment.    Firstly I would like to celebrate the fact that my little blog has a follower!  A big welcome and thank you for joining me on my own Odyssey, Sam.  I hope your blog helps you to express yourself on your own journey to becoming an author. Anyhow, back to the competition entry: Currently, the opening line is the main development, and was devised about an hour ago in the bath!  That is where I get the majority of my inspiration, although nothing has made me leap out of the water and run to my laptop like certain ancient philosophers did (although not to a laptop, of course). At the moment all the details of this story are sketchy at best, but that does appear to be my writing style on professional works.  If this were a work of fan-fiction the whole ...

  Thanks to a very  late bus (well, only five minutes or so, but late is late!), I found myself wandering into WH Smiths and spying a familiar magazine... In September my subscription to Writers Forum - a magazine that has given me a lot of encouragement - came to an end.  Sadly I was unable to continue the subscription at the time due to money issues, and since then one thing cropped up, then another, and another.  It seems on the eighth day, God was stuck for something to do, and so came up with the excuse!  In the new year Writers Forum will be receiving my subscription for sure. In all honesty, what made me sieze a helpless copy and dash to the counter (where I bought chocolate, which had been the original intention for visiting the shop) was the promise of an article regarding greetings card verses.  That was an industry I had considered trying to enter when I was seventeen, but completely forgot about never got round to realising it.  It may...

Hi Everyone and thanks for stopping by my blog. It's been a busy time for me recently, not least because, as an Auditor at UK Greetings Card company Card Factory this particular time of year is very hectic. We actually start preparing for Christmas in June. This is a bit of a bad thing if, like me, you don't need much persuading to get excited for the season. I've been humming christmas tunes since August, much to the dismay of my fiance! It's also now becoming a busy period for me at home as well, due to a much-welcomed surprise last Wednesday (2nd December) I mentioned in an earlier blog entry that I had entered Vanda Inman's Write Space competition in June, and that I had fared particularly badly with my entry. Well, when I opened my inbox on Wednesday who should I have an email from but Vanda Inman herself. She was inviting me to enter a new Write Space competition ending this January, to write a 1500 word short story based on the theme of 'Lost Love....