Another first draft complete

Woohoo! Another first draft finished and Cinderella gets her 'sort of' happy ever after, at least the best happy ever after that she can hope for in the complex love and family circumstances she is now in.

After ditching the false beginning which was all about Sleeping Beauty who suffered from narcolepsy (and never made another appearance in the story), I have replaced it with the original short story that started it all. And this is my final first draft word count:

68,572 / 68,572 (100.0%)

Today, I've been editing 'I'm with the Band' and looking through magazines for words for a collage gift that I'm making for a friend. I will post a picture of the gift once it is finished and presented.

My last short story has been doing the rounds of the office and I've been getting some very interesting and encouraging feedback. It's very appropriate for my co-workers to read it as it is set in a call centre, and we work in a call centre. But I've got to hang out for another four weeks to find out the competition results. The results are in, but will not be announced until the writers' group AGM. Best not to think about it.

So with the completion of Beyond Happily Ever After, that makes five first drafts in various stages of development. Time for some editing!

The Almighty Critic has forgiven me & the Ipod oracle

It seems that the Almighty Critic has forgiven me. Or maybe he/she had a second read of my writing and decided it wasn't so bad after all.I found the missing 844 words. The words were hiding in a notepad file entitled 'rescued document' with loads of question marks and the missing words. I came across it accidently last night when I was creating my google base feed for the Chickollage store. So now I have to compare those the two versions of the scene.

I've been churning out the words with regular word sprints. I'm hanging in there on writing 100 words a day and often surprise myself as to my productivity, especially on work days.

Beyond Happily Ever After is now up to 64,821 words. I've extended the word count goal as the story expands, but I truly think I will cross the finish line of Beyond Happily Ever After in around 2.5k words. I've already written the final part of the story. I just need to write the 2 scenes that get me to that point.

Once I've finished Beyond Happily Ever After, I will start preparing the first three chapters of both that and I'm with the Band for a competition coming up in June. Which mean synopsis writing. Not one of my most favoured aspects of writing.

I want to dedicate May to polishing one manuscript for submission (which means - gulp - more synopsis writing but reducing a 5 page double spaced synopsis to a single page single paced synopsis. More gulping).

And then in June, a bunch of RWA writing buddies and I are doing our down under version of Nano. We've dubbed it 50ks in 30 days and we're taking advantage of our winter and the need to hibernate to work on our novels. I have no idea what I will be writing, although I may resurrect Hold the Anchovies, my novel about working as a pizza delivery girl.

So, it's full on and there's lots of work to do!

I thought it was time for another MP3 oracle. This time it will be an oracle by the divine Ipod because I've moved up in the world. I love my Ipod. I love that this it makes a random selection from all the songs on my computer - and I cannot promise I will know all the songs (or artists) it plays today.

Set the Ipod on shuffle, and then hit play to answer the first question. Hit next to answer each subsequent question.

So here goes:

1.How are you feeling today?
I guess that's why they call it the blues - Elton John(um, no I'm feeling good today. Tomorrow when I get to work may be a different story.)

2.Will you get far in life?
Wild Star - Transvision Vamp (you don't cruise,you just ride on by)

3. How do your friends see you?
Before too long - Paul Kelly (he who is nothing will suddenly come into view)

4.Will you get married?

Alimony Blues - Chris Wilson (so I guess that's a no)

5. What is your best friend’s theme song?

Fall to pieces - bluehouse

6. What is the story of your life?
The Angel and the Madman - Moving Pictures (Hmm but who is the angel and who is the madman?)

Moving Pictures have certainly provided the soundtrack to my life.

7. What was high school like?
Don't tell me the time - the Motels (This is probably right, I have never liked living my life to a schedule but it is part of adult life)

8. How can you get ahead in life?

In this little town - Dave Stewart & the Spiritual Cowboys (well, yes, I am living in a little town and I have never been more productive)

9.What is the best thing about your friends?
The Trouble with Andre - Shakespear's Sister (hang on, I don't even have a friend named Andre, maybe that's a good thing.)

10. What is in store for this weekend?
Would I lie to you? - Eurythmics (guess I'm not telling)

11. To describe your grandparents?
Mexican Moon - Concrete Blonde (huh?????)

-"thinking of you underneath the mexican moonlight"

12. How is your life going?
"working through the rooms in my head I came across your image"

I Don't Care - Shakespear's Sister.

"whenever I fall, I land on my feet"

13. What song will they play at your funeral?
Never Can Say Goodbye - Gloria Gaynor (cool!)

Does this mean that I will come back to life?

14. How does the world see you?
Another Stupid Love Song - Amiel

15. Will you have a happy life?
When you Smile - Concrete Blonde (ok, so I need to smile more)

16. What do your friends really think of you?
The Power - Vanessa Amarosi

17. Do people secretly lust after you?
I Think I'm Paranoid - Garbage

18. How can I make myself happy?
Blue Black - Heather Nova (really not sure how to interpret this one)

19. What should you do with your life?
Wreckage - Chris Wilson

'We're wreckage but I love you just the same."

20. Will you ever have children?
Island - Heather Nova

21. What song would you strip to?
Hymn - Chris Wilson (definitely not! - this is an instrumental with a heartbeat)

22. If a man in a van offered you candy, what would you do?
I've got to fight - ???????

23. What does your mum think of you?
Heaven and Earth - Tania Bowra.

Ah, the dichotomy!

24. What is your deep dark secret?
Reckless - Australian Crawl

25. What is your mortal enemy’s theme song?
Mustang Sally - the commitments

26. What’s your personality like?

People Like Me - Chris Wilson

"people like me - we'd rather live on nothing than slowly die to live"

27. Which song will be played at your wedding?

Don't Change a Thing -INXS

And the words just vanish!

I lost 844 words tonight. Actually more - I'd written 121 words during the day and when I tried to save the new 844 words to my flashdrive, it gave me grief and wiped the whole file instead. There is a copy of the file on my hard drive but only up to last night's writing.

Aargh!!!!

Cinderella's cursing me too! When I left her at the end of the 844 words, she was holding her new gorgeous baby in her arms and now - she has to go through the labour again. Well, not really - the scene I lost wasn't about her labour, it was about her husband's anxiety because he's just been busted! With his pants down. You get the drift. Prince Charming! Not quiet.

So it's back to recreating the scene. Perhaps the almighty critic of the universe had decided that it just wasn't right. The judgemental flash drive obviously didn't think much of it. But it would've been nice if they'd let me decide!

Back to work!

Finished 'I'm with the Band!'

Whoo hoo! The first draft of 'I'm with the Band' is complete! I finished writing it on Monday (the day before I was due back at work) with a mammoth writing effort of 4,314 words for the day.

This is the final word count:

110,173 / 110,173 (100.0%)

So my estimate that I'd be finished at 103,000 words was not quite right - the story kept expanding.


And this photo above indicates how I felt at the end of the writing marathon. Although the cyber dancing girls did come out to celebrate and did high kicks, and splits, and somersaults. Thanks Sandie and Rachel.


I'm still amazed that these two photos and the acoustic Moving Pictures tour in 2005 inspired a whole novel. The imagination is a wonderful thing!






The feeling I wanted to capture for the story was about a woman feeling 17 again, being transported back to her teenage years by the reunion of her favourite band. I even managed to slip in a cameo for the author when the band plays a gig in Coffs Harbour.


So this manuscript will be set aside for awhile as I complete my 100 word a day challenge with Beyond Happily Ever After.

53,592 / 60,000 (89.3%)

When I've finished Beyond Happily Ever After, I will have completed three first drafts in less than 3 years. So somehow, somewhere, sometime I need to fit in the rewriting, editing, reworking that is required to polish these drafts to submission standard.



And submit, submit, submit.

My Writing Journey

Rachel left a challenge on her blog to talk about our 'call to writing'. The following piece I composed a year ago as a homework exercise for my writers' group.

Once upon a time I wanted to be a writer. I dreamed about it. I envisioned it. I talked about it. And occasionally I wrote.

I was consumed by the relentless pace of the city. I was out almost every night of the week, at the theatre, the cinema or opening nights at work. I was gathering writing material, experiencing life, and dumping the events and memories into a filing cabinet into my mind, unsorted and unexamined. Rarely writing anything down.

My journal entries were sporadic and did not live up to my intentions. Looking back, I regret not keeping a log of the theatre productions I attended. The files in my filing cabinet have become damaged and incomplete and sometimes I can’t find the key to unlock the memories.
I made many excuses not to write. I was too busy. There were not enough hours in the day. My hand could not keep up with my thoughts. But they were all just excuses. I could choose to write anyway.

Ten years ago I made the decision to learn to be a writer. I moved to Adelaide and enrolled in a Professional Writing Course. I knew that I could no longer be distracted by the constant stimulation of Sydney.

It was a start. I learned about style and structure, editing, character, outlining, writing short stories and novels. But the course was the highligh of my week and my daily life was falling apart as I took on the mind-numbing ask of preparing loan documents for scanning at the Westpac Mortgage Centre. I applied for jobs in the theatre and arts industry and was constantly disheartened by the parochial and condescending attitude of the reigning arts administrators.
So it was time to sell up and move back to a friendlier town before I tied myself to the Glenelg tram line.

My father had moved to Kempsey and said we should join him. We looked at the map before bundling our possessions and drugged-out cat into the car, and decided we would end up either in Port Macquarie or Coffs Harbour.

And then I was offered a job in Nambucca so I moved. The job fell through. I wondered what the hell I was doing in this town with no job and no prospects. Until I joined the Nambucca Valley Writers Group.

A few months later I started work in Coffs Harbour but by the time I moved north, I had bonded with the writers of the Nambucca Valley. By tackling new writing exercises, I learned that I didn’t need a writing course to learn how to write. I just needed to do it.

Here I am, three complete first drafts, one nearly complete first draft, and one started novel later. Since joining the group, I’ve written more than 340,000 words and created more than thirty collage poems. I’ve learned that ideas will always come if you just take the time to write. I’ve learned that writing every day keeps the muse happy and your writing world just below the surface ready to access with a stroke of a pen or the tapping of the keyboard. I’ve learned that there is no better high than a creative high – when the words are perfect and the characters are alive and you are inhabiting a world of your own creation.

Postscript: since writing this piece I have joined RWA and attended the conference in 2008. While I don't strictly write romance, all my stories have a girl and a guy and usually a happy ending. But the theme of all my novel-length pieces so far is 'finding yourself through some form of creativity'. Which is exactly how I'm living my life.

Cumulative word count is more than 400,000 words (see sidebar for breakdown) and the well of creativity is never dry.

In the last 12 months, Nambucca Valley Writers Group has expanded exponentially. Last Saturday, we added another 4 members to our group. We now have members in Coffs Harbour, Taree, South West Rocks, Melbourne and even one member who spends six months of each year in Vanuatu. Yes, we have become international. And this year, we celebrate our 20 year anniversary.

Gardening and writing

Every time I pick up a tomato and cut it open now, I despair that I failed horticulture miserably. You don't know what you are getting anymore. The tomato might look fine on the outside (although that seems to be pretty rare) but on the inside....ugh, another wasted vegetable in the bin.

I went to an agricultural school. I learned how to milk cows. My father grew vegetables. Why did I pay so little attention? Was it because I always was escaping to fantasy worlds?I was transported by the written word to places that I could only dream of, places that only lived in my imagination.

I am a gardener. Just a different sort.

I plant the seeds deep in my subconscious. Sometimes the seeds have floated in on the wind, and I'm not even aware that they have landed in my garden bed and implanted themselves into the soil until the first sprout of an idea. I fertilise the idea with characters, settings - turn it around in my subconscious until it starts emerging from my imagination as a scene or a story. Other times, I am conscious of the seed appearing, and I may even brainstorm it, picking the right conditions for the seed to flourish and become a story.

So I have chosen to be a gardener of stories and I enjoy it. Enjoy the whole imaginative process from the time that the seed is planted to when it emerges as a beautiful flower or tree. Yes, it's hard work. But I can see something as a result - a product of the labour. I may not be able to eat it, but I can savour the writing, enjoy it, share it with others.

Growing tomatos, on the other hand, looks like hard work. And once the tomato is eaten, it's gone.

So the current patch of ground is Beyond Happily Ever After and the story is growing:

52,491 / 60,000 (87.5%)

Soon I hope it will blossom.

What's in a name?

Yesterday was the first day that I didn't write at least 100 words. I wrote 91 words and these were words added while I transcribed my longhand onto the computer. But as 'I'm with the Band' is nearly finished (at over 100k), I need to work out where the missing pieces are. So I started a spreadsheet to record the details of each scene. Still working on the writing just in a different way.

This morning I woke up with the characters of Kirsty and Luke in my head from the film festival novel, Making the Cut. So already I've written two scenes with them, the first of which will insert somehow into the existing first chapter so that antagonist and hero are introduced early on. The only thing that concerns me is that the majority of the story is told from the point of view of the heroine, except for the scenes with Elizabeth, Bilby Creek's matriarch, and these new scenes are from Luke's point of view. Which means that I will probably have to rewrite some later scenes from Luke's POV. (I need to CUT words not ADD words). Anyway, my renewed and sudden passion for this story means that the first three chapters should be rewritten very soon and submitted.

So far, it's been a really good Easter weekend. It's just me and the cat. And Thursday night I watched a Clark Gable movie Comrade X, which I hadn't seen before. It was a movie made in 1940 so he's in prime and he's hot! I followed that up Friday morning with Homecoming. In this one he was a little older (made in 1948) but still it was nice to watch two of his movies that I hadn't seen before. Of course, I saw Gone with the Wind when I was 13 and have liked him ever since. It doesn't matter to me that he is always Clark Gable no matter what role he plays.

I've also reached the point where I need to change the names in 'I'm with the Band'. I cannot possibly have a couple named Kat and Matt, and another couple Maddie and Freddie. It wasn't purposeful, it just happened that way. Plus the band name needs to change as well. So I've been playing around on some generators on the web: Rate my Band, Band Name Maker plus others. At the moment, Eloquent Beast is sounding good to me for the name of the band. Names may change to Nelson (for Freddie, because he's a bit pretentious and probably renamed himself), and Jake instead of Matt. And perhaps the singer will change to Ben. I find naming male characters very difficult. Common names are too common and I will come up with a name and then think of someone I know with that name and dismiss it. Uncommon names or unusual names often seem too pretentious or 'soap-opera-style' and often position the character in the wrong age group. Mind you, I have no problems using these names for minor characters: I have one sleazy guy in I'm with the Band called 'Hunter' and he is definitely on the hunt. Still, progress is being made and that's all that matters.

I've been busy writing....

Well, I finished Book in a Week with 7639 words - not quite the 10k target I wanted but at 76% I'm very happy with that and I think I only have three scenes to write of 'I'm with the Band' and the first draft is finished. The total word count is now over 99k and the zokutu word meter is still not updating!

Happily, I have written the final scene, so I know exactly where everything's heading and there should be no deviations or wild tangents.

Considering I gave up caffeine the same week as the BIAW, I think I did very well, and I'm sure that my health will be better for it. I've gone past the stage of caffeine headaches but this week, I had a major sore throat and ended up having a day off work, and then a day on alternative duties (i.e. non-speaking) when I returned. Today I had a pesky migraine but I'm starting to feel better now, especially as the next two weeks are four day weeks, thanks to Easter, and then I have a week off to write and edit to my heart's content.

I joined the 100 words a day challenge which started on 1 March and I have written every day since (which sometimes doesn't even happen during Nanowrimo). It's a habit that I do want to instill every day so while some times it has meant taking my notebook to bed and scribbling out the minimum before turning off the lights, my minimum word count any day so far has been 132 words. Haven't written anything so far today and I'm not counting blog posts.

I'm really enjoying watching Dexter at the moment. It is such an intriguing show and Michael C Hall does such a fantastic job in making the audience complicit with his actions. I've reserved the novel from my library - it will make an interesting read. Meanwhile the entire first series will replay on Austar on Easter Monday. Can't think of a better way of spending it. Dexter and Easter Eggs!

I also got a new mobile phone and an ipod last week. While the mobile phone is purely functionary and I really cannot be bothered playing around with all the extras, I love my Ipod. why did I buy some other brand before? Don't know but maybe it had something to do with the expense a couple of years ago. I love that i can just plug it into my computer and it will select 240 songs at random, so I never really know what I'm going to get. And then browsing itunes and discovering albums from bands I love that I didn't know existed. Certainly puts the collection of CDs offered in the shopping centres up here to shame. But it could get expensive. So there will be no new songs at the moment. Maybe they can be a reward for when I finish the first draft!

Easter cards available at my cafepress shop.

A long weekend

Today is Leap Day, a bonus day for the year and the best thing is I don't have to be at work! Yes, it's a three day weekend for me and another weekend of solitude so I hope to achieve a lot.

One of the good things about today and the rest of the weekend is the ability to control my auditory environment. I haven't been kidding lately when I've told people I want to go to a convent so I can take a vow of silence. The day job has times when fifty voices or so just build up on top of each other and I feel like my head is going to explode with all the noise. The voices rise and fall, but when everything is talking at once, it can be absolutely pandemonium. At the moment, all I can hear is the clock ticking, the rush of the wind, the birds singing, the house creaking and the occasional car driving by. It is so peaceful. I can invite extra noise in when I want to - music, television, telephone - but for now I am revelling in the relative sounds of silence. And also enjoying not having to speak.

I've updated the blog for Nambucca Valley Writers Group, added a couple of slides shows, a section for our accolades (we're a talented bunch), and the previous winners of our writing competition.

I finished my short story and entered it in the Writers Group contest. The trophy spent the first year in my home, displayed proudly after I won the inaugural contest in 2006 with a collage poem. But then last year I had to give it back. I wonder if it will make its way home to me this time. (I know - the competition is tough!)

I'm still toying with the story about the mobile phones so I may end up with a collection of futuristic stories, nightmare scenarios of the future when we are taken over by technology.

I'm considering signing up for the RWA BIAW (Book in a Week) which commences on Monday, just to get my butt kicked a bit and finally finish the first draft of 'I'm with the Band'. I'm hoping that another 10,000 words will see the first draft complete. (Current word count is 89,597)

I am definitely signing up for 100 words for 100 days through my teenlit list. I really want to instill the writing every day habit. It's almost there but I do miss the occasional day. And I guess the days where I spend time processing ideas in my head but don't commit anything to paper don't count. But they should! Because sometimes it means that the story or scene will come out of my head and onto paper almost fully formed.

Shirt and other writer products available at my Chickollage store.

I've been neglecting my collage poetry and as I want to put together an anthology, I need to spend more time than that.







As they say, so many words, too little time! Now to make time stretch....

Tagged

I've been tagged by a writer friend so I guess I've got to do the following meme: (I'll get you back some time Sandie!)

The 'rules' are as follows :-

1/ you link back to the person who tagged you.

2/ post these rules on your blog.

3/ share six unimportant things about yourself.

4/ tag six random people at the end of your entry.

5/ let the tagged people know by leaving a comment on their blogs.



Six unimportant thing about me. (why unimportant? and by who's definition?)

1. I cut my neighbour's hair when I was six, ending any hope of being a hairdresser for a career. Got into a bit of trouble for that one.

2. I was born three months premmie.

3. I have a teddy bear named Bondage Bear, he learned this deviancy when I was at uni.

4. My best friend and I have been friends since 2nd grade, which was a long long time ago.

5. I wanted to be an actress until I auditioned for a few drama courses and flunked.

6. My first car was a volkswagon named Helga.


And the six random people are:

Karina

Sami

Five Second Dance Party

Stephanie Kuehnert

Jetting Through Life

J M Snyder

Have fun!

A weekend of solitude

I could be watching Tropfest tonight. I won tickets to the 'Sony Patch of Grass' after entering their short story competition. But as Tropfest screens on a Sunday evening, and I have to be back at work at 8am tomorrow morning, I'm still in Coffs Harbour and Tropfest is still at the domain.

But the tickets won't be going to waste. Robbie happened to be going to Sydney this weekend so he will be there with his little sister.

Instead, I have scored myself a weekend of solitude. This is absolutely delightful as I've been feeling lately that there is way much noise in my life, and people talking is the major percentage of noise. So I am enjoying the sounds of nature, the sounds of music and some talking when I switch on a movie. But the talking is contextual and its not a cacophony of noise as fifty people try to talk at once. Welcome to my dayjob!

Yesterday, I read a friend's manuscript which included a lot of short stories and now I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed about finishing my short story because she's so good. But I will. I shall. The deadline is next Saturday.

I also watched Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown again. I haven't seen the film in years, but I still love it. Strong women, ensuing chaos. I still think it's one of Almodovar's best.

Flirting with short story ideas and heavy metal

Following on from last week's post where writing a short story is like having a fling, while a novel is like a marriage, it seems that I can't even decide who I want to have a fling with. The idea that had been flitting around my head like a manic moth bashing it's wings against the light globe is still there, but I'd also opened my computer file labelled 'ideas' and found 1. a love triangle between a man, a woman and a cat and 2) a file labelled 'Notes for a screenplay' about working in a call centre.

So I have been flirting with all three ideas during the week, committing at least to a date with the cat triangle and writing some more, and then a date with the call centre story- The film idea would have been very expensive as live action and I alway thought it would work as an animation - but as I don't draw.....it's been on the backburner. But of course elements that could be very expensive in a film, don't cost anything in a short story because it's just narrative, description, action and dialogue. No actors demanding huge salaries needed. And no special effects. It's all in the words.

So, yes I was being fickle, unable to decide which idea I wanted to commit to, and playing around a bit with at least two of them, as I got to know them better! A convesation there, a look here, trying to start a fling in the wrong place....I still wasn't sure what to do. False starts, deleting, backspacing. In my imagination, I even believed that maybe just maybe I could write all three short stories in three weeks. It's still possible ...there are now two weeks left to go before the competition deadline.

Rollerball, Devil's Kitchen, 9 Feb 2008

I had a false start on the call centre story. I wrote quite a bit of it, but it seemed to start too late in the story and didn't show enough of the evolution of the call centre worker from human to machine. It has been inspired by my many customer's who ask me if I'm a real person.

My Left Boot, Devil's Kitchen, 9 Feb 2008

Then Saturday night, Robbie and I went to a music event. He was filming and I was taking some photos. Well, it was heavy metal and I'm not a fan of that type of music. Yes, I saw Black Sabbath when I was 13 but that did not light a pathway for my future music taste.

Monkey Butt Wrench, Devil's Kitchen, 9 Feb 2008

The night was interesting but long and so very very loud. Five different heavy metal bands performed (as pictured). I took many photos using both my film SLR camera and my digital and got some interesting shots, but really could not get into the music. I think the sound quality had a lot to do with this: I can't really see the point of having a vocalist if the instruments are going to be revved up to the max, to drown out any possiblity of hearing the vocals.

I'm not going to attempt any kind of review, because I'm not the band's audient. I don't listen to this kind of music as a rule. And I never really got the head-banging stuff.

Boozehag, Devil's Kitchen, 9 Feb 2008

Between bands, I recommenced writing the call centre story. The next band would come on and I'd get up and take some photos and return to my chair to find it missing. (Guys from the first band -Monkey Butt Wrench - kept nicking it when I vacated it). And then I'd keep writing during the next break. I wrote the whole first draft of the story. There's some more to add as I need to ensure I cover everything in Maislow's Hierarchy of Needs, but I'm pretty happy with it.

The Black Stars, Devil's Kitchen, 9 Feb 2008

And I've discovered that I can write anytime I wish. Mind you, if it had've been at a blues gig, then I quite possibly would not have had the same outcome. Or I would've been writing something completely different.

A fling or a marriage: the writer's choice

At lunchtime on Friday, a woman walked past me, arguing on her mobile phone. I started thinking about how we're all supposed to be in instant contact with each other now, at the end of a text message, if not at the end of a conversation. I watch my call centre colleagues walk out the door and immediately turn on their mobile phone and I wonder why. My mobile phone stays in my bag usually switched off. I spend enough time on the phone at work, I don't want to spend my lunch time on the phone. I I don't want to be so easily reached. Doesn't anyone appreciate solitude anymore?

My brain started buzzing and the idea for a short story started to flit around my head. I could feel those endorphins being released as the idea became stronger, and I'm allowing it to keep flitting around like a moth trapped in a jar, until it's ready to appear as a short story. I'm thinking it will be sci-fi, which will be a completely new experience for me. I haven't written a sci fi story since I was 12.

I have less than 3 weeks to write this story. Nambucca Valley Writers Group's annual writing competition is on again and the deadline is screaming towards me.

I don't write short stories very often. I wrote Beyond Happily Ever After twelve months ago which won 2nd prize in the Mid North Coast Writers short story comp, but have not written any shorts since then. There's a big difference between writing short stories and novels. The writing is much more precise, there is no time for ramble and there is not much character development. A short story is almost a moment in time. A slice of life. It doesn't explore a character over a period of time.

But I think writing a short story is like having a fling. You can flirt with different possibilities, you can try things that you would never commit to in a longer piece because - 'we're only going to be together for 3000 words' and you can fall in love and live in those lustful, first stages of love.

There is no commitment because you're in and out of there in 3000 words. Writing is fast, editing is fast. A couple of weeks (or less) and you can move onto the next idea.

Writing a novel is like getting married. It's a big commitment. You not only have to be in lust with your characters, you have to have a deeper love for them, a love that will sustain you through the ups and downs of the author-character relationship while they laugh with you, talk with you and often betray you. You've got to be in it for the long haul and prepared to live with these people for a long time.

I never used to be into commitment. More than a decade ago, I would have described myself as a serial monogamist. In love with being in love. Chasing the thrill of the first passion. But that changed when I met my partner.

So it is interesting that in my writing I choose the commitment. I choose situations that are going to hang around for a long time and characters that I want to spend a lot of time with. And when I reach the end of a novel, I find it hard to let go. Because they've become like friends. And why not? I've spent so much time with them.

So my question to you is:

As a reader or a writer, what is your preference?
Novels or short stories?

Writing Workshop

This weekend I did a writing workshop with my writers' group. The workshop was led by Peter Matheson, a dramaturg and was about storytelling. There was a lot of emphasis on character building and planning, which is in total opposition to the way I usually work. I admit it - I'm a pantser - I fly through a first draft by the seat of pants, rarely planning any further ahead than the next scene or the next couple of scenes. I choose a situation or a concept i.e. Diary of the Future I started with the idea of being able to write the future in a diary and have it come true. With I'm with the Band, I started with wanting to capture the feeling of being 17 again through the reunion of a favourite band. Making the Cut started with an idea of a film festival in a small country town, the characters came after the situation. The character for me only comes after the writing starts.

I have tried plotting and planning it all out in the past. Kissing Toads was more or less planned out with a chapter outline but new chapters kept popping up and stuff I hadn't planned on kept happening throwing the immediate trajectory in a new direction. And that one took the longest for me to write - 4 long years. And why? Because I'd lost interest. For the most part, I knew what was going to happen. As a writer I want to be surprised by my characters as if I'm reading it.

So yesterday when I took a photo of a woman that I'd never seen before and tried to build a background based on her as a character, I was falling back on cliches. Because the character was not organic for me. Perhaps if she'd been in the middle of an action or a situation, my imagination may have been triggered more but I just had this face smiling at me with her too pink lipstick and overdone make-up.

Today I took Kat from I'm with the Band to the workshop. We did an interesting exercise as we interviewed each other's characters. Nothing really new came up for me during the interview, but the perception of Kat I gave to others was interesting - much more passive than I intended. And the word groupie kept coming up. Middle-aged groupie. It's pretty sad really. She doesn't intend to be a groupie. She considers herself to be a huge fan, not a groupie. And when Alex invites her to sing with the band for a song or two, then she's 'with the band' not a groupie. It's her friend Maddie who's the groupie - in fact, she's such a groupie that if there was a show created called Australian Groupie (instead of Idol) she'd probably take out the title.

Certainly much to think about now. I'm still a fan of the shitty first draft (as Anne Lamont calls it) or the 'vomit' or binge writing as Peter referred to it over the last few days.

During the 'Twelve Days of I'm with the Band' I not only added to the manuscript but I also examined some of the previous writing and rewrote certain scenes, making them stronger. I'm over the 88k mark now and I need to stop the dialogue - the characters spend too much time talking, for some reason (probably a symptom of being a muso) they don't like sleeping much, but if it keeps up I'm just going to start jumping from scene to scene and only writing the absolutely pertinent stuff. I don't need to eavesdrop on everything they say and do. Do I?

Writing, recording and dodging kangaroos

86,461 / 90,000 (96.06%)

Word count is now at 86, 461 words and I've got this old fart 70's rocker Billy Badd who has turned up at a gig with his two blonde bimbo daughters (referred to by Kat as the Bimbettes) and is desperately trying to pull focus. I think he wants the story to be about him. But tough luck Billy Badd - we're moving on and leaving you behind, and I'm hoping that he doesn't show up at another gig.

Bought a DVD recorder yesterday. Haven't been able to record stuff for quite a while but now it means that I can record all the late night TV stuff such as the Countdown episodes which are screening on rage at the moment. Watching it now - Neil from The Young Ones hosted the first one I recorded. I loved the character of Neil from that show. The rest of the characters seemed to need each other to bounce off for real comedy to work (I found Rik Mayall's stand-up routine as the character Rik really dull, but when he was just himself doing stand-up, he was great) but Neil was one of those characters that seemed to be able to create comedy just by himself. I've got his Heavy Concept album but it's extremely scratched so I'm not sure how much I could salvage off it even if I had a record player.

In the second episode, as well as Tim and Debbie (remember them from Australia you're standing in it - when will they release that on DVD?) , they played Moving Pictures performing 'Where they Belong'. At last, something other than 'What about Me?' and it focused on Alex Smith singing. So now I'm happy. I really want to get hold of the televised concert Moving Pictures did in the early 80's at the Hordern Pavillion. I did have it taped way back then, but of course many moves later and even before the moving, I think it was taped over. If anyone can help me out with the footage, let me know.


I'm independent again - I picked my car up after the accelerator cable was fixed, after 4 weeks of car sharing. Then on the way home, one of the tail-light covers fell off, smashed and bounced off into the bush. A few minutes later, I drove around a corner and a kangaroo was standing there. I hit the brakes and the kangaroo took off so I was lucky because my car and the roo could do a lot of damage to each other. So yesterday morning, we went out on a mission to get a new tail-light housing - at the second wreckers we found the part, and that problem is now solved. Then we bought the DVD recorder and I bought the Vicar of Dibley last 2 episodes - it is so funny.

It took about an hour to set up the recorder because Robbie wasn't listening to my instructions and its quite confusing when you want to plug in both Austar and a set top box. Finally, after much arguing and wrenching the TV out of the entertainment unit and untangling chords, it was all set up and I was able to test it out. So recording is great, but for some reason it doesn't like my Vicar of Dibley DVD and won't play it. It's not the disc - it plays on the old DVD player - but maybe the recorder doesn't like English comedy. It has played every other disc I've put in, so I've got no idea what's going on. Robbie thinks it won't play dual layer DVD's but I think it only won't record on dual layer. Anyway, I can always watch the Vicar on the laptop if I need to.

Well, its back to 'I'm with the Band'

Addictions

Okay, I admit it. I have a few addictions. Everyone has to have some vices don't they?

I have a mild addiction to Moving Pictures and collecting their memorabilia. So I have a search set up from Ebay to alert me of any items. The above picture came from a Japanese magazine, and I was lucky enough to do a deal with a guy from America who wanted the other pics that were on offer. Anyway, I ended up with some very nice photos of the Alex Smith and the band and a magazine article in Japanese - shame I threw my Japanese language course after a year but a new job meant a scheduling conflict and I could no longer attend the classes. Thinking back on it now, it would've meant changing my work hours one day a week by an hour - you think my boss could have accommodated that.

This week I also picked up a very nice Chris Wilson poster. I need to get these posters laminated at some point. They are no use to anyone wrapped up in poster tubes. They should be displayed.

And now I'm bidding on a few writing books. Can't seem to get enough of them and there is very little variety of writing books available in Coffs.

Must stop. Must stop. Must stop.

Yeah right.

At least, I am operating in reverse. I'm selling a few old mags (mainly movie mags) which are too good to cut up for collage. Those sales may pay for my recent purchases.

I have a major internet addiction. Myspace, Facebook, Blog Explosion, and it sucks up a lot of time. But on the other hand, I have met a lot of wonderful people on the internet, I've learned a lot about writing and I receive encouragement for my writing. So it's not an addiction that I'm about to give up. Just reign it in a bit!

I often spend time on Blog Explosion in the Battle of the Blogs and surfing other members' blogs. On the weekend the site was down and giving strange error messages. Now the site is backup, there are 12 active battles, and 24 more BE members with battle challenges waiting to be accepted. Which makes me wonder why they don't battle each other? I have never seen so many battles waiting to happen before. Guess we're all addicted to the challenge.

Speaking of battles, my cat and Lucy Pig are currently in a battle of their own on MySpace to see who can get the most friends. At the moment Lucy Pig is beating Dorkus with a 2:1 ratio so Dork is not impressed. You can befriend either the cat or the pig at the above links.

So as for writing, that can be both a battle and addiction. I've forgotten what I'm up to in the Twelve Days of my novel in progress I'm with the Band. As my last post was on Sunday for Day 18, I guess today must be Day 21 because I was posting one day behind. The word count is now over 84,000 words, the pictures for the collage are nestling between two pieces of cardboard so that Dorkus will not mess it up, but I'm still looking for some pictures. I also think I've slowed down in the writing because I don't want to let go. But at least it's still moving forward.

Now I need an early night. My insomnia is acting up again. Guess I have an addiction to being awake and the weekend (when I can be addicted to sleeping and sleeping in!) seems like years away.

Day 18 of 12 days of 'I'm with the Band'

82,985 / 90,000 (92.05%)

The word count and percentage are going up but the bar remains the same - I don't know enough html to change it.

Although I'm getting closer to my estimated total word count, I'm not sure that I'm getting closer to the end of the book. Hopefully, I'm not finding new scenes to add. Matt and Alex had been planning a glamour makeover and photoshoot for Kat, but now she's gone to the hairdresser herself and had her long hair cut and coloured, so I guess all she'll need now is a makeup artist. I've been flicking through Cleo's and Cosmos looking for an image of Kat's new hair and everyone has long hair again. When did this happen? When did short hair become unfashionable? Kylie still has short hair.

So on Day 18, I reclaimed my writing room. After decluttering it back in September, my laptop then died and we hauled out the old computer to connect back to the net. It had a monster monitor which took up all of my writing desk and I seriously debated buying a new flat screen for it to give me more room to work. A few weeks later the laptop was fixed, I went wireless and I stopped venturing into my writing room, and started using the laptop in the loungeroom in front of the TV (which was very unproductive). I'm pleased that we didn't buy a flat screen for the old computer, it completely carked it a couple of weeks ago, and now I have my writing room back. The computer has been banished (we'll retrieve the info from the backup hard-drive off it and the monitor which still works will be donated to a local which refurbishes computers) and I have space again.

Yesterday, we were debating the spare room which is filled with stuff including a big desk, entertainment unit, TV, a full bookcase and is the dumping ground for the clean washing. We want to turn this into a guestroom/entertainment room so need a sofabed for it. But the desk was taking up a huge amount of space. The desk is now in my writing room and has enough surface area for my scanner/printer, laptop, collage files (the coloured drawers) and a collage workspace.

Note: I'm still in the stage of this collage of 'where does this picture go?' so not a single image is fixed to the cardboard.

I'm happy and Dorkus is happy that I'm spending time out here again with him.

Dorkus now has his own myspace page and his goal is to round up more friends than Lucy Pig. Can you be his friend?