littlemoose | Entries tagged with writing

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So I've been scribbling away in my big purple notebook, and I realise I've just had one of those moments where you look at what you've just written and go "Where the fuck did that bit come from?!"

I swear, I was shaking my head and asking my muse, "So, why did you want to yell that at him, eh?"

And the bastard's not telling me!

I need another fandom, these boys are beginning to worry me... or I'm beginning to worry me... or something ;) (*always says this and never goes very far*)

*-*-*-*

In other news, I've just collected up what the Writers' Group consider to be my best six poems of the last couple of years, and got them fit for publication. Yep, we're doing another book! It's all rather exciting. We have a couple of new people who are a bit... well... *pulls face* but most of the old guard are putting things in, so it's still a really happy thing :)

Current Music: Norah Jones - Don't Know Why

The teacher we have at writers' group this term is just... awful. She saps any creativity I had, and I come home every week feeling homicidal. And I had hoped to work on nano after class, having done quite well earlier - 723 - but I just can't concentrate, I STILL feel like injuring someone and my headache is back. Ugh, bloody awful woman!

Current Mood: pissed off

Mph. Can't shake this headache. Wrote nothing yesterday and only 312 words today... And the Lush site is having technical issues so I can't order my bath goodies, and the soap I bought in September is running out :(

*whinge whinge*

Oh, it's not all that bad, it's just that headaches make me cranky. I think the bad weather is what's causing this one - the pressure, you know? Serious stormage here now, so I'm hoping when that breaks, my headache will ease. One can hope.

Still, The Daily Show and Broken News are on tonight, so there's something to smile about :)

Current Mood: crappy

Spent the evening at a talk given by a literary agent on how to get published - very depressing; she's of the 'chick-lit, al-queda spy plots or jackie collins stuff only' school, nothing else has any saleability or merit. It made my blood boil to hear her lump all sci-fi/fantasy/non-formula writing together as 'unicorns and spaceships'. That's unicorns for the women and spaceships for the lads as well, folks, just to really put the boot in.

She also said having one of your characters on the brink of a homosexual affair was 'contraversial' and 'a great way to get international sales' (along with nudity, full-on sex scenes, bad language and violence, which are also good if you want film or TV rights, aparently) - It was at that point I wished I had some really fluffy, sappy slash to hit her with, and may she choke on it, silly cow.

So yeah, not impressed.

Current Mood: pissed off

I am a relieved moose. My piece of performance poetry (working title: "www.idontgiveafuck.net") went down really well at group last night :D And today I was out with Kate - we went for coffee and to plan out what we'll be setting for the week we take the group. Yes, we're all taking a class each this term, last night was David's week, and Kate and I are sharing a week in a fortnight, I think... but we had so much fun we ended up staying out for lunch, and not really getting that many ideas down :D

Things are moving so well at the moment... I feel like I've got this new sense of optimism, things don't seem as dark or hopeless as they did just a little while ago.

Long may it last! :D

Current Mood: content

When you've written something really good in class, you get asked to read it again. Today, everyone read their poems twice. :D

I actually came up with a title for mine... this is a rare occurence... even more rare is title and poem inside fifteen minutes, which is just... *guh*! Yeah I know, with my amazing command of the language it's no wonder I'm a writer... piss off :P Yes. Anyway, point being, we're all brilliant, today's exercise was fun, and we have to write a poem entitled 'Letter From an Angry Poet' for homework. *does happy little dance* I am brimming with ideas... and my hands are covered in turquoise ink, but that's another story...

Current Mood: creative

I want you to tell me the story
Of the Cherokee man
You once knew.
How he brought new
and exciting presents
For your sons.
A Mickey Mouse watch.
Bubblegum.

I want you to tell me about
Motorbikes and fairgrounds.
About the roar of the crowd
And the thrill of speed.
About being so far
Ahead of your time
No-one could catch you.

I want you to tell me
About second chances.
About a tall man with
Kind eyes and a quick mind.
About a houseful of children.
About love.

I want you to
Tell me about Belfast.
About O'Hara's baps you
Had to eat with both hands.
About watching your
mother make lace.
About the people on
your street.

I want to take back
All the times
I didn't sit and listen
Because you were old
And I was young
And impatient.

Current Mood: contemplative

Man it is good to get back to class, it's great to have something to make the brain work. I like this week's homework, it's not something we've done before. We have to write a poem of our own based on Kit Wright's ( The Magic Box )

We have to start the same way, and follow the same structure. Teresa likened it to art students copying other artists' work in galleries, to get a feel for techniques they might not have used before. I have a couple of verses down, and I'm enjoying it, but I love the original :-)

Current Mood: creative

This is a pretty graphics heavy entry, so I'm LJ cutting it for those, who, like me, are on 33K dialup ;-)

( Look at me! I'm published! )

Current Mood: ecstatic
Current Music: the fridge throwing a wobbly downstairs

I was pottering around on Dev's page (Dev's looking after the NaNoWriMo dares) and found this link. The idea is you start with the line that comes up, and write for fifteen minutes with no editing or censoring yourself. the line I got was "'The day had been strangely disquieting." And what follows is what I came up with (I fixed the spelling when my fifteen minutes were up, but I didn't change anything else).

I don't think it's too bad for 15 minutes of seat-of-pants writing!

PS: 4 days to NaNo... EEEK!

( fifteen minute story )

Current Mood: accomplished

The editor of the writer's group book called today... deadline is Friday and all is going well! I can't believe that I'm going to see myself in print before Christmas!

On the subject of things literary, nano's getting closer - and I'm still dithering about whether I actually want to do the tv show plot, or the fantasy plot. Ah well, it'll all come good.

Melanie was here yesterday, so far so good, getting near the end of the first leg with her... after the next session she's going to concentrate on taking me out... getting me used to getting out and about without dad to lean on. But at least she'll be there.

It's funny the way I get down after she's been sometimes. You'd think I'd be boyed up, feeling I'm doing so well. I guess I just worry and that's not ever going to change, I'll always be a worrier.

I've got a backlog of unanswered email sitting in outlook. Sorry. Most of it's from Lyds.

Ever feel your life's a Salvidor Dali painting?

Current Mood: mixed up
Current Music: Travis on the radio

Everything always seems easier by candlelight.

I have a tealight candleabra on my desk, it's nice to write longhand on paper by candlelight after dark. All that's lighting the room now are six candles, the monitor, the slight red L.E.D. glow of the emergency light's 'charging' signal, and the faintest glow of streetlight through the curtains... orange, white, red.

I love the rich mixture of shadows against the walls, deep rich black hollows, little creeping phantoms that flicker with the flame, long spidery shapes against the walls.

I come alive when everyone else has gone to bed.

Calmer now too, but then I always am in my own company, with candlelight and soft soothing music.

I need to find a job that lets me work from home, then I can keep my own hours and enjoy the darkness!

Current Mood: mellow
Current Music: Moby - If Things Were Perfect

Gah. The builders were supposed to be here today, but are coming tomorrow instead... and the OT is coming tomorrow too... and mum's looking after her friend's little boy again...

Gah. Gah, I say.

On the plus side, I finished the assignment for writers class. It's quite long, but if you'd like to read it:

( Here it is. )

Current Mood: creative
Current Music: The Goons - The Raspberry Song

Shrove Tuesday - Dad made pancakes for breakfast, with lashings of *real* maple syrup ^_^

We were in ballymena again yesterday... I'm really getting the hang of this going out lark... although not on my own yet, but one thing at a time eh?

*Huggles Madscot* I'm glad you and OH had a good time :-) And I read what you said about my writing :$ wow :-) That's just... wow... *hugs*

Fore some bizarre reason I found myself watching a bit of 'Blue Peter' this morning... Brian Jaques, the author of the 'Redwall' books was on... and the way he talked about writing... he just became more animated and his eyes lit up as he was talking about painting pictures with words, his enthusiasm was amazing. (And he loves puns and wordplay, which made me glow a bit ;)) you never hear people talking about writing like that. It's always discussed as something so serious and dry, not a pleasure, to be enjoyed as much as the reading.

He was so inspiring... wow, if just one of the kids watching that put pen to paper... :-)

Current Mood: impressed
Current Music: TMBG - New York City

I've been flicking through the notebook I refer to as the 'bunny collection'... it's mad how much my writing style has changed over the last couple of years - and improved, I hope. I've been looking to see if there's anything salvagable, now that the urge to write is back again. Bits and pieces maybe, but I've become very critical of my stuff. I don't know what headstagger I took, but I actually contemplated re-writing *that fic* for added darkness [Madscot is now entitled to an 'I told you so' ;)] because there's so much of it, looking back, that I could've done better... but I digress...

The bunny collection... a little old battered school notebook with various pencil scribblings, half-baked ideas, bits from the middle of stories that never got written and the occasional doodle... sometimes I'll look through it and think 'that'd make a good story...' but never have the inclination to write it, or if I do, then I'm lacking the first clue where to start. Of course this isn't anything new... I've two disks full of halfbaked bunnies going back years, but actually having them on paper... something tangible that stares up at me accusingly from the bedside table going 'you want to finish this one, you know you do, stop making excuses' Heh... And that's not even taking into account the non-fen stuff... the big black notebook full of original stuff that just won't sit right and work how I want... *bashes head off screen* this was meant to be a 'psyching self up to write' routine, not a self-pity fest...

Meh... food... then maybe... maybe...