Storytime

Yep, it's that time of the year when Halloween merchandise is battling Christmas stuff and the end of the year is looming. Frankly I'm sure it was Easter only a few weeks ago. But no, the truth is facing us. Unavoidable. We have 78 days left till the end of the year. And of course I started 2019 with a clear head. I knew what I wanted to do (kinda) and knew exactly    supposedly how I was getting there. But I have no idea what I have done! Realistically there have been 288 days in which I have done...something. Often I don't know what. That is over 6912 hours of something being achieved. Some days getting out of bed counts! Going to work....being with family....actually writing something is a HUGE achievement. So...basically I set off with goals and have meandered. Perhaps this should be me next year... Perhaps not. On the positive side I still have about 1872 (plus or minus a few) hours left to accomplish great things. Starting....hmmmm...

So the plan/ goal/ concept for this month's writing was to GET MY BUTT INTO GEAR AND FINISH THIS DRAFT OF THE NOVEL. Hmm, you say. Not too bad when I've had two weeks off work. (Mind you I played more in the garden then with a computer). And I was only concentrating on a few things this draft. First was tense. I have some of the novel in present tense, others in past perfect but on looking at it as a whole, I think it all needs to be in past tense. So I'm working through, changing the tense. Easier said than done, it's more than a change from explore to explored..it's also run to ran etc etc and it affects so much of a sentence. You really have to look at a whole paragraph to see if it's working. I've also added a few chapters to build a character's growth. Which, I know, will have to be worked on later. But my main object was to get the tense down...and then work from there. BUT...OMG...I have so picked up on so many stereotypes...so man...

Honestly I don't know what it is about deadlines but I miss so many of them. Writing ones that is. And...um....er...perhaps other ones. At the moment we have a LOT of birthdays coming up. Little Guggle turns 3..yes 3!....Leobear turns 1....and Little Miss turns 10...I repeat OMG! Where has the time gone. Thankfully I'm nearly there with the present department. Have Guggle's already (thankfully as her birthday is next week!)...have Little Miss's sorted as well...and have a bit of Leabear's. A bit I say, as I intend to make something and um...er....it is not finished. Now with other deadlines I'm fine. Leabear recently had a Christmas in July and in 9 days I had knitted the cutest reindeer jumper. Deadline met! But this other deadline..hmmmm...I may make it (don't hold me to it). The trouble is I get so easily distracted. There has been some amazing weather so of course I've spent weekends in the garden. I mean how could you not? ...

My writing style lately , if you can call it such, is a tad scattergun. Lots of small pieces being created, going anywhere and everywhere...and hitting nothing. I have no focus. I do a bit of this...and oh that's an idea. Start writing a poem, get the very basic first draft then...oh....idea for a picture book. I do it in 'real' life as well. Find something I want to make, and give it ago. Then I attempt a unicorn sock puppet.... Bake a biscuit or two.... Knit some baby stuff... Do a cross stitch and turn it into a cushion... Bake for a birthday... Make a hat for Storytime... Knit something else I haven't tried before... Interspersed with gardening of course. I'm all over the shop. Don't have a favourite. I just like doing, or attempting, different things. That, I think is (ONE) of my problems. It's like I lose my focus, spot something shiny and I head in that direction. I decide that this is the one I wan...

Wish I could say cleaning my desk, or even my bookshelves...or even having the most clean and neat and tidy as a pin house....unfortunately fail. So what worked? Having a deadline. Easy you say...you have a deadline, you meet it. Nothing to sing and dance, or write a blog post about. However I am the Queen of Procrastination (would wear my crown if I could find it amongst all this other much needed stuff)...therefore I have seen so many deadlines sail by into the sunset with a tender wave of farewell. This time, however, it worked! I gave myself all of August to read, rewrite, edit and tweak my India piece. I finished it...not only reworking but adding another 8000 words to it. Now I'm not saying it is totally finished, ready to send off in all its glory. I don't like the ending and the beginning needs work...so two pieces to polish, especially the beginning as that will set the pace and will be all the editor / publisher sees to make an opinion on. But I feel so ...

Last blog I talked about the horror of being half way through the year and having achieved nothing .... a lot ...a small amount of what I had planned for the year. My writing group had a meeting and we actually looked, briefly I admit, at our goals for the year and where we were with them. It was good to know that I was not alone in my putting off..or procrastination...or whatever I would like to call my inability to get things accomplished. Mind you several of my group were able to say that they were 'well on track' and had their goal sheet, complete with ticks and notes. Did make me feel worse, however I have no one else to blame but myself. So after carefully looking at my goals- and I only had five this year- unfortunately they are big ones. And I think this is often where I become lost....I lose sight of what I am aiming for because it is too large or too far away or even 'gee a year is a looooonnnnnnggggg time'. But what if I break it down into piec...

Where on earth is the year going? I'm sure it was only a week ago that I pulled down the Christmas tree, swept up the last of the pine needles and hid the wrapping paper covered in laughing Santas. But without missing a beat the year has marched ahead, against my will I must add....and we have just had Easter. A time, in my household, for too much chocolate and great family get-togethers. This year not only did we have son and his family( my excuse for an Easter egg hunt, as if I needed one), daughter and her husband (that is so strange to write let alone say)....even if separate occasions a day apart- but also other half's mother and my dad popped in. To top it off, we had some lovely weather. Won't talk about the unwanted wasps that made the al fresco Easter lunch turn into, quick grab the plates and head inside. Of course now that we have over indulged on chocolate...we open glazed eyes to discover that it is now April and half way through autumn. (side n...

I do have the best intentions (sure there is a proverb about this and the way to Hell) but I do. I get my copy of The Victorian Writer .I browse through the articles and then I begin to read the opportunities and competitions page. I ponder, circle a few that I feel are relevant, put a star against ones that I know I have a suitable piece just waiting. If needed, I go to the necessary website, check out submission details or entry forms, find out more requirements. In an ideal world this is then placed on my list. Yes I'm a list girl...it seems the only way to make any sense of what I hope to get done in a day/week/month. And I do love that feeling when something is crossed off my list. A sense of achievement, accomplishment. Knowledge that I have not wasted my day. Yet this year in particular I have missed so many deadlines. Firstly - because my list cleverly avoided many of these deadlines. Freudian perhaps? Secondly - I became very good this year at heading off on tangent...