Procrastination

Right now, I'm blogging instead of writing. Sad, but true. I know I should be writing - I'm in the middle of a short story, and it's just got to the good bit, but I just can't be bothered! Laziness just isn't the word.
I've got a cold, and so has Morph, but it's fun because he's refusing modern medicine, whereas I am doped up to my eyeballs - and as expected, he's coming off worse than me! It's like a science experiment. I just wish he'd take one of my vitamin pills at least, or have a lemsip or something. I shouldn't brag too much though, as it could just be that he has a faster immune system, and whereas he's ill now, it could be gone in a day or so, whereas mine might linger in my system for months...
Had a driving lesson today. Did not go well. Wish I could just rely on public transport forever. :-(
Right, enough distraction. Back to the writing. Wish me luck!

Sometimes It's Hard To Be A Bloke

Right, had an exciting (read: boring) couple of days in the Portsmouth area, and then had to work all day Saturday until the skin began to peel off the bottoms of my feet (too much detail again, right?). So I'm pretty tired now, and the writing isn't going very well. Inter Vivos's second draft isn't going. Full stop. Though I'm thinking about taking it back to basics and trying to redraft again. It's just quite daunting having a whole novel to correct, and I hope I can get my head around it. I have to anyway, as it's almost NaNoWriMo time, and I want it finished by then.

When I visited Waterstone's on Sunday, I was saddened to find that one of my new favourite authors, Caitlin Kiernan, had been placed in this sad little section called "Paranormal Romance". It wasn't even a proper shelf, it was made of cardboard, and had the types of books in it that looked like the books Mills and Boon would produce if they introduced Vampires into them (had to do a quick check and they don't). If you haven't read Caitlin Kiernan (and you should!), she doesn't write "Paranormal Romance" at all. She writes Sci-fi, and horror. Really good horror. I have a feeling that this is the section where they are dumping women's sci-fi/horror/fantasy now. I was surprised, however, to find that Stephanie Meyer's books weren't in this section, which is strange, as she is the Queen of the paranormal romance (well, her and Anne Rice). I guess if you're a bestselling author, you transcend genre and Waterstone's can't afford to segregate you.

I've been thinking recently how hard it is to be male in this society sometimes. That sounds a bit weird, I know, but it's true. I know a bloke who got beaten up last week, just because some other bloke thought he had looked at him (he hadn't). I'm kinda glad I live in a society where women are still kinda protected and don't frequently get head-butted in the street after finishing work (well, not as often as men do anyway). I am a feminist, and I consider this to be an important issue within feminism. Equality is a two-way street in my book. Yes, I am very pleased that I can work, and vote, and that I earn the same as my male counterpoint (though I know that some aren't so lucky, and support campaigns to even the balance), but men should be equal to women too. They should have longer paid paternity leave, and have the freedom of choice that women now have, without living in danger of losing a tooth. By pitting one of the sexes against the other, it doesn't do anything to ease the burden on either party, or make life better for anyone. We're all human after all.

Greetings from Havant

OK, so I'm trying to post this from my hotel room on my new phone, so you'll have to bear with me as I've still not got the hang of typing yet.
God, I'm bored.
I've finished reading American Gods, which was brilliant, and now I can't get it out of my head, so it's dangerous to write anything new as I'm sure it will just come out as a carbon copy. Urgh, can't work out how to move the cursor one space right to delete this annoying apostrophe so will say bye for now:'

The Wonders of the Camera Phone

As I now have a camera phone, and can take my own pictures (rather than borrow from the internet!), I thought I'd post a pic of "where the magic happens" - no, not the bed (heehee), but my desk.

Actually, it should really be "where the magic doesn't happen, and instead a lot of Sims-2 playing goes on" to be more accurate.

I've just bought Sims 2 Apartment Life, and so productivity will be down by about 95% for the next month at least.

I really want to write a story for this magazine, but I can't think of a fairy tale at the moment. I'm feeling very uninspired right now, especially as Inter Vivos has come to a grinding halt. Hopefully I'll pick myself back up again soon. Just got to curb my Sims-2 addiction first...

Glass Ceiling

Another quick link (will blog again properly soon, promise!) from a blog column on The Guardian's website:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2008/sep/09/broadwaysglassceiling

This one is basically a rant about how playwriting is still a male-orientated business.

Quick Link - The Slush Pile

Here's a quick link to an article in the Guardian about publishers reviewing unsolicited manuscripts: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/sep/04/publishing.pressandpublishing

If even agents won't accept unsolicited manuscripts, then what hope is there for anyone new on the scene?

Not Going Well

I'm a little bummed out at the moment, because neither of the two short stories I am working on are actually turning out how I planned. In fact, they've both turned into big piles of shit, and I'm not sure if I have the energy to fix them.

I was thinking all was going well with the novel, until I realised I was in fact spending hours and hours planning and researching and drawing maps - and pretty much everything else, apart from writing a single word. So I've fallen off the wagon once again.

I keep moaning about the fact that I haven't had anything published recently, and rather than blaming the cosmos, I need to face reality and admit to myself that the reason is because I haven't actually written anything new to be sending out to places. I know that sounds really daft, but it's true. There's no use moaning about why "no one will publish me" if I don't give them the chance.

Now that I've had this break-through, I'm going to get back to writing the novel, and also to finishing some new stories to send off to slush piles around the globe. If only I can make my stories not-shit again...

I have a new phone! I feel like I've finally joined the 21st century, after 8 years with the last model. I now have a nice new BlackBerry Pearl 8120, and can check my emails on it and everything. And it's pink! It's so beautiful, I can't bear to take the protective wrappings off yet! It sort of looks like the one in the picture left, only better.

I've been doing some development work on the world of Inter Vivos lately, and I'm getting a much better idea about the universe in which my story is set. I always wanted it to be post-apocalyptic in some way, and now I think I have a clearer idea of what that actually means, in regards to this story.
So all is good! Just need to finish those two short stories I've been working on now...