And so...

After all of your kind feedback and support, I sat down and wrote for an hour on Sunday. I timed it on my phone and set an alarm and everything.

Going back to my novel, I found it was actually in pretty good shape. I mean, don't get me wrong, it still needs work, but the skeleton is practically there. Now all it needs is a few large meals and it'll be sorted.

Now I just need to find a way to keep writing. My motivation is back at any rate, and I suppose that's half of the battle.

How to get writing again?

Work has become crazy busy recently, now that I am in charge of organising events full time. I am trying to finish the second draft of Banshee, my WIP, but scheduling time to write is really difficult, especially when my "day job" creeps into evenings and weekends too.

So I've been thinking about ways that I can still work on my project, but without obviously slacking off during the day and getting into trouble at work.

Here are some ideas I've had to get started again:

* Writing for 30 mins - 1 hour before breakfast.
* Pretend conversations in my head between characters, and then scribbling it down or recording it on my phone.
* Staying late after staying late to write a little bit (this is how this blog post has come about!).

What are your suggestions? Do you have a good way of staying focused when life tries to get in the way of your writing?

A Little Writing Update

I have been having a bit of a think about my Matti novel. I knew that what I had written for NaNoWriMo hadn't turned out as I had intended. It just didn't say what I wanted it to, and I have been flummoxed as to how to go about fixing it. After speaking to a couple of people at Speculators (the writing group that seems to have adopted me), I've decided to try again, starting with the short story that I wrote initially about Matti and Eva at the funeral of their mother, using this as the starting point of the story, rather than as a flashforward to the end. I know now what I want the story to be about (“sisters, and mothers and daughters, and loss”) but now I'm trying to put some plot to it, trying to find something that is fitting to the piece and won't threaten to take over the main themes, like my Whedon-esque plot did the first time around.

It has been a while since I've actually written something. I have done lots of planning, lots of rewriting, but not a lot of the 'creating' recently. So that's something I am trying to get my head back into. I think Matti and Dorcas are my main priorities right now, though I do need to write a new short story too. I have a lot of work to do, but I'm trying not to let that feeling of being under pressure and needing to rush consume me again. Trying to take it one piece at a time.

So, my audition on Sunday was successful and I got the part of the Science Officer in Return to the Forbidden Planet! It is very strange, and it still hasn't sunk in properly; I guess because I didn't think I'd get either of the female parts. I just went into the audition room, knees shaking a little (literally) and had a good old sing, and I got the part. So I'm going to have to work hard on learning my lines and learning my songs. It's a really silly show (in a good way) - at the end of the 1st act I get attacked by a giant tentacle - and it should be fun to do. The rest of the cast are brilliant. Hopefully I'll be good in it. I'll try my best, at any rate. The video above isn't me or from the production I'm in, but it gives you an idea about the type of show this is (the clip is Miranda singing "Teenager in Love").

This does mean though that I'm now over in Hinckley every Monday and Thursday night until the middle of February. So I need to structure my time a bit better to make sure I can fit in work and my writing. Wednesdays I still go to Speculators, which has been a real help in motivating me to complete the things I'm working on. On Tuesdays and Fridays I will have to go to the library after work to get stuff done. Not sure how I'm going to fit NaNoWriMo into all this, though I've completed it before whilst doing a show, so I'll just have to make it happen.

Going to be a tad busy for the next four months.

To Do List

Things I need to do:

1) Practice for my audition on Sunday for Return to the Forbidden Planet.
2) Finish off the short story that I'm writing about a selkie, trying to avoid as far as possible having to describe what I will delicately describe as "seal cuddles".
3) Finish chapter 1 take 2 of my Matti and Eva story.

I will not be distracted by:

1) Curse of the Wolf Girl (this book is sucking away my life, so engrossing it is).
2) The Sims 2
3) Judge Judy

That is all.

Jekyll and Hyde

Well tonight will be the third night of the musical I'm in, Jekyll and Hyde, and it's actually going really well. Aside from being pawed by men old enough to be my grandfather, it's really good fun. Which is why I've been considering doing the next show. Yes, it may mean having to drive back from Portsmouth to do the show (if I can drive by then) but it would be fun - no, I can't let myself get swept up. One show a year, and focus on the writing.
Hmmm, will keep you posted.

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!

Decision

Have decided that I'm going to concentrate on my writing, and so am not going to audition for 'Thoroughly Modern Millie'. So there.

Twisty Knickers

People get their knickers in a twist about anything. Right now it's the Rosen vs. Rowling story-that-never-was. I keep promising myself never again to read the comments on Guardian blog, but I inevitably do, and then I get pissed off again.

I'm trying to decide whether to go and join KPAOS and do Thoroughly Modern Millie. The problem is that the group rehearses on a Tuesday (which is fine), with Monday rehearsals for principals, which is not good, as this will clash with rehearsals for Jekyll. Pros for joining are that it's based in Leicester, so no more expensive train fares and waiting around late at night at dimly lit railway stations, and that I might get a part. Cons are that I might just get chorus, and it looks like I may have to quit Jekyll, which I'm just starting to enjoy. One to ponder, I think.

I've still not heard back about Calypso, and it's been forever! Well, three weeks, but that's still a very long time. I wonder what the longest some one has had to wait before finding out if their submission has been accepted?

IV still not finished, and the five pages I wrote on the train last night coming back from rehearsal really stink. Let's hope a second draft will save it all, eh?

I Wanna Live Forever!

Well, on Wednesday I went to audition for the BBC Fame Academy bursary, and I felt like one of the kids from Fame, though without the legwarmers and leotards. I had been shortlisted by the BBC from over one thousand applicants down to 260, so thought I shouldn't miss the opportunity to audition, which was held at Central. We had polaroid photos taken and were divided into groups of about 15 people, and then went into one of the rehearsal rooms and had a performance warm-up with a pro-actor/coach. We then had to perform our songs for a panel of three judges, using the best pianist I have ever heard (one girl had forgotten her music and he played the song from his memory!). Everyone did really well, but the judges decided to chose the pale guy who forgot his lyrics. Oh well. Afterwards, our little band of reject Fame-kids decided to go to the pub, only to realise that it was not yet 11 and the pub was closed. So we set out on our "Big Adventure" to try to get cheap Wicked tickets. Some of us made it all the way to Leicester Square's half-price ticket hut before realising that this was probably not such a good plan, as we all had lives to be getting on with, but the idea of doing something so spontaneous after performing in from of 19 people in a little room was rather nice. Once we had gone our separate ways, I then proceeded to wander the streets of London for about seven hours carrying my suitcase that must have weighed about 2 stone, and, consequently, I am still knackered.

I knew in advance that I wasn't going to get the bursary, and was kinda dreading the interview part if I had have been called back for the afternoon - I had no idea what I really wanted the money for! I mean, going to drama school would be great, but the sensible side of me says "it's not worth getting into debt for over £20,000 as there's no guarantee that I'll get a job afterwards". Also, I just kept thinking about my writing, and how it would have to go on the backburner if I decided to go to drama school, and this idea really did upset me after a while. I'm not one of those Fame kids - I think I did a pretty good impression of one on Wednesday, and everyone thought I was about 7 years younger than I am, which was good, but I'm just not that driven, like them. I really admire these kids, because they seem so sorted and know exactly what they want (some at 17 years old!), but I just don't have that instinct to get up and do a song and a dance in the middle of the tube station. I've spent most of my life wishing I was invisible, so why I ever thought that drama school would be the place for me, I don't know. I like singing, and I'm good at it (I gave a "classy" audition, apparently, and was one of the stronger singers there), but I think I will save it for amateur shows and my singing lessons. I want to be a writer. I've wanted to be a writer since I was about 7 years old. So that's what I'm going to do!

Dilemma

I received a letter in the post on Saturday morning letting me know that I'd been shortlisted for the Leicester/Leicestershire Short Story contest and was invited to go to some sort of awards do at Borders on 22nd August. This is really cool, and I would be really excited and ranting about what shoes I should wear, etc, except that this is also the date of the one-day writers' residency for Momentum in Nottingham (yes, and my diamond shoes are too tight!).

I can probably make both, if I leave the Momentum day early (which would mean missing Declan's play), though there's no guarentee that I'll make it there on time to the do, and I'd probably be covered in grass and mud and half eaten pork-bears. Alternatively, I could give the do a miss and stay in Nottingham, as I've got a 50% chase of going home without a prize anyway. But it would be good to go and meet some new people, plus I've never been inside the Borders in Fosse Park before. Oh, decisions, decisions!

It's your fault, Guybrush

I admit it, I'm crap with deadlines. I hope no future employer ever reads this, but it's been the same since high school (and no, I'm not being American here, I did actually go to a high school). I always think to myself "oh I won't start that now, I've got plenty of time" only to find myself the night before up shit's creek without a paddle, stressing and crying because I have the impossible task of writing 3,000 words in an hour and making these words into tangible sentences. Sigh. So here I am again, deadline looming, and I have only 440 useable words to my name. It's my own fault for playing 'Curse of Monkey Island' all bank holiday weekend instead of doing any work.

The sun is out, but it's still cold

Yes, it is. I feel deceived by mother nature because it is so bright outside, but when I go out, I have to wear my winter coat. Of course, this could just be a phenomenon experienced by me with my abnormally cold blood, but I still feel justified in complaining about it.

Anyway. I should be working on the second draft of my play (deadline 30th April), but instead I am playing the Sims and reading Harry Potter (yes, I have the mental age of a twelve year old). My audition was unsuccessful for the leads of Witches of Eastwick, so at least I don't have that to distract me anymore.

I really want to write some prose again, and I was thinking this morning about getting back to Inter Vivos. One of the things that put me off writing it was that I had to come up with all this science and politics to explain events in my story, but I'm now thinking that if I make it more into a fairy tale, I don't have to worry about the correct procedure for heart transplants, and historical guerilla movements, and I can just make it up. I still want to finish this first NANOWRIMO draft, but then after that I can go back and rewrite most of it again. Also, because I chose to write in first person, it means my feisty heroine isn't in fact feisty; she's more passive because the narrator role has made her the observer rather than the doer. So I plan to fix this too.

I'm having a serious financial crisis, so am having to work at my second job every weekend to try to scrap some cash together, which does not give me a lot of free time to write. Time to hide The Sims 2 disc I think. Right after my pet cat gets a promotion...

Update: February

Well, I feel that I should update my blog about my progress so far:

1) I have extended my self-imposed deadline for the completed first draft of Inter Vivos until end of April/first week of May, due to the problem that I’m stuck and having a crisis of confidence and so I’ve not touched it for about two weeks.

2) I have come up with the plot of my first draft (at least) for my youths play. I have also decided that ‘Shilton Rec’ is a silly title and so I’m back to calling it ‘my youths play’ or ‘my hoody play’.

3) After doubting my abilities as a writer for most of the weekend, I have written myself a list of all the things I want to write about, however unrelated they may seem. I thought that writing a list of what it is that I care about, and the things that interest me, will make me ultimately stronger as a writer, because instead of trying to write about everything across twenty different genres, I can try to become the best that I can be in the areas that interest me most.

4) I am contemplating taking a year/couple of years out from doing amateur musicals to focus more of my time on writing, and am also looking into doing a part-time/distance learning MA in Creative Writing to commit myself to writing as a career (plus I really want to do something academic again).

5) I am thinking about the ‘chick-lit’ novel I started writing a while ago, and am going to try to start writing that again, as soon as I have a spare minute. I may also go back and complete ‘The Dragon Prince’, my children’s story.

So that’s about everything that I’m doing/thinking about doing right now. I could do with some time off work/rehearsals to actually do some writing, but obviously this is impossible.

Momentum Ideas

I proposed two ideas for Momentum last night. The first was my ‘youths’ play, featuring Mouse and Brick et al about rural decay and attitudes towards young people today, and the second was a play about jealousy, where the borders between friendship and relationship collide and whether it is better to be alone than with people who make you miserable. This second play involves a triangle between two female flat mates who have an obsessive/possessive relationship and how their dynamic changes when one of them gets a (not very nice) boyfriend. At the moment, I really want to get my ‘youths’ play off the ground (and I think I will give it the working title from now on of ‘Shilton Wreck’, with wreck being in the literal sense and also a play on words for ‘rec’ or recreational ground in Leicestershire slang, a place that a lot of the characters hang out). But I do like the other idea, and I am afraid that if I spend 2 months developing this 6+ hander, that TWP will turn around and say that they can only produce plays with 3 people in, like last year. Oh, I should just write what I want to write! But I want to have my play put on and be successful too.

I’ve been writing a paragraph of Inter Vivos each lunch time – slow and steady hopefully wins the race! Well, it’s better than nothing, and I’ve been busy every night this week, so haven’t had the chance to put in any proper time on it. Plus Company is starting to take up more and more time, as I can’t get the harmony line to stick in my head and I still don’t know how many kicks we do at the end of the routine for Side by Side. Sigh.

I know I moan, but I love being busy really! And at least I don’t have to work my second job this weekend so that I can take the weekend to recuperate!

First Post

Right, let's get this blog on the road. My friend Sabrina is well into writing her blog, and so I thought I'd give it a go too. I'm a bit of a technophobe, so this is all a bit scary, but I'm going to take it slowly and see what happens.

Right, I'm currently working on a couple of stage plays and a novel, though I keep procrastinating and really need to focus. I'm going to hopefully use this blog to keep track of my ideas and 'chart my development', though I'm sure I'll end up just posting random rants on here too.

Sorry this first post is a bit boring. Will come back when I have something more interesting to say. Hopefully this blog will mark a 'new dawn' in terms of my writing development (sorry, know that sounds corny, but wanted to justify including this lovely picture I found on my hard drive!!)

Lucy :-)