Diet

I'm on a bit of a diet/health kick at the moment, as it is more economical for me to fit into my old clothes than to have to go out and buy exactly the same but in a larger size. I've been doing really well, except that after lunch and dinner, I always want something sweet. I'm sitting here now, typing this, trying not to eat all of the Aero Bubbles that I bought just a minute ago, after my fairly healthy red chard and parmasan salad. Just so tasty though... I feel I'm fighting a losing battle.

I can't start the Three Sisters story. It just won't come. I've been trying to write it for about 3 weeks now, and it's just painful - both in the writing and the reading sense. So, I've decided to shelve that story, and instead I am going to work on my second draft of Dorcas Grubb, and also a couple of short stories I started that I want to finish. A bit of a recap for you: Dorcas Grubb was my NaNoWriMo winning novel of 2008. It features a teenage girl called Dorcas, who's father has just died, and so the family (her mum, older brother, and baby sister) move in with their maternal Grandfather in Leicester (UK). That is where she discovers that the family have a genetic abnormality which means they can travel back in time.The story is about a girl who is dealing with a lot of grief, about a family falling apart and then falling apart some more before finally coming back together, and about a girl who isn't the brightest, or prettiest, or thinnest, but who has a good heart, and wants to find her place in the world. I think it would make a good series, maybe 3 or 4 books, aimed at early teens. Then I'd fast forward in time to start a new series centred around Tabitha, Dorcas's baby sister, all grown up - she's the one with the uber-powers, you see (Dorcas in the first book is constantly over-shadowed by her baby sister!). As usual, I'll keep you updated on my progress.

There, all my Aero Bubbles are gone now. Good job I'm doing aerobics tonight. Sigh.

Extract from "Tabitha"

Can't really think of anything to say, so thought I would post on here an extract from the opening of my Tabitha Grubb short story, which I also submitted to the Waterstone's What's Your Story competition. Here it is:

She ran through the grimy streets, not looking back. They were after her. Someone was always after her, she thought, grudgingly. Curse of the Gift. Though now was not the time to contemplate. Now was the time to run. Down the alley, over puddles of sewage, & back to the door before They caught her. Who knew that Edwardians, with their stiff upper lips & even stiffer clothing, could run so fast? Blonde hair trailing behind her, she reached the entrance to Milly’s Pie Shop & leapt through, finding herself not amongst the savoury goods, but back in the 21st century. Safe. Lucky she was fast.

Tabitha is a sequel to a novel I've not written yet, in which Tabitha appears as the eighteen month old baby sister to the protagonist Dorcas. In the sequel, Tabitha is now fifteen and takes centre stage. I've been writing it into notebooks when I've been on the move, so when I have a minute, I need to actually put all my scribblings together and see if any of it makes sense.

It's Raining, it's Pouring

...and I haven't bought my coat to the office today, so I'm going to get drenched on the way home, if this continues. The rain actually looks like smoke as it's hitting the pavement. Nice to look at, but please don't make me go out there.

I have finished my travelling for work for this academic year, I think, which I'm actually a little disappointed about. I don't like it when I have to do it every day, but sometimes it's nice to not be stuck in the office all the time. Plus I get to buy nice food and work pays for it! The other thing I've liked is that I've had a bit more time for myself, as I've not been working my second job whilst I've been travelling, so I've been able to have evenings and weekends to myself. True, I haven't done anything with this new free time, beside watch TV I wouldn't normally watch (this is what comes from being in a hotel with only 5 TV channels!), but it has felt a little bit like a holiday. But it's back to work in the office, and back to work for my second job, from now on in.

I haven't written anything in about a week now, simply because I've been too tired to write on the trains (well what do you expect from a 6:45am start?!!), and then I've been revising for my driving theory test. Now that the test is done (and I passed - yay!), I can get back to work. I want to finish my Tabitha Grubb short story and get that ready to send out to places, and also finally finish this second draft of Inter Vivos. I haven't got very far. Just need TIME. Sigh. Am longing for those school summer holidays that I used to have in days of yore.

In other writing related news, my short story Calypso is due to appear in an anthology by The Inkermen, entitled Land's End, which is due to be published in August 2008. I'm just checking the proofs now. I quite like Inkermen's manifesto, and so I'm pleased to be a part of this anthology. You can order the book from amazon, or alternatively, let me know if you want a copy by 14th August, and I can get you one at a reduced rate.

Oh look, the sun has come out now. Crazy English weather!

Travellin' Lu

Since my last post I have been to Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, which was quite nice, and also to London, all for work. I caught up on some Drabblecast, but barely did any writing myself. I feel so tired at the moment. Could do with a holiday, though this will only happen in the event of me winning the lottery (that I don't buy tickets for) before the end of September. Well, stranger things have happened.

I have been working mostly on my short story about Tabitha Grubb and Inter Vivos, though I'm finding it hard to stay organised as I'm writing both in the same notebook, and everything is a bit higguldy-pigguldy at the mo'.

What else have I been up to? Well, I saw Joseph for the first time ever whilst I was in London, and it was really, really good! (yes, I was surprised!). Lee Mead was excellent, he stayed in character the whole way through and didn't let the tongue in cheek nature of the show put off his portrayal of Joseph from naive peasant to mighty prince. The narrator (who was played by the understudy) was really brilliant, and the rest of the cast all just seemed like they were having the times of their lives, which made me as an audience member have a great time too. So many shows I see has a chorus who just look like they're going through the motions. So it was all good. I was sitting in the upper circle (row G) and you could still see the stage very clearly, so was value for money to boot!

I am off travelling around the country for work next week too, so apologises in advance for the lack in blog posts until I return. Maybe you can read over the archives or something to keep yourselves entertained in my absence? :-)

More Time Needed!

I've become a bit lazy again, in terms of the writing, and so it's time to kick myself up the arse and get motivated. Because I'm doing this rewrite of the Inter Vivos novel (am terribly embarrassed by how bad the first two chapters are, after putting it away for a while and now re-reading it!), it means that I've had to put other writing projects on hold. So my Tabitha story is on pause at the moment (though it was a nice stop-gap project), and I'm itching to do a rewrite of my Hoodies play, and also a radio edit of both Hoodies and High Street Aphrodite. But no, I need to focus.

The day job is getting more involved, which has meant that I'm working more hours and feeling too exhausted when I get home to do anything other than read or watch TV. I still have my second job too, although I don't work that often any more, so it's not going too badly.

Morph had an idea ages ago for our Semper group to do another night like 'Semper Sumo', only this time independent of LadyFest. It would be great to put on another little showcase, but if Morph ends up putting on his own production in October/November, and what with Mekon deciding he doesn't write anymore, Dec generally being uncontactable, Robin in Scotland and Sabrina 'spawning' (hee hee), then it doesn't look like it'll be happening any time soon.

Though I guess it would just be a distraction anyway, and I need to focus on IV!

Weekend

This weekend, I went to London and watched The City by Martin Crimp and Piranha Heights by Philip Ridley. Piranha Heights was definitely the better play. Disturbing and violent and very funny, it was extremely fast-paced and well acted. The City was alright, but, well, it wasn't easy to sit through. I mean, Crimp's dialogue is painfully awkward and unrealistic (stylistically this is what he's going for), scenes dragged for ages, and his women are terrible. Clearly, he doesn't write to get laid.
I also bought seven new books. This is after I told myself I wouldn't buy any more until a) I bought a new book shelf and/or b) I read the ones I've already got. Felt very decadent though to be buying them, and carried them nicely all around London so they wouldn't get creased, and they are now all sitting on a chair at my dining table. Not sure if I'll have enough money to eat with by the end of the month, but at least I have more books to add to my ever expanding collection!
Have been making great headway on my Dorcas Grubb sequel (can you have a sequel before you've even written the novel?). It's a short story about Tabitha, Dorcas's little sister, who in the Dorcas story is about 18 months old, whereas in this short, she is 15. It's all rather cool, and it's also allowing me to flesh out Dorcas's world more, which should help when I come to write the novel in November.
Inter Vivos has come to a little bit of a standstill, simply because I now have to type it all up before I begin draft 1b, and I haven't been near a computer recently. Hopefully though I'll have it all typed up by the end of the week.

What's Your Story?

I've just entered Waterstone's What's Your Story? competition, where you have to write a short story with only 600 characters to fit onto a postcard. It was really difficult, but fun too! You also get to customise your postcard. Some of them are really good.
Anyway, you can read mine (easiest to find if you view by date in the Gallery section - mine was uploaded today, called 'Time Bandit'), you can read other submissions, and also enter yourself at: http://www.waterstoneswys.com/