Sunday Snippet - piece from Peru

It feels like the proverbial painting of the Forth Bridge - with more stops and starts than a stoppy starty thing! I have drafted, scrapped, re-written, scrapped again and now hopefully have a final draft that will become the final version though in my eyes still needs a lot of editing. At some point I am going to have to stop and say that is it. Anyway, the e-book is progressing... so time for a snippet...!

This was a proper local market, full of bright, big baskets of fruit and vegetables and rainbow piles of wool.  Not a postcard or bit of tourist tat in sight. It was a place to bring, buy, eat, drink, gossip, catch up and socialise. Even the local police officers were standing chatting, hats off, enjoying a beer.  Community policing at its best.  As we were getting back onto the bus the women  started piling up on the back of a Toyota truck, looking like a pyramid of colourful sacks. 

I pointed to them "It looks like they're trying for the world record of how many people can you get onto the back of a truck."

"Ah," said Paco, "The selling part of the market is finishing. That is the only truck or taxi that will take the women home. They have to go now and work in the house. The men stay and drink."   

Some things are the same the world over.

Blogs, books and busyness

I know I have neglected this blog a bit recently but also know that it happens and hey the world hasn't ended!  And if you're reading this dear reader, you are still with me and I thank you for that!

I've been cracking on with my book on Machu Picchu - now getting to the exciting stage where I can talk about it and show people and ask for feedback (while only slightly feeling panicked/ hiding under blanket/ screaming eeeek). More about that in good time...

I have also been busy setting up something I have been thinking about for a while - a blog focused on being mostly vegan. I decided to try being vegan last year and have stuck to it although not always 100%!
I've been wanting to write about it more and was spurred on by taking part in a recipe swap in March thanks to Twitter (see I don't waste my time on there - it is valuable research and contact building!) I'll be trying out recipes, reviewing restaurants and other things, charting the ups and downs and musings on being, wel,l as the name suggests, virtually vegan!

Like most other people who write, I don't just write. I have a full time job, which is temporary so I need to try to keep my hand in with freelance work too as that's what I'll be likely returning to doing when the contract ends.  I have my little family of teenage son, cat and dog to look after, sort out and have fun with. Oh and the fish - I can't forget the fish. I am single so solely responsible for things like doing the hoovering, shopping, putting the bins out and, this weekend's surprise task, sorting out a workman to fix the garage roof. I have friends I would like to see more of and do more with. I haven't seen my brother since Christmas and he only lives in Yorkshire. Then there's social media...

I have never had and always thought I should have a routine, a definite time, schedule or window in the diary for writing. I still think I should have. But do I need to? I'm not sure.
Does it help to have a fixed routine or is it just more stressful if you can't stick to it or find you don't always feel at your writing best in your scheduled time slot?
I am still working out what's best for me.  I know I am a night own and could happily start about 8pm and write all through the night. But realistically I can't do this and carry on with the rest of my life. I thought I should try getting up an hour earlier to at least write something - but I also find that about 30-45 minutes into writing I am flowing and don't want to stop. Plus it means setting the alarm for 5am...

Have you found anything that works well for you?

Putting it out there- Sunday Snippet

I had a whizzy idea to enter the Northern Writer's Awards just two weeks before the deadline. Actually I had hummed and haaa'd about it for ages -  I took til then to make my mind up. I had two potential pieces I thought would just need some editing work on that I could put forward. So I got distracted from my main WIP, the Machu Picchu trek book, and spent time on two possible submissions, doing more editing than writing, which also threw out my 100K challenge word count.

Then I decided the day before the deadline I couldn't possibly enter the submissions, that they needed much more work, I didn't feel they were worthy of being read by others. Dear Reader, I bottled it. 

Still, I do now have two pretty much ready to go pieces to submit next year - or to put forward as entries into something else or possibly as a pitch. If I just dare...

In the meantime, here's a snippet from my Duff Guide to Prague, Budpest and Vienna - maybe by posting snippets I'll get over my coyness...!   

I peered at the grubby window which had just closed, incredulous. "They can't have closed it. It's lunchtime, we're in an ariport, there's a queue, there are lost tourists all around. How on earth can the tourist information booth just close?" I peered at it again. Maybe they were just swapping over staff or something. But no, behind the fading postcards stuck to the glass and pens and maps that nobody could buy now even if they wanted to, there was no sign of life.

I sighed. This wasn't in the plan, the guide book or the app.

Sunday snippet

Snippet from my WIP, which is back to progressing steadily thanks to the encouragement/ prodding of the 100k words in 100 days challenge!

An incense aroma filled the room, big enough for two not quite double beds and  basic but clean enough. After a quick glance around I flopped down on the bed, feeling exhausted and starting to privately object to being on someone else's itinerary. Would it be bad manners and unsociable if I said I was skipping whatever they had planned for the rest of the day and actually just stay here on my own? I was starting to crave time alone nearly as much as sleep.

Changes and challenges

Two weeks before Christmas after four and a half years of being self employed, working from my HQ in The Cupboard, I started a temporary job which involves going into an office every day.  It's an exciting job which I think is also going to be a lot of fun, working with a great team and I'm really looking forward to it. But going from homeworking to office bound has been a slight shock to the system.

Putting aside the fact that I can't work half the day in my PJs (it was never a regular occurrence but just knowing I could was kind of nice!) I’ve quite like the novelty of getting dressed up every day (jeans and jumper were the usual uniform in The Cupboard). The downside is the increasing pile of washing and ironing...
The commute is working out to be about a 45 minute drive (to The Cupboard it's a minute - downstairs and turn left) but I've decided to use this constructively to listen to Learn Spanish CDs - if nothing else I may learn to shout at other drivers in a different language.

I will be there All Day. A huge benefit for me of being self employed was being able to balance work and other things. Although regularly working more than 8 hours a day for myself I could split it up and be flexible so I could also get to shops/ hospital appointments/ hairdressers/ gym/ take car to the garage etc easily anytime. I could take the dog out when it was light or whenever it stopped raining/ snowing etc. I could meet people easily for coffee/ lunch/ meetings without clock watching. I could always catch up on my work later on in the evenings or weekends. I will now have to work things around work time (like walk the dog only in the dark).

Having so little time (or so it feels at the moment) outside work I will have to be Much More Organised. My first week was ok. Wanting to stay vegan I cooked meals in advance at the weekend as I don't want to stop eating healthy home cooked food, made my packed lunch and prepared breakfast the night before. My second week was the week before Christmas and more frantic with trying to fit in shopping for last minute presents, food shopping as I was Doing Christmas Day, wrapping, socialising, cleaning the house and those million and one things there is always to do this time of year.

I will get paid a regular salary, every month, on time! As I am regularly chasing up several well overdue invoices - this is a huge plus and a very welcome benefit.  I have paid holidays and time off - unheard of luxury when self employed!

I'm also aiming to keep some freelance work ticking along (the job is just an interim one for nine months) and of course want to concentrate on my writing. In theory this is all possible. My challenge for the New Year is to work out how to fit it all in. There are of course seven days in a week and 24 hours in a day. It is all do-able. So tomorrow on New Year's Day I will be making a plan - oh I do love a plan - that I can stick to. I will share with you Dear Reader and plot it all on here so I can feel accountable and like I'm making public commitments that someone somewhere someday may well ask me about.

To kick off and help with my writing aims I'm taking part in 100k words in 100 days challenge, thanks once again to Sally and looking forward to charting the ups and downs with my fellow 100k challengers on the FaceBook page.

Changes and challenges – 2013 here we come!

Sunday Snippet

Sunday snippet time - a little taster from the WIP (or WISP - Work In Slow Progress!) - my e-book about this year's trek to Machu Picchu...

Walking through the tiny airport to collect our bags we speculated on whether it was unfinished, under repair, or just was always this way. Looking around we decided that it probably 'just was'. A much needed trip to the toilets also gave us our first taste of what to expect in the bathroom department. The fact that there was no toilet paper and no toilet seat were the least of the problems - there were no lights and no ceiling either. Welcome to Cusco...

It may be NaNo but not as we know it

I just realised yesterday was this blog’s first birthday! I started this on 1/11/11 with a blog on firsts that included me taking part for the first time in NaNoWriMo.

I was inspired after a great writing workshop ran by Stephanie Butland. The aim was to get me doing some (to me) scary things - writing regularly, maybe write things that other people would read (eek!), hopefully connect with others and be A Writer like I’ve always wanted to be. Over the past year as I’ve been trying to do this, there have been plenty of life’s ups, downs and in-betweens, some things I’ve written about on here – and some that remain unwritten. I admire all those really upfront bloggers who bare their life and souls warts and all but I’ve shied away from that and realised that there are no rules, it’s my blog and I can write what I like! But it does mean that at really busy or difficult times I don’t blog as often as I had hoped I would and I’d like that to change. So my aim as I go into my second year is to blog better, more often – and maybe let people get to know me a bit more… (that may be scarier for you than I dear Reader!)

The other Very Exciting writing thing that has happened since I started this blog was getting the contract with ebook publisher Collca to publish a travelogue about the trek to Machu Picchu I did earlier this year.   I have, as many others do I think, a couple of very contrary gremlins that live on my shoulders and whisper in my ears. One that tells me that I CAN do anything and gives me confidence and positivity, the other is a dark little devil who constantly says there’s no way you can do this, who chips away at my self belief and confidence. At the moment he’s winning as I’m behind with my own writing schedule and I can hear him uttering ‘I told you so...’

So, I wasn’t going to join in with NaNoWriMo this year, I need to get my ebook finished by the end of the month and I’m writing and editing as I go along - but there’s something great about just knowing a whole bunch of others across the word are writing, creating and panicking away too. So while officially I’m doing my own thing I will be posting my word count, updating this blog with progress and checking in occasionally with others I find who are taking part in this month of madness! (But not so much that it just adds to my ever growing list of distractions!)

So – one year one – and I have one ebook to finish in one month - one is still a magic number! And because I CAN do it, I’m now off to write!

 

The fabbest Friday news...

Sometimes we get bogged down with the difficult day to day doings so on a Friday I like to have a little look back and come up with 5 fab things that have happened during the week. I probably can think of 5 fab things but actually today I'm just going to tell you about one. Only one but it's the FABBEST thing ever.... well at least for a long time.
This week, dear Reader, I signed a contract with a publisher!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( I do overdo my exclamation marks but I think that statement deserves each and every one of them)

I have signed with Collca to publish an ebook about the trek I undertook earlier this year to Machu Picchu. (You can read more about the trip here) Part travelogue/ part memoir, I hope that it will be informative and entertaining, that it might even inspire others to do something similar... most of all I just hope people will enjoy reading it of course...

I am excited, exhilarated, enthused, elated, energised, ecstatic. And just a little bit nervous, scared and apprehensive...

I am sure I will be detailing all of these feelings and more as I now go on this particular writing journey, so I'm keeping this post short and sweet (I am still slightly in shock plus getting my head round just how much work I have to do!)

But in the meantime if you want to have a flavour of the type of book Collca publish I can highly recommend Trish Nicholson's Journey in Bhutan and would like to say a huge thanks to Trish who encouraged and supported me to take this huge step forward! 

Daring to do it again!

It's also been a while - too long - since I've joined in with the weekly visual dare that Angela sets here http://anonymouslegacy.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/visual-dare-26-eclipse.html

This photo is I think particularly fabulous, so a great time to get back into it - and DARE!!

'Go on' she urged, 'take a look.'I flinched even though she was holding the mirror way back. 'It's ok, honestly. We've fixed it. No-one will recognise you.' I took a breathe, closing my eyes. I could hear the surge of blood rushing around my head and the pulsing thump of my heart. If I opened my eyes there would be no going back. If only I could keep them closed maybe nothing would have to change. It took a second or two to focus. She was right. No-one would recognise me. I was gone.

Sunday Snippet

Forgive me dear Reader (if you're still with me) for I have neglected my blog recently. Life, the universe and everything has been distracting me. But I have also been writing offline. So to get back into the blogging and get me into sharing which I'm bad at - at least when it comes to writing (other people read what I've written....•screams• :-O) I'm going to start posting a bit of the WIP as a Sunday Snippet. First snippet below (and am very happy for any/ all feedback...)

Oh, bit of context - it's about my trek earlier this year to Machu Picchu...

The doctor entered the room without knocking. I got ready to answer his enquiries about my health but, instead, he said gruffly, “Your insurance company – no word from them.” He then left the room. A tiny lady with a weather-beaten face topped with jet black hair came in. She smiled a gap toothed smile and we exchanged 'Buenos dias'. She proceeded to clean the room, gloveless, using the same cloth to wipe everything from the toilet to the bedside cabinet, then departed with a cheery 'Adios'.

I said no to the guinea pig...

As you may well know earlier this year I went on a trek to Machu Picchu (yes I did go on about it!). I'm writing something that I hope will be an e-book about the actual experience but wanted to share a recent article published in North East Appetite magazine that's actually mainly about the food (it being a foodie magazine...!

Visual dare - distorted

I'm delighted to get time to take part this week in Angela's Visual Dare. I'm not quite sure how I got to this from her fab photo prompt but guess that's part of the fun..! 

Her heavy sealed eyes opened slowly, scouring the room. Strange faces in a photograph stared back, a bright red dress, the kind she would covet but never dare wear was slung over a chair. Was she dreaming or ill, maybe she had a fever. Then droplets of memory started tapping onto her thoughts. Bright lights, sticky smells, a fairground. A dare to go into the tent of Mystic Mags. She’d entered laughing, saying she’d cross her palm with silver. She hears clearly the voice replying ‘so you want a new life, a new you? Well if you're sure my pretty...'

I Dare

Another fab picture prompt from Angela's Visual Dare - this one evoked great memories so is not exactly fiction...! 

I hold the memory in my hand. Golden hair flopping onto his face, absorbed in the words coming to life. Reading was our time, just us two and our own space, doors to the real world shut as the pages opened. Gradually he read to me, then wanted to read by himself, then didn’t want to read. I knock, the safe way to enter a teenager’s bedroom. He sits long limbs crossed, messy mop of hair tumbling forward onto his iPad. Big blue eyes shining curiosity look up, a smile breaks, revealing a dimple, ‘Hi mum.’ Some things don’t change.

Dare day

My response to this week's dare from Angela and another inspiring photo (thanks!) is posted below... I'm going to try to use Angela's new whizzy linky thing so fingers crossed (despite being, or so I thought quite comfortable with techy stuff, I'm very definitely still not comfortable with Blogger - and neither is my iPad, which means that I can't at the moment use that to use my blog - very frustrating... Rant over!).

Do take a hop over to Angela's blog which is here, as well as these weekly prompts she is posting some really interesting and useful stuff about plotting and storyboarding... I'm looking forward to reading more.

The water embraced her like an old friend, hugging her close, comfortable and comforting.  She sank into the blissful blanket of calm. No noise, no one else, no thoughts, no things. A precious, tranquil, time stopping slice of stillness. A moment that felt reality was on pause, suspended forever. Then someone pressed the play button. The peace fractured as a muffled noise reached her. She sat up and shook the watery serenity goodbye. As she blinked she heard the cry, 'Muuuum, what are you doing? We need you!' She wiped her eyes, sighed and replied, 'I know, I'm coming.'

Angela dared me...

Thanks again to Angela whose visual dare has once again inspired and here is the piece I wrote in response to this weeks photo (another stunning one). Take a look at her fab blog here if you want to see the picture where this little flashy bit came from - actually I don't know where it comes from, I just scribble something, faff about with it a bit and very much enjoy myself in the process. I think this may well become a regular thing...!


From a distance they look like marooned whales, great grey mounds with an elephant skin surface jutting above the sea. They are rocks, jaggedy, slippery, bitterly cold. I know because I sit on these rocks. A melody, crystal clear, quietly strong, floats over the rolling waves, smashing and spraying skyward. It's the song of the sea. I know because it's my song. Some say here there is danger, a demon, a devil. But it's fate, it’s meant to be. I know because it's me.

Sharing for Six Sentence Sunday

I'm uncharacteristically shy when it comes to sharing my writing, which feels a bit foolish and irrational, so in an attempt to get over this I'm now going to share more. It’s not so much whether anyone reads it or not but getting it 'out there' or rather up there, on this blog, I feel will be good for me to get over whatever makes me so irrationally reluctant.
 

So, thanks to Twitter, and I can't credit whoever or wherever I first saw this mentioned because it was one of those 'now you see it now you'd can't find it again' tweets - I'm going to join in 'six sentence Sunday' which means each week I'll share a short bit of something I'm writing on here. 

For a bit of context my main WIP which this weeks comes from is a non-fiction travel memoir type book based on a back packing trip I took with my son this year. It was my first ever backpacking trip at the grand old age of 41 and possibly one of the last holidays I'll go on with just me and my boy - now he's nearly 17 he’ll be off backpacking with his friends rather than me before too long. 

It is by no means a travel guide, in fact at the moment I'm calling it the Duff Guide to Prague, Budapest and Vienna because I am no travel expert, we got lost, we got on the wrong train, we missed some of the obvious touristy bits – but we laughed and had a lot of fun. It's as much a reflection and examination of our relationship, I've been a single mum bringing him up on my own for most of his life, we have a great relationship which is inevitably changing as he gets more grown up and is moving towards adulthood and independence.

So… without further ado... here's my first Six Sentence Sunday...

Near the bar a cheer went up as a grinning man grasping four pints made it to the table with only minor spillage. The crowd of follicly challenged, substantial bellied blokes wore football shirts bearing nicknames based on their very own USPs, which mostly seemed to involve sizes and/or bodily functions - like Gassy Gaz and Jimmy the Giant (who was of course 5ft 2").  Nearby sat a complementary half dozen women with various coloured poker straight hair and matching orange skin. Their t-shirts showed more of a team spirit, shrieking in loud pink letters that they were on Donna’s Hen Tour: Mayhem in Malaga. They too were in high party spirits, matching the lads' keen appetite for sparkly lager and bacon butties.  We were at Newcastle Airport - it was six o’clock in the morning.

(My eagle eyed reader may notice I've actually posted this on Monday rather than Sunday - this is correct and due to the fact that my iPad seems to have fallen put with Blogger and does not want to play with it any more!)

My first flash!

I struggle at times to call myself a writer as I'm still in awe of 'proper' writers - mystical creatures who craft creative gems, gripping stories and fabulous fantasies - all from scratch. (I did love the comment I saw going round twitter this week that if you write you are not an 'aspiring' writer - if you write then you are a writer. Full stop.)
My comfort zone is non-fiction - which of course is still writing and still a creative task albeit you don't (or shouldn't) really make it all up! I have done a creative writing course, which I enjoyed, have various short stories drafted, have a notebook full of ideas, plots and characters, and of course have the ubiquitous half finished novel tucked away (who doesn't!).

But I don't 'do' fiction regularly, don't feel part of that world, and I've never shared what I have written with anyone - beyond tutors and other students on the course I did. I write articles and reviews which I am more than happy of course to be made public but even my current WIP is a non-fiction travel memoir type. However, yesterday, inspired by National Flash Fiction Day and a prompt on Anonymous Legacy, and encouraged by Sarah I took the plunge - the first time I have tried 'flashing' (see what that's all about here) and the first time of putting a piece of fiction up in public on someone else's blog for anyone to see. And, like most things, it wasn't as scary as I thought, or difficult, in fact it was great fun - and got lots of other ideas flowing too!

So thank you Sarah, Angela and the other lovely people who read and commented - you may just have started something now...

And - in another first - here is my 100 word Flash, dear reader, just for you to see!


Her feet slapped the bridge, water spittling out from under each heavy step. She hunched her shoulders under the umbrella as the rain drummed down. Her face flinched as his words spat through her mind. A gust of wind caught the umbrella, she watched it slip from her grip and dance away in the river – free, flowing. Tearing off her coat, the rain's fingers felt fresh on her skin. She climbed the fence, balanced a moment, then dropped. A figure nearby, hearing the splash, came running. She gargled out a laugh. She didn't need saving. She was waving not drowning.

My 60k in 100 days!

I know it's well after the finish of 100k in 100 days which kicked off my year of writing (33 days after the finish to be precise!) but I've only got round to reflecting on it - though to be fair my I think my hiking and hospital exploits are pretty good excuses for being a little late in the day with this…!

I was really keen to give it a go and, on breaking it down, my aim was to write 1,000 words a day, a seemingly manageable amount. I'm happy to try on anything that can help me get into the habit of writing on a regular basis. I also liked the fact that rather than just concentrate on one thing my total word count could include different pieces of writing. So... how was it for me? 

First thing is that no, I didn't reach my ambition of 100,000 words in 100 days. But I am pleased with my total word count which was (drum roll here………) 59, 427. The bulk of these - over 51,000 - were part of the draft book I wanted to progress. The rest were made up of articles, reviews, and, very occasionally (when I was feeling daring!), a stab at a creative fiction piece.

I'd say that yes it worked for me and it was a worthwhile exercise. I have 59, 427 words that I may not have otherwise have written, thought about or counted! There's more to it though - this year, after many years of writing for others (and which I still do as the 'day job'), I'm getting back into writing for me. And the 100k challenge has definitely helped put me onto that track.

I've learned a lot as I've gone along - some of which I've known about and perhaps just not acknowledged or done anything about... yet! In going forward I know that I have to be more disciplined, that I should prioritise the writing that I want to do not just the writing that I have to do and that I need to set plans and deadlines and regularly review these, especially when I'm working on several different things. I also now have a great little tool to record how much I am writing to keep track and give myself a pat when it's going well and a rocket when it's not!

What else? Well, there have been a lot of positives I've got from the last few months, including being more confident about saying that I am writing, and what I'm writing about, sharing ideas and progress. My main WIP is nearing a first full draft and I've also spent time working on how I might submit it, done some market research and have an idea for the next one, so making it into a series (but one step at a time!). I am now regularly writing and submitting non-fiction articles, ideas and reviews. And of course I'm now blogging and tweeting more which is helping connect with people and pick up some really good advice and help.

Finally, just a special mention and thank you to Sally Quilford who not only helped kick start my writing year but continues to offer great writing tips and tricks and all sorts of information as well as entertainment on her website, blog and twitter.

There’s only one last thing to say - #amwriting!

Best laid plans

At the beginning of February I was rather pleased with myself! I wrote about being on track with 100K words in 100 days, learning lots as I was going along, and looking forward to carrying this good work on in February. Well that'll teach me to make rash declarations! February has now been and gone and I am a mere 8,402 words further on.

But I've decided to look at it as 38,528 words that I may well have not written if I hadn't been taking part in the challenge - so at least I am making some progress.
And February's been a stark reminder of no matter how well organised you try to be sometimes life just throws a curve ball.  I had a week planned in February when I was going to be away and knew I'd be unlikely to get any writing done then. I also then had unplanned health issues which led to unexpected hospital visits and a mind which was on other matters (although I did actually write about it I've also learned that some things I like to reflect on and give more thought to before sharing with anyone).

I've decided I'm not going to feel that I have failed in any way not keeping up with my planned word count because, quite frankly, life happens and sometimes you just have to put some plans on hold. They can always be picked up again. And there's still 40 days to go...

I have though made progress on my other aim of getting my scribbles out there! I've had articles published on other people's websites, blogs and magazines. I've made progress (that's a good thing), more lessons have been learned (that's a positive thing) and it's now the start of springtime (that's an excellent thing).

So here we go marching on!

A tasty treat

I love writing and I love food... And thanks to my favourite foodie magazine Appetite North East I got to combine the two!