Category: Uncategorized

Do You Remember When We First Met

So my best friend wrote this about me. I couldn’t help but show it off.

by Elizabeth Lovatt

(for my best friend) 

Do you remember when we first met? Don’t worry, I don’t either.

So here goes, it went like this:

You standing there small and delicate with your light brown hair falling loose down your back and your big Disney eyes which later would get you cast as the Little Matchstick Girl in our school play. You standing there with your mother’s stubborn chin, determination on your face, ignoring all the other kids and looking only at me.

‘Hello,’ you said, confident, as if it was the easiest thing in the world, as if the first day of nursery was no big deal and making friends wasn’t the making of us. Oh, but it was.

Or maybe it went like this:

Me, hiding behind my mum’s legs, pressing nose and cheek into the nylon rub of her knee, until glancing up – I see…

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Write What You Know

I wrote a little more of my novel, thus far I am around eight hundred words into the ‘final revision’. I really hope I speed things up or I’ll be finishing this when I’m a pensioner.  I also wrote up the description of an asthma attack. It’s father pleasingly one hundred words.

A stabbing pain shoots across my shoulder blades, I press them down giving my lungs space to expand. I push my rib cage out as far as it will go, drag in all the air I can. It is thin and next to useless in my failing lungs. A wet gurgle sounds, I feel it more than hear it. An uncomfortable restriction in the base of my left lung. Another coughing fit racks my body. They’ve gotten quieter my throat weak and raw. The inhaler eases my breath but it’s not long before the sorry process starts all over again.

 

Today’s Wordcount: 288

Fun with templates

I’m a big fan of Scrivener, I’ve been using it to write for about a year but only recently discovered how much fun I can have  with templates. If you’ve been following my blog you’ll know I’ve been working on getting my novel ready to be sent off to a couple of competitions at the end of the month.

I’ve got my synopsis somewhere close to where I want it and now I’m working on the first 10,000/15,000 words of the novel. I very much like all the words in my first few chapters, however not all of them are necessary or particularly relevant. Luckily for me, Lady Writer has provided a scrivener template which I can follow. I’ve written a short sentence for each chapter and I feel like I need to get to the action a bit sooner.  I never thought I would be excited to cut words but I’m a sucker for a good plan.

You guys should definitely check out this yummy spreadsheet.

Today’s word count: around 300

Skipping steps never works

Writing and sewing have one very key thing in common. If you rush the early parts the end product is going to rubbish. Not only that it will be incredibly difficult.

I am very impatient. It’s something I have to work on. My Synopsis is acceptable for this draft but to actually make it exciting I am going to have to go back to the beginning.

I must somehow make each plot point clear and succinct, for myself as well as any perspective publishers. I know what happens in my novel, I know each characters motivations, loyalties and goals. I know the economics, geography and politics of the world. What I need to work out is which of these forces drives the plot.

This requires more sticky notes and a certain degree of brain power. I have an abundant supply of sticky notes, however my brain is running on empty.

It is a task for tomorrow