Word count day, juicy scenes and big feet

After failing to find some trekking shoes gargantuan enough for Son, I went off to Starbucks yesterday. That’s where I’m writing best at the moment. It’s got something to do with the piles of non writing related work on my desk. If I’m sitting at my desk, I see it and worry. I don’t do it but I do worry. I end up not writing and not doing any of the other jobs either.

So it’s off to Starbucks. On Friday I went to my usual branch. (You know you’re going too frequently when your teabags (yes two bags for a grande) are in his hands before you’ve even arrived at the counter.) Yesterday for a bit of variety (get me, how exciting is my life?) I went to a different branch of Starbucks. I went to the one in Siam Centre. It overlooks Siam Square. They don’t know me there so I had to order my tea and then I went and found a seat.

I was very excited about the juicy scene that I knew was next. I’d been thinking I was about to write this scene for a couple of days, but other bits of business always got in the way. I first wrote up the germs of this scene in my notebook a year ago when I was on my own in Koh Chang. It just appeared in my head and all I had to do was write it down.

This was my view from my chair. And I did smile whenever I looked up and saw it.

So Sheepish, are you here looking for my words? Well I shall be along later in the day to update them… Update: After NO Sunday writing (I've been to the cinema) words this week are 4121. (And the rule about no Sunday writing is nonsense because I've whipped her woolly bum this week!)

Elephants on Elephant Island

I meant to blog about the holiday we had with Husband's sister and her family. We went to Koh Chang which we've been to lots of times: it's where the Skyros holiday was. It's the second largest island after Phuket but is considerably less developed.

Before they came SiL had requested elephant rides because Nephew (aged 7) is obsessed by them; 'Ellie' is his security toy. That was easy given our booking on Koh Chang. I'd gone with the Skyros crowd to one of the nicest elephant camps I've ever been to and frankly, I don't tire of elephants; spending time with them, riding on them. They are the most delightful creatures.

What really blew me away though is that Nephew had never seen one in the flesh. I cannot tell you what a privilege it was to share his first elephant experience.

We're back...

... oh and how I missed you all. I did. I think I might be a bit addicted to my blog.

Do you remember (here) how I appeared after my Christmas holiday properly vexed, thinking I might be the only person in the world who didn’t know that pineapples grew on the ground… in fields?

On our drive down to Koh Chang last week, we pointed out pineapples growing next to the road, now that we knew! SiL had the same reaction as I’d had. So, when the driver came to pick us up yesterday from the boat, we asked him if we could stop at a pineapple field.

And now, just for you: pictures of pineapples growing, in situ, in fields. Whoever knew? (Yeah, yeah, I know some of you did… I still think it was the duty of the ‘man from Del Monte’ to tell us.)

I think this should be called a grove - it was much lovelier than a field.

In the meantime, I am still ridiculously excited about discovering that pineapples grow on the ground. And I'm worringly thrilled at having stopped to photograph this field yesterday.


Planted among the pineapples are rubber trees ... and if you're really lucky I might come back tomorrow and tell you my rubber tree stories!

Now there's an offer...

In view of all this excitement, I might have to go and have a lie down now.

Christmas Eve

Did you know that today is Christmas Eve? Well it is for the Beatties in Bangkok. We go down to Krabi on Sunday and can’t take presents so we’re celebrating it early.

We’re going down to Krabi by train because we’d psyched ourselves up for the Trans-Siberian express (and we didn’t quite trust the airports!) Luckily we came to our senses when we discovered the kind of temperatures that journey would entail.

We’ve kind of cocked up the notion of family Christmas traditions by being expats. We used to have traditions but they’ve had to go by the wayside. I wondered if we could at least take the stockings for the kids on the right day. I asked Husband to check the train details for luggage stowability.

Husband: We’ve confirmed the arrangements for carry-on vs hold bags and it depends on size.

Me: Okay. What are the sizes?

Husband: "small enough" and "too big". Thai standard sizes!

Phew, I’m glad we sorted that out.

So Christmas day is tomorrow in our house and the 25th will be a mystery waiting to happen. Last year the children jumped out of a box at my parents’ house and nearly gave their cousins a heart attack. I was at Skyros and Husband came down to join me on Christmas Eve. On Christmas day there was a Skyros organised trip to Ban Bao fishing village for lunch and the highlight of the trip for me was seeing these monkeys on the rocks on the way.

Back in Bangkok

“Statement of the bleedin’ obvious”

I am feeling all relaxed and light of problems. This is my last day on Koh Chang and the rainy season has gone away for the day … but still I’m at my laptop. (I ♥ my laptop.)

Calistro left a comment yesterday that made me laugh; she said: ‘…that’s utterly astonishing… Have I missed something? How did you go from writing 100 words a day on Helen’s blog to well over a 1000? I want some of that fairy dust please!’ and then after chuckling again at her tone of total incredulity, it made me think. These are my tips:

1. Sign up for a mentoring scheme in which you will submit 10,000 words for critiquing when in reality you have only 4,000 words of your ‘masterpiece’ written.
2. Have a lovely Husband, who despite writing course being cancelled, lets you ago anyway to gorgeous jungley island all on your lonesome while he holds the fort at home.
3. Have people on your sidelines, shouting for you: encouraging, having faith and then shouting some more. (I know it’s not the most exciting blogging; me telling you how many words I wrote today, and what DVD I’m watching… so thank you for still appearing here!)

In truth, it’s not just those points, and it’s funny that it was Calistro that made me think about it, because it sort of started with her.

It’s hard work, this writing lark. I know that – if you came here telling me it was just sitting on my lardy arse and typing, well, I’d say ‘it’s not, it’s hard work.’ I knew that. I’d read it in multiple ‘how to’ books, I’d heard it from writers, I’d read it on the internet. I knew.

It started a few weeks ago when Calistro got her agent. I was so pleased for her – she really has worked hard for it … and she works full time. I felt utter delight; I knew I wasn’t near that situation so my reaction didn’t involve an iota of envy. I was 4,000 words in and I could see that I had a long way to go before justifiably feeling ‘why not me?’

It spurred me on. It made me think ‘I want that to be me…’ So I began to think about it: about how to do it, about how to get to that situation so that even if there are no guarantees, at least to get to a place where your manuscript goes out.

My TLC writing holiday got cancelled and I felt sad but I recognised my need for feedback. I’d got no real idea if what I was doing was right. So fast forward to the idea of mentoring with TLC: my excerpt came back with some good things on it. It was better than I hoped for and it had suggested to my reader that, albeit assessed only from one chapter, I might possibly be in possession of the skills required to do this.

‘I did that chapter,’ I thought. ‘It was hard but I shaped it and put the things into that she thought demonstrated that potentially I might possess the ability to do this. So right … (can you hear those cogs turning?) if I can do it with one chapter, I can do it with the next.’

Slowly – because clearly I’m not very bright – it began to dawn on me. The writing is really tough. It’s HARD. Am I the only one who hadn’t comprehended this? Am I the only total twit who hadn’t grasped the fact that, not only is it not easy, it’s actually, really bloody difficult?

So, if you’ve read this far, you’re going to say ‘Yes? And your point, JJ, is what?’

And, well, I suppose my point is – I suppose I have a couple of points: that ability or talent is irrelevant if you don’t do the hard graft … there really isn’t any ‘fairy dust’? And while I knew all along that it was tough, I guess I didn’t really quite believe it; until now.

Saturated

Words written yesterday: 500
Words written today: 700.
Total words this week: Just under 8,000
Total words in WIP: Just under 12,000

There are maybe a 1,000 in my notebook too.

But, I reckon I’ve reached saturation point. I’m knackered, and need a holiday! I had hoped to go back home with a tan, but I’m as pasty white as I was when I arrived. Tomorrow, if the sun comes back out, I might sit by the pool.

In total I’ve got around 12,000 words and when my mentor has been appointed I will need to send the first 10,000 to be critiqued, which was really what this was about.

Hopefully I’ve learned that if I can write flat out here, I can get on and do that in Bangkok too.

Thank you for all your encouragement. I kept going because I wanted to be able to come here and tell you how much I had managed to write.

Today

I had to whizz in to White Sands Beach today to buy some more milk. The fear of running out of PG Tips is one thing, but having to drink Lipton’s Tea made with powdered milk is a horrifying prospect.

The resort runs a courtesy bus service three times a day. Normally they expect you to be two and a half hours in White Sands, but trust me, I love Koh Chang – this is my fourth time here – but two and a half minutes is enough in White Sands … Sorry. So I had to purchase milk, Paracetamol and enough DVDs to last my stay all in about 15 minutes.

Last night’s movie, Where the Truth Lies, was ghastly beyond belief. Nothing redeeming about it, tragically, not even Colin Firth. Soooo, I had to buy something else to watch, cabbage brained as I am after 1000 words of writing. I’m rather pleased with my mixture of films:

The Good German with George Clooney, Cate Blanchett and Toby Maguire. I know something about this … it’s based on book … I’ve heard it’s good.

Chicago with Catherine Zeta Jones, Renee Zellwegger and Richard Gere. I’ve never seen it. Husband would rather poke his eyes out that watch it with me – although oddly he was prepared to see the stage show… all those long legs in fishnet tights, maybe?

Million Dollar Baby with Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman. Love Morgan Freeman … never seen it, seeing as it’s about boxing, but I’m told to forget that and watch it because it’s good.

Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo ‘DiCraprio’ and Claire Danes. Never seen it, but I love the play; Son’s been watching it at school and we’ve been discussing the relative merits of setting Shakespeare in the modern day. Son has been ‘biting his thumb’ at his sister, since watching the movie.

Love Actually, with both You Know Whos: Just another chance of watching the divine Hugh wiggling his hips; as well as fancying Colin Firth myself in the Colin Firth role where he’s writing in beautiful solitude somewhere … I can’t remember (Portugal?). Hopefully my papers won’t all blow away into the water. (Note to self: back up all your words!)

Shall We Dance? With Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez and Susan Sarandon. Never seen in, but total mush for the brain that Husband won’t watch unless I blackmail or bribe him. Love Richard Gere in Pretty Woman – clearly I’m loving emotionally constipated men who break out with the help of a sexy woman.

The Wedding Date with Debra Messing and Dermot Mulroney. I thought this was a wildcard, but Husband’s just told me on the phone that we’ve seen this. Whoops, not a good sign, but I’ll probably watch it again, seeing as it’s proper mush.

Note to Husband following phone conversation: We don’t watch movies together at home, not, because as you said ‘you’re always writing and want to go to bed early…’ but because I want to watch things like the above, and you want to watch ‘guns, aliens, save the world’ films. We have no Venn Diagram.

Words written today: 1,012

Extremes

The Departure hall at Suvarnabhumi (pronounce: Sue Van a Bum - The 'Bum' bit should sound like you're a northerner not a southerner!) Airport, Bangkok:

The Arrivals Hall at Trat Airport:

Two bits of news

Two major things have come out of the TLC writing course being cancelled.

One is that I kept my internal flights to Koh Chang – couldn’t get the money back anyway – and last Friday night, after Music & Lyrics, I decided that I would go and write. So tomorrow I fly down to “Elephant Island” for nine nights to make progress on my book.

The second is the cancellation brought into focus my awareness of my … confidence issues and my inability to keep to my own deadlines. Each time I’ve had any sort of crit I’ve had a corresponding ‘Ah ha!’ moment. I feel sure that had I been in the UK I would by now be doing the OU course, or an MA (Husband's permission permitting). But, I’m not, so a couple of weeks ago I sent my first chapter to The Literary Consultancy to see if they would consider me in a suitable place with my wip for their mentoring programme. This consists of a one to one mentor in the form of an experienced author critiquing up to 10,000 words on six occasions through the year. At the end of the six sessions you can submit the whole manuscript to be read and critiqued by one of their readers.

I heard back from them on Saturday regarding my first chapter. The mentoring co-ordinator was ‘impressed by these opening pages’ and thinks that I have the qualities ‘firmly in place’ that they are looking for in mentees. From the little they've seen 'the novel already ticks a good number of the current publishing boxes.'

I met Julia Bell through TLC who supply writers for Skyros’ Writer’s Labs – Julia used to read for TLC and she speaks highly of them. I have corresponded with Rebecca Swift regarding the holiday and the other services they offer. I also have been in touch with Zinnia regarding her experience and I am impressed with the way that TLC dealt with Zinnia’s criticism and complaint.

Of course there are still no guarantees of anything – they don’t take on only those they think they can whip up into shape for publishing – but I am excited about receiving feedback on a regular-ish basis to the hard work I am doing. I’m really motivated to get on and receive some feedback and am sure that the deadlines imposed will help me to focus and stop … playing Bejewelled.

Give me a slap

I’m feeling pitifully sorry for myself today. I need a good slap because it’s not life and death but nonetheless I’m feeling wretched.

It started on Friday evening. Daughter was at a sleepover with four friends; Son was watching TV and Husband had braved the tropical rain storm to get home for his last phone meeting of the week.

Through the wall I could hear Husband on the conference call – him talking loudly as though to someone slightly stupid and the tinny voices of his colleagues from the speaker phone. I was finishing off Two Caravans when the email bleeped red on my Blackberry.

Every time the thought had entered my head that the writing course might be jeopardised by the political unrest here I gave it a firm whack away. It would be fine, I said, it’s in Koh Chang not in Bangkok.

Yesterday the news came: The Literary Consultancy has taken the decision to cancel the course. I’d tried so hard not to think this might happen but at the same time I understand. If I were in the UK thinking of coming to a country under a State of Emergency... well, I don't think I would.

Lovely Husband is telling me to go anyway… it's all in the diary, got everything in place at home - have a break, he says, but I don’t need a break – I need a writing course.

See, I just need a good slap for being a spoilt and selfish.

Happy New Year!

Making magical wishes for 2008 with giant Chiang Mai sky lanterns. This was Christmas Eve at Skyros on Koh Chang. For New Year's Eve this year I was in bed at 10pm with a lurgy, so I'm going to pretend that Christmas Eve was New Year's Eve.

'Allo allo allo

There were 7 or 8 uniformed policemen in reception when I came in to breakfast on Boxing Day but because it was the day that most of the Skyros group were leaving, I instantly forgot to ask why they were there.

Saying goodbye to everyone was sad and horrible, but I’m meeting some again in Bangkok when I get back, (Husband came down on Christmas Eve so we’re staying for a few more days) and I’m fairly sure I will stay in touch with some.

Since the boat sped them away I’ve been sitting in reception checking out the blogs I’ve missed recently and catching up on emails (several important ones had disappeared into my junk folder – bummer.)

Previously intent on my laptop, I was suddenly aware that the lobby was immensely busy and when I looked up all the policemen were pacing around looking important, hands hovering over their guns. Beyond the tier of policemen were bystanders, and further away again were a group of girls, one of whom was wearing a silver crown and vertiginous heels.

I watched fascinated by this OK/Hello Magazine scene in front of me. Eventually, unable to resist it, I took some photos. All the hotel staff had their photos taken with her and many of the other resort guests (no way was I standing next to this gorgeous 6ft 8” slender beauty). She was lovely and smiled patiently through all the requests for photos. Eventually she and her entourage disappeared, and I was able to ask someone who she was: Miss Thailand! Oooh, am I mixing with the stars?

No Reindeer Here