What to read?

Is this the longest ‘I’m nearly there…’ in history?

I am nearly there though. (And you’re all being wonderful, tolerant and cheering me on – even though I can imagine the gritted teeth…)

I finished Zoe Heller’s The Believers on Saturday. It had an utterly unlikeable main character and I wondered what I was doing continuing to read (well, it was wonderful despite that.) She was so cruel to her children and I didn’t feel enough understanding of her past to have much compassion for her. We knew a bit… but not enough to empathise. Of course it reminded me of the mother in my own story… and do we know enough, early enough, to identify with her?

I couldn’t decide what to read next… it’s too soon to start the next book club choice. Then I saw this BBC National Short Story Award article and that was it: decision made. The short story volume, Women fly when men aren’t watching by Sara Maitland.(Sara was involved in devising The Literary Consultancy's mentoring scheme.)
I think the universe is trying to tell me something because I’ve just received my prize from Salt Publishing of a copy of Short Circuit: A Guide to the Art of a Short Story, edited by Vanessa Gebbie.

So what’s the universe trying to tell me?

To write some short stories?

To bloody well get this draft finished so that I can try my hand at some short stories.
*

Bottoms up to Calistro

I was going to come and talk about orchids and packaging today…

…and then I read Calistro’s post and now I can’t be bothered to tell you the drivel I had planned because it’s not nearly as exciting as …

…Calistro having an agent who ‘absolutely loved’ her book and I’m really, really excited for her.

I do feel a warm glow at predicting at Manchester Novel Racer meet back in … April/May I think, that Cal would be next and it feels particularly good to say ‘I told you so’. I know there are no hard and fast rules to these things, but it seems to me that Cal did it right. Of course, there’s not a right way to do it but if there were, this would be it.

Serving one’s apprentice in the short story market: selling, being placed and getting commended, demonstrates writing ability and seriousness to one’s attitude (despite the fact that the short story is such a different beast to the novel.)

Fantastic news.

I must stay upright

It started out well yesterday – I woke and leapt out of bed at nearly 7am. However, after a cup of tea and some blog surfing (I’m astonished HOW many blogs are started and never touched again) I had to have a little lie down with my book on the sofa and it went downhill from there. I slept from about 8.30 to 1pm. Not much of a coincidence that 1pm here is 7am in the UK…

Anyway, despite completely screwing up my body clock, again, I’ve been strangely productive. I’ve done some paperwork that’s been hanging over me for some months and all that’s required now is to post it.

I wrote a blog post this morning that I’ve been planning since I was in the UK and all the while I was thinking ‘it’s ever so quiet out there at the moment, it’s a shame to post this one when no-one’s about…’ Just as I finished it I wondered about scheduling it for a date in a couple of weeks that it would be good for … then, rather like being hit on the head, I realised it would make a perfect premise for a short story for the women’s mags … I emailed Leigh asking what she thought and then I looked up some guidelines and now I’m scared. So many submissions …

Now I think about it, I wonder if this strange productivity is anything to do with procrastination … oh gawd. Still, I promise no more blow by blow accounts of JJ’s jetlag… This is the last one.

I must stay upright; I must stay upright; I must stay upright; I must stay upright.

Taking regular breaks

It’s alarming how much time I have accumulated on Bejeweled: just the odd game here and there. (It’s just a cold, I could give up anytime I want).

The problem is that I can’t kid myself: Bejeweled keeps excellent records.

Just recently I’ve swapped laptops, and so I’ve reset those records. BUT the records still exist on the old laptop … I’ve just been to check them. OMG.

I have earned the title: Legendary jeweler
(Is this my skill, or the amount of time I’ve spent on the game?)

My best score: 1,379,550
(Yay, husband can’t get close)

Gems collected: 680, 945
(Shame they’re not real)

Biggest Cascade: x9
Biggest Combo: 94,408
Power Gems created: 19,408
Hyper Cubes created: 1,042
(blah blah blah)

This is where it gets a bit shocking:

Total Time Played: 130 hours 2 minutes. (OH MY GOD) That’s nearly five and a half days… (Really filthy, sailor type language ensues)

So I’ve been feeling quite sick about this. I mean, I know it wasn’t consecutive days (it wasn’t, honest) but really…

However, today, I was just having a quick game (of Bejeweled, obviously) before starting to plan my plot (which I still haven’t done this week) when I got a stonking, but stonking great idea in my head for a short story. I’ve written down the story so I don’t forget it.

I’ve been reading Tony Buzan’s “The Power of Creative Intelligence” and he says "Surprisingly, whole-brain thinking demands that if you are going to be fully and truly creative, you must take regular breaks.” I knew this all along.

“Think about it: where are you when you come up with those bursts of imagination…those great fantasies and daydreams?” He then lists 12 places/times where your mind is relaxed, and okay, none of them specifically mentioned ‘Bejeweled’ but the principle is definitely the same.

So there.

And it’s the second time this week. The same thing happened on Monday while I was playing Bejeweled, and I wrote down the bones of that story too.

All the time I have been worrying about procrastination and not being motivated to use the time available to me and there I was doing what I needed to do: to allow both sides of my brain to talk to each other…

I went back this morning and reread some of my early blog. All I wanted to do was write: I hadn’t set amounts or totals or goals, I just wanted to write because I need to. I don’t honestly know if I need to be published, but I do know I need to write. Every Friday I feel disappointed in not having done more novel, but I am writing and it is all I wanted. I have got to give myself a break… So that’s another game of Bejeweled, for me then.

Blah Blah

Properly pooped.

Get yourselves over to Maht's blog to read the short stories competition entries. There are stories there I wish I'd written!