Plan for today

I have set myself a target. I am aiming for 1000 words today which might be foolish and setting myself up for failure but there we are: I have all day. So far I've done 250 words.

I stop for regular tea and fizzy mineral water refreshments, and the odd game of Bejewelled. I'm in a big dialogue scene which I like. I find dialogue easier (than other parts of the writing) but it's a cat out of the bag situation and I'm not yet certain how it's going to happen. The character who lets the information slip isn't malicious so I have to make it sound a genuine mistake.

Anyway, I just stopped to eat a particularly lovely lunch - as illustrated - which I ate while watching Blackadder on the BBC Entertainment channel. It's street soup and cost 35 Baht which is about 57 pence.

Yum yum.

Authorly trip to Thailand

Writing is a lonely business, so it's very exciting to hear that an author is coming to Bangkok for a shindig in one of our bookshops.

I've never read any Meg Cabot, though I know several of her titles.

Can anyone recommend something I might enjoy so I'm not an interloper at the event?

Now that the State of Emergency has been lifted, let's hope her PR people don't cancel. I am still, when reminded, very sad about my writing course.

Bangkok Dangerous

I’ve just been to see the Pang Brothers’ Bangkok Dangerous with Nicholas Cage. This version is a remake of the Thai film of the same name, which was released in 2000 and also directed by the Pang Brothers.

According to accounts in the local press the original was better. I’ve never been a big fan of Nicholas Cage and it was a bit violent for my taste but if Husband and don’t compromise with movies, we won’t ever see anything together.

My main reason for going was to see how they presented Bangkok. I like seeing places I know in movies – it’s worth remembering that setting is as important to those that know the place, as those that don’t. (I recently read Two Caravans which is set in my home county, and honestly, apart from the names of places, I could hardly ‘see’ the place. I enjoyed the book, but it didn’t feel ‘home.’)

Bangkok Dangerous didn’t feel a big Hollywood movie - despite Nicholas Cage – which is no surprise since the Pang brothers are predominantly Asia based (I think.) When they made the version released in 2000 it was an entirely Thai cast and Thai production team. I was delighted to see that the Nicolas Cage version was mostly a Thai production team too. One of the concessions they made to the second making of the film was the hit man in the original was a deaf mute – but my local rag says ‘Since the A-lister “needs to have some lines,” the twin directors make the hit man’s girlfriend deaf mute instead.’

Poor Nicholas Cage had to run around Bangkok in full motorbike leathers so he spent a lot of the film looking unattractively greasy. I did wonder what the love interest saw in him. The girls in the go-go club looked way too cheerful from the limited experience I’ve got of being inside those places. The majority of them have looked sad and bored when I’ve taken tourist friends inside.

They made our home look pretty real, I thought: filthy, polluted, busy, colourful, friendly and characterful.

Boring boring boring

Saturdays in my house are really boring.

I’d really like to stamp my feet, and stomp up and down the corridor in a flumpy-footed manner… Sometimes I’d just like to behave badly and shout, and stamp a bit more. But I don’t because I understand; I do so hate seeing both sides of any story.

When you’ve been out all week in the office – or worse still – travelling to offices in other countries, or going off to school, you want some down time, yeah? You want some slouching about in your fisherman’s pants? In Husband’s case he wants to play ‘world domination’ games on his computer; Son wants to do any kind of slouching that isn’t homework and Daughter today wants to be moving everything to her new bedroom, so not exactly slouching, but definitely nesting.

But me, well apart from Thursday when I got to adorn myself in my gladrags and socialise, I’ve been home writing and stuff all week. So now I want to go out with my family … but they don’t.

*Sigh*

I’ve written 300 words today. It’s taken me all day – why am I so slow?

Friday Photo

Ferrero Rocher, anyone?

I was in Britain for a couple of hours this morning! Oh okay, I’ve been at The Residence of the British Embassy for ‘coffee morning’ at the invitation of the Ambassador’s wife – oooh eeerr, hark at me: proper expat wife, eh?

I donned a smart frock, scrubbed the ink stains off my fingers and made my way to Ploenchit for 10am… along with around 70 others from the British Women’s Group. This was almost us.

We drank earl grey tea, and there were scones, brownies, lemon cake, chocolate cake and more.

The Ambassador talked to us about what was going on in Thailand at the moment and then his wife, who is the Honorary President of the BWG told us about the Residence and the changes to it over the years. She shared funny anecdotes about Ambassadors past.

It was all in all a lovely morning and I dare say will feature in a book at some point.

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Cracking on

I am recovered and cracking on. I was writing all day yesterday. Every time I visit Calistro’s blog I realise plain, old-fashioned work is the way to get on. She might make jokes about the luck fairy, but that woman works hard. She puts the effort in. (I know some people work really hard and don’t get the rewards and that’s bum luck, but if I sit back and do no work there’s only one outcome.)

Anyway, I’m fairly sure you’ll all say 'whatever works for you,' but it appears that I need to get things right, before moving on… “Just get the story down first” doesn’t seem to work for me. I can’t bear all that mess. So I’ve finished Chapter One – for now – it’s certain to change again, but it’s done for now and not a first draft anymore. And I’m a couple of hundred words into Chapter Two.

I had made a comment on Sunday to Husband over lunch that I felt like going to Kinokuniya, one of the bookshops here and giving my bank card a bit of a bashing. (I imagine this was all part of the recovery programme) but Son’s ears pricked up and he asked if he could come… Now, I never say no to books for Son (or Daughter) but this was THERAPY. The damage inflicted to my bank account needed to be caused by books FOR ME. So I suddenly lost interest in going, since I’ve just purchased 3 books for Son online. As a reward to finishing chap 1, I went off today to Kinokuniya to do some abuse.

Here’s my booty: