Chicken Soup Quote

There’s a difference between writing for a living and writing for life. If you write for a living, you make enormous compromises, and you might not be able to uncompromise yourself. If you write for life, you’ll work hard; you’ll do what’s honest, not what pays.

Toni Morrison

Three unrelated acknowledgements:

1. I seriously need to allow more time for reading.

2. If I am out somewhere without my camera and miss yet another photo opportunity, I will shed lots of tears. I hate it when it happens!

3. I have been itemising using numbers. Lots. I was doing it with all my emails to my hubby today. Yeah, he pulled me up on that one. I told him it was to make his life easier. I think he was doubtful.

A Penguin Struck Me

Today I happened to buy Street Haunting by Virginia Woolf, Nothing Bad Ever Happens In Tiffany’s by Marian Keyes, and Happy Birthday, Jack Nicholson by Hunter S. Thompson. They’re part of the Penguin pocket series (ultra-thin paperbacks) and were very cheap; I couldn’t resist.I’ve never read works from the authors mentioned. I’m particularly interested in Marian Keyes because she’s successful in her chosen genre (contemporary womens’ fiction) and I wanted to see if my style of writing might be classified similarly.

I hope that it isn’t. I don’t mean to offend those that like the genre, but I want my stories to appeal to men and women.

My Plan Of Attack

I’m free of assignments for the next few weeks because of holidays. Maybe I can think clearly because of it.

Yesterday, I decided that I will aim for a minimum of 450 words, for my novel, each day. That’s about 3000 words each week. At that rate, I will have the first draft done by October. For someone that wants to be a serious writer, 450 words doesn’t seem like much. But, I also work full-time and I’m studying part-time. So, go easy, thanks! Anyway, I already know that sometimes I will write less, and that I will write more on other days (and usually it will be more), (because, I know myself), but either way, it’s less pressure for me by setting a word count daily that is low.

Yes, I know, I know, why the hell didn’t I think of this before?

And this week, I’m already in front, so that’s good news, isn’t it?

And why October? Because we’re going away then; therefore it’ll be a perfect time for the manuscript to be alone and untouched, and I can then kick its ass when we get back.

Note: the macro coffee image has nothing to do with what I just wrote, but I thought I’d chuck a photo in for the hell of it. I’ll probably do that often with my blog entries because I like taking photos. And this is my place. (Although, that’s my day-job keyboard in the background, so it’s kind of related…)

Have I Already Said That I Love Autumn?

Just exactly that.

Another Awareness

I note that with every comment I make to someone about my manuscript, a new expectation is born. So, must stop doing it.

Don’t You Just Love Rugging Up?

Well, don’t you?

The Assignment Made Me Do It

The sound of rain on a galvanized roof is like thousands of invisible hands in the sky each holding a tiny glass ball and taking turns in letting it drop onto the roof…

Storm clouds look like the sun accepts defeat in a sky-battle against the clouds, and then ink leaks from the weeping sun and slowly infiltrates the sky…

The wind feels like an argument with your lover, and then a slap on your face, followed by feeling iced all over but without the dampness…

The shape and colours of a rainbow are like a curving, kaleidoscopic wand that stretches from one end of the sky to the other…

Walking barefoot through the grass is like walking on a thick, ticklish, damp fur coat worn by the ground…

Deep-Writer-Moment For The Day

I’m starting to see potential stories in anyone and anything and I’m doing it more and more (though not as much as what I would like) — it’s part of my growing process as a writer, I suppose.

It’s also making my day job more interesting — especially if I can be productive with the frustrations I get. But all those times that I could’ve got a potential story out of a day job intrigue and didn’t… oh what a loss indeed.

Alas, there is a line to be drawn; of course there shall be no stories featuring time-travel stationery cupboards or foul-mouthed photocopiers…

Anyway, because I’ve been opening my eyes to the people and situations in my work environment, I’ve found that it’s impacted my novel. In good ways. Consequently, I’ve made more changes.

And to my work colleagues who may be reading this, you might want to remember the saying, “never offend a writer”. Ah yes, be good to me, kids.

More Books!

Went op-shopping with my sister today. Scored the following books:

Paullina Simons – Eleven Hours
Stephen King – The Green Mile: The Two Dead Girls
Thomas Hardy – The Woodlanders
Charles Dickens – A Tale Of Two Cities
E.R Braithwaite – To Sir With Love
Joan Lindsay – Picnic At Hanging Rock
Daphne du Maurier – Hungry Hill
Edgar Allan Poe – A Collection Of Stories
D.H Lawrence – (Short Stories Collection)
Australian Short Stories No. 27

If it weren’t for Cloudstreet, I wouldn’t have known who Daphne du Maurier was. Funny, that.

And also brought to you by the letter B: Ark, who didn’t miss out on an op shop buy, now has two new Blankets for winter. I’ve already washed and dried them tonight; he’s dozing on one of them now. (He forgot to thank me though.)

Cloudstreet

I finally finished the book tonight. (Yes, I’m a slow and easily distracted reader.)

Brilliant. Loved it. Will learn a lot from it. It’s made it to my Favourite Books category.

And Quick Lamb is a darling.

I’m not going to write what it’s about or review it because there’s plenty of Cloudstreetness on the web already. When I did google the title, which is something I usually do after I’ve read an impressive book, I came across a site with some rather alarming “reviews” from secondary students. Check them out and be shocked like I was. Yikes.

Tim Winton — that’s the author. Thought I’d chuck his name in; I reckon he’d be miffed if I didn’t.