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Sunday 26 February 2012

A Boost a day ...

I had a bit of a boost today on the writing score, which has left me feeling quite pleased with myself.
I entered a competition at the beginning of the month (which I didn't win, I didn't come anywhere near as it turns out) for which I received some feedback from the judges.  If I'm honest this was one of the main pulls for the competition which only had a £1 entry fee.  I was essentially paying this for comments on my work.  I thought this a bargain as usually it's quite expensive to get a critique done.
Anyway, they pointed out where I was going wrong with my entry, points which I have taken on board, but the main thing that I was chuffed with is that they thought it was well written and they could see my potential.
I was over the moon with this.  I know there are areas that I need to work on, but as my writing grows I see these areas improving.  I'm just glad that the raw materials are there.  I've got the basics down, now I just need to start polishing a bit more.

It's definitely given me a push in the write direction.  I currently have two competitions that I have entered that I may still be considered for but as the advice always says, 'don't dwell, just get on with the next piece'.

So that's what I'm off to do!

Tuesday 21 February 2012

Motivation - it's what you need ...

Hi folks,

It's been a little while since I last posted.  I haven't really been feeling in the zone of late, I was full of cold last week and couldn't concentrate on anything.  Coupled with my increasing unhappiness in my job, I really haven't been feeling particularly creative.

Still, I've come out the other side of the germs with a renewed determination to get some work done.  I made a promise to myself at the beginning of the year that I would start taking my writing seriously, and that I would get at least one thing published in the next twelve months.  I have entered a couple of competitions so I've already made some progress.
For some reason I had it in my head that once I'd submitted a story to a competition that story was then useless in terms of submission.  But of course, unless it wins anything, after a certain period I am free to do something else with it.

So, I plan to rework a ghost story I sent off in October and look for somewhere else to send it.  I also sent a love story to a competition earlier this month, which didn't get anywhere, but there is to be some feedback on all entries.  Once I've had this I can rework it and resubmit it as well.

So all in all, I actually have started making gradual process.  Now I have realised this my motivation and confidence has boosted enough for me to pick up and carry on in earnest.

Watch this space, I could be bringing you news of a success at some point in the future.  Fingers crossed!

Until next time,

H xxx

Friday 3 February 2012

Struggling with Hitchhikers ...


Hello everybodies,

I’ve been making a point since Christmas to do a lot more reading than I had been.  I love reading but with work and family life I never seemed to get much of a chance for it.

I guess it’s one of my New Year’s resolutions to consciously make more of an effort to make the time for reading.  I went onto Goodreads.com and entered my Reading Challenge.  I was amazed at some of the challenges people were setting for themselves.  One person had challenged herself to read over 300 books in one year!  I’ve gone for something a bit more conservative and have aimed for 12 books in a year.  I think this is quite manageable, considering that I will be doing an OU course for nine months. 

So I’ve been doing alright on the reading front and making my way through the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, which I didn’t realise is actually five books, or as Douglas Adams calls it ‘a trilogy in five parts’.
I whizzed through the first four books and really enjoyed them but the last one, Mostly Harmless, is proving to be a bit of a struggle.  I haven’t been concentrating on it and don’t quite know what’s happening at the moment.  I put it down for a couple of weeks to read something else, which I finished quite quickly, but now I think I’m going to have to restart Mostly Harmless.  I just need a good hour long stint on it to get myself back into it.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Until next time readers,

H xxx