Mirkwood Cottage

The Write Stuff

Oh, the doldrums. I'm sincerely struggling to get into the "write" space. Anyone have any interesting or creative ideas about how to get back on the writing horse? Help!

Another year over, a new one just begun...

They say that if you fail to plan you plan to fail; and that the first step toward achieving your dreams is to write them down and put the intention out into the universe. This gives you a starting point and helps to make you more accountable to your goals. In fact, statistics indicate that if you have just one person in your circle who will hold you accountable to your goals, you increase your likelihood of achieving that goal by 300%! So, my lovely cyber-friends, I'm laying my dreams at your feet...

This year I WILL achieve the following:

- Complete my first novel by May/June 2009 (I'm borrowing and idea from fabulous Keris, and I'm going to write approximately 1% per day, or around 450-500 words)

- Get a literary agent (I've already picked the one I want)

- Get a book deal from a great publisher (preferably a two-book deal ;)

- Qualify for a free holiday to Fiji, through my new Wellness business (which is the main reason I've not been blogging and have been working so hard!)

- Visit Disneyland (Anaheim), realising a 25-year dream

- Spend more than a month in Scotland over the Christmas holidays

- Write my second novel by the end of 2009

- Drop two dress sizes

- Take up an interesting hobby (like archery or sword fighting)

Now, bring me that horizon.

p.s. What are your goals and dreams for 2009?

[Image courtesy of my exponentially increasingly talented husband, David]

I'm it!

The lovely Keris has graced me with an award! I thought that would be a nice start to my 2009 blogging after my 2-month sojourn into the abyss of non-blogging and incredible busy-ness.

In any case, to get this year started off with a bang (or something), the rules of the award state that the following questions must be answered in one word: 
1. Where is your cell phone?  Handbag
2. Where is your significant other?  Couch
3. Your hair color? Blonde
4. Your mother?  Mad!
5. Your father? Madder!
6. Your favorite thing?  Peace
7. Your dream last night? Suffocating
8. Your dream/goal?  Growing
9. The room you're in? Favourite
10. Your hobby?  Relaxing
11. Your fear?  Dentists
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Adventuring
13. Where were you last night?  Party
14. What you're not?  Lazy
15. One of your wish-list items? Egypt
16. Where you grew up? Imagination
17. The last thing you did?  Chuckle
18. What are you wearing?  Dress
19. Your TV? Computer
20. Your pets?  Husband
21. Your computer? Treasured
22. Your mood? Weary
23. Missing someone?  No
24. Your car?  Dory
25. Something you're not wearing? Shoes
26. Favorite store? Amazon
27. Your summer? Haaawt
28. Love someone? Family
29. Your favorite color?  Winter
30. When is the last time you laughed? Scrubs
31. Last time you cried? AugustRush (Well, it had to be one word!)

So, thank you Keris for loving my blog enough to tag me ;) I'm going to share the love and tag Amber!

Deja Nano?

Well, I've taken my first big step towards getting some writing done, by participating in NaNoWriMo again this year. Last year was a bit disastrous, in that I got out three rather good chapters before throwing in the towel and giving into to my Grammar Nazist, perfectionistic, perfectly pessimistic internal editor. Seriously. Think of the worst, most soul-destroyingly, heart-crushingly, dream stompingly evil English teacher and you'll have a fair picture of that little nasty in my head.

This year, though, I'm armed with a few extra tools. This is not to say that I will succeed in writing my 50,000 words. It's not to say that IE won't win again. But I'm pushing my boundaries. I'm giving it a go. And you know what? If I manage another three "rather good chapters" again this year, then I'll have twice as much material as I have had to work with these past twelve months.

Failure mentality? Probably. But I'm ok with failure, this time 'round. And that might be just the thing I need to hear to help me win.

To all the other veritably insane aspiring Nano authors out there... Good luck!

All You Need Is...

There are some places that are just made for writing. I wouldn't have thought that a hammock was one.

After visiting a friend's new-ish (had it for two years, only just visited him now) home, I spotted a lovely hammock hanging on his front verandah. Never one to shy away from relaxation, I gave it a test run and, oh my! I found it comfortable and akin to being on a swing (which I love), only lying down! My previous hammocking experiences have been with net-variety kinds, which tend to squish and squeeze all those parts of your body you'd rather forget were there; but his was a thick woven cotton style, which was an enormous improvement.

I've been tagged!

Well, it's been a mad few weeks at Mirkwood Cottage! Too many things to fit into too few minutes - so I apologise to anyone who's been languishing about, lamenting my lack of blogging. Unfortunately, the madness is set to continue into the first week of November, but I thought I'd break the drought with a meme, for which I was tagged by the gorgeous Keris! The gimmick is that you're only allowed a one-word answer... no superfluous adjectives here!

1. Where is your cell phone? Couch
2. Where is your significant other? Upstairs
3. Your hair color? Blonde
4. Your mother? Cuddly
5. Your father? Strong
6. Your favorite thing? Earrings

Lost in Austen

I really enjoy when someone uses a successful, age-old literary idea and uses an interesting twist to make it new again; and Lost in Austen was just that for me! A fabulous four-part ITV mini-series, it was a bit ridiculous at times, but oh-so-fun along the way.

Lost in Austen tells the story of Amanda Price - a die-hard Pride and Prejudice fan living in modern times - who one day discovers Elizabeth Bennet in her bathroom, having popped through a portal from the Bennet's family home. Elizabeth quickly disappears, but a few days later she returns, and this time Amanda enters the P&P doorway to take a look at Longbourne, but gets 'lost' in Austen time instead.

What follows is a muddling of the events that take place in the book. Poor Amanda desperately tries to 'make things right' - that is, as they are in Austen's storyline - only to be thrown off by the absence of Elizabeth, quite a few unexpected plot developments and other titillating character insights.

I found it very engaging - and it did keep me on my toes, wondering how events could possibly reorganise themselves into some kind of acceptable, Austenesque semblance! In the end, I found myself as vested in Amanda's success as much as I have been invested in and loved Elizabeth Bennet in the classic tale!

Very good fun, indeed. I thoroughly recommend it, if you're looking for some Austen with a twist!

Stories With Heart

Every now and then, you come across a writer who, in a few short paragraphs, says a thousand million things. You could make a film out of this one short journey.

My thanks to the ineffable Heather B. Armstrong for bringing this beauty (and a few tears) into my day...

Goal!

Well, I kept my word! Detailed outline of my second novel is DONE! Yahoooo! It feels wonderful to have achieved what I set out to do (after a bit of a detour, but hey, learning curves can be useful!). All of my chapters, including themes and events are in order (20 chapters, at current count!) and I've briefly outlined my locations and main characters, with descriptions of many of the incidental / side characters. There's loads more to be added as I go along, but I'm content with the outline for now!

Now it's back to the grindstone for Novel One and my agent submission! Eep!

[Image source: http://yummybrainfood.wordpress.com/]

Writing a Synopsis

Having completed a 7-day fitness goal and feeling entirely invincible, I've set myself another one, but this time it's about a book! I have three chapters of my first-ever novel completed and I'm quite happy with them... and rather than wait until I've finished the whole book and am 100% satisfied with it (reformed perfectionist? Moi? Quite true!), I'm going to use them to query an agent (or two)!

I'm told that this is how "real authors" do it, to see if their work / writing is marketable; and I did set myself a 90-day goal a few weeks ago to "find an agent" (you'll see the countdown ticking away on my blog, in fact!), so what's to stop me?

Well, maybe a workable synopsis!

So, this week's goal is to write a draft synopsis. I've never written one before, and by all accounts, they're terribly tricky, practically impossible and take years to write. Mmhmm. Yep! That's why I've got exactly one week to write mine! (Nothing like the pressure of a deadline to get one's brain moving!)

However, I thought I'd open it up to you for any advice! Have you written a synopsis before? Do you have any amazing tips that might help me complete my goal?

[Lovely image by darling husband, which has nothing to do with synopses; except, perhaps as a visual interpretation of a goal that is close but distant at the same time. Or I could just be moderately nuts!]