Its MeMe from Kat

Kat at Wrightstory has tagged any readers to do her MeMe so I thought I might have a go. It has been a cleaning day today, clearing the debris from the weekend. Yesterday the chickens had a spring clean and sweep out, today it was the turn of the playroom/junk room/Room 101!!

Here it goes with the MeMe:

What is by your bedside?

A table lamp I got as a wedding present, Outcast by Michelle Paver, 3 notebooks and 3 pens (nothing left to chance for those 3 am moments!, Kylie Minogue's pefume 'Darling' , Children's Writers and Illustrators Handbook 2008, handmade bookmark and absolutely no space whatsoever!

Name ten things in your fridge.

Large tub of grated cheese, homemade quiche (have an abundance of eggs, thanks to our chickens), homemade salsa, cherry tomatoes, multiple cartons of fruit juice, leeks (must use these), raspberry jam, strawberries, lemon and lime marmalade (mmmmmm) and milk (for the gallons of tea my hubby drinks).

Name five things in my handbag

Mobile phone, 4 pens (I kid you not), notebook, small travel perfume 'Urban Flowers', work ID

Name three web addresses that come up with the first letter

Amazon, Ebay, The Book People

What is in the unassigned junk drawer where all the clutter is put?

Plug covers, sewing kit, mini screwdriver set, pens, mobile phone charger, pencil sharpener, Indian takeaway menu, mini torch, tubigrip and a fish shaped scoobie. An eclectic mix!

Describe five picture that are on the walls of your house:

A gorgeous photo of Connor aged 2, the photo above of my kids at Minions on Bodmin Moor, a crosstitch of a dragon wrapped around a medieval castle I did when I was at Uni, oil painting of a stile by the ocean (done by a Cornish artist), three picture frames that have pressed autumn maple leaves in it (did it myself when I was pregnant with Connor)

Enjoyed that! Anyone reading this who wants to have a go, it would be great to do this with a character in your book!

Unique!

Kat and I had an hour or so together tonight writing. We both chose to do different things but we both did a thirty minute writing exercise to stimulate our creative brain cells. Have a look at Thirty Somethings for my efforts tonight and in addition Kat wrote over 300 words for her piece. We shared our work with each other, which is always an encouragement, because hearing your own voice sometimes does not encourage you that your writing is any good. Kat was not very positive about her piece, but it was excellent - had me hooked and wanting to know more. It reminded me that as writers, either published or wanna be's like Kat and myself, we have a unique voice. The spin you choose on a topic, the vocabulory, sentence structure, choice and communication of characters makes any original piece of writing a unique creation, personal to the style and preferences of the creator. It is never helpful to compare in such a way as to put your own work down (something I am good at), although aspiring to be better is no bad thing. I admire some authors work and feel I can learn a lot from them, especially on technical isues such as plotting and progression, however the stories we write and the voice we write in, is unique and should be treasured. I chose this picture to illustrate this point as Connor, Hollie, Andy and I did a piece of beach art together a couple of months back at Porthpean beach. We drew a castle and added details as they dictated, hence the seaweed haired princess and the fearsome dragon. The picture, (like my kids) was unique and special to us who each had a part in creating it...so it is with the written creations we nurture, they are unique and special and we should be proud of them, even if others do not see them the same way.

Bodmin Bookworm and Mission of Mercy

Kat and I had a great day discussing our local schools project called 'The Bodmin Bookworm.' The idea is to create a blog that will be aimed to encourage creative writing in children, encouraging them to email material they have written for the blog.

We are doing it in partnership with the local library and the twelve schools in the Bodmin area. Each school will have a 'sub-blog' on which the work of their children will be posted. The aim is to encourgae schools to make their IT facilities available after school and in lunchtimes for kids to be able to send their work. In addition kids can do it at home or at the library.

The idea is that it creates a 'virtual after school club' which all children can get involved in as they do not have to be great writers to submit work. It aims to have all aspects of writing on it including jokes, TV reviews, film reviews, character creations as well as stories, poems, articles etc. Kat is hopefully going to manage it and I am funding the idea through my work...so look out for the launch post in September.

Having worked for a while discussing the above project,I was then called on a mercy mission as my sister was very poorly with what the doctor called an 'Imigrain hangover,' which meant that she had taken too much of her medication to combat a fierce migraine and ended up having nasty side effects. So we whizzed into Port Isaac and admired an amazing view across the bay before going into the surgery! We did joke about how funny it would be if she was seeing a Dr. Elliott (Doc Martin is filmed in Port Isaac) however no grumpy Martin Clunes character in sight!

Hoping to do another timed exercise tomorrow on a picture from my archives or maybe one from the supplement I mentioned in an earlier post.

Still no memory stick...probably stuck in a parallel universe somewhere along with odd socks and teaspoons.

Missing Memory Stick, A New Blog and Sports Day

Gorgeous day today - really warm and lots of bright sunshine. Hollie is improving today, but spent much of the day curled up on the sofa watching various Disney princess movies. Connor had his sports day today (that's him in red on the right of the picture). So I was there cheering him on, keeping my own competitive streak in check...I think!! Even took part in the Mum's race which was particularly funny as it was egg and spoon, and I am known for my clumsiness...need I say more?

I have decided as I am unlikely to want to publish my writing exercises that I am doing to help me while I search for my missing memory stick containing the synopsis and chapter headings for my book (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), that I would create a second blog to house some of the work I do. If you are interested to read any of my thirty minute pieces they cane be found at http://www.michellethirtysomethings.blogspot.com/.

Please feel free to comment but be gentle with me!! In the mean time I am also on the hunt for my missing memory stick...they are neat being so small, but a nightmare when they go missing!! I am keeping relatively calm as I know it is here somewhere..BUT WHERE?????

Answers on a postcard or a post comment please!

I have also got a cool little slideshow at the side from my Red Bubble page. Kat told me about this site where you can upload your own artwork/writing/photos for free and then you can have the option to sell them as cards/prints etc, with red bubble taking their fee and then the remainder goes into a paypal account. Had a few viewings but no sales yet. My name there is Kernowpics, so have a look at the slideshow and have a look at red bubble (www.redbubble.com)

A Camel and a Cave

Today has been frantic but has ended well. Hollie is still harbouring a nasty sickness bug, so has been asleep most of the day. Connor and Andy went for a boys bike ride on the Camel Trail and Andy was good enough to take a lovely picture of the River Camel for my blog! I have been feeling guilty all day as Hollie has been periodically weeping telling me how hungry she is and I have been trying to explain that food is making her sick, so she really can only drink. Explaining the benefits of fasting to overcome sickness to a three year old is a non-starter really.

I have managed to start my writing challenge today based on the picture from yesterday's post. The picture is of a sea cave on Perranporth beach that I took last summer when we were returning from our camping trip near St. Ives. I was amazed at the images and the story that it evoked for me. My 30 minutes became 45 so I could put an end to the piece I was writing. The thing that surprised me most was the empathy and almost physical pain I shared with my character as she grieved for a lost brother. Maybe because it was written 'under pressure' but I really felt able to communicate her pain by actually feeling it myself to a point. Hope this happens often as it is going to help me with my character for my book, who is a young carer.

So despite a stressful and sickness filled day, the end of the day has brought a really positive time of writing which can only be useful longer term. Off to continue with Soul Eater now.

Inspiration and a promise to myself

Our local weekly paper had a supplement in it this week which was about 25 full page pictures of the Cornish coastline from the air. There were some truly stunning photos of what is, I have to say it, an inspirational coastline. I have a few favourites, the pictures of Tintagel, Bedruthan Steps, Crown Mines at Botallack and Kyance are awesome. They got me thinking as I have had an emotional and frustrating couple of days around my writing. I have decided to use these pictures and some of my own and set myself a 30 minute writing challenge every day based on one of these pictures. I will aim to write for thirty minutes using one image a day. The aim is to get me back into writing and believing that that I can write something meaningful each day. thirty minutes is achievable, and the rare days when I have more time I will dedicate to my book. The picture above is one I took last year at Perranporth beach and I think I will start with this one tomorrow and then begin with the supplement pictures on Monday. Decided to log each day's progress here to help me post regularly too.

Had a big inside day today, Hollie is unwell and it has rained and rained and rained. Our four chickens were more liked drowned muddy rats than beautiful soft feathered birds when I went down to see them this evening. All four looked singularly unimpressed with the weather but perked up when I brought gifts of sweetcorn and bread and milk mash. Chickens may not be the brightest birds but they are very attentive if your hands contain something edible!!

Creative Writing and Time with David...

I was able to get a little further with my chapter planning today, although I needed to make sure that I did not get lost in my plot today. My tendancy for impatience is showing through already in a number of ways, I am keen to get through the planning asap so I can get on with writing the story; try as I might not to, I am watching the letterbox for a reply from Scripture Union about the manuscript I submitted a few of weeks ago and I am already thinking about how the next novel could look.

Kat and I did the Creative Writing After School Club today(called the Krazy Blue Kreators) - uniform is royal blue if that helps explain the name - and we had a bit of fun with a poem called "A Spider Bought a Bicycle". They had to compose a story or poem with two bizarre juxtaposed objects, so we had a snake on roller skates, a dinosaur with a trumpet and a cow with a giant's boot to name but a few. Great fun and lots of loud hilarity and fantastic ideas. Kat and I had our 6 year olds with us today and I think they were really buzzed by it too. Connor wrote a story about his trip to the Banger Racing with his dad a week or so back and I was thrilled to see how much his spelling and vocabulary is constantly improving and extending. Part of the joy of loving writing is inspiring and seeing the inspiration in others - especially the young.

Why David Tennant?...many would say Why Not? Doctor Who is my escapism on a Saturday evening and for when I am feeling low or needing some down time. Probably not the most literary route for relaxation, although I have to say that the script writers are fab, but it is a chance to unwind and watch the Doctor save the human race again and again and maybe see if Catherine Tate will say at any point when facing the destruction of the Universe..."Am I bovverred?"

Chapters and Titles

I manged to get my chapter plan done yesterday helping me with my plotting. I had a great time working out the plan and some of the titles, although for some of them even I am not sure yet what they mean! What started as a Children's historical novel is evolving by the day into history mixed with time travel, magic and adventure. It is exciting to experience the evolution of characters and plot line and I do not want to lose this momentum.

I enjoy having a thinking place, like Pooh Bear, and this photo I took last autumn at Lanhydrock kind of encapsulates one of my ideal thinking places...by a river, lots of trees, isolated spot and lots of time to enjoy it with only a pen and notebook for company.

My office space is evolving painfully slowly, hampered by lack of funds, but I have decided to seek out a traditional writing desk, because although I am like to write on the computer, my note taking, spider diagrams and planning would need a spacious surface. Also I would need drawers for my copious amounts of notebooks and pens!!!!

Thoroughly enjoying reading Spirit Walker By Michelle Paver, Book 2 of The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness. I loved Wolf Brother, but this one has really gripped me. Interesting to read in a series of books how the author put tags down throughout the first book to then develop the events of subsequent books. Good lesson to learn and practice as my novel is also evolving into a five part series.

Good to feel passionate about this sort of thing when feeling like a squashed pancake in other areas of life, the universe and everything. Also really excited as my neighbour, Kat, has finished the first draft of her first novel and I am delighted for her.

Surfer Bookworm

I have been enjoying creativity in my mind today as time and events have conspired against me to be able to put pen to paper. It is a rare privilege to create characters, their world and their life experiences. I read my friend Kat's blog today and she is going great guns with her story and I am sooooo pleased for her www.wrightstory.blogspot.com and reading her post reminded me that all the things I am creating and thinking about are unique to me, I alone have the opportunity and potential to create their world and their adventures.

I also discovered a site called www.loveyourlocalbookshop.co.uk today which is promoting the independent booksellers who often lose out to the big chains like Waterstones and Amazon. The site gives you a chance to find out where the local independent booksellers are and if there are any events going on in the first Independent Booksellers Week (1-8 July 2008). Kat and I try to frequent our local shop in Bodmin and I managed to source a fantastic local book for research for my book there, however I was excited to dicover Jill Murphy is involved with an event at Wadebridge Bookshop so I am keen to try and get along. her work is so accessible for younger readers and I would love to hear her on her subject and writing for her audience.

I have also put a link to the Pound for Poetry competition that is being run as a national fundraiser and competition in September, definitely a thought for our creative writing after school club and for the Bodmin Bookworm. Also linked to the national year of reading website as thought it could inspire for the Bookworm and give me ideas for the creative writing group.

Needing Time

Had a great day with my family and inlaws near Newquay today. Gorgeous weather, beautiful views across stunning coastline and a really wondeful time without incident or argument.

I have decided to try and time manage a bit more. Me being me, I have good intentions and then suddenly discover that the day has been filled with a thousand things. I am determind to marry imagination and memory stick and get myself writing every day. I had a new thought about how I would start the book and progress it and this is exciting and I am keen to get going. The children go back to school tomorrow after a long weekend and I will not allow the things of this world to interfere! I am desperate to get on with the book and keen to visit Morwhellam Quay soon, as it was an important port in the Victorian copper mining period and I hope to be able to pick the brains of one of their key folk up there. It has been the story of my life that I have ideas and no time or place to write them and it is up to me not to allow this to keep happening. If I want to pursue my dream of being a published children's writer, then I need to grab this by the horns. I am going to have to stop comparing myself to others and focus on the heart that drives me and what makes me tick.

Admiration and Aspiration

I have been reading Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver, partly because it is an excellent book but also to help me think through structuring my novel as it is historical like hers. I have been inspired by reading parts of her website www.michellepaver.com as she is so down to earth and yet has had the most remarkable experiences in her research and her life. Her encounter with a black bear in California and how this impacted on her creation of the bear in Wolf Brother was breathtaking. On her website she describes an encounter with a stranger on a train that helped her move from successful lawyer to successful writer. The advice she gives in her interviews is solid and attainable and has reminded me that if I am to take this writing business seriously, I need to be writing whenevre and wherever I can in this hectic life of mine. I have had a new beginning for my book come and I am planning my infamous spider diagram to help me crystalise my story and plotline.

Michelle Paver is an author I admire and aspire to be like in as much as I hope the passion I have for history is communicated as ably as she communicates her love of the Stone Age and wolves in her fantastic stories. I have no doubt that if I had read her novels as a child I would have been spellbound as I remain so as an adult who loves quality children's books. I do not want to be someone who always wanted to write and never did, I want to be someone who took Ms Paver's advice and did what I wanted with my life. I suffer with self doubt and a tendancy to self depricate so I have my own hurdles to jump before I put anything I write into an agent or publishers hands.

The Wonder of the Unexpected

This is a picture of my son aged 12 hours old (he is now 6 years old). He was born with a cleft lip which we had discovered at the 20 week scan. We spent the whole second part of my pregnancy worrying about what our baby would look like and how we would react when we saw him...what if it was too distressing? How would we cope?

Well as you can see when he arrived all our fears melted away as unexpectedly his cleft was no where near as severe as we had feared and he was in fact absolutely beautiful. This is the true wonder of the unexpected. I have had this experience throughout my life that when things do not happen the way that you fear, often something great and wonderful happens instead.

I worry constantly about things I write being not good enough or silly and often think that maybe I am kidding myself pursing the dream of being a published author. Then I share a coffee with a friend and talk about things with her, spend some time with my husband and kids, even do a few mundane things and then I suddenly realise that unexpectedly I am positive about my writing again and that I do believe that the ideas I have are worth publishing...the wonder of the unexpected!! In many ways having experiences like this help me to remember that being a writer could be a profession that excludes, whereas I realise that the treasure of others is not only my inspiration but the lifeblood that keeps me going forward.

If you are reading this by any chance and are expecting a cleft child please have a look at http://www.clapa.com as they were invaluable for me, especially the parental support forum.