Tom (Thomas Marlowe) has kindly designed an amazing, exactly what I want, brilliant cover for the next book.
All I need to do now is write something that lives up to it!
Tuesday, 29 January 2013
Thursday, 24 January 2013
Bible quotes
It's amazing how you can find the Word in all sorts of contexts...
I am not sure who originally posted this, as it is in a few places on the net - but that is such a brave, or very stupid cat.
Sunday, 30 December 2012
Interesting question
Today my son asked me how to use a comma. He is only six and I would be incredibly proud of how precocious he was if I wasn't sure it was a stalling tactic.
I don't know how to use a comma. I am embarrassed to admit it, but I have some very faint ideas and have used self help books and usage, but I am not really sure. I wasn't taught about the comma at school (that's another story) and so far I have not been in a situation where life and death hung on the matter of a comma. I have got by, just like everyone else.
I am pretty sure I over use commas, and usually go back over everything I write and remove about half. I use them when I pause, when I take a breath, when I need to slow down the pace. And at least one comma in the preceding sentence could be replaced by 'and' - and perhaps should.
It is all a bit hypocritical of me. I do feel that if I write a story and expect people to read it I should write it using correct grammar and spelling and in a way that makes it easy to read. Knowing about commas and semi colons and when to use them are the sort of tools that should make a story teller's life easier. I am a firm believer of using the tools correctly, of putting in the foundations and laying out the stall. If you want to build a castle in the clouds, using hyphens and ellipses properly will make that foundation stronger and allow a more scintillating tower. It's the old story of getting the basics right so that you can get wilder and more creative with the fripperies.
Two things occur to me. The first thing is that I need to do some research on grammar and usage. The second thing is that I shouldn't have written this under the influence of Tia Maria.
I don't know how to use a comma. I am embarrassed to admit it, but I have some very faint ideas and have used self help books and usage, but I am not really sure. I wasn't taught about the comma at school (that's another story) and so far I have not been in a situation where life and death hung on the matter of a comma. I have got by, just like everyone else.
I am pretty sure I over use commas, and usually go back over everything I write and remove about half. I use them when I pause, when I take a breath, when I need to slow down the pace. And at least one comma in the preceding sentence could be replaced by 'and' - and perhaps should.
It is all a bit hypocritical of me. I do feel that if I write a story and expect people to read it I should write it using correct grammar and spelling and in a way that makes it easy to read. Knowing about commas and semi colons and when to use them are the sort of tools that should make a story teller's life easier. I am a firm believer of using the tools correctly, of putting in the foundations and laying out the stall. If you want to build a castle in the clouds, using hyphens and ellipses properly will make that foundation stronger and allow a more scintillating tower. It's the old story of getting the basics right so that you can get wilder and more creative with the fripperies.
Two things occur to me. The first thing is that I need to do some research on grammar and usage. The second thing is that I shouldn't have written this under the influence of Tia Maria.
Wednesday, 19 December 2012
I found it!
I thought I had lost it. It is a shabby, red ring binder and it is full of the poetry I wrote when I was younger, ideas for novels, ideas for stories, scraps of folklore and myth - a magpie's bundle for a writer. I thought it had been thrown out years ago, and I missed it.
I have always wanted to write, from when I was very tiny, and for years I thought I would never be able to. Now I am more confident, and I can spend some of the holiday time looking over what I have done in the past and seeing what sparks are struck.
Finding my folder is the best gift I can ever have.
I have always wanted to write, from when I was very tiny, and for years I thought I would never be able to. Now I am more confident, and I can spend some of the holiday time looking over what I have done in the past and seeing what sparks are struck.
Finding my folder is the best gift I can ever have.
Saturday, 15 December 2012
Wednesday, 5 December 2012
I need to work on motivation
On Monday I was in a warm room in a happy mood and feeling fine. I managed 500 words. Yesterday I was in a foul mood, with a headache and the room was so cold I was sitting and typing with a duvet round me. I managed just under 4,000 words. And some of those four thousand words were definitely in the right order.
Today is lovely and sunny but cold, and I am next to a south facing window. Finger's crossed for a few thousand more words. I would rather be productive in comfort.
Today is lovely and sunny but cold, and I am next to a south facing window. Finger's crossed for a few thousand more words. I would rather be productive in comfort.
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