Nano Wrimo Fever – pre-November

I’m so looking forward to writing my novel of intensity that I’m uber planning already. Do other people plan before they take part or do they just go with the flow?

When I last completed the 50,000 words – in 2007- I had a bit of an idea in my head and just wrote but now I’m rather older, more experienced, I just want to plan and take it carefully without cheating – myself at least. I really enjoyed writing my last novel and as I wrote with gusto I took it for granted everything would turn out a grand success. However, I hadn’t included any time for editing once November was over so my first draft with only slighted edited first 3 chapters still sits in my desk drawer.

I think now, because I’ve included some editing time in January I should manage a little more success in the grown up way you can do when you take responsibility for your own actions.

I wonder are there any more Nano Wrimo contenders this year who are planning out their writing time and steps for success?

Maybe it won’t be as easy as I’m hoping this year.

You can but try! Good luck everyone!!!!!!!!!

Jackie Kay Scots and Rocks Away Tonight!

I’ve just returned from watching the poet Jackie Kay in The Art Club in Glasgow. She was fabulous – excellent poetry, amazing humour taking puns beyond anything I’d ever thought possible. If you’ve never read or heard or seen Jackie Kay reading her
work and talking to the audience, find a way to do it and soon. Like she said (quoting Maw Broon) – you’re a long time dead just give it a shot.
Live poetry just rocks!
(I’m looking for a good picture to insert but don’t want to lose that poetry high!)

Such beautiful flowers! Gorgeous pictures. Don’t you just adore spring?

Cheryl's Yoga Shanti

beauty lies within

when we know we are all One

our divine wisdom

 

Om Shanti

Cheryl

 

 

 

 

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Another Poem to be included in my pamphlet poems: “Work in a Cold Place”

Today I was talking about these poems in the context of my writers’ group and I referred to my pamphlet subject as my Iceland Era, maybe that’s a better name for this collection of poems starring strange characters and strange events. It’s amazing what can happen when you feel your brain practically freezing…

Here is my latest addition to share – the writers in the group were interested and oddly enjoyed it but what do you think?

In Response to a Customer’s Request to Speak to the Manager

The boss isn’t in today.

He’s under specialist training.

 

That means he’s having his

program renewed before

staff become suspicious.

 

I think it’s too late.

We all know brain hoovering

is routine management training.

 

His program consists

of 3000 comments:

I saw the disk one day

when his head popped

open at lunch.

 

He thought nobody noticed.

Or at least he assumed

we’d all lost our minds 

too.

 

The 3000 comments program

consists of racist, misogynistic, 

ill informed, rude, remarks 

and quotes.

 

Head office uses this

as a control.

They have a company

loyalty button which

remains depressed —

as do the staff.

 

 

I know it’s Tuesday but every day needs a positive slant. 😉

Cheryl's Yoga Shanti

“We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success.” Henry David Thoreau

Its Monday, my favorite day of the week. Yep I know that makes me weird, but Mondays are fresh, bright and a new beginning, even if only on a small scale, like a week. So how are you going to spend your new day, your new week? Are you walking consciously? Or is this the place where you leap?

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I used to plough on till the end of every book I chose to read, now I think life is too short and might even give myself up to 100 pages before I give up. I still accidentally find some great books as you suggest and often it’s just luck.

Savidge Reads

That might sound like an obvious, or even slightly silly, question but it is one that I have been asking myself over the last few weeks. There have been various things recently that have made me ponder this and so I thought I would use the blog as a sound board for them, but also to see if any of you have pondered the same things too.

After I finished ‘Diving Belles’ by Lucy Wood I had that sense of loss that you only get in one in every twenty or thirty books (or more actually) if you are lucky. That does sound odd, linking loss and luck, but it’s true, books that simply blow you out of the water with their atmosphere, writing and most of all story (for me at least) don’t land in your lap every day. Yet after reading ‘Diving Belles’, once the slight bereft…

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Healing occurs naturally

Heroes Not Zombies

I often say to patients that there is no healing other than natural healing. What I mean by that is that all the drugs, and all the surgical techniques used in modern medicine, act directly against pathology. None of them actually stimulate or directly support self-healing. Yet that’s the only kind of true healing to exist. An antibiotic might kill a bug, but its the natural self-healing which repairs the tissue damaged by the infection. A broken bone can be held in place, but it’s the natural self-healing which knits the bone back together. I think it was Benjamin Franklin who said “God heals and the doctor takes the fees” – a rather cynical view of the same concept!

Then I came across this passage in Rupert Sheldrake’s The Science Delusion

…it is important to remember that animals and plants have been regenerating after damage, healing themselves and defending themselves…

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I like this idea a lot. I show kids how to write their stories drawing mind maps of sorts but I really like your more complex version of the basic idea I start teenagers off on. I guess being an adult and being a writer there is no restriction of time and a bell ringing to signal the end of class. Last time I used a mind map was for writing a poem but it seems even better for drawing plaot and character ideas for a novel. Thanks for sharing. 🙂

Sara Toole Miller - Fiction & Non-Fiction Writer

You have your idea.  You’ve done your research.  You know something about your main character.  Maybe you’ve even taken a crack at your first scene.  And now you’re stuck…  All those plot points we talked about in the 3 or 4-part narrative structure?  You’re having trouble coming up with plot points.  You just aren’t finding the ideas that you need to carry this project through to a finished novel.  This is when the Mind Map becomes a useful tool for writers.

I use mind maps for everything.  In spite of the fact that I love fancy software and organization techniques, some days I feel trapped by the confines of my computer screen.  I need to break free – really give my right brain some room to move around.  Remember that group work that you did in junior high? When your English teacher forced you into a…

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I’ve booked my place in the race now I just need somewhere to stay…

Last night I must have spent about two hours trying to keep up my enthusiasm for the Edinburgh Half Marathon I’ve entered as I searched for accommodation for the night before the race. Now I know Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland but I really thought I would have time to pick and choose the ideal hotel for that night, I mean the race isn’t until the end of May.

However, I searched and found everything handy and remotely affordable had been sold out! I was shocked and when I looked further I found the only available accommodation for that date was very much the high end of the market.The hotels I could find were gorgeous, luxurious and serve fabulous meals. Great, the only problem might be I won’t exactly be able to eat rich food the night before a race. I’m sure even if you don’t run you might gather the potential problem. I know I won’t have time to make full use of the hotel facilities but if my only misfortunate of the night before a race is simply suffering a luxurious bedroom and superb bathroom, I suppose I could do worse. I considered all my options,that meant I had to make a decision, I mean I am training specifically for that race, it looks beautiful on the map and if I remember rightly from previous races I’ve run in that area, it is beautiful scenery. A little windy maybe but beautiful all the same. I’ve bitten the bullet on this one. I think I’ll need to earn a wee bit more money so paying the bill for ONE night won’t hurt so much. The hotel I choose to book into is so dear but looks amazing, the full Scottish breakfast looks fantastic and I’m just sorry I won’t be able to eat it – I wonder if they do packed lunches? 😉

Do other runners manage to find their accommodation before the race alright? How do you do it?

I wouldn’t thank you for a Valentine…

Tonight – being only the 13th February I wouldn’t thank you for a Valentine (look to Liz Lochhead’s fab poem) but I would probably kiss you for a hot toddy. I’m loaded with the cold so you might not want a kiss from me anyway. I wonder, does anyone have any amazing – or even practical cures for the common cold? My nose is sore. I keep sneezing. My head is sore – feels like it might burst. My throat hurts, my eyes are red and rhummy -it looks and sounds like I’m crying when I try to talk. Maybe I just need to lie down and have a sleep. Running’s out tomorrow thought and to my mind and waistline, that’s probably the worst part.

Running Writer

I had a fabulous run today even though it was freezing cold there was no ice, no snow and I just ran. In fact I ran 12k when I’d only intended to run a little over 10k but the day was so delicious and such excellent weather for a run, I couldn’t cut back.

What I love about running is it opens you up – opens your lungs so you breathe deeply, opens your mind and it relaxes you so much even though you’re putting a healthy amount of pressure an strain on your heart and your legs, it just makes you feel so good. I don’t understand why everybody doesn’t run. I should though, until only 5 or 6 years ago i was always a fat bookish one. Same at school, fat, fun, I’m sure of that but once my beer drinking, junk food addict sister told me she had run a 10K race, I knew I’d have to do it too – and beat her time. Ridiculous in so many ways but sibling rivalry continues forever. I know my grandmother and her sisters were always competitive even in their 80s.

But running is the key in the blog today. Once I decided on running 5 years or so ago, I felt better in every way and the big selling point is always – I lost weight, went down 2 dress sizes and I’m more relaxed, because I’m away from sitting down at home of a Sunday morning (and some others) my mind feels fresh to explore new ideas for writing and to be honest – anything else. I just love it. I love that feeling of a legal high, the feeling I can do anything.

If you don’t run (yet) you should really give it a healthy shot. A chance to relax even in action and a fabulous way to meet other runners once you start the topic of training, which race? What time are you hoping for? Free and easy conversation topic at parties or just meeting new friends – even at work.

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