Free Post Thursday – When Life Gets In The Way!

It’s been a bit of a busy time for me recently, life-wise.  There’s been a lot going on – some great, some not so great – and it’s one of those periods where everything seems to happen at once.

The outcome of this is that there is not a lot going on with my writing.  However, there is a lot to feed my writing, when I get back to it!

In the meantime, I am trying to focus my attention on the more practical things I need to do – adverts for the next open mic night; booking in long overdue time with my reading group; helping friends find poems they want to read and so on…

It’s a shame to lose the momentum I had reached but life is full of challenges for all of us, and what is important is to make sure I get back in the writing saddle as soon as possible. With some fun times to be had this weekend, I hope it won’t be too long before I find a poetic moment!

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

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Free Post Thursday – Stretched

 

This week has been another non-writing one, because sometime life is a juggling act and I can’t take on that extra ball yet.  It’s been a week in which sleep is too precious to miss and most of my time has been spent in various stages of packing.  Moving house is stressful, even if it isn’t your house!

I have foregone writing to cope with living, really…

However, after another visit to the hospital I have some more ideas to play with in setting, I will be returning to my coursework tomorrow lunchtime, and I have promised myself faithfully that tomorrow evening I will spend at least an hour writing.

I don’t know what yet, it might just be a stream of consciousness.  Or swear words.  Either way, I will be launching myself back into my writing work within 24 hours!

I also want to read a book to focus on language this week; I may not finish but I’ll give it a try.

I have a SMART plan, in business speak.  Now I just need to work smartly to get it all done.

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

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Snail’s Pace

This week, my writing progress has been pretty rubbish. I have done some writing, and although Fred is no longer languishing in the fierce desert sun, he hasn’t made it onto his next trip either.

In the spirit of honesty, I haven’t picked up a book to read at all this week either.

I have not been managing my time too well really; I have too many plates spinning to want to add any more. My down time was wasted, this week at least. That’s not to say I haven’t done useful things but I haven’t focussed where I should have done. And I have let hours go by with nothing achieved at all.

But this week is over: I have a new one from tomorrow, where I will get myself into a better pattern, waste less time and focus my energies.  Planning starts now.

If you don’t try, you don’t succeed.  I want to get back to succeeding at meeting my targets, so I better try harder!

Happy writing,
EJ
🙂

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Free Post Thursday – Lots Going On!

It’s nearly 11.30 and I have only just got home after a busy evening. Quite honestly, I just want to go to bed!

I will try to get a blog post done tomorrow and tell you a bit about what I was doing but for now, I am logging off to get some sleep…

Happy Writing,
EJ
🙂

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Week 247 – Just Keep Swimming

If you have Dory in your head now, that’s ok. I do too…!

This week, writing-wise, has been all about keeping going.

It has been hugely busy: I am trying to sort everything out before my holiday, which starts on Tuesday, and I have been a little overstretched and under-rested.

However, I have only missed one writing session and as that was when I caught up with a friend I have only seen twice in the last 20 years, it was worth a night off.

Nothing outside of the new story has been looked at – no submissions, no chases, no revisions of other work – and I have to be honest and say it probably won’t be until June what with one thing and another. That’s a shame but I cannot spend time feeling negative about it: there’s no value in that and it won’t change things anyway!

What I have decided is to take the new novel with me on holiday and try to do a few sections here are there; I had intended to have a break but it’s flowing too well to stop, even if I only do a few sentences now and again. I don’t want it to get in the way of exploring a new place though: the writer in me also needs to have time to be inspired and learn about different places.

So writing’s going well on one hand and there’s room for development on the other.  I just have to keep swimming…

Actually, that’s pretty much every part of life at the moment!

Happy writing,
EJ
🙂

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Every Day in May – 09.05.16

This has been a really busy day – work, then gym, then reading group, then drama group. I finally sat down to write at about 10.45pm!

Which may explain a. why I have only managed about 30 minutes, and 200 words and b. why I have chosen this quote from today…

Mel didn’t have the energy to mind either way.

This is not a successful writing day, but at least it is a writing day – I didn’t just give up because it was too hard to fit it in.   It might only be a couple of hundred words, but it’s more than a blank page and it takes me a step closer to completion!

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

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Week 243 – Late Again!

This week…

I have noticed I am getting behind on the posts a lot.

I don’t have time to tweet, or check my twitter feed.

I have read about three pages of a book.

I have written less than 1000 words.

Where is the time going??

I am generally falling behind on a lot of personal life arrangements. I have reasons, but they don’t get me an agent so they are not worth focussing on.

Instead, a little later than I should, I am going to set myself some weekly targets.

This week coming, I will:

• Finalise the plan for changing the format of the whodunnit and PUT IT ON PAPER!
• Send the Family Tree out to four more agents (to make up for a missed week!)
• Read something from cover to cover.

When push comes to shove, I need to know I am still moving forward. If things slow me down, I run the risk of halting, and I don’t want that.

So this post isn’t really about the week I had, but the week I am going to have, and how I’m going to make it work for me.

And Monday’s already over, so I’d better get to it!

Happy writing,
EJ
🙂

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Free Post Thursday – Too Busy to Blog :-(

Sorry – writing work on a deadline, out with family this evening, working later than intended, a bout of illness… it’s been a little frenetic this week!

Instead, here is a little ditty for you to enjoy.  It features in lists of happy songs although I don’t know if it’s happy, so much as has a very chirpy tune.  You can decide!

Rusted Root – Send Me On My Way

Whack up the volume and have a little dance 🙂

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

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Challenge Tuesday – Missed (by) a Bit!

Yep, this week I missed my reading target by a bit – but that bit may as well be as vast a gap as Niagara Falls for the purposes of this post 🙂

Reading a book just isn’t something I have time for right now. I don’t remember being overwhelmed by Christmas arrangements in the past, even when I was working, but this year is just non-stop!

I love seeing my family and friends, and I am very fortunate to be in a situation where I can give gifts, but I’m starting to think 25 hour days would be helpful.

Maybe I repressed the memory of Christmas (organisation) past or maybe this is a particularly frenetic year.

Either way, I am looking forward to a bit of time just sitting and reading – it just might be a while before I get it!

Happy reading
EJ
🙂

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Week 207 #2 – Fitting it all in?

Firstly, apologies for not being here yesterday. It was a frenetic day, at the end of an extremely busy weekend. We spent a great deal of the weekend in the car driving up and down a variety of motorways, attended two charity events, a big barbeque, and spent time with my husband’s cousin and her daughter, who are visiting from the North of England. We were already squeezing things into little gaps, and doing it badly.  However, with one family member becoming unwell over the weekend we ended up spending more time than expected at a local hospital.

Luckily, they were allowed to leave and we could take them home, but it was inevitably a bit worrying for all concerned.

We needed a little pick-me-up yesterday after dropping everyone off at their various locations, so we drove home via the beach and got an ice cream!

I did get some writing done but as Friday – Sunday were so busy it wasn’t quite as much as I had planned; I need to catch up a little over the next few days. I managed about 4 hours on the whodunnit so in effect the three days which were so busy were the three I missed out on and I’m willing to accept that, based on how sleepy I still am!

I also started work on a new poem, which came about as a result of some photos from the retreat. It’s a bit historical so I’m researching the factual elements in it. It feels good though, as though it’s as solid as the Welsh mountains. I can picture them, just writing out the words.

Another task I took on last week is a proofreading one – a friend of mine has completed her memoirs. It’s almost social history, because she lived through so many changes, and was a pioneer in many ways. I warned her it will take some time but I’ve got the first few chapters now so I can judge the time commitment a little more accurately.

What with everything else taking it on may have been a mistake, but it’s so fascinating I couldn’t help myself!

So that was last week – I might spend this week getting over it!

I am going to leave off here, as it’s time for me to get back to the whodunnit, but I’ll be back tomorrow.

Have a lovely evening

EJ

🙂

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