Sunday, February 28, 2016

Weekly Goals 29-2-16

I feel like I'm getting repetitive here, but I'm still working through the ending of My Murder Year.  I've been writing and re-writing the same chapter for over a week now, and still can't seem to get it right.  I'm trying to write something truthful, but in reality, the truth isn't nearly as exciting as the various scenarios my MC has been imagining throughout the book.  So by being honest, I feel like the ending is going to be a little flat.

But I'll keep trying.  I'm sure there is some kind of twist I can throw in to make things a little spicier.  I just need to finish this little section and then we're on to the epilogue which I already love.

I'm just short on time.  Lots going on at the moment.  But I'm making it a promise that next Monday, I will have finished this draft.  If I haven't, you all have permission to jeer loudly at me.

What are your goals this week?

Friday, February 26, 2016

Celebrate the small things 26-2-16

This post is part of Lexa Cain's bloghop, Celebrate the Small Things. Head on over there to join up!

So what am I celebrating this week?

The Festival of the Arts has started and the Fringe Festival is in full swing so the city is full of exciting things to do and see.  Last night I went the opening night of the ballet which was extraordinary, and tonight I'm going to an interactive Fringe show called Crap Music Rave.  It is going to be a dance party with terrible music.  I'm going with 12 women and we've all been suggesting terrible songs on the performer's Facebook page, so we already know the calibre of awful to expect.

Unfortunately, with all this excitement plus a very busy period at work, I haven't quite finished my revision.  I do have a few more days, but I'm not sure it's quite enough.  Especially since I feel like the new ending I've almost finished writing is a little flat.  Realistic, bbut maybe a little bit of a let down after the drama that comes before it.  I will have to wait for my CPs to get to it and tell me where I went wrong.

Of course, as always happens when I'm 5 minutes away from finishing a project, a new, shiny, exciting idea pops into my head.  So I'm trying to hold that at bay while I finish this revision.  Looks like writing something new is on the cards next, not revising the other book waiting in my hard drive...

What are you celebrating this week?

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Books I've Loved: Welcome to the Girl Baby Girl!




This is an utterly charming book with twists and turns and characters you just want to move in with.  It's like a nice big plate of your favourite comfort food and one of those books I like to go back and re-read.  Obviously the surprises aren't so surprising when you're re-reading it, but the characters are so much fun, it doesn't really matter if you already know the secrets.

I love the way Flagg manages to introduce so many seemingly unrelated characters in different time periods and make it all tie together so beautifully by the end. And it's funny!  One of those books you can't help but have a smile slapped across your face while you're reading.

So if you're looking for something funny, smart and with some very interesting twists in its tail, look no further...


But don't just believe me, here's the blurb.

Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! is the funny, serious, and compelling new novel by Fannie Flagg, author of the beloved Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (and prize-winning co-writer of the classic movie).

Once again, Flagg's humor and respect and affection for her characters shine forth. Many inhabit small-town or suburban America. But this time, her heroine is urban: a brainy, beautiful, and ambitious rising star of 1970s television. Dena Nordstrom, pride of the network, is a woman whose future is full of promise, her present rich with complications, and her past marked by mystery.

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Weekly Goals 22-2-16

I was a complete failure at getting writing done last week, so this week I have to knuckle down and get some real work done.  I'm about 2 -3 chapters from the end, but what I already wrote just isn't going to work, so I have to try and figure out something that will.

And I'm kind of coming up blank on that...

But I'll keep going.  There may be parts of what I already have that I can salvage.  Or I can just write new stuff, once I think what to write.

Do you ever get stuck at the end?  It seems to be the place I'm most often stymied.  Even though I almost always write the ending near the beginning of the book so I have something to aim for.

Friday, February 19, 2016

Celebrate the Small Things 19-2-16



This post is part of Lexa Cain's bloghop, Celebrate the Small Things. Head on over there to join up!

So what am I celebrating this week?

To be honest?  Not a whole lot.

A friend of mine, one of the gorgeous people who worked with me in the last cinema I worked at, died on Monday.  He was only 25.  It was a complete surprise because he wasn't sick.  It wasn't a violent attack or an accident.  He had a brain bleed and just slipped away as he walked home with a friend.

But because this is a post where I'm supposed to celebrate, I'm going to.  Michael was an organ donor, and because he died, eight other people who may not have had a chance, now do.  So I'm celebrating that even while I'm mourning the loss of a very special, eccentric and painfully intelligent young man who I enjoyed talking to so very much.

It's made me think a lot.  I am an organ donor too.  It says so on my driver's license.  But I haven't driven in over 15 years and the license has expired.  I don't even have physical evidence of it anymore because my wallet was stolen back when I lived in Melbourne.  So if I die tomorrow, will anyone know that I want my organs to be donated? Assuming of course all my years of living haven't rendered them useless to anyone else...

Are you an organ donor?  If not, why?  You can't use those body parts after you're dead, so why not leave them to someone whose life hangs on whether or not they get a donated organ?