Tuesday 12 July 2016

Yes, it's hard not to get distracted

I should be writing. I have loads of editing to do on my current work in progress or as I prefer to call it my baby:  Love At Close Range.  I have finished the second draft and let it for a week to stew around in my head.  I like to look in on the characters and see what they're up to. Boy, they've changed a few things since I stopped writing about them.  Which means a lot of work ahead.  Which is currently the reason why I am wasting time on social media.
 I am browsing Twitter for Tuesday Motivation - I'm not getting any, I have to admit. Who wants to hang off the edge of an iceberg while being stalked by a polar bear just to prove you can get over the hard times?  Yes, I know you have to never give up, keep going, pick yourself up, be kind, finish the novel, persevere to the end, love everyone and come up with a rose between your teeth... gasp! I admit to being hopelessly inadequate. I admit to having a very exclusive Twitter account (in other words, I don't really have that many followers) I admit to being a nobody because I do not have a Facebook account and therefore cannot admire all those cute photos of friends and family which everyone else keeps telling me about.
I just am, really. I enjoy writing but I also enjoy reading, walking by the sea, watching quiz shows on TV. I'm going to the Everyman theatre in Cork on Thursday night. The Factory Girls is a comedy and just what I need. I love to laugh. And I love the atmosphere of the theatre, especially The Everyman, because I feel like I've had a night out.
Having written all that, I feel free to return to my editing again. Just need a cup of coffee to keep me company.  Here's the cover of the new novel. It won't be available just yet. In fact if I don't start work on it, it will never get out there.

Saturday 2 July 2016

Another dent in the learning curve of writing

I know - I haven't posted anything for ages. To tell the truth I've been watching the Euro 2016 Soccer. I love football, as I prefer to call it, and especially international games.  This time I was lucky because in addition to Ireland and Germany, England, N. Ireland and Wales also participated.  It was a bit tricky trying to arrange my social life around the matches but I managed it.
As I write, Wales are the only ones left in there and I think they have a good chance of getting into the final. I had originally tipped Belgium as a lot of people did. But that's football for you. Tonight Germany play Italy so I have an exciting evening of football to look forward to.

I remember when I became interested in football. It was too many years ago for me to admit to it. I was sharing a flat with a few girls and one of the boyfriends arrived early for a date. World Cup soccer was in the preliminary stages and while boyfriend was waiting for the girl to get ready he joined me in the sitting room where I bemoaned the fact that there was nothing but football on television (in those days we didn't have cable/satellite TV so you were stuck with what your national provider decided you should have).
'Football is a great game,' said the young man. I can't remember his name nor what he looked like but he did change the course of my sporting life! He proceeded to explain the finer points of the game to me, possession football, dribbling, the role of strikers and defenders and of course the off-side rule and what getting a penalty entails.He described it all in so interesting a manner that I was hooked. And I have been hooked ever since.

I don't want to moralize or making heavy going of it but there are some tips here for writers. Hook your reader from the word go and they will stick with you even if they have to concentrate here and there to get the full gist of the story. 'Nuff said.