Happy Christmas

Hope you have been very good this year. I can hear the sleigh bells. He is very close....

Have a good one!

Useless Swine, Have Some Vodka

Just finished reading a book with Chekhov's short stories, The Comic Stories. I enjoyed all the 'shut up you old hag, I wish I'd shot myself instead of marrying you'' type dialogue between the husbands and wives. Great.

Scary Granny

I have a new story on micro horror called 'The Home'. Click on the side bar for a read.

The River Mersey

Been out today taking some photos for a river inspired story.

Lemons

I think inspiration has left and laziness has taken its place. I have been thinking of big ideas and I think that is my problem. I need to think smaller before I can think big. I haven't done much writing but I have painted the hall and made a lemon cake this week (see above). It may not be very impressive to you but cakes don't like me so I was very pleased with myself.

I have just read the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini which I enjoyed. The fact that it was a first novel surprised me, (I need to read a Thousand Splendid Suns now). It made me wonder how much of it was based on truth. I thought I'd find the subject matter hard going, but it is the kind of book that hooks you straight away. There are moments in the novel when the repetition and devices used remind you that you are reading fiction but mostly you are just taken along by the narration. The narrators flaws made his journey all the more believable and the writer conveys his guilt and pain in a subtle and honest way. The images of childhood were skillfully done too. A good mix of sweet and sour, like my lemon drizzle cake, which I have to say was pretty good too.

Making up words

Finished reading London Fields by Martin Amis. The book has proved to be a costly read. As my vocabulary is so brilliant I had to use a dictionary alongside it. Much to my horror I would have to stop reading, look up the word and then find that some of the words weren't even in it. I first thought that this was because he was either using very obscure words that even my dictionary didn't know, or even worse, making words up! Then I realised that my dictionary was printed in the early eighties and this could account for its lack of knowledge. I've ordered a new one.

Haiku

Being trapped indoors this week hasn't been entirely unproductive. I have had a couple of haiku that are inspired by being trapped inside with sick children. They have been published on 'Ink Sweat and Tears' which is a nice poetry and prose website that Charles Christian is responsible for. You can see at ink, sweat and tears (the link is on the sidebar).

Finished reading Jasper Fford, The Eyre Affair and Ian Banks The steep approach to garbandale. The Eyre affair was a good idea, the Banks book didn't do much for me though. I watched a programme about Nick Hornby the other day. Interesting to see how he felt his work wasn't really recognised although it is hugely popular. Is this because the comedy genre is less well regarded than that of other fiction? I haven't read any of his books though.

Have been trying to get a piece of work together to send off to apply for the MA. Finding it hard to write something that I know is going to be judged though.

Leaves

I think I'll just go and take photo's of all the leaves in the neighbourhood. They are changing so quickly and the colours are amazing. These look almost reptilian.

I got my first rejection letter yesterday. I'm very proud of it. It symbolises action. Even if it is rejected action.

Happy Bunny

Finished reading 'The Death of Bunny Munro' by Nick Cave. It didn't get a very good review on newsnight review. They thought it was too misogynistic. I think they missed the point a bit. The way that his son adored him when he was so awful made it more tragic. I thought it was a good story and quite sad.

I did wonder what Avril Lavine might think about it though. He does make some pretty lewd comments about her. He exonerates himself in the acknowledgements at the end though which amused me.

I had a go at some flash ficition and sent it off to Myslexia. It is quite hard to write a whole story in 150 words. It was an interesting thing to do though.

I have also got a short story on the bbc short story competition website at www.bbc.co.uk/mystory/stories/humour/149290. It is called 'the eggstraordinary find'. I'm glad they put mine on, one person likes it too so that makes me a happy bunny.

Finished Irving Welsh 'If you liked work then you'll love school'. He's got his own distinctive style. Not for the fainthearted. He writes a good story though.

Exciting

Ooh! My story 'One Eye Open' has been published on Rainy City Stories. Very exciting for me!

Styles

I've finished Stargazing by Peter Hill. It is a nice nostalgic look at life working on a lighthouse through the eyes of a nineteen year old art student. Afterwards I opened up 'If you liked school then you'll love work' by Irvine Welsh. I had to put it down and leave it until today. The contrast between them was incredible. I just wasn't ready for Irvine Welsh so soon after Peter Hill. The language was too extreme after my nostalgic look at lighthouses. I'll start it again today instead.

I have finished tidying up 'Head in the Clouds' and it is ready to be sent off. I have also sent off a story to the BBC short story competition. They are asking for true and extraordinary short stories. I have sent them a true story but didn't want to write about any big tragedies in my life so it is about an ordinary event. Still it is a bit of writing practise.

Decay

I have finished reading 'The Careful Use Of Compliments' it didn't really do much for me I'm afraid. I didn't really identify with the characters. I've started Stargazing by Peter Hill and I'm enjoying it more already. It is a story about his time spent as a light house keeper.

We watched 'True Blood', the other day. A series about vampires, it make me realise that even though ideas have been done before there is no reason that they can't be revisited in a new way. 'True Blood' revamped the vampire story (so to ,speak) by giving it a new twist. All you need is a subtle spin on the old story and you're away.

Funny how October makes the world look very different.

There is a lot of decay around. Things are dying and crumbling.

There's also a lot of beauty too but I will choose to ignore that. The decay has inspired me to write another zombie story. Ahhhhhhh!

Autumn

Autumn is definately here. There is a chill in the air and the world has changed coloured. I have done quite well this week. I have finished a short stories 'new start' and tidied it up, and I sent off a poem 'Rapunzel' to a competition.

I have written a few really daft stories, I have taken a few silly things about people and exagerated them into short stories. It is great to mess about with fake peoples lives, I've enjoyed having that power this week! I thought I'd just write some things that were short with a twist, the kind of thing you get in magazines and then send them off and see what happens. There isn't a pressure to be high brow then, although it can be harder than you think to write a good 1000 word short story. There's more to it than I thought. Its been fun though and I've got lots of new ideas this week to get going with.

Zombies

Sent through a story to someone who was on my creative writing course with me last year who very kindly gave me lots of feedback. I think I forgot how much effort I used to go to in editing and reworking my stories. Have to get into that disclipine again. Also forgot how invaluable it is to have someone else look over your writing and point out obvious errors. It is worth while just putting things to one side and coming back to it a week later and re reading it with a more critical eye.

Have been tidying up some stories this week, need to be get some new ones done as well though. I wrote a silly story about a zombie the other day and then read in the Guardian that the world has gone zombie mad at the moment. Must reflect the state of the nation. Glad its not just me.

Ian Rankin's Edinburgh

I watched a documentary the other day about Ian Rankin. He was discussing his writing, Edinburgh and getting rid of his character of Inspector Rebus. I haven't read any of the Rebus novels, 'The Flood' was the first book of his that I have read. The documentary was a tour around Edinburgh and the different places that the character had encountered. The documentary included real cases that had occur ed in Edinburgh alongside brief details of the fictional cases in his books.

The programme mentioned Burke and Hare who were two serial killers who ran a hostel. Their murdered victims were then sold by them by anatomists for dissection. I hadn't heard of them until recently, there was a programme about them on the other day too. The story is quite macabre and terrible, it conjures up lots of ideas for short stories from various angles.

The programme was interesting even if you are unfamiliar with Rankin, it is worth a watch if it is on again.

The area

So far the stories that I have been writing have focussed on the area that I live in. I think it might be an idea to go and take my camera out and get some photo's another day, to build up some images that I can refer back to.

Daily Distractions

Wrote up another short story yesterday called 'Head in the clouds'. I keep reading about all these women who write while they have babies sitting on their knees or whilst watching the school assembly. Are the just better at blocking out the rest of the world than me?

At the moment there is a Batman cartoon and I would say that its not ideal but I guess doing something is better than nothing. There was a lady on the OU Shakespeare course that I did who used to do her work while she bathed the children. I never could manage that. I'm going to give it a go though.

Can't help thinking that once you start a story with cartoons playing in the background that people in the story might start hitting each other over the head with pans or walking up buildings in skin tight lycra. Oh well. I've just had a great idea for a story about this cat who really hates this mouse, must start writing it up now.

I've written up 'the biscuit factory' story and 'the fire'. Two down.

Remembering a family

The father is large and ginger. All the children are ginger apart from the eldest who is blonde. They are unusual because they have 5 brothers, noone else on the street has more than 1 brother or sister. Their mother is really small and dark. She is quiet and petite and scurries around the house. She doesn't talk much and she doesn't seem to want me to come round. The father is loud and scary. He never shouts at me but sometimes you hear him shouting at his children. He bellows and his hair stands on end like it is on fire. We don't go round to their house much because the mother seems to hurry us out again; the father terrifies us even when he is smiling, they never give you any biscuits, at our house we always get biscuits and we have a den (the garage) at our house. We play cowboys and indians and the girl next door is always the hostage. She gets locked in the garage and we go and play on the field. I wonder if we were gone for a long time on our adventures. She would still be waiting in the garage. She is called Jillian but we call her Jilly Bean.

Flood by Ian Rankin

Just finished this novel. I got it out of the library because I've seen him on newsnight but not read anything that he has written before. It was an interesting read, you could tell that the place he was writing about had significance to him. He explains in the introduction how it was based on his hometown and I think that that familiarity with the place and the people really comes through in the novel.

He says he started writing it in January and finished in July which I am always interested to find out about. There are some great descriptions in there such as the people on the bus who he describes as being 'lost, as hollow as the most brittle sea shells'. I enjoyed the book and I liked the ending too.

I that in the short stories that I have been writing when ou do focus on an event or person from the past it does open up a host of things lurking in your imagination that you almost forgot were there.

He is signing copies of his new book in Waterstones soon.

Haiku

Glum rain drags the sun
Into a puddle to sit
And reflect on life

Some time of ones own

Finished reading 'The Ninth Life of Louis Drax' by Liz Jenson. Very good! I really enjoyed it, especially the parts from the viewpoint of the boy. The parts about the man with his face in bandage was very good. Although the outcome was hinted at, I guessed some of the twists but not each one.

I think it is clever to use the two view points so that you can use adult language and description. She did this by using the psychologist and the boys point of ivew. Sometimes you started off reading the psychologists and thought it was the boys and then realised.

Louis Drax had a very distinctive voice that she pulled off really well. I think I will try and read more of her stuff.

I have decieded to write more short stories. I am going to also try to use my own experiences and draw on things that have happened in the past to help me with this. I began today and wrote a short story about a girl who makes hoax calls to the firebrigade. This is based on a story about a girl who did do this from the past, not someone I knew particually well but something which was a bit surprising when you heard that she had been doing it.

I have finished it in rough and just need to write it up now. I intend to read a lot more books and have discovered the library and I have been enjoying the few free bits of time that I have got to write now that the children have started school. The baby I'm looking after will only be here for 3 days a week so the other two I intend to make the most of the time to do some writing. It is the only chance and maybe the last chance I'll have to get some good time to myself. So far so good. One story down. Many more to follow. At least I hope so. I need a few good ones if I am going to apply to do the MA as well. No pressure. Just keep writing.

Well fine. So far I have managed to do something. And that is the start I wanted. I need to get together lots of short stories together if I am going to do this MA. The best way to do that is to start doing some writing exercises. Get reading the paper again and saving cuttings of interesting people and stories. Just basically get on with it.

Then there is the idea of the wedding for a meeting place for different stories to begin. A lot of strangers and people from the past coming together in one place fuelled by alcohol.

Tomato in my hand, soft round a bright pill. The sweet juice spills into my mouth and I can taste its life spilling down my throat. I end its life and it gives me its sweetness to say thank you.

You should write about what you know but then the things that you know can become so familiar that it is difficult to see them through fresh eyes. When you write about the things around you, your sense of understanding comes through in the writing. I have been taking ideas from people from childhood and situations that have arisen. They have given the stories a feeling of nostalgia, I think. At least from my point of view. I don't know if this will show in the writing or not.

I said I would

I said I'd start doing some writing. Even if the words are just a shopping list. If it is actually here then perhaps I can set myself some goals. Do some short stories and then who knows? I keep getting lots of random ideas but I don't take them further. Too many ideas not enough focus. This is an attempt to get some writing done at last. Or to jot down a few thoughts and ideas as they crop up.