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.