concrete and flowers

2011-02-08T05:45:00.000-08:00

Hi there,

I'm going to move to stop blogging here now and move to http://www.sjluddem.com/ so if you want to come with me please do. X

First week back

2011-02-01T02:34:00.000-08:00

We have been discussing Rings of Saturn by Sebald, this week. A strange book that I liked, then got lost in, then liked. Everything we read is useful in some way the same as any book that you read, you take out the good and the bad and can use them in some way.

We had our first workshop too and I stupidly volunteered to have my stuff workshopped soon, it gives me a week and a bit to work on it. I'm trying to insert some more tension into it now, because basically it's about a day out to the museum and a bus ride. I figure that if I get this out of the way then I can work on the next bit without worrying about tweaking for a while. Could always go down the Sebald route, just go off on tangents, write a bit about the war in the middle to confuse them into thinking it's a very intellectual and superior work. Probably not a good idea.

I think I'm getting to a better understanding of where I'm going with it now but there's a lot of filling to get to 80 000 words. Plod on plod on.

Up myself

2011-01-27T12:28:00.000-08:00

I've gone all up myself over the holidays. I've got over excited and decided to have my own author name. It isn't just because I'm pretentious, honest... Someone is already (very rudely I might add), a successful author under my name. It's jolly bad form I'd say. So anyway, I'm working on a new site with my new twatty author name included in it. I'll tell you when I've done it. Then you can laugh at me some more.

I know, who do I think I am?

Nice to write again

2011-01-17T12:02:00.001-08:00

Spent Christmas reading up about murderers for my research, ho ho hoh no he's got an axe!

Have just sent off my latest workshop piece. It's gone and now I can get back to writing instead of tweaking. This editing lark is harder than it looks, especially when you haven't even finished what you're writing and your characters keep changing. Glad it's gone and I can get back to my shifting river and shifting characters.

Snow Joke

2010-12-05T12:28:00.000-08:00

We had a visit from Mulcahy and Viney, an agency, last week. Obviously, they were interested in books that they will be able to sell. This is another level that I am not even thinking about at the moment. Not only are we meant to put words on the page, they must be brilliant and they must be widely appealing.

They talked about having a small story within a big story. Something to discuss, a big issue! I've got none of this. I'm just plodding away still. I have avoided thinking this way so far. Perhaps I can crowbar something into my story, if I knew what the big issues were. Oh dear.

Trevor Byrne and Evie Wyld

2010-11-16T02:13:00.000-08:00

We went to a reading last week with Evie Wyld and Trevor Byrne. I hadn't read their books but the extracts they read out sounded good so I will seek them out later. The following day we had a workshop with them. They were very generous in describing their experiences as writers, very open and honest. It was nice to hear that everyone has bad days, and everyone can feel daunted by the enormity of it all sometimes.

To plan or not to plan

2010-11-11T06:56:00.000-08:00

I was feeling a bit swamped by my dreary scenery and thought about taking my characters on holiday but realised that is just another kind of story all together. I put them on the bus instead. So poor them, they are stuck in rainy Manchester still. They didn't enjoy the ride.

Not sure if I should have more of a plan to the story. It keeps going off a bit in different directions but will any of these directions arrive at a destination all just keep circling around and around? Then again I don't want to be tied to something that seems immovable. It's an interesting process.

Oh and my nine year olds story was compared to Jane Austen at parents evening the other night. Don't really know what to say about that really, as I struggle to make anything sound vaguely believable.

Is this cheating?

2010-11-04T13:51:00.000-07:00

I have gone on the internet and used the faces of strangers for some of my characters. This might be cheating but at least I can picture them a bit more clearly. It is working as a starting point anyway. I though this was a cunning plan instead of basing them on people I know.

My villian was too obvious, he wasn't twisting his waxed moustache but it was close to that. I don't want more of a rounded character. So I've modelled him on Steven Merchant. Now I like him too much, I'm not sure he's scary at all. Oh dear. Steven Merchant why do you have to be so likeable?

Spooky

2010-11-02T03:11:00.000-07:00

Walking through graveyards. Manchester rain. Decaying leaves. Halloween. What could be better inspiration? Children of Manchester you are beautiful.

2010-10-31T09:50:00.000-07:00

Just started my Madame Bovary essay. Found lots of layers. I would be happy with just one good layer in my novel. Flaubert makes a good fluffy jam and cream sponge of a novel. I've got a flat sponge so far, but things are progressing.

Is it wrong?

2010-10-26T08:41:00.001-07:00

Is it wrong to take the children for a walk by the river? No? What about when you're writing a story about a nutter dumping bodies in the river? Alright, probably. They liked the horse, and anyway, got some good pictures of sludge and slime. We even came across our very own nutter so it was an all round success! Lovely research. The nutter was averted by the way.

Last night we went to a reading with Seamus Heaney. He likes bogs and sludge too doesn't he? Should have asked him to come on my next trip out.

Week 1

2010-09-24T06:17:00.000-07:00

We had the introductory week of the course. Met lots of nice people and felt better. It was all a bit like the scene in Good Fellas when they have the wedding and it is all a bit of a blur. One because first days are scary. Two because theres lots to take in and people to meet and three because I had a bit of a cold and was a bit spaced out.

After we found out about the course, we went to listen to Howard Jacobson talking about Kalooki Nights for the Guardian Bookclub. He was really entertaining and interesting. If you fancy listening to it apparantly there's a pod cast.

I have read Madame Bovary and I have done some writing. I didn't volunteer my work for the first critique but the other brave souls that did will be getting their work critisised on Monday by the group. Looking forward to this course now.

2010-09-06T08:45:00.000-07:00

I've registered for my MA, had all the information now so will be officially starting in 3 weeks. I've been doing a bit of writing but need to get into the everyday habit again.

2010-07-31T08:42:00.000-07:00

I have been watching 'tales of the unexpected', why isn't there anything like that on t.v. now? Don't say because its pants. There are loads of good short stories out there, waiting for someone to turn them into a t.v. series. Dah dah dahhhh de de de dahhhhhhh dahhhh de de dah de de de dahhhh dahhhh.

2010-07-02T06:46:00.001-07:00

Sad news that Beryl Bainbridge has died today. I have only read 'Master Georgie', I would like to read 'Harriet Said'. I guess a lot of people will be re visiting her work now.

2010-06-29T13:26:00.000-07:00

Our England flags were handmade by an eager bright eyed five year old. He coloured them in with his new felt tip pens and hung them lovingly in our living room. They are now scrunched up in the bin. Feel bad, feel very bad. Boooo.

Rest

2010-06-07T09:30:00.000-07:00

It is starting to feel summery (ok so this is Tatton Park but lets pretend it is sunny Stockport). I was feeling bad because I haven't been writing a great deal, I've been reading and thinking instead. The last short story I wrote I wasn't very happy with but I think on reflection all I needed was to change one of the characters and it might save it. I feel interested in it again now, I think it just needed to rest on the hard drive for a while, it is ready to be woken up again.

Anyway as the flowers have started to bloom and the sun to shine I have taken up the pen again and started to write some things down. I have had a few more ideas lately and once you start writing them down you just seem to get more and more. I think it is about opening your mind up and seeing the world again. When I'm painting I start to look at things and see colours and shapes there. Writing is simular, once you are doing it you see things that would have passed you by before. Hopefully I will get a few more stories finished, I've got some new ideas anyway which is always exciting.

2010-03-30T15:05:00.001-07:00

Here is some blue sky in an attempt to ward off the snow. No thanks, move along, more sun please.

I have enjoyed the sensory aspects to Brixton Beach by Roma Tearne. I noticed an appreciation of colour in her writing. I was not surprised to read that she was also a painter. The use of sensory aspects can elevate a story to a new level.

Just finished reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafron. Aspects of it reminded me of Great Expectations. I wonder whether this was intentional. It reminded me how everything around us subconsciously influences us in some way.

I have got a place on the Creative Writing MA starting in September. All I can say is yeah and yikes.

Evolution

2010-03-18T04:30:00.000-07:00

I have been actually putting words on paper, my river story is evolving slowly but surely. I have found writing on paper has helped. Sometimes when you commit to the computer it feels too final. I've found I don't mind experimenting a bit on paper. Although the downside to this is that I've got loads of bits of the story all over the place, might have to transer it to the screen next.

A bit of flash fiction 'Bumper Crop' is up at the Pygmy Giant site.

http://thepygmygiant.wordpress.com:80/

2010-02-23T04:14:00.000-08:00

I have a short piece called 'White' that is now at Lit Up Magazine. Click on the sidebar for a look.

2010-02-19T05:55:00.000-08:00

Some writers can make a simple idea engaging and interesting. Sometimes less is more. I have to make sure that I don't overcomplicate things with too much description. It can be hard to get the balance right. Every story you write brings you a bit closer.

My flash fiction 'Needing the Crew' is on MiCrow Winter. Click on the link on the sidebar to read it.

Dark

2010-02-03T05:12:00.001-08:00

I have written some darker flash fiction lately. Must be because I've got a cold, or it's winter. My dark side is coming out. It made me wonder how people sustain a certain mood or feel throughout a novel, thinking about it they probably don't.

Read and drink more

2010-01-24T12:20:00.001-08:00

Last year my new years resolution was to drink more, I felt that with this I was not doomed to failure. This year to read more. Set realistic goals. Be happy, be lazy. Exercise is not good for you, I pulled my shoulder last week pretending to be healthy. Reading wins, it doesn't hurt, (unless the book makes you blub a bit).

Just read Last night In Twisted River. John Irving is brilliant, I've liked him for years. I leant A Prayer for Owen Meaney, to my Gran when she was in hospital a few years ago. All the doctors and nurses kept saying 'Oh, I've read that book, I love it' and really talking to her. She became transformed from an 80 year old to a person with simular interests to theirs. It is one of those moments when books are great.

When you have read a John Irving book you feel like you have experienced an entire life. His characters have got such great backstories. Reading this book I felt like putting it down all the time and saying 'listen to this bit' all the time to anyone passing. There are images that keep recurring through the story and he brings it all together masterfully. After spending a few happy hours on the sofa sipping wine with this book you feel like he's taken you on a journey through someone elses world. Apparantly he writes the last sentances of his novels first, then he works it out backwards from there, so he always knows where his novels are heading. He was in London last year, I wanted to go and hear him talk but I couldn't make it, come back again Mr. Irving, come to Manchester next time please! There is a bit on his website http://john-irving.com/ where he talks about the novel and some of the processes (it's too short though, more please). Apparently his favourite writer is Herman Melville, to my shame I have not read Moby Dick. When I had a look at the website I realised there is another John Irving book that I haven't read, hurrah.

Before then I read The Bird Room by Chris Killen, he is Manchester based and I saw his blog on the Manchizzle site which is what chose me to get it. It is his first novel. Compared to John Irving this book is more like a snapshot of someones life. He takes us right into the mind of the narrator. I liked the vulnerability and his unease with himself and the world around him. The unsaid feelings that are under the surface. Very readable.

Just finished The Coma by Alex Garland today, his Dad his illustrated the book with his woodcuts which I thought was pretty nice. I didn't know that Alex Garland wrote a book called 28 Days Later. I wonder if this is what they based the film on. If it is I think I should read it.

What I've Been Reading

2010-01-10T07:59:00.000-08:00

Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
Kalooki Nights - Howard Jacobson
Vladimir Nabokov - Mary
Carry me Down, M. J Hyland - really loved this.
Eric Ambler - Epitaph for a spy
The Tent - Margaret Atwood
Joe Brand - Autobiography
We have always lived in the castle - Shirley Jackson - really liked this.
Brighton Rock - Graham Greene
Black Swan Green - David Mitchell (great)
On Beauty - Zadie Smith
The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafron - (Enjoyed this)
Brokeback Mountain and other stories - Annie Proux (good stuff)
Brixton Beach - Roma Tearne
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold (Interesting way to have an omniscient narrator that can also talk in first person. Better than the film)
Exit Music - Ian Rankin (Accidentally read the final Rebus novel first, whoops)
Girl from the South - Joanna Trollope (yuk, no comment)
Love in The Present Tense - Catherine Ryan Hyde - (Enjoyed this, good example how to do an engaging shifting first person narrative)
Suite Fancaise - Irene Nemirovsky - (great story about how individuals cope under extreme circumstances)
John Irving - Last Night In Twisted River (I heart John Irving)
Alex Garland - The Coma - (is he awake or asleep? Liked the illustrations)
Chris Killen - The Bird Room - (Sad,vulnerable and interesting, enjoyed it)
Yvette Weiss - A passage through time - (terrible terrible, what a stinker)

For Every Year

2010-01-03T03:48:00.000-08:00

Happy new year! If you haven't visited 'For Every Year' http://foreveryyear.blogspot.com/2010/01/1521-co-sue-gee.html it is a site by Crispin Best. The site is trying to get story contributions for every year since 1400. Mine is up now it is called 'Martin Luther'.

Happy Christmas

2009-12-24T08:33:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-09T05:26:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-02T12:20:00.000-08:00

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

The River Mersey

2009-12-02T03:46:00.000-08:00

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

Lemons

2009-11-20T11:51:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-03T05:49:00.001-08:00

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

2009-10-30T11:46:00.000-07:00

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).

2009-10-29T04:01:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-23T06:44:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-20T03:18:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-10-19T04:51:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-14T06:09:00.001-07:00

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

Styles

2009-10-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-09T06:13:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-08T07:11:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-05T02:59:00.001-07:00

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

2009-09-29T08:54:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-27T00:09:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-26T08:28:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-09-24T06:43:00.000-07:00

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

Remembering a family

2009-09-24T01:47:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-24T01:30:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-23T03:29:00.001-07:00

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

Some time of ones own

2009-09-09T05:47:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-08-24T03:48:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-08-24T03:35:00.001-07:00

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.

2009-08-24T03:05:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-24T02:31:00.000-07:00

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.