Productivity Dive... :o(

I'd planned that today would be a great day, what with the new laptop being all set up and ready to go, but sadly I was laid low with a headache until well past lunch time.  The headaches I get are usually due to eye strain from computer screen use, so I didn't want to risk provoking it into returning by jumping straight back on the laptop once it had gone. 

Instead I decided to go through the not-insubstantial backlog of Writers' News and Writing Magazine that has been building up on my bedroom floor *ahem*.  I've subscribed to both for years, but I'm a bit of a lover of magazines all round and have a lot of other subscriptions too, so they often form something of a queue (well, more of a mob!). 

If you're a writer or poet and have never read either of these fine publications then I highly recommend that you have a look.  Not only do they provide great advice and stop you feeling quite as isolated, they also recommend writing-related books and this can save you money because there are a lot of those out there and not all of them are helpful.  My own collection of writing books is a modest size but all of them have proved interesting and inspiring - these are my favourites:

• On Writing - Stephen King
• Your Writing Coach - Jurgen Wolff
• Wannabe a Writer? - Jane Wenham-Jones
• The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes - Jack M. Bickham

Of course it's perilously easy to fall into just reading about writing and not actually doing any writing - much like I unintentionally did today.  But I guess it's the second best thing that I could be spending my Writing Days doing! 

Beginnings

So I am well aware (and slightly guilt-stricken) that I started this blog in March, and that it is now August, but I am finally in a position to make proper, regular, use of it.  At the beginning of August I changed the work pattern of my full-time day job, so I now work four longer days and have every Wednesday off.  Wednesdays are now my Writing Days!

I've had three Writing Days - the first I spent feeling weird (like I was skiving off the day job) and organising my office and books etc, the second I spent catching up with the archaeology course that I was a bit behind on and the third (yesterday) I spent procrastinating while excitedly waiting for my new laptop to be delivered (it wasn't, as it happened - it came today).  But now my shiny new tech-baby is all set up and I'm ready to go! 

Of all the ideas bubbling around in my head, choosing which one to put my energy into first has proved tricky so far, but I think I've decided.  It's a non-fiction work- a guide for British couples wanting to get married in the USA, and I'm really confident about it.  When I was planning my own wedding (which was in New York) there were no books and very little information available if you weren't willing to scour the Internet.  Fortunately I LOVE scouring the Internet and researching minute details for hours on end, but I know that I might be in the minority there, so I believe there would be a great market for my book.  Of course there's a lot of research to be done before I get to the writing stage but I'm very excited nonetheless! 

I plan to blog the progress of 'Hitched' separately as it develops, which you can find here: Hitched Guide blog  If you follow it, it will be even more of an incentive for me to keep going! 

Thanks for reading!

Toyah

"All of your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them" ~ Walt Disney