Check out the badge to the right...go on...take a peek...yes, you read it right, I'm a NaNoWriMo WINNER!
I can hardly believe it myself. I know I was better prepared this year, but even so, it surprised me how easy it was to get to the 50,000. I hate to say 'easy', because it makes it sound like I could have done it whenever I felt like - though possibly this is true - and that I should have knocked out many multiples of 50k and produced a string of novels by now. But it really did feel like a pleasurable experience, and looking back I can only remember a couple of days out of the thirty where it felt like a chore. It almost doesn't feel real.
The extra and unexpected benefit is that I have made friends through NaNo. I 'homed' myself to Chester and went along to their write-ins at least once a week, and this helped tremendously with my motivation (there were stickers as rewards - I'm a sucker for a sticker). The online forums were the same. And having a dedicated #writingbud in the form of a Facebook friend was a brilliant aid, as she and I 'raced' to each daily target and each milestone - 10k, halfway, 40k and on to the finish line. I genuinely can't get over how different an experience it has been to 2010 and 2011, where I had no plan, no Scrivener and no writing buds (in person OR online).
The best part is that instead of being glad November is over and desperate for a break from my story, I'm finding that I'm missing writing every day. This can only be a good thing! Surely it means that I truly am A Writer? Officially? I've decided to take December off and then possibly take part in a 90 day challenge that runs from January 1st to March 31st - I'd like to write at least 500 words a day. Previously this would have seemed daunting, but post-NaNo, 500 words seems like a brief word sneeze... ;o)
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Monday, 3 December 2012
Sunday, 7 October 2012
Scrivener - a revelation
Hello loyal readers - and you truly must be loyal if indeed you are reading this after such a long hiatus. After a good deal of personal turmoil, life is on the up again...and that means I can get back to writing!
In preparation for NaNoWriMo 2012 I've treated myself to Scrivener - a piece of software designed for writers (of all kinds) as a sort of word processor/corkboard/research storage/Harry Potter-style 'room of requirement'. That doesn't really do it justice, so please do find out more about it from the Scrivener people themselves here. I only got it a couple of days ago, and am waiting for Scrivener for Dummies to turn up from Amazon before I get too far in, in case I'm teaching myself the wrong way to use it! But what I've seen so far looks great. Being able to keep everything in one place (instead of over a range of Word docs, picture files, web links etc) is AWESOME, and the corkboard feature means you can write separate scenes and rearrange them as you like. I think having the freedom to write small chunks, knowing it will be easy to piece them all together will be quite liberating for me. Writing in Word feels very linear, purely because of its ever-scrolling nature.
This year's NaNo promises to be a whole new experience...I can't wait!
Happy writing,
Toyah
PS I bought my software using the discount code found at this website - 20% off is not to be sniffed at!
In preparation for NaNoWriMo 2012 I've treated myself to Scrivener - a piece of software designed for writers (of all kinds) as a sort of word processor/corkboard/research storage/Harry Potter-style 'room of requirement'. That doesn't really do it justice, so please do find out more about it from the Scrivener people themselves here. I only got it a couple of days ago, and am waiting for Scrivener for Dummies to turn up from Amazon before I get too far in, in case I'm teaching myself the wrong way to use it! But what I've seen so far looks great. Being able to keep everything in one place (instead of over a range of Word docs, picture files, web links etc) is AWESOME, and the corkboard feature means you can write separate scenes and rearrange them as you like. I think having the freedom to write small chunks, knowing it will be easy to piece them all together will be quite liberating for me. Writing in Word feels very linear, purely because of its ever-scrolling nature.
This year's NaNo promises to be a whole new experience...I can't wait!
Happy writing,
Toyah
PS I bought my software using the discount code found at this website - 20% off is not to be sniffed at!
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
10k Day
'10k?' I hear you thinking, 'she's been running when she should be at home writing?' There are many reasons why the answer to that is a resounding NO - 1) it's cold here and there would have to be a very good reason for me to leave the house and 2) run 10k - me? Have you met me? Okay, no, most of you haven't met me, but I can assure you that I couldn't even run 1k, let alone 10. I'm not overweight but equally I am just not that fit!
No, 10k Day is a concept thought up by my new writing buddy Milli Thornton over at Fear of Writing whereby writers commit to trying to write a whole 10,000 words in one day, checking in periodically to post updates on their progress (and what snacks are helping them get through it!). As one of them fell on my Writing Wednesday I thought it would be silly not to at least try, so after a late start (I won't bore you with why that was) I applied the BICHOK principle (Bum in Chair, Hands on Keyboard) and began.
I chose to work on my NaNoWriMo project, which has been sadly languishing while I've been working long days and/or studying. #shame# Fortunately, I'd thought ahead and done some plotting last night so that I had a bit of a route map to follow today, rather than having to think of the plot AND all the words. So I got off to a flying start...if you're a friend on Facebook then you may have noticed my status and subsequent comments keeping the world updated with how I was doing. I also updated my 'Toyah the Writer' Facebook page (feel free to look it up and 'like' it if you wish!) which in turn automatically updated Twitter (again, 'ToyahTheWriter'...do you see the branding I'm trying to apply?). I do so love all this social media!
Keeping tabs on the Fear of Writing blog page, which is where we were all checking in and updating each other, I forged ahead with periodic spurts of inspiration where the words really did just flow from my mind, down my arms and out of my fingers into the laptop. It's quite a magical feeling! Nourished by a bacon sandwich, chocolate biscuits and numerous cups of tea and coffee I managed to get to 3576 before it was getting dark outside and my stomach was telling me it was time for dinner...not the 10,000 I'd been hoping for, but certainly better than I've managed to get down in one day before now. Progress!
If you have something you're working on (not necessarily NaNoWriMo, it can be anything at all) and are in need of motivation, the next 10k Day is this Saturday (27th) - check out Milli's blog for more details and to check in. The feeling of camaraderie is quite something, it's just so nice to have people cheering you on when you feel like it's just you and your laptop struggling along!
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No, 10k Day is a concept thought up by my new writing buddy Milli Thornton over at Fear of Writing whereby writers commit to trying to write a whole 10,000 words in one day, checking in periodically to post updates on their progress (and what snacks are helping them get through it!). As one of them fell on my Writing Wednesday I thought it would be silly not to at least try, so after a late start (I won't bore you with why that was) I applied the BICHOK principle (Bum in Chair, Hands on Keyboard) and began.
I chose to work on my NaNoWriMo project, which has been sadly languishing while I've been working long days and/or studying. #shame# Fortunately, I'd thought ahead and done some plotting last night so that I had a bit of a route map to follow today, rather than having to think of the plot AND all the words. So I got off to a flying start...if you're a friend on Facebook then you may have noticed my status and subsequent comments keeping the world updated with how I was doing. I also updated my 'Toyah the Writer' Facebook page (feel free to look it up and 'like' it if you wish!) which in turn automatically updated Twitter (again, 'ToyahTheWriter'...do you see the branding I'm trying to apply?). I do so love all this social media!
Keeping tabs on the Fear of Writing blog page, which is where we were all checking in and updating each other, I forged ahead with periodic spurts of inspiration where the words really did just flow from my mind, down my arms and out of my fingers into the laptop. It's quite a magical feeling! Nourished by a bacon sandwich, chocolate biscuits and numerous cups of tea and coffee I managed to get to 3576 before it was getting dark outside and my stomach was telling me it was time for dinner...not the 10,000 I'd been hoping for, but certainly better than I've managed to get down in one day before now. Progress!
If you have something you're working on (not necessarily NaNoWriMo, it can be anything at all) and are in need of motivation, the next 10k Day is this Saturday (27th) - check out Milli's blog for more details and to check in. The feeling of camaraderie is quite something, it's just so nice to have people cheering you on when you feel like it's just you and your laptop struggling along!
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Wednesday, 3 November 2010
NaNoWriMo, baby!
Image by owlbookdreams via FlickrThe idea is that you write every day during November, working towards a target word count of 50,000 words. If you manage that then by the end you have a completed first draft of a novel. A short novel, admittedly - they're usually more in the 90,000+ range - but a novel nonetheless, which you can then either continue to work on and make longer, or edit into something worthy of submission. Given my problem with obsessively self-editing myself after every sentence, I figured this could be just the kick in the butt that I need to make me Just Sit And Write!
So the proper start was on November 1st, but as I only heard about it for the first time yesterday I'm two days behind. You update your profile with your current word count as often as you like and it gives you stats about your average words per day, words left till you hit the overall target, words till you hit today's goal and that sort of thing. And there's a graph! I do love a nice graph, they're so motivating! If I'd started on time I 'should' (though there are no hard and fast rules, just suggested guidelines) be up to 5000 words by the end of today. Of course I'm not, but I am up to 2002 (the 2 are important!) which I feel is pretty darned good - the most I've ever written in one day in fact. And the best thing is that I'm not too displeased with what I've written - just letting it come out of my head onto the screen has not resulted in the terrible dross that I feared it would. You can see my latest word count on the little blue gizmo thingy on the left of the screen.
From what I can gather there is a lot of criticism of this whole idea, not least because it advertises itself as a contest and explicitly states that it's all about quantity not quality. If you make it to 50,000 words (and you have to upload them so their gadget thingy can verify that you haven't just copy-pasted the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog 5500 times) then you are classed as a Winner and you get some goodies (I'm not sure what). Many professional writers/people in the publishing world think this is bad - writing's not a competition (in that sense at least) or a race, and I would agree with that. If people go through this process and then send the end product straight off to a publisher or agent, I can imagine that person would probably be pretty peeved at having to read through them all because 99% of them must be awful! The first draft is just the foundations, not the finished house! The site does say that the work done in November is just the first part of the overall process - once you've written it you do have to edit it - but I guess a lot of people must choose to ignore that, thinking that they've got all these words down, so that should be fine.
Anyway, I'm being honest with myself and acknowledging that it's unlikely I'll get to 50,000 words by the end of November (unless I take the entire month off work). For me it's going to be more of a way to train myself to just let the words flow, with the added bonus that by the end of it I will at least have a substantial chunk of story to do with what I like. Next year will be different though...next year I will be a WINNER! ;oD
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
I like days like these...
Greetings readers! You'll have to imagine me beaming at you down the cables (? airwaves? fibre optics?) as today has been a really productive day!
Not only have I done some writing (Project Blake - police/forensic) but I've also finally finished my archaeology course AND caught up to where I should be on my Exploring the Classical World course. HURRAH!! I can't say I'm sad to finish the archaeology - though I love the general idea of it, I've learnt that I'm not really made for the science side of things, I think I'd be more the anthropologist who comes along to look at the stuff after they've dug it up and cleaned it, and work out whose it was, what it was for etc. But hey ho - I gave it a try and that's what life's all about isn't it?
Classical World though is another thing altogether, I love it! You may remember that last week I was doing my first assignment (still no result back by the way :o( ) about Homer's Odyssey, well this week looked at the 'prequel' poem the Iliad, which is just as fascinating, all about the Trojan War. It's about 25,000 lines long so we don't study all of it (thank goodness!), just a variety of extracts, but all the same it's so thought-provoking to consider and learn about an era from so long ago. Having been there last year and seen it first-hand, I can't wait to get to the blocks about ancient Rome!
Totally unrelated to either writing OR studying, but taking up a semi-large chunk of the day - hubby and I also sorted out our greenhouse ready for winter (the frosts have started already here), so my tomato and pepper plants are now safely housed in the conservatory away from rain, wind and cold. Here's to the stir fry their produce will eventually end up in! :oD
Until my first proper 'Booklog' post on Sunday, goodbye and have a great week!
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Not only have I done some writing (Project Blake - police/forensic) but I've also finally finished my archaeology course AND caught up to where I should be on my Exploring the Classical World course. HURRAH!! I can't say I'm sad to finish the archaeology - though I love the general idea of it, I've learnt that I'm not really made for the science side of things, I think I'd be more the anthropologist who comes along to look at the stuff after they've dug it up and cleaned it, and work out whose it was, what it was for etc. But hey ho - I gave it a try and that's what life's all about isn't it?
Classical World though is another thing altogether, I love it! You may remember that last week I was doing my first assignment (still no result back by the way :o( ) about Homer's Odyssey, well this week looked at the 'prequel' poem the Iliad, which is just as fascinating, all about the Trojan War. It's about 25,000 lines long so we don't study all of it (thank goodness!), just a variety of extracts, but all the same it's so thought-provoking to consider and learn about an era from so long ago. Having been there last year and seen it first-hand, I can't wait to get to the blocks about ancient Rome!
Totally unrelated to either writing OR studying, but taking up a semi-large chunk of the day - hubby and I also sorted out our greenhouse ready for winter (the frosts have started already here), so my tomato and pepper plants are now safely housed in the conservatory away from rain, wind and cold. Here's to the stir fry their produce will eventually end up in! :oD
Until my first proper 'Booklog' post on Sunday, goodbye and have a great week!
.
Sunday, 24 October 2010
Books, books, books - a new idea!
Hello! Yes, I know it's Sunday night and you're probably wondering why on earth I'm posting, but I was just reading another blogger's post ( The Taming of the Shelves ) and it struck me that the amount and variety of books which I read must surely impact on my writing. I thought that looking at this in more detail could be interesting, or at the very least might suggest books that you may not have tried but may like to.
I'm what you might call a butterfly reader - I flit from book to book depending on my mood, so at any time could have anything up to six or seven different ones on the go. This has increased since I got the Kindle (oops!), the way that it saves your place within each book is just so handy - and of course popping onto the site and downloading new stuff is so easy that it's hard to resist. People sometimes find it hard to understand how I can read multiple books without getting confused, but it's second nature to me. Surely it's no different to watching different TV series? I've watched Lost, Heroes and Sex And The City, but I never got confused when Carrie wasn't on the island or Sylar wasn't in Bloomingdales!
So my idea is to post here every Sunday about what I've read during the week, what I think of it, and anything else book-related that occurs to me. Of course if you have any recommendations please do post them - I'll try most things!
As it's quite late right now - and I have work in the morning - here's a quick starter for ten. This week I finished reading:
Company of Liars ~ Karen Maitland
Please Forgive Me ~ Melissa Hill
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow ~ Washington Irvine
Heart of Darkness ~ Joseph Conrad
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ~ Lewis Carroll
I'm still reading:
The Book of Secrets ~ Tom Harper
The Children's Book ~ A S Byatt
The Redbreast - Jo Nesbo (this is for my book club)
I'll do some reviewing and scoring next week - but right now my bed's calling me! :oD
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I'm what you might call a butterfly reader - I flit from book to book depending on my mood, so at any time could have anything up to six or seven different ones on the go. This has increased since I got the Kindle (oops!), the way that it saves your place within each book is just so handy - and of course popping onto the site and downloading new stuff is so easy that it's hard to resist. People sometimes find it hard to understand how I can read multiple books without getting confused, but it's second nature to me. Surely it's no different to watching different TV series? I've watched Lost, Heroes and Sex And The City, but I never got confused when Carrie wasn't on the island or Sylar wasn't in Bloomingdales!
So my idea is to post here every Sunday about what I've read during the week, what I think of it, and anything else book-related that occurs to me. Of course if you have any recommendations please do post them - I'll try most things!
As it's quite late right now - and I have work in the morning - here's a quick starter for ten. This week I finished reading:
Company of Liars ~ Karen Maitland
Please Forgive Me ~ Melissa Hill
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow ~ Washington Irvine
Heart of Darkness ~ Joseph Conrad
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ~ Lewis Carroll
I'm still reading:
The Book of Secrets ~ Tom Harper
The Children's Book ~ A S Byatt
The Redbreast - Jo Nesbo (this is for my book club)
I'll do some reviewing and scoring next week - but right now my bed's calling me! :oD
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Wednesday, 22 September 2010
Arguments...
Today I've been working on Project Crunch (chick lit), on a scene which I've decided will be the opening one. The only problem is that it involves my heroine and her fiance having a huge argument, and - to be honest - I've never really had that experience with anyone, especially my husband (and ours is the only relationship I've been in...aww, sweet!). I'm extremely non-confrontational by nature - I'll do anything to avoid a row. If I'm angry with you I'm 99% more likely to give you the silent treatment than to shout at you. I'll leave the room to avoid other people arguing and don't even like watching it on TV. There's enough negativity floating around the world already, I don't feel the need to add to it or willingly expose myself to it!
So when it comes to writing a row I don't really have much to draw on. The temptation to make the characters be too nice and too understanding to each other is tremendous, because I feel awkward that I'm consciously trying to generate bad vibes. I guess it'll be a learning curve - I'll have to write it my way, then keep revising it to make it angrier and more like a real argument. Because after all, life's not always sweetness and light is it?!
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So when it comes to writing a row I don't really have much to draw on. The temptation to make the characters be too nice and too understanding to each other is tremendous, because I feel awkward that I'm consciously trying to generate bad vibes. I guess it'll be a learning curve - I'll have to write it my way, then keep revising it to make it angrier and more like a real argument. Because after all, life's not always sweetness and light is it?!
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Wednesday, 8 September 2010
Choices, choices...
Today I had every intention of working on Project Crunch (my chick lit idea), but when I fired up the laptop and went to Documents I ended up being drawn into Project Blake instead. I've been finding lately that I think of snippets of ideas and changes that I want to make - either while at work (oops, if you're reading boss - I write them down and get straight back to the day job, honest!) or driving, or falling asleep. Today I just went into Blake to make one of those changes and have ended up working on it all day. It makes me wonder how more established writers keep themselves disciplined to focus on one thing at a time..?
I'm also finding that now I have this dedicated writing time every Wednesday, I do struggle with just letting the words come. I'm something of a perfectionist (in everything, not just writing) and it is a real struggle not to self-edit as I'm going along, or to spend ages trying to think of precisely the right word, when instead I should probably just type everything as it comes to mind to get the action and the scene down, then go back and look at the fine detail another time. I wonder whether anybody knows of a way of overcoming this?
Also this week, the analytical part of my subconscious has pushed its way forward and made me set up a graph to monitor the word counts of my projects. Whether this is a good idea or not in terms of motivation I don't know, but I do like a nice graph so it'll stay! I don't think there's any way of posting it on here, but in case you're interested, today's standings are:
Project Blake: 1500
Project Crunch: 214 (this is why I was intending to work on it today)
Project Witch: 1430
Witch is an idea for a children's/Young Adult story that I had aaaaaaages ago, started writing, then as usual got distracted by other ideas. I found the draft I'd started on a memory stick recently so have added it to my stable of projects. I find that when I read my own writing back later I really like it - it's just while I'm working on it that I feel it's appallingly bad and going nowhere! I wonder if every writer is like that?
"All your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them." ~ Walt Disney
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I'm also finding that now I have this dedicated writing time every Wednesday, I do struggle with just letting the words come. I'm something of a perfectionist (in everything, not just writing) and it is a real struggle not to self-edit as I'm going along, or to spend ages trying to think of precisely the right word, when instead I should probably just type everything as it comes to mind to get the action and the scene down, then go back and look at the fine detail another time. I wonder whether anybody knows of a way of overcoming this?
Also this week, the analytical part of my subconscious has pushed its way forward and made me set up a graph to monitor the word counts of my projects. Whether this is a good idea or not in terms of motivation I don't know, but I do like a nice graph so it'll stay! I don't think there's any way of posting it on here, but in case you're interested, today's standings are:
Project Blake: 1500
Project Crunch: 214 (this is why I was intending to work on it today)
Project Witch: 1430
Witch is an idea for a children's/Young Adult story that I had aaaaaaages ago, started writing, then as usual got distracted by other ideas. I found the draft I'd started on a memory stick recently so have added it to my stable of projects. I find that when I read my own writing back later I really like it - it's just while I'm working on it that I feel it's appallingly bad and going nowhere! I wonder if every writer is like that?
"All your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them." ~ Walt Disney
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Wednesday, 1 September 2010
A Great Day
Why a great day? Well, there are a number of reasons!
Firstly, I am in love with my newest gadget - my Amazon Kindle. Yes yes, I know it's for reading and not for writing, but it's just so amazing that I can't not mention it! I could harp on about all its features, but it would be easier to recommend that if you love reading, go to Amazon and get one. Now! I was dubious about reading off a screen before I got it, but I needn't have worried as it's actually really good. I actually keep catching myself looking at it and thinking "but surely that's ink printed onto it?" even though I know it can't be...
Secondly, I have had a productive day and got over a thousand words down towards what I'm going to call Project Blake, which is a 'police procedure' crime novel. Ages and ages ago I had a random idea for an opening scene for a book like this (fortunately I wrote it down at the time), and recently an 'investigator' character started clamouring inside my head to be let out, so the two ideas have been put together into one project. It's early days of course, but I'm pretty excited about it. The old adage 'write what you know' seems a good place to start - I work in the forensic department of our local police force so there is a lot of research material and people's expertise sat right there on a plate for me. (NB Of course I would never use real-life cases, people or details in my writing. It's just handy that I can check how things would be done in various scenarios.)
Thirdly, well, it's sunny. And that's always nice! :o)
"All your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them" ~Walt Disney
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Firstly, I am in love with my newest gadget - my Amazon Kindle. Yes yes, I know it's for reading and not for writing, but it's just so amazing that I can't not mention it! I could harp on about all its features, but it would be easier to recommend that if you love reading, go to Amazon and get one. Now! I was dubious about reading off a screen before I got it, but I needn't have worried as it's actually really good. I actually keep catching myself looking at it and thinking "but surely that's ink printed onto it?" even though I know it can't be...
Secondly, I have had a productive day and got over a thousand words down towards what I'm going to call Project Blake, which is a 'police procedure' crime novel. Ages and ages ago I had a random idea for an opening scene for a book like this (fortunately I wrote it down at the time), and recently an 'investigator' character started clamouring inside my head to be let out, so the two ideas have been put together into one project. It's early days of course, but I'm pretty excited about it. The old adage 'write what you know' seems a good place to start - I work in the forensic department of our local police force so there is a lot of research material and people's expertise sat right there on a plate for me. (NB Of course I would never use real-life cases, people or details in my writing. It's just handy that I can check how things would be done in various scenarios.)
Thirdly, well, it's sunny. And that's always nice! :o)
"All your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them" ~Walt Disney
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Thursday, 19 August 2010
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
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
Friday, 5 March 2010
Every journey begins with a single step...
Allow me to introduce myself - my name is Toyah and I have wanted to be a writer ever since I can remember. Story writing was always my favourite activity in junior school, and when - at the age of 12 - I saw a boy younger than myself being interviewed on Blue Peter about the book he had written (which was being published), I decided that if he could do it, then I could do it too! I filled notebooks with stories and poems, and even had two poems published in school anthologies. But when I got to high school, then university and eventually the world of work, I found that I had less and less time and energy to give to my scribblings and they pretty much dried up.
I'm now approaching thirty, and - frustrated with myself at my lack of progress in the writing world - have just completed Start Writing Fiction with the Open University. I got really good marks and very encouraging feedback from my tutor and have decided that this is my new starting point. Today is Day One. From this point onwards I will put 100% effort into my writing so that by the time I come to approach forty (which seems like an age away!) I will be able to introduce myself as: Toyah Coolican, Professional Writer.
Please feel free to join me on this journey if you are a writer, a wannabe writer, a reader, or just a person who likes reading random blogs (!). I hope that by sharing every step, and with your encouragement, I will keep myself on the straight and narrow path to publication.
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