The Woeful Tale of The Bad Blogger

I have been a bad bad blogger.

Writing is never easy but it's even worse when writer's block strikes.  It sucks.  Big time.  It's even worse when the ideas are there but the words were not.  My voice, metaphorically speaking, had gone.

It's been a new experience for me and to be honest it's been kind of nice to not have a constant noise in my head.

Nice but weird.  And totally not me. 

Thank God it is slowly returning.  A little bit stumbling, a little bit out of pace but still slowly coming back.

Hopefully you'll forgive me if this post  is not up to my usual standard.  It's almost like being back at the beginning and writing my first ever post.  Nerve wracking but exciting.

So what have I been up to during the The Great Silence.... well reading and listening and watching.  And as usual I just have to share.

The winter people by Jennifer McMahon

"In 1908 Sara Harrison Shea was found murdered, just a few short months after the death of her daughter. Now more than a hundred years later her ghost is said to haunt the fields surrounding her house.  But there is something far more frightening haunting the woods..."

I love a good spooky story and Jennifer McMahon's latest book is exactly that.  It is also the story of just how far a parent will go to save a child.  But is the price too high?

Fractured by Daniel Atkins

"What would you do if life gave you a second chance?  Five years after a terrible accident Rachel's life is falling apart. She would give anything to turn back the clock. But life doesn't work like that.  Does it?"

I don't want to give too much away but this is a great what-if story with an ending that will take you by surprise.

The Mindy project Season one

As usual I blame my online friends for getting me addicted to this show.  But if you're looking for a comedy then The Mindy Project is the perfect antidote to those wintry blues.

It's funny, it's romantic and just a little quirky and filled with weird and wonderful characters and it's also glorious.  Hint hint hint Season Two is even better.

It's Sex and the City for the 2010's.

Banshee The complete first season

Don't let the 1st episode of this show daunt you.  Carry on watching and you'll soon be completely hooked.

Trust me.

It's dark and disturbing and violent.  Like really really violent. Think decapitation by a truck no less.  And it has a Kiwi actor in the led.  And he is awesome!

So watch it.  Okay.

Old tyme religion by Hugo

A bluesy, rock mix with a touch of bluegrass and folk thrown in, this is a new discovery of an older CD  and one that I have to been listening to over and over again.

My favourites are 99 Problems and Bread & Butter.

I'm just a little disappointed that he hasn't done another album since this one.

Oh Crap It's NaNoWriMo Again: Fa lalalala la la la la

Someone once asked me if it was hard to write.

The answer is yes... and no.

It's not so much that I want to write it's more a case that I have to write.  Seriously.  My head is a scary place.  It is constantly filled with stories (and not the fluffy bunny kind).  Trust me it's not the sort of place you would want to visit for a holiday.  And the stories I have are not just vague ideas. Oh no as a visual reader/writer I see everything laid out in glorious 3D... with surround sound.  And I'm not just an observer either.  No my head has to go one step further and be a part of the stories so that I am right there next to the characters seeing, hearing, feeling what they do.

It all sounds completely insane I know... or at the very least weird.  Which probably explains a lot.  At least to those that know me.

The hard part of writing for me is turning all those images into words so that what I see etc translates in a way that others can see the same things that I do.  It makes my head spin in circles just trying to think about it.  So I won't.

Instead what I will be doing - at least for the next 30 days - is trying to write 50,000 words because November is the month of NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month for those that don't know.

Of course writing a novel in a month is just about impossible (though I'm sure someone somewhere has done it) but that's not really what NaNo is about.  What it is about is freeing yourself to write.  To stop that inner critic that so many of us writers have and just let our minds and imaginations run free without fear of getting it right the first time around.

What it also means is that I will be doing very little reading *sad face* or watching the latest seasons of Person of Interest and Supernatural *even more sad face* while I hide away in my bedroom and write.  Damn it.

All I can is insanity here I come...

For would-be writers

All my life I've worked in jobs that seem to attract people who want to write. First, there was my student job in a bookshop (that turned into 10 years, on and off), where I met a guy whose success in actually completing a draft novel encouraged me to give it a try. He stopped speaking to me after mine was published and his wasn't. Then again, he was a bit of a prat.

Then I went into journalism, trying to turn my creativity into a career. I very quickly worked out - by day two of my diploma - that I wasn't going to do that in journalism, unless it meant being creative with facts rather than style. But again, I met a few fellow journos who secretly yearned to be writing for themselves rather than The Man from Oz.

Now I work with books again, obviously, and there's a veritable plethora of us. Every time I think I'm struggling alone, I receive a reminder that I'm not as unique as I'd like to think. So here are a few resources for you, the fellow scribblers. You poor baskets.

Literary Rejections: http://www.literaryrejections.com/uk-literary-agencies/
Contains some uplifting stories about the authors who made it big, after breaking records for the number of rejections received (about 300). Apparently the average wait till the big break is eight years. Also contains useful listings of agents around the world, by country.

The Writers' and Artists' Yearbook 2014
THE essential guide to agents and the publishing industry, with listings and tips. Comes out every year with updated information.

The Best Writing on Mathematics
Whoops, how did THAT get in here? Hahahaha.

Scrivener for Dummies
A book about ME! Actually no, this is a guide to a software programme that helps writers get their thought processes into some semblance of order, and write a fantastic work. Computers can do everything!

Self-editing Fiction That Sells
Writing and editing are two very different things. Once you've got everything down, you need to know how to make it BETTER. This book tells you how.

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for Writers

When things are at their Eeyorest, these stories may help pick you up. Remember: Jack Canfield, creator of the Chicken Soup series, was told his books would never sell! The first book was rejected by more than 140 publishers, before going on to establish a series that has sold more than 100 million copies around the world.

Writing Children's Books for Dummies
Pretty self-explanatory, but if you want to be the next J. K. Rowling, this book might well help.

The Writer's Internet: A Creative Guide to the World Wide Web
A guide to how to promote yourself online, where to find fan fiction sites, how to do online research, internet resources for writers and more.

100 Ways to Publish and Sell Your Own E-Book
There are many more ways to get published now than ever before. This book tells you how you can make money without an agent or a traditional publisher. No more rejection! But just in case...

The Positively Productive Writer
Subtitled "How to Reject Rejection". Unfortunately, it's going to happen. This book tells you how to deal, and how to keep going, setting realistic goals and moving your writing forward.

And finally:

77 Reasons Why Your Book Was Rejected (and How to Make Sure It Doesn't Happen Again)
Your mission has been assigned. It's up to you to see it through.

Don't forget writing competitions, writing courses, assessment organisations like Writers Workshop or Elseware and joining networks like the Society of Authors. Good luck, one and all.

Fanfic Or Not To Fanfic

"Fan fiction can be defined as any piece of writing inspired by the original work of another."

I am a fan fiction fan.  I"m also a fan fiction writer.

And yes I can hear the cries of shock, horror and outage from here.  Because admitting that you like fan fiction (much less saying that you write it)  is a bit like admitting that you like porn (which some...okay a lot... of fan fiction is).

Fan fiction never has an easy time.  Those that hate it see it at best as lazy writing and at worst as plagiarism, stealing and akin to selling your soul to the devil.  And don't even mention Fifty Shades of Grey.

And yet despite all this I love fan fiction with a passion... and I'm not the only one. FanFiction.Net a website devoted to fan fiction works has more than 2 million users.

2 million.

That in itself should tell you the popularity of fan fiction.  Of course just because something is popular doesn't necessarily mean that it's a) good or b) legal.

From my own personal perspective fan fiction is just as legitimate and worth while as any other creative endeavour.

Is is lazy writing? Well yes there is a lot of bad fan fiction but there is also some really great fan fiction.  You just have to dig a little deeper for it.  But trust me it's there. 

Plagiarism and stealing? Perhaps. Though most (about 99.9 %) make no money from what they create and have no desire to do so.  They do it for love of a show/book/movie, to share their love with others, as a way of improving their own writing skill and a great many other reasons.  People with a love of art or music copy and adapt famous works all the time and no-one cries out.  So why is writing any different?

Of course fan fiction fans don't always help themselves.  Some in the fan fiction community can be pretty brutal in their defence.  It's enough to make a fangirl like me hang her head in shame at the antics of others.  Luckily there are plenty of others that make up for this and help make fan fiction a warm and entertaining community where you can share your love of whatever it is that makes you *flail*.

And at the end of the day that's what fan fiction is all about.

It's about exploring possibilities that the original author never thought of.  To celebrate a TV show/movie/book/character that another created in a way that is original to you and to share that love with others.  And that is a pretty great thing.

By the way check out Auckland Libraries latest events.  There's a discussion about Fifty Shades of Grey on next Thursday. http://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/EN/Events/Events/Pages/darknight.aspx

NaNoWriMo: The Madness of Writing

I am a crap writer. 

My spelling is appalling, my grammar even worse and I break every writing rule there is and probably alot more. Before I started writing I never knew there were so many rules.  Passive voice, active voice.  Past tense, present tense.  Show, not tell.  Gerunds...

Ahhh!!!

It's enough to make you want to throw the bloody manuscript out the window or take up drinking or eat vast amounts of chocolate.

Mmm, tempting...

Sadly none of these things are an option because a) I write and store everything on my laptop so throwing it out of the window is sooo not a good idea b) I don't like alcohol and c) though I may love chocolate it is not something that will make my writing any better, however much I wish it was so.

Not writing isn't an option either as my head is constantly filled with stories.

Finding out I'm a crap writer is, in truth, a little sad and disheartening.  Then again I am in surprisingly good company.  Dan Brown, Nicholas Sparks, Nora Roberts, J K Rowling and many others have all been accused of being crap or hack writers.  

And though I don't consider myself nearly as good as them if I can write something that is at least half as good and is enjoyed by others I'd be pretty happy.

I'll certainly be getting plenty of practice.  50,000 words over 30 days.

Why, may you ask?

Well November is the annual National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo for those in the know.  And I, along with a great many others, will be taking part.

Yes I know.  It sounds like madness and I'll probably be mad by the end of it or at the very least a little bit more loopy than I normally am.

Is it the end of November yet?

PS: Gerunds - and yes I had never heard of them before either.  Google as always to the rescue...

PS Again:  Since I am busy preparing for NaNoWriMo, i.e. skiving off by not writing or reading and instead watching the latest episodes of Supernatural, Vampire Diaries, etc  I have instead borrowed from the web goddess herself, Tosca and posted some weblinks that I have come across recently in my web travels.

Happy webbing or writing or whatever the case may be.

The Weird, The Wonderful and The Downright Strange...

Abebooks Weird Room  
http://www.abebooks.com/books/weird/index.shtml 

As you know I love bookie things so when I came across this book site that features "everything that's bizarre, odd and downright weird in books" I just had to share it.  How can you not love sites like this.

Amusing Planet
www.amusingplanet.com

I love travel and interesting places so this website is perfect of someone like me as it combines both.  Take a look and see some of the amazing things that are on our planet. 

Coursera
https://www.coursera.org

I love the idea of this website which offers around 200 courses that are taught at universities around the world for free.  All you have to do is enrol and pick what course you want to do.  Of course the only problem is, is that once you've finished you'll want to do another and then another...

The Blog Farm
www.theblogfarm.com

A website featuring blogs.  Over 3900 blogs.  Wow that's alot of blogs and lot of web reading.  I think I've died and gone to heaven...

BoredPanda
http://www.boredpanda.com

This site is addictive.  Seriously.  Once you get started it's hard to stop.  There's something here for everyone.  From the truly creative and wonderful to the very weird and strange.