Blogging in the Wind

I've been in a bit of a funk lately.  It feels like nothing is moving forward but rather life is stagnating. No-one can afford to do much, business is quiet. I write and write but feel like I'm not getting very far. It's become abundantly clear to me that I'm not cut out to be a stay at home mum.  It feels like something has to give but I'm not sure what. 

I met an acquaintance on the train this morning. A completely random meeting, I'm not usually on that train and missed the one before by a nano-second so it feels like fate. I don't know her fabulously well, although we've been more than nodding neighbours for around three years.  Our conversation covered a lot of ground over the twenty minute journey and she helped me to realise how blessed I am. I thought I'd write it down for my own reference so I can refer back in my darker days.

Here we go:

I have my own business. It allows me to spend a tiny bit of time with the children in the morning and more importantly leave early so I'm home in time for bed/book routine.  Work has been quiet lately but I enjoy my job, I always have and know how lucky I am to be one of the few people who can truly claim that,

I work near a park where I go running during my lunch hour three times a week. London Zoo is on my route so I see Giraffes and Camels a couple of times a week. Also Herons, Ducks and Canada Geese. The gardens are beautiful and today they were rehearsing a musical for the summer open air theatre programme and strains of Chorus floated through the air. The park is full of happy tourists, students, families and lovers. It's a privilege to spend time there.

I have two beautiful children and a fantastic husband. He's not much domestically but is my tower, my strength, my better half. I would be lost without him and I am a better person with him.

I started writing last September. Since then I have been long listed for two writing competitions, received six publisher rejections for my children's story and am about 43k words through my first adult novel.  Being a writer might be a pipe dream, but at least I'm working to make it happen.

The nice thing about Blogging is it's a bit like therapy. You get to talk, follow your own stream of consciousness and articulate things that are going on in your head.

I've got to sign off now. I should be focusing on my business and trying to drum up some new clients. It might be a bit late for a New Year's resolution but my New Week resolution is to be positive, grateful and try harder.

Wishing you all a good week.

Creative Writing - The Terminology

Flash Fiction, Sudden Fiction, Postcard Fiction, Micro Fiction, Nanofiction, Short Story, Novella, Novel, Poem, the list is endless. There is so much jargon. Who'd have known that you can't just write a story? Every piece of work falls into a category. Where do you start? Where does it end?

Apparently writers fall into one of three categories. Your plotter will start out with a planned story line, know exactly where the tale is going and how it will end. The discoverer starts writing with no clear direction and lets the story tell itself. Then there are those, probably the majority of writers, who are a natural combination of the two. You will start at the beginning of a journey with an idea of where it may take you but let it evolve organically, allowing natural, unplanned twists and turns to evolve. 

At the moment I seem to clearly fall into the second category. Our first homework exercise set me off on a story I had no idea I wanted to tell. Each subsequent installment is directed by our next assignment. So far I'm on almost 7,000 words. So what is that? A short story I believe.

Teacher feedback is precious. As yet she hasn't seen my project in its entirety, in fact she doesn't know it exists as one body.  I'm worried about demanding too much of her valuable time but equally I have no one else to show it to. What to do?