Slowing down, speeding up, changing hats

I’ve noticed that as I get older some things take a little longer than they used to. Getting up from a kneeling position, threading a needle or recalling someone’s name all demand a bit more time and effort these days.

On the other hand, some tasks have become quicker and easier. For example, now my husband and I no longer need to wear smart clothes for work I’ve cut my ironing time from hours to minutes!

But one change that took me completely by surprise when I noticed it, is how much my reading speed has slowed down. When I had a lot less time for reading, I easily managed 2–3 full-length novels per month. But when I looked back at the books I’d read during 2013 I realised that each one took me 6-8 weeks to finish. Why? After so many years of practice I should be really good at reading now. It’s still one of my favourite occupations and something I do every day.

The only explanation I can think of is that I'm forgetting to change hats (another symptom of the passing years!) If I’m reading an interesting, well-written book I tend to have my writer’s hat on. As I read, I’m also analysing why I like this book and what tricks the author is using to keep me turning the pages. When I come across a particularly good sentence or paragraph I’ll read it several times in the hope of learning how to improve my own writing.

A book I don’t like so much takes even longer to get through, because I read it with my editor’s hat on. It takes me ages to go through it with my imaginary pencil; correcting awkward phrases, crossing out unnecessary words, and putting question marks where something just doesn’t seem to make sense!        

I need to find my reader’s hat again, and to remind myself to keep it on I’ve accepted the Goodreads 2014 Reading Challenge. I’ve pledged to read 12 books - one a month – but I’m hoping that if I can speed up I might manage a few more. 

I got off to a good start by finishing Life After Lunch by Sarah Harrison , but now I’m struggling. My second book is The Summer Boy by Henry Mitchell. I’ve only read the first few pages but they’re so skillfully written that I want to linger over every word ….

Have you set yourself any reading challenges? How are you doing?

A Resolution too soon

2014 is going to be the year in which I am completely organised.

This was my one and only New Year Resolution. And I thought I was getting off to a brilliant start.

Before I left for my Christmas break I had already:

• reviewed all the writing I’d done in 2013
• made sure all my records were up to date
• backed up everything on my computer
• transferred important information into my 2014 diary

After a lovely, relaxing few days with the family I returned home and completed the preparations:

• I wrote a new goal list
• I wrote a new to do list
• I worked out a detailed timetable for the whole of January
• I decided on some deadlines later in the year to keep me on track

On New Year’s Eve, I was confidently looking forward to starting my new, efficient writing regime first thing on January 1. And I might have succeeded if I hadn’t been suddenly struck down by some unidentified but persistent bug that left me feeling ill and befuddled for the rest of the week.

So, today’s resolution is to catch up with the 5 wasted days of 2014!

Have you made any resolutions? Are you managing to keep them?

P.S. If your resolution is to make more money from your writing – or other marketable skills – you might want to take a look at this new website www.gigfreeks.com

Merry Christmas!

Good wishes to You and Yours over this Festive Season

I’m off on my Christmas break now, see you in January!

Reason 23 why sports cars are not a good idea!

You don’t know about the car? You can see it by clicking here.

Happy National Short Story Day

To celebrate why not enjoy a little bit of ‘me’ time? Put your feet up and

click here to download a free story from the wonderful

 

 And instead of rushing around looking for last minute Christmas presents, did you know you can now send Alfie Dog Gift Vouchers to your friends and family from the comfort of your own pc, laptop or smartphone?

Happy reading!

Number crunching

 I’m pleased I didn’t attempt NaNoWriMo this year because I completely failed my ‘easier’ challenge to write 1,000 words a day throughout November. My grand total for the month was a measly 5,182 words – not helped by the fact that I wrote nothing at all on five of the allotted days!

In my defence, I should add that these were carefully chosen and edited words – not the crazy jumble that spills out during NaNo – so for every one I counted there were probably a dozen or more discarded.

As well as recording the number of words written, I made a note of where I’d used them, and this turned out to be a much more useful exercise.

About half of the words produced:

• 4 new pages for my adult novel

• half a chapter of my children’s book

• a flash fiction story

• 4 short blog posts 

And where did the other half go? Into comments on other people’s blogs and forums.

Conclusion  I’d do twice as much writing if I didn’t spend so much time reading!   

P.S. If you like reading and doing puzzles (and live in the UK or Republic of Ireland) National Book Tokens is currently running this competition to win a year’s supply of books.

Word of the week (21)

‘Yes, of course I can change the title, make the hero a heroine, delete this chapter, set that section in a different country, add an alien encounter, weave in a romantic sub plot, turn the cat into a wise-cracking parrot, reveal the end at the beginning, make the sad man happy, write a completely new story …. whatever you want,’ said the flexible writer.

Just what the doctor ordered

I didn’t take to my bed, but for more than a week I had a cold, niggling aches and pains, couldn’t think straight and generally felt under the weather. Keeping warm indoors seemed sensible but only added boredom to my other symptoms. Eventually, I needed to get some shopping and thought a short walk in the fresh air might make me feel better. It didn’t. 

I picked up a few essentials in our village shop and looked around the shelves in the forlorn hope of finding some miracle remedy. Cough mixture? I had plenty at home. Chocolate? I managed to resist the temptation. Then I came to the magazine rack …  

Many years ago, The People’s Friend was one of my main target markets. I bought it most weeks and read it carefully from cover to cover to get the feel of what they published. All that research paid off when I had two short stories and two articles accepted by the editor. But then I wanted to try other magazines and different types of writing, so I stopped buying it so often and gradually lost touch.

As I looked through the latest issue I was pleased, although not surprised, to discover it’s hardly changed at all (except it now has a Facebook page). Yes, I’m sure some people would describe it as an old-fashioned magazine – especially if they remember their mother or grandmother reading it – but the reason it’s survived since 1869 must surely be because it found a winning formula and has stuck with it. I wonder how many of today’s celebrity magazines will last that long?

I spent the afternoon sitting with my feet up, drinking tea and enjoying a good read.

Bliss! 

And, not only did I start to feel physically better than I had for days, but the fog in my brain finally cleared and a new story idea began to grow. It’s a feel-good story that I think might be suitable for the Friend …