tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39151298995696062532024-03-13T19:39:52.720+00:00Alphabet SoupWrite like no-one's watching...AlphaChickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16498178040812009487noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915129899569606253.post-26235317309758023982013-07-15T16:18:00.001+01:002013-07-15T16:18:45.930+01:00AlphaPoem of the Week - Mrs Darwin<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">As I've resurrected my blog, it's time to resurrect my Poem of the Week.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;">Here's a quickie from Carol Ann Duffy's <em>The World's Wife</em> - a collection of poetry written from the point of view of the female consorts of many great male figures.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;">I'm reading a book about genes, evolution and natural selection at the moment, so this appealed. Hope you enjoy it!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><u>Mrs Darwin</u><span style="font-size: small;"> by Carol Ann Duffy</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #990000;"><em>7th April 1852<br /></em>Went to the Zoo.<br />I said to Him –<br />Something about that Chimpanzee over there reminds me of<br />you.</span></span></span> AlphaChickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16498178040812009487noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915129899569606253.post-77738768794181926932013-07-12T19:18:00.000+01:002013-07-12T19:18:52.816+01:00AlphaThoughts: Finding Your Fire<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qQox45Meu40/UeBA7cX9ggI/AAAAAAAAALA/MCxvqhD1q7U/s2560/1373651176151.jpeg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qQox45Meu40/UeBA7cX9ggI/AAAAAAAAALA/MCxvqhD1q7U/s400/1373651176151.jpeg" style="display: block; height: 288px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center; width: 216px;" width="300" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Have you ever wondered what to do with your life? Or whether what you're already doing is really what you're <i>meant</i> to do? </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">If you have, welcome to the club that includes me, all the other budding writers out there, and...oh...only every other human on the planet. If you're lucky enough to have found the thing you love to do, you believe you're <i>meant</i> to do it, and you're already out there living it, I wholeheartedly salute you. You have reached the pinnacle of self-actualisation in the career world. And you won't get much out of this post, so feel free to leave us at this point. See ya later.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Ok, so for the 99.9% of you who aren't quite there yet, this is for you.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">We often have pretty fixed ideas about what we want to do with our lives, what we love, and what we're good at. For instance, in an <a href="http://alphabetsoupuk.blogspot.com/2010/06/alphabook-project-my-first-novel.html">early post</a> on my blog I wrote that I have wanted to be a writer since I was a little girl, though that's not strictly true - many days I did want to be a writer, but on other days I wanted to be an actress, and on still others, a vet. At one point I asked my mum whether there were any princes around my age at Buckingham Palace, thinking the job title of 'Princess' would suit me rather well. Sometimes I amuse myself wondering whether a 7-year-old Kate Middleton might have been asking her mother the same question at the same time. How different life might have been for me...</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I digress. What I'm trying to express is that very few of us are ever <i>100% <b>sure <u>exactly</u></b></i><b> </b>what career is right for us - though we may be categorically sure that the one we're currently in is definitely<b> not</b> what fires us up.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">So, if you're hoping to be a writer, or a vet, or anything else, how can you know before you take the plunge that you're diving into the right pool? Well...you can't. You can never be sure. But you can listen to what your mind is telling you day after day.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">For instance, I was in a meeting today for my day job. We were discussing a particular problem that was proving difficult to solve. I was fairly engaged in the discussion...so that's my mind telling me I <i>quite</i> like problem-solving. Whoop-de-doo.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Then the solution arrived, and part of it involves writing management scenarios about imaginary organisations and people. Suddenly, I was practically kicking my boss under the table while the others talked, mouthing 'I want to do it' and jiggling up and down in my seat like I had ants in my pants.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Does this mean I want to write management scenarios for the rest of my life? Hell no. But if I get that fired-up about writing creatively in my day job, it gives me a teeny smidge more confidence that writing fiction is the right choice for me. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Another little smidge? I wrote most of this post on the train journey home, and was gutted when we reached my stop and I had to put my phone away mid-flow. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And now here I am finishing it the second I'm in the door, while AlphaCat wonders why he hasn't been fed yet...</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There's another vote for how much I love creative writing of any kind.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-HyNXM7QJJxQ/UeBA5v7H5fI/AAAAAAAAAK4/A4Hrflfr918/s2560/1373651142664.jpeg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-HyNXM7QJJxQ/UeBA5v7H5fI/AAAAAAAAAK4/A4Hrflfr918/s400/1373651142664.jpeg" style="display: block; height: 162px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center; width: 288px;" width="400" /></a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">So if you have no idea what you want to do, or you need reassurance that the path you're striving for is the right one, look out for little clues like these in yourself. When you sit up, your pulse quickens and everything but that idea starts to fade from your awareness, that's how you know you've <b>found your fire</b>. If it seems as mundane as management scenarios, deconstruct it - why does it make you excited? What does that tell you about what path would be right for you?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">What about you? Have you encountered little clues that the path you're on is the right one? How do your smaller passions hint at the bigger picture of what you're <i>meant</i> to do?</span></b><br />
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AlphaChickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16498178040812009487noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915129899569606253.post-73612126607117448382013-07-10T12:23:00.000+01:002013-07-12T19:40:48.884+01:00AlphaThoughts: I'm back, and here's why it will stick<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Well, my 'new leaf' two years ago rather withered and died on its stem. So here I am, back with a whole new plant.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I could say that the reason I haven't blogged for two years is that life got in the way - wedding planning, wedding, honeymoon, moving house, getting pregnant etc. But who has a life that doesn't get in the way - and come to that, who wants one?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The real reason I haven't been blogging is, I think, that pesky internal editor again. I stopped drafting my novel (AlphaBook 2) at around 22,000 words because the stupid editor kept telling me it was no good; and as Alphabet Soup charts the progress of writing the book and there was no progress to chart, I got embarrassed and crawled away to hide from it all. I figured I had enough beautiful things happening in my life to occupy my time, and off I went to do them.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRcdFXyHBBcNmnEkBJhfB0-Uix619d0YW8bbLd5Iqw-SWXots-8x9O4BuxKY98_vraiyk54GtM0bd7wqUwKHnWNNL08_DGMuKbmGySzWVWP8uyx3v4Bp02ZJAxpnKcW6ZXhuBxu8xXhqA/s1600/kate1670.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRcdFXyHBBcNmnEkBJhfB0-Uix619d0YW8bbLd5Iqw-SWXots-8x9O4BuxKY98_vraiyk54GtM0bd7wqUwKHnWNNL08_DGMuKbmGySzWVWP8uyx3v4Bp02ZJAxpnKcW6ZXhuBxu8xXhqA/s400/kate1670.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">(c)</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">So why am I back now?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I'm having my first baby in October / November this year, which is something AlphaBloke and I have wanted for a while and we're both looking forward to welcoming the AlphaChicklet. This has got me thinking about the things I wanted to achieve in life, like writing a novel. I always thought I would get these things done or substantially underway before I had children, and I feel a little sad that I've let everything get on top of me and haven't accomplished these things yet.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Then a week ago I started reading <em>Be a Free Range Human</em> by Marianne Cantwell, a wonderful book about breaking away from the office 9-5 and building your own 'free range' career by doing the things you love. Please see Marianne's excellent blog <a href="http://www.free-range-humans.com/freerangehumans/">here</a> for more information - safe to say this AlphaChicken is already a convert to her free range flock. I am only halfway through the book, but have done every reflective exercise to try and figure out what I love to do, what I bring to the table, and what lifestyle I want to have. I've realised how much I loved blogging, how much I miss it, and am starting to understand how it might help to support a free range lifestyle for me once AlphaChicklet comes along. One of the first missions the book sets is to do a 'Play Project', something to explore a possible career idea (in my case writing) in a short project form, with definite deliverables, and to be completed in a month. So here's mine - <strong><span style="color: #990000;">in a month from today, on August 10th, I will have completed at least eight blog posts on any topic</span></strong>. It does not matter whether anyone reads them or comments - what matters is that I am flexing my writing muscles and testing whether this is really what I love to do. I've already got a list of possible posts to work on, and I'm raring to go...</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">So my blog is back - a whole new plant in a free range garden. I'm so excited to be setting off on this journey. Join me for the ride if you like!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(c) </td></tr>
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AlphaChickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16498178040812009487noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915129899569606253.post-79284441460209104592011-06-27T15:29:00.001+01:002011-06-27T15:34:38.753+01:00AlphaThoughts: New leafShameful. Utterly shameful.<br />
<br />
I have left my blog to gather cobwebs for nine months. Call myself a writer and can't write a few hundred words every couple of weeks - shocking behaviour.<br />
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New leaf starts today, with a modest goal of an absolute minimum of a post a week. Preferably witty and intelligent, but won't be allowing the pesky internal editor to get too hung up on that.<br />
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So what have I been doing?<br />
<ul><li>A couple of days after my last post, I received a proposal of marriage from AlphaBloke. So much of my time while failing to blog has been devoted to wedding planning! Everything is pretty much in place now though (I hope), so no wedding-related excuses allowed from here on in.</li>
<li>I have taken a 60-credit Creative Writing course with the <a href="http://www.open.ac.uk/">Open University (UK)</a>. My first novel was dying on the page and the internal ed was screaming that it was no good, so if I'm honest I took this mainly to gain some confidence. I am yet to receive my final mark, but have done well in the assignments so far, and confidence has indeed been gained.</li>
<li>I've also been communicating with many others on the OU course about writing, and am grateful for their continuing support. In our circles, they are known simply as the Dark Side.</li>
<li>I am gearing up to turn 30 later this year, and have developed a list of '30 things to do before I'm 30', which I will post some updates on here. Tasks achieved so far have been clay pigeon shooting, 4x4 driving, and a botched attempt at giving blood that ended in a massive bruise and no blood given - will need to attempt that one again....</li>
<li>I've ditched AlphaBook 1 on the basis that I don't know how to make it interesting. It will remain in the mists of my computer and my mind until it has germinated into a more interesting flower.</li>
<li>I've embarked on AlphaBook 2 which is going very well so far - I think it's a good story and I'm loving writing it. Since I started it at the end of May, I have written nearly 16,000 words and still going great guns.</li>
<li>And I'm planning a wonderful African honeymoon, to fit neatly between completion of AB2 first draft and first major edit.</li>
</ul><br />
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More on all of this to follow. Good to be back.<br />
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ACAlphaChickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16498178040812009487noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915129899569606253.post-24533730505227483712010-09-29T17:07:00.003+01:002011-06-27T15:36:27.574+01:00AlphaReview: Books from afar...<style>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The last month has been not a little crazy for me at work, and my writing has suffered somewhat. I will be turning a new leaf over in October and getting back to it in earnest.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">In the meantime though, I have been lucky enough to receive three books from afar – they have crossed the pond to find me from the <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">United States</place></country-region>.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">The first is <i>Cinders</i>, a novella by <a href="http://www.michelledavidsonargyle.com/">Michelle Davidson Argyle</a>. Michelle was one of my first readers and has offered me some great encouragement and inspiration so far.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV-aN5PDds1N6HkaK-tbuoGfcIehyofVjPZdRpYGK3XkFCF3gF3oQ-nflHas2r5u-W6swkGdlAlvcZkk-kOGHTRWNo-3tjHKiwAyX3lrrp0UvIMACB7dG7NbMpLFBzKmGGJ5zajhQZ_mE/s1600/Cinders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV-aN5PDds1N6HkaK-tbuoGfcIehyofVjPZdRpYGK3XkFCF3gF3oQ-nflHas2r5u-W6swkGdlAlvcZkk-kOGHTRWNo-3tjHKiwAyX3lrrp0UvIMACB7dG7NbMpLFBzKmGGJ5zajhQZ_mE/s400/Cinders.jpg" width="267px" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">I devoured Cinders in under 24 hours and loved every word of it. It deserves more time than I can give it here so I will be writing a review in due course, but until that time is forthcoming, I wholeheartedly recommend it and congratulate Michelle on such an engaging book.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">The second book to land on my mat was <i><a href="http://literarylab.blogspot.com/2010/02/genre-wars-anthology-is-available.html">Genre Wars</a></i>, which I was lucky enough to win via a contest at <a href="http://literarylab.blogspot.com/">The Literary Lab</a> (incidentally, Michelle of <i>Cinders</i> fame also contributes to this blog). I have whiled away many an hour gleaning nuggets of writerly wisdom from the contributors at the Lab, and encourage anyone interested in literary fiction to check it out.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPHv4SJsH566UIsOon58E5h6h_bzD_L6NYwWpWykfFTKQooMBPT9nwO91Jh43rYaJ9BDcICy3RlzTQ4TP7KGX-NjGfuK4PiHVk62vJa5GpGeFCtrXcU74NxFvR3QlNwxRkfO6bYas4bVU/s1600/Genre+Wars.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPHv4SJsH566UIsOon58E5h6h_bzD_L6NYwWpWykfFTKQooMBPT9nwO91Jh43rYaJ9BDcICy3RlzTQ4TP7KGX-NjGfuK4PiHVk62vJa5GpGeFCtrXcU74NxFvR3QlNwxRkfO6bYas4bVU/s320/Genre+Wars.png" width="320px" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB"><i>Genre Wars</i> is a collection of short pieces in a range of genres (duh) by various writers. I have only dipped into it so far, but it is likely to be accompanying me on holiday shortly so that I can get stuck in – so again, watch this space for a review.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">The third book from the land of the free is <a href="http://jodyhedlund.com/books/"><i>The Preacher’s Bride</i></a> by <a href="http://jodyhedlund.blogspot.com/">Jody Hedlund</a>. Again, I was lucky to receive this as it’s an influencer copy, and when I first contacted Jody she wasn’t sure whether her publishers would send one all the way to <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">England</place></country-region>. So I was particularly pleased and surprised when it was delivered to me!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfU3D0eaQN5UFLXsG758_Hv21t9WO34mBpGoIRGS5Y-XLY0u3hfpqbNy9z5pHfZvlfPv8c0WuzFfOhDvVo5vOYuet7ceMxwcQDD6BltPWo4JwLTd3ZAbVfzC_40xNYgh8NZGY_FJMbay4/s1600/thepreachersbrideSM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfU3D0eaQN5UFLXsG758_Hv21t9WO34mBpGoIRGS5Y-XLY0u3hfpqbNy9z5pHfZvlfPv8c0WuzFfOhDvVo5vOYuet7ceMxwcQDD6BltPWo4JwLTd3ZAbVfzC_40xNYgh8NZGY_FJMbay4/s400/thepreachersbrideSM.jpg" width="263px" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">This is a historical novel set in a puritan community in Bedford (my side of the pond) shortly after the English Civil War. Its plot centres around a strong young puritan woman who is drawn to help the family of a preacher after his wife’s death. I started reading it earlier this week and have been impressed by the compelling dialogue, beautiful scene-setting and attention to detail. Again, I will post a full review once I have finished it – for now, all you need to know is that ‘just one chapter before bed’ always turns into three or four….</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">You should also check out <a href="http://jodyhedlund.blogspot.com/">Jody’s blog</a> for oodles of great advice from a debut novelist.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That’s all for now folks!</span></span></span></div>AlphaChickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16498178040812009487noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915129899569606253.post-22907013286175700942010-08-23T20:21:00.001+01:002010-08-23T20:25:25.316+01:00AlphaThoughts - Bless me muse, for I have sinned...<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">...it has been three weeks since my last blog post.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Ouch. Worse than that, it has also been three weeks since I wrote anything on my novel. My aim to write 5,000 words a week has been shamefully ignored.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I have excuses, of course:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">1) Monday three weeks ago was when my busy period at work started up again. I won't bore you with what I do - suffice to say I'm on my feet a lot in the week, adrenaline plays a part, and I often resemble a zombie at the end of the day. The busy period will continue until mid-November though, so at some point I'll just have to <strong>get over it and get on with it</strong>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">2) I started a new exercise regime at the same time as work went nuts. Eminently sensible, I'm sure you'll agree.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">3) Just over a week ago, both of the excuses above paled into insignificance when I went down with a VERY unpleasant bug. I managed to survive two days of work (no time to go see the doc), but on the third morning my body said 'NO!' and subjected me to a world of pain. I ended up with an emergency appointment, a severe infection, and killer antibiotics. Still not feeling all that great, as it happens...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Aside from all this though, I have discovered that my novel-writing and my blog-writing are intrinsically linked. When the former is going well, I want to log into Blogger and update my word count, let the world out there know how I'm getting on, and share in other people's blogs too. But when it's going badly (or not at all) and I'm procrastinating and making excuses, I steer well clear of Blogger so I don't have to admit that <strong>I am a serious flake.</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I think with writing, sometimes just acknowledging your own traits of procrastination, excuse-making and so on can help you to address them. Now that I know how my novel affects my blog and vice versa, perhaps I can use it. For example, I now pledge to have 3,000 additional words written by the end of this Sunday. I am out every night this week, which would be a great excuse not to, but I have Friday night and all of Sunday to do it. And I've promised the internet I will do it now, so I have to, right?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I hope writing this post unblocks me. I don't think it's particularly good writing, and it won't be one of my favourite posts of all time - but at least I banished those 'I'm too tired, I have to work out, I'm all sick' goblins and <em>wrote something</em>.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-4MYKDpdEVwiKP-4iSl8vNbOFSDuYJGxDK1_5vqV0DNrT_AA7cszUM7BWx1KiTBlNjMA-eg6FXzJ-boZgBczDv3IOUu-DwvuUZuBphTWHIegf0sqblB62CmBjhLkTv4866omzQ9KF4MI/s1600/iStock_000013030746Small%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-4MYKDpdEVwiKP-4iSl8vNbOFSDuYJGxDK1_5vqV0DNrT_AA7cszUM7BWx1KiTBlNjMA-eg6FXzJ-boZgBczDv3IOUu-DwvuUZuBphTWHIegf0sqblB62CmBjhLkTv4866omzQ9KF4MI/s400/iStock_000013030746Small%5B1%5D.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<strong><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Verdana;">How about you? Do you feel your blogging and your other writings are tied together? Have you been making excuses lately? Don't let the goblins win! Share your thoughts or procrastinations here.</span></strong>AlphaChickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16498178040812009487noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915129899569606253.post-37804852251937503502010-08-09T19:51:00.000+01:002010-08-09T19:51:00.850+01:00AlphaPoem of the Week - Toads<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My poem of this week is for all writers out there doing a day job and writing on the side. And for anyone who would rather not work at all!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Don't get me wrong, I actually quite like my job. I've had a few and it's the best one yet - some great people, changing faces, and I feel like I'm making a difference to some people.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">But, oh - to be in a book-lined study all day... As Larkin says, that's the stuff that dreams are made on!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I hope you enjoy it.</span><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #990000; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Toads</span></strong><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Philip Larkin</span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Why should I let the toad <em>work</em></strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Squat on my life?</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Can't I use my wit as a pitchfork</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>And drive the brute off?</strong></span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Six days of the week it soils </strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>With its sickening poison -</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Just for paying a few bills!</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>That's out of proportion.</strong></span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Lots of folk live on their wits:</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Lecturers, lispers,</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Losels, loblolly-men, louts-</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>They don't end as paupers;</strong></span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Lots of folk live up lanes</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>With fires in a bucket,</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Eat windfalls and tinned sardines-</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>they seem to like it.</strong></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Their nippers have got bare feet,</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Their unspeakable wives</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Are skinny as whippets - and yet</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>No one actually <em>starves</em>.</strong></span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Ah, were I courageous enough </strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>To shout <em>Stuff your pension!</em></strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>But I know, all too well, that's the stuff</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>That dreams are made on:</strong></span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>For something sufficiently toad-like</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Squats in me, too;</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Its hunkers are heavy as hard luck,</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>And cold as snow,</strong></span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>And will never allow me to blarney</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>My way of getting</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>The fame and the girl and the money</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>All at one sitting.</strong></span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>I don't say, one bodies the other</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>One's spiritual truth;</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>But I do say it's hard to lose either,</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>When you have both.</strong></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxDWAQt5AuMRtjzoJO6yUbrAoVttdqjI-FL4-FnyneM4g2gRrz4NV-NMFsoCp-gMPHK_FpqBajy2qdrGgSwBT-M1Y6ztVW-CPlc8x8tY2QczGpmunusb7tW2-SEsbQaTuWwgwucyT2L88/s1600/iStock_000000281698XSmall%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" bx="true" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxDWAQt5AuMRtjzoJO6yUbrAoVttdqjI-FL4-FnyneM4g2gRrz4NV-NMFsoCp-gMPHK_FpqBajy2qdrGgSwBT-M1Y6ztVW-CPlc8x8tY2QczGpmunusb7tW2-SEsbQaTuWwgwucyT2L88/s400/iStock_000000281698XSmall%5B1%5D.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>AlphaChickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16498178040812009487noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915129899569606253.post-5192743123747496802010-08-07T19:04:00.001+01:002010-08-07T19:04:52.217+01:00AlphaBook Project: First week up, 4,006 words in<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Right. The first week of my <a href="http://alphabetsoupuk.blogspot.com/2010/06/alphabook-project-my-first-novel.html">AlphaBook Project</a> is (nearly) up.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I'm pleased with my progress so far. My target was 5,000 words a week, and I confess I didn't quite get there this week - I'm at 4,006 words. I could carry on plugging away at it into this evening and get there, but I've written a lot already today and it's starting to feel sloggy, so I think it's best to stop. I could do with some time with my beloved AlphaBloke :-)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Besides, I'm ok with being 1,000 words down this first week. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I ended up doing character work for an evening when I realised there was a <a href="http://alphabetsoupuk.blogspot.com/2010/08/alphabook-project-sub-plot-web-was-key.html">gaping hole</a> in my story structure, which obviously took some of my writing time. It was vital that I did it and it helped unblock me, so it was an evening well-spent. I'm pleased with what I've got so far, too. I'm moving forward.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The next week's shaping up to be a nightmare for writing, though. I have a crazy week at work, a couple of evenings out, and an event that will take up most of the weekend. I might start seeing what I can knock out on the commute.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I'm off to look for a good poem to post as <a href="http://alphabetsoupuk.blogspot.com/search/label/Poem%20of%20the%20week">AlphaPoem of the Week</a> tomorrow!</span><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Verdana;">How's your writing week been? Are you working towards any goals or targets? Please feel free to share your highs and lows here.</span></strong>AlphaChickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16498178040812009487noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915129899569606253.post-1846025392525676222010-08-05T21:10:00.002+01:002010-08-05T21:21:07.903+01:00AlphaLife: Three Things Thursday<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have just found a great blog - </span><a href="http://iamalivephotos.blogspot.com/2010/08/three-things-thursdays.html"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">i AM alive</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> by Amie, a talented photographer and writer. She has developed <span style="color: #38761d;">Three Things Thursday</span>. I've decided to join in - you just have to post three things about yourself each Thursday on a topic of Amie's choosing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This week is <span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>'Three</strong> <strong>Things About Your Childhood That Make You Who You Are'</strong></span>. Here goes!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1) I did lots of amateur dramatics and musicals. This has made me somewhat over the top, somewhat arty-farty, and very likely to burst into song at the slightest provocation.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS1IysFejRGu4P9AJ6Vqt6A_Hje-sVhUWZkFcsNtv1qnuXo4iK0wW_wk_tx7wROWtrIUD23nklJIwVfKEKz4YIg0T95jDNgAbZHiAIp5bJ5DL-K8X7n68q7vQfesD89Ho_XZzhorVuUsQ/s1600/iStock_000005084587XSmall%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" bx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS1IysFejRGu4P9AJ6Vqt6A_Hje-sVhUWZkFcsNtv1qnuXo4iK0wW_wk_tx7wROWtrIUD23nklJIwVfKEKz4YIg0T95jDNgAbZHiAIp5bJ5DL-K8X7n68q7vQfesD89Ho_XZzhorVuUsQ/s320/iStock_000005084587XSmall%5B1%5D.JPG" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
2) I was nicknamed 'Kamikaze' for my ridiculous lack of fear when encountering slides, swings, and anything else fun but dangerous.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3) I never went to a funeral as a child. At the age of 28, I've still never been to one. As far as never having done something can shape you, this has shaped me. I am so thankful for my family and friends' continuing health, but fearful for how I will cope with Death when it finally takes somebody I love.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Never expected that to get serious.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000;">Check this out on </span></strong><a href="http://iamalivephotos.blogspot.com/2010/08/three-things-thursdays.html"><strong><span style="color: #38761d;">Amie's blog</span></strong></a><strong><span style="color: #cc0000;"> and join in - I'd love to know a bit more about you! Post a comment here if you've played so I know to look it up.</span></strong></span>AlphaChickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16498178040812009487noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915129899569606253.post-6707853643407246092010-08-04T15:24:00.001+01:002010-08-04T15:30:16.327+01:00AlphaThoughts: On prologues and Wilkie Collins<style>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana;">I have opened my first ever novel with a prologue.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana;">Many writers out there will know that this is a controversial topic. Apparently a large number of first-time novelists start with a prologue. It can be used as a way of justifying the writing to come – like prologues and epilogues in Shakespearean and Jacobean drama, that told the audience what was to come, and apologised for it afterwards. Alternatively, it can be used as a way of foreshadowing what will come later, if you need your reader to anticipate the future but can’t make that happen from the first scene.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p>Many writing technique books caution against the use of prologues unless absolutely necessary, saying it’s better to jump right in on that first scene and make it shine enough to keep the reader turning pages. But, when a prologue is used in the right way, the effect can be arresting. Wilkie Collins’ very first line of the ‘Preamble’ to <i>The Woman in White</i> is as follows:</span> </span></div><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> <span style="color: #990000;">THIS is the story of what a Woman's patience can endure, and what a Man's resolution can achieve. </span></i><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It goes on to state that the events should be heard in a court of law, but that the law cannot be brought to bear on this case, so it will be told here <span style="color: #990000;">‘by more than one pen’</span>.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Collins’ prologue, then, not only opens with the dramatic hook above, but also frames the work and sets up the point of view and shifting focus to come.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In his most famous work </span><i style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The Moonstone</i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> (upheld by many as the first ever detective novel), Collins writes a more lengthy prologue of several pages.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This is largely to set up the back-story of this amazing gem.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Again, though, it begins with that all-important note of conflict – the narrator wants to explain to his family how he has been induced to <span style="color: #990000;">'refuse the right hand of friendship to my cousin.'</span></span></span></span><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjPtrS9bJ8KzKKAuvMCszWqqEW6uEwnsAttYMIykmmXUZ_wKEbr7m5oMeP28xqTUd3uLQMv4sjde9uIhm3WvALp3hwaVNN9dYjxhOn4v7jlG_YLmQGXFaA3yU6V5ikTgBWC0_urZojml4/s1600/Gems-Moonstone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjPtrS9bJ8KzKKAuvMCszWqqEW6uEwnsAttYMIykmmXUZ_wKEbr7m5oMeP28xqTUd3uLQMv4sjde9uIhm3WvALp3hwaVNN9dYjxhOn4v7jlG_YLmQGXFaA3yU6V5ikTgBWC0_urZojml4/s320/Gems-Moonstone.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> Now.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I am biased, in that Wilkie Collins is one of my favourite writers of all time.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The Woman in White</i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> is a simply wonderful novel, and experimental for its day: the story is told by a variety of narrators, but never by its protagonist, the beautiful Laura Fairlie.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The writing is hauntingly beautiful throughout.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Having read it before, I read it again last year, and I am sorely tempted to read it again whenever I think about it.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Oh, to write a novel like that!</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I think that with such a great novelist as my role model, I am going to try to make my first novel work with (and be better for) the prologue.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I have good reason to use one as I am really playing with the authorial voice.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I love the idea of the intrusive author – like in The French Lieutenant’s Woman when John Fowles writes himself into the story, sitting opposite his character on a train and wondering what to do with him – and I think a prologue could set up this idea nicely for me.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The prologue stays.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So there.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Have you used a prologue in any of your novels / other writings? Or have you read any works with fantastic prologues? Please share them with me.</span></b></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>AlphaChickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16498178040812009487noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915129899569606253.post-65450177391443696012010-08-02T20:20:00.001+01:002010-08-02T20:24:13.013+01:00AlphaBook Project: A sub-plot web was the key!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am feeling so happy right now.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I sat down this evening to start writing: Chapter 1, page 1. But something was stopping me, and it wasn't procrastination any more. It was this niggling feeling that something big was missing from my story and notes so far. I couldn't 'get at' one of my main characters. He keeps his emotions all bottled up and doesn't communicate well with his family, and I was struggling to know how to portray his feelings without loads of exposition.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The book I've been using to guide my writing (which I will do a separate post about and review of soon) contains a couple of final exercises to do before the non-stop drafting. One of these was along the lines of <strong><span style="color: #38761d;">'Explore your sub-text in a diagram'</span></strong>. Very little guidance than that, except to have fun!</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigbomav7Oy4Dt2TkbTnCpSWgG9TK2m4dS6NdaiNt6OHTaBokaWI2OKoRkW1O59VqQw2Br839NIIlCAb55z_16jhAL0Lb7Tv9PIDuI3rA5Dtv_6HXG0O8MSCbf85GKwCmE_9YSUx1rm9ew/s1600/iStock_000004550709XSmall%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" bx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigbomav7Oy4Dt2TkbTnCpSWgG9TK2m4dS6NdaiNt6OHTaBokaWI2OKoRkW1O59VqQw2Br839NIIlCAb55z_16jhAL0Lb7Tv9PIDuI3rA5Dtv_6HXG0O8MSCbf85GKwCmE_9YSUx1rm9ew/s320/iStock_000004550709XSmall%5B1%5D.JPG" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">So I just stuck my protagonists in the middle then spidered out around them, dropping in the other characters, with notes on the connections etc, until I had all my characters down. Suddenly the problem was staring me in the face. I had these two central characters, with other characters clustered around them forming sub-plot....and a <strong><span style="color: #38761d;">whacking great blank space</span></strong> next to my male protagonist. His wife had all kinds of connections, all over the place, but he had no-one who was on his side. No-one to hear his side of the story - to be honest, no-one who really understood him. Weird how guilty you feel when your characters are suffering...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Having no-one to fill this gap <em>might</em> be ok, if his total isolation would add to the story. But it hit me, with a resounding clang around the head, that having just one person who really 'gets' him will make it beautifully clear that <em>no-one else does.</em></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I needed it to be a woman for various reasons, and I needed her to be no question of a love interest. So she's much older than him. Hoorah, I could even bump her off right near the climax when he has no-one else to turn to...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I think this is what is known as a breakthrough.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Verdana;"><strong>Have you had any breakthroughs or 'Eureka' moments with your writing that you'd like to share? I'd love to hear about them - it fills you with such elation!</strong></span>AlphaChickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16498178040812009487noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915129899569606253.post-29250951400978402002010-08-01T19:26:00.000+01:002010-08-01T19:26:51.226+01:00AlphaBook Project: Day One!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fanfare please...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Today, I have begun my novel-writing in earnest! I set myself a <a href="http://alphabetsoupuk.blogspot.com/search/label/AlphaBook">target</a> of writing 5,000 words a week from the 1st August.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Today, I wrote <strong><span style="color: #38761d;">1,194 words</span></strong>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I had been thinking that I would write more than this today, it being a Sunday. On reflection though, I'm happy enough with this - I've also spent a good deal of time today going through all my previous notes, plot charts etc for the novel, to make sure it's fresh.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Following a plan from a novel-writing book I love, I started by writing the climax. I cried when I wrote it, which is hopefully a good sign! I did this under strict 'Just keep writing until it's all down' rules. Then I expanded it a little (adding a major detail I'd forgotten in the excitement), then saved it and left it alone.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Next, again following the plan, I wrote the midpoint. This took a little head-scratching to figure out what the midpoint of the story was, but I think I found it! I applied the same write-until-you-drop approach to this also.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I know 1,194 words doesn't sound like much for two scenes, but they're both fairly brief, but very important encounters! And no doubt they will get added to in due course. Now, I have my climax to aim at, and my mid-point to pivot around.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">From now on, it's writing from Chapter 1 to The End. Bring it on.</span>AlphaChickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16498178040812009487noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915129899569606253.post-41405841825902619222010-07-31T19:45:00.001+01:002010-07-31T19:48:06.302+01:00AlphaPoem of the Week - Sonnet 116<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Before I become all-consumed by my <a href="http://alphabetsoupuk.blogspot.com/search/label/AlphaBook">first novel project</a> starting tomorrow, I thought I'd post this week's poem, Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is another favourite of mine (notice the recurring <a href="http://alphabetsoupuk.blogspot.com/search/label/Love">love theme</a> in my choices!). I adore the way that the first line and a half is almost overly wordy and serious - it just emphasises the simplicity of the statements that follow.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For Shakespeare, true love <b>never</b> dies. What an old romantic.</span><br />
<br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Sonnet 116 - William Shakespeare</span></span></b><br />
<br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Let me not to the marriage of true minds<br />
Admit impediments. Love is not love<br />
Which alters when it alteration finds,<br />
Or bends with the remover to remove:<br />
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,<br />
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;<br />
It is the star to every wandering bark,<br />
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.<br />
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks<br />
Within his bending sickle's compass come;<br />
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,<br />
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.<br />
If this be error and upon me proved,<br />
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.</span></span></i>AlphaChickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16498178040812009487noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915129899569606253.post-49070386541862914322010-07-26T16:21:00.004+01:002010-07-27T14:54:43.098+01:00AlphaBook Project - one week to go<div><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;"><span class="013495314-26072010">So the <a href="http://alphabetsoupuk.blogspot.com/2010/06/alphabook-project-my-first-novel.html">AlphaBook project</a> starts on Sunday - aka my attempt to stop faffing about and finally write my damn novel.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;"><span class="013495314-26072010">The prospect of this is now bringing me out in a cold sweat and making me feel the need to go and lie down. No more procrastinating? No more putting it off in case it's no good? No more running scared??</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;"><span class="013495314-26072010">But the pressure is positive. I have put my intentions out there in cyber space, and I hope that reporting my progress to my very modest number of followers will keep me honest! I'm crazy busy with various things this week, but will be finding some time to read through my preliminary notes, character sketches etc before it all kicks off on Sunday. I have no doubt that the characters will go off doing their own things anyway, but at least they'll have a vague framework within which to misbehave.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;"><span class="013495314-26072010">I will also be clearing out my handbag, to make room for my little netbook to write on. This project might even help me lose a pound or two lugging that thing about...</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;"><span class="013495314-26072010">5,000 words a week here I come! <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Tremble)</span></span></span><br />
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</div><div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaWualxxNPIz4Q02bMyiBd194sJcC4wmlD20gIvHqgsxOLHdfK7MWmBv-U06Fwjaj0Kw7gYS2FN4yUUyWrfS1oXcu2ckcn0e27T8vTbrpl0e2VSsMz1VtBQde99Rwd1GKIfTJN_3lC_QQ/s1600/iStock_000007950524XSmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaWualxxNPIz4Q02bMyiBd194sJcC4wmlD20gIvHqgsxOLHdfK7MWmBv-U06Fwjaj0Kw7gYS2FN4yUUyWrfS1oXcu2ckcn0e27T8vTbrpl0e2VSsMz1VtBQde99Rwd1GKIfTJN_3lC_QQ/s400/iStock_000007950524XSmall.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;"><span class="013495314-26072010"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></span></span></div>AlphaChickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16498178040812009487noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915129899569606253.post-44959199278091777392010-07-14T23:15:00.023+01:002010-07-26T14:24:06.261+01:00AlphaPoem of the Week – Asking for Roses<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I am in a happy, life-affirming, hoorah-type mood today, and have just found this poem to complement that mood.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Robert Frost is probably best known for his famous poem ‘The Road Not Taken’, which might be an APOTW another time. ‘Asking for Roses’ has a wonderful lyricism to it, like children’s poetry, but is suffused with sensuous rose petals and thinly-veiled virgins ripe for the plucking!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This joyful poem’s for </span><a href="http://citibitch.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">CiBi</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> and her eternal love of literature.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: maroon; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode';"><span class="Apple-style-span">Asking for Roses</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: maroon; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode';"><span class="Apple-style-span">Robert Frost</span></span></b></span><br />
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<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: maroon; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span">A house that lacks, seemingly, mistress and master, <br />
With doors that none but the wind ever closes, <br />
Its floor all littered with glass and with plaster; <br />
It stands in a garden of old-fashioned roses. </span></span></b></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: maroon; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span> <span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span">I pass by that way in the gloaming with Mary; <br />
'I wonder,' I say, 'who the owner of those is.' <br />
'Oh, no one you know,' she answers me airy, <br />
'But one we must ask if we want any roses.' </span></span></span></b></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: maroon; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span> <span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span">So we must join hands in the dew coming coldly <br />
There in the hush of the wood that reposes, <br />
And turn and go up to the open door boldly, <br />
And knock to the echoes as beggars for roses. </span></span></span></b></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: maroon; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span> <span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span">'Pray, are you within there, Mistress Who-were-you?' <br />
'Tis Mary that speaks and our errand discloses. <br />
'Pray, are you within there? Bestir you, bestir you! <br />
'Tis summer again; there's two come for roses.</span></span></span></b></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: maroon; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span> <span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span">'A word with you, that of the singer recalling-- <br />
Old Herrick: a saying that every maid knows is <br />
A flower unplucked is but left to the falling, <br />
And nothing is gained by not gathering roses.'</span></span></span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: maroon; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></span></b><span style="color: maroon; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode';"><b style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;"></span></b></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: maroon; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode';"><b style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span">We do not loosen our hands' intertwining <br />
(Not caring so very much what she supposes), <br />
There when she comes on us mistily shining</span></span></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: maroon; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode';"><b style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">And grants us by silence the boon of her roses.</span></b></span></span> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0XmlpbN1fuy791J-Ub-DcwJ3GvX8c-H3PhVwvLJlcHRaAvMl0QOB65oqP9DEe_Njopa_6HTWpP9LEpA_LfAB3fFVQivwSpuEZzAj88cc9fPxAP-R4YFj6BOoyqtbAaPPW0N0hKlZ1EEI/s1600/roses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" rw="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0XmlpbN1fuy791J-Ub-DcwJ3GvX8c-H3PhVwvLJlcHRaAvMl0QOB65oqP9DEe_Njopa_6HTWpP9LEpA_LfAB3fFVQivwSpuEZzAj88cc9fPxAP-R4YFj6BOoyqtbAaPPW0N0hKlZ1EEI/s400/roses.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>AlphaChickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16498178040812009487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915129899569606253.post-43934640134767239492010-07-12T23:37:00.004+01:002010-07-12T23:54:31.310+01:00AlphaThoughts - Dastardly Doubt and the desire to write<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Being new to blogging, today I've been reading other blogs on fiction writing. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are some fantastic blogs out there for budding authors like me, to garner some nuggets of information and inspiration from <i>proper real-life writers</i>.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But here's the thing. These good writing blogs have hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of followers. However great blogs are for getting writers in touch with other writers, for following their trials and tribulations, for not feeling alone in your struggles - it can also make you feel like a very small fish in a positively teeming ocean. I'm not talking about lack of followers here, but about the huge numbers of unpublished writers waiting for their chance in the limelight.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dastardly Doubt starts bleating again:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000;">'All these people - they've been following these blogs longer than you. They're probably a lot further on with their novels than you are. Their ideas are probably way better than yours. And loads of them will be submitting manuscripts alongside yours...if you ever finish it. <b>Yeah, good luck with that</b>.'</span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Previously on this blog I have shared some ideas on tackling the <a href="http://alphabetsoupuk.blogspot.com/search/label/Internal%20editor">internal editor</a>, and I know this is just another manifestation of that interfering voice. But in the face of 'Big world, little me' syndrome, <b>it can be so hard</b> to convince yourself that you can do it and to keep pushing.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I hope that if you are reading this and empathising with me - especially if you are embarking on a lonely creative journey like I am - you will <b>stick around</b> and share your experiences. My <a href="http://alphabetsoupuk.blogspot.com/search/label/AlphaBook">AlphaBook Project</a> is going to be really tough on me, and I'd love to hear from </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">others out there trying to squeeze every last drop of creativity from their pens and pencils!</span>AlphaChickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16498178040812009487noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915129899569606253.post-41395722541846853282010-07-11T23:05:00.001+01:002010-07-11T23:09:50.112+01:00AlphaLife – Please do not disturb the nest<p><font face="Verdana">AlphaBloke and I went to the garden centre yesterday, and came across a sign that read:</font></p><p><strong><font size="5" face="Lucida Sans Unicode">Please do not disturb the nest</font></strong></p><p><font size="2" face="Verdana">This was hanging on the front of a wooden framed stand housing various plants for sale. We peeped towards the back of the stand…</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Verdana"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_1zFEyRPRimo/TDpAQNfQ7gI/AAAAAAAAAGM/0tcQaHwXF5o/s1600-h/Baby%20black%201%5B5%5D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="Baby black 1" border="0" alt="Baby black 1" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_1zFEyRPRimo/TDpARTwYVvI/AAAAAAAAAGQ/r47v3pIRCQg/Baby%20black%201_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="487" height="487"></a> </font></p><p><font face="Verdana">They’re baby blackbirds, we think – two, and there’s not a lot of space left for them to grow into! It was a hot day and they were panting somewhat. You’ll have to excuse the quality of the pics, but I was trying not to get too close and disturb them.</font></p><p><font face="Verdana">Here is the nest in situ behind the plants for sale:</font></p><p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_1zFEyRPRimo/TDpAS5KsRwI/AAAAAAAAAGU/AXElMCC2xlM/s1600-h/Baby%20black%203%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="Baby black 3" border="0" alt="Baby black 3" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_1zFEyRPRimo/TDpAUE0YxaI/AAAAAAAAAGY/0Dc6WE0DcEE/Baby%20black%203_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="474" height="364"></a> </p><p><font face="Verdana">And a close up of his little face:</font></p><p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_1zFEyRPRimo/TDpAVXkjGfI/AAAAAAAAAGc/yQx_SWw7iaU/s1600-h/Baby%20black%202%5B10%5D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="Baby black 2" border="0" alt="Baby black 2" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_1zFEyRPRimo/TDpAWWZahvI/AAAAAAAAAGg/oNYmbdwJ43M/Baby%20black%202_thumb%5B8%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="469" height="469"></a> </p><p><font face="Verdana">This was right in the middle of one of the busiest areas of the garden centre – only the parent birds know why they chose to nest here! Fledging should be interesting…</font></p>AlphaChickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16498178040812009487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915129899569606253.post-32926559230019363202010-07-10T12:15:00.002+01:002010-07-10T12:18:25.252+01:00AlphaThoughts - the startling beauty of comb jellies<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am currently doing an Open University (distance learning) course called 'Life in the Oceans: Exploring Our Blue Planet'. It's a good course, and I will post further thoughts on it once I have submitted my assignment at the end of this month.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the meantime though, I wanted to post about something I found truly beautiful and astonishing. As part of the course, I have been watching David Attenborough's 'Blue Planet' series, and one sequence stood out for me. In the episode entitled 'Open Ocean', DA touches briefly on the mysterious comb jellyfish. Comb jellies live right in the depths of our oceans, and through a phenomenon called bioluminescence they put on the most incredible light displays.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I cannot find the sequence itself on the web, but here is an example of their beautiful rainbow colours (with appropriate spacey music):</span><br />
<br />
<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie"
value="http://www.youtube.com/v/icKB9EfURhQ&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0"></param name="allowFullScreen"
value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess"
value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/icKB9EfURhQ&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Gorgeous, gorgeous creatures, no?</span>AlphaChickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16498178040812009487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915129899569606253.post-77616688022112682562010-07-08T12:34:00.005+01:002010-07-08T12:45:40.080+01:00AlphaThoughts – When inspiration strikes<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Today, I am irritated with myself.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Yesterday at work, I was emailing a fellow blogger about writing. Out of nowhere, an idea for a story hit me. I remembered the old writer’s lesson: to always write ideas down, because however much you think you’re going to remember them, they can flutter away just as easily as they landed in your mind.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I’m not sure whether the idea was suitable for a short story, or for being worked into my current novel – or maybe even merited a future novel in its own right. Why am I not sure about this? Because, like a fool, I ignored my learnt instinct.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I didn’t write it down. Today, I thought, ‘Ooh, I came up with a good story idea yesterday, what was that?’ Cue: slow, dawning realisation that I couldn’t remember it. I have just re-read the emails that originally triggered it, but to no avail. The flit is complete – the idea is gone.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_1zFEyRPRimo/TDW3riMQAQI/AAAAAAAAAF4/Hr4od8jOe9o/s1600-h/iStock_000005087336XSmall%5B11%5D.jpg"><img alt="The chick" border="0" height="355" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_1zFEyRPRimo/TDW3sMTG8uI/AAAAAAAAAF8/5djSRyZQpdw/iStock_000005087336XSmall_thumb%5B12%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="The chick" width="250" /></a> <br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">This makes me feel pretty unfledged as a writer. AlphaBloke would tell you that I have a bed-side table full of ‘How to Write’ style books, and rules such as this crop up in the vast majority of them. As writers, we are exhorted to carry a notepad with us wherever we go, to record these precious droplets of inspiration. I adapted this while at work, and for a long time I would email myself whenever I had an idea that might possibly have mileage. The traffic from my work to my personal email address became bizarre – emails of a few words or links to weird and wonderful stories on the web. I have just opened one at random from this period and it says ‘Sinister nursery’. Odd, yes! But enough for me to recall what that idea was all about.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">But somewhere along the way I have forgotten to do this. I have decided that my memory is invincible and knows no bounds. The idea I’ve lost was probably not all that. But it just <em>might</em> have been genius, and that is what is making me beat myself up.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">It occurs to me that this is one way we can and should utilise your <a href="http://alphabetsoupuk.blogspot.com/search/label/Internal%20editor">internal editor</a>. We should allow our left brain to kick in, when the right brain has an inspiration, and let it insist upon us writing it down. I put my editor <a href="http://alphabetsoupuk.blogspot.com/2010/07/alphathoughts-pesky-editor.html">back in its box</a> a few days ago...perhaps its absence yesterday is now punishing me...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">If any writers have other good ways of recording ideas, or stories of ideas lost and somehow found again (I wish!), please do share them with me.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Bad AlphaChick. Off to dig a notepad out of the drawer and install it in my handbag…</span><br />
<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_1zFEyRPRimo/TDW3soz3AjI/AAAAAAAAAGA/fRFnymTJfOc/s1600-h/iStock_000003592382XSmall%5B4%5D.jpg"><img alt="iStock_000003592382XSmall" border="0" height="288" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_1zFEyRPRimo/TDW3tO85l-I/AAAAAAAAAGE/H6-fNapwOCA/iStock_000003592382XSmall_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="iStock_000003592382XSmall" width="357" /></a>AlphaChickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16498178040812009487noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915129899569606253.post-57232995559279672262010-07-07T12:23:00.011+01:002010-07-27T15:00:56.105+01:00AlphaPoem of the Week - If I Could Tell You<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: small;">To indulge and share my love of poetry, I have decided to post a Poem of the Week. Future poems will be those I’ve loved for a long time, or poems I’ve just discovered. I will aim for variety, although love will be a strong theme in many I choose.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: small;">This first, ‘If I Could Tell You’ by W.H. Auden is one of my all-time favourite poems. For me, it portrays the unknowability of the future, and our very human need to know the impossible – whether our love will last forever.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: small;">It lends itself excellently to being read aloud, in a slow, melancholy rhythm. That said, I often can’t get through the third stanza without a lump in my throat and a break in my voice.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: small;">For all those that have been frightened of letting go and falling in love. I hope you enjoy it.</span></div><br />
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #660000; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"> If I could tell you</span></b></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: large;"> W.H. Auden</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #660000; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #660000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"> Time will say nothing but I told you so,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Time only knows the price we have to pay;</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">If I could tell you I would let you know.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white;">If we should weep when clowns put on their show,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">If we should stumble when musicians play,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Time will say nothing but I told you so.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white;">There are no fortunes to be told, although,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Because I love you more than I can say,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">If I could tell you I would let you know.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white;">The winds must come from somewhere when they blow,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">There must be reasons why the leaves decay;</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Time will say nothing but I told you so.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Perhaps the roses really want to grow,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">The vision seriously intends to stay;</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">If I could tell you I would let you know.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Suppose the lions all get up and go,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">And all the brooks and soldiers run away;</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Will Time say nothing but I told you so?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">If I could tell you I would let you know.</span></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: large;"></span></div><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"></span></span></div><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: small;"></span>AlphaChickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16498178040812009487noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915129899569606253.post-40275011224271426252010-07-06T16:02:00.001+01:002010-07-06T16:03:34.182+01:00AlphaThoughts: Pesky Editor<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">So. It seems my internal editor became irritated with me for exposing its workings in my last post. Since then, it has resolutely declared all my ideas for blog posts as rubbish and prevented me from putting fingers to keys. Which brings me to the first way of thwarting that pesky little (or in this case big and intrusive) voice.</span><o:p style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs2f8e2UhjqDEUz3DHsPQVdK7v9gd_ft5dnVqlH_t4romAnu0_0_xzjHptJO6u8EU4MsaVfpB1UmTslSAhtJXroLfEpLaLQCu_veOYJ5Qb5lEXVTDRJn3YpcTcSFM5YAy0FFU_2wt3HWU/s1600/voice-training.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs2f8e2UhjqDEUz3DHsPQVdK7v9gd_ft5dnVqlH_t4romAnu0_0_xzjHptJO6u8EU4MsaVfpB1UmTslSAhtJXroLfEpLaLQCu_veOYJ5Qb5lEXVTDRJn3YpcTcSFM5YAy0FFU_2wt3HWU/s400/voice-training.jpg" width="271" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">It’s the simplest way of controlling your editor…but also probably one of the hardest. It is to do as I did above, and as I’m doing by writing this post to break my editor-imposed blog silence. When your writing comes up against a wall, you acknowledge your editor. You say, ‘It’s not that I’m not a good writer. It’s not that my ideas are bad. It’s just that my editor wants everything to be perfect – and the world isn’t like that. I recognise you editor. I respect that you have some incredibly important functions in my writing life. But for now, with all due respect, butt out.’<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">My editor is screaming at me at this moment, as I have written this whole post without allowing myself to correct anything (except typos). It’s saying bits of this sound unrefined, other bits sound pompous, and I really should double-check my grammar etc etc etc. But I am ignoring it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdhfPnefJnf4-VA0UUqg-wjZlm9rZC-xvbU8gMnIoHK5ivj8nzBvFN6DrtUtFAjnGUsGZEcsiLtXt4wD3DNK_VAVDt8cpPhdJgkis7bI99P52_xui6QQQ-jP9g_2iZPZruoeHTdkn01ek/s1600/scream.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdhfPnefJnf4-VA0UUqg-wjZlm9rZC-xvbU8gMnIoHK5ivj8nzBvFN6DrtUtFAjnGUsGZEcsiLtXt4wD3DNK_VAVDt8cpPhdJgkis7bI99P52_xui6QQQ-jP9g_2iZPZruoeHTdkn01ek/s320/scream.jpg" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">I’m not saying we should all write without ever going back and correcting ourselves. All novelists that I’ve heard of go through a fairly long editing process, and you can be sure that those who don’t pay close attention to their editor as they’re writing the first draft. Most blogs would probably be nigh on unreadable if we all just threw down haphazard willy-nilly witterings. But <b>if it’s getting in the way</b> – that’s when you need to step in and say, ‘Enough’. You can let the editor have its day once your ideas are all down on paper.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">You will probably find that you like things that you’ve written while consciously ignoring your editor. I find it can free up my writing when I’m feeling blocked. I quite like some of the sentences and phrases I’ve come up with above, and this post has taken me all of five minutes (before pretty picture addition).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">And those bits I don’t like? This once, I’m not going to change them. Editor <b>– back in your box</b>.</span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxFzOexBsCuo1KNYPi_TL440e6vymEgtyDa-v_pDiRkStQzHM5Db2UwJQV4qDPorlGUJdV5THJRYQNsQTGv8aiqnscAgtvb-S0CZIE3cudB0wlpfXWf-LT2UIU-JkxAjhHac72fUFI7FQ/s1600/wooden-box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxFzOexBsCuo1KNYPi_TL440e6vymEgtyDa-v_pDiRkStQzHM5Db2UwJQV4qDPorlGUJdV5THJRYQNsQTGv8aiqnscAgtvb-S0CZIE3cudB0wlpfXWf-LT2UIU-JkxAjhHac72fUFI7FQ/s320/wooden-box.jpg" /></a></div></div>AlphaChickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16498178040812009487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915129899569606253.post-54130215941207934582010-06-22T09:14:00.004+01:002010-07-06T16:04:02.381+01:00AlphaThoughts - The Internal Editor<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The 'internal editor' is a force every writer should be aware of and prepared to face, whether they are a blogger, a creative writer, or anyone who works with text in your professional or personal life. Your internal editor might manifest him/herself in any number of ways, including the following:</span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </div><ul style="list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px 0px 20px 1em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em;"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecx901584413-21062010"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">As the force that drives your hand towards the backspace button, or that makes you scribble out what you have just written.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecx901584413-21062010"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">As the little voice in your head that reads what you've just written and says 'That sounds pompous'; 'That's a clunky sentence'; 'Who would be interested in this?'.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecx901584413-21062010"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">As the need to have your story, poem, blog post, or any other text carefully planned out before you put pen to paper or fingers to keys.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 3px;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecx901584413-21062010"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">As the ever-dreaded writer's block - not the 'having nothing to write about' kind, but the 'not knowing how to start, how to be eye-catching, how to be a pleasure to read etc' kind.</span></span></span></li>
</ul><div><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecx901584413-21062010"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The internal editor's influence can be crippling - believe me, I know. I have spent so long obsessing about my novel and various writing or plotting 'rules'. My novel doesn't have a villain as such, does that matter? I've got three possible endings, how do I know which one would be best? My characters seem boring, what if no-one cares about them enough to keep reading? Is my plot original enough? 'Obviously,' my internal editor assures me, 'you must have the answer to all of these set in stone before you can even CONSIDER starting Chapter 1.'</span></span></span><br />
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</span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg06z0TWuOgT1hLDcpa2gMh5PIF77OYinZPOrBZL7Gj9EepZ0BXnCSaHL5I4eWbLFRwKuxzTziRvCfFOmMa5_SvaE48WH-xlL2Lzp4ENQyhKlKVhROeTgZdFPumu-NS3_BTxn-CLZee7G4/s1600/rules_1668_1668.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg06z0TWuOgT1hLDcpa2gMh5PIF77OYinZPOrBZL7Gj9EepZ0BXnCSaHL5I4eWbLFRwKuxzTziRvCfFOmMa5_SvaE48WH-xlL2Lzp4ENQyhKlKVhROeTgZdFPumu-NS3_BTxn-CLZee7G4/s320/rules_1668_1668.gif" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The internal editor is often described as the left side of your brain. The right side is for being creative, intuitive, random even, and the left side for grounding you in reality. A Google search on 'left right brain test' brings up many tests of which side is dominant for you. The Art Institute of Vancouver test told me I was 57% dominated by the right, creative side, with the following sub-results:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,Verdana,Arial,sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 1.35em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,Verdana,Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="ecxextfont1b"><b>Your Left Brain Percentages</b></span></span></div><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="3"><tbody>
<tr><td><span class="ecxbr_chart3"> 34%</span></td><td><b style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_results.pl#Verbal" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Verbal</a> (Your most dominant characteristic)</b></td></tr>
<tr><td><span class="ecxbr_chart3"> 32%</span></td><td><b style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_results.pl#Linear" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Linear</a></b></td></tr>
<tr><td><span class="ecxbr_chart3"> 21%</span></td><td><b style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_results.pl#Logical" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Logical</a></b></td></tr>
<tr><td><span class="ecxbr_chart3"> 20%</span></td><td><b style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_results.pl#Reality-based" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Reality-based</a></b></td></tr>
<tr><td><span class="ecxbr_chart3"> 18%</span></td><td><b style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_results.pl#Sequential" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Sequential</a></b></td></tr>
<tr><td><span class="ecxbr_chart3"> 17%</span></td><td><b style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_results.pl#Symbolic" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Symbolic</a> (Your least dominant characteristic)</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="margin: 0px 0px 1.35em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,Verdana,Arial,sans-serif;"><b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,Verdana,Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="ecxextfont1b"><b>Your Right Brain Percentages</b></span></span></div><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="3"><tbody>
<tr><td><span class="ecxbr_chart3"> 52%</span></td><td><b style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_results.pl#Fantasy-oriented" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Fantasy-oriented</a> (Your most dominant characteristic)</b></td></tr>
<tr><td><span class="ecxbr_chart3"> 42%</span></td><td><b style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_results.pl#Holistic" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Holistic</a></b></td></tr>
<tr><td><span class="ecxbr_chart3"> 32%</span></td><td><b style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_results.pl#Nonverbal" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Nonverbal</a></b></td></tr>
<tr><td><span class="ecxbr_chart3"> 29%</span></td><td><b style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_results.pl#Intuitive" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Intuitive</a></b></td></tr>
<tr><td><span class="ecxbr_chart3"> 12%</span></td><td><b style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_results.pl#Random" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Random</a></b></td></tr>
<tr><td><span class="ecxbr_chart3"> 0%</span></td><td><b style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_results.pl#Concrete" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Concrete</a> (Your least dominant characteristic)</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,Verdana,Arial,sans-serif;"></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,Verdana,Arial,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,Verdana,Arial,sans-serif;">While no test is perfect, this seems a pretty fair assessment of me. While I think of myself as creative (and 'fantasy-oriented' is also fair!), my internal editor is most picky about the verbal elements and being precise in my use of language.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,Verdana,Arial,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,Verdana,Arial,sans-serif;">A test you may have come across is this dancer. Apparently if you see her turning anti-clockwise, you are more dominated by your left brain, and clockwise by the right. She can change direction while you're looking - I find she does when I focus on her bottom foot. And she changes for me on different days!</span><br />
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</span></div><div><object height="405" width="500"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/iTaXbAiBpEQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/iTaXbAiBpEQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="500" height="405"></embed></object></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"> </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,Verdana,Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: normal;"><span class="ecx901584413-21062010">The left, logical side of your brain likes to bang on about facts, grammar, likely outcomes and other boring but necessary things. It does this to make sure that the right, creative side of the brain knows who's in charge. In fairness to the left, we do need its general sensibleness to hold this tight rein on our sensibility. Otherwise we would never make reasoned decisions, make appointments, or even make it to work in the morning.</span></span><br />
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</span></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: normal;"><span class="ecx901584413-21062010">But there are times when the left brain should just shut up...like when you are trying to create a startling poem or an inspirational post. You are not silencing the editor forever, just deferring it - unfettered inspiration first, boring grammar and presentation later. Acknowledging your internal editor is halfway to controlling it, but there are various tips and techniques out there to help you put that damned left brain back in its box for a while. I will be testing out any of these that I can find in the coming months (my left brain is particularly snide and intrusive), and will post my findings here for you to try!</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilm2UeFBapVbFiX6Ihq5YQoUKn-QaCxMzhDumHCOCtBBk8uWfwG-ovkQSNhxiqYB6hI3DyZwUsd9hvokdKWGQ-8gC1A1oGu1pL6y4Tgt4BxrCuVq_6V7L0ai_Y0Rbf1QL1JkCv6TTnOds/s1600/left-brain-right-brain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilm2UeFBapVbFiX6Ihq5YQoUKn-QaCxMzhDumHCOCtBBk8uWfwG-ovkQSNhxiqYB6hI3DyZwUsd9hvokdKWGQ-8gC1A1oGu1pL6y4Tgt4BxrCuVq_6V7L0ai_Y0Rbf1QL1JkCv6TTnOds/s400/left-brain-right-brain.jpg" width="376" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div>AlphaChickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16498178040812009487noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915129899569606253.post-76888290447958939732010-06-20T17:40:00.019+01:002010-06-20T17:56:41.969+01:00AlphaBook Project - my first novel<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecxecx876150414-16062010"><span class="ecxApple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><b>My first novel</b> (known here as the <span class="ecx391292610-17062010">Alpha</span>Book) has been percolating for over three years. During 2009, I managed a concerted period of character work, plotting, developing themes, and generally building the fictional world. Then I hit a wall, and </span></span></span></span><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecxecx876150414-16062010"><span class="ecxApple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">never actually started writing the damn thing.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;">I have an abiding dread of rejection, which I am blaming for my author-flakiness. My fear that I will turn out to be a rubbish writer makes procrastinating seem like the best way forward. It is fantastically easy to put my notebooks to one side and bleat about how busy I am, so many interests, so little time<span class="ecx391292610-17062010"><span style="color: black;">, baa baa baa.<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="ecx391292610-17062010"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="ecx391292610-17062010"><span style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="ecx391292610-17062010"><span style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="ecx391292610-17062010"><span style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="ecx391292610-17062010"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="ecx391292610-17062010"><span style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="ecx391292610-17062010"><span style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="ecx391292610-17062010"><span style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="ecx391292610-17062010"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="ecx391292610-17062010"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="ecx391292610-17062010"><span style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="ecx391292610-17062010"><span style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="ecx391292610-17062010"><span style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="ecx391292610-17062010"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="ecx391292610-17062010"><span style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="ecx391292610-17062010"><span style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="ecx391292610-17062010"><span style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><div></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrvcunjfKPkiSzRr4pBMtFK1R8a6ZWoXhWoeSUz6gp6kM3bV1qNelo0JywH-e9kSJYadqOlQGDi2vYsnbbOMPQdioxDGPL5di_kPjFu8GqNIrtndKjwqF7HVlY6E_W7NHi-8oLJmMgHE8/s1600/2508246015_26621b4ffb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrvcunjfKPkiSzRr4pBMtFK1R8a6ZWoXhWoeSUz6gp6kM3bV1qNelo0JywH-e9kSJYadqOlQGDi2vYsnbbOMPQdioxDGPL5di_kPjFu8GqNIrtndKjwqF7HVlY6E_W7NHi-8oLJmMgHE8/s400/2508246015_26621b4ffb.jpg" width="356" /></a></div><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span></span></span></div><div></div><div><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecxecx876150414-16062010"><span class="ecxApple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="ecx391292610-17062010"><strong>One thing I do know is this:</strong></span> that if I never get my story down on paper, it will always <span class="ecx391292610-17062010">gnaw</span> away at me. When I was a little girl, I dreamed of being a writer. I entered competitions as a teenager (and even won a few), and wrote all the time. In unashamed Sarah Ferguson self-help speak - I feel sorry for little AlphaChick and her unfulfilled dreams....</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;">OK yes, that was cheesy. Apologies. Back to the project.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecxecx876150414-16062010"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My pledges:</span></span></span></div><ul style="list-style-type: disc; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecxecx876150414-16062010"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span"><u>Write a minimum of </u><span class="ecx391292610-17062010"><u><span style="color: black;">5</span></u></span></span><u>,000 words a week</u></span><span class="ecxApple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, starting 1st August 2010</span></span></span></span></span> </li>
<li><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecxecx876150414-16062010"><span style="color: black;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Do no re-working</u></span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, editing, or general fannying-about during this time</span></span></span></span> </li>
<li><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecxecx876150414-16062010"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span"><u>Work to a first draft<span class="ecx391292610-17062010"> Alpha</span>Book deadline</u></span><span class="ecxApple-style-span"> of <span class="ecx391292610-17062010">30</span>th November 2010 -<span class="ecx391292610-17062010"> 4 months</span> of<span class="ecx391292610-17062010"> full-tilt </span>writing</span></span></span></span></span> </li>
<li><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecxecx876150414-16062010"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span"><u>Record my progress here</u></span><span class="ecxApple-style-span"> - word counts and thoughts on the process<span class="ecx391292610-17062010">, interspersed with other blog stuff</span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
</ul><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;">My start date gives me just over a month to have my summer holiday, get<span class="ecx391292610-17062010"> my </span>blog how I want it, and get my head back into the <span class="ecx391292610-17062010">Alpha</span>Book background work I've done.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div></div><div><span style="line-height: normal;"><span class="ecxecx876150414-16062010"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><b>I'll be frank</b> - this is going to be really tough for me. These are ambitious pledges, particularly for a born procrastinator. I have a job, a commute, a relationship, and all manner of fun interests that could help me say 'Shame, can't manage 5,000 words this week...'</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;">Henc<span style="color: blue;"><span class="ecx391292610-17062010"><span style="color: black;">e</span></span><span class="ecx391292610-17062010"> </span></span>this<span class="ecx391292610-17062010"><span style="color: blue;"> </span>post</span>. I am <span class="ecx391292610-17062010">exposing </span>my audacious goals -<span class="ecx391292610-17062010"> I invite</span> the worldwide webloggers<span class="ecx391292610-17062010"> to </span>keep tabs on me.<span class="ecx391292610-17062010"><span style="color: blue;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;">Off to dig out my writing pens...</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinEP31FJdW9RvnqYh2YUcCX9T49qj6YQz5dwcvGYscHSdqYdFsEBFBmmo2eMbFjsmgEmk1bNhEnnt3MODHz-J9czMhylVjsCdZzb2H72SbBJA36B_GhHzduAqzN_JU5Co4SZDFof6v7OQ/s1600/KamakuraPensLE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinEP31FJdW9RvnqYh2YUcCX9T49qj6YQz5dwcvGYscHSdqYdFsEBFBmmo2eMbFjsmgEmk1bNhEnnt3MODHz-J9czMhylVjsCdZzb2H72SbBJA36B_GhHzduAqzN_JU5Co4SZDFof6v7OQ/s320/KamakuraPensLE.jpg" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>AlphaChickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16498178040812009487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915129899569606253.post-32842364344001290562010-06-18T15:34:00.013+01:002010-07-09T15:26:38.889+01:00My First Blog<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">For a webaholic, budding writer and general lover of life, it seems crazy to me that this is my first blog. While I have been active in the web ether and on various forums for some time, the culture of blogging has passed me by.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Until now! Introducing AlphaChick's very first blog...</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUPTcsjYfo2IZMb5yHsDIWJSvRNYzzE9w3Ce3D0YomvdyJro318ZvW6jHlbIAfagy7fVdK2JuGIpUiw5vY6HkDslKRoc-s49AYpzOBz4Wn5gULPVG8cK70hAP4o3927dPP2Qiy0qdcBfM/s1600/hen-night-gifts-L-plate-charm-bracelet-1_LRG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="251" qu="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUPTcsjYfo2IZMb5yHsDIWJSvRNYzzE9w3Ce3D0YomvdyJro318ZvW6jHlbIAfagy7fVdK2JuGIpUiw5vY6HkDslKRoc-s49AYpzOBz4Wn5gULPVG8cK70hAP4o3927dPP2Qiy0qdcBfM/s400/hen-night-gifts-L-plate-charm-bracelet-1_LRG.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="border: medium none;"></div><div style="border: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Blog reasons</span></b></span></div><div style="border: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border: medium none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So why am I blogging?</span></div><div style="border: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">One of the key reasons is that I have been trying to write my novel for TOO long. I have good periods of regular writing, but I keep getting scared or lazy and the writing grinds to a halt. I figured that if I put this blog out there, it could help me in three ways:</span></div><div style="border: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">a) Get me practising writing more, to hone my writing muscles.</span></div><div style="border: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">b) Make me more confident about my writing, helping to silence those niggly doubts telling me 'It's no good, what's the point' etc.</span></div><div style="border: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">c) Make me stick to my goal of finishing the novel by the time I'm 30 (Dec 2011). After all, the web is watching!</span></div><div style="border: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Other than writing practice and to galvanise my novel efforts, I'm blogging to share opinions with others. I have many hobbies and do quite a lot with my spare time. This all leads to a fairly busy life (and a cluttered head), so maybe this blog will help me reflect and make sense of it all!</span></div><div style="border: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9xsUQlzfWq7qMh5D9RY8KKaoXPEb1imXlacHkebK2DIFEZYDoKTcY3VEhdZp4IzQtg6PtXmdqMdquGsS3dNSqQE0X_MSomn9VCJ2mOlHC4vOGF9mDab6L8Gv_kteCPps_ukIp968xfQY/s1600/course1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" qu="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9xsUQlzfWq7qMh5D9RY8KKaoXPEb1imXlacHkebK2DIFEZYDoKTcY3VEhdZp4IzQtg6PtXmdqMdquGsS3dNSqQE0X_MSomn9VCJ2mOlHC4vOGF9mDab6L8Gv_kteCPps_ukIp968xfQY/s320/course1.gif" width="272" /></a></div><div style="border: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Blog writer</span></b></span></div><div style="border: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border: medium none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So who is AlphaChick?</span></div><div style="border: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I have started this section about four times and it always ends up sounding like a dating profile. 'I'm fun-loving, late 20s, GSOH' etc etc etc. Maybe bullet points will put paid to that:</span></div><div style="border: medium none;"><ul><li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I am, indeed, in my late 20s, and happy at this age. I have found four grey hairs in the past six months which was alarming. But they have been pulled out and, to all intents and purposes, never existed.</span></li>
</ul></div><div style="border: medium none;"><ul><li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I like: writing, reading, cooking, eating, picnics, pubs, long walks, cheesy musicals, sunshine, snow, Dr Who, murder mysteries, and playing computer games. I am aware that this last is controversial for a grown woman. I am attempting to break down the assumption that an intelligent, sociable woman with a full calendar wouldn't (or shouldn't) like killing a few bad guys from time to time.</span></li>
</ul></div><ul><li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I live with my boyfriend, henceforward known as AlphaBloke. We've been together since 2006 and going strong. He likes: Planet Rock, fast cars, wartime stuff, outdoorsy stuff, and staying in with me watching Two and a Half Men and eating ice lollies. It is nigh on impossible to define someone in a bullet point, so he will go easy on me (please).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I'm too whimsical for my own good. While brushing up my French for a one-week holiday, I will suddenly decide I LOVE French. I will buy five French books from Amazon, and start investigating distance-learning French A-Level courses. A few weeks later, I will be obsessed by something else and wonder what to do with all these flipping French books...</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I'm pretty silly by all accounts. AlphaBloke and I spend a not inconsiderable amount of time wrestling, tickling, and sneaking up on each other. Life is not, generally, a serious affair.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I live in Kent and work in London. My job is ok but not particularly creative, so enough said about that.</span></li>
</ul><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The rest, I'm sure, will become clear.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizlOYmB-jud3lRmSxC3oiqDxnBeOw6RKbn51SzRL2HPK5l-ffs-hB9PgbFh85b_usRrpMGsbr_NDe-bwpdcwJUoxqrFy8cMmdPqFWEUFAwYpQiro-Z3VNUaY3tDjp7SN1S5lbhyphenhyphenIKhLWQ/s1600/Lara_Croft_Tomb_Raider_Underworld_Wallpaper_03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" qu="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizlOYmB-jud3lRmSxC3oiqDxnBeOw6RKbn51SzRL2HPK5l-ffs-hB9PgbFh85b_usRrpMGsbr_NDe-bwpdcwJUoxqrFy8cMmdPqFWEUFAwYpQiro-Z3VNUaY3tDjp7SN1S5lbhyphenhyphenIKhLWQ/s640/Lara_Croft_Tomb_Raider_Underworld_Wallpaper_03.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Blog content</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Alphabet Soup</span></b> will include:</span><br />
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</div><div style="border: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: black;">AlphaReviews</span></b> - Giving my verdict on a variety of things. I read a lot of books, watch a lot of TV/films/plays, and visit a lot of restaurants/pubs/fun places. I will share experiences and opinions here.</span></div><div style="border: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: black;">AlphaLife</span></b> - Reflections on (and pictures of) stuff I've been up to.</span></div><div style="border: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: black;">AlphaThoughts</span></b> - Musings on the issues of the day.</span></div><div style="border: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: black;">AlphaBook Project</span></b> - My first novel progress. More on this to follow!</span></div><div style="border: medium none;"><br />
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<b><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">And finally</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Before I begin blogging in earnest, I want to give a quick shout out to blogger friends Emm and CiBi for their encouragement and support. I'm lucky to have come across two such positive (and startlingly beautiful) women to help me on these first steps. Thanks girls! :-)</span></div><div style="border: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">And to my AlphaBloke, who suggested I start a blog years ago...</span></div><div style="border: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">AlphaChick is born!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCk9B3fniUEy9Ktrr1KoDtDwElJYlr51qqAie1R4xlj8_7QY4F88J_gzeZ1EB33DDcbIAUEHQMf1F-OD_WGn6xLQS7cSID7Eovlu9HPY_ATYgqxvQBXMP1a6SW9_nV-BeMhKKsjDvnw3s/s1600/iStock_000000118019Small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="357" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCk9B3fniUEy9Ktrr1KoDtDwElJYlr51qqAie1R4xlj8_7QY4F88J_gzeZ1EB33DDcbIAUEHQMf1F-OD_WGn6xLQS7cSID7Eovlu9HPY_ATYgqxvQBXMP1a6SW9_nV-BeMhKKsjDvnw3s/s400/iStock_000000118019Small.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>AlphaChickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16498178040812009487noreply@blogger.com2