How does one keep a blog about writing if one doesn’t write?
Let’s not talk about NaNo lets talk about music, since NaNo (at least my NaNo) appears to be dying on its arse. This afternoon I was watching Grey’s Anatomy (a recent addiction and no, I’m not seeking help) and a song came on in the background which I am also now addicted to. A quick search on Google led me to a song called ‘Scratch’ by Kendall Payne. A quick tour on Amazon and a quick download on iTunes and it’s been playing ever since.
I’ve never heard of Kendall Payne, which is surprising since she was involved in the whole Lilith Fair thing that defined so many fantastic female singer songwriters (not least, Sarah Mclachlan) and I thought I’d heard pretty much everyone involved. Clearly not. It turns out that Kendall is a christian singer which, to be honest, would put me off had I not heard her amazing voice already. Fortunately she seems to be one of those people who has other stuff to write about as well as religion. I have nothing against religon, it’s just not my thing thank you very much.
Anyway, on her website, Kendall explains the ‘meaning’ of the song:
I hung up the phone with him, not comforted in the least. I opted to call my boyfriend, who was even less comforting. He gave me the line, “We need to talk, it’s not bad, but it’s not good.” Which in guy code means, “I want to break up with you, but I don’t want you to make me feel bad about it.” And to top it off, I heard voices in the background at his house. I asked him who was there. He said some girls had just stopped by and they were going to watch a movie. The hot tears flooded my eyes.
I felt totally alone in that San Francisco hotel room. The first lyric literally poured out of me, “It’s a big girl world now, full of big girl things. And every day I wish I was small.”
So maybe it’s a love song, maybe it’s a song crying out to God, maybe it’s song for jaded grownups who have bought into the sham. I think the finds a different meaning for me every time I sing it.
Enough said - try the album.
Procrastination Idea #3 - books
No writing but plenty of faffing.
Scroll down and admire my new book list, courtesty of Miller’s Now Reading plugin. Rather splendid I think.
My cat likes Question Time
OK, strictly speaking this is not a writing-related post but nevertheless, worth a mention. I just watched her wake up, stretch, realise the TV was on, obviously twig that it was Question Time and then settle to watch intently. You can’t beat a socially aware moggie.
Thou shalt know thy characters
Yesterday I went along to a novel writing workshop, given by author Harry Bingham as part of the Guildford Book Festival. It was useful, in that highlighted a couple of things that I already knew from the many books on writing that I’ve read, but had long since forgotten. Consequently I have to go back and re-visit the few chapters that I’ve written of my novel.
One of the things that he touched on, was the need to know your characters inside out. Somebody should be able to fire questions about your character, and you should always have the answers. This might seem obvious, but to prove a point he made us go around the room and ask the person next to us a question about their character. There were many that you’d expect - what do they look like, what do they do, do they have children, etc. But what if someone asked you (as someone asked me) - what did your character last dream about? - you might struggle, as did I. Harry said that we should have a list of questions - as many as one hundred - about characters. You might not use this information, but the fact that you are aware of it will make the characters richer and more believable.
It made me think about some of the questions I should be asking. I’m one of those people who needs to plan before writing, and I usually make some effort to write character profiles, but inevitably I get bored trying to think of questions. So, today I’ve started to define a template for these questions, which I’ve attached to this post. Feel free to have a look and use it if you like.
But can you think of any useful questions? The more unusual, the better!
Funeral for a friend
Songs that we’d like at our funeral are a common topic of conversation between a friend and I. However, as someone who is determined to shoehorn Who Built the Ark into her wedding [the congregation must shout “Noah! Noah! at relevant intervals], I am not entirely convinced by her choices. Not that a wedding (or, God forbid, a funeral!) is imminent, but it’s good to think about these things.
Anyway, have you noticed how TV funerals rely on a cool song to twist the knife in your heart, or a well-placed poem to get the tear ducts going. Anyway, this one was on TV tonight:
Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep
Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.Mary Frye (1932)
I like it.
A writing habit
My main problem is that I don’t have a writing habit. I don’t get up at the crack of dawn to squeeze an hour in before work and I don’t type into the small hours when everyone around me sleeps. And actualy, I can’t even claim “everyone around me” as an excuse since I live alone.
In a vain attempt to find my habit, I enrolled on an OU course in creative writing (A215). Did it work? Well, yes and no. To be fair, I didn’t put the work in - I found that I resented having to spend time working on assignments such as short stories and poems when I had a novel in my head that I should have beeen working on. Of course, I would never have been working on the novel because it’s been in my head for two years now and never hit the page. So in that sense, I never really gave the course a chance.
But I did get the assignments done and have a small portfolio of short stories and poems to show for it - and I actually I found that it has loosened up my creative muscles. When I was at school (yes, I can just about remember that far back) I always had dozens of ideas for stories buzzing about in my head. Then I went to college and university and then work and the ideas dried up. Completing the OU course has brought some of those ideas back so it was worth it just for that.
Guildford book festival
The Guildford Book Festival is running for the next couple of weeks so I’ve registered for a couple of talks and a writing workshop. The talks are on crime ficiton, which is kind of my genre so I’m hoping they’ll be inspiring.
My writing week
So, this week I’m on leave from work with the intention of staying home “to write’. Monday has not gone too well. Sometimes I amaze even myself with the lengths that I go to to avoid writing - you’d think I HATED it. Today, as part of keeping my week clear for the muse, I have:
- booked an appointment for the dentist
- booked an appointment at the hairdresser
- booked an appointment at the vet (for the cats, not me)
- asked to go into work on Thursday (though that is sort of writing related - more later)
Doesn’t augre well does it? Maybe I’m just not designed to write during the day. For sure, I’m more of a night person - maybe that’s the answer. Maybe I should use this week to stay up late and write, rather than crucifying myself during the day.
A while ago I had a conversation with an online writing friend, which was pretty much half an hour of me explaining all the reasons [read: excuses] why I can’t write. He asked me a critical question - “Do you actually enjoy writing?”. For a moment I was staggered - how could he possibly think that the answer might be no?! But then I thought about it and actually, of course that’s what he thinks! I spend so long worrying about why I can’t settle into it and feeling guilty for not doing it, I forget the buzz that comes when you actually finish something. I need to remind myself that yes, I DO like writing. Actually, I love to write; I can’t imagine not having it to worry about.
Procrastination Idea #2 - Itunes
Well, it was kind if important to spend a few hours getting this set up…music is an important part of the writing process, wouldn’t you agree? Yes, glad you do.
Procrastination Idea #1 - A new blog
Phew! That took some faffing! There’s nothing like setting up a new website or blog to kill a few hours that might otherwise be in danger of being spent writing 
So anyway, welcome to procrastiwriter…wow, you MUST have been bored to have ended up here! If you were expecting an all-singing, all-dancing writing site then I’m really sorry, this isn’t it. This is just my little corner of the ether for musings and ramblings when I can’t think of any ‘proper’ writing to do. My very own procrastination playground. Is that very self indulgent? Possibly, yes. But then again, how many writing books have I read that say any sort of writing is better than no sort of writing? Huh? Huh? Exactly. They all bloody say it. I hate books about writing. I think I have a right to hate them, since I have bought pretty much every one there is going. I think my investment in this arena gives me the right to hate them.
So what can I expect from this interesting-looking site? I hear you cry. Ummmmm. Not quite sure yet. If past form is anything to go by, not a great deal! But anyway, whether you’re a writer or a reader or a lurker, leave me a comment and let me know I’m not the only one