Day 113

Sixteen chapters completed – almost halfway there (as far as the first draft is concerned anyhow).

And things are getting really exciting, because Cleveland College of Art & Design are doing a live project for the cover of Slippery Souls – which starts this week! I’m popping along to the college on Friday for an informal meeting with the tutor and the graphic design students – so I’ll be doing a little prep work beforehand in case they have any questions.

I’ve also been busy working on some short stories to include in the second Easington Writers Group anthology, which will be published later this year – so watch this space. The first Easington Writers Group anthology, Shrugging Off The Wind: Tall Tales from Easington Writers, was published in February 2010 and is a cracking compilation of short stories and poems based around the Easington area. Well worth a read if you can get your hands on a copy. I’m honoured to be a part of their second book.

Also, as part of the Easington Writers Group, I’ve been working on a poem this week – as part of a project which is to commemorate the 60^th anniversary of the Easington pit disaster. I’ll post more information about this as and when I have it.

And as for my Writers Bureau 17^th Assignment – I’m well and truly procrastinating! I have to firstly write a 1600 word short story suitable for radio transmission – and then develop the short story into a fifteen minute radio play. Not sure what to write about yet – so I’ll keep thinking on it.

Day 100

A fortnight has passed since my last update, and it seems to have passed by in a blur – in a small whippet sized blur! The puppy is finally settling in to his new home, and he’s had his injection now which means he can go for walks by the time the weekend rolls round (unfortunately it was put back by a week due to him being a bit off colour). Thankfully this means I’ll be able to concentrate a lot more on my writing once again. That said, I’ve still made progress with Slippery Souls – I’m now onto chapter 10. This sounds fantastic, since I originally had 19 chapters outlined. Alas I decided to make my chapters shorter and snappier – so there are now 33 in total. Not even half way there yet! I’ll get there eventually though.

And on another positive note, I’ve submitted my 16^th Writer’s Bureau assignment – so only 4 more to go till I finish my course! J

Day 86

So, that’s six chapters of Slippery Souls completed and now onto chapter 7 this week. I’m not sure just how productive I’ll be however, as well as having a stinking cold, Derek and I have just adopted a 12 week old whippet who is a whirlwind of energy around the house – from chasing his tail and chewing things that he shouldn’t be chewing, to jumping around on the couch and doing laps of the sitting room with Mr Stripey Legs dangling from his mouth, he’s certainly time consuming ha ha. Thankfully he has plenty baby naps throughout the day though – so I guess that’s when I’ll be doing chapter 7.

Roll on next week when he has his puppy vaccination and he can finally go out into the big wide world for lots of tiring walks! Chapter 8 might not feel like such an uphill struggle by that point J

Day 79

I can’t believe how quick these weeks are flying by!

Funnily enough, despite having been very productive this past week – I don’t have a great deal to report.

Chapter 4 of Slippery Souls is complete, chapter 5 should be by the end of today, and all going well chapter 6 should be finished by the end of the week. I originally started out with 17 chapters outlined – but this has now increased to 19.

So I’ll go and crack on if I’m to meet my Easter deadline!

Day 70

I’ve had a fairly productive week – sorting and organising my 2011 diary, penning and submitting another couple of short stories and I may have managed to get the design of the Slippery Souls book cover underway (hopefully more on that next week, fingers crossed).

About five minutes ago I finished writing chapter three of Slippery Souls – and will be starting chapter four, bright and early, tomorrow morning.

Despite the fact Slippery Souls is panning out so differently to how it was in my head to begin with, I like the direction it’s taking. My characters are totally taking over – telling me what they want to do, rather than the other way round. And so, I’m pretty enthusiastic and excited about starting chapter four – which will introduce my favourite character, Grim.

Roll on tomorrow! J

Day 64

Happy New Year!

Wow it’s been a while since I last updated this – but I kind of got side tracked with festivities and flu! So, let’s see, what’s happened since the last time...

Derek bought me a Kindle for Christmas. Up until recently I’ve been a little bit on the fence about whether I wanted to embrace e-books or not – but I have to admit, I’m loving my Kindle! As well as being so compact and nice to hold, it’s going to save my bookshelf (which is already bursting at the seams) from being stuffed with even more books, so it’s a total winner.

The first e-book I bought was Stephen King’s On Writing. It was a great book – and it seems to have given me the kick up the arse I needed!

Currently I’m working on chapter 3 of Slippery Souls. There are 17 chapters in total, so there’s still a long slog ahead – it’s coming together slowly but surely though. I’m aiming for a late June completion date – that is, completed enough to be sent off for proofreading. Therefore I’d like chapter 3 to be completed by the end of this week, if possible – I predict lots of late nights!

As for other writing projects – I received some positive feedback from my writing course tutor regarding my Slippery Souls prologue, first chapter and synopsis – which was a huge relief! I’ve also been knocking out some short stories, submitting them to magazines and e-zines. And thanks to the Easington Writer’s group that I attend each week, my motivation and inspiration seems to be going crazy.

Anyway, that’s all the latest news so I’ll plod on – this chapter isn’t going to write itself!

Day 31

Despite still being snowed in, I’m feeling very positive this week! I’ve polished my first chapter (and have submitted it to my tutor for her to give me some feedback - which is actually very nerve-wracking, but I’ll deal with that when she replies), I’ve sent a few short stories here and there (so fingers crossed), and most importantly I think I’ve finally nailed my synopsis!

Not much else to report really – other than I’m feeling happy, organised and festive. So with that said, I’m going to crack on while I’m in such a good mood.

Oh the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful,
And since I've no place to go,
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! J