bloody good movie... and a mixed day...

Watched Master and Commander again last night when we got home from the pub... what a bloody good film that is, with a rip roaring full blooded performance from Mr Crowe. Must admit I like him, and he's pretty tasty as Lucky Jack Aubrey in his tight breeches! Wahey! It's a good film all round though - terrific cinematography, and a wonderful recreation of another time and another world. Very touching in places too.

It's been a weird day today. I seem to have been busy all day, but achieved very little. I've certainly done no writing at all... so far. Himself might be going out to meet his biker buddies a little later on, so I may try and do a tiny bit then. If I'm not too tired. I've mainly been doing promo bits and bobs, and grappling with various things that won't work properly. Have been trying to reformat the MS of Gothic Blue, but it's all out of shape somehow, as if there are Word codes under the bonnet that are cocking things up. Might have to export it to another program, but it's all a pain in the @rse to grapple with, and I've got fed up of it for the day. I've also been trying to work out why - on a Googlegroup I'm on - I never get back the messages I've sent to it. It's not a major problem, but stuff like this bugs me when I can't work out the reason for it. It niggles me, and I spend hours trying to work out the reason... when if I just accepted that certain things just can't be done... I'd have a lot more time at my disposal!

Have watched very little telly today, apart from the World Superbikes. Enjoyed that very much, especially the second race, when I was rooting for Nitro Nori Haga and he won! The first race was won by James Toseland, who's a Brit, and who I should support... but somehow, I'm just not sympatico with him... I don't know why.

--
Telly: WSB
Chocolate: cherry cake
Mood: okay
Writing: none yet
Reading: none
RSI/FMS: not too bad


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

New GOTHIC BLUE review!

At the Erotica Readers and Writers Association site! It's another great one by author, journalist and reviewer Ashley Lister who always writes a review that's witty and entertaining in its own right as well as a great introduction to the book he's been reading.

The wonderful thing for me about Ash is that he completely 'gets' my writing. We're on the same wavelength about what we want to read in erotic fiction. I think this must be rare, because I'm sure no two people's reading can ever be exactly alike, but I think that Ash's and my taste in erotic writing must be very, very close.

Anyway, see what you think... here's the link!

GOTHIC BLUE by Portia Da Costa - review by Ashley Lister


--
Telly: Bette Davis bio
Chocolate: cake
Mood: good
Writing: 1K Smalltown
Reading: nothing much
RSI/FMS: achy


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

running about, waving my arms

Because I've got too much on my 'to do' list... and I slept in! It's after noon, and I'm actually only just finishing my breakfast... *and* I have to do my static cycling before I start on any jobs from my list! Woe is me!

Luckily, I'm feeling reasonably perky and as energetic as it's ever possible for me to be. Things are fairly positive on the writing front just now, although it's never wise to take the good stuff for granted in this business, as someone can always tip that veritable cartfull of manure on your head at any moment, with no warning. [and no, I don't have a piccie of manure!]

So, will keep this supershort, and maybe come back later...

--
Telly: nothing yet
Chocolate: breakfast cereal
Mood: goodish
Writing: not yet
Reading: my long to do list
RSI/FMS: fairly achey


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

quite a good day

Quite a good day today... wasted a bit of time, naturally, but actually managed to do some writing too! Managed to do about 1K of Smalltown, dipping into the first meeting between Sandy and Jay. Things are a bit spiky between them... Sandy is definitely not sure whether she actually likes him very much, because he's a bit high-handed, a bit wary and combative. But also devilishly attractive in a contrary, raw sort of way. At the moment, I'm not going for anything particularly high concept with this story... just two people, attracted to each other and doing the dance of 'I don't know you yet, but I'd still like to get it on!'

Have also had a few little bits of good news in the last couple of days. Nothing I can 'announce' yet, for fear of nixing it, but hopefully before long there'll be some modestly positive developments.

I've also just begun another little blog... Portia's Promos is for promos and mini reviews of both my own books and those of my friends and fellow authors. It's a modest start... just me and another author, Cassidy Kent, at the moment, but I'm hopeful that it'll develop and produce some mutually beneficial 'exposure' for me and other authors who I do swapsies with!

Oh, and don't forget to check out my rude little excerpt from Gothic Blue.

--

Telly: UK History mostly
Chocolate: Walnut Cake
Mood: good
Writing: 1.2K Smalltown
Reading: Jeremy Clarkson - Born to be Riled
RSI/FMS: generally achey


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

Roll up, roll up, excerpt ahoy!

Naughty excerpt of Gothic Blue - click here!!!

Eek, agh, my baby left home!

Buddies has now gone to my editor! Fingers crossed everybody that he likes it... Like most authors, I feel a little sad when I say goodbye to a set of characters, having lived with them for quite a while and having got to know their quirks and foibles. But now I've got to learn to love a new hero and heroine... and do it pretty fast too! It dawned on me today that nearly a quarter of the year is over and all I've written is one poxy novella! And one, possibly two short stories... I really need to pick up the pace and stop being such a self indulgent wimp. There have been a lot of days in this first quarter year when I've done nothing... I've given in to fatigue [usually fairly mild] and I've given in to what's basically nothing more that glorified sloth! I've also wasted a lot of time online... I love online interaction on blogs and boards, but there's no need to check everything about seventeen times a day! No need to keep checking and checking emails and feeling 'frozen' because nothing arrives. No need to work myself into a paralyzing paddy because I read something online that upsets or annoys me... I've just got to push on regardless and immerse myself in the task and the pleasure of writing!

First job... work out a readable and enticing outline for Smalltown... ed. likes the idea of a PDC 'hot, sexy romance'... Now I've got to really sell the sucker!


--
Telly: Jeremy Clarkson
Chocolate: cake
Mood: pretty good
Writing: reformatting Gothic Blue for excerpts
Reading: Jeremy Clarkson
RSI/FMS: a bit sore

Buddies...

Managed to get through a day without a headache for a change. And worked really well, finishing the final editing pass on Buddies Don't Bite!

I've worked hard, damned hard on this novella. It needs to be good because it's in an anthology with ones by two other very good authors. Fortunately, my novella is likely to be very different in tone to the other two contributions, so with any luck, people won't be directly comparing them, as they're coming at the concept of vampire erotica from very, very distinct and dissimilar angles. I'm lucky, too, that not only have I had marvellous input from my magnificent critique partner, I've also had the benefit of critique from another wonderfully accomplished writer friend too. Double benefits! Both picked up on incredibly useful points, and with the suggested improvements from both these wise ladies, I'm feeling much more confident about the results. Especially when I sent it to my agent and she reckons it's AOK and reads 'incredibly well'!

Of course the acid test will be whether my ed. thinks it's what the readers will want! It's readers that are important, first, last and always...

--
Telly: football
Chocolate: cake
Mood: okay
Writing: editing buddies
Reading: magazines
RSI/FMS: bit achey

ack, my aching head!

Another migraine has struck, goddamnit! Various stresses, and ongoing viral bugginess really seem to be taking their toll... Fortunately this one wasn't really a nasty one though. It hit last night, just before himself and I were about to set off for a neighbour's anniversary dinner. Decided to still go, and was lucky that it wasn't too bad and didn't spoil a v. jolly evening. But once I got home, it really started to nag... and mix Imigran with my usual night time meds and you get night of the living dead... the next day! Put my head down again this morning, after making himself's sandwiches, and I didn't wake up again until nearly 11am!!!

Am still feeling a bit waffy, so I'm not sure much will get done today. It's heading for teatime now, and I haven't struck a bat, as they say...

But I have been thinking about Smalltown, and batting some ideas off a writing friend. Her insights have really helped me with the past event/angst issue I've been bleeting on about here in the last few days... and I've more or less decided what it was that happened to Sandy in her past, and how it relates to Jay, the hero. There's a element of 'regeneration' and healing in the story, but it's not so much Sandy that needs it, as Jay. There's a damaged hero element in the story that shares some similarities with TechnoGothic, I suppose, but the circumstances and the context are very, very different. I sort of like the idea that a hero can be alpha, but also have very specific vulnerabilities - either physical or psychological - that the heroine can help him overcome.

So, reader and fellow writers, how does the sound of an alpha male with vulnerabilities grab you? Intriguing... or just idiotic?

--
Telly: UK History
Chocolate: Cake
Mood: under par
Writing: thinking about Smalltown
Reading: nothing much
RSI/FMS: sore and weary

still mulling

I'm still mulling over the Smalltown idea, and that possible angst angle... It's something that stems from a 'category' romance novel I once wrote, that never got published. It would have been published if the publisher hadn't folded just before the deal was signed... so the plot must have stood up enough in that book.

Basically, it's that the heroine had a trauma in her past, some kind of assault that colours the plot to a certain extent. This doesn't 'have' to have happened to her... but the idea of it has been floating in my mind since that other book. This current plot idea could work if she's had a totally harm free life, and be dealt with a slightly different way, but this idea of a harrowing event in her past would bring a deeper layer of emotional significance. However, I don't want the story to veer too far into the heavy, dark, emotional trauma and wither-wringing area... I want the heroine to have dealt with what's happened to her in a fairly healthy way and to deal with the ghosts of her past in a way that allows her to remember them but at the same time face them without going to pieces. The event in her past affects her... but it hasn't crippled her ability to have fulfilling relationships.

Any of that make any sense at all? Thoughts?

--
Telly: Master and Commander extras/CSI:NY
Chocolate: no choc, walnut cake instead
Mood: okay
Writing: thinking about Smalltown
Reading: various
RSI/FMS: wrists a bit sore

slothful Sunday, probably....

Don't think I'll achieve much today... not only have we lost an hour, due to the clocks going forward, but it's a MotoGP Sunday, so have been spending a few hours watching that, rather than focusing on writing and stuff. Just been watching the 250's... an absolutely cracking race, won by Jorge Lorenzo... and now it's time for the MotoGP itself. Must admit, I sort of root for Valentino Rossi, although himself doesn't like him because he thinks he's arrogant. The bloke probably is arrogant, but with his talent he's entitled to be!


I'd also like Loris Capirossi to do well... I have a soft spot for him 'cos he's older than a lot of the other riders and has been around for a long time. He always seems to have a smile for people, and he doesn't seem arrogant. Mind you, today, he'll have other things on his mind as his wife is about to give birth to their baby!

Apart from the distraction of motorcycle sport, there's plenty of stuff I need to get on with. My Sort Out Sunday initiative doesn't seem to be doing all that well so far... Have only really had one good day of it, so I could really do to get in a couple of sorting later today, if I get time. The place is still horrific, not really improved from any of the photos I've posted here in the past, so I really must keep at it, if only at a slow, steady pace.

On the writing front... I need to find some extra 'angles' for Smalltown. I've got a 'situation', but not a huge amount in the actual plot department. There is a somewhat emotional angle I could use, but I'm wondering if it might be a bit too angsty for what I was planning as a lightish, sexy book... What do you think, would a bit of 'angst' work in a PDC erotic romance? A bit of seriousness... a bit of a real issue in the heroine's past to be dealt with? I don't know... I'm don't know whether I'm up to it. I have no psychology qualifications... I don't know whether I can address this thing with the ring of truth... We'll see...

Have also been looking at some old short stories of mine and I've been wondering about finding new homes for them. But I wouldn't want to re-place them in the form they're in... I think they need revamping and improving before I send them out. I've been writing a long long time, and yes, I've lost some of the freshness and the verve that I had in the earlier days... but I have learnt a helluva lot too. I still make mistakes, but I think I'm generally a lot smoother and more polished writer than I used to be...

--
Telly: MotoGP
Chocolate: cake
Mood: okay
Writing: thinking about it
Reading: magazines
RSI/FMS: bit sore

I'm into cake at the moment

Mmmmm... nummy!

in the wee small hours...

I'm not going to be at my sharpest today, and that's a fact. I was woken in the small hours by one of the sounds a cat owner dreads in the middle of the night... the sound of a feline barfing for Britain. [the other is the commotion of a mouse chase] Got up to deal with same... and afterwards I just couldn't go back to sleep. My mind kept turning and turning on an issue that's troubling me profoundly at the moment, the same one that had me in tears a couple of times yesterday. So I got up, made some tea and read for a while... Which is unusual for me, because I haven't read any fiction for a while. Yeh, I suppose that sounds mad for a fiction writer... and I know it's a deficiency in me, but I'm going through one of those phases where books I read either depress me because they're so good, and I don't think I can reach anything like the standard.... or they're bad, and I get mad because I think if that crap can get published, why can't a bit more of *my* crap get published... Anyway, I think I'm going to try and do a bit better on the reading front from now on, and hope that it'll help me with the writing, which is very slow to the point of total immobility... which won't do at all. I've gotta earn some money somehow, esp. now that festering f*ck Gordon Brown has shafted low income childfree folk like myself right royally in the bottom. *Labour* government, don't make f*cking laugh! That self serving bunch of imbeciles don't give a shit about the average, ordinary working person in the street...

Holy moly, politics? From moi? Wonders will never cease...