I wish I could be this relaxed...

Here's Kuffer, being companionable and lying beside me as I work. He loves to stretch out on the bed, whether it's during the daytime, or at night when other people are trying to sleep too!

Still grappling and battling with Gothic Heat... In fact I was awake at four this morning, with a score of illogical and inconsistent plot scraps floating about in a horrible mish mash. Nothing made sense, and I was half convinced I was actually having a nightmare about the thing... but sadly I was more or less fully conscious.

Surprisingly though, I'm feeling just a tad better about it in the full light of day. Much stuff to do, but I had a slight revelation early on, and remembered something that's supposed to be at the core of the story... but which I'd completely forgotten. Now that I see that though, there's slightly more of an angle. Also had one or two bits of ideas for possible sensual scenes too. So, I'm sure I'll get there in the end, with lots of hard work.

Have had a productive morning on the 'admin' side. Clearing a lot of emails, doing some accounts, bringing a very tiny bit of order to the huge quagmire of chaos that is my working life. Feel v. satisfied about that, and quite positive as a result. Which is a change...

ps. looking at the piccie above, it's dawned on me that I've subconsciously given my blog a similar colour scheme to my bedding! LOL

--
Telly: UK TV History
Choc/Yummy: Mars Planets
Mood: not bad, considering
Writing: more thinking and brainstorming on GH
Reading: AGW
RSI/FMS: bit sore, bit tired


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

some brainstorming required

Yep, it's finally dawned on me what's bugging me... Large bits of my so called plot for Gothic Heat don't actually make a lot of sense and have not been 'thought through'! I really need to spend some more time thrashing out plot points, character motivation, timescale and logical 'what if' stuff... I think I need to rehash the outline thing I did, and maybe get someone else, with a fresh eye, to take a look at it when I've done it. Bits of the idea work, but some are still a bit jumbled. It's all too pantsed - and pants! I think a pantsing approach can work for a 'relationship' contemporary, but I think for paranormals, there has to be an internal logic... or I can just see the reviewers and all tearing me a brand new one for inconsistencies and stupid worldbuilding... or lack of it.

The good news is that I still think the stuff I've written so far is okay, with a little tweakage. The basic idea of the heroine, Paula, being a conduit/vessel for the evil spirit of Isidora the sorceress is fine, and has tons of potential. As does her seeking help from a conflicted and ambiguous guy like Rafe... it's just the actual mechanics and 'rules' of this set up that need more development and cohesion.

--
Telly: nothing much
Choc/Yummy: Mars Planets
Mood: brainthrashed
Writing: see above
Reading: AGW
RSI/FMS: very, very tired and achy


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

teetering towards ostrich mode

After the splendid progress of yesterday, I'm a bit stalled again... Basically, I don't quite know how to get from one bit to another without a lumpy transition. Again, because I haven't quite worked out how the next bit of the book will go. Maybe I should just cut from one scene to the next, and try and pick up the pace a bit. Madelynne's book, that I'm reading now, fairly zips along and carries you with it in a wonderful pageturning way that I'm really enjoying... I should learn from her and increase the momentum and velocity of my own writing!



I'm also feeling sort of swamped again at the moment, with a zillion things I'm *supposed* to do, things I ought to do, and things I want to do... I'm getting into a bit of an overload situation again, and teetering dangerously towards my tendency to turn into an ostrich in these situations ie. hide, bury my head, ignore *everything*, and just hope some of it will go away. Obviously this is such a childish way to conduct one's life... but hey, I've never claimed to be a paragon of maturity and wisdom, even if I'm getting physically quite ancient.

--
Telly: nothing much today
Choc/Yummy: Turkish Delight [yes, I'm obsessed]
Mood: a bit off
Writing: grappling with GH
Reading: AGW
RSI/FMS: slightly sore


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

docking manouvers

Yeah, we have capture!

I've successfully managed to hard dock my 'prologue' with the beginning of Gothic Heat... in fact it's no longer a prologue but simply chapter one now. I'm currently working my way through what were chapters one and two, but are now chapters two and three, and integrating them with 'stuff' that happened in the opening dream sequence... and clumsy and kacky as that sounds, it's actually working quite well, and I'm liking what I'm reading and writing... I hate to say it, but I think I've managed to dock with my characters now too, and they're becoming more alive to me. Which is a relief! Gothic Heat was starting to feel like a real SBFH... but now it's showing signs of becoming more manageable and enjoyable to write.

Rafe is definitely a non standard hero. He's pushing forty, he's a bit of a misfit, and he's got a dodgy past and a slightly sleazy present... and he has some huge issues to deal with, that he's sort of been avoiding by being a little bit of a shag monster, to be honest. But now he's met Paula and things are changing fast. He's still got to battle with various temptations, and that's going to cause some grief and nonsense along the way, but seeing as I'm a firm believer in the good in a guy winning out in the end, he'll come to the light and be a hero when the time is right.

nb. SBFH = sh*t book from hell

--
Telly: nothing much today
Choc/Yummy: Turkish delight
Mood: good
Writing: 1K in the integration
Reading: AGW
RSI/FMS: not bad


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

pwetty... sparkly...

too much, already... sometimes

You know sometimes I just think I should not turn on the computer... and write by hand or something for a while. This stupid laptop obsesses my life, honestly. Time after time I wake up dreaming about something to do with computing or the online world, or something. Mostly online stuff... I see to live most of my life via the WWW... and surely that's not healthy.

Woke up this morning from a dream about Ning, which to those who haven't encountered it, is a social networking site. A bit like MySpace, but not quite as tacky somehow... It's more complicated though, which is probably why I was dreaming about it!

I also dream and obsess about online dramas of various kinds... and I shouldn't because that's all they are, dramas... mostly over nothing. I know writing involves imaginary worlds, and interacting via the internet a lot nowadays. But really, the actual world around me, away from the computer, is *real life* not all this tarradiddle on the net!

Anyway, back in the bizarre and importance-inflated world of writing... Had a good day yesterday on Gothic Heat. The prologue idea was a v. good one, and I ended up writing a princely 2K words! Brilliant for me... What's more, I unconsciously wrote a scene that ties in nicely with something that happens later, and prefigures it in a spooky sort of way... Which is quite clever for a dolt like me! And means I have a way to enhance the later bit when I rewrite it... as I most definitely will have to!

I've also decided to start listening to more music, instead of always turning on the telly. I'd forgotten how inspirational music can be for writing... At the moment classic THE CURE from the Eighties is helping to enhance the strange mood I need for Gothic Heat. And in pursuit of this music angle, I've decided that for my birthday [3oth May...] I'm going to ask himself to buy me an iPod... I must be the last person on the planet without one, I guess, so it's about time I joined in the digital music fun.


Mind you, isn't downloading tunes just another thing I'm going to spend time doing online when I should actually be writing? Goddam... I'll never escape!!!!

--
Telly: CSI:NY... does anyone else fancy Sid the pathologist?









Choc/Yummy: Cadbury's Turkish Delight bar
Mood: good
Writing: will be working on GH
Reading: AGW
RSI/FMS: not too bad...


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

And now, the Prologue!

In the grand tradition of Up Pompei, I've decided that Gothic Heat needs a prologue!

I've been thinking about this for a few days, but wasn't quite sure how to go about it... but yesterday, I got a bit of a flash of inspiration and an idea of how to start it. And today, I've dove into the action and have already done 1.1K words... and it's only midday! Way to go me!

Being a devotee of literary cliches, I'm not only begun with a prologue, but also a dream sequence. LOL! But despite this, I think it'll work okay. The dream is from the villainess's POV and sort of serves of a set up for the story and a bridge between Gothic Blue and Gothic Heat. I've also tried to use a touch of the more flowery language I used for GB... which is another bridging device. The main body of GH will be told in the more 'realistic' type style I use now, but I'm hoping the tone of this prologue will 'connect' the two books in tone as well as content.

I don't think this is any kind of gigantic lightbulb type breakthrough... but I do think it's a useful development, and I'm feeling a tiny bit more confident about this mare of a book now. :)

--
Telly: French Moto GP
Choc/Yummy: Fry's Turkish Delight
Mood: good
Writing: 1.1K Gothic Heat
Reading: A Gentleman's Wager/Madelynne Ellis
RSI/FMS: not bad


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

further to my post below

bathroom thoughts

I still don't feel as if I quite know what's going on in Gothic Heat... but I just spent some time mulling over various plot points whilst I was getting washed and dressed in the bathroom, and I think I've had one or two tiny insights into what makes my hero, Rafe, tick. I often have good ideas for writing whilst I'm in the bathroom and above is a picture of this haven of inspiration... Not! Wish my bathroom was as luxurious as the one above. 'Cos if it was, I'd linger for hours in there bathing and beautifying [well, as much as is possible these days...] and probably produce much more and much better in the way of fine fiction!

The problem with Rafe is that for the plot he needs to be more ambiguous, perhaps something of a bad boy... a bit ruthless and dark. But because I like my characters to be basically good, I keep on making him too nice! I've been thinking about what might have happened in his past to make him the way he is... and my bathroom ponderings produced one or two minor traumatic events for him, and also a clearer picture of some past misdemeanors that have led him to the place in his life when he encounters Paula. I foresee a long soak in the tub later in the day, in order to flesh out a better back story for her too! At the moment, they're both too vague... I need to actually sit down and write character bios for them, as well as tidy up the sort of outline thing I've written... in fact I need to actually do the normal prep a sane writer would do for any book! Rather than charge into writing willy nilly with no idea in my head what I'm supposed to be writing!!!

But that's one of my problems really... I panic if I'm not actually writing wordcount, and subconsciously think of prep as avoidance of the real issue of banging down the story... Which makes me think, I'm not actually the full on pantser I thought I was becoming... I'm still actually a planner at heart, and avoiding the planning is having a detrimental effect. I need to stop panicking about deadlines [I've got until October, after all...] and think things through a bit...

Yes, that's what I'll do!

Writers... do you ever panic like this? Ever rush too quickly into the actual writing because you fear that you're deliberately avoiding writing by taking time to plan? I'd love to know if people have the same angsts and worries that I do...

--
Telly: not yet
Choc/Yummy: not yet
Mood: uneasy
Writing: thinking plot points through
Reading: AGW
RSI/FMS: bit sore


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

raindrops on roses....

At the moment, these are a few of my favourite things! When the dog bites... when the bee stings... la di da di dah!

what a nice surprise...

I'm not a great one for writing non fic pieces for the web and elsewhere, so I don't usually do much more in that line than produce the rambling day to day diatribes you find here... But a while back, I noticed a nice feature at Dear Author, where they were doing Q&As with a variety of authors who live outside the US, detailing their experience of writing and being published in America. I emailed Jane at DA on spec, and asked if I could answer their questions too, but she said they didn't need any more authors for that feature, and asked me if I was interested in trying something else... I shook in my shoes, really, because of the aforementioned uselessness at writing about myself... but I decided to have a bash and this is the result.

Portia Da Costa's First Sale


--
Telly: UK TV History
Choc/Yummy: apple turnover
Mood: okay
Writing: thinking about Gothic Heat
Reading: AGW/Madelynne
RSI/FMS: rather tired


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

I'm your huckleberry

Last night, I watched one of my favourite films for the second time in a week... and the second time was just as fresh as the first. I love TOMBSTONE! It's not a new movie, but clearly, it's one I never tire of... even though I know the story back to front by now. Well, the story as portrayed in the film... I'm sure the real story of the Earps v. the Cowboys was considerably different and more complex.



Apart from the obvious excitement and tension of the story, and the cracking gunplay of the infamous OK Corral and elsewhere, it's just a film that looks so good. Hot damn, those Earps are so stylish! They must have been the sharpest dressed gunslingers in the whole West. I love the frock coats, the whole severe collar, necktie and posh waistcoat thing, the cool hats... and oh, Wyatt's long, black duster coat that he dons when he means heavy lawman business! I would love one of those myself... I'm not so sure if I fancy men with such bushy moustaches... but then, they were the fashion at the time, and were obviously de rigeur for any self respecting sherriff or deputy.



Kurt Russell is fab as Wyatt Earp, sort of generally noble but also conflicted... but the real star, I think everybody will admit, is Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday... the prince of the morbidly droll one liners. Hard to believe that a guy can be sexy when he's white as a sheet and sweaty all the time, and always on the point of coughing blood, but he manages it supremely and he's certainly my 'huckleberry'. Also kudos to Michael Biehn as a coldly deranged, Latin quoting Johnny Ringo.

I'm not sure whether Tombstone ranks as a classic, traditional western or as a revisionist [not that I'm quite sure what that means]... but I'd say it's got a least some of the latter's qualities, because nobody's portrayed, really, in simple black and white terms of good and bad... The Earps weren't angels by any means. They were ruthless killers themselves, who happened to be on the side of the law, some of the time. Brilliant examples of good 'bad boys' or ambiguous 'good guys'... gotta love 'em!

Anybody else out there like this movie?



--
Telly: Tombstone, obviously
Choc/Yummy: Apple Turnovers
Mood: okay
Writing: thinking about Gothic Heat, need to rework some bits
Reading: AGW/Madelynne... loving it
RSI/FMS: bit sore and very tired


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