Structure....

Today was the final day of summer church group - I was very proud of my two girls.  Little Tootsie looked so darn cute singing along to the songs (once she got over her initial shyness - bless), and Big Toots was thrilled because her group won THE SPECIAL PRIZE.  I'm so proud of both of them - they've been a real credit to the family.  And now they're away for their holiday.....I'll miss them.

My plan for next week is to write, write, write!  Tomorrow I will make sure the guinea pigs are cleaned out, basic levels of hygiene and cleanliness are achieved around the house, and that I have enough chocolate, tea and food to last me the week.  I will also be purchasing a large stack of index cards.  A suggestion from The Story Book.  I think it will help me work out the structure of the book, to ensure I'm creating enough conflict, coming up with knowledge gaps, and resolving everything by the end of the book.

The idea is that you write the main points of your plot on cards and place them on a timeline.  Then, you work out what needs to happen before that event, or what needs to happen after it.  And all the time you need to ask yourself if you have a protagonist, an antagonist, conflicts, changes in values, inciting incidents, turning points, knowledge gaps etc etc etc.  There's no such thing as a basic beginning, middle and end when you're writing a book! 

But I've decided that I'm not going to spend more than one day on that.  Because the most important thing is to be creative!  I'll let you know how I get on...

Chips and chapters...

It's 7 o' clock at night, and I've only just managed to switch the computer on for the first time today.  It's been a busy day.  The girls arrived this morning and we did our usual "stuff".  Then it was a quick lunch, a trip into town to write some verses for The People's Bible, and then we were off to the Sunday School (it's not a) Picnic.

An afternoon of catching balls, kicking balls, throwing balls and playing with a large fabric "parachute" with a dozen or so kids, followed by a chippie for tea.  Lovely. 

I did manage a bit more work yesterday, after the girls had gone for the night.  I've now uploaded the revised first 12 chapters (or thereabouts) of Hospital Corners on Authonomy.  http://www.authonomy.com/books/35253/hospital-corners/

I'm not 100% sure how to split things up around Chapter 5 onwards.  Lots of changing POV, and I don't know if it's worth making each different one a different chapter or not.  Some of them would only be a paragraph or two long....I think I'll worry about that later on; you know, when I've actually written the remaining 15 to 20 chapters! 

I also managed to re-read "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" this morning.  I'm glad I read the other guides first as they reminded me of the different types of apostrophes and so on.  If I got one thing out of the book, it's where to hyphenate "fine tooth-comb".  I use the phrase at the start of Peggy's diaries!

I love it when a plan comes together....

Took the girls to the local garden centre for lunch and bought a fridge magnet, to remind me not to fuss over the wee trivialities (e.g. Little Tootsie only wanting to eat the chocolate off the top of her cake, which cost me £1.70, and Big Toots insisting on wearing her glasses to go and read what the different cakes were, even though I told her she didn't have to wear them at that point).  We were heading out the door, me feeling very harrassed, when I spotted the magnet.  I don't even know why I was looking in that direction - it was just one of those moments where I was being pointed at something valuable.  It reads:  While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.  So - next time I get a cake, I might just eat all the chocolate off the top.

So far today, I've written one paragraph.  Not much, I'll grant you, but it's quality rather than quantity.  And it highlights one of the themes of the book:  Sometimes things are simple.  Sometimes things are complicated.  Sometimes they're both.

There are some days when I feel pressure to put my head down and just WRITE something, but I'm giving myself a break.  I have ideas bubbling, snippets of dialogue forming.  But if I rush to write it down, I'm going to spend a whole lot longer re-writing, editing and potentially ending up with something pretty rubbish.  In my 2 hour post-lunch writing slot, I get interrupted.  My girls are good (they're absolute angels compared to many other kids their age!) but they're still too young to fully understand that my writing time needs to be uninterrupted.  So I get called to bring more juice, or cut up a kiwi, or simply to tell me what exciting programme is starting on the telly.  Plus I can already hear what's on the telly and it's distracting.  So I use the time to browse on Authonomy, read chapters of my reference books and jot down ideas.  Then, when they go back to their Dads at 6pm, that's when I switch on the laptop and the kettle.  I know I'm doing well when I reach for the cuppie and find it's absolutely stone cold!

New glasses day....

Today is the day that Big Toots GOT HER GLASSES...it is a date that will remain engraved on her memory for...ooh, all of today and tomorrow.  She was VERY EXCITED, shall we say.  I tried to tell her that the novelty wears off after twenty-something years but she was too busy jumping up and down to listen.

I managed to cobble together a nice little chapter over my coffee at Tescos.  I left all my writing guides at home and simply took my notebook, folder of draft chapters and a pen.  Sometimes sitting with a pen and paper and writing the "old-fashioned" way works best. 
It's nice to be able to type everything onto the computer - it's quicker for a start.  My fingers can type at the speed of my thoughts, but my hand can't write quickly enough.  I hate it when I have a great phrase in my head, but forget it before I've had a chance to scribble it all down.  Plus my handwriting is atrocious when I write quickly.  But, I have to admit, the simple act of writing with a pen and paper is satisfying.  And I'm less likely to finish a paragraph, immediately read it over, then edit it out of existence.  If it's on paper, it's always there to come back to and fiddle around with.  Once I hit that delete key, whatever gems I had are gone forever. 

SO -this afternoon I will indulge myself with polishing off said chapter, and working on Dr Blake's first big scene.   It's raining outside so I don't even need to feel guilty about not washing the car, or weeding the garden....girls are playing happily at a friends house (thanks K!)  and I have a bag of Revels in the fridge for later on tonight.  Bliss.....

Puzzles...

I've given the writing a miss today - to mull over ideas and developments.  I scribbled a few words in my ever-present notebook whilst having coffee at Tescos (sometimes you get a phrase in your head that just sounds perfect), but I'm avoiding Microsoft Word at all costs!

That's not to say I've not been writing anything.  I've just spent the past hour working out how many words can be made from the phrase "Deep Sea Discovery".  I've given up at 225.  Thank goodness for Google, a dictionary, and alphabet fridge magnets!

I think my favourite is "caryopsis" which is the dried fruit of a cereal grass....apparently.

Deep Sea Discovery is the church group my girls are attending this week.  They're absolutely loving it, although they'll be more than ready for a holiday next week as they're absolutely shattered by the end of the day. 

Technically my girls are supposed to be finding words, and my eldest will be having a shot later on this afternoon.  But Little Tootsie would struggle (she only knows the letter S) so I've done her list for her.  Big Toots will have to come up with her own list, but seeing as she's won a prize for her competition entries the last 2 days, I don't think she'll bother trying too hard. 

I've just found another 4 words....

Time for a quickie...

I've had a busy day.  Woken up by my girls at too early o' clock.  They haven't quite grasped the idea that whispering is supposed to be quieter than normal talking.  I took them to their summer church group and wished my dad a Happy Birthday (and I'll say it again - Happy Birthday Dad!).  I then had the unexpected pleasure of a day to myself as Granny & Grandad took the girls off my hands for the rest of the day.  It meant a bit of shopping for their surprise holiday next week and an afternoon of uninterrupted writing time.  I also got my tea cooked for me (thank you to the real Esme) before an evening rehearsing for a show I'm doing in September (Bad Girls the Musical).  Must find time to learn lines, remember routines and all that jazz, in between my writing sessions!

After several days plotting (and sub-plotting), I've now re-written the first "Act" of the book...with Dr Rosanna Blake recast as a real bitch.  I made her too nice....she IS supposed to be the antagonist after all.  But with the new tweaks, it will bring another layer into the whole book.  I will get started on some new chapters tomorrow and I will have all of next week to put my head down and write the bulk of the next Act. 

I apologise in advance if chocolate stocks dwindle in the area next week.....

Knowledge Gaps.....

Well - I spent an hour reading through this section in David Baboulene's The Story Book and I'm only a little wiser.

I fared a little better with the section on Character and Plot, even getting my head around the concept that Character is Plot and Plot is Character - you can't have one without the other.  It's led me to think (yet again) about my opening chapters and I'm going to have to re-write (yet again) to take the character of Dr Blake into account.  I've made her too likeable, and she's also too shallow.  I don't mean she spends all her time thinking about her appearance, I mean that I haven't defined her properly.  Sure, she wants to go home to watch Graham Norton, and she wants to know who Miss Esme Smith is.....but I haven't thought about her drives, her ego and her life outside the hospital.  This book is as much about her journey as Esme's...probably more so. 

So - Chapters 1 through 8, here we go again!