Ooh shiny

I am so easily distracted sometimes, I feel like a small child. 

Things currently distracting me from writing:
- crochet
- cross-stitch
- baking
- Thai boxing
- Downton Abbey

Feeble, I know. In the absence of inspirational flashes I really struggle to make myself write. But those flashes are few and far between at the moment so I need to keep kicking myself into gear and just keep up the writing. 

My plan is to dig out my old 'How To Be A Writer' book and do one of the exercises in it before Monday. It'll be better than nothing.

I think too much

In a fit of utter boredom I googled 'writing prompts'. There are some awful, AWFUL writing prompts out there.But that's not the point of this. The point is that one prompt stood out to me:

There was once a chance I didn't take.

It seems simple enough doesn't it. It probably is simple enough, but my brain will not let it go.

I get writing about a chance that you did take. You gave the guy your number and he called you, it blossomed into the most wonderful love ever, you got married, he cheated on you, you divorced him and moved to Brazil.  Logical.

But how do you write a whole story about a chance you didn't take? You could have given him your number, but didn't so you never saw him again...

Where's the story? This is really bugging me. It's two or three days since I did that Google search and I cannot let it go. How can I possibly write about I chance I didn't take?

Inspiration

Last Sunday I took part in the Race for Life. It was incredibly hard and made me feel sick but it was worth it because I raised over £500 for Cancer Research.

It was also worth it because it gave me an idea for a story. Not like a competition brief where I ponder over the idea for days or weeks and then plod through writing the story. A proper, flash of light, couldn't write fast enough to keep up with my imagination, solid idea.

I cannot explain how amazing it felt to be writing like that again. It makes me feel like maybe I am a writer after all.

The inspiration and story both made me cry though. Hopefully next time I get a flash it won't be so personal or painful.

Why I dislike my job #1

New Acquaintance 1: So what do you do for a living?

New Acquaintance 2: I work for a charity. We help people with disabilities get back into work. 
*cue half-hour long monologue about how horrendously difficult but terribly rewarding her job is* 
NA2: What do you do?

NA1: I'm an Occupational Therapist in a hospital. I deal mostly with terminally ill patients and those with addictions.

NA2: Wow, that must be so tough.

NA1: Well yes but it's worth it, you know? Seeing the changes in people as you get to know them better. And what do you do?

Me: I do admin....in a call centre.

NA1: Oh. Right.

*awkward silence*

Curses

It is a children's story competition. Rats.

Thinking about it, I quite like the story I've written and don't really want to change it. So I'm going to recycle Jack and his crazy modern family into a whole new story, just for those not yet old enough to know what hormones are.

The only problem is I have absolutely no plot ideas, and a bake sale on Friday for which I am providing everything. This story is not going to be written this week. For reals. But I suppose baking doesn't take a great deal of brain power so I can set that one bit of my mind to thinking up ideas in the background while I get on with trying to work out how to make and transport enough fairy cakes for 36 people. 

The human brain is a remarkable thing.

P.S. the bake sale is to raise money for my Race For Life this Sunday (shameless plug alert).

http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/hannahthorley-forgrandma

Time for a re-think

While skimming through the competitions on the Writing Magazine website I noticed one small phrase jump out of the modern family competition brief:

'Writing for children'

I do not remember that phrase being in the magazine brief, and I am going to double check the second I get home. Because if that phrase is in there, I have some serious rewriting to do.

Writing for children is so different to writing for adults. There has to be a point for the kids, a moral or lesson to take away from it. You can't just write any old rubbish and call it literary fiction. To be perfectly honest, I don't know if I can write for children. As far as I can remember I have never even tried to write for them, as it's far easier to target those at my mental age (17) so I know what they'll enjoy.

However, after the shambles that was my last attempt at competition-writing I'm going to give it a go anyway. It's definitely free entry so I have nothing to lose.

Who knows, maybe I'll discover that children's writing is actually my calling!

Sod's law

I was planning to enter a writing competition for which the brief was to write about someone who couldn't sleep. After too much thought I bashed out an attempt, which wasn't very good. Because the deadline was so close I decided to abandon the story as I wouldn't have time to properly proof and edit it even if I could fix it.

Deadline day arrived and I was feeling disappointed in myself. I had been so determined to finally enter a competition, but when it came down to it I just couldn't. Then while I was walking home from work I had a sudden flash of inspiration - I could make the story work! And the deadline was midnight so I could still submit in time!

I rushed home, turned my laptop on...and remembered that the story was only saved on my work computer.

Lesson learned: save your work EVERYWHERE.