Creating characters

By Pamela Moeng

Which comes first - the chicken or the egg? And which comes first in a story - the story idea or the character?

Robert Sawyer, in his online article "Constructing Characters," says it's easier to start with a premise and build the perfect character - like a purpose-built robot - for that premise.

Sayer, winner of 25 awards for fiction and teacher at several universities, says that unlike real people who are a jumbled collection of random characteristcs, characters in a story are "made to order to do a specific job".

A write-by-the-seat-of-my-pants author, his notion seemed at odds with my own characters who seem to arrive fully developed, but I see the advantage of asking myself what kind of character would bring the biggest drama to a story.

He says that this works well for the original premise but may not work if you try using the same character for another premise, i.e. a sequel if the character is not a good fit for the sequel's premise.

Of course, showing the characteristics of your ficitonal character can be done in numerous ways. Dialogue, including not only what your character says but how too. What vocabulary does he or she use, how does he or she use grammar? Behaviour also shows rather than tells what kind of person the character is. Interaction and response to other characters and situations can also build your charcter(s) in your readers' minds.

To read more about characterisation go to Robert J sawyer's website: http://www.sfwriter.com.

Share with us: how do you create your characters?

My Weekend In 5 Points

1. Met one of the authors I'm working with on the client publishing project. He's very inspiring : in the years he's been writing part-time, he saved most of his royalty earnings and now has enough socked away to write fulltime the next couple of months and then go back to study at university fulltime for the next four years. He says his secret to financial stability was to live on his teacher's salary ( which we know is not a whole lot) and simply invest royalties as they came in.
2. I'm getting addicted to my garden. Spent most of the time in there, just enjoying the space. Very soothing.
3. I've become an aunt again! This is the eighth time and I'm a great aunt twice over. Borekhu was born on Sunday at 13h30. Mother and daughter are doing well, and Dad is very excited.
4. I've been trying out a number of recipes I come across if I already have the ingredients for them. Used spinach from my garden to make Frittatas. Tasty. Also learnt to make sun tea. Wonder why I didn't know about this very convenient way to make tea. And yes, this interest in food does have a creative outlet. One of the main characters in the UNNAMED STORY I've spewing out for months needs to learn to cook. And I learn stuff as he learns.
5. I'm finally learning to enjoy the publishing end of the business. Still very admin heavy, but I'm finding that when I'm done, I'm hungry to do more creative writing work. So I'm actually coming up with more stories and writing more.
So, how was your weekend? Are you ready to tackle the rest of the week?

Defrosting toes and updating software

The weather keeps getting warmer and I feel like my toes are finally defrosting. The plum tree is flowering, there's a lot of green in the front garden and the plants I potted last week still look healthy.

This morning was hectic - I finished an urgent project from a client, finished another client report and emailed and invoiced for them both.

I also booked a stand at the local Spring Fair taking place next week Sunday, where I'm going to sell books that I can't donate to schools due to subject matter. Convinced a friend to also take a stand. We must support the community forum running the fair.

Save me from software that automatically updates!

Had a bit of a problem with my Vodacom Internet connection though. Over 200MG of my data bundle in my main SIM card connection disappeared (some software was updated without my realising it?), so I put in the secondary one, which had about 22MG and some airtime. It was just enough for me to use my online banking facility to buy more bundles for my primary connection. I hadn't even finished the transaction when the system locked me out saying I didn't have sufficient airtime to be online.

I couldn't use my cellphone to buy the necessary airtime. So I phoned a friend who does and she bought me R12 airtime. Just enough to get online and sort out my connection problems, I thought. Weirdly, the airtime was gone less than a minute after I got online. I didn't even get the chance to log onto my bank!

I phoned Vodacom customer care to ask for help, but the consultant told me that I needed to phone them back in an hour because the transaction was not even reflecting on their system yet. WTF?

My saving grace was their Talking Points/usage reward system. I hardly ever claim them, so I asked if I can use them to buy over 100MG of data. Consultant said I had enough to buy a cellphone. But I think I'll keep the rest for emergencies such as these.

With that transaction done, I was back in business. But I was still feeling paranoid, so I bought a couple of Gigs, just to make sure that I have enough to work. I did worry though that whatever ate up my original data bundle would also chow my new reserves, but everything seems fine now.

Starting Your Own Business in South Africa by Barrie Terblanche, Pamela Moeng

The 12th edition of South Africa's bestselling guide to starting a business is now on sale. Updated in 2010 and published in August, the book is made up of 3 main sections: Planning, Getting started and Scaling up.

The book is published by USA Oxford University Press and is available from Kalahari.net for R211.95.Exclusive Books is also offering the book at a very special web site price of R180.00.

Nice one, Pam!

Editing is hard work

For most of my career I've worked as a writer and while I did edit my work, other people were responsible for the final product. They gave me suggestions to improve the text, edited the content and the language and proof-read and generally made my words shine.

I'm not married to my words, so usually I'd just move on to the next story and the next one, noting that the final product reads and looks much better than what I started with but not thinking too hard about the work that went into the process.
Now as a publisher ( for own materials and other people's), I'm finally putting in the work that editors and publishers I worked with put in. And damn! It's harder work than I realised.

Maybe my perspective is skewed by the fact that, writing for me does not equal bleeding, but I'm starting to think that putting the words on the screen/paper is the easy part of the publishing process. If I had to choose, I'd rather spend all my work time researching and writing stories and having someone else edit, publish and promote my work. But the business of writing and publishing rarely allows for that luxury.

P.S. A big thank you to Keitu Reid for helping me fall in love with a couple of children's stories I wrote all over again. Keitu, I'm going to send you another one to read. I laughed out loud when I read it and I hope that in future, parents and children who read the story will also laugh with me.

12 things to do in New York

Yesterday Pam's article about her stay in New York made the lead on the Independent Online Travel. She says: "A long planned holiday from South Africa to the USA led my partner and I to various destinations, most notably New York City. After visiting family and friends in Pennsylvania, we caught an Amtrak train from the quaint Victorian Station in Lewistown, Pennsylvania."

Check it out.

The Weekend Update

Had a great weekend. On Saturday I attended our monthly writers' meeting at the home of Michelle Nel, who's an environmental journalist and neighbour. It was a lovely meeting and I met another writer, Roy McGregor, who has self-published a humour book. Roy was very happy to share info about his self-publishing experiences.

Michelle had previously offered me indigenous plants to plant up in my back yard, which is currently bare. So we spent hours walking in her garden and getting cuttings. Got about 5 species of succulents, four bushes, some wild dagga ( the orange flowering kind, not the illegal kind:-) and about 6 species of flowers.

So yes it was a lot of stuff I took home and potted and nowhere near the variety of indigenous plants Michelle grows. A couple of friends also came to visit - one of them for the whole weekend, so it was a very chilled weekend.

Today I'm mostly offline today, writing and editing and doing the necessary admin work.

Plotting Your Book ( Part 2)

By Pamela Moeng

My previous research on plot and planning your book only whet my appetite for more, so back I went to the Internet and I found more helpful tips for plotting my next book.


Continuing with Randy Ingermanson I found his four pillars of fiction enlightening: Story World (the setting, know it inside and out); Characters (the players, capable of rational thought and feelings; know them better than you know your family); Plot (the storyline, what happens when your characters meet conflict); and, Theme (the deep meaning of your story, best written with a light touch).

Ingermanson says the average novel may have betweeb 50 and 200 scenes. He also says, to my relief as a fly-by-seat-of-my-pants writer, that not every writer should outline her book or use his Snowflake Method. "Write the way you are meant to write," he urges.

That said, Ali Hale on Daily Writing Tips.com suggests that using Nigel Watt's 8 point story arc or structure can help you craft a novel that is sure to be published. The 8 points follow:

1. Stasis - everyday life of your character
2. Trigger - something beyond control that occurs to destabilise life for your character
3. The quest - positive or negative trigger results in the quest
4. Surprise - takes up most of the middle of your book, includes pleasant and unpleasant obstacles which should be unexpected but plausible
5. Critical choice - often when the "real" character of your player is revealed usually in making a choice, I.e. Good but hard/ bad but easy
6. Climax - highest peak, e.g. Your player in front of a firing squad
7. Reversal - consequence of critical choice, climax, e.g. child standing up to a bully
8. Reversal - return to Stasis but your player is wiser, changed, enlightened

Hale says a novel can include arcs within arcs.

Aristotle discussed the perfect drama in his Poetics, where he outlined the three act form: the inciting incident in Act 1, rising action in Act 2, and the xllimax and resolution in Act 3.

All the websites advise using plotting as a tool, but plot should flow naturally from your setting and characters.

There are a number of books available on plot, many of them available on kalahari.net. Elements of Storytelling by Peter Rubie, Elements of Fiction Writing by Nancy Kress, Elements of Scene and Structure by Jack Bickham, Elements of Conflict, Action and Suspense by William Noble and Story Structure Architect by Victoria Lynn Schmidt are just a few.

If you have tips on plotting that you want to share, please let Damaria and I know. What works for you may be just what another writer needs to know.

I'm so over this winter!

Apparently some Joburg residents were disappointed that it didn't snow yesterday ( rain, hail and sleet fell) but I think they're just nuts. Our homes are not equipped for such extreme weather. Add to the fact that when you work from home, you don't have a company paying for air-conditioned room and using the heater means a higher electricity bill. Old Man Winter has really outstayed his welcome.

The weekend was great. A friend came over to stay for a couple of days. Puttered in my garden and am now ready for Spring rains and flowers to start blooming. Joined our local renovation team to make over a nieghbour TV room. Most of the participants sewed, something that I've tried and have never achieved a level of competency. They made curtains,  an ottoman and scatter cushions. Nautical theme. Another friend and I painted the room, and we both agreed we got the better end of the deal.

Monday I met with the co-author on one of the titles I'm publishing for the client. She's focussed, friendly, not precious about processes and willing to follow instruction. I can see why she came so highly recommended.

So today I'm sitting in my office, wrapped in a big thick blanket while I work. A large proportion of the work I'm doing is mostly admin - working on these non-fiction book plans seems to be taking forever as I liaise with authors, review, send to professional reviewer, get reports and author and I redo again until we're all satisfied. Then there are the constantly updated schedules/spreadsheets so I know where everything should be at any given time and can intervene if there are problems. Bottom line? Overseeing the publishing process is not for sissies.

For some fun, I've been trying out some recipes. Tried to make Chai tea, but didn't have clover, so I ended up with vey nice spicy tea (using cinnamon and ginger, no milk). This has now become my drink of choice. Also baked banana bread using too soft bananas I had. It came out well and I'm keeping the recipe.

Creative writing is also going extremely well. I've written over 7000 words since Friday, most of it adding better structure to the Nameless WIP. Thank you Pam for your tips on plotting a novel. They really helped.

So what are you doing this week?

Plotting Your Book

By Pamela Moeng

Daydreaming about writing a book is one thing. Actually sitting in front of a keyboard to bleed, as Hemingway suggested, is another thing.

When I was in the midst of writing my first romance novel, I asked a writer friend about her method of writing - she had recently sold her own novel to a prestigious publisher in the UK. I was horrified to hear about her chock-a-block notebook full of characterisation, the multitude of differently coloured post¬¬-its stuck all over the place, and the whiteboard full of story arc diagrams. A world away from my own more organic and intuitive method for crafting my novel.

A few years on and I’m thinking ‘well it sold, so I must have done something right’, but a little voice is nagging me ‘but it can’t hurt to find out how other writers do it, and give their methods a try’. So I opened my net book and surfed Google: how to plot a book.

The good news is that there are as many ways to plot a book as there are writers and none espouse their methods as the end all and be all. The bad news is that people who are unsuccessful at using my organic, intuitive approach can “create interesting characters who do interesting things, but they don’t key in to the deepest fears, don’t make the characters suffer and change and grow” (www.darcypattison.com/plot/plot1/).

Now I hate the idea of my characters suffering but I do love the idea of them changing and growing, so I kept my hand on my keyboard and surfed for other gems about plots. Randy Ingermanson advocates his own Snowflake Method. Randy has an informative website and a free newsletter that you may want to subscribe to: (http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/snowflake.php).

Randy says there are ten steps of designing your novel. Step 1 is to write a one-sentence summary of your novel. Step 2 is to take that sentence and expand it to a paragraph describing the story, major disasters and the ending of the novel. Step 3 is to write each character’s name, a one-sentence summary of the character’s storyline, the character’s motivation, the character’s goal, conflict, epiphany and finally a one-paragraph summary of the character’s storyline.

Step 4, take each sentence of your summary and expand it to a full paragraph. Step 5, write up a one-page description of each major character and a half-page description of each minor character. Step 6, expand the one-plot synopsis into a four-page synopsis.

Step 7, expand your one-page character descriptions into charts that have every detail about each character from birthday to favourite food and perfume. You may not use most of this information, but it will inform the choices you make for each character as your novel progresses. Step 8, take the four-page synopsis and list all the scenes you need to turn the story into a novel. Randy uses a spreadsheet for this. Step 9 is optional, according to Randy. Here is where you take each line on the spreadsheet and write a number of paragraphs describing the scene. And finally, Step 10, write the first draft of your novel with all the information that you’ve developed so far.

Randy reckons that his Snowflake Method takes 150 hours and produces a solid, saleable novel. He teaches the method and says some writers love it and some writers hate it, but it works for him. He believes in it so strongly that he’s developed Snowflake Pro software to make the task even easier. Visit his website for a full description of his method and the opportunity to purchase his software.

Darcy Pattison’s website says there are nine ways of looking at plot, some of which are plot equals character; plot equals a branching structure; universal plots; and, plot patterns. In regard to the universal plot, it is said that there are only two plots in the world. A stranger comes to town or a character goes on a journey.

Pattison’s website lists a number of books to assist writers in learning about plot and how to plot a novel. Among the books listed as valuable resources for writers are Scene & Structure by Jack Bickham, Steal This Plot by June & William Noble, 20 Master Plots by Ronald Tobias, The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler, and The Comic Toolbox by John Vorhaus.

Leonard Crane, author of Ninth Day of Creation, also urges new writers to read James Frey’s How to Write a Damn Good Novel.

If none of the above is helpful, you may want to search the Internet for free book planning software that will help you plot your book.

Pam made the 2011 Citizen Book Prize the long list!!

Pam is on a streak, I tell you. Her second novel, which we entered for the 2011 Citizen Book Prize, made the long list, which was announced this week. Ten books make the long list and Pam is so excited, because being part of the top 10 is a big deal. It's now up to the public to vote for the book they like.

Here is the synopsis of the novel entitled, NO PERFECT PEOPLE ALLOWED

NANDI Mhkize is a junior lecturer in the English department at Wits University in Joburg, South Africa’s largest city.

Her life is turned upside down with the unsolved murder of her taxi owner father, which happens just after her lover takes off for Rwanda and a post at the Kigali Institute. As if the sorrow at losing both her father and lover is not enough, Nandi discovers that she is pregnant. She struggles to accept her pregnancy and is afraid to tell her widowed mother and brothers about the baby’s father – a foreign lecturer at the university who happens to be white.
Raised in Joburg’s southern suburbs, Nandi is typical of South Africa’s current crop of 20-somethings who must find a way to realise their professional ambitions, remain true to their cultural heritage and yet find personal fulfillment in a modern changing world.
Somehow, Nandi must deal with the heartache of her father’s untimely death and the birth of her baby in a society where race still matters. How she deals with her loss and her unplanned pregnancy is the centre of No Perfect People Allowed.
If you like the book, please vote for Pam? The judges' decision is final. But it would be nice if the public also like her story.
http://panmacmillan.bookslive.co.za/blog/2011/08/11/2011-citizen-book-prize-longlist/
Meanwhile, we had also submitted the book to a publisher and the generous man said he would still consider the book if Pam didn't win the publishing contract to PanMacmillan, which is one of the prizes. I think Pam should just knuckle down and write another novel, so she has an option for this publisher if she's fortunate enough to win:-)

One bite at a time

This week I'm reminded of one of my former bosses' favourite sayings: " How do you eat an elephant?" she'd ask, then answer. "One bite at a time."

I was an account executive at the time, and the hundreds of thousands of Rands that I was supposed to generate each month was scary, because there was always that concern of where I was going to find the clients who would spend that much money. But to her it seemed straightforward: if you made your designated 100 cold calls per day, got at least five people to schedule a meeting and had 3 show up and one of them bought something, you'd have at least one sale per day, everyday, she said. And it did seem to work, because as long as I made the cold calls, I never ran out of prospects. And usually, I'd get more than one sale per day.


However, my usual instinct when faced with a big project is to jump in with both feet and do as much as I can until I've completed it or crash and then have to recuperate afterwards.  But that approach does not work for very big projects and the whole thing just gets overwhelming and that's just counter-productive.
 
The other challenge is that it's easier to do the work when you have immediate deadline. You're motivated because you have to deliver now or else. When the deadline is much farther, there is the temptation to procrastinate and I really have to resist that.
 
Anyhoo, work is fine. Still doing the publishing project. Also working on a new client web site. But the latter is pretty straightforward. It's a small company that doesn't have any web presence - so I'm basically doing the "this is who we are and what we can offer you" kind of site, with a blog, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn integration.
 
How are you and how do you deal with big projects, be they writing or any other type?

Women's Day Update

Women's Day was great. I spent the morning in the garden, doing more planting for Spring (cucumber, sweet corn, bush beans and peas). My current pea harvest is really great. The peas are sweet and soft and I actually don't have to cook them. Just throw them into  hot dish just before I turn the stove off and they're as good as done. Also prepared more plots, mixing the soil with compost. Managed to buy 15 bags from a seller hawking in the neighbourhood, at R10 per 25kg bag. That will be enough compost to last me through Spring, I think.

I'm falling behind with the publishing assignment work, which makes me somewhat unhappy. So I'm going to have to spend lots more hours in my office catching up this week. It also means that creative writing has to take a back burner for now.

Yeeeeeehaaaaaw!

Yes I'm excited! Publisher I sent Pam's second novel to has made an offer to publish it and will send a contract soon.  The ebook would come out in November, by their reckoning. Congratulations Pam. I'm so excited for you and hope  you will pen and publish many more books. The icing on the cake would be if the other publisher I sent Pam's third novel also said Yes. But I can wait a bit. I'm not greedy! Not much anyway:-)

In case you're wondering how I came into that picture, I have an arrangement with some writers to market their works for a cut. Pam thinks that makes me her agent, but I wouldn't call it as formal as all that.

For today, I don't want to work. It's a Monday between a weekend and a public holiday  and really, it's wrong for my boss to make me work like it's a normal workday. But that slave driver says she doesn't want to hear it : we have stories to write, manuscripts to edit etc, meet and we'll damn well do it, even if she has to chain me to a chair.

The weekend was great though.  I spent a couple of hours with friends and also worked quite a bit in my garden. Updated the garden design and even if I do say so myself, it looks much better. Has more structure and it will be easier to manage.

Planted three vege squares  for salad mix ( lettuce, onion, tomato, spinach, bens, basil, chives, chilli, parsley and rocket),  stews and grills (beetroot, sweet corn, beans, more tomato, carrots) and herbs (thyme, chives, parsley, rosemary, baril, coriander,mint, more chilli and cumin). The rocket harvest I already have looks huge and I'm going to have to give away some of it.

So how was your weekend? And what are you planning to do on Women's Day?

On Books & Muggers

I'm putting together another batch/box of books that I'm going to donate throug READ SA, so if you have books you don't read/want, please send them to me? Inbox me for the address. Also note that I can collect from your house if you're in Johannesburg.

My new tenant was mugged early yesterday and they took her bag, which had  her wallet with cash and cards, the housekeys, cellphone and her official documents ( not South African, so she had official documents with her). She reported the mugging to the police and her complaint was recorded and she has a case number, but they were not helpful at all.

The issue is that she recognised the muggers as people she's seen hanging out at the local park and she thought the police would set up a sting or something, especially as they had knowledge of where they could be found. But the policewomen shouted at her and told her she was not special and a lot of other people get mugged and the case will probably never be solved. Which is true, if they have no intention of going out to look for them.

Tenant send "please call me" SMS to her phone and muggers called back and when they realised who it was, they told her to stop wasting their airtime. Later, they dropped off her documents and keys ( minus bank card, cellphone and cash) at the park entrance and then phoned the number she initially SMSed them to go get her stuff. I'd already bought new locks in view of the fact that they had her keys, so money lost there.

Meanwhile, we are all worried that muggers are still at large and operating with impunity. We feel that there is nothing to stop them from mugging her again, since they know she recognised them  ( as they recognised her) and the police didn't act.

As to the writing, I'm typing up the NAMELESS story I told you was stuck in my mind last year and I just kept scribbling everything because I had to. It's a very rough draft, but hopefully, there is something salvageable in the mess.

The contracted work is also going well. A lawyer from a company I've periodically done work for recommended me to three of his colleagues, who are also now sending me work. This means greater penetration of the company, which I hope will bring income growth.

Paint a picture in your mind

By Pamela Moeng

As a materials developer for several educational publishers, I had to learn to write good artwork briefs. Why bother, you might ask. Isn’t that what the illustrator is for? Learn how to develop a good artwork brief and you’ll be the darling of the artists the publisher contracts to illustrate your manuscript.


The biggest tip I can offer for beginners is learn to think in pictures. This is not as easy as it sounds, especially for those of us who find it natural to deal in words.

What I mean is when you ask the artist to draw a person, first think about how you see that person in your mind’s eye and how you see that drawing. Do you want a pencil sketch, a full-colour water colour or acrylic, a cartoon style or something highly realistic and detailed, almost like a photograph? Is the person you see in your mind old, young, male, female, tall, short, fat, thin, black, white, Chinese, Martian, fashionably dressed, dressed in rags, naked, in the middle of a city, a small town, a wilderness, barefoot, wearing shoes, boots, sandals, socks? Is the person’s hair short, long, black, blonde, curly, straight, full, thin, not there at all? Does the person wear spectacles and if so what do they look like? Are they modern, old fashioned wire rims, thick lens like cool drink bottle bottoms?

Think about the person’s personality. How would they talk? What is their fashion style? What are their favourite things and pet peeves. What is the level of their education? Who is their likely role model? All of these things may seem irrelevant but you’ll be surprised at how thinking about them will help you see that person in your mind and describe exactly what person you want for the artist.

If you ask for the artist to draw a place, say specifically whether it is urban, rural, suburban, peri urban, mountain, plains, meadow or veld, jungle, seaside, night, day, winter, summer, rain, snow, sleet, sun, flood, or drought.

If you ask for an object, like a cup or pot or chair, say whether it is pristine or damaged, modern, antique or just beaten up and old. Say what colour and style it is. Say what size and shape it is and whether it is fore grounded or in the background. Say what material it is made of too. Beware of using such descriptions as ‘a Coke bottle’, which may have copyright implications and in the case of Coke certainly does.

In addition to all of the above, make sure you provide the artwork numbers on a separate listing and also in the body of the manuscript with an indication of the size of the artwork, i.e. thumbnail, composite, ¼, ½, ¾ or full page or even double-page spread.

Make sure you indicate where the artwork should be placed. Say clearly what style the drawings should be: Cartoons? Highly detailed traditional? Photographic realism? Line drawings? Photographs? Black and white? Full colour? Spot colour?

Above all, provide references either as photocopies from books and magazines or online websites where the artist can get an idea of what you see in your mind.

In preparing your artwork brief, do make sure you follow the publishing house’s style and instructions so that you aren’t asked to redo it. Drafting the artwork brief can be as time consuming as drafting the manuscript it accompanies!

Follow these tips and you’ll get kudos from any artist or commissioning editor you work with.

What is your obsession



The house is similar to this one


Some women have an obsession with shoes. Others with purses or jewellery or even handbags. Mine is houses. Old houses.If I had money, I'd probably be shopping for houses the same way some people shop for clothes. Potentially expensive hobby, I know, especially because old houses always need to be fixed up and maintained. But damn, what a way to go broke:-)

This month I saw a house that I'm sad I can't have. It's my street. Built in the 1930s as were many of the houses in this suburb. Spacious, with 5 bedrooms, office, sunroom and huge livingroom. Well-maintained, though there's a bit one can do to personalise it and make it better. It has a nice garden too.

The church doesn't want to sell though ( I asked), because their means of income through rental. And even if they did want to sell, I can't afford it.  I wish.....

So. What is your obession?

Don’t rely on memory!

By Pamela Moeng

Journal keeping was part of the work I was expected to do at varsity for my English Education degree. A working mother and a student, time was limited, so that journal – please forgive me, Prof! – was often done hurriedly in retrospect. I’m sure my mark reflected that too!

As a teen I kept a diary sporadically but the responsibilities of being the eldest of all the children and oldest girl and waitressing after school for pocket money kept me away from paper and pen more than I liked.

Now holding down a day job, raising a young son and guiding my grown-up daughter and stepson, and trying to be a good partner to my man mean that my writing gets shoved to the end of the list each day. I’m trying to break that nasty habit but while I still struggle with making writing time, I use a notebook to record all the things my aging mind will forget after five minutes but which I know will be the exact paragraph, sentence or phrase for a piece of writing one day soon.

For awhile I carried a tiny dog-eared notebook and a pen – that either hid in the bottom of my bag or ran out of ink at an inopportune moment. After ripping out a few too many pages and ending up with bits and bobs of paper that I squirreled away in all sorts of places, I’ve realised – for me – my Blackberry is the perfect place to record all the things I don’t want to forget.

What exactly do I record?

• Snatches of conversation that would make convincing repartee for characters in a novel or short story
• Descriptions of scenery, smells, tastes, sounds, feelings
• Characterisations
• Plot ideas

 "What if" notions which prod me to turn situations upside down and turn them inside out

 All of these things can be just the impetus to start or finish a short story or novel.

At the moment, my near-sighted eyes headed with age toward far-sightedness find reading the tiny typeface on my BB is a challenge and my fingers used to a laptop keyboard seem Goliath size on the tiny keyboard of my BB. Given that a few of my day job colleagues now have iPad2s and swear by them, I may trade my more suitable net book for one. Touch screen, here I come.

But whatever method I use to record my musings and capture those moments that might never come again doesn’t matter. What matters is that I hold captive those bits and pieces that will sooner or later enrich my writing and entice and entrance a reader.

Monday update



Taking a break from digging soil prep in 
Brendon and Neville's  kitchen garden. 
The renovation group spent 2 weekends tiling
and painting and planting herbs.
Neville is a chef.


Friday was a very productive day. I woke up to an email from a commissioning editor from a publishing house asking for a full manuscript of Pam's third novel, which I sent. 

As Pam so aptly put it, Yeeehaaaw!

Her second novel is under consideration from another publisher and they said they'd let us know at the end of July, so we should hear from the soonish.

I finished a commissioned article for ZADifference, and the editor got back soon after saying she likes it. I also wrote and submitted a biographical piece for My First Time. Editor accepted it and says it will go online soon. The pieces are published anonymously so that women can feel free to express themselves, so I can't direct you to a specific piece.

Also spent a lot of time chatting to a friend who recently lost her job. Friday was her final and she doesn't have another job lined up.  I suggested that she freelances while she looks for another job, or instead of looking for another job, but she's resistant to the idea. And I get it.

Having watched me and some of our friends go through the feast and famine cycle, I'm sure she has no illussions about what self-employment means. Sometimes the hours are long, the work can be spporadic and cash flow is an issue unless you have savings. So I can see why she's reluctant to take the leap. Yet, does she have a choice when she is unemployed and has no viable prospects in the short-term?

For those who are self-employed: what made you take the leap to start your own business? Were you prepared ( had equipment needed, savings, maybe even a client or two) or was it circumstance that was forcing you? If you are still employed by others but want to start your own busines, what is stopping you from taking the leap?