Writing Blog (Book) https://www.Writing.Com/main/books.php/item_id/2263218 December 17, 2023, 11:30am I am sitting here, in the library (using their public wifi) on a Sunday late morning and my life feels like it has achieved nothing. My son is going through an issue and I can't be there to help him; my daughter has withdrawn even more into herself, and I can't be there to talk to her. The woman I like is really down because of her own family issues, and she won't accept my offers of help. The counsel of ...[Read Full Post] Sat, 16 Dec 2023 20:20:58 EST https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1061074 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1061074 December 16, 2023, 7:00am Three more columns. And here I've included two Christmas song lists for the time of the year. As much as I dislike Christmas, it is sort of expected that we do Christmas columns. And I need the money. [Link: 'Songs about jungles and forests (a reader request).'] [Link: 'Early original Christmas compositions, covering the years before 1980 in the rock-pop era.'] All songs done by the ori...[Read Full Post] Fri, 15 Dec 2023 15:37:14 EST https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1061036 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1061036 December 14, 2023, 8:30pm I added to almost all my stories today, including starting a new short story. My head is all over the place; I haven't heard how the surgery went and I am worried, though considering my friend's counsel has not contacted me, I assume the operation went well enough (I am to be contacted if she passes, apparently, according to an email I got from said counsel the morning of the op). However, that does not sto...[Read Full Post] Thu, 14 Dec 2023 04:57:09 EST https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060979 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060979 December 13, 2023, 7:00pm Sorry it's been a while. My friend went on for an operation today my time. She is going to lose 60% of her liver. But it's her bile duct they are most interested in. I have been keeping in touch with her (thank goodness for modern technology and video calls costing nothing) and have been nervous all day. I have written a little bit - my minimum on some days (500 words) - and today I churned out some stuf...[Read Full Post] Wed, 13 Dec 2023 03:33:40 EST https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060935 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060935 December 9. 2023, 6:00pm After some writing this morning, I spent this afternoon re-organising my portfolio, including collating all my Express Yourself Within 40 Words entries into a book. I also deleted a novel (I think I might be able to give it a home), and a template with exactly 1 view. So... In this short entry, here are my four most recent columns of songs. Why put them forth now? Well, first three of them are sort of Chris...[Read Full Post] Wed, 13 Dec 2023 03:34:38 EST https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060786 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060786 December 8, 2023, 6:00pm Did a little bit of writing and a lot of reading today. I really don't read enough a lot of the time because I am too busy writing, but I didn't want to force anything today (personal reasons... why does my life not get better?), so I just did a thousand words or so, and then finished the book I'd been working through for a couple of weeks, and then started the next in my TBR pile. I'm working throug...[Read Full Post] Fri, 08 Dec 2023 02:38:24 EST https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060671 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060671 December 7, 2023, 8:30pm So.. writing. My odd Abraham Lincoln adjacent story is sitting unloved as I added 29 hand-written pages to a story that I had started hand-writing back in May. I just sat there with music playing (symphonic rock - Nightwish, Apocalyptica in particular - for those playing at home) and wrote and wrote and then wrote some more. Then I realised I'm behind on column writing, so I found some music I'd been collati...[Read Full Post] Thu, 07 Dec 2023 04:57:29 EST https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060634 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060634 December 6, 2023, 5:45pm Another day of no blog. Sorry. Yesterday was another shitty day. The news she is getting from doctors get worse. She goes into surgery next week; fingers crossed for her. So... I did something silly, considering my income. I bought a box of chocolates for every staff member at the pub where I am currently staying. And for every librarian at the two libraries I use for wifi. I can't do anything directly to ...[Read Full Post] Wed, 06 Dec 2023 02:18:05 EST https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060587 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060587 December 4, 2023, 5:00pm So, it's time to let people know about my external columns. Remember, clicking helps and, you ever know, you might find some songs you'll enjoy! I didn't do this in November, so this is 2 months' worth. Sorry. [Link: 'Songs about drums and drumming.'] [Link: 'Songs without percussion (this was so interesting to collate).'] [Link: 'Songs about eagles.'] [Link: 'Son...[Read Full Post] Mon, 04 Dec 2023 01:29:20 EST https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060512 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060512 December 2, 2023, 5:30pm Continued my research. Did some reviews. Started the Express Yourself Within 40 Words challenge for December. Wrote the beginning of a poem and a short story. Collated songs for a column. Spent an hour and a half crying my eyes out. Cancer is such a sucky disease. And I feel guilty, because I am thinking about me, not about her. How I'll feel when she's gone, how much worse my loneliness will be...[Read Full Post] Sat, 02 Dec 2023 01:54:07 EST https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060426 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060426 December 1, 2023, 8:15pm Well, wasn't November a month? To those who read through my ramblings as I did NaNoWriMo, thank you. It is so good to know that people read and engaged with and seemed to be interested in what I had to say. I don't consider myself that interesting. I am just someone who writes and listens to too much music... and if he finds something he likes, gives it a go. But the feedback to my blog has been positive. I ...[Read Full Post] Fri, 01 Dec 2023 04:47:20 EST https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060375 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060375 November 30, 2023, 10:00pm Full-on day, but I did finish the short story. 5 works completed. A novel, a novella, a screenplay, a poem, a short story. A bit of everything this month. What a month. There is a chance I might have overachieved a smidge... but that's the way it goes. What next? Not sure, but I think some editing calls in December. I have a novel from earlier in the year that it's about time I went over. I mea...[Read Full Post] Fri, 01 Dec 2023 04:48:20 EST https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060313 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060313 November 29, 2023, 9:00pm So, I think I have an idea for my short story. A modern telling of the Minotaur myth. Let's see how we go. Not much more to say, really. Bad day for me emotionally, so I didn't get as much written as I was hoping, but still got words done. One day to finish this story, to make sure I have completed 5 works across five different styles, which is an amazing month for me. Considering my life situatio...[Read Full Post] Wed, 29 Nov 2023 05:34:21 EST https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060278 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060278 November 28, 2023, 8:00pm So, with summer due to start in 3 days... last night we had a thunder storm, power went out, hail damaged part of the town (and woke me up), so from 3:30 this morning, I was writing (laptops with decent batteries for the win!). As such... I finished the screenplay! Woo-hoo! 17k-plus words, 99 pages. In screenplays, one A4 page is assumed to be one filmed minute (though it is closer to 1:05 on average), so the fi...[Read Full Post] Tue, 28 Nov 2023 17:49:07 EST https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060239 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060239 November 27, 2023, 9:15pm This is so much fun to write! This is not a story I think I will be able sell - screenplays are a hard one in Australia and from Australians - but that means I can just go balls to the wall and make this as insane as I want. I've combined a Diprotodon, a cassowary, a Tasmanian Tiger, and a theropod dinosaur to create the Die-protodon itself and it is just insane. When there is just a fun story to be told, an...[Read Full Post] Mon, 27 Nov 2023 05:31:29 EST https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060192 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060192 November 26, 2023, 7:15pm All those who write screenplays, I am in awe. I am yet to find my groove. It is proving a lot more difficult than I had anticipated, especially as I am writing this as a direct movie screenplay. I've done short film screenplays for study, when I did my BA in Creative writing, and one of them was even filmed by students studying film-making. They had to make a lot of changes, which they went through with me, and so...[Read Full Post] Sun, 26 Nov 2023 03:54:05 EST https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060133 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060133 November 25, 2023, 5:30pm Well, there is one thing to say about writing a screenplay - it takes more time for fewer words than writing anything else. Part of it is the fact you should format as you go (formatting afterwards is time-consuming, tedious and often results in mistakes). Part of it is that you have to write differently, with a lot more tell than show. And part of it is thinking very visually. I mean, I write with a distinct visua...[Read Full Post] Sat, 25 Nov 2023 02:04:41 EST https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060070 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060070 November 24, 2023, 8:30pm AAAAnd... The Novella is over., it is called Our Own Characters, and it finished with a sappy ending, but it is a romance, so that is to be expected. Near the end, the male gives the speech he should have given twenty years earlier for winning a song-writing contest. It is in my previous blog entry and is possibly the best thing I've written all month. This is going to take a special beta reader...[Read Full Post] Fri, 24 Nov 2023 05:07:14 EST https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060022 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060022 November 24, 2023, 11:00am Been writing since 6:30 this morning. I need to finish this story. But... I just wanted to share this. "âThis award didnât come out of nowhere,â he said, his voice shaking a little; if Titania didnât know better, she would have sworn he was nervous. Her grin was, she hoped, encouraging. âThis has come from the people in my life, living their lives around me. I canât thank all of them, thereâs too m...[Read Full Post] Thu, 23 Nov 2023 19:23:20 EST https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060010 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1060010 November 23, 2023, 9:15pm That day off from "song muse story" (no, still no real title) did me wonders. The characters must have got together in my head and decided where things were headed, and that's where they've gone. Almost 5k words again today... and it would have been more, but some bad news curtailed my writing this afternoon. Just couldn't think clearly. Cancer sucks. Anyway, the MC let the man take her out, a...[Read Full Post] Thu, 23 Nov 2023 05:55:29 EST https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1059980 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1059980 November 22, 2023, 9:00pm So, like I said yesterday, a few days away from "song muse story" is on the cards. Turned out to be only a day and a half. My beta reader's notes were incredible. The story ended up longer, and yet tighter. She knew what worked for her as a reader and I trust her judgement in this matter. So, here is the problem of being a reader of your own work. You (and by you, I include me in this as wel...[Read Full Post] Wed, 22 Nov 2023 05:32:03 EST https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1059933 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1059933 November 21, 2023, 5:00pm Well... The story does, indeed, continue. He wants to start again. And he means that very literally. She thinks it is a game and is annoyed... and yet also intrigued. It's heading for a big showdown of emotion. Or maybe they'll just bonk. Stupid characters doing their own thing. Now.,. I wrote all of this this morning. I was planning on a 10k word day, maybe finish this story off, but my f...[Read Full Post] Tue, 21 Nov 2023 03:06:33 EST https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1059863 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1059863 November 20, 2023, 8:15pm Well... that got messy... briefly. Following on from yesterday... It was indeed a third option - the world found out about the MC and the singer because some dipshit TV personality took a photo and sold it to a newspaper. But very few believe that her - a waitress! - would be kissing someone like Dion Le Croix, chart-topping singer. Just a look-alike, they say. But some do know, and her boss has asked she not go...[Read Full Post] Mon, 20 Nov 2023 04:55:45 EST https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1059814 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1059814 November 19, 2023, 7:30pm Well, my MC did it - she went to bed with the famous singer. He wanted to bed her to annoy Frank who's stopped writing songs. She just felt wanted... and yet she refused to take it all the way. Why? She doesn't know. This is proving very interesting. I have no idea what's going to happen with these people. They really are going off course., I mean, I did not expect her to actually go to bed with t...[Read Full Post] Sun, 19 Nov 2023 03:59:01 EST https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1059761 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1059761 November 18, 2023, 7:45pm Is my MC coming around? She knows now how obsessed Frank has been these past 2 decades, and it's making her uncomfortable, but it's also stirring long dormant memories. And yet, he was the one who left her after their "date" (for want of a better term) at the pub. Romance stories are so not my wheelhouse, but this one is proving fun to write. A 41 yr old woman who works at a cafe, living alone, v...[Read Full Post] Sat, 18 Nov 2023 04:22:06 EST https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1059669 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1059669