Tuesday 22 November 2011

Feeling lucky, punk?

...this writer is: JF Rodrigues

He's put a bet on himself at William Hill that he'll win the Man Booker before he's 60. (He's 47 now.)

It's ambitious, driven - I won't be doing it myself but whatever gets you motivated, right?

My favourite grape variety in white wine is Sauvignon (this is relevant, honest) and knowing that the Sancerre region of France is famed for its Sauv Blanc I asked Mario to buy me a bottle last Christmas so I could save it and open it when I'd finished writing something longer than a short story.

11 months on and it still sits atop the kitchen top.

(Now I must reassure myself) Don't panic, Teresa! You are a bitty writer, you write a bit here, a bit there, work on several things at once, all is not lost, etc etc.


ANYWAY. That wine is my motivator. But I'm worried now - how long will it stay 'good'? It says 2009 on it - how long have I got???


What about you, do you have anything set up to motivate you?

Friday 18 November 2011

I said this post would be awesome...

...it *might* not be.

But I was thinking how much I love having days off to write. I work two jobs and my shifts can vary, but at the moment they are Friday - Tuesday so Wednesday and Thursday are free, and they are usually the days I knowingly and more fully dedicate time to writing. And even though these days are my own, I definitely have a programme of some kind, a routine I follow.

So because I like it when writers tell you a bit about their routine (and if you read my previous post you will know I am rehabilitating myself as a blogger) I thought I'd share my recipe for a good writing day.



1. Mario is at work/out. I can write when he is at home, but I realised a couple of years ago that I need, and like, time to myself to write, and that should only be interrupted if I interrupt it. Also, that way, if I don't do much, it's MY FAULT, no one else's.

2. I do all the boring stuff early on. Washing up, laundry, posting parcels (which I don't do a lot of, but I did today), food shopping. All done before noon, ideally.

3. Coffee in a coffee shop. I sit there with my notebook, maybe a paper, maybe a writing magazine, and if I don't write or feel like it it's okay, this part is just about being somewhere I've chosen to be on my day off and having a good coffee. Usually I write at least a list of what I want to do that day.

4. Freedom - I downloaded this programme for about £6 and it's ace. I spoke about it here. It blocks the internet - and this focuses my energy to, you know, writing. I find 2 hour chunks work well for me.


Link

5. Ssssh. Quiet. Not like deadly silence, but I can't write with music on. I wish I could, it'd be nice to be one of those writers who gets inspired by music and tiptaps away all full of intense musicality.

6. Tea. I've had a coffee, I'd like a green tea in the afternoon, please. And a biscuit. Ta.



That's usually it, actually, but every so often...

7. I like to put on my favourite shirt. It is falling apart, I can't wear it in public, but there is something about it I love. When I'm wearing it I think I'm a bohemian painter or something.







Tell me about your recipe for writing - post in the comments below or create a post of your own and I'll link to it.

Thursday 17 November 2011

Blog-o-fear

I have become a hestitant blogger. If I don't have any writing news, I don't know what to write (here). Or I do, but there is a voice in my head saying, 'Whogivesashit?'.

So apologies for a real lack of blogs posts here these past few months.

Does anyone else have this problem? Any easy bloggers who don't have that voice there? Or maybe you do but you push it to one side? I think I've done that in the past.

Maybe it's like a lot of stuff, if you think too much about whogivesashit you realise not many people do, or you realise how insignificant the thing you're considering is.

And then you loop back round to, well, just do it - if peopledontgiveashit they'll stay away, right? I reckon it stems from a fear of being judged, like - why are you talking about how many words you've written or what kind of notebooks you use in a public place???

I should just get over myself. I'm being far too British in my hestitating and now far too American in my searching for answers. (Stereotyping a go-go.)

Next post will be awesome.

Wednesday 9 November 2011

overheard

Middle-aged man in the pub to his friends:


"Would I take her back? Yes. Do I sit there and think about it? No."