The Snows of Terror (part II)

There's still snow outside and I'm still chipping away at the short story.

It's not coming easily today. I'm not sure whether it's my mood or the nature of the story I'm working on: character and setting-wise I'm in someone else's house playing with their toys.

I speak with other writers on twitter, by email or face to face and I hear that they get 1000 - 2000 words done in a sitting and here's me struggling to knock out 700 - 800 words. Something's wrong here, surely? I'm positive I'm becoming a better, more accomplished writer but my discipline and self control are getting worse. A lot worse.

Perhaps I need a timetable, as though I were at school or university again. Something solid, planned out and written down that I have to follow. Perhaps making my day more rigid and regimental might get me into a set and regular pattern that will, if adhered to, eventually help me to produce 1000 - 2000 words per day that I so desperately need to be knocking out at this stage in my writing career.

Or perhaps I'm meant to be the 700 - 800 word producing dodderer and always will be for the rest of my life.

The Snows of Terror (part I)

Nothing keeps you indoors and writing like a good fall of snow.

OK, it's not as bad as the two foot or more that shut the whole country down for several weeks over Christmas, but it was snowing pretty much none-stop all day yesterday. We took a break from sitting curled up in front of a roaring fire and working our way through series 3 of The Avengers, Classic Star Trek and the complete Superman movie series to pop out for, what turned out to be, an hour and a half walk down nearby country lanes in the falling snow. There was not a soul around, except for a field full of sheep. It was wonderful. Very peaceful.

This morning the snow was still around. It had frozen overnight and it took nearly 15 mins for the two of us to get the snow and ice scraped off and cleared from my fiancée's car. I saw her off to work then tottered to the local shop for my daily fix of Diet Coke, before sitting down to write.

It's a little frightening as we have to keep a close eye on the weather at certain times of the year. A bad fall of snow can cut the village off from the outside world for several days. The roads pretty much depend on the frequency of the snow ploughs and the gritter lorries. On New Years Day, while out visiting relatives, we had to abandon the car a couple of miles from our village and walk home. Luckily the weather was so bad there was no traffic down the pitch-black country lane we had to walk.

Anywho...got a short story to crack on with. Even though the deadline isn't until the end of next month I want to finish the first draft by the end of the week, plus I have an article for the next issue of Hub magazine to start. Time for digital extraction from none specified orifice.

Numero Uno

Hello. Welcome to my first blog. I should have done this a long time ago.

To tell the truth, I'm using this as a bit of a kick in the pants for me. You see, I'm a writer and the hardest thing about writing is actually writing. Let me explain...

Focus is the key. Focusing on the piece in hand and getting it done. That's why we shut ourselves away in little rooms, with a desk, a PC and a table lamp. Close the door, block out the real world. Mind you, we do tend to have action figures, spaceship models, books and the internet in that little room with us...

Right now I'm working on a novel, an article for Hub Magazine, I'm editing a collection of the first five of said Hub articles and I'm working on a short story for Big Finish.

My mind has a tendency to wander. I surf the net, stare out of the window, flick through the television, arrange my books into alphabetical order, polish the cat....anything that distracts me from the work in hand. So I need this blog to expose my shortcomings, my laziness, my (sometimes) lack of mental control and (with a bit of luck and a prevailing wind) shame myself into getting the work done! Oh, and I don't actually own a cat to polish!

Plus, of course, if in the unlikely event of anything exciting or important happening to me along the way I'll write about that too!