Inspiring Cambodia

School holidays were spent in Malaysia, visiting family, with a five day side-trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia. What an awe-inspiring place! Thousand year old temples surrounded by lush jungle; ancient carvings; crumbling rocks; cool, dark passages - magical!

The gang at Angkor Wat.

Hot, steamy weather. The kind of heat that hits you as you leave the air-conditioned van, and sweat runs down your back.

Beautiful, gentle people.

Strangely, everything was in US dollars.

So many stories.... so few words.

I'd visit again in an instant.

Happy mood

Ideas have never been a problem for me. I have more ideas than I know what to do with. Ideas are the easy part. The first 20 000 words of a manuscript are easy too. The story flows, I'm excited because I'm writing something new, and the hard work hasn't really kicked in yet. About 30 000 words, I start to lag. I have to push through the barrier. I tell myself this is a good story, with interesting characters and a fabulous setting. If I've done my planning properly, I know where the plot is going. If I don't, then the project drifts away, never to be completed. I need to plot. Other writers prefer to fly by the seat of their pants.
40 000 - 50 000 is hard work, but once past that, I get a second wind. I keep track of my word counts each day, watching them grow. I finish my manuscripts at about the 70 000 - 80 000 mark.
Then the editing starts. Now I watch my word counts and delight as they drop. That means I'm tightening the plot, getting rid of fluffy qualifiers and deleting chunks that just aren't needed.
I'm in a happy mood at the moment because my editing is going well. I'm slashing, burning and lifting the quality of my writing. Tomorrow I might be in despair, but it's nice to have a few positive moments scattered amongst the pain!

Talented Friends

I'd like to give a plug to a couple of friends releasing new books soon.

Belinda Jeffrey is releasing her debut YA novel, Brown Skin Blue, this month. The launch will be at Avid Reader bookshop in West End, Brissie, Thursday 11th June. (6pm for 6.30) I've been very excited about this one ever since I had a sneak peak at the cover a few months ago. Belinda is an incredibly talented writer, and a very generous person. Brown Skin Blue should be a screaming success. Check out Belinda at www.belindajeffrey.wordpress.com

Talking of screaming successes:
Marele Day is launching her new novel, The Sea Bed, at the Byron Bay Writers Festival. This will be Marele's seventh book. Past successes have included 'Lambs of God' and the Claudia Valentine series. Marele was my mentor for my five days at Cooper's Shoot, and I'm so enamoured of her talent and willingness to help. If you want a sneak peak at The Sea Bed, go into a book shop and see if they have a little black Allen & Unwin '2009 fiction highlights' booklet. It describes Marele's book as: 'An illuminating story of love, family and change, told with simple humility and plain grace.'

I can't wait.

Coopers Shoot

Early May - I won a NRWC (Northern Rivers Writers Centre www.nrwc.org.au) residential mentorship with the fabulous Marele Day. For five wonderful, rainy days, myself and three other writers stayed at the Coopers Shoot Guest House outside of Bangalow. I've never had the luxury of writing full time, and having my meals prepared for me was a huge bonus (Thanks, Jan!)
Initially I was worried - how would I go, doing nothing but writing for five days? I usually hit a wall about the third day. And the logistics? Soccer training, school lunches, uniforms... But everything dovetailed nicely. I only had one urgent phone call from my husband - what was our son's medicare number? I panicked briefly, but it was only a school camp note that had to be signed.
So - five days, full time writing.
Mornings were taken up with group discussions, about writing in general, editing, strategies, hopes, dreams... Afternoons were private writing time, and one-on-one consultations with Marele.
We concentrated on 'tightening up' our prose - getting rid of weak phrases and fillers, that don't add anything to the story. We became pedantic, putting every sentence and every word under the microscope. Is there a better way to phrase this? A stronger verb? Is that dialogue realistic?
By afternoon, I was often too shattered to write very much, so took a walk around the guest house grounds to clear my head.
Wednesday was a full day of private writing, and working on ten pages that we were to present to the group for critique. A valuable exercise. Even though we were all writing different genres, to have the benefit of three objective opinions was priceless - and why writing groups are essential to anyone serious about honing their work.
My five days flashed passed. They are over now, but not forgotten. I'm still working through all the ideas and suggestions that came out of that week.

If you have the opportunity to participate in something like this, do it. Call in those 'family favours', let the kids eat toast for a week, and if you do it in winter, you don't even have to iron school shirts, because they can wear their jumpers on top! And if you absolutely can't because of work or you have babies or any other reason, dream for the day when it will be possible.

August 2008 - a lifetime ago. I'm dipping my toes back in the water, but it feels icy cold at the moment, and I'm not a cold-water kind of gal. I need a steaming hot spa to tempt me in.

Sadly, my dad

passed away on the 14th November 2008. His last few months were difficult, but I'm glad I got the chance to say 'good-bye'. I'm not sure if he ever found the peace I was hoping he'd find. He fought everyone and everything the whole, bitter way. And honestly, I never expected anything else. He raged against the day, but there were too many battles to fight. His absence has left a huge hole in my life, and he is sadly missed by all who loved him.

George William Pattrick 1931 - 2008

Detour

Okay, August is going to be a problem. I'll say that right now. A friend recently asked me how do other people manage to fit everything into their lives - writing, cooking, cleaning, exercising, kids etc etc. My profound response was sometimes our 'real' lives have to stop for our 'writing' lives. I use 'real' and 'writing' this way because until I make a living out of writing, it is still classified as a 'hobby' in my mind. And that's probably something else I should change... but I stray from my point.
I continued on to say: 'and sometimes our 'writing' lives have to be put on hold for our 'real' lives, especially when it comes to the health and well-being of our families. I'll feed my family take-aways all week and ignore clothes that have been on the line for days without feeling guilty, but sadly, life has taken an unexpected turn.
My loved father has a serious health issue at the moment, one which is not going to improve. This has caused considerable distress in the family, and I find, for the moment, all my energies and all my time is focussed on his well-being and the well-being of my mother, who is heroicly nursing him at home.
15 000 words for August is looking doubtful, but I can't turn away from my life, my 'real' life, at a time like this. Problems don't just disappear, we have to deal with them and somehow readjust our goals to fit the moment.
So, new goal for August. Stay sane, and help my mother stay sane. Tell my kids and husband each day how much I value them, and how they enrich and complete my life, just by being here. They are not responsible for my happiness, but they are an integral part of it. And writing will have to either wait or mould itself around my life as it is today, 8th August, 2008.

A Goal Achieved

The new project is going well. I made my goal of 8000 words for July. Now, I know that doesn't sound like much, and I should be able to do that in a good week, but for me at the moment, it was important to set a small, easily achieved goal and bask in the glow of success. I'll be more ambitious for August.
Which brings me to the question: Is it better to aim high and risk failing, or cheat a bit by setting a ridiculously easy goal and succeeding? I guess that answer is: both are valid approaches, as long as they work for you. The worst case scenario is setting that ridiculous goal and still not achieving it!
So, the goal for August is... 20 000 words. No, make that 15 000. More ambitious than July, still achievable, could be setting myself up to crash and burn, but I'll feel great if I make it.