The good morning, good night thread

[delboy]

Have a good break, Ed! 

Still a couple of days to go for me - and I'm feeling as rough as I've felt in a long time. Had a really awful cough all week and I kept it under control with a mixture of whisky, cough mixtures, asthma inhalers, and Lemsip until Saturday night when I had a gig  to get through. The gig was great but I think my body just rebelled yesterday and said enough enough's. Feel quite old and decrepit and rattling today. Still...got a week off soon :-))

[Ed]

Thanks guys -- I hope you're having a good day. It's absolutely beautiful here. 26C and sunny all day every day. I could get used to this. It's really quiet too, we almost have the place to ourselves. Hope you're feeling better soon, Del

[Geoff_N]

Exhausted traipsing around the country and being jumped on by my toddler grandkids. Grand indeed
Then minor disaster as I couldn't remember the new password for my email just as I needed to pick up links sent to me for promoting the free Kindle copies of ARIA: Left Luggage. Aarggh. I had to wait until there was only 2 and a bit days of the 5-day-promo left to go.

So if you'd like a free copy for your Kindle, or for the free Kindle software and apps on Androids, Apples and PCs then here's the promo bit for you!
FREE #Kindle copy of 5* Award-winning, apocalyptic ARIA – Amazon US  http://amzn.to/1h4DIaI
Kindle UK - http://amzn.to/1gn3iHI
Just today and tomorrow left.

Interesting to see how it goes.

[elay2433]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone. Anybody doing resolutions this year? Typically I don't bother because I hate to let myself down, but what the hey.

I'm setting some specific goals for myself this time around, and going the extra mile to set them down in writing (which for some reason makes them stick in my mind more acutely). On writing, I'm going to shoot for getting my butt in the chair and pounding out a few words at least every weekday, if not all week long. I'll allow myself a little leeway, but I want to shoot for 1,000 words a day, whether it be toward a story, a chapter, an essay or a Doom Flash Challenge. My idea is to have a rough draft story (or chapter) completed once a month. Also, while I'm in the progress of completing those new stories, I'm second-drafting and polishing older works to get them out into circulation (beginning with existing works). That way by the end of next year I'll have, at the very least, accumulated a dozen story rejections (or made decent progress on a longer work). And I'll have shaken all the rust off. Ideally it would mean completing a new first-draft story a month, editing/polishing an older one that's had a bit of time to sit, and getting a story subbed out. A story a month. Sounds simple, right?

Anyone setting any specific writing goals for the new year?

Good luck to those that are.

Jerry

[Ed]

Happy New Year everybody

Got home in the early hours of yesterday morning to wind and rain and a two an a half hour drive to get home at 4:30am. One of the main fuses had mysteriously blown while we were away, so the house was swathed in inky blackness and very cold, like stepping into a fridge. Speaking of which, both the fridge and freezer had defrosted in the absence of power, so the whole lot had to be cleared up and thrown out. Luckily, there wasn't much in either. We all took ourselves off to bed and slept in our clothes. The kids didn't awaken until midday, but my wife and I were up at seven and couldn't get back to sleep. Slept very well last night, though.

Off out tonight for a meal with friends and a few drinks to usher in the New Year. Should be good. I hope you all have a good one too

No resolutions here, for the same reason as you, Jerry. I do aim to put the fork down and lose a few pounds, though. I can't just keep getting fatter year on year and could do with being two stone lighter, I reckon. Whether or not I'll succeed I don't know. My job is getting more and more sedentary, which makes it harder.

[delboy]

Happy New Year from me, too 

Still suffering a little from the dreaded lurgy which has put a dampener on this year's festive season - but it's still been nice to have the time off work and to relax. Out with the band for the final time this evening (I'm sure there will be other bands along soon enough, so I hope this isn't my Last Waltz) so no drinking, just lots of rock'n'roll - although I might partake of a celebratory glass of good whisky when I get in.

I could write a long list of resolutions but I shan't. Like most other folk, I make a list and don't stick to it, so what's the point? I am writing a bit at the moment and enjoying it, so I shall endeavour to keep that going. Other than that, just to be happy 

Have a good evening one and all.

Derek

[marc_chagall]

Happy New Year everyone!

No particular writing resolutions here, but the first email I opened this morning was an invitation to judge a poetry competition, so that was an excellent start to the year.

[Geoff_N]

Ed forgot to mention that it was his birthday today. HAPPY New Year AND Happy Birthday to Ed 

[Ed]

Ed forgot to mention that it was his birthday today. HAPPY New Year AND Happy Birthday to Ed 

Ah, no, but thanks anyway Geoff Don't know how that happened. Happy New Year

[delboy]

Here's the conundrum I face every holiday - how to maintain the writing when one goes back to work. It happens every holiday. I get into a groove, it's going well. Most mornings I can get up, brew a coffee, sit down at the computer and write maybe 600 to 1000 words. It takes a while to get into it - I have to remind myself of all my usual writing mantras (write to find inspiration, don't wait for inspiration before you write / allow oneself to write rubbish knowing that there will be many revisions to come / etc ) but with a little will-power and enough time it happens.

Then, come work, the time element vanishes. There's scarcely enough for a cup of coffee, a piece of toast, and a single repetition of mantras, let alone actually doing any writing before work calls.

So I'm dreading Monday as my dreams will once again be washed away...

[marc_chagall]

I'm in the opposite situation. House has been full of guests since the week before Christmas. Daughter and son-in-law are still here for another week and a half. I've barely managed to get anything written as a result. Once I'm back working and guests have all departed I might actually get something done.

[Ed]

That's a shame, Del. What you need is for somebody to option one of your cowboy books for film. The one I read would have made a good western. I watched Django unchained a couple of days ago and wondered then whether we would suddenly see a rash of westerns because of it. You never know

Over Christmas a few people I haven't seen for a while asked me how my writing was going and I had to admit it wasn't happening at all. I wrote a lot when my job used to be boring and repetitive, because my mind was crying out for some kind of release. Now that I'm run off my feet and I've got a million things on my mind, and I've been on the computer for most of the day anyway, the last thing on my mind is writing fiction. I still, in bored moments, think about the stories I've half written -- especially one that I like where I've decided I'm telling the whole thing from the wrong point of view. So I'm thinking one day I will jump back in and bang out a load of stuff really quickly, because I know where I'm going with it. But it could be that I'll have over thought it by then and come out with nothing

It must be four or five years since I went to Borderlands Bootcamp. I remember at the time asking F Paul Wilson how he found time to write when he was a practicing GP. He said he started at 5am every morning and wrote for two hours before work. That's dedication. I think that's a young man's game, though. I like my sleep too much these days

[delboy]

Yes, getting up that early is no fun. Trouble is, I've been doing it a bit recently, alas not to write, but to work, on account of stress/pressure/workload - call it what you will. So to do some writing before that, I'd have to be getting up at 3.00 am... But anyway, I'm determined to change that attitude. Too old and long in the tooth to be like that with work any more.

And all that said, the writing is going well at the moment. I just have to find a way to keep the momentum up from Monday. Now that the band has split I could relax on the music front a bit and concentrate on fiction. That's actually what I've been doing this week. The last 18 months I've put a massive amount of focus on the music. Maybe this year I can let the pendulum swing back to my writing.

Very early days yet - but in a few months time I might be looking for a critter or two!

Cheers
Derek

[elay2433]

I know what you mean, Del. Going back about a year, I had a schedule down. I got up early every morning, at least a couple of hours before I had to get the kids up for school. That gave me time to get ready and be in the chair with about an hour (give or take) before it was time to wake the household. That worked great. I wrote everyday, even if it was only writing about what I was writing (if that makes sense). What I mean by that is, sometimes I would write out what it was that was stopping me from moving forward. A lot of times I'd waste the whole hour working out what was holding me back. But that was okay, because usually I was able to move forward the next day. I did that for about three months and it was great. A little hard to maintain, for me anyway, which is why I let the routine disappear. But it pays off if you can somehow make it a priority. Also, during that time, I was pretty good about staying on top of other aspects of life and taking care of non-writing business. That way I wasn't tempted to spend time designated for writing instead catching up with other things that needed my attention. Helped too that I'd given up alcohol at the time, which made getting proper sleep a breeze, and waking up early not much of an issue.

So far this year, I haven't been able to get back to the early morning schedule. Working a lot of overtime recently (I'm on a late lunch break now), and drinking too many beers in the evenings, so I've been sleeping in when I can. I do know though, for my situation, that early mornings are going to be my most effective time for writing, and the only time I'll ever really get to do it without any interruption. So I've got to work on rotating back to that. I'm shooting at writing everyday this new year, and so far I haven't failed. I haven't hit my goal of 1,000 words a day either, but that's not as important (yet) as consistently just writing.

I remember once discussing this in the past. I'd read an article about some writer, a widow with five children who got up everyday a few hours early to write before her day began. I don't remember who it was, but she made it. It boiled down to priority. What the article said was that you had to make it a top priority to get it going. Sounds right, I know, but it's hard to see where or what else you can cut out of your life in order to make room for the daily writing sessions.

Good luck when the work week starts. I'll think of you if I can manage to get my ass up early enough to get my words down before work.

Jerry

[delboy]

I was up twenty minutes later than normal but did manage to do my quota of words before work. Had to forego breakfast though. Then missed lunch as I had conference calls right through. Now looking at a square of novelty chocolate that simply hasn't measured up temptation-wise to the other delights on offer over Christmas and my stomach is rumbling...