Novel update

Progress on the first draft of City of Djinn has been fairly slow. Imagine a snail who has left his shoe at home, faced with crossing a road covered in broken glass.

It’s not the fault of the novel. This should be the most exciting part as we draw towards the conclusion - the wrapping up of story threads, big reveals, confrontations, battles, deaths…

As is often the case, outside life has been getting in the way. I started a new job three weeks ago and I’ve been sick twice in last two weeks. Both of these have taken up much of my brain power and physical energy. As I settle into the job and kick this last cold, I’m planning to get back on track.

The characters have split into three groups in three different locations, each searching for something – a thing or some knowledge - that will help them prevail against the baddies. Soon they’ll regroup in the city of Alzremi for the final showdown. I still don’t know how that will pan out. I’m just giving them a number of things that might help and I’ll see what happens when I throw it all together.

I estimate I probably have around 15,000 words left to write. The total word count currently stands at around 100,000.

Once I complete the first draft I’m going to treat myself to a copy of Scrivener, a software package for writers. It gets very good recommendations and, at only £30, is  worth a go. It has lots of functionality to help structure novels, which will be very useful in the rewrite stage.

To finish up with a picture, here’s something I made last week - simple labradorite earrings. I’ve been working on make my wire wrapping much neater and it’s certainly getting better.

Labradorite earrings

My 100th post (and blogs from the mists of time)

WordPress tells me this is my 100th post on this blog. I feel like I should do a give-away of some crafty item to celebrate but, as I haven’t currently got access to make anything, that will have to wait.

Instead I thought I’d take a little trip down memory lane.

I started my first personal blog, Ordinary Little Art, in July 2009. It was very similar in focus to this one and had 90 published posts before I mothballed it in favour of this one. Last year I set up a new blog for my travels in Indochina and Australasia. From the Delta to the DMZ had 84 posts and has been by far the most popular of my personal blogs with nearly 8,000 views to date (even if my dad claims most of those were him).

But neither of these were my first blog. That honour goes to a work blog I started in April 2007. After attending a digital museum conference I was inspired by the potential of blogging (still a relatively new phenomenon back then – at least in museums!) to get information quickly and cheaply out into the public domain.

At the time I was working at the UK National Inventory of War Memorials, part of the Imperial War Museum. I loved to write and this was a way to do that and share the stories of the war memorials and the people they remembered. I even got some of our retired volunteers blogging, after some initial skepticism.

I wrote 180 posts over 13 months before I left the museum. My first ever blog post was a short, tentative outing about the removal of a war memorial in Estonia. It wasn’t the most inspiring story - happily they got better. This is one that always sticks out for me – ‘Stories Behind the Names – Layton Air Raid Casualties’.  This one is also very poignant and based on one of the many wonderful original postcards we held – A Child’s Christmas Treat.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was while working at the Imperial War Museum that I first had the idea for my First World War novel. At the time there was much publicity for a campaign (later succesful) to have the men executed for cowardice and desertion during WW1 granted a pardon, in recognition of the fact that many were suffering from what we’d today diagnose as PTSD.

One interesting fact I came across was that only about 10% of the men sentenced to death were actually executed. The rest had their sentences commuted. I began wondering what it would be like for these men, convicted but then reprieved and sent back to continue fighting with that sentence – and presumably the stigma – hanging over them.

Other ideas also coalesced into the plot I have today. I found out more about the role of women on the Western Front and liked the idea of a hard-bitten female character. I also learnt about the origins of the Imperial War Museum in 1917, while the war was still raging and victory was by no means certain. A year or two later, these ideas and more eventually came together into my work-in-progress novel, When the Guns Stop.

Crafting ahoy!

I’ve been itching to make things. I keep seeing jewellery or textiles that inspire me. I want to sculpt and paint horses. This is not helped by the fact I’ve not had access to any of my arts and crafts supplies since mid-January. This weekend I got to spend some time with them. All being well, we should be reunited for good at Easter when I move everything back to my current home.

Before I get crafting again, here are a few bits I made before Christmas that haven’t yet seen the light of day on this blog.

This is a necklace and earring set I made my mother for Christmas to match one of her outfits. I really like this colour combination – it’s one of my favourites. They use glass and lucite flowers and swarovski crystals on a brass chain.

Green, blue and brass flower necklace

Green, blue and brass earrings

I just finished up this little fabric button badge this weekend. I cut a circle of fabric and sewed red seed beds to outline the rose. Then I cut a smaller circle of card, added a little padding fluff and sewed around the fabric to pull it tight around the card circle. I glued it all in place. Lastly I sewed a pin fastening to a circle of felt, then glued that to the back of the badge, covering up the messy bit.

Rose button badge

Painting is not my forte, but I keep having the occasional crack at it. This is a painting in acrylics I did back in the summer. It’s based on a photograph I took of a beach at the north east tip of the North Island in NZ. It was the most unusual place, with strange, ethereal white mist and sand. I wanted to have a go at bringing in different colours to a scene that at first glance seems to be quite monochromatic. It was an interesting exercise and parts of it are more successful than others – bascially I quite like the top half and don’t like the bottom half!

Beach, Northland, New Zealand

This was the original photo, put through the ‘auto smart fix’ filter in Photoshop to make the colours pop out more.

Northland beach

This is another photo of the beach, showing the colours more as they really were that day.

Northland beach, NZ, May 2011

Finally making progress again

After a bunch of distractions this year, I feel like I’m finally back on track and making  progress with my fantasy novel, City of Djinn.

I’ve gone back to what I know works from five years of NaNoWriMo - setting a daily word count target. I chose 1,000 words (about 1.5 sides of A4 typed text) as it’s quite easily achievable but also makes your feel like you’re getting somewhere. It’s also a nice round number.

Unlike NaNoWriMo, there is no total target where over or under performance one day affects the next. Every day is a new target of (at least) 1,000 words.

I’ve been doing this for a week now and have only failed to meet the target once (writing 357 words, which is still 357 more words than I’d have written otherwise.) Most days I write slightly more – 1221 was my best day, done entirely on my iPhone while I travelled on trains and tubes around London.

This approach to writing has lots of benefits. It’s not too onerous (no sitting down for hours on end every night after work) but slow and steady it gets your there eventually. It also keeps you thinking about your novel, even when not writing. Those little thoughts in odd moments - in the shower, on the train – are how plots get worked out and characters developed.

I’m now up to 11,300 words for this final novel section, which I estimated should be complete somewhere between 30-40,000 words. At this rate I should have the first draft complete by the end of April.

New jewellery inspiration

Here’s a round-up of some of the most inspirational jewellery I’ve come across recently.

Book necklace from Peg and Awl

I love these little book necklaces from Peg and Awl. Inspires me to try making things with leather – I have a stash of scrap pieces from my forays into making model horse tack a few years ago. Peg and Awl make some wonderful things from reclaimed materials – be sure to check them out.

Floral Button pendant necklace by Lune Designs

This is by a piece by Lune Designs. I love the rustic, original, characterful work she creates. She also writes a very interesting blog – The Cerebral Dilettante.

I could look at handmade lampwork beads for hours. These next two illustrate two completely different styles. I love the ancient look of the second set.

'Aqua Tide' bead by Claire Scott

Glass lampwork beads by Radiantmind

I’d love to try hand felting one day. This owl brooch by ShishLOOK Design is ridiculously cute.

Hand felted owl brooch by ShishLOOK Design

Research at the Wallace Collection

It’s been two weeks since I was offered a job and I’m still trying to effectively refocus from job hunting to writing. I have been doing writing related activities - reading and researching and planning and a bit of tinkering - however not much actual writing. I also have my age-old problem of getting distracted by different projects.

This week I have been reading ‘My Dear I Wanted to Tell You’, an excellent novel set during the First World War. I’ve avoided reading modern WW1 novels since I’ve been writing one in case I get unduly influenced or discouraged (because someone else has got to my plot first!). Although there are some similarities it is still quite different (in tone and content) and I’ve actually found it very inspiring – hence the tinkering with my WW1 novel, when I’m supposed to be working on the fantasy novel

Last weekend in the interests of kick starting enthusiasm with my fantasy novel I took myself out for a field trip to the Wallace Collection. I hadn’t actually heard of the Wallace Collection, a medium-sized, national museum tucked away behind Oxford Street, until I started working in museums. They have an excellent fine and decorative arts collection but the reason I went was for the Middle Eastern arms and armour.

After a detour to the restaurant I spent my time in the arms and armour galleries sketching and making notes about the objects, checking materials and dimensions in the old-fashioned catalogues - hardbound books on wooden plinths - dotted around the galleries.

It’s a treasure trove of scimitars and tulwars, sabres and salapas. Helmets, small round shields, fine mail and plate armour, battle axes, maces, spears and sharpened quoits. Polished steel, serrated steel, blades and metalwork engraved and inset with gold, gems or brightly coloured enamel. Grips made from jade, ivory, buffalo horn or pink coral. Scabbards of red and green velvet, shark skin, gold thread and embossed leather.

Bladed weapons and armour are a staple of fantasy novels. It’s a challenge to avoid formulaic descriptions of these and fighting scenes and to come up with something realistic and original. Looking at examples of these beautiful, yet practical and deadly tools makes it easier to evoke what it’s like to live in a world where they are commonplace. The weapons have a physicality and a malevolence. These were tools designed first and foremost to kill and main other human beings.

At the museum you could also try on some replica armour. The velvet jerkin reinforced with small steel plates was quite comfy. I took one look at the plate armour (back and chest pieces, plus skirts) and decided there was no way I was getting into that on my own.  Similarly, I could barely lift the full coat of mail and I know from trying it on in the past that you end up with oil everywhere. I don’t think I would have lasted very long on the battlefield.

To morning or not to morning….that is the question

Since I’ve been back working full-time I’ve been experimenting with various strategies for getting the most out of my, now reduced, free time. Those novels aren’t going to write themselves. Many self-improvement gurus promote the idea of waking up an hour earlier each day.  This gives you an extra hour of time to work on your own projects before everyone else is up and, on the face of it, sounds fairly sensible.

But of course you’re not actually getting an extra hour. You’re just losing an hour from the evening and, if you’re anything like me, this is not necessarily a good exchange. I’ve long found the hours between about 10pm and 1am a very productive and creative time for me. The concept of waking earlier seems to be built on an inherent belief that it’s more virtuous to get up early than stay up late. Probably something the Puritans brought in.

However, in the interests of scientific fairness, this morning I decided to try getting up 45 mins earlier (6.30am) so I could go for a run. I didn’t find it too difficult to get out of bed but once I was out running I was lethargic and unfocused. I kept thinking about stopping which I would never normally do on a run of that length. I was dehydrated (I didn’t want to have more than once glass of water sloshing around in my stomach), I got mild stomach cramp and had a peculiar taste in my mouth for hours afterwards. After the run I still felt tired, had leaden legs and ended up eating a bacon sandwich and two mini chocolate brownies for breakfast. I can safely say I will not be repeating this experiment any time soon and will stick to evening runs during the week.

Recently I’ve been reading a bit about sleep strategies, such as Steve Pavlina’s experiments with polyphasic sleep (sleeping for just 30 minutes, six times in each 24 hour period. Not very practical unless you’re self-employed but, bizarrely, it doesn’t actually send you stark raving mad.) Something else I’ve started looking into is napping, which has been shown to have physical and mental health benefits by several scientific studies.

Apparently human beings naturally have two dips during a 24 hour cycle. One is 2.00-4.00am (not going to be an issue) and the other is around 1.00pm (if you’re a morning person – or ‘lark’) or 2.30pm in you’re an ‘owl’.  I became well acquainted with this afternoon slump not long after I started working full-time in my early twenties. It didn’t take long to realise that, after a lunch high in refined carbohydrate (e.g. a ciabatta sandwich and bit of cake), I’d end up in a coma for two hours. These days I try to lay off the white flour and eat more protein and vegetables.

Trying to find a comfy bed somewhere at work for a midday nap is a bit impractical (although I am currently working in a hospital…) but I also find I’m very tired when I first get home from work, around 6pm.  What if a short nap then would leave me more awake for the rest of the evening (the main time I’m likely to be writing) and also give me time in the sleep bank, hence allowing me to access more of that creative late-evening period?

We sleep in cycles of 90-mins, and this cycle encompasses several different types of sleep. According to research, timing the length of your naps to certain points on that sleep cycle can give different effects on waking. Get it wrong and wake at the wrong point of the cycle and you can end up with the grogginess of ‘sleep inertia’. 45 mins seems to be a good length of time to improve alertness and creative thinking, so I got home from work, set my alarm and got into bed.

I’ve only had one crack at this so far and I didn’t actually manage to fall asleep properly – I’m going to have to work on that bit – but I did feel more alert on getting up. Unlike the early morning running experiment, I think there might be something to this one and I’ll try it again.

And today’s good news….

I’ve been a bit quiet on the blogging front but I have a good reason for my distraction. I’ve been focussing on job hunting activities and yesterday they finally paid off when I was offered a project/exhibition manager role at one of the big national museums in London.

It’s a great position in an amazing museum and I’m very excited to be starting there at the beginning of April. It’s taken 10 months, 23 proper job applications (I lost track of the temp jobs I applied for) and 12 interviews.

Writing has been very much neglected for most of the last month, so I’ll now be turning my attention back to that. As anticipated, I didn’t get anywhere with the short story competition I entered earlier in the month so now I’ll have a scout out for another to enter and get back into the habit of writing my novel regularly.

Almost published…

My apologies for the dearth of blog posts. All work and no play make for a dull blog.

I’ve been doing full-time temp work for the last three weeks whilst still trying to find a more permanent job in my sector (submitting applications forms and preparing for interviews). I’ve also been doing some volunteering work for two charities, which I’m hoping will improve my chances of landing said job. All this has not left much time for more interesting pursuits.

I did have a small writing success of sorts this week. I occasionally buy Women’s Running magazine and back in the autumn thought I had an interesting subject for a letter. The star letter each month wins a prize. A month ago I finally sat down and wrote a quick email to the magazine.

Yesterday I found out I had won this month’s star letter and consequently a nice Asics running top. It’s a piece of short prose targeted at a particular market that’s been printed and earned me payment so I’ll count that as a success

I haven’t seen the magazine so I don’t know how the letter was edited but here it is in its entirety.

Last year I lost my job and ended up unemployed and living back with my parents – not somewhere any 36 year old woman wants to find herself. In an attempt to stay healthy and get out of the house I took up running regularly, up to four times a week. I’ve run on and off over the years – once even doing a 10km – but this time something strange happened. I found I actually enjoyed it! Running has become really important to me. It helps me to relax and gain new perspectives as my mind wanders creatively as I jog around the country lanes. I’m still job hunting but I’ll always be grateful that this period of unemployment gave me an unexpected love of running.

A little update – priorites and small progress

Earlier this week I was having a bit of a sulk because I didn’t feel I was really getting anywhere achieving my goals. I also found out I hadn’t got an interview for a job I’d applied for last month which is always a bit annoying, especially when I’d already interviewed once before for that role.

My flatmate pointed out, rather reasonably I suppose, that I had given myself until the end of the year to achieve my goals and we’re only halfway through February.

Happily, since Monday I’ve managed to complete and submit three job applications and finish and enter a short story into a competition (in addition to working full time), thereby satisfying even my completely unrealistic expectations. I am admittedly rather tired now.

I don’t think the short story is much good but a) I suspect I will always think that way about the things I write and b) if I don’t get on and enter/submit anything I certainly won’t ever become a published writer. So I finally sent it, 40 mins before the closing date. I’ll put it up here in the next month, so you’ll be able to judge for yourself. I can never think of titles and was forced to fall back on my old favourite technique from childhood of using a meaningful-sounding section of the last line in the story.

Unfortunately, in the immediate future, I think fiction writing is going to have to take a bit of a back seat to job hunting and doing things that make job hunting more successful (e.g. volunteering, research and site visits). Temping has reminded me more than ever how much I want to get a job again doing the thing I love. Nine months has been far too long. I love writing too, of course, but for the moment it just doesn’t pay the bills. Once I have a job again in my sector I can turn all my energies back to writing.