Connecting with Writers

I am joining the Writers’ Platform Building Campaign. The idea is to connect bloggers, writers, and help build your own platform, whilst encouraging other bloggers.
It’s a wonderful way to meet and connect with other writers and industry professionals, and I love the idea of paying it forward.
You can sign up and find more details about this exciting event at Rach Writes blog.
I must admit to being ever so excited at making new writerly friends and discovering interesting bloggers.

Learning as a writer

Lately, I've been rewriting. In fact, to rephrase that, I've been learning how to rewrite the first draft. To do this, I've read several very good books on how to structure stories, craft, and I'm going to share my thoughts on these 'how to' books in the coming weeks and months, I'm sure.

For now, I'll just say that the information has helped me realise that not only do you have to sit down and type away, word after word, sentence following from the next, but there has to be a sound structure to the writing, otherwise, the story falls flat.

I have begun to notice this in the books I now read, and I hope that skill will transpose to my own ability to objectively edit my stories. I'm very much on a steep learning curve: one that I am enjoying, but also striving for perfection - is there ever such a thing in one's writing?

Rewriting as a Writer

This week I went back to the first draft of a novel I wrote three years ago. Yes. You heard. Three years. What on earth have I been doing while that one was stewing! Well, I’ve written other stuff, critiqued and edited short stories, got myself halfway through a literature degree, and moved twice.

And through it all, this story has been maturing on my hard drive, various pen drives and in hard copy, thoroughly rotting away in a large folder file.

The reason I’ve not gone further with it is because I’ve been stuck on the rewriting. I had never really fathomed out the process of putting together the strands of story to make a complete whole.

So, while I’ve had practice in writing, I’ve not had the necessary skills to pull it together. I’ve undertaken to fix that, and this week has been my first full week, writing and re-writing as a writer, instead of just writing stories.

I have a plan. I know where I’m going with it. And in the words of Jim Butcher, I’m desperately trying to make my way through that ever ‘swampy middle’.

A short break

After a short break, whilst spending some precious last few weeks with a dying relative, it seems strange to be sharing my writing life and my thoughts again. Although it feels as if I've been away for such a long time, in reality it's only about three weeks -- just as long as some summer vacations! Normal service is being resumed, and I have a couple of posts in the pipelines about books I've been reading, and what is helping me (finally) in understanding the writing process.

I also got my results back from the literature module I was studying, overall Grade 2 pass, which is as good as I expected. In addition, I passed my short introductory course on Shakespeare, and I look forward to the next module which begins in October.