80 Post Challenge – Post 20

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Ileandra Young

How do rainy days make you feel?

Raincloud with rain from OpenClipArtHow am I going to write my allotted 750 words on this?! Its pretty easy to explain how rainy days makes me feel, especially when I’ve got shit loads to do. Pissed the hell off. That’s how they make me feel.

When LARPing, one of the worse things that can possibly happen with this big tent of mine is rain on the last night. I have to pack that sucker away wet and then, when I get home, I have to find somewhere to pitch it so it can dry. I was really lucky this month because I didn’t have to do that, but in May, the only reason I managed to try the thing was because I had the following day off. I took the tent to the pack, unpacked the whole thing, semi-pitched it and then sat by with a book while it dried off. -_- I was not happy. It makes LARPing quite hard because I find that I don’t want to visit any of the other camps, I don’t want to wander around on the dunes, my tent gets chilly and douses me with a shower each time I walk into it (we camp under the trees) and its ridiculously hard to get a fire going. All in all, I prefer it when it doesn’t rain when I’m LARPing.

A couple of weeks ago, for instance, it was wet as hell for about a week and I knew that I still had to leave work to ride down to do a recording session for DemonFM. Well, I could have gone down to do the work at lunch time, but I only had a half hour window so I thought it best to sit tight, wait and then do it after work. Maybe it would calm down by then. And, at about 4.20pm, it really looked like my luck was in. The sun was peeping through the clouds, the ground was dry… excellent. Particularly as it had chucked it down only three hours before, to the point that it interrupted work (hammering the windows and the roof made a lot of noise). So off I got at 4.30pm, hop on the bike and start to peddle. The second I do – I shit you not, the very second I do – the rain starts to come. Just a pitter patter at first, and then, within two minutes a deluge that soaked everything I was wearing right down to my freakin underwear! I roll into the studios dripping and feeling sorry for myself and then have to sit tight while I put all the bits together I wanted to put together. *sigh*

I’m glad I didn’t have to stay that night. I would have, I really would have but 1) there was absolutely nobody about to help me with the system (I’ve had no training yet) and 2) I was far to miserable and wet and cold and bleeech! to do anything about it. This was the same day as my interview actually and despite feeling better about it, having done the best I could, I was still reeling from the foul moodedness prior to that. Moodedness… is that a real word by the way?

So… that was a bad experience with a rainy day.

Then again, thunderstorms… I love. There is another post about that somewhere through the challenges (use the 80 Post Challenge tag to check it out), but the sound of them, the smell of them, the power of them, I love it all! Its amazing to me that I can feel so differently about it. I guess just some rain is very different to a thunderstorm though.

I’ve always said that if its going to rain, I want real rain. Like what got me on my bike. That’s real rain, rather than the half hearted showers we sometimes get around here. It just seems like a half-arsed attempted to cock up your day. While a rain storm, or a thunderstorm… well that’s better. I mean this country could do with the rain, with half full reservoirs all over the place. But I guess the long and short of it is, so long as I’m inside I don’t care what happens.

I can usually entertain myself if its raining. I have books and games and writing to do all the damn time; it should be really easy. Its the getting wet and then having to dry my locs that I don’t like. I guess that’s just a reflection of how girlie I really am. :p
 

 

 

 

My 80 Post Challenge is brought to you with help from Tom Slatin’s 80 Journal Writing Prompts.

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Keeping The Ideas Fresh

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Ileandra Young

Its not a problem for me, but now that my two major projects are almost at the stage where there is nothing more I can do to them, I’m at a point where I have to do something else. I’m wavering between short fiction and a novel. Though to be honest, I’m not entirely certain I want to start a new novel before November, since NaNoWriMo 2011 is strong in my mind right now. I should be doing the mountain of research required to make the idea I have in mind work the way it should. I should be plotting and constructing characters to insert into a story that is exciting and new and fresh. All these things I should be doing.

Instead, I spent half an hour in Paperchase today trying to pick out postcards to serve as SAPs for my postal submissions. Important, perhaps, but not so much as the act of writing which is all the more important if I actually want to write for a living. Being published once, maintaining an online presence and having pretty pictures is all well and good, but there’s more to it than that. I need to have stuff to talk about. And I need to be writing about it.

So… as well as the 80 Post Challenge – which, though it is a lovely way to keep the blog populated, is not exercising my creative story telling brain – I’m going to do some flash fiction. And I’m going to use them for the Sample Sunday initiative on Twitter.

For those of you who don’t know what that is, then this is the place you need to look. I think its a fabulous idea and, to be honest, I reckon it will be a nice way to ensure that the site regularly has fresh and interesting content. After all, I keep talking about more samples for the EXCERPTS page, but I’ve not done it yet (being busy is a bitch!). This is the perfect way to do it. And I think it will also give me the nudge I need to keep writing creatively and, who knows, some of the stuff I come up with my form the basis for a novella or a novel. Wheeeee!

Idea Number One (and thanks to Maria Smith for this): I’ve constructed a list which runs from A-Z and in this list I’ve just put a word. Just the first word that popped into my head as I ran down the list, in alphabetical order in about 90 seconds. Those words are going to form the basis of flash fiction pieces from 500-600 words. I’m not going to set a time frame on how often I do them, but I think to keep my challenges fresh, I’m going to use one of the 80 Post Challenge slots for that. Once I get a piece written, polished off and ready, I’ll put it up here and use them for my Sample Sunday pieces.

Idea Number Two: topical. I feel out of touch with the world and what his happening in it. The prime example is the horrible events in Norway. Yes, I knew about it, but not until about two days afterwards and then I spent some time talking about it while I was on the radio, because I was just so stunned and upset. I wanted to talk about it, but only for a short while as I prefer not to depress listeners. However, I want to be more in touch with what is happening in the world in terms of news, politics and local events. So I’m going to write about them. Some may be factual, most will not (they’ll be opinionated and biased! :p ), but they will also be short pieces for me to play with and stretch another side of my writing muscle.

All seems a bit ambitious doesn’t it? It is. Particularly with a full time job and other social commitments which keep me away from my computer. And of course there is the fact that I like to see my boyfriend every now and then. And I’m sure he likes to see me rather than the back of my head. :p But that’s all stuff I can play with and experiment with. What do you guys think? If you have any suggestions and ideas for things I can write then I’d love to hear them. The more I can get of what you guys want then the happier I feel. 😀

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Step Two: Submission

Posted on July 30, 2011 by Ileandra Young

Fuck yeah! Its been a great week for productivity. I mean a really great week! Considering that it started so slow and I didn’t know what I was doing and I was annoyed at not getting the new job and my printer was down and all sorts of other small things that were bugging the hell out of me… Now, I feel a shit load better. ^_^

I have made four submissions of my work this week. Four! And now that I’ve started the ball rolling I think I can get it moving quiet consistently to one submission a week, be it electronic or hard copy.

The first submission was to Inspired Quill. I’ve been saying it for a while, but since obtaining the proof for Clash of The Animal Kings I figured I had two choices. I could proceed through CreateSpace and risk falling by the wayside, being utterly ignored and lost in the pool of all those self published authors who can’t afford the advertising. Or I could take a risk and go with a publishing house that I know full well are designed for and looking out specifically for new authors.

Sara Slack is incredibly passionate about books and the fact that she is the figurehead and the driving force behind Inspired Quill gives me plenty of confidence. It also makes me feel loads better to read her comments and understand that she would appreciate my making a submission. So, I thought, why not? Its safe for me to do so; Clash is not currently available through CreateSpace and I haven’t approved the proof with them, so I am still permitted to approach other publishers, agents, vendors to publish the work. I feel that while I am still at that stage with CreateSpace it would be foolish not to. So I put together my sample chapters, the synopsis and my cover letter and sent it off to them earlier in the week. Now I just need to sit tight and wait. ^_^

The next three submissions are all of Silk Over Razor Blades. Its been a fabulously productive week for all of my work so far! The first submission was processed electronically and sent to Carden Wright Literary Agency. They take submissions through email so it was one of those that was relatively simple to put the work together, make the attachments neat and tidy, make sure that they are properly presented and attach them to an email. It was the same with Jonathan Clowes Ltd. Both of these I processed on Thursday night and they flew merrily across the blue nowhere to their respective inboxes some time ago. Just need to wait to hear back from them now.

The last submission was a full, hard copy pack which I had to send through the post. This one went to Darley Anderson Literary TV and Film Agency. These guys wanted three chapters, a literary CV, a synopsis and my cover letter. So I sent it to them. I also sent them an SAE (you have GOT to do this if you want your work back – and I also arranged for it to be recorded delivery) and a SAP. The SAP was an idea I read somewhere on the internet (if I can find the site, I promise I’ll share it), but I liked it so much as an idea that I had to use it. A stamped, addressed postcard, made out to myself, which I have asked the agent to put with their outgoing mail when it comes in. No more effort is required than that, but it means that I will be able to see when they received the work and it will assure me that the pages have not just become lost in Royal Mail’s basement somewhere. That shouldn’t really be an issue because I did the whole thing by recorded delivery, but you never can be too careful. I’m sure there are some agents from the last time I did this that didn’t even respond at all, and I can’t guarantee that they even received the work. So this should take care of that and offer them a witticism about chocolate at the same time.

Never can be bad right?

All of these people are from the Authors and Artists Yearbook 2011 except for Inspired Quill. I’m looking forward to doing one of these each week and seeing my spreadsheet of submissions grow and grow. A strange part of me is also looking forward to the rejections if only because it means that people out there have seen my work. They may have decided that I’m not for them, but at the same time, its also about spreading my name. Like a virus.

Heh, that’s it; I wanna go viral!

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Escape From Alcatraz

Posted on July 29, 2011 by Ileandra Young

Yeah. It feels that way. I know this blog should be about serious things and writing and stuff, but I just need to take a moment to talk about the little bastard of a hamster that set my mood for at least the first half of the morning. -_-

Hammy the Syrian HamsterBeautiful hamster. To be truthful its cute, fluffy, incredibly friendly and never once even looked like it might bite me (unlike the hamster’s my sister and I kept at my mum’s place). In fact this little runt has been running happily over my fingers for the past two days and squeaking whenever I come by the cage and generally being lovely. She’s a darling. No idea what her name is, by the way, but in my current mood, she’s called ‘It.’

She’s been with us for a couple of days; we’re looking after on behalf of Dave’s friend who is away for a couple of days. I don’t mind, I mean I figured this would be a step towards my never ending quest to obtain a kitten (see ‘About‘ page). I figured this would help; having something cute and fluffy in the house, right? So… up until yesterday we were doing fine and dandy until I noticed, right before going to bed, that one of the books we’d put across the top had been moved.

Now we’d already been warned that this hamster was something of a Houdini-wannabe, so we’d already gotten wise to the fact that she can open the door. In fact I believe she did it once on Saturday while I was out, so we’d taken to putting books over the main door and over the door of the sleeping pod.

But…! When I looked at it last night, the book had been moved. Thinking nothing of it, I scolded the little darling as she ran through her wheel, replaced the book and went to bed. Cut to this morning. Up I get, awake, lively, clean and wanting breakfast and as I come into the living room, say good morning to Alan, I notice that the book has moved again. Not only as the book moved but the door looks like its been popped open. Hmm. Its Alan that had me look to be honest; if he hadn’t said it, I might have just shut the door like I did last night. But no, I looked and she’s not in bed. I look again; she’s not in the bed pod tunnel. I look again; she’s not in the wheel. I look again; she’s not on the lower levels, hiding in a bog roll or even working her way into the pile of sawdusty crap at the back. Hell’s balls she’s not there.

A mad search ensues. We tear apart the living room, the study, the kitchen, quietly feeling grateful that a lack of carpet throughout the house means that its very unlikely that the nippy little critter made it up the stairs. Hard wood floors, no grip to speak of and thankfully no big holes; she couldn’t go far, right? Oh, but you’d be wrong if you thought that. I couldn’t find her anywhere! Alan did far more comprehensive searching than I managed since, at the back of my mind, I’m thinking that I need to get ready for work, but not a sign of this little runt did we find. Not even a puddle of piss or a carelessly discarded pellet of shit. Nothing.

At once point I pulled out a small wooden plank beneath one of the cupboards under the sink. I looked into the gap, quite surprised that you could even fit anything into it, but she wasn’t there. Then I had to go to work. You might have seen Tweets about ‘Alcatraz’ at some point in the morning; that was the best I could do without swearing rather loudly and angrily at the Twitterverse.

Come lunch time I’ve almost forgotten about it until I get a message from Alan saying that she’s been spotted in the little tiny crack of space beside the plank of wood I pulled out. I couldn’t even get my damn finger in there! But now we know she’s locked in the kitchen and can’t get anywhere which is a good start.

By the time I get home, I’m expecting to have to hunt high and low, but there are already several hamster traps laid out in the kitchen (think a walkway covered in food with a long drop at the end). But its not necessary. Oh now. The damn thing has climbed back into her cage all of her own accord and gone to sleep in the comfort of her bed pod surrounded by straw, food and comforting darkness. -_-

Needless to say I had plenty to say about it. Not that she gave a damn. And now, sweet as anything, as though nothing ever happened, she’s put her head out of the tunnel and is looking at me. She’s watching me type even now. Bitch.

*sigh*

And yet… I still think she’s cute! Go figure.
(by the way… Dave… this never would have happened if we had a kitten! :p)

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80 Post Challenge – Post 19

Posted on July 28, 2011 by Ileandra Young

Do you believe that we are all here for a reason? What might the reason be?

This links back somewhat to a post a I wrote about religion while doing this challenge. It was some while back now and I still feel that some of the stuff I wrote there is relevant. I’m not going to dive back into that debate though.

I know we’re all here for a reason. What people mistakenly think when I say that however, is that this reason has to be something big and world changing. Of course there are people who are supposed to do that, have done that, will do that, but that cannot be the same for everyone. Otherwise massive inventions, innovations and creations wouldn’t mean anything any more. Mozart…? Einstein…? Julius Caesar…? Rosa Parks…? Admiral Nelson….? Hell even less savoury types like Hitler. All of them have done something amazing (if not necessarily nice or admirable) but we remember them. They have made their mark on the world and left an ever lasting imprint. For good for for worse, that is what those people were there to do.

And the rest of us? What if we’re just here to be good to one another? What if Robin Williams is actually just here to make us laugh, while Beyonce and J-Lo are just here to make girls realise that actually having an arse isn’t a bad thing? Maybe folk like Bin Laden and Saddam Hussain were around to remind the rest of us just how lucky we are that we aren’t in the thick of the trouble they caused and to encourage the ones in power to help those who are suffering? What about that?

And me? What if I’m just here to sell some vampire books, entertain and leave my impression of vampires on the world? What if that’s all I’m supposed to do? What if I’m not even meant to do that?! What if all I’m supposed to do, all I need to do, is go about my daily life, not lie, cheat, steal or kill and be good to the world. Encouraging people to do the same. Its all very simple.

Just like any big office needs the ground level plebs who have no desire to work up the career ladder, big companies need the people on the ground to function, as well as those who want to be people leaders and CEOs. After all, if everyone wanted to climb to the top, how the hell would any of the work get done? Likewise, if everyone wanted to stay at the bottom and relax, how would things get organised, who would plan ahead and adapt the business plan to the changing economic climates?

Chinook salmon moving upstreamYes, I do certainly believe we’re here for a reason. The theory of evolution amazes me and, frankly put, I can’t believe that its still a theory. What else are we going to turn to for a creation story; the Garden of Eden?! Anyway, there are things in the world too amazing, to intricate and too well planned to be an accident. Granted there are other things that you certainly hope were an accident – we’re in big trouble if Mother Nature thought sending salmons upstream to shag, then die was a funny idea – but there aren’t many of those. If you take out all of the things that humans have added to the world, there is a natural balance and order which shows through easily. Almost like everything was put here and then left to get on with it, with enough planning and hints and tips to give us a head start. Not to say that some omnipotent power put us here, but that nature spun us out of nothing when the time was right and it all began.

Phew. That’s a bit deep for so early in the morning. I still have to go to work and try not to growl at people who are shouting at me for problems that aren’t my fault. I wonder if I can say that part of the reason I am here is to be in that office? I kinda hope not; as much as I like this job I want to be able to move forward with the career I want. I’ve spent too long faffing now. I have decided – in fact I decided a long time ago – that I am here to write novels and share them with the public. So that is what I am going to do.

 

 

 

 

My 80 Post Challenge is brought to you with help from Tom Slatin’s 80 Journal Writing Prompts.

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