Hey again
I went to a beach volleyball game last night in Liverpool 1 - it was really good, had a great time and although the team we were cheering for didn't quite make it, a good time was had by all.
Now I know I've just mentioned something there that's not writing related, but some stuff will trickle thorough, but also I did have my trusty notebook and pen with me and made some notes there, although it was harder than I'd thought cos I was paying too much attention to either the game or to talking to the gang :)
I'm going to attempt to see how likely it is that I get the "report" written up so that I know what kind of time I need and if I can do it, should I ever need to attend an event and write it up very quickly for publication!
I so wish publishers could access people's computers lol - but only well established publishers and only if you register as a writer and give them permission to do so. I think this would be a great way for them to find brilliant new ideas for stories and I think if you had a publisher contact you and say, you know that story you've been working on, we really like it, finish it! How much motivation would that give you to keep on going! It would be fab - also I think they should provide feedback to what they read. I realise this sounds like a massive undertaking, but it would be worth it for all the writers out there who are scared/nervous to send things into publishers for fear of rejection :-) Maybe I could go on Dragon's Den with this idea? lol do you think they'd go for it? Anyone want to be my numbers/business plan person? :-D
Well hopefully I'll be back on here tomorrow telling you how wonderfully I've written up last night's event
Ta ta
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Monday, 26 July 2010
Back again
Hello
Nice to be back again, it's been a while. Can't believe how fast time goes! Madness.
I have been thinking about this blog during my time away however and I think I may need to focus a little more and give the blog a theme rather than just chatting away about random crap - which would work if this was a journal but it's not, I won't be pouring my heart out :) but the problem is coming up with a theme.
I do feel the last few posts that I wrote had started to trend towards a theme of writing and my assignment etc and I think since that's a major part of my life right now that maybe this is a good area to stick with. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view) though, i won't be able put any more stories on here because if I wanted to enter one into a competition or send it in to a magazine for publishing then I couldn't as most submission guidelines say that it cannot have previously been published ANYWHERE and putting it on a blog apparently means it's been published as it is out there for people to read - in my case, all 6 of you lol so I'm not sure what harm that would do, but best not to do it than get caught and disqualified, not that I'd have any chance of winning at the moment lol, but you never know!
I also thought I could interject book or film reviews in between the 'writing' blog posts. Well we can only try this out and see where we get...
My most recent news is that I eventually got my feedback for my assignment 3 and I got another B which I'm happy about. Assignment 3 involved writing a combination of reader's letters, articles or fillers, as long as the total word count didn't exceed 2000 words. I ended up writing 1 reader's letter (to Pet Plan magazine), 2 fillers and 1 short article. Although I got a B, I think that's for the writing itself, which is fine, but I don't think I'm managing to hit my targets very well, or doing enough market research. My tutor hasn't specifically said that or anything but certain comments have made me think this might be the case. My tutor did like my bridesmaids article though so I will try and submit that to a bridal magazine. i have emailed one asking for their submission guidelines but have yet to hear anything back - I even created a whole new professional Gmail email account for the occasion! :) Never mind, onto the next magazine!
With being on holiday for a couple of weeks, I haven't really looked at assignment 4, let alone getting a start on it. I'm going to be off work for a week next week so I might try and tackle it then. I'm also hoping to go to a fair few free events in Liverpool over the next few weeks and try my hand at reviewing them, not necessarily to submit but just for some practice. I think if you were going to submit something like that it would need to be sent in very quickly after the event so it would still be relevant.
I've also thought of another couple of article/filler ideas - one being how to make a nappy cake and my first thought was to try and submit it to a pregnancy magazine but then I realised that was a stupid idea as pregnant people would not be making one for themselves! So it will have to be women's mags, possibly the older age ones and target it as making something for your daughter/daughter in law's upcoming baby or just for a younger age one and target it at present ideas for friends.
Last week I sent a "reader's tip" off to Chat magazine about giving dog's tablets lol, not heard off them yet but I'm not certain whether that's because a. they didn't like it or b. they didn't open it because it had an attachment - but I did put in the subject box that it was a tip and there was a photo attached. Maybe I should have emailed them first and asked about sending attachments because I know most magazines wouldn't open any emails with attachments in case it's a virus or something. Also another reason could be because I have never read Chat magazine so i don't know whether I'll have got the tone or writing style correct for their readership. There's far too much stuff to think about with non-fiction, it's very hard!! :p making things up for fiction is a lot easier - not saying that's without difficulty as well of course as there's definitely lots of research required also, but it just seems a lot more fun!
Oh well, anyway should concentrate on what I'm supposed to be doing and get on with it and try my best, I'll get through it in the end, I'm already 3 assignments down and I've always managed to find something to submit despite moaning at the beginning, and during doing the assignment so let's get on with it :)
I anybody at any time would like to chip in with an idea that they would either like to read about in a magazine or they think I know a lot about or anything they think I'd be good at writing about.
Ok got to go, lunch over now
Nice to be back again, it's been a while. Can't believe how fast time goes! Madness.
I have been thinking about this blog during my time away however and I think I may need to focus a little more and give the blog a theme rather than just chatting away about random crap - which would work if this was a journal but it's not, I won't be pouring my heart out :) but the problem is coming up with a theme.
I do feel the last few posts that I wrote had started to trend towards a theme of writing and my assignment etc and I think since that's a major part of my life right now that maybe this is a good area to stick with. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view) though, i won't be able put any more stories on here because if I wanted to enter one into a competition or send it in to a magazine for publishing then I couldn't as most submission guidelines say that it cannot have previously been published ANYWHERE and putting it on a blog apparently means it's been published as it is out there for people to read - in my case, all 6 of you lol so I'm not sure what harm that would do, but best not to do it than get caught and disqualified, not that I'd have any chance of winning at the moment lol, but you never know!
I also thought I could interject book or film reviews in between the 'writing' blog posts. Well we can only try this out and see where we get...
My most recent news is that I eventually got my feedback for my assignment 3 and I got another B which I'm happy about. Assignment 3 involved writing a combination of reader's letters, articles or fillers, as long as the total word count didn't exceed 2000 words. I ended up writing 1 reader's letter (to Pet Plan magazine), 2 fillers and 1 short article. Although I got a B, I think that's for the writing itself, which is fine, but I don't think I'm managing to hit my targets very well, or doing enough market research. My tutor hasn't specifically said that or anything but certain comments have made me think this might be the case. My tutor did like my bridesmaids article though so I will try and submit that to a bridal magazine. i have emailed one asking for their submission guidelines but have yet to hear anything back - I even created a whole new professional Gmail email account for the occasion! :) Never mind, onto the next magazine!
With being on holiday for a couple of weeks, I haven't really looked at assignment 4, let alone getting a start on it. I'm going to be off work for a week next week so I might try and tackle it then. I'm also hoping to go to a fair few free events in Liverpool over the next few weeks and try my hand at reviewing them, not necessarily to submit but just for some practice. I think if you were going to submit something like that it would need to be sent in very quickly after the event so it would still be relevant.
I've also thought of another couple of article/filler ideas - one being how to make a nappy cake and my first thought was to try and submit it to a pregnancy magazine but then I realised that was a stupid idea as pregnant people would not be making one for themselves! So it will have to be women's mags, possibly the older age ones and target it as making something for your daughter/daughter in law's upcoming baby or just for a younger age one and target it at present ideas for friends.
Last week I sent a "reader's tip" off to Chat magazine about giving dog's tablets lol, not heard off them yet but I'm not certain whether that's because a. they didn't like it or b. they didn't open it because it had an attachment - but I did put in the subject box that it was a tip and there was a photo attached. Maybe I should have emailed them first and asked about sending attachments because I know most magazines wouldn't open any emails with attachments in case it's a virus or something. Also another reason could be because I have never read Chat magazine so i don't know whether I'll have got the tone or writing style correct for their readership. There's far too much stuff to think about with non-fiction, it's very hard!! :p making things up for fiction is a lot easier - not saying that's without difficulty as well of course as there's definitely lots of research required also, but it just seems a lot more fun!
Oh well, anyway should concentrate on what I'm supposed to be doing and get on with it and try my best, I'll get through it in the end, I'm already 3 assignments down and I've always managed to find something to submit despite moaning at the beginning, and during doing the assignment so let's get on with it :)
I anybody at any time would like to chip in with an idea that they would either like to read about in a magazine or they think I know a lot about or anything they think I'd be good at writing about.
Ok got to go, lunch over now
Saturday, 24 July 2010
Tuesday, 15 June 2010
Weekend gone :(
Hello again!
The weekend is behind us once again and what a busy weekend it was!
I went out with work on the Friday straight from work. We went down to the new Revolution at the Albert Dock and it was really nice - much posher than the Mathew Street one where we usually go. We were even greeted by someone in a shiny suit who showed us to a booth and then we got table service mostly - they kept noticing when our pitcher was getting empty and ask us about ordering more - not a bad plan for a bar, more likely to make even more money when the customers don't actually have to get up and fight their way to the bar! Not there was likely to be any fighting as it was a very big place so it didn't feel packed at all.
It was a good night and drank a fair amount but didn't remotely feel it. Was home by 11pm but to be fair, we had been out since 5pm!
Then Saturday was another busy one. Spent a few hours in town with my mum, had a few bits and bobs we needed to buy. We ended up getting home later than I'd thought so I had to rush and wash my hair and get back out and into town to meet Sian, Adam and Terri at the Flute to watch the England game. Me and Sian shared a few pitchers which were very nice and I definitely started to feel it that night, but think that was more because of the adrenaline and excitement of the game! The pub got really crowded but we had great seats right by the screen which Adam had kindly save for us throughout the day :) Then some weird bets started which involved licking faces and god knows why that started lol, but it was interesting enough and it meant we didn't have to pay any money out, which is good because I had run out by this time lol.
Unfortunately England drew with USA so I couldn't skit my sister in law :-( never mind, there's always the next lot of games they play, although they're likely to win them - but I can dream lol. Nah USA are my second team so I want them to do well, but not as good as us. So after the game we went to the Swan and then onto the Lisbon and then into Profile, a karaoke bar, which was good fun, despite not singing and glad people didn't force us to sing! But had a great night and got home at 3:15am :-)
Sunday wasn't too bad a day, woke up about 10am but had been hoping to have a bigger lie in but obviously it wasn't meant to be lol. The day went quite quick before it was time to leave the house again and go to the Echo arena to see Mamma Mia, which was very very good and we all really enjoyed it. But so very very tired by this point.
Yesterday after work, I met up with Sian and Adam for a quick hot chocolate before meeting up with Sobia and going to Las Iguanas and eating yummy fajita's! mmmmm. Which brings us to today and mostly I just want to go to sleep! lol.
On a brighter note, mine and Sara's fruit drive is going quite well so far (well we're only on day 2 lol) and we've eaten some yummy fruit! Had strawberries, cherries, pineapple and mango :-) We're going for veg tomorrow and bringing in red/yellow peppers and some celery and humous so another yummy day. Let's hope this is something we can keep up and the chocolate doesn't call us back :-(
The weekend is behind us once again and what a busy weekend it was!
I went out with work on the Friday straight from work. We went down to the new Revolution at the Albert Dock and it was really nice - much posher than the Mathew Street one where we usually go. We were even greeted by someone in a shiny suit who showed us to a booth and then we got table service mostly - they kept noticing when our pitcher was getting empty and ask us about ordering more - not a bad plan for a bar, more likely to make even more money when the customers don't actually have to get up and fight their way to the bar! Not there was likely to be any fighting as it was a very big place so it didn't feel packed at all.
It was a good night and drank a fair amount but didn't remotely feel it. Was home by 11pm but to be fair, we had been out since 5pm!
Then Saturday was another busy one. Spent a few hours in town with my mum, had a few bits and bobs we needed to buy. We ended up getting home later than I'd thought so I had to rush and wash my hair and get back out and into town to meet Sian, Adam and Terri at the Flute to watch the England game. Me and Sian shared a few pitchers which were very nice and I definitely started to feel it that night, but think that was more because of the adrenaline and excitement of the game! The pub got really crowded but we had great seats right by the screen which Adam had kindly save for us throughout the day :) Then some weird bets started which involved licking faces and god knows why that started lol, but it was interesting enough and it meant we didn't have to pay any money out, which is good because I had run out by this time lol.
Unfortunately England drew with USA so I couldn't skit my sister in law :-( never mind, there's always the next lot of games they play, although they're likely to win them - but I can dream lol. Nah USA are my second team so I want them to do well, but not as good as us. So after the game we went to the Swan and then onto the Lisbon and then into Profile, a karaoke bar, which was good fun, despite not singing and glad people didn't force us to sing! But had a great night and got home at 3:15am :-)
Sunday wasn't too bad a day, woke up about 10am but had been hoping to have a bigger lie in but obviously it wasn't meant to be lol. The day went quite quick before it was time to leave the house again and go to the Echo arena to see Mamma Mia, which was very very good and we all really enjoyed it. But so very very tired by this point.
Yesterday after work, I met up with Sian and Adam for a quick hot chocolate before meeting up with Sobia and going to Las Iguanas and eating yummy fajita's! mmmmm. Which brings us to today and mostly I just want to go to sleep! lol.
On a brighter note, mine and Sara's fruit drive is going quite well so far (well we're only on day 2 lol) and we've eaten some yummy fruit! Had strawberries, cherries, pineapple and mango :-) We're going for veg tomorrow and bringing in red/yellow peppers and some celery and humous so another yummy day. Let's hope this is something we can keep up and the chocolate doesn't call us back :-(
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Nearly the weekend...ish
Hello!
Kind of nearly the weekend, Thursdays are for beginning the wind down lol :-)
Got an email yesterday from the writers bureau to say that my tutor was on holiday until June 20th and that if I wanted to I could have my work looked at by another tutor. But I decided against doing that and said I'd just wait til Peter came back. Not sure whether this is a good thing or bad. I thought it best to stay consistent and I know he gives good feedback and tells me my grades, whereas someone else might be a bit funny and they haven't seen anything prior. Plus the less people that actually read my writing the better! lol :-)
Not got anything on tonight which is nice :) looking forward to a nice relax and Lie to Me is back so always good to watch my TV shows - oh and the final of Junior Apprentice as well, so seems like a TV night to me.
Out tomorrow night for Terri's 30th. Going to the revolution bar in the Albert Dock - just opened a couple of weeks ago so we'll check it out and see what it's like. I'm looking forward to going but probably won't be drinking that much as my money is dwindling fast this month :-( and need to keep hold of it. And with going to watch the match on Saturday at the pub then that'll be more money for food and drink and then meeting up with Sobia on Monday for food - these things all come about at the worst possible time! lol well I'll just have to be good and spend wisely!
Off now
Kind of nearly the weekend, Thursdays are for beginning the wind down lol :-)
Got an email yesterday from the writers bureau to say that my tutor was on holiday until June 20th and that if I wanted to I could have my work looked at by another tutor. But I decided against doing that and said I'd just wait til Peter came back. Not sure whether this is a good thing or bad. I thought it best to stay consistent and I know he gives good feedback and tells me my grades, whereas someone else might be a bit funny and they haven't seen anything prior. Plus the less people that actually read my writing the better! lol :-)
Not got anything on tonight which is nice :) looking forward to a nice relax and Lie to Me is back so always good to watch my TV shows - oh and the final of Junior Apprentice as well, so seems like a TV night to me.
Out tomorrow night for Terri's 30th. Going to the revolution bar in the Albert Dock - just opened a couple of weeks ago so we'll check it out and see what it's like. I'm looking forward to going but probably won't be drinking that much as my money is dwindling fast this month :-( and need to keep hold of it. And with going to watch the match on Saturday at the pub then that'll be more money for food and drink and then meeting up with Sobia on Monday for food - these things all come about at the worst possible time! lol well I'll just have to be good and spend wisely!
Off now
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
Well...
not a lot has happened since Sunday really. I haven't heard anything back from my tutor yet - he was quicker last time but then again it is June and he could be on holiday :-)
Can't remember whether I mentioned in my last post that I had sent off the reader's letter I did for my assignment to the Petplan magazine who it was targeted at. I know it's before I've gotten my feedback but it's only a letter, I can't imagine he'll drastically change anything about it. Heard nothing from them yet either, but I hadn't really expected to. i think some people often don't find out til a cheque arrives in the post - although that's not likely to happen as they don't have my address and also the proze is vouchers - which I'm more than happy to have, especially since they're not just to spend on pets lol, I can spend it all on me :-) Aww I might get Jay a treat.
Went to book club last night, was really good as usual. I gave the book the lowest mark of everyone lol. Ah well never mind, we can't all like the same stuff all the time. We also picked the next lot of books - Graceling, The city in the city, Brentford Triangle and Something Wicked this way comes. I've not read any of these although I have read a couple by Robert Rankin who wrote Brentford Triangle.
I won't be going to the next book club though :-( cos of being away, which is a shame cos I'm really liking this book, but never mind, more fun to be away and I can always email Glynn my thoughts if I want to :-)
Off to the cinema tonight to see Death at a Funeral, shoudl be a nice easy fun film to watch.
Watched Cloverfield last night after Glee and really liked it again. Loved it when I went to the cinema to see it but was very good on a second viewing too.
Going now
Can't remember whether I mentioned in my last post that I had sent off the reader's letter I did for my assignment to the Petplan magazine who it was targeted at. I know it's before I've gotten my feedback but it's only a letter, I can't imagine he'll drastically change anything about it. Heard nothing from them yet either, but I hadn't really expected to. i think some people often don't find out til a cheque arrives in the post - although that's not likely to happen as they don't have my address and also the proze is vouchers - which I'm more than happy to have, especially since they're not just to spend on pets lol, I can spend it all on me :-) Aww I might get Jay a treat.
Went to book club last night, was really good as usual. I gave the book the lowest mark of everyone lol. Ah well never mind, we can't all like the same stuff all the time. We also picked the next lot of books - Graceling, The city in the city, Brentford Triangle and Something Wicked this way comes. I've not read any of these although I have read a couple by Robert Rankin who wrote Brentford Triangle.
I won't be going to the next book club though :-( cos of being away, which is a shame cos I'm really liking this book, but never mind, more fun to be away and I can always email Glynn my thoughts if I want to :-)
Off to the cinema tonight to see Death at a Funeral, shoudl be a nice easy fun film to watch.
Watched Cloverfield last night after Glee and really liked it again. Loved it when I went to the cinema to see it but was very good on a second viewing too.
Going now
Sunday, 6 June 2010
Done and Dusted
Phew - finally finished Assignment 3 - although this time is only took me 2 months, so there's improvement there! lol. but the next assignment will take me longer to do as I don't intend on starting it until I've submitted a couple of short stories into competitions, so might not even start it til I'm back home from holiday, and then I'll probably spend a long time struggling with it :-( and now that I have just read the requirements, even more of a need for a :-( Ah well, I'll get through that assignment 2, the way I've gotten through these last 3.
So it's been quite a quiet weekend which is nice - didn't do anything on Friday night, except watch Cube 2 and then yesterday went shopping with mum for a couple of hours to pick up a few bits we needed, and a few we didn't even know we needed til they were in the basket! :-) and then I watched Cube Zero and bathed Jay. Today was the day I was determined to finish my assignment 3 by, and I did so yay me! Plus I'm also intending on starting a short story for submitting to a competition, which I've not started yet. Also looking forward to the 24 series finale tonight -double bill!
We have almost sorted out the houses for staying in Galveston and San Antonio which is good and I'm glad we've gone through VRBO for both places as it has made it a lot cheaper- pretty much £20 a night!
Goign back in time now to Thursday night- our team came 2nd in the movie quiz!!! And evil quizmaster Adam wouldn't let us have the prize because there were 6 of us! Only one more than technically allowed - but I mean, what kind of a number is 5 anyway? Plus it wouldn't have bothered me if previous winners had had 6 in their team - and what makes it worse is that for the Twilight quiz he let the team, who had been reading the book through the quiz to find the answers, win!!!! He's just not very fair or objective :p We did get a little funny book out of it which is quite fun - but not the same as having the prestige of coming 2nd! :-( Ok, anyway rant over :-)
I'm going to get on now and start on a short story
So it's been quite a quiet weekend which is nice - didn't do anything on Friday night, except watch Cube 2 and then yesterday went shopping with mum for a couple of hours to pick up a few bits we needed, and a few we didn't even know we needed til they were in the basket! :-) and then I watched Cube Zero and bathed Jay. Today was the day I was determined to finish my assignment 3 by, and I did so yay me! Plus I'm also intending on starting a short story for submitting to a competition, which I've not started yet. Also looking forward to the 24 series finale tonight -double bill!
We have almost sorted out the houses for staying in Galveston and San Antonio which is good and I'm glad we've gone through VRBO for both places as it has made it a lot cheaper- pretty much £20 a night!
Goign back in time now to Thursday night- our team came 2nd in the movie quiz!!! And evil quizmaster Adam wouldn't let us have the prize because there were 6 of us! Only one more than technically allowed - but I mean, what kind of a number is 5 anyway? Plus it wouldn't have bothered me if previous winners had had 6 in their team - and what makes it worse is that for the Twilight quiz he let the team, who had been reading the book through the quiz to find the answers, win!!!! He's just not very fair or objective :p We did get a little funny book out of it which is quite fun - but not the same as having the prestige of coming 2nd! :-( Ok, anyway rant over :-)
I'm going to get on now and start on a short story
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)