Happy New Year to you all!
Its been a long month, but feel that I have managed to achieve quite a bit. My second column came out at the start of the month, so that was a good positive at the beginning of the year. I have found out that my next one is not until the start of March, but have already started working on a few new ideas, so will pick from those as to what the next one will be. In order to gain some new inspiration, generally for writing, my sister and I attended a Writing Symposium at the University. It gave us a chance to hear from published writers, 1 author and 2 poets, and was really interesting, lots of notes taken on writing techniques and tips, as well as new ideas, so really pleased that we decided to go. Had a chance to talk to the author and bought one of her books too, and she gave us some lovely comments when we explained what we were doing already. Following that, I have also joined a couple of online book groups, which give people the chance to share ideas and books, as well as Q&A sessions with well known authors- the tips will keep on coming hopefully and I am finding out more all the time.
In regards to my own writing I have been feeling quite inspired. I've finished the short story that was inspired by the film and am in the process of typing it up, I'm not sure about the ending, but I'm sure as I type, new thoughts and ideas will come to light, That's happened with my Cornwall story recently. I'd come to a bit of a wall, so thought I would start to type it up and see where I got to. As I typed, the inspiration and visions started to flow, and I had to keep stopping to scribble things down. So now I am continuing to write the story using some of my new ideas and expanding on what I'd already done, so we will see how it goes.... I've also found that I write well either in the car (if on my own) or on campus, good to have a place where you know you can go and feel that you will be able to achieve something, so long may it continue. Try to write at least every day, even if its only a little, it all helps towards the end product. Because I have spent a lot of time working on the two stories and column ideas, its been a while since I've done much poetry. One done this month, and will continue to scribble ideas as they form. I put all my finished pieces and columns into a file and was amazed at how much I'd done, you forget when they aren't all in one place,
Only able to attend one Writers Group this month and was a Crime Writing Workshop, I wasn't sure beforehand, but took a piece that I had started as part of the fiction course along anyway. As it turned out, I got a lot more out of it than I expected- notes as well as positive feedback on my piece and an idea for another story! So just goes to show that I should always try and make the group, even when I'm not sure as might be pleasantly surprised!
So that's another month done and still much to work and keep busy with. Hoping to enter some writing competitions soon too, seems to be the way to get noticed, as well as getting used to submitting work, so who knows what the next few months will bring.....
