Two Down

I managed to get another submission pack out to an Agent yesterday and Forest beat Derby. Can't ask for a better Saturday than that!

One Down

So I've done it. One submission pack to a Literary Agent is now completed and ready to be posted tomorrow. There would have been more sent, but sadly as every Agent requires a slight deviation on what is required, I prepared the simplest one out of the three. So now I sit and wait and hope that someone, somewhere would like to act for me. Here's hoping.

I will, I will, I will

It's 7pm on a Sunday evening and my head is slowing getting back into work mode. We haven't done as much as I would have liked to do on our week off, there's still stuff to be done around the house. But and it's a big but, I'm not stressing about it, it will get done when it will get done. Just the fact that we've managed to do more than we have done in the last five years, is enough for me.

There is one thing that I need to get done though. I'm now sat with the Artists and Writers yearbook and need to send off my novel to Agents. You see I haven't written anything since I've finished this novel and I need to do this, before I can move on and do different things. So my task for the next hour is to find at least three Agents that I would like to represent me. It shouldn't be too hard, should it?

Motivated

I have another radio appearance coming up in in September. It seems they have a new system of whenever you make an appearance, they like to book your next one in the diary. Which suits me fine, at least I can plan my appearances around work stuff. It also keeps me focused on my list somewhat, as each appearance always opens with the immortal words 'so tell our listeners how many tasks you've completed since you were last in' or words to that effect. Can't really turn round and say 'well actually I couldn't be arsed to do any tasks since I was last in, so nothing to report', well I could but I don't think they would ask me in again.

So focused I am, mostly on two tasks, finishing my Dr Who story off and creating a film to go onto You Tube. If I manage to finish either one of those or even both by the beginning of September then I will be a happy bunny. In the meantime, back to the home improvements and no, I still haven't got round to sending my novel off to any agents yet.

Getting Sorted

I have a week off from work as of today. I couldn't be happier. So much has happened this year, that I just wanted to take a step away from everything and relax, rewind. Not that my days will be empty you understand, I have a whole host of stuff to keep me occupied. Mostly house related stuff, as we are trying desperately to get the house on the market asap and move. There is also the small matter of getting my novel out there and looking for representation, something I've been dragging my feet over for the past month.

So my first day off will be spent getting organised and planning - split days between house related stuff and writing. I'll let you know how I get on...

Wildest Dreams

Just recently me and Mr M have become hooked on the new BBC wild life programme 'Wildest Dreams', where Nick Knowles and James Honeybourne take nine contestants and try and turn them into wildlife film makers. We love it. Not only is it filmed in Africa, which in itself has the most breath taking scenery you could ever wish to see, you also get to see the most amazing wildlife in their natural habitat.

Every week the contestants are split into groups and given a specific animal to film and then whoever fails to gain the correct footage/behave appropriately is eliminated (think of it like a wildlife apprentice!) This week's task was to film under water and one of my favourite animals - the Dolphin. Not only had the contestants have to capture footage of the dolphins, they were also coached on approaching them in the correct manner and learning to pull out of filming if the dolphins became threatened in any way (unfortunately the dolphins were also a major tourist trap and the contestants were having to compete with the many vessels full of tourists trying to capture footage as well).

Which brings me quite nicely to my list and the fact it has been amended some what. For the eagle eyed readers I have now dropped 'swimming with dolphins' and replaced it with 'rescuing an animal from captivity'. When I really stopped and thought about it and actually read what damage this could do to the dolphin and also watched on this week's show the amount of over zealous tourists that were potentially harming the dolphins, my decision was made. Born Free are currently running a campaign challenge the European Dolphinaria industry - please visit their website to add your support.

I believe in the Born Free concept of 'wild animals should live in the wild'. I don't visit zoos for the simple fact I can't abide the fact that an animal is living behind bars purely to entertain humans and don't even get me started on the amount of animals that are kept inhumanly. So my task has been amended to convey my feelings and I look forward to reporting back to you, when I've managed to complete it. I will climb back down off my soap box now.

Being 40

I broke the habit of a life time at the weekend and went out into Nottingham on a Saturday night. It's been a long time since I've been brave enough to venture out into the beautiful city, that becomes an oh so different one at night. The occasion was my cousin's 40th birthday.

Strange though it may seem, because I have only seen my cousins very rarely through adulthood (mainly funerals, weddings etc), I still have this image of them fixed as children and it felt immensely strange to think that one of us was reaching the big 4-0. Of course it made me consider my own big birthday, which is coming up in approx 2 years 3 months. Although I have the blog as a reminder, I do sometimes forget that I am getting close to quite a significant birthday, as in my mind, I'm still stuck at being mid-twenties.

Which makes me wonder, just what is going to befall me in the next couple of years? A lot can change in that time scale. Hopefully I will be very close to, if not finishing my list and then what? I guess I will have to wait and see!

Writing My Own Column

I have always wanted to write from a young age. A journalistic career even beckoned at one stage, until I realised that studying for a degree just wasn't my bag and writing fiction was more up my street. Now, a few years down the line, in the back of my mind, there was always that feeling of 'what if?', hence the fact that I added this task to my list. The fact that this particular task also came from my love of Sex and The City, also may have something to do with it as well! Who wouldn't want to be Carrie Bradshaw, living in her New York apartment with her fabulous shoe collection and getting paid to write a column about her life?

So where does a young (!!) Nottingham lass with a modest (but growing) shoe collection start in the land of the printed word? It seems the words start small, aim big is the motto of the day. On the recent Marie Claire 'How to get published' roadshow, a discussion began with regards for writing for magazines. Marie Claire very rarely print any articles from people who have not been published in any other publications, so working your way up from smaller publications seems to be the order of the day. Armed with that knowledge, I'm going to spend this weekend collecting various 'smaller' publications and submitting any article ideas that I may have and work from there.

Realistically my own column is not going to fall at my feet, I'm going to have to go out there and work for it. Although there is nothing to stop me from approaching larger organisations with my ideas, I think I have more chance starting off with the smaller ones. I have got an idea for a weekly blog column for a corporate company, so I'm still going to submit that (hopefully this weekend) and who knows, they may pick up the idea, they may not. I won't know until I try.

So consider this task, a work in progress at the moment and I'll update you of any progress along the way.

Creating My Film

There are several hundred reasons, why I haven't got round to my 'making a film to go onto You Tube' task - here is one of them:-

'Washdays' is a short film written by Graham Lester George and has just won the Soho Rushes Festival. Out of all the films we saw in the media week at the Broadway cinema, this was our favourite. So thought provoking that we were still discussing it, after we left the cinema and all the way home.

So you may now understand my hesitation. After all, I strive for perfection, so how can I just make any old film, even if the target audience is just You Tube and no where near Cannes, or even Soho?

If you do get chance to see this film, then please do. My film (whenever I make it) will be miles away from this one (RIP sock puppets).

Leeds, Katy Regan and Me

Preparing to sell our house has seemed to take precedence over everything else at the moment, so much so that I almost forgot to blog about my road trip to Leeds.

I've never been to Leeds, well that's strictly not true. I have been to Elland Road and I once spent a rather horrible afternoon trying to find a training course in a building that no-one had seemed to have heard of, but never to Leeds city centre. So when I saw the 'How To Get Published' roadshow organised by Marie Claire, I saw the perfect way to indulge my two loves, shopping and writing.

Having survived driving through a monsoon to get there, I found the parking very reasonably, although asking someone if I could possibly have a 5p, as I was 5p short in order to buy a ticket, seemed to be the equivalent of asking someone in Nottingham to give me £10. I mean, come on it's only 5p for God's sake! The shops were also jolly nice, although the location of a Louis Vuitton near a Dorothy Perkins, seemed a little bizarre!

The road show started in the Malmaison Hotel, complete with a glass of champagne, which unfortunately I could only gaze at lovingly. There was about 40 people squeezed into a smallish room, which was scary, especially if you saw the person that I was sat next to. What was also scary was the fact that writing is such an isolated activity that you somehow forget that so many other people are also trying to get published as well and there in very close proximity were at least another 40 people chasing my dream.

The next hour was spent in the company of Carla Bevan, Claire Boyd and the lovely Katy Regan author of 'One Thing Led To Another', discussing different aspects of the writing process. It seemed quite weird, as I sat there, knowing that after attending so many of these events, I was actually one step nearer to getting published - the nearest I had ever been. The only down side of the night was the fact that Katy's Agent was a no show. Securing an Agent is my next step, so I was looking forward to gaining some much required knowledge on that process.

All in all, an enjoyable evening, one which left me feeling motivated and thinking, wouldn't it be fantastic if I could gain a publishing deal this year and cross another task off my list?

The Library Part Two

After spending yesterday in a chocolate infused state, my trip to the library today consisting of me getting into the building and out again as quickly as possible, due to a bout of crippling stomach cramps. I hate being a woman, especially when it ruins those wonderful childhood memories that had come to the fore front, after yesterday's post.

I'm now sat with four more books off the BBC Top 100 list; David Copperfield, One Hundred Year's Of Solitude, The Pillars Of The Earth and a German version of A Prayer For Owen Meany. I have no idea why I ordered this. I don't speak German and have no intention of learning. I know I wanted to try and read different versions of the books that I had on list, but I would still prefer them being in English. Perhaps someone is trying to tell me to abandon my French and attempt German? I have no idea.

So technically I have three more books to take off my list, all of which are quite weighty in text. It may take me a little while to get through these. No time like the present, I guess, to start...