Writespiration #77 Going To Your Happy Place

This week has been miserable. I have had a migraine since Friday last week. Which means I haven’t written since Thursday. I am twitchy! But I was barely able to get out of bed over the weekend and at times, I genuinely thought I might pop an eyeball out, my head was under that much pressure. Every movement I made I could feel my heartbeat in my brain, only instead of a nice pump, pump, pump. It was the smash and squeeze of an anvil followed by a car crusher. Suffice to say I am glad I schedule posts or I’d be fresh out this week.

Finally, I can see straight enough to write this. So, this week, the challenge is to write about your happy place (or a character’s happy place).

I needed my happy place this week. I had to drift off in order to ignore the pain. I have a couple of happy places, one in my head, and several actual locations. New York for one, a cafe by myself, coffee in hand laptop open is another. The summit of Kala Phattar a mountain in the Himalayas with the best views of Everest.

In your challenge, make sure we know what sent you to your happy place, was it a fight? a traumatic experience? Or maybe love drove you there. So, that’s it. Happy places in less than 200 words.

Everything You Need To Know BEFORE You Start To Edit

I finished the first draft of my novel in August last year. I was B.U.Z.Z.I.N.G I’d finally done what I said I’d do – write a book… Ok, I finished a draft.

I listened to the advice you gave on what I should do next, which was… Nothing – Lock the manuscript in a dark cupboard and throw away the key for months. I did. Sort of. I may have peaked at the first few chapters.

That was a mistake.

It was of course, total shit. More than shit, I wouldn’t have wiped my butt cheeks with it. Seriously. I may have cried, ok, I didn’t cry. But I did shed some tears on the inside. All those months of sweat and tapping, for what? A massive steaming pile of turd. A twitch formed on my eyelid as a heady mix of panic and fear set in. How was I ever going to rectify this mess? I hated editing. I can’t do detail and didn’t know a comma from a bloody apostrophe. So how I was ever going to be a writer? I was blocked. Big Time.

Then, I had a realisation.

Kailasa – The Temple That Shouldn’t Be – Weekly Wonder #9

The Kailasa temple is an ancient Hindu temple made out of rock. The reason it gets featured as a weekly wonder is because of its bizarre construction. Its structural design and complexity, is something that even today we would struggle to accomplish.

Looking at historical buildings and constructions is something that even non historical writers should be doing. History is rife with anomalies and inconsistencies, which even with a hint of imagination can send you off in bizarre directions.

F*** Balls, Grow A Vagina #1000speak #writespiration 76

There’s this phrase, ‘grow some balls’ I hate it. Mostly because I say it all the time! I’ve seen a photo banded round the internet that slates that phrase, suggesting instead, that one actually needs to grow a vagina. Why? Because vaginas are hardcore – baby pushing out – machines. While balls…Balls are… soft, squishy, breakable sperm bags.

Why am I talking about balls and vaginas on my writing blog?! Well, this weeks writespiration happens to fall on a 1000speak day, so you’re going to have to bear with me whilst I waffle on in order to explain the challenge! Every month there is a group of people that come together to write on a theme, the campaign is called #1000speak. This months theme is forgiveness. If you haven’t ever joined in, you should. It’s awesome to take some time out to ponder different things, and to join in a movement based on compassion.

Grow Your Audience – 8 Tricks Efficient Writers Use On Twitter

Time. That precious commodity no one has. Everything is about time. I bitch about time, ALL THE TIME! But it’s a misnomer. See, if I have time to shovel a chocolate bar… (fine two bars) in my gob, then I can find time to schedule tweets, finish that bloody book, and pin my posts to Pinterest.

I’ve already talked about choices, and the fact reaching goals is all about choice in my post a couple of weeks ago that talks about Setting Unrealistic Goals in Order to Achieve Unbelievable Outcomes.

Everyone knows Twitter is in the top 5 tools for boosting traffic, but scheduling tweets is another matter. I have tweets scheduled up to 6 months in advance. Yeah, really, and no, it’s not because I’m super organised. Once I write a post, I use a program to create template tweets and then schedule them for the next 6 months. It’s a pain at the time, but seriously, when you sit back on Monday’s, knowing you don’t have to tweet every 4 seconds you’ll be thanking me.

So how do you actually schedule tweets? And you know, add all the links and pretty pictures and stuff?! I’m going to tell you.

Bloggers Bash 2016 – Venue Announcement

The Bloggers Bash Committee said this year would be bigger and better – and trust me, it will be. We, the committee, have plans afoot to make it a cracking day.

If you don’t know what the bash is, it’s an annual get together for bloggers everywhere. The bash is open to everyone, whether you blog about writing, cooking, parenthood, beauty, fishing or anything in between, this is the event for you. AND irrespective of blogging platform – so if you have friends from other platforms please let them know.

The event is open to any blogger from any blogging platform – and please, if you aren’t a wordpress blogger – share this post.

This is the chance for you to meet (in real life) all those firm friends you have made through blogging. This year, the bash is on Saturday the 11th June, in London, England.

I said we had plans. We do. The first of those plans is the exciting news that we have secured a venue. And boy is it amazing.

#Writespiration 75 Write About The Rusty Thing

Without sounding dramatic, which I always do, I love an apocalypse. In fact, I’m sort of obsessed with them. Or more, obsessed with the settings that they give. I love dystopian novels, anything decrepit, broken down and battered. But maybe this prompt takes you in another direction.

I’m still going to write these prompts and publish your stories, but for the next month, I won’t be participating. I have gotten a bit snowed under, and need to readjust my time spent, so that I can finish the two novels I am working on. But I’ll be back, in a month. Promise!

4 Mistakes to Avoid When Translating Research into Fiction

I’ve been reviewing books in a new way, a kind of quick fire lessons learnt thing. You can see old ones here:  5 Lessons in First Person POV & How to Snag A Publisher First Time With Your Synopsis.

So I decided to continue the trend and review Conor Kelly and The Four Treasures of Eirean (The Tir Na Nog Trilogy Book 1) by Ali Isaac in the same way.

This time I learnt how to translate research into fiction, and because Isaac translates so well, I learnt what to do, and what mistakes to avoid.

I picked up Ali’s book because she’s my friend, so I wanted to read it. But, I’ll be honest. It’s Irish mythology, something, up to the point I peeled open the front cover, I knew nothing about. I was more than a little daunted by the prospect of sinking my teeth into a few hundred pages of what I perceived to be hard core mythology.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. Isaac blew me away. She painted a tapestry of mythological research into a masterpiece of fiction. I unwittingly got educated on every aspect of Irish mythology there is, and to my surprise and delight, I loved every minute of it.

When I read books, I do so consciously now, so that I can absorb every ounce of skill each author leaves on the page. I rave about collecting words and sentences constantly. With Isaac, there was no question, I had dozens by the time I finished reading. She truly is the queen of interlacing accurate historical detail with beautiful descriptions and a heart wrenching story. Here’s what I learnt about translating research into fiction:

Lunar Waves and the Mystery of the Holographic Moon

I was going to write about the Hollow Moon theory in light of the post I wrote about Hollow Earth, but as a result of last weeks Flat Earth post, and a future post I am writing as a follow up to that, where I have a real life discussion with Mark Sergeant – creator of the Flat Earth Clue videos, I decided to focus instead on Lunar Waves, and the video footage that is going viral over YouTube.

Have you ever done a presentation in front of a projector screen? You know, the ones with a pull down plasticky screens that shoot up into its roll if you don’t secure it properly, then sending an endless ripple across your carefully crafted powerpoint presentation. Well hold on to that thought whilst you read and watch this:

#Writespiration 74 The Red Lipstick

This weeks challenge is to write about the red lipstick. Maybe it was a stain, or the wrong colour, an unwanted gift, or perhaps the mark of something darker.

Here’s mine: