A Life of Crime and Chocolate

[Zelenka]

Hello all! Just wanted to give a wave from Crete. Sitting in a 5 star hotel right now, ready to start on a four day session of sightseeing and writing (by the poolside!) This is my attempt to unwind after the nuttiness of the last few months.

I just realised though that I'm very close to finishing my outline, and so since my book is all about Apollo 11 and revolves around the anniversary of the moon landings, I am going to start writing the book on July 16th, same day as the mission took off in '69! It's silly, I know, but what can I say, I'm a geek!

[heyjude]

Nice, Zelenka! Enjoy! (All of it. )

[Silver-Midnight]

Sounds fun, Zelenka. I hope you enjoy yourself!

[heyjude]

Once again, the children and the husband and the animals appear to be engaged in a conspiracy to prevent me from writing.

Send help!

[Shakesbear]

Lock Jaw toffee, super glue, rope, hand cuffs, various other implements for silencing noisy ones are on their way to you. Mind, you could just shout at them "Shurrup!!" thought it might scare the animals.

[Silver-Midnight]

^ Haha.

[onesecondglance]

Originally Posted by heyjude

Once again, the children and the husband and the animals appear to be engaged in a conspiracy to prevent me from writing.

Send help!

I feel your pain. I sat down yesterday to write and the cat promptly decided she wanted to sit too. So the laptop comes off my lap and she jumps up instead.

It is very hard to type with one hand, and even harder when the other hand is petting the cat (totally almost wrote playing with pussy there ).

[heyjude]

Oh the cats. It's always with them, isn't it? And now I have a small dog who emulates the cats' every move. So it's a rare moment I type without help. Last night I had to stomp off to the study and lock the door. Hey, it worked!

[lorna_w]

Always happy I'm single and living alone, you make me appreciate it anew.

Keeping myself busy, though not entirely away from the novel. Also working on the new one. I have more character ideas and an insight into how to make the research process a tad less nervous-making this time around. (Though I love research as I love drafting. Revising, not so much.) Started the research three months ago and have taken that back up again. I feel like a Real Writer with two projects in two stages. Been some time since I felt like a Real Writer. (No idea what it means; it's just a feeling.)

Have a fat list of agents, adding three with some clever shenanigans of googling. They think they can hide from me, but they can't! Set up a new email account (making five now, most of them set up to try and run away from spam) for submissions. Checking domain name availability for titles/pseudonyms. And otherwise doing the tasks auxiliary to writing that if we were rich and famous, we'd hire an assistant to do.

[Silver-Midnight]

Morning everyone. How are you, guys?

----

*sigh* Should I be writing? Yes.

But am I?

[onesecondglance]

I just killed someone. I think that makes thirteen so far?

[heyjude]

Lorna, living without other humans is a definite advantage for a writer! But no cat? I though that was mandatory!

Silver. I'm not writing either. But I will be!

Originally Posted by onesecondglance

I just killed someone. I think that makes thirteen so far?

Nice! ::

Real life or fiction?

[lorna_w]

Originally Posted by heyjude

Lorna, living without other humans is a definite advantage for a writer! But no cat? I though that was mandatory!

love cats and dogs, but see avatar, think: coyotes. I wouldn't love 'em for long, I'm afraid.

[Shakesbear]

I love cats but do not have one. The last one (see avatar) wanted to do the writing bit. He was a really fast typist but his spelling was terrible. When I told him to try to improve it he looked me in the face and said "Miouw?"

[Silver-Midnight]

Originally Posted by heyjude

Silver. I'm not writing either. But I will be!

Yeah. I'm going to try to get at least something written today. I just finished Camp. So, I'm like....yeah. I'm kind of really just goofing off now.

[onesecondglance]

Originally Posted by heyjude

Real life or fiction?

I'll leave it up to you to decide... bwahahaha!*


*: it is hard to signify in text the sound of an evil laugh echoing away like a penny down a drain. Which is totally not where I might put the bodies. Nope.

[Shakesbear]

Bodies down a drain? Isn't there a nursery rhyme where something goes down the drain?

edit: ahhh misread your post NOT down the drain. Sensible not putting them there - so where will you put them? Disused septic tank?

[onesecondglance]

Perhaps. Where's the strangest place you've ever hidden a body?*


* a question one can only ask on a writers' forum without getting seriously odd looks.

[lorna_w]

I've never hidden one...not that I can recall. I did leave one on the ice of a skating rink. I always admired during hockey fights how bright the red blood was as it soaked into the ice, so I couldn't resist. Very pretty, in a macabre way.

[Shakesbear]

I don't think I have ever hidden a body, they are always in plain sight. I did once trip over a dead body. It was dark, on the edge of a field, and I was looking at the people I was with as we walked along chatting. The next thing I was lying face down with a very bad attack of the giggles.

[astrodragon]

Originally Posted by onesecondglance

I just killed someone. I think that makes thirteen so far?

Family, cats or characters?

[heyjude]

Originally Posted by onesecondglance

Perhaps. Where's the strangest place you've ever hidden a body?*


* a question one can only ask on a writers' forum without getting seriously odd looks.

We talked about this in the social room recently and I came to a startling conclusion: I don't have many dead bodies. A few, of course, but generally they tend to be bad guys and kind of stay where they fall (until they're mopped up by the coroner).

I have a couple of good guys who like to keep the bad guys alive so they can talk. Under pressure, of course.

[GailD]

It isn't so much the killing off of characters that's keeping me awake at night but the side effects of a year of editing.

I like to read before I go to sleep. You know, kick back and let the day wind down as you lose yourself in a good story. It hasn't been working for me lately because I can't stop editing. I want to grab a pencil and make notes in the margin - like this:

<--- Unnecessary adverbial clause.
<--- Tautology!
<--- Dangling participle.
<--- Clumsy sentence, too many conjunctions.
<--- Ew! What were you thinking?



Anyone know where the editing OFF button is?

[Silver-Midnight]

Good Morning, guys. How are you stories going?

[Mr Mitchell]

Hello Everyone, today, I have met Simon Kernick, what a lovely man. He was so down to earth.