Helen's Paws for Thought » Writing

My plans for this year

helen — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 19:16:34 +0000

You can call them plans, projects or even resolutions – these are the things I want to do or achieve this year. Some of these have been on lists I made in the past, which just goes to show that it’s not always possible to achieve everything. This year I keep my list short and sweet.

Lose weight – ideally 10 kilos- and keep fit and healthy. I bet this is on most people’s list. Today I weighed myself for the first time in 8 months or so (I had to buy a new battery, and that took weeks.) and it was a massive wake up call. So banished are sweets and crisps. I am also contemplating having a personal trainer for a short while to kick start an exercise regime. I am not fond of exercise and when I am ill I have to wait for days until I feel well enough to exercise. As keeping track of what you eat is still the best way of reducing the amount of rubbish you eat I have signed up with the free website www.fitday.com and next week I will have a session with a personal trainer.

Learn to play the Ukulele – I bought it last year, have an instructional DVD, just have to get on with it.

Support actively a charity – I am waiting for an application pack from Tenovus.

Socialise more with people – I realise that working from home can really make me stir crazy. I love it at home and being with our moggie, but I do miss human contact. Note to self: Facebook friends are not a substitute to friends you meet up with and talk to on the phone. Though I would love to meet some of my FB friends in real life.

Write the novel I started in 2009 when I took part in two different fiction courses – of which I enjoyed the Open University course the most.

Get more writing work.

Create lots of gorgeous jewellery and grow my jewellery business.

Actively support more good causes and campaigns such as this one by Animal Aid which urges supermarkets to install CCTV cameras in their slaughterhouses http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/CAMPAIGNS/slaughter/ALL///

So this is my list. During the cause of this year I will let you know on this blog how I get on with each of these. However I will also continue to write about Bobby and what she’s up to. At the moment she is not happy about the weather and snoozes under our bed cover. She likes her little tent.

Have a good start to the New Year and let me know what you have planned for 2011.

New layout for my blog

helen — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 15:31:45 +0000

I decided it’s time to change the blog’s theme and layout and I hope you like it. I always wanted to incorporate Bobby’s paw into my blog’s header and thanks to this new theme I found I was able to. I am still working on my new website -hence the lack of blog entries lately. …

Walking Bobby article published

helen — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:12:59 +0000

I’m very chuffed that my article about our walks with Bobby is finally published in German magazine Geliebte Katze. Looks great.

You can read it here, if you understand German, or at least look at the photos.

http://www.hkpress.co.uk/pdfs/BobbyarticleGK032.pdf

Open University Course

helen — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:38:10 +0000

A few weeks ago I have started a Open University short course in fiction writing. I have never studied with OU before and it takes a while to get used to how it works. You basically have to do lots of really challenging writing activities which you post on the forum -via a software you get from OU- and then you give each other feedback. This doesn’t always work well because some participants tend to use the smallest font – so I won’t read it, because I can’t. And some students are further ahead of others so you end up reading exercises you haven’t tackled yet. However, when there is feedback (and this does unfortunately not always happen) it is always polite and encouraging. The exercises do challenge you. I am now about to start block 4 and have to think about my final assignment which supposed to be a short story or an excerpt of a potential novel. I find this the hardest – coming up with a strong plot idea. The assignment also wants you to explain why you have chosen the point of view you narrate your story in, the time scale etc. So it really makes you think. I do enjoy it, but it is really does require a lot of time to do all those exercises – however they help and keep you writing. Would love to come up with a strong idea for a novel. It makes a change from the usual feature writing which needs to be factual.

Dealing with rejections..

Administrator — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 10:20:01 +0000

Is part and parcel of what it means to be a freelance journalist. I try to shrug them off, but sometimes you see a story you pitched commissioned to someone else and you begin to wander. Often it’s just silence or a no with no explanation whatsoever. This isn’t helpful at all.

My last rejection came from a book publisher – however it was a nice one I have to add. Nevertheless it does hurt a little as I put a lot of effort into my book proposal and went the extra mile by actually backing up the facts – something a lot of health books don’t seem to do. I’ve seen books published with no references at all.

So now I have to get over it and find a different publisher or maybe consider just forgetting about it as the subject is very niche.