I am starting again!

So today I had the urge to work on Practically Dead and so I did!

I sat there for about ten minutes refamiliarising myself with the finer details of the story and then I started to work.

Nothing.

I have been stuck at the beginning of this story for so long, I have the middle all worked out even the multiple endings! But the beginning is just so hard to get through.

So after sitting there for about fifteen minutes I came to the realisation of "why do I need to start at the beginning at all? If I don't want to write it...why would anyone want to read it?"

So I didn't start at the beginning, I started at about the second chapter! And I wrote 879 words! In one night!

I am so proud considering I haven't written anything close to that for a year! I haven't even worked on my novels for a year! So now it seems I have a new direction.

I am rambling a little at the moment in the beginning, a lot of that will have to be cut down but at least I'm writing. I am closer to getting to the juicier stuff now than I have been in forever! I am finally feeling like I could make some progress with this.

I am really excited about this, but it's a different kind of excited now, not just ooh what a good idea type of excited but a I am actually writing it, Finally! type of excited.

I shared...

So I have been really proud of my poetry of late, and as you know...my new found support system I have been sharing a little bit of my poetry with The Boy who has been really supportive of it.

So here I am feeling pretty bold and proud and thinking...what if I show a relative? What if they like it?

My mum knows that I am in the process of submitting and she is completely supportive of me in that but she never reads my work, which I am fine with she helps with the big stuff.

So I decide to show my dad free verse poem I wrote a couple of weeks ago...he read it and his face dropped, like literally "oh my god my daughter wrote this". He mouthed to me "is this about you?!" because it wasn't the happiest of poems.

See my dad thinks I'm deeper than what I actually am, so he tends to read into things...it's a little annoying at times...

My music tastes seem to be the songs of my soul...so when I listen the My Chemical Romance, Rihanna's "Russian Roulette" and Michael Jackson's "Smile" on repeat...I could possibly be suicidal or depressed.

*sigh*

So I was a little down hearted but I decided to give it one more crack that night. I showed him another that wasn't quite as hard hitting.

I left him with it and walked off and came back about ten minutes later.

"What did you think?"
"Well, I'm going to be brutally honest here..."
He got the desired reaction with that statement my stomach fell out of my butt and I froze...
"I think it's bloody brilliant"
Thank God!  *massive grin*
"But...are you sure you're not depressed?"
"No dad, I'm pretty sure I'd know if I was depressed...I'm not."
"Oh, well then what's will all the down in the dumps stuff you write then?"
"It's just easier to write around a sad emotion than a happier one...makes for something hard hitting and raw."
"Oh, ok then...as long as you're sure..."

And he walked off to go do whatever it is old men do at 7pm at night...take the rubbish out I think.

My pen! My pen! I've lost my pen!

Ok so maybe this is just an excuse...but I don't care...I've lost my writing pen!

OH MY GOD!!!

This is massive. Basically my writing pen is a pen that Missy Jane gave me last year as a little present for me hosting her. Ever since I got that pen I have always written with that pen. Not everything, poetry and on the fly stuff I find the nearest pen possible.

But as part of my writing ritual for novels, I always write with my Missy Jane pen.

Now of course the thought has crossed my mind...what happens when it runs out idiot...but it hasn't yet so thats a hurdle I will have to jump when it comes.

Do you have a writing ritual? Or any odd rituals?

I have a car ritual when I drive to make sure I do everything. It goes a bit like this:

• Shift to park
• Handbrake on
• Windows up
• Ipod out
• Radio face out
• Steering lock on
• Keys out of ignition
• Lock the steering lock
• Get out of the car

And my writing ritual is more of a need for everything around me "just in case"

• Current projects folder
• Writing pen
• Pads of paper

See! Crucial step is missing there!

I guess I will just have to get used to another pen of course...but this is still a big deal.

I feel good!

So I feel inspired right now because of Rachel Hawkins and her awesome blog. Basically I just read her story of how she got published.

I love reading stories like that purely because they get me fired up.

I have been doing quite well in the poetry stakes of late, I am currently putting together a set of poetry to submit for a Seal of Quality on Fanstory.com

Which basically means, that a group of awesome prefessionals will grade my work and tell me what they think. I am also looking into submitting my poetry to a couple of Australian E-zines.

So all is lovely on the poetry front.

I am also going to start working on a short story for a competition...deadline is 2 days zomg!...that I am hoping I can submit in time...fanstory once again.

What I am fired up at the moment about though is Practically Dead. I have been thinking about it over the last couple of days and am really feeling it. I want to get back into it ASAP.

So although I am really busy with so many projects and the stack of books that I still need to review (which I also got fired up about this morning because I want to find them a home in my bookshelf) I also want to get back into the novel.

So this is good right? I am finding I am able to focus a lot better recently, I honestly don't know where this spark has come from, it has been really out of the blue but I am going to ride this wave for as long as I can.

I am fired up...now I need to start being on fire...

I finished a novel!

Well, the Sims 3 version of me did.

It's called "Future Spy" and it is an international bestseller (the most popular book in Egypt). Currently Sim me is writing her second novel "The Loneliest Yeti".

I should really take a page out of her book aye.