Welcome bloggers – I’ve been a little late updating over recent weeks so thought I’d surprise you with an early post for a change.
I’ve had a decent week regards creativity, one very surreal hour but the rest of the week has been excellent.
Shrove Tuesday saw me attend, for the first time in my life, the craziness that is called ‘the Ball game’ in Warwickshire. I, like a thousand other people, made my way to the designated street to observe the 813 year old tradition. I was amazed. Teenagers were standing on top of telephone and electrical boxes – as these were the best vantage point. I watched as the crowd surged back and forth chasing a giant pumpkin ball in the name of honour. I hung about for 30 minutes, before returning home to capture my images and memories in a short poem. I have entered the event as yet another unexpected opportunity on my April Fool List.
Wednesday night - at The Mad Hatter's meeting, I read a short story called 'Happiness' which I’ve written as a competition entry. It received a mixed critique from the other members; an incorrect setting and era were imagined, repetition of a name sounded clunky and a general ambiguity suggested that I had to re-edit the story. It may seem harsh but it is only from listening to readers’ comments that you can judge what needs attention and so, I spent two hours today re-editing to iron out the issues. Thankfully, I was able to systematically address each one until I felt the piece was complete – that was the finale for me. I managed to polish, print and then post the story off to the desired address, ahead of the closing date 1st March 2012. This is now the second short story entry of my desired six entries for 2012.
I organise myself in a way that I always enter the postal details into my admin submission records, with a note in my dairy in relation to the release of results. If I don’t hear any news by 23rd April, I’ll re-print this story and send it to a women’s magazine – writing is ever wasted.
My attention will now turn to the next competition ‘Bristol Short Story Prize 2012’ with the closing date 31st March. I have many short stories which simply need a polish to adapt them to meet the competition rules. For further details www.bristolprize.co.uk
Thursday night – was a strange night. The Grace Dieu Writers’ Circle were invited to attend the viewing of a film. I’m not even going to name the title because I really don’t wish to be unkind. But blimey, just because you can hold a film camera doesn’t justify being a film maker. I can hold a guitar, believe me when I say, I am no Jimmi Hendrix! Me and four other members sat through the 25 minutes film – words failed me, thankfully they didn’t fail the others! I’m still trying to justify a lost hour of my life but hey, I’ll put it done to experience. Thankfully, our usual meeting occurred straight afterwards where the delights and humour of our members made up for the short fall of the film. We cried with laughter when one member read his account of giving a cat a worming tablet – wow, it was good enough for comedy stand up!
I plan to spend Saturday proofreading ‘Her’ – it’ll be a hard slog seeking punctuation and poor grammar – slowly, slowly catch a monkey seems to be the current pattern. I still have a half complete synopsis calling my name so maybe I’ll alternate between the two tasks.
Sunday has evolved into a day dedicated to planning for the day job – so I’m sure the routine will continue this week, much like any other.
I have a Grade 3 music exam next Thursday – so my spare moments of next week will be spent learning my Italian terms in preparation. Though I am sure to have plenty of evenings writing in an almost empty week.
A quick shout out to my visitors from overseas – I’m always amazed by your returning visits to my little blog. Remember you can follow me on Twitter by searching for odwyer_author.
Wishing you a relaxed weekend and fingers crossed, you find inspiration to be creative. Enjoy!
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