Writer

Writing 24 (out of 66) scenes complete – structural/continuity revision

This week has been the Worcestershire Literary Festival, so I’ve been focusing less on writing and more on making the most out of the available events. I have done some writing though – the scene I’m working on was a bit of a mess and I’ve done a fair amount of work on the structure and focus of the scene, but it’s still broken.

Reading “Do the Work” by Steven Pressfield

I downloaded a free version of this some time ago and have just got around to reading it. It’s a productivity/motivational book around the issues of “resistance” and how it prevents us getting the job done.

Fighter

I’ve worked hard with my kettlebell training this week and am really starting to see the benefits.

Geek

Playing Tiny Tower for iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad – it’s free and it’s really very good! It’s very similar to the classic Sim Tower game only less focused on elevator management and more on keeping all your tower residents happy. Very addictive!

A motivational post for me to look back on when I feel like I’m not making any progress. All things I’ve noticed in the last week:

• I have had to loosen the laces on my Doc Martens (they have zips as well) as they’re too tight around my calf muscles.
• Someone complemented me in class as they’d noticed me crank out a fair amount of ‘proper’ push-ups. As these have been my nemesis for years, I’m rather pleased about that! (Shame I still suck at sit-ups!)
• I was talking to a visitor about my kettlebell and I demonstrated a couple of military presses to show an example move. She then tried to pick it up and in a shocked voice said “but you didn’t make it look that heavy!”
• The day-to-day pleasure I find of moving something heavy that I would probably have asked for help with in the past.

Small wins, but satisfying ones.

This afternoon, I abandoned working on my own book and held a 700 year old book in my hands instead.

The event was part of the Worcester Literary Festival and was an amazing experience. Despite its historical importance, the collection’s existence doesn’t seem to be well-known as it’s tucked away and viewing is usually only available by special appointment. However, if you ever get the opportunity to see it, I can highly recommend a visit.

The tour group met just outside the gift shop. I arrived a little early, so stepped into the courtyard for a while and snapped some pictures on my iphone. I knew that once inside the library, photography (even without flash) was prohibited in order to protect the books.

Once everyone had arrived, our guide showed a group of us through the security door and skipped ahead of us up a steep spiral staircase. We knew when we had eventually caught up with him as the lovely crisp, musty smell of preserved books was there to greet us at the top.

It was an amazing collection. We were talked through and able to handle (while wearing protective cotton gloves) a wide range of documents, manuscripts, early printed books and even Elgar’s baton! I’d expected most of the catalogue to be religious books and there were many fine examples of bibles, monastic chronicles and liturgy. However, there was also some wonderful examples of medical tomes, maps, travel guides, astronomy books and even some guides on how to deal with witches. I really began to appreciate how much work had gone into each book – not just the written word, but the illuminations and paintings, meticulous lettering and intricate bindings were things of beauty in their own right.

There is something rather awesome about standing in a room with so much history. I also began to appreciate the concept of the weight of words – some of those bound manuscripts were extremely heavy! I wonder what words will be poured over by historians 700 years from now and how well modern books will be preserved?

I’m rather intrigued by the new social game, Mindbloom. I came across it via Dogwood Tales and while I haven’t had a chance to play with it fully, what I’ve seen of it so far is impressive.

You begin by planting a virtual tree.

Each branch of the tree represents an aspect of your life that you would like to prioritise, eg. health, creativity, finances or relationships. To earn points and level in the game, you complete tasks that help get you closer to those goals.

The visual interface is gorgeous – a delight to explore and navigate around and it changes as you play. Areas of your life that you spend a lot of time on has branches that grow and flourish. Those areas that are more neglected has leaves that turn brown!

Ironically, the one thing that makes me pause is the social aspects. I really can have some very inane and bizarre things on my to do list at times that I wouldn’t necessarily want to share with everyone. It is possible to choose which items are visible to your friends and make some branches private, but that does seem to defeat the advantages of getting support from other people.

On the whole, though, it’s a beautifully implemented idea and a potentially valuable motivational tool.

I spent a lovely Saturday afternoon walking through the Worcester Woods and discussing haiku as part of the Worcester Literary Festival.

There is a lot more to haiku than I previously realised. We also learned about other forms such as senryu (similar form to haiku but ‘human nonsense’, eg political, rather than having a seasonal note) and tanka – a longer form with five lines.

It’s amazing how much depth and meaning can be fit into just a few short lines of poetry. Mine, however, are mostly frivolous. Here’s what I came up with yesterday:

arrow pointing right
follow the path and the rules
that way lies safety

Dulux dog trots by
panting with tongue lolling out
no paint on his paws

buttercup yellow
a little patch of sunshine
do you like butter?

tanka or haiku?
write what needs to be written
give the poem breath

a haiku workshop
in beautiful surroundings
festival success

It’s been both a busy and very unproductive week with most of the focus being on the new guinea pigs. So this should be a very short report!

Writer

Writing 24 (out of 66) scenes complete – structural/continuity revision

This scene will probably take me a while. Currently it’s a filler scene with a completely unrealistic timeline. Getting through it one sentence at a time, but it’s a bit of a slog.

Reading “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson

A young adult fiction book I picked up on a whim some time ago then completely forgot to read. I discovered it again hidden on my shelves while looking for something else.

Fighter

Training was good this week. Very heavy cardio and needed an inhaler break for the first time in months (could also be connected to mild allergy to the new guinea pigs, though). Enjoyed it though and it was a good feeling to really push myself.

I’m ashamed to say, though, that I have slacked off exercise for the rest of the week and lost momentum as a result.

Geek

The guinea pigs are settling well although Biscuit is still terrified of me. I think she even growled at me this morning – I picked her up and her whole body was vibrating, like a sort of angry purr. Bramble however, waits for me to pick her up most times now and her eye looks a lot better. I think I’m going to have to find some calm time without children around to tempt them with treats and try and get them to trust me a little more.

I have found that I’ve been getting a little lung tightness this week though – manageable but upsetting. I know I have allergy issues with some furry creatures (most notably cats) but had hoped to be okay with the piggies. Reading up on it, it might not be an allergy to the animals but could be bedding related. I’ve been tested for hay/grass allergy, so I know it’s not that. The other culprit could be the wood-shavings, apparently.

So, I’m going to try and ditch those and go the fleece-lining route – the idea is that you have a layer of old towels, then a layer of fleece material (washed three times so its ready to absorb moisture) on top. The fleece wicks away the moisture from the wee and the towel soaks it up. You can then use a little handheld vaccuum to get rid of the poo each day and stick the fleece and towels in the washing machine as required. No wood-shavings flicked everywhere, kinder on the piggies feet and bottoms and hopefully kinder on my lungs.

Fingers crossed.

Warning: this post contains an overdose of cute. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

So, the researching has come to an end. Meet Biscuit and Bramble:

They already have me well and truly wrapped around their tiny little fingers claws. We brought them home on Tuesday, and in just a couple of days, Bramble is already enjoying short cuddles. Biscuit is a bit more timid but is tolerating some attention now. They still hide a lot and scarper if so much as a bee flies past them.

Bramble has a gunky eye at the moment, so had our first trip to the vet already. Antibiotic drops to the rescue (thankfully the more tame piggie, so I have some hope of getting the stuff in her eyes and not all over me). I feel terribly anxious about them. I’m such a softie. I’m sure I never worried this much over the fish! If they were sick, I just treated the water and hoped.

I haven’t got an awful lot of work done this week, though. The run is visible from the window and they’re terribly entertaining to watch when they think we’re not looking!

Great article on the Guardian website a couple of days ago about women and weightlifting featuring, among others, Mistress Krista from Stumptuous.com. The whole article has so many good parts, I can’t quote them all, but I particularly nodded along to these two parts:

I’m not co-ordinated so the group classes that others seem to find fun and sociable – “step up, touch down, change legs, grapevine, step change and shimmy” – just leave me feeling clumsy and frustrated. But I can pick up an easily graspable heavy metal object, lift it slowly and then put it down again. Not only can I do it: I find I love it.

I’ve put in my time on the treadmill, the exercise bike, the loping elliptical “trainer” (presumably providing training in case my feet are ever replaced with huge springy wheels). My blood pressure went down and so did my resting heart rate. Both these things are wonderful benefits, but I can’t say that I really notice them.

Lifting, though, is detectable. It’s the moment in the train carriage when I hoist my suitcase into the rack and find that the motion is easy.

Edit: I guess it helps if I supply the link as well – doh!