Progress for Progress's sake

I set myself a challenge - finish this set of re-writes on The Novel by the end of the month. When I set myself this challenge I had only done re-writes on 2 chapters. I have since made excellent progress. I downloaded a program called Scrivner - I meant to download it last year but put it off. Recently someone I follow on Twitter was raving about it so I decided to give it a go. Well, it's now enabled me to re-write 5 more chapters with such ease I am embarrassed I didn't download it sooner.

If you're a writer I would recommend. It's great for writing novels, any kind of manuscript really, and it has a nifty 'script writing' setting for any budding script writer (which I kind of am and will be studying at some point in the next year of my degree).

I just wanted to share this joyous discovery with you guys because I know a lot of my followers are writing comrades ;)

Also, on a writing note - my local Starbucks is where I like to do some of my writing. The manager, who is also a writer, has informed me of a short story competition run by Costa coffee. Now I know they have their Costa Awards thing, and they pick great books, but this is a really great opportunity for unpublished authors to get their writing into the world. It closes on the 7th september, so not much time to write a 4000 short story, but if you're interested you should check it out HERE.

I don't know if I will have time to enter (plus, short stories are not my forte, I am not that skilled at story telling) but if you write you should definitely check it out!

Sam

Summer Holidays!

I did it - the exam is over! Yes!!! I was going to blog about it last week but my brain has literally taken days to recover from the increased usage. It wasn't as bad as I thought, though, I keep telling people I think I did my best etc. Because I did do my best; I wrote everything I knew. I didn't forget anything I don't think. But I am one of those superstitious people and now I think I've kind of jinxed myself because I've been telling people I think I did OK, so I'll probably now fail and look like an ass.

Bah! Oh well. What can I do about it now, eh? Nothing!

So, now that exam is out of the way my 'summer holidays' have officially started. Kind of. Because I still have to go to work and I have had to ask for full time work again so I can get some money together. Humph. Hoping they take their time deciding if they will let me because then I can bask in this thing called 'spare time' and pursue what I think is called 'leisure activities'. I am starting to learn French today (my self-taught lessons will begin in the next hour or so) and I'm looking forward to getting edits and rewrites done of my novel. I'm also really looking forward to practising playing my guitar because I never have time any more so that's a bonus! Also - reading! Reading is back on the menu! And working out! All of these things I haven't had time for in the past few weeks due to revision!

Speaking of working out - I went on my first outdoor run in ages, and my first actual run or exercise of any type in the past 2 weeks (had to stop due to getting a cold, and thus wheezing a lot, and revising my ass off). What can I say? It was tough. 2 miles and I ran perhaps 1 mile of it on and off. But, in my defence it has turned out to be a hot day and I can't run in heat! I was actually praying for rain today!

In other unrelated news - my sister is getting the keys to her new house on Friday, which means I will be getting my own room. It's taken 25 years, but finally, I will have my own damn room in this house. I love sharing as me and my sister are actually best friends so it's fun (most of the time) but the idea of having a double bed, and a whole room to put my things in makes me so happy. I'm one of those 'loves to decorate' people, so I've been working on some room ideas and putting a collection together on Pinterest - redecorating is something I think I was born to do!

Right, best get on with French.

adieu!

Sam

No more, cakes, no more.

Nah, I'm not stopping baking, but I am stopping the eating of the cakes.

I am, as of tomorrow, back on my slimming world food eating. Back to healthy eating and what not. I slowly introduced healthy food back into my diet, after a 2 week hiatus, last week. I ate mostly healthy things and was then eating bad snacks in the middle. I don't usually snack on bad things so I should be able to snap out of the habit pretty quickly. But yes, next week I am going to put a stop to this post-holiday madness.

I haven't really put on that much weight since the joyous days in December, probably about 5lbs - so if I work on it I could lose that in a week, 2 tops. Then I'm back in business. I started my new work out regime yesterday too and good god, my legs. MY LEGS! I'm kind of looking forward to the 2nd day burn that usually follows a bitch of a workout. I'm already hobbling so we'll see what happens. Eeks.

I'm also restarting my writing project tomorrow. Over 1000 words a day will be achieved just so I can put a lid on the novel, shelf it for a month (which will be Feb) and start to edit in March, most probably. This should give me enough time to look into how you go about sending into to publishers etc. Because that's the part my brain is foggy on. The correct protocol. Though I'm kind of lucky my course will explain all of this, so all I have to do is skip ahead several chapters and find what I'm looking for. This is the year of Sam, and the year Sam (who's me... keep up!) will finally realise her dream of writing.

And to keep you all posted, I'm on book 3 of 2012, so the challenge is going well. Just need to whack my reviews onto the other blog. I'll get that sorted this week, I swear!

Sam