Leibster Award

Thank you to the poet Myfanwy Fox who gave me a 'Liebster Award' last week and said some pretty lovely things about me on her blog. (As well as broadcasting the fact that we've slept together.)

Thank you, Myfanwy - whose poetry is just beautiful, more so if you have the privilege of hearing her read it aloud in a quiet kitchen in a corner of the Yorkshire Dales - pins could have dropped with some volume.

As is the nature of the bloggy award I have a task or two to do. Here's the info on this particular one, which is different to a few of the others I've had before - dammit - you don't get to read 7 new things about me - shame.

Leibster is a German word meaning dearest, and the award is given to up-and-coming bloggers with less than 200 followers.

If you receive the award, you should:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.

2. Reveal your top five picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

4. Hope that the people you’ve sent the award to forward it to their five favourite bloggers and keep it going!’

The 5 blogs I'd like to suggest to you are:

Other Words by Karen Jones: for her brilliant 12-part 'Cruise Diary'. Karen's Mum has been trying to get her to go on a cruise with her for ages - Karen yielded this year - and entertained hugely with her daily observations.

Escape Behaviours by Rachel Fenton: a fascinating epic graphic poem by poet and artist (and more things besides) Rachel Fenton. In her own words:

"More of an oddity than an Odyssey, Escape Behaviours is based on the real life experience of me and my partner migrating to New Zealand from the North of England, getting broke, getting married, and almost getting immediately divorced, but mostly it's a tongue in cheek exploration of stuttering. I gave my husband speech bubbles so you can understand him and love him too."

Anna Cathenka by ... Anna Cathenka: she's a feisty feminist and she's not afraid to construct an intelligent and thought-provoking post. Oftentimes inspired by David Mitchell for she loves him.

Ava and the Snowman by Kendal Chalk: for lovely photography of a new and adventurous family.

And this one is a kind-of cheat because it's not a blog, but a website, that most of you have probably heard of - so totally out of the spirit of this award which is meant for blogs with less than 200 followers... but etsy is a great website to find and buy unique and interesting gifts from independent sellers and artists... and in that way it's quite 'small', and so it is perhaps appropriate.

Feeling lucky, punk?

...this writer is: JF Rodrigues

He's put a bet on himself at William Hill that he'll win the Man Booker before he's 60. (He's 47 now.)

It's ambitious, driven - I won't be doing it myself but whatever gets you motivated, right?

My favourite grape variety in white wine is Sauvignon (this is relevant, honest) and knowing that the Sancerre region of France is famed for its Sauv Blanc I asked Mario to buy me a bottle last Christmas so I could save it and open it when I'd finished writing something longer than a short story.

11 months on and it still sits atop the kitchen top.

(Now I must reassure myself) Don't panic, Teresa! You are a bitty writer, you write a bit here, a bit there, work on several things at once, all is not lost, etc etc.


ANYWAY. That wine is my motivator. But I'm worried now - how long will it stay 'good'? It says 2009 on it - how long have I got???


What about you, do you have anything set up to motivate you?

I said this post would be awesome...

...it *might* not be.

But I was thinking how much I love having days off to write. I work two jobs and my shifts can vary, but at the moment they are Friday - Tuesday so Wednesday and Thursday are free, and they are usually the days I knowingly and more fully dedicate time to writing. And even though these days are my own, I definitely have a programme of some kind, a routine I follow.

So because I like it when writers tell you a bit about their routine (and if you read my previous post you will know I am rehabilitating myself as a blogger) I thought I'd share my recipe for a good writing day.



1. Mario is at work/out. I can write when he is at home, but I realised a couple of years ago that I need, and like, time to myself to write, and that should only be interrupted if I interrupt it. Also, that way, if I don't do much, it's MY FAULT, no one else's.

2. I do all the boring stuff early on. Washing up, laundry, posting parcels (which I don't do a lot of, but I did today), food shopping. All done before noon, ideally.

3. Coffee in a coffee shop. I sit there with my notebook, maybe a paper, maybe a writing magazine, and if I don't write or feel like it it's okay, this part is just about being somewhere I've chosen to be on my day off and having a good coffee. Usually I write at least a list of what I want to do that day.

4. Freedom - I downloaded this programme for about £6 and it's ace. I spoke about it here. It blocks the internet - and this focuses my energy to, you know, writing. I find 2 hour chunks work well for me.




5. Ssssh. Quiet. Not like deadly silence, but I can't write with music on. I wish I could, it'd be nice to be one of those writers who gets inspired by music and tiptaps away all full of intense musicality.

6. Tea. I've had a coffee, I'd like a green tea in the afternoon, please. And a biscuit. Ta.



That's usually it, actually, but every so often...

7. I like to put on my favourite shirt. It is falling apart, I can't wear it in public, but there is something about it I love. When I'm wearing it I think I'm a bohemian painter or something.







Tell me about your recipe for writing - post in the comments below or create a post of your own and I'll link to it.

Blog-o-fear

I have become a hestitant blogger. If I don't have any writing news, I don't know what to write (here). Or I do, but there is a voice in my head saying, 'Whogivesashit?'.

So apologies for a real lack of blogs posts here these past few months.

Does anyone else have this problem? Any easy bloggers who don't have that voice there? Or maybe you do but you push it to one side? I think I've done that in the past.

Maybe it's like a lot of stuff, if you think too much about whogivesashit you realise not many people do, or you realise how insignificant the thing you're considering is.

And then you loop back round to, well, just do it - if peopledontgiveashit they'll stay away, right? I reckon it stems from a fear of being judged, like - why are you talking about how many words you've written or what kind of notebooks you use in a public place???

I should just get over myself. I'm being far too British in my hestitating and now far too American in my searching for answers. (Stereotyping a go-go.)

Next post will be awesome.

overheard

Middle-aged man in the pub to his friends:


"Would I take her back? Yes. Do I sit there and think about it? No."

New thing and an admin

Well, 'some' admin, I just like the way that title sounds.

The new thing first - nothing to announce or point you towards, but note-worthy for me. I've been dabbling lately in non-fiction, and have just sent away a short feature article to The Daily Telegraph for their 'Just back from' travel writing competition.

It runs every week, and the winner each week wins £200 in the currency of your (assuming you win, like) choice. I have no travel plans, nor any of my own currency money to spend on a trip, so if I win I'll just get euros and go mad in Top Shop or something. But I'm telling you because I'm excited to have written and subbed a non-fiction thing. A while ago I wrote an article on diary-keeping and pitched it to Oh Comely Magazine but they didn't get back to me. Darn. It is in the process of being re-shaped and will go to this competition very soon instead.


The admin - I have just, at last - I was putting it off because it feels a bit icky, bit big-headed - updated this blog with 2 quotes from 2 well-known and proper writers who judged my stories and said good things about them. They are over in the side-bar now, so, you know, read if you want to.

On a serious note, I'm very happy to be able to add those quotes. They are lovely and generous and I'm proper grateful.

Early Sign Of Wanting To Be A Writer, Number One

"Dad, I want to be a writer."

"Okay, Teresa, good idea. Why not start by writing to the letters' page of the local paper?"

"Really? And say what?"

"Well, they've just reduced the size from A3 to A4, you could comment on that."

"I could! Afterall, it is more efficient. Anything else?"

"How about writing what you like about the paper?"

"Good idea! Afterall, it is informative and gives me a good idea of what is going on in Armthorpe. Thanks, Dad."

"You're welcome."

I found this in my box of diaries. It's slightly embarassing, the tone is so serious, the letter fairly pointless. But I do remember that conversation with my Dad, his suggestion of writing to the paper and a few pointers on what to say. I didn't get too far though, did I? That list dried right up.

Overheard

An old lady in a coffee shop, to her coffee drinking companion:

"Now, I need you to do me a favour. Do you get the Advertiser? Right. I need you to look for something for me. You can probably guess what I'm getting at. If there's a certain death announcement, cut it out for me. No, he's not dead yet. Look, it's a long story, just cut it out if it's there."


I heard this (she had a loud voice) before I looked up to see where it was coming from. I actually thought the lady was speaking on the phone, but when I looked she was addressing her friend. I'm sure the real-life situation isn't as crazy as she made it sound, but it was very intriguing so obviously I had to transcribe it there and then.

"Oh hey so I love you! Oh, no, I just sicked it up."

Maybe the strangest title I've used so far for a short story. But I like it.

A while ago I wrote about my experience of taking part in The Art House Co-op Fiction Project back in April/May. Today I got a notification to say the notebook I submitted has been digitized and is now available to read online.

Oh hey so I love you! Oh, no, I just sicked it up is a light-hearted story about being young and being dumped. It's semi-auto-biographical, based on a long-ago experience of breaking up with my first boyfriend when I was 17. I didn't set out to write that story, but it grew as I made notes for the chosen theme of my notebook (Inside/Outside) as that age-old line came into my head: 'I love you, I'm just not in love with you.'

So we fall in love, we fall out of love, and the poor buggers who stay consistently in love sometimes get dumped. And sometimes they do ridiculous things after they've been dumped, like decide it hasn't really happened just so they don't have to think about it for a bit. Then they face it again, and like any bad experience, it feels too big, too impossible to deal with. Then, a spark of light might show, and it will probably sod off again fairly quickly but it was there, and it will come back, and it will join up with other bits of light to make you feel better.

This is the first page, click here to read the rest (a further 27 pages).

Stand by your ban

Well, it's more like a challenge than a ban.

For as long as I feel like it, the only writing I'll be doing will be on my book. No short story-ing, no entering competitions. Not for too long, you understand. Maybe a month.

Why would I do this? Well, I really want to get some momentum going on my book project and I think I need the focus.

I'll let you know how I go... it's been 3 days thus far.

la la la.