@katemachon
Active 2 days, 8 hours ago-
Sandra replied to the topic Monthly comp – December 2018 in the forum Monthly Competition 7 years, 7 months ago
In absence
‘Anna’s party’s on the 21st. I’ll stay over.’
Anna. Beth’s sister. She and I had a hate:hate relationship for reasons neither of us ever disclosed to Beth. Beth had sense enough not to ask.
On this occasion my smile was for more than gratitude at her tact. An entire night to myself; twelve plus hours, taking into account Be…[Read more]
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Daedalus replied to the topic For Those in Peril… in the forum Blogs 7 years, 7 months ago
The Penlee lifeboat disaster was 37 years ago today, Twitter reminds me. If you haven’t read Richard’s blog about it, above, I highly recommend you do
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Squidge posted an update 7 years, 7 months ago
The spambots are very pretty in the membership column, but I wish they’d beetle off! Can we lock the doors for a bit and hope they find somewhere else to play?
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I wonder if there’s a tougher way to ask prospective new members to prove they are human? Not sure what BBpress offers in that regard
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Are they not all the same? The ‘tickabox’ to say you’re not a robot, or the ‘type in these letters you can barely read, even if you ARE human’ box? 😉
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I can’t remember what we had when we signed up. I imagine some are easier for bots to beat than others
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We are now trialling a plugin that should deal with the issue. The vast majority of bots did get stopped by the system software and those few that managed to register were blocked, usually within the hour, manually. Hopefully the plugin will prevent any further spambots getting through!
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Wahey!
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Libby replied to the topic Getting An Agent Blog in the forum The Writers' Lifeboat 7 years, 7 months ago
Thank you for posting this, Philippa; it’s a great insight into your novel’s development and your own progress as a writer. What you say is both heartening and daunting. So much work! I’m really pleased you have an agent you like, one who is helping you develop the MS to an even higher level and who – by the sounds of things – shares your own…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Getting An Agent Blog in the forum The Writers' Lifeboat 7 years, 7 months ago
Fascinating then and fascinating now! I think one thing that you express so well here is the sheer workload of writing a successful book. OK, not everybody is going to make the huge changes that you did, but the fact remains that ‘tinkering’ is almost never enough. Great blog.
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Philippa East started the topic Getting An Agent Blog in the forum The Writers' Lifeboat 7 years, 7 months ago
Hi guys,
This blog was previously up on the (now defunct) Word Cloud. I thought I’d post it again here, in case it is of help to anyone else climbing the same parapets…
Breaching the Citadel
(aka Getting a foothold in the Publishing World)Everyone’s journey up there is different. Following the fine Cloudie tradition, here’s min…[Read more]
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly comp – December 2018 in the forum Monthly Competition 7 years, 7 months ago
Wow, Sea, the December comp had not impinged at all so I read this not knowing the theme – what stunningly beautiful – crisp and fresh – sensory descriptions, and clarity of insight. Loved it.
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Hilary posted an update in the group
December SloMo 7 years, 7 months agoHello fellow slomoers (?)
I’ve been very slow… but I now know how my novel is going to end! I have an outline for the bits I’ve still got left to write. Need to flesh them out a bit and then get on with it. That will be the third draft done, then.
Well done to all of us! And keep going all of us! Might do a Janowrimo!-
That’s fantastic @hilary! What a relief for you. Such a good feeling when structural chunks fall into place like that. Well done you, and everyone! I’m liking SloMo very much – think I’ll be joining you for JanNoWriMo!
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Well done @hilary! I never know the exact ending till about 2/3 of the way through, and it’s always a bit of a relief to figure it out! Hope it helps you move through the last few bits now you’ve got it mapped out.
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Yeaaaarrrsss! Nice work, Hil on the ending! Looking forward to hearing more about it…. Yes, please can we continue in January???? I need all the kindly support I can get!!
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Athelstone posted an update 7 years, 7 months ago
Coast walk this morning with a steady 40 mph wind off the sea blowing hail horizontally. Not nice round stuff either: jagged lumps with sharp bits that stung like hell. Got hit in the eye and it felt like a punch. Couldn’t see properly for 10 minutes, but cobwebs all blown away and once my fingers had thawed out managed to scribble some ideas down.
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Win.
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Absolutely 🙂 or possibly ;(
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Libby started the topic Winchester Writers' Festival in the forum Competitions, Open calls and Writing Opportunities 7 years, 7 months ago
I’m on the mailing list for Winchester festival news. The programme for Winchester 14-16 June 2019 will be out, as usual, in February. http://www.writersfestival.co.uk
They have two new scholarships – info on website. However they’re not running any competitions in 2019:
“Our writing competitions have been a popular addition to the Festival for many…[Read more]
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Libby posted an update in the group
December SloMo 7 years, 7 months agoI’ve changed my profile pic to something less bot-like. These are the leaves of a whitebeam, one of my favourite trees. I was thinking of growth, hope, aspiration. You know, general upwardsness. Fingers crossed.
The past few days have been very slowmo/slowgo. Max of 1,000 words a day editing by hand when really I should accomplish 2,000 or at…[Read more]
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Thanks Libby, really glad you enjoyed it! I’m pleased Menzies’ personal characteristics come through.
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They certainly do. He looks pleasant in the photos. Incidentally I did wonder whether he’d broken his nose at some point!
I’m interested in the Ringway story too as I grew up near there but don’t know much about Ringway’s early history.
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Don’t be too hard on yourself about the word count. For me, getting the words right is far more important, and the added stress of targets is a distraction from that. Anyway, this is SloMo, right?
Yes, Daeds has a real talent for explaining tech stuff lucidly to the lay reader.-
Thanks @richardb. I agree with you. I’m not normally a word-count watcher. I was just feeling a bit bogged down so counted up to see if I’d achieved anything at all!
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Well done on moving forward with the editing, @libby. Each word edited, is a word closer to the end! (My midwife told me that about contractions, and I decided it made a good life mantra!!!)
Also – my neighbours have a big whitebeam over hanging out garden. When the leaves are first coming out in spring, that silvery white is just so lovely!…[Read more]
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Yes, and the leaves drop early so you’re stuck with them quite a long time @raine 🙁
Agree that contractions are good mantra for a lot of things!-
I think we should all cheer on ANY forward motion, painful and incremental included, especially at this time of year! And 1000 a day is high energy by my current standards, so well done @libby. And I too love your leaf pic.
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PS I also agree that the @daedalus signature style is a particular talent for making the (what I would find by default) boring, fascinating.
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Nice pic 🙂
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Sandra replied to the topic Short Story Publication/Competition in the forum Podium 7 years, 7 months ago
Excellent news Stevie; your writing deserves to be read more widely.
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John S Alty replied to the topic Writing Advice in the forum The Writers' Lifeboat 7 years, 7 months ago
I came across this piece of writing advice by Sol Stein which appeals to me:
“….be sure you don’t stop the story while describing. You are a storyteller, not an interior decorator.”
Probably a shot across the bows of so-called literary prose. King likes to emphasize this point too, but doesn’t do it quite as succinctly.
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Philippa East replied to the topic Short Story Publication/Competition in the forum Podium 7 years, 7 months ago
Oh well done, Stevie! That is super news. And good point about still being able to submit elsewhere too! Here’s to a double whammy.
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Hilary replied to the topic Short Story Publication/Competition in the forum Podium 7 years, 7 months ago
Congratulations, Stevie!
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Daedalus replied to the topic Short Story Publication/Competition in the forum Podium 7 years, 7 months ago
Well done Stevie, that’s a great accolade. And nice to have the story in your back pocket too.
Be amazed at yourself – the link works!
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Philippa East posted an update in the group
December SloMo 7 years, 7 months agoUg. Today I feel like I’ve gone backwards in my editing process. I’ve put in my three hours, but most of that was spent unearthing problems in my “back-plot” (or lack thereof) that have now thrown the other plot threads out of whack.
I feel like I’ve discovered dry rot and woodworm in a house I’m trying to redecorate.
How much backstory…[Read more]-
I’m actually reducing the number of words in my WIP which had reached around 50,000 (guess why) and has now shrunk to about 30,000 – rapidly. Work on it has stopped while I think about my Room With A View entry (836 words right now), and I have to get a first chapter in some kind of shape for a writers’ w/e in January (If anybody has a moment…[Read more]
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Oh yuck to backstories! Hope you are feeling less yucky about it today @philippaeast. I don’t know. I don’t think we need to know everything about a secondary character’s past, as long as their character and story are ‘real’ to us. Apart from bits of their past that are relevant, obv. I figure I don’t know everything about a friend’s past, but I…[Read more]
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That is definitely an issue with launching into an unplanned story: the pain of squashing continuity errors, conflicts and missing detail. I think you can get away with quite a lot as long as there are no bugs. If your MC was two years old in the year 2000 but somehow was in favour of staying in the EEC in 1975 then you have some explaining. If…[Read more]
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Hah hah @raine, who said anything about secondary characters?! These are my main characters I’m talking about! But hopefully as @athelstone says, it’s about there not being obvious “bugs” in the writing. Yeah the issue I stumbled into was that, psychologically, a particular character arc made sense if certain events happened when her child was…[Read more]
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Philippa East replied to the topic Short Story Publication/Competition in the forum Podium 7 years, 7 months ago
Den get together would be fab. I am in Lincolnshire, but I can travel to London easily
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Hilary replied to the topic Short Story Publication/Competition in the forum Podium 7 years, 7 months ago
(not sure I want to meet the bots though)
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