History's Finest

Started my paper edit of story number two and managed ten pages. Hand is a wreck but heart is soaring.

So I'm almost out of my daily word allocation...but before I snuggle up with the tv remote, I thought you might be interested in an article The Ours sent me.

I'd been feeling guilty about only managing to write four hours a day on average, but thanks to my fella's thoughtfulness I now know that my habits mirror history's finest.

(Yes! Procrastination, lazing about and daydreaming DOES make you a genius!)

11 Things To Do In Las Vegas (Without The Gamble)

Bootsnall listed my Las Vegas article as one of their top ten travel stories from March!

Ok it was 10th but it still counts right? ;)

Bye Bye Bertie

Bertie Ahern has resigned.

I'm stunned! The man is as stubborn as...well, a politician.

If you haven't been following Bertie's troubles, here's a few links to get you up to speed.

Finished

I've finally finished editing my first story. Took me six days in total. I took Sunday off because we had friends over for a roast dinner and ended up drinking too much wine - so on Monday I was good for nothing.

I discovered a few tricks to get me started every morning and a few to keep me going throughout the afternoon. One of them involves setting a timer for two hours. I won't take a break until it beeps.

My books also arrived from Amazon so I now have a TBR pile that threatens to keel over and suffocate me. (Dramatic, moi?) I've started on Underground by Haruki Murakami and so far it's an interesting read.

So onto the next story! I feel like I've learned an awful lot already. It was painful, but I now think it's proof that I'm taking it very seriously - I'm being very strict about what I leave in, and am not afraid to rewrite the story if I feel that it works better from another angle or in a different sequence. I know I will be thankful for my thoroughness and nitpicking later!

Distractions

Hope you all had a great Easter weekend.

I didn't get much work done unfortunately - it was quite boozy, but I did enjoy letting my hair down, so no regrets!

I'm incorporating the changes I made on paper into the soft copy document and I'm determined to get it finished by the end of the week. I'm shocked at how long it's taken me to finish this story. A lack of a strict deadline is causing me to drag my feet and the FEAR often gets in the way too.

So I'm removing all distractions in my way, including blogging, until I'm 100% happy about the story. Knowing me I won't be able to stay away for long - but hopefully I'll keep my posts brief!

Good Friday

Nearly a year ago I wrote this post. Yesterday I had 70 visitors to my blog from searches such as:

bars on good friday
can catholics drink on good friday
serving alcohol on good friday
booze good friday dublin

Is it that time again already? Where the only places you can buy a pint in this fine country is on the trains and in hotels (only you're a resident mind you)? Not sure why the State is still doing the Catholic Church's dirty work by imposing the traditional day's fasting and abstinence on the whole population, but hey ho.

Last night The Ours and I took part in another Irish tradition - The Buying Of Ridiculously Huge Amounts Of Alcohol The Day Before Good Friday. It was past six o'clock when we arrived at the off licence so it was already well plundered. After reaching the top of a very long queue, we paused for a split second behind the yellow line to avoid breathing down someone's neck while they counted their change at the till. The man behind us, who looked like he was sweating last night's twenty pints, blew his top and started shoving us towards the check out girl. I, being Irish, welcome public confrontation and told him (amongst other things) to get a life. He didn't care of course; the reality of an entirely dry Ireland for 24 hours had triggered a panic that threatened the sanity of the entire nation.

Of course this day isn't just about alcohol or the lack of it. It's also about chocolate. After the off licence fiasco I woolfed down half a chocolate egg and a Yorkie Bar. Ever noticed how chocolate makes your body hum and your head floaty white? Needless to say I was bouncing off the walls like one of those Fanta-filled feckers in shopping centres whose parents look two seconds away from joining the Witness Protection Program.

I'm still utterly hyper...and utterly unable to sit still for more than ten minutes at a time.

Happy Easter everyone!

Old Skool

I think I'm done with editing for today as my hand is going to drop off. How did I manage at school? The top of my ring finger is as flat as a board and throbbing with aubergine blood.

My philosophy teacher at school made us write our essays by hand, because he'd relied solely on his typewriter at college and consequently developed a scrawl that a doctor would be proud of. We went along with his request but privately dismissed it as another teacher eccentricity. Paper schmaper, I thought, banging away at my college keyboard, smug in the knowledge that technology would save me.

Dear Mr. Atkinson - I'm sorry about all the moaning because you were right after all.

Turns out I can only tackle all aspects of an edit 'old skool' - using pen and paper - because I take more in. I also give myself more time to mull over details such as characteristics and style than if I was editing onscreen.

I will be returning to my laptop soon as the smaller details are best wrestled with there - hopefully by Saturday, as I've covered half of my story on paper so far - but I managed to come up with some good ideas for colour and pacing today. I'm chuffed.