Splurge

One of the drawbacks of leaving the house is the inevitable splurging that accompanies it.

Saturday at the Maritime Festival I bought a teapot and cup in one from one of the market stalls. The teapot holds two cups worth of tea and keeps it warm while I'm banging away at my laptop. A writer's dream (or anyone who's too lazy to go to the kitchen).

On Sunday we went for a walk around the city centre and I picked up a few second hand novels from Chapters on Parnell Street: Back When We Were Grownups by Anne Tyler, Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh, The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen and On Beauty by Zadie Smith.

Later I went to Hodges Figgis on Dawson Street and bought Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (a novel so cult that you need two bookmarks to read it) and Ubik by Phillip K. Dick.

And today I'm on the lookout for a table and chairs set for our balcony. As the good weather has actually held here I've been daydreaming about writing and reading in the afternoon sun.

The Lives Of Others

Just a quick one to point you in the direction of a blog project called The Lives Of Others, where the contributors share the same username and password to guarantee complete anonymity.

The resulting posts can be moving, sad or humorous but always interesting. Take a peek.

Weekend Pig-Outs

I did some freewriting this morning; a scene where a man told his partner he was leaving her. Sounds depressing but it was cathartic to work on something completely different to what I'm doing now, and I'll probably be able to slot it into another story.

The sun is splitting the trees again today so we're heading to the Maritime Festival in a mo. I must confess that the outdoor summer market is the main reason for the visit...it's just not a weekend without a pig-out, right?

Have a fantastic one whatever you are doing!

The Writing Zone

Our four day weekend has started - The Ours took today off and Monday is a bank holiday - but I still rewrote 600 words this morning.

I'm really trying to write every day if I can. It seems like most published authors write every day, rain or shine - I do like having the weekends off though, and because of that distinction I tend to get more done during the week. Perhaps the solution is to do less at the weekends?

I'm still clinging to the idea that I must achieve a certain mindset before I start writing though. Today I felt a little distracted and not really in 'the zone', so my writing wasn't quite right. I know I'll have to read through what I wrote today again and tighten it up. But I also don't want to get into the habit of putting off writing because I don't 'feel' like it, because I might never get it done.

Does anyone else have this problem? Any ideas on how to get the best out of your writing sessions if you don't really feel like it?

Writer's Lobotomy

I finished my paper edit yesterday and began the rewrite today. Eventually the 1000 word limit was reached but it was a painful process.

Not so much writer's block than writer's lobotomy - I could visualise what I wanted to write but the words would not come to me.

Luckily I work alone otherwise I'd have been sent home with a doctor's note for waving my hands in the air and babbling to myself. "Material. A floral material. Bobbly, raised, hairbrushy feel. What the hell am I on about? Arrghhh..." *Clutches head dramatically*

On days like this one I long for mind-reading software. Or failing that, a large cocktail.

News, Deals and Events Blogs

Recently I've stumbled upon a few new blogs and Facebook groups that are aimed at people living in Ireland and more specifically, Dublin. I've found them quite useful so I thought I'd share.

The Dublin Event Guide is a weekly subscription-based free e-mail guide for free events in the Greater Dublin area.

The "Dublin Event Guide (for Free Events)") is an Event Guide with a difference. It covers mostly free events based on the thinking that free events deserve additional support and that
ticketed events have a better chance to pay for advertisement.

If you're interested in subscribing, send a mail to dublineventguide[@]gmail.com with 'Subscribe' in the subject line, or join the facebook group.

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I came across the Frugal Ireland blog recently via Style Treaty, where Maz has recently started contributing her words of frugal wisdom. This is from their 'about' section:

We are a group of internet users who thrive on finding good deals online and linking to good content that can be useful to consumers. From ways to save on petrol to the latest supermarket deals, we aim to bring you the latest news.

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Through the Dublin Event Guide listing I found the Dublin Metblog, an alternative news source for the capital. They have a good mix of news, deals and events happening city-wide.

The End of the Affair

I finished Graham Greene's The End of the Affair yesterday, and I have to admit that overall I didn't enjoy it. I'm sure I'll go to literary hell for that statement.

Technically I found the novel well-written. Greene is a master craftsman; there is so much colour and dimension in his work. I enjoyed the fact that the protagonist was a writer too - and spoke about his struggle with writing the story. It gave the novel an interesting modern twist.

But it still left me cold. I studied English at university but Greene's work and my reading choices were like ships in the night. I didn't know a lot about him or his interest in Catholicism.

So when the novel shifted from an obsessional love story to a study in metaphysics I lost interest. The protagonist seemed to lose his previous personality and character and become Greene's mouthpiece on the subject, and suddenly the novel adopted the tone of a treatise.

I do believe that great literature should deal with the great unanswered questions like life after death and religion's place in society, but the two parts of the novel did not gel together for me. Subjectively it was not my cup of tea...but I couldn't fault Greene's incredible command of colour and metaphor.