FSF – Five sentence Fiction – Erased

 Another wonderful prompt challenge that I have neglected for too long – click the icon to check it out, read others or take part.

Erased

Gemma knew she shouldn’t do it, but Todd was out for the evening and she’d already hacked his account. She felt sick, but wanted to know the truth and in all honesty, she already knew.

He was with her now.

She opened the latest messages and there on the screen was confirmation of their plan to elope. Gemma selected the envelope icons and deleted all of them, banishing the vixen from his account.

FWF – Free Write Friday – Pivotal Moment – The Other Side of Black is White

 This week’s FWF by Guest host Kelley Rose asks a deeply profound question;

What I would like to know, your prompt for the day, is what was that pivotal moment for you, and most importantly, how did it change you?

Click the FWF banner to find out more and read other bloggers answers to this prompt.

 

Pivotal Moment – The Other Side of Black is White

For many years I suffered depression, undiagnosed and battling through life everyday was a struggle. There were many outside influences which caused my anxiety and stress, they were all situations that I felt caught in and I couldn’t see how I could change my life for the better. Despite friends, family and Mr G telling me exactly what I should do to overcome this darkness.

 Life was definitely no fun anymore and some nights I would fall asleep with the wish that I would not wake up again. (Fortunately the universe didn’t listen!) In early 2012, I found myself at breaking point and sought medical support.

There is a test that Doctors use to calculate the level of depression. I scored so highly on the test that I only dropped a couple of points off the maximum. If a job’s worth doing – it’s worth doing well. It was no wonder that despite trying self-help I had got nowhere. Medication was prescribed and I was signed off from work.

Hello rock bottom.

Which I am still not strong enough to write about and I believe the pivotal prompt is more about sharing the shine than the darkness.

Needless to say this dark passage, the longest journey I have ever been on – had a domino effect on my life, which at the time was not a positive collapse of all I knew. I ended up back at work – before I was well enough to cope – this led to reduced hours and many problems that I didn’t feel it was fair I was facing (disability act and all that), I could no longer afford my apartment on half a salary, I stood to lose my home (not something that is going to spur a depressed person onto happier places!) I had no spare cash so couldn’t have gone out much even if I had wanted to – which I didn’t. I have only recently (early summer) this year found the pleasure in socialising again. It is a long, hard process and one that still requires a lot of action on my part and intervention.

But from the depths of this dark journey I found buried treasure. Parts of myself supressed for years.

When I was very ill there is little I could do, I didn’t leave the bed. But I took something there. My books.   For the first time in years I had time to read and the pages enabled me to escape into worlds where I didn’t have to confront what was happening to me or around me. I rediscovered my love of the written word.

A year later, I was writing! Something I hadn’t done for over six years (and I used to be a published poet, performance writer and freelance writer), at first it was a depression diary, then a journal and eventually real work. Stories and poems.

I started this blog because of it – and the list of what I have gained from having the blog and the wordpress community is endless.

Mr G and I also bought our house together. Moving in early summer this year. Another hugely pivotal and positive event.

I have had a poem published and I am back on the performance poetry circuit.

I am alive.

Most importantly I know I have the strength to survive anything. There is another side – and I will come out on top in the end. I AM A GOOD PERSON AND I DESERVE GOOD THINGS TO HAPPEN!

It is only from this pain that we learn to survive. From knowing we can survive we harness hope. That peace of mind stays with you no matter what colour your day is. No matter what happens. We know. There is another chance. That change will come, but it will bring opportunity. That I am not the same person that I was two years ago or even two days ago. That growth is life and growing pains can last beyond adolescence. That this is what life is.

Knowing the other side of black is white – that light can be found in the depths of darkness carries me on. Life is for living and sometimes that’s hard. But keep breathing because your next breath may offer you a pivotal moment of your own.

 

 

30 Days, 30 Posts: NaBloPoMo is here!

Wondering if blogging everyday about my NaNoWriMo experience qualifies me to say I am participating in NaBloPoMo too?!

WordPress.com News

There’s a lot of buzz each November around NaNoWriMo — you may notice some of your favorite blogs dedicating themselves to churning out 50,000 words this month.

If 50,000 words seem like 49,000 too many or you’re more interested in blogging than writing a book, NaBloPoMo — National Blog Posting Month — might be your speed: a challenge to post once every day for the entire month of November. No theme, no word count, no rules; just you, your blog, and 30 new posts.

NaBloWhatNow?

NaBloPoMo started in 2006 in response to NaNoWriMo; not every blogger has the time or inclination to write a book, but the idea of a challenge that forces participants to stretch themselves, grow as bloggers, and be part of a supportive community is undeniably appealing. As founder Eden Kennedy, the power blogger behind fussy.org, put it:

If there’s one thing creative people…

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Day 1 – NaNoWriMo – Tips, Advice and Story

 

WOW! That felt good! 

My characters are born!    

I have spent the past hour or so OFFLINE completing my NaNo write for Day 1. I have managed 1893 words (1667 needed) and have left it part way through a scene – not quite mid sentence but a good place to pick up tomorrow.

I have these tips to share with you from Day 1;

• Don’t leave it too late to start your daily write…
• at the same time – make sure it is the optimum time for you – when you feel ready and willing.
• Set yourself up first, I had the laptop on ready then got my notebook and research (images) to hand, opened the word doc. and started…
• Take a break if you have to. (I didn’t)
• Although you need to focus on the writing (especially in the light of no editing rule) make sure your mind stays 1 step ahead of where you are writing (if you can.)
• Keep breathing.
• If you are tiring – check your word count – you may find you are closer to the end of today’s writing than you think.
• Push for more as long as you are not feeling the burn. My initial word count revealed I had managed 1644 words, I could have stopped – nearly 1667, but I had more story left in me and know that there will be days when I struggle to pass 1000 words, so as I was

a) still awake

b) still running with an idea

c) not hungry

I carried on and eventually reached 1893, so close to 1900 I could dance with glee!

• Work offline if you can (I did) and avoid all distractions. (I have spent the past hour and a half shut in the lounge on my own, with only the sound of rain for company.)
• Increase the size of your viewing screen. I treated myself to 200% tonight – no need to squint, like reading big print library books, but keeps mind focused on the words without a subconscious cell trying to identify the letters!
• Have plenty of light. A well lit room is a MUST. Our pumpkins are burning away with tea-light energy next door, I have the main light on in the lounge.
• Save your work in separate folders or at least separate documents. This will make organisation and editing much easier post-NaNo… yes, there will come a time when you are NOT writing 1667 words a day!
• BACK UP! You must back up that writing – external hard-drive is the ideal. I have used a memory stick and the hard drive!
• ENJOY! The moment you don’t – take a break!

Nanowrimo Resources

Nano Survival Tips

Nano Song

My 1st NaNo

Nano The Real Reason Writers Keep Notebooks

Nano Posts Begin

Here are some tips from James Patterson direct from the NaNoWriMo inbox;

NaNoWriMo

Here are some tips on making it to December 1 without going crazy or giving up. (Though if you have to do one of them, I’ve always found sanity overrated.)

Outline. If you already have: gold star; proceed to the next piece of advice. If you didn’t, don’t worry, because it’s never too late to go back and make an outline. An outline isn’t something to be scared of, it’s just a chapter-by-chapter description of the scenes that, lined-up together, make your book. On the count of three, tell me the story that unfolds in your novel. All the way to the last chapter. Now write that down. There’s your outline. Easy, right?

Lie to yourself. Honesty is a great quality, but we’re writing fiction here, so you’d better get used to a little light lying. Tell yourself you can do this. Tell yourself your book will be great. The world will love it and you’ll be the next J.K. Rowling, J.D. Salinger, Art Spiegelman, or whatever flavor of author you hope to become.

Get into a writing routine. Think it’s hard to write every day during NaNo? Most professional writers keep this kind of pace all year round. Holidays, birthdays, vacations—you name it, we’re writing. The trick is making writing into a daily habit. Same time. Same place. Same hot beverage of choice. Every. Single. Day. Again. And. Again.

Don’t do it alone. If you live with somebody, tell them to be unpleasant to you if they see you doing anything else during your writing time. Buy them a water gun. If you live alone, have friends call and check on you. And if you have no friends, you will have no trouble writing a book in 30 days. What else do you have to do? (I’m not knocking friendless people. We’ve all been there.)

Don’t stress. I don’t mean to undermine the above, but remember this is one month, not your entire writing career. Try hard, learn from it, and if you don’t get to 50,000 words, figure out what you did wrong so you can get there next time.

Stop reading this. Start writing. Now. (Or at midnight your time.)

James

 

James Patterson writes suspense and thriller books for kids, teens, and adults. He holds the Guinness World Record for the most New York Times bestsellers of any author.

 

Axe-Wielding Space Weasels! A Few NaNoWriMo Tips

Today is the first day of NaNo and I am yet to put pen to paper. I logged on and saw many sites had shared my Nano posts (big thanks) and I like to wander through the other related articles. I have just read about 10 related blog posts and this one shone out as having incredibly useful tips for the Wrimo! So read it and keep these ideas in the back of your mind for when the jubilance of NaNoWriMo turns into a self inflicted hell!

Good luck with your Day 1 Writes!

Audrey Coulthurst

Hordes of writers near and far are stocking up on coffee and wine and are installing fresh padding on the walls of their writing caves for the month of November. National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is officially upon us. It’s time for a month of writing intense enough to wear one’s fingers to bloody stumps and the ingestion of enough caffeine to create a violent eye twitch that will linger well into December.

The goal is to write a 50,000-word novel in thirty days.

Every November seems so fresh and new to me that sometimes I forget my veteran status. This will be my ninth year as a participant. Now that I’ve been around the 50,000-word block a few times, I’d like to share some survival tips I’ve accumulated over the years.

• Don’t edit. I’m serious. Don’t even edit the last two sentences you wrote at the end of your previous…

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