Project 2, Titanic and 14th April - an anniversary

Morning world – it is a bright and beautiful day here in the U.K which means it’ll probably be raining in an hour or two. Anyhow, my week. Well, what a week. I am very pleased with myself – a pat on the back kind of week. I have spent the last four days at my desk. But, I’ll start with the beginning of the week to prevent confusion.

Last weekend, I drafted a couple of poems inspired by my memories, one called Golden Peg from my childhood and the second, a more poignant one about a work colleague, Deb who bravely battled cancer but after much laughter and tears sadly died. Both pieces have been dancing about my head for a while and for some reason came together last Saturday. As I have said so many time, ‘I am not a poet’ but when typing up the two new poems I numbered them 87 and 88!!!!!! How, have I got to 88 poems? I am not a poet – go figure. But, I shall do what other authors have previously done and treasure them as part of my repertoire. Agatha Christie, C.S. Lewis, Roal Dahl, Brontes, Charles Dickens, JK Rolwing – even Ian Rankin (when annoyed at the BBC), all wrote poetry as well as their novels, so hey, looks like I’ve joined the ranks.

Sunday – I began to create the templates for my next novel ‘To honour and obey’ – well that’s the working title that I’ve given it anyhow. Strange really, because people think that the author chooses the title of a book – nah, nah, nah the publishers change what they don’t like. So, just like ‘Her’ I’ll christen it and then it’ll be a happy day for me when a publisher decides otherwise. Any way, I have decided to tackle this new project in a very different manner to how I approached ‘Her’. I recognize that I’m a visual learner who needs to have order and organization in which to work – so along with the usual scrapbook which worked well last time, I am going to attempt – to sketch each chapter ideas prior to writing. So with the use of a spiral note book I have assigned each page to a single chapter – hee hee just like the wedding present list of some years ago. So far, so good. I spent some time whilst in Dublin sketching out the three first chapters so have transferred this work. I’m sharing my working process purely so other can see a different method to one they’ve probably tried or heard of. I know when I first began searching for ideas on how to approach novel writing I couldn’t understand how authors prepared each detail and actually wrote a novel. That’s probably why it has taken me so long, but I’ve learnt much from my own mistakes. Once the spiral note pad was prepared, I created the computer template – again putting vital details in headers and footers, which I know would have helped the process with ‘Her’. One vital detail is the date – I did this with ‘Her’ – I look in horror at that date and promise you it won’t be taking me as long to complete. So, project number 2 is officially up and running. 

Bank holiday Monday saw me having a ‘sofa day’ catching up on t.v. recordings – and the result was a day spent in tears. I watched a very moving documentary drama based on Captain Scott’s quest to the South pole – using the mens’ diaries and letter home they retold the story. OMG I sobbed, I have tried to find a link to the original programme ‘Scott in their own words’ but can’t find anything that will allow a replay. The second set of programmes related to the Titanic centenary anniversary – Len Goodman undertook a three part series telling of the human cost of the disaster. He retold individual stories of the crew, ship builders and the heroism shown on that night. Again, I watched in tears, but so worth every minute watching such amazing t.v.

Thursday night I attended a Grace Dieu writers’ meeting – I shared my pictures of my poem ‘Jutt’ with the other members, as they live no where near Pooley Heritage Park to visit. The evening was enjoyable, as always, but some news about one member brought home the realities of life. Our time here is so brief, we all think we’ve got so much time to waste on this planet and we really haven’t. I sat in shock, my mind reeling at the news. One life, one chance – that’s a certainty.

I’ve been on Easter holiday from the day job, so I have spent each day at my desk, as mentioned earlier. I’ve been quite amazed at how much work I have achieved in four days, Tuesday to Friday. I have written five letters to magazines, planned two short stories, completed research for my new project, sought agents’ addresses for the next round of posting ‘Her’ and even sketched a possible idea for a third book – writers can’t afford not to plan ahead! Wow, a very productive week.

And so, today. Today is 100 years ago since Titanic hit the iceberg and sank in the early hours of tomorrow morning. I’ll mark the anniversary, firstly by attempting to draft a poem, and secondly, me and hubby are going to watch Cameron’s film Titanic at the cinema later.

Today, is also the sixth anniversary of me beginning to draft ‘Her’ I can’t believe that it has taken me six years to get to this point, but hey, I’ve also completed two degrees and secured a profession in that time too, so maybe I shouldn’t be too hard on myself. So, today, I might, just might, begin writing chapter one of project 2 ‘To honour and obey’ J

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