Library, study and observations

 Morning folks, I’ve had a far better writing week this week and boy, has it made a difference to me. I’ve felt more enthused and alive than constantly moaning to self that I’m not achieving. Though, the day job did get in the way of attending my writers’ group on Wednesday night.

So what’s new? A productive week, that’s what! Last weekend I managed to submit my opening chapters to the Harry Bowling competition – which was my goal of the day. A couple of lines of poetry evolved during my dog walking session and a short story idea was born. Two ideas for prose pieces crept into my mind during a coffee break and I observed several ‘characters’ on my drives to work. All of this in addition to my current project which is plodding in the right direction – can a writer ask for a better week? No, not really. When the brain is flowing freely it is a joy to be overloaded with so many ideas. And today, I’m granted the time to work on them. Bliss.

Talking of observations – I’m addicted to people watching. I literally can’t help myself if I spot an interesting person at fifty yards, my eyes are locked on and every detail is mentally absorbed and later noted. Be it a unique walk, a stance or an expression – anything that conveys a meaning or suggests a personality. The puzzled expression as the mother waves a child off to school, the sprint of a young man between the busy traffic or dawdle of an elderly lady on a Monday morning. There are days I find myself surrounded by such sightings that require detailing in my note book. But, all make a bank of details when creating characters or plotlines.

My studies have started too. I’m still with ‘Dombey and son’, only another three hundred pages to go, but I’ve now started to listen to the audio which is enabling me to remember details from the early part of the novel. This is one of my goals for the weekend, to read a huge chunk making next week’s study a little more manageable. Though, the delight of my study was listening to a seminar on the gothic genre on cd – which has accompanied me everywhere.     

Last week, I mentioned part two of Jane Wenham- Jones’ writing series on Youtube – here’s the link if you’d like to view it too.www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ycfeR3Zze0

The series continues with the aspiring writer trying to correct her work with some wonderful advice from Katie Fforde.  

I shall love and leave you. I’m about to nip to the library to complete research on the local area. Due to recent cut backs my local library is only open until one o’clock on Saturdays so I have to make the most of it. On weekdays, they close before I finish work so there’s no chance of nipping in for a quiet 30 minutes after work.

Remember you can link up and chat over Twitter (@odwyer_author) or Facebook odwyer_author – enjoy!