Submission and Nano

Hi folks, a quick update from me, prior to Nano starting at midnight tonight.

I have spent all this week working on the W.I.P. to ensure I could complete and submit today 31st October. Well, the good news is my hard work has paid off. I have literally just submitted my entry - which closes this novel, for the time being. And the even better news, this now frees my mind to focus on the craziest month of the year, November and Nano!

I have updated my Nano page, linked up with my buddy requests and am planning a little sleep in a few hours time ready for my midnight writing session. Please come and join me, I promise to hold your hand.

A celebratory task for me is to deliver my gold bangle to the jeweller's - who engraves the date of my completed novels inside.

Fleeting visit, but I must dash... Fingers crossed I shall hear from you tonight as I begin my Nano 2013 quest. Use Twitter by searching for @odwyer_author or Facebook odwyer_author - either way, see you later.

Holiday, W.I.P and The Ghose House at 99 pence

Morning folks, you find me bright and breezy having started my school holiday. Boy, do I have plans! It'll be. Push fitting everything in but I'll do my damnedest!

I started a new routine sat week - it was tough getting up in the darkness but once on my feet, I was away. It's proved to be a welcome boost I needed, if only the lighter mornings were here. Anyway, I have one final week before Nano starts to complete.

Last Thursday I took 'Mr Nobody' poem to the Grace Dieu meeting - receiving lots of praise but... no poetry competition as it was cancelled due to a members' discussion prior to commencement. Nevermind, I'd completed an entry and was glad to join in purely for fun. The evening turned into a truly funny evening - reinforcing why creative types need and thrive on interaction.

I currently have several reading books on the go, the one i'd recommend for pure enjoyment is my writing buddy, Helen Phifer's book, 'The Ghost House' which is currently on offer at 99 pence from amazon.  www.amazon.co.uk/The-Ghost-House-Helen-Phifer-ebook/dp

So, my plans for this week:
- complete FLOM W.I.P by Thursday 31 October
- begin Nano 2013 with a midnight session
- studying 'Jane Erye' for uni
- reading Zola's 'Germinal' for uni study
- finish reading 'The Ghost House' by Helen Phifer
- visiting Warwick Castle for a day trip

I promise that I'll be Tweeting throughout the week so please come and join me as I complete my second full novel.  @odwyer_author on Twitter and odwyer_author on facebook. Enjoy!

Reading, Nano and new routines

Morning folks, I write this as the first torrent of raindrops, as promised by the weather men, descends.    
It's been a strange week in numerous ways, but I've managed to write in snatched moments here and there. I produced a poem about boxing during a poetry class at work, edited two more chapters of my current project and completed copious amounts of study during my lunchtimes.

Wednesday saw me attend my local writers' group Mad Hatters - which gave me food for thought regards childhood memories, historical settings and fell walking. I didn't take anything to read or have critiqued, it's difficult maintaining the momentum of writing a novel and receivingfeedback simultaneously   Much better to complete and polish the text, then hand over as a complete piece of work.

Thursday I indulged in an entire evening of reading, I literally did nothing else. Wrapped in a fleece, the pooch on my lap - I read from seven o'clock until eleven. It reminded me of being a teenager when time was endless and such occurrences were virtually a daily routine.

It is the Grace Dieu writers' meeting this coming Thursday, the evening insists of an annual poetry competition between members - I have already polished my entry in preparation. The prize is purely satisfaction and a bottle of vino - more than enough for me!

The countdown has begun regards Nano 2013 - you may have noticed that my widget has been renewed for 2013. I am on holiday the week of the Nano start so have planned to work through the night from midnight. Please join me, it would be wonderful to have more company in addition to the fabulous Nano buddies from last year.

I'm nearly at the end of 'Northanger' by Austen - I've gained a whole new, and unexpected, insight regards the plot and characters due to my study modules. Fingers crossed I can finish it by the end of this weekend.

And finally, as the season changes from summer to autumn I have started to adjust my activities to accommodate the darker hours. From this Monday, I shall be writing before I go to work as a means of upping my output. I'll let you know via Twitter how I fare.

Enjoy the weekend and remember you can connect via Twitter @odwyer_author or via Facebook odwyer_author - chat later!

The Ghost House, poems and Austen

Morning folks - boy, how the weeks are flying. I've had a cracker of a week. I managed to rewrite a couple of chapters last weekend and draft a poem which set me up for the week - and thankfully the flow of inspiration continued. The productive results being two additional poems linked to childhood and an additional two chapter rewrites. Not bad for a juggler!

On Wednesday, I took great delight in my writing buddy Helen Phifer's debut novel 'The Ghost House' - it arrived to my IPad at 6am and I managed to peek at a couple of chapters before bedtime. A few more chapters today and I shall be writing my feedback on Amazon.

Wednesday, also saw me return to my writing group Mad Hatters having had to send my apologies to the previous meeting. It was a very quiet night, with just three of us, but hey, we put the writing world to rights.

Thursday, bingo bango came the arrival of two poems, like buses, hey? Or is it simply dog walking routines. I also freaked out a work colleague with the speed of a creative idea - sorry folks, I can't simply switch it off when at the day job.

Friday night was my night off and I took full advantage by attending a quiz night with hubby - thankfully I achieved 100% on the literature questions. Phew!

And so, to today. I've spent most of the morning reading Austen's 'Northanger Abbey' linked to my course - bliss! Such a treat reading about Bath and the 'Upper' assembly rooms! The rest of my day is be spent at my desk working on My W.I.P FLOM - I've set a deadline for 31 Oct ten let the NaNo begin!

Remember you can join me via Twitter @odwyer_author or Facebook odwyer_author - you may well be included in my #ff on Twitter. Enjoy!

Helen Phifer, World Heart day and Dombey

Good morning, sorry for the lateness but yesterday was snatched from me in a blink. Anyhow, I’ve had a troublesome week with the juggling act; some good days, some simply awful – but hey.

Last weekend, I discovered a few interesting facts and figures for research but sadly not all that I’d hoped. So, in the coming week’s I’m planning a trip to Warwick records office for a further mooch.

I missed my writers’ meeting on Thursday, which annoyed me slightly but I made the most of it by spending the evening at my desk. I am vowing to be at this week’s meeting - come hell or high water.

Today is officially World Heart day – so prior to writing this blog update my muse composed a tiny ditty dedicated to my own cardiac pump. Not a bad start to the day, which I intend to spend at my desk writing. I have additional work on my current W.I.P. which I had hoped would be completed for this weekend, but sadly not. I’ll let you know via Twitter how my productive day pans out.

Good news – Dombey has been put to bed. Without disrespecting Dickens but ‘Dombey and son’ was hardly the best work he produced I much prefer ‘Bleak House’, ‘Great Expectations’ and ‘Oliver Twist’ – so please forgive me for doing a mini jig having reached the end. I start rereading Austen’s ‘Northanger Abbey’ from tomorrow onwards – boy, am I chuffed.

Wednesday is ‘publishing day’ for my writing buddy Helen Phifer’s debut novel ‘Ghost house’ – I have my copy preordered and can’t wait to begin reading  - I’m very excited for her, she truly deserves the success. www.amazon.co.uk/The-Ghost-House-ebook/dp

and her website, www.helenphifer.co.uk

A brief un-date, but I need to dash while the energy is following. I’ll catch you on Facebook (odwyer_author) or Twitter @odwyer_author – later in the day. Enjoy!

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!

Submission 4, NaNoWriMo and Youtube

Morning folks, hoping that you’re all happy and healthy. I’ve been pretty silent all week due to the day job overflowing but now, I’m back.

I have the entire day to myself so my goal is to prepare a 5000 word manuscript for entry into the Harry Bowling Prize for New Writing.www.harrybowlingprize.co.uk The closing date is 30^th September but for me, today’s the day. This will be my fourth submission in recent weeks – leaving just one more submission to fulfill my pledge of five to my RNA friends. Ladies, I shall get to work straight away to complete our mission.

For weeks now I’ve been churning over an idea for this year’s NaNo challenge and currently have so much planned in my head for this mammoth task.  Please take a look, signing up would be great – it sounds hard to believe but it is fun and very satisfying. Why not link up as one of my buddies - we can support each other? www.nanowrimo.org

I’ve already decided that my NaNo 2013 manuscript will be my RNA NWS submission for 2014. My plan is to write my first 50,000 in November, then completed the other 50,000 soon after. Fingers crossed, I will then continue to work on the project until ready to submit to RNA. This plan will enable me to submit earlier than the August deadline -which always looms so quickly. Watch this space to see how I fare.

My study course arrived this week, so far I’ve unpacked it and stared at the beautiful shiny covers, boy, how am I going to fit all this in, was my only thought? But I will, I always do! I’m studying Nineteenth Century Novels via the Open University – and am still wading through ‘Dombey and Son’ in preparation of the 5^th October start date.  If anyone would like to take over for a bit, I’d really appreciate it J

Today, I shall be searching Youtube for part two of Jane Wenham-Jones writing series. Here’s the link for the first episode - take a look and enjoy. www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kJWTbsjbR4

Wishing you a fabulous day and remember you can follow me on Twitter (@odwyer_author) or Facebook (odwyer author). I promise I won’t be silent this week. Enjoy!