Write What You See.

Hello fellow scribblers,
     I thought this time you might like to see where my inspiration for the story of the orphanage came from, so for the first time I'm including pictures, (at least I'm going to try) The building itself was called The Babies Castle and was an actual orphanage, before being turned into a care home and then a pile of rubble.
     As I've said before, the building was amazing, so atmospheric, no wonder I was inspired. From the crumbling walls and wilderness garden full of forgotten little memories, to a cobweb decorated light switch, blackened bed linen and a long abandoned tinselled tree.
     If you put all these ingredients together and have an imagination as weird as mine, you'll be surprised what you can come up with. My story is entitled 'The Last Christmas' and is a ghost story, although not a traditional one.
     I am still writing every day,(I haven't missed a single one yet) and have almost finished the second and hopefully final draft of said story. I've also decided to try and write a complete short story every month and submit it, so I've been searching the web for small press and online publications. They don't pay much, sometimes only a contributors copy, but at least it gets my name out there.
     My novel is still gathering dust, (the more I read of it, the more unhappy I am with it) Over half way through and I feel it needs, no, deserves a full re-write. I still like the story and find the subject matter interesting, but like my school work always said, 'could do better,' So pen in hand I scribble on. Its still January and I've already written more in three weeks than I did for half of last year and if I can do it, so can you. Happy scribbling.

the babies castle

abandoned

busy spiders

Can't See The Wood For The Trees

Hello everyone,
     Well, we're two weeks into the new year and so far I've kept my promise, (although it has been tough sometimes) I wrote six sentences the other night at 11.51pm, so determined was I to keep my promise.
     Another thing that seems determined to keep me from writing is one of my cats. Whether I'm using a pen and notebook or tapping away on the laptop, she will come and sit on top of them and it's very hard to type with a cat on the keyboard, or chewing the end of your pen. Her ample brother on the other hand, can be much worse, if he sits on the laptop, I can't even see it.
     But furry problems aside, I have almost finished the first draft of my orphanage story and finally settled on a title I'm happy with, (but forcing myself to work on only one thing at a time is hard) I've also decided to submit my short stories to writing competitions before they go into my collection as an anthology. So now I'm busy searching the web for any short story horror comps, (well you never know your luck)
     I hope to finish the orphanage this week, but then comes another problem, (yes, I'm always looking for potential problems) what to start on next? I've started three other short stories, but which one do I choose? They are all vying for my attention, begging me to finish them.
     As for my poor novel, (we've been apart for a long time) Well, I re-read half of it the other day and can already see some obvious flaws. They should be easily fixable, thank God, but maybe that just proves I needed a break from it. As I'd become so close to it, I couldn't see the problems anymore; poor writing, repeated sentences and no flow in some places. . . . .I was ashamed. I could do better, I can do better and I will. But it took the break to realise it.
     So a note of warning to anyone who's writing a novel . . . have a break from it. Put it away for a few weeks and ignore it, write something else, just don't touch it and I guarantee that when you do go back to it, you'll see it with different eyes. Good Luck and happy scribbling.