Monthly Archives: March 2010

Day One at MAC, 10,000 Word & Grunting

Hello!

Day one of internship and I felt very intern-ey!

I photocopied, data-entered and generally felt very intern-ish!

I also got to check out the... Art stuff happening... :

That, as I said, I can't talk about.

But, rest assured it was AWESOME and SO SO SO COOL!

I think I'm going to love it there.

But I'm glad I made up MAC, because today my boss said that she'd have to print off a confidentilaty agreement.

So I don't think they'd look to kindly on me blogging specific details!

Thus why MAC is perfect.

And if you've been living under a rock, here are some posts on MAC!

I also had to go to a run-through of tomorrow's presentations for the scholarships.

And there, I saw this ...

MAC Begins Tomorrow! (As in, new INTERNSHIP!)

Just a quick note to say that I start my new internship tomorrow (which you can read about here)!

Eeeeeeeeeeee!

I am very excited, and looking forward to it a lot.

Tonight I got a comp ticket (yes, I am getting comp tickets before I even start! :D) to one of MAC's event/things (again, would love to give you more details but can't!).

It was breathtakingly beautiful. I couldn't believe it. I had the time of my life. The show was utterly amazing.

AMAZING.

And I am even more excited about my internship than before!

And while we're on the subject of MAC, I was looking through old posts to give you guys a link to the history of the name MAC, and then realized that for some stupid reason that post that ...

Writing Tid-Bits – Blocks and Deadlines

Today seems to be a good day for writerly advice!

While looking over my Facebook, as I often do, I came across Isobelle Carmody's status:

Isobelle Carmody back in Prague and rearing to get back to editing the last Obernewtyn book. Penguin have been so great about allowing me more time to finish properly and the relief at the removal of crushing deadline pressure is immense!

Upon reading the comments underneath, I read the most fab comparison from Isobelle:

Writing with a too tight deadline is like trying to work on something requiring all your concentration while someone in the corner is shouting at you that you are going to miss the bus!
Now, I can get a later bus, when I have finished.

How nice is that! And true too!

Jigsaw Part II

Evening!

So, I am totally in love with that picture of the pink and brown jigsaw puzzle right now.

Isn't it awesome?

And it totally represents my novel at the moment!

I didn't do much writing today on the bus - instead I made a Excel spreadsheet with all my characters listed on it, and then columns: age, who they live with, what they do, what they look like, random notes, what time line they're in (I have three times: past, present and a year ago)...

Things to sort my brain out!

And it's working a treat. I went over all the words I've written so far, and as each character was introduced I added them to the spreadsheet.

Then I decided I needed to make their high school group of friends, ...

The Jigsaw Puzzle

I am beginning to think my novel is a jigsaw puzzle.

For those lucky cats who follow me on Twitter, I posted an update earlier saying that, in the last twenty-four hours, strictly on public transport, using my new mini laptop, I've gotten almost 4000 words done.

GO ME! :D

That is brilliant, and I am very happy with my new mini and, by doing the 4000 words, that has paid for itself.

While I was writing, I introduced some new characters (my MC's dad, the queen bee of her old high school, some other randoms) and then wrote some other scenes which mentioned the new characters in the different timelines (my novel has three different times, past, present and a year ago) and when I was writing them, I wrote notes ...

"No one is doing what I do"

Hola!

Today's blogging comes straight from my bed, rather than my friends, and is on my regular often-broken-down laptop.

*Sighs*

My mini is really the most epic thing ever.

I used it on the train to my friends, and on the train home this morning, and suddenly I had 1000 words down and the trip took all of five minutes.

Am looking very much forward to using it on the bus to The Party Shop this afternoon - an hour and forty-five minutes of writing! Woop woop!

And so, with approx ten minutes before I have to leave for work, I am going to leave you with these two articles, one written by Paulo Coelho and the other an interview with Nicholas Sparks.

Now, a big thank you to Gabrielle Wang for posting ...

Live from a Friend’s Bed

Evening everyone!

Tonight I am blogging live from a friend's bed!

And she says hello!

I am over at her house using her Internet to download programs - like Page Four, Writer's Cafe and virus protection.

Hoorah!

Since our Internet is over the limit and everything is it very nice to be working on fast net!

And on the way to her house, I had my mini laptop on my lap, typing away, and it was FAB! I got so much done!

It's so cute and small and lovely:) I love my mini!

I'm on it now actually, sitting in my friend's bed.

And now I want to share something with you all that we did something in class the other day.

Do your characters have a want?

If ...

INTERVIEW: TASMA WALTON


INTERVIEW: TASMA WALTON
As I think I've blogged about a million times, I LOVED Tasma's Heartless.

I thought it was utterly amazing amazing amazing, and everyone should read it!

The way the usual metaphor of the heart was used literally was imaginative, clever, new and fresh.

Tasma is probably best known as an actress rather than an author, with roles on such TV shows as City Homicide, Blue Heelers and Home and Away, as well as several movies.

Here is also an article I found from the Courier Mail about Heartless.

As I've mentioned on my blog, I have been chasing Tasma for months for this interview - and I hope ...

New Mini-Laptop (FINALLY)! Plus Bailey Update + Housemate Mini-Road Trip

Today I got my new mini laptop!

Isn't it beautiful?!


Just try and ignore all the fingerprints - I need to get a film-thing for the cover!
My housemates Peta and Mark and I went on a road trip to get it.

It had all the excellent points of a road trip:
FoodGreat companyInappropriate conversationsChecking out people in the car next to usGetting lostFacebook stalking crushes (okay, well, maybe not on traditional road trips! :P)One thing I should point out is we only went half an hour away....

But it felt like a grand trip!

And we're going to do it again in two weeks when I go and buy my desktop with the scholarship money :D

Mark was always going to come with me in exchange for lunch, because I don't know ...

Seeing Red…….

I have a love/hate relationship with talking about publishing in class.

I love it because, well, obviously, I love publishing, but I also hate it for a few reasons:
1. Some people are so naive and this frustrates me
2. Some people don't care about the industry, and only want to write, and this frustrates me
3. Some people harp on and on about the time, a million years ago, that a publishing house gave them a lot of feedback (but didn't publish said novel) and that bores me and annoys me, although I'm pretty sure that if I was in the same situation and had that personal connection with a publishing house I'd probably do the same (so yes I know, I'm a hypocrite, but it still annoys me!)
4. Teachers give out wrong ...