Category: Just a thought

The White Elephant

Chris Hall19 Comments

white elephants

Teresa, The Haunted Wordsmith, is holding a ‘White Elephant’ party throughout December and since Teresa very kindly gifted a beautiful time-turner to me yesterday, I’m continuing with three gifts of my own.

The first gift goes to Sadje of Keep it Alive and I’m giving her a display cabinet in which to keep all her well-deserved blogger awards:

Display Cabinet

Now, I actually got two of these in a Black Friday sale, so the second gift of a display cabinet goes to Salted Caramel for exactly the same reason. She also gets a second silly gift of a bowl of salted caramel flavour popcorn because I know she likes it and you can’t have too much of a good thing!

Salted Caramel Popcorn

And finally, my third gift goes  to The Dark Netizen  and I have chosen to give a him a lightsaber as I’m excited to know what he’ll do with it!

Lightsaber

I’ve been Nominated for the Sunshine Blogger Award!

Chris Hall25 Comments

Sunshine Bloggers Award.jpg

I’m delighted to say that Sadje, of Keep it Alive, has nominated me for the
Sunshine Bloggers Award!

Sunshine Bloggers Award Rules

Thank you, Sadje for the nomination, it’s an honour!

Okay, here are my answers to Sadje’s questions:

What made you start blogging?
I set up Luna’s on line about 6 years ago purely as somewhere to store my short stories. I was also experimenting with WordPress as I had started my ‘ghost blogging’ career.
It wasn’t until early this year when I started working from home full-time that I got up and running with it and started interacting with other writers and bloggers. I am so glad I did; the support and encouragement is amazing.

Do your friends and family support you in this?
I have a lot of encouragement for my writing. Maybe they actually believe I’ll be a best selling author one day so want to be nice to me! And a special mention for Cliff, my husband who’s really supportive unless it’s suppertime (a bit like Luna, my cat).

Which is your favorite time of the day?
I write best in the late afternoon, so it’s then.

What would be your dream vacation?
Visiting the gorillas in Rwanda. I’d need to have some strong-armed bearers to carry me and to bring the G+Ts.

What genre of movies you like best?
It depends on my mood. I have very eclectic taste (although I don’t like rom-coms or splatter movies much).

What are your strengths and weaknesses?
I’ll own up to a couple which work both ways: I get too involved with my characters. I talk to them, often out loud. Also, I’m a dreadful grammar pendant.

Are you an emotional person?
Don’t you have to be if you write fiction?

What motivates you in life and writing?
Imagination and an enquiring mind.

What sort of friend are you to your pals?
I’m there in mind and spirit, always.

Have you written poetry as well?
Some, but it’s not really my forte.

sunshine cup
Now imagine: I’m standing at the podium in full evening dress – gold lame, glitzy earrings, killer heels – (I did say imagine) and I am holding the 11 envelopes.
Here’s the speech…

These are some of the most inspirational, inventive and supportive writers I’ve met in ‘blog–land’ so far. This is my thank you to them! Check them out. I’ve put in some links to their sites and to their work.

  1. Kent Wayne, the Dirty Sci-Fi Budda for being the first person to like my first post – check out his Echo series: I really enjoyed Vol.1 and I have Vol.2 is ready to read. Thanks for all the re-tweets!

  2. JI (Jenn) Rogers, a great inspiration – all those Six Word Challenges, wow, she’s right, they are addictive! Check out her book The Korpes File, vol 1 – a cracking read – vol 2 will be out soon; can’t wait to find out what happens next.

  3. Jean Lee’s World – such lovely writing and great support. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed several of her ‘Tales of the River Vine’ and I now have ‘Fallen Princeborn: Stolen’ to read on my Kindle.

  4. Teresa Grabbs, The Haunted Wordsmith, for all the inspiration and support, I’m reading her short story collection, ‘Tales from the Haunted Wordsmith’ now, and her new novel ‘Reflected Echo’ is lined up ready to read on my Kindle too.

  5. Ellie Scott for being awesome and witty and from Yorkshire (where I grew up). Ellie writes lot of lovely little engaging pieces not only on her website, but on Twitter and on Instagram (clever!). She’s on Medium too – head over and give her a clap.
    I’ve started reading her     ‘Merry Bloody Christmas: A Short Story Collection’ – one story a day in the run up to Christmas, although it’s tempting to pig out on a whole week’s-worth in one go! 

  6. Debra of Nana’s Whimsical World  for her ever-so-wittily described crafty projects, her wonderful stories about Foster and Panda (you have to read these!) and general awesomeness – this woman installed her own toilet!

  7. Adam West, The Writer of Age with whom I’ve probably had the longest email exchange ever when trying to download his free offer on Amazon (they like to make it tricky for you if you live in deepest, darkest Africa). However, ‘The Vague Ship: A Tale of Ambiguity’ was well worth the effort!

  8. Freja Travels – a travel blog by Mickey & Yunni, so beautifully illustrated with photos. I followed them every step of the way through Madagascar. And Yunni is reading my work-in-progress novel from this blog (so I’d better hurry up and finish it).

  9. Muted Mouthful – Tiara has truly found her feet in her blog! Awesome stuff. I really don’t know why she doubts herself. And she lives in New York, which I find very cool!

  10. Jason H Abbott, The Aetheral Engineer – wonderful witty flash fiction. He’s on Twitter and Instagram too – thanks for being there.

  11. Keith Sandvidge -– dark and witty tales. Great support over in ‘twitterland’. Don’t tell anyone, but I think he’s reading my first novel…I wonder how it’s going.
    He also writes on Medium – pop over and give him a clap.

…and there are others, newer to my circle – and since Sadje also very kindly nominated me for the Liebster Award as well, I’ll give them their shout out there – stay tuned!

And I’m not going to ask anyone any questions, I merely offer the invitation to grab the ‘Sunshine Blogger’ banner, tell us more about yourself and pay it forward if you’d like.

You are someone's sunshine

 

NaNoWriMo – hitting the buffers

Chris Hall11 Comments

nanowrimo 2018

Week 4

Last day, last update!

Buffer Bashing NaNoWriMo LunasonlineWell, to continue the railway analogy: I haven’t run out of steam (far from it), but I have run out of time. But only just. I’m nearly there.

I might manage to squeeze another chapter out before the end of today, but I’ll still won’t have finished. That’s fine.

It was always ‘my rules’, so I’m extending my deadline into next week. And why not? Then I will have a completed ‘rough-ish’ first draft to work on next year.
It will be a good start to 2019.

So, how was it for me?

It was a good experience.
I enjoyed it.
It hasn’t mattered that I didn’t quite reach my goal.
I wrote every single day (apart from two Thursdays, which I’d anticipated).
Other priorities permitting, I discovered that I can write more, and I can write more quickly without (I believe) compromising on quality.

Would I do it again? Quite possibly.

So, all you other ‘NaNoWriMos’ out there. How was it for you?
I hope you achieved success – however you care to measure it – and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! See you next year?

Normal service will be resumed shortly.

 

NaNoWriMo – are we flagging?

Chris Hall6 Comments

nanowrimo 2018

Week 3

Actually, no, not flagging!

Three-quarters of the way into the month and my children’s novella is coming along quite nicely, in fact it’s probably just about at the right point in the story now for it to crank up, wind down and come in close to the finishing line by this time next week; lucky I set the bar low. But I mustn’t be complacent. Just plug away. I never know quite what the pesky characters are going to do to trip me up!

Meanwhile, back in the real world…

Swept up in all the Black Friday hype (no, not really, that’s a lie); rather slightly aware of an opportunity, I went for the old ‘Kindle giveaway’ for ‘The Silver Locket’. Now that was a handsome piece of prevarication, don’t you think. Still, I’ve taken advantage of so many freebies and cheapies from other Indie Authors, that I wanted to join in with a free offer – don’t worry about missing it – I’ll be tweeting the odd reminder next week.

So, have a pleasant and productive week all you NaNo people – and everyone else by the way!

NaNoWriMo – onward and upward

Chris Hall8 Comments

nanowrimo 2018

Week 2

This morning, having once again had a terrible Thursday – not even one paragraph completed – I was feeling discouraged. The whole day before me and I just couldn’t get going. Maybe I’d put my characters through too much in the last couple of chapters? Charred bodies? Too gruesome for a middle grade story?

Leave it. Move on. I can always tone it down later.

Then after doing a spot of ‘real work’ up they popped, ready to go. Now Chapter 10 is all finished and I’m pretty much on track for my 30,000 word target for the month – 14,290 to be precise – and they’re ‘all good’ words (I think).

So, onward and upward to fellow ‘NaNo’s next week, and to everyone else busy toiling at the keyboard!

NaNoWriMo – update

Chris Hall6 Comments

nanowrimo 2018

The first week is almost over. Well, it’s been a week and a day, strictly speaking, but since my Thursdays have been too chock-full of ‘other stuff’, I’m not counting them (or on them).

I am enjoying it. I’m having fun. Maybe not getting quite the word count… but I have (mostly) finished my first five chapters. I’ve allowed myself to miss bits out: not worry about names, or particular locations. I’ve left notes to myself to look up this and fill in that. It’s working, at least in the context of my own particular goal for a short novel for children.

Oh, and the planning has mostly gone out the window. I’ve discovered I can’t write that way. Although I do still have the end written. It might change , I’ll have to see what my characters do. And I’m loving them!

So, my writerly friends out there who are busy with this little adventure too: may your words flow fluently, your plots thicken seamlessly and your characters give you joy! (Was that too many adverbs??).

On with the journey…

NaNoWriMo

Chris Hall6 Comments

nanowrimo 2018

It’s started and not quite as I’d imagined. Of course, I must start by coming clean and admitting to those who didn’t catch my admission on Twitter the other day, that I haven’t signed up for this properly and officially.

No. I decided to be easy(ish) on myself and aim for a modest target of 20,000 – 30,000 words. A children’s story. Something I could add to later: parts two and three perhaps.

So, at the start of the week, I did a little light planning, which was good. Feeling confident!

And then midweek, and I shouldn’t complain,  I got a whole bunch of ‘proper work’ to do. That, incidentally, means paid work for clients which, of course is good. But it did include reproducing a 28 page, closely worded, legal document, which took hours (it’s not something I’d normally do) and it numbed my brain, something chronic!

NaNoWriMo Day One – 7,239 words… and none of them fiction! Day Two has been better.

Good luck to everyone who’s doing this! I wish you very well. See you next month.

The Clock’s Ticking!

Chris Hall15 Comments
the clock is ticking lunasonline Photo by Jordan Benton from Pexels
Photo by Jordan Benton from Pexels

Just to let you know that I won’t be around quite so much for the next 6 weeks. It’s nothing bad.

I promised myself at the beginning of March that I would finish the draft of my new novel by the end of October (this year), and then do something I’ve never done before, and which I’ve wanted to do for almost 10 years: NaNoWriMo.

2018 is the year.
It’s going to be a challenge because I’m going to have to plan this properly.
Starting…now! Well, soon.

I’ll be popping up for air to see what everyone’s up to, but if I don’t interact with you much, you’ll know it’s going well. If I do start wittering on it will mean I’m prevaricating which will not be so good. You might even find me crying in a corner of Twitter.

But let’s be positive. I’m going to get it done.

Wish me luck!

Author Reviews: how do you feel?

Chris Hall8 Comments

I come across this article by one of my favourite authors, Kate Atkinson, which she wrote in response to a review of her latest novel by the American novelist Jonathan Dee in the New Yorker.

You can read the full article for yourself by following the the link below, but as I was reading, I was initially incensed on her behalf by Dee describing her as ‘matronly’. I mean, how dare he? (Note that Ms Atkinson is a contemporary of mine, even down to having grown up in the same city, not that we knew each other).

In his review, Dee makes much of a comparison with the work of Rachel Cusk, who is an exponent of “autofiction” (a form of fictionalised autobiography). There’s a further link in the main article to a piece about this form of expression, which is apparently gaining in popularity. It’s not something I’d care to explore; writing from the imagination seems to me to be the whole point of novel writing.

But back to the point about authors reviewing authors. Reviews are important, and I’m very grateful for the lovely reviews I’ve received on my published work so far. I believe that we should try to support each other and if we really don’t like a book, maybe just keep our opinions private.

Some food for thought here. What’s your view?

Courtesy of Guardian News & Media Ltd

Kate Atkinson calls authors reviewing their peers a ‘callous art’

British novelist who recently published latest book “Transcription” says she tries not to read bad reviews

Kate Atkinson
Kate Atkinson, Author (and not at all matronly)

The literary world is packed with novelists reviewing the books of their colleagues but it is not something Kate Atkinson would do, calling it a “callous art”.

 

 

Great Ways for Writers to Get More out of Google

Chris HallLeave a comment

I came across this article by Kathy Steinmann the other day. I use Google quite a lot for quick fact checking, for example, I was interested in the properties of jade for my work-in-progress novel. And I use Google maps all the time.
I was aware of some of the things she mentioned, but not all, and some I’d forgotten about. See if you find something new and useful!

get more out of google lunasonline

Read the article here:
https://kathysteinemann.com/Musings/great-ways-for-writers-to-get-more-out-of-google/