Celebrate the Small Things: Fri 8th March

Greetings and celebratory salutations my friends, here we are again for another round of 'Celebrate The Small Things'.

The rules are quite simple. In fact they are not really rules. More guidelines. Full details here but in a nutshell: sign up on the linky, post your small things to celebrate, hop around blogs and celebrate with people: Woo! Yay! Go you! Etc. The celebrations can be anything you like: you tidied your sock drawer perhaps, or mastered the Rubix Cube.

My celebrations this week:

Finally kicking winter cold no. 452 which has been around for ages so starting to feel human.

Think we have found a plasterer to do our cupboard. Seriously, for some reason this has been difficult but hurrah! Somebody wants our business ;)

Dinner out (dimsum yum) with two friends, who have wee babies so it's not easy for us to get together.

How about you? What celebrations have you this week?

Here are all the celebrating participants:

IWSG: Starting Over

I didn't think I'd be able to post today but jumping on briefly for the Insecure Writers Support Group. Check of Alex Cavanaugh's blog for more info and the linky list.

I have recently completed an R&R and therefore am temporarily paused on the WIP I've been working on for... oooh forever. I have a rough draft of another novel I want to return to but I am having trouble getting going on it.

Yes, I might just need a brain break to read and watch TV and that's fine, I won't beat myself up about that.

But I really want to work on this piece. I love the idea. I know I can make it better. I have a list of changes to do. But I somehow can't find a way to get started on them.

It's not like I am drafting from scratch - I have something to work with. Maybe that's the trouble, that I have been editing for a while and a new draft may help.

Overall, it feels like starting over. Back to the start of the edits. Which is fine. But I'm having trouble getting going.

Do you ever have this? Any tips?

Inspiration from Books

I recently read "Fault in Our Stars" by John Green. I'm not posting this to review the book, though I'll say I loved it.

What I was inspired by is the quality of the writing. It was one of those books which I closed and thought 'Damn, I'll never write as good as that.' I also thought, 'how do I make my writing better.'

In John's case, I loved the voice in his writing, the way he writes and sounds like a person. I believed I was reading a book where the girl was telling me her story. I don't always, even when I have loved reading a book.

Another writer who has inspired me is Lauren Oliver, especially "Before I Fall". It was not so much the voice in this which inspired me but the imagery. She has a real way with metaphor, for me, and similarly, I put the book down and thought, 'how do I make my writing better.'

Which writers or books have done this for you? What have you taken away from reading a book?

I would love to hear as I am sure I am not the only one.

Celebrate Small & BlogHop of Joy

Hello!

This week's "Celebrate the Small Things" coincides with the BlogHop of Joy hosted by Kyra Lennon and Clare Dugmore. The aim of their bloghop is to list five things which put a spring in your step. I encourage you to visit here to learn all about and hop around the great blogs taking part!

Therefore for Celebrate the Small Things this week I am going to celebrate five things which put a spring in my step - I enjoyed all of them this week!

Celebrate the Small Things is my weekly celebration of the small excitements and moments of the week worth celebrating. It can be that your child ate some greens, that you finally took that rubbish to the dump, or that you finished a chapter of writing which was difficult. Anything! More info on that here but in short you post your weekly celebration, hop around others blogs and celebrate!

Linky list at the end but in the meantime, my five:



1. Hot Chocolate on a freezing cold day, warming up my fingers
2. My fish swimming to the front of the tank when I walk in the house
3. The squirrel in my garden darting along hunting for nuts, and especially when the squirrel has found a big piece of food
4. My new warm wintry socks
5. The first day of a new month.

Here's the #celebratesmall linky, and please do use that hashtag either to link your post or just to celebrate whatever takes your fancy!

YA Highway: Best Book of Feb

This week's YA Highway Road Trip Wednesday asks what the best book we read in February is.

I finally read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. (Thanks to twitter for encouraging me to do so). Of course, I loved it. By turns funny and moving, it calls up the tropes of cancer books, lambasting some and fulfilling others. The main character is so very real, her voice is excellent. I laughed, and cried.

(I also read Pivot Point by Kasie West and loved it.)

I am now reading everything there is to read by John Green, marvelling at how real his voices are and trying desperately to improve my writing so I can be half as good.

Any recs for me? What did you read in Feb?

Close Edits: What I Look Out For

Howdy.

I've just completed close edits on my WIP and thought I'd record here all the things I looked out for, most likely because a CP at some point has pointed out I do these a lot.

FYI I believe we all write differently and all rules are made to be broken, but I can't say looking out for these hasn't made my MS stronger. 

I look out for:

1. Redundant Words. Just so you know, well, the over use of them, just drives me insane. Well, I can't tell you just who puts them in there. But I know they have to go. (These usually come from my list of redundant words to cut.)

2. Repeated Words. Why use different words when I can use the same word in different places on the same page, differently? 

3. Awkward Constructions. Having looked over my manuscript I note that I use awkward constructions where, being the fast drafter that I am, I haven't thought to use that thing called a period which may have helped me make it punchier, having thought about it.

4. Punctuation errors, especially comma splices. I do love commas, I like to put them in, where they don't belong, instead of the period, bless its heart, so I have to change these.

5. Not using contractions. I did not understand why my critique partner pointed out the lack of contraction, but I could not help but notice how Jane Austen it made my character sound. Which would be fine, if I was writing historical, but I am not.

6. "It was" construction. It was a sad day when I counted up how many "It was's" I had used for it was a lot, so it was. I changed these to be a stronger verb, and/or was more specific than "it". And it was better.

7. Lack of all the senses. I looked over my manuscript, gazing at the screen and catching the eye of my boyfriend as I did. Even though in reality I smelled the dinner he was making and heard the TV on low and the tap of my fingers on the keyboard. 

8. Generic description. My computer has a screen, and some keys. Exciting, eh?

9. Over Explaining. Why succinctly explain something in one sentence when I can use two, or three? I do like to repeat myself. I mean it gets the word count up. It adds words to my MS. It makes it longer. I can be sure the reader got my point. In case they didn't understand me. They might need me to make the point again.

10. Too many Rhetorical Questions. Why use one rhetorical question when I can use two or three? Why not repeat what I mean with several sentences? Why not have my character wonder in the form of a question? Again.

11. Dialogue Tags. "What do you mean?" He grumbled. "I mean, looking out for OTT dialogue tags," I muttered. "Do you put in said instead?" He said. "Yes. Or better still none, or action." I hit publish on my post.

12. Passives.  I was running to my computer to be sure to type in number 12. I was sitting at my desk. I was typing too.

Thanks to Kate Larkindale, Allison (Geek Banter), Jessica Ward, and Raewyn Hewitt, who all pointed out several of the above as well as all my CPs who point out all my errors.

Do you do any of the above? Have any to add?

Like I say, this doesn't - by any stretch - mean I never use "it was" or "he muttered" or whatever. It doesn't mean I believe in set rules and advice.

I just look out for these while I line edit, and find it helps. So I thought I'd record them here.

Celebrate the Small Things - 22nd Feb!

Welcome to Celebrate the Small Things - 22nd Feb!
The rules of Celebrate the Small Things are so simple, they aren't really rules. (I nearly went for: the First Rule of Celebrate The Small Things is to Celebrate Them, the second rule: Celebrate Them). Anyway.

Go here for full info but in short: sign up on the linky list, celebrate small things of awesomeness with a Friday post, hop around and congratulate others on their celebrations. That's IT!

My excitement for the week:

Line Edits on my R&R are done. DONE! *confetti* Streamers* I feel accomplished!

Had a couple of days off and had time with my family.

Had an afternoon out and saw some otters! They were v. cute.

So I was wondering about tweeting on a hashtag. #smallthings looks like it is already being used for a similar purpose - so no idea if we should just join in their fun. But #celebratesmall didn't look like it was being used. I welcome thoughts!

I am off for more family time so will likely hop around blogs at the end of the weekend - apologies but won't be able to before then. Also I might go back to sending out a wee email reminder (hope that isn't too spammy).

Here's the linky list of awesome fabulous celebration-ness.