Horses For Courses

The quite smoking campaign continues - slowly...very slowly...somewhat mule-like if I may say. I'm still partaking of single figures each day and seem somewhat stuck around the 8 or 9 mark. It's getting later each day before I really feel a need to light up but I tend to make up for it in the evening.

 

The best way to overcome this is to get busy. One decision I've been waiting on has now been made and a clearer path can now be determined. It wasn't the result we wanted but there's no point in stressing over that so we'll move on. Baby steps to get to where we want to where as a more positive result would have allowed us to take bigger leaps. In the end, we'll get there, rather like a stayer as opposed to a sprinter.

A new idea for a story came to me today. Well, it's a new visit from an old idea. I've outlined it but I'm still yet to nail down the central question and exactly how much, if any, paranormal I want involved. It involves a form of possession so it has a paranormal link already, but I'm not decided on how far down that path I want my main characters to go, or should they just to be affected by it. I'm not explaining this well (which doesn't bode well for a writer), but hopefully it will become clearer once I've made all the connections. As soon as I know more I'll let you know ;c) It's kind of like a colt you saw in the paddock which looked good from a distance but when it came to the buyers ring, you arrived without knowledge of bloodlines and it needs further clarification before you commit. (Are we tired of the horse analogies yet?)

Still, it's an outline, a 300 word rough idea for a novel length story. Unfortunately it has nothing to do with the Nathan Steele series, or YA, and I'm yet to pin down if it will be just a thriller or more a mystery thriller with a new investigative main character...lots still left to decide.

I'll send out a thanks to everyone's blogs I visit, and Danielle's in particular, as it has been the reading of how industrious you have all been which forced me to do this much. I will get back on this horse if it takes weeks/months or years (hopefully not years).

Time to get to the starter's gate...again.

Life

There are stirrings of life within my dead-as-road-kill brain.

I'm reading. My lovely wife purchased a whole heap of books from Jodi Lee (of New Bedlam Project and Belfire Press fame) for my birthday. For those of you who know and follow Jodi, you'll all be aware of her different lifestyle to what many in the city and cloistered religions of the world would call the norm. Well, I'm interested in introducing a new character into Inner Voice with some of the same inclinations but with a great deal more internal conflict, and who, by her very nature, will also cause my other two main characters plenty of conflict.

In the words of Homer Simpson: mmmm...conflict!

So I'm researching and educating myself in the ways of older beliefs and interesting rituals and getting a really good grasp on this new character. No new writing yet, but I have a plan for that as well - so in the not-too-distant future, I'll be putting it into action and producing lots of lovely new words.

At the same time, I've decided I'm going to ween myself off the coffin nails (cigarettes for those not in the know). I've been smoking for 33 years so it's going to be a monumental task (especially without medicinal help), but I'd like to think my will power is strong enough to enable me to control my own body. We'll see. I'm on day two of my quest and have so far gone from smoking 25-30/day on Tuesday, to 10 on Wednesday and 9 yesterday. My promise didn't start until yesterday (hence only day two today), but I began cutting it down a day early anyway. Lunchtime has just commenced and I've only had two so far. Hopefully I'll be able to climb into bed at the end of the day having only consumed 8 or less. Wish me luck. The plan is not to cut down by one each day but it seems to be working out that way at this early stage. Whatever works...

The final title I'm reading is (I believe) a yet to be released manuscript also involving Jodi Lee (she has a lot to answer for). I promised I'd read it and review it for her some time ago and am only now actually getting around to it (sorry, Jodi).

So there is life in the old creative side of my grey matter. I was beginning to think I should sell all my jumpers and t-shirts which claimed I was a writer! I think organising some time off between now and November is the next step so I'm fully into the groove come NaNoWriMo, which is when I want to write the next book in the series. A big statement seeing how I haven't finished the first one. Best be getting a move on...