Hello there!

It’s been a while since I updated my journal. I could blame nanowrimo or I could actually tell the truth and explain there has been a lot of procrastinating. I’ve been ill with a chest infection for a couple of weeks now, its finally gone and no more pathetic coughing! At one point I sounded like I smoked 60 cigarettes a day and then tried to run a marathon!

I have been about though, mostly focussing on the things below as well as work for drama school and of course the job hunting. I still haven’t had any luck on the job front despite filling out a ridiculous amount of application forms. I don’t even hear anything back so have no idea if I am writing the wrong things or just not suitable full stop. It’s very frustrating, and humiliating too to be honest. I like working and working hard too so it isn’t nice being on this end, especially with how the jobcentre treat you and make you feel stupid. Grr.


Writers-workshop

Well I firstly have to say a huge thank you to =nycterent who has worked her socks off on our current workshop. I haven’t seen someone so committed to something like this on dA for a while, so it is really refreshing. It has also shown me just how much more exciting groups are, and how they suit the concept of #Writers-Workshop.

Please do check out the latest workshop and our 62 entries for it! It’s blasted the previous record of 34 entries for a workshop so we’re really happy! The entries can all be found in the workshop gallery. I didn’t submit myself, but this workshop has had a huge effect on my nanowrimo story- I don’t think I’ve used as many metaphors in my life!

As for news on groups, if you are not already make sure you are watching the #hq group and the #communityrelations group as these will be where the updates and information on the groups launch will be. From what I gather, groups are going to be launched very soon, probably when the last of the bugs have been squished out. Although I am going to miss alpha testing, I can’t wait to convert the workshop from a basic group into a super group!

#Writers-Workshop actually celebrates it’s 2 year anniversary today! Although the account was open about a year before this marker, we officially opened our first workshop on the 11th November 2007. It’s impressive to see how far we have come since then and I am really pleased with it.


Nanowrimo

So 18 thousand words in and I’m at that phase where I am starting to hate my story. I am on this chapter which was supposed to be a little ‘soul searching’ for my main character and it just turned out to be really flat because I wasn’t really getting anywhere. I moved on from that but now I am over analysing my entire story so far and already thinking about rewriting. Still, I am slightly ahead of target so can’t complain too much.

The chat room has been absolutely buzzing this year, which is really nice to see, especially the sheer scale of new deviants. There are some crazy people who have already hit the 50k mark, one girl is considering doing 50k each week! I wish I had the time to be honest lol.


Harmless update

I would love to be able to share a list of all the amazing deviants whose work has been used for this, but I know due to sensitivity not everyone will want me to. If you are happy with me to list you, then please let me know and I will next journal.

The main news is that almost everything has now been proof read and edited- mostly by yours truly, and has now been sent to the publishers to be put into the book. I have seen a preview of some of the pages and it looks brilliant! It’s going to take a good few weeks or so for the book to be put together, so I reckon we’re looking at early 2010 for launch party and release.

It’s been a really exiting project for me, not just because my own work got in, but also the positivity that has come from such a difficult subject matter. This book isn’t anything to do with preventing self harm, it is about the understanding and looking at steps to make someone feel acknowledged and that there are services out there that can help if and when you want it. The process into publishing a book has been quite educational too.



11th November 1918

I had to stop mid sentence on this journal as 11am approached for a 2 mins silence. Although the date marks the end of world war one, I feel at the moment remembrance services mean even more than they used to. When I was younger, the silence was a mark of respect for those who had fought in wars past, before my lifetime. These days a week doesn’t go past without news of another soldier being killed.

The below lines don’t come from a war poem, they come from an Irish song, but I feel they speak to a modern society.


My youngest son came home today
His friends marched with him all the way
The fife and drum beat out the time
While in his box of polished pine
Like dead meat on a butcher's tray
My youngest son same home today

My youngest son was a fine young man
With a wife, a daughter and two sons
And a man he would have lived and died
Till by a bullet sanctified
Now he's a saint or so they say
They brought their young saint home today

:#getlit: | Poetry and Prose Forum | Literature Workshop Forum | Fantasy Literature Forum | *litNEWS | #Writers-Workshop


Sunday 25th November, 9pm GMT come join the #nanowrimo chat room for a launch party event! It is an excellent opportunity to come wrap yourself in the encouragement of fellow participants, and get motivated about your novel. Hope to see you there.

Please heart the news article and spread the news: [link]

*Mae-Jay has provided a list of useful links for NaNoWriMo too, please check her article: [link]

How awesome is this css from =moonfreak?


Hi guys


NaNoWriMo is only a fortnight and a bit away! It is time to start making that all important decision whether or not to sign up and get involved. For those who have never heard of NaNo before, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. The challenge is to write a 50 thousand word story in the month of November. That’s 50k words in 30 days = 1667 words a day. Once it is broken down it doesn’t seem so bad?

You can sign up at the official wesbite: [link] where you will be able to find people in your region as well as an abundance of forums, resources and words of encouragement. If you are lucky like I am, your region may be buzzing with participants who have weekly meet ups and local support networks to. I am actually helping out as a Muncipal Liason for Derbyshire this year, which is probably why I have gone over-enthusiastic for it!


NaNo Chatroom

The chat room #NaNoWriMo is up and running. Please do pop in, share your thoughts, story ideas and ask questions. In November the room is a central hub for deviants who need encouraging and support, as well as word wars and dares to keep people writing and getting to that 50K mark. For now, it is an excellent chance to pop in and discuss story ideas, maybe bounce off thoughts about characters etc, or even just to say hello and meet those who are also aiming to complete the challenge.

It is not confirmed date-wise yet, but there will also be a NaNoWriMo launch party sometime before the 1st November, encouraging more people to be persuaded to join as well as sharing those pre-NaNo fears. We’ll also arrange for a few writing tasks, dares and games too that may eventually contribute to your novel.

We also will need a few more moderators in the chat, mostly just to keep things friendly and encourage and run word wars. If you’re interested, please note `RetroZombie or me.


NaNo writers of 2009

If you are participating in this years NaNoWriMo, feel free to let me know and I will add you to this list. If you have an account set up on the NaNo website, please tell me that too so if anyone wants to add you as a ‘buddy’ they can (username on site in brackets). Eventually I may update with word counts, but we’ll see.


`Beccalicious (beccalicious)
`RetroZombie (retrozombie)
=cassiedj (cassieness)
=LostKitten
*Endomorph-Usagi (ViscountUsagi)
~Jesperla (Jesperla)
*ThornyEnglishRose (ThornyEnglishRose)
~Jeshi-Camui-Tarakai (PinkSpiderFelix)
*PaperDart (PaperDart)
~mwiings
`conorschild (onenessofjuju)
`Elandria (lanny)
=moonfreak (moonfreak)
=Prosaic-Scriptor
~Silamai
`poprocksandcharlotte (poprockout)
`GaioumonBatou (Barurugo)
~ukfaithless (prosody)
`ATrue*
`Solitude12
`innocencedied2nite (indiewrites)
~Utanapishtim (Kichijiro)
=The-Inkling (TheInkling)
~eldestmuse (cally.beck)



*not 100% participating yet.





Final notes

This isn’t an ‘official’ list of deviantArt participants, this is just a list to encourage a bit of enthusiasm for the month and get as many people who are involved in the challenge to get connected early on. I encourage anyone else to get a list together too because it would be lovely to get as many people to feel fully involved as we can.

Feel free to post any questions here. Also if you see any questions you know the answer to, please don’t hesitate to respond!

If you fancy sharing a little bit about what your novel is about, feel free to do so again on this journal.

If you’re not convinced or interested in NaNo whatsoever, I hope we can count on your support whilst the rest of us endure this!

Here is to a wonderful writing November!

:#getlit: | Poetry and Prose Forum | Literature Workshop Forum | Fantasy Literature Forum | *litNEWS | #Writers-Workshop


I apologise first for my previous journal, last week was a pretty shitty week. I wish I could share why, but it really doesn’t matter now. It did feel like shit, and to be honest I am still feeling horrible from it all, but I just need to dust my skirt and start a Monday feeling fresh.

Thank you to everyone who responded, it means a lot to me

Self promotion

I would like to blame `ATrue for this entirely.


About me

I am 25 years old with a degree in Creative Writing and theatre studies. I studied this degree because my passion lies in scriptwriting and prose writing. I do tend to post more poetry on dA though simply because it is something I would like to improve on.

Since graduating in 2003 I have worked for a Law Publishing company and then as a Project accountant. I recently have found myself unemployed due to the world recession. My ambition is to either teach or become a professional scriptwriter and director in the theatre. I also work three evenings a week teaching drama at a performing arts school in Derby.

I live with my boyfriend of almost 6 years called Joseph who I adore. I also enjoy singing along to my cheesy iTunes, watching Friends and Scrubs repeats, playing on the Wii and am inclined to the occasional Mojito night with my friends.


On DeviantArt

I’d like to think I was a fairly dominant member of deviantArt, not so much for my writing but more for my enthusiasm for the literature community. I am a senior and have been since November 2007. In June 2008 I was (and even now still a little) happy to be the recipient of a Deviousness award for my efforts.

I have been involved in quite a few projects and contests. My first contest was a simple one called ‘Games & Darkness’. I then went on to follow up this contest with one on the theme of ‘Addiction’. After these contests I moved on to host a month-long project on Scriptwriting in June 2008 and have since been involved in promoting scriptwriting on deviantArt, having had the opportunity to work with CR and the film teams to create the current Scripts to Flicks contest. I am hoping in the future to produce more resources and prompts to encourage more scriptwriting.

As for clubs, I am the founder of the first literature group to move over to the new system #Writers-Workshop , which has been around now for over 2 years. Although we’re currently dealing with a transitional phase merging into group status, I am hoping for a grand re-launch of the group soon, with a wonderful growing team of people working with me. In the past I have also managed the literature team on *DailyDeviants and featured work on behalf of :devwordcount.

My ambitions on dA are both personal and community based. My personal ambitions revolved around trying to establish my writing into some form of better quality than it currently exists, which does mean I need to write more. As for the community based, I would love to simply see more members of the community interacting together from all levels of ability and just bringing those who don’t know how awesome a community exists into the know. Although I have applied several times before and not been accepted, I would still like to be a GM for this community too.


My Work


Cup of Tea Promise

This is my most favoured pieces of work. I actually wrote it the first time I was unemployed and feeling similar to how I do at the moment. Although it has been revised a few times, it still needs work and I know I have a couple of valuable critiques on there to review to help improve it.

Swords Guild

Although this piece is a scrap and still in a first draft status, it is actually now the preview for my NaNoWriMo story this year. One thing I am proud of is that I like creating fully dimensional characters and I did this with Vincent Swords and felt he needed a much bigger story, something around about 50k.

Threadbare Doll

This was the last poem I wrote. I have a slight fondness for this poem because it was just one of those strange moments where you picture something and want to create the image. I had the idea of a spirit trying to rescue a girl from her war-torn home and then a bit of mythology kicked in about Hestia and this was the final result. Always happy for further critique on this one.

The Train Graveyard

A piece of prose which really was a tribute to the place I worked. It again needs tightening up and having a clearer ending, but I do have a soft spot for it.

Daddy’s Little Girl

This was a piece written originally at university which has been reviewed so many times I have lost count. It is a monologue about a 17 year old girl who ends up homeless due to being sexually abused by her father. It’s probably one of the hardest pieces to have written, even harder to perform.


Talk to me!

If you ever want to talk to me you can usually find me in #getlit or #seniors. I also have skype, gtalk and rarely venture MSN. Also feel free to note me.

If you ahve any questions based on the above, feel free to ask me anything.

Okay the optimism failed for the time being. I will get back to it.

I didn't sleep at all last night.

Sorry for the ranting, I don't have anywhere else to write this stuff.

*edit* instead of the dramatic journal, here is a poem instead:



A fool I was to sleep at noon,
And wake when night is chilly
Beneath the comfortless cold moon;
A fool to pluck my rose too soon,
A fool to snap my lily.

My garden-plot I have not kept;
Faded and all-forsaken,
I weep as I have never wept:
Oh it was summer when I slept,
It's winter now I waken.

Talk what you please of future spring
And sun-warm'd sweet to-morrow:—
Stripp'd bare of hope and everything,
No more to laugh, no more to sing,
I sit alone with sorrow.

:#getlit: | Poetry and Prose Forum | Literature Workshop Forum | Fantasy Literature Forum | *litNEWS | #Writers-Workshop


I have been really, really down lately. I think I have let unemployment get to me and its not making me feel so grand.

Therefore to pull myself out of this mope, I am going to take a leaf out of the lovely `GaioumonBatou’s book and create this journal of optimism.

The idea is you guys leave a comment, say something positive, and I will respond to you with a positive and feel good comment too.