Blog Archive

The Pillow Book of Prudence . . . Part Eight

What motivates one: Realising that one is getting older and that time is getting less.  Opening the curtains on a day when the sky stretches limitless and blue, unmarked by cloud.  Being envious: envying people of great accomplishment can urge one to attempts of accomplishment oneself. Challenges: the best motivator of all.  Good reviews.  Having a good night’s sleep.

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Back soon!

Just having time out thinking about Guy of Gisborne Part Three and The Pillow Book of Prudence. I shall see you in a day or so.

Awards and red carpet . . .

I’ve just been nominated and have received an award.  Jane of all Trades, (http://gentlewomanthief.wordpress.com) one of my most favourite blogs because of its own versatility, has given me an award and because validation is always nice, especially when you’re a writer, I’m unashamedly including her comment and boo sucks to anyone who thinks I’ve got a big head.  Remember a writer will soak up all good commentary whenever!  So thank you Clare Sager.

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Gisborne . . .

With apologies etc etc etc . . . as before.

Of course, I lost my job and was cast onto the street with no back wages and had only a penny in my pocket.  What does a penny buy these days?  Our world is in a penny-pinching crisis, so precious little I can tell you.

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Gisborne . . .

With apologies to Guy of Gisborne, Cinderella and Richard Armitage.

(Prior to washing the kitchen floors today, I have had to get my tax-papers together and as with all mundane tasks, I tell myself a story whilst working.  This is what eventuated.)

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A Writer’s Tools . . .

My friend Pat from BoPress http://bopressminiaturebooks.com/blog wrote a really interesting blog recently on her studio and then even more recently, on her tools.  She’s a miniature book artist and I was in love with the space and the equipment.

I wondered how my writer’s space and my writer’s tools could ever compete.  My spaces, of course, are wonderful.  At the shack, the table by the window listening to the waves  and in town, the family room and the big navy couch, looking out to the Derwent and over shadowed by a complete wall of all my favourite books.

Tools-wise, it’s a whole other story.  I have a little white laptop, an iBook G4, a pile of A4 writing pads, a brown and white container full of pens and pencils,

 

Pens, especially RED ones . . .

 

a couple of USB’s, and a thoroughly worn out thesaurus that my husband gave me in 2003 to replace my thirty year old one and which is now falling apart.

 

A worn out thesaurus

 

I have a few different dictionaries and some special encyclopaedias.  As I’m a fantasy writer, my reference books relate to myth, legend, folktale and imaginary lands.

 

A small selction of reference books . . .

 

I have a pile of journals that contain notes and inspiration, because my daughter is a bespoke journal maker and graphic designer and keeps me supplied.

 

My special journals . . .

 

I have a wireless printer, in fact wireless everything.  And I have a friend called Doctor Google. I do have lots of reference files in the office, filed under the title of the book to which they relate.  I was a reference librarian for a short term after I left university many years ago and that part of me says I should cross-reference everything in an effort to keep track. But at the moment I can rely on my memory to tell me where things are stashed.

My other tools are two demanding Jack Russells, a pantry filled with camomile tea, a Spode Blue Room coffee mug and the four CD’s of Cary Lewincamp, whose work I adore and which is a quiet and ambient counterpoint to whatever dramas may be going on in my brain.  http://www.cary.com.au/sound-1.htm

And that’s it . . . boring, isn’t it?  Compared to an artist’s space and an artist’s tools?

Now if it was embroidery, that would be a whole other story . . . and one that I just might write about one day.

 

Baby rug embroidered for Marcus, newborn son of English writer Simon James Atkinson Turney.

 

Treasure Hunts . . . research and writing.

I love treasure hunts.  Whether it is renovating the old site of the stables from the 1800’s and finding pieces of history, whether it is shell-seeking on my favourite beach.

What's at the end . . .

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Praise is like refined sugar . . .

I’m in the process of the second last revision of my manuscript.  I say second last because I’ve given it to two very trustworthy friends on another side of the world.  Whilst they read and report I could of course, rest and re-gird my loins. But I decided instead to revise it myself .

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Trees . . .

Not far into Anne’s House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery, there is a short passage where Anne speaks to Gilbert about her dream house – what she simply must have around her when they move to Four Winds Point.

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‘Do things ever give you a thrill?’

I am so not a literary fiction aficionado.  I wish I was, but as I finished the latest, which was an excellent book, I realised that I prefer the simple book – the book that leads me on a path of happiness and delight and that I can put down at night realising I am contented and calm.

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