Pirate’s Appreciation: an award in disguise!

piratesadmiration

He who doesn’t accept awards, ye pirate, has just said a very lovely thank you to fourteen of his blogging friends (me included). What we have in common is that we’ve ignored his warning shots, and, hearing not a shout of “shiver me timbers”, we’ve earned ourselves a pirate’s admiration 🙂

To find out who else has been spared his cutlass, you can cross the choppy waves to http://managuagunntoday.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/a-pirates-appreciation/

And in the words of ye pirate: “The rules are simple – put on something frilly, and tell a blogger you desire to admire that a Pirate admires ya, and yer passing that admiration to him or her to be plundered, if you so desire…”

S'ConcertGear

I think men are spared the dressing in frills, unless they possess an early eighteenth century white shirt, but a bow tie should do! Below is a rare sight of me wearing something with frills — albeit subtle. This was taken after the Christmas concert of medieval and renaissance carols performed by the early music choir to which I belong. I’ve had to crop the picture not to include the others, as I haven’t yet had a chance to ask their permission to post them on a public blog. Hoping to put a music page up in the future, so will post the whole picture then.

So now I offer my appreciation to those who’ve offered me awards that I’ve accepted, like gold from a galleon, and hope to see you in your frills (or, for one, a fancy collar!) You can find these fine folk at …

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http://davidkanigan.com/   (3 awards!)
http://auroramorealist.wordpress.com/ (2 awards!)
http://naomibultuck.wordpress.com/ (2 awards!)
http://baileyboatcat.com/
http://poeticparfait.com/
http://allaboutlemon.com

Novel Writing Winter (NWW) 2013: survival basics

We all have different approaches to writing. Some authors prepare detailed plot outlines prior to embarking on their novel. Others, like me, start with the characters, while only having a vague concept of the plot’s beginning, middle, and end.

The second approach is a more perilous path to follow as it risks the author walking into dead ends, but it can also prove a most exhilarating journey to place characters in situations of danger and conflict, and then allow them to take the lead and surprise you with their solutions.

Below, are a few pointers to help those participating in Novel Writing Winter to meet their goals.

  • Turn off the spell and grammar checker
  • Write the first page and keep going — don’t keep tweaking your opening paragraphs
  • Don’t obsess over the word count — just get the bare bones of the story down
  • Remind yourself daily it’s only the first draft — perfection not required
  • Avoid showing your work in progress to anyone, especially friends or family (trust your own judgement)
  • Only stop for research if you come up against a total blank wall
  • Remember to eat, sleep, exercise, wash, and not to turn into a total recluse
  • Don’t compare yourself to other writers
  • Write the story you most want to tell and don’t try to second-guess the market
  • View the first draft in as relaxation, and the second draft as future work

I’d love to hear from other people about their approach to writing a novel, and any tips they have for thriving and surviving the process.

https://sarahpotterwrites.wordpress.com/novel-writing-winter-nww-2013/ 

   

For The Love Of Haiku

Don’t poison that mouse!
A rodent fattened on cheese–
Kitty’s dream dessert.

My apologies for skipping last week’s haiku challenge and producing a rather belated one this week, but have had countless musical commitments over Christmas. Anyone else who wants to jump on board at the last moment and join in with the fun, please check out http://allaboutlemon.com/category/haiku-lovers/

Special Christmas greetings and New Year good wishes to adollyciousirony and all her art game players who’ve provided us haiku lovers with so many eccentric, if not surreal images as our writing prompts throughout 2012.

You can check out the making of the image above at http://allaboutlemon.com/art-game/ag-w-21-say-cheese/