Today, we say goodbye to Portable TV and Video.

They hath served us well.
For 12 years they have delivered images and sounds to amuse and entertain.
For 5 years, they have been part of my life.
For 7 before that, part of Grete’s.
But now, they are no more.

Lying, alone, on the floor
in the kitchen
waiting, to be taken
to the skip.

We will miss you both.

No, really, we will.

And so – my alarm didn’t wake me up until 7:15, which is 45 minutes after it was set for and 45 minutes after I should have got up and 15 minutes after I should have left the house, if I was to catch the bus.

Sorry Grete!

Well, on the day I should be going to bed early, so that I can get up early and get the bus in to work, to give Grete a well deserved break, I’m not tired.

Can’t sleep.

Stressed. Wound up. Whatever you want to call it.

I considered annoying the folk on the GemmellFantasy list with a long rambling post which goes no where, as I have done in the past, but felt they had also earned a break, so here I am, rambling into my diary.

Which I guess is exactly what diaries are for.

Got the pager, which may explain increased tension – I never thought it would result in such light sleeping or weird sleeping patterns, just lying there, waiting for it to go off.

Everyone with any sense in asleep, so there’s no mail or news to read, and I think I’ve read every web page there is worth reading[1]

I think another round of slashdot to see if it makes me sleepy.

[1] ok, probably not true.

Ok, so I’ve tried this writing lark.

It’s not easy.

I think I managed about 1500 words and then ground to a halt. And then I realised that I’d written the end of the book, not the start of it, so had to re-jig, and then I realised that my only scene so far (after the three scene, 1 page prologue) was totally wrong, so I ripped it out for later use and started again.

Hey, but at least I’ve started right? 😉

And then I read some more on-line writing advice, and discovered I’d fallen into every trap mentioned (including the not mentioning the character’s name in the vain hope of instilling some mystery in the character, and instead just annoying the reader).

Still, I quite enjoyed it, and I’m not totally dismayed at the results. It’s pretty rough, but I just wanted to get ideas down. Another 300 attempts at that and I might be moving forwards.

One thing I did find interesting, I wrote quite a bit and then thought that I hadn’t tried playing the scene in my head like a movie, and that’s when I discovered it didn’t work. Should I have done that first? The ‘inspiration’ made me write down stuff, but I hadn’t played it out first.

Another thing I noticed is that I’m not really sure where it’s going yet. David seems to suggest that for him, it’s not something he needs to know early on. But other authors and some people who offer advice suggest it’s essential to know where things are headed.

I’m sort of in limbo, not trusting myself to continue writing in case I’m never going to get anywhere. Should I boldly step onto the road with little idea where it heads, or should I plan my route on a large map before hand.

Only time and lots of practice will tell I guess.