“I’m going to make everything around me beautiful - that will be my life.” — Elsie de Wolfe

Sunday 16 January 2011

Reading Glasses, Birds and My Fridge Door

This week I have been trying to edit at least one chapter a day of my NaNoWriMo novel. I have found that instead of weaving beautiful poetic writing around the bare bones. What I have actually been doing is hacking out great chunks! Still I think I'm making progress.

"Everything that people create is a projection of what's inside them."
- Stuart Lichtman

I have finally had to admit that I am having trouble seeing close up without glasses!
So have got my self a couple of snazzy off the shelf reading glasses.

We have had some wonderful new visitors to the feeders outside my window.
This flock of long tail tits swoop in on mass to feed.

This green man keeps a watchful eye on all who approach the door.

I'm not one for fridge magnets but I enjoy the rather surreal arrangement on my fridge door!

The red timer was first, I liked it because it looked a lock on a safe or something, then I came
across the pencil. Very recently they have been joined by my discarded 'favourite' moustache!

For some reason this threesome makes me laugh every time I see them.
Actually it would make a good writing prompt, what story does it suggest to you?

I hope you've all had a good week!

Thought of the week


"Our greatest example we can give anyone, is our life working for us."
- Karen K. Truman



I am linking this to week 18 of I Saw Sunday why not join in with us! and tell us what you saw this week. :-)
You have all week to post your link -
words or pictures or both!

12 comments:

Deborah said...

I loved the quotes, and I LOVE that you've displayed your favourite moustache, it looks terrific!!! LOL :O)

Susannah said...

You mean you threw your moustache away! lol

Yes, I liked the quotes too. :-)

Elizabeth said...

His red mouth sealed by a combination of numbers so exquisite
that it makes his mustache
twitch and prevents him
from chewing the ends
of his very short pencil.

Lol, Elizabeth

Rajesh said...

A wonderful quote to begin my day in India. Thank You.

Susannah said...

Elizabeth, thanks for taking on the prompt from my fridge picture, :-) and thanks for your visit too. good to see you.

Susannah said...

Rajesh, I am glad you enjoyed the quote.

Thanks for visiting, it's good to see you again. :-)

Jennifer said...

"Hacking out great chunks..." Good for you. For some people, this is very difficult - how on earth can I discard something I worked so hard to put down? This is certainly progress - because you're seeing something emerge from the work.

I'm afraid I can't go anywhere without reading glasses anymore. I can't shop without them, because I can't read a price tag. My glasses are all beat up because I take them off, put the on, take them off, put them on. It's graduated lenses for me next time, I'm afraid. Sigh. But I like your snazzy ones!

Susannah said...

Hi Jennifer,

I think the reason I am finding it easy to hack out great chunks is twofold.

Firstly the way it was written in the first place! With NaNoWriMo the whole thing was about wordcount and I set myself a daily target of 2,000 words and with no editing as I went, sometimes I rambled just to get to the daily target, using three times as many words to say something as needed!

And as I didn't actually have a story when I started I just felt my way through, so once the story began to get a life of its own some early bits just weren't needed any more.

The second reason is what I have learned from writing blog posts, mainly the ones on 'Joy Frequencies' I usually just write all that is on my mind and then take out everything that isn't needed! it usually cuts it by at least a third.

It took a long while to learn but I realise that my writing usually benefits from 'pruning' rather than adding stuff!

In fact this is my second time going through what i've written (I'm only half way through) and so far I must have cut at least 4,000 words and added about 4 lines! :-)

I am still learning so much and I'm really looking forward to writing another when I finish this. I will do it differently though, taking into account all I've learned this time.

Good to see you. x

tamara said...

The pencil, moustache, and timer remind me of an improv setup :)

I've found "editing" to be mainly "deleting" as well. I found it helped to cut and paste what I deleted into a separate document. That way my mind could relax, knowing that if I woke up sweating in the middle of the night because I really needed that paragraph back, I could retrieve it!

Keep going, and keep us posted please!

Susannah said...

Tamara, 'cut and paste into a separate document' is exactly what I did with most of the first chapter!

I had already saved a copy of the complete original and then taken a copy to edit - but the first chapter just wasn't really relevant anymore considering where the story ended up. Though because I did like the writing in it, I kept it elsewhere and have managed to slot bits into other places. :-)

I agree with you on the improv set up. :-)

Always good to talk to you. x

echo said...

I just saw that there should be a new kind of eyeglasses, out in April for about the normal price of glasses, that is touch sensitive glass and a swipe of a finger changes it from one prescription to another. By by trifocals.

I love the combo lock, mustache, pencil trio myself. Something very spy-ish about a disguise and a safe-combo and a way to record info. hmmm.

Susannah said...

Hi Echo, I love your take on the combo lock, mustache, pencil trio! :-)

Good to see you, thanks for visiting. x

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