Now the OU children's literature course is over and my job has come to an end,^[*] I can actually think about writing fiction again. In my Not the New Year Resolutions post, I mentioned setting myself a number of challenges. (Divided into physical, intellectual and creative challenges.)

Two of the creative challenges were finishing the first drafts of a couple of novels that are about three-quarters written. Getting stuck projects moving again is not the easiest thing to do, but wldhrsjen3's post about knowing what a character really wants has got a few ideas moving.

With the novel that started as a NaNo project a couple of years ago, I know what the POV character wanted, but that ambition was destroyed before the story actually starts, so to provide a satisfactory ending, I need to know what underlying need that ambition represented. I think that when I have that clear and when I have decided what an acceptable substitute for her original ambition is, then I'll be able to make progress again.

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^[*]I have some ideas for self-employment, but won't be doing anything serious in that direction until the end of the summer.

[Cross-posted from Dreamwidth by way of a backup http://heleninwales.dreamwidth.org/44559.html. If you want to leave a comment, please use whichever site you find most convenient. Comments so far: .]

Tags: writing
Current Mood: hot

21/52 for the group 52 in 2012

This week's theme: Love

My first thought was romantic love, but because I had to write the final assignment for the OU children's literature course, I had very little time so couldn't go looking for shots of loving couples walking hand in hand or sitting together on benches.

But it was my birthday last Thursday and my children (now grown up and with children of their own) sent me cards and flowers. Hence I had my shot for the week. I'm afraid the quality isn't very good. My desktop computer is very poorly. In fact I think it's dying. :( But only the desktop computer has the software for converting RAW files, so I took this with the point and shoot which shows quite a lot of noise at higher ISO. At least it fulfils the theme and I can forsee a new computer entering my life in the near future. It could be my birthday present. :)

Tags: 52 weeks, photo-a-week, photography

I have just finished the final essay (3000 words!) for the OU children's literature course.

I'm old enough to remember dolly mixtures, ju-jus and pear drops, so I'd never tried these Haribo sweets before because I think they even post-date the offspring's childhood. But the other students were eating them and so I tried a packet.

As a result, my essay was fuelled by Tangfastics and as I still had some left at the end, I thought they might make a good subject for this week's alphabet theme of "Kaleidoscope". This was the original picture, turned into a kaleidoscope at www.tuxpi.com.

Tags: photography

21/52 for the group T189ers weekly alphabet challenge.

This week's theme was: K for kaleidoscope

I'll post the original separately, but it was edited using www.tuxpi.com's kaleidoscope filter.

I did two and it was hard to choose between them, but I think this reminds me more of the kaleidoscopes I played with as a child.

Tags: 52 weeks, photo-a-week, photography

I completed and submitted the final assignment for the children's literature course this afternoon! Yay! I have my life back now. :)

A moment ago, I yawned and thought, "Why am I so tired?" And then I remembered that today I had: done an hour on the final nitpicky corrections for the essay; taken Brith for a 3 mile walk; typed the nitpicky corrections into the essay and written a conclusion, given the (rather long) front grass the first cut of the year; and cooked dinner.

Yes, that's why I'm tired!

Not getting to bed until midnight last night didn't help either. I went as chauffeur, technical support and general dogsbody to help G give another geology talk to the U3A last night. As the group meet in Borth y Gest, by the time the meeting had over-run to 9:30 and we'd driven home and had something to eat, it was very late.

Anyway, the children's literature course is safely completed, two days before the actual deadline. After some ups and downs during the course and a very low point at the third assignment, where I got sidetracked into reading about Barrie's life and made a mess of the Peter Pan essay, the last few essays have achieved good marks and I felt that this final essay (which counts for 50% of the marks) flowed quite well. I may, of course, have totally missed the point of the question, but I thought it was a decent essay, so I feel that I have finished on a high note.

We don't get the results until the beginning of August, which is when I will get the AS-Level maths result too. I will let you know how I did in due course.

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Current Mood: accomplished

I'm still plodding on with the final essay for the children's literature course and, despite disliking almost everything about the Chaos Walking trilogy, I'm doing that option because the other is too vague and I know I'd just write a load of waffle.

Anyway, I went to bed last night with about 1750 words (out of 3000), but reading them this morning there is some good content there, but no clear thread of an argument. I have therefore redone my plan (for the third time!) on the mindmap and have just resorted to printing the essay out so I can highlight which bits relate to what topic, then I will literally paste (OK, sellotape!) it back into a sensible order and then carry on from there.

It doesn't help that Ness contradicts himself with how he views the Spackle. How can I write a logical argument if the book isn't consistent? If the Spackle should be treated equally with humans, how come Todd is still 'the boy who cannot kill' when he killed one of them in Book 1? Tell me that, Ness, go on, explain that one?

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Current Mood: determined

20/52 for the group 52 of 2012

This week's theme was: Diptych with another member

I seriously contemplated going for a proper collaboration this year, but as I had an exam this week, plus the final essay to write for the OU children's literature course, I decided that I'd better not because I would either let someone down or end up seriously stressing myself trying to get something decent.

So, I have once again taken the opportunity to collaborate with myself, or perhaps I could say I have collaborated with Brith, the dog I walk as a volunteer with the Cinammon Trust?

Brith and I are collaborating, though not on photography. :) Because I've committed to walking him three times a week, he ensures that I go out and get some exercise. Meanwhile I'm helping him be less nervous about the things we meet.

So this diptych is Brith and a lane that we often walk down. Both photos were taken with my phone.

Tags: 52 weeks, photo-a-week, photography

20/52 for the group T189ers weekly alphabet challenge.

This week's theme was: Jump

Here is Brith, the dog I walk as a volunteer with the Cinnamon Trust. He is part collie, part lurcher. It's not a trick of the light, his eyes are actually different colours. One is blue and the other is brown.

He is, however, clearly sitting, not jumping! :) Due to having an exam this week plus the final assignment for the OU children's literature course, I have had to go with another off-topic shot. I didn't have much time and just had to grab what I could with my phone whilst doing other things.

I'm pleased to say that Brith is becoming less nervous on our walks and is starting to listen to me, despite the distractions of being in a strange place. He did sit and stay for me while I took a few photos.

Tags: 52 weeks, photo-a-week, photography

Something an LJ friend said (in a locked post, so I won't link) helped me to look at writing in a completely different way. S/he likened writing a novel to solving a really complex and wonderful puzzle. And a little light bulb clicked on in my brain. If I look at novels in that way, writing a novel can be its own justification. Whether or not it's ever published is simply a side issue.

I do love solving puzzles. I'm not a big crossword fan and I've never taken to sudoku, largely because once I've worked out how to do that type of puzzle, it simply becomes repetitive. Partly it's because I like my puzzles a bit less artificial. The messier and more complex the better!

The puzzle-solving aspect was the part of the civil service job that I enjoyed most. My colleagues hated what we called 'site cases'. Churches were entitled to grants for building a school on a piece of land that they owned. It could get very complicated because they might have bought a large parcel of land and only part of it was going to be used for a school. Sometimes they tried to claim grant on the same piece of land more than once! Someone therefore had to track everything back and find out the history of the piece of land in question. Documents and plans could go back decades and files could be several inches thick, but I loved sorting it all out and presenting everything concisely and clearly. Similarly, I looked on teaching as a puzzle-solving activity, namely you have information or a skill you have to convey to other people, what is the best way to break it down so they can assimilate it most easily?

So transferring this insight to writing fiction, I've always thought of myself as a story-teller and therefore if I couldn't get my stories published, which meant there was no audience, there was no point in writing them down. But if I look on it purely as a huge puzzle and a mental exercise to keep my brain active, I can stop worrying about publication. Suddenly writing has a point again and isn't just a self-indulgence and a waste of time. :)

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Current Mood: pleased

The AS-level maths exam (1½ hours) is safely out of the way. Once I opened the exam paper and managed to calm my mind, I saw that it was entirely doable and I've given it my best shot. It's likely I've made stupid slips because of having to hurry hurry hurry to get it done in the time, but I'm confident I've done enough to pass and I don't think my hope that I might get a grade C (like I did when I took A-level maths at school over 40 years ago) is too ridiculous.

I nearly messed up the Chinese Postman algorithm, but saw my mistake at the last moment and corrected it. I did mess up the Prim's algorithm and had to have three goes at it, though I may have salvaged it at the last moment. But the Critical Path analysis was fine and I even managed to draw the Gantt chart. Similarly the Dijkstra's algorithm was OK. I didn't quite finish a few things, but they only counted for an odd mark or two, so overall it was fun in a masochistic kind of way. Results will be out in due course, around late July or August, I think. I'll let you know how I did.

And now it's back to the 3000 word essay on Monsters of Men for the Children's Literature course, but not today. My brain deserves a rest. :)

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Current Mood: accomplished