In Italy

The internet cafe is the only place hotter than the streets - called in for a quick check on e-mails and the like and found that other people have been visiting here more than I have recently.

Sun and art and architecture - and did I mention sun?
Then there are the bites - I've seen more bites than anything else - still it could have been worse... in France I had to try to communicate in French (for a friend with a diarrhoea and vomitting bug) and get medicine to bring back for her ... the Farmacia here was a 'piece of cake' everyone being covered from head to foot in itchy red bites!

The time is running out - not something I usually have to worry about -

I started writing for the Manchester Writing competition - set in .... yep that one! Not many words to play with yet still the descriptive phrases flow - I laugh, when writing, wondering how many days it will be before I start cutting them back out.

I left Tasha balanced on the top of a gate post so, maybe, I ought to go and write her back down again!

Back to writing philosophically

Poetry up-date

I got so caught up in the hectic whirl of termly - yearly - endings that I've been philosophically quiet.
This morning I caught up on a couple just to remind myself that I do that thing.
Shame about the holiday interrupting normal schedule - I'm going to try to keep with the daily writing programme again.
I normally include the iQuote with the haikus but the ones below stand alone anyway:


iQuote"It's amazing what a little courage in the right place at the right time can accomplish." -- John Scherer

IF IT MUST BE DONE
To weigh the odds and
know the consequences,
yet still act - is brave.


iQuote“When we do the best we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another.” -- Helen Keller

MORE A STONE AND LESS AN ISLAND
Actions cause ripples
affecting first us; they lap,
exponentially


ACCEPTANCE AND ACTION MIGHT BUT ...
When did work or truth
or selfish-absolution
ever set you free?

THERE IS NOTHING LESS SWEET THAN HUMAN TOUCH
We're only human,
sometimes almost human, in -
humanely human.

FEED THE SPIRIT
Reality gnaws!
Real-life carves chunks of living
- fantasy seasons!

NOT BASE BUT BASIC NOT RIPS BUT RIPPLES
Joy grows from self-worth,
needs unity and balance,
circles not furrows.

EVIL, CLOAKED IN BEAUTY, IN PLAIN SIGHT
Dark thoughts and actions
are not hid by darker shrouds
they glitter in light .

Sudden disappearance

Well, it went like this officer: one minute there was a story posted here and the next moment there wasn't!

Yesterday, I played the game called, 'What can you do with a mini-story?'

Well, 'Micro, Sudden and Flash me down with a feather!' There is a whole world of 'What on Earth's?' available for the little bleeder!

I polished the story up - lost the bits that I didn't need - tried harder to make it even more horribly diabolical and sent it off in the hopes of earning my first ever $50 for 'me' writing, Governor!

Then, having sent it off - and being totally irritated by the first line of dialogue that was left for the Adipose Poser - or Cuckoo as she introduced herself - I had another go at sorting out the irritating bits and Voila (with no accent 'cos I'm too tired to be bothered finding it!) even more sorted - the story is done!

I don't know if on the Blog counts as 'published' ...so, off the page it had to go .

Editing interrupted by organising for the holiday

Word Count: - still 'Near-ly finished' 86,000 and falling

Writers' Circle 500 word challenge

So, 500 words is not very many - no problem.

Then they worked out the list of desirable elements the story had to contain - I avoided crying narrowly and writing for a lot longer . But it has to be handed in for tomorrow and this is me finishing it now - I'm a regular little 'joiner' - what can I say!

This is my Writers' Circle....

Some - not all of the following should be included:

Will Sparrow aged 44 born Las Vegas now lives in Dunstable

Able to hold his drink but suffers from flatulence

Has a weakness for fine wine, excellent food and cream scones

Dislikes bad manners and fears heights

Longs to be discovered by Andrew Lloyd-Webber and enjoys singing and waltz music

Fav book 'Billy Liar' and Fav film 'The Go-between'

SCENARIO:

1 A wallet found

2 Shopping for books

3 A railway station

I wrote like having root canal fillings

Editing 'Near-ly... finished'

OK, so it's a lie - I have chamois-ed over the first 5 chapters - I am now officially banning myself from even looking anywhere between pages 1 and 60.

It is so unfair, to the rest of the writing, that the first five chapters are at the start of the book. I always look and I always find new and inventive ways to tinker. They are now, not so much polished, as inherently sparkly!

The rest sits vaguely buffed or a trifle dingy depending on how far along we're talking about (more lies - what has gotten into me?)!

The later on in the book I got the tidier it was (from day one) - direct and purposeful, I always felt it was writing itself. I am now much clever-er at sentence order and vocabulary choices though.

WORD COUNT (after the last T-cut possible... until an editor forces me to bleed from my optical cavities ... on ch 1 to 5) 87,970 and falling!

You Tell Me, And Not Nathan When He Gets Back From Travel-ing For Good: What Would You Do With The Money?

As I’m sure you are aware Nathan is doing the opposite of sipping margaritas on his own desert island. So, while he is away ‘not finding the next JK Rowling’ because s/he is sitting here - twiddling thumbs - waiting for his return…the start of that beautiful relationship temporarily on hold. I thought we might consider what comes after domination of Bestseller’s Lists world wide.

When your book is published, and your name can be inserted into the following phrase ‘…………………, best-selling author’, what would you do with the multi-millions that are gathering dust in the bank?

WHAT ELSE WAS I GOING TO DO WITH IT? THIS TOOK ME MINUTES TO COMPLETE!COMMENTS WELCOME

Editing on the fourth of July

Going out! Social life calls!
Spent the day in edit mode but no time for typing!

WORD COUNT:

88,318 and falling

The day job wasn't half-bad today

I'm still buzzing - though not literally - Sports Day had humour, drama, endeavour, great sporting attitude, colour, excellence, fervour and races.

'It's A Knock-out' themed, so we could find out about seaside towns - march in parade behind the town crests - run sprint and long distance races and do fun activities (in groups) that, sadly didn't involve water - shame.
Cries of: Brighton! Ballycastle! New Quay (Wales)! Weymouth! Orkney (don't ask) mingled as the runners competed!
Congratulations to Tenby - worthy winners!
Hip! Hip! to my beloved Bournemouth who were the opposite of first place - we deserved Oscars in abundance though - high drama!

So the morning was good.
The afternoon couldn't pip the fun? Bring on the Y6 'Apprentice' - Young Enterprise Initiative!

Team spirit 'up-levelled' again! The road from their initial proposal - the hiring by the Head - the production of the various products - designing the image - through to setting up and the selling was not always a smooth one but they all either learned to get on or split into smaller conglomerates! Then, some groups unexpectedly merged in the minutes before the selling began - seeing useful business opportunities and ways to maximise and share profits!
The range of goods they produced was wider than you'd expect: homemade jewellery, biscuits, Smoothies, spare/rare cards from collections, Big Pens (oddly, the length of rolled up sheets of newspaper - causal link), strawberries and cream, ice-creams, we even had a cake shop with a tent, bunting and lashings of 'lemonade'!
As I walked around I could hear discussions of profit margins, cries of the hawkers and the 'singing' of adverts all designed to fleece the parents, and the rest of the school, of every penny available. It was idyllic - in a working together to turn in a profit kind of way.

The unexpected element, for me, was that several groups, had already agreed that when they made their first 'millions' (through their own efforts) they were going to donate a percentage of the net profit to charity - the biggest crisis in the Enterprise Groups this week was the one who couldn't narrow their beneficiaries from three to two!

So, a day that couldn't be improved upon?

Minnow was singing in the EOY concert at school (What I Did For Love - from A Chorus Line) .................................... (proud mother's extended speil went there). -: )

Monday afternoon is the Enterprise 'A-counting' Session (so the good continues) - they have to feed back to the school and present their accounts to our very own version of Sir Alan Sugar -CK !

Job well done

I made a note of the authors - not titles - of books being read in my class today :
Madeline l'Engle Anthony Horrowitz Eoin Colfer Morris Gleitzman Brian Patten Roger McGough Susan Cooper Animated tales - Much a do - Will Shakespeare Brian Moses Christopher Paolini Jamila Gavin Jacqueline Wilson John Boyne Terry Deary HarryHill Stewart Henderson Ian Surraillier RL Stevenson
Non-fiction:
1 Natural World
1 Horrible History
1 Earth in Space

So poetry, non-fiction and fiction including as broad a range of authors as you can find (different eras and every genre) - job done!