Kindling

After writing a novel and a daily blog entry last week, it’s hard not to feel like a bit of a slacker this week. There’s been no novel, no play, no monologue. In fact, there’s barely been an email and just a single tweet. It’s almost like I don’t exist.

Lots of thinking has happened this week though and it mainly surrounds the issue of what to do with the big lump of writing I completed last week. It turns out that I may not need to go through the whole rigmarole (I’ve always wanted to type that word) of applying to dozens of publishers, receiving rejection letters and finding myself curled up in a little ball underneath the desk, as the lovely people at Amazon have gone and created something called Kindle Direct Publishing that may well provide an alternative path to glory. Or, at least, provide an opportunity for me to ‘get it out there’, as they say, and enable people to read this thing once and for all (or twice, if you fancy a re-read). I may have naively missed something crucial about all this that sends me crawling back to the space beneath the table but as it stands it looks quite tempting. It’s also possible to use a website such as Createspace or Lulu to provide print copies of the book on demand, so that might be an additional option.

So, what do people think about Kindle anyway? Sales have been amazing and it looks like the way to go but I haven’t gone there yet myself and so I’ve not really got much of a sense of what it’s like to sit down and read something on one for more than 30 seconds. The good thing, it seems, is that you don’t actually need a Kindle to read something on Kindle, as you can download Kindle software for your PC or laptop and read it on there. It still seems a bit weird though and I wonder how many people would take a punt on an unknown author, however captivating the name ‘Sam Lenton’ might be?

Lots of thinking has also gone into creating at least one website, possibly two, over the next couple of months and so I hope to be able to provide you with a link soon. Obviously, anything you can do to tell the world about me would be greatly appreciated. Try, if possible, to focus on the positives…

A brief cat update: we had a glorious repeat of the tongue-stuck-on-collar incident of a couple of weeks ago last night. Unfortunately, she seems to now be able to shake her tongue off the collar herself (admittedly with some effort) and so it’s clear that she needs me even less than I thought she did. On the plus side, hopefully the chances of ‘death by tongue-on-collar’ are diminishing by the day.

I’m afraid there’ll be a bit of a blog break for the next two weeks, as we are heading off on a much-needed holiday. The house will still be occupied though (by more than just the cat), so I’m afraid there’s no point publicising this news to your burglar friends. If, by the way, you do have burglar friends then can I please encourage you to work with them to get them to reform and change their ways? Burglary is wrong. There, I said it.

If the news of the blog break is coming as a devastating shock, remember that the previous 34 entries are still alive and well and so you can re-read and reminisce at your pleasure. Also, every entry apart from last week’s special blogs has the title of a song as it’s title, so I have effectively prepared a summer playlist for you. Why not try it out on Spotify? And, if that’s not enough, then I guess you could just compose a sonnet or whatever it is that the kids get up to these days.

See you in August!

Mini-blog-journal-type-thing Day 5

So, the writing week has come to an end. I feel like we’ve been through a lot together in these mini-blogs. We’ve covered all sorts of vital information, such as the number of cups of coffee I’ve had in the day, how many white vans have been parked outside and what the public (well, my street) must have thought as I marched purposefully towards my house yesterday evening clasping a larger-than-usual onion. You even know how many words I’ve written and how I’ve felt about it all. It’s like candid camera: the blog version. I mean, they say you should be careful about what you put on the internet, but I’ve just gone and put it out there like some sort of shameless exhibitionist. *Slaps wrist*

Here’s the good news: I actually finished the first draft!

I wasn’t expecting to succeed this week, particularly as I hadn’t looked at the novel for months, but I’ve had a really good week and I can now happily tell you that I’m at the print-it-out-and-discover-if-it’s-any-good stage. Let’s hope it is. If only to avoid it being a significant waste of paper.

Sadly, this is likely to be the end of the daily journals, as I need to return to my real job next week and so it’s not likely that I’ll have the time to experience interesting things, let alone write about them. The blog will continue sporadically though, as always, and will continue to press ahead with its primary aim of solving the world’s problems. We’ve pretty much dealt with rain and political revolution, so the prospects are good.

And now, by popular demand, here’s the final daily overview:

Words written: too hard to tell and quite a few have been deleted today, so I may even be in the red…

Lamp turned on/off: 8(ish) – why can’t the sun just make up its mind?

Tomb Raider games purchased in the Steam sale: 1

Sense of regret that I wasn’t at work this week: Absent

Length of a visit from a friend: 19 minutes

New websites created by members of my family: 1 (http://goingdeeperwithgod.com/index.php)

Best Google search: Girls names beginning with R (well, why do the thinking when google can do it for you?)

The feeling that I simply eat too many sausage rolls: moderate to high

Optimism Level: 85%

Chances of completing first draft of novel this week: 100%

That’s all for the mini-blog-journal-type-things that have documented my 5 days as a proper writer. If these have been the only 5 days I ever have then I will look back on them fondly and with much gratitude.

Thank you for being with me through them!

Mini-blog-journal-type-thing Day 4

Well, we’re into the home straight in this writing week now (assuming that weeks have ‘home straights’) and so, as if by magic, I also seem to be heading into the home straight as far as the novel is concerned. I’m going to stop writing the words ‘home straight’ now. I also plan to stop using inverted commas. Exciting times.

I literally leapt for joy this morning when I came up with the ending of my novel. And, yes, I actually did use the word ‘literally’ (oops) accurately in that sentence (as opposed to when people say things like, ‘I literally fell off the edge of the world when she dumped me’). Sorry, I just guess I’m addicted to inverted commas. We all have weaknesses.

It was a good moment. Coffee was brewing. And so, it seemed, were ideas. It’s too early to class it a good or a bad idea but it’s an idea at least, and that’s what counts. The other positive about it is that it wasn’t an idea that meant I would need to be writing for another few years before I reached that end point. In fact, the end point might even be achievable before this evening is over. Which is quite a tantalising prospect.

Of course, there is quite a difference between writing the ending and finishing the novel, but it’s going to be good to tick one of those off the list at least.

Daily Overview:

Words written (so far): 3,713

Trips to shops: 2

Trousers or shorts?: Shorts

Items purchased on 2nd shop trip: A single onion

Weird experiences: 1 – walking up my street clasping a large onion in my left hand, assuming that I was frightening everyone I passed who naturally thought I was about to hurl it through their window or use it as an assault weapon to steal their handbag.

Longer than usual entries in the daily overview: 1

Optimism Level: 8.5

Chances of writing the ending by the end of the week: 95%

Days left being a professional writer: 1

Words I need to look up in the dictionary: Professional

Mini-blog-journal-type-thing Day 3

A picture blog for you today (and a bit of a bonus one, as I don’t think I’ll advertise this one on Twitter or Facebook, so you can consider yourself very fortunate if you stumble across this…). Right, now, the following images all relate to what I have been writing today. Your task – bet you didn’t expect there to be a task! – is to come up with an interesting story involving all of these things. Or, alternatively, you could just skip to the ‘Day Overview’ section at the bottom…

‘Day Overview’:

Words written: 4,533 (I think – there’s some debate (with myself) over where I started today)

References to scissors: 6

Sausage rolls defrosted: 1 (45 seconds in the microwave, if you fancy a bit of DIY)

Best new person I’m following on Twitter: Chris Addison

Unexpected early packages: 1

Need to re-read what I’ve written recently: moderate to urgent

Optimism rating: 7.5

Chances of completing the novel this week: 60%

Mini-blog-journal-type-thing Day 2

Things I’ve observed today:

- It’s a lot harder to get going with your writing when you don’t start until the afternoon (not strictly my fault, mind you)

- Rain – yep, it’s back.

- It’s quite exciting when you come up with a slight plot twist that breathes new life into your writing.

- It’s quite daunting when you come up with a slight plot twist that threatens to blast open gaping holes in your writing.

- A man wearing a yellow rain-jacket.

- When you type into google, ‘what do tremors grow?’, it assumes you’re asking about tumours instead. Trust me, the original question does make some sense within context…

Day overview:

Words written:2,987 (hmm, I probably should have written 13 more words before writing this, shouldn’t I?

Songs sung: 1 (and before an audience of about 200, I’ll have you know)

Future pet refusals: 1 (sorry, but it really isn’t time for another cat to join the household…)

Bad cups of coffee: 1

Optimism Level for novel: 6/10

Chances of completing novel this week: 52%

Mini-blog-journal-type-thing Day 1

This won’t make a huge amount of sense to you unless you’ve read the ‘Mr Writer’ blog entry, and perhaps won’t make much sense anyway, but here we go…

Words written: 4,120

Drinks: 4 (2 tea, 2 coffee)

Food: 4 sandwiches and a packet of wotsits

Music: Coldplay and Dream Theater

Things I googled: ‘what smoke from Vatican signifies’

Words put into thesaurus.com: hurtled, compel

Best word used: paralysation

Plot twists: 1

White vans outside house: 2

Strokes of the cat: 1

Games on FIFA 11: 2 (both losses)

TV: Muse at Glastonbury from 2010 (3 songs) and 5 minutes of Sky Sports News

Time spent sitting in garden: 6 minutes

Tweets: 3

Refreshed Facebook page: 35 (approximately)

Optimism level for novel (out of 10): 7

Chance of completing novel by end of week: 55%

Mr Writer

Ladies and gentlemen, for one week only I will be a professional writer.

That’s right, I’ll be sat at this desk, using this laptop, typing with these fingers, for an entire week, making the ‘magic’ happen and coming up with lots of other words that need to be put in inverted commas. I won’t be checking the clock to see when I should be somewhere else, and nor will I be feeling as though I really should be doing some marking or something else teacher-related, such as coming up with fresh new ways to tell people that it’s their own time they’re wasting. No, it will just be my own time I’m wasting or, hopefully, my own time I’m using valuably.

Depending on how things are going, I may keep a mini-blog-journal-type-thing over this week to record progress or the lack of it, and so stay tuned for that if that’s the sort of thing you get out of bed to read (you can of course stay in bed to read it if you’ve got a laptop or smartphone – I’m quite happy for you to read this anywhere really). If nothing’s appeared by Wednesday, you can assume that I’m doing really well on FIFA 11 and less well on unnamed-novel-in-progress…

Talking of the novel being unnamed, perhaps you could help me come up with a decent name? It doesn’t matter whether or not you know the plot, as all I’m interested in is which of the following titles (if any) would prompt you to pick up a book if you saw it on the shelf to check out what the blurb and cover says?:

1) Inspired by  (this has been the working title)

2) Mansfield, Munch and Misadventure

3) Mansfield and Munch

4) Munch

5) Accidental crime

6) Accidental crimes

7) Incidental crimes

8) Accidental theft

9) Attempted murder and accidental theft

10) A novel by Sam

If number 10 is the best one, then we might as well give up now…

Trust me, at least one paragraph of the novel is better than the quality of those titles. Perhaps even one page. But, really, is there any mileage in any of those or should I try again? I genuinely would appreciate your feedback on this if you’re able to give it, so why not add a quick comment under the blog to let me know?

The titles list does disappoint me a little but I’m preparing to teach a novel called ‘The Road’ next year and that won the Pulitzer Prize, so if you can succeed with as bland a title as that then perhaps I’m not so far off?