Archive for August, 2007

Writing Hint #26 Set a minimum target each day

No Comments »14th August, 2007; Category: Writing Hints

Successful writers set goals.

The most successful writers set firm goals that they almost always meet. They allow themselves to be diverted or distracted only by extremely important matters – things such as the house being on fire, or the flood waters rising so quickly the computer is in serious danger of floating out the window, or an earthquake has opened a gaping hole in the wall allowing a bitter wind to chill the writer to the bone.

Keep Goals Simple

These writing goals should be simple and easy to remember through the day and are achievable. This means that they need to be realistic. If you set a goal to write 5000 words a day but you’ve never written more than 200 in one day ever, your goal might be set a little too high. Five hundred words might be more realistic. If you are working at a full time job to support your writing addiction, 250-300 words a day might be all you can realistically achieve.

My suggestion is to set a minimum number of words or pages that you WILL write every day. No exceptions. Extra words or pages on any one day do NOT count towards the next day’s goal: they are a bonus. Stick to achieving your goal every day. You will be surprised how quickly the words mount up. A modest 500 words per day adds up to a massive novel-length manuscript of 100,000 words in a little over six months.

Good writing.

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Writing Hints -the above article is number 26 in a series of writing hints worth reading.

Short Fiction #38 Charlie

No Comments »13th August, 2007; Category: Fiction, Short Fiction, Short Stories

Charlie
Charlie stopped. He looked up, then ran to the window. Gloria had just driven into the driveway.
Charlie knew he had some explaining to do. He ran the door, waiting anxiously while Gloria rattled the keys into the lock.
“Hello Charlie. You’ve been a good boy then?”
Charlie skipped around her ankles. “Of course I’ve been good,” he thought. “I’m always good.” He thought of the thousands of times Gloria had told him how good he’d been.
Gloria dumped her shopping on the kitchen table and flopped into her favourite chair in the sun-room.
“Oh Charlie – what have you done? Look at my jig-saw puzzle? The pieces are all over the place, on the floor, under the table. Oh Charlie, can’t you leave my jig-saw alone?”
Charlie was perplexed. Why was Gloria so angry with him?
“But Kitty was sitting right on top of the coffee table,” thought Charlie. “I thought you’d be pleased that I chased Kitty away.”
Gloria ignored him. She was already busy fixing up her precious puzzle, gathering pieces from all over and struggling to get them back into place.
Charlie waddled over to his little bed by the heater, tail between his legs.

26 Things I Like

2 Comments »12th August, 2007; Category: General

Apples crunching juicy, crisp and sweet.
Butterflies fluttering in soft silence.
Australian Admiral butterfly
Carrots freshly pulled from the damp earth.
Dragonflies hovering over shimmering water.
Eucalypt trees towering into the deep blue sky.
Frogs croaking serenades to campers cocooned in their tents.
Galahs painting the sky pink as they wing home to roost.
Hakea flowers spiking the air in pink pin pricks.
Hakea multilineata
Insects chirping the welcome raindrops.
Jonquils splashing a crazy carpet of colour.
Koalas high in tree forks snoozing the day away.
Lizards skin soaking in the sunshine.
Bearded Dragon lizard
Mandarines dripping juicy sweetness on licked fingers.
Numbats nuzzling nosily in the leaf litter.
Opals gleaming the rainbow colours in the sunshine.
Pandas padding softly through the forest.
Quandong fruits glowing stop-light red in the morning sun.
Santalum acuminatum (Wild Peach, Quandong)
Roses wafting perfume on the morning breeze.
Sunsets glowing deep red on storm clouds.
Thunder on a stormy night while warm and cosy in bed.
Umbrellas blooming in colourful arrays.
Violets painting the garden edge in mauve.
Waterfalls crashing over sparkling rocks.
Xanthorrea flower spikes spearing the sky.
Yellow tulips nodding asleep in the drowsy sunshine.
Zebras crossing the dusty road.

Writing exercise:

Try writing your own list of things that you like – or dislike. Use the alphabetic order like the list above thinking of one thing starting with each letter of the alphabet.

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47 Things About Me – find out all about me – if you dare!

Poem #33 Fragrance

No Comments »11th August, 2007; Category: Poetry

Rose in our garden

.

Fragrance

I catch

The powerful

Fragrance of the roses

As I pass quickly by –

So I pause a momentâ€¦

And drink deeply

From their beauty,

A soft perfume of delight.

Just a thought – about this amazing world

1 Comment »10th August, 2007; Category: Just a Thought

“How can any wise, intelligent person not be amazed by the world?” Ashleigh Brilliant.

I agree with Ashleigh.

Despite all that is wrong and terrible and distasteful and even evil about the people in the world, the planet itself is truly wonderful, amazing, brilliant, astounding, beautiful…. I think you get the picture.

Ama Dablam, Nepal

The beauty that surrounds us on a daily basis should make us stop and let it catch our breath. I have the delight to be living in an area where we have an abundance of birds that are resident in our garden. You can read more about them on Trevor’s Birding.

I also love taking photos of them. You can see more of my photos on my photo gallery here.

Red Capped Robin

In recent times I have discovered an interest in growing orchids. Over the last three weeks one of my orchids has been flowering, so I’ve had the container gracing my office. It is so delicate and beautiful it often distracted me from my writing.

Orchid flowers

These are just a few of the ways I appreciate this beautiful world in which we live.

What in the world amazes you?