One of the joys of writing is the ability to lose yourself in your work, so that you lose track of time because you're so immersed in what you're doing. Some people call this experience 'flow', others 'being in the zone'.
It's not an experience that is unique to writing. Other people have it too - sportsmen, performers, artists. The feeling that, just for the moment, nothing else exists but you and what you are doing.
It's one of the ways in which we manage to bend time in an almost mystical way, by making it appear to fly by at a much faster speed than usual. One minute it's three o'clock and you're just sitting down to write, the next it's six o'clock and you think, 'Good heavens! Is it that time already?'
This afternoon, for the first time in a week or so, I had a whole afternoon where I could just sit down and get on with my writing without having to go anywhere or do anything. I decided to write an article for Triond about how to save money. I enjoyed doing it as it's a topic I haven't written about before and so I found it a refreshing change.
Spending the afternoon creating an entire article from start to finish was a very pleasurable experience. It was very satisfying to get to teatime with my three-page article not only finished but submitted at the click of a button.
I also like the fact that I'll probably hear tomorrow whether my piece has been published and be able to see it on the internet. I'm confident that it will be published as the eight items that I've submitted since I started writing for Triond a couple of weeks ago have all been accepted.
So I look forward to being able to tell you the web address tomorrow. Watch this space!
Why not set yourself the challenge of completing a piece of work in a specific period of time - a morning, an afternoon or an evening? It doesn't have to be as long as my article. It could be a poem or a 60-word story.
Look on it as a challenge. That way you'll enjoy the sense of achievement you get when you manage to achieve it. And once you set your mind to it and focus on the task, you'll be amazed to find yourself in the zone too.
Showing posts with label Triond. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Triond. Show all posts
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
Saturday, 5 July 2008
Another Day in the Life of a Writer
It's been a different sort of day today. There hasn't been a lot of writing going on because I've been tied up most of the day making music with my two wind bands.
It's been the last morning of rehearsals at music centre for this academic year. For me it brought some mixed emotions. I'm always a little bit sad at the end of the year because there won't be any music centre for over two months and I'll miss playing with everyone and seeing all my friends there.
However, there's a sense of completion and satisfaction because we've made it through the whole year, we've definitely improved as musicians, and we've mastered our pieces.
Everyone's excited because it's our big concert at Huddersfield Town Hall on Monday and we've been getting our programmes ready for that.
Lots of the youngsters are being promoted to the next level next term, from Junior Band into Intermediates, or from Intermediates into Seniors, so the lucky ones who got given slips of paper with their new rehearsal details were really on a high.
Junior Wind Band was excited because we were due to perform this afternoon at the summer fair of a nearby infants' school. Not only were we playing our tunes - for weeks we'd been practising marching as well. The aim was to process through the school grounds, playing as we marched.
Marching is not something that we usually do in our music centre, so it had involved the children buying lyres to fix their music onto their instruments, at £14 a time. We had numerous marching rehearsals over the past half a term. Marching while playing, marching without playing, playing and marching on the spot. One of the dads who is a military musician gave us advice on how to march together in our rows, keeping an eye on the central person of the row of five, the anchor person. This was meant to help us keep in step, stay in our rows, and keep reasonably well spaced out. It sounded easy when he said it!
We practised marching on the paths around the outside of the music centre and even on the tennis courts (minus the nets)! We'd done just about everything we could think of to get the marching off to a T.
Of course, the one thing you can't plan for is the British weather. When we arrived for our rehearsal this morning, it was absolutely bucketing with rain, so we didn't do any marching practice.
But when we got to the infants' school in the afternoon, there was a temporary lull in the rain so we made an attempt at marching. The music centre parents and infants' school parents had turned out in full force to watch this spectacle.
Our formation stayed in place for about thirty seconds, but by the time we got halfway through our march, one of the dads, who was the anchor man for the second row, had managed to get so far behind that he ended up in the middle of the third row next to me, dragging two of his row with him. The three children who should have been in my row had been pushed out of their positions and shunted back into a makeshift row, row three and a half.
All a bit of a shambles really! I wouldn't have minded only this dad who caused the mayhem is a strapping chap over six foot tall who really shouldn't have had any trouble keeping up with a load of ten year olds! I'm only five foot two and I was marching in four inch heels (don't ask!), but I managed to keep up better than he did!
The next bit of the proceedings, playing sitting down, should have been a doddle by comparison, but by the time we'd waited for the little kids to dance around the Maypole (OK, so it's July, but they were cute!), the looming clouds had started pelting down huge droplets of rain.
'It's only rain,' insisted our conductor, despite our pleas to be allowed to go inside. 'Just get on and play.' So we sat there performing our tunes in the middle of a thunder and lightning storm, getting absolutely drenched, with a few hardy parents standing watching us, huddled under umbrellas.
By the time we finished our four tunes, our sheet music was so wet you could have used it for papier mache and the cardboard folders that we usually keep the music in had all but disintegrated. In fact, I'll be very surprised if any of the music ever survives long enough to make it back to the music centre library.
When I got home, I thought I'd check how my Triond pieces were doing, and to my amazement I discovered that one of my articles is on the Most Popular Articles list in one of the Writerhood categories - Style.
That was a big boost. Hopefully it will get my name known a bit better on the site and attract more readers to my pieces.
I've also dashed off a haiku poem this evening and submitted that, so I'll have to wait and see how that does.
So there we are! Thrills, spills, drips, and a bit of a lift, all in one day. I hope you enjoyed your day. Have a good weekend!
It's been the last morning of rehearsals at music centre for this academic year. For me it brought some mixed emotions. I'm always a little bit sad at the end of the year because there won't be any music centre for over two months and I'll miss playing with everyone and seeing all my friends there.
However, there's a sense of completion and satisfaction because we've made it through the whole year, we've definitely improved as musicians, and we've mastered our pieces.
Everyone's excited because it's our big concert at Huddersfield Town Hall on Monday and we've been getting our programmes ready for that.
Lots of the youngsters are being promoted to the next level next term, from Junior Band into Intermediates, or from Intermediates into Seniors, so the lucky ones who got given slips of paper with their new rehearsal details were really on a high.
Junior Wind Band was excited because we were due to perform this afternoon at the summer fair of a nearby infants' school. Not only were we playing our tunes - for weeks we'd been practising marching as well. The aim was to process through the school grounds, playing as we marched.
Marching is not something that we usually do in our music centre, so it had involved the children buying lyres to fix their music onto their instruments, at £14 a time. We had numerous marching rehearsals over the past half a term. Marching while playing, marching without playing, playing and marching on the spot. One of the dads who is a military musician gave us advice on how to march together in our rows, keeping an eye on the central person of the row of five, the anchor person. This was meant to help us keep in step, stay in our rows, and keep reasonably well spaced out. It sounded easy when he said it!
We practised marching on the paths around the outside of the music centre and even on the tennis courts (minus the nets)! We'd done just about everything we could think of to get the marching off to a T.
Of course, the one thing you can't plan for is the British weather. When we arrived for our rehearsal this morning, it was absolutely bucketing with rain, so we didn't do any marching practice.
But when we got to the infants' school in the afternoon, there was a temporary lull in the rain so we made an attempt at marching. The music centre parents and infants' school parents had turned out in full force to watch this spectacle.
Our formation stayed in place for about thirty seconds, but by the time we got halfway through our march, one of the dads, who was the anchor man for the second row, had managed to get so far behind that he ended up in the middle of the third row next to me, dragging two of his row with him. The three children who should have been in my row had been pushed out of their positions and shunted back into a makeshift row, row three and a half.
All a bit of a shambles really! I wouldn't have minded only this dad who caused the mayhem is a strapping chap over six foot tall who really shouldn't have had any trouble keeping up with a load of ten year olds! I'm only five foot two and I was marching in four inch heels (don't ask!), but I managed to keep up better than he did!
The next bit of the proceedings, playing sitting down, should have been a doddle by comparison, but by the time we'd waited for the little kids to dance around the Maypole (OK, so it's July, but they were cute!), the looming clouds had started pelting down huge droplets of rain.
'It's only rain,' insisted our conductor, despite our pleas to be allowed to go inside. 'Just get on and play.' So we sat there performing our tunes in the middle of a thunder and lightning storm, getting absolutely drenched, with a few hardy parents standing watching us, huddled under umbrellas.
By the time we finished our four tunes, our sheet music was so wet you could have used it for papier mache and the cardboard folders that we usually keep the music in had all but disintegrated. In fact, I'll be very surprised if any of the music ever survives long enough to make it back to the music centre library.
When I got home, I thought I'd check how my Triond pieces were doing, and to my amazement I discovered that one of my articles is on the Most Popular Articles list in one of the Writerhood categories - Style.
That was a big boost. Hopefully it will get my name known a bit better on the site and attract more readers to my pieces.
I've also dashed off a haiku poem this evening and submitted that, so I'll have to wait and see how that does.
So there we are! Thrills, spills, drips, and a bit of a lift, all in one day. I hope you enjoyed your day. Have a good weekend!
Friday, 27 June 2008
Writing for Profit or Writing for its own Sake?
Having begun to publish on the internet has made me focus on the financial rewards of writing. Of course, everyone needs to earn a living and the workman is worthy of his hire, but that isn't the only reason why I write.
In fact, it isn't even the reason why I've been so delighted at having my work accepted by Triond this past week.
I've been enjoying the buzz of writing what I feel like writing and seeing it accepted and put out into the ether for everyone to read. It makes me feel as if I have a sense of purpose. I'm doing what I love to do and there is a prospect of being paid for it too. How lucky is that!
That's more important than any amount of money, as far as I'm concerned. There are lots of jobs I could do that would guarantee more money in the short term, but enjoying what you do and feeling passionate about it is priceless.
This week I've had the satisfaction of seeing my work in print . I've also had the thrill of seeing my writing class reach the end of their certificate course, to great acclaim. Teaching them to write isn't just my bread and butter - it's my soul food. Verily my cup runneth over.
Yes, it's been a great week.
I hope you are as happy in your vocation as I am in mine.
By the way, if you would like to read my latest article, you can find it on www.telewatcher.com/Reality/Big-Brother/Why-I-No-Longer-Watch-Big-Brother.150309
In fact, it isn't even the reason why I've been so delighted at having my work accepted by Triond this past week.
I've been enjoying the buzz of writing what I feel like writing and seeing it accepted and put out into the ether for everyone to read. It makes me feel as if I have a sense of purpose. I'm doing what I love to do and there is a prospect of being paid for it too. How lucky is that!
That's more important than any amount of money, as far as I'm concerned. There are lots of jobs I could do that would guarantee more money in the short term, but enjoying what you do and feeling passionate about it is priceless.
This week I've had the satisfaction of seeing my work in print . I've also had the thrill of seeing my writing class reach the end of their certificate course, to great acclaim. Teaching them to write isn't just my bread and butter - it's my soul food. Verily my cup runneth over.
Yes, it's been a great week.
I hope you are as happy in your vocation as I am in mine.
By the way, if you would like to read my latest article, you can find it on www.telewatcher.com/Reality/Big-Brother/Why-I-No-Longer-Watch-Big-Brother.150309
Monday, 23 June 2008
Read All About It! My Adventures in Internet Publishing
I'm still very excited today about having my work published by Triond. I've now got two poems in Authspot and two articles in Writinghood and I've earned my first cent - so that's me on my way to my first internet million pounds!
It's inspired me to dig out my old files of work that I'd finished but not submitted and things that I'd left half done, so I'm working my way through those at the moment, getting short stories fit for publication.
I was also delighted to hear that one of my students has followed my example and has had his first article published on Triond too. I've started a trend. I hope they'll give me commission for getting them new recruits.
Why not have a look at the pieces I've had published there? Here are the links:
www.authspot.com/Poetry/Evensong-at-Kings-College-Cambridge.144909
www.authspot.com/Poetry/My-House-is-Five.145677
http://www.writinghood.com/Writing-Business/Opportunities/How-to-Write-a-Review.144107
http://www.writinghood.com/Style/How-To/How-to-Write-an-Acrostic%20Poem.144101
It's a fantastic opportunity for writers to share their work with other like-minded people and to earn money at the same time.
Happy surfing!
It's inspired me to dig out my old files of work that I'd finished but not submitted and things that I'd left half done, so I'm working my way through those at the moment, getting short stories fit for publication.
I was also delighted to hear that one of my students has followed my example and has had his first article published on Triond too. I've started a trend. I hope they'll give me commission for getting them new recruits.
Why not have a look at the pieces I've had published there? Here are the links:
www.authspot.com/Poetry/Evensong-at-Kings-College-Cambridge.144909
www.authspot.com/Poetry/My-House-is-Five.145677
http://www.writinghood.com/Writing-Business/Opportunities/How-to-Write-a-Review.144107
http://www.writinghood.com/Style/How-To/How-to-Write-an-Acrostic%20Poem.144101
It's a fantastic opportunity for writers to share their work with other like-minded people and to earn money at the same time.
Happy surfing!
Saturday, 21 June 2008
My New Publishing Opportunity
I've got a new business venture today. I've just started submitting writing to a company called Triond which publishes people's work on internet sites. So far I've submitted two 'how to' articles and a poem, so I'll have to see how they get on and how much money they make me.
The exciting bit is that you can log on whenever you want and see how much your writing is earning. That's better then having to wait for twice-yearly royalty statements.
I've got another article almost ready to submit, but I just need to find one of my sixty-word short stories to include as an example. I'm sure I saw copies of them all in a folder recently, but can I find them when I need them? It's so frustrating!
I've been all through my computer files too and I can't find them there either. I hope they turn up soon or else I shall have to write another example.
But meanwhile, I'm off to the University this afternoon for a creative writing workshop. It's being run by a guest writer called Char March. She has given us some interesting work to do beforehand and has said she is going to work us all very hard.
I'll let you know how it goes when I speak to you next - and also whether I found my stories.
The exciting bit is that you can log on whenever you want and see how much your writing is earning. That's better then having to wait for twice-yearly royalty statements.
I've got another article almost ready to submit, but I just need to find one of my sixty-word short stories to include as an example. I'm sure I saw copies of them all in a folder recently, but can I find them when I need them? It's so frustrating!
I've been all through my computer files too and I can't find them there either. I hope they turn up soon or else I shall have to write another example.
But meanwhile, I'm off to the University this afternoon for a creative writing workshop. It's being run by a guest writer called Char March. She has given us some interesting work to do beforehand and has said she is going to work us all very hard.
I'll let you know how it goes when I speak to you next - and also whether I found my stories.
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