Well hello there! I'm busy. Just popped on to say that really. Always got something to do, always got something to write, got many books to read, many magazines to pore over, quite a bit of studying to do, and some decisions to make. All good, all fun, all invigorating, and all exciting (for me anyway, quite boring for everybody else).
Still not doing very well at getting all the things done that I need to do though - but at least I have got out of the habit of sticking the telly on and switching to 'Dave' and watching repeats of comedy panel shows! That was silly. My life might have been full of humour, but it wasn't moving anywhere. You can't stay in Daveland for ever; after a few weeks you've seen all of the repeats and then you're watching the re-repeats, and that's just stupid.
Mmm.
Here is what I'm listening to this morning:
'Sanctus' by Karl Jenkins. Make what you will of that :)
Friday, 27 May 2011
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
Things we wish we had more time to do...
My mum pointed me in the direction of this website today: http://www.lauralaine.net, the website of the artist, Laura Laine. She draws girls with beautiful hair. Some of her pieces are used to advertise perfumes and designer bags and so on. But I'm not much interested in that, I just thought that the hair was amazing.
And it reminded me that I have been wanting to sketch more. I'm one of these people who has lots of plans, lots of things in the pipeline, lots of projects on the go. Some of them might be on the go for years without me ever actually devoting any time to them. My mum is very good at getting lots of things done, and is always starting a new book for one thing or another. Sometimes I think she fills them! I can actually do lots of things a little bit: I can draw, I can paint, I can play several instruments, I can sing, I can act, I can write, I can cook, I can dance, I can sew, I can knit, I can crochet. I can do all of these things a little bit. But sometimes I think that that is not the way I want to be; I want to be very good at a couple of those things. Trouble is that I'm fickle, you see. I practise one instrument for a few weeks, and then I get bored, and then another instrument looks far more appealing, so I switch. Drawing is one that I want to be able to do without putting in the required effort. Drawing, for me, takes such a long time, and I am not patient enough to put in the hours. Same with painting, of course.
Hmm, I don't know if there is much I can do about this. I think I am Elizabeth Bennett, and will probably never be properly accomplished: 'I am not a great reader, and take pleasure in many things'. I think this is alright, I think it's allowed.
Actually, writing is the only thing I've ever stuck at for such a long period of time. Ah, but that does not really signify much, since I have not finished anything!
Maybe one day I will be patient and disciplined enough to finish something. Until that time I will just have to be satisfied with my flighty self.
Oh, once I did finish a whole big cross-stitch. And I finished a baby cardigan too. Don't think I've ever finished anything else though. Very often I don't even finish my thoughts, or sentenc....
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| Source: http://www.lauralaine.net/ |
And it reminded me that I have been wanting to sketch more. I'm one of these people who has lots of plans, lots of things in the pipeline, lots of projects on the go. Some of them might be on the go for years without me ever actually devoting any time to them. My mum is very good at getting lots of things done, and is always starting a new book for one thing or another. Sometimes I think she fills them! I can actually do lots of things a little bit: I can draw, I can paint, I can play several instruments, I can sing, I can act, I can write, I can cook, I can dance, I can sew, I can knit, I can crochet. I can do all of these things a little bit. But sometimes I think that that is not the way I want to be; I want to be very good at a couple of those things. Trouble is that I'm fickle, you see. I practise one instrument for a few weeks, and then I get bored, and then another instrument looks far more appealing, so I switch. Drawing is one that I want to be able to do without putting in the required effort. Drawing, for me, takes such a long time, and I am not patient enough to put in the hours. Same with painting, of course.
Hmm, I don't know if there is much I can do about this. I think I am Elizabeth Bennett, and will probably never be properly accomplished: 'I am not a great reader, and take pleasure in many things'. I think this is alright, I think it's allowed.
Actually, writing is the only thing I've ever stuck at for such a long period of time. Ah, but that does not really signify much, since I have not finished anything!
Maybe one day I will be patient and disciplined enough to finish something. Until that time I will just have to be satisfied with my flighty self.
Oh, once I did finish a whole big cross-stitch. And I finished a baby cardigan too. Don't think I've ever finished anything else though. Very often I don't even finish my thoughts, or sentenc....
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Proofreading
Oh bloody hell! This arrived today (yes, delivered on a Sunday - weird):
This is what I've just paid £395 for! Yikes! It's a folder, with some sheets of paper in it, and it came with the Oxford A-Z of Grammar and Punctuation 'for free'. Now, it doesn't look much for the money, (and actually this is not the whole thing - there are some more sheets of paper to come!) but I'm hoping that this little unassuming bit of thing is going to be the gateway to the good life for me. Oh yes. Well, that may be overstating its potential (and mine) a little. We'll see. But I am going to learn to be a proofreader. Hopefully this little course with The Publishing Training Centre at Book House will lead to some more courses, and some paid proofreading, and some mentoring (for me, not by me) and then an accreditation if I'm good enough. Knowing me though, I'll be bored after a bit and decide that I do want to be an astronaut after all.
Book House is a well-respected provider of this kind of training. I wrote an email to Penguin Books a couple of weeks ago, and asked for some advice on the best proofreading training, and they recommended Book House. In fact, they said that they only use proofreaders from Book House. I then felt proud of myself for being able to sort the wheat from the chaff in a Google search, because I had picked out Book House as the best course provider myself, before the Penguin lady had even got back in touch with me. Aren't I clever?! Well. Lots of people, professional and not, advised me against using Chapterhouse - I was wary of this company as soon as I saw its website. It offered the cheapest course - but that rang alarm bells for me. Cheapest so often means lowest quality. And this was confirmed for me when someone my mum knows advised me that Chapterhouse passes almost everyone who takes the course, even if they're not very good, which is why publishing houses don't tend to use freelancers who have a Chapterhouse certificate.
So that'll all be quite exciting and interesting. I've got work to do again! Weird feeling. But I'm looking forward to it. I shall start my reading tomorrow.
But when will I write? Oh. Well, I'll just have to see how this week goes. I'll read some of this material and see how quickly I think I'm going to take it in. If there is no room for writing for a few weeks then so be it; I'll just have to tough it out.
Oh, does anyone want a copy of the Oxford A-Z of Grammar and Punctuation? I bought myself a copy of this very same book a few months ago, when I enrolled on the MA in English with the OU (which I might have to defer for a year, but we'll see), so I now have two! It must be a sign that this is what I'm supposed to do next! Though it can't be, because I don't believe in signs. Must just be a coincidence then.
Far too many exclamation marks in my post today! I'm supposed to be learning to be a proper writer, and a proper writer should never need to use an exclamation mark!
Well, there should have been lots of other things for me to write about today, such as the Scout Festival, and risotto, and the beach, and the rain and thunder storm (storm, ha!), and something else that I've forgotten. But I've got to go to bed and get some sleep now. Busy few weeks ahead.
Night all.
This is what I've just paid £395 for! Yikes! It's a folder, with some sheets of paper in it, and it came with the Oxford A-Z of Grammar and Punctuation 'for free'. Now, it doesn't look much for the money, (and actually this is not the whole thing - there are some more sheets of paper to come!) but I'm hoping that this little unassuming bit of thing is going to be the gateway to the good life for me. Oh yes. Well, that may be overstating its potential (and mine) a little. We'll see. But I am going to learn to be a proofreader. Hopefully this little course with The Publishing Training Centre at Book House will lead to some more courses, and some paid proofreading, and some mentoring (for me, not by me) and then an accreditation if I'm good enough. Knowing me though, I'll be bored after a bit and decide that I do want to be an astronaut after all.
Book House is a well-respected provider of this kind of training. I wrote an email to Penguin Books a couple of weeks ago, and asked for some advice on the best proofreading training, and they recommended Book House. In fact, they said that they only use proofreaders from Book House. I then felt proud of myself for being able to sort the wheat from the chaff in a Google search, because I had picked out Book House as the best course provider myself, before the Penguin lady had even got back in touch with me. Aren't I clever?! Well. Lots of people, professional and not, advised me against using Chapterhouse - I was wary of this company as soon as I saw its website. It offered the cheapest course - but that rang alarm bells for me. Cheapest so often means lowest quality. And this was confirmed for me when someone my mum knows advised me that Chapterhouse passes almost everyone who takes the course, even if they're not very good, which is why publishing houses don't tend to use freelancers who have a Chapterhouse certificate.
So that'll all be quite exciting and interesting. I've got work to do again! Weird feeling. But I'm looking forward to it. I shall start my reading tomorrow.
But when will I write? Oh. Well, I'll just have to see how this week goes. I'll read some of this material and see how quickly I think I'm going to take it in. If there is no room for writing for a few weeks then so be it; I'll just have to tough it out.
Oh, does anyone want a copy of the Oxford A-Z of Grammar and Punctuation? I bought myself a copy of this very same book a few months ago, when I enrolled on the MA in English with the OU (which I might have to defer for a year, but we'll see), so I now have two! It must be a sign that this is what I'm supposed to do next! Though it can't be, because I don't believe in signs. Must just be a coincidence then.
Far too many exclamation marks in my post today! I'm supposed to be learning to be a proper writer, and a proper writer should never need to use an exclamation mark!
Well, there should have been lots of other things for me to write about today, such as the Scout Festival, and risotto, and the beach, and the rain and thunder storm (storm, ha!), and something else that I've forgotten. But I've got to go to bed and get some sleep now. Busy few weeks ahead.
Night all.
Sunday, 1 May 2011
Yawn.
Sorry. Lethargy has descended. No idea why. Hoping to shake it off tomorrow. Night. Off to bed to read. See you on the other side... of the lethargy.
The Yawning Man, from Tom Thumb
And while I'm on YouTube, you can have this from the same film :) G'night.
Lx.
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