<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After spending a lot of time not writing for one reason or another over the last few months, I am now writing on a daily basis, which is one of the reasons I haven&rsquo;t spent a lot of time on here lately. I&rsquo;ve been busy working on a couple of pieces. Both have had a little time on the Arena at one time or another, both have been received well with some really great comments on how they could be improved. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And that is what brings me to this blog. I&rsquo;ve read a bit over the years on how to write a novel. Some say you should plot. That way you should end up with a well rounded product in the end. Other writers sit in front of their comp with a general idea of a story and just write - Stephen King is one example. This way, I suppose, you could end up with a completely different story than the one you set out to write, maybe even full of plot holes and character flaws.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So, Blackout is in the process of being plotted. I posted the first chap on the Arena a while ago, just to test the waters. (They were a bit rough lol) It&rsquo;s taking its time as I try to work out all the details even though I know the story, in my head at least, by heart. It&rsquo;s a bit of a slog because I&rsquo;m too eager to just get on with it. Impatient bugger that I am.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So how about just writing? Well, Mirror Images is a story I have posted a couple of times before. I was never really happy with the beginning for a start and I always felt, at around 2000 words, the story was too short. After lengthening it a little and putting it back on the Arena I decided it needed an overhaul. So I started, with a new title and beginning, to re-write it. I&rsquo;m now 23,000 words into it. I know where the story is going, that won&rsquo;t change, but I&rsquo;m not quite sure now how I&rsquo;m going to get there. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">New ideas keep forming in my head. Characters and plots keep talking to me. I don&rsquo;t know what I&rsquo;m going to write from one chapter to the next, but whatever I do write feels right. It&rsquo;s exciting sitting at my laptop and just writing. Okay, so it might be crap, full of plot holes and other mistakes. But at least I&rsquo;m writing again. I&rsquo;m getting through a couple of thousand words a day. (Don&rsquo;t know if that&rsquo;s good or bad)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>But considering we have a house full of kids and I have to write at the kitchen table since Emma-Grace came along and stole my office, I&rsquo;ll take 2000 words a day.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Oh, on a final note, my WOM Q/A&rsquo;s have been posted on the forum for anyone who is interested </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span></span><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p>