by Kai | May 31, 2011 | content
I made it – this is post 20, out of 30 days, though, due to my own stupid fault, it wasn’t updating every day and I forgot the crucial step of posting to the sites talking about the competition.
But I made it.
In case you missed it, here’s a roundup of the posts involved 🙂
And 20, which is this post.
All in all, it’s been a blast – thank you Cricket for such a great time.
Kai’s book, Glass Block, is due out on June 4th.
This post is part of a series for
Kai is a writer, author and avid reader. A mental health advocate, Ludosport athlete and coder. She’s the mother of two young adults, owned by two cats, and lives with her beloved in the Cotswolds.
by Kai | May 29, 2011 | content
Have you ever noticed when one thing goes wrong, it has a knock on effect?
I’ve spent the last week trying to work out why everything seems to be pushing on one another. And I had the epiphany about three hours ago that the problem is I’m trying to do too much.
It’s my own fault. I get enthusiastic about an idea and dive in with both feet. But the stupid thing is, if I’m not careful, I end up in a situation where I’ve got too much on my plate and can’t keep up.
Case in point. I have 25 posts all queued up and under ‘pending review’ on my blog docket. I didn’t think for one minute to change the settings that allowed them to post direct to live when doing it from my phone so for the last 25 days I’ve been happily posting my blogs, and it’s only now that I’ve discovered that my one a day isn’t showing up!
The next part in the chain, getting it in my email so I can post it, hasn’t been happening either, but because I’m so busy I haven’t noticed.
Well, today, I’m putting it right. There should be 15 historical posts and another 10 queued for the next month, and that’s it resolved.
Bear with me 🙂
Kai’s book, Glass Block, is due out in August
This post is part of a series for
Kai is a writer, author and avid reader. A mental health advocate, Ludosport athlete and coder. She’s the mother of two young adults, owned by two cats, and lives with her beloved in the Cotswolds.
by Kai | May 27, 2011 | content
Tommy Cooper once said that performing to a mirror focusses you on yourself, whereas performing to a blank wall focusses you on what you’re doing.
In blogging, performing to a mirror is focussing on yourself. You don’t engage in discussions outside of your own blog, you expect people to ‘come to you’, and most of all, you expect others to talk you up. You perform to the mirror that is your own blog and feed into yourself more than you extend out.
In writing, performing to the mirror is your first draft. Writers SHOULD perform to walls more than they perform to mirrors. And sometimes those walls have doors in them, some open, some close, but mostly we perform to the blank space above and behind our monitors. The monitor, is, at first at least, a mirror, but is also the audience – it’s your doorway to everything and everywhere.
Performing to the mirror is reassuring, like the first draft of a book – it’s not important if the quality is a bit lax, you’re enjoying seeing your own words in front of you. The mirror is a carnival one that removes all blemishes and imperfections – you’ll smile at your work, thinking it’s the best thing ever. It’s a love affair – most of us get giddy on that first draft – getting the idea down. But for most of us, we have to move that mirror from that part of the wall, and perform again – edit, clean, tighten and share with others.
Sometimes it’s forgivable – if you’re shy, new to blogging or are building a singular platform that is *all you*. Especially if you’re a writer – if you are a personality in your own right it’s ok to talk to yourself, others will pick up threads and join in anyway. Kinda like a one man show. People will still come and watch, whether you’re paying attention to them or not.
There’s a ‘but’ to this though – even performers know their audience – even performers know that they’re being watched – and it might look like they’re playing to themselves, but, in truth, they’re playing to the world.
Playing to the world takes courage. It’s hard to perform to an audience that you don’t even know is there. Performing to that blank wall is what most writers do. We write knowing our topic, and sometimes we know our target audience, but most of the time, the majority of writers I know just *write*. Those of us that blog, and perform outwards, we just write hoping to connect with *someone*. And most of the time we do.
Forgetting, just for a minute, your target reader, can you write a blog post for the sake of it? Can you show your passions?
Kai’s book, Glass Block, is due out in August
This post is part of a series for
Kai is a writer, author and avid reader. A mental health advocate, Ludosport athlete and coder. She’s the mother of two young adults, owned by two cats, and lives with her beloved in the Cotswolds.
by Kai | May 25, 2011 | content
One of the hardest posts I’ve ever written (to date)
This is one of those rare posts I’m going to cross post. If you think that people you know will want to see this (for example, you know that someone won’t see it otherwise) please share it.
Four months ago, I chose to start working on the final elements of Glass Block. Knowing that I should be graduating sometime at the beginning of May, and feeling pretty confident that my dissertation could be written with relative ease (my average day right now is 6k of non fiction – it’s not difficult and it’s all highly lauded work – I then go off and fight with my fiction for a bit). I’ve often described what I do as unearthing something rather than writing – I feel like an archaeologist in my own head sometimes rather than a writer.
What’s wrose about this right now is that it’s the longest standing semi-intimate relationship I’ve ever had. I don’t vewi writing as creating a somehow being pregnant and delivering, but there is something about the characters being there, even when others aren’t. Elliot has been my constant companion for close to eight years now. He started as an idea in the bath just after I split from my ex, and grew into someone who inhabits a whole universe in my head. He and Farran, another lead ‘actor’ in my novels hang out *together* in what I fondly refer to as ‘the green room in my head’ and they talk. They actually have conversations. Sometimes Farran slips and forgets he’s talking to a policeman and starts talking stuff that leaves Elliot in a state of consternation, but so far, they get on quite well.
But lately, Elliot’s been a bit distant. I’m not sure if he’s got worse stage fright than me, or if it’s the medication (I’m bipolar for those that don’t know) and he thinks he needs to shut up a bit, but editing isn’t the same without him. On top of that, like I’ve already said, I work full-time, and then, when that’s done, I go off and write. And there aren’t enough hours in the day. After being awake for the third night in a row and switching between my dissertation and Elliot’s stuff while waiting for the server to come up, till 3am, I decided, with a very heavy heart that I have to postpone this.
I don’t normally talk much about some of the people I know through my work, but one of them, who for the sake of argument is called Adi , told me it goes something like this and that I shouldn’t feel so bad.
“You’re this great actress and everyone knows it, but so far all you’ve done is give back to the community and lurk. You’ve never had a role big enough to be credited, which makes us, your fans, a bit annoyed. So when we hear that you’re headlining on Broadway, we cheer.
Two weeks ago you announce you had laryngitis. Ok we think, this is it, it’s going to be postponed, and we’re sad, but we know it’s not your fault. THAT was your computer crash. You soldier on. rehearsals every day until your throat is raw and you’re quiet .
Today, at two weeks to go, you announce that you’re having to go do something massive – that’s your dissertation – and you can’t do it. We already know you’ve fought through illness. Those of us that are real fans know that it’s not your fault, and we’ll wait. Sometimes things just get delayed.” Adi
Everyone’s been telling me roughly the same thing since I floated the idea of postponing. I’m not happy about it, and everyone that knows me really well will know that I’m worried about letting people down, but I had plans for the project and they’ve slipped, one by one.
So I’m begging indulgence and encouragement – could you wait a few more months?
Kai’s book, Glass Block, is due out on June 4th.
This post is part of a series for
Kai is a writer, author and avid reader. A mental health advocate, Ludosport athlete and coder. She’s the mother of two young adults, owned by two cats, and lives with her beloved in the Cotswolds.
by Kai | May 24, 2011 | content
If you have a mental health problem, chances are your resources suck.
Mine do – when I’m tired, and I’ve reached my lowest ebb, I just don’ t cope with the world around me. Which is why I found this post rather interesting.
I’m still *stupidly* busy – it serves me right for taking on so much, but with just over a month till I need to hand in my dissertation and never getting to sleep before 2am for the last two weeks, I’m trying to go to bed early tonight.
I know the last couple of posts have been short, but I promise I’ll try to get some substantive ones up later in the week.
Kai’s book, Glass Block, is due out on June 4th.
This post is part of a series for
Kai is a writer, author and avid reader. A mental health advocate, Ludosport athlete and coder. She’s the mother of two young adults, owned by two cats, and lives with her beloved in the Cotswolds.
That sounds like so much fun! I love games, especially RPG. Haven't played with a group in a few years.…