Every writer is a reader

This past week has been a non-writing week. I've just been too tired. Instead, it's been a reading week. I've finished Julia Gregson's 'East of the sun', set in 1920's India and charting the experiences of a group of young colonials. I picked it up cheaply from the library and it's not normally the type of book I'd read as it's definitely verging on trashy. However, it's perfect for my addled, sleep-deprived brain. Also, I have to give credit where credit's due and say that she's managed to create some memorable (if not somewhat irritating) characters - the type that I'm still thinking about now that the book's finished.

Ah, to create real, enduring characters - surely an aspiration for every writer.

Still no sign of the baby. Still hanging in there. My due date's tomorrow.

Grabbing precious moments

This is a waiting game. My third little person is due in four days but s/he could come any time now and I'm feeling so twingey I keep half-expecting to go into labour any minute.

This may well be quite a strange time to launch a new blog and a new creative writing website for women...but in a way perhaps the timing couldn't be better. There's a part of me, you see, that's taking myself by the shoulders and saying quite firmly that yes, your time is going to be limited (even more than normal, if that's possible!), but you musn't stop writing, or at least LIVING writing in some way. Because this is a passion. And it's wrong to turn our backs on our passions.

So, what am I doing with my writing at the moment (between trying to keep two energetic little girls entertained, get some rest, avoiding the sun's sweat-inducing rays and having false alarm contractions...). Well, I am writing a few press releases for a friend's travel company, going through the backpages of my beloved Mslexia magazine (this is the only magazine I subscribe to and every third month, it kerplunks through my letter box like the most delicious rare treat) and noting down all the new publications out there that take submissions and that I ought to be writing stories for (hmmm...). What else? I'm trying to find the time to finish (or properly start, if I'm being honest) a story for the same magazine - the theme is 'Departures' and when I was stuck in Hong Kong for 6 nights back in April as a result of the ash cloud, I was hit by a bolt of pure lightning inspiration for a short story. I should have written it there and then because this bolt of creative fervour has waned somewhat back in the London suburbs...however, I am determined to complete this story one way or the other before Mslexia's deadline in mid-Sept or so. I still have time.