How the NaNoWriMo Fever Can Help You Write Your Thesis

*Cross posted from my academic wordpress blog.*

It's now officially November, and the blogosphere is buzzing with the optimism of the first few days of National Novel Writing Month, better known as NaNoWriMo.

Missing you...

Reading this on the train back to Scotland and thinking of our own Becca again. Every now and again I dream about her, wake up having forgotten that she died and feel the pain all over again.

The people we lose are never really not on our minds, but Becca has been at the forefront of mine for some time now. When I'm in a darker mood I wonder if I exaggerate how much she meant to me, and how important to each other our friendship was. I feel like a fraud at times, berating myself with thoughts that, had Becca still been alive, I'd be no closer to her than other friends from that time in my life very few of whom I'm still close to.

On the better days I remember that she was one of few, if not the only person who could see that my relationship with the Boy was something different. We confided in her, and she encouraged us when others wrote us off as well intentions but deluded teenagers. We got married just over a week ago.

At the wedding many people finally saw what Becca had seen nearly 10 years ago when me and the Husband (as he shall now be known as) were just Boyfriend and Girlfriend. I wish she had been there to say "I told you so."

On having big boobs...

Normally I post a mildly amusing photo, related to the content of my posts over there on the left had side of my blog. (I experimented with alternating left and right for a while, but I decided that it just looks better over there on the left). Today, I'm not going to do that. Today I'm talking about something quite a bit more personal, and so I'm going to post a photo of me. I'll post it further down, since I'm still working up to it. This is a big deal, so bear with me.

Quick Post: Word Verification

Just a flying visit to point out the campaign to remove  word verification software from blog comments.

Go here to read Misha Gericke's blog post. I removed my word verification about a month after starting the blog when I read a post giving advice on getting more readers. I agree that it goes against the spirit of blogging, and I groan any time that I come across it. If you do too, go sign Misha's petition and spread the word.



New, full length, original blog post coming later this week.

That's Not My Name

With the wedding date hurtling ever closer, the Boy and I have started to dread Fridays. The rest of the office gets to go home at the end of a Friday and relax into a weekend of lie-ins, brunches, cooking programmes and socialising. Weekends are a time when you don't need to worry about being in a certain place at a certain time. You do things and make plans on your own terms not dictated by work schedules or deadlines. 

 At least you do if you're not getting married in less than a month. If this is the case your weekend becomes about sitting down with the people involved to 'finalise' things. I've been finalising wedding stuff for the past month of weekends, and will be continuing to do so for the foreseeable future. I'm continually complimented by suppliers, vendors and venues about how well organised everything is, much more so than other couples. This helps a little, to know that it's paying off and that we are getting there. A little.

One of the latest things is arranging to collect/be presented with our gifts. We went with a slightly unconventional method for our gift list. Instead of registering with one department store and choosing gifts from there, we built our own online gift list on our wedding website. It means we have a little bit more work to do in keeping the links updated, and a few of our older relatives have had to get some help in navigating the big world wide web, but it has the benefit of allowing us to choose gifts from different suppliers. Unfortunately, it has also meant that we don't have a department store to deliver all out gifts to us post-wedding in one go. People have been getting gifts themselves and therefore need to arrange a time and/or place to hand them over.

Sometimes this has just meant an alternative delivery address when ordering online, and sometimes people have dropped gifts off at my parents house, or the In-Law's house. Sometimes people want to see us in person and have us open them while they watch. The latter is the one that I'm particularly uncomfortable with. I have rarely opened presents in front of anyone other than my parents, my sister and the Boy. I don't understand why people want to see me do that. Oh, and it is me that's supposed to open presents apparently. Even though they are gifts for both of us I'm THE BRIDE, so I must be the one to open them. It is not an experience I enjoy, and I've never done so. I always feel uncomfortable, and feel like I'm being forced into a show of emotional response, but I'm unsure about so I end up being hyper aware of my facial expression. This will come as a surprise to everyone because I do love receiving gifts, and I take great pleasure in giving gifts also. I'm getting a little off topic, but writing that out is the first time that I've consciously addressed those feelings and it might go a little way to explaining my reaction to things that happened around the same time: namely the SURNAME THING.

Most of the gifts and cards (and even a cheque kindly sent by an Aunt and Uncle of mine who aren't able to come to the wedding) were addressed to Mr & Mrs His Surname. You see, most people don't know that I'm keeping my own name after we get married.

There are lots of reason's why I'm keeping my maiden name when we get married, some of them too private for the internet (sorry guys.) Some of them are boring and practical, like the fact that I'm already published under my maiden name or the hassle it is to change everything from my passport and my bank account, to my email address. 

I'm just beginning to gain an understanding for how strange some people find this notion since within a very short space of time two different couples were informed, in passing, that I'm keeping my name. You know that slightly odd expression, 'you could've slapped my face with a wet kipper'? I think I might actually understand it now. I don't think they could have been more surprised if I had just assaulted them about the head with a smoked herring. I have to stress here that the reactions weren't negative, and not long after they shrugged and probably forgot about it. They were mostly confused and surprised that I wasn't following this tradition, and it's unlikely that the though that any Bride would keep her own name would have crossed their minds. That's how ingrained the tradition is within our society.

This attitude was something should have been prepared for, as I'd stumbled across an article in The Vagenda a few weeks ago on the same subject, but from the perspective of Mr. It's a well written and interesting article, and although it discusses a few other things that are also ringing true for me and the Boy, it's the name thing that's got me this week:

"But, dear readers, do you know what we rarely get asked? Whether or not my wife will change her surname to mine. As far as I can tell, the reason we’re not asked this is because it is almost universally assumed that she will or, more accurately, already has – and in fact probably rushed ecstatically to do so somewhere between kissing the bride and consummating the union. It wasn’t just that everyone assumes that her surname is mine – which in itself is presumptuous, if understandable – but that so much subsequent post-wedding correspondence was addressed simply to Mr and Mrs My Full Name. Apparently not only did my wife lose her surname in the nuptials, but in the eyes of a lot of people she lost her first name too." SPR, The Penis Perspective: A Wife By Any Other Name...

I wasn't prepared for how I'd actually fee when faced with a card addressed to 'Mr and Mrs His Full Name'. I expected Mr & Mrs His Surname, and actually chuckled a little to myself when I saw it for the first time. We've been together for almost 10 years, and I'd be a massive liar if I told you that I hadn't tried out Karen [His Surname] to see what my signature would be like.* At some point I started to feel differently about changing my name. I'm not sure when that was, or if there was any one thing in particular that made my decision. I'd dithered for some time about keeping my own name for my academic career, and being Mrs His Surname everywhere else. Yet the thought of splitting myself like that, of being two different people - the 'career academic' and the 'wife&mother' - made me incredibly uncomfortable. I began to question why and my search for a good enough reason didn't find one. Karen [His Surname] isn't me. That's either someone else, or a fictional character. I felt no attachment to it, as if those two words couldn't hold my identity. Family stuff came up and suddenly there were very good reasons, but for keeping my name not for adopting someone else's. It might seem odd to some people, but suddenly keeping my own name was the right choice for me. I'm not doing it for political reasons in order to subvert the patriarchy, after all how much difference does keeping my Father's name rather than taking on my Husband's make to that?

When faced with a card from one of the older guests addressed to Mr and Mrs His Full Name, I felt weird. A few days later when I explained it to the Boy I said that I felt like I suddenly didn't exist any more. I was a non-entity, defined only by my relationship to him. It was a very, very odd experience, but a fleeting one. I opened the card and read the message, addressed to us both by our first names and it went away.

The looks of bewilderment on the faces of the people when the Boy told them that I was keeping my own name haven't faded from my mind yet. It's still quite fresh, but it's left me somewhat baffled myself. I really didn't think that it was still so uncommon in the 21st century.

*It turns out that because one of the initial letters is the same as mine it just looked like I'd tacked Mc on to the beginning of my own name. 

Quick Post: The Dark Knight Rises

Very quick post today to say that my friend Sam has just started a blog in order to discuss her reactions to seeing The Dark Knight Rises yesterday, which was also when The Boy and I, and my sister and her boyfriend went to see it (separately). It has certainly got us talking and Sam's blog sums up our reactions to the film so well it's worth re-posting here. As she discusses the film at length there are, of course, SPOILERS so I'd advise waiting until you've seen the film if you want to read it. (It's only just out in the UK, but this might be a moot point for reader in the US)

I'll be back with my feelings later in the week when I've worked out what they are, and once I've done some work on my thesis. I may edit this post, to link to a new one here. I haven't decided yet.

Procrastination or There's No Such Thing as Writer's Block

From @benwhitelaw

Last year I was talking to a newly published author (let's call them NewAuthor) at a book launch dinner, and discussed with them my theory on the non-existence of writer's block. Later I found out from a friend who had also been talking to NewAuthor that they had also had a conversation about writer's block, except it had been NewAuthor telling my journalist friend (or Journo) that they were suffering badly from this thing I had insisted doesn't exist, and had moved countries in an attempt to unblock. After hearing that from Journo my first reactions were to feel guilty and tactless. I'd like to blame it on the wine with dinner, but the truth is I'm incredibly opinionated, and rarely think at the time about how my opinions will be received by others. That's normally left until something like this happens, and then I feel guilty. I've been thinking about NewAuthor and our conversation that night quite a lot this week, as I struggle with my own writing.

Career vs Job

I'm one of the many research students within the Arts and Humanities who has a part time job alongside their PhD. I'm in the slightly more unusual situation of that part time job not being one tutoring undergraduates in my department. There are a few reasons for this, but the most obvious is that I was working in my job before I started the PhD. Instead of giving up a secure job on the off chance that I would get some teaching in the department to allow me to support myself, I spoke to my employers and they let me reduce my hours. 

Getting Back to Blogging

I've been meaning to get back into blogging for a while, and recently did a guest blog (here and here) for Shortbread Stories. While this did remind me of how much I enjoy blogging, I've struggled with what to write about when I've tried to get started again. When I was asked to do an Industry Insider  blog for Shortbread about my NWD editing experiences, it was relatively easy to come up with a topic and go through the writing, editing and publishing process with Rachel (who's got a blog of her own up today*; go check it out). Rachel and I have known each other for years and we've collaborated on a few projects, both creative writing and academic, so it was an easy rhythm to fall back into.

Quick Post - Pre-Vamp Conference Write-Up Teaser

I promised that I'd write up a review for a recent conference that I attended at the University of London on Vampires: Myths of the Past and Future. It was three days jam packed with papers and discussions and it's not something I'll manage in one post. I'll be cracking on with this later on this week since the timely release of Breaking Dawn Part 1 has brought vampire fiction back to the mainstream for a while.

For now I give you a log from Who's Jack by Joe West on women and the Twilight franchise. His mate Kaja ('rhymes with Fire not Badger') is also my mate Kaja who I attended the above conference with. you can read the article here:  http://www.whosjack.org/in-my-opinion-twilight-women-me/

I'll be returning to some of the issues raised in her comments, but I agree most strongly with the need to redress the way in which the readers/viewers of these books/films are continually being vilified and patronised as if they are somehow not able to rationally separate themselves from the fantasy of the texts. I know many people who have read the books and seen the films and the only place so far that I have encountered the hysterical obsession that these texts supposedly engender is in academia.

Not Your Usual Post About Sexism on the Internet

Source

As usual I haven't blogged in a while and I'm doing so now in order to have a rant. Well, sort of a rant. My blog-rants never turn out the same as my everyday life 'soapbox' incidents. You can identify these by either my Mother or my other half murmuring 'she's off again' somewhere safely out of range. Because the blog is written and edited, my rants often turn into something more positive and affirmative, rather than me just letting off steam.


Before I begin, I'd like to preface with a 'full disclosure' style statement; I am what could technically be termed a feminist.

This is a tricky affirmation to make particularly on the internet (see image above). The debate on sex, gender and equality is one whose waters are muddy at best and this debate is in the early stages of talking about feminisms plural, rather than trying to incorporate sometimes contradictory ideals, views, opinions and theories under one all-encompassing banner of FEMINISM. Many aspects of my life would, to some, disqualify me as a 'proper feminist'. (See mention of other half above. Said other half is male and we are engaged. Oh, the scandal.) I am also seen to be the victim of the 'have it all' generation, where I have a career (of sorts) and the intention to have a family. I am most definitely heteronormative, and happy in my relationship and with my life choices. I sometimes think I need more hours in the day to even begin to achieve the things on my daily to-do list, but this says more about my ambition and determination, than it does about my gender. I am also open minded and (I think) tolerant of other social, sexual, class and political positions. I do not call myself a feminist because I think that women are better than men, or under some misguided belief in a need to redress the balance of gender power relations to have men suffer the same as women have for decades. I am a feminist because I think about inequalities in all aspects of society and I want everyone else to do the same. I am not really interested in debating the issue of maternity and paternity leave in the pub (again). However if that gets even one person thinking about how they view the world and the other people in it then yes, I'll tell you that my MLitt was in Women, Culture and Society and set myself up for a hour of ear bashing about how the extension of women's maternity leave cripples small businesses and that besides women used to give birth in a field and then go back to work, so why do they need to much time off (genuine example).

I encounter discrimination all the time, not least because of the combination of my age, gender, body-type and hair colour. I am stereotyped as a blonde and think that this, above all else, drives people's first impressions of me and thus their behaviour towards me. I have lost track of the times people have firstly spoken with me on the phone, only to say 'I thought you would be a brunette' when they meet me in person. My appearance does not match my personality, apparently. At times, this is an advantage and while morally a tad suspect, I do sometimes leave people with their opinion that I am a bit dim intact. On other occasions I enjoy disavowing them of their opinion, and again sometimes I find this a chore.

I do not, however, attribute these small and relatively insignificant instances of discrimination to sexism and gender inequality which is still inherent within our culture, and the tenancy to attribute every act of discrimination or injustice to plague the female populace as a direct result of patriarchy astounds me. It was for good reason that Simone de Beauvoir claimed that women of her generation were complicit in their own oppression, and this is a notion that is as unpopular today as it was in 1949.

There is an apparent trend in the interactions between women I know and respect to enter into a blame culture where many, if not all, of their perceived injustices are the fault of either the patriarchal system or individual men. I recognise that cultural and social inequalities play a large part in the lives of many women and that these are very real, pressing issues to be highlighted and discussed. I understand (believe me) the therapeutic effects of a good moan, this blog being case and point. However we need to check that urge when it leads us down the very route we are bemoaning and turns us into hypocrites. Yes, there are problems in our society and not least that of continued gender equality at home and in the workplace, and yes, there is a tendency to put gender issues on the back burner in the event of even a minor political crisis, never mind major events such as the fight for civil rights or a world-wide recession.

This does not give you a free pass to be sexist. Getting together for self-congratulatory, patronising 'oh men, aren't they useless? Aren't they lucky we put up with them? How would they do anything without us?' sessions is wrong* and detracts from the times when you speak out against genuine oppression. Telling someone off for judging you based on an arbitrary act of biology, such as your genitalia, is a much more difficult position to maintain if you've just had a conversation about certain characteristics of 'all men.' It doesn't make their position right, but it makes it much harder to convince them otherwise.

At the risk of plagiarising from a friend, if you're not sure if something is sexist reverse the genders in the paradigm and see if you're still happy with it. Another good 'quick check' on opinions and behaviour is to check your generalisations by substituting it with another generalisation, one you are pretty sure is entirely discriminatory and unfair. For example, 'all French people are cheese eating surrender monkeys' if substituted to 'all black people are cheese eating surrender monkeys', while severely lacking in the accuracy of its stereotype, it is so shockingly and obviously racist I can't quite believe I've typed it up and published it on the internet, for everyone to see even if its just an example of what's wrong with reverse-discrimination. *gulp* I can't guarantee that I'll not edit that out, but it makes my point. Also, try to avoid generalisations at all, if you can. They rarely attest to the wonderfully multifaceted and contradictory aspects of human nature.

On another note, most feminists do not think that all men as sexist. Heck, most women do not think all men are sexist. If there is any group who can be said to think that all men are sexist, it's sexist men. It is perhaps worth remembering this when you make a sexist remark that you do not actually endorse by your daily behaviour or ideals as those who do hold these beliefs will see this as further justification of these. Just something worth thinking about, and also the reason behind my attempts to stop playfully calling my other half a poof for not liking spicy food. (very wrong of me, regardless of the fact that I am neither homophobic, nor think that so called effeminate features and behaviours in a man is a bad thing.)

The image above comes from http://www.gabbysplayhouse.com/?p=1444 and contains an interesting discussion in the comments. Read those only if you are prepared for it, but I recommend you take a look at the comic anyway. And in case I get accused of trivialising the issues that women face in our patriarchal society, I would like to refer you to one of the author's responses to the many comments accusing the comic of sexism against men:

"saying it’s reverse sexism just doesn’t cut it for me. that’s such a cop-out of deliberate ignorance as to what happens to women every day, because of men, that it’s actually kind of making my forehead hurt just trying to wrap my head around it. are there really THAT many men who live in fear of being murdered by their spouses? are you really THAT worried about your state legislators forcing you to bring a baby to term after you were raped? do you feel at all pressured to get breast implants by your spouse? are your parents coercing you to breed? is your husband forcing you to? do you every weigh the benefits of getting a pint of ben [and] jerry’s at 7-11 against the predatory male attentions from male strangers that you will have to field walking there [and] back? if you DO get raped, do you really worry that a jury of your “peers” will then call you a slut and say you must have been asking for it, by virtue of your wearing makeup at the time? do you worry about being murdered for saying “i wanna be president”? are you forced to flirt with men just to make them listen to your words at your job? were you conditioned to make babies and be a docile manservant from babyhood? does society base your worth on how coy, young, helpless, starved and fragile you look? are you judged in daily life primarily as a dick receptacle?"

It should be noted that despite some of the comments, Gabby is male. Not for ant reason other than to note how commenter's tones change when he points out that he is, in fact a man. Also, the way that he points this out to people is quite amusing: "I just asked my penis and, apparently I am male" (paraphrase).

My main point is that discussing the issues of sex, gender and sexuality and our expressions of them is difficult. What we have to do is make sure that we are constantly aware of our behaviour. Women have it tough, as the examples in Gabby's comment are testament to, but do we really want men to have it just as tough? Do we want to pass objectification on to our sons, or our nephews, or our students, or our friends? Are issues with the unattainable image of female beauty negligible because men are beginning to face the same kind of pressure?



* (Yes, I am talking to you Loose Women)

NWD and NaNoWriMo...Is everything an acronym these days?

So, I've finally bit the bullet and signed up for NaNoWriMo after years of thinking that I was too busy to participate, didn't have any ideas, hadn't researched that one idea I do have enough...you get the picture. I've made a tonne of excuses in the past mostly out of fear of putting pen to paper. As Jill Dawson put it in The Guardian
recently:

"Not beginning protects you from the disappointment – no, shame – of reading what you have written and finding it rubbish. It also prevents you from an equally disturbing possibility: discovering that you can write. What then have you been doing all those years? Success or failure can both be avoided by never starting at all – this then is the spell that procrastination casts."

That's exactly how I've felt, really until I got into blogging. Having a reasonably regular writing outlet like the blog where I write, proof and edit has been a big part of getting over the fear of writing that first sentence. NaNoWriMo offers a further incitement to keep going with it. Like with the Writers Challenge bringing me new followers to write for, committing to something which insists that you write everyday like NaNo is a fantastic way to begin to flesh out your novel, to write freely without plan or plot or editing to hold you back and is, at least in theory, a device for getting you first draft down on paper. I'll be keeping you up to date on how the theory plays out, and if I find myself stuck in the editing loop, or if I manage to just go with it, warts and all. On the up side, I have a fantastic support network here in Dundee of fellow creative writers who either are or have participated in NaNo and who are excited and enthusiastic about me finally getting writing creatively in a serious, committed way. I've already had offers of help in the form of tutoring and forming a writing group, just from telling people that I'm all signed up and ready to go.

And speaking of a supportive literary scene in Dundee, this week sees the return of the wonderful Dundee Literary Festival and the launch of New Writing Dundee Six. The ethos of the creative scene in Dundee to encourage emerging talent is exemplified by the Festival School which took place at the beginning of this week and the new issue of New Writing Dundee, where first time authors and poets as well as established names re published together. The publication launches on Saturday 29th October at 7.30pm in the Dalhousie Building with Books, Food and Music.

I'm incredibly proud of the publication, of the literary vibe in Dundee this week and being a part of it. Watch this space for photos and reviews of Literary Festival events coming next week.

I'm not rude...honest (Quick Post)

I'm not ignoring your comments, but for some reason I can't comment on my own blog beacuse my google account apparently doesn't have the acess rights to comment on my own goddamned page.

Belugh. Never mind, I'll just have to settle for popping by your blogs and commenting there.


Kar x

Because it's obligatory to have a picture on my blog posts, and this one is pretty, if not exactly relevant. 

Normal Service Will Resume Shortly. Thank You For Your Patience.

"so…where does an idea go, nowadays? to the blog? to an email to a friend? to my journal? to a novel? to an opera? would you measure these things any differently if i told you the material was basically all the same dough, just a differently-shaped fucking cookie?" Amanda F Palmer

I've been meaning to blog about a good many things for quite a while. I havn't really gotten back into the swing of things since the submission of the chapter and the holiday in the US, however a few things have come to mind about writing, editing (both my work and the New Writing Dundee project) that are worth blogging about and I'll be getting to those over the weekend, so watch this space for those.

Right now I have spent the day mostly procrastinating from my thesis second chapter, and have been once again incredibly inspired to write something by Amanda F Palmer.* She's an indie musician from the US who writes and sings fantastic songs, awesome live performances and a brilliantly addictive blog. That the fact that she is married to Neil Gaiman is not the coolest thing about her speaks volumes. I might do my Confessions post about Neil next week so that you get what I mean.

Her blog (linked above) actually includes a pie chart of the general occupation of her brain at any given time. Go read it, it's awesome.

Anyway, what this has got me thinking about is the nature of the blog and why I've been absent for so long. I'd pretend that it's because I've been too busy to write, or because I've got StayFocused on my Chrome which is set to block Blogger after about 20minutes, however it's not really true. I'm getting round StayFocused right now by switching to my so-ancient-its-powered-by-a-water-mill Internet Explorer, and as I've discussed with a fellow blogger friend often, writing a blog post takes at most about 30 minutes. I could just watch 30 minutes less TV and thus find time.

Yes, part of it is that while being a full-time student with a part-time job, and a family, and all of the other things to do that come along with life like food shopping and housework, when doing something that isn't vital (thesis, food, paid employment) you feel guilty and anxious. Not always guilty enough not to do it however. What really happened was that I came to value the process of blogging less. I didn't have a Writers Campaign to spur me on to post, and most of my followers haven't deserted me while I've been AWOL. You event still comment, despite the fact that I haven't commented on your blogs in forever. (I promise I do still read though).

I began thinking that this was a waste of time. I started drafting posts that never went out, or writing about things just because I hadn't posted in a while. Doing that makes for bad posts.

Two things changed my thinking on that this week. Brooke Magnanti (aka Belle de Jour) was on Stephen Fry's Plant Word on Sunday. I met Brooke at a book event at Glasgow's Aye Write festival and she was as eloquent and engaging then as she was in the back of Stephen Fry's taxi. Her book deals came out of her wanting an outlet and starting a blog. The world of blogging may be very different now to when she started, but she's still involved.

More importantly for my wake-up call to the importance of blogging (for me) was Amanda's (self-confessed) wine-and-altitude-fuelled blog post about her blogging. Despite being a stickler for editing and pedalling a polished facade on my own blog, I have strangely never found her propensity to not bother with capital letter, or leave in typos as a negative, Its the way she writes her blogs, and I've never thought to question that. Pretty big for a literature student and it strikes me as something inherent within the blogging format. It is a very liberating way to write, without fear of judgement. At least not judgement that I particularly care about.

That sounds like I don't value my followers, and that isn't the case. It is the case that those who would judge my blog don't know me for the most part, and those who do as close enough friends that if I'm being a douche they'll tell me. Their judgement I do not fear or agonise over. That is a huge contrast to the fear I feel over my thesis and my creative writing.

Twice this week, however, I have come across an issue and the natural response has been 'I think I need to write a blog about this'. that sounds very hipster and conceited, but I am inherently a writer. when something happens that is provocative, hurtful, exciting or momentous I want to write about it.

So, the conclusion is pretty much that I remember why I started this in the first place and I am officially back to the blogosphere.


*I also have a blog on the glorious art of swearing planned soon, but for now you'll just have to guess what the F stands for. Or read the last line of the quotation at the top of the page for a clue.

Marla's Back!

A few of you may know that I'm a big Marla Mason fan and I'm very pleased to say that the next in this series of novels by T. A. Pratt featuring the badass sorcerer is going ahead. I came across the first Marla Mason novel Blood Engines, through a legitimate free copy on SCRIBD sponsored by the publisher, and haven't been able to get enough since. The artwork for the covers is awesome and I really love the way Pratt develops his characters. Since having the series dropped by Random House after the Spell Games cliffhanger, Pratt continued the series through reader donations and prize incentives. The next in the series is Grim Tides and will be the third novel Pratt has funded this way. If you're interested you can even try before you buy with a bunch of free stories, including the Grim Tides prequel 'Shark's Teeth'.This series is well worth a read, especially if you like your fantasy urban, and your witches to kick ass. I will be donating this time again (as soon as I get paid) and you can do that here. Pratt gives away prizes of signed books and other delights as well, and you can see my stash from Broken Mirrors here.

 
For more sartorial witt from the wonderfully sarcastic Marla, check out her twitter and keep an eye on http://www.timpratt.org/ for more upates.

I did it!

Source

So I handed my first chapter in for review to the Progress Panel at Uni. I didn't really think about it at the time, but it's a pretty big achievement after a year that's felt like an up-hill hike pretty much from the beginning.


I doesn't matter who you speak to about the PhD process, whatever stage they are at is the hardest. Most of my fellow students are in their second or final year, so I've have had a fair bit of 'but you're only in your first year, you've got it easy' kind of comments. The truth is, this is a tough thing we've all decided to do. We often have contradictory guidance, and sometimes we don't have any.

Sometimes though we get that break through: we made a deadline, we get results, we have that 'eureka' moment when it all falls into place or we find that someone else has written something which supports what we do. Those break throughs, no matter how little, are why we do it and what makes it worth it.

Are You Campaigning?

Rachael Harrie over at Rach Writes is running her Platform Building Writer's Campaign, starting this month. I took part in the prvious incarnations of this (as the Crusdade) and I'm considering joining again this time round.

Getting round the 200-odd blogs that were participating last time was just too much for me, and I did neglect my fellow Crusader in my group as well. I'm wondering if it's a bit cheeky of me to sign up to this while I'm on a schedule hiatus from the blog, and working on the chapter. I'm also on an officicial holiday, the kind where I get to fly away from the UK, for two weeks in September and will be cutting it fine for participation in the all important challenges that month.

All of that said, I read more blogs and wrote more, blog-wise and novel-wise, while taking part in the Campign and it should be a good warm up for NaNoWriMo* in November. A lot of you out there got to the blog through the first two Campiagns and mny of the blog I follow were discovered the same way. So will you be Campaigning this autumn? How did you choose your Campainger group, and how do you plan on staying in touch with everyone? Do you think that this is an unashamed scramble for for followers(on my part, not yours)**?

*Disclaimer: still not 100% decied that I'm taking part in that either. You can though. Sign up for NaNoWriMo here and the Campaign here.

** It isn't that. Well, it mostly isn't anyway. 

Cherio!

The post title has nothing to do with me going anywhere, but the fact that I've lost a few followers recently. It's not too much of a surprise considering the distinct lack of updating on my part, but it's always a shame to see people go.


I've been very absent from the blogosphere, both in terms of updates and comments, and I'm feeling a bit guilty about it. What is the point in the blog, after all, if I'm not writing anything? Well, according to the -currently-on-hold blogging schedule, Wednesday is an anything goes day, so here goes...

I'm sitting in the student union just now waiting on my supervisor to continue ripping apart reviewing my current chapter together. It's my theory overview chapter, and I'm itching to shelf it and move on to the bit where I actually get to analyse some literature, and not agonise over the intricacies of some inconsistent old man's thoughts on myth. I'm not gonna get to until the end of the month, when I have to hand the chapter in to the review panel. I'll get to move on for a bit until the progress review panel of other Professors from the school where I'll no doubt get more (contradictory) suggestions and have to revise the damn thing again.

I do make it sound like this is my first time receiving feedback on my own writing. Its really not, and I'm under no illusions about the quality and clarity of my writing, but I really do feel like this is lasting forever. I can't believe that it's taken me a whole year to write less than 10,000 words. How on earth am I supposed to get 100,000 in the next two?

Another blog post in which I bemoan something. Bound to get the followers flocking back, huh? Self-pity really isn't attractive.

Riots, Social Networks and the Media Response



Source

 Before I start I would like to point out that I in no way support the actions of those looters and arsonists in London, and the growing list of towns and cities in England. This may have started as a responce to the circumstances surrounding the police shooting of Mark Duggan, however I believe that looters with rooms full of shoe boxes have little to do with the legitimate protest march to Tottenham Police Station to publicise objections to the IPCC conduct in the enquiry into the shooting.

 

In the wake of plummeting stock markets, austerity cuts, an  wealth gap, record high inflation rates, record low insurance rates and then perhaps the reaction from those facing the worst of this recession is not as incomprehensible as at first glance. The Guardian.

"Combine understandable suspicion of and resentment towards the police based on experience and memory with high poverty and large unemployment and the reasons why people are taking to the streets become clear." Nina Powers, 

Growing materialism and the widening gap between the richest and the poorest of this country has, I believe, as much to do with the reaction of those predominantly young people in London and elsewhere. In our materialist society those who 'have not' seized on the opportunity to level the playing field. Like the riots that escalated from the student protests last year, any legitimate issue with the government or society has been lost.  

Critical focus from the media and the police on the use of social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, and through Blackberry Messenger to coordinate the rioting strikes me as hypocritical in light of the very different reaction to Egypt's rioting and the subsequent banning of Twitter by the government there. Nonetheless this change of opinion from UK news reporters is something we have come to expect.

In saying this publicly and openly, perhaps even playing 'citizen journalist', I run the risk of being called an apologist. I am saddened by bother the damage and violence from the rioters, who are no longer protesters and haven't been for some time now. I am just as saddened by the calls I hear from people here, far away from the damage and devastation in London, for stronger police tactics, water cannons, rubber bullets or bringing in the Army against children aged 14-17.

"The time to 'hug a hoodie' is over ... it's time to get tough." BBC News, 14.19, 09/08/11

This should be a wake-up call, but I fear it will be dismissed as mindless mob violence and not the product of far reaching social issues. Criminals should be brought to justice, and another generation of the disadvantaged poorer class will be sentenced to institutionalised criminality while those people truly hurt in these riots, the shop owners and communities, will not receive that justice.

Quick Post: Free Books Competition

Just a super quick post to say that I'm entering Lisa M Potts' 1st Blogoversary Baker's Dozen Giveaway and that you still have  few days to enter too. She's giving away a fantastic selection of books, so get your entry in before 3rd August (that's Wednesday) for a chance to win.