Please excuse my huffing and puffing. I've just walked for a mile and I'm seriously out of breath. A twenty eight year old lady should not be so exhausted by a brisk stroll around the park, should she? Methinks I need to do a bit more exercise and get back into shape before my body completely packs up on me. Well, that'll have to be the subject of another blog. This one's about writing, and that's what's important right now.

On my super strenuous walk, I did some thinking (yeah, I was pretending to be on the mobile while actually talking to myself - gotta love technology!), and I've realised that I don't actually have any reason to feel guilty. Everything I do has a purpose, even if it's not instantly obvious. When I'm doing work for my "real" job, I'm keeping the regular salary coming in, plus I'm giving myself the freedom to write. And when I write, I'm doing what I was born to do, and fulfilling my higher self's wishes. When I'm doing neither of those I'm usually doing something I enjoy, like sleeping, eating or being with D. Which helps me to stay sane and gives me ideas for the writing.

I think the trick is to find the right balance between all 3 of those things, to keep the money coming in while I'm learning my craft, and enjoying myself as well. Lately I've just been so caught up in feeling guilty every time I'm not writing that I've been getting less and less done of any worth.

This blog is intended to serve as a log of my trials and troubles of making the transition from reader to professional writer in less than a year. Each entry will contain a list of the writing I've done that day, and all the hints and tips I've picked up about writing for a living. So far today I've written this journal entry (1 point!), made notes for an article about my home town for a local magazine (another point!), and I fully intend to write 200 words of fiction on my shiny new laptop this evening (that'll be 3 points!).

I reckon that if I earn my 3 points every day then by the end of the year I'll have over 1000 points, and then I'll be able to call myself a Writer for Real! I know it's a weird way of going about obtaining a new career, but I've realised that unless I set myself tiny challenges and deadlines regularly, then the enormity of the task ahead gets too much, and I'm likely to run away screaming into the distance, never to be seen again. That would not be a good thing.

Points today: 3
Points so far this year: 4


Writing Tip of the Day:

Writer's block can be a good thing, it can help you realise when you've been concentrating too much on one topic. When you get it, switch your brain onto other things, while letting the back of your mind mull over what was blocking you. The answer will come to you before you know it.

From: Me! :)

Home is the city of Lancaster, in the North of England. A city by name only, it might be better described as a large market town, bustling on a Saturday with shoppers and students. It's been home for nearly 10 years now, a third of my entire life, and it gives me a sense of warmth and security, which I feel whenever I return from a trip away.

Today I've been asking myself the question: Do I really want my life to change, and if so, am I willing to put in the hard work to make the change happen? And the answer: YES, and possibly, depending on how lazy I'm feeling at the time.

So I'm going to try to follow the old adage of "little and often catchy monkey" (as they say in Switzerland), and take baby steps on my path to glory. Hopefully this won't expend too much of my precious energy, plus it'll give me constant boosts of confidence in my abilities.

I am going to set a few projects for myself, and I'm going to give myself a point (i.e. chocolate bar) for each one I achieve per day, and bonus points for excellence. I will then add to the challenges with more difficult and important ones as I progress through my Writer's Journey. My first batch of projects are as follows:

1. Start a blog. ( I realise this has already been attempted, but I'm sure there are other things out there I could talk about regularly, and I'm starting to really enjoy it!)
2. Write 200 words of creative fiction.
3. Write an entry for a blog.
4. Write notes for an article.
5. Analyse a new magazine/market for articles.
6. Write an article outline
7. Write a complete article
8. Edit an existing article
9. Spend 20 mins thinking of new article ideas.
10. Complete a writing course assignment (this one should get 2 bonus points, and a glass of vino).

That should suffice for today. I don't want to burn myself out. Tomorrow I'll set out my clear and unambiguous aims for life, or at least for the next 12 months. Also, I'll try to make tomorrow's entry a little more interesting and less fluffy.

The one thing I've learned today is that writing a blog takes dedication and perseverance. I've had the past few days off because it was my b'day yesterday and I was too busy living life to write about it. That will change soon, I'm sure.

Points scored so far today: 1
Total points so far this year: 1 (I've got to start somewhere!)


Thought for the day:

To the illumined man or woman, a clod of dirt, a stone, and gold are the same.
– Bhagavad Gita

- From here

Day two and the motivation already begins to dwindle!

After a hectic day of doing nothing worthwhile, I've come to blog on here as a form of escapism. There's no point in trying to pretend that I've got an amazing jet-setting lifestyle, because tbh I haven't... yet. That will come in time, as I start to sell my writing (assuming i actually write any!) and build a reputation as a world renowned writing phenomenon.

So, where was I....

The point of this blog. That's the reason for this entry, and I still haven't come to any fixed conclusions about that yet. So I'll start by listing all the aspects of my authorial life I wish to change and achieve by this time next year.

1. I need to have written and published at least 20 articles on various topics, and hopefully earned enough to cover the writing course fees.
2. I want to spend a large proportion of my day writing, editing, reading and commenting on other people's writing. I don't want to still be sitting in dullsome meetings all day taking minutes about nothing.
3. I wish I could edit that novel I wrote way back in 2005, about Marvin's marvelous gap year adventures. More than that, I want to send it off to a publisher or agent, have it accepted, and be on the New York Times Bestseller list. Why not? Its a brilliant debut novel!
4. I want to have finished at least 20 assignments. Of course, that means writing one a fortnight, not one every six months. So I'd better get cracking!
5. I want to be working from home. That's a major goal, and one which today's escapades involving waiting in for a delivery which didn't turn up has reinforced in a big way!

That's enough of a focus for the blog right now. I'm sure that as time goes on it'll develop and mould itself into its own being. I'll probably just end up ranting every day about how rubbish my life is and how I wish I could do something about it. Well, I guess there's only one way to change that. Tomorrow I will write that article for the assignment. Tomorrow will come. Right now though, I'm off to bounce around on the back of a horse for forty five minutes, and get saddle sore. Ah, the joys of modern life!

Quote of the Day:

Righteous people have no sense of humor. - Bertolt Brecht, 1898 - 1956

(from http://www.qotd.org/) 

Hello! Welcome to the wonderful Universe of hazelblogs!

The following is my first ever blog post, so please excuse the rambling nonsense, and feel free to skip to the end. But do come back in a while, when I'll have perfected the art of blogging, honestly!

As a novice blogger type, I'm not sure where to start with this entry. I guess I'll start at the middle and work backwards. I'm a writer, with aspirations to become a published, prolific and successful writer, with a huge portfolio to my name and a massive bank balance to match.

Being realistic, and generous, I'm going to give myself a year to achieve these goals; a year in which I will write every day, and actually take the dreaded step of putting my writing out there. That's the main purpose of this blog, I guess. I need somewhere to log my progress, and hopefully to build up an audience of at least a couple of people who will be kind enough to read and comment on my diatribes. Hopefully without too much malice.

So, this time next year, where will I be? Here, probably, in my tiny, energy sapping office, still dreaming about writing, as I sleep. I can write, I think. I can almost certainly string a sentence together in English, which isn't that much of an achievement I suppose, as it's my first language and I've been speaking it fluently for nearly 28 years.

No, I'm going to think positively, and imagine that in a year's time I'll be relaxing on a beach in Barbados, or wherever the future takes me. I'll be safe in the knowledge that my writing is more than paying for my comfortable lifestyle, and I'll be a happily married writing lady. That's the dream, anyway. As for the reality.... I'll just have to keep writing to find out.

The first step I'm going to take on the road to writing glory is to start work on that second assignment. I started a correspondence course in writing almost a year ago now. One of those "earn enough to pay your fees or your money back" type things. The only thing they don't tell you is that in order to earn any money from writing you have to be completely fearless and totally driven: two character traits which I sadly lack.

So far I've written one assignment for the course, and had fairly good feedback about it. The next assignment's a little trickier, in that I actually have to choose a magazine, analyse it, and write an article suitable for publication. My problem is that there are so many magazines and possible article topics out there - where do I begin? Seriously, any suggestions are very welcome!

I recently read an interesting blog entry, while researching for this journal, which said that you should learn one thing every day about your chosen topic. This helps to keep blogs interesting and informative, and it helps to enhance efficiency and effectiveness. All sound advice. So, the droplet of wisdom I have acquired today is.....

"All effective blogs have a clearly defined purpose and get straight to the point."
I'll work more on that in tomorrow's entry!

Horoscope for the day: Though you are feeling fantastic and full of great energy, especially early in the day, you may have a hard time focusing on any one project or person. Your mind just wanders wherever it wants!

(From http://horoscopes.astrology.com/dailycancer.html)

So true!