Submitting (by sarah)

I posted off some of my poems again - this time to a top literay magizine - don't worry they where spell checked and edited to a glossy perfection. I know that there may well be a three month wait to find out from them and I doubt that I will be accepted. I submitted to Interzone before and got a very nice rejection letter saying that they had just rejiged things and my story was no longer the type of thing they published but that they would be happy to read anything else I sent them. I felt this was a good regection and the mag I've just sent off to has a policy of actually responding to new submitters so I feel hopeful of getting at least soem advise I can use.

I have also been typing up and polishing all the written material I have. I have discovered I have alot of it. The publisher I work for is a small house press - and it is a tiny company - she has advised me to take my stuff to the big publshing houses fist and then if/when that fails come and talk to her as she likes the stuff she's seen.

I have discovered that I literally have hundreds of poems, these I have been typing up polishing and leaving to ferment. I tend to leave a poem for at three months and then look at it again - ie long enough to forget about it. I've had a few poems published in newpapers and things which is more than can be said for my short stories. This is depressing as the poems are easy to write (something I keep quiet about at the writing group) and the stories take time and lots more effort and none of them have been published of course there is more of an issue there with knowing where to submit short stories. The other depressing thing is that per word and amount of time put in poems have a far higher return than short stories.

I have also been working on some baby board book ideas - I am half way through doing the illistrations and I am actually happy with them. Of course I need to finish the pictures, scan them, tidy them up and then actually start seeing if anyone will publish them. I have a copy of the 2009 Writers and Artist Year Book and have already trawled through the thing extracting those publishers that take unsolicited submissions and publish board books. It took awhile and annoyingly I thing that by the time I actually go to submit half of them will have merged, or changed what they do :/ .

I am of course braking a writing rule here - I am not focused on one style or form or genre or even really consider myself a writer. I have several more childrens stories writen and now typed up! I have a very nice editor who will one hopefully be paid for all the lovely corrections she makes - she keeps saying she enjoys it but I really want to be able to pay her. I want to do the illistrations for these as well - and yes I know your supposed to go to the publishers and sell the idea and change it to what they want and conform to the market and stuff and preferably get an advance. But I just can't do that - I know the shape of the story it has a way it wants to be I cant force it nor do I want to.

A trainy teacher is very keen to try my storys out on his class which I took to be a good sign - he asked me after I read one of the shorter ones out at the writing class. The Beavers also liked the one I read out to them but they generally like anything presented with enthusiasm!

I'm a bit scared and a bit perplexed that I am actually arriving at this submitting stage in the whole writing publishing game - I am also hoping that I will see some money for the effort I have put in but am not holding my breath. I suppose I best go back to trying to build websites and actually earning some money!

Worrying about Money the Future and Everything (by sarah)

Having been given the all clear from the Dr about six months ago I informed the college of this and wondered if three years was a bit too long a time to just go back. I didn't hear anything and I sent a few more emials then I get an email saying there should be no problem with me going back but I still don't have a start date and it is the middle of September and I know the course begins in September.

Also in order to be ready for this we have put Jean in nursery for two extra days aweek. We had been told that the government pay for nursery stuff once your child is three. However, the way the system works is almost as if it is designed to unhelpful in the extreme. It turned out they only pay a set quoter of hours which would be equivolent to three sessions - so say three mornings or a day and a half for us. They also will not give that too you in a chunk - oh no so if your child only goes in for say two days they slash the number of hours they will pay for - this renders the whole thing useless for mothers trying to say get a part time job and leaves us with a slight problem - ie half a days fees to find.

We are still paying off the debts that accumulated from me being sick, the move and now the flood. We are also now paying a second gardener for Barbara as Al has to spend so much time in London. I have grown most of our veg this year which has slashed the food bill but that isn't really our main out going.

I have had a huge dilemer to face - I've been making websites and working for a small publisher but these contracts are about to end and I need more money but am going to (hopefully) be doing an MRes two days a week. I've been trying to find a job I can do (medical restraints) on say Mondays and Fridays and possibly Wednesdays but am failing. I think I might have found another web contract but its being slow. This is pretty much my last chance to go back to Geology and I worked so hard for it in the first place I just cant face losing it.

I'm not sure what on earth I'm going to do and haven't really got time or energy to worry about it all. At the moment I am going with the flow knowing that I may have a mother about to go through more radiotherapy and other older people relying on us due to medical issues.

Al is feeling the strain aswell, I am probably doing the wornge thing but if I don't at least try to do my course again I feel that I shall be a non-person. Oh ok I'm being selfish and horrible and stuff and over all I'm scared I'm taking gambles here but I can't see anything else to do where I wont go insane.

Ella’s Visitd (by sarah)

My friend Ella visited this week which has been great fun - someone who is both scientific and artistic such a relief. I find that I am stuck between two words most of the time - those who think artistically not necassarily not what I call scientific in mind but just not scientifically trained and so emmersed in the world of arty creativity that it is hard to have a technical convosation with them as they don't know the lingo as it where. Or I have Alaric who can talk to me about how black wholes work and talk about scifi until the cows come home (which is normally abolut once a year when someone leaves a gate open round here!) but always responds with either - 'I don't understand poetic stuff' or 'its great wifey wrote it!'

I miss having coffee with Ella on an almost daily basis as we did in the latter parts of degrees and as part of her PhD and my stint at the Natural History Museum. We didn't get enough photography in nor anywhere near enough writting but this was mainly due to the whole issue of moving furniture from the house and the fact that I managed to be quiet sick on Tuesday and had a meeting on Monday night - sigh - everything just happened to clash this week.

I'm hoping that once I have the house sorted again she will want to come for more - this time proper - writting holidays 🙂

Ouch :( (by sarah)

This morning at the slightly more humane hour of 9:45 am I went to the Drs to get more pain killers on the advise of the physio - tank me up so that I can get muscles moving and stuff agian.

I thought this would be a simple quick appointment - no! First of all no repeat prescription as chronic pain etc... puts me in a high suicide risk catagory :/ Then to being prodded and poked enough to put my left foot into spasm. Once that was over I get informed that my mysterious hernia lump thing isn't being followed up as there's no point and am sent on my merry way with a prescription for stomache linners and strong anti inflamitories.

The numbness and tingling I get which has been ignored for two years is suddenly of huge concern to both the dr and the physio - in the past I was just informed that it was due to the epidural and the sensation may never come back - the tingling and pins and needles in my hands and feet every morning occured before the pregnancy but where no where near as bad. I can't help but feel angry and sad with my body at the moment.

They asked me what I do at the moment and I said mostyly look after Jean and make websites. I actually got, 'well the back problems wont affect making the websites much.' But then I pointed out I had a two year old!

They also asked if it was affecting any pass times or hobbies - I snapped a bit at this point and said 'Well I am supposed to be a geologist.' And then pointed out that I was a climbing and archery instructor and love hill walking - I didnt even get a chance to mention the Scouts before they decided it all needs to be sorted out in that case :/

Sorry I'm not being all cheerful guys - I just feel abit like everything is against me at the moment - still if I do succeed at stuff it'll make an interesting biography 😉

Failure to Write Fantasy (by sarah)

Sorry to be writing about writing again :/

I wouldn't mind but its not even like I am a proper writer I've only ever had poems published - they seem really easy to get published for me bizarlly and I dont even like poetry :/

Anyway, I have been trying to write some fantasy and failing miserably, I always start off fine with dragons or fairys or witches, monsters that lerk and then at some point - generally during about the thrird chapter I suddenly realise that what I have described is gentic engerneering, a world with different physical constants or nanotech by a different name. It doesn't matter what I dream up there ends up being some scientific explaination.

I think this is becuase for me a story has to hold together and that means the world, realm, universe, or where ever else it is based has to hold together logically. Everything in that world has to obey the same rules or subsets of otherwise the story becomes laughable. Those rules may be vastly different from those that govern the 'real world' but they have to be consistant through out or if they do change they change in a consistant way.

To me though once you realise this all you are doing is making worlds with slightly different physical constants or different amounts of elelments or some such and then I find that though on the surface the story looks like fantasy it has become scifi suffering from the problems all my attempts at scifi have as I make tables of what does what and why.

As a result of this and the scifi problem I have far far too many stories started, some quiet far through. I wonder sometimes if I'll ever finish any of them - n the plus side if I do start finishing them I'll have lots of finished books all at the same time :/

Ella's efforts during Write a noval Mounth have made me think that perhapse I am being a bit too pick nicky but I cant help it and most of all I want the sort of stories i want to read - this is more important to me than being published. I just wish I could actually settle to these stories rather than writing all this silly Romance :/