Pause for thought

I'm sure many other writers reach a point where they just need to stop and leave a story for a little while. Or maybe it's just me?

Almost all of what I want to write into the second story in my series is just about there, but it just needs to "take shape" in my mind a bit more.

Of course, being a "free time" writer doesn't help, especially at this time of year. I didn't feel completely refreshed by the time I went back to work after the Christmas and New Year break, and I've been feeling really tired most evenings.

I've taken action on one of my New Year "not quite resolutions". I arranged a session with one of the advisors at the gym and went along with specific goals. He enjoyed coming up with a programme to help me achieve these.

I'm aiming to go twice a week and get into the habit of making time to do this. The main difference from what I was doing is that I'm now working with much heavier weights.

This last weekend, I spent Saturday indulging in my other creative hobby, photography. A talented local photographer organises workshops from time to time, which have all been "people" photography. She arranged a venue, models and even a stylist for three of them.


Saturday was an outdoor session with two models, who were great fun to work with, and the stylist came up with some interesting looks (note the head-dresses).

And yes, there was a horse too, Junior, a 14-year-old Welsh cob. He was a good sport, even if he did get a bit bored from time to time.

Doing these sessions has really boosted my confidence about more "formal" people photography and given me opportunities to practice and learn with a very competent photographer to guide me.


One thing I will look into is getting my own photos in the cover art. I've signed up with one of the many photography model websites, so I'll see if I can find some who look like my mental images for characters, then get photos which suit the story. I've got some ideas already, suitable for studio, indoor and outdoor locations.

Well, it'd be fun, wouldn't it?

So, this weekend I WILL be getting back to my writing.

I want to get book 2 to the publisher by the end of March, which gives me two months to finish it, get comments from my crit group and do my own personal obsessive reviewing and revising before seeing if the editor likes it...