‘Congratulations! Your application to become a BT Storyteller for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games has been successful.’
Yikes! Now what?
Oh my goodness, gracious me. I swear I had forgotten all about it. Then I came home from holiday and found this email waiting for me.
Dear Ruth
Congratulations! Your application to become a BT Storyteller for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games has been successful.You have been chosen to Continue reading “I am an Olympic Storyteller!”
After six hours, you might expect the story to be magnificent, the best thing ever written! Sadly. No. It’s not bad. But it’s not particularly good either. Not six hours worth of ‘good’.
Yesterday, I spent a considerable length of time finishing off my latest Open University assignment. It took around 6 hours, from start to finish.
What was this mammoth task?
A simple 250 word story.
After six hours, you might expect the story to be magnificent, the best thing ever written! Sadly. No. It’s not bad. But it’s not particularly good either. Not six hours worth of ‘good’.
Here is a list of things I did between starting the story and finishing it:
1. I checked Facebook to see what my kids have been up to.
2. I played a few games of Zuma Blitz. (OK, to be honest, I played till I ran out of lives.)
3. I checked Twitter. Maybe I was missing something exciting happening in the world.
4. I checked my email account because, it is just possible, somebody had sent me something of vital importance in the half hour since I last checked it.
5. I visited my blogs (and I have three, so that took me some time) to check the stats and see if anybody had left any comments.
6. I remembered a recent article in E-Health Insider about a service I am responsible for and decided to spend some time replying to it. This required some research on my part to assemble the data I needed.
7. I saw a paper on my desk with a deadline of two weeks to respond and decided to respond straight away.
By this time, I was hungry and required lunch, coffee and a catch-up with Neighbours on the tele.
Finally, before the end of the afternoon, I managed to finish the story.
Now, if you will excuse me, I have just remembered I have some urgent ironing to do ….
For anyone interested in science fiction, particular old sci fi from the middle part of the twentieth century, I recommend Joachim Boaz’s blog, Science Fiction and other Suspect Ruminations.
I laughed and laughed at this post (see below). Actually, I don’t find this cover particularly offensive. Just rather silly.
Has anyone got any suggestions as to what the story might be about?
– a woman who turns into a shark at full moon?
– an alien woman who keeps a shark as a pet?
– a man meets an alien woman who bites and scratches …. (perhaps I better stop there!)
I am doing block 3 of the Open University’s course – Start Writing Fiction. There have been ups and downs. Today was a definite ‘up’.
Posted a piece of work in the online tutor forum and the tutor made some nice comments.
It’s such a little thing – given the great events in life. But it meant such a lot to me. I finished the day on a high.
Just been listening to Iain Banks, in a Q and A session on the
Unbound blog site.
He is a great science fiction writer and has found success in both the world of science fiction and the world of literary fiction (two genres normally divided by millions of light years of empty space). It is fascinating, both listening to his reading and, even more so, listening to the answers he gives to questions. You can hear his enthusiasm and his imagination – simply bursting with ideas.
I particularly liked the part, right at the end, where he says:
I do read science, but I simply dispense with it when it gets in the way of a good story ….. shameless, I know.
Ruth Livingstone 