Christmas Pressies for Writers

Yes, I know it's already the 9th December, and you're probably so organised you have all of your shopping done already...
...or you could be like the rest of us who are thinking "I really need to get the present shopping started!" and frantically scratching your head at what to get everyone.

Well, I am here to help!  For the writers in your family at least.  (For everyone else go for socks.  Everyone loves socks.  Well... I love socks.)

So without further ado, here's your list of great gift ideas for the writer in your life!

A bit of spring inspiration!

The weather finally started to warm up!  Time to venture out and get a bit of inspiration, and where better to do that than the home of one of the greatest stories known to the world?  Nottingham!

All photos copyright © Sarah Cosgrove 2013

An Easter Story

Once upon a time there was a bunny.  He laid an egg.

Within the egg was a white of dark matter and dark energy.

Within the yolk, atomic matter swirled.

The atomic matter formed clusters.

Within those clusters, fusion reactions sparked to life.

Around those reactions, debris and dust coagulated into balls of rock and gas.

Upon one of those balls of rock water thrashed and churned.

Within the water a small creature struggled and swam.

As the water receded it clambered onto land.

Among the plants and trees it crawled.

Then it ran.

Then it hopped.

Then, it laid an egg.

Happy Easter! 

Image credit: Wikipedia

Procrastination and that.

Isn’t it a weird spring?  The snow is blowing past the window, the sky is grey, and the burst of fresh green we are supposed to be witnessing is being held in check by the frozen ground.  Apparently the cause of this is easterly winds.  It’s not actually the coldest March on record; but it’s not far off.

One side effect of this is I am still in winter mode, a time I spend in semi-hibernation.  I hate dark grey days (I don’t actually mind the cold if it’s sunny with it), and it’s amazing how much more I’ll get done on a day when it’s sunny than I do on a rainy day.

This week has been a struggle.  I hit a wall with my novel, and no matter what way I came at it, I was stuck.  I sat at my computer and stared at it.  Nothing happened.  I tried scribbling in my notepad.  I got a very nice doodle of a dragon, but no further on the plot.  I tried just bashing out words in a stream of consciousness, but that just gave me a garbled winding story that didn’t really have a lot to do with the characters or moving the story forward.

Then the answer came in two parts.

Part 1: Asking for help.

This is something I am terrible at.  It was written into one of my school reports once that I would struggle through something on my own rather than ask for help, and unfortunately it’s something I’ve not improved on.  So I can’t exactly say I asked for help; rather it was offered and it turned out that I did need it.  Talking through what I was stuck on made me realise what had been bothering me about the story, and what I needed to change to move forward.

Part 2:  Procrastination. 

Yes, really!  Yesterday I read a very interesting article about how procrastination is not necessarily a bad thing for a creative type person.  (Funnily enough, I read this in a random magazine supplement out of a week old newspaper that I don’t normally read, and was only reading because I was procrastinating.) 

It has always been assumed that if you are procrastinating, you aren’t getting anything done.  However now people are beginning to recognise that if you are procrastinating, you are getting something done; not necessarily the thing you are supposed to be doing, but you are completing something none the less. 

So I looked back at my week and I noticed all of the things that I have done when I should have been getting thousands of words written.  I’ve cleaned the house.  I’ve done my banking.  I finished reading “The Two Towers” and started on “The Return of the King.”  And suddenly I don’t feel bad about it.

This is why: because firstly, I realise that I haven’t “not got anything done” this week.  Secondly as soon as I let go of the “I should be doing this” and just started to enjoy what I was doing, the words came back.  I’ve had to go back and rewrite several pages, but I’m progressing again.

 

I may have been going in circles all week, but the circles were getting bigger and I’ve found myself on the other side of the wall.  Instead of punching through it, I just went around it.  I’m about to start another circle now, since I’ve gone back about twenty pages to slightly change the direction my characters are going in, but I’m ok with that, because this circle is going to be even bigger than the last and at the end of this one the final stages of the tale will be in sight.

But first, I’m off to have some lunch. J  

Spring is in the air.

The first of March.  Today is the day people in the northern hemisphere celebrate the first day of spring.

It’s a balmy 6˚C outside, and as grey as it was in yesterday’s wintery February, but there is that promise of something new arriving.  To me it has always felt more like the start of a new year now than back in January.

It’s only four weeks to Easter, one of my favourite times of the year; not only because of the chocolate eggs, or the prospect of playing my Easter game, but I always liked the celebration of everything bursting into life and the coming of (hopefully) better weather.

But before all that we have Mother’s Day!  It’s on the 10^th of March, so you have ten days to remember to get your Mum a bunch of flowers and a card. J  Mums do so much for us, and no matter how old we get they never stop worrying about us, so although I’m sure everyone knows that they are appreciated all year round it’s a good day to say it out loud, or to jump out of a plane.

No, I didn’t mistype that last part.  In support of NCT a charity that supports parents, my brave friend Lyndsey is doing a skydive.  She still has a way to go to meet her target, so any support you could give would be welcome!

Check out her page here:

http://www.justgiving.com/lyndsey-Edmonds

Pancake Day!

Pancake day falls on the 12th February this year.  It is an interesting day.

Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday, when Lent starts.  Tradition was that the high fat foods such as eggs and dairy were used up before the fasting/abstinence period of 40 days.  In the British Isles, pancakes were traditionally cooked to use up these ingredients before you weren’t allowed to eat them.

These days it’s morphed into a bit of a festival, where communities get together to do things like pancake races, or in the case of Atherstone, have a nice friendly ball game…

I think it’s a great example of a festival to think about for if you are building a fantasy world.  It just goes to show that not all the traditions have to be solemn or current rituals or celebrations.  There could be a day where people race each other while throwing food up and down!

To join in with this tasty festival, here is a recipe to make some traditional yummy yummy pancakes!

Ingredients

240g/8oz plain white flour

Two eggs

½ litre / 1pt milk

Small pinch of salt

Butter for frying

To serve:

Lemon wedges/Juice

Sugar

Method:

1.      Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl with a sieve held high above the bowl so the flour gets an airing.

2.     Make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it.

3.     Whisk the eggs into the flour

4.     Add the milk a little at a time, whisking it in, until you get a smooth batter

5.     Melt a little butter in the frying pan, try to get an even coat across the surface.

6.     Pour some of the batter into the middle of the pan, and then swirl it around until you coat it evenly.  Remember, the pancake shouldn’t be too thick, else it will go stodgy!

7.     Cook over a medium high heat.  It won’t take very long!  Once the bottom has turned golden, and the liquid has dried on the top, turn it over using a spatula, or if you are very skilled, flip it!

8.     Cook the other side until golden.

9.     Sprinkle a little sugar over a plate, and slide the pancake out onto it.

10.  Sprinkle a little sugar on top, and squeeze lemon juice on, then roll it up and eat! J

Notes:

The first pancake tends to go wrong.  Don’t worry; the second one will be great!

If you are going to flip it over, try not to stick it to your ceiling.

If you don’t like the traditional filling of lemon and sugar, try out orange and sugar, or cooked apples and cream!  

Snow!

A bit of wintery inspiration!

All photos copyright © Sarah Cosgrove 2013

Happy New Year!

January.  The start of the year, the middle of winter.  It’s so dark all the time!  But little by little the days will get longer (if not warmer for at least another two months!) and we may even catch a glimpse of that fabled orb of fire in the sky.

For now, it’s the time of year to make a promise to yourself about what you want to achieve in the year ahead… what you are going to do with those long and sunny days of summer.  (Yes, I am hoping!)

I thought a lot about what resolution I was going to make this year.  “Be healthy” is something I always try to do anyway, so it’s not much of a resolution to carry on doing what you were already trying to do.  “Go to the gym” may as well read as “bore and torture yourself” to me.  I wouldn’t go, and even if in some alternative universe I did, I wouldn’t enjoy it.  Besides, I already go swimming, which is much more fun!

Merry Christmas!

The last blog post of the year.  It’s both scary and exciting looking forward to what 2013 will bring.

I don’t think I could have imagined being able to hold my first book in paperback form when I started this path.  I partly still can’t.  Every time I pick it up I go “Wow, it looks like a real book!”

Of course the Kindle is what started it all, and if you are one of those lucky people getting one for Christmas, please do check out the first story of The Eye of the Beholder for free!

I want to say thanks to everyone who has supported me on this crazy career path so far.  I hope you enjoy the fantasy novel as much as you’ve enjoyed the sci fi stories!  The word count currently stands at 31539, plus a lot more world history and drawings of maps in other documents.  It’s really beginning to flesh out!  As a teaser for things to come, here is a preview of part of the world!

Finally I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and (whether you celebrate Christmas or not), I wish you happiness and hope for a peaceful and prosperous new year!

All images copywright Sarah Cosgrove 2012

Off to a flying start!

Wow, I was amazed with the response to Santa in Space. 

647 downloads worldwide over five days!

Thanks everyone for sharing the story, and for your comments and feedback.  (Including the one about the typo – I will do an update to fix that!)

The free days on Amazon have ended, but you can still read it for free here.  I’ll also leave the Kindle version up at the lowest price possible, in case you would like to download it to keep. (Of course, if you are on Amazon Prime, you can still get it free!)

With my Christmas project all done and dusted, I’m going to spend the whole of the next week focused on the novel.  I’ll have a final update of the year for you next week, before the Christmas break.

In the meantime, please do keep sharing the stories with anyone you think will enjoy them!

I got you a present…

Now it’s December, we are officially allowed to talk about Christmas.  The lights are up, everything is looking nice and sparkly…

But oh no!  What to get people for a gift?

How about a lovely paperback copy of “The Eye of the Beholder”? 

Yes, it is finally in paperback form!  

Not only that, the Kindle version has been updated to match the paperback; so those pesky typos will vanish with an update!

And as if that isn’t enough, because it’s the season of giving, I wrote a nice Christmas story for you all. 

You can read "Santa in Space" online, or get it free on your Kindle, as from Sunday the 9^th, until Thursday the 13^th December!

A Halloween Sci-fi Story!

The ship’s hull loomed up out of the darkness, their spotlights sliding over the pallid metal, momentarily bringing the husk to life before moving away to return it into the cold black.

“No response to any hails.”  Kat peered at the freighter.  “It looks old.  I wonder how long it’s been out here?”  

“Not that long.”  Mike swivelled around in his chair, and tossed a flip chart over.  “It is an old ship, but it’s been on active duty.  I matched the registration to a Mirage company freighter that was returning from the system a few days ago.  The Amazon.  Should be able to get a bounty off them for its return.”

“Okay.  We’d better head over and check out the damage.  See if we can find out what happened to the crew.” 

“We should wait.”  Robert had remained quiet up until now, just starting at the ghostly wreck on the screen. 

“What for?”  

“Do you know what the date is?” 

“Yeah.  Star date four one-“ Mike started, but Robert waved a hand.

“No, no.  I mean the proper date. On Earth.” 

“I guess that depends where you are…”

“It’s the thirty first of October.”  He glared at Kat. 

“So?”

“Halloween.  The night when the barrier between the living and the dead is at its weakest.”

The silence stretched out. 

“You’re joking, right?”  Mike started to laugh.  “Does Halloween even count in space?”

“Of course it does.  You think ghosts care if they are in space or not?”

“Seriously Rob, we’ve got a job to do here.  If we don’t lay claim to this salvage someone else might get it.  And the faster we get it back, the higher a price we can drive.”  Kat got up and went to the door.  “I’m going to engineering to update Linda and Adam on our find.  We’ll go over an in an hour.”

A bit of autumnal inspiration.

First drafts are horrible.  This is something to be accepted.  It doesn't matter if you are the best writer in the world.  You'll read it back and go: "Arg, what was I thinking?"  

But this is okay.  It's the rough sketch before you add colour; you can't expect it to be a masterpiece on the first attempt.  Details don't matter too much, you just give the impression at this stage, and add them in later.

I read somewhere that many authors will do five to fifteen drafts before they are happy with their work.  I'm hoping I don't have to do fifteen, but if that's what it needs, that's what it needs.  For now, I'll just write whatever comes into my head.

Pumpkins

I could tell you how my fantasy novel is well under way.  Or I could tell you how The Eye ofthe Beholder has had more lovely positive feedback.  Instead, I am going to tell you about pumpkins.

Pumpkins are not easily available in the UK, with the exception of one month.  October. 

Every October the supermarkets suddenly have huge boxes of this wondrous squash, plump and smooth and orange and piled high, ready for the taking.

And what do people do with this, the tastiest of treats?  They carve it into a lantern, and then throw it away. 

So here is my save the pumpkin campaign!

Don’t waste this glorious food!

The flesh can be made into soup, pie, bread, even custard!  The seeds make a handy and light snack.  It can be used in sweet or savoury dishes.

When you get your pumpkin this year, make sure you save the seeds and flesh, and try out a delicious recipe.

Please spread the word, and rescue a pumpkin that is destined to be thrown away!

(Also please buy my book!) 

Save me!