A Second Summer

Thanks to Il Nina, we had a long, hot, humid summer. It was a relief when the nights became a little cooler in April. A cold snap shortly thereafter brought out winter coats and jumpers. However, over the last week or so, it's as if summer was only taking a break. It's back, and we're enjoying temperatures close to twenty degrees. I'm sitting here in my shorts, with all the door and windows of the house open, letting in the sunshine and warm breeze.

One effect of this unusual weather pattern is confused plants. Yesterday my husband pointed out a little daffodil in an eastern facing garden. I was quite alarmed. The poor thing obviously thought that our winter had come and gone, and it thinks we're on to Spring. I hope that all of our bulbs don't get the same idea. They'll only die off quickly when the real cold weather hits in a week or two. For now we can enjoy the surprise treat, but hope that the rest hold off for at least another three months to brighten our cold September.

Apart from enjoy the warmer temperatures, a bonus of the second summer is that the roses (among other flowers) continue to bloom. This one has a special place in my heart because of its name, Charlotte :-)

And the cats are pretty happy about being toasty.

If you follow me on Twitter you'll know about my big news this week - we're going to have a second winter as well, as we've booked flights to Europe next year. The flights on Malaysian were basically half price. We're somewhat anxious about how we'll afford everything else, but it's just too good an opportunity to pass up. We haven't had decent skiing since we went to Canada in 2007. Of course, we'll explore a bit as well. We're flying into Frankfurt and out of Rome, so we'll go through the Black Forest, Switzerland, the Italian Lakes and the interior of Italy. We'll visit the seaside town that my husband's great-grandfather emigrated from. I'm excited beyond words, and already my head is full of travel information and possible itineraries (this does mean that there hasn't been much writing going on). We have a good nine months to plan and save for what will be the longest (and best) holiday of our married lives so far. Come next March, this will be me!

When and Where the Muse Strikes You

Image: Idea go / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I read Stephen King’s ‘On Writing”, and the bit where he talks about closing yourself in a room until you have your words written doesn’t ring entirely true with me. Yes, I need to be disciplined in order to get the story done, particularly at the business end. I need to not watch TV, surf the internet or stare lazily out of the window. But when I’m confronted with the page, I tend to get a little anxious if I’ve come to the end of an idea. I start to panic when I can’t think what should happen next.

So I decide to stop writing for the day. I go and do something else menial – making myself a smoothie, going for a walk, having a shower, cleaning the kitchen. Then, my mind starts to review the story, almost of its own accord. It starts to drift past the words I have written, and then… pow! A fragment of a conversation, a paragraph or even a whole new scene has suddenly descended on my brain. I race back to the computer (sometimes having to turn write frantic notes while I wait for it to start up again) and record my inspiration. If I had just stayed rooted in my chair, staring hopelessly at the screen, I wouldn’t be able to progress.

Quite often ideas come to me at very inconvenient times – right after we’ve turned the light out at night, or when I’m driving home from work.

King does go on to say that he gets many of his ideas out of the blue when he’s doing other things, but he doesn’t seem to accept that you can’t make yourself be productive sometimes just sitting in a room alone with your computer.

It’s like that with many things in life, no? It’s so easy to fall asleep in the middle of the day when you should be cleaning the toilet, but not so easy at 4am when you’re stressed out about work or family. If you have a bit of spare cash, you can never find anything you want to buy, but when you’re up against it clothes and books start calling your name.

I suppose it’s just one of those ways that life makes things interesting, if not a little frustrating. So, you tell me. Do you need to get away from your WIP in order to generate fresh ideas? Or am I just really unusual?

Today I Lost My Yum Cha Virginity

Image: chokphoto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I was brought up on traditional English/European food. Italian is my favourite. I think I had Chinese takeaways once with friends as a teenager, but apart from that casual eating out involved fish and chips, pizza or Georgie Pie. I'd never had Indian food until I worked late one evening at my first proper job and my boss insisted on ordering some for the group. Since then at work functions I've had more Indian and some Thai. I think that pretty much sums up my experiences with Asian cuisine.

Before today, I had heard of 'yum cha' or 'yum char' a couple of times, but never tried it. A colleague I knew several years ago looked at me like I was from another planet when I told her I'd never had it. She went frequently, always building it up for days beforehand, and then exclaiming over it afterwards.

Today we went to Grand Harbour to farewell a colleague. I didn't attempt to research yum cha before going, prefering to discover it for myself. I was relieved when someone else asked for forks, because I suck with chopsticks. The table was laid with small plates, bowls, little cups and a huge 'lazy susan' style disc in the middle of the table.

So what is yum cha? It literally means "drink tea", and is like the Chinese version of a high tea. It's basically like tapas, but you don't get to choose what is brought to the table and most of it is either sticky dumplings or deep fried. Everything seems to have either seafood (mainly prawns) or pork in it, mixed with vegetables. It's not spicy. Waitresses come around with a range of dishes and you either accept or refuse. It's not always obvious what everything is. Everyone shares dishes as there are three or small four portions in each dish. The lazy susan goes round and round, and you have to tell your tablemates which ones you want to try if there's only one dish of that item. This article describes the custom well (Wikipedia says some people call it 'dim sum').

Did I like it? Well, I wouldn't go that far. It was sort of bland, with strange textures. I had trouble swallowing some items. One half-moon shaped dumpling filled mainly with snow peas was tasty. The tea was okay. Would I do it again of my own free accord? Probably not, but I wouldn't protest if another similar situation presented itself.

As the pace of the little dishes slowed, I looked around and thought, "Well, I can write about yum cha in a book now." So not a total waste!

Do you yum cha?

Royally Romantic

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Sigh. Well that was a beautiful departure from every day life, wasn't it? Nothing I could say would add to the magnificence and simplicity that was the royal wedding, but I can't help blogging about it anyway. It makes me proud to be part of the Commonwealth, to know that they are my Duke and Duchess too.

One of my favourite parts was when William and Catherine exchanged a look and a smile during the sermon. They didn't say anything, but you could tell they knew what each other was thinking. It spoke of such intimacy and joy.... and it was so cute. Apparently William said "I'm so proud you're my wife" as they stepped into the carriage, after Kate asked after his happiness. I can't even begin to imagine everything she was feeling.


Other moments that proved what a down-to-earth heir to throne William is include:
- How he had an unscheduled walkabout among the waiting crowds the night before
- How he showed up at the church much earlier than tradition dictates, so that he could greet everyone
- How he drove himself and Kate away from the palace after the official reception, in his father's Aston Martin.
- And of course, how he dropped not one but two kisses on his new princess' lips.


I believe they want to come to NZ later this year for the world cup. William and Kate, we can't wait to see you!

Dialogue Domination

Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I read recently that the three elements of writing are narration, dialogue and description.

I'm beginning to think I write like a scriptwriter. When I quickly write down scenes as the muse strikes, it's nearly all dialogue. It's only later I put description or narration in, to illuminate more about what a character is doing or feeling. Because I can see everything in my head, and hear the words being spoken, I don't feel the need to write anything but the dialogue to get the essence of the scene. Now that other people are reading my work and I'm able to step back a bit, I've realised this is one of my weaknesses. Even though I've tried to flesh things out, sometimes I haven't done enough. My readers can't imagine my world in the detail I can, so I have to provide that detail.

I find this challenging, because the other thing I struggle with is the old 'show don't tell'. I'd thought I'd done a good job of 'showing' with the dialogue. What, you mean I now have to go back and do some telling? I know, I know, I'm supposed to do more showing... but that's really hard for me, when I feel like I've already shown everything and this is really just prettying up the dialogue.

Which of the three elements come the most naturally to you? How do you write in a hurry when you're inspired?

P.S. I've looked at the word "dialogue" so many times while writing this, the word has gone kinda funny. Dia-log-gew... isn't it strange? In the end I googled it to double-check I was spelling it right!

Writing Yourself into a Corner

I've always been stubborn about sticking to plans. If I decided I was going to catch the 3 o'clock bus, well I was going to bust a gut to get there, even though rationally I knew I couldn't make it. And sometimes I'd end up sitting at the bus stop for 55 mins waiting for the next one. For some reason I make up my mind to do something, and I find it extremely difficult to waver from the plan.

I've noticed the same thing in my writing. I decide a certain scene happens at a certain time, and I tear my hair out if I can't fit it everything else around it. Or I say that the character does this every Tuesday, and it means I can't have something else happen on a Tuesday six months in. Perhaps a character lives in a certain location or has a certain family composition, which stops me from imposing a plot twist on them. It had a mini-lightbulb moment when I realised that imposing these restrictions on myself was making the writing process harder than it needed to be. It seems so simple... just change it. But for some reason I have a brain-block on some of these things. I have to remind myself that I'm in control, and I can do anything I want in the worlds I create. (The main exceptions to this is when I've based scenes around real-life events - I'm still struggling to make things fit in properly in these cases).

It's quite freeing to break free of restrictions you've placed on yourself. Does anyone else struggle with this?

Things Happen in Threes

Isn’t it odd how you could go through your life not being aware of a particular name, place, or thing and suddenly, within a short space of time, you are bombarded by it?

An example happened to me a little while ago: Somewhere in the recesses of my mind I was vaguely aware that Burbank is a suburb of Los Angeles (or a town? Not sure). The name of the place hasn’t been in consciousness at all. Then I was watching an episode of Chuck, and the General said, “It’s been great working with you in Burbank.” The name stuck in my head for a few minutes.

The next day I was catching up with Lonely Planet’s feed in my RSS reader and found myself reading an article on what not to do in Los Angeles. It recommended flying into Burbank airport instead of LAX.

Then I was driving home on my usual route, and when I looked up at a random road sign. It said, “Burbank Avenue”. I kid you not.

This happens to me all the time, as I’m sure it does you. Perhaps your friend buys a new car, and even though you’ve never heard of it before, now that type of car is all you seem to see. Or perhaps you’ve been looking for a particular out of print book for ages, and then all of a sudden you see it in three different shops.

What things have come in threes for you?