For a start I love Dropbox. It lets me access my documents from any computer and work on the latest version. Including on the phone. Brilliant!

Secondly I’m really happy with the latest story I’m writing.

And thirdly, some of my old drafts of stories (going back through the years) are complete rubbish! Which is interesting because at the time I thought they were really good. Which is why I’m really happy I sat on them and didn’t send them off in a fit of enthusiasm. As I always want to.

So here are three good reasons to wait:
1. Drafts are full of baggage. When we write our heads are brimming with intent and possibility. Rarely is it all in the text.
2. Read with fresh eyes. After a break (at least a few days but a few months is best) you get to read the text as it actually is. Then you can make it right.
3. Wasted submissions are a big bummer. Send it in too early and, unless you have a very very supportive editor, you’ve blown your chance to impress them. Usually, you don’t get a second chance.

Which is why I’m going to assume I can do better with my current story… I’ll know in a few days!

For starters, I’m wondering how the term ‘untoward’ came about (‘from’ seems about as meaningful – toward what? And un-toward? I’ll be off the OED methinks for that one).

I’m also thinking about a draft I just did of a new story, and a more developed draft I just just did of an older story and how it is so much easier to work on something other than the task at hand. It is So Much easier that I’m just going to go for it. Embrace the misdirection. I can spare a bit of time and misdirected work is still fruitful and well, work!

Anyone else have that problem?

We looked at anthropomorphism in Nobody Owns the Moon (Tohby Riddle), right through to When the Wind Blows (Raymond Briggs). There’s a contrast!

My favourite thing though was when we did a story exercise on the board. It’s amazing how a simple exercise can yield very potent ideas… We took a basic scenario – boy walking to the movies at night – and looked at how it changed radically just by altering the age of the boy. We tried 25, 15, 8 and 2. Then we threw in a theme of war and looked at what kinds if stories we’d get! The two year old scenario was especially intense – what would make him walk through the night by himself?

I must remember to use these exercises more in my own writing! They always deliver something surprising.

And then I discovered what pregnancy does to my stamina and ability to work on big surfaces (no stretching and leaning for me). One by one the projects dropped away, and I turned away fantastic opportunities, until I was just concentrating on getting through the Christmas period of markets alongside Peter. It was so frustrating! I know that in the past I have worked far too hard and assigned too much time to my projects (although I love it!). But I had reached a good balance, I thought, with an achievable number of jobs and all really fun ones. Then, suddenly, to have to contact people and strike project after project from my diary has felt kind of horrible and unprofessional. And then the carpal tunnel syndrome kicked in. It went from getting uncomfortable on day, to suddenly, three days later, barely being able to hold a pencil and the work just stopped.

It could have been worse but it could have been better. I miss drawing. I do occasionally try but I can only do it for a minute or so at best and the drawing isn’t great. I can’t wait to get my hands back.

So. Last year was great and challenging and difficult and all sorts of things! And this year… well, the Penguin book is back on the radar, I am desperate to paint when I have any moments of time, and I’ll be working further on all sorts of projects that are in the development phase… mainly my own ideas. That will be great.

Before you think I’m peculiar for not mentioning the twins much amongst all of this – well, I just have no idea what to expect! At the moment they are big wriggling bumps inside me. And I may well be meeting them as early as this weekend! But until they’re here I just can’t imagine what life will be like. It’s exciting and daunting and… well, I’ll let you know when they’re here. But I do know that I can’t bear to not not express this creative side of me for long. So yes, I’m planning to work, to develop ideas, to get my paintbrush onto canvasses as much as I can! Even if I’m doing it through a fug of tiredness. Maybe it will spark a new surrealist phase of work

And then I worked it out when I found out that today is Tuesday already. Genius. Funny how days sneak around on holiday…

Anyway, I was watching the latest Dr. Who Christmas special the other day and I found myself encountering what must be a common dilemma for artists. That moment you see someone using an idea you have had too – and you have that uncomfortable feeling that is a mixture of ‘No!‘ and slight resentment and yet begrudging (or wholehearted) happiness at watching someone playing with the same concept you like. Happily, I’ve learned to generally Not go all-fetal-in-the-corner when someone has a similar idea. They’re just out there. Maybe we watched the same thing, read the same book, connected the same dots, registered the same delight as a kid over something… Then things percolated, waiting for the right moment to fit in with other ideas, to find the vehicle that would let us play with them and give them voice… Occasionally someone kills one of my ideas by doing something just to damn similar, but generally you just have to wait it out, play with it further until it becomes yours again and remember that you probably got your idea from somewhere too, even if you don’t remember where. So you really shouldn’t get bent out of shape about it.

And what was it? Flying fish.

Here’s a bit of one of mine from a little while back.

Of course, there may be a time when I am sure someone has actually stolen an idea, then… feel my wrath! What is annoying is seeing someone copy something too closely – like all those ads on tv recently in the style of an Amelie memory clip – right down to visual effects, lighting, colour and the voice-over actor. Did they think no one would notice? There’s a big distinction between inspiration and borrowing. We must all make everything our own. It’s like using someone else’s photo from the internet as reference but not bothering to change it, incorporate an aspect into a different scene or make it new in any way. We all get material from somewhere. But the onus is definitely on us to be creative and bring something original to the party.

That wasn’t meant to be a rant! I think it may have turned into one. Sorry Long story short… I enjoyed the flying fish and will keep enjoying drawing and painting them myself too.

Have any of you experienced the same thing?

]]> http://www.elisehurst.com/journal/2010/12/mondoodle-28-12-2010/feed/ 4 http://www.elisehurst.com/journal/2010/12/merry-christmas/ http://www.elisehurst.com/journal/2010/12/merry-christmas/#comments Fri, 24 Dec 2010 22:22:51 +0000 elise http://www.elisehurst.com/journal/?p=2011 Hello dear friends I just wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, a belated happy Hanukkah and wonderful festive time with friends and family (or perhaps a long-awaited quiet moment by yourself)!

You can’t quite see it but the baby bump is Big (4 more weeks I think) and the Christmas tree is all the best bits… but without the tree. Yep, I like to experiment sometimes

I’ll post something a little more exciting than this picture very soon… it’s just taking a little while to get it ready. But it was a great project and I can’t wait to share it with you. Talk to you all very soon!

x elise

Now we all know that picture books will be read out loud to kids. So this means that it is absolutely vital for writers to read their work out loud as they draft it so we know how it sounds. However, even that is not fool-proof. Read on:

We all develop tricks for reading our work out loud as writers. We slur the right words, say bits quickly or slowly, mispronounce things that need to rhyme… Which is great when we’re doing a book-reading to an audience but tells us nothing about how we’ve actually written it.

You absolutely have to get someone, hopefully a few someones, to read your work to you out loud, uncoached and uninterrupted. It is only then that you’ll know if all the things you thought were in there, actually are. If they aren’t, take notes. You can fix it.

Fast bits can use fast words. Try short sharp words like slip, trip, skitter, hop, pop… with few syllables or long round vowels. Look for fun quick patterns like “quick as a wink”. I love the difference between slide and slip – is the action long or quick?

For slow bits, sentences can be longer, more tricky to say, with longer vowels and words that force the reader to change their pace. All around the soft slow snow drifted…

Bad rhymes can always be fixed with a rewrite. Never ever leave a bad rhyme, thinking no one will notice or care.

Don’t write a sentence around a word that rhymes!

Look for the sentence that captures what you need then rewrite that until it works. Be prepared for it to take a long time to get it right. Rhyme should never be a distraction – it should make something a joy to read.

It’s lovely getting to draw people when they’re not looking. I’m actually very shy of doing this very often. I know it’s important to practise but I’d hate people to feel embarrassed about it. And I really don’t want to seem creepy. And I’m a woman! I can imagine it being more fraught for men who want to draw kids out in public. There have been a few times that I’ve gone out to parks and needed to get reference pictures of children playing. I don’t want to do the telephoto lens from the bushes thing, so I’ve actually taken business cards and talked to the parents there to see if they mind. I know I should be able to photograph people in public and not worry. But it’s really about being sympathetic to people. I’d be interested to know what kind of experiences people have had with this. Often I just use Google images, and waste hours trawling for the right angles!

Drawn out and about on Rathdowne St, Monday 27 September 2010. Watercolour added on Tuesday morning.