Harrods, Hyde Park and the Sound of Music

I had yesterday off to take Younger Sister on a hedonistic day involving much shopping in Oxford street, eating lunch in Harrods, and seeing the Sound of Music at the Palladium.

It was a great day; we both bought clothes in the sales, spent a lot of time going "ooooh" at things in Harrods -- especially the Italian pizza chef serenading his customers -- and loved the Sound of Music.

Writing-wise, haven't done much this week. Though I'm plannin a short story involving spending £4 (!) on a glass of orange juice in Harrods. That's about the only way I can think of getting my money's worth for it.

Woman's Weekly rejection of one of my stories was the only slight down point of the day. They didn't offer any feedback, just said it "wasn't quite suitable".

We've had pastries from the Nunhead Bakery for breakfast, and are off to to the craft shop and East Dulwich Deli shortly -- before the Nun's Head for "posh nachos" for lunch. And then I had better put Younger Sister on a coach home, as payday isn't until Tuesday...

60 words published

The mystery dictionary/thesaurus did turn out to be a prize from Woman's Weekly Fiction Special; they've published my 60-word short story in the current (13th July-24th August) edition. Page 35...

Now to hope they buy a 2,000 word one!

A Mystery Package

Mister Postman left a card the other day to say I had a package which was too big for the letterbox. The Boyfriend very decently trekked over to Brockley this morning to fetch it, and it turned out to be a Dictionary/Thesaurus from the OUP. No letter or packing note or anything to indicate who it was from.

I think that Womens' Weekly Fiction Special were offering a dictionary/thesaursus for any 60-word short stories they published, and since I sent them one a month or two ago, I'm guessing it must be that. The prize was a tenner when I actually sent the story, but they changed it the next issue.

Now I'm going to have to scan the shelves for the next few months to see if they have indeed published it.

I guess 60 words is a start...

East Dulwich Writers' Group

I made it to a meeting of the East Dulwich Writers' Group on Wednesday evening; great people, great writing, and some very useful feedback on a short story I'd written.

This led to yesterday evening being somewhat hectic as I'd done no packing for Madagascar (I'm flying out, with parents/siblings/cousin at 6am tomorrow morning) and I had to re-write a good chunk of the story. I managed to get it in the post to Writers' News today, though, and I think it was definitely stronger for the feedback.

Hopefully, there'll be more mid-week meetings -- the group usually meets on Saturdays, which aren't the best day for me. I've missed the Oxford group I used to belong to, for the fellowship with other writers and the chance to learn from both other people's work-in-progress and from their comments on my own pieces.

Another Encouraging Rejection

Yesterday, I got a rejection letter from DC Thomson for a story I'd sent them, saying (in part) "Though this work is unsuitable, we shall be very pleased to read anything else you care to submit."

I take that as a good sign: it sounds as though they thought it was well written, just not quite right for their audience. I've got a few pieces I think might work better for them (especially for The People's Friend), so I'm planning to revise some of those over the next few weeks.

I never thought I'd start feeling positive about rejection letters...

A Raise from the Day Job

I got summoned by the Boss today, who was increasing everyone's salaries, and received a very generous raise. This came totally unexpectedly, so I'm still reeling slightly...

Quite a number of staff have left recently, which explains the extra money kicking around and the slight "catch" to the raise -- agreeing a contract change to give three months' notice, for the next three months.

Seeing as the Lovely Landlady will not be a happy bunny if I quit my job, that wasn't exactly hard to sign up to!

Also encouraging were the Boss's kind words, especially him mentioning that they envisage me moving (medium term?) towards being a "junior project manager". Having seen one project through from the early brainstorming stages, completion of a specification, programming, testing/documenting (me!) and finally going live last Friday, it's definitely something I'd be interested in doing.

Anyway, it was a good start to the week, and made the early morning seem more worth it (I've changed my hours, as the support contract with the new project runs from 8am, so I'm getting in at eight now. Nicer cycling, less nice getting out of bed...)

Synopsis Sunday

I was going to work on the competition entry this afternoon, but was struggling so much with the theme I gave up. (I was not at my best, after an epic trip to Argos in Peckham to buy a vacuum cleaner...) Instead, I rewrote the synopsis for my novel, a task I've been putting off for about a week. The advice in the excellent How to Write a Bestseller suggests that the way I had written the synopsis before is incorrect -- there appears to be a set way of doing it.

And no, I don't think I am ground-breakingly brilliant enough to deviate wildly from the professional standards...

So, the draft of Synopsis, Take 2 is done; it's very rough, but I'll hopefully edit it during this week. I don't plan to send out any more novel submissions until I come back from Madagascar in a fortnight (we're flying out next Saturday with MAF, to see their work out in the field -- very exciting!) By that time, I'm hoping some of the magazines I've sent stories to will get back to me.

Other than that, no writing this weekend: spent most of yesterday at one of the Boyfriend's cousins' 18th birthday party, which was a brilliantly fun family occasion. Spent most of today doing laundry, getting groceries, waiting (not so) patiently in Argos... though I did have time to bake some cookies this afternoon. :-)