Check out my Guest Post

Hello All,

I am doing a guest post over at the Editing Hat TOMORROW on Sunday, thanks to Adam for giving me my first guest post :-)

Topic: How Writer's Journal can be a useful tool for every writer

I will answer comments there. Hope to see you there - and while you are there, have a nose around Adam's blog. You'll probably enjoy his whackadoodle sense of humour.  I definitely do :-D

How Formal Is Your Everyday Writing?

This question occured to me as I was writing in my journal, and thinking about Virginia Woolf's diary. I was planning to read unedited versions of her journals, but when I looked at them they just irritated me, because not only it was in the usual 19th cent. style with lots of initials and & symbols everywhere (Jane Austen does that too), but also there were tons of notes on each page, giving us information of what it all meant. It was just distracting. But fortunately, her husband has written an edited version of "Writer's Diary" taking entries from her diaries that relate to writing. He also mentioned in the introduction that he will dispense with the notes and dots so as not to distract the reader. And I am thankful for that. But as I was writing about that in my journal, I noticed my own style. Even my journals aren't completely casual. For example, I nearly always say "I have" or "I am" as oppose to "I've" or "I'm". Even in the stories it is hard for me to remember to do that. I use full sentences. There are rare exceptions like being too tired, or in an extreme need of getting information out in a hurry. But usually even in those circumstances, I write down those notes on a post-it, and then when I transfer them to journal, they are properly written. Same goes for travel journals. Why do I do it? Simple answer is for myself. When I read my journals months or years later, I want things to make sense. I want to be able to read it without getting irritated at bad hand-writing or for things that make no sense. If I am writing emails, I want people to be able to understand what I am trying to say without guessing it. And if I am chatting, I don't want to come across as an illiterate moron who cannot spell things. (yes, I hate the current chat lingo. LOL or BRB is about as far as I am willing to go). Oh yes, paragraphs. Totally hate it when a paragraph is so long, it just all looks like a big block of text. What do you think? Are all these things important only in the work that we are trying to publish, or do they matter in every-day casual interactions too? For me, they most certainly do.

Example of my journal pages. Occassionally they are less orderly, but this is quite standard

Example of casul journal page, a quick map drawing in the museum

Guilty Pleasures

This month for AW Blog Chain, we are doing a post about our Guilty Pleasures. Shethinkstoomuch posted before me, and the next person in the chain is Lindzy1954. Guilty Pleasures. I must admit, it was quite difficult for me to come up with some because in books and tv especially, I am bit of a snob, and if it's tacky, I probably won't like it. Then there is the fact that I am of the opinion that if I like something, there is no reason to feel guilty about it. So hardly guilty pleasures. But I have come up with a few things finally... Some children's programs/movies - and I don't mean great stories like Harry Potter or the Golden Compass. There are some which are obviously meant for just kids, but I still enjoy them. Not many, but here are the few things: Disney movies - Atlantis, Anastasia. These two I have got on DVD, and I simply love them. Anastasia even has a sing-along extra feature for songs, and yes, I do that. Only when I am alone though. :P Jane and the Dragon - one sunday morning, flicking through channels, I came across this, and I just found it totally endearing. I even love their title song. Jane is a girl knight, and she works for a king, and lives in the castle. She found a dragon, who has now become her friend. And there is a boy knight who is jealous of Jane because she kicks his ass at everything. Another guilty pleasure is stationary. I do not need anything. I already have enough stuff to fill an isle in a stationary shop, but I just love it. Especially journals. I have a real thing for them. And pens. Notebooks. Stickers. You can see where this is going... Totally unrealistic but hero-always-wins type of action movies/shows. One man cannot fight 20 people at once, and win. That's what the realistic people tell me. My answer to that is, who cares? The action looks cool on the tv, and the hero wins. If I wanted reality, I would watch documentaries. Here is a list of all participants in the chain: Claire Crossdale - http://theromanticqueryletter.blogpost.com Fresh Hell - http://freshhell.wordpress.com shethinkstoomuch - http://shethinkstoomuch.wordpress.com lostwanderer5.blogspot.com - http://www.lostwanderer5.blogspot.com Lindzy1954 - http://www.lindsayncurrie.webs.com RavenCorrinnCarluk - http://www.ravencorinncarluk.blogspot.com Forbidden Snowflake - http://alleslinks.com/ AuburnAssassin - http://clairegillian.wordpress.com/ DavidZahir - http://zahirblue.blogspot.com/ Charlotte49ers - www.amandaplavich.com Fokker Aeroplanbau - http://rightfarright.blogspot.com/ laharrison - http://lesleyharrison.wordpress.com/ collectonian - http://collectonian.livejournal.com capes&corsets - http://theseventhcircleofelle.wordpress.com/ vfury - http://helencorcoran.wordpress.com/ Bsolah - http://benjaminsolah.com/blog JackieA - http://sherrygloagtheheartofromance.blogspot.com/ LadyCat - http://carolsrandomness.blogspot.com AimeeLaine - www.aimeelaine.com/writing/blog