Time fillers, writing and not having fun?

20 July

Some people just can’t say No,’ can they. I’ve just read an article by Phil Barrington in issue 153 of Writers’ Forum, where Della Galton explains how she manages to work for up to 60 hours a week. That’s a lot of hours folks; I left wondering how much of those 60 hours are actually needed. Della would say that they are, but I’m not convinced. She uses targets to help her, annual, monthly and weekly, I agree she is a busy lady, but when does she go out and have fun?

On the same subject Dave Haslett explains how he works. Dave is a writer/editor/publisher and does some volunteer work too. At one time he made a chart of how much time he spent on one of his projects. Forgive me please if I’m wrong, but isn’t that actually adding to the work load?

And here I am complaining cos I’m so busy (or feel I am), yet all I do as a writer is write a blog and work on a novel. However, I do a lot of reading in various formats, Kindle, books, magazines, newspapers and so on. But I’m very much into photography and bird watching. All of these take up a lot of time. Maybe I’m not as busy as Della and Dave, but there again, my livelihood is not dependent on writing is it. Maybe that is the difference between us.

Right now I’m still working on the Fred Cooper novel but have changed the way I’m writing now. That came about because I remembered that during my time with the OU, I used to hand write my assignments and then type them up after. The typed document was always a lot different that hand-written one, so I have gone back to doing that. It means that my first draft is currently spread over several note books. I really need to find a notebook that I can keep with me when I’m out and about.

Right now there’s another issue causing me some problems. I managed to lose my reading specs while I was in Bournemouth. For daily use I have a pair of bi-focals which are fine for normal day to day use, but for a long period of reading and writing I prefer to use my reading specs. So while I was in town on Friday I popped into Specsavers and ordered a new pair. I’ve gone for the cheapest at just £25. Style and looks don’t really matter here seeing as they are not for normal everyday use.

And so I now need to find a photo for today …

OK, A line up of dreams.

And today’s funny …

When I was giving driving classes to a bunch of teenager’s, I had one smart kid who always had something to answer back. So one day I said to the class, “you know that 90% of accidents happen within 3 miles of your home!” So this smart kid raises his hand, “what do you want Tommy?” I ask. He grins and replies, “big deal I’ll move!”