Same Old Scene?

Having a change of scene of writing venue seems to have given me renewed ideas and motivation.

Like many writers, I find it extremely difficult to write at home. There are just too many distractions and I procrastinate like mad!

A new tea shop opened up near us about a year ago and just recently, I decided to take my notebook in there and work on my WIP. I found the pretty pastel surroundings; the chinking tea sets and mouth-watering array of baking calming yet encouraging.

To my surprise, I ended sitting in there for almost two hours with a pot of tea and a mini cupcake (I managed a bit of self restraint!) and wrote around 1,000 words.

Since then, I have frequented the little tea shop almost every day.

Just on Friday, I sat in there again and penned another two chapters of my WIP.

The welcoming hospitality of the family who own it; the soft background music of artists such as Adele and Ed Sheerin and the general, relaxed atmosphere is something I look forward to.

So as another working week starts again, guess where I’m planning to go for (hopefully) another productive series of writing sessions?

The only down-side is the tempting array of baking….think I might have to wear dark glasses when I order my pot of tea…!

Happy Writing everyone – wherever you are motivated to do it!

Love Julie X

 

Healthy Competition

Entering writing competitions was not something I used to do very much at all.

I think I got distracted by other things or convinced myself that, statistically, I probably stood very little chance of being successful anyway.

However, in recent weeks, my view has changed.

I subscribe to a writing magazine and a couple of months ago, it advertised a poetry competition. The subject was “Changing Seasons” and as I hadn’t written any poetry for a while (if you exclude the greetings card verses I write) I decided to give it a go.

Imagine my delight a few weeks later, when I got the latest issue, to discover that although I hadn’t won, my entry had been short-listed.

It really gave my “writing competition streak” a boost and since then, I have entered another two poetry competitions and also a short story competition.

Ok, so I might not win or even get short-listed. But I really enjoyed putting pen to paper and writing something different from the greetings card verses and romantic comedies that I usually write.

Reading the winning entries was enjoyable and educational too. The standard was amazing and really allows you to compare what you wrote and see where you can improve your own work.

So if you see a writing competition which appeals to you, why not give it a shot? Variety is the spice of life and even if it’s asking you to write in a genre you’ve never tried before, you might find you enjoy it – you may even possess a talent for another branch of writing you never realised you had!

Good luck with those entries!

Julie X