Lost in a plot maze

A little while ago I began writing a short story. It was pretty much fully formed in my mind and just needed committing to paper.

I wrote the first few pages in one sitting and took a break which turned into several weeks. Today I returned to try and complete it.

Somehow I seem to have found myself in a maze. I don't know how I got to the point I'm at, nor how to get out of it. I seem to have the options of continuing and hoping it works out or abandoning it altogether.

What do I do?

The annoying part of this is the fact I know what should be happening, but the story won't listen. It seems to want to ramble along in a, seemingly, endless fashion.

I think I'm going to have to revisit on a different day and try to wield a sharp pair of editing scissors. In the meantime I'll desperately try and do some work on my, currently neglected, novel. Back to paid work next week, so I need to get some writing done while I have the chance.

Have a good weekend

Feel sorry for yourself? Not anymore...

I think we all feel sorry for ourselves now and again, believing life is treating us cruelly and no-one can have it worse. I know I do – I suffer from depression and have 'dark' days.

Well, today I read a blog from someone who truly does have it bad. Life has been cruel. I'm talking about a young lady called Alice. She is 15 years old and terminally ill. She writes a blog http://alicepyne.blogspot.com/ about her life. It is a pretty upbeat blog, considering her situation. It shows a courageous young person facing a greatly shortened life. She lists her 'bucket list' of ambitions to fulfil before she dies. This week one ambition was fulfilled when she met Take That at their Manchester concert. They seem to have given her an amazing time.

It is an amazing example to those of us who feel hard done by in life or who, like myself, struggle on some days to see the light. I can only say I doubt I would be as brave.

Unfortunately, as always on the internet, there are those who see this as an opportunity for nastiness. These cowards are posting vicious, heartless messages. No-one in their right mind would find anything remotely funny about Alice's condition, but these morons obviously gain some pleasure from their cruelty. I very much doubt they would dare behave in such a way face to face. The only printable word for such people is scum.

Please visit her blog, read it and see true courage. Teenagers get a bad press these days, but here is an example of a teenager at their best. Maybe it's in your power to help her realise part of her list?

The blog is unlikely to be easy reading as time goes by but I urge everyone to support this amazing young woman.

I will try to think of her whenever I feel low. Perhaps it will remind me how much worse I could have it and also how to handle life's difficulties.

Writing to blog or blogging to write?

Recently I've been neglecting this blog.

I began a few months ago with such good intentions – I was going to (and did at first) write every day. Now, I write once or twice a week.

What happened?

I think it's much harder to maintain a regular, interesting output than many of us realise. I certainly admire those who manage it. I have made a number of attempts to write and abandoned them as dull or pointless.

However, I have decided to make an extra effort. After all, this is what writing is about – finding something to write about.

Last week I spent the week working as an office temp. The photography business is dead and I need money, which means returning to the workplace. Last week was the first work my agency has found me.

I was a little concerned as I haven't worked in an office since last year. I worried whether I would be too 'rusty', or even too used to my own company. I needn't have worried. I was employed to help catch up on a backlog of work going back to last year. The expectation was for me to put a good sized dent in the work in order for the permanent employee to begin getting on top of it.

It was almost too easy. I cleared the entire backlog and brought everything up to date. By Friday I had nothing to do.

This was a massive relief to me as I was able to confirm all this time at home hasn't eroded my work ethic; nor my ability to work efficiently. I think my writing must take some of the credit for this. I have probably spent as much time at my home desk as I would at the office. My typing has never been superfast – I just can't learn to type, although I can find the keys in the dark (weird) - but it has definitely improved since I returned to writing.

I'm now trying to find more temping while I also seek permanent employment. Until then, I intend writing something on this blog as often as possible. I'm sure much will be the usual rambling rubbish, but I hope to also write blogs that entertain, amuse or even provoke conversation. I am a wannabe writer and I need to write if I'm to ever be a real writer.

After all, isn't the point of blogging to write?

Arise Sir Neil? I don’t think so...

I'm not an admirer of the Royal Family (as I may have mentioned previously...), nor of most of the Honours system.

I personally find it deeply offensive when someone is given an Honour for making themselves wealthy and famous. Celebrities are made Knights of the Realm purely on the basis they are famous. What has a footballer or singer done to deserve such an honour? They have pursued their ambition and made a great deal of money (often abusing their status to get away with the type of behaviour considered unacceptable in the rest of society). They then expect recognition in the form of honours.

Why?

The nurse who works a sixty hour shift, caring for the sick and dying, week after week, is surely far more deserving of recognition than a pampered entertainer or overpaid idiot footballer?

In many ways the Honours system reflects the Royals. It elevates people for no real reason – enforcing an outdated class system – and does not reflect those who truly deserve to be recognised.

There is a committee whose job it is to look into the behaviour of holders of honours. They can recommend the removal of the honour if the holder's actions bring it into disrepute. Really???? What about the various peers (stand up Lord Archer) who have ended up in prison and retained their title? Surely this alone demonstrates the nonsense of an honour system. How can you be a Peer of the Realm and, therefore, a symbol of our nation, and also be a convicted criminal.

However...

This weekend I learnt of an Honour given to an everyday individual in recognition of their work for the community. I won't tell you his name as he doesn't want publicity. He is a quiet, private person who has spent over thirty years quietly working. He helps the homeless in his spare time and is generally the exact type of person who should be recognised and rewarded for his efforts. Ironically, he is also the kind of person who is least likely to tell anyone he has been awarded his honour.

We are all incredibly pleased for him. His family is immensely proud. He is probably more embarrassed at the fuss than anything else – although I'm sure he is also very proud and amazed.

This is exactly what the Honours system should be about – recognising ordinary (in terms of not famous, there's nothing ordinary about the type of person who works so hard for no reward) people who do far more for their community than the average person. People who quietly do it for their own reasons, without expectation of anything more than the knowledge they have helped.

If the Royals must give out these awards, they should consider creating a category for the rich and famous and another for the genuinely deserving. Then we would all know who truly has earned the Honour and who has bought it with fame.