Back to School!

It felt good waving my children off to school this morning. Both of them seemed rather excited at the prospect of a new school year. Megan starts Year 5 at primary and Matt starts Sixth Form.

It was bliss to walk back into an empty house! I love solitude, I have to confess. I went straight to the Mac and began thrashing out a new short story aimed at the women's magazine market. I've recently been encouraged by the Fiction Editor at People's Friend, after she wanted to see a rewrite of a story of mine she was very keen on. I've also been plugging away at my pocket novel set during The Blitz in London. Thank goodness I've almost finished it!

I tend to write in short sharp bursts. I can manage about 1,000 words in half an hour before I stall and need a break. I envy those writers who can keep ploughing on regardless and who can sit at their computers for a 12 hour stretch. I get restless after about an hour.

I've noticed that I get stuck in a scene very easily. With the pocket novel, I've learned that I have to make a character walk out or switch to a new scene when this happens. I somehow feel I have to resolve each scene before moving on, but of course fiction doesn't work like that. I can leave two characters in a room without any resolution being reached. I think I'm finally learning how to leave a scene 'hanging' or 'suspended in the ether'.

On the running front, things aren't too dire. I managed to do just over 4 miles today. My foot hurt at the beginning and I felt I was hobbling a bit towards the end, but the middle bit was fine! I've been doing my plantar fascia exercises and they do seem to help.

Oh look, it's nearly school pick-up time. Where did the hours go? Oh well, I can do it all again tomorrow and the day after that, and the day after that. Phew!