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Bootcamp Bubble July 2020

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It’s been some time since I’ve posted. I have no excuses, not real ones. I could blame the virus, but then it’s here to stay for some time and we’ve been on lockdown since March so I can’t use that.

So instead I’m going to become one of my female characters who needs to get herself into training to slaughter the monster of procrastination and prioritisation. It’s not a matter of time, I’ve always hated the excuse of ‘I’m so busy’. It’s such a lame lament. We all have the same number of hours in the day, it’s how we choose to use them and what we consider as important.

For far too long, I’ve put my writing at the bottom of the list. Well this month things are going to change and I’m going to fight and destroy the creature that has pinned me down, eaten my muse and trampled over my confidence. If I don’t. It’s time to hand in the towel. And I have fight left within me, so fight I will.

This month in my little Boot-camp Bubble I shall be committing to the following:

  • Time out from my online group, Writers Abroad. We are currently in the midst of celebrating our 10 year anniversary and there is a lot going on but it takes a lot of my energy. They will all be there when I return, as lovely and as supportive as ever, but this is a fight I have to do on my own.

 

  • Musing every day, for 31 days. Every. Single. Day. I will write to a creative writing prompt. I generally do this every week day morning but I also plan to turn at least one of these musings a week into a short story or a scene.

 

  • Journaling I’ve been doing ‘Morning Pages’ almost every day since 2015. It had purpose way back then when I was struggling with so many things. But it’s not challenging me any more, it’s a daily diary, of my daily, rather mundane life. So I’ve purchased the Journaling Compendium by Amie McNee and shall be using her daily prompts to explore myself as a writer, if she’s willing to stick around.

 

  • World Building My writing project priority is the Moon series. I published the first novella back in early March just when we went into lockdown and I’ve not done a thing. So I shall be pulling the publication and exploring and revisiting the world I created to define the next in the series and perhaps a third. Who knows?

So, I hope to be sharing my progress on a short weekly post and I hope to pop out of my bubble at the end of the month. That’s if the monster doesn’t eat me first.

“The soul always knows what to do to heal itself, the challenge is to silence the mind.”

– Caroline Myss

 

Ciao for Now . . .

 

Fancy A Short Read?

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Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been making a concerted effort to place my short stories and flash fiction. I have a lot of stories, some polished some needing some work and many that will never see the light of day!

The trouble is the market is flooded and many do not offer any financial reward, some even charge a reading fee. It takes a lot of time to produce story submissions to meet a particular publisher’s requirements with no guarantees of success and selection is very subjective.

So I’ve made the decision to publish them myself. And why not? I’d rather commit the time to producing something I can share with others and under my control then see my work going into an eternal black hole for weeks, perhaps months.

Many of the stories will only take 5 minutes to read, some a lot less. We’ve all got five minutes somewhere, right? In these distracting times, I’m finding that a short read really hits the spot. And instant escapism. They are a mixture of genres, many  inspired by writing prompts from my online writing group, Writers Abroad.

“A short story is a love affair, a novel is a marriage. A short story is a photograph; a novel is a film.”
― Lorrie Moore

I shall post them regularly on my blog My Writer Within. It’s also a good exercise in accountability; writing, editing and polishing a piece of work. Creating a habit, a habit which I love to partake in.

Do let me know what you think in the comments and if you do something similar, please let me know, I’d love to have a read!

 

Hello April

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jo lamb author

Well, since we’ve been on lockdown here in Italy since March 10 – three weeks now – I’ve not been anywhere. Only to the shops, where I dash in and out again donned in gloves, mask and misted glasses grab what I need and dash out again. But then, you all know what this feels like now, right? We’re all in this together and I’m not sure that we’ll ever go back to the world as we knew it. Maybe that’s not a bad thing… so

Where I’ve been @

@The Desk there’s been a lot in the news about now is the time to get all those things done that you haven’t had time to do before… well for me, working at home has been the norm since 2007. But not since the earthquakes have I found it so difficult to concentrate. The constant need to check the news has been stifling. So I’ve done a ‘List Of Everything’ and am trying to tick off one each day. Other than that my muse seems to be in isolation.

@The Reading Table Same kind of news with my reading, which is always affected when I’m distracted and anxious. It’s not helped by the fact that I hate reading on the Kindle but we have very little option for print books here. I’ve just finished The Strawberry Thief by Joanna Harris. I’ve loved all her stuff and this one didn’t disappoint, though it seemed a little familiar as it’s a run on from Chocolat. Must watch the film again 😛

@The Goggle Box There has been a lot of opportunities to watch stuff we might never have had the access to. Opera was streaming from New York and watched two of my favourites, La Boheme and La Traviata. This week, the National Theatre start streaming some shows which we’re going to have a look at. We watched Bird Box, of all films… about some alien virus which made people suicidal, perhaps not the best choice and started to watch Game of Thrones again from the start. I’ve read all the books but not managed to get through the TV series. So I have done a lot of sofa surfing, but in my defence the weather has been cold, grey, wet and we even had our first snow, just as Spring arrived!

@Home Well, that’s where we are for the foreseeable. A family get together over here in May has been cancelled and so I won’t get to see my son and grandchildren until this is all over… I’m finding that most  difficult to accept. At least with the earthquakes we could run away if needed! The animals continue to keep us well occupied and life would be so much more difficult without them. The best news we received this month is that Simon is to welcome his fifth grandchild into the clan in October. That will make seven between us and something positive to look forward to!

Here is Freya, our small donkey sized Italian sheepdog. This was taken one Spring some years ago, just after the daff’s I’d planted had started to poke their little way through!

freya

 

Writing Tool Box March 2020

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I wish I had found a vaccine for my toolbox this month. On day 16… or is it 17 of lockdown here in Italy and I’ve found it very difficult to concentrate. In fact, I’ve fallen off my writing stool completely. And this morning we woke to snow. I know it’s Spring but it seems that Mother Nature has a plan.

  • Learn a Language – Easy Italian News: I’m always trying to improve my Italian, which is difficult when we’re on lockdown. Listening is one of the elements I struggle with. This does what it says on the tin, is broadcast four times a week and is relatively short and topical.
  • Writing Competitions – Patsy Collins regularly posts about competitions, usually related to words – which is the theme of her blog. A very useful site. Remember to comment and let her know that you are there!
  • Feedback on Writing – Critique Circle – is a large community of writers of all genres. Amongst other resources and forums you can give and receive feedback on writing – it’s credit based so a very fair system.

Ciao for now…

JoAnna Lamb

My Favourite: Recipe

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JoAnna Lamb

Just because I’m a writer doesn’t mean I don’t love to cook. And food treats can be a big motivation when you’re trying to get things done. Since moving to Italy in 2007, I discovered some of the things I missed about my home country, often involved food. Don’t get me wrong, Italy has some of the greatest cuisine, it’s just those comfort type foods or more international dishes, that I took for granted before.

I’ve also been more adventurous with cooking Italian style and now often make my own pasta rather than buy it pre cooked or dried. The Italians like to take their time with their food. There is no ‘fast’… though pizza is often thought of in that way.

Today I give you… the good old English Crumpet! I love it hot from the grill and slathered with butter. Sometimes with a lick of Marmite or a poached egg… but mainly butter. As I’m not a make it up myself kind of cook, I use the internet a lot to find good recipes and keep them in an app called, The Recipe Keeper funnily enough!

The link to the best recipe I’ve found for crumpets which are light and fluffy is at The Spruce Eats. You have to be brave with adding the liquid and add as much as you can without it getting too thin. It’s a matter of practice. I’ve just about perfected mine as you can see in the picture. And they are so much better than shop bought! Give them a go… you’ll be surprised.

English Crumpets