August has always been an important month for me, it was my dad’s birth month, he was a Leo and although I don’t really believe in astrology, he really did personify that star sign. Then seventy-five years after he was born, my daughter arrived in the world. However she arrived later in the month so is a Virgo and apparently astrologically her characteristics should be:
Analytical and Meticulous: Great at noticing small details, solving complex problems, and organizing data or spaces.
Reliable and Helpful: Deeply caring, loyal, and always ready to support friends or fix a problem.
Hardworking: Practical, efficient, and dedicated to doing high-quality work.
That sums her up to an absolute tee – as do “weaknesses”:
Perfectionism: Sets very high standards that can lead to being overly critical of themselves and others.
Overthinking: Tends to worry, stress over small issues, and analyze situations too much.
Reserved: Can be shy or slow to open up emotionally because they rely heavily on logic over feelings
August 2017 was an exciting month for me, as I wrote a while ago:
I published a little handbook for writers, and this was a blurb: –
“In my last teaching job I was working with young people aged fifteen and sixteen who, in their last year of statutory education were not in school for various reasons; these students were for the most part totally disengaged – clever, literate, interesting – and yet totally turned off education at the very time it was most important for them to do well. Our tiny team of teachers (three of us and two wonderful LSAs) did all we could to re-engage them so they could pass enough exams to give them post-sixteen opportunities in further education, training or work. I wrote a series of what ended up as chapters on creative writing, and it’s these which I have polished up (although they did not need much changing) amended and added to, to produce ‘So You Want To Write’. This is not just for children – it’s for anyone!
It’s only short, it’s a handbook really and you can find chapters on:
- Inspiration
- Your readers
- Narrator
- Introduction, opening or beginning
- Setting
- Characters
- Names
- Plot
- Language… and Style
- Research… and Observation
- Endings
Here is a link to it…
… and here is the Amazon blurb…
So you want to write but don’t know how to… Your head is empty, your imagination stalled… Or you have you a story but don’t know where or how to start? How to begin? What to do? ‘So You Want To Write’ takes you from the first page to the last of your own story – beginnings, endings and the bit in between. The 6 P’s are all covered – plot, people, point of view, place, purpose and pace, all taken care of.
My featured image is of my Dad when he was in teh Parachute Regiment during the war, aged about twenty-three or twenty-four.
Lois Elsden 