Ian Gouge's Blog, page 40

Writing exercises #1

For me there are two main types of writing exercise: Here’s one to try: Write a short first-person story (200+ words) without using the pronoun “I” or “me” anywhere in the story (this is primarily a type 2 exercise) #amwriting #writingprompt #writingexercise

Yesterday & Today: 9th April

100th consecutive day of posting!! Thank you if you’re dipping into my 2023 writing diary. So what was yesterday like? Well, a fair chunk of time spent on drafting “C”, which has now made it beyond 30k words. This, I find, is the difficult time; the time when fatigue sets in and belief is challenged; … Continue reading Yesterday & Today: 9th April →

Yesterday & Today: 8th April

Chances are the most significant of those activities will be the final one; it’s certainly important that I get settled on something in the next few weeks. The Crash pamphlet will be ready for a proof copy by the end of the month. Given it’s Saturday, I expect today may see a similar pattern to … Continue reading Yesterday & Today: 8th April →

Yesterday & Today: 7th April

Great to be firing on all cylinders again yesterday! In addition to some work on “C” and a partial read-through of Crash, the highlight of the day was the Open Mic in the evening organised by ‘Write-on Ripon’. It was unusual being in the Curzon Cinema basement and not being there to rehearse Crash. As … Continue reading Yesterday & Today: 7th April →

Yesterday & Today: 6th April

After drawing a blank yesterday – a day with lots of driving and no time to do anything much other than try and pin down Contextual: 17 readers – today will be a different kettle of fish… In addition to picking up the threads of “C” (which now stands at over 27k words drafted), given … Continue reading Yesterday & Today: 6th April →

Yesterday & Today: 5th April

As expected, no work at all yesterday – and none expected today either. Undoubtedly there will be experiences during both days which will make it into some kind of writing in the future. Isn’t there always?! One thing of note though, a limited number of tickets are available for my performance of Crash in June. … Continue reading Yesterday & Today: 5th April →

Yesterday & Today: 4th April

I surprised myself yesterday by being able to record three reasonable periods of activity: an unplanned read-through of Crash; about an hour working on “C”; and then the evening’s North Yorkshire Stanza. In terms of the latter, another evening of interesting variety, eight poets plugging away at trying to be the best they can – … Continue reading Yesterday & Today: 4th April →

Yesterday & Today: 3rd April

In managing to fit in another read-through of Crash yesterday I found I learned another lesson – as I seem to each time I rehearse. Because of the number of people in the house, I had to practice in a different room and speak at a slightly lower volume. It was the latter which was … Continue reading Yesterday & Today: 3rd April →

Yesterday & Today: 2nd April

The only significant activity yesterday was – not surprisingly – more work on “C”. And interestingly, one of the most productive periods of the day was, once again, the time immediately after dinner. I’ve always assumed I was done creatively by that point, especially as I’m an early morning person; but maybe I can be … Continue reading Yesterday & Today: 2nd April →

Not expecting fear…

In less than six months our daughter starts her University journey – and for over forty weeks of the year will no longer be living at home. This will be hard on the heels of our son starting work on his degree placement year – so he won’t be home at all during the summer … Continue reading Not expecting fear… →