January Update 2024
It’s been a busy start to the year. I’ve been out to Culross again, a place I’ve blogged about previously. I decided to take a different route, due to the appalling state of the road I would usually take in. The number of potholes on Scottish roads is truly astounding, so I decided rather than take a chance as it was bad the last time I drove there, I would take another route, drive past and then double back. I thought I knew the way, so didn’t turn on my sat-nav. A rookie error. I didn’t miss the turn, I just took another route in, not the one I intended to. Rather than arriving on the outskirts of the village, I ended up in one of the very narrow backroads leading into the centre with no way of turning back. When I saw the old kirk at the top of the hill my heart sank. I had little option, but to keep going, naively thinking I could find a place to turn around. I ended up driving down the centre of the village, bumping along the cobbles in some of the narrowest streets I’ve ever driven on, right through the village square – the one that featured in the series Outlander – and then finally negotiated my car onto the main road running through the foot of the village. From there, I managed to turn and get myself along to the carpark at the far end. A bit scary, but all was well and I’ve worked out where I went wrong in my directions for next time.
I’ve donated blood this year, and intend to do so another twice this year. That should get me to my silver award badge. There was a gentleman trying to get in while the centre was shut for lunch and he did manage it when a member of staff left and he dived in before the door closed. He didn’t seem to have much awareness when it comes to the process of blood donation. You have to book an appointment and can’t just rock up. He delayed everyone, while he debated the pros and cons of his reason for being there and I heard there was an issue when they checked his details and he was refused. This meant I was now running behind time. I like to get on with it and get started. I was prepared though, having filled in my form before arriving and having my piece of paper with all the countries I’ve visited in the last year. The area on the form to fill in with such details is so small, it’s practically useless, so having the details to hand means the staff can make a note and get on with processing as quickly as possible.
I’m still doing my Spanish lessons every day. I’m improving, and still enjoying it, but know I can do better. I imagine it’s typical of many folk, but my reading is okay, my listening is not bad, but having the confidence to hold a conversation is still poor. A work in progress.
Writing has been challenging. Maybe it’s the cold weather, maybe I’m just tired. I’m not nearly on as far as I thought I would be, though I have made good notes and have an outline to work with. For whatever reason, I’m spending more time than I need to on the words I’m putting down, rather than just getting on with it and drafting the story as quickly as possible. As I’ve noted elsewhere. I can write fast, and put down a draft in a matter of weeks. This hasn’t happened with this new novel and I don’t know why. I was and still am very excited for it, but there is a nervousness around the task in hand, a feeling I can’t explain. I still believe it’s going to a good story. I have the impression what I have written is way beyond what I would expect at this point in the process. So, it’s an odd one. I’m hoping I can get going this week and make decent inroads into the story. I did panic last week when I imagined I actually didn’t have a story in so much as there was little point to it. That is a scary feeling, and I believe I was mistaken, but it did lead me to pause and work through my outline and confirm that it was a story as opposed to a series of loosely connected scenes that gave the impression of one.
I finished reading the Queens’ Gambit by Walter Tevis this year, then read Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben. I heard Netflix had made a series so I wanted to read the book before watching. The novel is set in New Jersey. I don’t know if it’s just me and the books I randomly select, or perhaps they choose me, but there appears to be a lot of books set in New Jersey! The reason I note this is the Netflix series has been set in England which is most odd, but there you go. As an aside, I had watched the series the Queen’s Gambit before reading the novel. It’s just the way it worked out. I felt the series followed the book very well and having read the novel I can see why. I haven’t finished watching the series Fool Me Once, and although I’m enjoying it, I’m not convinced as to how it’s been treated. It’s okay, but you get a lot of the internal conflict in the main characters head in the novel and for me that isn’t coming over to the same extent on TV.
I read Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski which I enjoyed, though it feels odd saying that about his style and choice of subjects. It’s challenging and often brutal, but I deliberately read across different genres and won’t shy away from a novel all because I may be upset while reading it. I read for pleasure, and I read to be educated and to work through different perspectives. Reading the one type of book again and again is not for me. I’m now ploughing my way through The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis which I’m really enjoying, but again it’s disturbing on a number of levels. I haven’t been hooked on a story in the same way as I am right now for quite a few novels. It’s a big book, coming in at just over 600 pages and I did wonder whether it could have done with an edit, but I’ve become immersed in the world and the style of the first person narrator and I really want to know what happens next.
The Fiction Factory 