Thursday, February 24, 2005
Fighting Fantasy

When I was 12 I ordered Return to Firetop Mountain from the Puffin book catalogue that we were given at school. I have no idea why; it was simply a whim. That book changed my life. I was transported to a different world; a place of magic and heroes. And great evil. More importantly I, myself, was the hero. It was me who fought the monsters and made all the decisions. It was me when I died. I wasn't alone. Fighting Fantasy was a craze that swept though Britain back in the 80s/90s. Millions of people worldwide, like me, seized the chance to be heroes. When I finished Return to Firetop Mountain, I was eager for more. Desperate even. I bought many of the other Fighting Fantasy books, delighting in the adventures I had with them. There was some serious imagination at work there, both on my part and that of the authors. As I grew older (and as the fighting Fantasy generation grew older) interest in the books started to wane. My interest did not so much wane as evolve. I started reading 'proper' Fantasy novels, and never looked back. Until now. By using the wonder that is ebay I have just managed to buy most of those Fighting Fantasy books I didn't manage to get first time around. I only need 12 or so now, of the 59 that were published. It won't be an easy task; many of the later additions to the series were introduced on very limited print runs and so subsequently can be pretty rare. The last book in the series, Curse of the Mummy, sold on ebay for £19.50. But that is the price that people pay to try and recapture a bit of their lost youth. I'm probably not going to play most of the new ones I get, but i want to have them nonethless. Their legacy made me who I am today and for that alone they are worth collecting.

That aside, I spent 3 hours today trying to write. Nothing really happened. I went away, came back later and blasted out twice what I had written earlier in half the time. And it was far better. It's funny how writing works; it has a rhythm of its own. It has a mind of its own too. As the old Chinese proverb goes - neglect your craft for one day and it will neglect you for two.

Posted by James L 2005-02-24 16:53:05

Monday, February 21, 2005
Success!

That's right. I was having a fairly mundane monday until SUCCESS ocurred. I was in between tasks; I'd just put my laundry on to spin, had just finished 'reading'(skimming, really) my readings for tomorrow's seminar on War and Film and was just considering the merits of raspberry jam and weaton bread when I decided to check myemail.

Nothing in my new account. Ho hum, I'm Mr Popular as usual then. On a whim I checked my old account to see what new deals on viagra/university diplomas/car insurance had landed in my junk folder.

And there it was. An email from the editor ofNocturne magazine. Ah, how lovely. My first rejection slip! Well, a rejection email. Same difference. Actually, I was proved to be wrong. It wasn't a rejection slip. I swear my eyeballs almost popped when I read the words "your submission has been accepted for publication." So there it is - my story "Musings of a Vampire" has been accepted for publication in the March issue of Nocturne magazine. Not bad for my first-ever submission.

To be honest, this comes at a timely moment. It proves that yes actually I have got some ability and that yes, I really ought to write instead of ruining my already-terrible eyesight by playing Warcraft all the time. It also gives me a good excuse to indulge in some Madeira cake.

So, the eternal question - lemon or raspberry? Mmm...

Posted by James L 2005-02-21 11:11:33

Thursday, February 10, 2005
It's all over. Finished. Fini. Finito.

That's right. It's all over. A few moments ago, the final sheet of paper slipped out of my printer, onto the pile of others. I grabbed what collectively is my 6000-word essay and quickly rammed it into a plastic folder, just in case I left it in the printer tray andit set alight, and then my pc would blow up and melt my cd that I've saved it on and then the whole world would explode AND THEN I would get a real rollicking from my tutor.

But none of this is going to happen, as like I said, I whipped up the freshly-printed essay and sealed it in a plastic folder. Just in case. My frog Sherman is guarding it for me; I offered him five yellow jellybeans but he said he would only take one yellowbean and two greens. I knew I was getting the bad end of the deal, but you don't argue with Sherman. Or any one-foot-tall, blue, cuddly frog for that matter. Especially when he agrees to keep an eye on your essay that might, might just explode into smithereens and then you'd be very, very screwed wouldn't you?

So, that's done. I have to admit I'm suprised I managed to write about 6000 words, given that I more or less ran out of material at 3000. Still, the brain is a wonderful thing. I've been getting up 'early' each day to work on this brute and I have to say - having also read Owen's blog - that it did make me wonder what I could achieve if I actually got my arse in gear and did some writing for a change. Rather than playing video games, surfing the net, etc. Perhaps I'd actually get a few chapters written. Hopefully now that the beast is dead, I'll get a few chapters done.

R.I.P 'The Beast' January 26th-February 19th, 2005.

Posted by James L 2005-02-10 14:42:27

Friday, January 28, 2005
Ping-pong

I thought the other day that in life I often feel like a ping-pong ball; sometimes I fly gloriously over the net, other times I bounce into a dark corner and get stuck in cobwebs and nasty black bugs.

The last few days have been a little of both really. Having decided to write my next essay on the Servian Walls and aqueducts of Rome, I go to check with my tutor that this is ok. I come out with the agreement that instead I'll drop the walls and write 6000 words just about aqueducts. Apart from I can't just describe them and how they work; I have to be objective. I have to argue a specific point. Hmmm. So now I find myself doing an essay about the aqueducts as a representation of Rome's power and development. Fine, ok. Only thing is I know nothing about Rome's conquests, victories and development and even less about how this links into the aqueducts.

So cue panic. Actually, it's ok as I have collected a mountain of books and am working my way through them, getting some reasonably good info on the way. Of course the one book Ireally, really need is on loan. In fact, all 3 copies are on loan.

Still, always look at the positives...and the main positive thing is that today, just now, about 4 minutes and thirty-two seconds ago I finished the 2nd draft of the prologue for my novel. That's good. I wonder if it's good enough to warrant the purchase of a new iced madeira cake.... The bad news (there's always bad news isn't there?) is that I have no idea where the rest of the story is going. But I'm looking forward to finding out.

Posted by James L 2005-01-28 15:48:14

Thursday, January 20, 2005
Don't you just love the feeling when...

you have just written 500 good words and then your word processor politely informs you that it is very sorry, but it has to close down. It would also like to apologise for work that might be lost. Oh right, you mean the first bit of writing I've manged to do this year will be lost? Not to mention that it was sounding pretty good?

Great. It's pretty amusing how we have films and such about computers taking over the world. Well, seeing as though at the moment Bill Gates' beloved Microsoft cannot even make a software program that doesn't crash over and over again, I think human slavery at the hands of machines is a long way off.

Or maybe not, if my continued fallibility for online gaming proves. I'm not sure what it is about online gaming. There is something about having a 14-year-old telling me that "you suk cos you are noob" that is particularly intriguing.Well, it was nice to meet you as well.

To make things worse, I'm all out of cake. Not good at all.

On the bright side, I've got my webcam set up and so my blue frog and my brother's red frog were happily reunited across the vastness of cyberspace.

Right, I'm off to drown my sorrows with a pint or three.

Posted by James L 2005-01-20 20:19:53