Rachael Green Books

G’day.

Hope you all had a wonderful and Happy Christmas day. It isn’t the gifts you receive that make this day, I feel, but the people who actually put themselves out to visit.

Yes, you read that right. Put themselves out.

It really doesn’t matter if Aunt Dora criticised everything from the state of the floors to your cooking skills or lack thereof and Uncle Clive drank every beer in the house and complained that you only kept cat’s **** to drink. Plus the brother/sister made comments about how well they were doing in their business while you appear to be going backwards.

Sure, these comments hurt and annoy. And you feel like strangling the person who made them. But they did make the effort to come and see you physically and that allows for some slack. Allow them their petty little victories. They may be the only ones they get all this New Year when they go home.

It seems that everyone these days has a wonderful life that leaves others in the dust. Or so they would like you to think. But is it really true? My brother-in-law, who comes from another state specifically to upset me, I am sure, I also know for a fact has business troubles that he spends nights shivering in a corner about. He does not know I know this, so I allow him some leeway. Not too much, but enough so he goes home happy because he thinks he has made my life as miserable as his just for one day.

Another relative has every ill known to Man, or if she has not, then she has had it or the doctors say she is showing signs of it. Unfortunately, she slips up on several of them. When the smaller fry are going silly outside, she will forget the walking stick to see what is going on. I ignore this tiny slip, as does everyone else. Time to talk about this later when she is safely gone and woe betide the person who did remark.

So that was Christmas Day. Another one which was happily said ‘good-bye’ to, although I wonder how many of those present will be here this time next year? For this, I will forgive them their foibles and humanness because my memory of them has been refreshed and updated and, despite their often petty remarks and ills and ails, I have actually seen them in the flesh.

So what is on for the New Year? No big resolutions, that is my resolution. I gave up smoking, but that wasn’t a resolution for the right time. Actually,  it was in August about 12 years ago. Any other resolution I have made since I was a kid has died a dismal death usually within two weeks of making it.

I do hope to put out some books. And connect with some writers I have started following on Amazon. I still love the feel and smell of paper of an old-fashioned book, so I will still be collecting and reading my list of authors there. If I keep going though, I’ll need another house to store them all in.

So, to all those out there who have a dream for this year coming, get in and on with it. Don’t think that it is impossible. It is not. Not when you break the goal into small pieces and work on each one religiously and determinedly.

Actually, there is no failure. All blocks are either learning curves, or you are not approaching the task in the right way. Persevere, and have fun on the way. If you can’t find some enjoyment and fun in what you are trying to achieve, then you are not approaching it the right way and therefore are creating your own blocks.

Think about that and have a healthy prosperous New Year.

 

As always, should you want something written for you, please contact me for a Skype number, or email me at: taylor.cheryl54@yahoo.com so we can discuss.

 

 

 

 

G’day.

Ever been in the situation when an idea bites at your mind and you can’t think what to do with it? With all the features Smartphones have these days, it is pretty easy to just note it in a file of ideas there. Even a few words of what the idea is about can be of great use later on. You don’t even have to have an idea for a plot. Just a character who appears complete in your mind’s eye is a gift from heaven.

You can always find a plot to fit them into, and who knows? Maybe they will be the beginning of a long and fruitful association. Look at Hercules Poirot and Miss Marple. Or much later, Peter Robinson’s Inspector Alan Banks.

Evernote is great for when these times happen. There are plenty of other gadgets that can do the same thing, and many of them are free  or have a free component. Have a search around and find one that will do until you can transfer your idea somewhere that you can play with it.

So sometimes that character who appears fully-developed can be a Godsend. Never discard them as a brain rush. If you cannot use them in what you are working on, put them somewhere safe and come back to them. Then study them and see where you can use them later.

On the other hand, if you are like me and your phone is also old without all the newest gadgets, there is always your voice that you can use. A lot of Smartphones have this option too. But you have got to have your imagination in full flow to get the most of this. The lucky few of us can get away with simply stating a few words concerning their new character and be able to build on them later, but many find the original has slipped back where they came from and are the Devil’s own work to recreate them as you first saw them. One of my first attempts at novel writing had this happen to the main character and I am still trying to find him again. Simply because I thought I could put what I saw in my mind’s eye down after a period of time, so didn’t start to construct him on paper or by voice straight away.

So, invest in a cheap tape recorder that will fit anywhere if you cannot afford one of the newest phones which all but go to the toilet for you, and put anything you see in your mind’s eye there if you don’t like carrying a pad and pen or your phone does not have everything on it.

It really is no use thinking you will remember this character or scene. Everyday events get in the way and something that has no obvious function to your mind will get shoved under the carpet of your brain out of sight. Trust me, it does happen.

So make up your mind to get some gadget to write or speak your brain’s ideas into. Another thing I have found with the brain: It does not care when it delivers these snippets of gold to your conscious. That part of the brain simply functions as it pleases and does not recognise daylight, dark, or whether you are driving your car or not. You can always pull over to the side of the road(safely, I hope) and speak several words into your phone or tape, or make a note on your phone.

You will thank yourself later.

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