For some reason, recently, I’ve spotted a lot of babies socks lying on the pavement ~ at least one a day, and on Saturday whilst out running I saw three. Maybe the babies are trying to tell us something...
Sunday was a gorgeous day (apart from the point when I think a speed camera nabbed me, I hope it was just the sun glinting off it but I'm not overly optimistic…) and after taking my grandma for lunch the fiancé and myself did a bit of gardening (I’ve planted some courgettes ~ hope they come to something. I was quite successful with peppers and tomatoes last year). But the odd thing was, there was a strange flying thing (not a wasp, but similar), which hovered at head-height on the side path and wouldn’t let us past. It was literally squaring up to us, and intermittently it would fly a few feet away in order to ‘challenge’ another of these peculiar flying things before returning back to the exact same point of its hovering sentry duty. What ever it was, it was very territorial.
And then last evening a bat flew past me, right outside my front door. I’m sure I should be reading something into these ‘signs’.
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I’m enjoying reading Jane Henry’s blog about her marathon memoir “Running on Empty”, and I shall be ordering a copy asap. I am officially in awe of anyone who has completed a marathon, seeing as how I have only tackled a half marathon thus far. It’s on the “one day I will…..” list, and I did try (unsuccessfully) for a place in the FLM ballot this year. Maybe next year.
“Two years ago I couldn’t run a mile”, says Jane. Me neither. But there was something about running that fascinating me, kept pestering me the same way the pesky novel kept digging me in the ribs until I sat down and started writing it. I persevered: from my inaugural run (where I managed the grand total of 89 steps in a row ~ seriously, I was so inept there was no point trying to time myself or measure distances, I counted those early runs in terms of total steps) I have managed to complete the Great North Run, and regularly take part in local 10k runs. I can’t imagine my life without running now. And I’m particularly interested in Jane’s section on what to do when you’re running and you need the loo: the only time I ever suffer from penis envy is when I’m caught short in the middle of a long run….
Today I ordered a copy of Lucy Diamond’s “How do you want me?” and I’m really looking forward to reading it.
Writing tip of the day, courtesy of Stephen King:
Never look at a reference book while doing a first draft
You want to write a story? Fine. Put away your dictionary, your encyclopedias, your World Almanac, and your thesaurus. Better yet, throw your thesaurus into the wastebasket. The only things creepier than a thesaurus are those little paperbacks college students too lazy to read the assigned novels buy around exam time. Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule. You think you might have misspelled a word? O.K., so here is your choice: either look it up in the dictionary, thereby making sure you have it right - and breaking your train of thought and the writer's trance in the bargain - or just spell it phonetically and correct it later. Why not? Did you think it was going to go somewhere? And if you need to know the largest city in Brazil and you find you don't have it in your head, why not write in Miami, or Cleveland? You can check it ... but later. When you sit down to write, write. Don't do anything else except go to the bathroom, and only do that if it absolutely cannot be put off.
Tip-top-tastic luck to all the marathonees this weekend ~ I'll be watching, in envy and admiration.
