Fun Friday

It's Fun Friday. In honour of the royal wedding (which I watched in the early hours this morning) here are some not-so-ordinary wedding cake toppers.

And now, wedding vows a la Dr. Seuss. I make no judgments.

Minister: Will you take her as your wife? Will you love her all your life?

Groom: Yes, I take her as my wife, Yes, I'll love her all my life.

Minister: Will you have, and also hold Just as you have at this time told?

Groom: Yes, I will have, and I will hold, Just as I have at this time told, Yes, I will love her all my life As I now take her as my wife.

Thirties Thursday

In honour of the season here in my part of the world and a certain wedding happening tomorrow, here's a selection of hats from the 1930s. It was a time when a woman wouldn't venture out the door without some sort of hat covering her head.

I'd wear a few of these!

(All images found on Google images)

Just Keep Writing

Why is there this?

Ah. You've got a new this...

It's time to do this...

And this...

and this...

If you're worried your plot is doing this...

Ignore it and just keep doing this...

Even when you're faced with this...

You've got to keep doing this...

Even when you're sure your room looks like this...

And you'd swear you're doing this...

Just keep doing this....

And even more this...

And know someday soon you'll be doing this.

10 Reasons I Can't Write Right Now

10. The coffee pot is empty. Lives will be lost.

9. I have to check my emails. Perhaps that mega agent has emailed me out of the blue. You never know. We've tweeted. That's the first step.

8. I have to visit my favourite blogs and leave comments. It's part of my pre-writing routine. Pre-writing. I'll write once I've done the pre-writing. It's a warm-up. Yeah. That sounds good.

7. Two words: No. Chocolate.

6. I need to know the meanings of the names of all my characters. All of them. Ignorance leads to messy writing.

5. Now I have to change the names of most of my characters. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

4. The cat just shrieked and raced from the room. What does he know that I don't? Do I want to know? Was there just a creak behind me?

3. I just have a bit of research to do before getting down to writing. The clock on the computer must be wrong. How did two hours go by so quickly?

2. I'm going to emulate the behaviour of a favourite writer and read a chapter from a good book. Crap. I'll never write as well as that. Bring on the chocolate.

1. See #7.

Is It Monday?

This past weekend was a long weekend for many people. Long weekends are great, but it is very easy to lose track of what day it is. Friday feels like Saturday. Saturday feels like Sunday. Then Sunday comes and it's Sunday again. It's all very confusing.

Every writer has to keep track of the passage of time in their story. Sometimes a plot can take place over years or decades, sometimes the entire plot unfolds in a few days or even a few hours.

The writer's task is to make it believable.

Since I write mysteries, my timeline is usually quite short. Although in real life, murder mysteries aren't usually solved overnight, in fiction, the mystery has to be concluded in a very short span of time. No reader wants to wade through pages of where nothing much happens. It's the writer's task to make sure clues appear and suspects clear or incriminate themselves at a dizzying pace.

Some writers take advantage of this necessarily short timeline and use it ramp up the suspense. They start each chapter with a time so the reader is aware of the minutes ticking away. Other writers make time vague and although readers are aware time is passing, it's very much in the background.

I tend to do fall into the latter camp, and I must confess it comes with pitfalls. When you're concentrating on the plot it can be quite easy to lose track of time. I usually discover I've written one day that has three lunchtimes or another day with no morning but five teatimes.

Thank heavens, we don't submit our first drafts!

If you're a writer, how much attention do you pay to the passing of time? If you're a reader, do you pay attention? Or, are you more interested in the unfolding of the plot and the uncovering of the characters?

Fun Friday

Let's face it, treehouses are cool and these pictures prove you don't have to be a kid to think so. I'd think about living in some of these!

Have a great weekend and a special wave to my new followers!

Thirties Thursday

This is the blond royal prince everyone is talking about today...

But the 1930s had a blond royal prince who was just as popular.

As the eyes of the world start to turn towards London and the Royal Wedding next week, let us remember back when another royal prince captured the public's imagination. In the early 1930s in England, one of the most popular songs was entitled "I Danced with A Man Who Danced with a Girl Who Danced with the Prince of Wales".

If you're curious about the melody, this song was used as the opening credits for a wonderful TV series back in the late 1970s.

On Your Mark...

You've had a this...

Do this!

The next step looks like this...

You'll need plenty of these before you're done...

But for now, let's just start with one...

Does he look out his window and see this?

Or this?

And what is he looking for when he looks out that window?

Is it this?

This?

Or maybe this?

AAAK!

Does he have a habit of finding this?

Or...

Is he more interested in finding this?

Well, whatever his quest

(and yours, of course)

Lace up your this...

and pick up your this...

Because we all know it's not a this...

But more of a this...

That awaits.

Ready?

Set?