Episode #4: Interview with Mandy Clark

We are Jenni and Marc. We have been friends for years. We’re writing a book…

Welcome to the latest episode of "Procrastinate of Write" (POW...gettit?) with updates on our writing adventure.

You can listen to Episode4 on iTunes, Soundcloud...or right here:

Episode 4 includes:

- An interview with a wonderful friend of the podcast, Mandy Clark who self-published her very own book Mud and Marriage. She talks about her writing process, her obsession with writing and all the other elements that one might not think go into publishing your own book!

- Our first listener question!

- A progress report on how our book in progressing, we’re a third of the way through!

- We have advice from How to be Writer by Sally O’Reilly

- Do books needs lots of themes?

- Free writing! Check out Jenni and Marc’s efforts!

- A heated dispute about the need or lack of, for alternative words for “said”.

- What reality shows would our characters choose to go on? Is it Bake Off?

- …and Jenni finally reveals her favourite word

Things we’ve learnt:

- You don’t have to be going back to school to buy a new pencil case

- Always have something on you, that you can write with!

- The book Marc was talking about, that was written in a free writing style (known as a stream of consciousness) is actually On The Road by Jack Kerouac, not The Road by Cormac McCarthy. If this tickles yer pickle and you want to find out about more popular books written this way, check out this article from Goodreads.com (you’re welcome) 

- Jenni is a walking thesaurus

- When Marc thinks of Ben, he imagines Neil Stuke (or a randomer from The Apprentice) 

- Creative writing courses. Check out what amazon.co.uk have to offer

Thanks and that…

- Shout out to friends of the podcast, Chris Billingham and his awesome podcast, Nothing But Static

- Also thanks to Nina West for our shout out, in their podcast, Dragcast.

- don’t forget to check out Jenni’s blog post about overcoming a fear by writing

Don't forget, here is where you can find Mandy’s book, Mud and Marriage...get it sent to your kindle, immediately! Or visit her website www.mudandmarriage.co.uk to find out more!

Today’s management meeting is supported by ciiiiider.

Follow us on twitter: @POWpodcastUK

Email us at: powpodcastuk@gmail.com

Support our podcast by “buying us a beer”

Music:

"Clap Your Hands" by Scott Holmes

http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Scott_Holmes/

Please like and rate our podcast. The both of us really appreciate all your lovely support.

Free Writing, Take Two

It's Jenni's turn to do some free writing!

My first attempt at free writing last week went a bit wonky when, out of nowhere, I wrote a really silly poem about a unicorn and then thought 'yup, can't do any better that that today' and got on with some other stuff.

However, today I sat down, set up a timing and wrote for five minute. It was a weird thing, as it always is. You don't think there's anything there to write, then suddenly a whole situation comes out of your imagination. I really like the concept of what I got down today, and I might explore it a little more in the future. And, yeah, it is vaguely connected to unicorns.

Who would you be if you couldn’t be you? Anya asked herself as soared through the clouds. It wasn’t something a person with wings usually asked themselves, but she had been thinking some tough philosophical questions lately, in between flying through waterfalls and chasing eagles.

 Her long blonde hair rippled in the wind as she dived deep into a ravine. She was always on the edges of society careful that no one would see her. Or at least, that no one would see her flying. She usually kept her wings hidden under huge heavy capes or ponchos. He mother had always pressed on her that she needed to keep her special ability hidden. She was petrified that Anya would be taken away.

 But since she had died Anya had been lost, searching for someone else she could trust with her secret, feeling further and further away from humanity. She gracefully brought her body down to land in a hidden hillside, far from her town, and walked over to the rock where she usually hid her outer clothes. With a sigh she tucked her large feathered wings behind her, as much as she could, and shrugged over her thick brown poncho.

I've checked my spellings, but that's it on this one. I wanted to write that she got her poncho from M&S, but my timer buzzed. Ha!

So, have you started to do a bit of free writing? Do it help motivate you or just confuse your writing plans? Let us know!

Oh, and here's that unicorn poem in full

As always, if you like what we do like and subscribe to our podcast, say hello on Twitter or Facebook or send us a few pounds for our gin fund. Sorry, podcast costs fund. 

Jen xx

Free Writing

Eee up! Marc here, oop north in York!

Jenni and I recorded our latest podcast episode this week, and in it we talk about free writing. Personally, I don't know much about it, but Jenni talks about how she used the technique in a creative writing course from a few years back. 

According to Google, the definition goes like this...

"Free writing is a prewriting technique in which a person writes continuously for a set period of time without regard to spelling, grammar, or topic. It produces raw, often unusable material, but helps writers overcome blocks of apathy and self-criticism. It is used mainly by prose writers and writing teachers."

...and there was me thinking it was just another way to write a story. Well, I guess in some ways it is.

I set the timer on my phone for five minutes and just wrote, so here is my first ever go at free writing...

It was strange. He was my Dad, but it didn't look like him. He asked me where we were going. I didn't know. We just drove. I looked out of the passenger window at what looked like an industrial estate. We drove in, and through a barrier towards a car park. The winding ramp up towards the top floor left my head feeling giddy. Dad asked me if he looked different. I told him he did, but I didn't mind. He parked the car at the edge of the car park. The sunset glowed pink and orange, like a fruit salad sweet. We have to go. Dad started the car. This was confusing, we had only just arrived in the car park, I was about ready to get out of the car to see the sunset without the barrier of the window, but instead the car was put into reverse and off we went, back down the ramp. What's going on, I asked. You just needed to see that, he pointed to the sunset. The view's better up there, and I needed you to see it. Sometimes it's important to see things. We were up there for such a small amount of time thought. It doesn't matter, it's not the amount of time you spend somewhere doing something, it's the fact that you now have another memory to draw on, another sight to behold, another image for you mind to think about. Remember it. We often take for granted the little things. Never forget the little things. They shape us.

I think I may have cheated slightly as before I found the definition of "what is free writing", I kinda edited it with a few commas and changed some spellings. As soon as started writing, I recalled a dream I had a few nights back, so just wrote that without really thinking about it.

Hmm...well, there you have it. Have you ever used free writing as a technique to get yourself writing? 

Keep your eyes peeled for our next episode coming soon...and don't forget, you can:

Find us on iTunes (...don't forget to subscribe)
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Believe it or not, it's a little bit pricey to run a podcast, so if you like what we're doing, or just fancy supporting us, you can make a small contribution by buying us a drink at "our pub"

See ya next time,
Marc x

Writing as a Distraction

We talk lots about being distracted from writing, but what if the writing is the distraction? I found this last month when I was faced with what is one of my greatest fears – being stuck in a metal tube high up in the sky for four hours.

That’s right, I hate flying. Although I have got a lot better over the years (I can now talk, eat and even read a bit while I fly), it is generally a nerve-wracking experience. I cope by drinking a few gin and tonics but if it gets a bit bumpy it’s hold-the-arm-rests-and-grimace time. Which is where I found myself in mid-August on the way to Gran Canaria with my lovely family.

It was my husband that suggested writing a blog while we flew. Reading wasn’t holding my attention and he really wanted to be taking photos out of the window instead of attending to his irrational wife. Luckily I always bring notebooks and pens for my son, so I had some to hand. And it was magic. I wrote a blog (which wasn’t that good so I am rewriting it here) then about 500 words of our novel. I had no notes or plot lines to look at it so it was a bit of a free writing experience. 

While I was writing furiously, my mind was taken off the evil flying experience.  Until the crew came round asking if I needed another G&T (the answer was yes, obviously). It was a strange thing, where normally we are fighting to write when we have other distractions, that writing was actually the distraction I needed.

I found out when I got back and put it online that we had actually covered the scene before but I liked what I wrote so I gelled it together. I was able to fill out the scene with a bit more detail and bring it in with the other plot lines and character developments we have been working on through the podcast.

So there you go – Fear of flying? Travel with a notebook!

Taken just after we got off the plane - the relief!

Jen x

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Episode #3: Games to Help Character Development

Hello to you, dear POWer listeners,

It's us again, with another episode from the Proscrastinate or Write HQ. We play a little game in this episode and eva-reh-thang...

You can find our latest episode on iTunes. Yay!
or listen directly here...



Show notes:
We are Jenni and Marc. We have been friends for years. We’re writing a book…here’s the latest update on our writing adventure

This episode includes the following discussions:
- Writing to conquer phobias
- What we’ve been reading: The Decision (Penny Vincenzi), Secrets of a Happy Marriage (Kathy Kelly) and Tales From the Dance Floor (Craig Revel Horwood...pssst this title is currently FREE on amazon kindle unlimited) ...Craigy boy...oh yeah!
- We explore another character of ours, Niamh (and compare her to Italian biscuits)
- We talk about resources online to support writers, such as wrightingwords.com
- We play a game to help get to know our characters, using this resource specifically: wrightingwords.com/writing-starters << This link is also great for anyone with Writer's Block!

Things we’ve learnt in this episode:
- Drinking and podcasting isn’t always a good combo, upon closer research, it turns out that Ben Price went into Coronation Street in 2009, not this year …who knew?
- If you like listening to us, you can even buy us a beer, if you fancy.

Today’s management meeting is supported by red, red wiiiine.

Find us:
Follow us on twitter: @POWpodcastUK
Email us at: powpodcastuk@gmail.com

Music:
"Clap Your Hands" by Scott Holmes

Please like and rate our podcast. The both of us really appreciate all your lovely support.



Cheers,
Jen and Marc xx