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I am an aspiring writer living and working in Hull. I working on a novel, as well as writing short stories to keep my writing skills fresh. I decided to start a writing blog to connect with other writers. So please, take a look around and leave some comments - I'd love to read some of your writing blogs too. Nari X

Saturday 12 February 2011

Giggles, Shanequa and Sneaky Drafting...

Russell Howard

What a funny little man. Definitely worth the £30 ticket just to see his lovely pink thong. That, my friends, is dedication to comedy.  He was ace. If you are thinking of going to see him anytime soon, definitely do - I haven't laughed so hard since, well, since Ross Noble to be honest. I'd say that's a big compliment to Russell Howard. Rob and I both couldn't stop smiling the whole weekend. Imagine having a job like that - where your job description is purely based on cheering people up and making people smile. Perhaps it is escapism, and I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with that. Because we'd never get anywhere as a country if we were all always miserable, which seems to be the case these days. Lets all cheer up a bit, agreed? 

The other thing that's making me smile this week is about two inches long, orange, and currently rearranging her gravel. My friend Samm is a fish enthusiast and has had this little Cichlid for a while now. He began to resent her after she killed her sister, but noticed how fond of her I was becoming. One day a few weeks back, he offered to give her to me for free, because he derived that I loved her more than he did. She moved in with me just two days ago and is settling in very well :). She woke me up this morning by throwing her gravel at the walls. Her name is Shanequa, and I'm very pleased that she likes it in my room. I'm afraid she's quite camera shy, so I will post a photo when I can sneak one of her.

  
So I finally renewed my subscription to Writers' Forum a couple of weeks ago, and with the forwarding service my two wonderful parents have in place for me, I have received not only March's issue, but February's as well. So I have a lot of catching up to do. A Facebook friend had mentioned to me that there was a response to my letter in the March edition, so naturally, I flipped right to it. It seems my idea of shameless plugging has caught on. That makes me happy, but remember, you heard it here first. I hope to respond to this letter in time for the next edition, so keep an eye out.  

In writing news, I'm afraid I don't have much. It's been all go on the wedding front these past few weeks, but now I have my beautiful Nokia E5 working again (after 3 replacements, it turned out it was the battery all along, which they insisted I keep each time), I am able to edit on the bus and such. I know, whatever happened to a good old fashioned pen and paper? That's fine for first drafts, but when I've got so much to work with, it's difficult not having it in front of me. That said, though, when my colleagues are out at lunch I have been known to be scribbling ideas on scrap paper. It's just finding the time to write them up which I'm struggling with.

Still, the more time I spend here worrying about it, the less time I spend writing, so I shall keep this entry short and sweet. 
One final thing, though, relating to my last entry on the use of profanity in a story; I'm still reading The Book Thief (I know, get a move on), and there is little profanity in this book. However, there is a high use of the phrase 'Jesus, Mary and Joseph' as a curse, and other variations of the sentiment, which actually bothers me far more than the F word would. Swearing is one thing, but the use of names in this way is a bit far, I think. 

Anyway, have a good weekend :)




3 comments:

  1. Sounds like you have been having a lot of fun. In the book thief I think the words Saumensch, Saukerl and Arsloch could count as profanity if you consider their translations from the German. The "Jesus Mary and Joseph" is a term I've encountered several times from books and television programmes about this period. There's probably modern equivalents we use now that are more shocking (but perhaps not so casually blasphemous).

    I hope you enjoy the end of the book, and I can't wait to see photos of Shanequa! :D

    HC xx

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  2. Hi Nari.
    Pleased you enjoyed Russell. I'm a big fan of the stand up comic's observational humour. Lee Mack is my top bloke at the moment, though I'm sure that's got something to do with his writing ability and the series, 'Not Going Out'. Billy Connolly, being a fellow Glaswegian was top dog with me for years, but sadly he has now become what he made his name taking the mickey out of...
    In my military career I have to admit that blasphemy was the most likely means of cursing and I mean by most people. When you're stuck in the middle of the woods entangled in a camouflage net, in the dark the 'f' word just doesn't seem to help.
    On editing... I carry a small notebook EVERYWHERE so even if I remember something I've written and it's playing on my mind I make a note to go back over it. Having said that I'm so pleased to see the worry it causes you, because that shows how seriously you take your writing.
    Till we meet again, take care.

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  3. I think sometimes people subconsciously blaspheme to avoid swearing. A writer who may not necessarily swear or blaspheme in his or her own day to day life may fall into this trap whilst writing in character. Perhaps the writer should question whether or not the character would speak like this out of habit, or used restraint to avoid profanity. Then perhaps the writer should ask him/herself whether or not he or she is the one how is holding back.
    Looking forward to seeing Shanequa x

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