Author diaries

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17 December 2003 Entry: "Christmas and all that"

I am starting to wonder at the insanity of Christmas cards. Not the ones that we send to people that we don't see, but the way that when I arrive at work in the morning, there are cards waiting for me on my keyboard from people who work beside me. In our little office of PR & Communications we agreed not to send cards to anyone else in the building. It feels a bit bah humbug but so far we're sticking to it...
Two weeks ago today was my graduation. A really lovely celebration, even with the lack of sleep when Jamie missed his Tuesday night flight from Aberdeen. Of course, that meant us ringing him at 4am to make sure he got the morning one. Still, he arrived on time and joined us all. Five of us graduated with MA in Writing Poetry so Heather, Jeanne, Catherine and Anna, thanks for helping to make it a great experience.
My writing for stage course at Live Theatre has ended and I've learned a lot. Hopefully before Christmas I'll find time to look over the play I wrote about six weeks ago and see where it can be improved. I also entered a short play for the Christmas Short Cuts at Live on Sunday. If you're thinking of writing for the stage, then look out for the next one in the summer. It's a great opportunity to hear actors reading your work, and also seeing how an audience react. This is the first time I've tried one with some humour in it, so I was really pleased when people laughed at the right bits.
I am working on a short story at the moment which has involved some research. Even although most of it won't come out in the story, I think knowing about the subject is important. For instance, this story involves someone having an operation and I needed to know where the scar would be. I read an interview with Ian Rankin today which said that he does very little research, just enough for the reader to feel it's authentic.
Good news on the poetry front with several being accepted for publication, so 2004 will see my work published in Coffee House magazine, Rain Dog, Mslexia and the next New Writing Scotland anthology.
Got a phone call from Mslexia asking all those weird and wonderful questions about what helps or hinders my writing. Last time I said one of the things that stopped me from writing was trying to match all the odd socks that lie around our house. This time - well, you'll have to buy Mslexia in January to find out!