procrastination – T E Shepherd https://shepline.com author | illustrator | digital designer Wed, 10 Apr 2013 10:41:08 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.4 https://shepline.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/cropped-shepline-white-on-green-square_512-32x32.jpg procrastination – T E Shepherd https://shepline.com 32 32 Writing Week: Day Four https://shepline.com/2010/04/01/writing-week-day-four/ https://shepline.com/2010/04/01/writing-week-day-four/#respond Thu, 01 Apr 2010 20:42:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/writing-week-day-four/ I woke int day four of my extended Easter holidays and writing week with the kind of sunny morning that I had been hoping for all week. Blue sky and sunshine definitely put in the music for getting up, for buying daffodils and baking Easter biscuits. All of which I have done. I also finished off my project in the garage by sorting out the boxes of miscellaneous kitchen things into things for the charity shop.

It is of course 1 April and thus the day for April Foolery. Strangely and bizarrely I caught some people out even after I preceeded the Fool with the fact that I was useless at thinking up fools and and this was my best attempt?!! Me not understand…

All of this of course has resulted in much procrastination from the job at hand. But I have written a couple more pages and got a bit further into the head of Louis Tumnal. The springtime weather soon deserted us and descended into wind and rain and driving cold. If I was still writing The End of All Worlds it would be just the kind of weather to inspire me but Mr Tumnal requires a quieter kind of weather, late summer evenings with a warmth in the air, and an edge to the wind.

]]> https://shepline.com/2010/04/01/writing-week-day-four/feed/ 0 Writing Week: Day One https://shepline.com/2010/03/29/writing-week-day-one/ https://shepline.com/2010/03/29/writing-week-day-one/#respond Mon, 29 Mar 2010 21:55:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/writing-week-day-one/ Writing Week, was always going to be filled with a certain amount of procrastination and non-writing. This was further made a certainty, when last week, upon trying and failing to go through into the garage to get hay for the bunnies I discovered that the reason for me finding my way blocked was because half the floor to ceiling shelves in the garage had fallen, fairly spectacularly off the shelves, sending a fishtank and a printing press flying (both have miraculessly survived. Emma’s potting up bucket, sadly did not fair so well as it was this that broke the fall of the above mentioned objects. It could have been worse – the chest of drawers of lead type acted as an imoveable object, past which no shelves could pass.

So writing week was always going to involve a certain amount of DIY. Also, its hard to hide oneself away in one’s book-lined study and write when it was Emma’s day off today. So today I had a nice time with her, going over to see ‘Grannie’, having lunch at Ask in Amersham and browsing the secondhand/antique shops in Chesham. Then this evening, in a timeslot that would normally be devoted to cooking spaghetti carbonara, I finished off and put up the two new shelves in the book-lined study to make the study even more book-lined.

Tomorrow, I will definitely write something, Although those garage shelves really do need some attention…

]]> https://shepline.com/2010/03/29/writing-week-day-one/feed/ 0 The pen; just beyond my reach https://shepline.com/2009/11/15/the-pen-just-beyond-my-reach/ https://shepline.com/2009/11/15/the-pen-just-beyond-my-reach/#respond Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:34:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/the-pen-just-beyond-my-reach/ I’ve been yearning all weekend to sit down with my pen and my book and write more of Mr Tumnal’s story, and yet I haven’t quite got there. I haven’t wasted time, far from it (see my earlier post), its just that these things all needed to be done, and yes, I also wanted to do those things and it has been very nice and I’ve had a very nice time of it, but it has distracted me from my aim and my goal, and my story.

Partly, it has to be said, I’m a bit scared of the next section that I have to write; I’m scared that I won’t do it justice. Louis has just met Kathryn at the photography summer school. He is nervous and inward and finds it difficult to handle meeting new people (all things that I know about expertly! *grins*) and so through their awkward conversation some kind of friendship has to grow. Kathryn is after all the girl to blow appart the imaginary life of Mr Tumnal. The conversation, the photography lesson, that I have to write now, is one of the key early scenes in this book…

I’m scared.

]]> https://shepline.com/2009/11/15/the-pen-just-beyond-my-reach/feed/ 0 Procrastination is thy name https://shepline.com/2008/01/23/procrastination-is-thy-name/ https://shepline.com/2008/01/23/procrastination-is-thy-name/#respond Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:24:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/procrastination-is-thy-name/ I have plans. Every day I have plans. I go through these plans on the bus back to the car, and whilst driving home, of how I’m going to do this, and do that, and get that done. And then, I get home, and suddenly I haven’t done these things and its way past bedtime and I’ve seemingly wasted yet more time doing nothing more than playing Spider Solitaire on the computer. I want to finish my novel, so that I can start working on (The Curious Tale of) Mr Tumnal. I want to do so many things.

]]> https://shepline.com/2008/01/23/procrastination-is-thy-name/feed/ 0 That moment between dreaming and waking https://shepline.com/2007/03/04/that-moment-between-dreaming-and-waking-2/ https://shepline.com/2007/03/04/that-moment-between-dreaming-and-waking-2/#respond Sun, 04 Mar 2007 23:55:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/that-moment-between-dreaming-and-waking-2/ 1. It’s funny, that moment in the morning, just before you wake. I was dreaming a story, and I was dreaming the actual process of writing it down choosing the words, as it was being ‘acted’ out in front of me in my mind. And then, *snap* and I’m awake and even before I can grab my Moleskine from the bedside table but the story is drifting off. Damn I wnat that story back…

2. Procrastination big time today. I’m not entirely sure how it happened. I certainly didn’t intend to do it when I got up this morning, but I redecorated three walls of my bathroom. I have been meaning to for a while, and it does look so much better, and cleaner and brighter, but why today? Why on earth, today? Will have to go out and buy another tin of paint now to finish it off… 😉

3. I’m thinking of getting some new foam for the cushions on the sofa. They’ve not been done for a while and they are probably a bit thin now. Edit: Actually, it may well be 20 years since they were last done!

4. Finished editing down part two, chapter one of my novel. Hopefully it still reads tighter and sharper. Hopefully also, I will have learnt something from the recent crits I’ve had for earlier chapters.

]]> https://shepline.com/2007/03/04/that-moment-between-dreaming-and-waking-2/feed/ 0 If one could do a degree procrastination… https://shepline.com/2006/09/05/if-one-could-do-a-degree-procrastination/ https://shepline.com/2006/09/05/if-one-could-do-a-degree-procrastination/#respond Tue, 05 Sep 2006 23:32:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/?p=1426 This post from a little under a year ago, just about sums things up.

 
 

]]> https://shepline.com/2006/09/05/if-one-could-do-a-degree-procrastination/feed/ 0 Procrastination? Me? Never…! https://shepline.com/2005/09/20/procrastination-me-never/ https://shepline.com/2005/09/20/procrastination-me-never/#respond Tue, 20 Sep 2005 22:42:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/?p=1152 Sat down to write my novel today, fired up Word, went Ctrl+End’ed to the place, and… phoned my Mum for five minutes to pass on a message. I made the ‘mistake’ of sitting down on the sofa, and so Pepper got up immediately, padded around, and settled down, comfortable-like on my lap. I could have turfed him out and got back straight back to the words, those many words. But I didn’t. I phoned Iain and Linzi. I haven’t spoken to them in an age, and it quite took Linzi by surprise when she answered the phone to me. In the end we were on the phone for well over an hour, and had a good catchup.

By the time I got off the phone, the opening 10,000 words of a friend’s novel had turned up, and enticed me to read that, and good though that it is, it’s not writing, so I had to tear myself away from it, and now I’m writing this, and I’m still not writing my novel and now it’s gone half past ten and it’s getting on for bedtime…

]]> https://shepline.com/2005/09/20/procrastination-me-never/feed/ 0 Time was, when I was writing a novel… https://shepline.com/2005/08/27/time-was-when-i-was-writing-a-novel/ https://shepline.com/2005/08/27/time-was-when-i-was-writing-a-novel/#comments Sat, 27 Aug 2005 21:29:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/?p=1117 Do you remember me saying that was writing a novel? Bloody Fire I think it was called – no wait – Blood and Fire. Yes, that was it, do you remember? It’s all coming back to me now … I think I last wrote something in it on the flip side of the summer, back in the days when the days were lengthening, when the summer flowers were still buds in the minds eye and the media were talking up a heat wave…

Seriously? I haven’t really forgotten about it. Just that life seems to be have been getting in the way of constructive progress. Life? That thing that happens to you when you are making other plans – as they say. Well, I dug it out again today. Sent off a revised chapter to Helen, who was very, very naughty and put aside the writing of her own novel to read mine. Apparently it’s not half bad. Well that’s encouraging. And now I remember it, no, it ain’t half bad. I really ought to get back to it, get a move on, and finish it, so that finally, everyone can enjoy it!

In short, the procrastination must end…

THE PROCRASTINATION MUST END!!

]]> https://shepline.com/2005/08/27/time-was-when-i-was-writing-a-novel/feed/ 1 And I was going so well… https://shepline.com/2004/03/24/and-i-was-going-so-well/ https://shepline.com/2004/03/24/and-i-was-going-so-well/#comments Wed, 24 Mar 2004 23:44:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/?p=470 Curse other responsibilities! Past two nights, my writing has been going great guns, but tonight I had the band cds to finish sorting out ready to sell at the concert on Saturday, and I had to chase, and re-chase, and chase again the damn chairman for the list of performers that he said he would get to me a week ago so that I can finalise the programme. Honestly why can’t people do the jobs they are supposed to do and the tasks they going to. It shouldn’t be my job to chase up someone else’s work when they are twice my age and the chair of the committee…

It all eats into valuable writing time, and now my washing machine has broken… *rants off into the distance*

I’m going to bed!

]]> https://shepline.com/2004/03/24/and-i-was-going-so-well/feed/ 1 #Disiscussion: Helen vs. Troll Council (trying to make sense of it all) https://shepline.com/2004/01/16/disiscussion-helen-vs-troll-council-trying-to-make-sense-of-it-all/ https://shepline.com/2004/01/16/disiscussion-helen-vs-troll-council-trying-to-make-sense-of-it-all/#respond Fri, 16 Jan 2004 21:48:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/?p=352 Tess: Dont you have a book to write?
Thomas: I do.
Tess: Or as my dad would have said, “Dont you have homework to do?”
Thomas: I was hoping that some of your *enlightment* might seep down the broadband pipe…
Tess: Well, you’re welcome to pose problems at me
Tess: I’ll go “hmm” and you’ll suddenly see the answer.
Thomas: Well it’s the troll council you see…
Thomas: …they’ve noticed a *shift* in their world, something in our world is putting theirs out of kilter.
Tess: ah yes
Tess: Is this like an Entmoot?
Thomas: In truth it’s the pathetic capitalist scientists building the Magmatic Alcoa Plant that’s breaking apart the bridge – the bifrost
Thomas: but I can’t reveal that here, in chapter two.
Thomas: so they have to think it’s something else.
Thomas: They inlist Helen to do something in her world that will help them
Thomas: and in return they will send her home
Thomas: but what do they need her do, and what do they think it will do/stop doing?
Thomas: ggrrrr
Tess: ooh
Tess: in return they’ll send her home? Sounds a little weak…
Tess: Could they have specifically called her ?
Tess: Wouldnt she help just because it’s right?
Thomas: Well it was Gangleri that sent her there.
Tess: hmm
Thomas: He is the God Odin, forced to walk the human world for eternity, but wants to be master of his old kingdom – he needs things from both worlds
Tess: Well how are a bunch of meddling kids going to find out about this plant, and what can they do about it exactly?
Thomas: now you’re asking
Thomas: ooh, hang on…
Thomas: Gangleri knows about the plant
Thomas: well, everyone knows about the plant but he knows what they are *actually* doing with it…
Thomas: …everyone else just thinks it a regular plant
Tess: So is this an adventure story? meddling kids sneak into evil plant and find out secrets, then get caught/escape etc?
Thomas: He’s been in the mountains trying to find out more
Thomas: He gets Helen to help him stop the building of the plant supposably because he’s an environmentalist.
Thomas: It’s later that Helen discovers that he is himself this powerful God who wants to rule his domain again.
Thomas: Helen et al. switch alledgance to help the trolls who are the true guardians of nature.
Tess: Riiiight, so presumably these ancient powers dont really understand modern technology and dont know what the scientists are doing?
Tess: Is that Helen’s role? To infiltrate the evil plant and find out what’s going on?
Thomas: They just know that *man* is meddling in nature (what *man* doesn’t understand) again
Thomas: This is going to sound really bad…
Thomas: …but I hadn’t really got that far.
Thomas: I know how chapter 6 (last chapter) ends – comes round in a beautiful circle of story…
Tess: Annoying when ya cant fill in the gaps isnt it.
Thomas: Hang on…
Thomas: For Gangleri to regain his former power he needs the capitalists to succeed so far – but at the right time he needs someone to put a stop to it.
Thomas: Yes – Gangleri needs access to the Bifrost.
Thomas: He can’t do it himself, but in building the plant and destroying the bridge/Bifrost there will be opening when he can get through.
Tess: So what is it that Helen can do with the trolls help that Ganglieri needs to happen?
Thomas: That’s a good question to ask me, Tess.
Thomas: Is this too simple?
Thomas: coming now…
Tess: too simple? not at all
Thomas: Gangleri knows that the trolls will be concerned by threat to their world but won’t understand it, so he needs Helen to get their trust, so that she can learn to come and go from the world at will.
Thomas: When the time comes, Helen will be able to find the opening to the Bifrost and let Gangleri in.
Thomas: That’s what I was referring to.
Tess: Golly, sounds just like Tara and Dewer 🙂
Thomas: Err… is that good?
Tess: heh

Edit: If anyone feels like reading this stream of consciousness and can précis what I’ve come up with, I’d be interested in what you’ve made of it…?

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