Other People's Goals and Resolutions

At the moment my hand is strapped up due to an injury, and because of that I've had to cut back on computer time. I had planned on spending a lot of the holidays writing so I was a little put-out by this (as you can guess!) However, on the positive side I've been able to read my way through a significant portion of the Leaning Tower of Pisa that is my to be read pile.

Keeping away from the computer means I haven't read quite as many online articles and blogs as I usually do, but I've noticed a recurring theme in those I have read. The theme is hardly surprising given the time of year. You've guessed it - goals and resolutions.

The ones I've read have been very realistic and helpful on the subject, and because I can't spend too long typing one-handed I thought I'd share a few of the links with you.

How to keep your writing going - Dean Wesley Smith

Find balance over your years, not your days - Raptitude 

Create an Action-Packed New Year - James J. Murray 

New Year Resolutions for Self-published Writers - The Alliance of Independent Authors

All ahead for a productive, but most importantly, happy time.

Now for a bit of shameless self-promotion - if your taste in reading is romantic suspense then Driftwood is free at the moment on Amazon.

The last person Juliet expects to meet on a work trip is Luke. She has changed her name and worked hard to ensure he wouldn't find her, but now he is back in her life again. Is it chance, or something more sinister?

Juliet has secrets she needs to keep hidden, but Luke wants to renew their relationship. After meeting him incidents occur that make her fear the unthinkable. Her life may be in danger.

She leaves Auckland for Sydney on a business trip, but Luke appears there. Can she trust him, or are his secrets more dangerous than the ones she hides.

Secrets and lies can be a killer.

Words and Pictures

At the moment we have a friend from England staying with us. This is his first visit to New Zealand, and we are enjoying the opportunity of showing him the local sights as well as places further afield we love to visit. One of the great things about doing this is that it makes you look at familiar places as if you’ve never seen them before.

Last week we spent a few glorious days in Sydney, and it was great to look at this city we love as if it was our first visit.

We took lots of photos – although we already have plenty! 

There is a saying that a picture paints a thousand words, but words can also paint magical pictures.

About half of Driftwood is set in Sydney and while I haven’t experienced any of Juliet’s problems or had someone try to kill me, there are a number of elements and snatches of scenes included in the book that are places I’ve visited or things I’ve seen. When I read those scenes it brings back the incident I witnessed, or alternatively, when I visit a place I’ve included in Driftwood it reminds me how I used it in Juliet’s story.

Alex takes Juliet to dinner in Darling Harbour – this is a favourite spot of mine and while the restaurant they visited doesn’t exist, there are heaps of good places to eat in Darling Harbour.

In another scene Juliet watches a street entertainer in Circular Quay – I’ve since cut back this description, but the little I’ve left reminds me of his act and I can still see him clearly.

One of the chapters ends with Juliet watching a bride and groom in the gardens close to the Opera House. I watched the couple I describe posing for their wedding photographs by the harbour, and I sometimes wonder where they are now, and hope they are as happy as they were that day.

The New Zealand sections of Driftwood are set in Auckland, Christchurch and the Tasman area at the top of the South Island.

Juliet’s view from her home of the Auckland Harbour is the one we had at the time I was writing the book. The scenes set in Christchurch are ones I remember vividly, and with great sadness, as some of the places were badly damaged in the earthquake in 2010 and the severe aftershock in February 2011.

The Nelson and Abel Tasman areas of the South Island are outstandingly beautiful and we’ve spent many happy holidays exploring the beaches and walking the tracks through the National Park.

If you’re interested in seeing some of the places, I’ve been working on a board using photographs I’ve taken during visits, and I’ll be adding more images over the coming weeks.

The Sound of Thoughts

I received an email from a friend this morning. It had eight or nine photos of groups of people in various locations – sitting in a café, a restaurant, by a beautiful painting in a museum, at the beach, at a game, driving around the city in a convertible.  The point of similarity in each of the photos was that everyone was totally absorbed in their phone. 

The quote at the end of the email said, "I fear the day when the technology overlaps with our humanity. The world will only have a generation of idiots." Albert Einstein.

I’ve been away for a few days in Sydney - a mixture of work and fun. Sydney has a population of approximately 4.6 million people compared to Auckland at 1.5 million, and as I mostly work from home and live in a sleepy coastal suburb, I really notice the difference in pace and energy in my surroundings.

I love visiting Sydney for this vibrant, enthusiastic atmosphere, and it gives the writer in me an opportunity to people watch and listen to snippets of conversation.

I think you can tell a lot about a city by watching the residents early in the morning. At Circular Quay people exit the ferries from suburbs on their way to work. The weather was hot and sunny while I was there, and what better way to get to work than by cruising past the Harbour Bridge and Opera House on a ferry. Walking across Anzac Bridge from Darling Harbour another morning, people were walking, jogging and running to work.  The monorail runs above the bridge and later in the day (when it was close to 30 degrees) the only shade on the bridge was immediately under the monorail. There was a trail of people (myself included), like a line of schoolchildren following their teacher, walking across the bridge in this sliver of shade.

One of the things I noticed is how plugged in we are. On the city streets during the peak commuter times the majority of people wore headphones, and the same was true of most people at any time on the underground. I like to listen to music on noisy flights, and I need music with a good beat when I’m running (it’s the only thing that keeps me going!), but I also love going for walks with just my thoughts as company, and I wonder in all this world of noise we have, whether we’re losing the capacity to enjoy quiet times.

Perspective and Being Too Tightly Zipped

I've just spent a few great days in Sydney. Your thoughts on that statement will probably vary depending on what part of the world you live in. Sydney is just under four hours flying time from Auckland, and is one of our closest destinations. Although that's further than Paris is from London (for example), it's a popular place to visit for a short trip from New Zealand.

I love visiting Sydney, and have considered moving there on a few occasions, though the things I love about it are some of the things that put me off moving there. It's a vibrant, busy, bustling city, and these days I prefer the quieter life.

There is a popular quote that says travel broadens the mind, but does it?

I think that if we have an open mind to begin with, then travel will challenge our assumptions, and give us new ideas and views of people and cultures. While it possibly won't change our beliefs, it should give us greater tolerance for others. But, and this is a big but, we have to have the right frame of mind, and a willingness to change our perspective.

My mother always said that some people were too tightly zipped into their own skin to look at situations from a different perspective, and unfortunately that's still true.

I believe that as people there is more that makes us similar, than makes us different.

I stood for a few minutes enjoying a view within listening distance of a French family. The parents were with their youngest child, who was about three, while two older boys played with a ball. The mother said something, and the three-year-old replied with, 'Pourquoi?'

My school French managed to make our most of the mother's answer, and again the child replied with the one word. This went on for a few minutes until the mother gave up, and passed the conversation onto the father, and I moved away smiling.

Pourquoi is French for why, and I'm sure every parent has had more than one why conversation with a toddler. They can seem never ending when you're in the middle of one!

The ferry trips across the harbour to Manly were lovely, and even at night it was pleasant to sit outside and watch the city lights.  The gardens and park along from the Opera House were filled with hyacinths and tulips, as it is a good 4-5 degrees warmer than here in Auckland, but it made me realise that Spring is just around the corner.

It's all about perspective.

Sydney

I've spent an interesting few days this week in Sydney, a city I love visiting.  It's vibrant, and even though the downside of that is that it's busy, everyone I've come into contact with has been friendly.  Although the city covers a large area it has a real heart, which is something many cities lack.

There are some beautiful parks (reserves) and gardens, and I spent a happy couple of hours wandering around the botanical gardens early morning when it was still fresh enough to enjoy.  One of the things you couldn't help but notice is the abundance of jacaranda trees in bloom.  They are stunning with their beautiful blue/purple flowers.

Although it's early spring it is significantly more hot and humid than Auckland at present, and there was a spectacular lightning storm on Tuesday evening while I was on the ferry to Manly.

Using the underground/rail system so much over the past few days I've really noticed the number of people using iPads and Kindles etc. to read. 

The underground seems to have a life and culture of its own.  It certainly has its own weather system with hot breezes that appear to come from nowhere.  The London underground is great and I enjoy using that, but some of the stations in the Sydney system have taken things to a whole new level, or should that be depth.  Getting out at Town Hall you can go above ground to the stores, or wander the underground labyrinth of shops.  I find it amazing how you can stroll along window-shopping and find yourself in the basement of the QVB (Queen Victoria Building) without going near street level.

What has this got to do with writing I hear you ask.  Not a lot, except I sat in a café in the lovely QVB and wrote this while enjoying an iced drink and resting.  A number of years ago I used a weekend trip to Sydney as an opportunity for research as I set part of Driftwood in Sydney.

In my first drafts I tend to do a lot more scene setting and description than is needed, and consequently a lot of it is cut in later drafts.  It makes for pleasant travelogues, but doesn't move the plot forward.  The same happened with Lives Interrupted.  I deleted chunks I had enjoyed writing from my research when in London.

It's a fine line between setting the scene and boring the reader, hopefully I haven't bored you with this little travelogue, sorry post!