Last of the Wilds

I came across a new term the other day (new to me at least), which was blogosphere.  Thus, I made it my aim to work that word into a sentence in this entry, and I have, as unsubtly as a large brick with the word BRICK painted on it in luminous pink letters which has just come through your window.  If that did actually happen when you read that, it’s because I’m psychic.  If it didn’t, it’s because I ran out of paint.  Ahem…

I feel I should apologise for this week and a bit of silence, things have been busy recently and my usual “blogging” time has been taken over by sleep for the most part, so I’m writing this a bit earlier than usual.  Who knows, it might actually maintain coherence for a change.  Could be hoping for too much there though.  Coherence and a typing speed faster than my mind works generally don’t really mix together well.  My thought processes only kick in after I’ve written something, by which time my fingers are writing something else leaving my mind playing catch-up.  I suppose it’s not a bad way of doing things, but it doesn’t leave much room for error since, if I make a mistake or realise that I didn’t quite word that correctly, I know that if I stop typing, I’ll lose the flow of what I was writing altogether and I end up thinking about that mistake so much that I end up writing a really, really long sentence while my mind works to reach a point I can stop and go back over it.  A good example being that last sentence (though that second ‘really’ was unnecessary and over-accentuated the point I wanted to get across).

The source of my busyness over the last week has been mainly getting application forms for Masters courses put together.  I’ve also managed to get a volunteer position in Oxfam (I won’t call it a job, because the only pay I get from it is for transport costs).  They were looking for “computer-literate” volunteers, so I went in and immediately thought I knew why.  I was greeted by two ladies who were struggling to operate the till, and was quite surprised to learn when I asked about the position that till operation wouldn’t be a part of it.  I would in fact be spending my time upstairs cataloguing things for the shop’s webshop.  After talking with the manager for a few minutes, I almost laughed when he said that they would soon be installing a new till system.  As if the staff didn’t have enough to worry about already.  I retained the laugh though, and merely responded with an interested-sounding “Really?”

The hunt goes on for paid work.  I’ll definitely need something to alleviate the added debt I’ll be getting into going back to university (fingers crossed I do actually go back).  The problem is, until I know for sure whether or not I get onto one of the courses I’ve applied for, I don’t know if I can make commitments to any long-term employment contracts or graduate schemes.  So it’s looking as though I’ll have to wait to hear back from the universities before I decide where I want my career to go next.  In the meantime, any part-time, even full-time work, is… I want to say welcome, but that’s not quite the word I’m looking for.  Never mind, it’ll have to do.  I’ll probably think of the word in about two hours time and wonder why it took me so long to come up with it.  If anyone reading knows the word I wanted, feel free to let me know or have a guess at what it was.

It seems strange, but I’ve only really just discovered the best place in my room for me to write, which is lying on my sofa, head near the radiator, laptop in my lap and my PC playing music in the background.  I guess it’s because it’s just easier to type like this rather than sitting at my desk.  It’s certainly more relaxed at least.  I’m hoping this recent discovery will further the production of my novel.  Yes, though I haven’t mentioned it yet, I am writing a novel.  It’s been in the workings for about six years now and I’ve finally got the plot worked out for the prologue.  The trouble I’d been having with it was that a) the information gleaned from it wasn’t really necessary to the rest of the book, and b) it didn’t go anywhere, nothing lead on from it, nothing really came of it.  So now I’ve got the plot leading somewhere, and the information gathered from it is vital to the rest of the book.  Now all I have to do is get the thing finished so I can pick up where I left off, somewhere in chapter 5.  Though, having changed so much in the prologue, there are a few things in the main storyline that now don’t quite fit, that need tweaking or just taken out altogether.  It might take a while, but I’ll get it sorted eventually.  Hopefully, I’ll also be able to get my act together to enter into a short story competition this year.  If my prologue falls within the word limits, it could possibly act as an entry.  I suppose that will depend on whether or not it can stand up on its own.  We shall see.