Anna Aden Writes

Nation of the Great Unwashed and Smelly I had locked myself out, so Sis kindly drove over to give me my spare keys. Anyway after waiting for an hour (due to traffic, diversions and slow drivers - 10 milers in a 20 mile zone) she turned up. After Sis gave a run down of her journey she started on lockdown and  Nation of the Great Unwashed and Smelly, with most people working from home, it seems general hygiene standards may have dropped. Not that I noticed but then again I'm working from home....But apparently people aren't bathing or showering as much as they used it.  Soap manufacturers are probably fine because they'll sell more hand wash, so it's just different products will do well. Holiday Breaks Christmas  I took a walk and saw big Coz - got him a nice trendy (I think so) flat cap from Thomas Farthing. A classic wide fit, so I hope he likes it. I was doing the last of the shopping, not knowing what to get when the salesperson caught my eye, and I liked the way it f...

At times, it is difficult to know what to give an update on, and so times drag on, procrastination happens and I end up staring at a blank screen many a times. Also I've stopped keeping a journal or track of things that happen. So apart from the main one. Novel  So I finally completed the draft after three years! There are blog posts here about it and after a while it took so long, I just stopped writing about it. So it's just a draft but I'm happy it's finished and all that remains for me to do is some revisions. Not sure when as I'm taking a break now. Online Conferences  I went for another romance one in November and it was interesting. The focus was on the business of writing, and long term sustainability. I must admit, I have toyed with writing in the long term as a part time career but for the first time, I did the calculations and it didn't really add up to much considering the effort. So at the conference a presenter was talking about writer's earnin...

After nearly three years or so, I have finished my draft novel-in-progress. Not sure what happens next, but I'm taking a nice break of sorts.

 Novel-In-Progress & Writer's Block I'm now writing the final 25% part of the novel-in-progress draft. I've done one outline and why I thought it would be easy escapes me when this process has nearly taken me two years to get here. Actually, nearly two and half if you count the dithering about.  And a small fortune if you think of the editing courses, from Holly Lisle's  Edit Your Novel, Faber Academy's version of Edit Your Novel and finally Jericho's Writer's version of  Edit Your Novel. I guess I was looking for a simple solution and in the end I had to to what I was avoiding, and rewrite the story from scratch, and this I started in January 2020.  It was my mother who suggested, I actually had writer's block with this novel, and I agreed. I realised that during the Faber Academy course but I'd always wanted to go on the Jericho Writer's one so I signed up.  Writing though writing block has been a tough and boring and tedious process. Howev...

 Novel-In-Progress In the June update, I mentioned I was on a roll and writing on average about 10,000 words a month. Well, I managed less than half of that this month. Slightly disheartened until I did a year-on-year comparison with eh months - that is comparing June this year to June last year and I found the productivity was pretty much on the same level. This makes sense since I'm in the same job so the same work pressures as last year will be this year. All jobs have their busy periods etc. And If I think I write about 100,000 words a year, it pretty much an average of 8,000 -8,300 words a month, however some months will be more productive than others.  But on the whole it's going okay. I'm a bit exhausted from work and that will play into the writing since they are both mental activities.   The curious case of Mister Big Man Last month we covered Mister Big Man and how I'm fascinated but I've come to the conclusion that he's just an outer manifestation...

Another update, yay! I hope everyone is keeping well. Novel In Progress It seems I write an average of 10,000 words a month so I'm estimating another 40,000 words. This means I'm looking at an October finish. Let's make that November. It's going okay and a bit slow because I'm also doing some research so that slows down the pace. Saying this, I'm glad I'm past the midpoint and heading to the first crisis point.  Photography and Photoshop I had no real time for this.  Books I'm doing a YA Fantasy reading tour and up to now have read about five. They all tend to have the same baseline story and characters. I have plenty of books-in-the-pipeline and it is only after finishing the current one will I review the others.  A lot time ago, I did a children writing course so maybe this might be something I could do.  The curious case of Mister Big Man This is messy it is what it is. Mister Big Man knows everything but really knows nothing and opines at lot about s...

So far behind as it is the end of May and I'm just doing a review.  This picture was from Photoshop composite made up of three different pictures.  Changes to the Blog Google blogger has informed us bloggers that readers will no longer be receiving alerts so I'm tempted to move the blog to WordPress because this is nonsense. It's very poor service so I shall be changing at some point. Not now. I've been with blogger for years but in the time when communication is important, I think this is a very poor show so I shall be moving my blog to wordpress. Writing update This is going slowly as usual, and I'm now past the midpoint - half way - and working to one of the major events. Work is busy so this has been very slow.   Time management concept of Maybe List At the time, I was thinking about writing this blog, I discovered the concept of 'Maybe List' and this is where you have all your good ideas and things that might divert your attention. This is where I shall...

  This is one of the composites, I created in one of the courses. This was based on graphic design and I feel like an island floating in a new landscape. It is a composite of three images with a bit of blending.  This was from a boo Photoshop Composting I'm still finding my way with this, so I have the technical skills which I realise it a matter of masks and blending modes however the next thing is to keep on doing it until I learn the principles of graphic design. It's complicated to explain and I'm still finding my way but basically at some point I need to start doing my own stuff, and right now those images look a bit awkward until I get the design aspect right. It can be fun but also some aspects can be tedious and boring. And I guess it's a matter of keep on practice,  and I also want to get to the point, I can use my own pictures.  Writing  Going well and steady, nothing significant to report on that front. But I'm looking at a soft deadline of completing...

All's good. Ma and I have lost some weight but still soldiering on with this. Mainly because of underlying health issues especially during this of the pandemic. It is hard but  after a while it becomes habit though I've had about three burgers. One from Burger King - the Whopper and another from Leon, a vegan once called Sweet Carolina - some barbeque concoction and a final from a local cafe which was more bacon and avocado. However it' still managing with the calorie allocation, keeping a food dairy and weighing once a week. Shopping days are the worst because I buy more snacks on special order. Also boredom days since I haven't gone further than a couple of miles from home scene the pandemic started.  Novel-in-progress up date It's still slow or should I say I'm a slow writer so more or less in progress.  Time Management I've discovered the term gathering point. That's like stuff just hanging around waiting to be processed or put back. I guess from my ...

Photographing for Compositing in Photoshop by  Seán Duggan This is a linkedIn learning course, I've just completed with an instructor called Seán Duggan who is very popular and good. This is the second one of his courses I've taken, and I've found it's best just to keep on going until something sinks in. This is just my version of his exercise. In the first course, I was taking notes, but then I realised it was a matter of practice, which meant doing one course after another.   In the original exercise the model was standing on the rocks. I've just added a crypt, from a local part, then I've added more rocks to the picture.  This picture is from the same course but I decided to use a toy model which I took using my lighting cardboard studio, and then I just applied the techniques  in the class. As it can get boring just doing those exercises.  Eating Plan  My mother and I are on a meal plan, it's going to be a long term thing but so far she's lost...

Card box light Studio I finally made one with a panettone box, or Marks and Spencers veganettone box. It seemed straightforward on the youtube videos but as often the case was it wasn't. Unfortunately there is a problem with google blogger and my browser image upload so I can't show you my card board box studio but this is the box. And yes, I thought it tasted nice. I bought three of them, one for me, my mother and my sister. I sister wasn't impress, saying it was too sweet but I thought it was delicious. However there was a slight honey after taste, saying that it may be because I was judging it, rather than just eating. However its a winner for next year. Anyway, not to digress, after deciding to experiment using a smaller box. At first, I couldn't find my paper cutter and then after going to Ryanmans for essential items (as you do), they had sold out. Then I needed to get the lightening. I have one desk lamp but the bulb had gone, so since desk lamps bulbs  are essen...

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had a good and safe time, and we move another year into the decade of 2020. I spent my evening with a close relative since we are in the same 'bubble' though I did do a bit of social distancing and took a few precautions to wear a mask etc. The whole thing is really confusing in the UK but I social distance, wear a mask and since last March 2020, I've not travelled by public transport or gone out of my immediate area. I went to work once because I needed to pack up some stuff but it's pretty much just staying around my area. This has had an effect on my family bonding because I still haven't spend time with another relative but I guess video calls will have to do.  I've also started a new hobby, photography compositions or composting , and I'm going to start to look at creating composite fantasy pictures. It started because I wanted to learn to make my own romance covers but price of the course was prohibitive. Not only that,...