“So Helen? What’s all this moaning about being stuck home alone?” I hear you cry “Surely as you love writing then this is a blissful few days of space and time to write away to your hearts content?”
Well yes. I suppose I should be looking on the bright side. And most of the time I can. But it is amazing how isolating being stuck home alone with an injury is. When you have the flu/migraine/stomach bug (delete as applicable) your brain all but shuts down. You’re capable of sleep and …

It’s been two weeks and one day since I last blogged. Not that I haven’t had plenty to write about. Someone needs to create a psychic notebook that transcribes your thoughts into words on the page.
It’s been a busy couple of weeks and amongst everything else I had intended to update you on my writing and politics a bit earlier. I had a whole blog conjured up with my thoughts on Alice in Wonderland (in IMAX 3D of course and it was brilliant in my opinion!). There was ice skating, …

The decimal system has a lot to answer for. If we were based on a Octal system then I’m sure I wouldn’t have spent the past two days being quite as fed up. The first eight years of this decade were pretty great. There were lots of ups and downs, but the main thing was that I moved forward. Most significantly in terms of my mental health. Also with education and career. But the last two years of the decade haven’t been quite so fantastic thanks to one big bully. …

Continuing with the ‘Five…‘ theme today I decided to highligh five of the blogs I’ve written this year. I don’t think I’ll ever stop getting a buzz when people tell me they enjoy reading what I write. This year I’ve written about lots of different things, some better than others and some more popular from others. Even if I had no readers I would write, but it’s nice to know that people keep coming back… even my mum!
My blog moved to helenthornber.com on 15th March 2009. Since then I’ve had …

There are going to be a few changes to my blog over the next couple of months. To add to the blogs you enjoy I’ll be stretching my journalistic wings with a variety of monthly blogs in addition to my day to day ramblings.
Starting at the end of January 2010 I will be doing a monthly feature and I’d like to hear from you. If you (or anyone you know) would like to share your story the details and deadlines are below.
If you have a story to share send your …

A month of intensive writing unfortunately does not factor in a bout of illness. Last weekend I made up a good chunk of the NaNoWriMo I had fallen behind on and I was on track to get up to date. But on Monday I was feeling tired and grumpy and I only just managed to bash out 1000 words. That was followed by Tuesday when tiredness overwhelmed me, grumpiness increased and anything apart from sleep wasn’t on the cards. It went downhill from there. It turns out the tiredness and …

I’m getting back on track with NaNoWriMo, the word drought has ended and my neglected characters are being revived. The thing that is constantly amazing me about this process is the way my characters surprise me. They ask questions and go on tangents. They behave in ways I wouldn’t have even considered a couple of weeks ago. They are coming to life. The words may be crude and in desperate need of thesaurus, but the story is taking shape and the characters are becoming beings I enjoy working with. Sat …

Last year I spent Halloween dressed up as a witch, getting hideously drunk at a house party less than two weeks before I was leaving London. Though I had various leaving parties, this was the last time nearly all the people I’d moved to London with and a few I’d got to know along the way.

This Halloween will be considerably quieter and more sober, but hopefully just as significant. At midnight it will be November, and I will be writing the first few words of my NaNoWriMo novel. 50,000 words …

On Sunday I went along to see David Nicholls and Nick Hornby talk about their work and more specifically their latest novels. It was part of the Durham Book Festival. I can’t off the top of my head remember most of what they said, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, and felt more confident about my own writing endeavors as a result.
Something clicked on Sunday night which made me understand why I’m so adverse to joining a writing group, or share my work with other writers in general. I can’t put …

I’ve not been feeling great this weekend. Not properly ill, just a little under the weather. I think it’s the combination of shaking off the last of the tiredness from the past few weeks combined with my lack of exercise. With work being so busy last month the regular exercise came to a complete standstill. Considering how long it takes me to get into an exercise routine I now feel like I’m back to square one. I’m back to feeling unfit and lacking the motivation to move my backside and …

My blog has existed in various guises since 6th February 2007 but took a whacking fourteen month break before recommencing in October 2008 to make me determined that this time my blog was here to stay.  My 100th blog comes only days after the six month anniversary of it finding a permanent residence at helenthornber.com. In those six months I’ve entertained almost 2000 unique visitors from 55 countries. Not including anyone who reads this via Facebook. That is something I am very proud of.

On the 1st October it will be …

What do I want to do when I grow up? As I’ve navigated my way through life the answer to this has changed, but as time goes on it has become more specific and consistent. I want to work for myself, I want to work with people and I want to write.
There are becoming two strands to this, writing and business. This is where my wish list comes in. The things I’d love to be paid to do. The things I’d still want to do even if I won millions …

Then I will begin…
In The Writers Tale I mentioned (or rather I used Russell T Davies to illustrate) that there isn’t a particular way to write. In fact, despite me obsessing about having the right ‘voice’ for my stories, the story is the most important part.
Particularly Project No.2 I know I have a very strong story, and though no story is original, through research I’m fairly sure my story is different enough. And good enough to eventually be a popular piece of literature (for a couple of months at least).
Story …

Firstly the cold that was starting seems to have made a hasty retreat so I am very happy about this. I am in fact giving myself a pat on the back for doing things to stop it in it’s tracks. Such as getting to bed at a reasonable hour on a Friday night. And actually relaxing, stopping myself from thinking about the exciting things that are happening right now so I can sleep.
In the past it has been full steam ahead, no time for sleep. Exciting things being much more …

I wrote this blog to post yesterday, however by yesterday evening “winter” had set in. With the start of a cold, my stubbornness to not put the central heating on yet and tiredness from all the excitement of this week (it’s been a fantastic week personally and in work but VERY busy!) I ended up snuggling under a blanket and vowing to post in in my lunch hour today… so here it is!

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If I was excited about writing yesterday, I’m even more excited today. In fact my head is full …