It is just one of those things

I have put it off for far too long. I have to start making the changes to my novel. For some strange reason I am frightened. What if I mess it up more than fixing it? But who cares...right? It needs to be done and the changes will make it better. I just have to take it page by page. Chapter by chapter looks freakishly scary.

On the other note, my siblings finally bought a dishwasher. I hate doing dishes, so I told them if they bought the dishwasher, i would load it. Well, the dishwasher arrived last week, but none of the plumbers we called to install it has pitched. How anti-climactic. So now, we will just have to wait till next year. What is one more Christmas of hand-washing the dishes?

My computer has been acting up again. Icons flickering and my computer putting itself on after it has been turned off and all that nonsense, so my brother suggested wiping the hard-drive. That sounded really great in theory, but the computer won't let us format it's hard-drive, or allow us to enter it's BIOS so that we can boot the computer with the erasing software. Now we will have to take it to an expert to examine. With the computer acting up, I don't want to work on any projects in case the computer crashes, or if there is still malware on the pc. My computer and I have been together for more than 10 years and knowing that it is a 2003 XP, I just can't seem to muster up the courage to get rid of it.

What are you guys doing?

Check out The Fourth Wish

Lately I haven't had much to say or blog about. I guess I could just blame my lazy attitude on the fact that it's the holidays. But I'm still reading up on the many writing techniques, so I'm not completely lazy yet. 

You can get a free download of The Fourth Wish by Elizabeth Varadan on the 14-16^th of December over here. It is a great read for kids from 8-12 years of age, but if you are like me and would like to treat the inner child in you, why not check it out?

Insecure...or not? (IWSG)

I want to say a Big thank you to Alex and the IWSG team, who have been so wonderful this year and who have worked so hard. It has been really great being able to connect with other writers and share my insecurities and read/comment on theirs as well. The experience has really been life altering and a comfort. Thank you.

I have plenty of insecurities this month, mostly about my writing, but I am not going to talk about them. I am just going to accept that I need to work harder and rather worry about it all next year. For now, I just want to wish you all well. It has been fun this year and I hope that most of you will be feeling less insecure right now. If you are insecure, I am sending you a big virtual hug and hoping it all works out soon, so that you can feel better. If you are not insecure, I am sending you a big high five.

The Insecure Writers Support Group was created by the wonderfully talented Mr Alex J. Cavanaugh, so that writers could communicate to others the fears and insecurities that they might have. You can visit Alex Here, or if you want to join us in discussing our insecurities on the first Wednesday of each month, you are welcome to join by going Here.

Exciting day

Yesterday was quite an exciting day. I had quite a few driving challenges, but I made it through the day. I just took it really slow, ignoring the irritated drivers behind me and kept in my lane. Although my nerves kept chewing at my composure, I remained calm. If I panicked, my sister would have panicked too, as she is not used to people driving her around. Luckily my sister knew exactly where we had to go; it was just a matter of me never having driven there before.

I ended up spending most of the day in the car yesterday, taking my sister on unplanned errands, but it was all okay in the end. I didn’t have an accident, which I had dreaded, which is all that matters really. But let me tell you, I slept like a baby last night after all that driving. 

I get to drive

By Gerald_G

It has been an interesting few days. My brother is away at a conference for a few days and my one sister, the second best driver, has had an accident with her chef knife and now her hand is stitched up and in a sling, which means that I get to be the new number 1 driver for the family. I have to take my oldest sister to the train station in the mornings and fetch her at night, which I totally don’t mind. I think it’s great that I get to drive more. Usually I’m one of the last people they ask to drive. I guess what counts in my favor is that my mom doesn’t like driving anymore, so I got moved up in the ranks. I know it’s not something big to be excited about, but it’s a change.

My biggest driving challenge is going to be tomorrow when I have to drive my sister to Stellenbosch to have her hand re-examined. Now I have been to Stellenbosch a hundred times, great town, but I have never driven myself there before. Okay, there was that one time and I drove up the wrong side of a one-way street, but it wasn't my fault. There wasn’t a clear sign to tell me it was a one way street and the streets in Stellenbosch are really narrow and…Don’t worry, I will be fine. I will look at it as an adventure. Besides, it has given me something to blog about that isn’t depressing.  I will let you guys know how it went. 

Please stop the killing

(By Wj32 (talk · contribs) (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC-BY-SA-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Dear Mr/ Ms Poacher

Please stop killing and hurting innocent animals. They have done nothing to you. They were created just like we, humans, have been to roam this earth and they have the equal right to live, exist and be free. Please stop ruining our heritage. Stop killing our wildlife. Stop taking away our future. Stop ruining this planet. 

Please stop all the killing.

Murees Dupé

(By Dieu-Donné Gameli (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)

Not only is our planet dying, so are our wildlife. Wild animals are currently being poached to the point of extinction and soon the only way we will see a wild animal like the lion, elephant, rhino, etc, will be on the internet. Soon there will be nothing left for the future generation to enjoy. I don’t know about you, but to me that is tragic. In South Africa, my country, rhinos are being killed every few hours and it sickens me that more can’t be done by the government to protect these precious creatures. Today my world just seems a lot bleaker. 

Active voice is tough

Understanding something and actually doing it is a lot harder than one thinks. I know what active voice is. I have spent hours surfing the internet looking for great examples of what it should read and look like. Now, actually going back to my manuscript and re-writing everything in the active voice is not that easy. I know what I should do, but knowing how to do it is where it gets hard.

Examples of active voice:

•  I walked down the street. 
•  My dog ran away. 
•  I jumped rope today.

I know what I should do, but I don’t have a great understanding about what active voice really is and when I am using it. In certain instances, passive voice still sneaks in. I am not ashamed to admit it, but I am very slow on the uptake. I mean come on, correcting a bad habit is hell, but it doesn’t mean I won’t get it eventually. I just have to give myself the time to understand it properly. I have to accept and get over the fact that it might take me a while to learn all that I need to and I won’t be learning all of it in just a few days. What is my rush anyway?