Jigsaw and Birdsong

Wow!  I've only written one entry and about nine friends have shown up already! Fantastic. Thank you Steph for the lovely mention! It has to be said, so far I prefer LJ it to MySpace. I did start a MySpace page, but it was mysteriously deleted for (as far as I could see) no reason whatsoever. When I emailed them to ask why, they told me that I may have breached one of about a thousand rules. Fine, but WHICH ONE? Tell me so I don't do it again! But they didn't. So that was a little frustrating. Anyway, it just strikes me as being rather more user friendly here.

It has been a gorgeous day, despite threats of rain. It seemed to me the leaves were awfully late coming out this year, but maybe I think that every year... I'm so desperate to see the new greenery that I expect all the trees to spring forth on the 1st of April, but it's closer to May before they really get going. Spring is my favourite time of year. I like autumn too... transitional times. And apparently it's 'dawn chorus weekend'! I shan't be heading out into the countryside at 5am, but if I manage to wake up that early I will open my window and lie there listening to the birds going at it in full force.

This morning I went to a yoga class with my mum, and the rest of the day I have been doing housework. It had to be done because, excitingly, I've got a friend coming to stay tomorrow for a few days. She's a writer too, which means we can share the chapters we're working on, give mutual feedback, and just spend as long as we like chatting about writing, reading, ideas, etc etc.. Luxury. I've been very lucky over the years to find a handful of friends who are on a similar wavelength, writing-wise. It's enormously helpful to bounce ideas off each other, especially when you're stuck on something.

My dad used to do a jigsaw every Christmas (er, a different one, not the same one every year...) and while he was working on it, every time I entered the room he would always gesticulate at the half-finished puzzle and say, 'It needs a fresh eye.' Every single time! But he was right and it's the same with writing. It needs a fresh eye. In fact the 2 outlines I'm working on emphatically need it, as I try to shape them from a sprawling mess to something that makes some kind of sense...

Mike (my hubby) although generally wonderful, is not always totally helpful when it comes to working out plots. 'Have someone burst in with a machine gun and kill them all,' he will cheerfully suggest. So I'm very excited at the prospect of sharing problems with my friend who is likely to suggest something rather more, er, constructive!