Incidentals

Yesterday I spent another productive three hours in the Mitchell Library getting a lot of incidental stuff from the newspapers.  It's just as well that place doesn't charge admission.  It does charge for photocopies of newspaper articles though.  So far I'm up to twenty quid - but it's all good stuff.

I found out about another funeral which thousands of Glaswegians lined the streets for so I had to do a bit of research.  In 1960 there was a fire in a whisky bond in Cheapside Street, Glasgow and 19 firemen were killed in the line of duty.  Now that I know about these funerals I can use them as a comparrison to Liptons.  This is how things seem to be going at the moment.  I'm finding wee snippets of related information which is giving me more stuff, other than Lipton, to write about.  It's good and I'm enjoying it.  I just hope I'm doing the right thing.

I've decided to do a bit of a post mortem on a great creative non-fiction book, The Trouble with Tom by Paul Collins.  I'm going through it and noting everytime he switches narrative positions etc.  He's all over the place - 1st person present to 3rd person past in sometimes a few lines - but it makes it interesting to read.  I'm not going to copy his style but it's good to know it can be done.

Today I think I need to fill in a couple of blanks and then start reading again and sorting out all the information I've gathered.  I've got lots of books about Lipton and I've read most of them but it was a while ago.  I suffer from the same thing as Homer Simpson; when new stuff comes along it pushes all the old stuff out.  So, a few days swotting up will be a good thing.

And by then I'll probably have found something else to research.  Oh well - I suppose I'll just have to back to the Mitchell.

Wanderings

Another day in my garden office - and I must say it's a pleasure to come into work.

Just a quick update at the moment.  My word count is now 4,390.  Even although I was working in the garden watching Dougal build a greenhouse while drinking chilled Pinot Grigio I still managed to write about 300 words.  Mind you - I still have to read it back so maybe I shouldn't brag too quickly.

I'm at the point where I've got the bones of the first chapter done.  But my problem is I keep thinking of wee bits of trivia I think might be interesting to a reader.  At the moment I've been into the Mitchell a couple of times and read the newspapers on the day before Lipton died, the day he died and the day of his funeral.  Now I think I should read the papers for the day before the funeral.  Then I would get a sense of what the crowds of people waiting outside the church during the funeral service might have been speaking about.  It would give me background stuff which someone interested inthe history of Glasgow would like to read about.  Is this a good idea - or am I just being self-indulgent.  If anyone has any advice on this point please leave a comment (a polite comment).  Oh ok - it doesn't need to be polite.)

Right - I must get on now - so much to do.   Oh look - a wee robin.

Reality kicks in.

Major Project became very, very real on Friday.

It always was real.  I mean, I always knew I had to do it but when you've got Sam and David standing in front of you detailing exactly what's expected and that the shiny and polished perfect piece of literature has to be delivered in 77 days it suddenly becomes something other than - something I need to do.  I now have a couple of months to get all the words and stuff out of my head, onto the page and into some sort of understandable order.

I know it sounds daunting but I'm determined to enjoy it.  Writing a book about Sir Thomas Lipton is I want to do - and now I've got the chance.  I need to make the most of it.

It was my last day at uni on Friday.  I still have four supervision sessions before the hand in date but it was my last time in the class.  Quite sad really.  It's been a tough couple of years but I've learned so much.  Now's the time to put it all into practice.

A lovely couple of hours was spent in the company of my classmates in the Traverse Bar to mark the occasion.  It's just as well I was driving.  Dougal might have had to send a search party to Edinburgh if I hadn't been.

But, how the hell am I supposed to write anything in this weather?  It's bloody gorgeous.  At the moment it's nearly five o'clock and it's 31.9 degrees in the shade.  That's what my digital thermometer tells me and I believe it.  Usually I work at a PC in my bedroom but I've been enticed out by people saying things like, "It'll not last forever, you know" and "They say it's going to rain tomorrow."  So, I've rigged my laptop up with an extension cable (because the battery's knacked) and I've been sitting outside writing all day.  Great idea - but now I find the damn thing's overheating in the sun.  I know the feeling.  I suppose I'll need to switch the poor wee thing off and let it cool off. 

What's the difference between humans and machines?  Humans can cool down with a large glass of Pinot Grigio - or five.  Cheers.

Stopped

I was going good for a while with the writing but now I seem to have ground to a halt.  It's not as if I don't have stuff to write about.  I think it might be a lack of confidence thing.

I blame research.  I've got so much information and questions about style etc whizzing around in my head and I'm confused about what to do with it.  Should I start writing in the first person or should I maintain 3rd person throughout?  I think the first person needs to make an appearance at one point - but at which point?

I'm going into uni tomorrow and I've got a chance to have a chat with the Reader in Residence, Stuart.  Stuart's also a great writer of Creative Non-Fiction so I'll try and get some hints and advice from him.

There's one thing I need to speak, and possibly apologise, about.  My dreadful punctuation and my inability to notice it when I read the bolg before publishing it.  I am sorry.

Ha ha.  I'm willing to bet that everyone will be backtracking to see what I mean (if you haven't already noticed).  If you are, it's school error stuff but have a giggle and I promise I'll try and be more careful in future.

And while everyone's laughing at how silly I am, my viewer numbers will be going up - result.

Ok - enough of all this nonsense.  I've got work to do.

Background stuff

Yesterday I spent four hours staring at very small 1930s newsprint on endless reels of microfiche.  I've been banging on to Dougal for a few days about how good it is to be able to look at all the old newspapers on microfilm but yesterday he reminded me I wasn't a spy and I've been looking at microfiche.  Film? Fiche?  It's all the same to me - it screws my eyes up. 

It wasn't an uninterupted four hours - I had to take time to top up my parking meter.  Maybe it was just as well.  My head was starting to feel a bit fuzzy and the fresh air did me good.

But I think all the peering was worth it.  I got a lot of background information like what the weather was like on the day Lipton died and on the day he was buried, what was on at the cinema and on the radio and what kind of events were in the headlines at the time.  And the adverts?  They are brilliant.  Did you know,

                               "if you value your health,
                                always insist on Gordon's Special
                                Dry London Gin. 
                                No artificial colouring matter,
                                No injurious ingredients."
           
                               And it's in the bottle with the square face.

Ha - I always knew it was good for you.

Today I've been wandering around Glasgow city centre having a look at the church his funeral service took place in.  so, I've got some stuff I can hopefully build a narrative from - so that I'm not just writing straight facts.

Oh - and the mystery I uncovered?  I got Inch High Private Eye (or was Hettie Wainthrope.  Maybe it was a mixture of both) onto the case but I think it's going to have to remain unsolved.  The relevant documentation to sort it out just doesn't exist.  I think a stonemason has made a spelling mistake and with a slip of a chisel has changed the sex of a child.  Oh well, it's not the end of the world, I can still use the information i've got - and everyone loves a mystery.  If you're desperate to find out more about this fascinating story you'll just have to wait until I get a publishing deal.  Or the next time you see me you can just ask - you know it doesn't take much to get me gibbering on about Lipton. 

Righ - I've got the information, now to get on with the hard part.

Worries.

The fact I haven't written anything in the blog for a few days doesn't mean I'm not working you know.  Oh no - I'm always working; always thinking, always plotting in my head what I'm going to write and in what direction I'm going to go.  In fact I go to bed thinking about it and wake up thinking about it.  I'm knackered.  There are thousands of words all buzzing around my head and bashing into one another.  They are all vying for attention shouting "pick me, pick me." All I need to do is select the good ones, put them into an order, add some tone and I'm sorted.  Shit - I am so confused. 

(Pause for deep breaths and coffee.)

Right, back to some sort of normality. 

I've now written about 3,200 words.  I have to write 20,000 for my Major Project.  I've got about 4 chapters in my mind so that means each chapter should be around 5,000 words.  OK - another thousand or so and I'll have written Chapter 1.  Easy.  But please don't think I'm getting cocky about my writing.  Oh no - I'm just pleased I got that sum correct.  (I have- haven't I?)

Before I can carry on I need to do more research.  I think I've already mentioned my concerns about the amount of research I have to do.  I'm a bit worried I'll do to much (and too much of the wrong stuff) and run out of time to write the damn stuff up.  I'm also a bit anxious that what I've written so far isn't going to be read by my tutor, Sam, for about a month.  What if what I've written is total mince?  It doesn't leave me very long to sort it out.

I know I get distracted very easily by shiny objects but Sam told me something I'm beginning to hold dear.  She said if I find an interesting thread then I should run with it - get wrapped up in it and enjoy it.  In my mind that translates to permission to be adventurous and think big.  So, that's what I'm going to do.  The next couple of days will be taken up by visiting random places all over Glasgow, reading about random stuff and looking through very old newspapers. 

So, if you happen to see me walking around the streets in the next few days with a vacant look in my eye and muttering to myself just let me walk on my merry way - I'll be thinking - and therefore working - a positive thing. 

But if my look has turned to murderous please follow me and call for help.  This is a negative thing.  You can always try and entice me into a safer frame of mind with shiny objects. 

Oh - but not if they're sharp.

Plodding

I didn't get off to a very good start this morning.  I found myself thinking a lot but not managing to come up with anything very constructive.  I think it might have been about lunchtime before I put finger tip to keyboard - and even then I was mostly editing the stuff I wrote yesterday.  I probably ended up writing around 400 words before my brain ceased up.  I might have got the bones of the first chapter done though - all be it quite a short chapter.

I sent a few emails and received one back from Glasgow District Council about State Funerals - which I think might be quite good to include in the first chapter.  There now - I bet that's got you interested.  State funerals eh - exciting stuff.  The important thing is I've got a name I can contact in the Lord Provosts Office - the poor guy.  well, my motto is - if you don't ask you don't get.  Oh dear I bet he's going to really wish he'd never answered that fateful email.

I really do need to a lot more reading to bulk up my knowledge of a lot of stuff surrounding Lipton so that's what I'm going to do.  I'm knackered though. I just hope I don't fall asleep before my head hits the pilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Progress

I had a good day today - I reached 2,230 words.  My only problem is I think it's just a word dump onto the page at the moment.  I've been trying to insert tone etc but I'm finding it a bit difficult because I'm working with newspaper reports which are factual.  I'm trying hard not to make it a history lesson and more of a story - but I'm sure Sam, my tutor, will say it's a bit like a history lesson.

I realised today I've got about four books which I've only read part of so the next few days might be spent reading and taking notes - and maybe a copuple of visits to the Mitchell.  It's more research so if I'm not back by Friday send out a search party.

This writing lark is a bit too much like hard work - I've not even had time to stare at the wall for a while.

Blinkers

I got back into Major Project mode today.  And I did write some stuff - honestly.  Just some though.  It's research - it distracts me. 

I've been reading all about Lipton's family and I think I might have found something no one else has noticed.  It's not much and I know it seems unlikely but not a great deal of people have written about him. I've checked but keep coming up with the same thing.  My problem is - do I ignore what I've found and carry on or do I do a bit more investigating and maybe go in a direction which might turn out to be rubbish and I will have wasted time?  I think I need to do a wee but more investigating - a couple of emails just to be sure.  How good would it be if I made a historical discovery?

I'm hoping to be more focused tomorrow.  My aim is to reach 2,000 words at least.

By half six my head was mangled so I went out for a walk and I made another discovery - I walk to the same pace as The Archers theme tune.  Dum de dum de dum de dum.

Shiny things

Someone's asked me why I've called the blog Staring at the Wall. 

The answer's simple - it's because I like staring at the wall.  I'm good at it and, believe it or not, it's quite an inspirational past time.  I've had a lot of ideas while staring at a wall - mainly the kitchen one.  But what you need to also understand about me is that, apart from my fondness for staring at the wall, I'm also easily distracted by shiny things. 

And today's particular shiny thing was the last game of the season.  I listened to the coverage of the Motherwell v Dundee United match on the Radio Scotland internet thing.  And I did some cooking - chicken pasta and cream of mushroom soup. 

As a result I didn't get any Major Project stuff done.  But to try and redeem myself - I still did some writing.  There's a competition going on at the moment for the first 6,000 words of a crime novel featuring a female protagonist.  I think I might have a bash - so that's what I've been doing.  So far I've got 259 words. 

I'm going to carry on with this for the rest of the evening whilst trying to avoid shiny things. I'm sure an update will appear at some time or another.

Oh - and Motherwell got beat 2 nil.  But I don't think that'll bother them.  They've made it into the Champions League.

Back to Major Project tomorrow - honestly.

Decision made.

I've had a long think about what I should write in the blog.  At the moment I'm doing an MA in Creative Writing at Napier Uni which this leads me nicely into what the blog is going to be about.  My final assessment - the Major Project - is due to be handed in on August 10th so I thought it might be a good idea to keep a record of how things are going.

I'm focussing on Creative Non-Fiction rather than writing a novel.  Very briefly CNF is writing factual stuff in a creative way.  It's harder than it sounds.  I've decided to write my 20,000 word project about Sir Thomas Lipton and my attempts to have him commemorated in Glasgow.

I started it properly last Monday.  I spent the first two days in The Mitchell Library looking at newspapers from 1931.  It was brilliant.  So interesting; I was finding out about things and people I'd only heard about.  It was amazing to think I was reading what was actually reported in the papers of the time.  It was difficult to stay focussed on Lipton.  After two days I came away with a clutch of photocopies of articles which I'm hoping is going to help me create a story.  Over Wednesday and Thursday I managed to write nearly 1,500 words.  So, only 18,500 to go. 

For different reasons I've taken Friday and Saturday off.  Well, I say I've taken the time off but I'm constantly thinking about it.  And when I'm not thinking about it I'm talking about it.  So, if you see me around in the next few months be prepared to be Liptoned.

Here we go.

I've actually gone and done it.  I've started a blog and I did it all on my own.  Those who know me know how much of a technophobe I am.  But I managed it.

So, what am I going to write about?  It's a bit late to start thinking about it tonight.  All will be revealed tomorrow.