Review of week: 21st - 27th January 2008

I had a strange week this week, first taking off Monday and Tuesday to recover from the Feis and then succumbing to a cold on Wednesday which has since grown more and more incapacitating. Despite this, and the resulting reduction in work hours, I did manage to achieve several things.
I submitted 'The Shadow Room' to the Glimmertrain Family Matters short story competition.
I wrote 'The Memory of Fat', a short story intended for the Maria Edgeworth competition.
I completed my nine book total goal for the month.
On Helium my stories have been going up and down. This week they mostly went up, with Boats increasing a whole 29 places, while Gifts from the Sea dropped 29 places.
This week seemed to go a lot faster for me than the previous weeks, so it just goes to show that when you pack more into the day it really does make time go by more slowly.
Next week is the last week in January. I plan to do something new every month this year, and my new thing for January is to play Badminton, so I am playing on Wednesday (just sneaking it in there). I am also back to teaching next week, am starting Salsa Slims exercise class on Tuesday and entering the 30 day challenge in Curves, which starts on Monday, not to mention all the writing I have planned to do!

Review of the Week - 14th - 18th January 2008

This week didn't go so well for me. I was even busier than last week and tireder as well, so I got less writing done. I was nervous about the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards announcing their next round of finalists, and that stole almost an entire day's work from me on Tuesday. I have also been working on some non-fiction pieces, which I akin to pulling teeth. I did manage to get 4 hours in on Monday, which is good. And I earned 4 cent on Helium with my two short stories, and posted 4 articles on the site (2 stories, 1 essay and 1 book review). I also exercised every day this week with curves and walking Janna. I had a couple of late nights early on in the week that made it harder to keep productive. It is also a short week for me this week as I will be busy working at Feis Dun Dealgan over Saturday and Sunday, so that is 2 writing days gone. I also only managed to read one book. Next week I don't have to do any teaching, so I am hopeful I will be able to catch up.

Apologies and other stuff

First of all I want to apologise to all the Inkpot Files supporters who rushed over to Helium yesterday to vote on my story. As I only found out later 1. you have to be a writer at Helium to rate other stories 2. it is a blind rating system so you all can't vote for your buddy (like I wanted you to do). However, thank you to EVERYONE who attempted it and nearly bashed their brains out trying to succeed.

I've posted another story on Helium, this time in the sci-fi section. You can read it HERE.

In other news, congrats to VALPOT for her excellent articles (and one number 1 ranking) on Helium. Check out what she has to say about the US and Global warming, abortion and St. Albert the Great (just click on the names).

Today, the 15th of January, Amazon.com's abna competition are announcing the list of 1000 short listed authors who got through for the next round. I am nervously waiting for their email to arrive. I tried not to think about it but I realised my reluctance to get to work this morning was due to having to check my email. From looking at the message boards, I think everyone is in the same position. It probably will be a couple of days before I hear anything - if at all. Please keep Valpot and I in your prayers.

I don't have any other news for the time being. Stay shiny. Inkpot.

Helium

Have you ever heard of Helium? I'm not talking the gas here, but the online community of writers and readers that is packed full of articles, stories and resources. No? Well, you should have, especially now that I have joined and have put some of my stuff out there for you to read.

Read my short story, Gifts from the Sea, now and rate it!