Lindsey's Blog

Twilight, True Love and You New Review and Alternative Covers

2011-11-18T05:35:00.000-08:00

I just came across this blog post about my mum's book - it's everything I wanted to say about it, if I could write as well as her.

I love the gorgeous alternative front covers, the white with red calligraphy is my favourite.

Inkymole: Twilight, True Love, And...The Truth.

Competition to win my mum's book, signed by Robert Pattinson

2011-06-22T11:50:00.000-07:00

The nice folks at UK Twilight have kindly set up a competition to help promote "Twilight, True Love and You," the guide to finding your own Edward (or Jacob).

They have 20 copies of the book so you're in with a good chance, and two of the copies are also signed by the great man himself, Robert Pattinson. Hurry though, the competition ends midday tomorrow!

UK Twilight Competition

Here's me reviewing the book:

Here's the video where he signs the book:

Digital Examples: Selling Stewart Lee with Social Media

2011-05-26T09:27:00.000-07:00

Digital Examples: Selling Stewart Lee with Social Media: "This is excellent. I'm sure a lot of us have been in meetings like this. For more about Stewart Lee see the main BBC page here , Stewar..."

Robert Pattinson at Water for Elephants London premiere

2011-05-03T15:49:00.000-07:00

Great news for Louise Deacon (my mum) and her marketing slaves (me and my aunt Nicky) - Louise went to the London premiere of Water For Elephants, and managed to get an autograph from Robert Pattinson himself, right onto a first edition copy of her new book!

Check out 'Twilight, True Love and You' here - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Twilight-True-Love-You-Finding/dp/1849531404

Twilight, True Love and You book launch

2011-04-08T15:30:00.001-07:00

Twilight, True Love and You book launch, a set on Flickr.

Divertimenti cookery school outing!

2011-04-06T15:29:00.000-07:00

Tonight I took a nice client along to cooking demonstration class held at the Divertimenti Cookery School in Marylebone (easy to get to even for a map-blind person like me, it's just 10 mins up the road from Bond St tube station).

We did the "Punishment Free Pulses," which was about learning to cook interesting, delicious meals from things like lentils, quinoa, spelt, broad beans and bulgar wheat. The format was quite different from any cooking classes I've done before, it was like a lecture with us pupils sitting in rows (about 30 of us) and the chef at the front, with a mirror over her head so we could see what she was doing, and a TV screen on the side which showed what she did on the chopping board.

As pulses take ages to cook and we were doing 5 dishes, she had to stop and start different dishes which got a little confusing in the second hour, and after the second glass of wine. Also sitting in the back row and with lots of pleasant chatty ladies in front it was slightly hard to hear everything that the chef said, but that didn't detract from the whole experience too much.

The class was £40 each - but because I booked online on a lastminute space, it was BOGOF. Well worth it for a fun, healthy night with good company, and I've definitely learned lots of things that could (could) make a real difference to my eating habits now I know how to cook nice things with weird healthy stuff.

We made (and got a small tasting dish of each):

Broad bean puree with chorizo
Braised brisket of beef with butterbean, horseradish an dbeetroot veloute
Beetroot and pomegranate spelt risotto
Spiced quinoa flatbread
Orange and sumac scented quinoa with seared salmon

Samsung 3D Pros Highlights video - my latest campaign

2011-03-10T05:12:00.000-08:00

I'm really happy to be seeding videos like this for Unruly Media. It's not just an advert, it's interesting content in it's own right, this video shows snippets from interviews with the manager of the IMAX, a game developer and a stereographer to talk about the impact of new 3DTV technology.

You can watch the fuller videos here: http://www.youtube.com/samsunguk

Sunrise over London from Crystal Place

2011-03-08T15:39:00.001-08:00

Crystal Palace sunrise with one bird a photo by opalpetal on Flickr.

I got up at 6.30am today to reach the Charlotte St Hotel in time for a pancake day breakfast meeting with some lovely folks in PHD. This was the view I woke up to.

Touch it and I'll break your paw! Then I'll break your face!

2011-03-04T09:25:00.000-08:00

A Night of Cadbury-tastic geek joy!

2011-02-18T16:11:00.000-08:00

I am scared. Oh so scared. I think I may have the dubious honour of holding the Guinness Book of World Records best time for 'fastest toilet paper unravelling.' How did this come about?

The nice people at Cadbury's invited me to an evening of Spots v. Stripes games and chocolate guzzling. Was I going to turn down that offer? Hell no! I made the pilgrimage to Cadbury World only a couple of years ago, and I am a very devout Cadbury's chocolate eater, and have been for years since the first time I got my teeth stuck on a Curly Wurly. (Actually it's still the kiddy chocolates I like best, I'm into Buttons and Easter eggs and chocolate Christmas tree decorations.) I paid good money for that Cadbury World day trip. And here I was being invited to eat more free chocolate and speak to Holy Cadbury Priests, and it didn't cost me a penny! I spoke to a Cadbury lady and after a couple of glasses of wine asked her to create a new product, based on a Christmas tree decoration but you can hang them from your computer monitor all year round. I eagerly await to see it hit the shelves.

When I got there I declared myself on the team of 'Stripes' and had to play such games as 'tea bag darts' and 'speed doodling,' while being recorded by an official Guinness Book of World Records judge. I was rubbish at all of them and it was beginning to feel like sports day when I would lose at everything and sulk... then we got to the 'one-handed toilet roll unravelling' and I kicked everyone's asses! Finally, a sport I'm good at!

Or maybe I just got lucky with my toilet roll.

I also excelled at the 'scrolling down a browser' game, coming second to someone with even thicker glasses and paler skin than mine.

I look forward to seeing my video reaching the 2 million view count on YouTube. My mum always told me I was destined for great things.

Ironically, when I got home I realised I had no toilet paper in the house.

Spring is here!

2011-02-16T04:08:00.000-08:00

I clocked an impressive display of snowdrops this weekend, proof that spring has sprung.

(February 13th, at the foot of the Malvern Hills)

Young adult? Want to be on TV?

2011-01-24T03:34:00.000-08:00

My mum sent me this, it's by the same producers who make Supernanny. I love Supernanny, it makes me cry most times I watch it, and I have a girl crush on Supernanny Jo because she's so lovely and helpful and nice to families, and voluptuously foxy in her strict nanny outfit and French twist.

NEW CHANNEL 4 TV SERIES...LOOKING FOR YOUNG ADULTS

• Does your sex life ever cause arguments at home? Feel like your parents don’t understand you and your world?
• Do your parents find it hard to discuss sex with you?
• Wish it wasn’t all so embarrassing?
• Like expert advice on how to solve sex & relationship problems, have the confidence to talk about it openly and learn how to better, safer sex?

We are looking for young adults and their parents to discuss attitudes towards sex and relationships for a new TV series. As well as helping families understand each other more, our expert will be solving individual sex and relationship issues.

If you or your parents are interested in finding out more or know anyone

else that is, please call Claire on

01273 224 800

Or email parentsandteens@ricochet.co.uk

Twilight, True Love and You - the Facebook page!

2011-01-23T05:28:00.000-08:00

I've set up a Facebook page for my mum's book, please llike the page now for Twilight updates!

Can someone please write "Life Admin for Dummies"

2011-01-13T10:22:00.000-08:00

How does everyone do it?

I'm not talking about writing epic award-winning literary novels (or even completing a single one of my trashy mysteries), running trendy techie start-ups that get snapped up by Google, inventing or discovering something that changes the world forever.

Nope - I'm talking about paying bills on time, keeping a house clean, and having enough socks.

I have no idea how I've managed to stumble along this far, and somehow get a degree, a career and a house on the way. (You can be sure that at each one of these milestones, I was wearing odd socks.)

So, 2011 is the year I change my life. It's surprising how few books there are on the subject - I suppose this is the kind of thing that comes naturally to most people. It's just living life. People who can't do it die off.

I need the Guide for Dummies, but there doesn't seem to be one yet.

So here's my plan. Step one, buy one of these:

Step two: populate my lovely clean new notebook (for some reason I always think buying a new notebook will change my life dramatically) with all this stuff:

Utilities
Gas
Electricity
TV licence
Virgin
Phone
Broadband (plus passwords)
Inventory of the big items we own, plus photos
Council tax

Food/Local
Taxi numbers
Takeaway menus
Restaurant numbers

Banking
Savings
Credit cards
Loans
Mortgage
Student loan

Contact details/Business cards
Plumber
Electrician
Cleaner
Mortgage advisor
Solicitor
Estate agent

Insurance
Buildings
Household
Pet
Mortgage payments/unemployment
Health

Stuff
Receipts
Guarantees
Instructions for household items/heating etc.
Store card details

Gadgets
Instructions, guarantees, serial numbers
ipod
phone
netbook
ebook reader
digital camera

Personal
Birthday calendar
Addresses

Holidays

House
Household budget
Annual cleaning planner
Year planner for paying bills
Household lease
Freeholder contact details
Log of correspondence/payments made to freeholder

Work
CV
Details on company benefits
What we're paying for travel
Work contract
Recruitment consultants who are also human beings
Career plan
Degree certificates
Any other certificates/qualifications

Wow. Maybe I'm not such a dumbass - that's a LOT of admin.

I'm off to a good start. I have a clear memory that some bills are scattered on a half-built shelf, my gas bill is lying on the wicker thingy in the bedroom. My council tax is with my socks, and I have two coats containg utility bills in pockets.

Pork belly at Fino

2010-12-23T08:17:00.001-08:00

Pork belly at Fino, originally uploaded by opalpetal.

As I went to Salt Yard only last week and my client specifically requested Fino, I thought it was time to give this place a try. They must get lots of digital media lunches as it's on Charlotte St, and when I called they said they were fully booked, but when I went online I was able to book a table within 30 seconds. I'd say that's a good thing, keeps all that non-digital media riff-raff OUT.

It's just round the corner from Roka, not very easy to find as it's invisible on Google Maps, but once you get there it's okay. The entrance is unimpressive, you have to go past some smelly bins then down a poky set of grubby stairs. At 12.30pm on a Wednesday it was desolately empty and I wondered if I had come to the right place at all.

Inside, it's much better. Bigger than Salt Yard, it has the bustling, tinkling glass feel that is slightly too canteeny for my taste. There's no 'wow' factor, but this doesn't bother me because food is my top priority and after the trauma of Archipelago last week, I wanted plain and simple.

The chorizo chips (as recommended by a Foursquare tipper) were not everything I had dreamed - basically a cross between a chip, a sausage and a spring roll, it was not crispy enough and a bit limp. Good novelty value though, and the boy of the table loved them.

For me, the true test of a good media lunch is how much of a dish I, as a salesperson, am willing to pinch from my client's plate. Well, I took a sizable chunk of the frittata, and I'm sure my gaze kept straying to the rest of it for impolite lengths of time. This dish, plus the amazing and huge pork belly (this is meant to be tapas?!) made the whole trip worthwhile.

Foursquare also informed me (via digital guru http://twitter.com/dancall1) that if you book in advance and eat at the bar, food is half price.

Another client since has said I was a FOOL not to try the espresso martini, so I may go back.

But Salt Yard - my heart belongs to you.

Twilight, True Love and You - NEW BOOK by my mum!

2010-12-12T17:38:00.000-08:00

I can't sleep. My clever mother is writing a book about Twilight, for all fans who are interested in the psychological aspects of The Twilight Saga, or for anyone who is a fan and wants to find their own Edward or Jacob. She's a clinical psychologist so she really knows her stuff.

I was lucky enough to be one of the test readers - all I can say is WOW.

I think this book could change women's lives as much as reading the original Twilight books did.

It will be published in April, and I'll be helping promote it, I have lots of cool ideas for videos - I just really hope I can do the book justice!

Here's the link to the book on Amazon.

Aftermath

2010-09-15T02:19:00.000-07:00

I have returned!

The urge to shop came on so strongly in April that I ended up buying a flat. Then in July by the time I actually had a flat, the urge to nest and spend every waking moment on eBay was irresistable too. I completed the OU course in psychology and I'm training for a marathon on October 3rd. My boyfriend is movng in with me on Friday, and work continues to be unbelievably busy.

So for the first time in 5 months, I have a small amount of time to breathe again, all my books and pens are out of their boxes, and I'm writing again. After Bristol's fantastic CrimeFest, which I barely made as I was sorting out a mortgage at the time, I spoke to 3 agents in the Pitch-An-Agent session and I have new fire in my belly. All of them had the same feedback about the subject - suicide is too depressing, but I can write.

The magic words. "You've definitely got it. There's no doubt you can write."

Two of them were very encouraging and told me to keep in touch with my next book, and one gave me her email address, gave me some tips as to what she'd like to see from me, and offered to look at any ideas I have before I write another book.

Woohoooo! That encouragement has given me new energy. I'm so excited again! I have taken all the agents' tips on board. I have a shiny new idea which is keeping me up at night.

Plus I have a lovely, quiet house with the bookshelves I've always dreamed of, and a little corner to myself just for writing - it has been worth it.

Personalised Infographics - Foursquare Check-ins

2010-08-25T02:46:00.000-07:00

Where I've been since March:

Lindsey Mountford's Foursquare by WeePlaces.com.

Clegg, Cameron and Brown race it out!

2010-05-06T10:03:00.000-07:00

Awesome that they managed to whip this video up in time... the race is on!

UK General Election 2010 videos

2010-04-23T02:26:00.000-07:00

We're doing some fun work right now for the Independent, with their video about the election:

As part of this, we've created a viral video chart devoted to videos about the election, there are some hilarious diamonds in there, take a look: Election Chart.

Gen Y and not sure how to vote in GE2010? Try this "fun quiz"

2010-04-14T10:12:00.000-07:00

You are reading this because your browser doesn't support Iframes.

Try this link instead.

Pepto-Bismol ice-cream

2010-04-10T18:30:00.000-07:00

You don't have to have diarrhoea to enjoy it....but it helps!

Recipe

Stolen shoe crime shock

2010-03-30T10:54:00.000-07:00

My boyfriend's shoes were stolen from outside his front door. In Kew.

Doing the girlfriendly duty, I tried to make him see the positive side, with these comforting words:

Darling, it was probably a homeless man and now he finally has some decent shoes he is able to go to that job interview to be a gardener/handyman for the council, and he will rebuild his life all thanks to you. Now he has a purpose in creating that garden, he can lay off the booze and come off the drugs for good. He probably feels terribly guilty.

Meanwhile, in that garden the children play and they see the beautiful flowers and the kindly old man, and they feel happy they no longer have to play in a gritty, muddy horrible piece of wasteland and cut themselves on the broken glass, getting tetanus from rusty wire and dying. The old man cleaned it up for them. You saved their lives.

Their mothers sometimes have nightmares, imagining a future where their precious child died... then they wake and little Timmy is smiling up at them. They wipe the sweat from their brows and laugh in relief, wondering where the dream could have come from...

That old man will probably never forget you, and when he's a millionaire he will come back to that place and leave you a cheque for a million pounds. In the meantime he will be your guardian angel, watching over you.

Then my boyfriend had to go shoe shopping, and the full horror of the crime came back to him. This was his reply:

It was probably a homeless man and now he finally has some decent shoes he is able to evade the police when chased for mugging a little old lady. The little old lady looks on forlornly as the ring given to her 50 years ago by her recently departed husband disappears into the distance, still clutched between the fingers of a thief assisted by springy all-terrain gripping boots. The failed policeman wheezes to a halt. His eyes lock on the old lady's expression. He probably feels terribly guilty.

Meanwhile a child runs into the street and is hit by a car. In an alternate reality the driver slowed down when he saw the police car driving its captive mugger to the station. In that reality little Jimmy still has both his legs.

Jimmy sits in his garden gazing at the beautiful flowers. Flowers he cannot reach from his wheelchair. His mother watches her son. She imagines Jimmy running around squirting her with water from the garden hose, his face smiling in that open unabashed way that only happy innocence can achieve. But of course Jimmy is no longer innocent to the horrors of life. He will never again run amongst the flowers.

That man will probably never forget me, and when he's a millionaire from his many crimes, he will come back to that place and return my shoes. The police of course will have been following him. On finding the shoes propped up against my door they find my DNA in the shoes, make the link to the crimes and I will be locked up forever.

You can follow the extremely amusing Paul Watford on Twitter here.

With these cheese videos, you are really spoiling us...

2010-03-16T10:31:00.000-07:00

Imagine my surprise and delight to learn I have been tasked with seeding videos about cheese. JOY!

French cheese adventure video 1:

I don't actually need any more ideas about how to incorporate French cheese into my daily life. Quite the opposite. What I love about this video is the knew knowledge that out there, there exists the job title "cheese ambassador."

I have no less than two appointments at speciality cheese places - one restaurant: Art du Fromage.

And one cheese shop which runs fornightly cheese tasting evenings: La Cave.

Vive le cheese!

Goat's cheese video with recipe:

Google Liquid Galaxy - flying machine request

2010-03-15T03:44:00.000-07:00

Dear Google,

Please have someone build a flying simulation machine that I can step into and explore the planet, under the sea, and space. I want to be able to feel like I'm flying like Superman, with outstreched arms (cape optional).

It could be a simple combination of:
Google Liquid Galaxy
Simulator ride
Indoor skydiving tube

Google Liquid Galaxy:

Back to the Future: The Ride at Universal Studios blew my tiny 9 year-old mind away and I've been looking to recreate it ever since:

Indoor skydiving:

(Went a couple of weeks ago, was exhilirating, fantastic fun though my hair was turned into dreadlocks and my colleague went slightly deaf for three days.)

It's okay, it doesn't need to be in super-HD like in your holodeck, I'd rather be able to swoop up and down Flight of the Navigator-style.

This would save many a spiritually-hungry young lass a fortune in books on lucid dreaming (I was never been able to do it.)

Regards,

UnrulyLindsey

Writers' and Artists' Yearbook: The Inside Guide to How to Get Published

2010-03-13T12:55:00.000-08:00

I popped along to the W&A Yearbook's first ever event today, which was held in Farringdon's Free Word Centre.

There was a far less commercial feel to this day than any other writing conference I've been to. It also felt much more old-school than other events, the speakers didn't have a huge amount to say on anything excitingly digital. Graham Joyce had everyone falling off their seats in wonder at the WIC2010 conference last week. This was far quieter affair, I think good for people keen to pursue the traditional route of publication of their literary masterpieces.

We heard from Rebecca Swift, co-founder of The Literary Consultancy, who is very keen on Emily Dickinson and less so on Dan Brown.

Andrew Kidd, Senior Literary Agent at Aitken Alexander Associates was most charming and asks for freshness and energy in the writing you submit to him. He is still building his list, so if you're a literary writer, give it a go.

Bill Swainson, Senior Commissioning Editor at Bloomsbury Publishing got excited about a book of translated short stories from across Europe. He explained how hard it is to be the champion of a book at an acquisitions meeting where he has to convince the marketing department, foreign sales guys, PR guys, rights team, and production team that the book will get the 'figures' it needs to make enough money for them to make an offer.

The highlight of the day was W&A Yearbook editor Jo Herbert. Her extremely comprehensive 2-hour explanation of how to submit your manuscript to an agent or publisher was professional, clear and not at all patronising. I learned lots of new things and I feel sure I've got enough knowledge to take a businesslike approach to submission that will give my book the best chance of not being drowned in the slush pile. This talk made the whole day worthwhile.

The usual crowd of fruitcake aspiring authors was there to be marvelled at (yes I'm including myself in that description - I was wearing my pink tartan wellies.)

Great food, organisers very keen to please and oblige, they clearly cared very much.

Recommended, especially for literary types.

Twilight dominates the Viral Video Chart

2010-03-12T01:58:00.000-08:00

Yesterday OfficialTwilightFilm released the 1:30 trailer for the new film in the Twilight Saga series, Eclipse.

Today, it is top of the ViralVideoChart with 20 duplicate videos, 7,000 blog posts/Tweets, 7.6 million views and 23,700 comments.

Their seeding strategy was smart. On Wednesday they released a 10-second teaser, which was top of the chart within hours. All the Twi-hards went nuts and it's now number 4 in the chart with 4.1 million views.

What's smart about this is that they only made us wait 24 hours to give us the full version. Good. People do not like to be kept waiting. Attention spans are short. A 10-second preview works well if the content is already hotly anticipated.

But what's next? A 2-second teaser for the preview? (Yes, probably.)

Writing Industries Conference East Midlands 2010 review

2010-03-06T12:39:00.000-08:00

Full of writerly zeal and resolutions, at the beginning of this year I signed up for lots of UK writing and publishing conferences, and today was the £42 Writing Industries Conference in Loughborough.

I'm so glad I went! It was fascinating not only because of all the fantastic authors and agents and the heady feeling of mingling with all the other like-minded budding writers, but because a lot of what was discussed was also relevant to my job at Unruly Media and I love it when these two passions collide.

Here's a brief overview of the comment-cream:

The End of the Print Age: Graham Joyce

Graham has been writing the 'British weird tale' for 20 years and has 18 books to his name, with several fantasy award wins. He is going to write the storyline for Doom 4.

Graham advises all new writers that when it comes to the printed book/ebook/traditional publishing debate, we must "face up or fossilise." Ebook readers mark the end of the print age. A book is like a tardis - bigger on the inside than out, a portal to another world, and an ebook is a better tardis.

Where they have both versions, Amazon will sell versions of the ebook for every 10 hard copies.

He predics that it's not about the best new ebook reader, it will be the cheapest and most convenient unit that will win.

Surviving as a writer:

He says his 20 years in the 'word mines' have toughened him up and to protect ourselves, he advises all writers to be as independent and diverse as possible. Here are ways writers can make money:
1. The advance
2. Digital streams
3. Teaching writing
4. Performance, live spoken word
5. Lectures, talks, workshops
6. Non-fiction writing
7. Develop your story into script
8. Write online drama (e.g. Kate Modern)
9. Games writing

I found the last two points particularly fascinating, I'd never considered this before. As I work in online video, I really should have!

Do at least four of the above, and they won't break your writer's heart.

Graham finished on a lovely inspirational note, saying that people are hungry for narrative and though the vessels for story are changing, the stories themselves will always be in demand.

Wow!

My favourite part of this talk was when I spotted the 80 year-old man sitting beside me write 'GET WEBSITE' in spidery capitals on his notepad.

I was given much more food for thought in the rest of the sessions, but the only other session which stood out was:

Everything You Ever Wanted to Ask an Agent

John Berlyne - Zeno
Oliver Munson - Blake Friedmann
James Wills - Watson, Little

So, here's what the big cheeses at the agencies are looking for:

A good synopsis which gives a taste of the story, not overwhelmingly filled with plot points or themes. Should be just enough.
Nothing gimmicky, i.e. green ink, manuscript slipped under their toilet door.
Covering letter should be personalised and professional, don't bother submitting if their website says they're closed for submissions.
Don't give them any reason to put book down within the first few pages: writing should be fantastic, attention-grabbing, start in the middle of the action.
Show that you're serious and passionate about writing.
They are desperate to read something that will make them forget their cynicism - reading for pleasure is but a distant memory for them, try to rekindle this memory for them!

It's their job to spot potential, so once you've done all of the above you stand a good chance of getting some feedback. They don't have time to give feedback to most people though, so don't be offended with a standard rejection letter.

I liked the sound of John Berlyne's strategy. Not in the business of crushing anyone's dreams, along with a standard form rejection he suggests some books which will show them how they can improve their writing. I had a quick look at the Zeno site and I like the fact they list resources for us, and that they only accept email submissions.

I was cream-crackered by 5pm so I legged it back to London. I bumped into one of the agents 3 times, she appeared to be running from one end of the train to the other fleeing from a wannabe author - I decided not to introduce myself, I felt sorry for her!

Overall the event was well-organised, though queuing for 35 minutes for lunch was a pain. If you go next year, bring your own. Wine at lunch would have been nice - this was a tongue loosener at the Verulam Writer's conference 'Get Writing 2010' a few weeks ago. I think the venue was too small for 300 people, it got a bit claustrophobic.

I approved highly of the prominent Twitter hashtag #wic2010 displayed on the co-ordinator's email signature, printed on the brochure. It was very handy for all 3 of the people using it to talk to each other!

Unruly proposals, agent submissions and blogging

2010-03-03T16:40:00.001-08:00

What a day.

Today, I woke up at 6:10am. (Okay, I then dozed until about 8 but fact remains, I woke at 6 and I DIDN'T LIKE IT.)

Then I worked hard all day with lunch at my desk (don't like doing that). Brief fresh air break when fire alarm went off in the trusty Old Truman Brewery. Raced home at 6.30pm, ate, met the new person who has come to live in my house while Australian housemate goes away for 2 months, then raced upstairs to bedroom.

Bed with laptop giving me hot knees became my new office.

I worked on my book proposal for a couple of hours. I went to the Verulam Writer's Conference a couple of weeks ago and did one of those 3-minute meet-the-agent sessions. To my horror/surprise/delight, the agent said he thought the idea had potential and he wanted to see a submission. Squee! As I've never shown anything to an agent before, I really want to get this right. I know it's against every pitching-an-agent rule in the book not to have a submission pack ready to give him immediately on the first expression of interest, but hey, it's my first time.

Turns out there's quite a lot of work involved in writing a covering letter, synopsis and 'about the author' page - not to mention going over my first few chapters with a fine-toothed comb, sending them to friends/lovers/strangers to read and review.

So, once I finished that I wrote two blog posts as I was excited to see two very cool new videos in the Viral Video Chart today and I couldn't help myself: OK Go and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

Then I settled down to put the finishing touches to the video seeding pitch I was working on all day, for a very big deal with one of the biggest film studios in the world. EU-wide. Yikes! I'm waiting for the proposal to download now, as it is massive.

My aim is to be as accomplished a social-media bod, researcher and writer as the amazing Scarlett de Courcier. Unlike her though, I don't think I'll ever be able to get up at 4am to do it.

Christmas Lolcat cheer

2009-12-23T04:51:00.000-08:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Advent calendar fun!

2009-12-17T04:21:00.001-08:00

Jib Jab fun - starring me!

2009-10-22T09:02:00.000-07:00

Some people have a lot of spare time on their hands. I'm glad those people are my friends!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

In love with a fictional vampire again... FML

2009-10-20T08:56:00.000-07:00

I have lost 3 days of my life.

Friends, food and sleep have all turned into mere inconveniences in the way of my finishing a certain teen vampire series of books you might have heard of, and if you reached your hand in my head at the moment, all that would come out is mushy dribble.

Yesterday, I came across this entry in the popular 'Millennial' social media site Fmylife :

"Today, my girlfriend dumped me proclaiming she wanted someone more like her “Edward”. I asked her who Edward was. She held up a copy her “Twilight” book. She was talking about a fictional vampire. FML"

I was in hysterics imagining this conversation, and I was still giggling as I fell asleep at 2am this morning after finishing 'Eclipse.' But the scary thing is, I have turned into that girl. I can entirely see her point.

I wonder how many relationships have fallen by the wayside in the path of Stephanie Meyer's toxic romance myth-propagating? I think I'll be ruined from any human romance for a good long while.

Media owner vs agency - video perspectives

2009-10-14T02:41:00.000-07:00

This made me laugh almost to the point of tears. Or was it that watching it made me cry, and I had to laugh to disguise my tears? I've been sending it to all my clients anyway, they love it.

Incredibly, it was made using this site http://www.xtranormal.com/ which I tried out last night, it's so easy!

It's a good response to this old one:

Rolf Harris!

2009-09-22T02:08:00.000-07:00

I was walking back from a meeting in Old Street and I passed this billboard, then my client sent me the video!

Choose a different ending

2009-09-03T04:47:00.000-07:00

Editing

2009-08-06T03:51:00.001-07:00

The book is now 102,000 words long, and there are 45,000 words in the 'scrap' file. Is that normal? This book only vaguely resembles the story I started writing and it's shaping up incredibly slowly. Finally though, after two days of getting frustrated and upset, I've put the chapters in order. Now it's time to hone each chapter. One thing holding me back is that I really need to get hold of a police person to help me with the procedural bits - it's hard, as the one policeman I've spoken to said he could lose his job by helping me!

It's a long, slow process. I need to set myself a new deadline, I haven't been nearly as productive these past few months as I was at the start of the year when I was writing 7,000 words per week. I'll set the goal now - 2nd draft by the end of the year.

I won't do it like this next time! Next time, I'll do a proper outline. I'm learning a lot writing this book, and there are so many great resources out there to help. I'll try to post them all here, these are two good starting points:

http://www.novelr.com/2007/11/15/kurt-vonneguts-8-rules-for-writing-fiction

http://storyfix.com/category/story-structure-series

How Many Projects?

2009-08-03T09:33:00.000-07:00

Woe is me - I let life admin take over, spending almost the whole month moving into a new place. It's Stoke Newington this time, suitably artistic and I have a lovely skylight above my bed so I can watch London's stars as I fall asleep. Both of them.

I managed to fiddle with a new chapter enough to read out to my writing group last week, now it's vastly improved after I let them rip into it. As they are a polite bunch (most of them) I gave them all copies to read and asked them to write 'boring' beside the paragraphs they didn't like, definitely a good move though I had to drink several buckets of wine afterwards. I'm finding it a slow struggle to get things even half decent.

So, I was thinking - instead of all this editing and concentration on one subject, I might put The Medea Prophecy in a bottom drawer for a while and spend some time on another idea, one that's all fresh and new and exciting for which the enthusiasm is bubbling over naturally. That way I can get back into the flow of writing many thousands of words per week. Then again, I'd love to have one book finished, complete, as good as I can get, and be able to show it to people in the complete form.

On the whole, I think I'll just try to get back into the habit of writing/editing every day, and use the enthusiasm for the second idea to spur me on, and once I've completed this second draft I'll put it in a drawer for a while.

Anyone have any thoughts on juggling multiple projects?

Second draft

2009-07-03T03:53:00.000-07:00

It's been a long, slow process getting the first couple of chapters right but I think I'm getting there.

I gave the first ever draft of the prologue to my old writing group (Bishopsgate Writers) back in February, I think, and made huge radical changes to it as a result.

Last week I gave the new prologue and chapter one to a trusted critic who was very honest, I made the radical changes he suggested then read out chapter 1 to 5 people in the writing group on Wednesday and have made more changes.

Just the first two chapters have been redrafted about 6 or 7 times now, and I'm beginnning to get to the stage where I'm not totally ashamed of them!

I really dread to think what would have happened if I carried on redrafting without all the feedback I've had, it's been invaluable. I've been told the first three chapters are the most important and the hardest to get right so I know it's been worth the effort.

I'm impressed by this!! - Voices in My Head: Fantasy Writing- Chapter 1

2009-07-02T05:05:00.000-07:00

Voices in My Head: Fantasy Writing- Chapter 1

Lovely pointless laughter

2009-06-22T09:54:00.000-07:00

Hahahaha.fr

Naughty slacking

2009-06-19T09:25:00.000-07:00

I went to Italy for 5 days for a wonderful holiday, and though it was WELL worth it, I've slackened the pace on my book considerably. All I need to do is read the damn thing through, (first draft), to see what it's like and what needs developing, which storylines are good, which characters need to be spiced up etc. but I keep on being distracted by things like Grey's Anatomy and working late.

The problem is, it's not an exciting read for me. I suspect that this isn't just because I know what's going to happen. Sadly, I must admit that it's going to need a hell of a lot of work to make it more thrilling.

At least I can recognise that. Onwards and upwards!

Writer's Handbook Live 2009

2009-06-07T15:13:00.000-07:00

From 10am to 5pm yesterday I was listening to talks given by editors, agents, book buyers and creative writing teachers at this event in the lovely RIBA building near Regent's Park.

It was so exciting to be around all the professionals, and lots of other wannabes like me. I certainly learned a lot about presenting - I don't think I will ever use PowerPoint again in my own presentations. Those bullet points made me want to cry with boredom.

The highlight of the day was hearing Jenny Parrott, a commissioning editor from Little, Brown. She said that she's desperately looking for new British writers, but at the moment the quality of the work she's sent isn't as high as from the US and she thinks it's because they spend longer revising and re-drafting, often with the help of an agent.

Fine! I'll take note, thanks Jenny.

First ever critique group

2009-06-03T15:55:00.000-07:00

Tonight I went to one of N. Quentin Woolf's writing workshops, he recommeded the critique group for me. At £4 for over 2 hours of "regularly practising writers of all genres looking for peer feedback on their work," it was a real bargain, plus it's 2 minutes from where I work, hurrah... almost as if it was meant to be.

I'm so glad I went and I'll definitely go again. They were all clever, nice people who gave me lots of incredibly useful feedback which is going to turn my second draft into something halfway decent.

I had goosebumps when people told me they liked it and wanted to read more. IT WAS THE BEST FEELING EVER.

Espresso Book Machine

2009-05-29T07:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was enticed into Blackwells on Charing Cross Road, and my eyes were opened to the exciting reality of print-on-demand books. There's a small section with a giant printer - the Espresso Book Machine, where crowds of confused people hassle the single sales guy.

You give them an A3 pdf of your book cover, and an A5 pdf file of your manuscript and they will print your book in 5 minutes. They charge £15 for the set-up, then £0.02 per page.

There were a few example books and they didn't look too bad at all.

As a wannabe novelist, seeing my MSS in real book form is a tempting prospect.

I'm arguing to myself that there would be lots of benefits - it would depersonalise the text making it easier for me to revise by imagining it's a real book written by someone else.

It would also make me feel one step closer... something to clutch, weeping, when rejection letters start pouring in.

I can't stop thinking of fantasy quotes for my fake cover:

"I couldn't put this book down." - Dan Brown
"Gave me nightmares - I wish I'd written this book." - Stephen King

Edgar Award winning New York Times bestseller!

Primordial soup and throwing money at the problem

2009-05-25T16:28:00.000-07:00

I was forced into a 3 week break from writing, with my birthday and parental visitation and the Egypt holiday, but it was all re-kickstarted on Sunday when I went to an Urban Writer's Retreat in Angel. There were 12 of us in 2 rooms tapping away from 10am to 6pm with a strict 1 hour lunch. It made me feel very writerly and professional, especially as one of my fellow students actually already has a book deal. Ooooh. My main aim was to meet other writers and get away from the temptations of Twittering, and it was successful so I'll definitely go again.

I'm now on 110,000 words, and still adding to the primordial soup that is my novel. I can't believe it's changed so much. What happened? I had a plan. I had a vision. It's all turned to dust - what started as a straightforward thriller has morphed into a dystopian psychological thriller, with elements of sci-fi and horror and it's possibly a bit feminist and literary too. I've given up trying to fit it neatly into a genre I understand, with a clearly classified target audience. I'm just going to write the best book I can, something that I know I would love to read, and hope that there are other people out there who like it too.

Over the years, I've come across many a "how to write your novel" type book, and though I have caved in and bought many, I always secretly felt a bit of failure for reading them, and thought that 'real' writers wouldn't waste their money. I don't care any more though. I've just been on Amazon and bought lots more. I need all the help I can get! I'm joining writer's groups left, right and centre - I want someone to critique me so hard that they make me cry - I'm ready for it! I'm throwing money at all the writing conferences out there, just let me know when and where, I'm there!

Corporate Fatcat...

2009-04-23T09:55:00.000-07:00

I love I Can Has Cheezburger.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Seth Harwood's Podcasts

2009-04-23T09:10:00.000-07:00

In this video, Seth Harwood (author of "Jack Wakes Up") talks about how he goes about the production of his podcasts, where he reads out excerpts from his book and makes them available for free download. Looks like he's built up quite a fanbase from doing things like this. Smart guy!

Helpful video on formatting your manuscript in Word

2009-04-20T06:18:00.000-07:00

I love coming across a genuinely helpful video. This one shows you how to format a document so you can easily change the whole thing in a few moves, instead of painstakingly going through each chapter, and it also makes it much easier to navigate.

Now that my work-in-progress is 100,000 words long (!!!) this is going to be massively helpful.

92,500 words - nice to write when it's stormy outside

2009-04-14T15:05:00.000-07:00

It's my birthday on Saturday. Stage one of the 2009 resolution has to be complete by then, so I'm drowning myself in writing every evening this week (pausing only to watch The Apprentice tomorrow night).

I usually write in chunks of 1000, or 2,500 words, which is why I stopped at the silly number of 92,500 tonight. I'll have done 100,000 by Friday then it's off to Bath for my birthday weekend with the beloved, no doubt it will be a weekend of romance and laughter and the famous spa and restaurants and boating and walks in the country - that is if I can keep my mind off the themes of my book, which include but are not limited to:

Suicide
Manic depression
Persecution by auditory hallucinations
Madness in the family
Persecution by the media
Teenage pregnancy
Genetics
Mind reading
The origins of humanity
Theft of human organs (possibly)
Rape (possibly)

... and if I'm not completely consumed by the exciting thought that no matter what anyone says and no matter how rough it is at this early stage, I have written a book. From now on I'll work on making it a GOOD one that lots of people will fall in love with and by consumed by. Aaaah that's a nice thought.

I still have lots of books to read covering the above subjects so I can go into more or less detail as necessary once I've decided on the shape of the final story. I have to get all the books from Amazon delivered to work because that's where I am all day, and I think some of my colleagues may be starting to worry about my mental health as I open all these packages of books on suicide!

Embarrassing viral video confession

2009-04-03T02:33:00.001-07:00

We got this video to seed, and I didn't twig for almost 24 hours that it was an April Fool's. I thought it sounded like quite a fun game.

Writing versus social life

2009-03-27T11:05:00.000-07:00

I've had a busy week of socialising - mother's day treats at the weekend, then seeing stepfather's family Monday, wrote on Tuesday, caught up with friend I hadn't seen in a year Wednesday, saw another friend I hadn't seen in 2 years last night. Tonight is an old work reunion, and there's a housewarming party of housemate's girlfriend on Saturday, seeing lovely beloved on Sunday who has been away on holiday. It's been a week of constant stuffing my face and drinking too much and catching up with loads of brilliant people and it's been fabulous but am now ready for a rest and to snap back into discipline like a lean teenage greyhound. Next week.

But hey... no reason to feel guilty... I don't think I need to shut myself off from the world to get my book finished and weeks like this are an exception. The good thing is that I have a real craving to get back to writing, I'm excited about it. At the same time there's a slight amount of growing fear that I won't be able to get started again, it only takes a day of losing focus and the Fear returns.

I'm on 77,000 words so I'm on track to reach goal of 100k by my birthday, however the plot has changed so quite a lot will need to be deleted/amended so I don't really know when to do that. I think it's best to keep in the frame of mind of just writing as much as possible, and go into 'edit' mode later on.

I've learned that I can't really do more than 3,000 words in a day, even if I have the whole day to myself.

Right, onto this work reunion, I hope I can sneak away fairly early.

Stupid university

2009-03-24T14:03:00.000-07:00

I graduated 4 years ago. I was unable/unwilling to go to my graduation ceremony as I was WORKING MY ASS OFF by the time it rolled around, and couldn't afford it even if I could get the time off work, or wanted to.

4 years later, it occurs to me I still haven't seen my degree certificate (no employer has ever asked to see it) and think hmm, should probably try to get hold of it. They've agreed to post it to me but they've bloody sent it to my home address, recorded delivery. HELLO? I WORK. I know it was only an English degree, but do you really expect us all to have nothing better to do than sit at home and wait for the precious post to arrive? What do they think I'm doing, working on my doctorate on the subtext of "Little Miss Messy: deconstruction of the family and postfeminist subtext in the Mr Men series in the post-Harry Potter era?"

I can have it redelivered, as long as it's within 1 mile of my home address. Oh, that's okay then, I'll ask someone in a branch of the huge network of extended family I have living in deepest darkest Elephant & Castle to sit at home and wait for it instead.

For 50p I can have it sent to the Post Office and pick it up between 8am and 12pm on Saturday as long as I remember my passport. I'm not going to dignify that option with a comment.

I'm busy. I don't care that much.

Benrik, ad pooling, advertising

2009-03-13T10:28:00.000-07:00

Benrik's sales pitch for ad pooling came true this morning.

On Magic FM this morning someone decided it would be a good idea to merge a SpecSavers ad with an ad for radio ads.

CREDIT CRUNCH!

One of these days I will set up my ipod properly so I don't have to listen to those incredibly annoying adverts. The only type of advertising I like isis search and viral and word of mouth. I search for a product on Google, find the cheapest and I buy it. My friend sends me a funny video, I click on it and I watch it. My friend says that Dermalogica products will change my life and I rush out to buy them (they haven't).

I don't like the other kinds. Particularly not ads targeted to my demographic offering me baby products and wedding bollocks on bloody Facebook which thankfully I'm using it less now I've found Twitter has more interesting things to say.

Literary Heroes

2009-03-12T05:34:00.000-07:00

Today a hero came to the office! Paul, the writer behind The Daily Mash has got to be one of the coolest people I (vaguely) know. I visit his site every day and usually make everyone in the peaceful office jump with my guffawing. I LOVE that site.

I am a hero-worshipper. People I admire are high up on pedestals and I view them with an almost religious awe, to me they are imbued with divine spirit and I love their writing so much that I can barely conceive of them as human beings. I go to any talk they give, read their blogs, watch their TV programmes and live in hope that one day their talent will rub off on me. When I have a house I will have a special bookshelf dedicated to them with every book and short story they've written. Here's my list of living saints:

William Goldman (of The Princess Bride and Marathon Man fame)
Ken Follett (met him once and nearly fainted, he seemed put off by my girlish gushing though)
Terry Pratchett
Colin Bateman! (I once wrote him an email, I was delighted when he replied!)

One day, I would love to schmooze with them. *sigh. It will happen and we'll laugh together about this blog post.

Worryingly, they are all men, I would love a female writer to idolise but none spring to mind. Margaret Mitchell would be up there but she only wrote one masterpiece (Gone With the Wind) and it's not very helpful that she's long dead.

These come close:

Philippa Gregory
Louise Bagshawe

I wish Roald Dahl and P.G. Wodehouse were still alive so I could go to all their events, buy all their newly signed books dedicated to me and spend too much time stalking them online to see what they're doing.

57,000 words done

2009-03-06T09:03:00.001-08:00

Wow, had a great writing class last night, I feel so inspired now! Thanks Shaun Levin and the other Bishopsgate Writers.
We read 3,000 words of 3 people's work and they were all so intimidatingly good that I felt very embarrassed about what I'd sent round a fortnight ago - oh well. I think they've all been taught by Shaun before, so I'm very reassured that the classes are time well spent. Learning through action and discussion and practical examples is far better than just reading 'how to write' books constantly (which I'm also doing).

Afterwards I went home, drank Chardonnay and wrote frantically which was a great feeling as I hadn't done anything since Sunday and was beginning to feel that I was losing momentum.
This was because:
Monday - had a work event all night (I love my job - very important)
Tuesday - spent evening with the beloved (can't risk alienating this loved one)
Wednesday - went on an 8 mile run (necessary) and had to shiver in trauma and semi-hypothermia in bed afterwards

I've now done 57,000 words. After a bit of reading around, I've decided that this book shouldn't really be longer than 110,000 words. 100,000 is meant to be the ideal length for a first time thriller writer and I'm forcing myself to follow guidelines strictly to maximise the chances of this actually happening - it's my lifelong dream! However, I'm still coming up with new scenes/themes/twists all the time, and I don't know how it's all going to fit in. That's surely a good thing. As I said before, these are the earliest of days and my first draft is going to be horribly rough.

Last night we talked a bit about formatting and I was shocked to learn that I'm not supposed to put two spaces after a full stop, it's an academia-led convention that nobody else uses. I don't think I'll ever be able to get out of this institutionalised habit after 4 years of writing essays at university. I'll try, starting now though it looks wrong and nasty to me.

All this thinking and writing and being excited is still interrupting my sleep but I'm coming up with new ideas for books all the time which have to be scribbled in a notebook while I'm in the middle of typing and I feel great. (especially when writing is accompanied by Chardonnay but never mind about that).

Time will definitely have to be scheduled for watching Repo: The Genetic Opera at the Prince Charles cinema, it looks like it has everything!

One third of the way through...

2009-02-18T08:22:00.000-08:00

Last night I hit 37,000 words of the first draft, which is roughly a third. What makes life difficult is that I've done several versions of an outline and it keeps changing. I'll writing a 'chapter one' then decide on another great first chapter, making the old one into 'chapter 2' ... and continue like that.

It's slowly dawning on me just how much work writing a book involves. Social life has been cut down to the minimum needed not to alienate loved ones. I have barely seen my housemates all month.

I've set my deadline to finish first draft as my birthday, 18th of April when I'll be 26. Eeeeeek!!! I'm all too aware that this will just be the beginning of the hard work though because my first draft will be very rough.

I gave the first 3000 words to this 'writing feedback' workshop I signed up to with the Bishopsgate Institute, tomorrow is the day that we meet to discuss what I've written. Gulp. I strongly caveated my work by emailing "I'm not looking to win any literary prizes here," I hope they are merciful with me. At the same time, I hope there will be some useful insights that will help me iron out crapness in these early days. This is pretty much the first time I've shown anyone something longer than a short story.

I will have to get used to it!

I found this post on bookmarking in Word very handy, my book is saved as one big document and it was a nightmare scrolling through trying to find beginnings of chapters:

http://writerunboxed.com/2008/08/21/make-writing-more-productive-with-bookmarks/

January - New Year's Resolution is to write a novel

2009-01-26T05:12:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy few weeks and I'm feeling the fiery passion. A girly weekend in Beverley (my birthplace) with my mum and some friends gave me the tiniest spark of an idea for a book which I've been working on and thinking about non-stop ever since.
It's going to be a thriller.
I love reading thrillers, I love being in suspense and not being able to put a book down, feeling like I'm in another world that's a hell of a lot more exciting than my one. I like writing that is completely transparent, so I barely feel like I'm reading and I never need to re-read a sentence to understand the full meaning. I like characters I can fall in love with and identify with and who inspire me.
Writing a thriller is interrupting my sleep, I'm in a permanent state of excitement and suspense, I want to know how my next chapter will shape up. Though I've written an extensive outline with details on each chapter, I find that once I start writing it veers off straight away and a new scene just happens. At this incredibly early stage I'm going with the flow, see what happens and no doubt I'll have to go through painful excisement once the first draft is finished.

I'm overexcited.

11,000 words done.

Super Mario Revelation

2008-12-18T04:34:00.000-08:00

I love it when I get a genuinely funny video to distribute - it makes our job so much easier, results are always great, I can send the video round to my clients and they love it too... spreading the joy. Working with media agencies isn't always easy as they are so busy and inundated with sales calls, they are not always, shall we say, quite as well-mannered as their mothers would ideally like them to be. So, imagine the warm fuzzies I got when I sent this video to a client and she responded:

"That was amazing! Thank you so much Lindsey! Hahaha! I’ve just forwarded it to the whole digital department and people are collectively laughing and screaming! Brilliant! xxx"

Of course I did have the fear when I sent it to people who may or may not be gay, or may not have much of a sense of humour left, and I chickened out in a couple of cases. Then again one of the YouTube comments was from a guy guy and he loved it:

This is the funniest video I've ever seen (lol). They look just like Mario and Luigi from the video game (lol). I like the ending where the girl said, "What the fuck? I KNEW IT!!!" (lol). Using the song "A Moment Like This" by Kelly Clarkson is an excellent choice (one of my favorite songs too). It's been favored and rated 10 stars all the way :-) I hope to see more of your fantastic videos like this one :-) You've just made my day :-)

The joy of soup

2008-12-17T10:16:00.001-08:00

I have an old self-help book of my step-grandfather Edwin, "25 Steps to Success and Acheivement" which I think is from the 50's. Amongst the pearls of wisdom ("if you can't have children then you should adopt, and women should make sure they cook nicely and wash their husband's socks to make sure he feels loved") an entire chapter was devoted to the power of words and how we must learn to be their masters to use them as tools towards success and achievement. He gave the example of precious stones and the power, mystery and emotions they have. Consider:

pearl, aquamarine, diamond, peridot, topaz, ruby, sapphire, amethyst, chalcedony, opal, onyx, jacinth, beryl

Yes, powerful stuff indeed - especially in the run-up to Christmas.

I had to be off sick on Monday afternoon due to a bad cold, and I spent the entire afternoon in bed lusting over an encyclopedic recipe book of soups. Oh how delicious and warm and comforting they all seemed - how I wished someone would come and make me some. I realised that for me, soup is one of those wonderfully evocative words whose every synonym and variety throbs with romantic possibility:

bisque, bouillabaisse, bouillon, broth, chowder, consommé, gazpacho, julienne, mulligatawny, potage, vichyssoise

As romantic as they all are, the simple word 'soup' is the best. I eventually worked up the courage to go downstairs to the unheated kitchen messy and I found a dusty tin of M&S tomato soup which I got to boiling point within a minute and a half, into which I then grated vast amounts of cheese. I soon felt like a new woman.

In thanks to the Gods of Soup I'm now going home to make myself cauliflower cheese soup.

CHERYL COLE TO WATCH CHILDREN CRY - The Daily Mash

2008-12-11T10:30:00.000-08:00

CHERYL COLE TO WATCH CHILDREN CRY - The Daily Mash

Quarter-life crisis

2008-12-11T10:20:00.000-08:00

I'm 25, more than half way to 26 now, so I could be suffering from a quarter-life crisis which could account for recent angst. So naturally I went to Wikipedia so self-diagnose, those in bold are the ones that I identify with:

* feeling "not good enough" because one can't find a job that is at one's academic/intellectual level
* frustration with relationships, the working world, and finding a suitable job or career
* confusion of identity
* insecurity regarding the near future
* insecurity concerning long-term plans, life goals
* insecurity regarding present accomplishments
* re-evaluation of close interpersonal relationships
* disappointment with one's job
* nostalgia for university, college, high school or elementary school life
* tendency to hold stronger opinions
* boredom with social interactions
* loss of closeness to high school and college friends
* financially-rooted stress (overwhelming college loans, unanticipatedly high cost of living, etc.)
* loneliness
* desire to have children
* a sense that everyone is, somehow, doing better than you

Thinking of words

2008-11-20T10:31:00.000-08:00

I've had a muddled day, where the right words escape me. In a proposal, I had to explain that contacting bloggers and asking them if they'd like to run advertising on their site and needs to be handled in a very sensitive, non-spammy way - in order to prevent a shitstorm.

I had to ask around my colleagues what to put in the proposal instead of 'shitstorm,' as my mind was blank. We came up with 'negative sentiment,' which is probably more accurate but less amusing.

This what I nearly had several heart attacks over...

2008-11-14T09:11:00.001-08:00

One of my babies...

2008-11-14T08:56:00.000-08:00

I can't believe this guy is going out with that PussyCatDoll woman - she seems so shrewd on X-factor and he seems so baby-faced!

2008-11-12T10:53:00.000-08:00

I walked past Goldsmiths the jewellers today and saw that there's a "buy one, get one half price" offer, and I wondered exactly who they are targeting with this. If you were a married man having an affair, would you buy the full price item for your wife and think "might as well get something for the bit on the side as well if it's half price," or vice versa, or would you assume that you would be buying both women an item of jewellery and take into account the discount when calculating the value of each present? Would your instinct in this matter prove who you loved more?

2 meetings today, 29 email threads (in gmail you only count conversation threads, not individual emails, so probably around 100 emails), 2 proposals sent out. It looks like busy season is upon us, and I love it!

I'm off to Fitness First in Liverpool Street now, I joined the gym on Sunday and I'm looking forward to seeing the results of having forked out all that money. It is late and dark though, and I still have fresh Italian pasta left over from last week's Milan trip to eat, and the remaining episodes of Sopranos season 6 to watch...

Lindsey's Blog

Twilight, True Love and You New Review and Alternative Covers

Competition to win my mum's book, signed by Robert Pattinson

Digital Examples: Selling Stewart Lee with Social Media

Robert Pattinson at Water for Elephants London premiere

Twilight, True Love and You book launch

Divertimenti cookery school outing!

Samsung 3D Pros Highlights video - my latest campaign

Sunrise over London from Crystal Place

Touch it and I'll break your paw! Then I'll break your face!

A Night of Cadbury-tastic geek joy!

Spring is here!

Young adult? Want to be on TV?

Twilight, True Love and You - the Facebook page!

Can someone please write "Life Admin for Dummies"

Pork belly at Fino

Top 5 Christmas Links 2010

Twilight, True Love and You - NEW BOOK by my mum!

Aftermath

Personalised Infographics - Foursquare Check-ins

Clegg, Cameron and Brown race it out!

UK General Election 2010 videos

Gen Y and not sure how to vote in GE2010? Try this "fun quiz"

Pepto-Bismol ice-cream

Stolen shoe crime shock

With these cheese videos, you are really spoiling us...

Google Liquid Galaxy - flying machine request

Writers' and Artists' Yearbook: The Inside Guide to How to Get Published

Twilight dominates the Viral Video Chart

Writing Industries Conference East Midlands 2010 review

Unruly proposals, agent submissions and blogging

Christmas Lolcat cheer

Advent calendar fun!

Jib Jab fun - starring me!

In love with a fictional vampire again... FML

Media owner vs agency - video perspectives

Rolf Harris!

Choose a different ending

Editing

How Many Projects?

Second draft

I'm impressed by this!! - Voices in My Head: Fantasy Writing- Chapter 1

Lovely pointless laughter

Naughty slacking

Writer's Handbook Live 2009

First ever critique group

Espresso Book Machine

Primordial soup and throwing money at the problem

Corporate Fatcat...

Seth Harwood's Podcasts

Helpful video on formatting your manuscript in Word

92,500 words - nice to write when it's stormy outside

Embarrassing viral video confession

Writing versus social life

Stupid university

Benrik, ad pooling, advertising

Literary Heroes

57,000 words done

One third of the way through...

January - New Year's Resolution is to write a novel

Super Mario Revelation

The joy of soup

CHERYL COLE TO WATCH CHILDREN CRY - The Daily Mash

Quarter-life crisis

Thinking of words

This what I nearly had several heart attacks over...

One of my babies...