Anyway, I was in a terrible state about jobs. I wasn’t happy with my situation and started looking for other options, preferably ones that I would enjoy and not just something to get me away from a job from hell like last time. I was less discriminating then than I am now.

So I found this wonderful position as an editorial assistant at a book publishing company and I was eligible to apply. But it was in Sweden. This posed a problem, a huge one, since neither me or Kev had any plans on moving previously and it would require quite a massive readjustment for both of us. I was in a serious state of confusion. What would I do?! The job sounded too good to be true, but maybe Kev didn’t want to move. Maybe I didn’t want to move!

I did what you do in a tight spot such as this. I phoned my dear mum who pointed out to me that I would kick myself forever if I didn’t apply. And even if they offered me the job, I didn’t have to say yes. And that it was only an application, not a contract I was sending over to them. I was then told the exact same thing by a few good friends, so on my day off, I set out working on a cover letter and my CV. I was very happy with both when I sent them off.

Of course I talked to Kev before I sent anything away, making sure that he was ok with the whole thing. He’s a sweetheart, he really is, and agreed to start looking for a job in Sweden should I get an offer.

Then the worrying started. OMG, how will we handle the move?! How will I cope alone while kev finds a job?! How will I find a flat?! How, how how!!!? I’m an expert at worrying about things, can you tell?

As the days went by I started getting more and more stressed out. Maybe I didn’t want to move. But I really wanted the job. It was a fantastic job. But how would I be able to get my computer over to Sweden? It would certainly be too heavy to fly there. I was a mess.

But then came the email. “Dear Sofi, we regret to tell you…”

A sigh of relief? Yes, I think that’s what it was. Of course I was a little disappointed as well, but I was more focused on the fact that I wouldn’t have to organise a move now. Whew! I think that says quite a lot.

I’m not ready to move just yet.

But when I am, I want it to be something that me and Kev plan together, something that we both feel ready for, and are heading into with a map and compass, not headfirst without so much as a packed lunch.

I mean, if I met an Ent, I would fucking beg it to take me along for a bunch of wonderful adventures. I would grow Shiva-arms out of pure excitement.

Trees are good with age as well, the older and bigger they get, the more awesomeness can fit in them. How cool is it that the world’s oldest tree is over 10 000 years old?! I think that’s mega cool. They just get better with age. I can’t help but wonder though, how they feel about having little brats like me climb all over them.

I was the queen of tree houses when I was little (and I secretly wish I was now too)! If a 9 year old Sofi was provided with a hammer and some boards, she would hustle up a tree house in an afternoon. I do wonder if the trees ever felt anything.

Or maybe it was just like acupuncture for them, acupuncture and a new hat.

Let’s pretend it was.

Tell me what you think! (Although I doubt I’ll go back to the old one even if you ask. Ehehe)

Oh yeah, there’ll be a real post at some point today or tomorrow. I will not disappoint!!

Edit: Yeah, it’ll be tomorrow. There’s no way I’ll finish it tonight.

The pictures below are in no particular order, since I couldn’t get the ordering function to work, but they are pretty none the less and we had an absolute blast. Most of them are from Isle of Eigg, and some of them are from Mallaig and Isle of Skye. All of the ones with trees in them are from Skye.

There are, however, no pictures of out wild night out, since we were too busy ordering weird drinks to take photos. We should probably have taken more photos. Maybe then we wouldn’t have been feeling so crappy in the morning, and for the most part of the stunning 5 hour train journey from Glasgow to Mallaig. I really should have slept more on the train, but the scenery rolling by outside the window was just far to breathtaking to take my eyes off.

It was awesome, all of it. Enjoy the photos, and Emma – Come back soooooon!

I’ve actually never been to holiday in Spain, so it’ll be a first for me. I’m not going to count the one time we went to Tenerife, because that just didn’t cut it. Anyway, we’re going to a town/resort on the north side of the island called Puerto de Pollensa and it looks wonderful. Kev has been there before and can vouch for its niceness. As can this picture:

I entered a metaphor and simile challenge over at webook. The challenge was to write 3 sentences of no more than a total of 100 words containing a metaphor or a simile. Here’s what I submitted:

Bewildered she looked at the little creature peering back at her from across the room with dark, beady eyes. They were jet black, two little pools of tar, and she had a feeling the soul that lived within was just as treacherous.

She’d known from the moment she heard the words “auntie Bess” and “poodle” that the little beast would be trouble.

You can read more about the whole thing over at the webook blog!

So now I have a free submission to Page2Fame in my inbox. Don’t quite know what to do with it yet. Probably submit a revised version of the page I’ve already submitted, if it doesn’t go through to the second round that is!

Yaaaay!

No. I can’t have that.

It’s been annoying me for some time now, so I’ve decided that I’m going to change the names and keep the characters as they are, keep them my own, and let the reader draw parallels if they want to. I think that will be the best solution for both me and my reader as I already have a clear idea of what roles these characters will have in the story, and since I’m not willing to change those roles to adapt to the characters’ current, heavily associative names. It’s better to create something new and then the reader can be allowed to think and draw parallels themselves, should they want to.

That leaves me with one problem. I have to come up with some new names. Names that will have to sound good in my head, suit the characters and on top of that, they have to be original.

I have a few ideas, but none of them sounds quite right yet. Obviously, I want them to be spot on. I’m in the process of looking for inspiration, and of course, any help would be welcome.

What I’m doing right now is to plan out all the chapters (still don’t know how many it’ll amount to), just outlining each of them with a sentence or two, so I know what’s going on and what to consider while developing the characters etc. Now, you might not be able to see much of this progress right away, but I believe it will make the writing of future chapters much smoother.

I’ve found this wonderful word processor called yWriter that I’ve been using to plan out my chapters, as well as scenes within those chapters when I feel the need to go into more detail. It really has all the functionality and organising features and OCD-freak like me can wish for. And it’s free! What a wonderful treat. And I guess the beauty is that it works just as well as word or any other tool like it for doing the actual writing. And since you can tackle your story in terms of scenes instead of chapters, it all feels a bit more manageable.

Now, something else that I’ve found motivational is a site called WeBook. It’s basically a site where aspiring authors can submit their work for discussion by their peers, create groups and debate various writing related issues that they might have. That’s one part of the site. Another part, and arguably the one that’s the most appealing, is the chance to get in contact with agents and publishers through features like AgentInBox where you can submit your finished work to a number of agents for free, and Page2Fame where you, for a fee, can submit a first page to be rated by the readers. the first pages that gets the highest amount of positive votes then gets put through to a second round where the authors get to submit 5 more pages… and so on. The ultimate prize here is of course to get published.

Mostly out of curiosity, but also because I think it’s good, I’ve submitted my first page. Yeah, I did it! But the ratings it gets will be kept secret for the next 3 days. It’s apparently to prevent people from trying to manipulate the votes. Suspense! I say. How fun would it be if I got through to round two?

If you want to read what I’ve posted so far, and keep an eye on my updates, you can go read here: http://www.webook.com/project/Nevermore-1 Feel free to leave comments and constructive criticism if there’s anything that pops into your head.