Month: May 2015

The run is done and a plan is made!

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Good day to you all!

Following on from my post circa 07.05.15 (https://johnrsermon.com/2015/05/07/the-training-and-the-writing-combined/) I completed the Manchester 10k run in 49.09! I was just hoping to do it in less than 54 minutes, which would beat my time from the previous year. So I was overwhelmed, wait that’s a bit much, what else can I say? Well happy! That’ll do. With my time of 49.09. Although it does mean I’ll want to beat it next year. Can’t wait till next year now and the target I want to beat. Three cheers for targets! How I love/hate them so! For a few more details and a few pictures go to https://johnrsermon.com/2015/05/13/my-week-in-pictures-well-some-of-it-anyway/.

Okay. I have made a plan, which I have kept to so far, to do some writing or editing as soon as I get home while my work head is still on. This has worked wonders in the past and it’s seen my productivity increase and my overall mood rise. See, this way, when it gets to the evening and I’m relaxing and don’t really feel like writing, I’ll know and can smile about having written or edited when I got home.

The amount I write or edit has depended on what part of the story I’m editing or am about to write. I have completed the second edit for my story to enter into the http://www.britishfantasysociety.org/the-bfs-short-story-competition-2015/ short story competition. It is well on its way to being enterable (is that a word? I doubt it but the squiggly line hasn’t appeared underneath so I’m fine with it). I have also moved along my western yarn. Last time out our hero had just stood up to someone who the rest of the town would dare not stand up to. This has led the villain of the piece to confront him. Our hero has realised that this is the turning point in his stay in the latest town he has wandered into. Will he stay or will he go? Only time will tell.

I have mentioned before but I do pretty much have this story mapped out in my head but I’m now not sure if our hero will in fact be our hero. Could he live with himself he just left and doomed the town to further punishment on top of the punishment they are already having to deal with? I don’t know. I’m considering that he just might and this western of mine may jump to a different town. Initially I was unsure about writing a story without any real notes or preparation being made. Now however, I’m starting to think I might write all my stories this way.

Well, as always, thank you for reading and have a good week.

Bye

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My week in pictures. Well, some of it anyway.

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Hello,

I just thought that I don’t share a lot of pictures via my blog so I’ve decided to change that. Here’s a few from the last week. Well, mostly Sunday when I did the Manchester 10k run.

Enjoy

Waiting for the warm-up to start for the Manchester 10k. Third year running.
Waiting for the warm-up to start for the Manchester 10k. Third year running.
Me after the Manchester 10k. My time...49.09. Well chuffed as the year before I did it in 54.00.
Me after the Manchester 10k. My time…49.09. Well chuffed as the year before I did it in 54.00.
Me and mate Ed after the race. We had a bet that whoever lost would buy the winner a trophy. I won. But I'm scared of what I'll end up with now.
Me and my mate Ed after the race. We had a bet that whoever lost would buy the winner a trophy. I won. But I’m scared of what I’ll end up with now.
A view of Old Trafford from Salford Quays in Greater Manchester.
A view of Old Trafford from Salford Quays in Greater Manchester.

The Training and the Writing combined.

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Hello again,

My training for the Manchester 10k run on Sunday 10th May (https://www.greatrun.org/great-manchester-run) is going very well. I’m quietly confident I can improve on my time from last year of 54mins. I also have the added incentive that if I don’t beat my friend then I have buy him a trophy. I think this has made me run just that little bit faster considering I know how he can pull these things out of the bag. I don’t think he’s done a lot of running recently but I bet his best run ever will be on Sunday. Here’s hoping my training will pay off.

Along with my training, I’ve been moving along with my writing and editing.

I’ve taken up walking to work to help pay for a holiday to New York, which is at the end of June. This ends up leaving me, after walking to and from work at a total of 100 minutes, with the overwhelming sense of ‘can’t be arsed’ mode when I get home. I’m moving myself, albeit at a slow pace, away from this and have been editing and writing whilst tired. I was worried that my tiredness would make me write and/or edit below my own standard and I’d have to do it all over again. Meaning I’ve wasted my time. But my editing is coming along well. I’ve got till the end of June but I’m hoping to get it done by the end of May and get my story entered into the http://www.britishfantasysociety.org/the-bfs-short-story-competition-2015/.

My current story that I’m writing has also been moving along nicely and I’ve written my first action scene. Now, you must understand that as I huge fan of westerns I am almost always dreaming up of shoot outs and action sequences based in that genre. But somehow, when I came to write my first ever shoot out, it’s was something completely new. Something I have never thought of before. And something I am now quite proud of. I have always thought the way a cowboy would introduce himself in a film or book would be in his first shoot out. Showing the world, or in this case the small town, exactly what he is made of when it came down to defending himself. In my hero’s first gun fight he’s defending the honour of a horse and in turn standing up for the whole town, who have wanted to do such a thing for years. A henchman to the main villain, named Bronco, is scaring a horse by shooting at its legs. Cue our hero to save the day by showing him exactly how good of a shot he is. This is first act that will set up the rest of the story. I’m looking to push the pace faster and faster from here and build up to an almighty showdown involving everyone who is able to fire a gun in the town. I may even include the women. It could turn into the western equivalent of a Royal Rumble or a Battle Royal. Or possibly Battle Royale? I’m not sure. But as always I’ll keep you informed.

Right, all this talk of progress is making me hungry. To write and eat. So…

Good bye!