Fi Phillips

After a surge in my writing/editing during Camp NaNoWriMo in April , my non writing life took control in May. Add to this the fact that I couldn't get my head around a new scene that I needed to write and my wordage ground to a halt . After throwing ideas around for that evasive scene for a couple of weeks, I finally managed to get it down on paper this week - phew. I also came to the conclusion that my writing output suffers when I don't have a plan in hand, a regular target. I've therefore returned to an old friend. I've talked about the Pacemaker website before. Using your own choices of regularity of writing and wordcount etc, Pacemaker creates a writing plan for you. My writing plan looks like this: Target wordcount: 25,000 (I've already written around that amount. Another 25k should finish my novel). Start date: Today. Finish date: 17th July (I want to complete this before my children break for the summer and take over my sanity). I've chosen ...

It was my seventh wedding anniversary yesterday. We had a romantic evening in (well, as romantic as it can be when you're trying to settle a child in bed) - meal cooked by my husband, a bottle of bubbly and Captain Corelli's Mandolin on the TV - bliss. The champagne hangover I suffered this morning wasn't so blissful, which is why this post is later in the day than usual. Be kind to me - I'm feeling fragile. As my life is so often a juggling act (children, work, some kind of social life), I sometimes struggle to meet my writing goals so I was delighted to discover a free online tool to help me keep up my progress - Pacemaker . Choose your word count, intensity level and weekend writing plans and this program will create a customised writing schedule for you. I started to use it the day I found it and have to say that it's proving incredibly useful.