Fi Phillips

Every year, September marks a fresh new start for me. The teens return to school. I've had a rest and change of scenery over the summer break, and I approach my workload with a new level of enthusiasm. After submitting my novel to a literary consultant at the beginning of the summer, I received the resulting report while I was away in Corfu with my family. Yay for roaming data! I spent the next few days (in between cocktails, losing at pool to my son, and boat trips) constructing a plan on how to approach the next draft of my novel. The report was provided by the Faber Academy and I have to say that they hit the nail on its well-worn head with their advice. They flipped my indecision over the way forward for my novel into certainty over what path I should take. Thank you, Faber Academy - you are my heroes. I'm therefore setting myself a NaNoWrimo-esque self challenge in September to complete the redraft of my novel. I've set myself a daily chapter-count (1.7 chap...

So here we are at the start of a new school year and a new season. I have peace and quiet in my home, well, during school hours, and the chance to get back to my writing in earnest. The first novel is complete. The second novel is drafted. I have a rough plan for the entire series. I'm also looking into the whole process of self publishing. I'm still on the look out for an agent but I think it's wise to be open to options. Away from writing, this is my daughter's birthday month which will entail two weekends of celebrating (with us here at home and then at Grandma's house). She's growing up and the toy aisles no longer interest her. She's already beginning to think about what she'd like to do for a living and looking at course options for her exams at school. When did my little girl get to be so grown up? What are you doing in September?

It truly feels like autumn now, the turning of the year into cooler days and tawny shades. I love this season for the same reason that I love spring - there's change in the air. My choice words this month come from the award winning writers Doris Lessing and Octavia Butler. The wonderful Doris Lessing talks about writing.

Yes, I know it's mid month and I really should have posted this at the beginning of September but it's been a hectic couple of weeks and I've only just sat down (reaches for coffee). No, really, it has. The beginning of September saw my children return to school (youngest child joining his big sister at high school) which should have given me a chance to catch up on everything. I say 'should' because around the same time, my husband and I decided to start the cogs turning in the 'moving house' process. The documents are signed. The boxes have been purchased (and several of them packed). We have keys to collect and measurements to make in the new house. It's all good but it's also time-consuming. My daughter also turned into a teenager, this weekend just gone. There were presents to buy and wrap, and arrangements to be made for a birthday weekend away. We got back late last night. So, back to the topic at hand (need more coffee), my post, th...

It's the first day of September (pinch punch, white rabbits, something like that) and the last day of the summer holidays for me and my children. Tomorrow, I go back to being a grown-up. Today, however, I can still relax - phew. So along with the first day of September, this is the first monthly Choice Words post. Today, I'm sharing an article about another 'first' from the Writer's Digest website written by novelist Jeff Gerke, 4 Approaches for the First Chapter of Your Novel . I've started my novel with approach no. 2. Have a read and you'll see what I mean.

This is something we'll be seeing a lot of soon in the UK- a street covered in autumn leaves. My children are almost past the age to kick around in leaves but whenever we pass a pile of leaves like this, there's always the temptation. What could lie beneath this layer of leaves, beyond the obvious earwigs and worms? Something lost? Something hidden? What could you find if you bent to clear away the leaves?

This month's photo inspiration is an old, old shot from my past, a late summer holiday taken before the older children in this image returned to school.  What are your eyes drawn to first? What do you find as you look around the image? What does the photo remind you of? How does it make you feel? Who do the feet in the corner belong to? Where does the bridge go to? Have they driven over the bridge or is that still to come? What does this inspire you to write?

There is a wonderful chill in the air to accompany the still blue skies here in North Wales. Autumn is almost upon us. My children return to school tomorrow. The wheel turns a notch further and daytime peace will soon return until the mid term holiday. Whatever kind of writing you do, it's well worth reading the introduction to DIY MFA's Lit Loft - Develop Effective Writing Habits .

 

We haven't moved into a new season yet but today it feels like autumn, crisp sunshine wrapped around the cherries and apples in my garden. I'm in the middle of a commissioned script and with my children still at home (they return to school next week), I'm snatching moments around them to do my work. My mind is on the month ahead and my to-do list looks like this: Complete my script and send it off to the client. Write and send out the quarterly newsletter for my business. Re-brand my business and make some alterations to the website. Complete another script for my business. Return to my work in progress, my darling novel.. That's quite a lot when I apportion time needed to complete these tasks. I really should be applying my nasal extremity to the grindstone and yet... For this first week in September, I always feel a stillness and a sense of anticipation. It's like the way my Auntie Ethel used to prepare herself before she drove up a hill. Ethel was...

Image via Wikipedia  My daughter has developed a penchant for paperback novels. She can devour one in a single sitting. Not unusual for an adult but this eager reader is only eight years old. It was her birthday this weekend so I treated her to two books that I loved at her age, James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , both by the wonderful writer, Roald Dahl (pictured), an apt purchase because September is Roald Dahl month. This celebration of Dahl was originally launched on 13th September 2006 on what would have been his ninetieth birthday. 2010 sees this celebration stretch to embrace an entire month of festivities.  "Roald was a great believer in birthdays being filled with treats, so he would be happy that this tradition seems to be becoming an annual event," said Dahl's widow, Felicity. Events this September include: 'Fantastic Mr Fox' performed at the Little Angel Theatre, Islington a staging of  'George's Marvel...

Yesterday I wrote about my affection for the month of September but  autumn in general is a favourite time of the year for me. Like the harvest from the fields, orchards and hedgerows, this season always feels like a time of reward and fruition. As I mentioned yesterday, autumn brought to me my daughter and my husband. This was also when I got married. In her '52 Qualities of Prosperous Writers' newsletter, Christina Katz wrote this week about being 'bountiful'. She writes, Bountiful implies that your cup is already overflowing so you simply tip your abundance into the hands of others. No sainthood required! One thing I'm always thankful for is the abundance of ways in which I can apply my writing. There's this blog of course, the plays I write for Murdering The Text and the ideas I have for novels too. More recently, my writing 'cup' has overflowed and with the help of my husband (who is also my writing partner), we've taken the scenario and...

'Mellow' is the word that always comes to mind when I think of September. The days are still warm, there are flowers in the garden and we have time after school or work to go walking. And yet the way the colours of the garden and countryside have faded and the drawing in of the nights remind us that autumn and ultimately winter is on the way. I like September. My children return to school and I can reclaim the house from a battleground of toys and abandoned socks. The extremes of summer (the long days, the brightest colours and cloudless skies) give way to a kinder, less challenging season. I met my husband in September, an unexpected and warmly remembered encounter that set me on this well-loved path. My daughter was born in this month and my father was taken from me too. It has always been a time of change and fresh avenues into the future. This September is no different. Today I posted off our sitcom pilot script to the BBC. My husband is in the midst of writing a seco...