Lums Chapel Writing Journal
If I asked for your help...
Please read this Journal page to learn the history and read about the progress of my short story / novel.
To read a sort of synopsis of the short story, see the "Short Story I am Working On" page. On this page I also ask that if you have any suggestions of what sisters and cousins talk about when they get together after being apart a while let me know.
If you want to read a synopsis of the "Lums Chapel stories" as I envision them now, read the "Back Story" page.
There are lots of people mentioned in the pages of this website. To learn who the people are and their family relationships, check out the "Lums Chapel Family Tree".
To read a more detailed description of the characters, check out the alphabetical listing on the "Who, What, When, Where" page.
To learn what inspired me to write about these characters in the first place, check out the "Inspiration" page.
Journal of my short story / novel writing efforts...
March 24, 2010
I started writing up the pages to the "Lums Chapel Whoop-de-doo" section of this site on Sunday evening, March 21, 2010. I had been "keeping" the journal found in the "Look No Further" section.
History of my short story so far...
I've been getting the magazine "Writer's Digest" for some months now. (since the summer or last winter maybe) On March 8, 2010 I received by mail a flier announcing the, "79th Annual Writer's Digest Writing Competition". I read over the rules, and figured it would be too difficult. Besides, I am already working on a novel. But I woke up on March 9, 2010 thinking of printing presses and the smell of printer's ink.
Sometime in late January or early February 2010, I received my February 2010 edition of British "Country Living" magazine. On page 76 starts an article about the Welsh press called, Gwasg Gregynog. They are a revival of an old press which prints beautiful books. Amongst the text on the magazine pages are photographs. One photo is of a 1950's Heidelberg cylinder printing press. It reminds me of a press my father had in his print shop. He once owned The Olney Enterprise in Olney, Texas. Of course the printing press my father had was smaller. The one at Gwasg Gregynog is designed to print books. [amendment--- I think it was around June 10, 2010 that I added some photos to the Inspiration page. I requested some photos of some printing presses that my father had. The printing presses are still in the back of the Olney Enterprise office. The photos were E-mailed to me and I asked for and received permission to stick them on this site.]
The more I stared at this photo, the more I smelled the printer's ink. The more I smelled the ink, the more memories flooded into my mind. I even remembered the sound the Linotype machine made as my father would type on it.
Does anyone remember putting peanuts in a bottle of Coke and drinking that?
Reading about printing presses etc. is probably like reading Greek to you. What it means is, the flood of memories caused me to grab a small notebook and start taking notes for a story to enter in the competition. The more I scribbled, the more the memories came. But I didn't have a story to go with the memories and notes. I told Douglas that if I didn't get inspired with a story in a day or two, I would give up and continue on with the novel I had been working on. ["Current Novel Writing Efforts"]
After some praying; a lot of thinking about my story; and some effort in trying to think of something else for a while, I found my story. The pieces fell into place on March 11, 2010.
I remembered these characters I have been working with for a long time. Some of the characters I have been working with for about 20 to 21 years. I feel as if I know them like distant relatives. Some of the characters I wrote about in a radio drama I sent to a BBC World Service, radio drama competition. I thought, "Why not have the main character of the radio drama, 'Josephine Argyle', be the one who has the flood of memories?". Why not have her flying "home" to Lums Chapel, for an extended weekend? And let the story be the get together between Josephine, her sister and cousins. They could reminisce and that would account for all the memories in the notes. Some day I want to take the radio drama and turn that into a book. This short story could be the beginning of the book, I reasoned.
So I found my story. I have scribbled a bunch of notes. I'll probably scribble a bunch more as I go along. You can keep track of my progress by reading this journal.
The deadline for the competition is... May 14, 2010. ("Late Entry Deadline: June 1, 2010")
March 26, 2010
I finally got this part of the site finished.
Another thing... I have been reading about books a lot lately. Partly because of the novel I am working on which you can read about elsewhere on this site. And mostly because I want to get into the book selling business. So printing presses, ink, paper and other such things are very interesting to me. I guess I have had this interest for a long time. I just never put it into words until recent years. Another memory generator is Dr. Pepper. Douglas bought me one without prompting. I ask for one once in a while. We have to stop and he has to say no. I crave fizz though.
April 1, 2010
I started working on actually writing the story very early on Monday March 29. Of course I didn't get much done. Then I have to go back and change it so that it is past tense. I barely got past page one so it should not be a big deal. But it is proving to be a problem. How to write the opening sentence in past tense. Then, does the opening sentence have enough punch? It's kind of tame. But the story isn't full of suspense really. I prayed about it. I think it just came to me. It will work as the sentence in past tense. Whether it is enough to grab a reader, I don't know. [amendment:] I might need a sentence of a completely different subject to open the book. I think that's coming to me also.
I know, I seem to be going very slowly. If you don't know me, haven't noticed by reading this, or haven't read the other journal on this site, I am the world's worst procrastinator---which I shouldn't be confessing. I will be doing good to finish this story--- let alone finish it by the deadline. I should have believing that I will finish it in time. Right now it doesn't look promising-- going on past experience. I am working on it now--- I pulled off (printed) what I have so far, so I could mark it up with red, so I can re-do it.
I do have quite a bit of notes taken. But notes are not story. I should put the notes into an outline so I can work much faster. Or at least have my thoughts organized so I can move from one thing to the next without having to think, "what comes next?".
What was it that I thought of earlier? (sentence in past tense) I should be able to get it back. If I don't put what comes to the mind into long term storage, I loose it. Writing it down helps. If I don't re-remember whatever it is, or write it down, and then I "loose" it from short term mental storage, sometimes I never get it back. If I remember a fragment of what it was, or remember the context of whatever I was thinking that reminded me of the thing I forgot, then I can sort of retrace my mental steps and figure it out. If my mind goes blank then I can get frustrated. It is great when I can retrace my mental steps and remember the trigger for the thought. Then I have this "Eureka!" moment. It is like a "V8 moment". ["Eureka" means "I have found it". V8 is a mixed vegetable juice with adverts. that include someone hitting their forehead and saying, "I coulda had a V8".] (wrote down the thought onto a scrap of paper so I am ok for now)
I do have a couple of novels which are similar in some ways to my story. Similar in that it is someone writing the novel as journal entries. My story has that aspect, but the two stories are nothing alike otherwise. I'm going to look at how that author opens their books. I won't do what they did exactly, but use it as a guide. I bought these books so I could see how the author transitions from the journal entries to the dialogue text of the novel.
I'm going to work on re-working what I have so far. And I will work on an outline so things will run smoother. I kind of started the outline in the notebook the other day. I want to do one up on the computer.
I should go. More as it happens.
p.s. I looked at the competition website just now. If I don't get this story finished for this competition, I can at least finish it for another one coming up. They have them all the time. This particular one is every year. They also have a short story competition. That takes some of the pressure off. Yet, deadlines are good in that they force one to do what one wants to do. It's not good to panic though.
April 9, 2010
I'm watching a family look for a house in New Zealand via HGTV. I have decided that I probably won't finish this short story in time for the competition that ends in May. I want to finish it anyway, so I have something to enter into a future competition.
I'm going to be doing Tai Chi again. I think the class starts towards the end of this month. It might be the last time the teacher will have class. She is in her 80's. I'm really going to have to pay attention good this time. I do have some of her lessons on audio. I need to keep moving. Hopefully we get a bicycle pump and I can get out on the bicycle with Douglas. I need to use the indoor bike too. It sits in the way so I will remember to use it.
As I also wrote on the index page, this will be the opening of a novel, "To Them That's Left". I have been thinking of calling this first chapter [the short story], "A Place Where We Go". That was the original title of my radio drama. "A Place Where We Go," refers to the town of Lums Chapel, the Cooper family home, and the family there. It is were Josephine and her family would always refer to as "home". They could live hundreds or thousands of miles away, but they always went back there to go "home".
I have gotten past the first page of the story. I think I have what I want. I have written more on paper. I just have to type it onto the computer. (there were storms out which prevented me turning on the computer) Once I get it typed in I'll have to re-read what I have. I need to work on the punctuation as I go along.
Today, added text to the index page to this section of the site.
Will write more as it comes up.
April 11, 2010 "more"...
Got quite a bit done yesterday. (9th and 10th) But I woke up on the 10th and found out that it needed work. There was something missing. There are some things which are Josephine "thinking" which should be in a journal. Other parts belong as text and dialogue.
Went and circled what needs fixing. Will have to re-arrange everything. I start telling the story on July 2 a Wednesday. But the story actually starts the Friday before (June 27). So I need to re-start the story. I think it will come out much better.
Looks like this is going to be the whole novel, if I can keep up the momentum. I still need to work on the house. I wish we could take the roof off it, turn it upside down, shake it and then start over putting stuff back in. It works with purses (hand bags) why wouldn't it work with a house? Ha!
again, "as it comes up" etc...
April 30, 2010 (April 30, thoughts which are written on May 1, 2010.) progress update...
Last week sometime (or was it the week before?) I went and did the beginning of the re-arranging of the text I wrote about in the last posting. (what I circled) Don't know when I'll work on it. Been working at going to bed earlier. That's a priority right now. On Thursday (April 29) I started the Tai Chi class again.
Check out the journal for the other story on this site, "Osbert Pickle" story. I still take notes for it as I work on this story. I'm reading through the latest "Writer's Digest" which came in the mail this week. (or was that last week?) As I read through it I think of things that need doing to the "Osbert Pickle" story. I got a bug to write to it lately. (not that I have written to it) I figured out how to do chapter two. I just don't know how to start chapter one exactly. I think I have it done some what. As far as chapter two goes, I have known for a long time that I need to make the villain more prominent rather than vague. I figured out how to introduce him.
Now that I have this site set up the way it is, I will probably trade off working on both stories to a point. I'm thinking one story will eventually win out and get finished. As I get a bug to write to one I'll do it. It gets stale a little and I will probably gravitate to the other story. I figure that if they get done what difference does it make. So long as I make progress.
Ok, enough for now, I am going to stick a version of this posting in the other journal. Check back to the journals from time to time in order to keep up with my writing progress.
August 5, 2010
On August 3, 2010 this lady wrote me from Texas. She filled out the feedback form on the main website. She had found either this site, or the main website via a search engine. (I don't know which one she found.) She had grown up in Whitharral, Texas and was related to the "Lums" who founded the real "Lums Chapel". It was interesting E-mailing her. She knew my aunt. My aunt was her substitute teacher one time. This lady had a "car wreck" outside my aunt's former house--- when my aunt lived there. And her brother was trying to buy the house and surrounding farms. The lady's mother knew my aunt and cousins. I may have gone to the lady's grandmother's house with my grandmother. Her grandmother is a writer too. I am not sure it was her grandmother's that we went to. My grandmother took me to a woman's house who was a writer. She wrote mostly for magazines. I was taken there for encouragement and advice. This lady's grandmother writes for magazines.
Don't know when I'll write to this journal again. I have been really working hard on the "new" first chapter of the, "Osbert Pickle" story. I think I have it "nailed" (to a point). I need to find a writing critique group near me. Keep reading the other journal on this site, in order to read about my progress. Thanks!
January 23, 2015
First off, I was contacted by a high school classmate of mine on, January 16, 2012. He was originally from Lums Chapel. He wrote to me via the feedback form on the main website. He found me by looking up Lums Chapel in a search engine (if I remember correctly).
At some point, we began writing about my, "Space Out West," story. He seemed very interested in that. We also corresponded about, Lums Chapel, rural life, sheep shearing, and combining agriculture and science fiction in one story. His last email was, January 19, 2012. My last was January 20, 2012.
January 23, 2015 b
I am thinking about writing another radio drama for the, "BBC World Service -- BBC World Drama -- International Radio Playwriting Competition". According to their website, "The competition will open again in October 2015." It is usually a few months after the opening that the competition closes. This means that I should have enough time to write and revise something. There is a journal of my radio writing efforts. You can check that page in order to read about my progress. The reason I stuck the, "Radio Writing Journal," with the, "Lums Chapel," stories, is because I am thinking of writing something with those characters for the competition.
January 29, 2016 Hiatus...
I will not be writing to the story, "Historical Fiction," aka., "We Find Ourselves Returning to Find Home," for the time being. The opening of the radio drama contest has come and gone. The deadline is nearly upon us. Sometime in early November 2015 I decided to use the, "Writing Map," I bought. ("Write Around the Bookshop") The first entry in the notebook was from November 7, 2015. I thought that since the opening of the radio drama competition came and went, I would put my radio drama on hold in order to concentrate on the work I needed to do around the house. We always have lots to do getting the house ready for a Christmas guest. I was tempted and distracted by the Writing Map. I figured that it would be something simple to keep me from getting involved in a major project that would detract from the house work. The writing map was indeed simple. There was more room left in the notebook when I was finished. So I downloaded more writing prompts. Around the time I did that, I had started a notebook for notes to a fully fledged story. My goal now is to spend the whole of April 2016 writing a novel. Please look at the index page for, "How I Learned to Read a Book," in order to learn more. There is also a Journal for that story as well. I will write more to this journal when and if it becomes relevant.