Daily Post: Toy Story: Subbuteo

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blogging101, Blogging201, creative writing, fiction, football, writing, Writing201

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Toy Story.”

Ah, Subbuteo, my fantastic, plastic, flick-to-kick hobby. Little plastic men sliding around a cloth soccer pitch after a ball that was bigger than them.

My mates and I had are own street league. I was one of three Manchester United fans, so I had to fall on my back-up plan: Luton Town FC. The night before the start of our summer tournament I would polish the bases of the players to get that extra glide. Cheers Mr Sheen!

During one summer I entered the national UK tournament. My mum pulled the plug on that – I honestly would have been slaughtered – but not before the local newspaper had got word of my entry. I made the left margin of the  front page of the newspaper that week. Unfortunately, it didn’t help that the main story’s headline read “Forced to Flee By Psycho Attacker”, as my face beamed out to the local readership.

Like most of my teenage passions – grass hockey, tennis, and topiary* – Subbuteo is now confined to the vaults; it may make a return now and again if it takes mine and my brother’s fancy to play – but that is a rare event.

Has it had an effect on how I am today? Well, I’m quite nostalgic, so it fills me with happiness when I take a trip down memory lane.

* I’ve never been in topiary, really; although, I do think it should be an Olympic Sport.

I’ve been a WordPress citizen for nearly half a year…

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blogging101, Blogging201, creative writing, England, fiction, football, writing, Writing201

…or should I call myself a WordPressian!

I feel that my writing exploits have been enriched and encouraged by other citizens of this virtual empire. Connecting with other writers really does give me a buzz for writing all the more.

Sure, I’ve had one or two gaps, but I’ve kept coming back. I wrote a couple of weeks ago that I found it important to break myself back in gently this time around. The Daily Prompts have indeed kept me ticking along. And then today….Ta Dah! I’ve finally edited a story to a level I’m happy with.

I’m going to send this to an author, Jessica Grace Coleman, who has been editing some of my work. I feel that using Jessica’s service has really benefited me as I can compare and contrast the changes made with my pre-edited piece, then incorporate the lessons I’ve learnt into my next piece of work.

Check out Jessica’s websites at http://www.colemanediting.co.uk or http://www.jessicagracecoleman.com

(Her Little Forest novels are well worth a read as well!).

Getting into poetry has also been something that has surprised me this year. I’ve put together a little body of work. Sometimes I think my efforts can be a little bit clunky, but writing in different styles and looking at things in different ways has given my story-telling a bit of depth as well.

I love writing. I just want to keep pushing myself. Thinking back, even when I was off the website for about a month I still was writing a lot in other ways; or is that just me trying to justify my absence. Still, it doesn’t matter now because it’s the present where I’m at.

Just a little every day – there’s a lot to be learned from those words.

Cheers Everybody. Enjoy you’re writing.

Daily Prompt: Things that make me jealous – top five

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blogging101, Blogging201, creative writing, fiction, football, writing, Writing201

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Green-Eyed Lady.”

1) People on holiday when I’m at a garden centre

2) Belts

3) People that bow to requests written on mangoes

4) Anybody who’s got their Amazon delivery on time cos I’m still waiting for mine.

5) People who write to Amazon with requests written on mangoes demanding they get sent their delivery today

Blogging 101: What am I about?

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blogging101, fiction, football, writing

Hi Everybody,

My name is Wayne Mullane. I work in Customer Services for a local council in the United Kingdom. I’d really love to be a writer.

I’m new to the world of blogging, so being on this course is an exciting opportunity for me.

I’m using my blog in order to keep me focused as a writer. By posting my thoughts and feelings I am attempting to publicly commit myself to self-imposed deadlines for the stories that I write.

I mainly read Fantasy and Sci-Fi novels. My favourite authors at the moment include Jessica Grace Coleman, Craig Zerf and Robert Rankin. The stories I write seem to have a flavour of ‘Tales of the Unexpected’ or ‘Tales from the Crypt’. I’ve always been drawn to stories that have a supernatural element and this deeply influences my own writing.

I also love football/soccer and will occasionally put a post up about something that catches my eye.

I think that blogging is part of a mission of self discovery: I’m hoping this blog will inspire me in my journey through learning the craft of short story writing as well as the stories that I write. It would also be great to share the experiences and journeys of other writers too, as well as talk with other bloggers about books in general.

In the next year it would be nice to think that I could get published somehow. I know it will take a lot of hardwork and a lot of vision; WordPress is going to be important to help me maintain that focus

Good luck, everybody!