Author Archives: R Cawkwell

Hi I'm Rosemarie and I like to write. I write short stories and longer fiction, poetry and occasionally articles. I'm working on quite a few things at the minute and wouldn't mind one day actually getting published in print.

Kerrang! magazine want new writers

Last night the editor of Kerrang! magazine, the worlds biggest selling weekly music magazine, James McMahon, tweeted that they were looking for new writers. All he wanted people to do was to submit reviews of the most recent gig they had been to.

So, after a bit of hesitation I thought I’d give it a go. This morning I wrote a new review of the ‘The Rasmus’ gig I went to in December just for Kerrang! Seriously, my original review was 460 words long. I had to get it down to 150. It took me a while. Final word count was 153. I’m quite pleased with it even if I did have to leave out one or two things.

Now I’ve emailed it off to Kerrang! I can’t decide whether I’m more worried that they’ll take one look at it and laugh at how bad it is, or that they’ll actually like it and then I’ll have to talk to people.

Crippling shyness – the reason I write fiction (well, one of them anyway).

Oh and if anyone’s interested the salient parts of the tweet were:
150 words, most recent gig, feedback@kerrang.com, ‘Gig review’ in subject line.

I’ll let you know if I hear anything.

Rose

Making bets with my cousins

It may come as a surprise to people to learn that I’m not the only writer in my family. My Dad writes, my youngest sister and my youngest cousins all write. Tonight I went to visit the cousins and eventually talk turned to writing.

A few things came up; concentrating on one project at a time (none of us can quite manage it), writing from multiple character view points (it can get confusing), laptops dying and always keeping a notebook and pen handy.

We eventually decided that we should take bets on which of us had a novel published first, with the eldest cousin hoping it wouldn’t be his youngest brother.

Then we got side-tracked on to Dr. Who.

The point I’m trying to make (honestly, there is one) is that despite differences in age, view of the world, gender, experiences in life etc, we, as writers all have the same problems and by talking to each other we can find solutions to them.

And the competition between us acts as a spur because we are all master procrastinators.

Good night

Rose

xXx

Review: The Rasmus, 15th December 2012, Nottingham Rock City

In an intimate venue, to a decent crowd, The Rasmus finished their tour of Russia and Europe.

The Main Room of Nottingham Rock City last night played host to the band mostly known in the UK for ‘In the Shadows’, their 2003 hit from the album ‘Dead Letter’ for the forth time. A mixed crowd waited patiently from half six when the doors opened until half eight for the band to appear, drinking and enjoying the music.

The Dirty Youth, the support act, warmed the crowd up, attempting to organise a sing-along with the crowd, most of whom had never seen them before. I think they will have gained a few fans at last nights show though. The songs were good, annoyingly catchy, and the musicians talented. They made the effort to sign things and talk to people at the merch desk after the gig.

And I had to resist the urge to steal the guitarists hat.

The Rasmus were welcomed vociferously by an enthusiastic crowd. While the room was not packed the floor was full. Giving a great performance, a mix of new songs – ‘I’m a mess’, and older hits – ‘Falling’ etc, the band really entertained. At one point Lauri grabbed a guitar, climbed on a stack of amps and performed from there. The audience sang every song with the band as they celebrated a successful tour.

Part way through the band were interrupted by ‘Scandinavian hunks’ with a letter which Lauri (vocals) read – it was to a young lady in the audience from her boyfriend – a proposal. The lass in question was called on to the stage and asked for her answer. The band sang in Finnish a song Lauri considered perfect for the occasion. Luckily the woman said yes.

The gig continued with some gentler songs as Lauri joined Pauli on guitars and sang as they all took seats at the front of the stage. The night continued and was over far too soon. Towards the end I found it a little difficult to hear what was being sung, although whether that was Lauri’s voice or the volume of the crowd was hard to tell.

The shouts of the crowd for ‘more, more’ after the band left, and the cheers and clapping when they returned for their encore could leave nobody in doubt as to the band’s popularity.

I had a great night, the music was excellent and the venue good. Even from the back of the room there was a great view of the stage and the band.

And now I’m going to collapse on the train home and try to get some sleep.

Bye,

Rose

Writing on the bus

Good morning, hope all are well? I’m tolerable, I suppose. I’m currently sat on a bus to Grimsby because I need to get out of the house.

I’m usually at work at this time of the day but for one reason or another I’m not. You’d think I’d spend the time off working on my novel I suppose. But no, I’ve been busy sewing, and playing with felt, satin and glue. The only writing I’ve done is a couple of letters to friends, and occasional comments on Twitter. But soon I have 13 days booked off work, and hopefully I’ll be sober enough for some of my holiday to write coherently. Looking forward to it immensely, and not just for the excessive eating and drinking.

Bye for now,

Rose

NaNoWriMo – final update for this year.

Well, it’s all over for another year. And yet again I failed to complete my 50000 words. The fates, and a bloody persistent virus, conspired against me this week. I spent two days asleep.

However I have made progress over last year. And I will get this one finished, eventually. I like the story too much not to finish it off.

I hope everyone else did much better than I.

Must go, there’s an archery range to take down. Bye

Rose

NoNaWriMo update 4: progress halted

It hasn’t exactly been a very successful week. Today has been the first day I’ve had time to write at all. I’ve managed to write about 4000 words today.

I got distracted this morning. Since I hadn’t written anything all week I decided to read through what I’d written. That was a mistake. I started editing. First 3000 words or so deleted. Then I went through looking for all the inconsistencies and re-wrote a few things. I’ve managed to get back to 27,545 words and move the story forward, but I’m so far away from the 50,000 words its getting ridiculous. However I shall push on and try to stop editing before I’m finished.

I hope everyone is doing better,

Bye

Rose
xXx

NaNoWriMo update 3 – I’m getting a bit behind!

Hello,

Well, this week hasn’t gone so well. I managed to get a few hundred words written on Tuesday and Friday and the a few thousand yesterday. I haven’t written anything today, I need time to think out how I’m going to proceed, I’ve got to a crucial point in the plot and it’s being a bit of a git.

Minimum word count: 30,000

Preferred word count: 36,000

Actual word count: 27,376

I’d have to write 2,624 words today just to get to my minimum word count. I’m beginning to feel a bit pressured. Ah, well, I shall just have to push on and hope I can make up my word count in the next few days.

Bye for now

Rose

xXx

Midweek moan

I wasn’t planning to write an update until Sunday, but I feel the need to write something. I’m at work so I can’t work on my novel so I’m going to have a moan instead.

I have barely written anything! I’m still recovering from a cold and I’m exhausted from work. Finding the energy to write is hard. If I have a post work nap I can manage it but then I don’t start writing until late in the evening. That limits me to two or three hours at most.

I’ve also got to a point in the novel where I could go in a couple of directions. The overall result will be the same, its just getting there that’s giving me difficulty. I think some of my problem is that I don’t want to tackle the problem but I have to or the novel is not going to get finished.

I need a swift kick up the arse to get going again.

Right, back to the day job I go,

Bye,

Rose

xXx