You Can Make Me Whole Again – Part one!

Posted on August 30, 2018 by Gloria

I’m so jealous right now. Mohotma Coataly is away out in Australia somewhere – without Saphirra and me. Like, what is she thinking…..? She’ll be so bored without us!

Okay….we understand. You see, Mohotma lost her husband in January and to say she is heartbroken, is an understatement. She’s a strong woman and very accepting of what life throws at her, but it still can’t be easy losing your lifelong partner and friend.

It was a sad time for all of us as he was one of our closest friends; he is missed so much. We have many fond and funny memories of Mr Coatalay and we love that we can talk about the good times without feeling like we’re upsetting our special friend Mohotma.

Sure Saphirra and I thought we could make her feel whole again, but apparently three weeks in Australia is what she needs. She couldn’t have gone any further away from us. We’re very hurt. Sigh…… to be honest I couldn’t afford to go anyway. Saphirra could, because she just landed herself a posh new office job somewhere near Doom. Going on nights out now with her new work mates; next thing she’ll be wearing high heels and lipstick every day! It’s not that I’m jealous or anything; God no!

Mohotma’s first stop was Bali. She boasted about eating pig’s ears and said there is two million of them on the Island. I think she means people though – not pig’s ears. Balcony views, sunny beach and sunset photos followed. Drinking beer and eating Balanese tiger prawns. I think she’s going to eat and drink her way through the next three weeks. (Yep, she’ll be whole again.)

Giphy.com

However, she’s moving around plenty. She dressed all Hindu style and joined in with their traditional dance. Shook off some of that buttered chicken she devoured with the pig’s ears on her first night.

Turtle Island sounds fab but she looked a bit ‘Fifty Shades’ with that snake wrapped around her! Not for me…no thanks! (The snake that is…I’d be fine with Fifty Shades)

The Cat Poo coffee? Apparently it’s the most expensive coffee in the world. But no no no…. I would not drink coffee that came from a cat’s bum. I’ll stick to my Bewleys thank you very much.

I have to say though, she definitely looks amazing in her photos. Especially the one of her being Rose on the Titanic – even if it is just a wee rowing boat she’s in – bless her! She’s definitely glowing! I can’t share the photos just in case an internet stalker hunts her down and kidnaps her. I’d never forgive myself.

Giphy.com

Now I did say she was brave earlier….. well, she’s braver than I thought. She went to the beach wearing an itsy bitsy teeny weeny black no-polka-dot bikini. Woo hoo…… go Mohotma. We didn’t get a photo but I bet she pulled it off fabulously. There’ll be no stopping her now.

She was boarding a plane to Darwin the last time we heard from her. She gave me her flight number so that I could track her on Flightradar. Yes, she’s landed. But she must be sleeping. No doubt we’ll soon get a photo of her breakfast!

To be continued………..HERE

Slippery Showers in Slow Motion!

Posted on March 23, 2018 by Gloria

One thing that always cheers me up is my besties and because they’re not within reach at the moment I have no choice but to have a little wander down memory lane. This is one memory that I’ll never forget and always makes me laugh!

This one time in Scout camp, Esmeralda and I decided that our baby wipe showers were only truly effective for a day or two. It was now day four and we had to brave the communal showers. Yes, communal! Now that might be no big deal for some people but I’ve never ever had to share my shower with anybody. My mother threw us all into the same bath when we were very young, but that’s different.

After several cups of coffee and faffing around for a couple of hours, we gathered ourselves and started walking. We ploughed through the gutters in our wellies and matching anoraks with our toiletries and ~~fluffy~~ towels in 2 Lidl bags.

Continue reading →

I Found My Writers

Posted on February 11, 2018 by Gloria

Yes, it’s quite a solitary thing. Writing. No-one to bounce ideas off except yourself. It’s hard work trying to discuss your WIP with someone who has absolutely no interest in what you’re talking about. They pretend they’re listening but the glazed faraway look gives the game away.

This is the main reason why I want to join a writer’s group. To talk about words with people who are interested and to get feedback on my writing. I know of a group that meets just a five-minute walk from where I live but not at a time or day that suits me. Well, I’ve finally found a group that meets on an evening that I’m free. At long last!

<b></b>

Tasheenga & Glo Will Revisit The Sex Scene at a Later Date!

Posted on November 30, 2017 by Gloria

I can’t take all the credit for writing 50,000 words in a month. It took discipline, perseverance, dedication and the ability to say no to unnecessary social outings. (Unnecessary?) Gloria has all those things and is very capable of exercising these wonderful talents when she puts her mind to it. Me – not really! She shoves me into a box when she means business and I’ll tell you, it’s suffocating. However, she needs me for this novel.

Between the two of us, we’ve been scribbling notes here and there, writing half chapters in notebooks and we thought it was well on until we signed up for NaNoWriMo2017. That’s when we realised two things;

We weren’t as well on as we thought because when we gathered up our notes and bits of chapters, we had about 1,000 words! 49,000 to go just to win NaNo and about another 40,000 after that. Luckily it was all in the head – very mixed up but there nonetheless.
We are both in conflict with this novel. I want more laughing moments in it and Glo wants all this heartbreak and pain and revenge…… shocking depressing!

Even though taking part in NaNo was exciting and fulfilling, there were a few times when the word count wasn’t as we hoped and the winner’s badge seemed like it was at the end of a rainbow.

At one point Glo looked like she was the oldest character in the book. Maud aged 88. Going around with wild fuzzy hair, the grey strands getting longer each day as they struggled to rid themselves of the clinging stains of Clariol Nice’n Easy. Each evening she sat huddled at the fire wrapped in the Galway shawl. When the laptop wasn’t on her lap, it was a book called “Are The Irish Different?” (Yes Glo, they sure are, which is why I pretend I’m from India)

During week 3 she let me out of my box to help with a sarcastic scene, and I immediately dragged her kicking and screaming into the shower. (I don’t lie.) If someone had called to the house unexpectedly, seriously, authorities may have got involved.

In Brief

Two sisters, Rose and Nancy, are abandoned at a young age by their cruel mother shortly after their father dies. Their aunt takes them in and although she’s very strict, she looks after them as best she can. Their childhood affects both of them differently as the years pass by. As young adults, they experience love, pain, disappointment and regrets.

They have a friend called Kathleen, who I invented – me, Tasheenga – because she’s a bit of a laugh. And there’s a couple of other characters who might not stay. We’ll see how they get on!

Then there’s Nancy. Now she’s not as fortunate as Rose and her memories of her mother are not happy ones. Nancy has issues and low self-esteem and life is a dark sad place for her. I get to choose what decisions she makes! Although I haven’t decided on her fate just yet.

Conflict

In the middle of writing one particular scene, I insisted that Rose and Benny were mad to have…..you know….. ‘it’. They wanted to do ‘it’ there and then. Well, Glo nearly had a heart attack and almost went to mass to apologise for contemplating such a thing. She growled at me saying it was a bit early on a Sunday morning to be thinking about things like that. A quick text to Mohotma & Saphirra for advice; Saphirra said ‘A kiss and a cuddle will do them rightly‘ and Mohotma said ‘Let them at it.‘

I think part of the problem is that the story is set in rural Ireland in the early 1950s and you just didn’t discuss such things. There was plenty of it going on because boy they had big families back in those days. And with Glo wearing that hairy shawl around the house and drinking Guinness instead of wine, she’s getting too much into character. (Eye roll)

I suggested we put the scene to one side and the amateurs that we are, we’ll do a bit of research on how to write a ~~sex~~ love scene delicately and tastefully. Although I’ve got a feeling that I’ll be put back into the box when we revisit that particular chapter!

My Two Apostles

It was very exciting watching the word count rise as the days went on, keeping Mohotma Coatalay and Saphirra up to date with screenshots of our progress. With still a day and a half left, we validated our 50,000+ words and got the winner’s badge and certificate. Aw….the video at the end! Emotional!

At last, Glo and I have the first draft more or less completed. Yes, there’s so much more work to be done, revision, re-writes (stuff we don’t know about yet) but we are optimistic.

Mohotma Coatalay and Saphirra are happy to put up with my hangry episodes but just wait until they experience one of my writing frustration tantrums! If they still like me by the time I write ‘The End’ on the last page, then I’ll know that they’re my forever friends!