The weekend is over. After a frantic 48 hours, I'm back home, exhausted but still elated...

Those words always remind me of Frankie Howerd in "Up Pompeii"! However I decided that my book needs a prologue rather than a new first chapter, because I can't easily justify my protagonist being present for the 'inciting incident'. Since the reader has a tendency to latch onto the first character mentioned, I'm hoping that calling it a prologue will signal that this scene isn't part of the main story. Well, we'll see. At least it's kicked off my writing week with a solid 870 words. I've uploaded it to the CWIL website for critique on Thursday - having a deadline has definitely helped my productivity!

Techno-lust finally won out over patience today - I ordered a Palm Treo 680 smartphone to replace my Z22 PDA + iPod + Z600 phone. A totally impulsive purchase, driven by boredom and frustration, I have to confess. Retail therapy for geeks!

Having resisted a convergent device for several years, I've finally gotten bored of keeping three things charged - one gadget that I charge every night and keep on my bedside table as an alarm clock is enough, thanks! The fact that it will sync with the Foleo and give me access to my email at all times is an added bonus :)

* "Tri-o, Tri-i-i-o! I want a Trio and I want one now!" (old TV ad for a chocolate bar, sung to the tune of "The Banana Boat Song")

Managed to get a little writing done today despite having my shiny new Treo to play with. Only 500 words, and frankly I'm not convinced the scene is adding anything to the story, but right now any writing is better than nowt. I met Richard in CB2 for lunch and had intended to stay there, but I felt restless and had to go into town to buy a new SIM card for the Treo before I could settle. I wanted a tariff that has good data charges so that getting my email on the Treo doesn't cost a fortune, and T-Mobile's Pay As You Go charges are capped at £1 a day.

After I'd done that I was able to settle down at Cafe Nerro (now thankfully smoke-free) and do some writing. Stayed in town until the CWIL meeting, where my new prologue was critiqued. The concensus was that there was some excellent description but it wasn't exciting enough. I guess I was just feeling too down to write something gripping - will have to fix that in the next draft!

Having hoped to be all fired up by the conference, I now find myself just the opposite - the anti-climactic feeling is making me feel less like writing than ever. Spent the day copying stuff from my computer and PDA onto the Treo and generally procrastinating.

I won't even attempt to dignify it with the name "writer's block"; this is just plain idleness! The dreary weather isn't helping, of course. This week we've had thunderstorms and torrential rain, and all I can think about is the fact that my allotment is hopelessly overgrown and there's no chance of clearing it until we've had some sunshine to dry out the grass :(

Today I'm trying out Mo:Blog again, this time on the Treo. I think part of my problem using it on the Dana was the lousy WiFi - I'm hoping the Treo fares better. Of course the thumb keyboard isn't as fast or comfortable to use, bur it's not bad, considering...

Today I got an email from Barbara Large at the University of Winchester, confirming that it was my ticket that was drawn. I have to post it off to her as final confirmation, so I've taken a photo of it with my conference badge (right), just to be on the safe side! Note the spooky similarity between my delegate number and the ticket number...

The news will be posted on the conference website, and I have to write a short blurb to say how pleased I am and what the conference means to me. Hey, I'm a writer - how hard can it be?

Writing historical fiction is proving quite a challenge. No longer can I just invent a place or fact when I need it - everything must be researched! The upside is that real-world details can add richness to a scene and suggest incidents without the need for inspiration :)

After a sluggish July, I've decided to knuckle down and actually get some writing and editing done in August. There's an AugNoWriMo website where you can set your own word-count for the month - it doesn't have to be 50k nor a new project. Since I have about 13k done on "Powderkeg Walk" so far, I'm setting a target of 37k - but that will be for words edited to critiquable standard, not rough draft - eep!

Target: 1194 words per day