It starts with a passion for technology and obviously, writing. I think keeping the rhythm and motivation to write, whilst on the move, can sometimes be quite hard. Self-discipline to keep things keeping on whilst in your comfortable writing environment can sometimes be hard enough, let alone 2 hours on a plane here and 30 minutes in a café there.

But the thoughts are always there you know, if you love what you’re doing, the ideas never stop flowing, so you should never have to stop, if you don’t want to. The technology is available today to be a complete mobile office and be as constructive on a train as you are sat in your house. Here’s how I get along.

1. Ultra portable laptop – In my case the Asus EEE - There’s so many incarnations of this available now that I’ll let you go look for yourself. I have the very basic model, it loads up in less than a minute, weighs less than a hardback book and is just as small. The keyboard is fine for touch typing on and the screen is completely legible for long periods of writing.

2. High end mobile – In my case the Nokia N82 – No wifi for your laptop? Use PC suite with the N82 and you have a 3G connection, and complete connectivity. As well as the connectivity, it has a 5mega-pixel xenon flash camera, which is awesome for snapping all over the place, and an in built Dictaphone for taking quick notes.

3. Mobile web office – In my case Google docs – Google docs stores all my novel files and literature in one place, accessible anywhere, at any time. I have all the tools I need online, I can even share any documents I want with other people with Google accounts, which is basically everyone.

4. Mole skin – In my case laser engraved personalised notepad – Notes are fundamentally important to keeping things moving. Getting those ideas down anywhere and everywhere you can is absolutely necessary, the good old mole skin does the job every time

5. Pencils – In my case a good old 2HB – Not much point having a mole skin without a steady supply of writing implements. Pencils are great I find and having loads means that you never lose an idea because you’ve got nothing to write it down with.

6. Headphones – In my case Sennheiser CX300 The beauty of these is that as well as being an amazing set of headphones for listening to music with, if you just want to block out sound, they act as comfortable ear plugs as well, it’s like getting two birds stoned at once. And they’re affordable enough that if you lose them it’s not a massive deal.

7. Inspiration – In my case Sun Tzu’s Art of War – I always carry a little book around with me just in case I need to read something to trigger off a memory or creative spark. I find Art of War is great for this, just open a page, read a quote, and get back to the paper.

8. Pen Drive – In my case any 2GB stick I remember – I’ve got loads, but you always need one, they’re convenience is often invaluable for transporting files and just making sure you’ve got a back up of anything super important.

That’s it, 8 things and I’m a completely mobile, self facilitating author, I can work from anywhere at any time, with or without power. I carry my own internet, my own inspiration and ideas everywhere. A bag with this gear in weights about 4LBS (including the weight of your bag) so you’re not restricted by anything really. What’s in your mobile novel station? Do you even have one? Actually, I’m going to try to make this a Meme, so I’ll ping Chris Cocca with this, the meme is; 5 top tools for writing on the move.

This posts Aspiriers Mark belongs to WordVixen from a Quest To Write. A self confessed aspiring freelance writer and novelist, she runs a selection of blogs, but her Quest to Write blog is the one we’re interested in, she’s said she’s a little unmotivated at the moment, so get over and encourage her to keep on. As always, interesting content, good musings, and this time some little competitions as well, so you might even be able to win yourself a book.

It costs, but there you go, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. These guys seem to know what they’re doing, they have an extremely good bank of editorial staff who are all published authors, one of which will go through my work, write me a 2-3k assessment of it thus far. They’ll tell me personally and professionally what they think, and they also act as a scout / conduit for agents and publishers, a pretty thorough service without a doubt.

All this basically means I’m now deadly serious about perusing the dream and getting it published. Having my own novel out there, really hitting hard what I have basically wanted since I can remember, that is, to be recognised and respected as a writer. I’ve had my moments, my peers have always been very kind in commenting on my work so far with little but praise and respect, but there’s always ambition, and now that’s to go as far as I can with it.

No holds barred, brain custard is going to be exploding all over my laptop over the next few months, and I’ve set myself the task of actually having the beast complete by end October. Fully fucking nailing it. And when I set my mind to something, it happens. I’ve never failed at anything in my life and I’m not in any mind to start now. I will take on board what my editor has to say, who I actually found out today, is Cherry Mosteshar, implement what they recommend, take from my peers and surroundings, and see how far I can get the whole thing. And why not, I’ve got nothing stopping me, and hopefully through this wonderful medium of the social media I’ll be able to make things just that tiny bit easier for myself. Hugh Macleod has just reminded us all, of his conversation with Clay Shirky. Cheap.Easy.Global.Media, I’ll pursue the words I’ve got, fire them out like jets of black tar heroin from my eyes, I’ll let you know about it, one day someone might listen, then we’re all in trouble.

This posts Aspirers Mark is Randall from his Absurdistry’s Weblog, as you can probably gather from the name, it’s a collection of random yet highly entertaining thoughts. It popped up because of his recent post on being the stationary novelist, something I can relate to in a few ways, but not as of late. As this blog post itself shows, my work ethic is some what more protestant than his, but you know, different blokes, different strokes, I hope he gets there one day. Read it and enjoy it.

I know where I’ve come from, where I’m going, but that doesn’t necessarily cause too many boundaries, it’s still definitely allows for the complete free flow of thought. An unhinged consciousness, allowing me to run rabid in my own minds eye. Quick firing synapses, full of sound, colour, mixing and meshing, all forming in front of me as and how I like. The whole process certainly takes its grip, and without knowing, I’ll have written 3000 words, been sat ridged for 2 hours, and be staring directly at someone without even blinking.

I love it, and this is how the majority of my novel has been written at the moment. A completely unhinged flow of thought for anywhere from 3 to 8 hours at at time. But that’s not to say there’s no structure, I think I’ve reached a happy medium. Following structured bullets I put down, points the chapter must include, then driving at them, flooring my mind, no fucking around, and smashing them apart.

A good instance, is when my lead protagonist / anti-hero is going through quite a dramatic change. I knew what I had to do, but I also knew that to truly convey the feeling of what was happening to him to the reader, the writing should be as quick, unrelenting and twisted as his own experience. I believe combining my ‘free flow’ along with a touch of structure, allowed that perfectly, here’s a snippet:

“An instant. Crawling through a conduit, a tube of metal, to the reach perfect scenario. A place of such peace, tranquillity, entirely empty, perfect temperature, the buzz of his body, steady breathing, entranced euphoric state of nothingness. Soft synthesised bells all around him, the sound of trickling water in the air, a naked body, alive.

An instant. Hairs stranding on end, soft leaves under toe, walking, the breeze catching his lips. Soft life, incredible presence, the high pitched laugh of a young girl in the distance, the smell of toast, and butter. An auburn street in fall, wonderful relaxing colours, total silence.

Epic scale, unimaginable things rushing into his brain, all at once, unrelenting, killing, taking and giving, stretching, pulling, fists gripped tight. Grab after grab, more and more, the want to be raped, to have his mind and body overcome by life after life, all experience. Over and over again, full, overpowering, unflinching, unrelenting, unbridled rape, he changed each time, but was always left with more.”

Obviously without context that might not mean much, but you get the idea. I’m definitely very interested in what processes writers use, especially in the light of what I believe I’ve been utilising during my first nine chapters. How structured you think you are? How much is just completely free flowing? How you break down each sentence, paragraph, chapter, novel? And ultimately how you make it fit together? I’ve been quite fortunate that everything makes sense at the moment, but I can understand how it can easily get out of control.

And today’s Aspirers Mark goes to Adrien-Luc Sanders from rambling.effluvium. He’s a writer, designer, and aspiring novelist. He covers it all, and as his about section explains he also goes through; ‘incessant meandering about his attempts to write and publish a novel - hence the title “rambling effluvium”’. He as regular snippets of his work, which are definitely entertaining and as I was browsing brought a smile to my face. Another one to keep an eye on, and be routinely entertained by.

There’s beast, that demon that so many carry, it sometimes weighs on my shoulders. With some encouragement and reduced moral capacity, I believe he could quickly get out of hand, consume not only me but the people around me in a mist of hate. So writing on how man can, and is, split down the middle, and on which path is perhaps easier to take, was a fairly intense session. I did my best to let it really flow, let the whole thing come out, put my thoughts, ideas and beliefs down on paper in one session, maintain that thought and let it grow. It wasn’t to kind to my personality, the dark corners of ones mind usually aren’t. But you’ll have to read the finish product to fully understand why.

As the saying goes, regret things that you don’t do, not the things that you do. But in some instances, it’s can be difficult to let go, to not be consumed by self-loathing. Those nights in the city can sometimes really get to you. Here’s a quick paragraph, from early on in the chapter.

“He was consumed by regret. Why had he done what he had done? He wasn’t a brute. He had long thought his heart had removed the majority of its pain, he thought he had grown strong and if not killed, at least trapped its beasts.

He was a happy successful young man, he fit in, he liked his friends, and they liked him. He had a reciprocal relationship with close platonic, life-companions that saw joy was in no short supply, it surrounded them. But somewhere, something had gone wrong, he didn’t know what to blame, a cross firing synaptic response in his muddled brain? A deeply buried raw emotion of particular intensity that manifested itself in his demon like alter ego? He had no where to turn, right now. All he could do was walk straight, hoping each step would pull him further out of his self induced pit of loathing, of regret, of hate and paranoia.”

I’m going to keep a close eye on this chapter, as my thoughts develop on the idea over the coming months. I made most of my notes on this particular one whilst semi-drunk, and I think it comes out in places, introspective, intoxicating and in-depth. In some ways I just want the character to grow a pair and stop whining, but that’s not the point. Enjoyable, but difficult. Is man intrinsically evil? Tough question, no doubt.

For today’s Aspirers Mark, I thought I’d go with [nsfw] Reverse Cowgirl sex blogger, Susannah Breslin. She’s a successful freelancer, blogger, photographer and documenter of all things pornographic and more, she’s authored some short stories but from what I can tell, she’s still working hard on her first novel, so that clearly puts her in the aspiring novelist bracket. Her blog is great, although often not safe for work, so be careful when clicking, she regularly tackles a deal of sexual related subjects, which I’ve come to believe is the subject of her book, in particular her time and experience on ‘Porn Valley’ in Hollywood. It’s generally very interesting reading. Definitely keep an eye out for progress on this one.

Love. It’s intrinsic to human nature, yet, not everyone has experienced it, it’s completely natural but can be the hardest thing to achieve and maintain in the world. It’s a rampant hell-bent fucker that takes everything about you, grips with mighty fists and lifts you to its gigantic and unrelenting face, laughing at you with teeth the size of Cadillacs refusing to let go. Not, at least,until it has had its wicked way with you, tipped you over the edge, pulled you back, fingering your soul with penetrating stumps. It can take you to the greatest of heights of pleasure and kill your spirit for untold amounts of time. To write about it, especially given my experience with it, is no easy feat.

The chapter that I’m currently heavily into is where the love interest of the lead protagonist / anti-hero is introduced. Which way to introduce her was the question, how will my protagonist actually fall in love? It can after all, be sparked by anything. I’m sure you’d be hard pushed to think of a reason or action that hasn’t previously caused someone to fall in love. But I took the closest thing to me, what has made me love before, and what, no doubt, will be a reason for falling in love again, in some distant future. Without giving to much away; I believe all men have a beast inside, some show that beast more than others, a woman can quell that beast. Her beauty, her heart, her spirit, smile, laugh, face, enduring memory…it all can help. So I took that route, and the chapter is coming on amazingly and more importantly, it fits, it all makes sense, which is a great feeling. There’s still plenty to go, I’ll give you a snippet soon, but it’s not nearly done yet, so for the time being I’ll leave you just to comment with your own thoughts on writing about love.

The aspirers mark. For this entry goes to Isolde of The Life Uncommon, in her own words “The Life Uncommon is following my journey as an aspiring freelance writer/novelist who is trying to transition out of the corporate world into the world of the written word.” Now stuck with that cataclysmic decision all aspiring novelists, and writers trapped in the corporate world, have to ask; do I quit my day job? It’s a hard one for sure, go and add your two cents, I know I’ve personally faced that question a few times on varying levels. Overall, I believe, really nice, well rounded blog with some cool content about writing and life around it, as always for the aspirers mark, I look forward to reading more content from Isolde.

Of course not all books do this, but some of the best take issues of the day, or equally of the past or potential ones of the future and cause flickers of electricity between those clouded synapse’. Admittedly I’ve always been most interested in those of the future, the questions and issues that a lot of people discard as fiction, science fiction, but that’s what I’ve always loved about them. The sheer scale of impossibility that they are belittled by, and some how imagining that man, in his eternal struggle against himself and nature, with his relentless spirit and fervours nature, will someday find the answers and create a happier place for everyone, for everything that exists.

Of course there’s always a twist, but that’s what makes the whole thing so much fun. I’ve taken a few things that have been both important to me, but also issues of the day, with my current writing. Discecting them as best I could, adding my own two cents and seeing what the grisly outcome has been.

On the whole I’ve enjoyed the experience, taking something that creates a fire inside me, twisting it, creating a future around it that I hate, more than anything, and then destroying it, bit by bit. Finding answers and reasons inside myself why I can’t stand it and feel the incessant need to change it. And I hope, following on from my previous post, that combined with my want to get the thing published, if and when I do, I might even be able to change a few opinions along the way. You know, show others a vision, twist the life of a character around it, create an objective and get others to also believe in it. Now there’s power. Is this what this thing is all about, a quest for power? The less said on that subject the better.

For this weeks Aspirers Mark; I came across Janets blog, Literally Speaking, through Twitter, her profile says she’s a student journalist and aspiring novelist, sounds exactly like me 3 years ago, except, now I’m just an aspiring novelist. Her blog is much lighter in tone than some of the ones I’ve featured of late, which makes a nice change. Movies, life, books, literature, all that stuff in a nice little package. Definitely recommend consumption on a regular basis.

“Why are we here? To have fun, or get the job done?”
Approx quote – Hunter S Thompson – Fear and loathing in Las Vegas

Well, as Dr Gonzo so infamously replied - ‘To get the job done of course’. But still, a difficult question to answer at this juncture. In my first post on this blog I said that the novel started out as an experiment in self exploration, and that no doubt is still the primary reason. Secondary reasons have been creeping up however, and I thought I’d put the question to myself.

Having sent the chapters I have completed to a number of trusted peers, I have seen, on the whole, very positive feedback. I know my grammar can be atrocious sometimes, and I know that sometimes my sentences go on far too long, but as a close friend said the other day ‘the meat and spunk of the story is really good,’ which feels amazing to hear. In that regard I’ve been thinking about publishing, fantasising about deals, getting it done and out there, all that guff, and it’s obviously made me reassess why I’m doing this.

The whole process is taking time. It can feel like a bit of a strain sometimes; holding down a reasonably stressful and very busy job, keeping my very ace girlfriend on my arm, keep up with my reading and trying to retain a healthy social life (They’re problems? Yeah right…).

That last point being of special interest though, currently it’s Friday night after a busy week and all I can think about are my friends, out drinking, watching bands, having a blast. The good thing is, I have a blast whilst writing, but on the other hand, I do enjoy beer; a lot. Novelist Ian Hocking recently had a little giggle at my expense when saying I was trying to retain a social life, as you can see below.

I remember Hugh Macleod on a blog post somewhere that said one of the reasons why he sees himself as successful, is because whilst in his youth his friends were at the bar, he was following his passion. Creating cartoons and such. And point three on his very cool ‘How to be creative‘ list is; ‘Put the hours in.’ I’ve generally always been like this, from becoming the music section editor for my old uni’s magazine, through to running my own music magazine when I graduated. My ethos has always been, ‘the harder you work, the luckier you get,’ it’s difficult sometimes. Although, no one ever said it would be easy.

Anyway I’m rambling, and I feel like a bit of a twat when my only complaints in life are whether or not I can find the time to write a novel. Fuck it though. I guess the ultimate question is, how badly do I want to complete this thing, how quickly do I want to do it, and am I now thinking about the possibility of getting it published? Answer: Badly, soon and for my own personal reasons, and now as well, to try and get it published.

There. Answered my question, come full circle, I love writing my thoughts down. Work hard, get the fucking job done, get the fuck out and party.

Now for this posts Aspirers Mark. Today, to Paul at Atomic Razor. Whilst in a bit of a rush (as always) I’ve had quick look through his blog, seems interesting and definitely going on the RSS feed. Self described aspiring novelist with an obvious love for reading and all that is literary, i’ll have to look deeper to find out some more info about his novel. But I’d recommend having a look, and if you’re in the mood to find some new books to read, I’m sure he’s the type of guy who’d be very much up for recommending some reads.

I generally find inspiration in everything, literally everything. I guess you have to be like that when writing, take a look at an object or person, animal, anything, and take something from it, steal part of it for yourself. Always be thinking, always be contemplating, always taking that little twist on each and every thing you see, witness, hear, and making it your own. I love it, life, converting it, grabbing at all that is placed before me, refining it and giving it definition.

I personally though, for no particular reason, find inspiration in architecture, I love buildings, of any sort. Perhaps it has something to do with my father being an engineer and growing up helping him and my grandad build stuff from a very young age. No idea really. But I love them, how they’re constructed, the ins and outs, I always imagine taking a cross-section of of whatever I’m looking at and interpreting its insides.

I inevitably always think about how it would fall down as well, how it could be taken apart, in any way from bare fists to mighty explosions, come full circle as they say. Anyway, it’s been a slow night, I’ve been catching up with things over the last few days, as you may well be able to tell I’ve been away, Chicago and New York specifically. It’s been great, though I didn’t actually get much writing done I actually think I figured out how to end the novel, so was I inspired by the might of American capitalism and industry.

Interesting times! I’ll be back soon no doubt with more book information and more inspiring novelists. Just a quick post for tonight about a little inspiration. Also got a few other helpful blogging projects that I’d like to action.

Those two chapters basically bring the lead protagonist to the fore front of every ones minds, they reveal completely the sort of person he is and set him on a path, on his mission. The reveling process was hard, very hard. I’ve talked about this part before, the exploring of personal beliefs, but this the last 10k words have been a complete and thorough penetration of my entire belief system. I’ve never explored myself in such a deep fashion before and it’s been thrilling, I just hope it makes sense, if anyone ever reads the bastard.

Here’s a small excerpt, of that mission of self discovery.

“”I want fate! I want pre-ordained! I want to know that it was for a purpose! I want to know it wasn’t me! I want the actions of these hands not to be that of my own, but of a greater force that has meaning and point, a purposeful ending! Removing me of responsibility!” He continued to laugh in between breaths, not entirely sure what to do with himself, and then he remembered the trap door. “Now I stand here at this trap door.” Swinging his arm, open palmed, as if to motion to someone that it actually existed. “Maybe it’s a trapdoor for the very reason that I receive no answer on the other side, the whole thing is a trap, to send my mind, this mind, wondering, maybe this is the final test. He who may stand before me may not be benevolent enough to tell me the answer, to say that he gave me permission and the ability to be decide my own fate, or that I was part of his plan. He may not be there at all. I have to go through. I have no other choice. Whatever is there, it better have answers.”

Any feedback, welcome as always.

The aspirers mark for this post goes to Belinda Webb of her eponymous blog belindawebb. I’ve not really had time to read through her blog, I’m rushing off to meet some people again, but I caught it from an interesting Guardian article about breakthrough novelists. She commented that she, after many many years, has just had her first book published, and is currently looking for an agent and reviews.

So I would recommend getting over to her blog and getting involved. Many congratulations on the recent success Belinda!

This is another aspect of my writing I’ve really enjoyed in all honesty, but at the same time has proved slightly difficult. Working with a science fiction piece like I am, I can pretty much place my characters anywhere I want, in almost any time period I want, and given the breadth of the story I’m trying to tell, in any plane of reality I want. Whilst I’ve loved doing this, and no doubt will continue to, some times the scale of the structures I’m trying to describe can, I think, become a bit muddled, given my lack of any background in architecture and engineering.

However, I persevere and just go with the flow. Here’s a couple of paragraphs, as an example, of a particularly large structure I try to bring to reality:

“He looked to his left and right again as they approached the Giga Studio, expanding out into the dessert for miles either side the structure was epic in scale. He grabbed at quick thoughts on how it stood, gargantuan like, in the desert, dominating nature, and his breath escaped from his chest into the cold air. He could just make out the sloping sides of the building and he stopped walking to look up, learning back on his heals to get the whole of the building in, carefully balancing himself, he remembered how he’d once seen one from a distance, during a brief period the Hovertrain had broken down and his cell walls had gone translucent. Almost beyond the breadth of his imagination it was difficult to understand how it could have been built, like a fresh-eyed innocent millennia ago being brought in front of the Great Pyramids of Giza for the first time, awe and fear both took their grip.

It stood with two monolithic trapezoid structures, at their base miles from side-to-side, about a mile thick and raising up thousands of feet into the air, as they came to a point, but falling short and leveling off, an epic and solid black cylindrical tube separated them by a few miles and penetrated both, protruding out the other side, the side at which Germany was now walking towards. It was motionless now but he knew how in a matter of hours the vast cylinder would be spinning slowly, and what would take place inside.”

Please let me know if that makes any sense at all, what I’d really love is for you to quickly draw a picture of what you think it looks like and email it to me, ricgalbraith at gmail dot com, or upload it to Flickr or something and link to it in the comments section. That’d be ace. I think I’ll definitely touch on this subject again in the future.

This posts Aspirers Mark goes to Kelly Rigby, the brain child behind the She-Power site. Although there’s so much more to this site than just the fiction side of things, in an effort to keep on track I’ll just mention that there’s a load of excellent short stories on there and that Kelly’s main goal in 2008, in her own words, is to, ‘write consistently and hopefully sell a short story or novel.’

She said that fear has held her back in the past, but hopefully that won’t hold her back any longer. Best of luck to her with getting something published in 2008!