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Blog: My name is Leigh, often found hunting and gathering, and i'm a chronic.... |
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** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** I say, Nice Ink Spot! Hi Everyone, My name is Leigh, ...... and i'm a chronic....drug (coffee) addict, wine addict, writing addict, sleep addict, along with all the rest of the addictive stuff out there. ................................??  This is apparently my blog.  Never done one of these before... so hopefully I dont screw it up too much as I am quite prone to do. From my understanding - blogging is kinda like keeping an online diary? That everyone can read? All readers need to keep my wee secrets!  LEIGH's DISCLAIMER: Well - I've never kept a diary that EVERYONE can read before  - so hopefully anyone who reads this doesn't get offended. If you do - I will warn you now - there is probably more crap in here that you probably shouldn't read as well. Surprised? I'm sure. Anyhoo. If you would like to know anything more about me - then have a read of:
Enjoy !  xoxo Leigh-Lee |
| For those os you who have no idea what SoCNoC is - it stands for Southern Cross Novel Challenge. Something that us kiwi's based on the Nanowrimo idea. Becuase Nano is sort of at the start of winter for most of the world - its a good time to hibernate and write. Not so for us Kiwi's though. In November - its getting nice and warm, and we all want to come out of hibernation and play. So we invented SoCNoC. The writing challenge of June. So it starts today - 1st June - and ends on the 30th. Yay! Another great writing challenge laid out before me. Nothing like a deadline. I'm about to finally start writing for the day. Mike and Sue (Husband & Mother-in-law) have been here for the weekend - so I haven't had a chance yet - but they have just left, so I'm about to delve into the deep darkness of writers angst to dream up new worlds in which we can live in. (How's that for poetic!?) And yet again - I apologise for not blogging. I should probably quit whiloe i'm ahead - but sometimes its such a good warm up. Wish me luck! Xoxo Leigh |
| Well... I guess it's me again. (Surprise!) I still can't believe that we are in April. It seems like yesterday that it was Christmas. I have been writing. Writing lots and lots. I currently have my head down, and bum up writing my new book The Dubai Project. Loving it so far, but I have no doubt that I'll hit some sort of speedbump sooner or later. I think that becuase this book spans over four years of my characters life, it makes it more entertaining to write. It sort of like.... if I get bored or sick of what I'm writing - or the direction, I just jump forward another year. God knows how my readers will find that - hopefully its not too boring for them to read. Quite a bizarre way to write actually. Good though. It means that I'm not getting writers block or anything, so I'm happy. I'm currently at 37,000 words approx, and am hoping to jump forward quite a bit over the next week. I seem to be averaging 7,500 words a week, and so far I think that's a fairly solid effort considering I'm not actually writing while I'm at home. Only when I'm travelling in and out of work. I am doing a lot of research at home though, so it's definitely contributing to the writing. I currently have my little sister Millie staying with me. She's 16, and a little angel. No really, she is. My mum was with us too, but she had to go home for a funeral. Miss having Mum around, the house was so tidy! So - Now I have my wee sister as my young charge, and she's at the office with me today. Doing her homework... Poor wee thing. I'm sure she's really bored. Better fly - got lots of work to do... Xoxo Leigh |
| Frigging work is totally taking over my life!!!! It's supposed to be settling down around this time - but I feel like its only just winding up. Driving me insane. On a more positive note - I have started writing a new book. Currently titled 'The Dubai Project' its about a young Project Manager in Dubai, with a project that she feel is 'bigger than life' on her hands. I planned it last September, so hopefully its going to flow just the way I want it to. I've put off writing 'The Sphinx Tower' for the moment - I think that perhaps that can be a project for the future sometime. Anyway - I'm tired, as I seem to permanently be at the moment... so I'm off to bed. Hope everyone is well and happy. Xoxo Leigh |
Hi Peeps So, life just keeps rolling by without me even realising it. Sometimes I think thats a good thing, but alot of the time I think that I'm missing out on something. Is it supposed to always be like this? 28 years old, and my life is already flashing before my eyes, and I have so much to do! John Lennon said 'Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans." It is at times like this that I realise just how true that statement is. As a project manager, its part of my real world job to actually plan alot, and then make sure that whatever I plan comes to fruition. But the question is... how far do we actually take that? If you plan absolutely everything, when something random comes along and slaps you in the face, its usually quite a sharp shock. It shows great character in the way that you deal with these little unplanned mishaps that often occur during life. They may be little, they may be big. Either way though, you still have to deal with them. So - I have written, and done three edits on "Invalid Item"  and now I have gone ahead and planned a sequel. Never written a series before, and always thought that it would be a great challenge to write one. So here I am, planning away. The new one is going to be called The Sphinx Tower. This will then lead into another book that I have already planned, and started writing. Now it's going into a holding pattern until I finish The Sphinx Tower. (This will now be the second time this ine is on hold... but however...) Anyway - signing off. Leigh |
| So…. I know that I have been bad by not writing in my blog… but I have been busy writing! In fact – I somehow managed to write 59 thousand words in like three and a half weeks. I know – crazy. The book was just absolutely flowing out of me, and I even managed to finish it in the weekend which I’m pretty chuffed about. Anyone can have a read of it right here:
Anyway – its currently a rather rough draft but I’m pleased with it thus far. Now comes the time for the hard edit – which I know will be brutal… but I think I’m ready for it. SO – that’s my big excuse for not blogging – I think it’s a fairly decent reason. Signing off – xoxo Leigh ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Hi Everyone What a slacker! Just looked at my last entry and it was November! A lot has happened since then...  Work has been hectic. As usual. I started writing this book again that I had put down to do NaNoWrimo. (Funnily enough - its a lot better than my Nano novel! More considered and thoughtful.) My grandfather died - so I had to spend a week in the south dealing with that. And its Christmas!! So i'm flying to our holiday house this afternoon to deal with that too! As I'm sure we all are. I was sitting at home last night - after only having 5 hours sleep and had to work all day.... and I was wrapping presents. Can't stand that job. I always buy really nice Xmas paper - in hopes that it distracts the 'unwrappers' from my bad wrapping job. Then the tape ran out - its 10.30 - and if I don't watch out - I 'm about to get another 5 hours sleep. So I pack everything up - thinking - bugger it - I'll do it when I get there - need sleep or I won't get up... and then I slept in this morning! See? No matter how hard to try - sometimes something else interferes. So I'm at work this morning - then I'm taking off at lunchtime - to pack - becuase I didn't do it last night! Jeepers. On the run - on the go. I hope that I get a bit of a break this holiday - and that I can do a little writing. Actually - I would like to do A LOT of writing - but I have a sneaking suspicion that it's not going to happen quite the way I plan it. I'll be back in a couple of weeks - happy holidays all! Xoxo Leigh  |
| OH MY GOD. I did it. I finished. Still can't quite believe it myself. I managed to clock in last night at 50,362 words, and then exhausted, I went to bed. Now though, I'm still floating about in this world of awe. I can't believe that I somehow managed to pull this great big rabbit out of my wee hat - and write it all down. So - thats about it folks - I'm on a high. Today - this week - hell, even this month is going to be a good one. All that hard work has paid off, and I managed to do it. What a rush! I think everyone should try things like that at least once. Now I'm going to sleep for the month of December. xoxo Leigh ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Hi Everyone Well - Just arrived in Danang - actually - currently docking and everything is a little shaky with the thrusters on the boat pushing us around. I think the resturaunts on this thing hate it - they have to hold on to everything - glasses, coffee machines, plates - or else everything smashes. Looking forward to getting to the city today. It was originally colonised by the French under Napoleon III, and was then used as the main base for the americans during the Vietnam war. (Middle of 'Nam region) On Wednesday we get to Hong Kong which I was looking forward to until I heard that we will get there around the same time as a Typhoon. Hope we make it - Not too impressed - Sue is really worried cos she gets sea sick. I'll be fine tho - and so will Michael. Our first stop was Singapore - as you all know - and that went pretty well. Then we stopped at Ko Samui, Thailand. YUCK. Now - just remember that this is the paradise off the movie 'The Beach'. It was yuck - dirty. I took my togs ashore - and there was no f**king way I was getting in the water. It was just so grotty. Not to mention - the hotels take up half the beach - so you can only walk on the beach right beside the water. I don't think I actually bought anything there... oh - two t-shirts. Even then we got ripped off. (Bugger) Oh - one of the boats that took us ashore (we weren't on it) anyway - it ran around - hit a reef. That was a bit of excitement - got photos of that. We knew quite a few of the people onboard. They took on about 4 feet of water. Then - stupid people - they tried to tow them off!!!#@!!! Hello?? Big hole in boat - take on water - sink - drown. STUPIDITY AT ITS FINEST. Anyway - after all that - they were fine. Some of them even said that they would 'pay' to have that sort of adventure. Then we stopped in Bangkok. Its a two and a half hour drive to the city - so we decided to go to the beach instead - Pattaya. That was a bit of fun. Not as dirty as Ko Samui - but it did rain a little - which was nice as it was really hot. Bought a few things - and stumbled across a few DVD places. Oh man - every front row of DVD's at these stalls were porn. Couldn't believe it. And not just normal porn - bad porn. really bad porn. Use your imagination and when you reach the baddest thought possible - the porn was at that level. Bad. Mike was going to say something to some of them, but then noticed that the guys had tazers and stuff - thought that it probably wasn't such a good idea. So - out of principle - we refused to buy anything off these awful people, and kept walking along toill we found the next place - and the next. After about ten stops at these DVD stalls - we found a really nice bloke, with no porn - and we bought 70 DVD's from him. Sigh. We knew we would finally get there if we were persistant. Two days later - we stopped at Ho Chi Min city (Saigon). It's pretty strange - there are millions and millions of people and scooters. I have some pretty wicked photos of those. Whole families on scooters even. No helmuts - well - hardly any. I tried to put my seqatbelt on in the taxi - and couldn't find one. Stopped in at the night markets there - and had a browse around. Its a pretty dangerous little city (9 million) and people pick pocket you, mug you, and basically try and take you for all they can. We bought heaps of DVD's here. about 400 or so. Good for Xmas presents huh! Glad to go tho - the Saigon river is revolting. They grow Prawns in it - for export to New Zealand. .. so just think about that the next time your eating them. I kept expecting to see a body in the river - I know that sounds bad - but its just so full of junk - anything could be in there. It took us three and a half hours to get up river - its incredibly windy, narrow, and shallow. Had a few hairy moments when the boat was turning a corner sharply, and the water came flying out ouf the spa pools onto the deck. It is really really hot here at the moment. Yesterday - about 35 degrees - easily. Not brown yet, but getting there - its a bit hard to actually stay outside in that sort of heat. Another two weeks on the boat to go. Its all good. Most of the passengers on here are australian, have met a few Kiwi's tho which is always nice. Mike keeps going to the casino at night - and actually managed to get Sue in there last night. I do 'do' casino's. Boring. Have been writing quite a bit - which is good. Alot just in my wee notebook - and now I need to go and type it up. Watched a bizarre show the other night - called 'The Lady Boys of Bangkok'. HAHAHA. You should have seen Mikes face when he found out they were all blokes. He sat there trying to spot wardrobe malfunctions - quite amusing. Anyway - better be off - they charge $1 every four minutes here - which is disgraceful. In Singapore at our hotel they were trying to charge us $9 an hour. Terrible. We walked around the corner and hopped into a little Indian Internet cafe. $1.50. Sweet! Hoping the cat and house are okay back in NZ. Xoxo Leigh |
| Hi Everyone Well - as you all know I have been researching Unrequited Love - and the affects that it has on people. It's funny, because while I have been gathering research on this topic - and people have been filling out the survey - they have started to come back to me to say that from filling out the survey it has really helped them. I think from them recognising whats happening, and actually taking the time to write it down to a complete stranger - who has no judgement. It's fascinating stuff - this whole love thing. While we are each affected in different ways, deep down its still about the same thing. Wanting someone to love you, as much as you love them. I'm living with a woman (she's flatting with me at the moment) and she is currently going through unrequited love. She is still in total denial at the moment - thinking that it's not unrequited at all. It's awful to watch - even though its good for my research! Horrible thing to say! She thinks that he loves her. Even though he told her to leave him alone - and that he wanted to try and make it work with his partner, and continue to raise his family - becuase that is what matters to him the most. It's sad to say - that she just doesn't get it at the moment. She's a lovely person - but she is so wrapped up in the emotions for him - she has stopped seeing the bigger picture. Maybe I should get her to fill out my survey! If anyone would like to fill it out - then please do so: "Invalid Item" Love you all (hope its not unrequited!!) Xoxo Leigh "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" Leonardo Da Vinci ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Hi Everyone God i'm shocking. Smack on the hand. Blogs blogs blogs.... I really need to dedicate myself to this better. Well - life has been super duper busy. I have been writing though, so thats positive. I recently wrote a new one, which I think is the first story I have ever written in first person. I have to say that I did find writing like that quite a challenge... and I'm willilng to have another go one day too. We can only get better with practice. This story is based on my flatmate (Room-mate) .. well - she was the inspiration for it anyway.
I got a new boss yesterday. He was a Sargent-Major in the army for 20 years, and to be honest - seems a little intimidating. But don't worry - I won't let him intimidate me. (I'm MUCH to stroppy for that!) I have just been in my home town for the weekend, which was super busy. It was to be at my grandmother's 80th birthday, my brothers 20th, and my sisters fundraising party. Needless to say, by the time yesterday arrive (Monday) I was completely knackered. I must be getting too old for it! Haha. Bterr fly - I should really get some work done while my new boss is out on the road... better make a good impression while he's still naive about the company Ciao! Leigh "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" Leonardo Da Vinci ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Hi People The annoying blog reminder thingee has been coming into my email daily recently for ages! This time I have just been ignoring it though. (Feeling guilty each time too!) Little Poppa (grandfather) passed away last week, which is awfully sad. My husband and I managed to organise absolutely every single thing to do with his funeral arrangements and estate. I don't ever wish that task upon anybody. It's awfully hard, and my husband and I have found that we actually haven't had any time to ourselves, or to even take his passing in really. We have just been reacting and dealing with it. We had his funeral yesterday, and I'm really pleased that it's over and done with. Now we just have to finish all the sorting, but at least we can relax a little now. Life goes on. I know a lot of people say that you don't realise what you've had until it leaves you, but we really did know what we had with Little Poppa. He will be dearly missed. I imagine he is probably ballroom dancing away in heaven, no doubt tippling on a bottle of Glenfiddich. (whiskey) So needless to say, I haven't managed any writing in the past couple of weeks. One of my bestest friends has just moved to t he UK to live forever, so I had to spend time with him before he left, then Poppa left us... No time to write at all!! During my research on Unrequited Love, I have come across an interesting anomaly. Unrequited love from within relationships and marriages. Fascinating stuff. A friend actually brought it to my attention in her marriage. She was saying that while she is married to her husband, and she loves him with all her heart, she still has feelings for an old flame of hers. I don't know if this is actually Unrequited Love or not... or just regrets and fantasies on a missed opportunity. It is a thought to ponder though. I wonder now, how many marriages are there out there that have this underlying issue? Is it an anomaly? Or is it quite normal? My big boss at work has a similar issue. He has been married for 30 odd years to the same woman, but has affairs with other women. (In particular, a good friend of mine.) Now, he in absolutely in love with my friend, and they have been in a relationship with each other for a few years now. He still loves his wife too, but is not 'in love' with her any longer. He says that he maintains the image of his marraige becuase they have a big family, and even a number of grandchildren, and he doesn't want to upset the family unit after 30 years. I find it fascinating that someone would give up his chance to love somebody properly and freely for the sake of his family. He has told me that his fraternal/paternal urges are stronger that anything, and that he would ado anything in the world to protect them. Even if that means he stays in a loveless marriage. Enough musings from me. Anyway. I'm glad my marriage is all safe and sound. Xoxoxoxo L "What's past is prologue." William Shakespeare ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Hi People Well - the irritating blog reminder has been popping up in my email for the past few days, so I thought i'd better write one just to make it stop Work has been rather difficult lately - so my time has been rather precious lately. I haven't managed to review quite a bit of work that I'd promised to people, so if you're one of those people - then I apologize now! During the few snippits of time that I have had to myself lately, I have managed to plot/plan a couple of novels. My research is rather inspirational at the moment, so that's all very exciting. Anyways - I'd better be off. If you want to help me out with my research at all... then please fill this out:
Xoxo Leigh "What's past is prologue." William Shakespeare ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| HI Everyone Well... I NEVER thought I would have a flatmate ever again. But, now I do. I was a little lonely when Mike (husband) left last week for a job in the south, so I decided that it would be a good idea for a flatmate to move in. (Room mate - in America) So here I am, with a new person in my sanctuary, and am a little unsure of what to do really. When she found out that I write, she said "oooooh - I would love to write a book one day!" And while I appreciate her enthusiasm for my interests, I was sitting there thinking - 'You have no idea!' It brasses me off when people say that. It's a very tough thing, writing books and stories, and these people seem to think that it's piece of cake, and don't seem to understand the blood, sweat, and pain that us writers go through. It's hard work. Anyway! That's my wee rant for the day. (I'm a little grumpy, and tired...) All the best! Xoxo Leigh "What's past is prologue." William Shakespeare ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Hi Everyone Things are going alright. Its absolutely nuts at work, and i'm starting to get a little sick of it. Feeling cramped sharing worspace with others! Mike my husband left his work last week, which was a bit of a shock for me... anyhoo I'm all about solving the problems, so I sent Mike south at 6am Wednesday morning. He started working in a vineyard that day, and seems to be making money, which is really good. I think he's enjoying being outside in the sunshine, with a good bunch of people. It also gives him time to actually think about what he wants to do with his life. He seriously needs to do that. So he's staying at our place in the Marlborough sounds, (You should run a search for that place one day - its beautiful) and he's gonna help out his Mum on the weekends. She needs to finish building her house. I'm at home by myself, which is a little strange. I have advertised to get a flatmate in, and I have someone coming around tonight to have a look at my place. I'm pretty sure I won't have a problem getting someone, cos my place is pretty damn stunning. I have been working at night for my in-laws, at their medical clinic. They need serious help, becuase they are in such high dmand (pain specialists) they haven't paid much attention to the paperwork side of things. So I'm in there at nights when everyone has gone home, fixing it all. I was there for about an hour and a half last night, and the night before, about 2 hours. It's hard going, but they are like paying me $75 per hour, so I'm quite happy to do it for them. Unfortunately this impedes on my writing time, so hopefully its not a permanent thing!! I just miss Mike. Its strange not having him at home. I got a story finished and sent away for a New Zealand competition, so I'm pleased that's over and done with. Now i'll just forget about it for a while. I'm not even sure I like it. How bad is that! Funny huh. One of those things though. I'm trying to revamp my profile. It needs some work, so currently it's getting restructured. Putting a few things in order... as they should be. Anyway - Better fly. Got a lot of work to do! Xoxo Leigh "What's past is prologue." William Shakespeare ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Hi Everyone Things are going alright. Its absolutely nuts at work, and i'm starting to get a little sick of it. Feeling cramped sharing worspace with others! Mike my husband left his work last week, which was a bit of a shock for me... anyhoo I'm all about solving the problems, so I sent Mike south at 6am Wednesday morning. He started working in a vineyard that day, and seems to be making money, which is really good. I think he's enjoying being outside in the sunshine, with a good bunch of people. It also gives him time to actually think about what he wants to do with his life. He seriously needs to do that. So he's staying at our place in the Marlborough sounds, (You should run a search for that place one day - its beautiful) and he's gonna help out his Mum on the weekends. She needs to finish building her house. I'm at home by myself, which is a little strange. I have advertised to get a flatmate in, and I have someone coming around tonight to have a look at my place. I'm pretty sure I won't have a problem getting someone, cos my place is pretty damn stunning. I have been working at night for my in-laws, at their medical clinic. They need serious help, becuase they are in such high dmand (pain specialists) they haven't paid much attention to the paperwork side of things. So I'm in there at nights when everyone has gone home, fixing it all. I was there for about an hour and a half last night, and the night before, about 2 hours. It's hard going, but they are like paying me $75 per hour, so I'm quite happy to do it for them. Unfortunately this impedes on my writing time, so hopefully its not a permanent thing!! I just miss Mike. Its strange not having him at home. I got a story finished and sent away for a New Zealand competition, so I'm pleased that's over and done with. Now i'll just forget about it for a while. I'm not even sure I like it. How bad is that! Funny huh. One of those things though. I'm trying to revamp my profile. It needs some work, so currently it's getting restructured. Putting a few things in order... as they should be. Anyway - Better fly. Got a lot of work to do! Xoxo Leigh "What's past is prologue." William Shakespeare ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Hi Everyone Well. It's my first WDC birthday today. Its hard to believe that its been a year already! I've done so much with my writing since then, and have come so far, all becuase of the amazing and wonderful support that I have around me in this community. I am really proud to be a part of it. Good news on the goals front. I'm just about to finish writing a story for a New Zealand competition, so here's hoping I get somewhere with it. When I finish, i'm going to throw it out for review on here, and hopefulyy I'll get some good honest feedback, so that I can make it better. (Just one of the reasons why I love WDC!) Anyway - I had better totter off now, got some writing to do. Thanks for being such an amazing community. Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo Leigh Lee "What's past is prologue." William Shakespeare ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Hi People Well. I can't quite believe that we are almaost half way through March already, and it feels like yesterday that it was Christmas. Crazy how fast time flies. That Einstein sure was a bright spark with his theory of relativity, huh. My younger sister Millie is about to turn 15, and is appalled at how far away next Christmas is, and that the end of the year is so far away. Here I am, thinking that the end of the year is rolling towards me at an enormous speed, and I have SO much to do and get through before I can even contemplate Christmas. I have set myself a few goals this year with my writing. 1. Enter NaNoWriMo. 2. Enter more of my writing into New Zealand competitions. 3. Finish my first novel, once and for all. 4. Finish my second novel, that I started a while ago. Thought those were fairly realistic goals for this year. Let's just hope that I stick to the plan.  Anyway - gotta go. Writing a short story for a competition. Would love any feedback so far - so here's the link:
Xoxo Leigh Lee "What's past is prologue." William Shakespeare ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Hi Everyone, I'm all back and up and running!!! Yippee! have been pretty busy getting my house back on track, but now its finished, and I just love it. Work has been very busy, i'm in the middle of being promoted, thinking about doing ANOTHER degree, have started writing my new book (the other is on hold) and i'm starting to feel quite good about things again. After my boss, and good friend died at the end of last year, I have started grief and trauma counselling (as my husband and I were two of the people that found her body) so that all seems to be going quite well. Starting to feel better, which is a bit of a relief to be honest. I just found out that one of my WDC buddies, Stomper, has left WDC. I'm kinda sad about that, as he made quite a big impact with reviews, feedback, and encouragement. I better go - got some writing to do. Yay! xoxoxoxo Leigh |
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