“The best way out is always through.”

I've always loved Robert Frost. Well, not him so much as his poetry. Yes, it's over-quoted but I'd certainly place 'Stopping by woods on a snowy evening' high on my list of favourite poems.

by Susan Jeffers

So - the best way out is through, is it, Robert Frost? Oh yes it IS!

I found that out yesterday during the process of writing the synopsis of Of Night And Light

This was the task. Take a 54,000 word novel with about thirty assorted characters and several sub-plots as well as the main storyline and write a synopsis that fits onto one A4 page (with regular not microscopic font and proper paragraphs) - oh, and make it interesting and fun to read.

Easy-peasy. NOT

This was me. Write a few lines then get frustrated and stop. Make myself a coffee. Write a little more. Get VERY frustrated and stop. Think of other jobs that suddenly seemed way more important. Cross out the lines already written and decide I'm a rubbish writer. Write a few lines and stop. Wonder if it's lunchtime even though it's only 11.23.

BUT then...take a step back.

Look at who I am. Who I am is a writer. The future I created for this year is "to shift the balance of my work life from corporate to creative" which includes "being taken on by a literary agent for my children's writing and have Of Night And Light published."

So why wouldn't I want write this synopsis and make it sing and sizzle?

So I did!

Nobody said it was going to be easy...but at least I could smile a little more.

A day without sunshine is like...night

Today, the combination of sunshine and frost is scintillating.

It's the good old British weather sticking two fingers up at the idea that today is 'Blue Monday.'

"According to a press release by a mental health charity, the formula is:

where weather=W, debt=d, time since Christmas=T, time since failing our new year’s resolutions=Q, low motivational levels=M and the feeling of a need to take action=N_a. 'D' is not defined in the release, nor are units.

Arnall says the date was calculated by using many factors, including: weather conditions, debt level (the difference between debt accumulated and our ability to pay), time since Christmas, time since failing our new year’s resolutions, low motivational levels and feeling of a need to take action. Writing about the calculation, Ben Goldacre stated: ... the fact is that Cliff Arnall's equations ... fail even to make mathematical sense on their own terms.^"

I'm pretty sure I quoted this last year, whenever 'Blue Monday' was alleged to be. Yep... Blue Monday 2011

Well, looking back at last year, I probably had grounds to be a little subdued. But this year?

Life is good. I'm blessed.

And anyway, blue is my favourite colour.

The brain is a wonderful organ...

It starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office.

Robert Frost, rather surprisingly, is the originator of this quote. Surprising to me, at any rate. It sounds as though it should come out of one of those smartass business books or might be seen on a T-Shirt or the side of a mug. And now I see he didn't die until 1969, which is another surprise.

This is the Robert Frost I know and love, knew and loved from the very first day of my American Lit course at university.

Here are just the last three lines of one of his poems.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.





 Back to the brain. It does seem to happen to me that I'm full of ideas until I sit down at my desk and then...you can almost hear the glugging sound as they drain away.
Hence - this blog. It gets my brain up and running again. There are worse ways...

I don't just do this for fun, you know.