Friday 2 May 2008

Anyone listening?

Just had a very odd telephone experience, and no, not of the heavy breathing type. Slightly tipsy husband rang me from the beer festival to check the time of the next train. He didn't end the call, and after a minute of shouting myself hoarse to get him to hang up I realised I could still hear him talking.... He's chatting to the friends he's there with, so do I continue trying to get him back on the phone or do I just listen a while? Yup, you've guessed it, I'm a terrible eavesdropper given the opportunity. Other people's conversations always seem so interesting! Of course this is a risky one because you never know what you might hear. On this occasion it seemed to be limited to the beers they'd tried and which one they liked best, if they could remember that far back. After a minute the line went dead.

I'm sure there's many a short story based on this premise but it's quite exciting, just for a moment, not to know what you might hear...

I'm having a rubbish week for blog writing, but it does mean I've done a lot of re-writing to try and get "Flickers" into shape. I've had confirmation from the Winchester Writers' Conference that I have my two agent appointments. Gulp. I have to send the first 30 pages, pitch letter and synopsis by June 6th. Of course the synopsis means I need to stop messing about with new scenes and changing things about as well!

I also nearly fell off the sofa when I turned to page 3 of Writers' news this month and saw the wannabes smiling back at me. How did that picture get in there! I was feeling particularly grim that day (evil sinus infection) and apparently I looked it too!

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Bank holiday, yippee!

8 comments:

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

My husband's old phone was always doing that and most of the time it was around 5am as he worked early. Such a pain.

How exciting knowing that you know you'll be seeing your two agents, very best of luck. I definately want to go next year, this conference looks brilliant.

I saw the photo and it looks like you were all having great fun.

Anonymous said...

I don't think Stephen King likes mobile phones. Not if the pulse in "Cell" is anything to go by.

Anonymous said...

Wow! that sounds exciting! good luck with that!
Im a terrible eavesdropper aswell and a gossip. (so Ive been told!) Imagine if youd heard someone being murdered or something!
Ive ordered the magazine, cant wait to see pic!
Have a nice weekend. x

Fiona Mackenzie. Writer said...

Now that would make a great short story!
I guess I'm too late to go to the writers conference - I'll look it up somewhere and see.
I don't get writers news so can't wait til June when Jane's going to bring a copy to our lunch venue.
Good luck with the agents - you'll be fab!

Lane Mathias said...

I'm glad it was only beer you heard him talking about!

I remember when you used to get crossed lines on the telephone and hear some fascinating conversations. Doesn't seem to happen now:-(

Good luck at the conference. Looking forward to hearing all about it!

Karen said...

My husband often accidentally rings me when he sits down - he keeps his mobile in his pocket. Many a time I've struggled to hear a muffled conversation, but no luck so far!!

I remember seeing an agent (Jane Judd) at the WWC a few years ago. It was SOOOO nerve-wracking and she was very tired after a long, hard day, but still managed to offer constructive advice :o)

Denise said...

Debs - Do go next year, it's like the masterclass only there's more of it!

Captain - Read lots of his, but not that one. Something tells me that's not a nice bit!

Motherx - I do sometimes feel guilty about the eavesdropping, but we have to, it's all good study for writing characters...

Fiona - It's not too late to book, do it now!

Lane - Ooh, I'd forgotten all about crossed lines. They did used to be quite good fun! Except when I had to hang up and my Mum wouldn't let me make another call!

Karen - You're bound to hear something one day! I went to a talk by Jane Judd, I thought she was really lovely, but then she said she didn't take science fiction and I sadly crossed her off my list.

Tracey said...

When my daughter was a baby, one time I made my hubby take her to the doctor for her shots. In trying to hold a toddler getting shots, he accidentally hit something that phoned me, un beknownst to him, on his cell phone. Lucky me, I got to hear all my daughters screams at having to get shots and then the call hung up.

BTW: Don't know ya, just flipping through blogs when I should be spending my time designing (lol). Read your comment and just had to add my funny story for you.