Sharon J's Writing Blog

Moved!

2006-09-08T22:03:00.000+01:00

I'm over here now as Blogger won't let me do anything.

This is a test post

2006-09-04T19:17:00.000+01:00

Just making a test post to see if I can make this work.

The Only Way Is Up

2006-08-04T10:42:00.000+01:00

It seems I can only make very short posts but short is better than nothing, right? At least things are heading in the right direction.

Am off for a weekend in the country. Richard's parent's place near Ashford, to be precise. Ah... relaxation!

~ Sharon xx

I haven't been fried or sent to the moon...

2006-07-31T20:17:00.000+01:00

I can't post.

When I went to London all was well. When I came back, PC was doing strange things. It won't let me send email, won't let me post on Blogger, won't let me upload files to my yahoo email account or anywhere else.

It's really frustrating because I need the Internet in order to send work to my clients, but it's being really naughty. I'm hoping that now that dear daughter has left to go back to her beloved, things will be better (we have a theory that the laptop she was using has been conflicting with mine).

I'm now posting from Richard's PC but can't use it often because he uses it for work. Just wanted to tell you all that I haven't forgotten you, that I'm still writing and that I'm missing you all something dreadful.

Hugs and stuff,
Sharon xx

Bye For Now

2006-07-16T16:47:00.000+01:00

Am off to London tomorrow until Friday so don't expect to hear anything from me while I'm gone. The fact that I'm not visiting your blog doesn't mean I've forgotten you, I'm simply otherwise occupied. I'll be riding The Eye, seeing Whistle Down The Wind at the Palace Theatre, hanging out in Trafalgar Square, visiting the National Portrait Gallery and doing all sorts of other touristy stuff.

Nothing much to report on the writing front. I've been too busy getting my paid work wound up before I leave to put much into the book but I've made notes and written another couple of hundred words. Not a lot, I know, but a little is better than nothing, yeah? The laptop will be coming with me so that I can write while I'm stuck on my pump during the mornings. I could go long-hand but I know I'd just end up with cramp in my fingers so I'm better off with the lappy.

What else? Nothing much at all. It's too hot to even think, let alone do anything.

LINK
Today I'm going to head you in the direction of Trish Wylie's blog. She has a really interesting 'course' going to help us newbies understand more about the mechanics of writing. I've been following it so far but haven't the time to read the latest installment as I really have to log off and get on with baking a cake now. Nip over and have a look, though. She's being lovely for sharing her knowledge with us.

Will see you all when I get back.

Photo by Jeffrey Alcock

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Technorati Tags: Writing

Rejection

2006-07-13T13:27:00.000+01:00

Today I received my first rejection letter. HM&B didn't want Leo & Sherry's story. What's more, they so didn't want it that all they afforded me was the standard rejection letter without so much as a name on it.

I can't say I'm surprised; I was never entirely happy with the story. As I've said before (but some of you may not have been around back then), it started life as a 'Modern' but changed to a 'Tender' about half way through. That meant a considerable amount of re-writing, but even when it was finished, the story never really felt right - it just felt as though it was neither one thing or another. But I figured that since I'd written it, sending it off couldn't do any harm. So I did. And here I am, less than two weeks later, thinking "well at least that means I don't have to hang around before I can submit the next one."

I'm really surprised at the speed of their turn around. Everybody said it'd be at least three months before I heard anything but 10 days? Does that mean that somebody read the first page and thought "rubbish", printed off a rejection letter and sent it straight back? Probably.

But looking on the bright side, a standard rejection is the worse possible result so things can either stay the same or improve - they can't get worse!

And as I've always said, life goes on.

LINK
Today's link is "Rejection Collection" - the writer's and artist's on-line source for misery, commiseration and sob stories. After reading some of the stories of editors responding to submissions with letters telling the author that his or her work stunk and basically to give up writing, my rejection letter sounded positively... well, positive!

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Technorati Tags: Rejection Letters, Mills and Boon, Romance

Daughters

2006-07-12T11:29:00.000+01:00

Right now I'm enjoying the last hours of 10 days of peace. This afternoon my youngest child returns from Norway with her older sister (my middle child) in tow. We're now going back to listening to loud music, doors slamming, and taxi-ing young people to various parts of the town and surrounding areas at ridiculous times of the day and night. In other words, all will be back to normal.

It'll be lovely seeing Lise again. Now that she's living back in Norway, it's not as if I can pop round for a coffee and a natter. November last year was the last time I saw her. Mind you, she phones several times a week so I don't miss her as much as you might think. And anyway, our children are meant to grow up, fly the nest and set out into the big wide world alone, aren't they? Just as long as she knows I'll always be here to catch her if she falls, she'll be ok.

<-- That's her when she was little. They grow up so quickly! Linn Marie will probably have lots of talk about when she gets back, too, so I'm not expecting to get much work done today. I'm going to write one article now before I leave and, hopefully, get a few words about Darcie and Alex written, then I shall close the laptop until tomorrow. Or maybe late this evening. We'll see.

LINK OF THE DAY
Unless you're like my other half, you'll appreciate that the language is evolving and that youth culture is behind most of it. For a writer it's important to keep up with the changes and that's where the 'new words' section of the MacMillan English Dictionary comes in handy.

A quick look through the archive threw up a good few words and idioms that I hadn't heard of or, if I'd heard of them, understood. Like 'Lavender Language', for example. I'd heard of it but hadn't a clue what it meant. Now I know it's a special dialect used by the gay community. ' Tmesis' is one I'd never heard of. It's when you separate a word in the middle by inserting another word into it, like when something's "out-bloody-rageous".

Time to drag myself away from 'New Words' now, though. There's work to be done.

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Technorati Tags: language resources, writing, romantic novels

Should I or Shouldn't I?

2006-07-11T10:37:00.000+01:00

About a year ago, a guy who was a member of a famous 70s Glam Rock group expressed an interest in having me write his biography. Unfortunately, a string of events led to us losing contact and it didn't happen. Shame because I think it would have sold reasonably well as he definitely had a story or ten to tell.

For the past few days I've been wondering whether to contact him again to ask whether he's still interested. My only problem is: where is the time going to come from? I'll still need to write the short, quick stuff in order to keep regular money coming in and what with the time I spend on the romance stories—and I'd hate to give up writing them now that I've finally got serious about them—how do I find the time to write the biography?

I'd really like to do it. In fact, I'm happy to do it for a percentage of the royalties rather than a fixed fee plus percentage because he doesn't have a lot to throw about (that's part of the story) and I really believe his story should be told.

Dilemmas. If only I didn't have to do the articles, life would be so very different. But hark at me! Who am I to complain? I get to do what I love doing and that sure as hell beats stacking shelves in Sainsburys!

TODAY'S LINK
Did you know that The Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from public libraries?

Have a bit of fun - nip along to"Absolutely Useless Trivia".

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Technorati Tags: Writing, Biographies, Trivia

Writing Can Be A Pain

2006-07-10T10:29:00.000+01:00

Now I understand what Trish Wylie meant when she said that writing "O'Reilly's Bride" was like giving birth to a pineapple because that's exactly what getting words onto paper felt like yesterday. Not just words for the book, either. I had several articles that should have been delivered this morning but they're late because the words just wouldn't come. Every sentence was a struggle and when I reread what I had, it sounded as if it'd been written by somebody on a frighteningly high dose of opiates.

I'm hoping today is going to be better because not only do I have those original articles to deliver, I had another two on top of them! In other words, I've got my work cut out today. And there was me thinking I might get time to move a few perennials in the garden and plant a few new ones. Dream on! I doubt the book will be given much attention, either, but come what may, it'll get at least half hour, even if I have to put matchsticks under my eye lids!

Oh well, things can only get better :-)

LINK OF THE DAY
Today's link is one I may need if I the aforementioned continues. It's "How To Finish A Novel" by Holly Lisle. It isn't long and waffly; just a nice succint article that explains some simple techniques that the author uses in order to get from "Once upon a time..." to "The End".

PS: Anybody know what's happened to Martyn Clayton? His blog disappeared about a week or so ago and hasn't re-emerged so I'm a little bit worried that something may have happened.

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Technorati Tag: Writing

I Cried

2006-07-08T02:54:00.000+01:00

I've just finished A Mother For His Daughter by Ally Blake and cried at the end.

Ok... go on, laugh at me. Finished? Good.

I have to admit that I'm pre-menstrual at the moment and tend to get weepy (have been known to cry at Coronation Street) but this is a seriously good read. One of the best 'Tender' stories I've read, anyway. It's full of unexpected twists and turns, the hero is absolutely adorable, and while I have to admit to not much liking the heroine to start with—she came across as immature and 'common' and I couldn't quite understand why the hero had fallen for her—she definitely grew on me.

I knew straight away, within the first few pages, that this was going to be a good read, and I believe I emailed Ally and told her so. If I didn't, then I certainly intended to (it's the memory, y'know... ). She took me straight to Rome - I was there, sitting by the Trevi Fountain, watching the gorgeous Italian as he looked around him, trying to locate his daughter.

It's a shame HMB books are only available for a short time because this is one that I'm sure anybody who generally enjoys 'Tender' romance would love. Your local library may well have it, though, and it's still available on Amazon, albeit at a ridiculously inflated price.

This was the first book I'd read by Ally Blake but it certainly won't be the last. She's now right there at the top of my 'must read' list.

Now... what next to read? A Liz Fielding, I think :-)

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Technorati Tags: Romantic Novels

Map

2006-07-07T16:56:00.000+01:00

I've put one of those map things on the sidebar, right down at the bottom, because I saw some other folks had one and thought it looked good.

I'm going to be honest, though. I haven't put it there for research purposes. I have no books to sell so what would I be researching? No, my map is there purely because I'm a nosey cow who likes to know what's going on.

'Tis interesting, is the map. During the two days is been there, this blog has been visited by people from:

UK (surprise, surprise)
The Czech Republic
Iceland
Sweden
France
Malta
Canada (Toronto)
Australia (Sydney)
US

When it comes to the American visitors, they've been from:

California
Utah
Florida (several)
Alabama
Pasadena
New York

Interesting, eh? No? What do you mean, no? You don't care where I get my visitors from? Oh well... it pleases my tiny mind.

Anyway, if you recognise yourself from the list, give me a shout. I'd love to know who's from where.

TODAY'S LINK
I found this one a while ago and have found it very useful in helping me develop my characters and, not least, remembering those little character traits that can so often be forgotten.

The Character Chart includes all sorts of details, most of which I never actually use but are still useful to know because they're part of the character. Things like past failures that they'd hate anybody to know about, how they're perceived by strangers, how they like to spend a rainy day, whether they're frugal, a spendthrift or somewhere in between, and what they're most prized possessions are all go to make the character 3-dimentional.

Take my latest two heroines (the only ones you've ever heard about). Sherry would hate having to walk anywhere in the rain, while Darcie loves the feel of summer rain on her skin. To my mind, those two differences make them very different characters.

Leo's first memory was of his father lifting him onto a donkey's back as they brought the day's harvest back from the fields. Alex's first memory is of sitting on a chair in a designer clothes shop waiting for his mother who was trying on a dress. Just knowing those first memories tells me that these two people had very different upbringings.

I don't use every item on the chart but as I said, it's worth taking a look at if only to give you a few new ideas of ways to flesh out your characters.

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Technorati Tags: Fictional Characters, Writing Fiction

Formula or Not?

2006-07-06T13:17:00.000+01:00

I'm confused.

On the one hand I read authors saying there isn't a formula then I go and read Jane Porter's article on the mistakes she made when starting out and it says:

My first four books were all hard sells: in the first one, the hero was a baseball player, in the second, the setting was South Africa, in the third, the book was set in Austria, in the fourth, the hero was a senator. So to recap -- avoid the stuff that makes Harlequin marketing cringe and that list includes -- no athlete heroes, no rock star heroes, no overly artsy heroes; no setting that involves lots of conflict, war, or poverty; no setting (for Presents) that is too cold and alp-y as the hot Mediterranean climes seem most popular; no heroes or heroines that are politicians, no plot lines that involve politics, lobbyists, or controversial issues...

Isn't that formulaic? Ok, not in the sense that the first chapter has to contain this, the second chapter that and so on, but if what Jane Porter's saying is right, then certainly there appear to be far more limitations than many would have us believe.

How on earth are we supposed to know what kind of careers, places and story lines to avoid? Doesn’t this mean we could go on writing book after book without ever selling simply because the hero was a journalist living in Belgium trying to help the heroine out of a legal tangle... or... well, anything really. How can we know that a hot-blooded Mediterranean hero won't be good enough just because he happens to dabble in art? Or whatever?

Will the editors tell us that that the hero's job was all wrong, or that we've set it in an unpopular location? And even if they do, how will we know that we won't make the same mistake over and over?

I'd like to believe that we should just write the stories we want to write but if we want to sell them, that could mean dozens of stories that just aren't right for the market. I know all about reading lots from the line we're targeting, but unless you want to go along the same road as other authors, isn't it only right that we should try to give our heroes different careers, different locations and different motivations from those we've already read (and hence, have already been written)?

I just feel that if I follow in other author's footsteps re careers, etc., I'll just end up with a story full of wooden characters rather than a hero and heroine that have grown in my imagination, and who others would enjoy reading about.

As I said, I'm confused.

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Technorati Tags: Writing Problems

The Group, The Story and The Picnic

2006-07-05T11:12:00.000+01:00

I have to say that I'm surprised nobody answered the question posed in my previous post, but then maybe nobody actually knew the answer. It doesn't matter now, though. I asked Penny last night at the NWG meeting.

The answer? She thought it would be fine to send in a second manuscript before the first one had been dealt with and after the group threw the question around a bit, everybody thought that it would only serve to prove that I'm not a one-book wonder and that I can write at the kind of speed required of HMB (they like their authors to deliver four a year).

So that's ok then. I don't have to worry about writing too many, although I think my next one will be aimed at the ModX line; the idea I have seems to feel more at home there. But that's a long way off yet and things could change. Right now I'm going to concentrate on Darcie and Alex, and just keep enjoying their story.

The meeting was good last night. Nine of us were at Penny's new house and although a thunder storm banished us from the garden and into the living room, we all survived the heat.

I always leave the group feeling motivated and raring to get back to my laptop and let the words flow. I said I'd get 1500 words down after the meeting, but I didn't. I stopped at 950. There comes a point where you just have to go to sleep, like it or not! It still felt good, though, and I even had a few ideas that I want to use in Alex & Darcie's story, one of which was spurred by Richard telling the group about our leaking roof and the other by a hairy moment I had during the drive back home.

It's hot here again and sitting in this bedroom with the laptop on my lap (why call them laptops when they're really not practical for use balanced on the lap?) is not where I'd most like to be. I might well knock off early today to sit outside for a bit, and then work this evening instead. That's the luxury of being a writer - you can pretty much choose your own work hours. Well... that's actually the reason why I have to work from home. When I'm feeling poorly, I can rest and then I can catch up later when I'm feeling perky again.

We didn't get to Tilstone Lock the other evening. They have a "No Parking" sign there now so unless you happen to live right on top of the place (which means in one of the half a dozen houses within walking distance), you can't use it for picnics. Shame, because it's so pretty there. Never mind, though. We went one lock further down to Beeston, instead (both are on the Shropshire Union Canal). Poppy got to run around, met another dog and appeared to wonder what on earth it was (she honestly seems to believe she's a human even though she's been properly socialised with other dogs). She was all tail between her legs and "rescue me - there's a hairy thing looking at me". Still, finding something smelly in the grass to roll in made her day (maybe not so human after all?).

I might drag Richard along to The Limelight for a quick drink this evening. I have to go down there to buy tickets for a "D-ran D-ran" gig this Saturday that a couple of friends and I are going to, so we might as well make the most of it with a bevvy on the terrace.

TODAY'S LINK
Have you ever heard of the 'Snowflake Method'? No, it's not a new fangled form of contraception, it's a plan for writing a novel.

Written by Randy Ingermanson, it takes you through 10 steps of designing a novel from writing a one-sentence summary of your story to designing your characters and listing the necessary scenes that have to be part of the finished novel to the final step which is actually getting on a writing the darned thing.

I have to admit that I don't follow the Snowflake Method but I do use parts of it and found reading it was useful.

It's worth a look, anyway. Even if you decide it isn't for you, all you've done is wasted 15 minutes and you know you're looking for another excuse to procrastinate ;-)

PS: If you're around, Iona. That blue boat on the far side of the canal in the photo - it's name's IONA.

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Technorati Tags: Writing, Romantic Fiction, Writing Tips

Several Manuscripts in One Place?

2006-07-03T17:32:00.000+01:00

I've past the 25% mark on the new manuscript and am really pleased with the way it's coming along. Assuming I get enough time to write while Lise's visiting, I should have this one finished well within the deadline I've set for myself (13th August).

What I'm wondering, though, is whether or not I can send another manuscript to HMB before hearing back about the first? I mean, from what I've understood, they're quite understaffed at the moment so it's taking longer than the usual three months to hear back. Now even if I don't finish this one within my deadline, I'm hoping it'll be done shortly after, so probably before I've heard anything about Sherry & Leo.

Will they mind receiving another before they're finished with the first? If they do mind, I'll have to write something mainstream when I've finished this or I'm going to end up with HMB manuscripts queued up here and I don't want that.

If they won't be happy receiving another ms for the same line, could I perhaps write for a different line next time?

TODAY'S LINK
This has nothing to do with submitting manuscripts but I think most of you, being big on reading, will appreciate it.

The Used Book Search is, as the name suggests, a used books meta search engine for second hand, rare, out of print books and text books. You can search, browse and buy online from thousands of bookstores worldwide.

To test it, I search for Penny Jordan, and received about 20,000 results. I then tried Camilla Collett, a 19th century Norwegian writer, and received about 30 results. It has to be said, though, that not all were by Ms Collett; some were about her.

I'm sure it's useful for those of you who are looking for something specific that's hard to find, though. I know I'll probably use it from time to time, anyway.

I'm off to Tilstone Lock for a picnic with Richard now. I've had enough of being stuck in the house in this heat, especially with the laptop perched on my lap all day, and as LM's gone to Norway for 10 days, we're all alone. What a luxury!

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Technorati Tags: Submitting Manscripts, Book Publishing, Mills and Boon, Rare Books

TPN - Total Parenteral Nutrition

2006-06-30T12:13:00.000+01:00

MsCreativity asked in the comments section what my diagnosis is being as I'm an intravenous feeder on lifetime TPN. At least, I think that's what she asked ;-)

Because most people wouldn't know what "Short Bowel Syndrome" is or why one would have it, I decided I'd write a post about it rather than explain in the comments. After all, for me and everybody else in my situation, it's a matter of the more people who understand the condition, the better.

Short Bowel Syndrome is a catch-all diagnosis for anybody who has had most or all of their bowel removed for whatever reason (or was born with very little or no bowel). In my case, a blockage in the artery that feeds the bowel caused my bowel to rot.

I'd been in pain for several months, on and off, with each bout of pain exceeding the last. Eventually the pain became so acute that regardless of what my GP had said about my health improving, Richard drove me to the out-of-hours GP at our hospital who immediately admitted me.

Once in hospital I spent the entire night screaming in pain and no amount of morphine would relieve it. Little wonder really, considering what was happening inside me.

The next morning I was taken down to theatre. The next I remember was waking up in HDU with Richard by my side and tubes coming out of every orifice, a bag on my belly and a tube stuck in my neck. I hadn't a clue what was going on but needed to know what was wrong with me. When Richard told me they'd removed my bowel, I was shocked, to say the least. Surely a person can't live without a bowel?

I now have about 14 inches of bowel left which was, luckily, enough for me to have a resection and get rid of the bag. If I'd have had to continue with that (it was attached directly to my stomach), I really don't think I would have coped. It wouldn't stay on so I spent most of my time on my back with Richard poised with a vacuum suction head, ready to suck up whatever came shooting out of the hole - mostly stomach acid which, if it didn't get sucked away immediately, would burn my skin. You don't even want to think about what my stomach looked like after a month of that! How he put up with spending so much time in hospital looking after me I really don't know, especially as we'd only been together for 6 months when it happened and he also had responsibity for running the home and taking care of a sassy 13 year old step-daughter. Talk about a real life hero!

What I didn't realise at the time—until the doctor told me later—was that I still only had a 50/50 chance of survival. It would be a month until I was told I was 'out of the woods' but those first 24 hours after surgery were crucial as most patients who suffer the same as I did don't live to tell the tale. I was also told that another day and I definately wouldn't have been here now. It's things like this that put life into perspective and is the reason why I'm not that fussed as to whether or not my manuscript is accepted. It isn't as important to me as it possibly is to most because, if they turn it down, I'll still be here. Nothing will have changed. Life will go on and there's always another story to write.

Anyway, because I don’t have a bowel, the only way I can be given nutrition is through TPN, which is a liquid feed given directly into a vein. In my case the subclavian with the line entering my body just above my right breast, travelling below the skin to the point where it enters the vein close to my arm, and then continues along the vein to the heart.

In order to be fed by TPN I hook up to a pump five nights a week (it's something like those you see in hospital when you're put on a drip) for 14 hours. As I also have to have any fluids administered in the same way, I have to be careful not to dehydrate as, unlike people with a normal bowel, I can't just drink some water - mine has to be pumped in. That's a bit of a pain in the butt because it means hooking up again which also means going through all the rigmarole of aseptic procedures. Believe me, that is one huge pain in the rear! Although not quite as painful as sticking a needle in my thigh every day! That's the only way I can adminster heparin, an anti-coagulant that helps keeps me alive. Without it a clot would form and what could happen then is anybody's guess.

Of the possible side effects of TPN, I've experienced all but one.

* My memory's shot - sorry, what was your name again and what time were we supposed to be there and what was it I was supposed to be working on today? I have to make a note of everything

* I often have trouble catching my breath although some days are worse than others.

* I have nights where I'm up and down all night because two and a half litres of fluid going in has to come out again!

* I'm easily confused so no more multi-tasking for me

* Sometimes I vomit several times a day. Not too good if you happen to be driving at the time (yes, it's happened!) but luckily I can go several weeks without vomiting so it could be worse.

* Too much walking (by that I mean a couple of hundred yards) and I'm up most of the night with leg cramps.

* My muscles are incredibly weak so just reaching up to the top shelf to get something down can sometimes leave me needing to rest. Other times I just ache.

* My hands and feet swell up so sometimes my shoes don’t fit. Again, this isn't a huge problem and doesn't happen regularly.

* My blood pressure's ridiculously low so jumping up too quickly can lead to dizziness. I've never actually passed out, though (touch wood).

* Some days I'm so weak I can hardly get out of bed. This happens about once a week on average.

* I have jumpy reflexes. No wonder I lost my popcorn when I went to see "An American Haunting".

There's a strong chance I'll develop osteoporosis and that my liver will eventually stop working as efficiently as it should. If that happens, my skin, hair and eyes will turn green.

I try to not let it get in my way too much, though. Mind you, there are times when it gets me down because ... well, my whole life's been thrown up in the air.

Obviously, there are things I can't do anymore but one thing I've learned is that it's always better to concentrate on the things you can do rather than those you can't. Last night we went to a gig at our local rock club and I even danced! Just to one song, but I did it! It hurt and this morning I'm suffering leg cramps because of it, but sod it - it was fun!

Why did this happen to me? Because I smoked. By the time I became ill I was up to 50 a day but really it doesn’t matter whether you smoke 5 or 50, if your body is susceptible, it'll build up fatty deposits and eventually a blockage will form. I was lucky - if the blockage had formed elsewhere, I could have had a massive heart attack or stroke. As it was, it's just the artery to my bowel and three of the four arteries in my legs that were affected. The blockages in my legs make it uncomfortable to walk, but I do try to push myself as much as I can. Sometimes it's just too painful, though.

Needless to say, I gave up the fags. So did Richard. Sadly, my daughter, Lise, still smokes. More than anything in this world (yes, more than wanting to be published), I want her to give up. I wouldn't wish what happened to me on anybody, and I certainly don't want to see my daughter go through anything even remotely similar. But she's been to the doctor to check whether she has 'sticky blood' (I do) and because she hasn't, she thinks she's safe. But she isn't. 'Sticky Blood' just makes you more susceptible but the lack of it doesn't make you immune.

I'm not going to preach to you, but if you do smoke, please at least think about what you're doing to your body. This isn't a dress rehearsal - we have one shot at life and it isn't until you've almost lost it that you really realise just how damned precious it is. A minute is all it takes to lose it.

LINK
No link today. Sorry.

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Technorati Tags: Total Parenteral Nutrition, Short Bowel Syndrome, Smoking

At Last! Bring Out The Booze!

2006-06-29T11:39:00.000+01:00

Bring out the cake, Minx, and get those knees up, Debs, cos we're gonna party!

Anybody else coming? Sue? Karen? You two have to be up for a party! And no excuses about moving, Sue!

Seriously, the first three chapters of Leo & Sherry's story are now at the HMB offices in Richmond (unless the post office hasn't done its job properly, that is).

I think I did everything right... manuscript in double spacing courier 12 without any kind of binding except an elastic band around both it and the cover page along with a cover letter, synopsis and an SASE.

The envelope didn't have any stamps on it when the photo was taken (the things you do for prosperity, eh?) because Richard put them on when he took it to the post office (and on the SASE, of course, otherwise it wouldn’t actually be one), but it didn't cost quite as much to send as I'd imagined. I was envisaging having to take out a loan in order to cover the cost of posting manuscripts but no, £1.97 or something like that I believe. I can live with that.

So now it's time to forget about Sherry and Leo and get on with Darcie and Alex's story. I'm actually enjoying their story much more, I think probably because I really like Darcie. The story's much better paced, too. Sherry never really 'took off' for me, I think because I had to change her when I changed the story from a 'Presents' to a 'Tender', but never mind, she's gone now so no point giving her any more thought.

I'm aiming to have the first draft of Darcie and Alex finished by mid August but that's going to depend on how much time I get while my daughter's visiting in July. I can't exactly spend all my time with my nose in the computer and just leave her to get bored, can I? We'll see. If it isn't finished by the time we go on holiday then I shall take my laptop with me. Yes, I know holidays aren't meant to be for working but I usually spend some time holed up in the caravan whilst waiting for my pump to finish (I'm an intravenous feeder on TPN, for those who don't already know) so I might just as well write for a while. And anyway, until you get paid for it, it isn't really work, is it?

Right. I'm off to accompany Darcie, Alex and Jack (Alex's son) around a Welsh castle. I just hope it doesn't rain.

LINKY LOU
There are actually two links today. One I lifted from Amanda Ashby's blog but the other's been residing in the NWG links directory for a while now. Being as they're both sort of related to sending off manuscripts (you send them off and then you wait...) I thought it'd be suitable as today's link.

Call Stories

First Sale Stories

Both are chock full of authors telling their stories of the day they got THE CALL.

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Technorati Tags: Writing A Novel, Mills & Boon

Naming Characters Part II

2006-06-27T23:45:00.000+01:00

Today I've been playing with The Fantasy Name Generator. Not that I write fantasy, but you know what it's like... you find a way of procrastinating and that's exactly what you do.

Anyway, this name generator turned out to be tons of fun and I've decided that, from now on, my heroes will all have their surnames taken from this very tool.

Just imagine them:

Theodore Sneezepin
Sebastian Wadfumble
Lance Snarknuckle
Justine Twitair

Don't those names conjour up the most delicious heroes imaginable? The kind you could shag until the cows come home?

No? Really? Good Lord! What's the matter with you? No taste at all!

Oh well... maybe not, then.

BUT, I do have an idea for a cosy mystery that I might write some day and thanks once again to the Fantasy Name Generator, I've found the name of the village it shall be set in.

Marjorie Pincuddly and her loyal dog, Dynosia, shall discover the body of Colonel Booblebunch in the village of Nukemthimble.

You can just picture the scene, can't you?

Oh yes, I definitely love the Fantasy Name Generator and I can see that it and I have a solid future together.

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Naming Characters

2006-06-26T22:57:00.000+01:00

Almost every author blog has, at some point or another, a post about the difficulty in finding the right name for a character. Everybody has their own way of finding them and everybody has names they would never use.

I certainly couldn't give a hero or heroine a name that belonged to somebody I've had a negative experience with at some time or another, although I could quite happily use on of those names for the wicked step-mother type characters.

I have a word document that's full of names. Well, two of them, actually. Two documents, that is, not two names. One for female names and one for male. Every time I hear or see a name that I like the sound of, into the document it goes. It doesn't necessarily have to be a nice name as such, but one that I feel could be turned into a character.

Y'see, most times, when I'm developing a new character, I just pick a name and try to envisage who would have that name. What would she look like? How would she speak? What would she wear? Where would she work? In fact, I often find that's the easiest way to build a character as the times I've developed my character first and then tried to find a name... well, I wouldn't like to say how long I've spent trying to find the right one. No, the name into character way definitely works best for me.

Obviously, if it's the mean aunt or a miserable uncle I'm trying to find a name for, I'll only look at names that immediately conjure up unpleasant characters, but as I have them in a separate area of my file, that's easy enough. Where an Ivy, to me, would be a kindly woman, a Doris wouldn't. So I'd grab Doris from the list and start imagining her, gradually fleshing her out until I have a fully-formed character to use.

But I have been known to find character names purely by accident, too. Like the old woman I called Daisy because she was a miserable old cow and the hero I called Lance because he was so sharp witted.

I'm always fascinated by what others do so if you have the time, stop by the comments box and let me know how you go about naming your characters, would you? Or if you have a post on your own blog about it, just point me in the right direction.

TODAY'S LINK
An article by Caro Clarke - Problems With Names & How To Avoid Them

Not about naming your characters but what to look out for so that you don't give them the wrong kind of names.

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Technorati Tags: Naming Characters, Writing Novels, Fiction

Writing Spaces

2006-06-25T12:34:00.000+01:00

During the past month or so I've noticed quite a few writers having a grouch on their blogs about their writing spaces. Either they're too small, too hot, don't offer an inspiring enough view from the window or have some other problem that's causing them grief.

I'd just like to say to all of you (no names, you know who you are) that whether you believe it or not, you're actually lucky to have a space to call your own. Having a place where you can go to write, keep your PC, notes, pens, pads and other paraphernalia, pin ideas to the wall, listen to inspiring music, keep your book collection or whatever else you do in your 'office' isn't something all writers have.

I write wherever I can. That's usually my bedroom, sitting on the bed with my laptop perched on my knees. After a while, that becomes extremely uncomfortable but I have no choice. There isn't room in the bedroom for a table, desk or anything similar, nor is there room for a comfortable chair. Richard works in the living room (he's also a writer) and as we spend too much time talking and not enough time writing when sitting together, that's out of the question. I could use the kitchen table, and indeed do on occasion, but I find it difficult to concentrate on my work when I'm surrounded by reminders of domestic chores that ought to be done (there's always an ironing pile staring at me; the dog brings mud in all over the kitchen floor; I start planning meals, etc.). There's no cubby hole under the stairs and the loft isn't of the type that can be converted. Even the landing doesn't have room for anything more than a bookshelf. The downstairs hall is about 1.5 metres x 1.5 so no hope there, either. We've considered an extra shed in the garden (after the girls of the NWG put the idea forward at the pub a few weeks ago), but can't see where we'd put that, either. Not without chopping a tree down and that's something I really don't want to do. We need all the trees we can get!

I'd love to have a little space to call my own but I don't have one and the likelihood of getting one in the near future is very slim. But what's the point in complaining? That isn't going to get me one, is it? Hard work is probably the only way I'll ever get one, and if that means balancing my laptop on my lap, so be it.

I know several writers have posted photos of their writing spaces but I'm not going to show you my bedroom. Some things I'll keep to myself. However, if you're interested, you can see Richard's writing space. It's the end of the sofa with laptop sat on coffee table. He does have a bookshelf next to him, though, so things can't be too bad :-)

I don't mean to sound preachy but instead of complaining about what you don't have, how about concentrating on what you do have instead? I don't have an office or anything even remotely resemblant of one, but I have a house where I can feel warm and secure, a family who respect my need to write, and enough imagination to be able to do so. That's not bad, really.

I've heard of writers who have had to go out every day in order to write because their families simply haven't respected their need to write. At least I don't have to do that!

I've heard of writers who couldn't afford to pay the electricity bill and have had to sit in a cold room, huddled up in blankets in order to write. At least I don't have to do that!

I've heard of writers who have been homeless. At least I have somewhere to live!

Writers write. A pen and paper is all that's really needed. Everything else is a bonus.

TODAY'S LINK
Today I'm going to point you in the direction of The Nantwich Writers' Group Message Boards.

We've had a steady flow of new sign-ups but few people are posting and those who have hadn't had much response. It's a shame because I honestly believe the forums could be a useful resource and for me personally, it's sad to see my hard work just laying there barely used.

So get your backsides over there now and start posting. Please?

PS: I just rounded 2,000 visits to my blog. That called for a celebration so I had a rum & raison flavoured choc ice! Yum!
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Technorati Tags: Writing, Gratitude

Liz is my real life heroine!

2006-06-21T12:46:00.000+01:00

If you haven't already been over to Liz Fielding's blog and read the extract from her latest accepted manuscript, do it now. Once you've read it you'll understand exactly why she's my absolute favourite Tender author and the person whose work inspired me to try my hand at writing them myself.

Mind you, whenever I read anything that Liz writes I always look at my own manuscript and sigh. Heavily! It just doesn't come anywhere even close. There are other Tender authors who I think I'm probably on par with (I hope so, anyway) but Liz is out there in a league of her own.

Thanks for the inspiration, Liz :-)

YESTERDAY'S POST
Y'know, yesterday I was in a really cranky mood. I get like that sometimes but I'm wondering whether it would be best to stay away from blogland when I'm like that. I'd hate to think anybody took me seriously. I honestly don't believe Mills & Boon novels are aimed at women who dash down the corner shop to get their fags whilst wearing pink furry slippers and hoping the house won't burn down while they're gone because little Billy's asleep on the settee.

I mean, I read Mills and Boon and I'm not like that (but you only have my word for that, don't you?). I'm actually a highly intelligent woman with an IQ of 143 so if I can read... no, I'm kidding. I'm a pretty normal kind of person and I think that pretty much sums up who generally reads Mills & Boon. Pretty normal kind of women. Women who like a little escapism now and then, who perhaps have to do a lot of thinking in their work and appreciate not having to work too hard on understanding the novel they're reading but at the same time are given a damned good story that they can relax with.

That, people, is my honest opinion.

And as far as the flesch scores go, I don't think anybody was serious about 5 being optimum. I really can't remember where it all started but I'm sure it was all done pretty much tongue in cheek, as a way of firing back at those who believe... well, what I've already written above.

I'm sure it was just a group of writers (and aspiring writers) having a bit of fun, and as M&B authors, pretty much poking fun at themselves. And that's not such a bad thing. We all need to lighten up now and then and stop worrying about how others see us. I know I can get wound up by people who try to belittle me because I write romance (and category romance, especially) but I've learned that if I laugh with them, and then gently explain that "actually, it isn't quite like that" I get a lot further than I ever did by shooting off at them!

LINK OF THE DAY
This is the Amazon link to Liz Fielding's books. If you buy anything through the link, the affiliate percentage will go to The Nantwich Writers' Group to help us save up for trips out, to get writers in to speak to us and anything else we may want to do. We would, of course, be very grateful :)

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Technorati Tags: Romance Novels, Romantic Fiction, Mills & Boon

Flesch Scores

2006-06-20T23:51:00.000+01:00

Do you remember when everybody was going on about flesch scores and how much their manuscripts scored? I seem to remember that for a M&B romance, a score of around 5 was optimum.

Well mine's a 6. At least, the first three chapters are.

Does that mean it's too intellectual for the average M&B reader? Or will I just be pushing their boundaries, forcing them to learn new words that have more than two syllables?

Sorry, but should any of you think I'm being serious, I'd better stop here and add that my tongue is very firmly placed in my cheek. I have no intention of stressing over flesch scores because I don't believe they have any significance so really don't give a monkey's whether or not my score is optimum or not. I'm as laid back about this now as everybody else was 'back then'.

It's a bit of fun, and authors need a laugh as much as anybody else, don't they?

I'm just having a laugh when I say my manuscript might one day be seen as intellectually challenging by a certain group of women whose lives generally consist of nothing more than Jeremy Wotsit interviewing dysfunctional families and part of Phillip and Fern. Only part mind; they need time to go out and buy their fags while the kids are at school.

Yes, I'm being disparaging. That's just a bit of fun, too. Sometimes I write something that appears to be serious but that those who know me would immediately realise is just a load of old pony. It's the way I am and I can't change that. Not sure I'd even want to.

I think I'm probably chilling with some nonsense because I've finally finished editing those first three chapters. What a relief that is! The word count's gone down by a couple of hundred (not surprising seeing as I cut an entire scene and part of another) but the whole thing reads better for it. I just need to know what flowers would be blooming in a garden on Tenerife in July. Anybody? No, I didn't think so. Back to the research board.

Once I've got the flowers, the manuscript's going to Richmond. Then I'll finish editing the rest (in between writing Darcie and Alex's story, because they're starting to get impatient now, bless 'em) and then put it away to be forgotten.

I've got a HenLit story waiting to go, too. The characters are nicely formed and because they're stuck in my head together, they're already starting to tear each other's eyes out. Women, y'know :-) Three of them, all dealing with the same man. How can it not go wrong?

It's funny in the ha-ha way, sort of like ChickLit only the women are older. The youngest is in her 30s but the other two are early and mid 40s. Definitely hens, right? When does it become BroilerLit, I wonder?

LINK
Being as I'm in funny mode today, I'm going to link you to some jokes about books and authors.

Q. How many mystery writers does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A. Two. One to screw it almost all the way in and the other to give it a suprising twist at the end.

Boom, boom!

PS: Just wanted to add this: I don't believe that Mills & Boon stories are only read by the 'uneducated' and, if that were the case, I certainly wouldn't be writing for them. Maybe that sounds equally as disparaging but I'm afraid I can only write for an audience that's similar to myself and nobody is going to make me believe I belong on the sofa with Jeremy Wotshisname (although I do watch his show now and then)!

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Technorati Tags: Writing, Silly Stuff, Jokes

The Title Dilemma

2006-06-19T10:26:00.000+01:00

I'm not a happy bunny today. Nope, not one little bit. Even though I've finished editing and polishing the first three chapters of Sherry and Leo's story, I'm nowhere even close to being the bright little ray of sunshine I ought to be.

Why?

Because I can't think of a bloomin' title for my book, that's why!

Being as HMB have a tendency to call their stories things like "The Spaniard's Secret Mistress" and "His Pregnant Virgin Bride" (Ok, maybe not the second one, but you get the gist, right?), I thought I could just send my manuscript off without giving it a title. Or just call is "Sherry & Leo's Story", as I've done for the past three months. When it was a 'Presents', it was called "The Canarian Millionaire's Shagbandit" but since it's now a Tender, the shagging came out and the title was scratched. Not that I would have sent it off with that title, but at least it had one.

According to Julie Cohen, who kindly came over and left a comment after I'd posed the question of titles on the UK Editors Board at eHarlequin, it's best to give them a title as that's part of the sales ploy. Your title says something about the story, much in the way that the synopsis does.

Obviously, if that's the case, I'm not going to ignore her advice because I want to use every marketing tool I have available to me.

Being as useless as a [add something you consider to be utterly useless here] when it comes to thinking up titles isn't helping me much. Even when I write articles I usually end up agonising over the title for hours upon hours upon... and still end up with something really naff. Not that naff will matter when it comes to HMB. In fact a naff title is probably what's needed. It's finding something that's naff and still fits the story that's the problem.

Here's what I've come up with so far:

The Canarian's Forbidden Love - A typical HMB type title that fits the story because Leo's ex was emotionally blackmailing him, using his daughter as the weapon. Because he didn't want to risk hurting his daughter, he couldn't commit to Sherry.

Love Unleashed - Not typical HMB but it definitely fits the story. When Leo decides that enough is enough and calls Allegra's bluff (that's the ex wife), he and Sherry are finally able to be together and their love is well and truly unleashed.

The question is, which one should I go for? Or should I forget them both and find something entirely different?

I'm going to give myself until tonight to decide. If I haven't made a definite decision by then I'm just going to do the 'eeny-meeny-miney-mo' thing because the manuscript has to go.

TODAY'S LINK
Being as I gave both my possible titles a run through The Book Title Scorer, I thought I'd share the link with the rest of you.

It's just a bit of fun, really, but here are the results for my titles (sounds a bit like Eurovision, doesn't it?):

The Canarian's Forbidden Love - 10.2%
Love Unleashed - 63.7%

Basically, they're saying that if I go with 'Love Unleashed', my story will have a 63.7% chance of becoming a best seller, whereas 'The Canarian's Forbidden Love' doesn't stand much of a chance at all.

Of course, it's all a load of old baloney, because according to this thing, 'Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire' only stood a 14.6% chance of becoming a best seller and we all know what happened to that one!

Still, taking time out to have a bit of fun during the day never hurt anybody.

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Technorati Tags: Book Titles, Writing, Mills & Boon, Harlequin, HMB

Modern Extra

2006-06-18T13:03:00.000+01:00

Does anybody know where one can find the guidelines for the ModX line? I can't see them on either M&B or eHarlequin but surely they must be somewhere? Or do you have to already be writing for HMB to write for ModX? No, that doesn't make sense because, as far as I know, Julie Cohen wasn't.

Anybody? Pretty please? With a cherry on the top?

Still busy editing. I'm gonna try getting the first three chapters polished up today so that I can send them off asap, but that depends on what else happens today.

It's my daughter's 20th birthday so she'll be phoning (it's free for her to call me from Norway so she does most of the calling) and that generally means at least an hour's conversation. Richard's planning a bbq and I'm hoping to get to the spooky church tonight (that's our local Spiritualist Church, for those of you who don't know). Will there be enough time left for editing? Watch this space...

LINK OF THE DAY
Do you ever feel uncertain when it comes to punctuating your dialogue? I mean, Should you use a capital to start your speech tag when the dialogue ended with something other than a comma? As in:

"Could you pass me that towel?" she asked.

and

"Watch out!" shouted Jane.

I haven't used capitals, but is that right? Yes? No? Are you sure?

And what about that end comma; should it be inside the quotation marks or not?

"I like that," he said.
"I like that", he said.

Which is correct?

And how do you deal with multi-paragraph quotes? Should you use a new quotation mark at the start of each paragraph or not?

And how about when you're quoting something somebody else said within your dialogue?

If it's all too much for you and you're no longer sure you've been getting it right, take a look at Punctuating Dialogue. It's written by Marg Gilk (whoever she may be) and, unless you're 100% certain of what you're doing, is definitely worth a look.

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Technorati Tags: Mills & Boon, Punctuation, Writing Tips, Writing Dialogue

Editing

2006-06-17T13:12:00.000+01:00

I've started editing! Or is it called reviewing at this stage? I'm blowed if I know. Does it really matter? I'm re-writing bits that I'm not happy with, taking out bits that don't need to be there, adding bits that are missing and all that jazz.

I know I said I wouldn't start until next week but today felt right. I woke up with lots of thoughts about Leo & Sherry tumbling around inside my head and knew I had to get on with editing their story or they'd plague me throughout the weekend. And nobody wants their weekend ruined by a pair of fictional characters, do they?

I've worked my way through the first two chapters, the second of which needed considerable work before I was happy with it. Because the characters had developed throughout the story, some of what was written back in Chapter Two just didn't fit their personalities anymore.

I also had to give the cat the chop. He only appears that once so there's no point in having him. Why sit him on the landing, forcing the reader try to remember him for no reason? If a character doesn't moves the story forward, even if that character happens to be an animal, then it has no business being in the story in the first place. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

I'm really hoping to have this sent off by the end of next week. Once it's in the post, I'll bring out a cake and we'll have a bit of a knees up. You up for that, Minx? Debi? Sue? Anyone else?

I've been writing some erotic short stories today. They've been ordered by a client to use on a website and believe me, it's far more fun than writing about 'enclosures'. Or even mortgage options or online payment systems. But they all help pay the bills so I'm not complaining.

The short stories have got me wondering whether I ought to have a go at a Blaze, though. I've never read one, but I'm guessing they're just relationship stories where the sex scenes are more regular than otherwise and glowing red hot with lust and desire? I'm not sure yet, though. I already have a 'Next' that I want to write, and a main-stream 'henlit' story with a lot of laughs involved. That's my trouble, y'see. Too many stories, too little time.

Anyway, don't go thinking I'm procrastinating again just because Darcie & Alex's word meter doesn't change much, I'm busy with other stuff. And without the other stuff, Sherry & Leo will never be seen by an M&B editor.

A WEIRD COINCIDENCE
I could hardly believe this but earlier today I took a jaunt around some of the blogs that I link to and had a look at some of the blogs that they link to (still with me?). One of the blogs I landed on belongs to Nicola Marsh, an Australian HMB author. Nothing odd about that, but guess what? Nicola's using a picture of a bloke as inspiration for her next hero and who do you think he is? The self same bloke as I'm using as Alex! Yepp, it's true. Mr James Penfold. Not only is it the same man, but the same photo! Take a look at her post and see.

How weird is that?

The only difference is that she's writing a ModX whereas I'm writing a Tender. And she's called her bloke Bo.

I hope she doesn't tell me off for snatching him, because I didn't. Honestly.

TODAY'S LINK
From now on, I'm going to start putting a link in each post. They'll always be writing related in some way or another, but not necessarily related to romance writing. It all depends what I find (I'm always searching out links for the NWG links directory) and what I think you'll want to know about.

Today's link is related to the short stories I've been writing: 'The Top XXX Clichés of Sex Stories'.

If you're thinking of trying your hand at erotica (not trying your hand as in... well... you know), then please remember that babysitters aren't the only people to have sex, all black men aren't necessarily well hung and the missionary position doesn't usually lead to a woman having twenty seven orgasms.

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Technorati Tags: Editing, Erotica, Writing Tips, Novels

HMB Book Covers & Some Editing

2006-06-16T23:58:00.000+01:00

Why is that the American versions of HMB romances always have better covers than the UK versions? Does Harlequin have some kind of rule that says our covers have to be crappy compared to those in the US? Because it sure as hell seems that way!

Just look at this one:

That's the UK cover of Liz Fielding's book "The Marriage Miracle". In this book, the heroine is confined to a wheelchair. Does it then stand to reason that she'd be standing nice and straight at the altar?

Now take a look at this one:

That’s the same book but in the US cover. Better? Yes, I'd definitely say so. Some have said it looks as if the hero's wading through water but I don't think so. To me it looks as if he's wading through a meadow of bluebells or some similar kind of flower. Or it could just be the way the late evening light's playing on the grass. Whatever the answer is, it's still much better than the UK version.

This is just one example but the same goes for so many HMB romances.

I really think a lot's lost because of the covers. Very rarely am I attracted to one; mostly I buy a HMB because of the author's name, which must make it difficult for newcomers if others do the same thing. And why should it be so difficult for the powers that be at HMB to find pictures that actually match the characters in the story? If I had a pound for every time I've read one about a blonde heroine who's depicted as a red head or brunette, or a dark hero who's depicted as a blonde, etc., then I'd have enough money now to take my family out for a very nice slap up meal.

Oh well... I don't suppose for one moment my rant's going to make a blind bit of difference, but it feels better to have got it off my chest.

EDITING
Moving on, I came across an interesting blog post earlier today. It's about 'Weedy/Hedging Words and Negatives' and makes for some thought provoking reading. It certainly got me thinking about my own editing, anyway. Mind you, there are never any hard and fast rules. Take, for example, the part about negatives. The author, Jennifer, says that of the two following sentences:

The cave was dark.
The cave was not light.

The first reads better. Well, that's true, BUT there are times when you'd want to use the second alternative. Well, I would anyway. I might write:

He poked around inside the cave which, although not dark, certainly wasn't light. Similar, he imagined, to what he'd see if he looked through a pair of ladies grey tights. Not that he'd ever done that. And if he had, he doubted it would have been in a cave.

I think it depends on what kind of pace you're looking for, who your target audience is and the genre. And being able to feel whether something sounds right or not. Perhaps that's where the skill of writing comes into things. Why some will make it as authors and others won't. Don't get me wrong, though. I'm not saying that was a brilliant example. It was straight off the top of my head and I'll probably look at it tomorrow and wish I could curl up and hide away from blogland for a bit, but it's there now and it's only supposed to be a quick example.

Another excellent article about editing can be found on Melly's blog. The post's called Hash, Slash and Tighten - Taking A Machete to my Writing. What a great title!

One thing Melly mentions is repetitiveness of words. That's really one of my pet hates when reading and a problem far too many authors appear to have. In fact, there's one HMB author (no names mentioned and don't even think about asking) that almost drove me to distraction by repeatedly using the same phrase throughout a story when so many other alternatives were available. That kind of thing really makes me wonder where the hell the editors are and whether they're actually doing their jobs! I mean, shouldn't they also pick up on that kind of thing? Not that I'm excusing authors and laying the responsibility at the doorsteps of editors, but surely it's a joint thing? Or am I completely off track?

Anyway, if anybody's worried about word repetitiveness, there's a handy tool called a Word Frequency Indexer that will tell you exactly how many times each word appears in your manuscript. It's dead simple to use and the results, when I put Leo & Sherry's story through it, were surprising. Not because I'd been repetitive, but because the word LOVE only appeared six times in 52,000 or so words! And that in a romance!

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Technorati Tags: Mills and Boon, Romantic Novels, Editing, Writing Tips

Procrastination

2006-06-15T04:13:00.000+01:00

Procrastination - one of a writer's worst enemies. We want to write and yet it's not unusual for us to find ourselves making any excuse to not have to write. (Sue... packing, moving and unpacking aren't good enough excuses!)

If procrastination is a problem you find yourself dealing with now and then science-fiction writer, Jerry Oltion, has written an excellent article outlining all of fifty ways in which a writer can give him/herself a mental kick up the derriere. And judging by the number of visitors to this blog who have said something along the lines of "I haven't written anything for weeks/months", there are probably quite a few of us who could use some help on this score. I know I'm not alone!

One of his tips is "unplug the TV". There's more to it than just that, but it's an argument I've often used when people have said: "I'd love to write a book but I just don't have the time."

Err, excuse me, but if somebody manages to find the time to watch Eastenders, Big Brother, [fill in blank with mindless twaddle that passes as television entertainment] then surely they can find the time to write? It's just a matter of priorities.

I'm not so sure about the "read a book a day for inspiration" tip, though. I mean, A BOOK A DAY? One whole book every day? He's gotta be having a laugh, right? It takes me at least a fortnight to get through a book and that's if it really grabs me. I can't even manage a newspaper a day! Well, unless that newspaper happens to be of 'The Sun' variety because if anything's easy reading, that is, right? That and The Beano.

Anyway, it's worth a look because there are some good tips there, some of which I shall pin to my at-the-moment-non-existent-pin-board.

POPPY
You'll be glad to hear that Poppy's operation went smoothly. She's now sitting on the sofa, doped up to her eyeballs, and probably wondering what the heck's going on.

After bringing her home, I had to take LM out to Tesco. When we got back, she wanted to do her usual "greeting Mum at the door" thing. Only every time she wagged, she lost her balance and fell over. As wicked as it sounds, I couldn't help but laugh. She's such a little darling!

Anyway, the tumour they removed was horribly large (they had it in a jar, ready to send to the lab) and evidently her breasts contained milk so she'd recently had a phantom pregnancy. They would explain some of the strange behaviour we witnessed a while back.

Now we just have to cross our fingers that the tumour is either benign or at least hasn't spread to any other organ.

PS: It seems I put the wrong URL in the link to the article (Seems? There's no seems about it. I DID put the wrong URL in the link!) The fault has now been rectified.

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Technorati Tags: writing ideas, procrastination

The Luxury of Being Unpublished

2006-06-15T00:52:00.000+01:00

I'm totally enjoying writing this new story; it's flowing so much better than the previous one did. That's probably because it's started life as a Tender and hasn't been chopped about in the way Sherry and Leo's story was. I can just go straight in and write what needs to be written. I'm also finding Darcie a lot more fun than Sherry was. Her personality really sparkles and she's full of wit. No wonder Alex is blown away by her!

Today I've been working on what must be the most boring article in the history of civilisation. It was about electronic enclosures, a subject I knew absolutely nothing about. The research was heavy going because I really didn't understand much of what was written about it, either, but I got there in the end. I just hope the client accepts it.

I've written 2,600 words today on the new story so am pleased with that as I'm now, after two days of writing, almost 10% through. Once I pass that 10% mark I'll feel better as it's the starting out that I don't much like. No, that's wrong. I do like starting a new story, but once I've got those initial first words down I'm then eager to see it actually going somewhere.

I might start some serious revising of Sherry & Leo's story tomorrow but that depends on whether the time feels right. I know from my ordinary writing work that the best revisions are made when I've taken a good step back from my work and let it rest for a while, although with editors nagging for submission, that isn't always possible. Karen Dindia has a few useful revision tips on her blog, if you're interested.

One of the good things about being an unpublished novelist (is there such a thing?) with no contract or deadlines to worry about is that I can work at my own pace. I'm sure that must seem like a luxury to those who have deadlines looming and are dependent on the income so, for that reason, I'm going to enjoy being unpublished, at least for the time being.

How do the rest of you 'unpublished novelists' feel? Do you consider yourself in a position of luxury compared to those with deadlines? Or are you just eager to join the ranks of published authors and all that goes with it?

PS: We took Poppy to the vet yesterday afternoon. She has a tumour in one of her breasts and will be having an operation to remove it today. As you can no doubt imagine, I'm worried that it won't be good news but the vet did say that as it doesn't appear to have spread to the other breasts, there's a good chance they'll have caught it in time.

Here's a picture of her, taken last year. She's all dressed up and ready for Christmas. And--should you be wondering--no, we don't generally treat her like a human baby and dress her up. I think such things are terribly sad, especially when the owners say "but the dogs like it". They don't. They're dogs.

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Technorati Tags: Romance, Writing, Publishing

Word Count, Again

2006-06-13T23:47:00.000+01:00

We're back to that old chestnut again - the word count discussion.

MsCreativity brought something to my attention that I hadn't heard about. Evidently HMB are now counting pages rather than words, so it'll be computer count rather than actual word count that matters. Has anybody else heard anything about this?

I really don't like the idea of having to do page counts as that doesn't suit the way I set up my manuscripts during the writing phase. I have just one long document, y'see, and no idea how many pages that will actually be covered when it's finished. Words are much easier to count.

For the time being, I'm sticking with the 50,000 - 55,000 words for the Tender line as I'm sure if it's wrong and they want to buy one of my stories, somebody at HMB will let me know. It would be interesting to hear what, if anything, others have heard, though. (Debi. Do you understand now why I fuss about word counts so much?)

Anyway, I'm now exactly 2,500 words into my new story. That equates to 4.5% of a 55,000 word manuscript. That doesn't sound much after working with 87.3% and the likes but I'm sure it'll soon grow.

I've put the 'old' ms away for a few days to let it rest before going for the revisions. Don't ask me why I've decided to do this, it's just something that feels right. I suppose we all have our own ways of working and nothing's more right or wrong than any other way. Didn't somebody once say that the only right way is the way that works for you?

I'm trying something new this time. I've seen quite a few writers use pictures of people (mostly famous but not always) as inspiration for their heroes/heroines. I've never done that before and certainly didn't during Sherry and Leo's story, but this time I've decided to give it a try.

Here's my idea of Alex. He's a 39 year old news reporter.

What do you think? Obviously he'll have to have that stubble shaven off for work but when he's relaxing... that's another story. I think he looks drop dead sexy, especially as he's wearing a suit. That's how he looked when he turned up at Darcie's house to take her to dinner, after she hadn't seen him for four years. How she kept herself from leaping all over him I'll never know! Perhaps I ought to be writing for 'Presents' rather than 'Tender', being as he's most definitely the kind of guy that women like Darcie would end up wanting to do the sort of thing you have to take your knickers off to do. My mind's eye has given him a few more 'smile lines' because of his age, but I think that just makes him all the more sexier. (Am I showing my age now?)

Anyhow, this is Darcie. She's pretty, isn't she?

She's 33, single and is perfectly happy with the way her life is, thank you very much. She hasn't dated since she lost her husband six years ago and doesn't intend to. I can see that Alex would be attracted to Darcie but although she can see he's handsome and loves him as a friend, she just doesn't want a relationship. She has her reasons, obviously, but I think Alex is going to have to show her a good time or two, don't you?

It'll be interesting to see whether having pictures of my characters will help them develop or not. I'll keep you posted.

PS: Have you ever wondered how a HMB novel is produced? If so, take a look at Fiona Lowe's website. She was lucky enough to get to see her very first book being produced from start to finish. Can you imagine how much fun that must have been?

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Technorati Tags: writing, romance

A Nice Weekend

2006-06-12T02:16:00.000+01:00

We had a lovely weekend in Llandudno. The weather was fabulous and I managed to do more walking than I've done in a long time, something that made me feel quite good about myself. Every time I manage to push myself just that little bit further, it reinforces my belief that one day I'll be able to go for a proper walk (by that I mean walking the kind of distance most people walk when they go shopping in town or for a wander along the canal towpath, etc). If I make sure I'm well rested beforehand, I'm sure it'll happen.

We stayed at The Grand Hotel and while the reception area looks very impressive, on the whole the place was pretty run down and I wouldn't recommend it. I certainly wouldn't go back in a hurry. The dinner was so-so, as was breakfast (according to Richard - I didn't bother with it) and the entertainment... well, let's just say that Stan the Man isn't going to be topping any music charts! The man couldn't hold a note if his life depended on it, and he couldn't even sing in the same key as he played in. He's one of those organists who sings old songs like "San Francisco", "Release Me" and "When I'm Smiling". It's just a shame he didn't manage to make us smile! Oh well, it takes all sorts and it gave me something to blog about ;-)

If you're ever in Llandudno, you really must take the tram up to Great Orme. The views are absolutely stunning and the trip itself is quite charming. It's an old Victorian funicular that's recently been restored thanks to some EU funding and some National Lottery money.

We got home at about 9 this evening, after taking a detour over Snowdonia. I went straight upstairs for an hour's kip (lots of walking, at least by my standards, leaves me totally cream crackered), after which I did some writing so I'm now 1,239 words closer to THE END and over the 50,000 mark! I can see a bottle of champers (or at least a bottle of Blossom Hill white zinfandel) is going to be called for soon.

PS: It's now bucketing down!

~~+~~

Technorati Tags: Wales, Llandudno

Almost There

2006-06-10T14:35:00.000+01:00

I managed to get some writing done this morning and am now well and truly into the home run. 89% of the first draft is down, assuming I write 55,000 words. If I aim for 50,000, I've actually finished 98%. Wow! For somebody who's never finished a mss in her life, that sounds pretty impressive!

To be honest, I think this first draft is going to finish up somewhere around 52,000 words. Whether the revision leaves me with more or less words remains to be seen, but I don't think it'll matter too much one way or the other.

I'm at that point now where I just want to get it revised and out of the way. I've been working on it since March and feel it's time to move on to the next story. Once this one's sent off I shall get started on the next Tender as well as a hen-lit story I have whizzing around in my head. I'm not sure how working on two WIPs at once will work out for me (I can't read two novels at once) but I'll try anything once. Well, most things, anyway. If I can't get along with two, I'll just have to see which one dominates and concentrate on that one first.

Right. I have to throw some stuff in a weekend case now, and do some tidying before we leave. Daughter Nr. 2's having a friend round for drinks, loud music and dancing, so I can't leave the place looking like a tip (even though that's what I'll probably come back to). Don't tell me I shouldn't worry about it - plenty of people have tried that before and it doesn't work. I like tidy, ok?

See ya next week, folks.

~~+~~

Technorati Tags: writing, romance

Am No Longer Fretting

2006-06-09T14:18:00.000+01:00

Feeling less fretful today. Either the book works out or it doesn't. As I've always said, life goes on regardless. I've experienced a lot of crap in my life and believe me, there are things that are far worse than a book being rejected. I don't even know why I got myself into a tiz. No, that's a lie actually. I do know. I was pre-menstrual and as most women know, there are a few days every month when everything seems like a huge problem.

Am off to Llandudno for the weekend tomorrow. But not until after the match. No, it's not me wanting to watch it - I live with a man, y'know. Fingers crossed the weather holds out because I'm really looking forward to doing some serious relaxing on the beach.

I think, once I've finished this book, I'm going to end up working on two WIPs. There are two stories both banging around in my head at the moment, demanding to be let out and I really can't see me being able to keep one of them at bay. I think I'll probably start both and then see which characters most want their story told. That's still a couple of weeks off, though. I have to finish this one first. But then that's me. Always planning what's going to happen next, even though I'm spontaneous. Doesn't really make sense, does it? Life doesn't always.

Too Much Fretting

2006-06-08T13:05:00.000+01:00

I've totally lost track of the days this week. I just phoned the vet and asked for an appointment on Friday, thinking that would be the day after tomorrow. When she said "We'll see you at 3 o'clock tomorrow afternoon then" I started arguing with her. I was adamant that today was Wednesday and that tomorrow couldn't possibly be Friday, and the receptionist was equally as adamant that she was right. It took my daughter to settle it in the end. Hmmm... slight embarrassment there. Never mind, Poppy now has an appointment for Saturday.

I'm rather worried about her as she's developed a lump in one of her breasts (teets? I'm not sure what you call them on dogs). Crossing fingers it isn't... well... I don't even want to say the word in case I tempt fate.

All's hunky dory as far as the book's concerned. Yesterday I was whizzing along like there was no tomorrow. Maybe it was relief that we're all still here after the prophecies of 060606. Or maybe not. Probably not, actually.

Anyway, I managed just over 4,600 words which is probably my personal record. And all of them were good words. By that I mean words that won't have to be cut when I go back and re-read them today. I know because I've already done that and am happy with yesterday's work. Whoopee!

Today hasn't been quite as productive. 875 words so far. But then I've only written for about an hour so I'd be a fool to expect more. I've had a gazillion other things to do today, and another gazillion still undone, so may not get anymore writing time before tomorrow. We'll see.

But you know how I was worrying that I wouldn't be able to bring it all in under 55,000 words? Well now I'm concerned that I won't be able to make 50,000. Mad really because I'm only about 5,000 words off and the final wrapping up chapter hasn't even started so there shouldn't really be a problem. And what Debi said yesterday about sometimes having to elaborate on scenes made me think, too. Even if I do have to chop, I'll probably also have to put in more detail--more of the sensory stuff--so the word count really shouldn't be a problem. If I can wrap it up at somewhere around 50,000 (I think I may be able to go as low as 48,000 on this first draft), I should be ok.

Just stop bloody fretting, Sharon!!

I'm off to visit my friend in hospital now. It's about quarter of a mile to walk from the entrance to her ward and as there are no seats on the way I'm not quite sure how I'm going to make it. Considering I can only manage 200 yards at the most and that's on an exceptionally good day, I'm kind of dreading it but I suppose if I take lots of breaks along the way, I'll get there in the end.

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The Nerve of the Man!!!

2006-06-07T09:26:00.000+01:00

Before you do anything else, I want you to take a look at this article that appeared in The Times on Sunday 4th June.

Go on, toddle off and read it. I won't write anything else until you've clicked the link and read what Gordon Brown has to say about writing off agents' fees against tax.

Ok... read it? Good.

What do you think? I first heard about this over on Kate Hardy's blog and personally I'm disgusted! How on earth does he imagine authors are to manage without the help of agents? He should try writing a book and getting published without an agent. Mind you, he's a name so he may well be accepted directly by a publishing house but, as you all know, such isn't the case for most of us mere mortals.

I just don't get how he can imagine agents are "wholly, exclusively and necessary" for dancers but not for authors. Where on earth did he get his information from?

Evidently the Society of Authors will be following this up, so fingers crossed they'll be able to lobby with enough clout to get Mr Brown to change his misinformed mind.

WORD COUNT
I've passed 40,000. Funnily enough, it's now become very scary. I've about 15,000 words left in which to wind up the story and I'm not sure I can fit everything in. I know I shouldn't worry because I'll probably have to go back and tighten a lot of previous stuff anyway, probably even delete entire scenes, but even so...

Luckily I've lots of ideas for the next book so once this one's finished I intend to send it off and forget it about it while I get on with manuscript number two. I'm certainly not going to fret over it. If they want it, that's great. If they don't, then life will go on as before. Nobody will have died, and we won't have become homeless. There are worse things in life than having a manuscript rejected.

But before I get to that stage, I still have those final 15,000 words to get through.

Onwards and upwards...

PS: Iona has the centre page spread! I'll scan copies for those who have asked.

A Possible Shed, No Ring and More Night-Wear

2006-06-06T13:19:00.000+01:00

Things are looking better here at the moment. The big row blew away a few cobwebs but the underlying problem has been sorted. Not through lack of willingness on either side, but because we just can't find a practical solution. A couple of friends suggested setting up a shed for Richard in the garden -- to which he agreed -- only we can't figure out where we could put it without taking down a tree. Hmm. Some thought is going to be needed.

I told the girls at the pub t'other evening that I'd lost my engagement ring and Penny suggested I visualise it, make the picture bigger and stronger until the ring led me to it. I tried. I didn't work! Bummer! Does that mean it isn't in the house? If that's the case, I don't have a lot of hope of ever seeing it again, do I?

Haven't written anything so far today. In fact, I haven't done anything productive at all. I've been surfing around, picking up a few ideas for articles but that's all. Oh, and stuffing a few new links into the NWG site link directory. You'll find the link to it on the left, if you're interested.

I got the jim-jams for my hospitalised friend but it turns out she can only wear nighties because of her temperature. Blah! Gotta go out again today and do more night-wear shopping. And the jimmys were so pretty, too! Alas, too big for me. Still, I'd rather be the one out hunting down night-wear than the one stuck in the hospital bed so I am absolutely not going to complain.

Must remember to buy the Sentinel today.

PS: According to some folks, the world is going to end today. It's 06.06.06... 666... the beast will take power and destroy us all. Yeah, right. See ya tomorrow.

~~+~~

Pub and Stuff

2006-06-05T16:42:00.000+01:00

I had a lovely evening at The Rising Sun last night. Penny, Iona and Carole all came along and we chatted about Penny's new house, writing, people's views of romantic fictions (especially the views of journalists) and life in general.

Iona has been contacted by a journo who is doing a feature on Erica James and was looking for an aspiring romantic novelist who had read her. Iona hadn't but had thought perhaps I had, but unable to get hold of me (I was in Blackpool, thrashing my credit card), she took the interview. Just as well really, because I haven't read Erica James either. Anyway, the piece--including a photo--will be running in tomorrow's Sentinel (I appreciate that most of you won't be able to get hold of it but there may be an online version).

What else? Not a lot.

I've managed to write 1504 words today so am suitably pleased with myself.

I'm now going to get myself off my pump and down to the local retail park to look for some pyjamas for a friend who's been taken into hospital. As she has no family up here (I know the feeling) she's sort of reliant on the help of friends. Being as she was rushed in, she found herself there with nothing but one of those horrid hospital gowns with a split up the back and paper knickers. Lovely! Another friend was going to take some of her knickers up to her (yes, I know - I wouldn't either) but as she's a size 32, they'd probably just end up in a heap around Carol's ankles. I'll have a look for some drawers (my mum still calls them drawers) when I'm out, too.

PS: Today's title reminds me of H.R. Puffandstuff. Anybody else remember him?

~~+~~

Writing Again

2006-06-03T23:50:00.000+01:00

Yay! I've actually put words on paper today.

Richard and I had one hell of a humdinger of a row which led to him saying he was leaving and me throwing him out (I'm not sure which came first but we both got out bit in) and since my daughter's staying at her boyfriend's, I'm here on my own. For some reason, the row seemed to loosen up whatever was stopping the writing from flowing and I'm thundering along. 1,300 words this evening.

BLACKPOOL
Linn Marie and I had a great time in Blackpool. I have to admit that I was dreading it because of the weather we'd been having but about half way up the M6, the clouds parted and then sun came out. The evening was beautiful so we went for a short walk on the front and central pier before retiring to the hotel bar for a Baileys on ice.

That night I woke to the sound of howling winds and lashing rain. I couldn't believe it! We were there to go shopping but surely we couldn't enjoy it in that kind of weather? I went back to sleep feeling less than happy. But low and behold, but the time morning came the sky was blue and the wind had dropped to a breeze. More than enough money was spent but we enjoyed ourselves. Mothers and daughters just have to do the shopping thing now and then, don't they?

That evening we had a beautiful dinner at an Italian restaurant in Cleveleys before heading back into Blackpool for the Hot Ice show out at The Pleasure Beach. Talk about impressed! I loved every second of it and so did LM. Well worth £20 so if you're ever in Blackpool and you like that kind of thing, do give it a try.

Once LM has taken the photographs off of her camera, I'll post some. She's quite a funky little photographer, even if I do say so myself :-)

ENGAGEMENT
I didn't tell you I lost my engagement ring, did I? It was a couple of weeks ago now. I was having dinner when I suddenly noticed that my ring had gone. I'd changed the bedding and flipped the mattress earlier so was hoping it was either under the bed or stuck between the mattress and the base, but as I can't move the bed, I couldn't find it. I felt awful - as if it was a bad omen. That our relationship wouldn't last.

And what happened? A big barny and Richard's gone walk-about. It's not as if this hasn't happened before but this time it feels more serious. Richard blames it all on me because I get annoyed at his untidiness. I guess he tries but I really can't stand an untidy living room or kitchen. Maybe I'm a bit extreme when it comes to this but things that aren't in their places stress me out. It's the control freak in me, I guess.

THOUGHTS FOR KAREN
My problems suddenly disolved into nothing when I visited Karen Lee Field's blog. Her 18 year old son has committed suicide. God knows how a mother can ever deal with something like that and I really can't stop thinking of her and the pain she must be suffering right now.

My daughter, Inger Lise, had a boyfriend who took his life when he was just 17. Went into the forest, found a tree and hanged himself. Nobody knew anything had been wrong.

Why do these things happen? Why do people have to suffer? Both those who take their lives and those who are left behind?

I'm sorry, but that news really hit me quite hard.

~~+~~

I confess...

2006-05-30T11:51:00.000+01:00

I confess that for all my good intentions, I didn't add to my story by as much as a word yesterday. Life just got in the way.

I'm off to Blackpool for a couple of days with my 17 year old tomorrow so decided I'd finish off all the little bits and pieces that would need doing before I went and get them sent off to their relevant owners. A few articles went out as did a few invoices. Unfortunately, the bits and pieces took me longer than I'd anticipated because I ended up writing an article that could have waited until next week but I was in the mood for the subject (pollution from cigarette butts) so decided to go with it while the muse was with me. I also wrote a post on my memoirs blog.

By the time I'd finished that, it was time to get myself off my pump and start preparing dinner. Just a lasagne but it still doesn't make itself, does it? Dinner made and eaten, I decided that the time was right to start painting that 1m x 1.5m room that has the audacity to call itself a hall. Only I had to watch 'Springwatch' first. I'd been looking forward to it for days so no paintbrush on earth would have made me miss it.

Then my friend phoned to say she'd run out of medication and was in agony. As I'm on the same medication, I was duty bound to nip over with some of mine. She's only about 200 meters down the road but you know what it's like - you can't just stick your head round the door, throw the pills on the table and go again, can you? I stayed for about twenty minutes before heading back out into the pouring rain and home again.

By 1am this morning I'd finished half the porch. No, not even that. I'd done 2 1/2 coats of the top half (which is cream) but it still needs another 1 1/2 coats. I just couldn't keep going any longer, though. I lack energy at the best of times so I'm not even sure how I managed to get that far when I got started so late, but I did. And I have to say it's looking a lot brighter. The bottom half will be red because I want to tie it in with the lounge which has three red walls and one cream, with dark blue and cream accessories (you really wanted to know that, didn't you?)

Today? Who knows. I'm not planning anything. Que sera sera, as Doris Day would have said. If I write, I write. If I don't, I don't. Although I have to say, Sherry's getting very impatient. She's been sat in her kitchen, waiting for her next move for way too long and there's a limit to how many cups of tea a person can have at any one sitting, isn't there?

~~+~~

It's The Time of Year

2006-05-29T14:41:00.000+01:00

It's good to hear that others have been dragging their feet (fingers?) when it comes to writing these days; it makes me feel better knowing that it isn't just me.

I think a lot of the problem is the time of the year. I don't know about everybody else, but because I sit in front of my PC to earn a living, when I've done what I have to do, I find it difficult to spend more time here when life has so much more to tempt me with. The garden desperately needs work (believe me, although it's a vast improvement on what was here when I first moved in, it still isn't a place for pleasant relaxation on a lounger and tranquil evenings spent with friends around the table. No, there's a long way to go yet I'm afraid and sitting in front of the PC doesn't get it done.

Then there's the house. I'm more inclined to want to decorate during summer. I realise I lot of people tend to make that a winter activity but I'm not everybody else; I like to do it during summer. I definitely want to paint the hall this afternoon. It's just a tiny porch so won't take long, but even so, it won't get done if I sit here writing all day. Then there's the bedroom. I'm trying to figure out ways to bring in more storage space (I have HUGE amounts of medical supplies that have to be kept in there and that DO NOT look attractive) and generally de-clutter it. Not easy when you have about 12 sq.mtrs to work with.

And, of course, the kitchen. That really is going to be a major job. If only I could believe it'd go as painlessly as Jeanne's. We do have to paint the walls, and lay new flooring, though. No two ways about it. We're also going to have to give the ceiling several coats as there was once a leak from the bathroom which brought the part of kitchen ceiling down, leaving it with a 2 x 2 meter area of unpainted plaster. The doors will also need painting as I'm not having dark wood doors in my nice fresh kitchen. No way, Jose. I'm fussy about these things. If a job's gonna be done, it's gonna be done properly.

Apart from the "round the house" jobs that need doing, this time of the years also tempts me out of the house and into the countryside. I can't stand being cooped up more than I have to be so when the weather's nice, I try to wangle things so that I can have at least half the day off so that I can get out and about and enjoy our green and pleasant land. Even a wander around a local garden centre for an hour is better than sitting in front of the PC for longer than I have to.

But today it's raining. So being as it's bank holiday and I'm not 'working', I shall try to write some words to add to my book. You never know, it may just happen.

Of course, there's always the lasagne to make for dinner and the breakfast buns I promised my daughter I'd make more of (the last batch disappeared awfully quickly!)

To infinity and beyond! .... eh?

~~+~~

Back

2006-05-24T10:17:00.000+01:00

Ok, shoot me now if you're going to. I know it's ages since I promised I'd post but this is real life and things don't always go as planned. If only I could steer my own relationships the way I can steer Leo and Sherry's!

So what have I been up to? Not a whole lot, would you believe? Well, that's not strictly true but what I mean is not a lot that you'd be interested in. Work, work and more work. You don't want to hear about that, do you? No, I didn't think so. We'll drop that one, then.

What else? Well we've been planning a new kitchen. Not entirely new because we'll be using some of the existing cupboards with new doors, but there will be a lot of changes. New floor, paint walls, many more cupboards. At the moment we don't even have enough storage space to keep serving dishes or anything other than what's considered an absolute necessity. Drives us all batty, it does. But that will change.

Richard thinks I ought to poodle off abroad for a week in July so that he can get on with it alone; I'm not so sure about that, though. The control freak in me wants to stick around and make sure everything's done properly. I mean, when we built our house (no, not this one - I would never have built anything even remotely like this one), the kitchen fitters put the sink in the wrong way round, just because I wasn't there to keep my beady eye on things. And the carpenters put the pine ceiling up the wrong way round (planks going across the room rather than along the room) so that had to come down. And as if that isn't enough, they put a wall in the wrong place so one of the bedrooms became the size of a cupboard! No, I definitely think I'd be happier here, making sure the kitchen ends up the way we've planned it.

What's that I hear you asking? What about the book? Do you really have to ask about that? It hasn't moved, ok? Not a word. I'm sorry if that disappoints but I just haven't had the time. Earning money has to be a priority, and quite honestly, sometimes I'm so damned sick of looking at this computer screen that when I've finished my paid writing, I just can't bear to open the book and work on that.

There's a limit to how many hours a day I can spend stuck in my bedroom with my laptop balanced on my lap! 12 is generally my limit but lately I've been trying to cut that back to 10 maximum because I noticed I was starting to get depressed by being stuck in here too much. There's a life away from the computer, after all.

I'm not going to be doing a lot of paid work today so I might (note that I said might, not that I definitely would) work on the book. On the other hand, if the weather stays dry, I might go outside and plant up my hanging baskets. The plants have been sitting on the patio table for a week now so it's about time I did something about them.

The strange thing is, I do feel guilty for not working on the book. It's not as if I have a deadline with it. It's not even as if anybody's actually waiting for it, but I feel I'm letting myself down. Why's that? Perhaps because my expectations of myself have always been high and I'm just not moving along as quickly as I feel I ought to. I must stop that. The book will be finished when it's finished and until then, life will go on.

PS: My tattoo is now looking very scabby.

What's Up Doc?

2006-05-17T18:57:00.000+01:00

What a day it's been!

I had an appointment at the hospital for a lineogram. A what? A test where they shoot dye down my feeding line to check whether there are any blockages. I've been having some trouble with pumps telling me I have an occlusion so my doctor thought it best to get it checked out. Great. Except that a lorry went through the central reservation on the M6 leading to massive tailbacks and the eventual closure of the motorway at the junction where we'd need to get off. With no hope of arriving in time for the appointment I phoned the hospital and asked if I would be ok if I came anyway. No, they were very busy but I'd be sent another appointment as a priority being as I'd taken the trouble to call.

One wasted journey.

Back in Crewe, I decided to go to town and get a glasses case. I usually carry one in my handbag because the top-flip type are handy for storing little things like scissors, a needle, a couple of pens, a crochet hook and other little bits that come in handy from time to time. Could I find one? Could I heck!

Second wasted journey.

Home again and I decided to hang some new curtains in the bedroom. I'd bought them a while back but because I wanted a new pole for them, hadn't hung them. In the car again, this time heading for Dunelm Mill. One bed sheet, one bath mat, one bunch of silk flowers and some ribbon later, I emerged from the store having spent £28 but without a pole.

Third wasted journey. Well, semi-wasted. At least I got the ribbon to use as tiebacks. It looks nice because the curtains are ivory lace. I've hung them on the old black metal pole anyway, just because I was determined to get them up yesterday, but I'd really like a brass one. Maybe I'll just look on the Net.

Oh, and the silk flowers are standing on the windowsill between the lace swags and even if I do say so myself, the window looks very pretty. I'm into cottage quaint rather than modern interiors, y'see.

The book? What's that? Oh... the manuscript I've been working on? Well, it's erm... coming along? No, as far as word count goes it isn't moving at all, but I'm giving it lots of thought and solving a dilemma I had. In fact, Richard and I spent the evening in the beer garden at our local water hole the other night, just so's we could brain storm ideas as to how I can solve things. I think I've got it now.

Actually, I have written words. My note book's full of new words. I even whipped it out whilst at a gig in Leicester the other night! I probably looked totally foolish, sitting there scribbling down thoughts while everybody else was singing along to some of Rory Gallagher's most known tunes (anthems to his fans). But you know what it's like when an important idea pops up!

The graphic's are back but I haven't got the rest of the NWG website sorted yet. These things take time, especially as I have 6 sites to move, most of them involving scripts and mySQL databases. Headaches! NWG should be up and running again tomorrow.

Richard's just come in with KFC for me. Naughty but nice :-)

Site Down

2006-05-17T10:35:00.000+01:00

I'll be back later with a proper post but wanted to say that The Nantwich Writers' Group site is down at the moment because I'm moving it over to a new server. Should be up and running again during the course of the day. That's also the reason why my graphics have gone walkies.

Sharon

A Quickie

2006-05-14T14:11:00.000+01:00

No, not that kind of quickie; this is a note type quickie.

Just wanted to say I haven't been deliberately ignoring anybody even though I haven't visited many blogs for the past couple of days. I've been really busy, that's all.

We're off to Leicester now and will be staying overnight but when we get back, I'll try to post something worth reading.

Why Leicester? It's not the sort of place you just visit for the scenery so there has to be a reason. We're going to see Sinner Boy play. Not sure where they're playing tonight (Richard deals with tickets and booking hotels, etc) but if you ever play near you, go see them. I didn't even like their kind of music before I saw them first time but have been hooked ever since.

Still Alive

2006-05-12T23:54:00.000+01:00

My apologies for not posting earlier but I've been inundated with work and when the bills need paying, turning work away is not a good idea.

Anyway, I did it and here's the proof:

It's pretty, isn't it? It's the tattoo you're meant to be looking at, not the leg that looks like a plucked chicken. It isn't that blurred in real life, it's just that my camera doesn't like close-ups too much and trying to hold it and twist my ankle in order to get a picture was a nightmare!

I have to admit that I did consider calling to say I wasn't coming but figured if other people were brave enough to have it done then so would I be. And quite honestly, those of you who said it hurts were either winding me up or you're a bunch of whuzzes. Uncomfortable? Yes. Sore? Yes. Painful? No, not really.

My idea of pain is far worse than the sensation caused by a tattoo needle and if I had to describe it, I'd say it was more like being scratched by a pin than anything else. Richard asked if it was maybe like being touched on a burn but no, not that bad. Scratched, that's all.

In fact, I was so relieved that it wasn't worse than I'm now considering going back to have the spider put on my shoulder! Not just yet, though.

As for writing, nothing much has happened. No, that's not strictly true because I've spent quite a bit of time working out some plot changes that I need and which haven't come easy. I think I'm there now though and can get on with the actual writing. If there's one thing that's certain, writing consists of far more than just putting words on paper.

It's for that reason that I don't really understand those who can have "word competitions" because... well... does it really matter how many words you've written on any given day? One person may have written 3,000 words while the other spent her time researching or working on the plot. Oh well, each to their own and if it helps them get on with their work then it can't be a bad thing.

My daughter and I went to town after the tattoo was finished and I was very good. We went in Ottaker's to buy her a book but I didn't buy any for myself. I have to admit that I almost did but she reminded me of the fifty that are on the "waiting to be read" shelf and steered me away from the Val McDermid I'd dipped into.

I wasn't quite as good at the library today, though. I swore I would only loan research books that were pertinent to the series of articles I'm writing, but there in the nice hessian bag that was bought from the library a few months back was an M.C. Beaton novel. Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet, to be precise. Will I get time to read it before it has to go back? I'm blowed if I know but online renewals are a wonderful thing :-)

PS: Just noticed that Ally Blake has written something about the word competition she has with Natasha Oakley. It's a response to a comment I made on her blog and is quite interesting. It certainly proves that what works for one doesn't necessarily work for another.

Pretty Pictures

2006-05-11T08:26:00.000+01:00

I know it's a while since we were in Llangollen but I've never been the fastest button in the box when it comes to getting my photos out of the camera. Anyway, better late than never and being as it's such an incredibly pretty area, I thought I'd share a few photos with you. They're not brilliant; all I have is an ordinary little snapshop camera, but at least they give you an idea of the kind of beauty that can be found in this part of the world.

And finally, this...

I already have a story in mind for this place and can't wait to start writing it! It'll also give me an excuse to go back and have another look. You can click on the photo (any of them, actually) to make it bigger and get a better look.

Ok, enough of the pretty pictures, I have work to do. That's assuming I can concentrate while worrying about the tattoo this afternoon. Please, please, please make it not hurt! I'm such a wimp!

Watch out for the next post. If I go through with it, there will be a photo of my ankle adorned with either a flower or a spider.

Flowing Nicely

2006-05-10T10:38:00.000+01:00

I'm happy to say that the book's now flowing along nicely, although I'm not entirely sure how Leo is going to tackle his daughter yet. He's convinced that she, and her witch of a mother, are behind Sherry's sudden departure, and is trying to get to the bottom of things. But, typical of his sex, he's got it wrong. Although both daughter and ex-wife wanted Sherry out of Leo's life, he only has himself to blame for her leaving.

Somehow I have to get him to admit that she's gone because he was hurting her. After all, until he admits that, he's not going to do much of a job of getting her back, is he?

But not to worry. I have some marketing copy to write today, and the first of a series of articles about making money on eBay, so focusing on those will no doubt help loosen up the knots so that by the time I can get back to working on the book, Leo will be falling over himself to admit his faults. Even the ex wife's threats aren't going to stop him!

Tattoos
I'm all a jitter today because tomorrow I'm going to get a tattoo. I've never had one before and as I'm having it put on my ankle, people keep telling me it's going to "hammer me". It's just a tiny flower so surely it can't hurt that much? Oh well, if it does I'll just have to put up with it because there's no way I'm backing out half way through and spending the rest of my life with half a tattoo on my foot!

I say it's going to be a flower, but I'm also rather keen on the idea of having a little spider crawling on my ankle. And just because I've booked the flower doesn't mean I can't change my mind, does it?

Dilemma. Too many choices, too little time.

PS: Minx wrote a poem for me. Wasn't that nice of her? Just ignore the fact that she insulted me in the comments.

Hot 25 Romance Novels

2006-05-09T11:14:00.000+01:00

I'm curious about everything that has something to do with books. Always have been. Books, knitting and gardening, but being as this blog's about writing, I'll forget the yarn and flowers.

Amazon's list of most sold romance novels is a list I regularly look at as it gives a good indication of what's popular at the moment. The only problem with looking at it is that I usually end up ordering something but today I was good and ordered nothing.

Unsurprisingly, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice -- a bargain at £1.50 -- is at 22nd place, but what really surprised me is the book at 15th place: House of Decadence by Lucia Cubelli. It's an x-rated erotic romance a la Black Lace, and for some reason I wouldn't have imagined that kind of book reaching the Top 25 list any more than I'd have expected to see a HMB cataromance there. Which I didn't.

Just another of my time-wasting operations.

I've finally started working on the book again after 10 days without a word being written. I was dead tired last night but decided that come what may, I had to write something or I'd never get started again. I'd made lots of notes while we were away last weekend so out came a couple of scenes and a few new ones so although the word count has only increased by 522, I actually wrote more than that.

It feels good to be back in the swing again, though. Sherry and Leo weren't even upset with me as I'd left them at a very emotionally trying time in their relationship so they were glad for some breathing space themselves while they decided where to go from here. All in all, the break was good for everybody but I have some serious catching up to do.

And They Say English Is Easy?

2006-05-08T10:58:00.000+01:00

We'll begin with box, the plural is boxes,
but the plural of ox is oxen not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
but the plural of moose is never meese.
You find a lone mouse, or a whole nest of mice,
but the plural of house is houses not hice.
The plural of man is always men,
but shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of a foot and you show me two feet,
but I give you a boot, should a pair be called beet?
The singular's this and the plural is these,
but should the plural of kiss ever be keese?
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
but though we say mother, we never say methren.
The masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
but imagine the feminine she, shis and shim.

I can't take credit for the above and have no idea who wrote it. If you know, drop me a line and I'll add a credit for it.

I've come to the conclusion that Kate Hardy must be one very popular author. Why? Because whenever I check my stats, the link to her blog has always had more outclicks (that's the way in which visitors leave this blog) than any other link. Maybe it's appropriate that I've just started reading her first Modern Extra, "The Cinderella Project".

PS: Don't forget that if you do decide to buy a book after clicking on any of the links on this blog, the commission will go to helping the Nantwich Writers' Group save up to invite guest speakers along to our meetings, arrange outings, etc. And as the mouse said as he stood pee-ing in the ocean, "every little counts".

Reality or Fantasy?

2006-05-07T19:03:00.000+01:00

I've just been discussing romantic fiction with somebody who thinks that romantic fiction clearly portrays reality, whereas I believe it generally portrays a fantasy.

Unfortunately, this particular person feels that her own relationship isn't up to scratch because it isn't anything like those you read about in books. Sadly, I wasn't able to change her mind about this.

I really don't see most chick lit, HMB romance, or other types of romantic fiction as being anything more than modern takes on Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and all the other fairy tales were listened to as children, and certainly don't write my stories from a realistic angle. For me, romantic fiction is a way of escaping reality.

If statistics are anything to go by (and yes, I know they can be misleading), for romantic fiction to portray reality, a fair number of heroines should find themselves at the hands of a terrifying partner who seemed perfectly nice when she first met him; should have their feelings torn apart when they discover that even early on in their relationship, their chosen beau is playing away from home; should meet a man who spends his nights surfing porn sites, calling chat lines and generally being anything but the perfect partner.

Sure, the heroine may well have had those kind of experiences in her past, and the fact that she almost always (remove "almost" when talking about HMB) meets Mr Right in the story brings hope to the rest of us, but I've a feeling that if women really believe these stories portray real life they may well be in for a surprise.

Or is it just me who's too much of a sceptic?

Don't misunderstand me; I'm not sceptical to romance -- I wouldn't be interested in writing about it if I were -- but I am sceptical towards the chances of so many finding the happy ending and wouldn't like to think that there may be women out there living in perfectly good relationships but who are troubled because they aren't living the Cinderella story. Because their "happily ever after" hasn't been quite what they expected.

How much responsibility do authors have, if any? Can we be blamed for giving women the wrong impression of life or must people accept that we're simply offering them an escape from the reality of life?

Llangollen and Hateful Numbers

2006-05-05T16:49:00.000+01:00

I hope my absence this week hasn't left anybody thinking we'd fallen foul to killer sheep or been swept off the edge of the Pontcysyllte aqueduct, but if you have been a tidgy bit worried, let me assure you that we're safe and well and had a wonderful time in beautiful Llangollen.

If any of you live within reasonable hitting distance of North Wales and have yet to visit Llangollen, I suggest you remedy that as quickly as your car will carry you.

I'd suggest the train as an alternative, but the only train from the local station is a steam train running an 8 mile length of track to Carrog, a tiny village where stepping onto the station is like stepping back into the Victorian era. What a wonderful place for a writer!

I can honestly say that, so far, of all the places I've visited in the UK the area around Llangollen has to be the prettiest yet! One day, when I'm a disgustingly wealthy author of several best sellers, we'll buy a house there.

We were sad to have to come home on Tuesday, another day at least would have been nice, especially with the weather being so good, but knowing we had the NWG meeting to look forward to in the evening helped.

Iona and Penny had both arranged to surprise us with champagne. What lovely ladies! Iona hasn't actually started blogging on her NWG blog yet but if you nip over to Scribe's Sanctuary you'll find her posting as Imogen (her pen name).

I usually have smoke coming out of my fingers during the days immediately following a writers' group meeting but this time I've written the grand total of zero words. Yepp 'Tis true. Nothing. Zilch. Absolutely jack all! Not a single word.

Disgraceful, isn't it?

I've been busy with my accounts, y'see. I'm one of those people who puts off doing the boring stuff and then regrets it when she's bogged down with it at a later date. Three solid days I've been at it. Downloading and printing out bank statements and online invoices, printing my local invoices, finding all those old till receipts, and getting it all into some kind of order and putting the numbers into the spread sheet! And I'm still not finished!

It's all gotta go to the accountant next week because my daughter's EMA rides on my being below the £35,000 income threshold and I'm blowed if I'm going to have her miss out on that. The state give me a piddling £45.70 a week for looking after my adult son 24/7 so I'm taking what I can get elsewhere! Call me a money-grabber if you like; I don't care, but I'm tired of being taken the piss out of by this government!

Right. Back to the paperwork then...

Thank You :-)

2006-04-30T14:12:00.000+01:00

Thanks to everybody who sent us their congratulations. We were both bowled over by the ecards, emails and comment messages we received. That so many people cared about us getting engaged was totally unexpected and, well... what can I say other than thanks?

We're off to Llangollen in about an hour so don't expect any updates here until Tuesday evening at the earliest. Mind you, as far as I know there's a NWG meeting on Tuesday evening so any post I make will undoubtedly be after the national average bedtime (is there such a thing?). That's assuming I'm not so inspired to write that I throw myself straight back into the book and completely forget the blog. If that's the case, don't expect anything until Wednesday.

Would you mind airing the blog out before I get back and perhaps putting a duster round? Thanks :-)

Strange Happenings In Nantwich

2006-04-27T23:22:00.000+01:00

Do you see the ring on the photo? Of course you do. You can hardly miss it, can you? Well let me tell you a story.

Today I had to go see my accountant. Not the most exciting way to spend an afternoon but these things have to be done. Because my daughter wanted a lift to college at 2pm, we decided to kill two birds by dropping her off first and then going into Nantwich early so that we could go to the market. That didn't happen, though. Instead we ended up at the Civic Hall because, unbeknown to me beforehand, they were hosting an antiques fair.

As luck would have it (or not?) I only had £20 on me so there was no chance I'd spend money I couldn't afford. I was happy enough with that; it would still be enough to allow me some little extravagance.

As Richard had to go elsewhere for a few minutes, I mooched around alone, looking at all the beautiful bits and pieces on display. So many things - so little money! When I finally bumped into Richard again I felt obliged to hint about the beautiful ring I'd seen on "that stall over there" (picture woman pointing widly so as gentleman by her side can't possibly mistake where the ring can be found).

Obviously, I was hoping he'd buy it for me but really didn't think it would happen. What I wasn't expecting was for him to slide it on the third finger of my left hand and ask me to marry him!

Weyhey! I'm engaged! And it happened in the middle of an antiques fair in Nantwich Civic Hall.

We're going away to celebrate on Sunday. Just two nights at a B&B in Llangollen but hopefully it’ll be nice and romantic being as it's just the two of us. Should I pack some frilly knickers?

Today's word count isn't worth mentioning - I've been too busy with other things. I have to re-arrange the way I've been doing my accounts and download tons of online invoices and bank statements so that nice mister accountant man can sort out my proof of income for 2005/2006, and going out today left me exhausted so I slept for about 4 hours afterwards. Let's just say the total increased by point four percent.

Not to worry. Tomorrow's another day :-)

Nerdiness

2006-04-27T02:12:00.000+01:00

I found this "How Nerdy Are You?" quiz on Kate Hardy's blog and had to give it a go.

I'm pleased to report that I'm merely a wannabe nerd.

It's late and I should be asleep. I'll log off now and do some in-bed reading (A Nanny For Keeps - Liz Fielding) instead of doing silly quizes.

Uncooperative Heroines and Short Stories

2006-04-26T18:36:00.000+01:00

Chapter seven has just ended with Sherry phoning Leo's house but not wanting to speak to him. She wants to speak to the housekeeper instead, only I don't know why.

It's so frustrating because I hadn't planned this at all and until Sherry tells me why she wants to talk to the housekeeper, I can't move the story along.

I've tried asking her nicely, I've tried threatening to force her into doing something entirely different if she doesn't let me in on the secret soon, and I've tried ignoring her. Nothing has worked. What's a woman to do?

Wait, I suppose.

In the meantime, let's talk about something else.

One of the Nantwich Writers' Group posted a message on the group blog yesterday informing the world (or those inhabitants who visit the site - probably very few as yet) of a competition that Woman & Home are arranging. There's a laptop and £2000 up for grabs so if you're a short story writer, it might be worthwhile having a look.

It's funny because although I love writing, I've never been much use at short stories. I just can't think up many stories that can be given a start, a middle, and an ending within a couple of thousand words. I love reading them and am always in awe of those who are good at it. I just wish I was better at it myself. Is there a key to writing short stories that I don't know about?

PS: I found a very interesting feature on The Telegraph's website today that authors of romantic fiction might want to take a look at.

Proper vs. Improper Writing

2006-04-26T01:51:00.000+01:00

Are published writers necessarily better writers than those who are unpublished?

I was talking about writing to a distant family member today. I told her I'm a writer and gave her a brief run-down of what kind of things I write for a living. I also told her I'm writing a book. At this point she became somewhat more animated. "Oh, you're a proper writer then," she said.

A proper writer? I'm not quite sure what she meant by that and even though I queried the comment, an explanation wasn't forthcoming. I settled down with the belief that she didn't quite understand what she meant herself. Then came the next question: "So where can I find one of your books?"

"Err... on my computer."

Ahhh... right. In that case I'm not a 'proper' writer, after all.

I asked her whether 'proper' meant 'better' but after a lot of humming and haaing, I didn't actually receive an answer.

"What I mean is if you were any good then surely you'd be published?"

Hold on. I am published. I've had articles published. Doesn't that count? Well... not really. They're not the same as a novel, are they? Anybody can write an article. Ah. That old chestnut again.

Which reminds me of somebody else. This person was complaining about being out of work and that the only jobs she could get were so badly paid that it wasn't worth her while taking them (child minding costs, clothing allowance, travel expenses etc., would leave her no better off). After an hour of listening to her complaints, she asked how my work was going. I told her about a few recent projects and also mentioned that I'm currently writing a book aimed at Mills & Boon.

"Oh, but they're not proper books."

"No? What are they then?"

"Fairy stories for chav women. Anybody can write them."

First I was aghast that she thought Mills & Boon had specifically aimed for the 'chav' market, and secondly, I pointed out that if anybody could write them, why didn't she write one and make some money that way instead of complaining about being out of work.

But no, she couldn't do that because writing doesn't interest her, although if she'd wanted to she could write one easily.

Who I am to say she's not right? Maybe she could easily write a Mills & Boon, but I just can't help being left with the feeling that she wouldn't try because, who knows, maybe she'd fail and that would be far too embarrassing. It's an unfortunate fact of life that far too many people fear failure so much that they never dare try anything unless they're 100% certain they'll succeed.

And just to clear up the chav connection, when I asked her why she thought they were written specifically for 'chav women', she explained that the only person she's ever seen reading one is "Onslow's wife, Daisy". Right. For those who don't know, that's Hyacinth's sister out of "Keeping Up Appearances". Daisy was... how shall I put this without appearing rude?... not the brightest lightbulb on the council estate.

Now I'm no snob. I'm sure there are plenty of women like Daisy who read Mills & Boon novels--and long may they enjoy them--but I read them and have never considered myself a chav. My mum's best friend reads them and she's quite la-di-da in her own funny little way (thinking Hyacinth here), and somebody who works in the doctor's surgery reads them because I saw a Sophie Weston laying on the receptionist's desk a few weeks ago. Just those three comprise quite a mixed bunch.

Oh well. Not to worry. This 'improper' writer's going back to work now. Even though it's almost 2am, I have an 'improper' article waiting to be finished ready for delivery tomorrow morning.

PS: The book's over 60% finished now :-)

[UPDATE: I found this on another blog and, as it was appropriate to the discussions this post sparked, thought it would be worth sharing.]

RNA Awards

2006-04-24T15:09:00.000+01:00

No doubt most of you will have come across a few blogs mentioning the recent Romantic Novelists' Association awards ceremony at The Savoy in London. From what I've heard, a good time was had by all and my congratulations go to Erica James and Jessica Hart who won 'The Foster Grant Romantic Novel of The Year Award' and 'The Romance Prize For Best Category Romance Of The Year' respectively.

I noticed that The Independent ran a piece about the event congratulating Erica on winning the Foster Grant award, which I'm sure pleased her no end, but what I want to know is why Jessica wasn't mentioned. Is the winner of The Romance Prize not as important or newsworthy as the Foster Grant winner? I think that's rather unfair, don’t you? Unfair and discriminatory against authors of category romance.

WORDS PER CHAPTER
Until now, I've always written my manuscripts first and then added the chapters afterwards by looking for the best hooks and placing them there. But a discussion at the last NWG meeting got me thinking that maybe I'd try doing thing the 'conventional way' (if there is such a thing) this time.

At the moment my WIP has an average of 5,300 words per chapter and I'm wondering whether that's too many. The longest has 10,300 words and the shortest 2,200.

I know there are no hard and fast rules around this--I've read books that have had chapters consisting of just one line and one that had just three chapters to about 100,000 words--but because, when I'm reading, I often find myself saying "I'll just finish this chapter first", it's important to me that chapters aren't too long or I feel as if I'll never get to the place where I can put it down and do whatever boring task happens to be waiting for me.

Having said that, it's also important that the end of the chapter has a strong enough hook that it leaves the reader hurrying through whatever chore or errand interrupted her reading, because more than anything else, she has to get back to the book!

So what do you think? Bearing in mind that I'm aiming specifically at HMB Tender, should my chapters be shorter or are they ok? I think perhaps I ought to split up the 10,000 word chapter as that's probably a bit too long to be work for those who do the "when I get to the end of the chapter" thing.

Any thoughts?

Happy Birthday, Willy Waggledagger.

2006-04-23T17:50:00.000+01:00

And happy St. George's Day, too.

If I'd had a flag and a post, I'd have hoisted it today. We just aren't patriotic enough in this country.

Had Mr. Shakespeare still been alive, he'd be 442 years old today. I don't know how old St. George would have been. In fact, I don't even know who he was. How embarrassing is that?

Can you imagine what it would be like if Willy were to wake up and come back to join the living now? The amount of changes that have taken place would probably be enough to send a man insane. He just wouldn't be able to get his head around things, would he?

Here are some of the things that I believe would give him reason to stop for a moment in order to ponder upon:

* Huge, mechanical worms that transport people around London.

* Plays being enacted at either communal theatres or--and this has to be witchcraft--in people's own homes, without the need for the players to actually be present.

* Plastic cards you put in a machine that spits money back at you. Hold on... Plastic? What's that?

* A big china bowl in which to deposit one's body waste that sits copious amounts of water, seemingly from nowhere, and as if by magic, the waste disappears. I'm sure Willy would agree it beats throwing it out of the window!

and, of course,

* Machines that write stories at the press of a few buttons.

Personally, I'm enjoying my particular version of that machine at the moment. What luxury to have a laptop that races along! I can work so much more efficiently now! These things may well confuse Willy during his day-trip back to life, but oh for the wonders of modern technology.

The word count only increased by 498 yesterday but I did some re-writing and removed a good few words as part of my quest for tighter writing, so I'm happy enough with that.

Today I've been messing around with other things (including pumping more links into the NWG links section) but the writing hasn't been entirely neglected and I'll definitely work on it after dinner (or tea, or whatever you like to call the evening meal).

Oh, and before I go, I must tell you how pleased I was to come across MsCreativity's blog. She's just starting out on her first novel to submit to HMB, too. Well, it's her third but the other two were donkey's years ago so we're sort of in the same boat. Close enough, anyway. And that makes me feel less alone here in blogland, knowing that she's out there doing the exact same thing. We're aiming at different lines but that doesn't matter, does it?

Downshifting

2006-04-21T13:11:00.000+01:00

Did you know that tomorrow marks the start of National Downshifting Week? No? Well now you do.

It's the second year this event has run and the idea behind it is to inspire individuals, companies, children and schools to live simpler, happier lives and be kinder to the environment at the same time.

The following's a list of activities suggested for individuals:

* Book a half-day off work to spend entirely with someone you love, no DIY allowed. Yepp, I can do that.

* Cook a meal from scratch, using locally sourced, seasonal ingredients, preferably organic. I don't do cooking and I'm not sure we could source everything locally anymore anyway.

* Cut up a credit card Are they kidding?

* Donate a bag of clothes, toys or useful items to a local charity shop, refuge or recycling centre. I do this once a month anyway, although we do have one organic food shop and a once a month farmer's market.

* Hand-make a simple card for the next birthday or event on your calendar. I've tried the home-made card malarkey and couldn’t get on with it. And besides, I have a draw full of birthday cards that would just go waste

* Eliminate 3 non-essential purchases this week. If they knew how my bank balance looks, they'd know I'm always eliminating at least 3 purchases every week!

* Plant something in the garden you can cultivate and eat and start a compost heap. We have a compost bin that's already too full up but don't have room for a second. No veggies but we do grow herbs.

* Consider reputable work at home parents and small local businesses, for services you need. Already do.

* Tonight, turn off the television, switch on the radio, play a few games and talk. We're not a big television family anyway so when we do sit together, it's usually to chat. And we do play games together, too.

* Volunteer an hour of your time to a local charity shop, animal shelter, hospice etc. I've done my share of charity work, thanks.

So that was it. To be honest, I would have expected more. But, having said that, there are some words of wisdom on the site that give food for thought (just felt like throwing in those clichés - it's sort of like being naughty in class, isn't it?) like:

* Kindness is infectious, give someone else the bug.
* A high street without decent, local shops, is a street that's lost it's high.
* Landfill is one stroke away from land full, and…
* The very best things in life are free.

If you're interesting in downshifting there's an e-book available from Holistic Local. Just click the link and it'll take you straight to it.

You're probably wondering what any of this has to do with writing. Well, the way I see it, reading is definitely part of downshifting in that the individual slows down in order to relax with a book. A good story gives us time out from our hectic routines whilst stimulating our imaginations.

The downside of books is that they aren't cheap. A friend of mine, who spends most of her leisure time parked in front of the TV and has perhaps read a handful of books in her life (or at least in the time I've known her), argues that SKY costs her £15.99 a month for as much entertainment as she wants. A book costs £6.99 for a paperback and takes two evenings at the most to read. So, if she were to read instead of watch TV, it would cost her more than £100 a month. Unfortunately, apart from suggesting second-hand books, there's no way to argue with that.

LAPTOP SHOPPING
The laptop continued to close itself down while I was trying to work yesterday so by 5 o'clock I was so fed up with the whole business of trying to write that I went to Stoke and bought a new one.

The idea was to take advantage of PCWorld's "6 months interest free credit" by paying part now and the rest later so that the remainder could go towards the mobility scooter and then save up for the other half, but as I'd dashed out in a bit of a huff, I hadn't taken any forms of ID with me. No gas bill, telephone bill, credit card bill or any other bloomin' bill (and believe me, I get enough of 'em). I had to have a new one though-my work depends on it-so I had to pay cash (ouch… I can still feel the pain).

It's a beautiful, shiny Compaq Presario and although I knew my old one was very much outdated, I had no idea just how slow it was until I tried this. Where mine was a plough horse, this one's more like Sleipnir, although it does only have four legs! (Who? Go learn some Norse Mythology).

I'm like the proverbial pig at the moment. I can't stop looking a the lovely "Brightview" screen (the colours…omg… the colours!) and opening programmes just to see how quick it is. My old one was so slow that I'd click the icon to open Word and then knit a few rows or read a couple of paragraphs of a book while I was waiting for it to load. This one just goes "whoom" and it's there! Oh for the wonders of modern technology.

Couple this with the new mobile telephone I got on Tuesday (a pink and white Sony Ericsson - very girly, I must say) and I'm feeling as if my birthday must've been changed to an earlier date. Not that I get presents that cost as much as this laptop for my birthday, but you know what I mean.

I even wrote 1731 new words on her (her being the laptop) last night! It's sooooo cool to see that blue marker's moved past the mid-point now that I think I might celebrate at the weekend. A friend also got engaged this week but as she's in the States, I couldn't celebrate with her so two reasons for bringing on the bubbly! Well… a bottle of sparkling white has bubbles, doesn't it?

Easy PC? I Don't Think So!

2006-04-20T11:22:00.000+01:00

Well, I managed to write 1,564 words last night but thanks to my laptop and its quirky little ways, it took about five times as long to write them as ought to have been the case.

The damned thing kept turning itself off! In the middle of a sentence the power would die and everything went black. I'd switch on again, open up my document, start writing and ten minutes later, black screen again! I was saving every 30 seconds or so to make sure I wouldn't lose what I'd written and going slowly doolaley.

I had paid work to do, too. I usually do some site reviews in the evening as they're relatively easy and only take about 15 minutes each but three reviews took about two hours! Can you believe that? I'd log onto the site, start looking around, make a couple of notes and bam! Black screen! Re-boot, log on, take a look around, make a couple.... and so it continued. Then the same old malarkey again when it came to doing the write up.

I'm surprised I have any hair left today!

Anyway, I think I'm going to have to invest in a new laptop whether I like it or not. It's an expense I could definitely do without but I have some money saved for one of those motorised disability scooter things that I was going to get for the summer, but I'll just have to take part of that and the scooter will have to wait. It'd would have been nice to have the scooter to get out and about more with, but that's life. Things don't always work out the way we'd planned them, do they?

I expect the HMB gang who are down at The Savoy are having a good time today and fingers crossed for those who are up for awards. I know they can't all win but I'm sure they're all very worthy candidates. Personally I'd like to see Kate Hardy come home with a prize because she seems such a nice person and nice people always deserve to win. I know that's not the criteria the judges use but I haven't read the book (I've bought it, just haven't read it yet) so I can't judge any other way.

It'll be fun hearing the stories when the romantics start trickling back at the weekend.

The Halfway House

2006-04-19T08:24:00.000+01:00

What a comfy place it is, this halfway house. Seeing its lights glowing warm and welcoming after the long, uphill struggle is too good for words. And now that I'm here I just want to sit back and put my feet up for a while with a vodka and lemonade (or two) before starting out on the next leg of the journey.

I won't be able to stay long because I can hear Leo calling me. He knows he's losing Sherry and without my help he has no chance of winning her love. The poor man; you can't help but feel for him, can you?

When I dusted off the original couple of thousand words I'd written of this manuscript I decided I'd finish it within 100 days. I've now worked out that for me to keep to that deadline I'll have to write an average of about 500 words per day from now until 9th June. Can I do it? I don't see why not because during the past 18 days I've averaged 690 words a day even though 7 of those 18 days were non-starters. I've said it before but I'll say it again. I will finish it! I will, I will, I will!

FILM REVIEW
Cherry. This is for you. The film, An American Haunting, was... different. I found it quite spooky in places but the bits that were meant to be really scary weren't. Although it did almost make me lose my popcorn a few times thanks to the combination of unexpected movements and booming sounds. Waaahhh! Blimey - is that all it was? Recognise it?

All in all it was a decent enough film albeit somewhat 'Exorcist-y". Sissy Spacek played her role well as did Rachel Hurd-Wood in her role as the daughter supposedly being tormented by some kind of entity (I won't say too much because it'll spoil the twist in the tale).

If you like classic horror films that are based on keeping you on the edge of your seat rather than the shock factor of blood and guts, go for it. Otherwise forget it.

Ok folks. Can't sit around here all day.

Tatty bye for now.

This and That

2006-04-17T09:21:00.000+01:00

856 words. That's hardly what I thought I'd manage yesterday but, once again, I got tied up with the website. I know I said I wouldn't but I was trying to get the group's blogs sorted out and then there were some more links to go in and before I knew it, several hours had passed.

LM (that's the youngest daughter for those who don't know) had to be driven to Nantwich because she wanted to go to the Jazz Festival with some friends. The bottle of vodka that went with her was rather worrying but she assured me she wouldn't get totally plastered and call me to come and rescue her from the evils of throwing up. On arriving back in Crewe I popped in to see a friend but only stayed long enough for her 2 year old grandson to empty the contents of her bin on the living room floor before retreating to the relative safety of home. I say relative because we have a rather nasty looking damp patch on the bedroom ceiling which could well come tumbling down on me at any moment.

Today is bank holiday so I refuse to do any paid work even though I generally work at weekends. Everybody deserves a few days off now and then and I'm sure my clients aren't working themselves silly every hour God sends. I'm up to the point where Leo and Sherry are going to do rude things on an antique Persian rug so I really need to press on and get past that part before I go to the pictures tonight.

A friend (the one with the grandson) and I are going to see 'An American Haunting'. We originally wanted to see 'Pierrepoint' but it's not showing anywhere around here. Fingers crossed we'll be able to see it next week.

Penny's added a 'hello' to the group blog. She's off to London for the RNA lunch and various meets with editors and stuff but has promised to make a proper post when she gets back.

Don't forget that the message boards (forums) are open to anybody so if you're interested in talking writing, feel free to join.

I'm off. I seem to be good at putting words to blog but it's words to book I need.

Today Will Be A Good Day!

2006-04-16T11:26:00.000+01:00

So much for me getting lots of writing done yesterday.

I spent most of the day putting links into the directory part of the group site, a job that took a lot longer than I'd anticipated. Then, by the time I'd watched Dr. Who and done a few more of my paid website reviews, I was so tired I just couldn't concentrate. Two days out in a row is enough to knock me off my feet!

But today is going to be different. The site's ready to go so all I have to do now is wait for the other members to get blogging and join the discussion forum. I'm sure it won't be long before they start turning up. In the meantime I shall write. The sun's shining and I've a feeling the words are going to flow like milk when it boils over in the pan and makes a mess of the cooker - it just seems to produce more and more and takes on a life of its own.

I'm lagging so far behind my own goal at the moment that I need to write around 2,000 words a day for the next week in order to catch up. Whether or not I can do that remains to be seen but as I have no editor hanging over me with a deadline, it doesn't matter too much. Mind you, having said that, I suppose it's just as well to learn self-discipline from the start.

The couple of days I've spent away from the story have at least given me a chance to get used to the hero's new name and now I'm starting to feel that Leo actually suits him. What I have to do now is re-write a few scenes to fit in with a new layer of the heroine that I didn't know about before yesterday. It turns out her mother abandoned her as a baby, something she'd neglected to tell me before I started on her story. Oh well... it's all part of the fun, eh?

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Moved To The Nantwich Writers' Group

2006-04-15T19:12:00.000+01:00

A few weeks ago I started re-decorating my blog but you'll have probably have noticed that since that initial burst of roses, nothing more happened.

Well now you can see why.

I was busy building a website for The Nantwich Writers' Group and as each member was to have their own blog attached to the site, I figured that instead of having two writing blogs, I'd just wait and hook this one up to the NWG site.

So here I am in my nice new shiny room, trying to get used to all this blue. It's quite strange after the roses I originally had but I'm sure I'll warm to it. It's kind of like when you get a new hair do. You start a little every time you catch your reflection for a few days, but then you settle in with it and find it hard to imagine what you looked like pre-new hair do.

Anyway, now that you're here, can I tempt you to take a look around the rest of the NWG site? We have a links directory that we'll be building out with lots of interesting links for writers, a perpetual story that each member will be adding to, a group blog that'll hold our thoughts about the group and its activities, and a discussion forum that's open to everybody. All you need to do is register and away you go. Post 'til your heart's content.

The group's based in Nantwich and led by Penny Jordan of Mills & Boon fame. We're a friendly bunch so if you happen to live in the area, do feel free to contact us for details. You'd be more than welcome to join us.

As far as my writing goes, I didn't get as much done yesterday as I'd hoped. I spent most of the day working on my paid stuff (I wrote a dozen or so website reviews and worked on an e-book about copywriting which was far from interesting but as it helps bring home the bacon, who am I to complain?). In the evening we were out kicking up our heels at a pub in Shropshire. Ok, so there wasn't a lot of heel kicking going on but the music (two guys called something or other and somebody else did an acoustic guitar set) was really good. It all left little time for the book, though.

But today's a new day and I intend to use it.

Happy Easter folks!

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[UPDATE: Daft duck that I am - I only went and deleted the entire blog so now I've lost half the posts and ALL of the lovely and useful comments you've left me over the past couple of months. I'm afraid this morose mood is going to shine through in my writing so I'm going to watch Dr. Who instead.]

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A Day Out

2006-04-14T19:21:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I wrote 88 words.

Big round of applause please, people.

Thank you, thank you. Excuse me while I blush suitably for a moment.

Right. Why did I only write 88 words? Because I went out and did something cultured instead. I visited the Tate Liverpool!

For the uncultured amongst you, it's an art gallery. One of those places where they hang paintings by famous artists on the wall and have bits of tin cans and things on platforms with signs that read "Do Not Touch".

There's a story behind the visit, so I'm going to assume you're interested and tell you all about it.

Richard got into a bit of a discussion on a forum t'other day, when a woman said that Thomas Kinkaid was the original painter of light.

"Poppycock," declared Richard. "He's no such thing. The original painter of light is JMW Turner."

"Who's he?" replied the unknown woman.

Who's he? Who's he??? (For the best effect, this last line should be spoken in the same manner as Peter Kaye's 'Garlic Bread' catchphrase).

Honestly. Some people!

Anyway, this got us searching for Turner's work on t'Internet, during which we discovered that the Tate Liverpool were housing a display of his works until this coming Sunday 16th.

So we packed some egg sandwiches and a banana each, and headed for Liverpool.

The Turner exhibition was a huge disappointment. Only a handful of his major works were displayed and NOT the one I'd most wanted to see, Fisherman At Sea, even though it's owned by the Tate and the subject of the Tate Liverpool's exhibition was "Turner and The Sea". I was certain I was going to see it so you can no doubt understand my disappointment. They did, however, have Stormy Sea with Blazing Wreck, which is quite an interesting painting. I'm not sure it can be fully appreciated when viewed on a webpage, though, as there's so much detail to discover. Notice the dark figures on the shore in the bottom right hand corner? And the lobster pots, barrels etc with yet another onlooker in the bottom left hand corner? In the sea itself there are several ships that can be seen and a rescue boat coming into shore. Fascinating.

But back to the exhibition itself. The lighting was laughable and made viewing the paintings very difficult. Because the canvases are protected by glass, reflections from badly positioned spotlights obscured vast areas of the canvas making it impossible to view the entire scene regardless of which angle you viewed it from. And that wasn't just because I was sitting in a wheelchair, either. Richard had the same problem yet elsewhere in the gallery, where Henry Moore and Marie-Louise von Motesiczky were being exhibited, neither of us had a problem. I honestly would have expected better of The Tate!

Anyway, regardless of the Turner disappointment, we had an enjoyable afternoon in each other's company, something that happens far too seldom. Mostly work gets in the way of spending quality time together, or we have offspring and/or friends with us. It made a nice change.

Today I'm hoping for at least 500 words. It would have been nice with more but I've work to do and we're out tonight. We're going to see Jim Kirkpatrick do an acoustic set at a cosy little pub in Audlem, Shropshire. Should be nice :)

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PS: For those of you who have no former knowledge of either Thomas Kinkaid or JMW Turner, please take a look at the following two links to decide for yourself who, of the two, is the true master of light. I won't really think you're a bunch of uncultured ignoramuses :)

Fishermen at Sea by JMW Turner

The Sea of Tranquillity by Thomas Kinkaid

Or maybe you have a third option? If you do, please let me know about it.

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Name Change

2006-04-12T02:24:00.000+01:00

My hero's changed his name. As far as I was concerned, he had a perfectly good name but he kept whispering in my ear, telling me it was wrong. In the end I checked and found that his name was actually Italian rather than Spanish so he'd been right all along. Silly of me not to listen - of course he'd know better than me.

I'm having trouble getting along with this new name though. Hero seems happy enough with it but I keep forgetting what it is. It just doesn't fit his skin properly. What am I supposed to do? How do you write a story when you can't even remember your hero's name?

As soon as I heard it I knew it was him so the problem isn't that it doesn't suit him, it's more that my limited number of small greys are having difficulty pushing the old name out and letting the new name in.

I've had a pretty good writing day today, although you wouldn't think so if you judged on the word count alone. What's happened is that I've written the full answers to the questions I ask along the route, like "what's extraordinary about the hero?" and "why is the hero the only one for the heroine?"

There are lots more questions and I usually find them quite a struggle but I do feel it's important to have a fully formed answer to them all before I can write THE END. Not that I'm at THE END yet, but the answers to the questions that should have been answered by now have all fallen into place. It helps me understand their motivations better. Take my heroine as an example. After being hurt by her mother and her husband, as a way of protecting herself from hurt she's been determined not to love again. But she does fall in love. Why? What is it about the hero that's so special she's able to let down her barriers and go for it? There's no point just saying "because he's good-looking" or "because he's kind". Lots of blokes are either/or and many are both. There has to be a deeper reason, something that touches her in a way no other man is likely to. It's not until I've got all those things down onto paper (on my Q&A sheet) that I really feel I'm writing a story worth reading.

Anyway, enough of that. What's the time? Half eleven! I've a book to write!

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Poorly Thoughts

2006-04-10T23:27:00.000+01:00

I haven't been feeling too brilliant the last few days so have neither blogged nor written. No writing for my paid work, and no writing on my novel.

But the break wasn't all bad because I've been knitting and when I knit, I get lots of ideas. Everything's fallen nicely into place for Dan and Sherry so hopefully I'll get to the end without a sagging middle or any other such trouble. The problem I do have is knowing when to put the bits in so that it'll fit nicely within 55,000 words. Still, if it's out by too much, I can always go back and cut/re-write/add or whatever.

I've even managed to get past the stage where another couple of characters start nagging me to write their story. That's when I usually give up on the current story because theirs always sounds like the better one to write. But not this time. I've had a chat with them, written what I suppose equates to a synopsis of their story, and promised them that I'll come back to them as soon as I've finished the work in progress. So far they seem happy enough with that. Admittedly they've been popping up giving me bits of extra info but I've decided to be strict. I don't need to know any more about them or their story at this stage.

I've added a bit to the ongoing story today so I'm now just past 40% (22,122 words) but my 'proper' work got in the way. Oh for the luxury of a year's sabbatical.

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One Third & Counting

2006-04-08T13:29:00.000+01:00

Yay, I'm more than a third of the way through! I guess that means I'm heading for the traditionally saggy part, though. Hmmm... not so good.

Actually, I can feel it happening. I'm going to have to chop some of yesterday's dialogue because a lot of it was really just two people sitting around talking about stuff that the reader probably wouldn't give two hoots about. No, that's not true - she would want to know, but it should have been a lot tighter.

But that's fair enough; that's how I work. I write a load one day and then spend part of the next day editing it. Better that than having to stop the whole time to think "can I write this" and "can I write that". No, just chuck it all down while I have the story flowing and decide later whether or not I should or shouldn't have written it that way or this way.

The big problem now is: what next? I know what the next major event has to be but I have to work out how to get my couple from the point they're at now, to the point they need to be then without just throwing them into bed.

Time to bring out the thinking cap.

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Time Management

2006-04-05T12:39:00.000+01:00

Today I downloaded a little alarm clock programme and timed my writing. I've wanted one for ages, not only for the book but for my paid writing - the stuff that pays the bills and buys my teenage daughter hair dye and shoes and things.

The idea with the alarm clock as far as the book goes was to set myself a time that I'd dedicate to that writing and not let anything else disturb me. I turned off email and shut my browser. Any research I'd need to do could be left until after my hour of writing - I'd just leave a gap where that stuff could be added later.

From 11:30 until 12:30 I wrote. In that time I managed to get down 1,202 words so as far as I'm concerned, it was a success. And those thousand or so words moved the story on considerably too, so I'm pretty chuffed. Far better to write for a solid hour than to write in snips and snaps as I usually do. From now on, I shall be far more organised time wise.

If you're interested, the programme I'm using is called "Kirby Alarm and Task Scheduler" and costs the grand sum of nothing. It's freeware and, should you want to check it out, it's available from this website. It's got lots of little cool features like sending an email at a specified time, or opening a programme. It can even let you know if a file has changed size. I like it, anyway.

Nantwich Writers' Group
Last night we had our writers' group meeting at Penny Jordan's house. It was the first meeting I'd managed to get to so far this year so I'd been looking forward to it. So many faces I hadn't seen since either New Year's Eve at Penny's or longer. It was good to catch up.

Penny was her usual inspirational self, full of fun and giggles. And it was probably mostly down to her comment that I'm not focused enough that I decided to do the time management thing. I did make sure I told her that I've become far more focused on actually finishing a story this time, though. It will happen! It will, honestly.

Luckily I'm one of two members who isn't worried about rejection. My philosophy is that if it doesn't sell, what's changed? My life will remain exactly as it was. Nobody will have died because of it and no other tragedy will have occurred. And there's always another story. One day they'll buy one... I hope :-)

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My Canarian Hero

2006-04-04T18:31:00.000+01:00

Having ignored him for several days due to life's interference with the things I most enjoy, I once again turned my attention to my drop-dead gorgeous Canarian hero.

The more I get to know this guy, the more I like him. In fact, if the heroine of the story had been me instead of Sherry, I'm sure I would have fallen in love with him myself.

He may be filthy rich and terribly successful but that doesn't mean he has it easy. His ex is the bitch from hell, his daughter's fast following in her footsteps and neither of them are the least bit happy with the situation and will do whatever's necessary to ruin the story long before my planned ending.

Because the third character--my hero's ex--is so different to the two main characters, I'm having a lot of fun with her. Obviously, she doesn't feature anywhere near as much as my hero and his lovely heroine but her very existence is central to how the story evolves, so she's there, spitting and clawing her way into my thoughts, the whole time. And she doesn't like me one bit!

There's absolutely not doubt that I much prefer writing character driven stories as opposed to plot driven stories. Obviously, that doesn't mean my story has no plot--it wouldn't be a story if that were the case--but the plot is secondary to the characters; it's they who will ultimately (hopefully) keep the reader turning the pages.

And speaking of which, I now have 84. That's 16,806 words, of which 1,468 were written today. According to the flesch scale, as the story now stands it's suitable for 5th graders, which would be UK year 6--or 10 year olds. Sounds like I'm writing a "Ladybird" book, but that's actually just about right for a story with plenty of dialogue. There's more about this on Kate Hardy's blog.

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My Bookshelf

2006-04-04T16:32:00.000+01:00

I promised Richard I'd try to curb my habit of buying books until I'd read at least half of those that are already on the "to be read" shelf. I trip into town yesterday made a complete mockery of any attempt to keep that promise. It's just too difficult when there are books leaping out at you from every crevice! Bookshops; charity shops; the market, they all had books crying out for me to buy them. I came home with seven new additions to the shelf - five brand new and two charity shop finds.

My "TBR" shelf now consists of, in no particular order:

1. Last Rights - Barbara Nadel
2. Under The Tuscan Sun - Frances Mayes
3. The Antonakos Marriage - Kate Walker (signed copy - won in competition!)
4. The Path of The Dead - Caroline Benton
5. The Spider's House - Sarah Diamond
6. Kiss & Tell - Cherry Adair
7. The Broken Gate - Anita Burgh
8. The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova
9. The Five Year Baby Secret - Liz Fielding
10. The Lady In The Van - Alan Bennett
11. Acid Row - Minette Walters
12. A Piece of Cake - Derek Robinson (re-read)
13. A Friend of The Family - Lisa Jewell
14. Archangel - Robert Harris
15. The Silence of The Lambs - Thomas Harris
16. Whip Hand - Dick Frances
17. The Wedlocked Wife - Maggie Cox
18. The Magic Cottage - James Herbert
19. The Last Family of England - Matt Haig
20. Marriage Reunited - Jessica Hart
21. By The Light of The Moon - Dean Koontz
22. Perfectly Pure & Good - Frances Fyfield
23. O'Reilly's Bride - Trish Wylie
24. Strictly Business - Liz Fielding/Penny Jordan/Hannah Bernard
25. An Expensive Place To Die - Len Deighton
26. Love You Madly - Alex George
27. Butterfly - Virginia Andrews
28. Light as a Feather - Helen Dunne
29. Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen
30. Simply Divine - Wendy Holden
31. The Family - Anita Burgh
32. As Bad As Can Be - Kristin Hardy
33. My Canape Hell - Imogen Edwards-Jones
34. Victoria Line, Central Line - Maeve Binchy
35. Survival of The Fittest - Jonathan Kellerman
36. Moon - James Herbert
37. Still Thinking of You - Adele Parks
38. Make Us Traitors - Gilda O'Neil
39. No Gentleman - Andrea Young
40. Bad Boy - Olivia Goldsmith
41. Singing Bird - Roisin McAuley
42. Blind Date - Philippa Todd
43. I Remember You - Martin Edwards
44. September - Rosamunde Pilcher
45. The Smoke Jumper - Nicholas Evans
45. At The Villa of Reduced Circumstances - Alexander McCall Smith
46. Portugese Irregular Verbs - Alexander McCall Smith
47. The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs - Alexander McCall Smith
48. Misery - Stephen King (re-read)
49. Above Suspicion - Lynda Le Plante
50. Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier

No wonder he says "don't buy more books" every time I head into town!

At the moment I'm reading "A Wife on Paper" by Liz Fielding, which I have to admit I bought in a charity shop. Sorry, Liz! Which one will be the next to read is anybody's guest; I just dip in and bring out whatever takes my fancy at the time. Some have been on the shelf for a very long time without being read, but one day their turn will come.

As you can see, my taste in books spans everything from category romance to comedy and chick-lit, historical fiction, horror and crime thrillers. I don't get bored.

My favourite genre? I really couldn't say. There's something to be said for them all, but I do like a happy ending. Yes, even horror stories have them.

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White Space or What

2006-04-01T14:33:00.000+01:00

I was on Julie Cohen's blog a few days ago when she mentioned her word count and how the white space count differed to the 'Word' word count. What I'm confused about, though, is which of them should we be counting?

From what I've understood, white space is counted as 25 lines per page giving an approximate count of 250 words per page. This means that my WIP has 19,000 words rather than the 15,338 of actual words that are counted in Word (why couldn't Microsoft have given it a better, less confusing name?).

At the current rate, if I write 55,000 'Word' words, the white space count will be around 68,000 which is far too many for M&B. But if I stick to the white space count and bring it in at around 55,000 words, I'll only have about 44,000 actual words. So what does one do?

One of the commenters on Julie's blog said that white space takes into account the gaps at the end of dialogue, chapters etc., which take up real book space. Makes sense, and which sounds to me as though I should be counting white space instead of actual words, but I'm not sure and my brain's confuddled.

Anybody?

[Update: I've since come over this article on Estimating Word Count and thought I'd share it with you]

Character Changes & Happy Endings

2006-03-31T23:35:00.000+01:00

I've been editing the 26% of my manuscript that was already written in order to develop the characters more. As I got to know them better I had to go back and add more detail to the original sketch thus bringing them properly to life.

I know a lot of writers get to know their characters inside and out before they write the first word but I can't work that way. I've tried but it won't happen. I'm just too damn eager to get on with the writing.

I like to get the start of the story down so that I know how the characters react to each other and then go back and develop them more. Around a quarter of the story's usually written by the time I do that so this one ran true to form and I'm liking my heroine far more now than I was to start with. It's one thing having issues, but understanding those issues is something else entirely.

So, that's out of the way and the word count's increased by about 1500 even though I've chopped several scenes that weren't needed and a fair amount of saggy dialogue's been tightened. The next hurdle is going to be getting past the 50% mark.

You see, once I get to around half way, that's the point where I usually give up. Not because I can't write anymore, but because there's always another story nagging to be written. It's an ongoing thing; one story follows another, the next always being the better one. But it never is. It's just a different one.

The closest I've ever got to a completed manuscript is about 80%. And what happened? An ex who thought he should "teach me a lesson" deleted it without a backup copy! Maybe it would never have reached the stage where I could have sent it out to agents but at least I almost got there.

This time I intend to take it all the way. No more messing about. Whether I'm ever published or whether writing remains purely a hobby, I intend to finish my stories. I've got to a point in my life where I want the happy endings!

Wish me luck, eh?

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