C.L. Peache's Blog, page 41

New Year. New Job. New Website… but still addicted to coffee…

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New Year Resolutions time again…

Well, I’ve re-designed my WordPress blog to include a bit more information about what I’m doing and make it more website, than blog… now i actually have some content! Which is also why this blog is coming to you later than planned. ((As if anyone wants to know any more about you! I see nothing changes in a new year… all me me me as usual)) Calm down Brackets, and Happy New Year to you and everyone else. I hope you’ve all had a good break and are ready to tackle a new year.

New Website… I will confess that the help button was employed a few times during this process – the folk at WordPress are so helpful, and patient! I highly recommend using WordPress for your website/blog. I got stuck a few times due to not engaging my tech brain. But we got there in the end. I hope you like it…

New Year Resolutions. I know it seems the common theme to be anti-resolutions – people thinking that you’re applying pressure on yourself. Personally, I think that’s nonsense. If you want to make resolutions, then crack on; as long as you don’t make yourself miserable if you don’t achieve them. Making yourself miserable is one of the many pointless activities in life, along with ironing and dusting. ((I see you’ve already started preaching – lord, what a year this is going to be… I’ve only got one New Year’s Resolution and that’s to find another blog! And as I hear it, you’re allergic to dusters and wouldn’t know how to switch on an iron!))

I had a look back at last year’s resolutions so I could see what I have and haven’t achieved – this list is not exhaustive as my notebooks will confess; I have many lists and many ideas and I’m sure you’re already bored and don’t want to read the full list! ((Yeah save us. It’s a bit pointless adding them all when it’s only your mother that actually cares about what you do))

Here it is, cut and pasted from last year’s blog and updated in bold

Starting the year off with a few creative writing/story courses/events in Derby. I plan to attend a few more later in the year. Achieved – very usefulFinish the chapters for the book collaboration with my writing group, which should be published in July, ready for the Newark Book Festival. 12-14th July . Book was published by the skin of our teeth’s! Find it under My books…Try and increase my engagement with readers of my blog. I have increased this a little bit, but not as much as I would like. Thank you to all the people that follow and engage

Ups and downs of self-publishing, and pick a genre, any genre.

Okay it’s been a busy old month what with one thing and another. ((You mean you constantly out networking and drinking fizz – oh yeah, hard life!)) I finally got around to publishing my Christmas story and I’ve got mixed feelings about it; mostly positive, but first i will address the negative, and finish with the good stuff ((Well it is nearly Christmas – you don’t want to leave all your fans (your mum) on a downer)). I’ve had a couple of people say to me that it could have done with another edit/proofread. ((How rude, let me get them!)) Calm down Brackets, I appreciate their feedback. It’s difficult to tell people you think someone’s work needs more attention. I admit it stressed me out a bit and I decided in the middle of the night that I should just quit, forget self-publishing and keep my stories to myself until I’ve found an editor. Then I had a ‘word with myself’ as I do on such occasions when I’ve got as emotional as I’m able ((OH yeah, doesn’t your friend say you have the emotions of a swinging lead brick??)) something like that Brackets.

I know that doing this on my own is difficult, editing does not come naturally to me and I believe that any writer that has the power to edit their own work is possibly some kind of Alien, or is in possession of a superpower. There are only so many times you can read your own story before its basically meaningless and you decide it’s a load of rubbish and dangle it over the shredder. But, then my natural stubbornness kicks in, I see sense, and think… sod it!

A few questions I asked myself…

Did I ever think I could produce an absolutely spot on and perfect Novella first time without a paid editor/proofreader? The answer is No.

Taking this into account, should I have published it in the first place, knowing that I was not putting the best version of my work out there? Maybe not.

Let me explain this a little. Of course, I want to publish the absolute best version possible. People are paying money for it and expect you to have done your best.

Did I do my best? Yes, I did.

Could I do better? Yes, I can, but only by spending money.

Which is pretty much the problem, well not only in life, but in self-publishing. Do you invest a considerable amount of money on something that is effectively a hobby until you can make an income from it? Even traditionally published authors don’t always make a full-time wage. The answer is… it depends on what you can afford. The amount you make on self-publishing can barely buy a cappuccino with a shot of Baileys on the side.

((anyone bored yet? I’ve just injected caffeine into my memory banks, and my virtual finger is shaking over the reset button))

Self-publishing for me was all about testing the water, working out the pitfalls and obviously providing people with a story they love to read. I believe I have achieved all these things. Being the writer, editor, proofreader, cover designer, creating the documents to upload, marketing… the list goes on and it’s a heck of a lot of work. But I bloody love writing so I have to give it a go. ((You go girl… wait, I think I need to switch to decaf; it must be because Christmas is coming… you’re messing with my data banks and making me be nice…. Noooo, get out of my parts))

Also, it’s interesting that the people that are readers and not writers’ have not picked up on any problems and have sent me messages saying that they really enjoyed the story. Some have even cried – so that has got to be good? Right? ((Heartless, told you folks! Swinging brick… I can see where you get Tom from in your Thrillers… hold up a mirror Peachy)) This gives me hope, because work can be edited/proof read and made better, but if I cannot put a good story together that would be a bigger problem. I’ve also had a few lovely reviews on Amazon so that makes it all worth-while and some have even gone on to buy Game of Souls which is a big compliment.

((Stop showing off about your reviews and get to the point… no-one likes a show-off. Did I tell you I’ve upgraded my memory, I’m possibly the most sophisticated Brackets in Cyberworld. I’m available to work on other blogs* just DM me for a price)) ((*terms and conditions apply))

There is a point to this Brackets, ((Oh good, I would hate to think you’re just rambling on…)) The point is that I’ve read various discussions online, and some are firmly in the camp that if it’s not your best version then you shouldn’t publish, which I get, but… my other half likened it to a band playing in a local pub; they haven’t made it yet and they haven’t got the best equipment, maybe their voice needs a bit of training, their routine needs a bit of work. Should they do it? The answer must be yes. If we are afraid to try things because of getting them wrong, we will never do anything. So, I would encourage anyone to just give it a go. Yes, you might get a few things wrong, but if you never try, you will be always left wondering what would have been.  ((Your other half is obviously the clever side of the relationship. Although that last part was very insightful. I can tell you’re getting old – with age comes great wisdom!)) Oi!

To my next point, I also had a chat with a few people about genres. It pretty much a given that unless you’ve ‘made it’ it’s recommended that you stay inside your box with regards to a genre. If readers are used to you writing horrors/thrillers they might be disappointed when you chuck a romance in the mix. I admit that I do prefer writing thrillers; especially the baddies. ((They are going to be shocked when you publish a travel journal next year then!!)) Quite Brackets – oh well, I always did like breaking the rules, and I’m exploring my creative abilities by trying out different genres. But I do agree that this is something I’m going to think about in the future – obviously after I’ve published the travel book! Then I might stay in my box… maybe/perhaps/possibly not.

I also keep getting nagged about getting my thriller into the hands of an agent or publisher. So, if there are any out there that want to give me an early Christmas present… you know where I am. It’s a big boost to hear that my thriller has been so well received from my beta readers; especially from people that read in this genre so are able to compare with other books on the market. My main character Tom is itching to get out into the world and scare a few people… ((He scares me! I dread to think what he will be getting up to right now… wait, did I just hear a noise in the back of my memory banks… has Tom come for me? Was that the sound of his bloodied fingers scraping across the screen, trying to get in… No way I’m going to sleep tonight now! Only a factory reset will get rid of this evil menace…)) Oi, I’m the budding writer, not you Brackets! ((You’re just scared that I will be better than you… after all, I do spend most of my time in dark, plotting and planning your demise – cue mad laughter))

Anyway, enough of that. The whole point of this blog is to track the ups and downs of writing. The last few weeks have been a bit of a rollercoaster, but ultimately, I love writing. Maybe I need to think about seriously investing some money ((You might have to reduce your intake of Fizz!!)) into self-publishing or concentrate on getting traditionally published, then I will have wonderful editors that tackle all the bits I don’t like. Time will tell.

Right that’s me done. I hope that’s helped anyone that is in the same boat as me; thinking about self-publishing, or maybe you already have, and you’re worried about how they have been received etc. With anything in life that you have a passion for there will be ups and downs, but don’t be scared to give it a go… what’s the worst that can happen?!

Hope everyone has a fab Christmas and New Year, see you in 2020

Doing the NaNoWriMo and finding time to write.

Today is the first day of NaNo… but first I need to say sorry to my bloggy friends ((you mean me and your mum, as no-one else really cares what you’re doing)) I was struggling to find the time to blog due to work and other things getting in the way, hence I didn’t get chance to update my blog last month. I applaud people that seem to be able to find the time to fit in writing/self-publishing/blogging /a busy social life whilst holding down a full-time job. ((wait a minute while I fix my violin string – it’s costing me a fortune to replace these. Any chance you can give over whinging…)) I won’t moan about it too much ((Hurrah!! You’ve about stopped writing due to being ‘too busy’ so I have nothing to entertain me in cyber world. I just hang about reading the same old dross you’ve written before. I want to know what happened to the dragons!))

Well I have a bit of an update about writing projects and life in general ((Oh God it’s going to be an epic War and Peace blog… wait for it. Settle yourself down, you just might leave this mornings blog with a numb ass!)) So, as happens in the working life of temping, I was expecting to stay in a job full-time until xmas, but my contract ended due to there not being enough hours available to make it worth my while staying. I do have a new job starting in January – fingers crossed, which is massively exciting. ((come on tell all!)) Sorry Brackets sort of top secret for now! So, I’ve done some calculations and plan to try and stay off work and focus on my writing for November, and possibly sneak in a few weeks temping in December ((please can you get to the point! I’m not your accountant you know!! I’m here for the writing stuff, not how many glasses of prosecco you’ve calculated you can afford on your spreadsheets!))

Okay Brackets calm yourself; I’m getting to it…

The exciting news is that I received my author proofs of my Christmas Novella this week! Now I need to do a few tweaks to the cover and have a final read through before making it available to the world. At one point I didn’t think I would get this finished in time. I wrote the story in January and thought I’d finished it in good time to get it published, but then life happened and I’m sure someone stole some of my time. This leads me onto NaNoWriMo which is National Novel Writing Month for those that haven’t heard of it. The idea is to write 50,000 words in a month. I’ve decided I’m going to split my word count to get some of my projects finished rather than just work on one novel.

These are my goals for NaNo…

18,000 Young adult fantasy novel – ((YESSSSSSS! The dragons are back!))

2,000  Collaborative supernatural short story with my writing group

20,000 Christmas Story for November 2020

10,000 Sci-fi – this is a new project which keeps sneaking its way to the front of my mind, so going to give this a go and see what happens.

At the end of November, the stories will be finished apart from the editing of course. Doing NaNo will be a great start for my writing goals into the new year and get me back into the habit of writing everyday – which I have really missed.

I’ve never done NaNo before, but from the bits and bobs I’ve read it’s important to be prepared. I’ve planned out exactly what I want to work on as I will need to read my ‘in progress’ works before I add to them, so that will take a bit of time away from the writing and hitting the word count… luckily, once I know where I’m going with a story the words come pretty easy. ((show off)) The rough word count is 1,666 per day – I average about 1k an hour when I’m in the flow. I cannot tell you how much I’m looking forward to getting stuck back into writing. ((you’ve actually already told us… sorry folks she’s getting to that age where she forgets everything. It’s called Peri-Merry – something to do with her Prosecco levels being out of kilter))

I haven’t completely abandoned making ‘stuff’ up, but it has been a real struggle to get the words down on the screen. Even when not writing, the ideas are still coming and I’ve attended a couple of creative writing sessions, and some author events which all help build the skills needed to hopefully write a bloody good story. At my writing group we had a workshop run by Alex Davis talking about the different routes a writer can take; self-publishing, small press or mainstream large publisher and within that we talked about the responsibility of a writer having a social media presence, doing talks etc which all takes up time and when you work full-time, and have a busy life something has to give.

Right that’s it from me. I need to crack on with my first day of NaNo – good luck if you’re starting today. Say hello on here or twitter if you fancy joining me and want to have some sprint writing sessions. The December blog will be about my first experience of NaNo, and hopefully a successful Christmas Novella book launch mid-November! Keep your eyes peeled on twitter for the link to my new book. ((I would say I’m excited, but it’s not the dragon story. Although Grandma is a bit of a hoot in your Christmas Story – she and I would get on well. Anyway, never mind all that – just make sure you finish the dragon story… will they make it? Will the other characters find the dragons… will they save the dragons? I’m so excited. Never mind your psychological thrillers, can you get this one published ASAP, and also get the next one in the series written???))

Brackets you sound like my mum…

P.S – don’t say I don’t look after you Brackets, the picture I’ve added is of your new virtual home – soon to be decorated with lots of stationery and notebooks.

((OMG I love it!! I take back everything I ever said about you… You can write a good story. You don’t talk rubbish most of the time and people really do like reading your stuff. Can I have a mini Christmas tree???…))

 

 

Competition: Travel Writing

Competition: Travel Writing

https://babbitman.wordpress.com/2019/09/15/competition-travel-writing/

— Read on babbitman.wordpress.com/2019/09/15/competition-travel-writing/

Naming your characters

How do you decide your character names? I was sitting on the back of the motorbike, and as usual thinking about the stories I’m writing and mulling over some character names I needed for my fantasy story. That started me thinking about where we find these names?

With a name, comes great responsibility! Someone said to me the other day – imagine how all the people feel that called their kids Dany ((From Game of Thrones for those people that haven’t watched it)) Well Dany started out with great promise and then, oh dear things went a little bit wrong with her good character. I won’t go into detail due to some people ((What they hell are they playing at)) haven’t watched it all. Needless to say, you might not actually want your child named after her.  ((You can just imagine the awkward conversation when said children find out who they are named after))

I try not to use names of people I know, just in case they think I’m in some way naming it after them and then try and sue me ((what, because they will make about 1p from your royalties)) I’ve found it really hard to come up with names for my fantasy novel; a lot of the main characters were really easy, but some of the lesser characters I found hard particularly, and the surnames. I don’t want to pick any form of modern name, and need to steer clear of anything that has been done before. It’s really annoying when you come up with a good name and realise it from Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones or Dungeons and Dragons.

So, to try something a little bit different whilst on a long journey; in the car this time so I could actually write things down. ((have you got a driver or something? I thought you were poor??)) I started to write down place names, street names, types of car etc, and then put different ones together to give me interesting names… and it worked.

Try adding colours into the mix as well. When I got home I tried this with scrabble tiles as well and just shifted them around until the name fitted the character I wanted. Again, I found this particularly useful for the surnames. Creatively, it just made my mind think… ((don’t say it…)) outside the box… ((she only went and said it – there will be ‘moving forward’ and my personal favourite, ‘let’s drill down into it?’ unless you’re talking about actual mining or fracking and we don’t need to start a full on conversation about that earthquake causing activity – there is just no need for it.)) alright Brackets calm down. Moving on, these different exercises certainly helped as I was struggling when I was sitting staring into space trying to think of a name.

((FYI, she only said the last one so she could get out the scrabble tiles again for the pic…))

Apparently there are ‘name generators’ you can use on the internet, and also websites that have lists of names; but I prefer to come up with my own. Somehow it doesn’t feel like my character if I use a name someone else has given me. If you have any creative ways of coming up with names let me know.

On the writing front; sadly, there is nothing new to report. Still waiting on info from agents, still editing the Christmas story, still editing the New Zealand journal. Sadly, everything takes a bit of back seat when you’re working full time.  I have made a lot of progress on the fantasy story and nearly at 37K now and trying to decide what wordcount I want to finish with. It could go 50k or 120k such is the ever-changing fantasy story. Hopefully next month there will be something to report; even if it’s a rejection and moving onto to another agent… such is the life of trying to get published. On that subject quickly… I’ve read quite a few articles about submitting to lots of agents at once as it does take a while for them to get back to you and then you’ve potentially lost 2-4 months of waiting for a ‘no thanks’. But, I’ve decided I don’t want to just have an agent because out of hundreds I submitted too, one wanted to take me on. I want someone who I’ve done my research on. It’s a bit like checking out a company before you go for an interview. It is obviously a close bond people have with their agents, and I for one would rather play the waiting/time game and get the right one. But that’s my choice. I might change my mind one day and send it to millions!

Right that’s me done for another month. As always feel free to join in or message me on twitter to discuss. Hope everyone working in education is ready for the new term. I was going to rant about having no time as working full time  ((please, please don’t… although most sensible people have probably swiped right by now – oh wait, thats for dating apps, as you were! ))

Good idea Brackets… until next time…

Clair

Writing collaboration

YES, this is our actual book!!!

So, I keep promising to write this, and finally it’s time ((Ohh, exciting cannot wait. Said no-one, anywhere, ever))

I’d only been part of the Fosseway Writing Group for a short time, and when it was suggested by the Chair, Nick, that we attempt a collaboration, I was predictably very excited and then panicked as I would be writing alongside fabulous writers ((you are not worthy!)) quite Brackets. But, I’ve never let a challenge pass me by, which is exactly why I broke my hip doing the Yorkshire Three Peaks ((life story alert, next she will be banging on about her skydive… again – boring!!)) I’d never done anything like this before, but part of joining any group, is not to only to make friends, and learn about the mystery life of writing, editing and all things booky, but about challenging myself.

Sorry, Brackets but I’m going to have to mute you for this bit, so you don’t break the flow…

((wait…))

So, our story is about a school reunion – we had the freedom to come up with a character. It was quickly decided that we needed a general story/event for everyone to focus on. One of the authors uploaded her story early on, which focused on two characters and a lot of the other writers’ used this as the focal point for their story.

Ideally, you don’t want too many story arcs. I know people like GRRM do this, but he writes epic novels and lots of them. We only have one novel to fit it all in. It’s important that readers don’t get confused by all the different stories, so if you can focus on a few storylines it helps to keep it all running smoothly.

I think it’s wise to minimise the number of writers. There are still plenty of jobs that need doing to involve everyone in the group. Some of the group were too busy to commit to writing – this is very important to establish early on. There is a lot of work involved and we met approx. 5 times, sometimes on a Saturday to go through the story. We didn’t want to take up all the normal writing group evenings discussing the reunion book

Once we‘d finished our stories, it was sent to two of the writers to edit. They then forwarded them all to Nick and I to put in some kind of order. This proved a bigger job than I thought. I would say I spent approx. 4 full days on this alone. As there are eight writers’ it’s difficult to get the chapter orders right, as the reader can end up waiting a long time before they are introduced to all of the characters. We also wanted to make sure the reader didn’t forget the story arc for that character.

Once this was completed it was sent out to all the authors again for them to read and offer feedback on changes, before forwarding onto two of the writing group members that had offered to be beta readers. It’s important to have readers that do not know the story, and haven’t been part of it, so they can give you an unbiased and honest opinion. By this point you’re so sick of reading it and believe that your writing is so terrible you might as well give up – but you cannot as it means letting others down.

After quite a few more tweaks by Nick, it was uploaded to Amazon and the proof copies ordered. Once received we all read it again, and any errors identified were uploaded to the forum and Nick made the changes. So, now we have THE BOOK ready and out in the real world.

If you are thinking of tackling a collaboration with your group, I would suggest the following points to hopefully make it easier once you’ve got your general story arc and characters started;

• I would recommend arranging at least 5 meetings in advance. You can always cancel them if you don’t need them. Obviously, things happen and people cannot make some dates. But if you can all get together it will help to iron out any issues, it’s much easier than doing via email.

• Our writing group has an online forum, which I would highly recommend using. Great way of communicating. We uploaded our chapters for the group to get feedback, ask questions and shared ideas about the storyline etc. I think it would have been a much longer process if we hadn’t had this.

• I would say try and allow at least two – three months for editing and final tweaking. Then once you’ve ordered the proof copies aim for another month to read before making it live to the world.

These are just my thoughts on the project. Overall I really enjoyed it, and it has brought the group closer together ((That’s a shame I thought you would all end up having a massive fight and being on the local news. Fosseway Writers’ kick-off after one of the writers’ kills off everyone in the group. Something like that! Would have totally made your book famous. Or book goes on to make millions and one by one the members’ die… who will be left to take the royalties…)) Your sick imagination is worse than mine Brackets!! It does so happen that another collaboration has been mentioned… with a bit of a darker theme…

I hope this has been helpful to any groups thinking of working on a collaboration. Feel free to ask myself or the writing group any questions. We are still friends’ ((That’s what you think!!)) Nick has written a much more interesting piece about how it all came about. I will try and link to this, if not, find it at his WordPress account:

http://www.Babbitman.wordpress.com

Or

http://www.fossewaywriters.wordpress.com

Finally, here is the link to our book available as an eBook or paperback.

https://amzn.to/2MEzjAK

See you in a month

Excuses, excuses, excuses

((Okay, this is brackets taking over the blog this week. Miss, ‘I’m so busy, I haven’t got time to blog’ is otherwise engaged. Insert me; rolling my eyes. If she ever gets to be a famous author she is gonna be tricky to deal with. So, she asked me to add these as her excuses for not blogging this week, AND it falls to me to tell you she’s going to start blogging monthly for future.))

Honestly folks… hold on where have my brackets gone!! ((Phew cannot let people think I’m the Miss high and mighty C.L. Peache – tell anyone my life story, even when they ain’t interested. Anyway, back to the excuses… I will give you the shortened version, so you don’t drop off to sleep and headbutt your coffee cup. Something I would be sure to do if I had a head. Right…)

1) A Christmas story which she’s edited. So, I have no idea why this counts as being too busy. Although she is sourcing an editor and cover for it.

2) Her Travel Journal – this is all about her experience in New Zealand, Sydney and Singapore earlier in the year. This currently sits at about 50k and she’s now editing. She has found a fabulous person to create her front cover they just need to have the conversation. Mainly she talks about weeing, drinking, and erm, right I’m done. How am I supposed to sell a travel journal about someone drinking and weeing – I get all the impossible jobs! I had to put my life on hold while she went travelling. She didn’t even fork out for a bloody spa for me. Just had to sit about in cyber world stalking other symbols – although I nearly fell in love with a speech mark – but that’s another story.

3) She’s working on a young adult fantasy novel which she’s about 4k into, and after visiting a school today with a REAL author, she’s all enthusiast about it again, so no doubt we will hear about this in great length. YAWN.

4) She finished two Psychological Thrillers last year, which are part of a series, and is spending today submitting to an agent she’s been stalking, hence why she is too busy to blog.

5) She also might be working on a top secret children’s book where I will be the main character!! Wait, that’s top secret… oopps. Don’t tell on me people.

((If I were you I would block her, but then you would miss out on me, and let’s face it, as I’ve said time and time again it’s the only reason anyone would visit her blog. Right, now I have done her dirty work, I’m off. I’ve seen some cheeky back slashes // I’m going check out. Peachy will be back the end of July with her new monthly blog. Apparently, she promises to talk about collaborations, the book festival etc. If I were you, I would neck a few pornstar martinis before you attempt that blog, maybe poke out your eyes and use the read-aloud function instead.))

((It’s goodbye from me, and well, not even a hello from her. If you’ve never read this blog,  you’re probably about to ring some kind of care line. Check out the other blog posts before you do…))

((I chose the swan pic because it’s cool. Even if Peachy did take it. If i was a bird, i would be a swan. Anyway, Peace and Love to Symbols. Bracket out))

Letter Writing, Pen Pals & Friendship

Maybe some of you are thinking why am I doing a blog on letter writing ((I’m intrigued… actually I’m not, it’s just not many people interact with your blog so I thought I better pretend – thanks to those that do – you keep me alive)) A few things have happened lately that have made me think about writing letters again. I volunteer for the Newark Book Festival ((do you?? Like the whole world doesn’t know – get over yourself, you’re not a flipping Saint you know!!)) anyway, as part of this I’m helping out ((quick someone call the Pope and get her a Knighthood)) it’s the Queen that gives out those actually. Ignore brackets – I’m helping out at a Letter writing event at a fabulous café in Newark called Carriages café – check it out online, the décor is beautiful. I will put the info at the end for anyone that wants to have a look.

This got me to thinking about my letter writing years. I used to have a pen pal at school – I think she lived in France – this faded for a reason I cannot tell you. Then after leaving school, I made friends with some girls who lived in Spain, and I was pen pals with them for while – again I’m not sure why that faded.  Then when I moved to York and ended up working at Argos over the Christmas period – which mainly involved rocking up after a night out with a hangover, somehow managing a shift, back home, get ready, go out again. Oh, the days of youth. I’m sure my liver still gets the shivers when it thinks of those days. ((what the heck has this to do with letters?)) don’t be impatient, I’m getting to it. So, whilst working there, I worked with the brother of a guy out of The Seahorses which has no relevance to anything ((every week, it’s like this is your life)) there was another guy who I got on with really well – mainly because he swapped shifts with me so I could sit on the tills with a hangover, rather than work in the storeroom . When he moved away we became pen-pals for a while. I moved to Derby and eventually, we lost touch. ((I’m sensing a theme with your pen pals… maybe someone killed them all! Hey, that’s a great story idea – which is totally mine so no nicking it. If you write it, I want all the credit, and I want someone really cool to play me… I will have a think))

After leaving York and moving to Derby, I remain to this day pen-pals with my housemate ((hurrah, finally)) although I must admit that we might just do a bit more WhatsApp messaging than letters these days. But, this is something I’m going to change. I don’t know about you, but I love receiving a letter. So much effort has been put into it. That person is not distracted by the outside world. They are giving you their full attention, and there is something rare in that these days. I’m a multi-tasker. I can have 10-12 conversations on messenger, text, WhatsApp, outlook, twitter, Facebook all at the same time. ((like you have that many friends!)) I like to think that I’m giving them my attention, but it cannot be the same as writing a letter. This is something I’m looking forward to exploring in the workshop during the festival weekend.

As well as the event at the festival a friend lent me a book, which I had to share on twitter due to the fact that she had folded over the pages… ((sacré bleu)) quite brackets! We will try and gloss over this, as so far the book is brilliant, and the author talks about letter writing. The book is Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert – halfway through and loving it so far. If you’re a ‘creative’ person looking for some inspiration or guidance this is the book for you.

Some questions came to mind whilst doing this blog; ((why are you such a know it all?  Will you ever shut up?)) Are the various communication tools available to us nowadays the reason we don’t write letters anymore? Is it because the more things we have in life to make life easier and quicker, we actually convince ourselves we have less time? Does modern life pressure us into doing more than we can – is that why so many people struggle with mental health nowadays? I don’t have the answers ((well folks, I’m surprised – she doesn’t have the answers – new one on me!!))

I think I better shut up now. I’ve realised that since I sat down to enjoy a glass of fizz, listen to music and catch up with my blog, I’ve waffled my way through over 700 words in less than thirty minutes – that must be a record for me.

Right I will sign off, the details are below. If you fancy tagging along to this event, get yourself signed up and I will see you there. Or let me know your pen pals/letter writing hopes/plans.

((hang on a minute. I haven’t decided who’s playing me in the movie of my book… it’s tough but it will have to be Brad Pitt, although I would also like to consider Kit Harrington. But then again there’s that woman from killing eve – what’s her name… Jodie Comer, oh oh oh and her from Luther – Ruth Wilson – they are badass baddies. Maybe we could have all of them in it, then I could audition them and pick one to be me. This cast is a total winning combo… who survives… you decide. Not sure who I would have my money on?))

Alright, enough now we’ve gone over the thousand-word mark now. Right, that’s it. I’m about to get ready to head to Jersey this weekend to celebrate my birthday. Jersey is one of my fav places and I was going to talk about locations in books this week as I have used Jersey in book two of my psychological thrillers, but as usual, I’ve got side-tracked. That will have to be another blog…

Have a good one folks.

The Letters Page – The Lost Art of Letter Writing

Friday 12th July, 2pm – 4pm, Carriages Café, Newark Castle Train Station

£10/ £8 Festival Friends including refreshments

Fall in love with letters again in this interactive writing workshop. In an age of email and instant messaging, letter writing is almost a lost art, reserved for sentimental notes to loved ones or long-standing pen pals.

The Letters Page, a letters-based literary journal edited by the University of Nottingham’s Jon McGregor, takes submissions entirely through the post; whatever fits into an envelope is considered for publication.

Members of the editorial team will host this workshop to help you think about communication, correspondence, and the art of writing in general.

Presented by the School of English at the University of Nottingham.

 

 

TBR pile

I was going to talk about Collaborations this week as it’s something I’m working on with my Writing Group. As we haven’t quite finished it yet, I thought it was prudent to wait until we have completed this project – so i can talk about the whole process.

So, this weeks blog… I’ve had a few conversations lately about the all important ‘To Be Read’ pile of books. It got me thinking ((Oh dear, thinking again – we all know where that gets you!))  The pic is my TBR pile. Feel free to share yours! ((Come on, show us your piles)) Brackets, I think you should rephrase that…

How do you feel about your TBR pile? Do you feel anxious because you have a pile of books waiting for you, or is it a comfort that you have stories and characters ready and waiting to be discovered. There really is nothing like reading. I read e-books and listen via audible. But, I still prefer the excitement of opening a physical book and the pleasure of starting on a new adventure.

Reading for me is so therapeutic and something I’ve always loved to do. At school, we used to get credits for doing good work ((Swot!)), which we could use towards getting a book from the school-book shop. For me, it was an incentive to work harder. As soon as I had enough credits, I would browse the shelves; hand over my credits and walk away with a shiny new book. When I moved to ‘big school’ it was a turbulent time for me as we moved to a new house just as it was time to choose our GCSE’s. Due to the time of year, it resulted in me not having a choice and fitting into whichever classes were free.

Consequently, l decided to drop as many classes as I could, and only signed up for the compulsory ones, English, Maths, Sciences, and I think I chose woodwork as well, but the old memory is vague on this one. ((it’s not ‘this is your life’ you know!))

It was a tough time moving at the age of fourteen, leaving friends, meeting new people and changing schools, but the one benefit to this change was I ended up with a lot of spare lessons. I, of course, spent this time in the School Library. It was my lifeline at school. I would devour books in-between lessons. I’m pretty sure I learned as much from reading as I did in my classes.

Anyway, I digress. I was going to just chat about my TBR pile. But, I find it interesting how people have become passionate about reading and writing, or in fact, anything that involves being creative. So, I thought I would share a bit about my reading journey.

On the reading front, I think a book group is important if you have one in your area.  One of the reasons I joined a book group was to read genres I wouldn’t usually pick up. I think you can get a totally different opinion of a book when you discuss it. With some books, I appreciated them even more after discussing them and often changed my ‘score’ to reflect this.

I would love for you all to share the reasons why you love reading, and of course, a pic of your all-important TBR pile on Twitter or Instagram!

I’m thinking of setting a deadline to get through my TBR pile – anyone interested in joining me?

With regards to writing, it’s been a funny old few weeks. I’ve had time off work waiting for my next temp job to start, and I thought I would have so much time to write, but it just hasn’t worked out. I managed one full day of working on my Travel Journal and children’s fantasy story making good progress on both, but also ended up with a flat arse! I not used to sitting and typing all day.

Every time I decided I was going to sit down and send some submissions ‘something came up’ ((Were you cleaning the skirting boards??)) No, I wasn’t. Mainly it was due to filling in job applications and dealing with agencies. Unfortunately, finding paid employment has to come first. The future aim is to get paid work from writing – but bills still need to be paid, so that has to take priority. I have however managed to submit to some publishers/agents, so that’s a start.

Have a great few weeks. Catch you all in a couple of weeks. 

 

Just a hobby?

Something really annoyed me this week ((I can feel a rant coming on…)) it was mentioned by someone ((I wouldn’t like to be that someone)) that my writing is just a hobby. What defines a hobby? Something that interests you, but you don’t make an income from? Does that mean that everything else takes priority and less importance is put on it because you’re not being paid for it?

Now, I know this comment mainly came from a good place, because they could see I was getting a bit stressed as I was so busy at work and with all my other commitments (hobbies). But, it did get me thinking about how some people view hobbies.

When did being paid for something over-ride things you want to do? ((Erm, well you do have bills and you have countless holidays to pay for and therefore need a job!)) Yes, I know and understand that. But surely there has to be a balance?

If you see someone rushing about, working hard, having deadlines trying their best and then find out it for a hobby, and they are not being paid for it – why is that seen differently than if you said you’re so busy because of paid work? People sympathise when it’s for work. But about a hobby they will say, well you don’t have to do that, you don’t have to volunteer, you don’t have to work that hard – like it is a choice. Even a hobby sometimes comes with responsibilities and things you have to do – mainly because you want to do it. Yes, I suppose you can turn around and say NO. That’s it, I’m not doing it, because strictly speaking you’re not being paid for it. Therefore, you can walk away without financial repercussions, then what kind of person does that make you?

((Flipping heck, you’re totally on one this week. I would suggest a holiday, but you’ve only been back at work a week and are off this week hobbying! How the other half live! And before you go on another rant – yes I know you’re looking for work and have stuff lined up. Chill your beans!))

Anyway, that’s it for a rant. Has anyone else felt this about their writing or any hobby they do? Do you think it’s unrealistic to expect to be given leeway for a hobby? Especially when you really enjoy everything that comes with those hobbies.

Other things going on in life contribute to anxiety and stress ((You should go into counselling or something, honestly you’re such a genius – I bet no-one had thought of this until you said that! Eye-roll)) It’s rare that anyone doesn’t have some form of stress in their lives. I even caught myself thinking I need to read that new writing magazine; like it was a job/a task that needed signing off. ((Please come on now – you know that book you read a long time ‘How to get a grip?’ I think you need to re-read it!)) As soon as I had this thought, I laughed at myself thinking ‘come on!’ This kind of thing should be enjoyed, not a task. But, it’s amazing how the brain can lock onto small worries so that your brain doesn’t focus on the bigger stuff. I wrote a blog on ‘time thieves’ in April and re-read this to help me to ‘get a grip’.

My friend made a good point ((don’t praise her too much as she will get a big head – like her…)) enough of that brackets! I will quote and hope she doesn’t do me for copyright*… “We need hobbies to de-stress, be creative and just get away from the real world sometimes!!”

Have a great few weeks, if you feel like having a rant then feel free to join in. It’s very therapeutic.

The next blog on the 7th June will be about writing collaborations.

P.S. The pic is from my holiday on the Norfolk Broads. I find it very calming and felt it was appropriate for this weeks blog.

* My friend said that if I call her my best friend then I can borrow her words. ((Erm, excuse me!))