Lucy Mitchell's Blog, page 40

10 Signs You Are Ready To Start Writing Your Book

This post for anyone out there who has always secretly dreamed of writing a book and has spent a lifetime putting it off.

You can try to ignore it all you want. Feed yourself silly excuses like you have never written a book before. Deny you want to write a book. Tell yourself it is just a pipe dream. Bury the story deep inside of you. Tell yourself that writing books is only for people who have journalism degrees or have spent their life writing. Check your calendar and point out to yourself that you don’t have time to write a book. Dig out your old school english books and remind yourself that your teacher never told you that you had potential.

I don’t know anything about your life but I guarantee the urge to write YOUR book will keep coming back. 

I was one of the above. The urge to write a book never went away.

Here are 10 signs you are ready to start writing your book:

The idea for your book has been growing at the back of your mind for a long time.
You are finding it hard to sit still. If you are suffering from what we in the trade call, book idea fidget bottom, there is a book inside of you and it is waiting to be written.
You often think about your story whilst you are making the school packed lunches, cooking dinner, cleaning the loo and scrubbing the bath.
You keep looking at the calendar a lot to see whether there will be a free 52 week stretch, where you can sit down and write your book.
You have taken to scribbling notes about your story. I can’t stress enough how close you are to sitting down and writing it.
You are an avid reader and often tell uninterested loved ones at bedtime about why the books you are reading work or don’t work.
When you are playing with your kids you can’t stop yourself from secretly acting out scenes with their array of Barbie dolls, action man figures and soft toys. This was me for YEARS. My daughters used to get up and wander off when we were playing Barbie Weddings because I would be lost in my own romcom world where Barbie and Ken would be breaking up due to his wandering eye for a Bratz doll.
The thought of one day seeing your book in your hands gives you a warm fuzzy feeling.
When reading a book you always read the acknowledgments page to see how the author started writing and you relish those author stories where they wrote their first books while their kids were asleep or in the small creases of time before and after their demanding day job.
You feel something is missing in your life.

It is time to stop fighting the urge and being creative with your excuses for not writing your book.

Do what I did and start writing your book. It isn’t easy but you can do it. The writing community is really supportive and there are so many people out there who will happily give you an encouraging thumbs up or a virtual hug.

Go on – be brave

 

10 Signs You Are Ready To Start Writing Your Book

This post for anyone out there who has always secretly dreamed of writing a book and has spent a lifetime putting it off.

You can try to ignore it all you want. Feed yourself silly excuses like you have never written a book before. Deny you want to write a book. Tell yourself it is just a pipe dream. Bury the story deep inside of you. Tell yourself that writing books is only for people who have journalism degrees or have spent their life writing. Check your calendar and point out to yourself that you don’t have time to write a book. Dig out your old school english books and remind yourself that your teacher never told you that you had potential.

I don’t know anything about your life but I guarantee the urge to write YOUR book will keep coming back. 

I was one of the above. The urge to write a book never went away.

Here are 10 signs you are ready to start writing your book:

The idea for your book has been growing at the back of your mind for a long time.
You are finding it hard to sit still. If you are suffering from what we in the trade call, book idea fidget bottom, there is a book inside of you and it is waiting to be written.
You often think about your story whilst you are making the school packed lunches, cooking dinner, cleaning the loo and scrubbing the bath.
You keep looking at the calendar a lot to see whether there will be a free 52 week stretch, where you can sit down and write your book.
You have taken to scribbling notes about your story. I can’t stress enough how close you are to sitting down and writing it.
You are an avid reader and often tell uninterested loved ones at bedtime about why the books you are reading work or don’t work.
When you are playing with your kids you can’t stop yourself from secretly acting out scenes with their array of Barbie dolls, action man figures and soft toys. This was me for YEARS. My daughters used to get up and wander off when we were playing Barbie Weddings because I would be lost in my own romcom world where Barbie and Ken would be breaking up due to his wandering eye for a Bratz doll.
The thought of one day seeing your book in your hands gives you a warm fuzzy feeling.
When reading a book you always read the acknowledgments page to see how the author started writing and you relish those author stories where they wrote their first books while their kids were asleep or in the small creases of time before and after their demanding day job.
You feel something is missing in your life.

It is time to stop fighting the urge and being creative with your excuses for not writing your book.

Do what I did and start writing your book. It isn’t easy but you can do it. The writing community is really supportive and there are so many people out there who will happily give you an encouraging thumbs up or a virtual hug.

Go on – be brave

 

10 Signs You Are Ready To Start Writing Your Book

This post for anyone out there who has always secretly dreamed of writing a book and has spent a lifetime putting it off.

You can try to ignore it all you want. Feed yourself silly excuses like you have never written a book before. Deny you want to write a book. Tell yourself it is just a pipe dream. Bury the story deep inside of you. Tell yourself that writing books is only for people who have journalism degrees or have spent their life writing. Check your calendar and point out to yourself that you don’t have time to write a book. Dig out your old school english books and remind yourself that your teacher never told you that you had potential.

I don’t know anything about your life but I guarantee the urge to write YOUR book will keep coming back. 

I was one of the above. The urge to write a book never went away.

Here are 10 signs you are ready to start writing your book:

The idea for your book has been growing at the back of your mind for a long time.
You are finding it hard to sit still. If you are suffering from what we in the trade call, book idea fidget bottom, there is a book inside of you and it is waiting to be written.
You often think about your story whilst you are making the school packed lunches, cooking dinner, cleaning the loo and scrubbing the bath.
You keep looking at the calendar a lot to see whether there will be a free 52 week stretch, where you can sit down and write your book.
You have taken to scribbling notes about your story. I can’t stress enough how close you are to sitting down and writing it.
You are an avid reader and often tell uninterested loved ones at bedtime about why the books you are reading work or don’t work.
When you are playing with your kids you can’t stop yourself from secretly acting out scenes with their array of Barbie dolls, action man figures and soft toys. This was me for YEARS. My daughters used to get up and wander off when we were playing Barbie Weddings because I would be lost in my own romcom world where Barbie and Ken would be breaking up due to his wandering eye for a Bratz doll.
The thought of one day seeing your book in your hands gives you a warm fuzzy feeling.
When reading a book you always read the acknowledgments page to see how the author started writing and you relish those author stories where they wrote their first books while their kids were asleep or in the small creases of time before and after their demanding day job.
You feel something is missing in your life.

It is time to stop fighting the urge and being creative with your excuses for not writing your book.

Do what I did and start writing your book. It isn’t easy but you can do it. The writing community is really supportive and there are so many people out there who will happily give you an encouraging thumbs up or a virtual hug.

Go on – be brave

 

10 Signs You Are Ready To Start Writing Your Book

This post for anyone out there who has always secretly dreamed of writing a book and has spent a lifetime putting it off.

You can try to ignore it all you want. Feed yourself silly excuses like you have never written a book before. Deny you want to write a book. Tell yourself it is just a pipe dream. Bury the story deep inside of you. Tell yourself that writing books is only for people who have journalism degrees or have spent their life writing. Check your calendar and point out to yourself that you don’t have time to write a book. Dig out your old school english books and remind yourself that your teacher never told you that you had potential.

I don’t know anything about your life but I guarantee the urge to write YOUR book will keep coming back. 

I was one of the above. The urge to write a book never went away.

Here are 10 signs you are ready to start writing your book:

The idea for your book has been growing at the back of your mind for a long time.
You are finding it hard to sit still. If you are suffering from what we in the trade call, book idea fidget bottom, there is a book inside of you and it is waiting to be written.
You often think about your story whilst you are making the school packed lunches, cooking dinner, cleaning the loo and scrubbing the bath.
You keep looking at the calendar a lot to see whether there will be a free 52 week stretch, where you can sit down and write your book.
You have taken to scribbling notes about your story. I can’t stress enough how close you are to sitting down and writing it.
You are an avid reader and often tell uninterested loved ones at bedtime about why the books you are reading work or don’t work.
When you are playing with your kids you can’t stop yourself from secretly acting out scenes with their array of Barbie dolls, action man figures and soft toys. This was me for YEARS. My daughters used to get up and wander off when we were playing Barbie Weddings because I would be lost in my own romcom world where Barbie and Ken would be breaking up due to his wandering eye for a Bratz doll.
The thought of one day seeing your book in your hands gives you a warm fuzzy feeling.
When reading a book you always read the acknowledgments page to see how the author started writing and you relish those author stories where they wrote their first books while their kids were asleep or in the small creases of time before and after their demanding day job.
You feel something is missing in your life.

It is time to stop fighting the urge and being creative with your excuses for not writing your book.

Do what I did and start writing your book. It isn’t easy but you can do it. The writing community is really supportive and there are so many people out there who will happily give you an encouraging thumbs up or a virtual hug.

Go on – be brave

 

10 Signs You Are Ready To Start Writing Your Book

This post for anyone out there who has always secretly dreamed of writing a book and has spent a lifetime putting it off.

You can try to ignore it all you want. Feed yourself silly excuses like you have never written a book before. Deny you want to write a book. Tell yourself it is just a pipe dream. Bury the story deep inside of you. Tell yourself that writing books is only for people who have journalism degrees or have spent their life writing. Check your calendar and point out to yourself that you don’t have time to write a book. Dig out your old school english books and remind yourself that your teacher never told you that you had potential.

I don’t know anything about your life but I guarantee the urge to write YOUR book will keep coming back. 

I was one of the above. The urge to write a book never went away.

Here are 10 signs you are ready to start writing your book:

The idea for your book has been growing at the back of your mind for a long time.
You are finding it hard to sit still. If you are suffering from what we in the trade call, book idea fidget bottom, there is a book inside of you and it is waiting to be written.
You often think about your story whilst you are making the school packed lunches, cooking dinner, cleaning the loo and scrubbing the bath.
You keep looking at the calendar a lot to see whether there will be a free 52 week stretch, where you can sit down and write your book.
You have taken to scribbling notes about your story. I can’t stress enough how close you are to sitting down and writing it.
You are an avid reader and often tell uninterested loved ones at bedtime about why the books you are reading work or don’t work.
When you are playing with your kids you can’t stop yourself from secretly acting out scenes with their array of Barbie dolls, action man figures and soft toys. This was me for YEARS. My daughters used to get up and wander off when we were playing Barbie Weddings because I would be lost in my own romcom world where Barbie and Ken would be breaking up due to his wandering eye for a Bratz doll.
The thought of one day seeing your book in your hands gives you a warm fuzzy feeling.
When reading a book you always read the acknowledgments page to see how the author started writing and you relish those author stories where they wrote their first books while their kids were asleep or in the small creases of time before and after their demanding day job.
You feel something is missing in your life.

It is time to stop fighting the urge and being creative with your excuses for not writing your book.

Do what I did and start writing your book. It isn’t easy but you can do it. The writing community is really supportive and there are so many people out there who will happily give you an encouraging thumbs up or a virtual hug.

Go on – be brave

 

10 Signs You Are Ready To Start Writing Your Book

This post for anyone out there who has always secretly dreamed of writing a book and has spent a lifetime putting it off.

You can try to ignore it all you want. Feed yourself silly excuses like you have never written a book before. Deny you want to write a book. Tell yourself it is just a pipe dream. Bury the story deep inside of you. Tell yourself that writing books is only for people who have journalism degrees or have spent their life writing. Check your calendar and point out to yourself that you don’t have time to write a book. Dig out your old school english books and remind yourself that your teacher never told you that you had potential.

I don’t know anything about your life but I guarantee the urge to write YOUR book will keep coming back. 

I was one of the above. The urge to write a book never went away.

Here are 10 signs you are ready to start writing your book:

The idea for your book has been growing at the back of your mind for a long time.
You are finding it hard to sit still. If you are suffering from what we in the trade call, book idea fidget bottom, there is a book inside of you and it is waiting to be written.
You often think about your story whilst you are making the school packed lunches, cooking dinner, cleaning the loo and scrubbing the bath.
You keep looking at the calendar a lot to see whether there will be a free 52 week stretch, where you can sit down and write your book.
You have taken to scribbling notes about your story. I can’t stress enough how close you are to sitting down and writing it.
You are an avid reader and often tell uninterested loved ones at bedtime about why the books you are reading work or don’t work.
When you are playing with your kids you can’t stop yourself from secretly acting out scenes with their array of Barbie dolls, action man figures and soft toys. This was me for YEARS. My daughters used to get up and wander off when we were playing Barbie Weddings because I would be lost in my own romcom world where Barbie and Ken would be breaking up due to his wandering eye for a Bratz doll.
The thought of one day seeing your book in your hands gives you a warm fuzzy feeling.
When reading a book you always read the acknowledgments page to see how the author started writing and you relish those author stories where they wrote their first books while their kids were asleep or in the small creases of time before and after their demanding day job.
You feel something is missing in your life.

It is time to stop fighting the urge and being creative with your excuses for not writing your book.

Do what I did and start writing your book. It isn’t easy but you can do it. The writing community is really supportive and there are so many people out there who will happily give you an encouraging thumbs up or a virtual hug.

Go on – be brave

 

Things To Consider When Making Your Characters Suffer #MondayBlogs

Have you ever had to inflict pain and suffering onto one of your much loved fictional characters?

Have you ever reluctantly tipped a bucket full of life crap over two characters who have just found true love and as you you were doing it felt like you were betraying two old friends?

Have you ever struggled with your emotions while writing a scene where your character suffers and that scene ends up lasting only a few unbearable tiny paragraphs?

Before I published my debut novel Instructions For Falling In Love Again characters in my stories rarely suffered.

If I did have to inflict pain on a character it would last a paragraph at the most and then I would spend 3 lengthy chapters making things up to them.

I have been known to write a paragraph of character suffering and then at editing stage revise the hell out of that paragraph just so the character doesn’t hurt too much.

In addition I have been known to make the path easier for my characters and have gone out of my way to help them out of tricky situations.

Working with my two editors made me understand that characters need to suffer.

Stories need conflict.

Characters need to be put into growth-inducing situations.

I still struggle with making characters suffer though. It’s such a tough thing to do when you are an emotional writer like me. I get far too attached to my characters and I just want them to live in perfect harmony.

But that’s not how real life works.

Here are some points to consider if like me you struggle with hurting fictional folk:

1. Think about real life

In life we are not protected from the consequences of our actions so why should our characters be any different?

In life we admire those who, in the face of adversity, pick themselves up and find the courage to carry on.

The same applies to our fictional characters.

2.  Suffering is a useful tool to build tension

In my romance genre suffering comes in the form of miscommunications, arguments, betrayals, lies, jealousy, bickering, fights over who gets more of the duvet cover, fear of commitment, wanting commitment too soon, long term resentment, incompatible life goals, boredom, family rifts, terrible kisses, secret kisses and worse of all – not enough kisses. All of this suffering helps to build uncertainty and creates tension.

3. Suffering could be your book’s standout.

A character’s suffering and the way he or she deals with it may prove to be the backbone of your story, that one story element that makes your fiction stand up and stand out. When they emerge from all their suffering and pain your characters start to become really interesting and memorable.

4. This is a fictional chara cter.

I have to tell myself (repeatedly) that my characters are not real people and it’s not like I am actually hurting someone.

5. Suffering advances your story. 

It pains me to type this but suffering needs to happen so that your heroes can get to (and earn) their happy ending. Suffering is what propels the plot forward: the protagonist is unhappy with their life as-is and wants to change things.

Do you suffer with this?  

Or are you a tough cookie and making characters suffer is all part of the fun?

What I want to know is how the hell do crime thriller writers cope with making their characters suffer for the full length of the book? They must be nails!

Have a good day!

Things To Consider When Making Your Characters Suffer #AmWriting

Have you ever had to inflict pain and suffering onto one of your much loved fictional characters?

Have you ever reluctantly tipped a bucket full of life crap over two characters who have just found true love and as you you were doing it felt like you were betraying two old friends?

Have you ever struggled with your emotions while writing a scene where your character suffers and that scene ends up lasting only a few unbearable tiny paragraphs?

Before I published my debut novel Instructions For Falling In Love Again characters in my stories rarely suffered.

If I did have to inflict pain on a character it would last a paragraph at the most and then I would spend 3 lengthy chapters making things up to them.

I have been known to write a paragraph of character suffering and then at editing stage revise the hell out of that paragraph just so the character doesn’t hurt too much.

In addition I have been known to make the path easier for my characters and have gone out of my way to help them out of tricky situations.

Working with my two editors made me understand that characters need to suffer.

Stories need conflict.

Characters need to be put into growth-inducing situations.

I still struggle with making characters suffer though. It’s such a tough thing to do when you are an emotional writer like me. I get far too attached to my characters and I just want them to live in perfect harmony.

But that’s not how real life works.

Here are some points to consider if like me you struggle with hurting fictional folk:

1. Think about real life

In life we are not protected from the consequences of our actions so why should our characters be any different?

In life we admire those who, in the face of adversity, pick themselves up and find the courage to carry on.

The same applies to our fictional characters.

2.  Suffering is a useful tool to build tension

In my romance genre suffering comes in the form of miscommunications, arguments, betrayals, lies, jealousy, bickering, fights over who gets more of the duvet cover, fear of commitment, wanting commitment too soon, long term resentment, incompatible life goals, boredom, family rifts, terrible kisses, secret kisses and worse of all – not enough kisses. All of this suffering helps to build uncertainty and creates tension.

3. Suffering could be your book’s standout.

A character’s suffering and the way he or she deals with it may prove to be the backbone of your story, that one story element that makes your fiction stand up and stand out. When they emerge from all their suffering and pain your characters start to become really interesting and memorable.

4. This is a fictional chara cter.

I have to tell myself (repeatedly) that my characters are not real people and it’s not like I am actually hurting someone.

5. Suffering advances your story. 

It pains me to type this but suffering needs to happen so that your heroes can get to (and earn) their happy ending. Suffering is what propels the plot forward: the protagonist is unhappy with their life as-is and wants to change things.

Do you suffer with this?  

Or are you a tough cookie and making characters suffer is all part of the fun?

What I want to know is how the hell do crime thriller writers cope with making their characters suffer for the full length of the book? They must be nails!

Have a good day!

Writing Romance? Check Out This – 5 Things About Writing Kisses @KileyDunbar #MondayBlogs

I am so excited about this post. As a huge fan of all things romantic and someone who gets very carried away at the sight of any romance, within a ten mile radius, this blog post is going to leave me lying on my sofa with a cold compress on my forehead. Today we are talking about how to write a good kiss. 

Now, back in the day, when I was looking for love in Leeds (in the 90s) kissing was a big thing. Especially since most of my dating was done in Ritzy’s nightclub and once a male suitor had impressed me with his dance moves, surrounded by clouds of dry ice, we’d go in for the kiss.

The kiss was an important stage – because I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life with anyone whose kissing skills reminded me of:

My washing machine on a fast cycle
A plunger for my blocked sink.
Snogging a block of ice.
Snogging some sandpaper
Snogging a Jack in the Box – his tongue was the Jack which popped out when I wasn’t expecting it and made me jump.

Back in the day I thought I had struck gold when my suitor had velvet lips, no crab stick breath, a shy tongue (at first), a gentle swaying action and maybe one of his hands gently running through my hair. Kissing heaven

Writing Romance? Check Out This – 5 Things About Writing Kisses @KileyDunbar #Romance

I am so excited about this post. As a huge fan of all things romantic and someone who gets very carried away at the sight of any romance, within a ten mile radius, this blog post is going to leave me lying on my sofa with a cold compress on my forehead. Today we are talking about how to write a good kiss. 

Now, back in the day, when I was looking for love in Leeds (in the 90s) kissing was a big thing. Especially since most of my dating was done in Ritzy’s nightclub and once a male suitor had impressed me with his dance moves, surrounded by clouds of dry ice, we’d go in for the kiss.

The kiss was an important stage – because I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life with anyone whose kissing skills reminded me of:

My washing machine on a fast cycle
A plunger for my blocked sink.
Snogging a block of ice.
Snogging some sandpaper
Snogging a Jack in the Box – his tongue was the Jack which popped out when I wasn’t expecting it and made me jump.

Back in the day I thought I had struck gold when my suitor had velvet lips, no crab stick breath, a shy tongue (at first), a gentle swaying action and maybe one of his hands gently running through my hair. Kissing heaven