Lucy Mitchell's Blog, page 49

#BookReview Italian Summer with the Single Dad @EllaHayesAuthor #TuesdayBookBlog

Sound the Character Crush Klaxon please!

I have such a crush on Ella’s Haye’s male character, Zach Merill, from her new book, Italian Summer with the Single Dad.

Send tissues, soothing herbal tea and an electric fan!

One of my 2020 resolutions:

To not fall helplessly in love with male characters in books. 2020 is going to be the year where I remain as cool as a cucumber with male characters. They are not going to seduce me between the pages and they are not going to leave me feeling like a hot mess after several chapters. I am not going to fall for them. I am going to stay DISTANT!

On the 4th January: throw resolution out of the window and shout, “Zach, come and get me, darling!”

For goodness sake I lasted 4 measly days without experiencing a crush!

All blame lies with Ella Hayes.

Here’s the blurb:

Wedding photographer Olivia Gardner is thrilled to be spending the summer working at a luxurious Italian palazzo. The only problem? Her instant attraction to widowed single dad and owner Zach Merrill! Olivia can see that guarded Zach’s locked his heart away for the sake of his little girl. But watching the way he dotes on his daughter has Olivia hoping she could have a place in this ready-made family.

Here’s my review:

Could not put this book down!

You don’t realise how much you need a good romance story until after you’ve finished one. I didn’t think I needed one until after I’d finished this book.

This novel brushed away all my festive cobwebs, it gave me hope at a time when the world outside seemed chaotic and it brought sunlight into my life during the first few days of gloomy January.

It’s a lovely and uplifting tale with a beautiful setting and a FABULOUS ENDING. Ella Hayes knows what us romance readers want in an ending.

Olivia – you’re a great female lead. When you stepped off that bus and got into Zach’s convertible I knew there was going to be romantic trouble.

Zach Merrill – you are such a handsome and captivating male character. Just picturing you in that convertible driving along those twisting Italian roads with your sunglasses on made me tingle in places I can’t mention on my blog. I adored the way the way you missed your late wife, Isabella and the way you were with your daughter. Ella Hayes got everything right when she created you.

This book has a beautiful setting; luxury wedding venue – Casa Isabella in Ravello, with a sea view terrace, gushing fountain and lots of secret gardens.

It’s the sort of book which will give you a lovely warm feeling and make you slip off your winter cardigan… until you forget it’s still a bit chilly here!

This book has a great plot with lots of emotion and a generous helping of romance.

It will leave you with summer vibes and make you want to hot foot it down to your local travel agents.

A good read – guaranteed!

If you want to know more about this book please click here.

 

 

The Joy of Recasting Fictional Characters #AmWriting

My blogging break is over and I’m back!

My festive period was filled with writing, being an unpaid taxi driver to my teenage daughters, eating too many Quality Street chocolates, hugging my dog, reading some fab books and waiting for my new writing desk to arrive.

I have been working on manifesting my own writing desk downstairs in the living room for five years (has to be downstairs as we have a small house) and had given up on my manifesting skills. For five long years I have been writing posts in the bath, in bed, at my dressing table and in the garden. Then my loved one suggested (after a few glasses of wine and whilst wearing a Christmas cracker hat) that I should have my own writing desk in the living room. I could hardly contain my excitement and had to refrain from rushing out into the street to dance. When it came I cried over it and then wrote 3,567 words on it as a mini test drive.

Keep working on manifesting readers!

Happy new year to all of you lovely creative people and I hope you have lots of success in 2020.

I think this is going to be OUR year, BlondeWriteMore readers. Big things are coming for all of us.

You heard it here first about incoming success. In a few months time when you are basking in creative success think back to this blog post.

Today I want to talk about how recasting a fictional character brought me so much JOY over Christmas. 

Some of our characters are simply cast into the wrong stories. I like to use the word ‘cast’ as it makes me feel like I am in the theatre world.

In times of creative struggle we fail to see this. It is so easy to reach for the delete button when you don’t feel a character is working for you or your story.

Recasting shelved characters helps to find them the right tale.

Over Christmas I went back through my old files full of shelved stories, took out a character and inserted her into a new story. It was like someone had turned on the lights in my story. She hit the ground running and knew what she had to do with that handsome love interest.

Oh my goodness – it was quite a moment! I squealed from my armchair (my writing desk had not arrived by then) and then cracked open another tin of Quality Street chocolates in celebration. She’d found her story.

Good characters are hard to create and it is a shame to waste to let them gather dust in files.

When I think of my shelved story files I always think of this quote by Thomas Browne,

‘rough diamonds may sometimes be mistaken for worthless pebbles.’  

Don’t write off old manuscripts because they might contain interesting and versatile characters.

What was interesting about this character was that when I ditched her original story I knew I would see her again. Back in 2017 I recall a strange feeling come over me as I dropped her story into my shelved story folder. At the time I assumed it was a sugar rush but looking back I don’t think it was. She was trying to tell me something,

I strongly believe we have unfinished business with certain characters.

I will be back on Tuesday with my first book review of 2020.

Lucy x

How To Survive Living With a Writer Over Christmas #WritingCommunity

It’s not easy living with a writer. We are peculiar creatures and sometimes we have to be handled with care.

Here are my top tips on how to survive living with a writer over Christmas:

Ban the following words over Christmas to keep your writer’s spirits up; rewrite, typo, adverbs and synopsis.
Make sure you have given careful thought to all book gifts. For a harmonious festive period DON’T present your writer with the latest book from the author they constantly compare themselves to. If you do this Christmas will turn into one long critiquing session. All hope of peace and goodwill over the festive period will sadly vanish.
If you are planning to give your writer a book or a selection of books as a Christmas present, make sure they unwrap them at the END of the gift giving ceremony. If you make the silly mistake of letting your writer open a book (one they have been desperate to read for ages), at the start of the present giving ceremony, you can wave goodbye to your writer’s attention. By the end of the gift giving your writer will be halfway through the first chapter and they won’t show ANY interest in the thought-provoking patterns on your new jumper.
You need to accept your writer’s mood over the festive period will depend on a number of factors.

The status of their current draft. If they are ‘editing’ over the festive period you might want to swap Xmas paper hats for tin ones.
Their relationship with their current cast of fictional characters. Christmas will not be a time of peace and goodwill for some fictional characters, who have been labelled dull or lifeless by their writer.
General writing confidence levels. Beware these can fluctuate over a course of a few hours.


Exceed your writer’s cheese board expectations. Cheese is your secret weapon in the fight against gloomy writer face.
Make sure your writer’s Xmas stocking contains a new pretty notebook. Yes – it may spend the rest of the year on a shelf empty and gathering dust but the mere sight of it will put a smile on your writer’s face.
Show interest and ask your writer how their writing is going? You might feel like you are opening up Pandora’s Box by asking the question, but it will be appreciated and it is Christmas. Depending on your writer you can expect one of the following reactions. Some writers will cast you an awkward glance, mumble something about a challenging draft and scurry away. However some excitable writers will still be rattling on about their latest draft half an hour later. These writers won’t have taken a breath for ages and will be using ‘jazz hands’ to help them explain what happens in the last quarter of their masterpiece.
Make sure the writer’s pets are fully briefed on their role over Xmas. They need to be on hand for creative counselling, dressing up in silly festive pet outfits and posing for cute Instagram photos.
If your writer asks you what they think their future literary agent and commissioning editor are doing over Christmas, just say, “waiting for your next manuscript, my dear!”
The greatest gift you can give to some writers is encouraging them to sneak off and write after Christmas lunch, whilst everyone else is snoozing on the sofa.

Have a wonderful Christmas, writers!

I am going on a Christmas blogging break so I will be back in the new year.

Lucy x

What I Learned Reading 100 Books This Year #TuesdayBookBlog #AmReading

For my Goodreads 2019 challenge I set myself a goal of 100 books.

I would just like to say it was a challenge! Enjoyable, but there were times when I did wonder what had possessed me to set such a target. I know some of you out there read a lot more, but for me 100 books was a long way out of my reading comfort zone. In addition 2019 proved to be one of the busiest years to date what with me deciding to publish my book and changing my day job, so reading 100 books couldn’t have come at a better time

How To Survive Deleting Characters #AmWriting #WritingCommunity

Writing the death of a much-loved character can be demanding and can leave you emotionally wiped out.

Did you know that there is another literary situation which can be just as challenging and one which can cast a nasty gloom over your writing life – deleting a character from your story.

I am not talking about deleting a random minor character; a fictional person who you created one day after too much coffee and inserted into the middle of your novel, just to beef it out (technical literary term) and then deleted them the following day after realising your stupidity. *Sigh*

No. I am talking about those major changes to a draft which result in you deciding to get rid of a key character.

I guarantee this fictional person will have been with you since the start of your story and someone who you have history with. You and this character will have been through some stuff; your rocky first draft, that dreadful second draft which no one liked, your third draft where you felt all hope was lost and the fourth draft which resulted in you wondering why the hell you had ever taken up writing.

You and this character will have shared story in-jokes. They will have been there for you during the bad times. You know them inside out and they are like a good friend.

The awful thing is that you know a change like this needs to happen.

Dare you say it?

Go on say it!

This character was a bit dull and your story will be better without them! 

This situation WILL play havoc with your emotions. You have to ERASE this fictional character from your story and then act like they NEVER existed!

You don’t know about literary heart-break until you have experienced severing all ties with a fictional character you have an emotional connection with.  

I have just deleted my main character’s love interest. He’d done six drafts with me and we got on like a house on fire. But I knew he wasn’t what my story needed. So I had to let him go (press delete).

So, if you are an emotional writer like me, you will find deleting an existing character tough going.

Here are some useful tips on how to survive this dark literary time:

Once you have made the decision to delete them from memory don’t spend hours deliberating. If your gut is saying ‘delete them!’ – do it!
Save a copy of your draft with them playing a part in your story. You may need this when you wake in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat, clutching your loved one and whispering “I shouldn’t have deleted [enter character name of choice]”.
Perform your delete swiftly and humanely. They won’t feel a thing! Ask your ‘find’ button for some much-needed support with this.
Prepare yourself in advance for a tough clean up operation post deletion. This will involve, what we in the trade like to call, some quick and dirty editing. Adjusting those scenes involving another character having a heated conversation with your now deleted character or where a character was in the middle of a romantic embrace with the one you have just cruelly deleted. The latter scenes are the hardest to mop up in this situation.
Things will feel a bit different for a while after the deletion. You might feel a bit raw / needy for a few days. For noting: if your loved one is unsympathetic with you after a character death, don’t expect ANYTHING from them post a character deletion. The best you will get is an eye roll! You are on your own with this one.
Tell yourself that your deleted character’s time will come again. Don’t dwell on the fact that you erased them from this story because they were dull / weak / surplus to requirements or replaced by a better looking character. Reassure yourself with a comforting phrase like square peg in a round hole!
Prepare to hear your deleted character’s name in real life conversations after the deletion. Bite your bottom lip, steady yourself and go make yourself a nice sugary cup of tea.
Talk your feelings through with a sympathetic writer friend.

I am here for you, if you need to talk to a fellow emotional writer.

Take it easy readers!

Have a great day!

 

How To Get Out Of A Reading Slump #TuesdayBookBlog #BookWorms

Before I launch into my post about getting out of a reading slump I will say this; coming out of a reading slump has got to be one of the best feelings ever!

You fall in love with books all over again and it’s such a wonderful feeling to be engrossed in a good book with a goofy smile spread across your face. Keep this in mind if you are currently in a slump.

Reading slumps – Ugh! That dark time where you want to read something but there’s no motivation to pick up a book or look inside. You leave bookshops without a purchase, you avoid the library and your mood sours by the hour.

A mild reading slump can last for a few days however a serious slump can last for weeks, months or even years.

A slump can creep up on you over a couple of books or it can hit you mid-way through a book.

For those of us who absolutely adore books, it is like someone turned a light off.

So, how do you get out of one?

Step away from the internet. This always works for me. I have found that my reading slumps occur when I am spending too much of my time on social media or the internet.

Turn off your phone. Let your imagination come to life again. I guarantee you will be reaching for a book in no time.

Rearrange your bookshelves. I think rearranging your bookshelves is a great way to work through problems. Last week I cured my high temperature by colour coding my bookcases and last month I sorted out a work issue in my head by putting my books into alphabetical order. Every life problem of mine going forward will result in a bookcase reorder.

Swap TBR lists with your other half / friend. This works if you choose someone who reads different books to you. I did this with my loved one and read a book about a time traveller who went back to the thirteenth century, got stuck and didn’t realise the bubonic plague had started. I had so much fun with that book – I was on the edge of my seat wondering whether the time traveller was going to get back alive and watching for the onset of symptoms. My reading slump disappeared and I rushed back to modern sweet romance.

Think about that glorious end of your reading slump. As I said at the start coming out of a reading slump is one of the best feelings in the world. Prepare yourself for your new dawn! Keep the slump going up until Christmas and then have the perfect festive season falling madly in love with books again.

I hope this post helps!

Writers – The Importance of Forgiving Ourselves #WritingCommunity

Writers, I believe forgiving ourselves is the secret to moving forward with our creative lives and ultimately achieving success.

After a lengthy period of Writer’s Block I have found my way back to writing and do you know what finally did it for me? Do you know what it was that resulted in me waking up one morning and reaching for my dusty laptop? Forgiving myself for writing the same story the wrong way. Yes I simply said to myself;

Lucy, let’s put aside the fact that you wrote Heartbreak Cafe the wrong way SIX times, that’s just low level detail. You need to forgive yourself and move on. For goodness sake, you wrote your debut novel: Instructions For Falling In Love Again, the wrong way twelve times but no one is counting. Well we are – lol! Let the six versions go eh? Also whilst you are at it, forgive yourself for writing a passive main character too, one who sat back and let things to happen to her. You have to hand it to her, she was one lucky lady! Anyway she’s gone now…after surviving six drafts. This is not a crime and you need to stop punishing yourself. I bet all the literary greats struggled with passive characters and wrote their works of art many times. 

Once I forgave myself my back felt a lot lighter. By forgiving myself I had set something free. Looking through my writing journals from the past few years I can see that forgiving myself for creative mistakes has been a reoccurring activity. This is how things go for me. I make a writing mistake; a draft doesn’t work out, a story has to be shelved or I get a rejection in some shape or form, I bundle up all the negative energy with that situation and stick it on my back. Then I carry it around for weeks and even months, until the weight of creative shame becomes too much and my knees buckle. Once on the floor I spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to work out why I can’t get back on my feet. I would just like to say that I don’t think I would make a good ant.

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Then I have a brainwave and think maybe I need to forgive myself AGAIN!

So, I go through the motions of forgiving myself  which involves me acknowledging the fact I am human and the only way to learn stuff is through mistakes. In a matter of seconds the weight on my back vanishes. The bundle of negative energy never wanted to stay with me. The act of forgiveness set it free.

My creative life moves on once I have forgiven myself. 

A list of things from the past four years I have forgiven myself for:

Not getting anywhere in writing competitions.
Rejections.
Taking a draft in the wrong direction.
Writing a draft beta readers dislike.
Killing off a much loved character.
Writing a passive character.
Writing a bad story.
Writing a dire first chapter.
Writing a story which bores the hell out of me by chapter three.

One day I want to be able to spot the bundle of negative energy which is attached to a creative mistake and decide not to put it on my back. Instead I will place it carefully on the floor. I would then re-position my oh-so-fancy-Writer’s Hat (next year I intend to wear more hats), smile and walk away…whistling.

As I like to pass on things which work for me,  try forgiving yourself if you are going through a writing bad patch. It doesn’t cost anything or requires hours of extra work. You just need to forgive yourself and let the bundle of negative energy go. You can either talk to yourself in the mirror or write it down. Just forgive and move on.

Take care out there x

 

 

 

 

 

#BookReview It Only Happens In The Movies by Holly Bourne #TuesdayBookBlog

If I had access to a time machine that could whisk me and a book of my choice back to a meeting with my 17-year-old self, this would be the book.

Once sat in front of my 17-year-old self, I would take out this book. After clearing my voice in an authoritative manner, I would then read out in a loud voice something IMPORTANT from page 407 (in the paperback version). Something which looking back now, I WISH I HAD KNOWN. This could have saved me from a LOT of heartache.

Love is a choice. And you may not be able to help your feelings, but you are responsible for the choices you make about what to do with them.

I loved this book even though it…took a great big sledgehammer to romance and romantic comedies in films. *GASP* I only twigged this would be happening after the prologue and I had to make a snap decision. I no longer read blurbs which is something I probably need to rectify. Do I carry on and watch my favourite romcoms get hacked? As the writing was so GOOD, I decided to let Holly Bourne and her bunch of quirky characters carry on.

Here’s the blurb (from Goodreads)

Audrey is over romance. Since her parents’ relationship imploded her mother’s been catatonic, so she takes a cinema job to get out of the house. But there she meets wannabe film-maker Harry. Nobody expects Audrey and Harry to fall in love as hard and fast as they do. But that doesn’t mean things are easy. Because real love isn’t like the movies…

The greatest love story ever told doesn’t feature kissing in the snow or racing to airports. It features pain and confusion and hope and wonder and a ban on cheesy clichés. Oh, and zombies… YA star Holly Bourne tackles real love in this hugely funny and poignant novel.

Here’s my review

I wanted to wrap my arms around Audrey at various stages in this book. The urges to hug her were coming thick and fast at the start; when she’s had her heart well and truly stamped on by her ex-boyfriend, her home life is going downhill fast, she’s given up studying drama (her one passion in life because of the ex-boyfriend) and she feels alienated from her girlfriends. Her new job at the new stylish cinema was a welcomed relief for both of us.

I really liked the character of Harry, his film directing, his fascination with zombies, his reputation, his teeth and his banter. He makes this book hilarious in places.

I also loved Audrey. Her idea to give a feminist viewpoint to Harry’s zombie film character was very funny. I also loved her girlfriends as minor characters and I thought having her school project on romance in the movies being woven into the plot was fab.

The book was cleverly written as it explores a number of different cliches in famous romcom or romance films using Audrey’s experiences. Warning – it does make you see things differently.

The stylish cinema was a great setting for most of the book and it gave me such an urge to go watch a good film.

There are many great quotes:

Common dates in romance movies:

Seats in a box at the opera or ballet

Walking around a beautiful foreign city

Night-time picnics in empty parks

Finding some gorgeous abandoned house that the boy fills with candles

Common dates in real life:

Nando’s…

A round of applause for Holly Bourne for the ending. All I will say is that it was incredibly satisfying.

If you want a book which is bittersweet and reminds you what it was like to fall in love for the first time and the added pressures that come with the rush of hormones, this book is for you. Check it out by clicking here.

I still love romcoms and romance films

How To Survive The Guilt From Not Writing #WritingCommunity

Picture this scenario. Your second draft is stuck in what I call – the middle of the book quagmire. Feeling upbeat you decide to find a way out of the boggy middle bit of your draft novel and get writing.

It is not long before you decide to lie on the sofa, stuff Oreo biscuits in quick succession into your mouth and ignore the little promise you made to yourself about turning your author dream into a reality.

Ten minutes of lying on the sofa is followed by a conversation about writer motivation on Twitter, quickly followed by a strong urge to search Amazon for that writing craft book everyone on Facebook was raving about. The FB comment someone left claiming the craft book was magical and was responsible for getting them an eye-watering book deal is stuck in your mind. Just thinking what you could do after reading that craft book makes you quiver with excitement and you chomp on a few more biscuits.

In addition you also check out your author friend’s latest debut. You buy your friend’s book and then tweet that you have just bought it. This activity is quickly followed by an update of your Goodreads account. Feeling productive you browse Pinterest for quotes about how good it feels to be chasing your dreams.

A few hours later… your writing craft book is arriving in three days, your author friend’s debut is on your Kindle and your tweet about writing motivation has been liked over 20 times.

But you are staring gloomily at your laptop – you haven’t written anything.

You wasted your writing time and worse still your second draft is still in that pesky quagmire.

The next day the same happens. No words appear, but you do make a start on the Xmas shopping, clean out the kitchen cupboards and hoover the stairs a number of times.

Prepare for a special form of guilt which is like no other!

Things to expect:

You will be joined, inside your head, by an annoying little voice which will say on repeat; “you should be writing.”

You will grimace at Twitter as other writers will be tweeting about how many words they have hammered out. I guarantee that the writers who you normally follow and struggle to bang out words, will be on TOP form! They will have churned out hundreds.

You will get a bit twitchy.

You will start to feel ashamed.

Before you know it you feel like crap.

The only way to survive this horrid guilt trip is to find out what caused you to waste time.

Now, before I start, you might find buying that magical writing craft book, the one everyone was raving about on Facebook, results in you hammering out 30,000 words and getting an eye watering book deal. This has NEVER happened to me but I like to live in hope with such writing related purchases.

In my experience…the issue is hidden in what you are working on. I ALWAYS waste time when I have Writer’s Block. The poor souls on Instagram and Facebook will know about how I wasted the last three or so months and have suffered with extreme writer guilt. It was all to do with my draft. There was something wrong with it.

Assess where you are with your draft and hunt out that reason why you stopped. Treat this exercise in the same way you would when looking for a missing key or wallet. Think back to what you were last doing on your draft when the words stopped. That’s where the issue is, my friend.

You can have a stern word with yourself. Face up to the fact you wasted valuable writing time and accept responsibility. You can tell yourself you didn’t really need that writing craft book, your author friend’s book could have been downloaded as a reward for writing and you can’t face explaining the reason for the Pinterest quote hunt.

But this is all pointless because you have not dealt with the issue.

I have had several stern words with myself but it has been futile. The elephant in the room was that I hated the changes I had made to my main character.

Remind yourself of your writing goals for the year. Again a pointless exercise.

Until you return to that middle of the book quagmire, put on some creative waterproofs, tie a rope around your waist and wade in to drag out your second draft – THE GUILT WILL CONTINUE. Trust me – it doesn’t go away.

If things are going nowhere in the middle of your novel cause someone a lot of fictional pain. That should get things moving.

To all those writers who are out there struggling with this – I feel your pain!

Have a great day!

 

#BookReview Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell #TuesdayBookBlog #Bookish

“You can be Han Solo,” he said, kissing her throat. “And I’ll be Boba Fett. I’ll cross the sky for you.”

This has to be one of my favourite book quotes of all time. It comes from THIS book!

OMG – I WANT MY LOVED ONE TO SAY THIS TO ME. Even though he’s never read this book and unlikely to as he only reads military fiction, I want us to recreate this; he kisses my throat, tells me I can be Han Solo (a BIG ask!) and then says he’s going to be Boba Fett and cross the sky for me.

That quote is true love.

I want to know what Rainbow Rowell did after writing something so AMAZING as that line above.  Did she leap out of her writer’s chair, fist pump and shout, ‘YESSSS!’ or did she rush out into the garden and cartwheel about while squealing with author happiness?

Before I get on with this review let me hit you with another quote from this book.

Romance fans – brace yourselves because this line is a GEM!

“It was the nicest thing she could imagine. It made her want to have his babies and give him both of her kidneys.”

This is EXACTLY what goes through our minds when we fall in love. We want to have their babies and chuck in a body organ or two for good measure.

This book will whisk you back to your teenage years and recreate that first experience of love.

All I will say is that I had to lie down in a darkened room for several hours after finishing it.

Here’s the blurb:

Two misfits.

One extraordinary love.

Eleanor… Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough…Eleanor.

Park… He knows she’ll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There’s a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises…Park.

Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. (Taken from Goodreads)

Here’s my review 

This book is quite possibly one of the most magical and sweetest books I have ever read.

As the new girl in town with a chaotic family, wild red hair and mismatched clothes, Eleanor captures your heart straight away. She’s teased at school and is in desperate need of a friend. Park is this sensitive guy who wants to be left alone to read his comics and listen to his music on the bus.

The reader is treated with dual points of view and this is such a gift.

They have very different lives; Eleanor and Park and at the start you can’t see how Rainbow Rowell is going to get these two characters together.

Oh my goodness their love is so sweet!!

This book is crammed full with gorgeous romantic things like:

“Nothing before you counts,” he said. “And I can’t even imagine an after.”

It is also a story with a dark side too and this is what grounds Eleanor and Park’s romance and makes it such a good read.

I can’t talk about the ending. This is something I still need to work through with my book counsellor and could take years.

Rainbow Powell – I salute you.

Check it out by clicking here.