Moira McPartlin's Blog, page 3

A Writer’s To Do List

Like many workers I returned to my desk on the 7th of January a couple of kilos heavier and with a to do list that stretched over several pages. On social media I sympathised with those who found it hard to get back into gear that day. One of the comments I received back was surprise that I had a to do list. What was there to remember? Get up, go to desk, write some words, end of work day. It was meant as a joke, but the comment got me thinking about what people perceive to be a writer’s life, especially when the latest book is finished.

I think most people know that all authors, even authors published by large publishers, need to spend a proportion of their time promoting their own work during the publication phase (and beyond).

Star of Hope, the last book in my Sun Song Trilogy will be published on 28th February by the small independent publisher Fledgling Press.   The majority of the work for the launch events, reviews and publicity is down to the publisher, but they don’t know who I want to invite to my launches, they don’t know what unique selling points I may have, they don’t have access to my own networks and they cannot supply the vast amounts of information required to fuel a blog tour.

All this information needs to come from me. But as any author will tell you, all time spent on promotion is time not writing.  On the 7th of January I decided that my week would be structured differently.

This is Monday and this blog post is the first of my promotional tasks for the day and one thing ticked off my to do list.

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52 Dates for Writers

52 Dates for Writers by Claire Wingfield

I first heard of going on a writer’s date from an early creative writing teacher. I experienced it again from attempting to work my way through Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. I floundered on ‘The Way’ when I was expected to partake in a reading fast for a week – that was a step too far. But I found the artist’s date one of the exercises that did work for me. When I was on a date new ideas sparked. On one particular artist’s date I solved a major issues in my debut novel, The Incomers, which led to the popular Pairty Line.

So what is an artist’s date? The date is a tool for creatives to recharge. After many bouts of writing words stick, ideas dull and a block can arise. It becomes necessary to unblock blocks, to kick start a stall and rid yourself of all the cliques you want to avoid but can’t.

Normally the date is taken alone and it is designed to take yourself away from the mundane, try something different, dare, play, and experiment or just spend some time in your own head. The dates I have taken in the past are many. I once sat a No 6 bus from Clydebank to East Kilbride, a journey that takes an hour by car but two hours by bus through some varied districts of Glasgow. Feeding ducks at a nearby pond paled in comparison but was still enjoyable as were visits to museums, and of course every writers’ favourite pastime, writing in a café. After the death of my mother I couldn’t write, but a period of lonely walks warmed my writing muscles enough for small short stories to appear.

When I was given 52 Dates for Writers, by Claire Wingfield I was sceptical. I have 20 years of writing experience and three novels under my belt since I ventured out on my first dates. What could this book give me now?  I decided to give it a go.

 

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Clare Wingfield is an experienced editor and literary consultant. She takes the artist’s date a step further than Julia Cameron did by targeting each date to a specific part of your novel writing (although these can also be applied to short stories and non fiction).

At the beginning of the book there is a list of things to focus on; characterisation, plot, setting, style, writing business with a key to the dates which will help with each point. Also included in each date is a specific writing exercise.

 

 

I soon discovered that a book like this cannot be reviewed in one setting so I decided to test some of the dates and apply them to my writing. At the time of my dates I was writing book three of my Sun Song Trilogy, Star of Hope. There are some new characters in this book,  most I know well. But the plot? Oh how I floundered in the early stages. This week I am now up the final edits and am surprised to find that two major parts in the novel originate directly from some dates I chose from 52 Dates for Writers. I won’t list the novel sections here in case they could become spoilers.

I now realise my earlier reservations were unfounded, what the exercise has taught me is that any aid I can find to help the writing process I will take.  This clever little manual has helped me and as I move into my next project I will pick some more dates from the book and hope for the same success.

So far I have been on maybe six or seven dates, each one helped my writing in some way but the two that significantly influenced a couple of scenes in my novel were;

Date number 5 – Visit a Crematorium or Graveyard

Date number 23 – Attend an event of Grand Proportions

Life Long Learning

I left school early with less qualifications than my parents and teachers expected, but not me. I never enjoyed the way I was taught at school. When my children were well established at school I went back to working full time and was given the opportunity, at the age of thirty, to finish my education.

First I went to night classes, then day release, then I studied using open learning and finally went back to evening classes. It was tough being a single mum, working full time and studying but unlike school I embraced this new way of learning and studied hard to gain both a BA and a professional qualification.

The learning paid off – I was promoted and able to secure a great job. But my love of learning never left me. While I was working in a busy finance job I began to write fiction. The first thing I did was sign up for creative writing classes at the nearby university. I was back on the night class assessment treadmill and I loved it because I was learning a new craft.

I spent the next ten or so years using that craft and fulfilled my search for knowledge through reading.

In 2015 my husband retired and he discovered Future Learn, a free, on line resource that offers courses on a huge range of subject. At the time I was writing a novel that involved nuclear energy and Future Learn were offering a four week course called The Science of Nuclear Energy run by The Open University. It was free, it was for novices, what had I to lose? I found the science difficult but not impossible and the biggest problem I had was finding WiFi to allow me to download the lessons while I was on holiday. It taught me all I needed to know to be confident with my novel’s subject matter.

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I am still using Future Learn. A few months ago I completed a Introduction to Geology course because I’m a hiker and rocks fascinate me. This week I started the Podcasting for Storytelling Course. I am hoping the latest course will help me find a different audience for my stories.

A Writing Holiday

 

My first venture into creative writing was almost twenty years ago.  I plucked up courage and joined a creative writing workshop group run by a gentle poet in the back room of a local bookstore. The regular participants were eclectic; a scary South African lady who claimed to know everything about poetry; a little man who lived with his sister and wrote very witty rhymes; an elderly man with fierce eyebrows who only wrote John Buchan fan fiction; and a thirty something lad, (I can’t remember his name so I’ll call him Sam), who claimed to be the only proper writer in the room.

Sam would often bring a bottle of Pernod into the workshops to sip until he became insultingly drunk. Presumably Sam believed this was a substitute for Absinthe, a drink some writers used to spark their creativity.  Each week Sam read out his mysterious prose with contempt because the rest of us couldn’t understand it.  At the time I believed my inability to understand his prose was my failing because I wasn’t a proper writer. When quizzed about his successes he would sneer and remain aloof. I began to become suspicious of Sam’s writing prowess when he announced he would be absent for a while due to a forthcoming holiday.

‘How wonderful,’ I said. ‘Holidays are when I do most writing.’ I worked full time. ‘I’m sure you’ll get lots of inspiration and write loads.’

He looked at me in horror. ‘I won’t be writing. I’m a writer and I’m taking a holiday.’

While he was away there was a noticeable lightening in the room. I relaxed when trying to comment on the other writers’ work and felt more comfortable reading my own work out loud.  I don’t know if the tutor noticed the difference or if someone complained but when Sam returned and read out his incomprehensible drivel before daring us to comment, the tutor signed and said.

‘I have no idea what your work is about and what you are trying to tell us.’ He may even have used the words ‘incomprehensible drivel’.

Sam stormed out of the room and was never seen nor heard of again. But I never forgot his resolve that writers don’t write on holiday. I found it unbelievable then and still do now that I am a published writer.

I have just returned from a six week trip in France. It wasn’t a research trip and it wasn’t a residency. This was a holiday where I toured in my campervan, climbed hills, cycled, socialised and ate too many baguettes (and drank a few Pernods). While I was away I wrote every day. I wrote fiction, I wrote my travel journal and I compiled lists of ideas to work on when I returned.

I write long hand on holiday, which is a joy in itself, so before each trip I find some pretty notebooks and funky coloured pens. This year the trip was longer and I filled the two notebooks and drained the pens I’d packed in the first three weeks. New supplies were bought from Super U and I was back in business. I don’t know what other writers do but I cannot imagine a holiday without writing.

I often think of Sam and wonder if he ever got over his idea of what a writer should be and actually became a writer.

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End of the Trilogy

My task for the next month is to edit another draft of book three of my Sun Song Trilogy.

But I also plan to read and take notes from the first two books. I have this cold dread that hits me in the middle of the night – what if the trilogy ends and there is some glaring hole in the plot? I know editors will perform magic, but I feel personally responsible to polish off the trilogy without any errors and with a strong story the readers will be satisfied with.

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I have been writing the Sun Song Trilogy since 2012, something I didn’t expect when I began the story. This was meant to be a stand alone book set in 2089. But when I began to build the world in which to set the story, I realised that the world, the characters, the story and the themes were too big for one book.

All my other projects have been put on hold until this Sun Song is complete. I admit I am looking forward to working on another story but I’ve loved every minute of this journey into the future and I will miss Sorlie, Ishbel, Scud,Dawdle and all the other characters who have inhabited my days for the past six years. I want to do them justice and let them live on in readers’ imaginations and on library and book store shelves for many years to come.

 

Welcome to the new web site

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Over the past six months I have been busy writing the last book in my Sun Song Trilogy.  The edits for that are now under way but my blog and website have been neglected in that process.  Over the past few weeks I have been working on this new site.  There are still a few buttons to add and links to fix but the bones are there and I hope to add new content on a regular basis.

Wants of The Silent – Part II Sun Song Trilogy

Although this blog has been quiet since my Highland One Island Tour, like a computer, things have been running in the background.

I am delighted to announce the launch of Wants of the Silent – Part II of The Sun Song Trilogy.

Event Dates:



1st    August               Edinburgh, Blackwell Bookstore, South Bridge



9th   August               Stirling, Central Library, Corn Exchange Road



10th August               Glasgow, Waterstones, Argyle Street



6th   September         London, Blackwell Bookstore, High Holburn

There is also a fantastic new book trailer to accompany the launch.

 

Highland One Island Book Tour

I visit the Highlands and Islands of Scotland regularly but, with the exception of a series of workshops I delivered in Aberdeen last year, I have never taken my two novels on tour with me. This August and September I remedied that. Travelling round with my husband in our campervan, Bessie, I visited bookstores, schools, libraries and writing groups throughout the Highlands and Argyll. This is a photo-blog of that tour.


It started on a glorious late summer evening in Aberdeen with a visit to The Aberdeen Youth Council.










Bessie Van with Pittodrie Stadium in the background

Afterwards we bombed up the A96 to spend the night in a campsite in Nairn.  Dubbed the ‘Friendly Caravan and Camping Club’ we were greeted by the warden who grudgingly showed us to our late night pitch.

Next day I visited Dingwall Academy and Community Library. I presented Ways of the Doomed to a group of National Five students, had lunch with a youth book group and later met with a very enthusiastic adult book group. After three hours and three groups I was all talked out and looking forward to some rest days before the next event.







Dingwall Academy in the sunshine



We stopped off in Contin for a couple of days. The first day we climbed the hill Little Wyvis and I was astounded to see that the controlling future world I invented for Ways of the Doomed is not so far away.  These signs are displayed all over the estate to scare walkers away. It didn’t work. 









Misleading all year sign with no mention of stalking

Wave to the camera!










Another wave to the invisible camera



These signs are to put walkers off but the Access Laws in Scotland allow walkers to walk on these paths.

Next day Colin wanted a day fishing so we drove the van to Loch Meig and while he guddled about looking for fish I ran the length and back of the loch before settling down in the van to write some new short stories.










A fine road runs the length of the loch to the dam and back.





Back to the tour and lunch in Inverness with a group of children’s writers before the first of my open events – Saturday afternoon in Waterstones, Inverness.  I was well looked after by the welcoming staff of this lovely bright store.

Inverness children’s writers
Saturday and Sunday night were spent in Evanton giving me the chance to have a lazy Sunday wandering the banks of the Cromarty Firth.












Looking over the Cromarty Firth to the Black Isle

Monday started grey but brightened up by the time I reached Fortrose Academy. I was one of the many workshop leaders to take part in the Project Future Literacy Festival.  It was a treat to meet all the other leaders and to work with such willing and happy students.

From Fortrose we dashed up the A9 to Wick in time to see a stunning sunset and to experience Mexican Monday food in the local Wetherspoons.  The Wick event was in the evening so we had plenty time to visit the famous Pulteney Distillery before I delivered my Narrative Devices workshop to Caithness Writers.

Pulteney Distillery, Wick

Another road dash next day to another writers’ group, this time southward to Huntly.  Huntly Writers’ meeting was informal and rather than deliver a talk or a workshop we all sat around, as writers, and talked about writing.  It was very relaxed and great fun.  Next day I had the opportunity to visit one of the Huntly creative initiatives, Orb’s Bookshop. And of course I couldn’t resist buying a book there.        

Maureen Ross of Huntly Writers in Orb’s Bookshop

So that was the sunny North Highlands, what about the other Highland areas and the ONE island?

The next part of the tour involved mixed weather, ferries and a few trips round the West Coast.

Publicity was important for the tour.  Some local papers featured my tour and Bute Island Radio invited me to speak on their community show.  The show was the day before the Dunoon event so we sailed over the Clyde to Rothesay, and while the wind picked up and the rain battered down I spoke for an hour about books, libraries and writing.  By the time I left the radio station the ferries were disrupted and we were very glad our ferry journey to the Cowal Peninsula was only five minutes long. 







Bookpoint’s fine window display for my event





The weather improved and next day Dunoon sparkled in the sunshine.  Bookpoint Bookshop was the venue for my talk and although the audience was small we had a long and lively Q & A session and the coffee shop setting was right up my street. 








All aboard for the Rothesay Ferry!



We headed home for a couple of days to celebrate a family birthday, then hit the road again for the last leg of the tour.  Back to Rothesay in good weather this time for a busy, bustling event at Rothesay Library.  There I presented my books and because the audience was still buzzing from the success of Bute Noir, the new crime festival held on the island, crime fiction was also on the menu.  







Oban Harbour





Last stop was Oban.  I love Oban, I have visited many times, mostly passing through on the way to the Islands. This time I talked to readers at Oban Library and spent Saturday afternoon in Oban Waterstones engaging with customers, most of whom were tourists. I had a fan girl moment during a wonderful conversation with Luke Sutherland’s sister!  

We camped in a coastal campsite just outside the town and enjoyed spending lazy mornings watching boats sail up and down The Sound of Kerrera.  

This tour was an adventure. A way to combine my love of Scotland and camper-vanning, with my love of writing.  It was hard work but I enjoyed very minute of it. The many librarians, bookstore managers, writers and teachers who hosted my events were kind, welcoming and helpful.  I thank you all.

While I was in Oban it was suggested my next tour should be to the Islands.  Watch this space.

Highland, One Island Book Tour

Coming Soon

Adults Love a Child Narrator #2 – Girls

It is almost a year since my novel Ways of the Doomed was published and I am astonished at the mixed readership it has attracted.  When the marketing was first planned it was agreed to pitch mostly to the Young Adult market.  I have been visiting schools all year and it’s true, the kids are enthralled.  When I wrote the novel I had no audience in mind, I just wrote the book I wanted to write, so I am delighted that adults are also loving reading the harrowing adventure of my young protagonist Sorlie Mayben.  This got me thinking about other books narrated by children that have an overwhelming adult appeal, often because the subject is bigger than the narrator’s story. 


Now it’s the girls turn to show that they are just as capable as telling their stories for the adult audience.  When I looked out my reviews I found just as many girls stories as I did boys. Many of the reviews whether with girl or boy narrators are set in Africa.  This may be because I did lots of research on Africa a few years back or maybe it is because African writers seem to find it easier to tell harrowing stories from the point of view of children. Looking at the list below, I find that most of the stories are harrowing no matter where they are set but  they are stories worth reading despite that.


Not reviewed but also worth reading are The Famished Road by Ben Okri; the novels of Buchi Emecheta; Say You’re One of Them by Uwen Akpan and The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeyemi.



 1. Precious by Sapphire



Sixteen year old Precious Jones, is illiterate, she is raped by her father, beaten by her mother, let down by the system. When she falls pregnant for the second time by her own father she is placed in an alternative teaching programme. Here she learns to read and write. This is her diary.  This brutal story is not for the faint hearted, but we are kidding ourselves if we think it is a unique story.  Too many novels portray ‘poor little rich girl’ – poor little poor girl deserves to have her story told too. Despite the trauma of the tale this is an inspirational read.

 2.  Dora, a headcase by Lidia Yuknavitch


Definitely not for the faint hearted.  I imagine teenagers hiding this novel from over anxious parents.  LGBT sex, drugs and enough swearing to make Madonna blush.  Oh but what a voice (or not) because this is a modern telling of the Sigmund Freud case study and his treatment of a young girl Ida Bauer (Dora) with hysteria which resulted in loss of voice.  The modern narrator Ida (Dora) ramrods her way through her own mental health issues, subjects her psychiatrist to a treble dose of Viagra and videos his subsequent relief. It is fun but with serious undertones.  Her mother is in denial of Ida’s father’s affair and Ida relies on her motley crew of friends to help her get even, get better, get the hell out of there.  

      3. No and Me by Delphine de Vigan 



The story is told by thirteen year old OCD sufferer, Lou Bertignac in a narrative voice that is unique and believable. She befriends No, a homeless girl living rough on the streets of Paris. With a naivety that is refreshing Lou tries to fix No’s life.  The fact that the number of homeless young people currently living on the streets of Paris is staggering makes this story all the more believable. 

I’d be surprised if you’ve never read a book with a child narrator, but if you haven’t I would urge you to do so.  They are more reliable and much better fun than adults.