Fran Macilvey's Blog, page 24

‘Faith, Hope and Love’ by Fran Macilvey

‘Faith, Hope and Love’ by Fran Macilvey

To celebrate the completion of my second book, The Seduction of Susan Scott, here I serialise a short story – quite a long one, as it turns out – which I have had on the books for a while.

Part One

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“Elaine!”

My mother stands as still as a painting, waiting at the back door, calling me into the house. Whooping and hollering, I’m out having fun with my friends. On our streets, broad-leafed trees stand guard, their branches creaking in a conspiratoria...

My current ambitions

My current ambitions

My perambulations in Australia and New Zealand over for now – what a holiday we had! – I am back home again. And what are my current ambitions?

I been reading a lot of books, including lately a series of novels about love, dating, discovering one’s true purpose in life… I’m sorry to say, I find myself increasingly impatient with multiple characters who find themselves able to win Masterchef and Bake-Off at the drop of a hat, who attract, without seeming to try, the attent...

Keeping my own deadlines

Keeping my own deadlines

 

Some of our work deadlines – tax submissions, domain name and website renewals – we have little say in. We just pencil them into our diaries, and deal with them as they come up. Others – manuscript completion dates, following up phone-calls – are entirely up to us, so we first have to set these work goals, and then respect them.

Setting a work goal is relatively easy, though sometimes I am a bit too optimistic with my time-frames – ‘Yes, I’ll get that finished by t...

Different characters, different music

Different characters, different music.

 

So last week I blogged about how I sometimes listen to music when I’m writing. I was brought up to study in silence, to work in silence, and I most often think that is the best way. But just lately, I’ve been experimenting with different kinds of music, and I have a new idea I’d like to share with you.

Susan, my first character, seems to like Emeli Sande.

Sheila my second character, seems to respond better to classical music, but then, she would – she...

I love my characters more

I love my characters more

Since I have decided I prefer having a regular working routine and respecting it more often, I have found that I love my characters more and respect them more carefully. Somehow, they are also happier being with me, and more expansive, which helps greatly when it comes to writing what they want to tell me: their motivations and ideas have become clearer and more determined, since I no longer cram them into the rest of my life like a guilty secret.

I once got a reply...

Listening while I write

Listening while I write

 

Some days – not as often as I thought – I find I need total silence to write. Other times, listening while I write, a tune or dissonance simply catches my mood and lifts it amazingly so that I can write, and focus easily, see the gaps and the errors I need to address in whatever I’m working on.

Such a relief.

While I love silence, I also relish the feeling that I can connect through the varied emotional streams offered in music, classical and pop, county, jazz, and...

What do we mean by success?

What do we mean by success?

Authors tend to be a species driven to succeed. So what do we mean by success? Here are my current top five ideas about what ‘success’ means.

~ A successful person does not compete with others, but pushes themselves to do the best they can with what they have available to them – time, money, opportunities, energy, inspiration – at any one time. When we know we have done the best we could, there is no room for regret.

~ A successful person first sets goals that are...

Making Miracles

My third book, Making Miracles is now complete and published under my imprimatur, Heartwell Publishing. Thanks so much to everyone who has helped make my latest dream come true.

My third book, Making Miracles, brings to a conclusion my various attempts, over the course of fifteen years, to encapsulate in three books – which follow in a loose series – what I have learned in the course of my varied life: how I have moved from profound unhappiness into contentment and have, hopefully, become a...

Holiday blues

Holiday blues

I have the holiday blues: I love listening to the music of older, experienced singers. I find as I get older, that I respond to their gentle irony, their humour glimmering though wonderful, wistful lyrics. Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, singers I would not have given a thought to when I was younger, now console me in ways that I can’t articulate. They’ve been through hell of various kinds and learned so much, and they give the gift of their compassion though their songs. I’m grate...

For the love of passwords

For the love of passwords

‘The reading Girl’ by Repin

 

There are a few accounts to set up if we are venturing into indie publishing. Again, using my choices as a model – which can only be a rough guide, since we each must make our own choices, which are multiple and varied and constantly changing – this is a summary of the accounts I have to help me with publishing. For this, it does help if you have a love of passwords…

~ An Amazon account from which I can publish my book as a paperback wi...