Waffling and Blogging. My First Time. Please be Gentle With me.

Waffle: Oxford Dictionary - to informally speak or write at length in a vague or trivial way.

Blog: No definition given - not in my dictionary anyway!

This blogging thing, well it's all new to me. I've been told I need to do it and I can't leave my brand new website with nothing on it but a few links that lead to my books. You have to make it interesting, they say - so that people will come back for more- they say! I'll do my best, I said. I follow author blogs avidly, hoping some of their thoughts will rub off on me. I've been a guest on some of those blogs, so I guess I have a rough idea of what to do and say. I'm never usually stuck for words. My family and friends will vouch for that. So why is it that right now I'm struggling to string a sentence together? I was recently persuaded to have a go at Twitter. That's an eye opener. I thought it would be a case of people I know adding me to their follower lists and vice versa. But I've now got strangers from all over the world following me. Who are they and why do they want to follow me? It freaked me out at first, but I've taken the plunge and followed a good few of the more interesting ones back. I've even had a go at re-tweeting things that have taken my fancy. Don't know if that's the way to go about it, but remember, I'm still learning.
So anyway, when I set up the aforementioned website, with the help of the very kind and patient Tim Ellis, a fellow Indie Author, I had all these wild ideas about what to write about once I started this blogging malarkey. I wanted to mention music as well as writing and books. And I will, once I fathom out what to say. I like to use songs for my novel titles. I love thinking about which ones are appropriate and will tie in with events in my stories.

When I started to write my first novel it wasn't called Three Steps To Heaven. It didn't have a title at all. In fact, I didn't even realise it was going to be a novel. One sunny day in the mid-nineties I was strolling around The Lanes in Brighton and came across a '60's memorabilia shop. I was drawn towards it by the window display. A Dansette record player; a stack of forty-fives; a tray with a sixties crockery arrangement and a female dummy wearing a Mary Quant style wig, black and white mini dress and white knee length boots, exactly like I wore in the sixties.

I wandered into the shop and was instantly transported back to my teens. I didn't buy anything that day. I was a bit skint and the prices were through the roof, but I came out of there with an idea buzzing around in my head. I loved the sixties and felt compelled to jot down my memories. Some people will tell you that if you can remember the sixties, then you weren't actually there. But that's not true in my case. I had a great time, was most definitely there and remember it very well. I might not recall what happened last week, or even yesterday, but the sixties I can bring to mind with amazing clarity.   

I popped into a nearby stationary store, bought a pad and pen, took myself to sit on the beach and started scribbling. By the time I met up with my friend later that day I'd almost filled the pad. I showed it to him and when he asked what I planned to do with it I said I thought I might write about the sixties music scene in our hometown. I'd worked in a local record store and hung around with musicians that frequented it. I'd seen loads of local bands live and big names too. We had a few good clubs in our area, The Manor Lounge, The Sinking Ship, The Tabernacle, later to become Sergeant Peppers. Where else could you see the likes of The Who, The Small Faces and Jimi Hendrix for less than five bob? (Twenty-five-pence to you youngsters.) I felt I had a good grounding for writing my factual book. For a few weeks I scribbled ideas to my heart's content. Then someone beat me to it and published a book called "It Happened in Manchester." It was very similar to what I had in mind. So I abandoned that idea, but the writing flood-gates were opened. I wrote a bit of poetry and even managed to get a few poems accepted in obscure publications. But the sixties wouldn't go away. My friend suggested I write a fictional tale set in the sixties, using my musical knowledge. And that's how my band in the novels - The Raiders - was born. And so began the long, but fun, task of creating my characters and learning to write fiction… Thank you for "listening". Tune in next time.  Pam.
This card is a membership card for the club where Jimi Hendrix smashed a hole in the wall with his guitar. Happy days!