ABOUT

April 3, 2018

 
(twitter: @BleuViola)IMG_0167

People.  They make the world go round, don’t they?  I adore meeting new people and what better way than to do so through the medium of writing?

While writing is part of our everyday through form-filling, emails and texting, don’t you sometimes find yourself creating stories from something?  Or nothing?  Perhaps a scene unfolding through the windscreen while sat in your car, or a journey taken by a stranger in a dream you wake from? Strings of words appear in my mind; plots and twists, creating worlds which need exploring.

I have joined the Romantic Novelists Association and have somehow secured one of only 300 places on their New Writers Scheme for 2018. I can submit a manuscript (ideally around 80-90,000 words) by August, but earlier if possible … so should you choose to jump aboard and watch me progress, procrastinate, spend time on ‘other projects’ will you do me one favour? Shout and remind me I should be working on my WIP 🥂

I love the art of writing.  When I was a teenager I even loved to buy a new fountain pen and quality paper to go with it.  I would clear the desk of all ballpoint pens (riff raff) and push all homework away from sight (ghastly, even if necessary) in order that the new pen and paper would not be disturbed in their first outing.

The spoken word, then in ink but now mostly on a keyboard can entertain and educate,  make us laugh and cry.   If you read any of my posts here then I hope you leave entertained, educated or amused.

March update.  20,000 words down …. only another 60,000 to go … are you having a laugh????

A bedtime story… ☠️☠️☠️

April 18, 2019

Blades slice skin as he pushes his way through undergrowth which whispers against his legs; high brambles snag his top and he pauses to listen for his hunter.

A pain grips his hoarse throat as he gasps for oxygen after running miles in the moonlight. He searched for and found the cover of forest but it feels far from safe.

Scanning the space he left behind he can no longer feel the shadow chasing him or smell the toxic burning of scorched flesh. .

The bark on an old oak is damp and feels gnarled against his young palm. His fingertips find a groove, fingernails fill with matter.  Mack does not see the ruby eyes blink above his dishevelled head, nor notice the fog cloaking the forest.

Snapping twigs beneath his trainers sound like symbols to his heightened hearing and he stops in a clearing.

Cold air moves his hair from his forehead, the stench has returned. He is close and Mack would rather die than see again the face which is melting…

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Sorry; don’t know where that came from – I just looked out at the moon 🌒 😂

Kisses .. is as far as my characters get on the page! Editing observations… helped out by Stephen King

April 15, 2019

Good morning my lovelies – I’m drinking tea brought to me by Man of the Woods. He’s gone out to check slug activity on the young crops and I’m watching the clock hands do that thing where they look sedentary but they’re not. Imagine going round and round in circles and never seeing any other platform.

“Oh, hello 10 it’s you again. What have you been up to for the last twelve hours?”

Self editing can start to feel like that so I was delighted when a Curtis Brown Creative email dropped in to tell me one of their courses was about to start.

I’ve already done the first two of their set of three, so having got to the end of my manuscript a few weeks ago, it seemed churlish not to do the final one – EDIT & PITCH YOUR NOVEL.

Yes I purchased the genius book called Save The Cat (STC which I now can’t help using to analyse every damn film I watch) but the necessary evil task of actually reaching in to the chest freezer of my novel and hauling out really heavy scenes which grip in their frozen determination was proving impossibly painful.

The first tutorial video last week was a blessing when Anna – one of the top tutors on the course, and a published author herself – reminded us how far we’d come. We’d arrived at the end of our first draft; a goal which for many is never attained.

We were encouraged to think about what type of novel we wanted to write. (This is the bit where I get in a muddle as we already know I’ve been told it crosses genres. I’m still going to whisper at this point that I want it to… and this is why I’ve been more seriously considering Indie Publishing).

There is romance, but no sex. This is as warm as this one gets…

(And the book’s not called TRAIN by the way..!)

Anyway, for now, let’s keep walking down the Prepare for agent submission path. This week Anna wants us to print the beast out and re-read it again; while pausing to analyse every scene, marking on a chart (made in Word) whether it works, drives the story on, has more than one story ‘point’… she calls this the diagnosis of the pain, which is rather relevant don’t you think?!

The rape is in flower .. it’s pretty though lots of people suffer with hay fever 🤒

(Nice pic, but totally irrelevant to the blog. So that would go if I was editing this post like my novel!)

This one is totally relevant though. To the title of this post! I’ve not read the book, which he wrote in 1983, but I watched with gripped fascination more than fear at the genius clue-dropping as to what the two MC characters’ worst fears in life are… delivered carefully to the viewer should they choose to ‘see’ them.

The mirror image of opening and closing scenes – which STC says we should see in 99% of films – was not only there, but cleverly illustrated the journey arc of the characters. The only constant was the Volvo. The horrendous premise of the final frame leaves the viewer facing their own primal fear … I won’t say what it is in case you haven’t seen it … suffice to conclude that as a human experience it GETS you.

My friend, who is not studying writing and does not read novels actually left the cinema saying ‘that was crap’ (she likes SAW and HOUSE OF WAX type horrors). I totally disagreed, in our good-friendship humour way that we can!

She’s also not a parent…..

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All of the Curtis Brown Creative writing courses can be found here.

I recommend printout out the coursework and sticking it into a journal like I’ve done here… you’ve got it then for every book you write!

Have a great week whatever you’re up to xxx

Paper Goodbyes… (#CampNanoWrimo)

April 1, 2019

… is the working title of a potential Book 2 and a project I plan to work with during April, for CampNano.

I plan to type 400 words per day minimum. This is so easily achievable I am feeling no pressure whatsoever. I’ve still other writing goals going on in the background, one of which is starting to pop more fiction posts on this blog (you all reacted so favourably to my random poetry and short stories, it gave me a buzz which I’ve been missing recently).

I am also attempting to make an orange cake as we haven’t cooked together for months either 🙄

This is melted marmalade mixed with icing sugar which I plan to drizzle across the top of the cake while it is still warm in the pan 🍊

I was inspired last evening when I watched an author live by Julie Cohen. You may recall I attended a writing retreat with her in November in Devon and went on subsequently to finish my main manuscript – which we are calling SECRETS UNDER A TUSCAN SUN, by the way!

So Julie was chatting to a group of us in an online book club all about her most recent title which you may have heard about? Louis&Louise published by Orion.

… and while I’ve yet to read what is fast becoming a much talked about debate about how gender affects lives and expectations, I know it’s going to be a masterpiece in writing because everything Julie writes is so (that is sickly but it’s ok coz she’ll never read this!).

So the idea for Paper Goodbyes came after I watched a documentary narrated by Michael Portillo in his Hidden History series. He made a program about the former Odeon in Bradford which closed for over forty years until Bradford City Council bought it for a £1 and agreed to raise the funds needed to save it.

It’s story touched my heart. A group of people have saved it and it’s due to open its doors again in 2020!

My novel is written from the POV of a nine year old asberger sufferer (and I have three experts already agreed to help me with the details and to do sensitivity readings). It is set in the street in which this magnificent building stands. I’m very tempted to self publish this next year to coincide with Bradford’s grand opening – what do you think of that as a plan??

Here’s my first basic synopsis, just for you my wonderful readers 😘🥂

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Max doesn’t care that he has no friends because in reality, he does (in the pages of history books). Luckily his mum works in the old fashioned book shop on the outskirts of Bradford and he will have to accompany her daily during the summer holidays. But that’s ok because that gives him thirty five days to get to know everyone on those pages.

Even the old creepy man who trudges past the shop daily cannot dampen his spirits – even when his mother begs him not to make eye contact.

Zoe is torn. She needs the money from her quiet job on the edge of the city. World Books should have closed a long time ago but it’s owner has a hold on her. Her son needs the correct care for the seven weeks over the summer but nowhere will take him with his problem. If she can just keep him safe, away from idiots who don’t understand him and his needs, everything will be fine.

Frank is waiting to die. Fifty years since he last communicated with his wife, through the big screen one Christmas Day. His front line had been their last. Feeling her closest when he is outside the Picturehouse, he is petrified that when it is bulldozed at the end of August, he will be lost forever too.

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Oh bollocks, look! In all the excitement I’ve burnt the efforts…

Actually, I think we may have got away with that. Topping drizzled, then lightly sprinkled with icing sugar…. yup, no-one will ever know it’s not perfect (only you and me 😃).

Cup of tea with that?

Those precious little moments 💙

March 28, 2019

A moment is a moment; it’s neither ‘little’ or any other form of size. It’s sixty seconds worth of time which will never pass us by again with the same date.

However, when you find yourself aligned with more than one aspect of delight, it becomes a captivating unit of happiness. I had about seven, all in a row earlier 😃

The birds were tweeting, the wind had dropped, the sun contained some warmth, everyone was out on a tractor and I had the garden to myself. I shared those moments with my present read and I can’t get enough of Isabelle Broom’s characters Alice and Max in ‘One Thousand Stars and You’. It is romantic and soul-searchingly enlightening.

Step aside 007; I’m falling in love with Max… and I’m only half way through!!

Although I’ve not met this author, I am aware she is a member of our wonderful Romantic Novelists Association and won a category at the recent RoNAs. This is the annual romantic novel awards and Isabelle won Contemporary Romance Novel.

Without giving any spoilers, I can assure you this story does indeed deal with contemporary issues, in a sensitive manner via beautifully created characters.

It is romantic but not fluffy. It is emotional but also funny. It carries you across to Sri Lanka and wraps you in the sites and smells you would find there. Escapist romantic fiction is how Isabelle pitches this book and it makes perfect sense.

As a reader I’m enthralled, as a writer I’m inspired. The pacing of the plot unfolding, the chemistry, the internal conflicts … all superb examples of how to get it ‘right’!

Now go away, I’m going to finish it xx

Read more about this author here!

A moment to read …

March 25, 2019

Flames dance a rapid rhythm, greedily consuming oxygen.

Sacrificial cylinders of ash and elm, no longer grappling with earthy roots.

Soft pages between my fingers whisper their secrets through portholes of ink.

Wandering thoughts, new characters to discover. A premise of love story – a warm slipper. Perfection.

One tattoo, two elevator pitches, three synopsis and much advice

March 24, 2019

I make excuses but there’s only one reason I don’t clean the house my husband bought us last year; I dare not disturb his rotting body.

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OMG – it’s been too long my lovely friends on WordPress – how the devil are you all?

I’ve been doing lots of studying on The first line hook. How did I do?! Did that catch your attention? 🤣Man of the Woods is safe and well, I assure you.

The old fallen trees in our woods have been receiving his attentions all winter and we now have enough fire wood stored to run a small island.

So, what have you all been up to with your writings recently? You tell me yours and I’ll tell you mine.

I was editing last time we spoke, and since then I’ve sent the manuscript to fresh eyes for a viewpoint and some feedback about whether the story ‘works’.

I met with two industry professionals who (without reading a word of our books) attempted to show and teach us the magic of an elevator pitch. How to condense your 77,000 word novel into two sentences. Jeee whizz, have you tried that recently?

‘Well, there’s this woman ….’ is not going to cut it 😂

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Two worlds collide when English carer Martha is left a vineyard by Blanche, whose extended family in Tuscany have deep rooted links to the mafia.

Secrets start to unravel, as does her resolve to never fall in love again, when she meets Antonio on his release from prison.

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I didn’t think that was too bad, but what it showed the profressionals from the outset was that my story crosses two genres and they asked me where I saw my book sitting in a book shop, i.e. next to which authors?

The sizzle of excitement which the question evoked was short lived when no-one could think of anyone, and I came away with the advice to think hard about what primary story I wanted to write;

1. Antonio’s crime thriller tale

2. Martha’s romance

But I want both. Am I being greedy? I don’t think so; it’s simply not the same story without the grit.

I did come away with a possible new title – and everyone I’ve spoken to seems to like it.

So I sent it on to two people to read whose opinions I trust to be honest and constructive. I’ve since received one feedback report which makes for fascinating reading. I believe it all, and now I’m stuck. On how to start the necessary changes I mean.

I’ve walked away from it while I take a breather, doing that thing all writers go through when they question what on earth they are actually doing.

I think one of the biggest problems is that I never had a plan, a plot, let alone an arc for Martha to follow. I pantsered my way towards the midpoint and ground to a halt last summer; you watched me. Then slowly the wheels of the cumbersome steam train shufftied (my new word) round and we made, with loud efforts full of steam, steady progress through to autumn.

Reading ‘Save the Cat’ was a game-changer. I wished I’d had it eighteen months earlier. Even though I typed THE END in early January, and have happily skipped through it twice pretending to know what I’m doing during a phase called ‘editing’ I’ve never been truly convinced I knew what this was about. And the message is coming through loud and clear – IT SHOWS.

Can I really do this?

Meanwhile, you know me, I had to keep typing. My writing buddy over at alitlebookproblem said pretty much the exact words I’d been thinking – TAKE A BREAK FROM THE WIP.

Last autumn I thrashed out a 17,000 erotic piece and submitted to carina press, remember? A polite rejection 8 weeks later hasn’t put me off trying again and I remembered how I enjoyed the words pouring from my fingers, so last week I typed another. Except this time, I did more research.

Mills and Boon’s Dare line has been around for a little over eighteen months now. Some talented writers have produced many great tantalising tales. They are still love stories but with far more explicit sex on the page. Pure and simple unadulterated sex (is that a conundrum?). I read four titles and certainly saw the ‘pattern’ which some call formula. Meet the hero and heroine in chapter one, none of this fiddling about taking the reader on a long arduous journey to find him/her. Settings are exciting cities around the world, New York (been there once and got stuck in a motel outside JFK), London (go there a lot), Milan (yup, tick), Paris (twice – hey I could do this).

So I’ve typed the first three chapters and a synopsis of a sexy little tale involving an independent and sensual businesswoman on the verge of expanding her business into LA (been there four times). She just needs a massage before she leaves. Except Scott gives more than the sports therapy his business card portrays….

Out came the 8,000 words like ants to a jam spillage. I printed off the pages, found the pink pen, made some grammatical changes, played with syntax. Lucy and Scott are there in the first chapter, I disturbed by mere mentions of third parties. The internal dialogue pov is from them both, split 50/50 like many M&B titles and the pacing I believe is worthy of what would be the next 42,000 to complete the expected fifty total that is a M&B category romance in this category.

This time I have a story arc in mind, a HEA and a change of mindset across the book for both characters. All we need now is for the peeps at M&B to like my voice, amongst the thousands of submissions they will be receiving weekly for this line, because everyone probably thinks they can write a sex scene….. don’t they?

Don’t know how he got there, but can we just take a moment 🖤

My tiny tattoo.

My reminder that I’m a little shining star within my world.

Yes I can do this because I could self publish – any of – these titles at any time. However…

When I process my clients’ horse rugs, I do them to the best of my ability. And I want the same for my writing. I want each piece to be the best it can be, and alone I’m not convinced I can make it so, hence the confusion as to what help I should take.

Do some blogs again, said Julie.

She was correct – I’ve so enjoyed sharing this with you this morning. I love chatting and shall make a cuppa and read some of your blogs now.

Oh, and Michael? I’ve killed Matsu, it’s a complete disaster 🙈

This notification from WordPress cheered me up though 🎉

The funny thing about editing a novel ….

February 17, 2019

… when it’s your first piece of full-length fiction is that you have no bloody idea whatsoever what constitutes a darn good ‘edit’.

I’m not talking about those typos, or the grammar choices (she had not driven there before/she’d not driven there before/she had never driven there before/she didn’t drive there) or those extra spaces after each full stop. They’ll all come later in what I believe might be called a line edit.

Yes, I’ve read blogposts and books and websites on editing. But I don’t think it’s until you have a go at editing your own work, that you realise what editing can truly involve.

For example, I had characters having conversations with each other, in person, who were not even meant to have flown into the country yet 🙈🙄 I mean, who do these people think they are?

Because I did not write this story in chronological order, my timelines were somewhat lacking authenticity.  I’d created the majority of my 80,000 words in chunks of prose depending on my mood at the time of typing and slotting them in later … (Lovely, and that scene .. can … go roundabout .. sort of … THERE).  And because it took til December to reach a point where I felt I could type those two rites of passage words ‘THE END’ it’s only very recently that I’ve read the whole thing through in one go.

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I called it the ‘pink pen’ edit for the benefit of MoW and my insta writing buddies.  There was an embarrassing amount to change, I mean seriously.  Who told me I could write?? They have such a lot to answer for!  Whole paragraphs got chopped and scribbles of much better prose ribboned their way around the edges of the margins.  I didn’t have plot holes. I had craters you needed a plane to fly over to have any hope of crossing before dark.  Anyway, I struggled on through and actually pink-penned my way to the end.

I have, I hope, made my characters more mindful of their present state of affairs; their internal dialogue needed to be thoughtful, less amateur dramatics with badly made costumes while throwing their arms about on a small tight stage, hoping for audience participation.   This isn’t me belittling amateur dramatics for the record.  I was a member of three groups in my twenties and loved every theatrical minute of those times 🎭 – playing up to audiences who came for no more than a night of fun, watching people they know deliver their old favourites.  “A Handbag???”  I played the part of the drunken reporter from The Yorkshire Argus in ‘The Importance of Being Ernest’ and I waved my arms around wildly on a small, tight stage hoping for audience participation – and got it!

Anyway, my point is, readers won’t pick up my book and say ‘oh look, it’s that nutty farmer’s wife. She’s written a novel, we’ve GOT to buy it, it’ll be sooo entertaining… darling? Darling? Where have you gone? You’ve got the purse!”  (well maybe three of you might).  I would like to think my potential readership will spot a book with an intriguing cover and title, a snappy blurb, a dramatic first paragraph and decide they want to know why Antonio is in one of Italy’s biggest prisons.  They shouldn’t think about me when they read – I want them to disappear into the lives of Antonio, Martha and the others whose choices are dictating where the story goes.

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Incorporating the pink pen edits back onto the laptop document has taken nearly a month.   I nonchalantly assumed it would take a week but no-one warned me how painstaking that process is of keeping a finger on the ‘and’ you need to delete to make the sentence work, while finding which ‘and’ of the 186 on that page it is you’re trying to delete – Jesus and Mary and Joseph.  And then there’s the spilling tea on the pages and hoping they’ll dry so you can still read the pink pen.

Not having a deadline (as no-one knows about this except you, MoW and me, and a handful of writerly friends) means there is no pressure.   At one point when I was moving around the house like an author on a deadline with agent’s expectations hanging over me, my husband was eating crackers and cheese on his knee – no plate – and reminding me this was “meant to be fun?”.  A hobby.  He was right of course.  All pressure I’d laid at my feet myself with that twinkle of devil suggesting I might not be able to do it.  I’m permanently fighting my inner demons, wishing to prove to them that I can, but taking a few days off here and there to go watch a play in London or simply to tidy a room of clutter was all I needed to reset the default – my writing is a complete pleasure and meeting a need to be creative.

Today I have ten pages left of incorporating pink pen edits. It will have been a second read through and then I’m going to print the bugger off again (tiny font and double-sided and recycled paper) in order to check I’ve got the SAVE THE CAT 15-beats suggested within its brilliant pages … basically direction changes that link into our biological need to understand human behaviour (love all that stuff ☺️🥂).

But first, the royal we is tidying the kitchen as Mother is due at 11:30 for coffee.  I’ve diabetes-friendly snacks on hand, a collection of Daily Telegraphs for dad, who won’t have stopped for days to read anything until those hours he can spend alone in his single bed in the back room while Mother languishes in her lace-covered double bed knobs and broomsticks bed at the front of the house with the bay window…..