Hello, it's been a while...*blushes*...

But I have been working hard in the deep dark back, back, background.

I have just re-read my last post (from 2013!!! that can't be right surely?). In any case, I have been re-working my first novel (yes still, I do have a job and a family and a teeny tiny bit of a life out there too, which mostly takes priority over my beloved writing). I even got to a point that I felt fairly confident with my writing that I submitted to the MsLexia Novel Competition and I was shocked and very very excited to have been longlisted - someone actually liked some of my writing! Yay! However, I knew that the next stage of the competition would be a huge obstacle (I had worked and reworked the first section for submission but knew that the next really needed more work) and so, I was not surprised (a little disappointed, of course, but not surprised) that my novel didn't get any further. I knew, deep down, that my novel wasn't quite ready, which, I know, I know, is a big no no for entering competitions and submitting work generally, but after so much thinking and re-drafting (possibly the same passages over and over - don't judge me), I needed some kind of sign that my writing was getting better, even if just a little bit. That email confirmation saying that I had been longlisted was the sign I needed. Without it, I probably would have carried on but most likely with a little less of a spark.

As such, I have been reworking and re-thinking the rest of the novel and taking part in some writing workshops to hone my writing even further. As my husband says I hope it will all be worthwhile in the end. In fact, I have recently been doing some further research into one of the areas that my novel touches on and have found a whole new aspect that will give it another focus and more depth, which is rather invigorating.

Writing and even just thinking of the stories I am working on (yes there are more than just my WIP - I'm in this for the long-haul!), gives me pleasure, that's what I get out of the hours of thinking, creating, sculpting and re-arranging words, characters and stories.

And so, I will post more often on this blog about my writing progress (I promise) as well as catching up on some book reviews...so watch this space..............

Words On A Page

A story is not a story when it's just words on a page. This was clear to me when I first started writing my first novel. I say my first - I'm still working on it but I have many others in the pipeline of my mind (and hard drive of my laptop) that I call it my first. However, it became particularly clear to me that I had to work more on the storyline, thread in some back story and elements that would tie the story together. I had, naively, started years ago by simply typing various ideas and "scenarios" at my computer thinking "I am writing, I am therefore a writer". And although that may have been true, I was not being a good writer, which is ultimately what I aspire to be. Not necessarily a great one, just good, I'd be happy with good.

After some time, I clocked up a good word count and felt I had finished my novel. I started to telling close friends that I had written a novel, all of whom were impressed. But it was they started asking what it was about and if they could read it that I realised that it was far from finished. I was not ready for anyone else to read it, not yet. Only, I had been working on it for so long that I did not know where to begin on the second draft. I felt totally overwhelmed at the prospect of having to work through the bulky A4 now bound manuscript that I put it off and put it off until I signed up to an evening class of "How to write a novel." A going back to basics of how to structure the story and important elements to keep in mind at all times such "Character Questions", beginnings, spacing, plot points etc I devoured the information and ordered the recommended books (which were huge in themselves). I did all the exercises and felt renewed in my own quest to really finish the book.

It still took me time to start on the second draft. Lots of "thinking" went on and I actually let two friends which I trusted implicitly to read the first draft, the awful first draft. I also eventually let my mother read it, drip feeding her chapters at a time (she read English at University, is a travel journalist and is a stickler for good writing - very nerve wrecking!). They confirmed what I had feared and hoped not to be true. There was a lot of work still to be done. But along with the "constructive" criticism were glimmers of hope that they liked the characters and settings and where the story was going. And that was the main issue, which I sort of new myself but until then could not fully admit to myself after the amount of time and amount of pages worked on, that the story still had to get somewhere.

Having spent a lot of time on my "thinking" - and yes, time had to be set aside for this - I sat down and re-wrote sections, pages and chapters. I deleted whole parts and characters that were just filling up the pages. I was weeding out all the gumf and replacing it with what I hoped was more concise and clear descriptions along side plotting the story more accurately.

More time has passed since I let my mother read those first sections of the first draft so I was actually eager for her to read the re-worked version. I could tell that she wasn't all that excited though. Probably thinking that although she was glad I had gone on the course that it had been a long time ago and that writing well is a skill you are born with and can't necessarily learn. I sent over the first few chapters to her for some general feedback...waiting and waiting...days and a couple of weeks went by without a word about it. We had spoken on the phone a few times and emailed about other things but neither of us mentioned "the book". But one day I grew impatient and even if it was going to be worse than the first draft I just needed to know. So I took the plunge and asked her what she thought. "Oh yes, very good. Much better." That was all I needed to know. I was on the right track and I am determined to stay on it. That was at the beginning of the year and I am now sending my mother some of the chapters of the first draft that she hadn't read before (and that I'm still re-working).

I often worry that I simply don't have time to write or think about the things I want to write and yet I have so much I want to put down on paper or on screen. The truth is, I just need to be more organised about my time and if I wake up a bit earlier on a Sunday morning, before the rest of the house, I should creep downstairs and write. Which is what I have done today.

The others are now stirring - so the writing must stop, for now.

BOOK REVIEW: Sue Townsend's "The woman who went to bed for a year"

"How's your menopause book going?" my dear husband kept asking me every time he saw me reading "The woman who went to bed for a year". I'd try to defend it but gave up in the end by just not even answering him (he was getting too much pleasure out of riling me up). I kept with it and kept waiting for the light bulb moment of the story, the "ah ha" moment, the real story behind the story, but maybe it was just me but I just didn't see it.

I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more about the main character's, Eva, inner thoughts. Much of the book seemed to be focused on the people around her and their peculiarities. However, when Christmas hits and Eva's husband asks her what she usually does/did last year/what he has to do she goes on a glorious rant about what it entails. This left me wanting more of this sort of dialogue, and yes, ranting.

The ending was a little deflating too. If you read it, you'll know why.

Writing Competitions

In an attempt to make myself write more regularly I have made a list of writing competitions that I want to try and enter. I have marked them in my diary and try to work towards those dates. In reality, I have only managed to get a piece of writing finished and ready for one submission but at least I am putting the time in to do some research and some getting some writing done.

I am attending the Chipping Norton Literary Festival this weekend (as long as hubby is still OK with looking after our daughter for the majority of the weekend! eek!), so hoping this will inspire me to do more.

BOOK REVIEW: "The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant

This book was suggested by one of the members of my book club and the rest of us were a bit worried that it might be "overly religious" (only worried about this as the last few choices had been fairly heavy themselves), especially having seen its cover and the fact that Dinah, is mentioned in the Bible. In actuality, it wasn't all that religious. It tells Dinah's story, starting first with the story of her "mother's" and generally portraying women's lives during that time. The story itself was mostly fine but I just found that it dragged on a bit and with the constant portrayal of women's daily lives, I just got bored. Until, finally a major event happens (not going to mention it) but sprung out of nowhere and is over and done with so quickly that I actually did a double take and had to re-read the passage, thinking it might have been a dream sequence. It wasn't. It happened. And yet, not much time was devoted to it. In my opinion. Normality was resumed as the story dropped back to its particularly slow pace, which I continued to struggle to get to the end of. But I did, in the end, get to the end. I was somewhat relieved that the reading was over. Sorry. Truthfully, I don't think historical fiction is really for me, which probably doesn't help this review.

BOOK REVIEW: "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of sausages" by Tom Holt

Yet another new author to me. From the title on its own, I knew that this was going to be an interesting read and I found the story reassuringly intriguing and funny as it bumbled along. Having worked in plot sales myself in the past, I nodded along to the mundanity of some of the tasks described that the lawyers had to undertake. Cleverly written lines such as "Ms Briggs looked at her as if she was the ground, and Ms Brigg's parachute had somehow failed to open." kept me going. For a breath of fresh air and randomness, this is a perfect choice.

Our next read for our book club is: "The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant

BOOK REVIEW: Book Club Choice: Maggie O'Farrell's "The vanishing act of Esme Lennox"

This is yet another author that I have not read before and it is probably not the sort of book I would normally go for, but I was pleasantly surprised. I found it well written and easy to read and enjoyed the story set within two different generations and times. From beginning to end I was drawn into Esme's story, and as I uncovered more and more of what happened to her and the reasons why she ended up where she did, I just wanted things to be righted for her...I'll let other readers be the judge as to whether it was...