Archive for September, 2007
September 30, 2007
honest, Mr Taxman
I have decided that because of the crows weighing down my shoulders, and the fact that my heroine is an aromatherapist, it is necessary for me to book myself a full-body aromatherapy massage as soon as possible.
It’s research.
September 28, 2007
suckage
Have not posted for a couple of days because I’ve been convinced that every word I have written, ever, SUCKS.
Usually I get this much sooner in my first draft. I am probably very lucky it’s held out for this long.
You would think that holding a gorgeous hardback in my hands and reading the bits I like out of it, would help reassure me that I can write something that I, at least, can enjoy.
Nope. Don’t work. I suck. The teensy good bits in my last book are purely down to chance. A thousand monkeys with typewriters would probably produce the same thing through primate good luck.
Also, I’m just about to write the climax, which should take two or three chapters, and I am, for some reason, gut-wrenchingly scared to write it. Like, I actually feel sick when I think about it.
I post this not in a bid for reassurance. I know I have wonderful cyber-friends who will do their best to buck me up, and you guys don’t need to because you’ve done it so many times already. I post this because I know I will get through it, and I want it on record that I feel this way, so that it may make other people feel better, and it will make me feel better when I read it at some point in the future when I’m feeling the same thing all over again.
Do feel free to tell me that you also suck, though. And I’ll tell you that you don’t.
(And also go wish Biddy a happy birthday.)
September 26, 2007
One Night Stand hardback
I got a copy of One Night Stand in hardback today.
How GORGEOUS is this. And the wonderful thing is, the paperback (out in January) is EVEN MORE GORGEOUS.
It almost makes me forget the crows. Almost.
September 25, 2007
control freakery
For various reasons I had to send my editor my unfinished first-draft manuscript today.
Oh my God. What an awful feeling. I am such a control freak. Usually my first drafts are only read by my bosom friends, about whom I know blackmailable secrets. The thought that someone else, MY EDITOR, upon whose opinion hangs my career, is reading my first crappy draft makes me chew on my nails.
I’ve taught three courses in the past two months and in each of them I’ve said: “Write crap in the first draft. You can fix it later.”
I never said “Unless your editor asks to see it, and then you will be facing a pit of humiliation as deep as the seventh abyss of hell.”
I think I will go hyperventilate now and attempt to forget all the stupid things I’ve put in this draft which has not been edited at all. (In contrast, I’ve edited this blog post four times.)
September 24, 2007
Readers and Writers day in Reading
An extra plug for what should be a fun day this Saturday…
Love reading?
Love writing?
Want to tap into your creative side?
Want to know more about getting your work published?
Ever wanted to ask the author of your favourite book more about their writing?
Reading Libraries has devised a “Readers and Writers” event for people just like you!
We have gathered together 3 successful, talented and friendly authors who are willing to share their work, wisdom and experience with their readers and other writers.
JULIE COHEN: HOW TO CREATE CHARACTERS
Writers have people in their heads talking to them all the time. Julie will look at some ways of harnessing that madness by getting those people down on paper–including some fun exercises on conflict and point of view.
ROISIN MCAULEY: JOURNEY FROM FACT TO FICTION
Roisin speaks about her journey from reporter to novelist. She will also read extracts from her latest book “Finding Home”.
ANN WESTGARTH: GETTING GOING IN WRITING: COMMUNITY AND SELF-PUBLISHING
Have you been writing for some time or are you just getting started? This session will provide information on writing courses, conferences, resources and competitions. What’s the best way to get feedback on your writing and how do you get published? Advice will be given on community and self-publishing opportunities.
Saturday, 29 September 2-5 pm, at RISC, London Street, Reading. Tickets £5 in advance from Reading libraries (contact 0118 9015950 or info@readinglibraries.org.uk).
September 23, 2007
authors on the loose
Kate Hardy sent me a photo from the Mills & Boon author evening in London…this is me and Kate Walker.
Note the nearly empty glass of champagne…
I’m feeling better today. Yesterday I brought the Fecklet into London for lunch with a bunch of authors–Anna Lucia, Brigid Coady, Fiona Harper, Nell Dixon, Carol (and baby-to-be), and Donna Alward, over from Canada. We enjoyed three courses of Turkish food–Fecklet loved it, particularly the creamy, lemony rice pudding–and lots of conversation and laughs.
Must write like madwoman today.
September 22, 2007
the price
Last night, I went to a Mills & Boon author evening in London. There was one particularly good-looking waiter bringing the champagne round and I (and several other authors) found him very difficult to say no to.
This morning, I am hung over.
September 20, 2007
ennegram course
Hey…remember my post about ennegrams earlier? Well the person who introduced me to them, Laurie Schnebly Campbell, is giving an online course on how to use them. She is a brilliant tutor so if you are interested, check this out:
MOTIVATION FOR CHARACTERS (AND REAL-LIFE PEOPLE)
We don’t care much about the cabbie who drives our hero to the train station, so that cabbie doesn’t need any particular motivation…any particular personality type.
He doesn’t need to overcome any problems in his life.
But every major character has to overcome something in order to evolve during the course of the book. And that’s why writers need to know our characters’ fatal (or not-so-fatal) flaws.
So it’s handy that enneagram theorists have identified nine personality types…each with its own unique strength, and each with a flaw that happens when that strength is taken to extremes.
We can use the nine types (Perfectionist, Nurturer, Adventurer, Romantic, Observer, Skeptic, Enthusiast, Leader, Peacemaker) to generate conflict BETWEEN and WITHIN likable, realistic characters.
Want to know more? You’ll find it in Laurie Schnebly Campbell’s yahoogroups class during October, “Creating Your Hero’s Fatal Flaw.”
If you’re interested, click http://www.WriterUniv.com — and feel free to forward this to anyone else who might be interested. Thanks!
write like the wind, woman!
Back from a very intense and rewarding course with a truly excellent group of people, and now I am trying to write like the wind. I need to finish the first draft more or less in the next two weeks, especially as a few days away from it have given me some perspective on the huge amount of work I will need to do to revise it.
It’s nice to get back to my hero Dominick, who can’t stop thinking about sex now that he’s had it for the first time in two years. He wants to bang his head against a wall. I am mostly laughing at him.
Meanwhile, the heroine is about to call the police after receiving a death threat in ketchup. Isn’t fiction fun?
September 17, 2007
course and new toys
So now that my friends have told me it’s perfectly okay to be a stalker, I’m off for a few days to lead a course on Writing Commerical Women’s Fiction in Stroud. This course is a little different from the one I did last month with Kate Walker; it’s more generally about writing women’s fiction than writing romance, you use the participants’ work as examples and exercises, and I’m teaching most of it alone! Yikes!
It should be good, though…the participants are very talented and I’m looking forward to meeting them.
Fecklet is being looked after by his father for three days. I think they will have a great time, but I’m anticipating coming home to a happy baby and a weary man. My husband has never been the 24-hour single parent before.
Meanwhile, Fecklet has discovered a packet of sanitary towels and is scattering them all over the dining room in a jolly fashion.
See you all on Wednesday.
September 15, 2007
so hot he has to wear shades
I am writing a sex scene.
So of course I have to post a picture of my hero in, er, sunglasses and a leather jacket zipped up to his chin.
You know, the more I think about this (and the more I look up photos on the internet), the more I’m convinced that Patrick Dempsey and I should be friends. I mean, we’re both from Maine, we’re both married, we both have kids, we both like fish, we both like driving fast cars, we both aren’t doctors but we play them on TV (well, that’s not so true of me, but we’ll ignore that), we both like to wear a nice frock and clutch our boobs, we both look really hot in v-neck jumpers. He’s a famous film and television actor, I’m a not-so-famous writer who becomes obsessed with famous film and television actors and puts them in her books.
We’re practically twins, separated at birth. Fraternal twins, obviously.
Should I give him a call?
September 13, 2007
but what about naked jokes and lame celebrities?
Two recent searches bringing people to this blog have been for “naked celebrities” and “lame jokes”.
That is pretty accurate, I feel.
