Great writing song!

Great song to write to, especially if your theme is 'frustrated love'! And if you want to have a break from writing and sing into your hairbrush you can find the lyrics here!

Ebay loot!

An excellent DVD and a wrap-dress - good for us girls with bosoms and hips! Dress will look great with a black cord or velvet jacket and knee boots. DVD will look great next Friday night when I have staggered in from work and collapsed on the sofa!

The perils of a Sat night at home...

... complete with internet access that is! Quiet weekend but very pleasant! Did a bit of shopping in town, met a fellow writer for coffee, had a fish supper for tea and watched a couple of films on TV.

Unfortunately I also had a bit of a browse on ebay - aaaaaagghhhhhh! The psychology of it all is so sneaky - all that 'You won!'... 'You lost!' stuff. Anyway, I'm bidding on a dress and a DVD, having 'lost' some gorgeous boots and a different dress. I had to drag myself away from the computer before I started buying random stuff I didn't need.

Anyone else ever succumbed to ebay frenzy?!

Currently reading...

I stumbled upon this book quite by accident at a second hand book stall in Dublin and am really enjoying it. It is set about 6000 years ago and tells the story of Torak and his pet / guide Wolf. Very vivid and great pace and detail! It's apparently the first of what has become a series of books, The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness, one of which won the Guardian Children's book prize last year. May have to check the rest of them out now...!

Anyone else come across a great children's book recently? The best bit of writing is being able to justify reading anything! I'm sure my Amazon shopping list makes me look like a serious weirdo...!

The Help = 5 stars from me!

Last weekend I finished reading The Help – and yes, I know I am probably the last person in the world to read it! Have to say I really enjoyed it and I can’t understand why people have criticised the author’s decision to use three different female voices. I read reviews where people complained that one of the characters spoke too ‘Southern’ and it was difficult to understand her. To be honest I didn’t even notice! She just sounded like a real person, as did all the characters. Five stars from me!

I love a book that just sucks you in! Gotta go, coughing and spluttering here :-(

Kindle-tastic!

I have been working hard this week and as a surprise the Murph bought me a Kindle! I have been curious about these for a while now but never quite got around to getting one. It is very easy to use and the best bit is that there are loads of free books, mostly older books that have gone out of copyright.

I was delighted to find that one of my favourite childhood books was on the free book list, Swiss Family Robinson. I don’t know why I liked this book so much because reading it now it seems quite preachy but I do love the ingenuity the family shows. I seem to always have liked characters who are very self sufficient. Maybe that is why I like Evie so much in The Watchers.

I have also downloaded Dracula which is another free title. I read it when I was a student so I am looking forward to rediscovering it. Handily enough the Murph also bought a cover for the Kindle which has a built in light... so I can even freak myself out reading it in the dark…!

What do people think about the Kindle and other electronic books? Are you using them or sticking to paper? And what are your favourite classics?

Resolutions 2011!

It has been a busy week and I haven’t been near the computer as much as usual... But I am happy to say that the resolution gang met on Friday night and made our new resolutions for 2011. The funniest bit of the evening is always reading through the resolutions from the year before and seeing how successful (or unsuccessful...) we have been!

The resolutions fall under different categories. A random selection of my resolutions for this year are:

- Keep my office tidy.
- Bin all granny pyjamas!
- Do something nice for our first wedding anniversary
- Write the complete sequel to The Watchers.
- Go to Pilates classes.
- Reduce computer time – no more than 2 hours a day.

Because of this last one I am unfortunately going to have to reduce my blogging, at least in the short term. I am trying to finish writing the synopsis of book two. Things are also about to get busy at work. So for now time to knuckle down and get on with things.

Anyone else got any writing resolutions this year?

Revisions, revisions, revisions!

Just a quick post tonight as I've been busy doing some revisions, ready to send the MS to Gillie again. Thankfully they are relatively small things - I had to insert more references to a character and cut a few waffly paragraphs of Evie going places. I am going to come back to the changes tomorrow night with a fresh eye, then send it on.

It's hard in some ways because I feel too close to the writing to be objective. On the other hand it's really exciting reading the book again when I haven't read it for a few weeks. I feel like, "My God! I wrote this!!!" It makes up for the days when I've looked at it and thought, "What am I doing?!"

Ha! The rollercoaster ride of writing a book!

New Year, New Name!

This rather gorgeous picture struck me as a fresh image for a fresh name change. The blog was previously called 'Start to Finish' but I thought the title was kind of ambiguous.

So, for 2011 I'm changing it to *Notebook to Novel* - because of course this is what I'm hoping to achieve this year! Today I signed the agent's agreement and posted it off - so I am officially represented!

The blog hasn't been as writing-related of late, mostly because everything has gone quiet over Christmas at the publishing end - but I think things wake up again this week.

So, I promise that during 2011 I will keep posting honestly about the highs and lows of the winding road to publication - and any tips I pick up along the way will be passed on pronto!

What are weekends for?

Well, short answer to that is hanging out with great people in great places! If you don't recognise the pic it's the Giant's Causeway on the North Coast of Northern Ireland.

Today the Murph and I joined our friends Bill and Fiona for a nice walk along the cliff from Portballintrae to the Giant's Causeway. We stopped off for a bite to eat and had plenty of time to chat. I haven't seen them for a while so they were really excited to hear about the book. Bill especially knew that writing was one of my burning ambitions so they are both keeping their fingers crossed that I get good news in the New Year.

Resolutions 2011 - Part 1 - Take care of my back!

Ha! New Year equals a whole new set of resolutions. Have just ordered this book from Amazon, in the hope that it will help me loosen up my tight shoulders (caused by time hunched over the computer).

So first Resolution of 2011 is to do some of these yoga moves to stretch out my back and shoulders, which will hopefully help me to write nice and comfortably. I'll let you know how I get on with them!

Happy New Year all!