"That difficult second book..." (and third book... and fourth book...)

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Those were the words I heard a lot when I was writing the second book. It's a line oft-repeated by agents, editors and authors alike. The first book is still a hobby piece; an act of hope and faith; an expression of joy. When you finally land a 3 book deal it's balloons, silly hats and champagne all round. You pat your first book cover fondly and giggle when you see it on a real shelf in a library or book shop.

And then comes Book 2. This time, you're a professional writer. This book isn't just a bit of fun - someone has paid you actual money, trusting that you will write it. This brings a certain responsibility. My life had changed a lot by the time I was writing The Mortal Knife, mainly because I had become a mum. I had always been an evening writer; now I had to learn to sit down during the day and treat writing like the job it was and is. It wasn't easy but having a deadline on the horizon is a mighty effective combo of the carrot and stick. Maybe this is why writers find the second book tough - up until now the writing has been all carrot.

Which brings me to Book 3. I'm not sure why I thought it would be easier. Maybe all that 'difficult second book' stuff implied 'that stupidly easy third book!' Except it isn't easy. It's difficult. And finally I am beginning to get it. Writing 80-90,000 words of gripping, funny, consistent, warm-hearted prose is NEVER going to be easy. No matter how many times I do it, I will never be able to describe it as easy. The day I can describe the process as easy, I'm not growing. I'm not stretching myself.

But - and there is a but - one thing does get easier and it's the thing that gets me past all the other difficulties. No matter how hard it gets, I can tell myself: 'I've done this before.' As I limp towards the finish line of Book 3 I know I've been here and lived to tell the tale. For years I was the queen of the half-finished novel - but no one will ever read your half-finished novel. It will languish on a long-defunct laptop or memory pen - or even a floppy disc (revealing my age. Remember those?)

So, if there is one thing I have learned about writing in the last few years, it's this: FINISH SOMETHING. Because the power of finishing something - be it a poem, a story or even a book - is that once you've done it, YOU KNOW YOU CAN DO IT AGAIN. And even if your first or second or tenth efforts don't get the reception you want, that's okay. Next time you'll do it better.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've a book to finish.

Writing and juggling... the latest twist.

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All writers are jugglers. I suspect most scribblers harbour a fantasy about being a 'real writer'. The fantasy probably reads something like the following...

Once upon a time there was a writer who lived in a cottage by the sea. The world pretty much left her alone, apart from the seagulls she had trained to bring her the odd packet of Doritos. She wrote stories and sold them to publishers who paid all her bills. The taxman liked her stories so much he left her alone. And so she whiled away her days eating Doritos, walking on the beach and effortlessly writing books without distraction. THE END

Now, even as a fantasy writer, that is pretty far-fetched - but a lot of us have some version of this tucked away in a dark corner of our minds. "If only it wasn't for my (delete as appropriate)... job / husband / kids / pets / responsibilities I would be able to write! Goddammit, I could write!" [adopts tortured expression of frustrated artist]

Thing is, we all have to juggle writing with life. I don't think that ever goes away, even if you're some amazingly successful writer - I mean c'mon, then you've got cool parties to attend and book panels to waffle on and that house in the Bermudas to visit... (See why I write fantasy, this stuff is easy...). Stephen King points out that TV is one of the greatest distractions for many aspiring writers ('sucking on the glass teat' is the rather evocative phrase he uses). For me the internet is my personal precipice - after all, as a writer the internet is so essential, so justifiable! You have to do research, email editors and agents, connect with other writers - and of course readers.

And from tomorrow I will have a whole new 'ball' to juggle. It - or rather she - will be roughly 9lbs in weight and pretty ferocious when she's tired or hungry. I'm guessing parenthood brings particular challenges for any writer - after all, being a parent is largely about being unselfish and sacrificing your personal wishes and desires for someone else, especially at the beginning. You begin to dream some new dreams for someone else - and for once they're not a character, they're a real flesh and blood human being. They don't have to follow the path you prescribe for them - tough for any writer (because let's face it, writing is as close as you can get to playing God without actually re-training as a dictator). And writing is selfish in a way - romping through your own head, choosing at times to ignore the world around you. From what I hear newborns don't tend to tolerate being ignored for long...

So as I sit here typing I can feel our daughter having a final alien-style squirm around, getting ready to erupt into the world, a whole new human being! Hopefully I'll learn the same skills so many of you have had to learn - balancing the role of writer and mum without messing up* as either (*Disclaimer: too much, most of the time. Is that aiming low?)

And any tips you've learned along the way - do share. After all, every one of us is a juggler -  but many hands make light(er) work.

It's all a bit exciting...

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Just a quick hello after a madly busy few months. I'm very conscious of not updating the blog but hopefully you'll forgive me when you hear that so far this year we / I have...

a) renovated a house.
b) moved into new house
c) got my 3 book deal *faints*
and finally... drum roll ...
d) we are having a baby! Very soon! In a few weeks! *faints again*

I won't bore you with the details of the move, lots of you will have done it and know how stressful it is. We were looking for a house for a long time (as previously mentioned in this post) so it was great when we finally found a house with office space for two writers! It needed lots of work - but we're now at the 'picking curtains' stage, rather than the 're-wire and re-plumb' stage!

As for the book deal - well it's been interesting! Not least because up until now my two trusted readers have been my lovely agent Gillie and my friend and writing mentor Bernie McGill. Now I've had to expand the 'reading circle' to include all the lovely people at Hot Key Books, especially my editor Emily Thomas.

It's always strange letting new people read your work. Writing comes from inside you so when someone reads it I always feel a bit exposed - like I've laid down a little piece of my soul for people to pet or spit upon as they choose! I'll be writing more in the blog about the whole editing process - as well as a rather fabulous group of writing ladies who have kept me sane through finishing the book, submitting it and dealing with the ups and downs of negotiations and edits. Forget the A-Team - they are the PWA! More on them soon...

And as for the baby bit... Well, I'll be able to tell you more about that soon enough. For now my stomach is moving from side to side Alien-style which is half-endearing and half-freaky. All tips for juggling newborns and writing gratefully received!

Some very exciting news! It's a deal!

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You may have noticed the blog has been very, very quiet. That's because I had some very exciting but top secret news. I am over the moon to tell you that I have a 3 book deal with the fab Hot Key Books!

The book is called Death & Co. and tells the story of 15 year old Adam, a reluctant Luman - one of a special group of people charged with sending souls safely into the afterlife. Thing is, all Adam wants is to be normal - hang out with his friends, go to school - and if he's lucky eventually get to snog the lovely Melissa Morgan. Unfortunately Adam's family and the Luman world have other ideas...

I started this blog to keep track of the up and down road to getting published as a newbie author - and two years on I can finally crack open the champagne. I've been so touched by the comments and emails I've received here, especially because I have a habit of disappearing for long stretches - so thank you to all of you who read the blog and rooted for me over the last couple of years. I hope it will encourage you to know - no matter how tough the market is out there new authors are still getting published. You could be next!

I'll keep you up to date but provisional publication date for Death & Co. is May 2013 worldwide - and I reckon I can sneak a few teaser extracts out before then!

Getting from notebook to novel - #4

4. No man, woman or writer is an island - you can't do it alone. Find people who understand.

As the picture suggests writing can sometimes feel like a lonely business. Writing is like giving yourself a gift - the gift of that book you always wanted to read. But at times you can feel like you're lost at sea and desperately in need of an anchor.

That's why it's so important to find people who understand what you're trying to do. Family and friends are good if they're sympathetic and don't just think you're wasting your time or shirking the housework. I've had the good fortune to marry the angel Murph who always manages to say the right thing, just as I'm poised over the computer with a sledgehammer ...

But for people who *really* understand there's nobody better than other writers. I can't stress strongly enough what a difference it can make joining a writing group. Some of my writing heroes like Stephen King are dubious about the merits of creative writing groups. I can imagine how some can become cliquey or competitive or downright poisonous.

I was lucky enough to find the Flowerfield Writers - a group with an amazing tutor and a genuinely warm-hearted crew of aspiring writers. We're all at different places and writing different things but everyone there is kind and encouraging. It's the first place I ever shared anything I had written - only a year and a half ago - but that simple, decisive action of reading my work aloud is the springboard from which The Watchers, my agent and the new book have all flowed.

If you don't fancy a group, you MUST know someone who wants to write. I'm constantly amazed by how many people have that small and secret desire burning inside. Become a group of two or three people. Agree to encourage each other, praise what's good, offer constructive criticism and celebrate every success. Believe that you can get your story out there into the world.

Stephen King said that writing a book can feel like trying to cross the Atlantic in a bathtub. That's a long way to row but if you have a back up team offering tea, biscuits and words of encouragement that journey is going to feel a whole lot less bumpy. Find people who understand the beautiful madness of trying to write a book. You won't look back.

Getting from notebook to novel - #2

2. Develop your stamina – writing is an endurance sport. It's a marathon, not a sprint!

Some people are lucky enough to be naturally self-disciplined. They are the kind of people who will make the time to sit down and write every single day, regardless of what else is going on in their life. Are you one of those people? Congratulations! If so, you have one of the key characteristics of a real writer, not a talker-writer.

For most of us it can be a struggle at times. On the good days, words pour onto the page in a tidal wave. Enjoy those days but don’t expect them. EVERYONE can write on those days. Writers who get to the end keep writing, even on the days when their brain has turned to jam and they feel like hurling the PC through the window and dancing on its shattered carcass.

A book I really recommend is Stephen King’s On Writing. He really describes the long road to hitting the big time. He wrote for years with modest success and kept his rejection slips on a spike. His attitude is: read a lot and write a lot. Anyone can have a great idea for a book. Only one in a thousand will turn it into something.

Writers don't just talk about writing. They don't say they would love to write but... They put down their book, switch off the TV, stay home instead of hitting the pub yet again, skip their aerobics class once a week and log the hell out of Facebook!

Lots of people say they want to write a book. I said it for years. Here's what I learned - I just didn't want it enough. We all have busy lives with thousands of distractions and interesting things we can do with our time. Writing involves sacrifice. When you want it badly enough you will make the time. It will be painful at times. Accept that.

Write, even when you don’t feel like it. It can help to set a time limit – "I will write for the next 15 mins flat out." Even if all you are writing is “This sucks!” over and over again you are writing. You are training yourself to sit at the keyboard and make words appear, instead of doing one of a hundred different things.

Writers write!

Getting from notebook to novel - #1

1. Be creative – start with a character, an image, a place, a ‘what if’. Let’s play!

Sometimes you get lucky with a character. He or she hovers at the back of your mind, clearing their throat from time to time, reminding you that they’re waiting. Other times they’re more forceful than that, barging through, pushing the others out of the way, demanding to be written about. Evie in The Watchers was like that.

When inspiration doesn’t strike it really does help to just sit down and start writing. An idea for a whole book came from one of these writing sessions years ago –a teenage boy and girl sitting by a campfire in the middle of forest with a tired looking man. That’s one book I never finished but I’m determined to go back to.

If you’re struggling to find ideas, take a look at the world around you. Go for a walk and just pay attention. You might see a person, an animal, a place or an incident that makes you curious. Or sometimes the mere act of walking and moving helps get the ideas moving in your brain. Last summer when I was writing The Watchers I got into the habit of writing in the morning and then going for a walk on the beach. While I was walking I would be plotting, sometimes muttering like a mad woman into the voice recorder on my mobile. Action leads to action.

If you’re having a lazy day, flick on the news or check it out online. Pick one issue of the day and just start writing about it. Sit for a while and let the words take you wherever they want to go. Usually something you have written will snag your attention. Is it turning into a situation you could write about? Write for yourself, not for an audience, especially at this stage. Thinking about readers will make you self-conscious and that takes all the fun out of writing. This is just to get you started.

To be honest the ideas have always been the easy bit for me. People have asked me where I got a particular idea from. When I think about it, the idea usually started as an image or a bit of wordplay. Right now I have ideas for at least ten books –for me, the tough bit is sitting down and writing the story from beginning to end. I’ll be writing about that in the next post.

In the meantime if you’re really stuck, spend twenty minutes trying one of these three...

• Two men are talking intently in a bar. One looks sad, the other one angry. What’s going on?
• You’re walking on an empty beach when you see the strangest paw print...
• A group of teenagers go missing from a crowded town centre on a Saturday night. Weeks later they still haven’t been found. What happened to them?

Meeting my agent!

I haven’t posted on here since last weekend because I’ve been busy, busy, busy! It was an exciting week for several reasons! I went to London to stay with my friend Sarah and met her lovely baby son Daniel for the first time. But that wasn’t the only meeting I had – while I was there I finally had the chance to shake hands with my agent for the first time!

I sent The Watchers to Aitken Alexander because they represent my writing tutor Bernie McGill. I sent it off with no great hopes, knowing the doom and gloom stories and telling myself sternly that I should prepare for the worst. Luckily Gillie was very enthusiastic about the sample chapters of the book, which encouraged me to finish writing it!

We had spoken on the phone but it’s great to get the chance to meet someone in person, especially when they live far away. Gillie is lovely and made me feel at ease. She could see I found the whole experience a little unreal at first and apparently I’m not the only new writer to feel this way. After all, writing a book is such a solitary experience. It’s just you and the computer screen. It feels strange sending it out into the world and giving it a life of its own!

We had a very pleasant lunch and a good chat. It’s fantastic getting a chance to talk to someone who knows so much about the whole publishing industry. She gave me some advice about a couple of chapters which need ‘trimmed’ so that’s what I’m working on this weekend. They’re small changes but I can already see the difference – how tightening some paragraphs increases the pace and flow of the action.

Alas, I think I have procrastinated enough! Back to the grindstone!

I have an agent!

Ha ha! I like this pic!

So I can hardly believe I am writing this but I now have a literary agent! I spoke to Gillie Russell (Aitken Alexander, London / New York - might actually pass out writing that!!!) on the phone tonight and she sent a contract (agreement letter) through by email. So now I just have to sign on the dotted line and send it back - and hey presto!

It hasn't really sunk in yet but I do feel really happy. Of course the book now has to be sold but I feel like I'm another step along the long, long road to getting The Watchers published.

Just looked back at some of my first blog posts in the summer and grinned, remembering the days when I really wondered if my head was cut spending my precious holiday writing a book. But, as they say, no pain no gain. There were lots of times when writing the book was great fun but there were other days when it was like having teeth pulled without anaesthetic. I think that's the bit you don't realise when you read books. You assume it was effortless. I now know better...

TV Night!

Ok, I'll be honest. I'm not much of a TV watcher. Life seems too short - but never too short for reading, writing or watching the cats chase a tie twitched like a snake.

I digress. If there is one night of the week when I abandon all my scruples and throw caution to the winds, it is Friday night. Friday night is the home of The Mentalist on Ch5, followed by The Event on Ch4+1 (God bless Freeview).

Lots of people seem to hate The Event. In fact, I may even steal an Event-hater's joke and post it here because it's funny. For me however, it's perfect Friday night TV. The characters are straight-forwardly good or bad and I can ALWAYS work out the ending. After a long, exhausting week this always makes me feel clever. Also the Sean / Shaun character is easy on the eye.

Sean is desperate to find his girlfriend and won't stop until he does. We all want to believe that the men in our lives will never give up on us. Maybe that's why it was so easy to write The Watchers. After all, Evie trusts that the 'man' in her life will do whatever it takes to save her - even if it means sacrificing himself.

Writing again!

Started to get really into the new book today, the sequel to The Watchers. It hasn't even got a working title yet but I have a fairly good idea of where it's going.

I'm starting to think that this is one of the nicest stages of writing. You have characters you like and a (rough) story that you want to tell. You start writing with a few sentences as a guideline. E.g. "Evie goes here and this happens, she's really annoyed and then she meets so-and-so."

What's amazing though is that as I'm writing, Evie starts getting her own ideas and bumping into people she doesn't expect to. In chapter 2 for instance she runs into Annette's younger brother Ben. We haven't met Ben before this point - until now he has just been a name. Now he's a living, breathing character, who's full of grief because his sister is dead. He's quite a forceful little bugger and seems to be shoving himself into a plot twist near the end - none of which I anticipated.

I think this is the bit that Stephen King describes as 'creative play'. Later there will have to be more sophisticated plotting - this will happen in this chapter, followed by that in the next. I found at that stage with The Watchers that it began to feel a little 'join-the-dots' as I wrote it and that it took some of the fun out of the process of writing it, until I reached the last six or seven chapters. On the other hand, it meant that the book was written fairly tightly and needed a lot less work in the revision stage than it might have done otherwise.

Anyway, I just have to enjoy this bit - and hope that The Watchers finds a home... otherwise I will have TWO homeless, urchin books to take care of!

(Cool pic came from here.)

Notes from a small island...

Hi!

I'm Debbie and I'm a writer-in-progress. I work with teenagers in Northern Ireland and I'm currently writing my first novel, aimed at teens. It's an urban fantasy / paranormal romance, and I'd love to see the story in print.

I'm writing this blog to chart the whole process, from plotting / writing to submission - and hopefully to publication! So where am I at to date?

The book has a working title of THE WATCHERS. It's an urban fantasy about a girl called Evie, who has a pretty crappy life. Only two things in her life work well - her drawing, and the very special guy who watches out for her. More on that later...

This week I sent a sample (first 4 chapters and a synopsis) to an agent in London. I was put in touch with them by the fabulous Bernie McGill (first novel 'THE BUTTERFLY CABINET' to be published by Headline on August 5th!). Bernie was good enough to read my sample and read it in one sitting. She gave me brilliant feedback, and really helped me make a few things clearer. Thanks also to her daughter Mary, who read it and loved it!

Today I met the lovely Paddy O'Doherty (Puffin Ireland) in a workshop organised by Yes Publications in Derry. Paddy gave our little group of writers some great insider info, and I was able to give her the same sample.

It's strange sending work out to people and knowing that I should expect a whole lot of rejections before I ever get any joy. I will try and be as honest as I can about the whole process! :-)

That's all for now folks! I'll keep you posted!