Viva Espana!

Well, as part of my 'virus recovery plan' I am in Spain, soaking up the sun and reading lots of books! We've had one day of rain but since then lots of glorious sunshine - getting a bit of a tan.

I haven't sampled any sangria so far but if you're feeling in the mood the picture came from here - a recipe page. Haven't tested it myself so if you give it a go let me know how it is - or if you have an amazing recipe yourself would love to see it!

Missing in action!

Am conscious of having disappeared for a couple of weeks there - mostly because I had some kind of virus that has left me feeling a bit pooped! Still not feeling 100% but only a few days of work left so hanging in there... Roll on Easter! :-)

The writing has also suffered although got a bit done last week. I have an idea I'm developing and am very excited about it. Holding fire on the sequel to The Watchers just at the minute - will update with developments there soon I hope!

Anyone writing / reading anything exciting? I have a lovely stack of books to work my way through once I hit the holidays, hurrah! More on these soon...

Our first wedding anniversary!

Married a whole year today and what a happy year it was!

Perils of adulthood

Not much by way of blogging recently... It has been a horribly busy week because of things like work, house hunting, car trouble and toothache (fillings don't last forever and need replaced - who knew?!?!).

In a week like this all you can do is find things to make you smile. At which point I introduce a blog called... *drum roll* ... Hyperbole and a Half. If you haven't read it yet, do yourself a favour and check out this post, on how being an adult is a never-ending and occasionally soul-destroying job (pic from here). I have never read anything so agonisingly truthful. On the upside, you may well laugh until you're sick. I also recommend this one.

Happy Belated St. Pat's!

I would have written this yesterday but I was out making the most of my day off! A very pleasant day - spent some time with my dad in the morning, then visited friends in the afternoon and finally out for a lovely meal and some drinks in Portstewart.

There was a bit of a session going in the bar - lots of musicians playing together - and at one stage the band was largely made up of kids! Really talented! They also did some Irish dancing and got a great round of applause from everyone there. Great atmosphere and great crowd.

Anyway it was a lovely St Pat's - all the more lovely because I didn't have to get up for work this morning!

Getting from notebook to novel - #3

3. Keep breathing – and sleeping and eating and exercising… Balance is the key!

You are officially writing a book. Well done you. You rock! And now that you’re a writer you’re just too damn busy to eat, sleep or clean the house. You go to bed late, head buzzing, and lie staring at the ceiling while your mind plays with characters and dialogue and plot twists… You become insular and a little bit obsessive. Other people become irritating, unless they are an enthusiastic sounding board for your latest ideas.

For a week or two this degree of narcissism is probably okay, unless you are skipping work or feeding your kids a diet of chips and chocolate. I’m lucky enough to have married an angel who takes it all in his stride (and let’s face it, he has his own periods of working like a lunatic on various projects). But sooner or later writing has to fit around ‘real life’ and that can be the challenging bit.

Last summer was when I broke the back of writing The Watchers. I was off work for weeks. I got up in the mornings and pockled around, did some writing and then headed to the beach for a walk. I got to the stage where I did less walking than sitting in the car with a travel mug and a big notebook, scribbling down ideas and muttering to myself. Then back home for more writing and cackling at my own cleverness.

It was exciting at the time but looking back it wasn’t all plain sailing. I was on that borderline between stress and excitement which can be very inspirational but starts to get unhealthy after a couple of weeks. My stomach was upset and I couldn’t sleep (both unusual). To be honest, I felt possessed. The night before we went on a cruise (yes, a cruise!) I screamed at the Murph that I could finish the book if it wasn’t for this bloody holiday…!

Maybe a first book is always like that – it’s the fear of losing the idea, the tension. For book 2 I would like to do things differently because by December I had a fully revised manuscript and an agent – but I had also eaten tonnes of rubbish, gained a stone in weight and wrecked my neck and shoulders by sitting on the computer for hours at a time.

So, in the end, writing has to be like every other job – you need to pace yourself. One writer I know, an award winning Sci-Fi author writes a steady two pages a day and has completed more than a dozen books while still working full-time. Another took several years to write a fantastic debut novel. Writing fits round life – but life is important too! Balance is the key.

TOP SURVIVAL TIPS
• Eat properly, sleep properly, exercise. Writing intensely can be exhilarating but also exhausting. No one realises this unless they’ve written for several hours a day, day in day out.
• Give yourself breaks, especially if you’re juggling writing with a job and family life.
• Don’t spend too long on the computer / hunched over a notebook. You WILL give yourself problems. Check your workspace is set up properly. I recommend Pilates for improving general posture, strength and flexibility.
• Find people who understand – more on this next post.

Currently reading...

Heard some good reviews of this book and it just arrived this morning. Having just read the first couple of chapters I think it's going to be an enjoyable read. It certainly hooks you from the beginning and has elements of a good thriller and literary fiction.

Going to get a pot of tea on and tuck my feet up on the sofa... Today was supposed to be for taking photos at the beach but the bitter cold and driving rain have given me the perfect excuse for a reading morning!

Hachinohe

Looking at this picture gave me a shock. This is from Hachinohe in Aomori province, Japan. I lived here back in 99/00 working as an English teacher.

Earthquakes are always a possibility but the Japanese are so used to them that their buildings are designed to cope. The real fear there for coastal dwellers has always been tsunamis. I had never really heard of them before going to Japan but just before leaving I read a pretty terrifying book about them. As soon as I found out I was going to a coastal city I started trying to suss out how close I lived to the sea! Usually I like being near beaches etc. but in Japan it didn't seem like such a good idea.

There were no major earthqukes in my time there, just tremors. The really freaky thing was seeing how panic-stricken the Japanese people were while this one was happening. They are so used to earthquakes and just take them in their stride. They knew this was something different.

I really hope as today wears on we start to hear more encouraging news for the people of Japan - that the casualty list is shorter than feared, the damage less extensive, the grieving fewer in number. The whole world is thinking about them.

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!

Currently reading...

...'Salem's Lot by Stephen King. After all those tame, swoony vampires it's back to the old school with this one! Proper creepy, predatory, vicious vampires - I'm loving it!

Any other good scary vampire books anyone can recommend?

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?

Je love le weekend!

Some weeks go by in a blur and this was one of them! Between book stuff and work stuff and social stuff *I* am pretty much stuffed! Like the cat in the picture I am really looking forward to some well earned chill-out time!

Too tired to write anything even remotely helpful or intelligent but I hope you all have a lovely, relaxing weekend.

Late night edits...

It would be fair to say that a late night working on edits is bad for the old peepers. I was up until one o'clock this morning trying to finish revisions so I could get the book away to Gillie. It really shouldn’t have taken that long but I found reading it so closely threw up lots of little tweaks I wanted to make. Happily I finally sent it to her and crawled into bed. The alarm this morning went off much too soon.

It’s a strange experience doing edits. On the one hand it’s easy to get defensive when someone else has read your book and suggested a particular paragraph doesn’t really add anything. An outside reader also notices your trademark peculiarities and quirks much more readily than you can do yourself. For example, one of mine is a love affair with the word ‘grimace’...

On the other hand it doesn’t help to become a raging perfectionist. Yes, there will always be little turns of phrase that seemed great at the time and now fall a bit flat. But at a certain point you have to step away from the manuscript and allow it to be prised from your sweaty paws. If you can’t take that leap of faith you’ll become one of those writers with ten unfinished novels lying in a drawer. Been there, got the t-shirt!

Reading a book is such a subjective experience. What I’m realising is that two people can read the same passage and have completely different views. It’s good to listen to some opinions you trust –but in the end you have to go with your gut.

Oh - and top tip: if you click on the picture link it will take you to a helpful page all about how to cover those black circles after a late writing session. When I think of my appearance this morning... It’s enough to make a girl grimace…!

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!

Racing on with revisions...

Ha! Love this cartoon! It sums up pretty well how I'm feeling about doing revisions. I was still at work last week and busy on a few evenings so I decided if I could even get through two chapters a day I would be doing well!

And it's amazing how quickly you make progress without realizing it. I'm about to start working on chapter 11. I've made some cuts but I've also made some substitutions, taking out words that read nicely and replacing them with words that read nicely and further the plot and characterisation. There are always more of those first words than you think…

Editing your own work is hard. You have written every word on the page and you're a little bit in love with the whole thing. That's why it's so helpful to find someone you trust to give you good advice and get them to read it. They'll be the person who will help you see more clearly what's hot and what's not.

The target for today is to get to chapter 15. By then I will be well past the halfway mark. Anyone else got any writing plans for today / the rest of the week?

Friday night feeling!

Oooooooh, so excited! I borrowed this DVD and planning to watch it tonight or tomorrow. It sounds like a great film - I love films that are a little bit different! I'm probably the last person in the world to see this - so please, no spoilers!

And not just off work this weekend - but all of next week too! I'm going to London on Thursday to finally meet my agent in the flesh. So far we have been bouncing emails backwards and forwards and have chatted on the phone - but sometimes it's good to do things the old-fashioned way...

So before I do any more revisions, I feel I need a Chinese, a beer and a chilled out DVD night. Excellent!

Enjoy your weekend, whatever you have planned!

The red pen is out again!

Just as the title suggests the red pen is out again! It’s time for another round of revisions on The Watchers. Things have been manic in work for the last five weeks but hopefully we’re coming back into a more settled period –which means more writing time.

I’ve also been writing something completely different, just to take a break from the world of The Watchers. I’ve enjoyed it and found it relaxing which can’t be a bad thing. It’s hard to get that balance right between staying absorbed in the world you’ve created and not getting totally obsessed with it! I’m hoping all of this comes with experience…!

Stephen King fans?

Exciting news! There is possibly going to be a film version of Stephen King's book The Stand! Apparently the great man himself is not convinced by the whole thing but I would love to see it!

If you don't know the story, it's a post-apocalyptic book, after a plague has wiped out 99.9% of the human race. Cheerful stuff, eh? But really it's a book all about how the survivors try to carry on and it becomes something a lot more - a metaphor for the battle between good and evil. There's a strong plot and really believable characters - it's the kind of book you are sad to finish and I still pick it up to re-read it every so often.

They made a mini-series in the eighties or nineties which I've seen. It was actually quite well-cast, apart from the actress who plays Fran the main female character. Anyway if you want more info you can find it here.

Another cool song!

And these guys are local! Seven Summits is the name of the band and the song is called Burning Heart. Enjoy!

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!