It's Done!!!!!!!!

News flash.......the very rough draft draft of A Cornish House is finished!!!! What a relief. I can now sit back and say although all 92513 may be crap it is done and it is the third complete novel I have written!!!!

Will be breaking out some bubbly tonight - in fact must go put it in the fridge. Just wanted to say thank you to all the other novel racers and other friends who have kept me going along the way. I won't say I wouldn't have done it with out you but it would have been a lot more lonely and certainly less fun. THANKS!!!!!

Have a great weekend on and all :-)

The Nasty Bit

I'm posting at a very early hour this morning because today's the type of day where I might not touch the computer again. I have school run, book club, pick middle child from school for half term, return and collect dd, and finally dh returns from a week in Houston. So as much as I want to jump back in and write today I don't think it will happen. In fact it may not happen for a few days as tomorrow my dd makes her first confession sorry I should say reconciliation but that's a mouth full. Hopefully it will be a quiet Sunday with the whole family together as the kids and I leave on Monday to visit my parents in their new home in Florida. All these things are marvelous but don't seem to allow for much writing time which quite frankly stinks.

It stinks because I am in that mad rush at the end. This week I had written over 12, 500 words which is a hell of a lot. It's been a wild ride because the words and scenes keep tumbling out. I am very close to the end. Last night as I switched the 'puter off Serena had just crushed Madde to bits with a revelation about Mark. It hasn't really even hit Madde yet. She doesn't believe that Mark would do something like that even fifteen years ago. She thinks it's Serena being spiteful because Mark and Madde are now together and therefore being disloyal to Serena's dad. So the shit is hitting and will continue to hit the proverbial fan for the next five thousand words or so then its the pause before things sort themselves out.

It was quite tough writing those words which I knew were going to rip Madde's fragile bubble of happiness apart. I hated doing it to her. Things had finally started pulling her way even Serena seemed to be coming round.......Hopefully I can turn the whole thing back and set them on the route to happiness but I'm not sure until the words are out on the page. Therefore I hate leaving Madde in such pain while I romp off to sort my life out and then go on holiday. I must find time to write this weekend and maybe even on the plane if there is enough space - hah!

Still loving The Dream House and must fess up to fellow book club members that I ditched The Age of Innocence. Once upon a time I would have pushed on but now my reading time is to short!

Book List Sorted

Yesterday was a good day for words...4000. I am hopeful for today as well as I am now in that rush to the end. All things are hopefully in place and the characters know where they are taking me - or at least I hope so.

The book list below has highlighted some good discussion again. Jess mentioned that she had read only two on my list. I suddenly realized that the early books were those that many Americans would have read but not necessarily on the reading list of people in the UK. I thought I would look at the age and time of and location for each of the choices......

Childhood in Boston
Make Way For The Ducklings
Tom Sawyer
Johnny Tremain
Uncle Tom's Cabin

High School
The Hobbit
Regency Buck
Trinity

University
The Canterbury Tales
Pride and Prejudice

Move to England
Frenchman's Creek
Daughter of Lir
Katherine

Life Overseas
Leo the African
Alchemist

Back to England
Any Human Heart
The Thirteenth Tale

By high school my reading was reaching out further. I suppose I could blame Georgette Heyer for my passion for English men :-) I spent a summer in studying in Ireland and that whetted my appetite for Irish history and pushed me past the first 200 pages of Trinity so that I could dwell in the rest. The Hobbit was thanks to my wonderful English teacher Miss Walsh.

My degree is in English Literature with an emphasis on Medieval period so a love of the Canterbury Tales is essential and I just love Chaucer's sense of humour and Austen just continues my loves of English men and romance.

After university i think I suffered from reader burnout. I don't really remember the books I read in that period after uni. It wasn't until I moved to the Uk that the books jump out from my memory. The most important of these being Frenchman's Creek. This is where my husband proposed and began my love affair with Cornwall.

When my children were very small I read very little. i was too damn tired and my attention span could only cope with magazines. My mother-in-law tried to keep me going with books of short stories!

Finally emerging from the state of perpetual exhaustion I was living over seas and was led to Leo the African. It showed my a different view of history that I could feel living in the Middle East at the time. The Alchemist was a richer read for me as well because I feel the sand and even taste it.

Then it brings me to the last two which were both read last year. It is the prose in The Thirteenth Tale that speaks to me. Her use of words and how they transported me is why that book is on my list. This reflects my writing life. I think about words all day long now! Any Human Heart open men's minds up for me and also that fact i had noticed in my own life. I may be in my forties and my body is showing it but my mind still thinks it's 28. That book clearly shows that progress through life and how we recognize the outward changes but our heart remains somehow unaware of age.

Now back to my words and the the lives of my characters.......I wonder what their favorite books are and why?

Lack of Words

Those of you who pop will notice the progress meter hasn't budged. I mean I could have updated it but for a 100 words it didn't seem to be worth it. On Sunday I went to Cornwall and after the long drive I had no energy to write. On Monday I was working with the builders and catching up in the garden and put down the 100 or so words. Yesterday was spent driving back to London and then catching up with family. Today I have child home sick and a hair appointment which means that the counter is in all likelihood not going to see much action. These are all external forces but what has stopped the words really if I am honest is hitting a point where I wasn't sure how to proceed. Madde and Mark were in another clinch and it was good but I didn't want it to cross over and I wasn't sure how to stop them realistically or humorously. So my subconscious hadn't yet caught up with my fingers. I now know how things stopped and where to go from here so maybe tomorrow the words with fly from my fingers....we'll see.

On other news and again from A. Writer's blog, http://awriters-blog.blogspot.com/. I have been added to Author Blogs,http://www.authorsblogs.com/ . This is great fun being in such great company :-)

Finally on the reading front, I finished Notes on a Scandal. I can't say I enjoyed the book because the subject wasn't enjoyable but I did appreciate the story. Zoe Heller I felt managed the first person well although at the beginning of the book I found the voice so so strong I could only read it in short bursts. Now I need to see the film. I still haven't finished Night Watch, it eyes me from the coffee table accusingly every time I pass but this month book is Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence which I am enjoying but again progressing slowly. The style is more more descriptive than what we are used today.

I know there was something else I wanted to blog about but it slips my mind and the sick one is calling!

Progress Meter

I have to confess that while writing today I kept taking sneaky peaks at the progress meter.....and then I would smile and type on some more. Seeing it I now think I can finish this damn thing. It is not impossible. I have already written over half. I am not bad. Even if the writing is crap not everyone can put that many words together. You see I am trying to keep those crows of doubt at bay and the little progress meter reminds me that I have come so far. Thank you progress meter for your services to my sanity.

Past The Half Way Mark

Wow, it's finaly happened. The word counter has ticked past 50k. I am on the down hill race to the finish. The story is telling itself. The characters all have their voices and one of the key feautres I planned - historic letters and diaries of the past working there way through the story has died about 20k words ago. The character seem to want to tell their story without the distant past. I am not convinced this is correct but at the moment I am letting them tell the story. The next draft will be mine!

What I Have Been Doing Wrong

Yesterday was good. I managed almost 2000 words and in between the torrential downpours the sun was glorious. So it was a good day.

It was also good because over on Phillipa Ashley's blog, http://phillipa-ashley.com/blog/2007/02/27/waterstones-2/#comments, she mentioned Maureen Johnson's blog, http://maureenjohnson.blogspot.com/2007/02/how-to-be-writer-in-ten-easy-steps.html, which has "How To Be A Writer In Ten Easy Steps". I now know where I am falling down. I could start at the beginning with the photo and work my way through so that I get it right! How could I have failed on so many points? Must pull up my socks!

Ten Reasons To Be Cheerful

Some days you find what you didn't know you were looking for.....today it was on Anna Lucia's blog, http://anna-lucia.blogspot.com/. Having been in a blue funk for days this seems just the right things to turn me around. So here goes:

1. I have the most wonderful husband in the world
2. My three kids are happy and healthy (despite the daily battles with dd)
3. The sun is shining today
4. I am going to Venice with my husband in June
5. I have managed to write something today
6. Two dear friends are getting married soon
7. I love my home in Cornwall
8. I am blessed with wonderful friends
9. My faith keeps me sane
10. I am in good health

So today I am smiling and I'm writing. It's a great day!

Blue Funk

As I write this I am feeling a tad better. The past two days I have been a blue funk. A heavy heavy heart and weary body and mind weighed me down. I haven't written a word so my revised goal of 50k by the end of tomorrow is nigh on impossible unless I drink red bull all day long. That is not a huge tragedy as I well over original target.

With A Cornish House, I know where I am going at the moment and can see it clearly in my head but I feel if I start writing at present my characters will all fall into a fearful depression....like a great climatic low is sitting over them. Sometimes writing through a blue funk is good but right now I don't think so.......I will be hanging my head in shame on Friday at the coffee.

Book club was Monday and we read - that is all except for me, Notes on a Scandal......I had managed 45 pages. Pitiful but hey when I am full on writing I am too drained I think to read much. So yesterday and today I have been continuing with that and still working on Night Watch. Maybe I should pick up one of the happier titles from the tbr pile????

New Challenger Steps Up

A. Writer has taken up the challenge at http://awriters-blog.blogspot.com/. That makes five is you count me. Surely there are a few more who will jump into the fray????

I did not write today. The crows of doubt are circling around her at the moment. There is good reasons for this but I won't go into it now.

However on an up note, I heard from a friend that had been out of touch for a while. Her life has turned around beautifully and is on a great track again. I felt so pumped up to here all her news. So there are some things around to make me smile!

It's Friday

Well, not a bad week at all and I have until 5:30 to write today! It will be coffee over at Kate's shortly and I won't have to hold my head down since this week's total so far is 7000 +. :-)

Yesterday I was lucky enough to have lunch with a friend, who's an agent. Yes, I am very lucky. We brain stormed over August Rock and the critique I had done on it. Some the items are easily fixed but one item, the part of Toby by 13 yr. old ghost, is a little more problematic if I'm trying for the UK market. It could fly with a ghost but it may limit the market too much yet Toby's chapter's are some of the strongest in the book. How to alter the work keeping Toby's story intact.......two strong possibilities emerged. So while I work away on A Cornish House hopefully the subconscious part of my mind will resolve the Toby problem. By the way she had absolutely no problem with an American heroine.

Reading through fellow racers blogs this week, I noted the A. Writer was willing to put her writing out there for comment early. At a previous coffee we have discussed whether you are a shower or a hider.....most being hiders. Me too but one of the best exercises that I have ever done was prompted by Julie Cohen's, http://www.julie-cohen.com/blog, first page challenge. I posted both the first page for August Rock and the few words that I had written for A Cornish House. The process involved putting in your thoughts about the page and your motivation for the words. I shamefacedly had never looked that closely at my on work. I wrote and edited but never looked at the whys. I let myself off as I am rediscovering my craft after years away from fiction. The best part of the exercise was other people's comments, http://lizfenwick.blogspot.com/2006/11/first-page-challenge.html. In particular for me those of Laura Vivanaco of the blog Teach Me Tonight, http://teachmetonight.blogspot.com/.

So thinking about all of this made me think now 45,000 or so into A Cornish House would it be a good idea to throw the first page out there again and challenge my fellow racers and anyone else to do the same???? Any takers? I was also thinking I would enjoy seeing my fellow racers styles (some are published so there styles are out there so to speak but some of us aren't).

Herewith the first page of A Cornish House:


The car coughed to a halt and lurched as the trailer pushed it further on the dark lane.
“Shit.” Madde thumped the steering wheel.
“What?”
Madde turned to see Serena rubbing her eyes; her blond hair in spiky disarray and the new tattoo on her arm peeking out from her tee-shirt. Double shit thought Madde. They couldn’t be far from where ever the hell Carnew was but now that Serena was awake she could hear her complaints already. She turned the key but no sound emerged from the engine.
“Are we at this God-forsaken place?” Serena stretched.
“Errr, no. The car died.”
“What?”
“The car died.”
“I heard that but where are we?” Serena was now sitting straight.
“Don’t know.”
“Christ.”
“Mind your language.” Madde ran her fingers over the wheel.
“Hah, fine thing to say. I just heard you swearing. What’s wrong with Christ anyway?”
“We’ve been down this road before.”
“No we haven’t.”
“Don’t be pedantic.” Madde rubbed her hands over the back of her neck. She could feel the rigid tendons. “Serena, I’m tired I’ve been driving for hours and arguing isn’t going to help.”
“So?”

I haven't put my comments in the text like last time as I thought you might like to read it first with out my thoughts and then read my thoughts so they don't prejudice your own.

I am trying to set up tension with the setting - dark road-dead car. Also the conflict between Madde and Serena is right there and crucial to the whole of the book. Also that Serena definitely doesn't want to be where she is. I wanted Serena's stroppy voice to come through and Madde's restraint.....I hope all of this shows and makes you want to know more - like why they are there and who they are and who they are to each other???? Well, that's my hope any way. Let's here what you have to say......I think.

Happy Dance

The groove has returned today. 2260 words today bringing me over February's goal of 40,000! YES! This morning I thought I would never find it. I visited every blog I could think of. I waited for emails I didn't expect. I even thought of cleaning.......then suddenly the groove hit. I do so like the groove.

Yesterday I did manage 1000 words but they all felt like pulling teeth. Maybe in the end they will be better words but oh it does feel good.

Off to do the school run now.

Nationality

Today the words have not flowed so easily despite the Viking. Currently he's sitting in Madde's kitchen and I'm waiting for the words to start zinging.

In the meantime I have been working over August Rock in my head. In the critique there was the comment that because Judith was American and the story was set in Cornwall I was affecting the commercial aspect of the manuscript. Could I make Judith a Brit? This would make the story more appealing to the British market. Well, I suppose I could but the much of the story's wit and joy comes from the play of the yank against the local population in the nicest of ways. It would become a totally different story and not one that I would necessarily want. The question I have is......Does a foreign protagonist put you off a book? Are you less likely to read a book with an American one or an English one or a French one? I know that being part of a multi-cultural family I happily read from both sides of the pond but I may have to pushed to read about say a Chinese protagonist and this stems from my ignorance of the cultural references. Any thoughts?

Well back to the Viking in the kitchen and hopefully reaching 1000 words today.

p.s. I'm really having fun writing this at the moment :-)

Then came a Viking

Don't ya just love it when totally unplanned characters come walking into your book? C.S. Harris, http://csharris.blogspot.com/, was blogging about twists yesterday. She was putting together a list of the most common types of twists that can happen. It had me thinking. Then Anna Lucia on her blog, http://anna-lucia.blogspot.com/, spoke about "What's hidden from view is not as dangerous as what is in plain sight."

One of the key critiques from H. Johnson on August Rock was that August Rock didn't have enough twists. The plot was to too evenly paced. So C. S.'s comments and Anna's hit the spot. I don't think this will be a problem with A Cornish House. Especially now that Gunnar the Viking was waltzed in to divert Madde. We shall see.

The words have been flowing pretty well this week. Over 3000 yesterday alone. Currently it's standing at 35,138. I may just make my goal of 40,000 by the end of February and then again I may just beat it!

Slower

Today word count isn't as impressive - 1,165, but I'll keep it. It's strange as there were no children, no electricians yet I wrote less without the distractions. What does this say about my writing ethic? I need chaos about me to create? I focus when the world is noisy and don't when peace reigns. Guess that about sums me up. Better bring in a brass band tomorrow!

Electricians

First let me start by saying that my dd went back to school today! I planned a day focused on writing but then the electrician arrived. We live in a rented house so he had a long list of outstanding items which should have taken an hour. He and his assistant left at three. Nothing was straightforward. The extractor fan in the kitchen proved to be a huge problem. No one could discover where it was wired through. An hour and a half later it was sourced then sorted. Then there was the extractor fan in the bathroom. Well whoever installed it cemented in the cable. This was only discovered after several holes had been drilled into the ceiling. So now we have a very ventilated ceiling and an extractor fan that is wired on the outside of the tiles but it works. Now I await the man to fix the holes and the man to bring the new fridge. Did I mention the fridge died on Sunday?

So my peaceful day was disturbed with power on and power off but I still managed to add another 2523 words! Best of all I wrote in Mark's first chapter and it felt right. I still may have to go back to the beginning and introduce his voice earlier because it may feel strange having his voice suddenly arriving 100 pages into the book but then again maybe not!

Yes Words

Yes, I did write today. I wrote 2,291 words :-)

They may be crap but I can work with crap later - or atleast I hope I can.

Doing a happy dance!

No Words

I wish I could be sitting here telling of the copious amount of work I have done since I last posted but no. Zilch. Nada. Big fat ZERO. Good, huh? I could list my excuses but that wouldn't be fair because I could have written. I really could have.

I have been thinking about the book. I have been wrestling with Mark - not an unpleasant experience I must say, but that still hasn't put words on the page. I still haven't resolved how to handle Mark or the pace of the story but I have decided that today I will write. It may well turn out to be utter crap but it will break the barrier I have created in my mind.

With August Rock I wrote swiftly through and it was easy. The story line was easier. A Cornish House is more complex and I know that I will have many rewrites to work in the laying I'm missing with this massive push forward. AR did teach me that rewriting is good and not just a royal pain in the butt. So I now know it is only possible to fix what is actually on the page so today I will put words on the page. I will introduce the voices of the two historic women through their letters and diaries today. Mark's voice may not yet enter because I haven't worked out how. But if I accept that his voice will find a place - it will.

There. How's that for being positive. Did I mention I have my youngest home sick from school and she likes lots of attention???

Sick Days

Well, the side bar works - sort of. My word counter still looks like its been through the slicing machine but I can up date it.

Not much to report as big ds was still home sick today. Managed to eek out just over 100 words while watching Love Actually and Harry Potter 4 with him. Interesting choice of films I know but a teenager is an interesting creature!

New Look

In desperation I have changed the look of my blog but lost all side bar information. Hopefully it means that I will have a side bar.......we'll see.

Despite having ill teenage ds moping about managed to reach 18,048. In order to inspire me he put on Saving Grace and I had a tough time concentrate but its such a fabulous film.