Friday Despair no Musing and Links

What a week this has been in my head. I have run around in circles. You know that feeling of not making any progress and not sure if you want to either. I am at a loss with my writing at the moment as with quite a few other things in my life. If it weren't for the Dickens Challenge I could say that I wasn't doing any writing at all. I have been thinking about A Cornish House, whose revisions, have ground to a halt but all the solutions I have thought up seem to pat. I lack orginality. I am boring and too easy to figure out. Unfortunately I think that is also my personality these days. What you see is what you get - boring. So I am filled with self doubt. Should I continue on this writing lark? Should I pack it in? Should I just pack in the hope of ever writing anything a publisher will want? To be honest I don't think I could stop writing but maybe I should just do it for myself.

These are just some of the thoughts floating is wreched circular paterns in a deterioating brain. I am also wondering if I should just throw myself into writing the book that is in my head before I lose it. The only deadline I have facing is the Romantic Novelists' New Writers Scheme and that will be ACH. I hadd planned to get that in early but if I am just going to piddle my time away.............

Last night I had a great treat. I forgot to ask her permission to say who but a best novelist came to dinner last night. She is lovely and doesn't look her years. DH said there was no way she was as old as she said she was. She was filled with encouraging words and I guess it helps to hear the great say that they too are still learning and still have doubts. Before falling asleep last night I was going to send August Rock off to who she said was a wonderful editor whom I met at the RNA lunch but then the earthworms of doubt had been busy all night and it no longer seems such a good idea!

I just finished Laying the Ghost by Judy Astley yesterday. It had such a satisfying ending I was smiling and humming for the rest of the day. What was also interesting from my current quandry is how she balanced the mother/daughter story lines in the book................ maybe I'll just go slash my wrists now.

But before I do that some good links....... Over on A Newbie's Guide to Publishing JA Konrath gives some sound advice for attracting visitors to your blog. The BBC Scotland Write Here Right Now has been brilliant this month even if I haven't been following too closely. Yesterday's email was particularlly spot on. I checked out the website here and they haven't put it up yet so I will cut and paste some of it for the impatient! So Senior commisioning editor at Headline, Vicki Mellor says........



"....
As an editor who reads many submitted manuscripts, there are several key elements that I consider when choosing a book to publish.

...
The author should have thought through the plot from every conceivable angle. Most editors can spot a gap in the narrative very quickly...

The writing should be engaging and detailed, and the plot should be original – the book needs a hook. Whether that takes the form of a major new character, an unusual setting or, indeed, historical context, it needs to stand out from the rest of the market.

The opening scene is essential. It gives the editor their first impression of the author’s writing and only the strongest scene will make an editor read the manuscript beyond it.

There are a huge amount of talented authors writing today – be strong and be prepared to face some rejection because the old adage is true. If you are turned down by one editor, then perhaps you just haven’t found the right one for you yet. "



It's worth reading the whole newsletter when they post it.



Finally I will leave you with you a few fun photos of our Wadi Bashing in the UAE last Saturday.

RNA Conference Part 4

The rain is falling here in Cornwall but not like the rest of the country. Hope everyone is afloat.

Next up on the conference was a talk by Lesley Pierce but thanks to Silverstone she was delayed reaching us. Amanda Grangestepped into the breach so to speak. She spoke about web sites and blogs. Questions flew in as people who hadn't taken the plunge into the web world saw the advantages.


A Quick summary of her key points:

Web Page Hints:
a. have a simple welcome page then add different pages for books
b. make sure you have a contact email on there and she suggested that use one of the many free ones available out there like hotmail.
c. have an amazon link so that it is easy for people to buy your books

Blogs:

She mentioned that blogs don't have to be maintained by just one person but could easily be done as a group so that the pressure to maintain isn't to onerous. She does a blog with several others historical writers, http://www.historicalromanceuk.blogspot.com/.

There are many types of blog formats available, blogger, wordpress and touchpad to name a few.

Newsletters are a good way of keeping in touch with readers and a sign up on both blogs and web sites is useful.

To make your web site of blog more professional looking she suggested using Slide at http://www.slide.com/ to display book covers.

Her final point was to use something like http://www.statcounter.com/ to keep track of who is visiting your site.

Eventually Lesley Pierce arrived and told us of her road to publication but the most important thing she said was 'write what your heart's telling you to do.'

On my own writing front I am just over the the half way mark of another read through of August Rock. I have had a bit more tweaking here and there. Once this read through is finished I will read it through one more time before I send it off to the RNA's New Writer's Scheme. I have to confess I am bored to tears with it at the moment which I am taking as a good sign. I am hoping it is a sign to let go.

Yesterday I finished reading Katie Fforde's Going Dutch. I loved it and it brightened a very dull day. What I loved about the book was the balance of the story of two women at different stages of life letting love back in........a deliciously satisfying read.

RNA Conference Part 2

It seems a long time ago now but the good effects are still lingering from the conference. I was so pumped up from it that the vibes carried me through the move. The move wasn't too bad but by the end my nerves were pretty thin and i was more than scratchy. Anyway enough of that and back to positive stuff.

The next session I attended was by Alison Baverstock. (she is on the left and Catherine Jones the RNA Chair is on the right) Regular blog readers will remember than I attended her marketing your book session a while back. This talk was 'How Long Does It Take to You to Churn one Out? - Keeping Up Motivation and Morale.' She spoke of the long road to publication and the long task of just writing a novel. In order to survive the process she presented us with 11 tips.

1. Feast on beauty, harvest things that inspire you (ie. a collection of postcards or a copy of you favorite painting)

2. treat yourself well

3. solidarity

4. jealousy is not necessarily a bad thing

5. Community; she cited the Romantic Novelist Association here as a wonderful example (think Novel Racers here)

6. Dealing with time:
a. building blocks; allocate time for writing
b. be selfish with your writing time
c. that time is essential to allow time for the subliminal up rush which she described like projectile vomiting. Here she recommended Dorothea Brande's Becoming a Writer.
d. make your time at your best writing time (which can be a problem is its 3:30 and you have kids but work with it!)

7. Find somewhere to write ; allocate a place that is yours; people take you at your own estimation and your writing space can affect this

8. encourage other people to take you seriously

9. maintaining own morale; keep the room bright; encourage your own writing; develop your own feeling of being a writer.

10. preset yourself as a writer

11. the importance of being an encourager of others ( Novel Racers!!)

She finished up by saying that remember that marketing is looking at yourself from the outside! Her book Is There A Book in You sold out at the conference book shop which is no surprise. My copy is on its way to Dubai!


Tomorrow I'll report on Jan Etherington.

On my own writing I had begun tweaking August Rock to send off to the New Writers Scheme of the Romantic Novelist Association. On the reading front I have finally finished Time Travelers Wife which I enjoyed but was not what I expected. I now have four other books on the go - The Self-Preservation Society by Kate Harrison, Going Dutch by Katie Fforde, and Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier.

Novel Racer - Caroline Smailes

Now most of was have been In Search of Adam impatiently waiting until publication date on the 15th June 2007, but poor Novel Racer Caroline, http://insearchofadam.blogspot.com/, has been tearing her hair out. However with all the pre-publication stress she has managed to come up trumps on her profile:



"I’ve always written (diaries, stories and poems), but I never had the confidence to do anything about my dream to be published. I was quite precious about my work when I was younger. Then as I became an adult I still wanted to write, but my life seemed to be circling around being a mum and an academic. I guess that I began to take my writing seriously when I started my MA in Creative Writing in September 2005.

I finished the final draft of In Search of Adam during a holiday in France in August 2006. I had no idea what to do next. My husband designed a website for me and I put on extracts from the novel. I felt that I needed something more interactive and a friend suggested that I started a blog. I launched the blog and the website on August 20th 2006.

I had been blogging for about three weeks and had left a comment on another blog about a book called 'e-luv' by Dave Roberts. He was a Friday Project author. Clare Christian came to my blog and then to my website from my comment on e-luv. She emailed to say she’d read the extract from my novel and wanted to read the full manuscript. It was a Saturday night. On the Sunday morning I emailed the full manuscript to her and by the Monday evening she had offered me a contract. Since then I have had an eight month roller coaster ride with a number of highs along the way. In Search of Adam will be launched in hardback in three weeks time.

As part of the Novel Race I am writing a novel, Black Boxes, which is a story in two parts - box one and box two. It is based on the idea of the black boxes that are extracted from a plane wreck. The reader is to unravel the story to find the cause of the 'crash.' The voices are of a mother and a daughter, focusing on sounds and lost words, but there is an added visual twist thrown in. It's another dark novel and I really hope that it’ll be finished as a second draft by the time ISoA comes out. But part of me is holding back and full of fear as to how ISoA will be received.

I still can’t believe that all of this has happened. I followed a dream when I started my MA and last week I held my novel for the first time. That is a feeling that will stay with me. I dread waking from this dream."








Now as my saga goes on my huge debt to the Romantic Novelist Association will become clear. At their summer party last year in the beautiful library at the Society of Mechanical Engineers on Birdcage Walk. It was a brilliant evening but extra special since my friend Fiona Harper won the New Writers' Award for her first book, Blind Date Marriage. I was so excited it was almost like I had won. So in celebratory mood I drank a touch too much. Soon the crowd had thinned down and I was able to find the food. It was reaching for something to sop up the alcohol that I met the lovely Lucie Whitehouse, then of Darley Anderson. We started chatting and to be honest it was the alcohol talking. We spoke of love lives- hers that is and other ramblings of the alcoholically infused and then she asked me what I wrote. I mumbled about Cornwall and the Helford River. She loves the area and asked me to send it to her. I floated out of the building with Biddy Coady to a pub. Finally when that closed on us she pored me into a taxi home. The next morning with large head I composed a simple cover letter and posted her the 19 pages and synopsis.


Now, I didn't expect an immediate response and I needed to send the whole manuscript off to the New Writers' Scheme of the RNA. I went off to the conference in Penrin quite buoyant. The first to come back was the report from the New Writers' Scheme. My heart sank. When the letter begins, " I enjoyed reading August Rock, Elizabeth. There is much that is good here." I thought, "Oh, shit this had gone to an agent and an editor and it's utter crap." I then took a step back and looked at the good points and the many bad points and consoled myself it wasn't a write off. The reader ended with this:


"In short, Elizabeth, I did think that August Rock showed great promise. What I feel you need to do is have a rethink about a) your characters and b) the main thread of Tristan and Judith's story (especially Tristan's) Bring the romance up to date and avoid cliches..........It's a feat in itself to write a novel of this length and as I said, there is a lot here that is good. Toby's story is excellent - very touching and convincing. If you can achieve the same with Tristan and Judith, you'll have have a very strong story on your hands."

So having read and digested all the bits. I knew my writing style was heavy. I was telling not showing yet I didn't know what to do about it. It's a phrase that is bandied about all the time but I thought having had that criticism for the script the before, First Love Second Chance, I had learnt my lesson. Clearly I hadn't.

Now I didn't want to hear from Lucie. It was the end of August and not a word. I just knew it was such crap that she couldn't be bothered to respond and would avoid me like the plague at all future RNA functions. I knew I was still too close to August Rock to begin a rewrite plus I didn't know where to begin. However the seeds for A Cornish House were growing daily.

I was in Cornwall when the letter arrived in London. Bravely, I think I asked the dh to open it and read it to me. I was shaking waiting for dire words. Her delay had nothing to do with my crap writing but her own success at the same. Her first book, The House at Midnight was coming out in Germany. (It comes out here in January 2008)

So here' what she had to say.......

....plot is i think is very strong indeed...........a strong heroine, a damaged man, tragic deaths, a mystery, a supernatural element.......in short, I think the plot is just right. (my comment here - this is off 19 pages and the synopsis)

Now for the bad........

....your writing is over explanatory and damages the pace and your ability to keep the reader's interest................(Here she took one sentence as I had written it and showed me how to make it stronger - light bulb moment) There are several idea repeated here and they make the writing feel very flat.

Then she pointed me to the direction to fix my writing style.....Sol Steins' Solutions for Writers and as a bonus said if I did a substantial rewrite she would be happy to look at it again!

I was straight to Amazon and was heart broken when it would a month before I could get this book in my hands. In the interim I mind mapped A Cornish House. When it arrived I was glued to it and fired up. Finally I could see what the reader had spoken of and what Lucie meant. I went on to slash and burn my way through August Rock which was brilliant fun!

Tomorrow I will tell you how it went and some examples of of it improved my work.