Kate Mills - One Thing I've Learnt

One thing I've learnt is that you can't judge a man by his washing-line. 

It was my sister who first said that a fireman had bought the derelict house that backed on to our garden.  Newly engaged herself, she had that urge to marry everyone else off too.  

We spent the summer trying to catch sight of him. The curtains were drawn at odd times. He cut down a tree but we missed him. Occasionally we heard banging from the house.  Once we heard him talking on the phone in his garden, but - having scrambled through a cotoneaster to peer through a hole in the fence - we could only see his broad back and shoulders.

Ever ingenious, my sister found that if she balanced on the upstairs bathroom windowsill she could just see his washing-line. And there was the problem: the row of tatty, grey long-johns fluttering in the breeze.

I was appalled. Fire protection, she suggested hopefully. Steptoe, I replied.

A few weeks later, we met him in a shop.  He looked nice, I thought, but oh, the pants. The pants.  My sister introduced us in a way that would have made Mrs Bennett proud. He offered us a lift home; she made an excuse for herself, adding slyly: ‘You can take my sister, though.'

As we drove back (passing my sister and her triumphant grin), he invited me in to see the work he’d done on the house.  Ultimately, we drifted outside to the garden. I hoped, for his sake, that he’d put his washing away.

I scanned the lawn.  Luckily, no washing.  In fact, no washing-line at all.  But, if I stood on tiptoe, I could just see a washing-line next door, complete with fraying long-johns. ‘Nice old boy,’ the fireman said.  

I married the fireman ten years ago. Every once in a while, on the odd occasion when my sister and I do something daft, he has been known to roll his eyes and mutter ‘Fire-proof pants…’   

Fanny Blake - One Thing I've Learnt

ONE THING I’VE LEARNED

Over the last fifteen years I’ve made the transition from being a publisher to being a full-time writer and journalist. I was an editor for many years, working with both novelists and non-fiction writers, advising, editing, publishing. It was a peach of a job, but not one that I miss in any way now.

As gamekeeper turned poacher, the one thing I’ve learned is what a huge difference there is between editing and writing. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve gaily advised authors to sharpen that character, lose that scene or even, in two cases, to rewrite the whole book. But now when my editor gives me similar advice (she hasn’t yet been moved to do the last, thank God), I think: How do I do that? What exactly do you mean? When I was an editor myself, I don’t think I realised how much thought is sometimes required to make those changes. I think back to ‘my’ authors and wish I had been more understanding of the process. Writing is much more demanding than I realised then.

People assume that I must find it easy to edit my own work. Far from it. By the time I’ve finished a novel I’m so close to it that I can’t see the most obvious of errors. Being an editor requires a degree of objectivity that gets lost in the creative process. In order to do both, I would have to put the book away for months before I could distance myself sufficiently.

The difference between a writer and their editor is best reflected in the distinction between the expression of a story, characters and ideas, and the clear communication of those to the reader. That is where the editor comes in. 

Writer and editor are united in their desire to create a story, characters and ideas and to communicate them to the reader. But their roles are different. One produces the material. The other rubs off its rough corners with (if you’re fortunate) a combination of delicate psychology, tact and syntactical skill.  It seems to me that writing and publishing a book is a process that demands the successful collaboration of both.

Jenny Haddon - One Thing I've Learnt

One thing I’ve learned . . . .

In Laurence Durrell’s blissful tales of diplomatic life, Sauve Qui Peut he tells of The Balkan Times, the English language daily newspaper run by the Misses Grope, two sisters whose father used to be the Embassy Chaplin. It always carries the date of the previous day because once, many years before, it didn’t come out. The sisters operate on the principle that one day they will print two and catch up.

Bessie and Enid Grope and I are sisters under the skin. Whether because of temperament, upbringing or sheer writer’s cussedness, I’ve always been bad at writing off missed targets, rolling up yesterday’s unfinished business into today’s To Do List.

And what I’ve learned is: DON’T.

One week of failing to achieve desired wordage left me with 22,500 words to write on a Saturday when I also had to foodshop, get car MOT’d and take godchild to The Little Vampire.  (Memorable vampire cows, by the way, I recommend it.)  Impossible, right? You know it. I know it.

Well, I know it now. On the day in question I got up at 3.00am and actually, bloody tried.

So now I Don’t Carry Over. Well, not except for stuff like gas bills. Basically things have to be pretty damned important to move from yesterday’s list to today’s.

And, guess what? Now I’m not beating myself up with impossible targets, I actually achieve more.

http://jennyhaddon.com/

Carole Blake - One Thing I've Learnt

Is that I have to live alone.

I moved straight from my parents house to my first 13 year marriage. I left my first husband for my second: another 13 year marriage.  The first few years of each were happy: the last many of each were definitely not.

Ending that second marriage was terrifying. For the first 24 hours, every minute was panic-filled with the phrase in my head: ‘I’ve never done this before, I can’t manage alone.’  On the 2^nd morning I awoke smiling: for a moment I thought it was my birthday, or Christmas. Then I remembered: now I live alone.

That was 16 years ago and the joy has not diminished, but increased.

I’ve not gone off men: far from it.  I’m in a relationship where the extreme happiness has lasted longer than the happy years of my 2 marriages put together. The secret?  He visits, but we don’t live together. He wants to: I won’t.

Perhaps my job is so social that I need time alone.  I have friends to stay, I give parties. But I’ve never been happier than in the years I’ve lived alone.  And I’m going to keep it that way.

www.twitter.com/caroleagent

The Cornish House - Publication Day!

Gosh, what a journey! And that's in more ways that one...but today I have officially become a published writer. I'm sitting here staring at the final book just to remind myself that this is all real and not just some fabulous dream....

Today will be hectic...I have pasties to cook and no I didn't make them from scratch, but bought them from the wonderful organic Gear Farm which is a stones throw from my own Cornish house and has the best pasties....really. If you can't make the launch, you will have to trust me on this unless you make it to Cornwall or buy them from Whole Foods...

I have wine and fizz to chill...tricky at the moment when the fridge is filled with pasties! Ice to buy. Children to round up from various parts of the country...DH will be flying in from, um, I think Norway. My parents are here with me...

I have to remember to stop and smell the roses...or in this case enjoy this longed for moment. For someone who works with words everyday and uses those words to evoke and explain emotion I struggle when expressing my own. Right now I am walking on tightrope high above and dancing at the same time.

I have dreamt this dream a thousand times, but it has never taken this wonderful shape before...the one where I'm right now - supported by my whole family and friends old and new...real life and on-line. It is magic and I am blessed. For this day I can forget the hard work and the crows of doubt and just enjoy this magic moment!

So enough of my waffling...while you have been enjoying the wisdom of 'One Thing I've Learnt' either The Cornish House or moi have been appearing all over the place. So here are the links...

The first is for those that can't join in the launch in London tonight. the fabulous Heroine Addicts are throwing a launch party...this should really come with a warning judging by others I have attended there...But do drop by and join in the mayhem at The Cornish House Launch Party.

I'm on the Virgin Megastore ME blog talking about the The Cornish House here.

I'm answering some excellent question about me and The Cornish House at Female First here.

There is a wonderful review on Bookersatz here

The wonderful Mel Sherrett has written the most lovely blog post about friendship in this crazy on-line world we live in and it made me teary...here

Tomorrow will the be the picture round of the launch tonight (cameras working that is...) and then back to more 'One Thing I've Learnt' posts....

Julie Cohen - One Thing I've Learnt

I left teaching for writing, and I miss it. But I still get my teaching 'fix' by leading creative writing courses, giving workshops and talks, critiquing manuscripts and occasionally being a sounding board or sort of mentor to other authors who are trying to get published. It's very exciting, it teaches me more about writing craft, and it's fun. It is always a privilege.

One thing I've learnt is that there is nothing quite like the feeling when an author who you've helped finally gets their first publishing contract. Don't get me wrong—I can't take any credit for their success. Writing is hard work and nobody can do it but the author. But I know that before I was published, several generous authors helped me, reading drafts and giving advice. I probably would have done it without them—eventually, somehow, because I was extremely bloody-minded—but I know they helped me get there faster and with more confidence. They helped me avoid pitfalls, and to stop making the same mistakes over and over.

I love it when I feel I might have done the same for someone else.

In the past month, I've received two emails, and two public thank-yous, from four authors whom I have worked with, and who have recently signed their first book deal, or their first major book deal. I know that I don't feel one-tenth of the pride, exhilaration, excitement, and joy they feel. But they have let me share it. 

It's one of the best feelings in the world.

http://www.julie-cohen.com

Twitter: @julie_cohen

Julie's 2012 Advanced Novel Writing workshops are sold out, but she is giving workshops at the Festival of Writing in York in September.

http://www.writersworkshop.co.uk/events.html

THE SUMMER OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY

An ordinary woman. An extraordinary adventure.

out in paperback from Headline Review

http://www.julie-cohen.com

April Hardy - One Thing I've Learnt

One thing I’ve learnt is that it is never too late to find the right path. It took me forty years but I believe I’m on the right track now!

From studying drama at college and theatre school, convinced I was destined for Drury Lane, to retraining as a chef in a Swiss hotel school, it was always the written side of things which fulfilled me most.

Choreographing “ballets” for Greek bouzouki clubs, a stint on a Mediterranean cruise ship and assisting a temperamental wedding cake designer were interesting detours. However, a few freelance jobs on a magazine’s cookery pages and writing recipe booklets for a biscuit company started heading me back in the right direction.

I’d be lying if I said none of the twists and turns I’ve followed on my life’s journey so far have been wrong directions. Although even those seven months in the Aegean being sea-sick every day resulted in a drop of two dress sizes!  But most have just been delightful detours, adding new experiences along the way.  

Any regrets I didn’t find my path sooner? None at all! Because all those experiences are filed away, just waiting to be used!

Anita Burgh - One Thing I've Learnt

by Tommy O'Connor

One Thing I’ve learnt . . .

is that people are invariably the opposite to that which they claim to be.  My husband had a demanding and ultra possessive grandmother who had brought him up.  “I am incapable of feeling jealousy,” she would boast while planning how to rid herself of me since she was resentful of my relationship with her adored grandson and riddled with the green-eyed monster.

“We’re all mad in our house!”  Hearing that my heart sinks, without doubt they will be as boring as hell.

“Of course, I’m stupid!”  And then, you learn, she has a PhD in astrophysics.

“I’m the worlds worst cook!”  A lie you find out.  But come to think of it, perhaps “I’m a brilliant cook!”  is worse.

“I’m so shy.”  Invariably the life and soul of the party.

“I’ve never had botox.” Said with rigid face.

“I should write a book I’ve lead such an interesting life . . .”  No you haven’t, your life is about as dreary and humdrum as it can be you long to say.

See what I mean? 

http://www.anitaburgh.com

http://www.anitaburgh.blogspot.com

Jenny Beattie - One Thing I've Learnt

Not for all the tea in China

 

Except I’m not in China, I’m in Thailand; but still, a western woman in an eastern culture. When I moved here seven years ago, Western tea was Lipton’s. That didn’t cut it with me; I’m a Brit. I needed hardcore builders’ tea.

 

I soon discovered that, set in my ways as I was, asking for a cup of tea was much more of a liability and that being served Lipton’s was a good result. I could be given Chinese green tea (which is lovely in its own right but not builders’ tea) or it could be Japanese tea, which is different again and powdery. I could get hot-ish water - getting colder by the second - with the tea bag waiting patiently on the side. Sometimes the tea was black (YAY) but it was presweetened or it was served with condensed milk or steamed milk…

 

Of course, I’m not just talking about tea here. When I moved to this new culture what I thought I knew about life was thrown upside down and shaken about. I’ve had my ideas challenged, my palette widened and my notions confronted.

 

And now, I’ll pretty much drink my tea however it comes.

Helen Hunt - One Thing I've Learnt

One Thing I’ve Learnt …

I’ve been writing for seven years now, and teaching writing for nearly a year, and one thing I’ve learnt is that you never stop learning.

One of the most satisfying things about teaching writing is that I learn as much from my students as, I hope, they learn from me. Every time a student asks a question about writing it makes me examine how and why I write as I do. Every time I do a critique of a story for a student I learn something that I know will help me in my own writing.

I’ve also learnt that I love teaching. Explaining to others how short stories work, and how to write them well, is a joy. And when a student ‘gets it’, and I realise I’ve been able to help them achieve that eureka moment, it makes it all worthwhile. Recently, one of my students sold her first story and I think I was almost as excited as she was.

Learning as you go is one of the best things about writing, and as I continue to write, and try new and different styles of writing, I hope to keep learning, improving and being able to share that with others through teaching.

http://www.helenmhunt.co.uk/

http://fictionisstrangerthanfact.blogspot.com/

https://twitter.com/#!/hmhunt

Emma Lee-Potter - One Thing I've Learnt

I never dreamed I’d say this but the main lesson I’ve learned over the years is that I love deadlines. Whether it’s a news story in 20 minutes flat or a novella in a month, writing is so much easier if you have one.

My first real experience of deadlines came when I worked as a news reporter for the Evening Standard. I’d just arrived in London from a sleepy weekly newspaper in Devon (where the most exciting thing that ever happened was the council’s planning meeting) and I nearly fell off my chair in shock when my boss sent me out of the office at seven a.m. with instructions to file my story from the other side of London by nine. I didn’t even have a mobile phone, so I wasted loads of time hunting for a phone box. But my story was in the paper by noon.

A couple of months ago a publisher asked me to write a novella. “When do you need it by?” I asked. “Four weeks,” he replied. The eye-wateringly tight deadline sealed the deal and made me get cracking immediately. And yes, I delivered my novella, Olympic Flames, bang on time.

As for other lessons I’ve learned, here are a few more:

If you want to do something, just do it (well, within reason).
Trust your instincts.
Think big, work hard and laugh lots.

http://housewithnoname.blogspot.co.uk

Emma’s new ebook, Olympic Flames, is out now. Showjumper Mimi Carter is desperate to win an Olympic gold medal at London 2012. But as injury threatens and an enigmatic old flame arrives back on the scene, can she put her feelings to one side and realise her dream?

Kate Hardy - One Thing I've Learnt

One thing I’ve Learnt…

…is to be resilient.

Being an author is just like any other job in that it has ups and downs. New contracts, awards shortlistings, glowing reviews, bestseller listings – they’re all wonderful to celebrate. But you also have to deal with changes in editor, changes in the direction of an imprint that don’t work for your voice, publishers closing and snarky reviews. And things can happen in your non-writing life that take up all your time and creative energy, affecting your work more than if you had a job in a different field.

Being resilient is what will keep you writing, meeting your deadlines and staying ready to take new opportunities.

How do you keep going through the tough times? That’s when your support group comes in. Usually fellow writers, who can understand because they’ve been there or seen it before. Friends who’ll sympathise, let you vent for just a little while, feed you chocolate, and then encourage you to overcome the obstacles and get on with it instead of letting you wallow in misery.

I’m immensely grateful for my writer friends. (You know who you are. And thank you.)

Kate Hardy

http://katehardy.blogspot.com/

http://www.katehardy.com/

http://www.facebook.com/katehardyromanceauthor

http://twitter.com/#!/katehardyauthor

Janet Gover - One Thing I've Learnt

One thing I've learnt…

… is how to live without my 'stuff'.

Just over a year ago, my husband was posted to New York and we moved to a shoebox-sized apartment in midtown Manhattan.  Seriously – a shoebox - for a pair of kitten-heeled slippers – not even a big boot box!

Don't get me wrong – New York is fab-u-lous and our apartment is in an amazing location. But when it comes to cupboard space – forget it.

All our 'stuff' went into storage. My books. My new cookware. My collection of classic weepy movies on DVD. I only brought 7 pairs of shoes with me!!!! 

I discovered I can live happily without all that stuff – except the books of course, but now I have a Kindle.

Instead of collecting 'stuff', we're spending our hard earned money on experiences : trips to amazing places, concerts and Broadway shows.  Collecting memories.

A New York Blizzard - one of Janet's magic memories

I also learned that I can't live without my friends, which is why I'll be on a plane soon to join them all for the RNA conference.  I confess – I will be bringing a couple of pairs of new shoes.  Just because I CAN live with only 7 pairs of shoes – doesn't mean I DO.

Website: www.janetgover.com – with a blog about those great experiences.

Kate Harrison - One Thing I've Learnt

One Thing I’ve Learnt ... is that you never stop learning

I hated school. From an early age, I was allergic to authority, royal blue blazers and sub-zero PE lessons.  I couldn’t wait to get out.

Which is why it’s been a surprise to find out I love learning. I don’t mean Physics or Trigonometry. No matter how many A*s you have, certain mysteries remain: the opposite sex, the meaning of life and why anyone laughs at Last of the Summer Wine.

That’s why I became a reader and then a writer: to try to make sense of other people. Putting myself in the shoes of a vengeful colleague, a war-scarred reporter or a bossy Brown Owl has taught me more about people than a psychology textbook.   

Not that I’m against textbooks. I’ve written ten novels now – well over a million published words – but I can’t resist the latest ‘how to’ book. I love to read how other authors write five thousand words before breakfast, or the latest theory that story-telling is buried deep in our DNA.

And then there’s the practical stuff. I’m learning to sew (though girls-only Domestic Science classes instilled a fear of the sewing machine that’s taken two decades to overcome). On my kitchen counter,  there are three noxious-smelling jars of gloop that I still hope might eventually turn into sourdough bread.

My curiosity even drove me to spend an entire week doing military style PT training for my new novel. The Boot Camp. I only remembered how much I hate organised exercise when I was ordered to do twenty push-ups on wet sand. Still, it’s all a learning experience, right?

The best people are those who never stop asking why.  So if you’re also afflicted by an insatiable curiosity, join the after-school club. It’s a lot more fun than Trigonometry.

http://kate-harrison.com/ 

Kate's next novel is available 2nd August 2012 - The Boot Camp

Five women with one goal: to feel like a million dollars for the first time in their lives. They have nothing to lose but their muffin tops!

Susie Vereker - One Thing I've Learnt

A few things I've learnt about gardening.

It's difficult keeping up a garden in England if you're an expat and I made several mistakes in the beginning when I was young and green. For instance, initially I didn't realise ground elder was a weed and let it rampage.  In the TV gardening programmes the presenter often starts with a bare plot (with amazingly good soil) but in real life it's often a question of trying to get to grips with a wild old garden. Seek early advice from an experienced gardener and if in doubt, rip out.

A few more tips. Spend money on keeping large hedges under control from the beginning (we didn’t).  Crucial: right plant, right place. No point in buying delicate plants that hate chalk if you live in a chalky frost pocket. If you don’t know what will thrive, look at your neighbour’s garden. 

Last vital piece of advice: never, ever plant arum italicum, however pretty its leaves, & even if you see it in the smartest garden centre.  Its tiny bulbs spread like triffids.  You think you’ve burnt it, but next year up it comes, all around the bonfire, all over everywhere.

http://susievereker.blogspot.com/

Helen Redfern - One Thing I've Learnt

In the past few months I've learnt so many things. I've learnt that it is stressful putting your family home up for sale. I've learnt if you clear all the books and paper out of your office it makes it look bigger. And I've learnt that my writing mind just disappears when I've got a lot on in real life. Making you question whether you're a real writer at all.

It took me a while to learn that it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you have a few weeks off writing because you're dealing with estate agents, solicitors and banks. It doesn't matter if you can't write because all you can think about is houses, new schools and what on earth do I do with an aga.

Writing has been my saviour when struggling with inner demons. It has given me purpose and structure to my day. It has given me an escape. It has provided me with new friends. But mostly it has given me enjoyment and a feeling of achievement. 

When writing isn't an enjoyment because real life is intruding, and I'm just staring at the keyboard or mindlessly surfing the web, then it's ok to take a walk. Soak up the sounds of the birds singing, observe the way the river looks after a heavy period of rain. Walk through the town and listen to voices. Real life dramas being replayed in front of you whilst you sip a cup of coffee.

And guess what? Now I've learnt all of that I feel I can write again. I feel I've given myself permission to worry about other stuff but now I want to open my notebooks and pull out my special pen.

Yes, writers do write. But maybe not whilst selling their family home.

Helen Redfern

http://afeastoffemalefiction.com/

http://helenredfern.com/

Penelope Overton - One (or in this case ten) I've Learnt

Ten things I’ve learned in the last ten days in one hundred

words:

1.  The most beautiful tulips grow in my garden.

2. It can make you more sad to see old friends than not seeing them at all.

3.  When a builder tells you another three weeks, he means six.

4. That digging a pond is easier than it looks when someone else does it.

5. People will take anything if you leave it outside labelled help yourself.

6. The cat is not as clever as we thought.

7. Rescue Remedy® works, most of the time.

8. A hosepipe ban makes you look at rain differently.

9.  Talking to an American, it’s sometimes easier to use their vocabulary.

10.  Tulips can smile.

Eileen Ramsay - One Thing I've Learnt

In all these years I should have learned something!

One can learn a great deal about being a decent human being by living with a dog. Dogs hold no grudges.  They are unbelievably patient – I say this as I watch our baby granddaughter launch herself across our Chocolate Labrador as he obligingly lies motionless.  A dog’s love is total and his sense of duty unparalleled.  When the family is gathered or we have guests in the house, Dougal will not rest for the night until he has checked every bedroom – sometimes to the consternation of its occupants.

Here he is taking me out for a walk in the snow, and yes, I still have a lot to learn from him.

http://www.eileenramsay.co.uk/

Victoria Connelly -One Thing I've Learnt

Victoria and Dolly Clare

Last year, we rescued four ex-battery chickens and I soon learned that the term “pecking order” is a very real phenomenon and it can be painful to see it in action.  In short, it’s how the flock establishes its hierarchy – with beaks! 

Dotty the hen soon took top position with poor little Dolly bringing up the rear.  But the worst-behaved hen – the hen with the most vicious beak - was the one placed in penultimate position.  For a while, this position belonged to Alice.  She would take a hammering from the two hens above her – Dotty and Minnie – and would then pass it on to Dolly.  Dolly was the only one below her – the one hen she could dominate – and she took all her frustration out on her.

Sadly, Dolly was the first hen we lost and so Alice is now the bottom of the pecking order and it’s Minnie’s turn to be the penultimate bird and, sure enough, she passes on all the grief she gets from Dotty onto poor Alice.

In April, we added three more hens to our flock so the pecking order will no doubt shift and perhaps some other hen will take its turn at the bottom of the pile.

www.victoriaconnelly.com

Latest book: The Runaway Actress, HarperCollins – a romantic comedy about a movie star who swaps Hollywood for the Highlands.

Nell Dixon - One Thing I've Learnt

One thing I've learnt.

 

I lead a busy life. I have three teenage daughters, a husband who works shifts and has a chronic debillitating illness. I myself am semi-disabled thanks to a dodgy left hip and chronic osteo arthritis. I work for a disabled peoples charity and do voluntary work within my community in addition to my writing.

So what I've learnt is that in order to keep doing all the things I love to do and need to do - care for my family, friends and neighbours, be a good employee and write my books, I have to take care of me. Sometimes that means being a bit selfish and difficult though it is I am trying to learn to say 'NO'. (Although that one is a bit tough)

Mr Nell, my dh makes me take time out and one of the ways we do that is by going away for a few days in our touring caravan. Quite often we don't go far or for very long but it gives us time to breathe. My favourite places are my beloved Wales or down to Devon and Cornwall.

Sometimes, too it ends up being good research for a book! (But don't tell Mr Nell!)

http://www.nelldixon.com/home.aspx