Home Again (however only briefly!)

Well back in Dubai to the sun, heat and humidity. London was fabulous and refreshed the writing cells again. Having stopped mid scene knowing that I was veering off track - I didn't write again until I hit the plane and was fueled by a glass of bubbly. I'm hoping the break will have recharged the writing subconscious as it felt as if I was starting the book again. I know what I need to do but it's very hard to begin. So I'm hoping that 100 incoherent words I wrote on the plane will send me on my way for the second half of the book. My end of May deadline is approaching far too quickly and I'm flying back to the UK this Thursday (half term beckons).

For the curious here are two more links to the RNA Summer Party - Janet Gover, one of the nominees for the Joan Hessayon New Writers' Award here and Ray-Anne aka Nina Harrington here. I have stolen one of her photos which has from the left - agent Jonathan Pegg, writer Cat Marsters/Kate Johnson, moi, Carole, and Ray_Anne/Nine Harrington.

Links and Other Things

I have been lazy. No, not on the writing front. I have to say that is flowing nicely and the word meter is happily being fed most days. I have been lazy about posting some fabulous links......where to start - with the funny, with the writerly, with the warning?

I will start with the writerly just in case you don't have to make it to the end!

Over on Graeme K Talboy's blog he has posted the best and most evocative description of the rewrite/edit process. Here's a teaser but you MUST read the whole post - it's not long but packed.

"Tearing words out of my head that accurately represent the pictures in there is especially difficult, but gratifying. It’s like putting down a heavy suitcase, knowing you don’t have to pick it up anymore. "

The onto to Kate Harrision's posts on commercial fiction here. Sorry I can't seem to link to the individual post but they are not far down - just past the one on the agony of waiting!

Over on Nathan Bransford Blog he's talking about opening a book with dialogue - thinking about it the read it here.

I'm sure there is more but I have forgotten. Now many of you may have seen the YouWriteOn offer. Well before you proceed further visit How Publishing Really Works.

Finally for the laugh drop by Ray-Anne's blog for a writer's view of heaven and hell here.

Finally my own little tale of woe. I have been waiting to hear back on my RNA NWS submission. I didn't want to push as I am happy writing the new thing but I thought I should check. Well, it was posted back on 12 September. So now my script and report are lost somewhere in the post........I am hoping to receive my report at least by email and I am trying not to be cross but somehow it isn't working too well!

Rant and Links

So it's Easter Saturday and I have laid the table for Easter Sunday and I must say it looks pretty with eggs and jelly beans........ We are celebrating Easter Sunday today. Why you may ask - because dd has school tomorrow and not only does she have school tomorrow she is going away on a residential trip! She is eight.

I know where I am living but she goes to a British curriculum school......had she been going to Choifat she would have Easter Sunday off. Something is not right in this picutre.

So today we will celebrate Easter and thankfully we can attend church this evening as a family (the boys arrived yesterday morning).

Now for something writerly.......links. The first one is to Ray-Anne who has a brilliant post on loglines or what you say when you are asked what the book is about......I needed this post! The next one is to Steve Malley again........here and here. The man has a brilliant insight into the writing process.

Middle name Meme, Dubai 7's and Links

Rebecca tagged me for the middle name meme which requires that I list the rules first:

1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.
2. Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don't have a middle name, just make one up...or use the one you would have liked to have had.
3. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog-post containing your own middle name game facts.
4. At the end of your blog-post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

M - Mother. I see being a mother the most important role in life. It shapes much of how I act and think although I wasn't sure I relay wanted to be one until I was one.

A - Angels. I believe in angels especially guardian angels who I particularly relying when I am flying because I am terrified of flying and with my life flying is not an optional activity.

R - Rejection. I am no longer afraid of rejection. I think when I hit 40 this passed and I don't really care what most other people think of me, my life and my work. I finally know and love myself so what others like really doesn't matter.

I - Imagination. Imagination is a special gift and I hadn't realized how many people lack it until recently. It seems to get lost somewhere between childhood and adolescence.

E - Education. Education is so important and it comes in so many many forms. We have an obligation to ourselves and other to keep educating our minds and sharing it with others.

Right now I tag JJ, Cally, Fiona, Nell ,Ray-Anne

Now the Dubai 7's start today, Thursday - despite what the blog says - and believe it or not it is cloudy which I am sure has the players worried as last year they nearly got rained out I here! So here's hoping it won't rain as we will be there tomorrow and Saturday. I am hoping that the 7's won't let me down as I have such wonderful memories of them from when we lived here last!

Now onto a few links for you. I tagged Fiona above but it worth dropping by her blog because she is doing one of her wonderful writing craft sessions. Her insight into writing is brilliant. I now forget who lead me onto this blog but it worth scrolling through his posts during NaNoMo. Here's a quote from his last post which hit home:

"That's because writing is about setting, and reaching, goals.

Stories don't write themselves. They take a considerable time commitment. Often that commitment is hard to justify. But writers, real writers, make writing a priority. They make the time and the effort. "

Links

Today I have been taking a much needed break for sorting and shifting to browse blogs. I have missed them but the weight of sorting the house before I leave on Thursday morning has been putting a serious cramp in my web time. So apologies if I haven't commented but I have been trying to scan through to catch up on people's news.


First there has been some excellent news from a fellow member of the RNA, Jean Fullerton. She won the Harry Bowling Prize last year and has just signed a two book contract with Orion. Well done Jean. Her first book was published by Triskelion who then went belly up so this is just brilliant news.

So in my scan, I came across to posts worth sharing. Aside from Ray-Anne's wonderful posts on men, she tends to hit the nail on the head for me. This post on positive thinking is great and I especially like the hat and crayon idea. I have just the Fez to wear for the activity. http://mischiefandfilth.blogspot.com/2007/11/power-of-postive-thought.html

Jumping to Steve Malley's post here ,it touched a little bit on same area. He is writing about the stages of writing. I think the crayons and hat would work particularly well when you get to steps Insecurity and Grinding. Just a thought anyway.



Finally Janet Gover sent me some of here photos from our great day out and this one of me made me laugh.

Now there are loads of things I want to blog about and everything is rushing about in my head so I will try and make some order of it. First a huge thank you to Phillipa Ashley who kindly posted a photo for me of my beloved Cornwall here.

I am sadly behind in my blog reading having been enjoy the Eid holiday here. When we were away for a few days i was without Internet access which the DH thought was a very good thing but now I have so much to catch up on..........So here's a wonderful link over at Ray-Anne's blog on beats. I couldn't begin to explain it but she does the most amazing job. I don't think I could write this way but I do think as she points of a fantastic tool for writing if a scene isn't working.



I have been tagged by the fabulous Lisa at http://eudaemoniaforall.blogspot.com/. It is a fabulous book meme which I look forward to doing but I realize that without my books with me I can't really do this properly so I will have to wait a month until I am in the villa and the boxes of books are unpacked......so I must post a reminder in the my diary as my brain is not too good at remembering these days.



Now for a bit of a rant. I have spoken about the refresh problem and the wonderful J came to my rescue. I have discovered that doesn't always work ( a 75% success rate) so I am doomed while living here to be behind. I will learn to live with it. I have also found that on Facebook I can't update my virtual bookshelf as that is a banned site. I am also finding that I can't google certain people. The wonderful author Rachel Hore is one. I hope she will find this amusing but I wanted to check to see if she listed who her agent was on her new website( which is beautiful btw) and couldn't remember her web address so I googled it - hah. Big red sign saying banned. Fortunately I remembered that it's was linked from Hilary Johnson's web page and I made it there in the end. This morning it won't let me go to Lisa's blog??? Or visit one of the people who commented on my post below. Arghhhhhhhhhhhh.


Having said all the above living in Dubai is great......I just want to get into my own home!!!! Enough rant. I must catch up on blogs........BTW dd is on half term this week and ds2 arrive Thursday and dds1 arrives on Sunday so posting and visiting may well be erratic at best.

Sorry for the Silence and Links

Sorry I haven't been posting....there are several reasons for it. First I was focused on bashing August Rock into shape and zapping it off to the Amazon contest. But then I thought do I really want to do this? The answer came back not really because I know that shortly I will not meet the entry requirements of being resident in the UK ( the UAE was not one of the allowed countries) and the other reasons was that i must bite the bullet and sub agents.

So for a few days I was in a frenzy of editing - good stuff and then into deep reflection. Neither of these promoted blog writing moods. Oh and did I mention that we had car to choose and thinking about beach clubs - tough I know but someone has to it :-)

Yesterday I spent my writing time trying to squash my synopsis down to one page double spaced and yet still retain the essence of the story. I went back to my notes for the Romantic Novelist Conference from Emma Dunford's session. She was emphatic about one page double spaced! In the end I got there but I will reread with a clear head today to see if it really worked. After a while I was just cutting wildly! I am hoping it's like a blurb but reveals all yet it could be an unintelligible disaster.

In my Sunday blog search I came onto C.S. Harris blog discussing Plotter vs Pansters. It's well worth a look as it makes plotting seem less onerous to me (being a panster). Finally caught with Ray-Anne's blog this week which I enjoy for her feature of English Cheese as she calls them ( absolutely gorgeous English leading men - this week Jason Isaacs) and wise words. Two of her posts this week hit home - How to eat and Elephant tackling rewriting and some seriously good writing tips.