Amsterdam

I've been doing something totally different this week. I've been at a conference helping a friend with her magazine Geo ExPro. They were celebrating their fifth anniversary - hence the champagne. I didn't see much of Amsterdam but the weather didn't help that. I did have a wonderful evening out sailing and I'll post the pictures of that tomorrow.

Novel Racer - David (DOT)

Well another brave racer has come forward! One of the latest, David (DOT). He's one of the four men we have racing with and the only one brave enough to step forth. Well done! Here's his profile:

"The truth is I fell into writing because I wanted to grow my hair long. This was back in the sixties, you understand; it would be a miracle if I could achieve that now though it would indubitably make me my fortune. So I looked around and picked on advertising as the place for me. After a relative short period by today's standards I got a job as a copywriter. By some fluke, I was good at it. And, for a young person, being a creative in an agency is fun. You're overpaid, spoilt, indulged and generally treated like minor royalty - least you were. In addition, in those days I had no concerns about the general morality of promoting big business because no one had invented phrases like 'multi-national corporations' or 'global marketing'. Indeed, for a brief and it has to be said, unhappy, period I worked at the same agency as Salman Rushdie, Fay Weldon and Dorothy Sayers once had - can't get more respectable.However, I secretly longed to do proper joined-up writing but never had the confidence to really go for it. One problem with copywriting is you never write in your own voice and that is what I lacked. So, when my elder daughter dutifully set off to attend university, I thought why not me. Essay writing might help me find my voice. So I applied to Sussex, was accepted and loved every moment. It certainly created a strong bond between my daughter and self as we would phone each other at periods of low ebb for encouragement. It also did wonders for my confidence."

Sitting in Vermont at my best friend's desk listening to the sound of a rushing river and looking through the fog to the mountains.........life's not too bad. Flights were OK and the Time Traveler's Wife is good but still missing Kate's book. I also managed to do a big rejig on August Rock before the wine hit on the plane!

I won't be here tomorrow as I will be beside a lake in new Hampshire for the wedding :-)

Novel Racer - A. Writer

I am hoping that a few more racers will step up but if not then A. Writer's , http://awriters-blog.blogspot.com/,profile is the last. Here she is:-

"I started writing in mid-2005 after I went into my local WH Smith to buy a book and I didn’t see one that grabbed my attention. I thought it was a whim and that I’d get bored of it after a few days. I was always being told that the ‘wee anecdotes’ that I told people were really funny so I made them into a story. I typed the first 10k words on a palm top computer and that’s when I realised that I might actually want to do this properly. I saved up for a laptop, got it late 2005 and I haven’t looked back since.

It took me about a year to write the first draft of ‘If Not Now, Then When?’. A very personal story of timing and relationships in the chick lit genre. So far about 14 people have read the first draft and all responses have been positive.

Recently, due to personal circumstances I’ve had to postpone the editing ‘If Not Now, Then When?’ and the writing of my second book. I am now exploring the option of short story writing and possibly continuing with the idea I have for book 3.
I currently have two fictional blogs (links can be found on my blog) which are slowly gathering a fan base. I use the ‘fic-blogs’ as a showcase for my writing.

Trained in journalism, I never thought I’d be a creative writer. In fact at college I dismissed a creative writing course saying, ‘Bah! I’ll never do that!’ How wrong I was!
I enjoy writing and I can see me doing it for many years to come. If I never get published so be it, but to know that I have a copy of my book sitting on my bookcase is something I’m very proud of. "

I am sitting in Gatwick airport as I write. Must dash and buy some make up in a moment as I left mine in Cornwall. No doubt the dd has discovered this and is covering herself in it.

My frustration this morning was that I had to leave The Self Preservation Society at home. It's a hard back and I'm pushing the carry on limits as it is! I was almost half way and just loving it. But I also knew it was a book I didn't want to leave behind. So I grabbed the Time Traveler's Wife which has been on my TBR pile for some time. I've started but as I hate flying I don't think it will keep me laughing like Kate's book was!

I am still working on the revision and changes are coming thick and fast. This morning at 5:30 when I was printing off (until I ran out of ink) I was reading Jenny Crusie on the He Wrote / She Wrote Workshop. She was talking about beginnings. She despises prologues. August Rock opens with a very short one. I sat back and thought.......it doesn't have to be a prologue. I could bring a flashback forward and bring it all to the front. So I am about to chop and change again. I have done a great deal of this in the first 30,000 words and I'm having a ball. Right now there is no pain associated with it. I keep sitting back and asking can I make this stronger........and the answer is yes!

A quick thanks to Cally to posting her experiences with ghosts. Because of these I have altered my ghost sequences quite a bit. (There will be more of the ghost issue when I come back to the critiques I've had).

So, I may be here tomorrow depending on connection. If not don't panic if you don't see me until Tuesday. Just think of me partying :-)