Holiday Reading

Well, our time in Dubai was way too short. I mean way too short. We arrived at just before midnight Sunday and left Dubai in the early hours of this morning. As we had lived there for three years it was intended as a quick break to enjoy friends and enjoy the sun. Ticks on both accounts. I didn't write a word. The first morning I thought about it but after that well the pool, the sun, the food all beckoned. So I gave up guilt and embraced the joy of reading. My tbr pile was educed by two......joyfully. The new imprint Little Black Dress was designed for holiday reading from the two books I sampled. First off I read Phillipa Ashley's Decent Exposure.

Maybe I should first tell you all what a great book - which it was. But first I will talk about the grief ds1, the 14 yr old gave me about the cover. "Mum, there's a naked guy on the cover."

"Yes."

"Mum."

"Yes."

"You like looking at naked guys?"

Now what is a good up standing mother of three to say but, "Of course."

Needless to say he walked away and left me to happily read the book. Boys get so embarrassed about these things! He was still asking me about it today when I unpacked and he saw the book again. This time he just rolled his eyes and asked where the calendar was. I reminded him I didn't need a calendar when I had his father around. He beat a quick retreat!

Now to the book itself. I fell head over heals for the hero Will. Emma's vulnerability was so credible and how she held off for so long I don't know. It was a great read and I smiled my way through it. All the twists and turns felt real and I loved each moment of it. Definitely ideal holiday reading to make you smile even more.

Next out of the bag was Julie Cohen's Spirit Willing Flesh Weak. Now I have read and loved Julie's other books. So in a way I wasn't prepared for the different feel of this book. The book is told in first person and you get right into the head of Rosie. She grabs you from the start. I loved her complex nature and really found myself wondering if Harry could ever be good enough for her. I rooted for her the whole way through. It could be that she is from Massachusetts went to university near where I did but we won't pull those things in to it. It was a great story and a very different read. But like all of Julie's books I have read filled with incredibly real character portrayals.

The two books from the same imprint were very different in feel but both were perfect shorter reads that completely satisfied. Ideal for a holiday from life :-)

Now back to laundry and hopefully writing again. Have fallen way behind my fellow racers!

Living

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth but have landed in Dubai for a few days.......We used to live here and it's changed but its still bliss. So off to the pool to enjoy an evening swim!

Cover Art- A Cornish House

My dd has drawn the cover for A Cornish House!

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!

DD's thought's on Love

"How do you want me to start? Ah, I know. Love is sort of a blockage in your life and your have to get past it. There is only one way. You have to use it and that’s the way. It’s a gift from God that some people take and some people don’t. Some people have to take from their fathers. Love is a chance for friends, family and happiness. And when you take that chance you have to live with it because you can’t stop it, you can’t just say go away. Love is a pure thing to have and a very good thing to have too. "

These are my 7yr. old DD thoughts on Love at 7:54 this morning. Just thought I share the young philosopher's pov :-)

Tears

Tears are funny things. They do so much more than what's on the label. Yes, we cry when sad and unhappy. We cry at frustration. We cry at anger. We cry in pain. Here let me stop and clarify the we - that is women. Men tend to regard crying as an alien activity once they are past the age of ten. So back to crying - we cry when we laugh. We cry when are happy. Tears can be a good barometer of our emotions. Too close to the surface for our own good sometimes but always with us.

Why am I on about tears well I very nearly had one of those embarrassing mum moments last night. DS1 is fourteen. He's taller than me now even when I wear heals! He's gorgeous despite the spots and I think he's brilliant. Classic mum thinking I know but he is also dyslexic and I have lived through his pain thinking he's stupid. Thank God that phase has gone and he knows better. It has been one hell of a battle but miracles do happen. He can now read and is such a whizz at math he surprises himself. So last night we went to his house concert. Now he hasn't a musical bone in his body so we went to show willing.

I received the shock of my life when I read the programme and he was listed as the first act with three other boys. He can't sing so I had no idea what was going to happen. Well, he clearly told us that they were going to give a brief history of the house and when on to read fluently, elegantly and beautifully in front of 100 people that included the headmaster, the housemaster, his tutor, his parents, and most importantly his peers. I sat there stunned, overwhelmed, amazed and proud. No one would have known that this kid was dyslexic. I thanked God for miracles and DS1 for his hard work. I didn't cry but those tears were so close to pouring out which would have been too embarrassing for words.

So we cry when we are joyful, when we are proud, when we are overwhelmed and when we are thankful.

Rugby

We are off to a rugby match today. Less you find yourself thinking we are lucky enough to be off to Twickenham we are even luckier! We are off to watch ds2 play. As those who follow children's' rugby there is nothing like watching the 3rd XV play on a glorious Saturday afternoon :-) Note that my DH is recording the lesser match at Twickenham.

Enlightenment

Finally catching up again on the brilliant workshop He Wrote, She Wrote, http://www.crusiemayer.com/workshop/. I have printed off each week their thinking on various aspects of writing but haven't had time to read. So tonight while the dd got her fix of CBBC, I caught up. I have decided I love Jennifer Crusie, her way of thinking that is. In the latest installment she discusses how she outlines. Not that I am not a fan of outlining. It reminds of English Lit 101. I did it because I had to but there was no joy. In the past few years I have discovered mind mapping which I love. However tonight I found Jennifer's five points for outlining:-

1. Kick-Off scene where the conflict starts, also known as the first scene in the story.
2. First Turning Point where the conflict escalates, the stakes gets higher, and the protagonist does something she wouldn’t have back there in scene #1.
3. Midpoint/Second Turning Point where the conflict escalates the stakes get even higher and the protagonist does something that demonstrates that she’s changed so much she couldn’t go back to the person she was in #1 if she wanted to.
4. Third Turning Point/Dark Moment where the conflict escalates to the point where the protagonist is on the ropes, possibly thinks she has lost, is in the worst trouble of her life, on her knees bleeding in the wilderness. It’s bad.
5. Climax/Obligatory scene where everything is on the line and only one of them is comin’ out a winner

In between those five points she has acts broken up roughly as 1st act 30-35k which is set up. 2nd Act which is 25-30k raising the stakes. The 3rd is 20-25 the stakesget higher. The 4th act resolves everything in 20-25k.

That's all she uses for the first draft. I like this woman. She thinks simply. Tomorrow I outline in Jennifer Crusie style!

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!