Book Launch

Many thanks to all those who came to support me at the book launch on Thursday.
It was a wonderful, relaxed, happy event.

I have been waiting 5 years to see The Woman Before Me in print, and felt emotional giving my reading and holding the novel in my hands. Of course, now the novel is not just `mine`; it is out there in the world to sink without a trace or make its own way. Whatever happens, it had a good start on Thursday!

I am very fortunate to have such great support from friends and family - I would have given up long ago without that. x

Back to school...

I had a week off from writing last week, which is something I don`t often like to do, but it was so nice...
Being half-term the kids were off, and hubbie also took leave, so we had some family time seeing animals (even feeding some new-born lambs!) watched films (Invictus & Princess and the Frog)ate pizza and generally chilled out.

So, the kids are back at school, hubbie`s back at work and I`m back at my pc.
Coming to my writing fresh was a good idea, and I`ve worked better today than I have for a while. Let`s just hope it shows in the end-product!

Snow Day

You novelists with children will know what I mean, when I say Christmas just gets in the way of writing. I mean, I did my best, but frankly I was looking forward to school starting up so I could get back into routine. I`m a bit like a sodding racehorse with my training schedule, and get jittery if I`m off it...temperamental.

So, Tuesday I dropped the kids at the school gates and raced back to my comfy chair and laptop, switched on and loaded up. I`ve finished editing The Sacrificial Man & The Woman before Me, but I still have Family Snap to work on. I`m meeting Laura Wilson, my mentor, in a few weeks and want my first 3 chapters to sparkle. It felt so good to plan out my timetable of what chapters I`d look at each day and start honing words, but then...
THE HEAVENS OPENED!

Snow. Beautiful, isn`t it? Makes everything so clean, like a blank canvas.
And the children just loved being sent home early. I turned up at the gates with the sledge, and pulled it home, both kids on it, pelting me with snow balls and shouting `mush`. Hard work, but I consoled myself I was burning calories. "Faster, mummy! You`re too slow!" Perhaps that was when my joy started to falter.

Friday. Snow still around. We did a long walk, which was abruptly ceased when my son announced that he had no socks on! Imagine wearing wellies with bare feet. I marched them home, chastising him all the way with tales of Scott and frostbite. Miraculously, his feet felt toasty when I pulled the boots off.
We`ve had the video on, but now I`ve sent them upstairs (how can they have nothing to play with when Christmas was just 2 weeks ago?) and loaded Family Snap up again. But I feel guilty. Surely a good mum would be out there, sledging. Or at least rallying the kids into a game of Monopoly.
Hmmm.
Modern dilemma. Good writers make bad mums, discuss.
Who else saw the Enid Blyton biopic and winced?

Pinch, punch...

Yup, it`s a new month.
Ah, November. Smoke in the air, leaves underfoot. The promise of Christmas just ahead...

So, I`m kicking off this month with a tight work schedule. I`ve got 3 projects on the go - The Woman Before Me & The Sacrificial Man both have to be up-to-snuff, so I`m editing and polishing, getting them ready for publication.

I`ve also got my `homework` from my mentor Luara Wilson, who has set me the take of re-working the opening chapters of Family Snap before our next meeting.

I like to work to a timetable, so I`ve set myself a target each day, which includes a piece of work on all 3 novels. I learned when I was a probation officer how people respond better to `smart` objectives. You know, Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-limited (or something similar). I think it really works. To just think about editing a 90k novel would seem like a tall order, but break it down to a certain number of words per day and within a month you`ve achieved it.

Happy writing!

Why I write.

We are all just one event away from the loss of love, of the status quo, of the illusory balance of our lives. And this is terrifying and liberating.

The characters in my novels are ordainary people made extraordainary by an unusual situation or choice. I am interested in extremities, situational and emotional, which includes crime and madness, sexual deviance, religious devotion, obsessive love...

Happiness is a fragile, transitory thing. Conversely, only when it is gone can we truly discover what we are made of, the very essence of our self: integrity; courage. Or the opposite.

Whether or not we are survivors. I am compelled to explore human emotion and the tentative grip any of us have on our lives.