Writing mermaid stories

I know this is the second post this week, but I had to tell you about what I am writing these days. I am an indie children's author and my current wip is the third and final mermaid story in a trilogy. This is Aliona's story about coming of age, finding out about herself and finding her soul mate. I can't remember who mentioned it to me (might be my editor), but someone said to me that I need to let the reader know that it is in a sea world. I have made sure of that in this ebook, as there are fish, anemones, sea horses and there will be sea turtles. I am loving writing this book because I have made the sea creatures talk, and the other main reason I like writing mermaid stories is to mention one of the things that I am passionate about - helping to protect sealife. This is why I changed the metadata on the other mermaid stories to be about 'environment'. I believe I have mentioned plastics and other rubbish such as nets that go into the sea and harm the creatures. There will be a drastic scene at the end of this story called 'The Ring Quest', which gives Aliona the career she decides she wants...

So, if you love mermaids and the environment, then my mermaid 'quest' stories are for you. They are for children aged 9-12 years-old, and available on all digital platforms.

The first story is about Delta, and is called 'The Quest'. And is available here http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Quest-Julie-Day-ebook/dp/B009YTW5EC?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0

Woman's Weekly Workshop

Yesterday I went to London Bridge, to the Woman's Weekly Workshop on writing a short story. I've been to a couple of them before, but now I am v serious about writing for womags, I wanted to go again and listen properly. As I had been before, I didn't know if Gaynor Davies the Fiction Editor of WW would recognise me. She did and said hello to me. I was chuffed. She co-presented the workshop with Della Galton. We had a theme to go on for the writing exercises, which as Freedom. I remembered something a friend told me in December about being free at last so used that as the main point for a story. We wrote the beginning,  then had to read our first sentence out. We filled in Della's character development sheet, which gave me an idea about the main character and how to end the story. We also wrote the last sentence of the story, which we were all congratulated on, esp me personally by Gaynor when I said goodbye. Before that, we were given handouts about the common ways that stories are rejected eg predictability and solutions to them. We also got the guidelines.
I really enjoyed the day despite being tired and my head doing a spin during the day from thinking.
I shall write the whole story when I have completed the ghost story for a competition. I already have an idea how it will pan out, I jotted notes down during the day.

I can't wait to go to the next one in April which will be on serial writing.

My Writing Diary - update

So, here is where I am with my writing to date:

My writing came to a halt last weekend when my mum was admitted to hospital after a heart scare. She is back home now and getting better each day. She even went local shopping with me this morning.

Pocket Novel is now complete, but I have yet to start reading through it to check it is OK. Will get to this once I have a day free with 3 time slots available.

Quirky short story is complete and I put it on the story blog for comments today. I hope to get it out to Take a Break's Fiction Feast by the end of this week.

Meantime, I have printed out a ghost story that I wrote a few years ago for an anthology, but was rejected. I have started editing it to revise for a paranormal short story competition by Writing Magazine. The deadline is mid-May so I have plenty of time.

I have also started writing the third and final Mermaid ebook for 9-12s. I am enjoying this one because I have been adding talking sea creatures.

I have also now got a cover for the POD version of The Railway Angel and hope to publish that at the weekend.

Writing diary - what's happening

So, I forgot to post about my writing diary on Monday. I had other things on my mind, mainly closing the sale of my car. I had to get the new owner who had paid me the week before to complete a form so I could send it off to the DVLA. He had been ill. I finally got it all sorted on Wednesday.

Anyway, to the writing. I have finished the pocket novel. I managed to reach 49,919 words, which is near enough to 50k for me. I have revised the synopsis and will type the rest of that up later today. I am going to read through it bit by bit to make sure it all makes sense still, and add more words if I think it needs it.

The quirky short story is finished. I revised it again following comments on the story blog and from Fran Tracey. It is currently with Fran to read through. Meanwhile, I am going to add a bit to the 'wand' story.

And, I have started writing the third and final mermaid ebook. This is Aliona's story and is called 'The Ring Quest'. I am adding more sea life to the story this time, with fish and other creatures. I might even have the hero at the end be attacked by something. We shall see. Nothing too scary, as it's for 9-12 year olds.

I haven't had much to do for my author client as he is working on the third story, which he started to rewrite himself. Will be emailing my editor with the second book, while waiting for illustrations for the first.

I have been emailing my lists with writing ideas and styles along with exercises to go with them. If you want inspiration for a story, either children's or adults, then why not sign up to my newsletter at http://eepurl.com/bwuQav

Oh yes, had a letter in the Daily Mirror the other day. No reword except seeing my name in black and white.

I have decided to enter more writing competitions this year. We shall see how we go.

So, there you have what I have been working on the last 2 weeks. Happy writing.