Julie Day - Romance and Children's Writer

Railway Angel download results

2012-01-25T05:35:00.000-08:00

Do you remember back in December that I mentioned I'd put Railway Angel as free on Smashwords and I said I'd be back to let you know the results. Well, they have been fantastic. I announced it on social media sites and on eforums. The number of downloads went double in 24 hours. They were slowly growing until yesterday. I have tried not to check them daily but can't resist. On Monday when I checked it had gone up to 36. Not a bad result, I thought. Then I checked them yesterday and my eyes goggled. 172. Where had that come from? I wasn't complaining just totally astounded. I had emailed free ebook sites asking to advertise it there, and I had put a free ad on an efiction magazine site. By the end of yesterday it had gone up even more to 196. Now today. It has gone up even more. Wow. It is now up to 282. Even going up 5 more within an hour. I am so amazed at this. Never thought this would happen. I just hope that all those who read it now, will like it enough to want to read more of my angels, and be willing to pay a price when the next one comes out. I am currently working on it, and hope to get edits and rewrites done by next week when I aim to send it off for its second edit.

Well, this free way experiment seems to be definitely working for me. I shall still check, prob daily, the figures on it. I checked the stats as well. They spiked on Monday and today. It feels so good to have people want to read your work. Makes it all worthwhile doing. I shall continue...

It's signed

2012-01-18T05:37:00.000-08:00

In my last post I mentioned that I was due to get a contract for a series of 6 romances estories. Well, that came last week, I have signed it and sent it back to the epublisher. I am so excited. I have been working really hard on the first story the last 2 weeks. I think maybe too hard, as I started to get a sharp twinge up my right arm, my working arm, each time I wrote. And then just a while ago, after writing for half an hour, my wrist began hurting. So I decided to have a break and come on here. I am nearly at the end of the story now, and will write more of it tomorrow. I had a break yesterday from writing cos I wasn't well. I was tired and then after lunch, I got stomach pains. I had some French goat's cheese, which I've not had before, and I won't be having again. Anyway, I have an idea how the story is going to end, as I have written a sentence explaining what will happen to get Geraldine's ex lover back with her and his more happy self. This past week, after mentioning the contract on all social media sites, I have been glowing in congratulations from everyone I know that have messaged me. And a few I might not know, and are following this blog. Yay. I am getting a following. I think it's all down to being on WG2E.

Meantime, I got my first edits back today for Racing Angel. Oh dear. Have a lot of thinking and a lot more rewriting to do on it. I need to think about my paranormal world of heaven, and who is there and who isn't. I think I might change what the girl rides and add more teenangels to make it more plausible. I will get back to it once I have finished the first draft of Geraldine. Should be next week.

My goals for 2012

2012-01-07T05:40:00.000-08:00

I have not got resolutions this year but goals. Short and long-term ones. The short-term ones are weekly and monthly, and long term is for the year. I have taken advice from the WG2E site again and have got a pad and put in two columns. One for goals and the other for done. When I have completed one goal then I tick it. Short-term goals are something like 'do 2-3 chapters of Georgina', and long-term goals are concentrate more on my indie career and attract more readers. I'm coming up to the end of week 1 of short-term goals and have done one so far - the chapters on Georgina. I did have to do next week writing about garden birds for Creature Features, but that has now changed to 'first draft of Geraldine story'. I think the monthly goal will be to finish it and try to get it sent to the editor of the publisher, my friend Eve.
My other main goals are to increase my output and write in different genres. I am currently writing for teens (my angel stories), and have plans for two romance series (one of which is with Eve). The other one I hope to start work on later, maybe next month, to enhance my indie career and attract more readers, esp adults, whom I know are the main people with Kindles and other ereaders. Eve likes the outline of the series I have sent her and is currently writing up a contract for me for these. I hope to get this sometime next week. Hurrah. So excited. 2012 is going to be the year my writing, and hopefully, my indie career will take off properly. Watch this space...

My 2011

2012-01-03T02:46:00.000-08:00

So what happened to me writing and health wise in 2011? Here is my story.

Writing: I had published several letters in magazines. I sold 3 copies in all of Rosie (one at Save Library Day and 2 at another library event). I did a book reading at the Save Library Day. I did another event talking about writing what you know for magazines. I discovered Writers' Guide to Epublishing website and made lots of online friends, and put my name down to be involved in writing stories for their anthologies in 2013. After reading their site and columns by the Grumpy Bookman in Writing Magazine, I decided to start self-epubbing my own works. This turned out be The Railway Angel, the first in a series of teen angels. I am currently working on the second one. I have had a romance story accepted by a new digital publisher run by a friend and fellow romance author. The first in a series to start this spring. And lastly I made a connection with a local man who organises storytelling for a local library and its events, and might be involved with that this year. So will be shortly working on little ones, middle-grade, teen, and adult msss.

Health: 2011 was the year for being diagnosed. In the March I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, which came as a relief to both my mum and me. Mum cos she had thought there was something not quite right with me and me cos it explained how I was at work with people, esp the students. Then in August I was also diagnosed with Mayer-Rokitansky syndrome. It is something that happens with a gene within 5 weeks of being conceived and the gene causes organs and tissues not develop properly if at all. It amazed us as it explains all the major health issues that I have, and we didn't realise they could be connected. Now we know. With all this knowledge I then decided to stop looking for a job as I felt that no one would understand me and my problems. I decided to apply for early retirement due to ill health. This is still ongoing (begun in September 2011) and causing me great anxiety. We shall see what happens but I am not giving up without a fight. My writing is giving me strength as I build up my indie author writing.

A free experiment

2011-12-29T05:32:00.000-08:00

This is something else that I have learnt from WG2EP. They called it the Freeway Experiment. I originally priced The Railway Angel at 99c as it is a short story. This was to see what interest I got in it and how many bought it. Here are the results to date:

Up to now December 29: Amazon - 2 bought; Smashwords 12 downloaded with only 1 bought.

It made me happy then that at least people were reading my work but I got thinking. A lot of other indie authors who have written series have put their first book as free whilst pricing the rest. So this is what I have done. I have now changed the price to free on Smashwords, and Amazon will catch up shortly I believe. I have already put this news on FB and Twitter. And emailed all the Yahoo groups I belong to. We shall see what happens.

I shall bring the results in a month's time (will put this on my new calendar block) to do for then.
I am interested to know what happens.

Starting as an indie author

2011-12-28T05:51:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year I found the Writers' Guide to EPublishing blog and am so pleased I did. (Don't ask me how I found it cos I can't remember - prob via another blog). This was my intro to epublishing. Reading this and other stuff about epublishing, I began my journey of becoming an indie author. Last month on WG2Epub blog, there was a list of things to do for a new indie author. Here is my take on this:

1. Read everything you can about epublishing. Well, WG2EP was my start. I have read about it in writing magazines, and have recently bought John Locke's ebook about how he earnt so much in so many days.
2. Have an avatar image. I have now. It used to be a photo of me, but now it is the cover of The Railway Angel. I have been told this is good, cos when you see it you know it is me.
3. Decide what skills you are going to use. Eg I have decided to try to format all my works into ebooks myself and pay for a cover designer.
4. Hire a professional editor. I did this for Railway Angel and will do this for all my indie books. I feel this is essential, because you are too close to your own writing to see for real errors.
5. Treat epublishing as a business. I am now going to do that. I shall try to do some work on my wips each day.
6. Have a website. I have two. One of my angel series (www.angelseries.wordpress.com) and one for my other writings (www.julieaday.co.uk).
7. Read all Author Agreements. I didn't before but will do on my next ebooks.
8. Write a fab blurb. I feel I did this for Angel book 1 and have to do the same for Angel 2 and my romance series.
9. Join Kindle and Nook boards. I have done this and introduced myself. Need to chat not just about my books now.
10. Write and read, write and read. I do this all the time anyway. Esp read. I read both children's and adult books. And have recently bought indie authors ebooks who write for WG2EP to see how they write.

Well, that was my take. Next post will be about my writing goals for next year.

Sydenham Xmas Fayre

2011-12-20T06:06:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I went back to Sydenham Community Library to try to drum up some more interest in my angel ebook. It wasn't what I expected it to be. There was a story time for children up to 10 y-o but no other children. Anyway, I listened to the storytime, while searching for customers. I met a man who is from the Friends of Sydenham, who recognised me from the Save the Libraries day in February when I did a reading from Rosie. He was in charge of organising the fayre. He mentioned that during the break I could always go and give out my cards etc. So in the end that is what I did. I went up to the parents and their children and offered them a free pen and bookmark. They were all interested and happy to get one. Hopefully they will keep them and know my name for future reference. I later got talking to the organiser man, who was waiting for the next guest to arrive. He asked me if I'd be interested in story telling if this man didn't arrive. I wasn't sure, although I did tell him that I do write short stories for children that age. We got to talking and I gave him my card. He said that they were arranging another event for the Spring and he'd contact me to find out if I was interested then. This could be another bow to my string I thought. Who knows where it might lead to. Then near the end, when I packed up, a teenager came to me. We got talking about writing and I gave her my card and a pen. She writes too, and said that she wants to write when she leaves college. I said that to be a writer, she will have to make sure she finds the time to do it, as lots of people say they want to write but never bother to find the time. All in all, although I didn't sell anything, I did make myself known and get interest in me and my books. And possibly get future events happening with this new contact. Watch this space...

Ebook launch

2011-12-16T05:27:00.000-08:00

Yesterday afternoon, at my local library where I once volunteered, I had a launch celebration for The Railway Angel. It wasn't a huge success. No one downloaded the ebook or bought Rosie, which I took with me for a special offer. My friend Heather came with her little boy. He ran round the library, dropping books all over the place. A right pickle, he is, but a cheeky one with it. He took to me a few times by taking me by the hand and leading me to places around the room. Sweet. It was half way through that I decided to do something myself. I saw a young girl on the floor playing with a toy and picked up a pen and a bookmark and went to her. I asked her if she wanted a free pen and bookmark, and she said yes, so I gave her them. I then did the same to two other girls she was with. One of them then saw my Angel postcards and I told her to take one, which she did. They were with her mum. I saw them read the cards and the mum told the girls, that is Julie Day and she wrote the book. You can say you've met a real author now. Yay, I thought. I'm a real author. I packed up at 4.30pm, and as I did, fellow children's writer, Heather Kilgour, arrived. My other friend Heather then packed up, put her boy in his buggy and left. I then talked to Heather K about writing and that. So not a huge success but who knows what comes from giving out those freebies.

I was told that there will be a Xmas fayre tomorrow at the library. So have decided to try my luck again then, as have been told there will be chidren's activities going on in the morning. We shall see.

Exciting news

2011-12-12T05:45:00.000-08:00

In one of my posts before, I mentioned that I had a new digital publisher (owned by a fellow romance writer friend) interested in a romance story I had planned. Well, I emailed it to her a couple of weeks ago and she read it last week. She likes the theme, the way I write and she wants to publish it as an estory. Hurrah! I will be finally published as a romance author. My friend also wants an outline of the rest of the stories for the series, so will have to get working on that. We also need to work out a title for the series. I would like the words 'Aunt Geraldine' or just 'Geraldine' in the title somewhere. My first thought was 'Aunt Geraldine says' because she says the title of the book as a phrase. Watch this space for more about this. My friend is back from a break today and maybe hear from her again tomorrow. She said in her last email that if I wanted to go ahead, which I replied I do, then she will start drawing up a contract for me. Yay. I can't wait. Already have a couple of ideas for two more stories, one of which I have already got the basic story typed up. Been scouring the agony aunt pages in my paper for ideas. As I know more about this and what happens, I will blog here. So again, watch this space...

SCBWI-BI Conference - Part 4

2011-12-02T06:03:00.000-08:00

We had lunch. My non-dairy lunch was chicken and roasted veg with rice, which I really liked. Then it was off to the final chosen talk. The author checklist by Candy, Jon Mayhew and Judy Hindley. They posed questions to ask your publisher about: budget, prizes, press, festivals, book tours and merchandise. It was suggested that you have a meeting with publicity team, and find out if you are going to meet people who are passionate about your books. What kind of author do you want to be? Decide what events you want to do. Who are you aiming your book at? Really engage with children. Know who your gatekeepers and influences are. Booksellers, esp indies. Librarians. The school library service was mentioned as a good place to start. Teachers are best way to contact in schools. IBBY was mentioned. They have an annual congress, and call for papers which means proposals for talks. Think of who will be attending and aim your talk at them. Have an angle. (Eg Jon is gothic horror). UK Lit Agency was mentioned too as a place to contact. Parents - a good way is via Mumsnet. Reviewers: fan blogs can be influential. Carousel, Armadillo mags. It was mentioned by someone for free PR, PRLog.com.

Blogs - Candy uses long titles in hers, so there are various items that can crop up when searching.

Have a memorable book lauch. Always have family and friends. Invite local teachers and librarians.

School visits - Getting events. Jon has an info sheet to give to schools about his guidelines. When it comes to your act, don't talk about yourself. Take time to plan and care what you plan to do.

Book sales - The publisher usually has a profile of you online. Frontpage Extra was mentioned. Candy uses blogger. Author's Place, Amazon Public Notes (in US and for Kindle). Your notes on Kindle goes on there. Make lists eg Vinevoice. Youtube and Google+ are also good.

Then we ran out of time because it was over time and half way into tea time. I managed to grab a piece of fruit cake, but no drink.

After teatime, was Chris Riddell. He talked about how he became an illustrator - used to draw when he listened to his father's sermons and swap his drawings for wine gums with an old lady. Still likes wine gums. Did art at school, although it was a subject for losers, then went to art school where his mentor was Raymond Briggs. After some years, he met Paul Stewart at a Xmas party, where both of them were feeling dejected and partnered up. Paul lived one end of the road and Chris the other and they met in the pub in the middle for their meetings. Now Paul lives nearer Chris and can see from upstairs into Chris' garden. We were shown lots of his political cartoons.

After that was the prize presentation but I left near the end as I didn't want to miss my train, having wanted to get a taxi. I bumped into Janet Foxley, who offered to share a cab, so we went to the station together. I had a headache and neckache by the end of the day, prob due to not drinking enough in the afternoon, and the way I was sitting.

All in all, a good but exhausting time.

SCBWI-BI conference - Part 3

2011-11-28T05:38:00.000-08:00

I shall blog about the party, with photos, later on. Here is Sunday, the last exhausting day.

First I went to a talk by 'The Edge' authors. A group of authors who write gritty books. They were Sara Grant, Bryony Pearce, Dave Cousins, Paula Rawsthorne and Miriam Halahmy. They introduced themselves by impersonating each other, which was a laugh as Dave donned a black wig to do Miriam. Photo to come. They answered questions that had been written on their board. Edgy = issue orientated/controversial. Tell with truth and authenticity. Is language worth taking? Important to story. Miriam said you have to be comfortable to write it. You have to be able to stand up for what you've written. Prepared to talk/blog about it. Are there reservations? If you get too passionate, you can forget the story. Story has to drive it. Reader has to connect to the story.

Hooking teen readers - Getting them to pick up the books. It has to be entertaining, thought-provoking, engaging and page-turning. Great story with engaging characters. Teens at heart of story. Reader can engage with character, who can be flawed. Paula likes to develop the characters and says the openers can be grabby.

Swearing/slang - Miriam doesn't use it. Says that hell, and damn it can sound like a sad, old teenager. Do you want to use the words? Use actions to show not using swear words. Slang has to earn its place in book. Cool is OK to use.

Brands - be generic. Eg don't use Nokia, use mobile phone

Sara says she gets completely emotionally involved in her work.

What attracts the panel to teen fiction - Dave: the blurb, front page. If the author is honest, then he reads the whole book. Bryony: by her lifestyle. Paula: likes girls with flaws and who are complex. Miriam: wants to read what she writes. Situation can be in and what to do. Sara: Be moved and in tears. Powerful and think of it when finished.

Do teens feel books are edgy? Sara says no. Miriam says it's not her problem.What teen boys read, she writes. Dave writes what he wants. Maybe find different ways to get them reading. School libraries are good as they have to go there. Sara just wants to get children reading.

Age-range on books - Miriam doesn't like it. Feels that children are different to one another. Bryony: Likes it but not 12+ as some kids might be put off. Likes the content used inside comment.

Then came the question I put on the board and someone asked for me. Do teens read from ereaders? Sara said she did a Skype interview to the US and all the children there had Kindle. Feels that they could be good for teens as they can read things that other people can't see. Hopes that this will come to the UK like US. Dave says his 12 y-o has an iPad. Miriam says that kids might like the privacy.

Then came recommended reads: Miriam - Being Billy by Phil Earle and Bali Rai's Kid Honour (might have title wrong), Paula - Pigeon English by Steve Calman; Bryony = Skin Hunger by K Dury; Dave - Stolen by Lucy Christopher and Sara's is Nothing by J Teller.

SCBWI-BI Conference - Part 2

2011-11-27T05:52:00.000-08:00

Saturday cont...

Then came lunch. I was one of the last in the queue. As I have a dairy intolerance, I was able to go to another queue and I got jacket potato with roasted veg in a tomato sauce. It was really nice.

Then came Anthony McGowan about plots. They have to have a beginning (consequences), a middle (reactions) and an end (what's gone on before with no end). Plot is what happens that is plausibly connected. Then he talked about the freytag pyramid, which he has used once. (I think Laura Atkins has shown this better than I can). He told a true story about him, a dog and a crossbow, and this upset and offended a few of the audience. I know I was a bit shocked with it. Basically you have to ask yourself four questions. Who is the main character? What are they trying to achieve? Who is trying to stop them? What happens if they fail? With characters, they can be more sympathetic and accepting. So being nice and have unreserved suffering - something happening that's not their fault. Achieve - stop baddie, badder the better. Failure - death, real or figuratively. The main character can have a particular feature eg H Potter is an orphan. So his journey can be: is a wanderer, who needs help and skills, find them and becomes warrior. Fights battle with baddie. If he fails, he becomes a martyr, as he has sacrificed himself to help others.

You can change the structure of the story chronologically by inc flashback. Have differeny pov with same action or narrative. Tension - baddie makes life misery. More at stake. Makes better story.

After that was state of the nation panel. There is now a kidsbook review section on the Guardian website. Neil said to approach publishers early with your concept. Use photoshop and work in layers. See the screen/scene. Think outside page spread and papers. Explore narrative ideas that are different than print. The story drives the technology. Tales of the Moon say. Look inside yourself and find something that matters and resonates. Go and speak to local bookshops and ask about events and what best to do. Make yourself known to your local librarian. If they have seen book and like it, will review it, but if don't like it then won't review it. They were asked if digital will affect print? The Kindle is going down in price. Digital has ignited discussions. Important that story continues with different medias.

How can libraries/indie bookshops survive? Indie - ebook sales growth, not huge threat. Library, no. Only if profession doesn't survive. If able to connect with someone passionate about books, then good. Then social media was brought up, esp FB. People want to know what writers do, not publishers. You can use voice of character with this. With Twitter, you can base relationships with people who sell books. Storycloud was mentioned. With digital storytelling, use the community (social media). Think of your connection with your readers.

Libraries buy their books online from superstore of library supplier.

Don't jump on to new trends.

Neil (for illustrators) - Simplicity.

I asked how can someone who has published an ebook do an event. The indie bookshop said that make sure you have facilities to buy book at the end of event. Have technology to show the reader your book for sale. Neil said, he 's done event on how digital can be done. Book place where all forms of books can be seen, and where family can be together. Bookplace can be what to look for.

SCBWI-BI Conference - Part 1

2011-11-22T05:59:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I went to Winchester to the SCBWI-BI Conference, and had a great time meeting others and listening and learning. Friday night was the crit night then the pizza place. I got a lot of comments on Georgina, some good (like the idea of the story) and some not so good (found a bit confusing). It has made me think about what I can change about it, and have decided that maybe I should concentrate more on making the magic tell the story of how chemicals can react with you. Then we all went to the pizza place. 60 of us. I had a good chat about epubbing and my ebook. Donna Vann, who has already bought Angel, said she'd read it, liked it and was surprised how short it was because she wanted more. Yay. I had linguine Bolognese with dough balls - I was hungry by then, and none of the desserts I could eat because they all had milk in. I didn't eat all the Bolognese as it filled me up. Discovered that the place was only a couple of mins walk from my hotel.

Saturday. First was the welcome, then Frank Cottrell-Boyce told us about his writing. Then came a talk by Frank on young fiction. His fave author is E Nesbit, and he read out sections of her ebook The New Treasurers, which was funny. He believes she had an eye for detail, made the world big and mixed magic with reality. Eg when the children were buying the ingredients for a cake, they mentioned the price. He was asked about drama, and he replied it is the gap between who the children they they aren and what they are doing. Think Just William. He said to define the world then put in the details. He was asked about the middle. Make it what's enjoyable and what people want to take out of the story. Was asked about dangerous situations in books. Frank said if children in danger then make it from their pov. If you want a light touch with it, you can do it. He also said that he is insecure about his writing, and doesn't plot his novels, although he used to. It was a great and funny talk.

Then came the Industry Panel. Sarah Odedina who used to work for Bloomsbury but has now set up her own company called Bonnier, who are looking for children's novels. Accepts email submissions of an outline of book and first 2/3 chapters. Likes crossovers. Feels the ms has to have strong narrative. Likes humour, paranormal and ghost. Next was Amber from Orion. She works with author to build profile. No longer accepts unagented mss because they receive too many to do so now. Then Rachel from MacMillan. They print 50 titles a year. Loves YA. Then Sharon Chai, a senior cover designer (can't remember what publisher). The cover has to capture the eye and be intriguing. Websites/blogs etc are important to have. Then was David from Walker. Printing more digital than print n ow. Print books have to be special now to be on shelves. Amber said that the first book not brilliant she won't say goodbye as a client. Work with an author if feel they are a good writer and have merit, as knows that first book isn't always the best one.

All authors are proactive finding authors via competitions, conferences etc.

Rejection isn't bad. Don't lose faith in your book. Keep yourself open to things. One publisher might not like your book, another will. Or the agent might like your writing and want something else from you. Classic themes eg Pooh, is selling well. A good sales figure per year is 10,000 copies a year.

Their 3 top tips are: Sarah - Read as many authors as you can. Don't look at what's selling now to write it. Keep reading your own work and how you speak. Amber: Read. Visit shops etc. Rmember the publisher is on your side and not the only gatekeeper. Sharon: Push yourself. Don't be afraid to ask people about your work. David: Have your own voice. Leave out work you're not sure of. ( the last one was for illustrators).

Will write about the rest of Saturday later on .

My current wip

2011-11-17T02:52:00.000-08:00

I am currently working on an adult romance ebook that has magical elements in. Yep, I just cant resist putting in magic in this one either. I think it brings the humour and fun side out in my writing, and hope readers like it too. This is a first in a series I have planned about a photo of a dead aunt that comes alive to help her relatives in romantic situations. I plan to have sayings in the titles eg the first one I plan to call 'Plenty more fish in the sea.' I have been reading the agony aunt page in my newspaper to get ideas for more stories. I am on track with this one as it is nearly 6000 words, which is ideal for the market I am aiming for. I was going to go indie with this one, like the angel series for teens, but then came the last RNA chapter meeting last month. After the main meeting, one of the members announced that she is planning to open a digital publishing company for romance books and will be after submissions from new authors as well as authors who have got books out of print and want to republish them. One of the items she calls movellas, short stories to go on mobiles and this was where I was interested. I had a chat with her about what I was planning and she said she is interested. So once I have finished the first of the series, I call the Aunt Geraldine series, and have had it edited a few times, I will submit it to my fellow romance writer and publishing founder. Can't wait.

Other news and exciting this is: I have been put on a list with other indie authors to write a story for various anthologies set to be e-published in 2013. I can't wait. I mentioned my USP of magical elements and they liked that idea, so maybe I will be writing a story with magic in it. Hurrah.

My ebook journey

2011-11-02T07:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've not been here for a while but have been v busy working on my ebook, and it now out. Here is my story. Once I had finished the story and was happy with it, I then formatted it according to Smashwords Style Guide. I then went onto their website and uploaded it with all the details for it, inc blurb, synopsis, cover etc. Great, it's done I thought. Then I remembered I hadn't assigned it an ISBN no, so back to the site, assign it a number and upload it again. Good, that is that. No, I was wrong. Later that day I suddenlty thought, oh no, I have uploaded the wrong version. I'd put on the unformatted version. So back to Smashwords I went, and put the right one on. Hurrah. That was last Tuesday and you can find it on Smashwords here:
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/julieday40. I checked all the formats and they are fine. Next stop was Amazon, although you can download to a Kindle from Smashwords. I wanted full exposure of it to everyone.

So yesterday I went on Amazon and followed Freda Lightfoot's guide (thanks Freda), on how to do it. All was going well until I got to uploading the cover. It wouldn't recognise it. I went out of Amazon and when I went into it again a third time, the cover was there. Hurrah. Next was the book file, but I couldn't work out how I could save the prc file which Freda had mentioned. Puzzled, I went away. I came back with an idea - to save the copy I'd downloaded to check the mobi format. It worked. I then went on to put on the price of it, the royalties and all the other stuff they need to know. I have read that it takes 24 hours to go live on the website but it's not on there yet. Shall look again either later today or tomorrow. I am so excited about this. Have been round and about, putting postcards on buses and trains and at events I've been to, advertising my ebook The Railway Angel. Shall be reading more on how I can promote myself online. Watch this space.

I'm now working hard on my next ebook, this one a romance with a touch of magic.

SCBWI Agent's Party 2011

2011-10-20T02:57:00.000-07:00

A bit late in blogging about this, but here we are. On 29 Sept I went to the SCBWI agent's party. I was determined to speak to an agent, even if I didn't win the raffle, which I knew I wouldn't, not for the second time. (I didn't).

Benjamin introduced the agents one by one, then got them to tell us about who they were, what they do and want.

Zoe King from The Blair Partnership said they'd only been open for 3 months. Her wish list was: space (evolution), new frontier, historical romance for younger readers, futuristic settings and trolls. She wants new writers. To submit: the first 10 pages of the ms and intro of the book (the blurb). They do editorial help for 6-12 months with writers. They like brand development, esp websites for commercial writers.

Julian Friedman of Blake Friedman said he wants YA only and 9+ with strong TV settings in mind. He gave an example a writer he'd accepted who had ideas for spin offs and other things tying in with the book. Prefers email submissions. He's unlikely to take on complete unpublished writers, unless developed eg has great world of characters mapped out.

Alice Wiliams from David Higham works with Caroline Walsh. Wants mss for 9-12, teen and YA. Open to new writers and illustrators. Keen to have humour for boys, literary authors. Prefers email submissions. When you email, put that you have met her at the party and she will read it herself.

Vicki from Bright Agency wants chidren focussed mss. Is v keen on brands. Wants writers and illustrators who are proactive with new environment of social media. Works with authors taking them through the development process. Wants to make it happen and match them with publishers. Vicki has been growing the agency. To submit: address to Laura. Ms has to have good strong character.

Gillie Russell from Aitken Alexander says voice is all important, so is great storytelling. She has to be able work out them out. Likes humour for boys. Feels there is too much fantasy. Email her is fine, with short synopsis, short bio and first three chapters.

Claire Wilson from RCW works with Pat White. Likes fantasy, scifi and humour. Voice is important, and has to make ms stand out and be unique. Don't patronise the reader and overestimate their intelligence. See website for email address. Submit to reader.

Then came questions. Julian wanted to know how important Nielson data was for YA. Gillie replied that publishers do look at the data but only trade publishers analyse it.

Asked, what do they do in a day. They all said that they do the communication side of work. Checking emails, contacting authors, publishers etc. Gillie said nurturing authors. Tracking trends, eg checking what's going on on FB and Twitter.

Next question was what do readers look at first? Zoe said she reads them herself and reads the not-sure pile first. Goes by instinct. So does Gillie, who then gets a back up reading. Julian said that most mss are sent too soon and aren't polished enough. Approves of crit groups. Looks at first, letter and first 3 pages then asks others. Alice says her reader likes the ms then talks to agent best suited for the ms. Vicki asked is there a place, a need for it? She says that she can make it happen. Have to be mindful that you can deliver.

Zoe then said, you have to ask why are you writing it? What do you want to achieve? What can you offer? Start with a great relationship with agent.

Julian said that they have suggested story line for author if the writer writes good but not got good story. Claire said that chemistry with agent is important. Is conscious of right book to publish.

It then went on to talk about social media and was said that online presence is crucial. Author must have website, blog etc. Publishers ask how promotable authors are. Have to have edge over others. Zoe says you can't underestimate online connection with readers. Worth to have a strategy. Explore online presence. You have to be 20% professional writer. Comment on other blogs. Mentioned Tumblr. Gillie said good idea to spend time where children do.

It doesn't get harder with age to get published. Then they said how many clients they have. Claire = 9-30, Gillie=6, Vicki=6, Alice=10, Julian=6/7 and Zoe=3.

After that was food. I had ham and tomato sandwich with sticky chicken bits and somasas. The chicken had orange sauce on it which got all over the napkin and I ended up with orange nails. Then I joined the queue to talk to Zoe. Seemed interested in my mss Allie.

Result = Zoe and Gillie have so far rejected Allie. Two more agents to write to. Have a plan B if that fails.

Writing for the US

2011-10-07T07:05:00.000-07:00

I am sorry but have been rather lapse with this blog recently. Have been busy working on my teen ebook and not been well. I have a cold now but here I am.

Last time I said that I'd write why writing for the US excites me. There are two reasons: series and paranormal.

Once I have finally finished Georgina (have another two drafts to complete first), I am going to start writing a series of paranormal romances. This is why I am excited about what I learnt at Janet's talk in July. Paranormal adult romances aren't really that known over here but in the US they are, and Janet has told us that the US prefer series rather than stand-alones. I have drafted an outline of each book I plan to write in the series but need more research, such as looking for pictures of the characters so I can describe them more in the books.

The other reason I got excited was the mention of ebooks. The US like ebooks, and this is where my new teen ebooks can help me. I am thinking that if I start off slow with publishing short ebooks about paranormal/angel teen ebooks, then who knows who might get to see them and pay attention to me and my writing. We can but hope.

So I now have a plan for this: Plan A - once I have finished submit it through the RNA's NWS scheme and try for a UK publisher (have a few in mind). Plan B - if not successful then, try for a US publisher, and there are lots more there than here. If still not successful (I'm not giving up), I am going the ebook route again myself.

So watch this space...

The US Writing Experience

2011-09-15T02:52:00.001-07:00

This comes two months later but here it is now. In July I listened to Janet Gover talk about the US Writing Experience. Janet has lived in the UK until last year when she moved to the US as her husband had a job there. She gave a talk about what writing in the US is like compared to here. Here is her take on it:

Mainstream = 90,000 words
Romance must be sexy, if not then it is classed as Women's Fiction
Genre definitions are different.
Some genres are missing
Some genres are US centred only
More publishers (bigger country)
Ebooks are critical
Covers are v different.

They do paranormal/fantasy, which is v sexy and sensual
Vampires and shapeshifters
Angels
All these have kick-ass heroines with magical elements (my sort of book)

Romantic Suspense
Women in jeopary who become stronger. Has to be sensual with alpha heroes. Fast paced. Heroine has to ask can I trust the hero?

US women's fiction instead of saga. This is mass market women's fiction, which inc families with sub-plots, contemporary. Small town books and settings can be outside of US. Usually series with new characters and settings in each one.
If you are unpubbed you sell with whole book but if you are pubbed then you sell with only partial and synopsis which is more detailed and series outlined.

Trade women's fiction
Again families and sub-plots. Contemporary historical. Bigger books in all genres (as in 100,000)

YA
Protagonist must be 17-19 y-o.
Paranormal, steam punk, sci-fi, distopia, coming of age. Magic phase. Has romance with sexual tension.

Publisher's want: Paranormal (yay for me), YA, women's fiction (small town series), cowboy, RS (series with ongoing characters).

When submitting: Make sure your genre is current, some prefer agents, outline series.

The state of industry is positive and they are actively seeking new authors, and new imprints are popping up all the time (Avon Impulse is one). Ebooks can expand readership (yay for me again), publishers are active with social media. Self-publishing is moving the balance of power. So royalties for ebooks are moving.

This really heartened me, esp the paranormal part and ebooks. To read why, visit my next post.

August roundup

2011-09-01T06:11:00.000-07:00

So what did I get up to and do in August. Well, first off I had a letter in Full House magazine, which I have yet to be paid for. I eagerly await cheque so I can put it in my bank account.

I did two library events: the first one was a failure as only my friend and her son turned up and they had given me a lift to the library. The second one I waited an hour and a half before two children joined me to do a collage. Pictures will soon appear on my website.

As well as working on Allie, now on Chapter 6, I have been working on the first of a series of supernatural and magical ebooks for teenagers about a team of teenage ghosts called 'The Guardian Angels.' That is currently with a copyeditor/proofreader and I wait her comments on the revisions of it. I had to make it into one pov and change the age of the person the main character, Lizzie, is tested on. It was a man but now a teenage boy. I have been drafting the layout of the school and rooms there and have in mind to do a website esp for this. I've been researching other teen authors to see what theirs look like and what is on it.

Last night I had a brainwave in bed. I thought of another series of ebooks connected to the Angels - what happened to the teenagers that they saved from ending their lives? So that is what I wrote down. I can't wait.

Next week I will be posting about writing romance in the US, as I went to a talk in July from an author who lived over here and has gone to live there recently and how she has found it there.

Epublishing opportunties

2011-08-30T03:04:00.000-07:00

Every writing magazine I now read mentions that epublishing is the future and it can offer more opportunites for writers, and I so agree. This is why I have started a series of stories for teenagers, as I don't think there are many magazines/ezines out there that will take them, so I want to expand my readership and try and get paid for it. I have decided that this series I will publish on Amazon as well as Smashwords as I think that most people have Kindles rather than the other ereaders - expanding my readership again. I have found a cover I like for the ebook and photos of the character in it to go on a special website for the series. I am currently working on the layout of the classrooms in the school, which will also have magical properties to them.
I have sent it off for a second copyedit and proofread, making notes of what I did wrong for the rest of the series. The cover design won't be done for a few weeks as the designer I have chosen to help me is busy on her own book right now until 12 Sept. Meantime I will wait for the edit to come back, amend anything and format the book.

I have also got in mind a series of romantic ghost stories, the first of which was published in Crystal magazine. The second was rejected. Can you see my writing has a theme to it? All ghosts and magic. I have planned to reread the first story next week whilst I wait for the designer to finish her own work and am working on the website pages for the teen series.

So watch this space...

More epublishing

2011-08-08T06:14:00.000-07:00

The more and more I read about authors self-publishing ebooks either on Kindle or Smashwords, the more and more I feel that I am doing the right thing. And esp after I read a couple of articles/interviews in the recent Writing Magazine/Writers' News. The first article was by crime writer Stephen Leather. He is printed in mainstream but decided to self-publish ebooks to increase his readership. It has worked because the report read that he has sold 7000 (yes, that is thousand) ebooks in one day (yes, one day). The way he did this is to price his ebooks at the minimum price of 99cents (about 85p in UK).

The other interview was by US author John Locke who is published in ebook only. He decided to do this because, I think by the look of his books, they don't fit into one specific genre, and I know that agents and publishers do like to take on books that fit one genre because it is easier for booksellers to place them in the shops. He said that he did this mainly because he was an first time author with no record of sales, and it has worked. He has just released a non-fiction ebook called 'How I made 1 million sales in 5 months'. Yes, you read that right. I want this book to come out in print as I don't have a Kindle. The way he did this, yes, you guessed he priced his books that same as Stephen did at 99cents and that is the result.

So when I have finished and got my short story out there published, I will do the same and price it at the minimum of 99c and see what happens. I know that others have read this same article and have done this to see what results they get in selling their ebook faster. Meantime, I have rewrites to do on my ebook. I sent it off for a copyedit and proofread and got back a proper critique of it. Thanks Hilary. The spelling, punctuation and grammar are all fine, it was just the way that I worded and structured things and multiple vops, which aren't the done thing normally in a short story. So I have changed it now to be just Lizzie's vop and tried to make it more upbeat. Shall do the typing up of changes tomorrow. Then be working on Hilary's other changes after that.

Will be writing about the process of it here but when it is up and running out there, I shall switch to Netlog blog to post about it there as I have decided to have that blog just for promoting my books, leaving this one to write about the writing process and events.

Embracing new technology

2011-08-01T05:43:00.001-07:00

Well, I have decided to embrace new technology and will be soon publishing my first ebook on Smashwords. I wrote a teen story about a girl who had died and was sent to earth to stop a man from suicide last year and entered it for a ghost and angel story competition, but got nowhere. I still liked the idea, and had even thought of a few more to make a series but didn't do anything about it, until now. I had been reading 'The Grumpy Old Bookman's' page in Writing Magazine who had been talking about self-publishing on Smashwords and getting success there, and reading email loops about other authors self-publishing on Kindle. How about giving it a go myself, I thought, it is short to start with and teenagers are bound to be more prone to reading ebooks than younger children. So I went on Smashwords and printed out their Style and Marketing Guides (both free). I have now completed the ebook and sent it for a professional copyedit and proofread, and meanwhile have started formatting the story for ebook. Hope to finish that tomorrow. I am quite excited about it as it's a new venture for me. I am thinking that when it is published and out there for all to buy, to do the round at the local libraries to promote it with either booking signings or just put out some promo material for it - I have in mind postcards or business type cards that I can sign instead of an ebook. I have heard that this is what romance writers in the US do, they call them romance trading cards. I have yet to put this out on my website and once I have worked out a blurb for it then I will, as well as a cover, which I have in mind already. Watch this space...

Determination

2011-07-09T06:07:00.001-07:00

I am more than ever now determined to get Allie published mainstream and conventional. Why? The way I got Rosie published wasn't, and it has come back to haunt me time and again, and most recently this week. I had been guest blogging on the Scattered Authors' Society blog once a month and recently they decided to take a look at my publisher, I think because my blogs weren't deemed professional enough to go out to the wide reading public which incs libraries etc. They had a look and felt that the publisher was a vanity publisher. I replied saying they weren't, not quite. Because of this they feel that it isn't fair for the readers to have me on the schedule as I am not mainstream. It is such a disappointment but it is not the first time I have been said no to because of this. I do understand that they have standards. Now I am more than ever to be get Allie and all my other big book ideas published conventionally and mainstream. All I have to do is find an agent who likes my work. So far no luck. Had another rejection this week. Will be sending it out to a publisher whom I met at the retreat in May, which I will mention in the letter. There are other agents out there, and I have been looking in the Yearbook to see who might like my work and have published authros who have had books out similar to what I write. There are a few so will write to them. When I do get published mainstream, and I will, I will be back with all those who have said no to me. So watch this space...

June news

2011-07-04T06:21:00.001-07:00

So what happened in June? Lots. At the start of the month I was in the latest issue of Writers' News (in the middle of Writing Magazine) all about my children's story success. Then I had a talk to a library coffee group in Pett's Wood about writing what you know and interests. The same day I picked up a copy of Best of British mag and saw that I had a letter in there so bought it and took it to show the coffee ladies. The talk went very well and they said it was interesting and I sold 2 copies of Rosie. Then a week or so later I got an email from the editor of magazine Your Healthy Living, a free mag from local health stores, to say that I had won prize 2. So my mum went shopping, popped into our local health store and got the magazine, and there was my letter. I got my prize a couple of weeks later of a set of Weleda natural toiletries. More added to my collection. I look forward to using them as this set is for sensitive skin.

This coming week is the 3rd birthday of the Scattered Author's Society blog - awfullybigblogadventure and they are holding an online literature festival for it and I am taking part. It starts on Saturday with different authors doing things every half hour be it blogging, contests, giveaways, videos. My blog appears at 7pm on Sunday so come and join us celebrate.

Mental Health appointment

2011-07-01T02:16:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I had an appointment with a Mental Health team, in fact it was a social worker who assessed me, although she didn't introduce herself until a few minutes in to the interview and my mum had to ask her who she was. Anyway, I wasn't sure what it was going to be about and the social worker said that they only deal with mental health issues not Asperger's. She was going to talk about my generalised anxiety disorder which is a mental health issue. GAD is associated with Asperger's I have read. She talked about whether I wanted to go on medication for it and I said no, I wasn't that bad with it and I didn't want to become dependent on them. She then mentioned cognitive behavourial therapy (CBT) where you have a counsellor and over a number of sessions you explore how you feel and why you feel that way. Both my mum and I believe that this could be beneficial to me and we wait and see what happens about it. They said that either they can offer it to me or they can refer me back to Maudsley where I was diagnosed with Asperger's. It was also mentioned about whether I would get a social worker and the answer was probably not because I think it was down to how serious my problems were, and we also brought up benefits, again the answer was no, because of the amount of savings I have got. The social worker said that because of that they wouldn't even consider me. So unfair. One thing we did learn about this interview was that my GP referred me to them originally last year, they had a meeting and decided that because it was all about Asperger's then they weren't the right people for me so wrote back to my GP to refer me to Maudsley. We didn't know this and had thought at the time that nothing was happening because we hadn't heard anything.

On to Asperger's, the social worker phoned the Autistic Society for me to find out about their services and what Asperger's is classed as. She came back after a while and said that they are only a phone service but have walk-in advisory centre local to us and was going to put it in her report to me next week. She had found out though that Asperger's is a Pervasive Development Disorder, so now my mum tells people I have a PDD. It sounds more serious that way.

Now it is back to more waiting. We feel that the Mental Health team we saw won't be seeing me again and it will be all down to going to the Autistic Society for help and support. Financially there is another avenue that might be happening soon. Watch this space...

Adults with autism

2011-06-27T02:12:00.001-07:00

Here is an interesting fact I have read in the latest Healthy magazine. In a UK survey 600,000 (yes that thousands) adults have undiagnosed autism. It was suggested that in 13,000 household 1 per cent of older people had signs of social awkwardness (a sign of Asperger's). I am not surprised by this finding as I remember when I first went to my GP to try to get referred he said that lots of people have a variety of it. If I hadn't been made redundant last year then I would be one of those 600,000 but thankfully I'm not now I've been diagnosed and can get help.

It also mentioned that there is a focus more on children with autism rather than adults. I can believe this as I feel that it is easier to diagnose children with autism than adults. I first asked the GP for referral last September and got an assessment for diagnosis in March this year. It takes a long while for the process to go through as you have to get approval from your Primary Care Trust.

I found this little bit of news very interesting and inspiring. Inspiring because I have decided to do what a member of my crit group first said to me when I told her I had Asperger's - write about it. I have ideas for a few articles which I might target for disabled magazines or even healthy magazines. We shall see, so watch this space. On Thursday I have a meeting with a duty worker for an assessment, so shall blog about that on Friday. See you then.

Allie and libraries

2011-06-25T03:19:00.000-07:00

I am cracking on with Allie now as I want to start resending her out to publishers and agents next week. I have decided to centre the headings because it looks much nicer like that and I think most children's books have the chapter headings like that. Also I am going to put a picture of a planet above the headings because I think it will look more engaging to read. I am catching up with myself though as I have only 2 chapters left that I've revised that need typing up and only half way through the book. Plan to do 2 more chapters this afternoon as well as reading through Sammi story. I have added more magic to the story by making her jumper glow when she passes her tests but need to read through the book again to make sure that I have this all the time, which I don't think I have.

Had another library meeting on Thursday and again quite successful. V keen to help me promote my books in there so that it can promote them too. Said they want to do themes now and then and healthy living can be one of them. Gave them posters of Rosie and of my new blog to post, which they said will put up with the Summer Reading posters. Hopefully will get some interest. They did try to get hold of the people who are holding the local arts festival to see if I can have a table there to sell my book but no luck as they were busy so said they'd email me with news, so wait for that. Next stop on 2nd July is Grove Park library. All three libraries are now run by EcoComputer Systems and I do want to get involved with them. We shall see.

Tomorrow will be result of paper throwing away and what comes in so watch Naturally Greeny.

Library meeting

2011-06-19T06:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had a meeting with a local library manager at a library that has recently been taken over by an Eco company. I wanted to do work both as an author and as a volunteer and this is what we talked about. I said I wanted to do occasional work with children as a children's author which she noted and as a volunteer. I mentioned the chatterbooks groups which is run by the Reading Agency, and she said she'll get in touch with them to find out what needs to be done and how it's run, as I said I wanted to work with chatterbooks groups of 8-12 y-olds as I've had experience with them. She will get back to me once she's spoken to them. Also about volunteering she is keen for me to work there. I gave her posters and cards promoting my book and my new blog and she said there's no problem advertising them and could help me out more with this as she knew people in advertising and would talk to them how to advertise my work and let me know what they say and when she will be promoting it in the library. Said it was unfair on me if she put it up without my knowledge and I thought this was so nice. I mentioned about linking with schools and she said that again she could help me on this as she had spoken to a teacher and would I like her to mention me to her and see what she said. I said yes please. Any mention that could help me would be great, I thought. It was back to talking about volunteering again. She is going to email me a form to complete, which I will do when I get it and take it back there. Also she said that there is a thing called time banking when you volunteer where you clock up hours volunteering and the hours you earn you can use up paying for something you need to pay for eg if I wanted to rent out their room for author events, I could exchange hours for payment. I thought this is a good idea and can't wait to start as I have a few ideas on how to get children working and involved in creative writing and arts already. Something I have to mention to her tomorrow when I phone her.

All in all it was successful esp I as met with the man who has taken over the libraries himself. A v busy and friendly man and I admire him for what he wants to do. He wants to raise money to put solar panels on the library and put in a cafe like his other library I have seen. Make it more community minded, which is good. I really am looking forward to working there. I want to work as an author in his other libraries and have yet to speak to people, which I will do tomorrow. So watch this space....

Allie and Georgina

2011-06-12T05:44:00.000-07:00

Well, where am I with these? I have just added more description and emotion to chapter 12 of Allie and checked another chapter of Georgina. I want to read through chapter 3 of Allie too later because I don't think I have put the walls turning blue when her magic works and need to be consistent with that as I plan to write to more agents and publishers next week. Now that I have started with revision to Allie again (there was a few days break after the retreat) I feel I am now on a roll and want to get to the end as I am enjoying adding description and emotion and shimmering walls and floors. I shall do all this in Georgina in the next draft, for now I am reading through adding more magical things to it. But when I start the next draft I have to write down descriptions of all the characters in it, so I know what to put when I come to them in the writing.

Speaking of agents. I have had a couple more rejections. One agent no longer does childrens' submissions as the agent that did works elsewhere, a publisher said they didn't think it was strong enough for the competitive market (it might be now with the changes) and the other was a standard rejection. One more publisher to reply to me though, but other agents to send to in mind, inc one publisher. Shall let you know what I will do and what I find out later on. Watch this space...

May news

2011-06-06T02:58:00.000-07:00

Well, May got off to a v good start. I had a letter published in Amateur Gardening magazine, winning me a prize of a £5 garden voucher. My mum gave me the money for that, and she used the voucher at our local garden centre buying some flowers for our front garden. Then later in the month I found out that a romantic short story had been accepted for a new forthcoming website for short stories, which pays half to the author and half to a charity. I shall keep you informed when this website comes live.

Also in May I went to a workshop and discovered a new way to revise your work - with highlighters. You highlight different parts of your work in different colours, say I use red for emotion and pink for dialogue. I have found this v useful so far in revising Allie, and seeing what I have put too much of and what I need to add (normally emotion and description), and amend accordingly. Because I do this now, whenever I read a book, I am analysing it saying to myself, that's emotion, that's action etc... Then at the end of May I went to a retreat for the first time, and had a wonderful and productive time. The last 2 posts are all about what I learnt and did there.

I shall try to put my June news at the end of this month, and I do have some news already, which I have put on Facebook. Success so far. Next post will be about Allie and Georgina.

Retreat Day 2 & 3

2011-06-03T02:16:00.000-07:00

On the Saturday, the second day, the first session was writing time. Now I don't normally write in the morning but at lunch time, but I think because I had already worked out what I wanted to work on over the weekend (description) I knew what I wanted to do and I did it. I worked on 2 chapters of Allie over an hour and a half, writing descriptions of Allie, her friends and teachers. Then describing the magic the school can do - shimmering walls and floors and bins. Had great fun doing that. Then it was coffee, and I had herbal tea, then it was Candy talking about exposition. What it is (explanation), and ways of how to turn it into story. We learnt that a story is designed to interest and amuse, it's never about you but your audience. How to unfold and set-up and reveal in the story. The different acts in the story - act 1 is to pose a question that'll keep the reader reading. How you pose it is the craft of the story. Act 2 is tension risiing. High point of story, and the rug-pulling momement, the climax. How you reveal the answers is the secret to taming exposition, which is story in the wrong place. So you have to find out where the right place is. Act 3 is the inevitable and unexpected. Give the audience what it wants but not the way they expect it.
Then she gave us exercises which we all wrote down. One of them I used later on in a second writing session: Description into action. Where you describe something by either action, reaction or sensation. I am now describing things with feelings or reaction from Allie in the way of questions. There were other exercises such as Rules of Magic, The world's flat.
Then she gave us a check list of things to think about when you have done the first draft. What do you want to say? Is something happening? Do we need to know this now? (is there a better place later on) Are my characters explaining their world? were some.
During this talk I made several notes to change things in Allie later on, which I did and will still do in later chapters.

We had lunch, then came a talk by author Tommy Donbavand, who is really funny. He talked about how horror came into his life at the age of 12 reading a horror book which scared him to bits. How he came to be a clown, then an actor then realising he could entertain children he started writing children's book about a spooky street, which has been v successful. Then came the fun stuff. One of his main characters is a girl mummy, and he got 2 teams of 3 up the front, and 2 people had to wrap the other in toilet paper like a mummy in one minute. What a laugh.

After that was more writing time and I got another 2 chapters revised. Then dinner and socialising. I didn't sleep well and I never do in a strange place.

Sunday we had more writing time, then a talk by Janetta Otter-Barry of Frances Lincoln Books. She talked about what books they do from pre-school to teens, showing us slides of what they were like. She answered questions, and yes she'd like to see middle-grade with magical elements (that was from me). She had lots of her books there, and I bought 4 in the end. I asked her later on if she'd be interested in what I was writing and she said yes. So once I am happy with the first 3 chapters of Allie I will send it to her.
Lunch was next with a nice roast chicken and more writing time and another 2 chapters revised. Not everyone stayed until the end but I did to get more writing done. All in all I got 8 chapters revised over the weekend, and now I need to keep the momentum up. More writing tomorrow I think, well typing up what I've revised anyway.

I had a great time and love the combination of talks, socialising and writing time. It was very productive for me. Thanks Sue.

Writers' Retreat 2011

2011-06-01T06:07:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went to my first Writers' Retreat in a place called Dunford House in W Sussex, in the heart of the country surrouded by woodlands. For those who don't know a retreat is a combination of talks and time to write, and boy I wrote lots.
The first talk was on the Friday evening about marketing headed by Nick Cross. He talked about what marketing is, what marketing you can do and what works. There are two different sorts of marketing: above the line, which is usually tv and radio etc and more generalised and broadcast, and below the line, which is targeted like Twitter, FB, websites. It was said that these two are fast becoming one now.
Next question was how much publicity does a publisher do? Tommy Donbavand said that in his experience if your publisher sees you do most of the legwork to get publicised then they will chip in.
Then it came to media. Youtube is more for teens and your book and video have to be very good to get up to the top ranks, esp if you have a common name. Candy Gourlay said that she feels that websites are better than trailers esp for middle-grade as that age look at websites more.
Then it went onto public appearances. It was mentioned that the school library services are crying out for authors, which you approach through authorities (I might have a look into that although my authority had told me before that I have to approach schools myself). As to visits to other places, people do think that authors are in contest with each other, so like to have authors in panels.
It went back to media again and blogs. It was said that group blogs are the thing now and the way forward, which I like as I belong to a group blog which I submit to. I made a note of a name of one which is all about fantasy. Candy said that her prepublished blog helped her get a publisher, and this was raised later that people out there do look at what you are writing on the web with blogs and websites, so keep it professional (Julie do check spelling here, and sort out your website). You need a creative edge to have voice and be a good author. Make yourself look approachable and interesting. (I made a note here to add a page to my site).
Amazon - review of this, and put that you are 'Author of....'. When your book is out Tweet and FB. Timing is of the essence ast they say.
Platform is the audiene you build before you are published. Your message is echoed, not your sales.
By the end it was 10pm and I was tired out and so ready for my bed.

I shall blog tomorrow about the rest of the retreat.

The Writing Life

2011-05-21T02:59:00.000-07:00

This week I have been out and about listening to talks and critiques. On Tuesday night I went to a Professional Series talk by Nicolette Jones, reviewer of children's book for the Sunday Times. She says that she finds it hard to get her weekly column published at times because people don't think writing for children is as worthy as writing for adults. This was totally agreed with by the audience when someone mentioned that they'd been asked when they were going to write a real book after saying they write for children. Grrr. Nicolette receives lots of books but only has 4 slots to write so can't review them all, and she always ends up praising so there is no space for hostility. She says that she has H Potter books to thank for making editors realise that children's books can be worthy of reviewing and interesting. The internet has expanded the chance to recommend children's fiction but on the other hand so many blogs and review sites are running that it could put paper critics in jeopardy. Cross-over books are hard to review as don't know who should review them - children or adult book reviewer. And the snag is where to put them in shops. Although in Australia they have sections for 15-25 y-olds. Booksellers should find ways to put them in the right place. Puffin is putting out books with penguin on spine for children of 15 upwards.
She said that in an ideal world, there should be blogs that let you know what books are coming out, like they do films. Candy said that paper reviews generated more interest in her book than online ones.
When asked Nicolette thought that publishers aren't overpublishing children's books as there are fewer picture books being published but that is being rectified with the Big Picture Campaign. She likes Indies and thinks that bookshops should have a broader stock, and likes to see people in chains showing real interest and expertise with children's books. Doesn't want blackmail to get your book reviewed by her. Looks at most of the books she's sent but can't do all of them. Suggests that you start your book strong, so reader wants to read more and is interested in reading more.
Believes that hype with books doesn't work all the time. But if you can excite her with your work and make her laugh, she will read on. Has read self-published books which have to be on Amazon, but doens't recommend this route unless you have sold lots and then can go to an agent or publisher with them saying this - this has happened.
Very fond of children's poetry, which is popular in schools and Miriam said best to start with magazines then into anthologies as this has more child appeal.
She has a fantasy of having a best and worst book column. Says lots of boys do read, and others need to read, some don't admit reading but read magazines etc. Thin, snappy books are ideal for these boys. Believes that some books are packaged wrong eg the target is for boys but the cover is designed with girls in mind.
It was brought up about prizes for series fiction. Nicolette thought that she wasn't keen on this as this is tricky when there is a series of books that are written by different authors but seen to be by one.
She would like to see a children's TV programme on books/prizes and inspirations behind books. A channel that would make families believe that reading books is a part of family life.
She finished saying that literary editors have to do books with interesting angles, and Nicolette unless it is news worthy, and most commercial books aren't.

Then on Wednesday I had my second crit group meeting. There were only 3 of us this time so it went quicker. It was mentioned they like my book and feel that is child friendly as Tanya said that most children's books she has read the children try to work things out on their own instead of going to adults whereas mine, Georgina talks to her teachers and family. Kathryne likes the ideas of having magical powers about passions, so I was well chuffed about, of course there were lots of other comments that I have to work on and will do later on. They liked the idea of rooms and walls shimmering when Georgina does her magic so I will def put that in next time. Can't wait for the next group meeting.
I was due to go to a talk today but not feeling well so here I am instead.

Next time will let you know how Georgina is getting on and more news.

SCBWI Masterclass

2011-05-10T05:34:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I went to a SCBWI Masterclass called The Revision Game led by Sara Grant, who works for Working Partners and is an author too, her book Dark Parties is out later this year, and I can't wait to read it.

Before we even went to the workshop, Sara set us homework. She asked us to write about why we are writing the novel we are, what is keeping us interested in it, the premise of it, its controlling idea, a one-line and paragraph pitch, and a movie pitch (which I found hard to work out). I found this really good to do and will do this for each of my future novels in time to come. It helps you to work out what your book is all about and how you can pitch it to everyone.

Here is what I learnt at the workshop. Do macro editing first before the nitty gritting of checking spelling etc. Write the blurb and controlling idea etc first - I will do.

Then we got to writing about our novels - we had to take copies of the first 2 chapters with us. Going through them we had to write: the actions, the importance of the chapter, the length of the chapter and the timeline to each one.

Then Sara said that she had heard that 10% of a novel should read as the who, what, when and where and the other 90% be the how. The journey of the hero/heroine should be shown by the first 10 pages.
The beginning of the novel should be connected to the climax, and the climax should be in by 85-90% of the novel. Does the climax inc the best character? Is the climax making the point you want to make of the novel? Does it reveal points you want to make about the novel to the reader? (Here I made a note to change something in my book Georgina).

Then wordcloud was mentioned. I don't think I will be doing this unless I have time for procrastination.

Then it was work time. We got our highlighters and pencils out. Sara circles her characters' names and then goes through them asking, do the sound the same and look the same? Eg do they have the same colour eyes the whole way through. Ask yourself why do the need to be there? Why are they important? Are they compelling? Write down a list of what you learn about the characters in 2 pages. Is it enough for the reader to continue reading about them>

What is the emotional story of the character?

Highlighting time - we had to highlight different aspects of the novel eg. green for setting and description, pink for dialogue, box each scene, circle names, purple for flashback/background etc. I found this very useful and have decided to do this for all my other novels before I even get to revision and have one draft. For Georgina I am going to do all my revisions than do this.
You then need to ask yourselves, do the scenes build on each other? Are they changing? Do they push forward the theme and story?
You should start scene at first poss moment and end early as poss. Don't give info but experience. Are you orienting your reader to each scene? Is there enough action? (You can find this out once you have highlighted these bits).
You must have good reason to use flashback.
Does your chapter endings leave the reader thinking? Do they have a cliff hanger? Give the reader a question?
Try to leave out bits that readers skip? I think this means the exposition, which I found out means bits telling the story. Let the reader connect the dots.
Don't say that he/she is starting something, make them do it.

Oh and one thing I did learn which has bugged me for ages - the difference between lie and lay. These I found out are Sara's common mistakes. Lie is for person and lay is for object, so you lie down on the bed, and you lay the table.

All in all, I really enjoyed the day and learnt lots, despite having a stomach upset during the day. Thanks Sara.

April News

2011-05-01T06:20:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that it's May already. Where does the time go?

Here is my news for April now it's May. I had a letter published in the local paper South London Press praising Lambeth council for making recycling compulsory for their residents. I wish it was the same for all councils. No payment for that. Then yesterday I got a letter from Amateur Gardening magazine to say that my letter will be printed in the next issue out on Tuesday and I won a £5 National Garden voucher. Took Mum over to the local garden centre earlier and she bought some flowers to put in the front garden with the voucher and gave me the money in exchange. Those are my successes for April.

On another writing front, I had my first critique group meeting on Wednesday and it was great. It is so helpful to have other people look at your work because you are so close to it when working on it that you can't see problems that other people can. I found this out and now have a lot more drafts to work on for Georgina. I think it will end up more like 35,000 words than 32,000 that it's now heading for. Was told by the group that it doesn't matter. I have decided to describe the classrooms and teachers more, just like Harry Potter (which I have been reading and thoroughly enjoying). This was one of the things that came up about my first three chapters, that I need to be more visual. I will now. I think I am going to have fun describing the rooms and teachers. Haven't thought about what the teachers look like yet apart from the Headmistress Mrs Zabberwol, she is stern normally but friendly and helpful to the girls when she is needed. Our next meeting is on 18 May and we'll be meeting at the National Theatre. Can't wait.

Will be buying Amateur Gardening on Tuesday for my letter.

Recycling coaching buddy

2011-04-25T06:13:00.000-07:00

I went out for a meal with my friend Heather last Thursday at a local Chinese (mainly a takeaway so not nice and won't go there again). Anyway over the meal we got talking about things and I asked Heather if she would become my coaching buddy for when I start up my business. She said she'd be honoured. A coaching buddy is someone who encourages you when you feel down and rejected and cheers you on when you have something good to say or have just had something published. They help you along the way with smiles and happiness. I was so pleased. I then told Heather about my idea of a business plan and she said it was a very good one as I am passionate about recycling, and it turns out so is she. She lives in borough of Bromley where residents can recycle a lot of different plastics at home rather then take them to a recycling bank. I am so envious. I was so pleased to hear that she recycles a lot, even bringing it back from holidays. She is up for helping me with my idea and will let her know how I am going as I go along. Today I started working on my business plan, drafting out what I want my business to do for people and how I see it coming along in the near future. Next to work on is costs, competitors and suppliers.

Be back later in the week with how I am getting on with revisions for Georgina. Probably after Wednesday when I've met my crit group for the first time.

London Book Fair

2011-04-17T05:52:00.000-07:00

Well, on Wednesday I made my way on my own (something I've not done before) to the London Book Fair at Earl's Court. My was it big or what. It was held in both courts but the children's publishing was in no 1. Of course, trust me, I went in the wrong entrance and ended up walking round and round trying to find the room for the first talk. I managed to get there just in time before it started and got a seat at the front. It was a talk about school libraries with a panel of the school librarian of 2010, Gillian Harris, who helped Alan Gibbons with the Campaign for the Book, and authors Francesca Simon (Horrid Henry fame) and MG Harris (Joshua Files fame). The general gist I got is that school libraries should be a safe, fun, welcoming, educational and creative place for pupils to go to and value books. MG Harris said that she'd been in a library where the library was like a cupboard or a small room with mainly computers in. School libraries can only be creative with a creative librarian but this is difficult as it costs money and in this economic climate, well... After that talk I got talking to a librarian from Suffolk who mentioned that she was planning to do author events with her groups of primary and secondary pupils and would I be interested. I wasn't sure and said it could be challenging. I gave her my card and don't know if I hear from her. I now know that I need to expand my repertoire of talks/workshops. Have been thinking of this. Then I made my way back downstairs to the toilet (didn't have time when I arrived) and to the next talk which was a chat with Anthony Browne and Lauren Child. They were asked questions by Nicolette Jones. They both like each others' work as they are so different with Anthony working with pad and pencils and Lauren on computer. Lauren's work is minimalist and Anthony as a lot of detail in his. Anthony was inspired to draw by surrealism paintings and Lauren by house arrangements like Habitat. Lauren is inspired by TV as she watches more whereas Anthony is inspired by movies as he went every week as a child. Lauen said that what she draws is everything to do with her whereas Anthony said the voice of the author is just as important as the illustrator. Neither intended to be illustrators to start with but Lauren said she applied to do illustration at college, but didn't work out so went for something else. Then she saw Edward Scissorhands and got interested in film. Drew something and gave it a friend's mother who was in fashion and got a reply that she should draw and write. She did Clarice Bean to stop her imitating others. Anthony did graphic design as he wanted to be a painter. Then he became a medical illustrator and drew a picture book, which part of was taken to be his first book about a magic mirror. Lauren tries not to think about her audience as it interferes with her judgement of her work. She only draws things that she loves. She keeps her eye on the market and said that you have to understand what publishers want. If you look about too much you could get too intimated so take a moment to think and your chance may come. Anthony had no sense of market just painted then did it. Said don't aim your work at anyone if you want to try to please someone as you may get lost what you want to do. Lauren writes what she thinks is funny and Anthony does what comes out. Lauren said let go of listening to everyone and be yourself, unless you get a comment the same from a few people and you know you are going wrong. Don't study the market too much. Go on what you feel is right and don't take on all that has been said to you. Anthony said that he was influenced by surrealism, read others books and saw what was being read and knew what was needed. So gist of what they say is never compromise your work if it makes you unhappy and be true to yourself and your instincts. I had lunch then and wandered round and round up and down the children's section before going to the other court to listen to Julia Donaldson and Axel Shaffler talk about their partnership. I couldn't see them that well as it was crowded and I had to sit on a chair at the side. All in all a good but tiring day. Now I know what to expect I can plan better next time.

Undiscovered Voices 2012 launch

2011-04-07T06:20:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday night I went to the SCBWI-BI anthology launch, where they had a panel of agents, editors, bookseller and literary scout. To put the panel at ease Sara O'Connor asked them a set of fun questions which included favourite childhood book ( this ranged from Goodnight Mr Tom to the Little Wooden Horse), recommended books (Graveyard Book and Julia Churchill said to read broadly). Then more serious questions such as what are you looking for. Now here was where I seriously made notes. Rachel Boden of Egmont doesn't want straight history or high fantasy (Tolkien), but does want 8-10 y/o boys and girls adventures, with humour. Survival stories (Dsytopia) and learning to survive in life. Dagmar, the literary scout said the same, but doesn't want humour like Horrid Henry Amber Caraveo of Orion said no high fantasy, and there is a gap for middle-grade adventure, and they want YA still as they had just started a new YA imprint called Indigo. Then asked what makes books stand out for them. Rachel said good characters (can't read what I put), when you read it you want to be on the journey with the character. Writing that hooks you. Strong voice that draws you in. Plots that stand out and has hook. Catherine Pellegrino said, good voice and character, writing that stands out. Then what are the author pitfalls. Jasmine Richards of OUP said a slow start. If not interested by page 10 then won't be. You've got to show what you've got as writter, and give the best shot at what you write. Ideas done before and aren't fresh. Jenny Savill said too many words or not enough, and not right words. Mss that has actions starting on page 3, too little sense what story is about, has to be told in an interesting way. Julia said entering scene too later or too early. Ie no alarm clocks or having breakfast. Show don't tell. Then it went online and they were asked what they meant by high fantasy - goblins, wizards and quests etc. I sighed with relief as I deem Allie low fantasy. Then it was to the bar. I went all brave (considering I have Asperger's and find it hard to communicate and socialise) and asked Rachel if she'd be interested in a low fantasy. She asked me what I wrote and I told her and she said yes. I gave her my card and she said that she'd mention my novel to her colleague whom I said I'd send it to. Then I went in search of Amber and I said the same thing with what the premise of my story was, and she replied the same to send it to her, so that is what I am going to do today. It's all printed out ready to be put in an envelope. So that was Tuesday evening and I came home on a high having spoken to 2 publishers who said send me my ms. It's a shame I can't enter the anthology as I am already published. It is a great chance for anyone not published to do so.

March news

2011-04-02T02:37:00.000-07:00

I can't believe April is here already, where did those months go that I've been out of work? Anyway I had my fair share of sucesses and rejections in March. At the beginning of the month I had letter of the month in Green Parent magazine and have still yet to receive the prize of a set of JASON toiletries. Then last Sunday I got an email from the editor of a children's ezine whom I sent a story to in Feb and hadn't heard about it. I was nearly giving up on it when I got the email to say that she was accepting it and wanted to publish it in the January 2012 issue. I shouted yes. I was so pleased. I get the contract a month before and payment goes in via Paypal 10 days after she receives the contract. I can't wait for it to go out there in public. It is the story of a boy who finds a button that looks like a clock and turns back time to make the boy see the error of his ways. It's called 'The Clock Button - The Chosen One'. I think I will write more stories about this button. The rejections were from the agent I met last year. She rejected Allie saying that although she likes it and thinks the story and Allie is stronger than before she doesn't think she can sell it within the competitive market. The other rejection was for an adult short story. I am not giving up on these two and have already sent Allie to other agents and will send the story to other magazines and see what happens. From now on I will be doing a monthly newsletter here with all my successes and failures.

Vitality Show Part 2

2011-03-30T05:20:00.000-07:00

Well after we had lunch, we wandered round and bought a few natural products, then we headed back to the stage we were at before to listen to a life coach give a talk about making changes to your life. Her name is Louise Presley-Turner and has been a life coach for some years. Her job is to help people apsire to live their dreams and achieve their goals in life. First she asked us several questions which were: 1. Did you have a childhood dream and what was it? I couldn't think of one. 2. I can't remember what this was but I had wrote down, comes easy and writing about my interests. 3. What do you like doing in your spare time? Read. 4. What are your passions in life? Green/environment, natural health and beauty 5. If you had no limits with time or money what would you do? I put travel to write. 6. What is your long-lost dream you've had the last few years? Mine is to write full-time. 7. Is there something missing in your life? I put purpose. At the moment I feel as though I am just plodding on with my life writing what I want with no purpose. 8,. What have you either/seen heard that sparked interest recently? I didn't know then but now I think about it, it's being zero waste and how to do it. 9. What is your goal? To become a known author. 10. What is your goal to change your life? To get known for what I write and with help to promote myself. This is an exercise from her book The Game of Life. Then she talked about some of her clients and how she helped them reach out to achieve their dreams and goals. Then she gave us rules about our goal (again in her book). Rule 1:When you set your goal, it has to make you shout yes, want to tell people and make you scared about it. Rule 2:Needs to be achievable. If you set it for say 3 years time, bring it nearer to you. Rule 3: Be measurable. You can visualise it happening and what it'll be like when it does. Rule 4:Have to be committed to it. Rule 5:Has to be your goal and make you happier. Again this is from her book, which I bought and am reading through it doing the exercises. After that we wandered round and bought a couple of goodies, and I met the editor of a magazine that I'd sent a letter to. But although I'd told her I'd sent a letter and what I do, I didn't introduce myself and give her my card, which I had with me. Shall have to email her now. All in all I had a good time, which was tiring, found out I needed to get my BMI down and listened to inspiring talks that have made me think about changing my life. Can't wait to go next year.

Vitality Show Part 1

2011-03-29T05:39:00.000-07:00

Last Friday my mum and I did our annual trip to the Vitality Show at Earl's Court. After refreshing ourselves and getting a map of the court, our first port of call was to the Rosemary Conley stand where they can weigh you for your body fat etc. Now I know that I have put on weight since last year due to not exercising as much as then but I was shocked to find out what I did. Because my weight has gone up, so has everything else bodywise, esp my BMI. My BMI is now just over the top of what it should be so I need to exercise more and am trying hard to do so as I don't want to go overweight. The amount of calories I have to eat to keep a steady weight has also gone up. After that I bought an exercise DVD and pedometer (which I have yet to get ready to use). Then we found our way to another area where I listened to a talk by a man called John Whiteman, who is a life coach. He talked about being happy and living your dream and how to do it. There are 3 main elements to do this: Balance, Momentum and Presence, and in those are 9 elements to work on. They are: Balance: Exercise. If you exercise you'll feel more energetic and so will all around you. I know I felt like that earlier after doing 40 mins of exercise. Personal space: Make sure you give yourself some me time and just be. Sleep : Sleep well and you will feel better. I know I do when I sleep so much better than other nights Nutrition: If you put in good food then you will feel good, but feed yourself junk food and you will feel bad. I can attest to this as on Saturday I ate half a bar of dark choc and afterwards I felt really low and down, it didn't help feeling v tired and I ended up feeling sorry for myself. So now I shall feed myself good fodd most of the time with a treat now and then. Environment: If you work with nice people you work better but if you work with people that are horrible, then you will feel that way too and stressed. I know a lot about this as a colleague I worked with was not nice and her attitude stressed both myself and our supervisor. Momentum: Achieve things and complete them. Learn new things every day and get some social connection. All will give you momentum and keep you going. Presence: Concentrate on the here and now. Focus on what you are doing or listening to and don't wander off to other thoughts. Focus on your feelings and senses. I found this talk quite inspiring and it has made me think what I need to do to be calmer in my life. Next time I will talk about another life coach talk and how she has inpsired me.

Publicity

2011-03-20T06:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to the RNA chapter meeting in Holborn and Jean Fullerton (Hi Jean) did a round table discussion about getting publicity for your novel. I won't get into details I just want to mention one thing that was said and what I mean. It was said that you need to get an angle or hook to your novel to get more publicity, and by this I took they meant a theme to your book. Now this is where I talk about a meeting I had on Wednesday to discuss publicity for Rosie. (Yes, I'm still promoting it).

It started when I saw an advert for a healthy eating progamme being run locally and Ithought, hey this is a good opportunity to get it out there again. So I phoned up and the lady was interested and she mentioned another centre that could be interested. To cut it short, I emailed the lady and for some reason she didn't get my reply but I emailed the company she mentioned. The man who runs it, Darren Taylor, got in contact with me and we had a meeting on Wednesday. I was very interested in what he does. He owns a company that collects old computers from companies, fixes them up (a team does this) and sells them onto poor people who can'f afford brand new ones. He also helps unemployed people start up as businesses or social enterprises. And this is what he mentioned to me about doing. He was very interested in hearing what I did and write, seeing as it is all about healthy eating and green issues, both which his centre is interested in. One of the ladies there runs home green workshops, and Darren mentioend that I should contact the lady again about the healthy eating programme, who is actually is fiancee. He also mentioned about coming involved with them, maybe volunteering at first then doing talks etc about what I write about. I am thinking about it. I have already contacted his fiancee but not heard anything so maybe phone her tomorrow to see if she did get my email. I am very interested in what they do as it is something that I am passionate about too. What did interest me is that he said he has put in a bid to save the libraries, and if he takes over then he wants to put solar panels on the roofs, and make the staff inside recycle, reduce and reuse more, with green activities and more activities. I so applaud what he wants to do for the community. I am seriously thinking about joining in and having another meeting with him to see what I can do to help, it will raise my profile. Another thing they do is have fairs, where I can sell my books. So we shall see. Watch this space.

Another success

2011-03-15T03:50:00.000-07:00

My writing seems to come along very well these days as I had another letter published last week, this time in The Green Parent mag. It was letter of the month and I win some JASON natural toiletries. This rate I won't need to buy anything for myself for the next couple of years! The letter is all about praising a group of schoolchildren who wrote to Yeo Valley asking them to make their yoghurt pots recycleable and I said if they can do so can we as it will make the country more greener. Recycling plastics is one of my passions at the moment and anything that can be recycleable I make sure, at home or at Sainsbury's. I have registered the letter with the ALCS.

I am still hard at work on Georgina, creating more magic, and this afternoon I think I will be making the art teacher do something bad, as his lesson comes into it now. I am also working on a poem for a competition, and have sent another off for another competition. I don't normally write poetry but these days it seems to come to me just like that and feels right. I need another verse or two on the one I'm working on. I also want to start writing a story for another competition, which will be connected to the last children's short story competition that I won in 2005. Have jotted down lots of notes on that one and start later on.

That's my news on writing so far. Maybe next time will be about Asperger's again, if I hear from my GP.

And the diagnosis is...

2011-03-11T02:22:00.000-08:00

I do have Asperger's syndrome. I had the assessment on Wednesday, which with a break for lunch, took 2 and a half hours. First I was interviewed by the dr about why I wanted the assessment, then about my family background. Then my mum was taken to another room by the researcher to be asked about my childhood, whilst I was questioned by the dr about that too. I remembered a few things about my childhood, the main one being that as a child I couldn't make friends easily, I rather tagged along with others and went along with what they did. Also I invited other children to my house but never went to theirs. Then I was asked about employment and how I coped with that, so told them about that. And that I was now much calmer and less stressed being at home than at work. They said that I'd get the diagnosis if what my mum said matched what I said, and thankfully most of it did. So they said yes, I do have Asperger's. They told me that they'd be writing to my GP with lots of recommendations for me to see various specialists and teams to have assessments locally to find out what can be done for me locally. The recommendations are for me to see the local mental health team, possibly a cognitive behavourial therapist, an occupational therapist, a clinical geneticist (it's possible that it's genetic and comes from my dad), and contact the National Autistic Society. Also to see a social worker to find out what sort of benefits I can get now I've been diagnosed. At the moment I don't get any money coming in as my job seeker's allowance has stopped and I am not entitled to anything due to having enough savings. So I wait to hear from the GP, and once I do I will make an appointment. A couple of other things cropped up that I may have. I could have Generalised Anxiety Disorder as I do worry and get anxious a lot. Also, my hole-in-the-heart and my female organ problems can be related as I could have a missing chromosome, maybe again due to my dad, I don't know. I think that's why I had a blood test after it all. It wasn't too bad, and the man must've done a very good job as I don't have a bruise just a small red dot where it happened.

So now to wait to see what happens next. Watch this space...

How to give a reading talk

2011-03-04T02:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went all the way to South Kensington to the Society of Authors office to hear a talk about how to give a reading, and learnt a lot. Here is what I learnt (from my notes):

If you are a member of the Society of Authors, read the check list for events at the back of the survey before you have an event.

Preparation: When you are giving a reading, always make sure it's agreed the length of time to read. If you feel that it's too long for you, then you can suggest that some of the time, the end, can be made up of questions. It is important that the length of your talk is decided and stick to it.
Access to the venue - Find out what time you can get there. Here I put my hand up and said that I usually do a trial run to a place I've not been to before to find out where it is and how long it takes to get there. When you get there, sort out the mic, a lectern if using one. When you give your talk/reading don''t have your back to a window as it puts you in the shade, and don't have your back to a mirror as the audience can start doing funny things behind your back if they get bored. If you are writing on a flipchart, write, stop then talk.

How to choose what to read:- It depends on the event, and what the organiser asks for. You can have a theme to your talk, or a route map of what you're going to read. Eg my book is about healthy eating, so I will target children and any healthy living programmes going. It is best to choose several extracts to read rather than a whole chapter as it will be more interesting. So read an extract chat about what inspired you to write it, read another extract etc... To make it easier for you, cut and paste your extracts from your ms into the talk document. And practice. Practice gives you confidence, makes you see the difficulty of any words and brings it to life.

Voice production - Be heard. Do relaxation and breathing exercises. We did there and had a giggle. And it gets rid of any tension in the body and releases energy. Be understood and project your voice clearly and have variety in your voice. If you have two characters speaking then give them different voices. Centre yourself when talking, and standing is better than sitting, as you can project your voice better. Be clear and give each word its weight and gives variety into your voice. Here is the 4 Ps Pitch, Pace (which words you want to stress), Pause (before and after words/sentences can emphasise it) and Power.

In the afternoon we all did a reading and most of us were nervous about it and it showed in our voices and stance. Then the speaker helped us make it better by telling and showing us how to improve our speech. Of course, I sped up my reading and knew it so in future I have to slow down.

Questions - if someone asks questions always repeat it. If no questions then say that 'a question I'm normally asked is...' Don't get caught with one person, if you do then try eye contact with another person in the audience, esp if they have their hand up, and you can get out that way. If you are caught in a conversation say that you can continue it after the talk. If you don't know what to say you can say interesting question, what does everyone else think?

To get expression in your voice, read nonsense poems by Loius Caroll.

All in all I had a good time. I gave out a few of my cards inc to the speaker and might be seeing another attendee later this month at the SCBWI social. I thought it was very useful esp as I plan to do lots of talks about my interests to other people in the near future.

Completed

2011-02-27T04:59:00.000-08:00

I finally completed Allie yesterday. Until I get any comments from Sue on the next chapter she sees then I won't be doing any more work on it. Until then I will start rewriting Georgina. First off will be revisions from the comments what I got from the conference crit night on Chapter One, then I will type and print that out. Then I will go back and put in the magical stuff I am keen to include, now I know that's what I like writing. Then put in magic in the rest of the book and make more of the art teacher like I did in Allie.

As well as that, I plan to carry on creating my ebook of short stories, and write tips and letters to more magazines, and write another story on Feathered Friends for Creature Features.

So am still a busy bee here.

Busy writing...

2011-02-22T02:21:00.001-08:00

I am very near the end of working on Allie. Just a few more chapters to read through, and chapter 5 to delete a scene from and rework the scene after that from Sue's comments last week. Meanwhile, I have emailed the agent I saw last year with the first three chapters and synopsis now revised from when she saw it then. Says she remembers me and looks forward to reading it. It is also with the agent for the slushpile challenge, so that makes 2 agents looking at my work.

I am also working on other things. I am about to print a story off to send to Take a Break's Fiction Feast magazine. I read the column by a short story writer in the last Writer's Forum magazine about what she had read in one issue they had printed and how many words they were. One of the genres was just what I write - ghostly and fantasy, and she said that if you feel you have a story that will fit then send it off, so I am. I also have a story I want to send to a competition to sort out this week, plush I have been invited to blog on the SAS's blog ABBA (An Awfully Big Blog Adventure), so have to draft that, plus there is still my stories about feathered friends I see in the garden for Creature Feature, but might do that next week.

Oh, and I booked to go to the London Book Fair in April. I can't wait as it will be my first time, and maybe the last, I go there.

So busy bee I am right now.

Recycling round up

2011-02-17T04:54:00.001-08:00

So what have you recycled and decluttered so far this year? Me a lot. From clothes to manuals for old computers. I have recycled a lot of paper, put more paper for reusage, given a charity shop clothes I've not worn, an air humidifier thing I've not used, lots of books. I've put lots of clothes and other recycleables in textile and recycling banks. And I still need to sort out a drawer full of stuff and file things away.

Also I have emailed the local council about recycling things at home and found out I can recycle the following: can labels, empty stamp books, jam jar lids (they can be removed in the recycling process).

I have also emailed Sainsbury's about my local branches recycling banks, esp their ones for mixed plastics. For 2 weeks running they were overflowing and had to stuff my things in to them or use another one. I got a result in the end. My comments have been forwarded to the store manager who will investigate with his team and make ensure that the bins are emptied regularly.

My next aim is to possibly email companies whose products I use to ask them what their containers are made of and how I can recycle them. Watch this space.

Writing round up

2011-02-13T08:45:00.000-08:00

Well January was quite busy with my writing. Allie is coming along at a good pace now. Have more chapters than I originally did, with comments from Sue Hyams that I put in which made longer chapters, so split those into shorter chapters. Also hard at work emailing letters to magazines and have had luck so far with one published in Healthy. My last stories submitted to Creature Features magazine were published too, with the one before that being selected by the readers to be in the special volume coming out soon. Need to email the publisher to find out how to get that when it does come out and if I can buy some for people I know. Also the first two chapters of Allie went to the SCBWI slushpile challenge and now the agent is going to read them with the other 34 mss sent and will hear early March the result.

Meantime, this month I have a children's story nearly complete to send to an ezine, then will work on an adult story for a magazine and another for a competition. Whilst working on Allie still.

Next entry will be out recycling roundup.

The Read-In

2011-02-06T05:31:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was National Library Day where lots of authors did read-ins in their local libraries that are threatened with closure. I did mine at Sydenham library and it was a success. The library was packed and just after 12 noon the readings started. First was a local Baroness, then children's poet Chrisse Gittins, then Karen Wall and her husband Jim who are an author and illustrator of children's picture books, then they brought back the Baroness because when she did her first reading, we couldn't hear her because of all the noise. Then came me. I had to use a microphone, and it wasn't too bad. I read the bit from Rosie that I read at my book launch and said that if anyone was interested in a copy I had a few to sell. After that was Lucy Mangan reading from her book, then we all went outside to see balloons being released, and they didn't go that far. There was a cake donated by a local cake store, and hot food donated by another local business. I'd had my own lunch so didn't eat anything. I met all the other children's readers and talked to them, giving them my card. We all had our photo taken by a man from Lewisham Newsshopper paper, so I might be in next week's copy and hope I get it. Then we wandered round saying goodbye and I went to the bus stop. Whlist there, an elderly lady came up to me saying she'd heard my reading and wanted to buy my book and couldn't find me. She had now. I signed a book for her grandson and she paid me. A book sold. Yay. All in all it was a good day on Saturday what with having a letter in Healthy magazine that morning. I do hope that what went on on Saturday makes an impact on the decision to close the libraries, as libraries are truly needed for our next generation.

Still decluttering

2011-01-31T02:24:00.000-08:00

I am still decluttering my cupboards and wardrobes. At the weekend I started with sorting out all the papers I had in a red file tray here on my computer desk. Managed to put some papers for recycling and for reusage. Then as I had somethings to take up to my bedroom to put away, when I went up there, I went through the concertina file in my wardrobe and chucked out more papers. They were mostly receipts and documents for things such as tv that I don't have anymore. Unfortunately one of those was in a plastic bag, so one thing went to landfill. Oh yes, there were letters that had labels at the top or bottom, so they went to landfill also. I still have one drawer to sort out and file away magazines and papers I have taken out of old magazines about writing. As I haven't got much shopping to do these days, I have plenty of mornings to get round to doing those.

Then it will back to filing again next year.

I met a publisher

2011-01-27T05:27:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday evening I went to the first of the British SCBWI Professional Series talks. It was a talk by 2 editors from Egmont, who are the biggest children's publisher in the UK. First they talked about what they do. Peter Marley is editor for picture books and Ali Dougal is editor for fiction. Egmont do take care of their authors and do workshops for authors. They deal with fiction for all ages and all genres. And what I particularly liked is that Egmont is a founder of an organisation who does ethical publishing and they make sure all their books are printed from sustainable forests. Yay.
They first talked about the digital age. They said that now it is only a small proportion but it is growing. Any new books that they publish from now onwards will go out as an ebook and as print together.
Peter then talked about what he likes in picture books. He likes memorable characters with great personality, appeals to parents and it has to have concise text. Up to 800 words is preferable. The text can be lyrical, clear, the plot obvious and easy for children to understand. The text also has to flow, rise and fall with a strong ending. It should have a symmetry, the start and the end is the same. Think of The Gruffalo.

Ali then talked about fiction. She likes all fiction from 5 - YA. The text has to grab her, with a clear hook. She has to believe in the characters, whom you can champion. She can love the book but if she feels she can't champion it in-house then she might pass on to another editor.

Submission - they accept unsolicited mss. But beware, in the last two weeks they have had 180 emails. A junior reader first reads the ms and if they like will pass it on to the relevant editor. They also get mss from agents. They feel that agents have better idea of whom to submit to in publishers.
If you are established or have a series, then you can send sample chapters with a chapter breakdown. But she has to have belief in the concept to accept it.
When submitting don't rely on gimmicks such as sending chocs to them. They are editorially led. The sales and marketing teams have to feel they want to take it on for it to be accepted. You have to think when submitting, is it commercial and how well will it sell? They have to think when it's best to sell it. If it's seasonal. So they have to have a vision to package it. Eg branding.
They do accept series but it depends on the type of series it is. If it has a specific arc or niche then they can accept it, and they can commission 2-3 books as a series.
In the query letter I found you can put that you do talks to children, as it gives them an idea that you can communicate as children and know how to promote yourself. So this is what I will add to my next query letter out.
If they feel the author has potential they can nuture them. Eg Peter had a picture book submission which he felt had too adult an angle so gave it to Ali to look at but liked the author's voice and asked them to come in to talk about more work.
They then talked about the Banana series they do, for younger readers who just started reading. They rarely accept new authors for that, but to be accepted the book has to be very appealing, with a bit of a message, and it borders on being educational. The word length is up to 2000, which is the longest they take.

After that we all went back to the bar but I went up to Ali. After waiting I asked her 2 questions.
1. How long is the synopsis they want? A: 1 page.
2. Have heard that agents have been inundated with YA novels and now short of middle-grade, is this true with them? Answer. Yes. So one more possible publisher to send Allie it.

Meantime have printed synopsis and first 2 chapters (chapter one split in 2) and will be sending that off to the Slushpile Challenge.

Allie nearly done

2011-01-24T05:12:00.000-08:00

I have now finished the current draft of Allie and started the next. I am hoping this is the final draft as I want to send it to the Slushpile Challege set by SCBWI-BI and an agent. The deadline is 7 Feb. I worked on chapter 1 of Allie just before going on here, from comments that my new critique buddy, Sue Hyams, (Hi Sue), has made and ones that I thought of when reading it. I want to type them up then read it again to make sure all sounds OK to me. One thing I want to check when doing this new draft is to work out exactly who is in Allie's class. Then I can see if all the characters that are in the right lessons are there. Chapter 2 is already with Sue, and we will be going through this tomorrow at the local cafe. Can't wait.

Meantime, I have found out from my local council that I can recycle at home empty stamp books. My mum said we couldn't cos they are shiny, but we can. Hurrah, another thing recycleable.

Motivation

2011-01-16T05:52:00.000-08:00

Over the holidays I haven't really had the motivation to write but now I have two. The first incentive to get on with working on Allie is on the SCBWI-BI website and it's the new slushpile challenge (which I have to print out to remember it). An agent has challenged us children authors to send in the first 2000 words and synopsis of a middle-grade novel we're working on. That is me! The deadline for us to send it in by is 7 Feb, so I have a few weeks to get the first chapter up to scratch for it. 15 people are selected and only one can win a talk with the agent, who is a famous agent for children's authors - Julia Churchill. So that is why I have been working hard on Allie again.
The second motivation is that I am now critique buddy with Sue Hyams, and she has emailed me her first chapter of her ms she's working on. I did say to her that we need motivation to get cracking on with it and she has given me that. I have already emailed her back the first chapter of Allie and think it will be good to have another eye to read it, instead of mine. Hopefully I shall have her feedback back and revised in time for the first motivation.

I also needed motivation to lose weight having put on a couple of pounds over the holiday, and lost most of it within a few days, but this morning found I'd put on half a pound again. Right, that was it. In today's Sunday Mirror Celeb mag, it has features with lots of celebs who have lost weight over the recent years, inc Bev Callard (Liz in Corrie). I had bought Bev's Boot Camp DVD and started using it earlier. Hopefully I will start to see results pretty soon. I am also thinking of starting yoga and have found some simple yoga exercises in the latest Sainsbury's mag, so might work on those too during the week. Watch this space...

That is all for now. Catch up later in week to see if I am still motivated.

Decluttering time again.

2011-01-12T06:14:00.001-08:00

It's that time of year again when everyone, inc me, starts to declutter. I know that Rachelle from Myzerowaste.com, and someone called Colleen have been decluttering. So far I have recycled lots of magazines, lots of paper I have accumulated over the years, clothes, bags. I have kept papers to reuse for printing, which will recycle when used. I have also stocked up the box for the charity shop with more books and some clothes when we go near there again. And I have sorted out a couple of stirrup trousers I no longer want (or rather no longer can where due to weight gain) to go to the charity shop. I tried one pair on this morning to go to the hairdressers but it was too tight, so decided to ditch those as well as another pair a different colour. I have also decided to put my cosmetics in a new cleaner bag, so that old bag will go for recycling too. Still have one more magazine box to sort out, then I will sort out my computer desk to see what I do and don't want to use.

Happy decluttering everyone.

No more Rosie

2011-01-05T06:23:00.000-08:00

I am not a happy bunny. I had a letter from Pegasus today saying that they have stopped publishing my book Rosie. Obviously this is due to poor sales. I am going to buy some stock from them and that will be the end of that book until I decide if I want to try again with it elsewhere. The rights are being reverted to me, so I can do what I want with it after that. Who knows I might decide to go back to it later on and rework it in line with what I am doing with Allie now. We shall see.

I am still thinking of putting more puzzles on my website about healthy eating, even if I don't have the book to go with it.

More positive news later this week on Allie.

My top recycleables over Christmas

2010-12-31T06:09:00.001-08:00

As most of you know I am a keen recyclist, and am giving you my top tips for recycling over the holiday.

1. Stamps - there are various charities/organisation that collect these. I collect them all year round for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. Check their website for your nearest fund raising office.
2. Xmas cards - don't just chuck them in your green bin. Stores such as WHSmiths, and Sainsbury's will have recycling boxes for the Woodland Trust for them, so take them along when you do your weekly shopping and drop them off. You will be helping to preserve our trees.
3.Foil - from your turkey and mince pies (make sure they're clean). Most councils collect these from your house.
4. Wrapping paper - make sure it's not the shiny or metallic type and the sellotape is off. Only non shiny paper is accepted for the green bins. I spent a while Boxing Day taking off the sellotape and sorting out the paper for which bins.
5. Crisp packets - I know most of you probably do put these in the bins but there is one organisation that collects these to send overseas for work for poor people. This is the Philippine Community Fund. Check out their website for the address.
6. Plastic and glass bottles - most councils collect these from your kerbside.
7. And same for cans.

They are my top recycleables for the holiday.

Check out my website. Have now put on workshops and puzzles.

Natural v Chemical smells

2010-12-28T07:43:00.000-08:00

I have probably said something like this before but I will say it again. As someone who has been using natural toiletries for the last couple of years, whenever I smell something that has chemicals in it always smells so strong to me, almost overpowering. This has been brought home to me again this Christmas with a present from my brother. He bought me a hand cream selection, and feeling that I couldn't well say sorry but I don't use these as they have chemicals in , I said thank you and am reluctantly using them. The first one is rose and honeysuckle and my is the smell strong to me, and to my mum who uses natural products like me. We will say something to my brother next Christmas. I hate using things with chemicals in as I feel it goes against what I have been doing for the last years. Oh well.

Next post will be about my top things to reycle at Christmas (and sometimes all year round).

More Allie

2010-12-22T05:16:00.000-08:00

Still working hard on Allie. Now that I have got back into it again (I hadn't for a couple of days) I am keen to get on with it. Just typed up additions to another chapter and Allie is now just under 28,000. Allie has a new enemy now who is playing with her mind, and has got partners for her team by the way of teachers. She thinks that magic can help her enemy stop playing with her mind. That will be next chapter to work on tomorrow.

As Allie is all about helping the environment here is some recycling news from home. I have found out that hopefully by the end of next year, we can recycle mixed plastics at home. I have been doing this at a local Sainsbury's and it has a notice to say that this is only a trial to the end of January. I thought this was run by the council so emailed them and they replied it wasn't run by them but the store but they hoped to have mixed plastics recycled by the kerbsides by the end of next year. I really hope so as it will mean more recycleables in our green bin. So watch this space as I will find out next year....

Well, this is all for now. Next blog will be after Xmas so have a great one everyone who reads this.

Dreams and ideas

2010-12-14T07:10:00.000-08:00

Have you had ideas for scenes or books in your dreams? I have had many and it was one such that started me on the road to writing years ago. I had one in the early hours of this morning, actually I had two, but one stayed in my mind that I had to write it down. (Point to learn when you're a writer - always have pen and paper to hand). This idea was about a group of men and a group of superwomen who are enemies but fall in love, so adult romantic suspense. I am so keen on this idea that I might start work on it very shortly as I love the idea of it all, esp the superwomen. I loved it so much that there I was at 2am in bed, writing down notes about this idea and more of the series in my notepad with the lamp on. I had to write it down, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get to sleep with the idea going round my head, or I would have got to sleep, forgotten what I had thought about and in the morning regretted not writing it down.
So watch this space to see what happens about this idea.

Meanwhile am working on Allie and now have teachers and school machines being affected by someone. Am thinking of notching up the magic by getting a teacher and a pupil affected at the same time so Allie has to work harder with her magic. We shall see. Worked on what was Chapter 6 today and turned it into Chapters 8 and 9. Might do the same with the next chapter. I have come to the conclusion that a chapter can be just a few pages long. I have just read The Ring of Earth by Chris Bradford (the latest instalment of his Young Samurai series) and some of his chapters were a few pages long. Could be a good thing as children don't have the mind span of adults so shorter chapters can keep their interest in reading the book going.

More on Allie and magic next time.

Magical stuff

2010-12-10T06:17:00.000-08:00

I typed up changes to chapter 5 of Allie earlier. Now have food that decays on its own and fast, as well as rubbish that goes into bins itself, water and electricity that work on its own. Now to put that to use for Allie to work with against the teachers. She also has more helpers in her team against them, so more fighting talk. Next is to work on developing Mr Potter, the art teacher.

I think all this writing about magical happenings is rubbing off on me. This morning I got up early to go to the toilet and I passed my mum's bedroom. Mum said that she had her lamp on dim but when I went passed the room, the light went brighter. Ooer. Magical stuff all round.

Well, more on Allie's world later next time.

Allie and recycling

2010-12-08T05:30:00.000-08:00

Well, I am back to working hard on Allie. Have just added a scene from version 2 to version 13, where the art teacher is acting odd and bad. Allie is now wondering what is going on as she doesn't think it is part of the tests the teachers are giving her. So what is going on? It has given me an idea that the teacher can be seen coming out of a classroom just before another teacher acts strangely. I am having fun with this rewrite and will have more making the art teacher act even stranger. Watch this space.

Recycling news (Allie is about helping the environment). We have recently been given a plastic bag to fill up with used batteries and can put them on top of our green bins when full. So we no longer have to take batteries to Sainsbury's or other shops, but recycle them at home. Good news. Now for the council to do this for mixed plastics. Whether this will happen or not I don't with all these cuts happening. We shall have to see.

Well, this is my news for now. More on Allie next time, with teacher antics.

Library Closures

2010-12-05T07:48:00.000-08:00

I am one of thousands who is in uproar about closure of our libraries. In my borough, Lewisham, they are planning to close 5 out of the 12 libraries we have, a few of them which are in areas that only have one, and if they close then the residents will have to travel further to get to a library. I have already written a letter to my local paper earlier in the year about this in the form of a children's author. And I have just signed up with Alan Gibbons campaign about it on Facebook and given him permission to put my name on his open letter to the ministers. Everyone, esp children's authors, are blogging about this to keep up our voices against this and the momentum. So here is my piece about it.

I used our local libraries a lot years ago, taking out a few books at a time and loved it, but the last few years I have been buying books and not going to the libraries. Saying this, libaries have been useful to get books on various things for research and for photocopying, both by my mum and me. And when I run out of books to read, then I will go back to taking books from libraries. As a children's author, as Nick Green said in his blog, they are very handy for getting word of mouth out to our relevant audience, the children, and I have found this out this year by getting involved with Chatterbooks groups. I have sold a few of my book there, and hope to do more so in the near future. Whenever I have been to the library to do these talks, I have seen lots of children either taking books out or using the computers and attending activites there. So libaries are useful for various things, and I think they are very important resources for our future generation, esp for families who don't have money to keep buying books or don't have computers. So let's keep up shouting about this and get those ministers to rethink their decisions. I am sure there are other ways to make cuts without closing important buildings that our future generation need.

SO, DO NOT CLOSE OUR LIBARIES.

More Allie

2010-12-01T05:36:00.000-08:00

I have now added to what was the old chapter one of Allie and with putting more magic in it, inc Allie finding out and working out how to use her magical powers, it is now two chapters. I have a feeling that this will happen to lots of other chapters when I add more magic and more conflict to it, but never mind. At the start of this change, it was just over 24,000 now it's just over 25,500. I don't really want it to reach over 30,000 as that is the ideal word count for 8-12s, what Cornerstones says. We shall have to wait and see. I am having fun adding more fun and magic to Allie's life, and will do the same when I get to revise Georgina. So far I have had disobedient cans, bottles and paper, and need to find magical electricity, water and food. Don't we have fun writing for children!

On another note. I hate this white cold weather. At least, like February, I don't have to go to work in it, but I do have to attend a job seeker training session tomorrow. I am stuck indoors in the warm wrapping up presents and writing cards out. Friday will be the day for putting up the tree and decorations. Hurrah. Will feel more Xmasy then. What I don't want is a white Christmas, esp as my brother and family have said they are coming for dinner that day. Just seen the weather forecast and hopefully snow will be going away from London by the weekend. Good, so I can go to the RNA SE Xmas buffet on Saturday. Let's hope.

Birthday meal

2010-11-28T06:12:00.000-08:00

Last night I went to Garfunkel's at the Strand for a birthday meal with family and a friend. I had steak, chips with veg and spicy onion rings (and they were spicy), followed by a delicious blackberry and apple crumble. It tasted like a true blackberry and apple crumble and ones that my mum used to make years ago, esp the blackberries. Nowadays, shop bought blackberries don't taste like the ones you can grow on hedges. I had a really nice time chatting to my friend and ignoring one of my guests, who kept on moaning about the food that the place had. I decided to ignore her rather than create a scene like I did at my mum's meal last year. I had a really nice time and wouldn't mind going there again for food as I enjoyed it and it was reasonably priced.

All celebrations are well and truly over, although I did buy some Free From shortbread biccies this morning. They are dairy free and made from rice flour and very light to eat, and tasty. I did want a special free from choc cake but they didn't have any. Maybe at Xmas.

Well, this is it for today. Will let you know what progress is with Allie later on or keep an eye on FB.

My week so far

2010-11-26T01:38:00.001-08:00

This week so far I have done the following:

Been shopping and bought the last of the Xmas presents (the last one being for my mum from my dad) and books.
Finished current draft of Georgina, and jotted more notes on how to improve Allie, which I will start rewriting today.
Oh and yesterday I celebrated my 40th birthday. In the morning I went to the Teapot cafe for herbal tea and carrot cake and met two writer friends, Sue Hyams and Jo Franklin (Hi ladies). We had a good old chat about writing, agents and rewriting. All three of us have rewrites to do on our current wips, and all from comments made by agents. Oh yes, I paid a deposit to go to a writer's retreat in Sussex next May. I can't wait to go there as it will be with the same people I met at the conference a couple of weeks ago. Children's authors and that is the area I'd like to concentrate on the next coming year. In the afternoon I didn't do a lot cos I was tired, so had a nap then went on the internet to read emails and check out Facebook. I do love FB, esp when it comes to your birthday. If you put your whole birth date on it, it will remind others that someone has a birthday and they can put a birthday message on FB for you. Yesterday I had 13 messages in all and I was happy. I had a couple more cakey things in the afternoon, and needless to say have put on more weight today. Back to more exercise next week me thinks.

Well, that's my news. Let's hope that the saying life begins at 40 proves to be right for me as I have things happening that could change my life shortly.

Conference photos

2010-11-20T05:41:00.001-08:00

I have just finally transferred my photos I took at the conference to this machine so here are some of them:

This is Wolvesey Castle, which I saw from my b&b window.

Marcus Sedgwick doing his funny and inspiring talk.

Some of Linda Chapman's books, which I went and bought at the book stall.

THE birthday cake. Isn't it gorgeous looking?

Lee Weatherley and Linda Chapman. Two v nice and inspiring authors.

Lynne Chapman, a very funny and clever illustrator giving her funny and inspiring talk about how she got published.

And that was the end of the conference, and can't wait to go next year.

Ideas galore!

2010-11-19T05:53:00.000-08:00

I forgot to say last time that the meeting with the agent wasn't all bad. She did say to me that if and when I rewrite Allie with her comments in mind, which I will do, I can email it to her again for feedback and if she's not interested still she could point me in the direction of an agent that might be. So that is what I intend doing.

Ever since I had the meeting on Tuesday, I have had lots of ideas how to improve Allie, esp on scenes showing Allie practicing her magic. I am going to work on that when I finish the current draft of Georgina. I wrote a couple of pages from a note pad when I went to bed last night on scenes showing Allie practicing, and what came to mind was scenes reminiscent of Mickey Mouse in Fantasia. Things don't go right to start off with then after practicing and with help from a techer and parents, they get better, esp when she has to fight the art teacher all through the book along with another girl. I am getting rather excited about this again now and want to finish Georgina, which I am having similar ideas for too. That too will get a change of title.

Meantime, still thinking of ways to promote Rosie. Have decided that from now and up until the end of the year, will work on fun things to put on my website, so I can email people in the new year about them. Have just typed up what I call The Letter Game workshop I do in libraries, and will put a few more workshops on with quizzes and fun facts. Watch this space...

Meeting with the agent

2010-11-18T05:09:00.000-08:00

So Tuesday I found my way to Camden/Mornington Crescent to the office of the agent. I got there early, as I left really early to give myself plenty of time to find it. The agent was really nice and friendly. She gave me lots of comments about Allie and here is what she has suggested and what I have learnt. I should set the scene for the first vision Allie has, and I said that I had suggests for that, which included either a prologue or inserting something that I had put in an earlier draft about Allie overhearing her mum on the phone to the headmistress about testing her. She felt that it needed more magic and more obstacles for it to be fun and entertaining esp for 8-12 year olds, so I should let Allie practice her magic more and recruit more girls to her team to battle against the teachers. I should develop the character of the art teacher more so he is against Allie most of the time, so she has more obstacles and more drama. I need to give Allie more emotional reactions, make her more vulnerable. I need more strands to the story as it is too linear at the moment, more magic and more involvement with the parents and teachers. And a change of title. Allie and the Messy School isn't that appealing to that age. This is something which I have already decided I think I will do. It was near the start of the feedback that the agent asked me what age range it was for and I told her middle grade, and she told me that she was only interested in YA fiction. Oh yes, she also suggested that maybe I could find a child that could read my work to find out what works and doesn't.
Here is what I have thought about doing - a change of title, something on the lines of Allie, Queen of Green. I am going to put more magic in it, and get Allie practicing the magic at school and home, as she becomes aware she needs to hone her powers. I will develop the art teacher and get him to go against Allie, inc inserting a scence that I'd taken out, and make him be manipulated first remotely then by touch by the new girl. I will give Allie more team members, so more magical powers. I am now getting rather excited about going back to working on Allie again, and this time I shall have a critique buddy to help me along the way, and I might try to find a young girl to read my work to see if it works for children or not, once I get revising/rewriting again.

All in all, I came out quite disappointed not having an agent and a bit despondent about writing for children, but now I am excited with full of ideas (which I started writing during the night) about how I can add magic and fun and drama to Allie, with a new title that goes to the current market. So watch this space.

Sunday speaker

2010-11-17T07:41:00.001-08:00

I forgot to mention last post that before the farewell speech on Sunday we had a keynote speaker, who was Lynne Chapman, who illustrates picture books. Lynne gave a talk about how she got published over the years, up and until her most recent success. Lynne gave a funny and inspiring talk, and she is funny just like her drawings. I liked her laugh, which was a kind of dirty laugh, because it made me smile. She sounded such a warm and friendly person to know, and I wish I could draw animals like she does. It was a great way to end the conference.

Tomorrow I shall blog about the meeting with the agent yesterday. Gist - still no agent for me.

Conference Sunday

2010-11-16T02:05:00.000-08:00

Sunday got off to a good start for me as I sold a book at the b&b. We had just finished breakfast when the host introduced us to 2 new guests. We got chatting about writing and our books, and I told the other guests about my book. They said they were interested and I replied that I had a couple of copies if anyone was interested. A sale ! I signed the book to their daughter. Jon, the author and fellow b&b mate, drove us all to the campus for our first talk. Mine was by Keren David. She talked about how she wrote her first book, which is about a teenage boy who has to go into witness protection. Keren is a journalist and any interesting news catches her eye, and it was one particular one about a family with a boy who were victims of a crime and had to go into witness protection that caught her eye, esp about the boy and how he'd feel about living a lie. We had a break before going onto a second part where we chose a few paper features in a group. My group had two pieces about unemployment (I thought how very appropriate for me) and a young boy who marched on Armistice Day for his great uncle. We came up with lots of ideas, some crazy and mad - those were chosen by Candy Gourlay (hi Candy). It was interesting and gave me an idea for a possible book.
Then it was a talk all about social networking, Candy being one of the talkers. Candy is an experimentalist and has tried nearly all the social media going, then it was Sarah McIntyre who chooses her media carefully. She has a Livejournal blog as well as another blog. Then came Keren David who likes using Twitter and has found she likes social networking, The advice I wrote down was to have words on your blog that people will find you on and is relevant to you.
Then came lunch. After waiting half an hour the day before for my lunch, I made sure I was one of the first. I had new potatoes, a roll with spread, and some salad. Very healthy. I had time then to go and buy some more books, which I did. You can't go to a conference and not buy books is what I say. Most of the ones I bought were written by Linda Chapman, so I can read and see how she puts her magical elements into her stories.
Then it was a workshop about how to make your characters stand out and we did some writing for this. It got me thinking about my characters. What I learnt about characters is that the two most important tools we have for them are dialogue and action, so we can make them do and say things. Because Miriam, who did the workshop, knew we were tired, she ended early and we had time to breathe before the farewell talk.
Then it was home and I left with Sue Hyams and a few others, driven to the station by Bekki Hill (Thanks Bekki). We had to stand most of the way home on the train. By the time I got home I was hungry and tired and did some essential unpacking.

I came home tired but inspired from it and so pleased I went and met lots of others that I only knew my name.

Now to go and pack to meet the agent this afternoon.

Conference - Friday/Saturday

2010-11-15T07:28:00.000-08:00

Well, I am back from the conference, where I had a brill but tiring time. I got to Winchester in the pouring rain and was greeted at the b&b by the host with one of his cats. I settled in and got chatting to the host, who was really nice and friendly. I had a double room with its own wash basin, which I really liked because I could wash in my own room with privacy. Unfortunately I found out it was only for that night. Later on I went to the critique night and that was really helpful. The others in the group gave me feedback on Chapter 1 of Georgina, and a lot of it they said I hadn't even thought about, and I will work on during the next draft. After that we all went to the pizza place in the drenching rain, and I did get soaked. I couldn't find my umbrella, it had fallen down in my backpack and right at the bottom, so was dripping wet when I sat down. I had to dry my hair with tissues and a napkin. By the time I left, it had stopped thank goodness, because I walked back to the b&B with one of my fellow b&b mates. I didn't sleep very well that night, I never do in a strange place.

Saturday
The first talker was Marcus Sedgwick and he was really good and funny. Talking about how he got writer's block because he wasn't happy with what he was writing at the time, so went away to an island, where he got an idea for his next book. He talked about how he wrote that. A very good talker.
The first workshop/talk I chose of the day was 'How to sell your book'. The gist of it was make use of your publicisit, your local community and booksellers and experiment with social media. Make more use of your social networks such as Facebook. Reviewing is a good idea to get yourself known. Follow your interests and make use of those when you are published. Make yourself known to people and try to sell your book wherever you go. (Saying that the author who said that, when it came to a possible buy of his book didn't have a copy to sell! and I did).
Next was the industry panel with various people who deal with books. They told us what they were interested in now, what they thought of the new digital era (census was that picture books are better for the much younger children, and there is a place for the older children readers).
Then it was lunch. I had beef stir fry with rice, which was dry and went cold quickly.
Then I went to a talk by author Linda Chapman (Hi Linda) about writing books with magical elements (my thing completely). This talk was really helpful to me and the one thing that stood out for me after it was that I have to know what happens and why. I think I will end up typing up the notes from this session as it is relevant to what I am writing right now. The reason that advice stands out is that is what the editor said to me about Georgina at the one-to-one meeting I had after the magical talk. It really got me thinking about what I am writing about and what happens in my book, so much so, that I ended up jotting down notes during the night when I woke up at 4am Sunday morning. I will work on Georgina a lot now after these two talks.
Then it was the last talk of the day about the state of the nation. Basically you need to be a good performer to connect to your readers and have good events. Get people to think that your book is good and then you will too.
Then it was a break where I rested at the b&b before going on to the party. I met lots of authors, inc Linda Chapman again, and Lee Weatherley. The food was better this time. It was a buffet and I had spring rolls, chicken on sticks, and a bit of salad. Later I had a piece of the wonderful looking cake, which I will put a photo of on here shortly (need to transfer photos). It was another late night and I went back to the single room this time, where I slept better.

Will write about Sunday tomorrow morning, before I go to see the agent.

Sniffles

2010-11-11T06:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I started sniffling and sneezing and thought, oh no I'm getting a cold just want I don't need in time for the conference on Friday. So I started taking zinc lozenges and have been indoors for most of the time and today...I don't feel so bad. I am wondering if it is staying indoors a lot of the time. When I was working I was out in the cold, into the warmth then back out in the cold again, then in the warmth again, which couldn't have done my body much good, so ended up with cold lasting a few days, but now hardly a sniffle. I hope it doesn't decide to come out over the weekend when I am in the conference. I can't wait to go to Winchester, as it's my first time there, both seeing the place and going to the conference. I will be staying in a B&B, something I don't think I've done before, so something different for me to do this year.

Tomorrow night is the critique night and I have managed to crit all four mss that were emailed to me. I am interested to hear what my group think of the first chapter of Georgina, and even more interested to find out what the editor at the one-t0-one on Saturday thinks of it. I shall blog about what I have done and learnt when I come back from the weekend, prob Monday or even Wednesday.

See everyone in the British SCBWI there tomorrow.

Going down

2010-11-08T07:27:00.000-08:00

The word count for Georgina that is. I am now up to the 6th day in the book and so far I have managed to cut it down to just over 30,000. I have been cutting out sentences and paragraphs that I now feel don't mean anything to the story, which is coming to a lot already. The next draft will be about my characters and making them believable, by working out why they do what they do.

Only a few days to go now until I go to the British SCBWI conference. I am really looking forward to it. I have my train tickets, the programme etc all ready to go. I am this week critiquing other people's mss for the critique night, something I've not done before and am finding it enjoyable. I am trying to pass on what I have learnt from the Cornerstones report, namely show not tell and not breaking up action with mundane things in the chapter. I am doing one a day then the day before will go through them all again to see if I've missed anything. A bit nervous as to what the others in my group will make of my work, as from what I've read so far, my work is aimed for an older audience than theirs. We shall see. Let you know next week.

Will be on Facebook next.

Counting the words for Georgina

2010-11-04T03:08:00.000-07:00

I did some more typing rewrites of Georgina yesterday and it is now down to just over 32,000. Just 7000 to go until I reach 25,000 words, which is what Allie ended up being. I think this is the ideal word count for 8-12 year olds. Will be working on the fourth day of the novel this afternoon, and I think it will have to be split into two chapters as it is now 15 pages long, which is far too long for a chapter. I did that for the last chapter, so shorter chapters and quicker pacing.

Also yesterday I wrote to Woman and Home magazine, but don't know if that will be published or not. Had no luck so far with the magazines I have written to. Will keep looking and trying. Am still working on what quizzes etc to put on my website, definitely revised workshops to what I do in libraries. Instead of asking to take a square from an envelope, I will either give a letter or colour.

Well, this is all for now. Gearing up now to go to the conference on the 12th, and can't wait it being my first one there.

Allie done, now Georgina.

2010-10-28T06:50:00.000-07:00

I finished Allie the other day, for now until the agent sees it. I know there are things I still have to change but that will happen then. Meanwhile, I have started rewriting Georgina and already the word count is more than it was when I stopped working on it a couple of months ago. Lots of work to do to make sure the world is believable and the characters are too, and Georgina's motivations to get the school to use natural products are real. So far so good, and that's chapter one.

I have decided to create a magazine for children based on Rosie. It's working title is Rosie's guide to being healthy. It will have facts and fun quizzes in it and I am including the workshops I do at the libraries. When I have finalised everything, I think I will download it to my website, and email libraries and schools letting them know about it, and see what reaction I get. So far one author has said that download is best and parents might like to see it. I think this could be a good idea so readers/children and their parents can see what sort of writing I do and who knows what will come from it. We shall see. Watch this space...

Now to have some fruit and read something about writing.

First 100 words workshop

2010-10-25T03:04:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I went to the London RNA chapter meeting, where Julie Cohen (Hi Julie) did a workshop on the first 100 words of our current wip. First she gave us the first 100 words of her recent novel out next week, and asked us what it told us about the character and where we thought the story was going. It brought up a lot of comments, some that surprised Julie. Then Julie read out each of our first 100 words and we gave comments about those. Some of them were really good and you could tell what genre they were and who the character was, and a few of them had telling not showing. Julie's idea to get rid of telling is to circle all the 'to be' words such as was and replace them with emotion eg describe the person feeling scared. Then it came to mine. I gave the first 100 words of Allie and it was good. Everyone seemed to get who the character was, what it was about and where the story was going but it was also said that it needed more action taking out the mundane bit. It starts with Allie having a vision then is interrupted with her mum talking and her walking to school thinking about it. It was suggested that I either have Allie having the vision at the school gates or in a lesson. It put me in a quandary. And after talking to my mum about it, I have decided to leave it as it in until I see the agent next month and then mention it to her and see what she says. I might actually suggest that Allie has the vision in the lesson and is brought out of her thoughts with others laughing at her then she has the vision for real. Watch this space. It was a very useful exercise, and I will bear this comment in mind when I get to work on Georgina again tomorrow.

This afternoon I shall finish Allie, for now.

I have a date!

2010-10-20T07:11:00.000-07:00

Following emailing amended version of several chapters of Allie to the agent, she has now contacted me to say that she has got the book, knows she is meeting me soon and wants to read Allie before that. She has now set the date of our meeting for the afternoon of 16 November, after the conference. I shall now be going to the conference on a high and all a buzz with my news. I am working hard on Allie still. Have just amended one more chapter, have two more to reread/write then I will read aloud, if I can, the chapters I have redone and amend again if necessary and it will be done. I am really happy with what I have done with Allie now, and have learnt so much from the Cornerstones report and doing this rewrite. I now know what I have to do to Georgina, when I hope to get back to doing that, hopefully next week.

Meantime, I have also just emailed off another story to the anthology I sent one to the other week. Am waiting to hear about a couple of stories I have already sent to anthologies with deadline of end of September....

Gas vs electricity

2010-10-17T07:50:00.001-07:00

When it comes to cookers, it has to be gas. We have a small electric cooker, and it takes ages to heat up before it start boiling, whereas with gas it doesn't. We have been using the hotplates for our breakfasts so far and Mum wants to try to use the oven part for our dinner today instead of the microwave. It is all so different at the moment and I can't wait to get back to normal home life again. I described the situation to Mum like being at a conference when you are staying at a different place, finding where all the things are and washing in a different place and room. The bathroom has no heating on now as the radiator is off the wall due to needing to be plasterered then tiled, and we have a new bath. So in the mornings I end up having a wash downstairs in the downstairs toilet/utility room as the heating is on there, then going up to my bedroom to get creamed and dressed. We only have temporary kitchen sink on a wooden frame, which you can't lean heavily on because it rocks, and I am afraid it will collapse soon. Thankfully they are coming on Tuesday to refit the kitchen with new units and hopefully new sinks. Can't wait for it to be completely finished. Roll on a couple of weeks time.

Meantime am getting on with Allie and a short story, which I hope to finalise this coming week and email off to the publisher's anthology.

Writing with noise

2010-10-14T06:23:00.000-07:00

I am typing this among noise at home. We have just been taken over by a new landlord and they have started to put a new kitchen, bathroom and toilets in, so much noise. Yesterday was rip out of the kitchen units and tiles, bathroom and toilet tiles, today is the plumber who has already replaced upstairs toilet (now have one with push button flush instead of a hanging flusher and looks so neater), new bath with new mixer flip taps. Now he's doing the downstairs basin and toilet and has to do the kitchen sink by 4pm. Not sure if he will do it, as he's on his own. We shall see.

Meantime, yesterday I met up with my friend Sue Hyams (Hi Sue), and we talked writing and conference, which was great. I love talking writing esp about my own work as I get animated about it. Sue has given me the name of a publisher that I will be matched up with at the conference in November, which will be my third ms Georgina. I shall mention my first and my second. Allie is now 24,700 words long or short now, and I have just amened another chapter cutting a couple of scenes that I didn't think were necessary. Shall type those up tomorrow. This morning I went shopping for my mum and did a bit of Xmas shopping while there. Do some more next week on my own as Mum can't leave the workers on their own here at home.

More at the weekend.

A possible sale

2010-10-10T06:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had another Chatterbooks session. I didn't think I was going to get anyone taking part because the librarians weren't having luck with getting any children to come to me, they were either interested in working on computers or swimming (the library is in the same building as the swimming pools). Then one girl came along and sat with me and I started talking to her. I waited about half an hour before I began then someone else came and joined in (although the girl was only 5 - too young to understand what I was talking about), then I really began. I was just finishing getting the others to use their imaginations and someone else came along with 2 children so I got them working. It was the mother of one of those girls that said she was interested in buying my book but didn't have the money at the time. We have arranged to meet up at the library next Saturday, and hopefully I will sell a book. Yay. I did sign lots of postcards for one of the girls, and the other girl asked me if she could take her signed card to her school and tell her teacher about me. I said very welcome as I was trying to get schools interested in taking me up for talks. Although I am not sure what primary schools are like in Deptford, which is where the library was. We shall see. I did enjoy doing it in the end, esp if they know all about fruit and veg and healthy eating, which most of them did.

Next time here will talk about working on Allie.

I'm there

2010-10-03T06:32:00.001-07:00

Well, I have managed it. With several more cuts and amendments to what it was when I sent it to the agent, Allie is now under 25,000 words. I am so pleased. I am now working on making the world of Allie's school more believable to readers, so that Allie and the girl whom she chooses to help are the only ones who see the visions and her magic. It makes for some more changes but if it makes it more believable all the better.

On another note I found out this week that a story I'd emailed for a competition was only for children so hope to get refunded for that, but have found another competition for children's stories which I will send off next week. Am also working on two more stories, both children's, for a competition and an anthology.

If you aren't on Facebook then it's worth it to, as I found it this week. One of my 'friends' on there is So Organic and I found out on FB that I had won a prize from them. Yay. Should get it in the post sometime this coming week.

Well, this is all for now. Might have some news next week, you never know.

Getting there

2010-09-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

I am getting there with my word targent for Allie. I am just about to type up the edits to the last chapter and so far the count is now down to just over 26,000. Only 1000 to go to reach my target, which I put in my query letter to the agent. I will find out tomorrow how many more I might have to cut to reach the full mark, when I've done the typing.

No typing, apart from this, today as it's my mum's birthday and my brother and his partner are coming round later. We have cake, as my mum bought a Me to You cake from Sainsbury's, which looks rather yummy. Well deserved after having done some exercise.

Well, now off to read the Professional Planning Development book to see where I can go next with my writing.

Allie update

2010-09-19T07:01:00.000-07:00

I have just typed up Chapter 6 of Allie rewritten and it is now down to 27,626 words. Not bad. Only 2,500 to go to reach my target of 25,000, which is what I put the book as to my letter to the agent. Will be busy rewriting more chapters next week. The partial of Allie went to the agent on Wednesday and I now have a wait to do. I have been told that agents can take ages to reply to you but to email her in a couple of weeks politely asking if she has received it. I will do that. In the meantime I will keep checking my emails anyway.

Been out and about at writing events all week. Monday was my library event, Thursday was the British SCBWI Prof Series talk, where 2 authors answered questions about writing. I stayed behind for a while to chat and network, which I don't normally do. Now that I am home full-time I don't have to rush out so soon after the event, like I did when I was at work. Friday morning I met 2 other authors for tea at a local coffee shop/deli, and I had a pot of mint tea and a fruit bar. Very nice and great to talk about writing privately like that, which you can't do at a talk. Then yesterday I went to the local RNA chapter meeting where we listened to Hilary Johnson talking about uses of criticism. It was very good and she has a lot to say and know what she is talking about because she has been running her advisory service for 25 years. I only wrote down a para of her advice which I will use when I get to rereading my RNA NWS writeup. Next week is still busy but no writing events happening. Well I will be finding a libary I have an event at in October so I know where to go when I go on my own.

Next time will be another update on Allie.

Another event gone

2010-09-14T02:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had my book reading and quiz at a library and I think it went very well. I did my reading then gave a quiz based on what I'd read. The children were keen to answer the questions and although they didn't come up with the exact answers I was looking for, I gave them a chance and awarded them a prize. A couple of children swapped their prizes. Then I did a Q&A session. The librarian is going to email me the questions and answers as he wrote them down. They included Am I famous? I wish was my reply. How long did it take to write? What inspired me to write the book? Did I choose to write the book myself? I think I will put them up on my website when I get them. After that, the children went and did their homework not buying any books from me, but my friend Maureen Oakley, who came with her children, did and we had a chat about writing. I also had a chat with the librarian, who was really nice and he said that he'd email the other libraries in the borough and maybe send on some of my bookmarks and postcards to other libraries letting them know what I do etc. He was also going to mention to his boss, whom I organised the session with and had to be elsewhere at the time, that he thought it was a success. I gave him an order form in case any children could want a book later on and to let me know if they did.

Next event is on 9 October at Wavelenghts Library in Deptford.

Next time I will write about Allie and how I'm getting on with rewrites and the agent. Hope to email it all to her tomorrow as will be reading chapters through this afternoon.

V Exciting News

2010-09-10T03:13:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to the SCBWI-BI agent's party and met lots of people. First there was the panel of agents who told us about what they do and what they like, then they answered questions from the audience. Then the food came out and I had a plateful of chicken, samosa and potato wedges, which was very nice and filled me up. Then they remembered to do the raffle to see who got a one-on-one meeting with an agent. First there was the agents for the illustrators then came one for the writers. I had put my name in it and didn't think for a minute that anything would come of it but....guess whose name was the first out of the bag? Yep, mine and you should have seen my face. I was totally shocked as I never win anything. Anyway, I went and introduced myself to the agent I liked best, who is from Watson Little, and told her what I do and write and where I was. She said it sounded interesting and she would email me today and I should send her the synopsis and first three chapters. So this afternoon I am getting to work on Chapter 3 and the synopsis of Allie, and over the weekend will get Chapters 1 and 2 up to scratch with more amendments I have in mind. I want to get it to her well in advance of any meeting so she can read it before we meet again. I still can't believe that it happened to me and had a very restless night thinking about it all. So all I can say is, watch this space and I will let you know what the outcome is. Ooer.

Exercising

2010-09-07T11:02:00.000-07:00

I have been doing quite a bit of exercise lately. Not only have my mum and I started doing the DVD exercises again but have been doing lots of walking. Yesterday was walking around Lewisham shopping, and today I walked to and from the station twice. First to get the Metro for jobs and secondly to get an Evening Standard, again for jobs. It makes me feel good about myself and exhilerated that I have done it. I esp feel good when I walk to the station in the morning because it builds an appetite and when I get back I can't wait to have breakfast. Walking again tomorrow and Thursday and prob Friday. Saturday will be shopping. We shall see what my weight is tomorrow. It goes up and down all the time. My mum and I have given each other weight targets to reach and I am not sure I can get to mine, we shall see. Watch this space.

Back later this week with how I am going rewriting Allie.

The writing life

2010-09-05T07:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I did another Chatterbooks session and it was successful. I did my fruit and veg alphabetical game and the children loved it. They actually drew their ideas on the paper instead of just writing it down and it looked very imaginative. I took home the ideas the librarian had and one of the girls. I didn't sell any books but they were interested in buying it, so may order it from the librarian, who said that if they do then she will phone me so I can go up there with the books and sign them. They also liked my website site name with moonfruit, believing it to be cool. I do so enjoy doing those and want to do more.

I am now back to working on Allie. I read most of the Cornerstones' report before I started, and have made lots of cuts and changes to Chapter One already. I've changed one power of Allies, cut out dead sentences, ones that didn't move the story forward and didn't mean anything, and cut out all references to what happened to Rosie. Most of these were suggestions in the report and I already feel that I've made the story faster and a bit more humorous. Way to go. I might take Allie to the next talk which is about how to revise your work with help of two other children's authors and see what they say about my changes against the report. Watch this space.

Back later on with news on how my exercise is going.

The end of an era

2010-09-02T02:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the end of an era and my mum and I went out for a meal at our local Chinese to either celebrate or commiserate, depends on how you see it. As from yesterday I was no longer an employee of King's College London and now unemployed. Not sure how I feel really about it as in a way I still feel it's like a v long holiday. Will feel more real tomorrow when I go to the job centre to sign on and then even more real when I only get the seeker's allowance into my bank instead of a monthly wage. I am going to tell the job centre that I do want to go to work again but not just yet and shall see what they say to me. I will show them the statement of fitness work that my dr gave me and see what they say about that.

Now that I am not at work I will have to watch my weight. It has gone up and up this week despite doing lots of walking. I walked to the train station this morning to get a Metro and back again. I think I shall have to do 2 lots of exercise a day for the next week and cut down on nibbling foods such as nuts and dates. I will let you know how it goes next week.

This is all for now. Next time will be about writing.

Writing Goals - the action

2010-08-30T06:31:00.000-07:00

Now I have the typed up session notes from the NAWE member, I can let you know what the goals and their objectives really are. I already mentioned about being a more well-known children's author, and esp one known for writing themes of today's topics eg health, environment with a magical twist, and the one way I can do that is to try to get more work in libraries and schools and their clubs. One other goal to tie in with that is to try to earn more money from these activities and other writing-related topics eg competitions, anthologies etc. That I am already working on as I've recently sent off one short story for an anthology and am working on another story for a competition and two more for one anthology.

Another goal was to find a part-time job, maybe not just yet. I have to phone up the job centre on Wednesday to get an interview but I will say that I do want to go back to work but not yet. I was given the idea of perhaps working as a secretary in a school. That idea has been growing on me, as a way to get in contact with children and the staff of a school. We shall see. I phoned up another library the other day but they no longer do a Chatterbooks group there, so I am going to start concentrating on another borough soon. Meantime, I have one this Saturday and an event on the 13 Sept.

Be published by a traditional publisher and get an agent. Well these I will work on once I have finished Allie again and have work to offer. I will approach both at the same time, and the agents esp at the party in a couple of weeks and at the conference in November.

Have to develop a clearer sense of focus and priorities around my writing. Well. This is more or less how to plan my writing time. I think I will go with what was said in the current issue of Writer's Forum. See if I can work out a timetable of 2-hourly slots per day over a week and stick to it. Be it one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon, esp if I feel tired and want to nap.

The last one is to get an adult novel published. As said before that I will work on once I have completed this trilogy of mine, and then will work on future ones when I feel like it, in between children's writing. I would like to make my career mainly based on writing for children.

And there you have it. My goals and their objectives to do over the next three years. Will update you all when I get them done. One by one.

Allie's report

2010-08-26T03:34:00.000-07:00

So yes, I have now got the Cornerstones report on Allie and there was a lot of it. There's a lot I need to do to make it a publishable standard inc the setting, show not tell (I'd been told that already by a publisher and had that in mind when I got back to it), world building, why Allie wants the school to help the environment. Have been given an idea which I will go with. There are a lot of dead sentences - sentences that don't move the story forward and I will go through all of those and cut if needed. It was suggested that I change it to third person but I am not going to do that. I tried it last month with a short story and it didn't read right to me but when I changed the story to first pov it sounded right and a lot better, so I'm sticking to first pov. I can't remember the rest of the report, I think they were the main points to change and I will do those when I get back to Allie. I have decided that I will do that when I have finished this current draft of Georgina, as I am itching to get back to working on Allie now, esp as there is an agent's party coming up in a few weeks. You never know I might be brave enough to approach one with a query about Allie, or I might get lucky and win the one-to-one raffle.

Will be working on Georgina this afternoon as well as a children's short story for a competition. The winners get prize money as well as being included in an anthology.

This is my news for now. Next post will be about the Planning Session again as I've got my notes emailed to me by NAWE now and will be going through them to work out what I can do. See you then.

Professional Planning

2010-08-22T10:31:00.000-07:00

I had my professional planning session on Wednesday and it was very interesting and useful to do, well worth the money that I am going to pay for it. We went through where I am now, what I've done, what I'd like to do and where I see myself in three years. My answer was to be a more known children's writer, writing adult romance as a side line. Those were two of my three year goals. I was given a lot of reading material and resources to look at, some of which I've got and some I will look into. It really made me think where I want to go with my writing esp writing for children and possibly make some sort of career out of it. My goals for the next three years are:

1. Get a higher profile as a children's writer. Action-get myself out there personally and online. It could also entail another goal I mentioned about working more with children and doing workshops. Also, finding more markets to write for. Eg letters, stories etc.

2. Get a part-time job. Either in office or with children. That I will start in 2 weeks time by signing on at the local job centre and looking at job websites.

3. Get traditionally published. Action - research publishers who would like my work.
4. Get a literary agent. Action the same as for publishers.

5. Get an adult romance published. This I said I'd do when I've finished my three children's books, which should be about three years time.

I think that was all. I will get the full report in a couple of weeks time and will go through it again then. In November I will be contacted to see how my goals are going.

Next post will be about Allie and Georgina - I have got the Cornerstones report back!

Georgina

2010-08-17T11:18:00.000-07:00

Now on the what I hope to be penultimate draft of Georgina. I am on the what I call moving scenes forward draft. Yesterday I moved the ending of Chapter 3 to the end of Chapter 2 and changed the name of the second girl with allergic reactions, from another chapter. Now that I've done that it is down to over 36,000 words. Still 6000 to go to reach my target length. Have a lot of working and thinking to do. Won't be doing any tomorrow because it's my planning day tomorrow which I can't wait to work on with someone professional.

I am excited. For the first time this year I will be going to the SCBWI BI conference in Winchester, in November. I booked my accommodation yesterday and today I completed the booking form, which I am sending with part of Georgina for an ms review at the conference. This is with a professional/publisher so hope to get some good feedback on it. I am also taking it too the critique on the first night there to get feedback from other writers. All is good for it.

That is my news. Will be back later to let you know how the planning session went and some news about jobs.

Research

2010-08-14T06:55:00.000-07:00

Thursday was my research day this week. My mum and I went to Horniman's Museum to see the Myths and Monsters exhibition. It had various life-like moving models of mythical creatures such as a dragon, a chimera (a lion with a lion's head, serpent and goat head) and Cyclops. The last one was rather gruesome looking. It had mentions of lots more mythical creatures like kraken, harpies and Nessie. It was quite interesting research for future children's novels. I bought a book that had all these creatures in which I can use later for children's books. I have yet to read it properly but I will. Some of the creatures my Mum hadn't heard of but I had after reading Julia Golding's Companion Quartet books, which have these and more in, so it was interesting to hear about them there.

The day also made me exercise. We got a bus there but walked back home, and I tell you my shins are still hurting now because the way back is all downhill, and it does pull on your shinbones. They will get better.

Well, this is my news for now. Later will be more about writing and Georgina.

2nd August writing update

2010-08-08T06:47:00.000-07:00

Still working hard on Georgina. Now down to just over 38,000 words. Have come up with an idea to change something I've put in it so will do that next draft. Should finish this draft coming week. Also working hard on the story for the anthology. It's a twisted fairy tale anthology and I am twisting the tale of Little Red Riding Hood. I still have nearly 700 words to add to it so a lot of thinking how I can do that. From what I've read of the book, there's a lot of tell and now show, so might have to change that side of things to add to it. After I have done that and am happy, have another competition in mind to work for. Another children's one which I have a good idea what to write about for. Deadline for that is the same as the fairy tales, end of October. So get my writing hat on me thinks and get to work.

Also will be researching ideas for puzzles for children's magazines. Need to find a book on animals in different countries for my next proposal. Also need to start looking at magazine websites in the US for ideas to send to them. A lot I have in mind, just need to make a proper plan, which I will do at the planning session in a couple of weeks time. Can't wait.

Well, this is all for now.

August writing

2010-08-04T06:58:00.000-07:00

So I am still working hard on Georgina. I have now got it down to just over 38,500 words so still quite a way to go. This isn't the last draft as I have more ideas how to improve chapters I've already revised, then there will be the read aloud draft, which is usually the last one. Meantime, am waiting now to get the critique on Allie so I can work on that again. Am working on a short story for an anthology with a deadline of end of October. I have sent a query about a proposal to do a puzzle page to a magazine and have another magazine in mind to send another query to with a different proposal. I got my last competition entry returned today so that was a no no. Not giving up though. Oh yes, have sent a children's story to another anthology, to be published next year. Won't hear until September about that one.

I have now got booked a professional planning development session in 2 weeks time, and it's taking place in a cafe at the Royal Festival Hall. I am so pleased it's somewhere I know how to get to and easy to get to. I am really looking forward to it as I feel as though I am just drifting along with my writing at the moment, not having a proper plan for the future.

Well this is all my writing news for now. Back at the weekend with more news.

London Walking Tour

2010-07-30T02:48:00.000-07:00

As mentioned last Saturday I went on a walking tour of London with four other romance writers. We met up in Jermyn Street and from there went up Piccadilly, to St James' Park. I am not quite sure where we went from there but I know we saw I think Marlborough House. We went to Pall Mall, Mayfair, Berkely Square and Marylebone. On the way I took lots of photos of places and houses I never knew existed. The architecture of some of the houses was amazing and certainly not like you see today. I saw Spencer House and other houses that belonged to past aristocrats. We stopped off at a pub for lunch where I had a nice chicken and bacon sandwich made with flat bread and some peanuts. Then on for more walks. I saw lots of houses with windows bricked up, which meant that they were built before the window tax. Some years ago houses were taxed for the number of windows, so people who lived then if they couldn't afford all the taxes bricked their windows up. Something I learnt that day. We walked and walked. Saw Locks the Milliner's who made hats for the rich and famous, a pub which was either the oldest and second oldest pub in the West End. Saw the Saudi Arabian Embassy and other embassies. Saw Connaught Hotel, after we stopped off in a near gardens where I was chased by a wasp. Pesky things. We ended up in Marylebone, in a cafe where we all had cold drinks, which we were gasping for by that time. All in all I had a great time. As I said to Mum I am not normally interested in history but enjoyed the day as I found out and saw things I had no idea of knowing before. I can tell you that by the time I got home my feet were tingling after walking for miles. My legs started hurting the next day. I might do it again if one is arranged.

Walking is something I have to do more of. As I am not at work now I am not doing the walking and have no real reason to walk to the station now. So from this morning I decided that I shall walk to the station each morning to get a Metro, unless I am going shopping that morning and walking then. Watch this space to see how I go. I need the excercise as I have already put on a few pounds since being at home.

Another writing update

2010-07-27T02:32:00.001-07:00

So where am I with my writing now? Well, I am still working hard, as I can, on Georgina's story and will be revising Chapter 5 later today. I have just sent Allie off for a critique so now wait to find out what a consultant editor thinks of it. I have already had ideas on how to change things, so will merge those with whatever they come up with. I have possibly sold a mini article via an agency to an online content provider, and have sent another one off to the editor so wait to hear about that one. I have also emailed a story for an anthology, with a deadline of end of September so a while to wait for that one. I have another story in mind for another competition but don't know if I will get it there in time as the deadline is 12th August, which isn't that far away now. Will start writing that this afternoon. And that is where my writing is at now. Oh yes, I have decided to see if I can develop plans for my writing while I can and have booked in for a professional development planning service session and wait for a date for that, as I have said I'm free all of August, except one day.

I think that's it. Next time I will talk about the walking tour of London I did at the weekend.

Conference - Day Three

2010-07-19T03:24:00.001-07:00

Well back I went to Greenwich on the Sunday, the third and final day, in the hot sun.

The first talk I went to was by US author Rosemary Laurey who talked about what paranormal is and how to write it, then she answered questions which were mainly about her own books. Then came Adele Geras talking about young love, and what it is and involves. She also answered questions, one of which was what age range reads what. She said that 8-12s like to read teen books and teens YA books. Now I was pleased to hear that because a local library has recently told me that they believe Rosie is too old for 8-12s. It wasn't the first time that I'd heard that children like to read about characters that are older than themselves.
Then came lunch which was Lancashire hotpot, which was very nice.
I then went to the extra talks. I listened to Jane Wenham-Jones talk about getting yourself known and out there and her advice is when you are first starting out to say yes to most talks offered and to smile. It was interesting as she is a good speaker. I then went home after that and relaxed after the exhausting but inspiring weekend. Can't wait for next year.

Well, that was my conference weekend. Next time here will be about where I am at with my writing.

Conference - Day Two

2010-07-16T06:05:00.000-07:00

Off I went back to Greenwich last Saturday for the second day. The first talk I went to was by Dee Williams. She talked about her 20 years of being published and the changes she's seen during that time. A full report will be on the RNA website soon. Next was Kate Harrison who talked about managing your writing career. She read fictional letters from fairy tale characters about writing and being published and got us to write answers about our own writing and what we want from it. Made me think about what I really want out of mine. Then was the ladies from Mira about their new teen paranormal range. I was v interested as it might be something I could do and gave me ideas. Then was lunch.

Then I listened to Janet Gover talking about researching areas you don't know or live in. I learnt a lot from that. Then was Samhain and I am definitely going to target my romantic suspense novels, when I write them, to them as they are friendly and accept new authors. A definite must for me. Then came all about social media. I am still unsure about going on Twitter and might stay with Facebook for now.

Then came the BBQ and I preferred that to the Friday dinner, and it was on time. A nice time I had and I left early so I could get home at a reasonable time to get up early the next morning.

Day three will be here over the weekend.