FIRST TIME NOVELIST

Current Work: Non fiction article, fiction research
Listening to: Radio Sabasio, an italian station with english and italian music
Reading: Wideacre by Philippa Gregory

Learning for yourself
I'm writing an article at the moment which talks about my experiences of writing my first novel and what I might do differently next time. Whilst I've been preparing it, I've been doing a lot of thinking. There is such a lot of advice about writing. My article is not going to give any advice. I'm going to share what worked and what didn't for me. I don't think that anyone can take the moral highground on writing a novel. There isn't and surely can't be just one way. It has to be your way. You can try the things and ways that other writers have tried and which work for them, but as writers we must never think that there is that magic answer waiting to be presented on a plate. It's just not goint to happen. I have really, really enjoyed the process of writing my first novel, it was like trying to learn to walk all over again, painful at times when I wobbled and fell but I kept picking myself up and taking another step. Will it be different next time? Well, I'm sure for me it will be, this time like learning to ride a bike.

Confuscious says... Quotes on Writing

As you can see, I'm messing about with the style of my blog again. Well, the trouble is something always catches my eye and I've seen lots of quotes just recently which have been fluttering around in my head. So I shall use this section to share what has made me laugh, think and become inspired again. "Writing a short story is a bit like catching a butterfly. The butterfly appears, hovers, disappears, emerges again. If you grab it, it will disintegrate. It has to be coaxed, gently, into a butterfly net." Rosamunde Pilcher

The Book Worm

I've not finished Wideacre yet. It's quite a thome (in my defence) and the weather here just lately has fried and dried most things, including my brain and my reading has suffered a little. I've had my two writing mags delivered, which I devoured under a shady tree and I've been doing some research for my next novel, so I have been reading. Just not enough purely for the pleasure. Hope to review next week.