END OF THE YEAR

New Brush Sweeps Clean
I know, I know I haven't kept up to date with my blog this month and I'm feeling very guilty about it. Since the completion of the first draft of my novel (I still feel like 'yippee!) I have been on a whirl wind rellie tour of the UK covering over 1500 miles and slept in a total of 8 different beds! It was wonderful to see everyone though and get some early Xmas celebrations in. Since our return, only a week before Christmas, we have been busy with our darling puppy Bertie who is now 12 weeks old and probably about the same in kilos! Yestereday we picked up his sister Jess (who is a bit of a nutcase) and her old pal Rusty and we have been racing around since then!

Our setting has been very Christmassy as we had snow on Boxing Day and then again on Sunday which left our valley under 3-4 inches of lovely white stuff. Bertie loved sitting in it and hearing it go crunch under his bottom! Unfortunately though a friend who was supposed to be coming for dinner on Sunday had a car accident and couldn't make it. So we now have nut roast and a huge Vincigrassi (a kind of Italian lasagne) in the freezer and our tummies are full of Tiramasu! The main thing is he's OK but the car not so... :(


Anyway I have started my planning for the New Year and with renewed vigour and a little bit of discipline I am going to brush up my blog and try and write a little bit most days if Ican. It's just about routine really, we all need it unfortunately... Anyway I will try and add a couple of pictures just to end this year off and say Buon Nuovo Anno and Auguri for 2009.

On My Bedside Table
I've just finished Robert Harris 'The Ghost' which has been a fabulous but easy read about a ghostwriter penning the autobiography of an ex PrimeMinister. I would encourage you to read it - I learnt a lot about writing and ghosting but at the same time enjoyed a good story!

IT’S IN THE BAG!

Or should I say book?
Well, I’m late with my blog entry because as you know if you’ve been following my sorry story, I had a deadline to meet. And… I DID IT! Hoorah!

I had finished slightly ahead of schedule – on Saturday – but wasn’t quite ready to let go, so I did a bit more to the ending on Sunday which didn’t feel very satisfying but there you go. Ninety thousand words – most of them written in a journal longhand in my favourite fountain pen. I can’t tell you how it felt… I suppose as a writer I should be ‘showing you’ but it felt oddly like an anti-climax. It took me a while to admit to my Man Friday that I’d finished (after all having an extra 45 minutes in bed all to my self to write has been most indulgent!) and then it felt like the bubble had burst. No more of my characters in my head (well they are still there but their story has been told).

But I know that this isn’t the end. This is only the first draft. I mean a good percentage of those 90,000 words might be absolute drivel (can’t you tell I’m ever the optimist?) and I will now need to start the editing process. This I do by inputting my written words onto the PC. It takes me longer than hand writing the first draft because I edit as I go along, with a fountain pen I just let the ink do its’ work and worry about the rubbish I’m writing later.

So I have a new deadline – to work on the first three chapters and the last chapter and – yes and – to produce a synopsis. I plan to work on this in January and look at some potential agents. At the same time (if I have time) I will start to input the other chapters also, but I thought I’d concentrate on trying to get someone interested and if necessary panic.

So, the story never ends…. and we've just got connected to broadband another hoorah!!!

Other Success and Flops
Well, I have been concentrating on the novel, so haven’t given much time to anything else. That and trying to getting connected to Broadband has almost seen me off, but that is another story for another time. I’ve had one positive response to a query I sent of last week, and need to work on producing the submission before the X word.
I have also uploaded my weekly submission to Suite 101 about Alberto Moravia, an Italian writer.

On my Bedside Table
Finished Mme Ramotswe’s latest tale, loved it. Tried a Joanna Trollope The Choir – hated it. Too verbose and missing something for me – but hey what do I know. I might try another of hers, because I hear good things about her work.
Now I’m reading ‘A Long Way Down’ by Nick Hornby. It’s told through four lead characters, all in first person and it's quite an interesting style. Anyway, I’ll let you know how I get on…

The Last Word
Has to be about finishing the novel. I’ve done it once, written more than 50,000 words in one month (more than I’ve ever done in the three years since I started it!) So I can’t say ‘can’t’ any more. I know I can do it. And it feels good…

DEADLINES, DEADLINES

The end is nigh!

I have (give or take a few hours) nine days left before the self-imposed deadline for completion of my first novel. I must stress (as if I haven’t done so already) that this is a first draft and so very far from the end.

But, I am learning so much about the process of writing that if it doesn’t work out for some reason or another, I will have progressed in my life as a writer. I have struggled for years to ‘find’ the time to write, to get the scramble in my brain onto paper and to believe in the characters that have occupied by life. It has been quite cathartic this week particularly as I hit that midway barrier when you suddenly realise what a huge task you have set yourself.

At the beginning of the week I sat in bed, pen poised (my favourite snorkel fountain pen back from the menders) and journal at the ready and thought I couldn’t write a word more. A couple of minutes later, I had flicked back and re-read what I’d last written and 45 minutes later had written six pages! By the end of this week, I had finished the A4 lined book (approximately 250 pages) I use and need to find another to complete the end of the month.

So stop twittering on I hear you say, what have you learnt then?

Well three things…

1. You never ‘find’ the time - you have to make the time
2. The scramble in your head may be scramble on paper but at least then you can decode it
3. Well, I can’t think of the third thing but it must be something important… Oh yes, I know, the love of a good man. My Man Friday has been fantastic, he believed in me, and my characters, so why shouldn’t I?

Sizzling Success Stories

Encouraging responses continue to my queries, pitches and follow-ups.

This week my pitch about the 'puppies in the ditch' sorry tale has been accepted for a dog lovers magazine, our Bertie will be famous before he’s six months old!

We’ve been approached by the Sunday Times in response to a pitch we put in about being an ‘ex-patter’ and have submitted a piece about Christmas. Whether this will be published is much in doubt, but well, you never know.

I’ve submitted my usual upload to Suite 101, this time about the Italian Sculptor Antonia Canova. I have submitted 28 articles to date to this site and it earns me a few dollars now and then.

Finally I’m on my Friday query time and have just pitched seven more queries (hey, I’m on a roll!) but really the law of averages just means that I have to submit more pitches to get one positive response.

On My Bedside Table

Finished the Dark Materials Trilogy, most of it read last Sunday. Fab - although this third book did tend to linger on a bit, I enjoyed the philosophical questions it raised. No wonder the higher echelons of religious faiths are trying to prevent the story from being filmed.

I’m now taking a lighter approach to my reading as I approach the deadline for my novel, I don’t want any ‘stuff’ getting into my head. So I have returned to a favourite author of mine Alexander McCall Smith and his delightful Mme Ramotswe in his novel, ‘In the Company of Cheerful Ladies’.

Speak to you next week - if I’m not in a heap on the floor with no more to give… (don’t ask me where I get the dramatics from; it must be in the genes).

DISTRACTIONS, DISTRACTIONS

So What is it This Time?
Well, there is always something you can blame isn’t there? This week we have been picking olives. Our first year and after 13 hours of scaling trees, an eye injury from a springy olive branch and a fall from a pair of very wobbly ladders, we harvested 180kgs of the pesky little fruit and now have 23 litres of oil waiting to be bottled.

So have I written? Damn right, I have. And it feels so good. What, with a new puppy as well, where do I get the time? Well, I have to pay great tribute to my Man Friday who has brought me a glass of orange every morning and then left me in bed to complete my target number of words, while he occupies Bertie, the pup. I am actually finding it difficult to stop writing and I only do because I get hand cramp (I write long hand initially, and then edit as I type into the PC – it seems to work for me). So I am on target… yippee!

I must also give some credit to the NaNoWriMo (National Write a Novel in a Month) competition which I did sign up to but as I was half way through... anyway I have used their target words per day to complete the final manuscript. Maybe next year...

Also, could things get any better I here you asking, I’ve had another successful pitch accepted. Its not paid work, it is for Members News Section in Writers News. But it ticks a lot of boxes…

• It celebrates success in a kind of showy off kind of way but I picked up the information about the market from the mag, so wanted to thank them

• Its free marketing for me as a writer, I’ve talked about my novel and plans for another

• Its free advertising for a virtual writers club I am hoping to set up and so have included that in the piece to see if I can drum up some interest

• It will hopefully direct people to my website and blog, so more marketing potential

Worth its weight in gold, I’d say…

And I am planning the second novel, based on our move over to La BuonaVita - you can follow the progress at our blog of the same name, where full credit must go to Man Friday for submitting such wonderful and funny pieces. Well I think they are anyway. It shall be a kind of fictional- fact 'flit lit' book (apparently that is a real genre) so there you go.

In terms of submission I have uploaded my weekly article to Suite 101, a short bio about Dostoevsky – what a story that is, quite fascinating, though I have never ever completed ‘Crime and Punishment’.

I have also submitted a short story for a 'Writers News' Competition and am just about to email my weekly. I always do that on a Friday afternoon, call me suspicious, but it seems to elicit positive responses. Maybe it’s because people are looking forward to the weekend.

On My Bedside Table
In the last blog, I forgot to say I’d also read a Judy Picoult best-seller called ‘Second Glance’. It’s a great read, slightly ‘unreal’ but I loved the setting and sense of mysteriousness she managed to paint with her words, I like her style – a clear beginning, middle and end but also with a sense of purpose and satisfaction. I have read a number of her books and love them.

Now I am reading the third Pullman novel ‘The Amber Spyglass’ but with everything else this week, including the eye injury, I’ve not read as much as I’d liked. Anyway, Sunday is reserved for reading so hopefully I will catch up…Well that's it for now, over and out.

EXUSES, EXCUSES

But What Would You Do?
Well as you can see, I haven't been around for a while. The last of our visitors returned back to the cheery land of the UK last week and I've no-one to blame but myself. My parents (who were staying for the last three weeks) are like part of the furniture really and slightly less distracting than grandchildren. My sister, husband and three boys turned up for few days and treated us to a stunning Sunday lunch (so no need for cooking). But...the slow dial up internet speed connection has become more frustrating now we've discovered we can access broadband. Here in Italy things are... well, slower, which is great, but I've waited so long for broadband that I didn't sleep for days when I applied and got a positive response! That was about two weeks ago. And then...another visitor arrived, this time of the canine variety and rather more permenant. Bertie, an Italian Sheepdog, is 6 weeks old and was found in a ditch with his siblings at two days old. They were found by an English couple who hand reared them and now they needed re-homing. How could we resist such a plea? He is absolutely adorable as you can see from the picture and is very supportive of my writing - like chewing the end of my pen when I'm searching for the right word and licking my toes just as the word disappears from my thoughts.

Anyway, I'm now head down for the deadline for the novel which is looming. I have passed the fifty thousand marker and if make 2000 words per day until the 30th then I'm home and dry. Ha! That's when the hard work starts and I start scrubbing out all I've written, but at least I've done it. I must also find an agent. So much to do and so little time...

On My Bedside Table
Mmm, now I know I've read quite a bit, but its remembering what. The Partisans Daughter by Louis de Bernieres - for me not a patch on Captain Corellis Mandolin, I didn't get the purpose, good story line but... now I'm on the second book of Philip Pullmans' Trilogy, The Subtle Knife, which is fantastic, out of this world and yet believable. I must mention the Italian material I am reading which is recognised as the cream of its genre. Geronimo Stilton is a story about a mouse, namely a mouse who is a writer and editor none the less and has a number of wonderful adventures with other mices (or is that meeces?). He is loved by those aged between 5 and 12 here in Italy but they truly are wonderful for learning the language, understanding verb tenses and improving our vocabulary.

WISE WORDS

Call Me Fickle but...

Well, very wise words I thought when I re-read my last blog. However, my characters became rather shy and decided to leave ‘town’ for a bit! I didn’t write a thing all week, but that was probably because of a delightful little six-month-old granddaughter I have renamed Little Miss Sunshine.

I’m a bit ‘precious’ about my writing. It’s like, I suppose, having a new baby and only you know what makes them happy and interactive. When other people are around, I feel a little on ‘show’ as though I need to perform, so in protest, I don’t! I know this is a little immature of me, but I am going to work through it. We have more visitors for the most of the month, I’ve made a commitment to my novel, and it deserves my attention, so it will have it. It probably will make me more efficient with my time and perhaps with my writing!

Anyway spurned on by the experience of living with a young baby for a week, I have just submitted my next article on Suite 101, Grandparents Today, so out of a barren week comes some solace! I also have just received a second payment of $15 from the website so my grand total of earnings has now reached the dizzy heights of $27 dollars! A week ago that would have been about thirteen quid, but with all the financial shenanigans (I just love that word, perhaps I should try using an odd word in each blog – but don’t hold your breath.) going on I’m not sure any more. OK - so it’s not exactly a fortune and probably won’t keep the wolf from the door but the point is I have been paid something. Though it wouldn’t matter if I hadn’t – its never stopped me from writing before!

On My Bedside Table
My reading has taken a bit of a dive also but I’m now reading an Ian Rankin novel. It is a Rebus one and according to my Man Friday, he is one of the best crime/thriller writers out. It’s not a genre I’ve been drawn to before, but his character and setting descriptions are pretty vivid, so there is always something to learn. I started to read "The Widow and Her Hero" by Thomas Keneally. He wrote Schindlers List, which I’ve not read but was deeply moved by the film. Anyway, I had great difficulty getting through the first few pages until I realised there wasn’t one piece of dialogue. It’s purely told through a narrator recounting the experiences of her husband (well I think, as I haven’t finished it). Anyway, it was difficult to get any sense of character or of things moving on. It really brought home how essential characterisation is. On the other hand, maybe I just need to persevere with his style, as the accolades are quite positive.

CALL YOURSELF A WRITER?

Publication at Last!
Well, I'm just 'chuffed' to pieces (it's a northern term I was told by a guy from Sheffield). As well as the piece I talked about last week, I have had a feature written and accepted within a week of my first query. That's going some by any standard I'd say. Last Friday (after I'd written my blog) I whizzed of a query to a publication I'd read about in Writing Magazine. On Monday the Editor accepted my pitch and asked for copy asap as (luckily for me) my query complimented a feature they were already working on. I submitted the feature last night and the purchase order arrived in the post today! Wow, now that's fast work.
I can't take all the pomp and glory though, as I must acknowledge the input from my Man Friday as this was a first person piece about a personal experience of ours. Writing features first person was harder than I thought, especially when I have been writing very factual, tight pieces for e-publication. It has been a very refreshing and thoroughly enlightening experience. I realise that this might not be the general experience of many writers but I feel like making myself one of those name badges with ' I'm a Writer' written on it!

The second feature I talked about has been submitted, but now there are a few issues with images (not my strong point I must admit, but I'm learning fast!) Anyway it seems to be ticking along...

Finally we have more relatives arriving (for the majority of October in total) so I've been trying to plan out some targets for the next month. I've written almost 36,0000 words towards my novel and at the moment the characters are living with me day and night. I've never quite had this 'invasion' and it feels really good and just like how I've heard other writers talk about the writing process. I have some way to go though, to get achieve my deadline for November and whilst I had planned for the beginning, I'm now thinking that the end (of November) is more realistic. Anyway the way my characters are behaving - they won't leave me in peace until I tell it how it is!

Finally on the Bedside Table
I finished The Road Home - absolutely fabulous read and a fairly happy ending (I like happy endings...) but it had some real 'aha' moments for me, especially about some of the hardships immigrants can face.
I am now reading The Chimney Sweepers Boy by Barbara Vine and it has me hooked. Its about a writer and his family and secrets and it really is a classic page turner. I've never read any of hers before but I shall definitely be looking forward to other titles.