Writing in longhand -v- writing to laptop Part 2

My muse!

 Recently I posted about writing a story in longhand and what I had learned. I didn't expect to write a second part. Then again one never stops learning in this writing business. My experiences will always be a bit different from your own because we are unique and what works for one doesn't necessarily work for another.

Having finished writing the story totally in longhand, I knew I would have to type it up, and immediately I realised why I stopped writing in longhand. I hate having to type it up! In my world, that meant hours of trying to make sense of my scrawl, and I considered this a waste of time. Time I could be writing something else straight to laptop. Still, it had to be done. I left it a while as the thought of having to copy type (something I've never been great at) was daunting.

I was given two conflicting pieces of advice by members of my writing group on this, which made me laugh. One person said don't edit it as you type. The other person said the opposite. I am with the latter. I always edit as I go. Just tweaks. Nothing major. Generally, I read back what I've written before I start writing again, and I might make a few tweaks, but nothing major. I tend to go with the flow and write at break-neck speed and then have to go back and fill out the bits I skipped over when the whole thing is written. I'd call this method writing the bones of a story.

Typing up this story felt like a slog. I kept looking at how many pages I still had to decipher and sighed. Editing was done lightly, though. Written in a stream of consciousness at the time, I found errors even though I had read the last bits back. Mostly, they were missing words my brain had automatically put in. In the end, it took me four or five sessions to get it all typed up. I had two major sessions transcribing it and finally it was done.

I write in longhand like I type - fast. There were parts that didn't quite make sense, parts that I really loved and others that needed a lot of editing. It ended up as over 13,000 words, around 42 pages of A4. I was chuffed I'd actually written that much by hand.

The last time I wrote something as long was one summer when I spent all the time in the garden scribbling away and for the first time I set a story not in the UK. I wrote it as a non-linear novella. I really liked that until I typed it up and read it back, and I wasn't sure it worked. It's still sitting on my laptop, and one day I will have to go back to it and see if I can save it. I still like the story, but I think it will confuse the reader. All the scenes are individual and, as I said, not in chronological order. I've read novellas written this way, and this was my first experiment with this method. However, it needs a lot of work on the structure.

Having written both ways (I began writing in exercise books in the early days) would I do it again? Well, I'd say it has its uses. At the time, I was about to go on holiday, and writing by hand was easier, and I rather looked forward to my little writing sessions. A notebook is certainly more portable than having to take a laptop out with you. Mine isn't the smallest. It takes up a lot of space on a table when there are several of us using laptops.

I certainly wouldn't make a regular habit of writing by hand. The quality and way I write is about the same. The mistakes are the same too! When I meet up with the writing group to write, I always write by hand. The immediacy of free writing by hand is quite liberating. 

This piece of longhand began as a scribbled opening on A4 printer paper as I had no time to type it, and then I decided to carry on doing it this way. It was convenient while I away from home, and I continued and experimented with writing in a cafe to finish it. Now and then it is good to try new things in writing. If I'm in the zone I can block out the noise around me. At home I use earphones and listen to music while I type, but I've realised I can be quite versatile in the way I work, and that's good. I didn't want to become one of those writers who had to have the right surroundings in which to write. Years ago as a teenager I wrote in my bedroom, sitting on the bed or floor (no desk) and later I wrote on a laptop on the dining table (this is where the earphones came in as the TV might have been on at the other end of the room). Now I have my own room in which to write, with a little drop-down desk I bought for my son when he was working from home during covid. You certainly don't need a room of your own (though it is very nice, and I love it).

I'd say go and experiment and write in different places both in longhand and straight to laptop. This experiment taught me something. That it is a freer way of working, and I still hate typing up my own work!

Aside from this, dog walking has improved my ideas. The experience of dog walking has resulted in a poem about it, which came to me the other day when walking Rue. It seems he is my muse!

Troubador Self-Publishing Conference, Leicester

 

Queen's Building, De Montfort University, Leicester

It has been a week since I returned from the Troubador Self-Publishing Conference in Leicester and I've not had the chance to really revisit my notes and take stock. The conference was held in the Queen's Building (Engineering & Computing) of De Montfort University, a very modern campus situated between the city and the River Soar.

You will need a cuppa and maybe a plate of biscuits for this blog post as it's long!

Having arrived on Friday (to do what sightseeing I could), I checked out where the university was so I knew where I was going on Saturday morning. It was easy to find, yet the following morning I managed to take a wrong turning and had to double back! I was still in time to register before the first session. 

On arrival I received my lanyard and goodie bag. There were refreshments, including croissants, but I sat down to go through the booklet of what was happening throughout the day and chat to a couple of people. There were various stalls - Troubador (two), The Book Guild (a sister company) and Jericho Writers. I didn't approach any of these until coffee/tea breaks.

We all headed to the theatre for the introductory speech before we headed off to our first masterclass, run by experts from Troubador. I had decided to choose workshops/talks on aspect of 'business' that I'm not so good at to get the best out of the day, so the first one I chose was Editing: What Is it and Why Does My Book Need It? During this three-quarter hour session we learned about the different types of editing, and how they can benefit your manuscript. These include:

• Assessment/review, a big picture edit which includes strengths and weaknesses (structural). 
• Developmental edit offers a more in depth edit where specific sections are highlighted for attention.
• Copy edit/line edit are similar. Again they are in depth and corrective edits. It looks at spelling, punctuation, grammar, inconsistencies, clarity, and potential legal issues.
• Sensitivity edit is good if you don't share the same gender, race or culture of your characters.
• Proofreading is the final edit, purely corrective, looking for any corrections and errors introduced in typesetting.

Things to think about - do you have any skills in these areas? Self-editing is not a good idea except when you are still drafting because our brain puts in words we've missed and a whole lot of other things. You really need someone who knows what they are doing. There was guidance on how to find editors.

You may not need all these edits, and of course they all costs money, and I can tell you they are not cheap. Also, always choose an editor who specialises in your genre. Don't go to someone who specialises in sci-fi if you are writing romance.

I can tell you that during the process of bringing Tinsel Street to publication I initially had an assessment/review with a book coach, and my book was very much better for this as she gave me advice on how to tackle my plot hole and how to go about editing. I ended up changing the timeline and moving things around, as well as introducing a new character, pushing another to the sidelines and writing whole new scenes. I shall be forever grateful for her input. I also paid for a copy edit with Troubador. If there are any mistakes now, it's down to me! I have a friend who is a very good proofreader/beta reader, and she will tell me when something doesn't make sense.

The goodie bag

The second session I chose in the morning was The Importance of Metadata for Discovery and Sales with Clive Herbert, Head of Professional Services, Neilsen BookData. Now I have to say I got rather lost in this one. Thank goodness Troubador sent out the slides of each session after the conference. I did make some notes (I also took photos of some of the slides in some sessions), but a lot of what was said went over my head (as it seemed to do for some others). If you totally self-publish and don't use a service like Troubador or other indie publisher, this may not worry you, as this is all dealt with in-house. However, if you self-publish without that help, it is up to you to get everything right. I found it very daunting and wish I'd chosen another session! The one on the British Library would have been my second choice. However, basically it is about how to describe your book using all the right information from Title, format and ISBN number down to keywords - he suggested using longer phrases. If you have ever used Amazon to self-publish, this will be familiar to you, especially keywords with their sub-genres. I always find this bit difficult, but if you want readers to find you, it is important.

The final session of the morning was Keynote speaker, Suzy Quinn, a bestselling author and writing coach. The talk was entitled How to Self-Publish a Bestseller. She had a great presence about her. She made it fun but informative. Suzy said that most published books aren't bestsellers (which came as no surprise to me) and that most bestsellers are not universally loved and that's okay! She also told us that bestsellers are for a pre-made audience - specific genre and sub-genre readers. The suggestion was to identify your group of readers and target your book to them. You need a good hook, a one line sentence premise - simple and snappy. Make your book intriguing and have a clear message of what it is about. If this makes you feel better, Suzy said that a true debut bestseller is rare. Writing a series or similar books is a good idea (so that's not me then!).

A few other things:

• Character is key to successful books.
• Have character combos - sidekicks/friends which create contrast. The more different, the better.
• Ideas/attitudes of your characters need to be different. This creates conflict and drama.
• The characters potentially change each other.

After this, we broke for lunch. This was held in the Food Village across from our  building, and we were in the staff area, much nicer than the student cafe! There was a choice of hot food with salad and a dessert. This was a good chance to meet others and I joined a lady on her own and was joined by a gentleman. We had a good conversation over lunch, about our writing - whether or not we were published, and what we wanted to do next. We talked about where we'd come from and a bit about ourselves.

Just finished lunch

With lunch over, we were back in the theatre for a talk on How to Make Your Book Self-Publishing Ready with Debbie Young. This was a most informative talk and I made copious notes. This included how to look at your manuscript in its first self-edit and drafts. What to look for (speech tags - one of my things...starting speech and forgetting to end it, or putting them in the wrong place, like when you break speech up) and reading your manuscript in a different format with different fonts. There was further advice on using editors when you have completed what you hoped would be the final draft (it never is!).

There was a section of building confidence as a writer and here are just a few tips:

• Network with supportive authors online and offline
• Choose writing groups carefully
• Go to indie author events and spoken word nights
• Avoid comparisons
• Read a past first draft and see how far you have come
• Get the right metadata/keyword (oh, that one again!)

My notes get a bit muddled here as they move into my next session, Creating Buzz for Your Book: PR Strategies to Captivate Readers. However, I think the piece on networking and onwards come from that session. There was advice on developing relations with journalists (a bit out of comfort zone, that one), but it was suggested to start with regional media first.  Other advice:

• Cultivate relationships with your local bookshops
• Be aware of industry events
• Outreach/pitching

There was also a section on social media, age groups that use each one and what you have time for. You can't do everything and it will depend on how much time you have for this. Choose the one that works for you. I do use a lot of social media - X, BlueSky (infrequently), Facebook Author, Blog, Substack, but I have been away from Instagram for so long, I'm not sure I would know what I am doing now. YouTube interests me, but though I have a channel there (for the odd video on my days out), it is time consuming. The overall theme was make it fun!

Awareness Day calendars (find on Google) was mentioned and how to engage with other book clubs and authors. Follow those people who you think would want to read your book and follow authors whose books you enjoy. Boosted posts was mentioned. This is a paid advertising scheme through Facebook, which I haven't yet used.

The last talk was Your Next Steps in Self-Publishing and the difference between self-publishing and traditional publishing. This was the pros and cons of both which I have spoken about before. A very worthwhile talk, especially for those who have not yet made up their minds on which way to go. I would say, as I have before, that even traditional publishers expect you to do a lot of the publicity yourself now. Things are changing, and self-publishing is becoming more recognised. and the reputation it had as being a second-rate way of publishing books, is being overthrown. A lot of authors now have a foot in both doors and some choose to be self-published as they have all the control over important things like book covers, titles, and layout. It is also far faster. You can wait two years to get your book out there going down the trad route. Under a year, anything from a few days/weeks from hybrid or doing it yourself to six months or so with Troubador.

The theatre

At five o'clock we adjourned back to the Food Village for a drinks reception. This was a final chance to network and relax after a day of talks and workshops. I swapped details with two people and spoke to others. It was a nice end to the day.

Other thoughts about the day:

• There were more men at the conference than go to writing workshops and writing groups..
• The age group, though varied, was largely older. I wondered if this was because people had been trying for years to get published!
• There was a great mix of genres from those writing more academic books/self-help to those writing YA, poetry, historical. Across the board, really.
• There were regular breaks for coffee/tea with time to chat to other delegates and Troubador, The Book Guild and Jericho Writers. I said hello to Troubador. They had a few books on their stands (they had two), but I joked mine wasn't there! I also had a nice chat to The Book Guild and may well consider them in the future. Jericho Writers have a great website and they used to have forums I participated in, but then they introduced a membership, so I bowed out. I will look again at them because I think I may have misunderstood about the membership. This might have been for mentoring, but at present I have not been on their website, and I didn't get the chance to talk to them on the day.
• The sessions were either inside the theatre upstairs or in rooms on the ground floor. The venue was great, if a little cool. I kept my jacket on for the last few sessions.

Would I go again? It would depend on what the talks/workshops were on offer, but certainly it was worth the trip. Some things I knew a lot about, others not so much. One thing I know I should do is sign up to Public Lending Rights. I thought this was just for library books, but no, it also includes people looking at your book in the British Library. One might miss out on some royalties, and considering how little we earn as writers, if at all (I will never recoup what I've spent), it is worth it.

Downstairs

Upstairs by the theatre

Writing straight to laptop -v- writing longhand

Walks help to flush out ideas for writing

 It has been years since I've handwritten a story in a notebook. Apart from writing group meet-ups and a bit of free writing, I write straight to laptop these days. There was a time when I never thought I'd be able to do that as I was so used to writing by hand. Now it's the other way around. This all started  because I had no time to type my opening for my story onto my laptop. I was going out and scratching out my ideas with a pen and paper (I grabbed some printer paper), was the only way. I covered several sides before I left the house.

That's the way it this piece then went. I did type up what I'd written later, but as I was due to go on holiday and I didn't want to lug my laptop with me, I took my notebook. The idea had formed into something longer. I wrote by hand every morning before breakfast, and sometimes later. So, when I returned from holiday, I decided to keep it going that way. The piece was eventually finished whilst sitting in a cafe a bus ride away from me, where I also bumped into a lady from my writing group!

What did writing this way teach me? My head was still ahead of my writing as when I type straight to laptop, but it also slowed me down. Often I'd start not knowing what I was going to write next to continue the story, but once I started, the pen flew across the paper. That was a surprise. It was a bit like a stream of consciousness. On average, I wrote six pages in the mornings, but when on a roll, that was added to. The action took place in a confined space with only three main characters, and that helped. I didn't have to spend lots of time inventing a village, town or movement to other places. All these things worked in my favour. Because I was writing every day, I didn't have the usual worry about not remembering what came before. I also didn't set myself a word limit, and writing by hand, I had no idea how that was going anyway. Was it going to be a short story or something longer? I didn't know. I just wrote what I wanted to write to complete the piece. I got really into my characters and felt I was there with them. I also knew early on now it would end, so it was more about how to fill out the piece. Some of the walks I took on my holiday helped with that. Walking (with dog or not) helps me with my next moves. I see it in my head. Even the dialogue comes, and thankfully I'm pretty good at remembering what's in my head. I use this technique when I am writing anyway, so this one is familiar to me.

Drawbacks? Well, apart from having to type it up, which is a bind for me, and that maybe just me, there were none. I would read back what I'd written after I had written it to amend spellings, some punctuation and add the missing words my brain put in for me! I am further amending it now I am typing it up, but I haven't completed the typing yet.There will still be rounds of editing to be done.

Having thought about the way I write and whether my work is plot driven or character led, I have come out on the side of character led. I adore inventing characters, especially funny ones, annoying ones, feisty ones. Place and plot come together. If I look at all my pieces of work, they all begin with a character. That didn't change when I was writing by hand.

Will I do it again? Yes, and I have. I had another idea (I have our dog to thank for some of these lightbulb moments. Walking him has certainly helped). This time I knew it was a short story, and it began with a character. Set in the 1970's it is about a young teenager's first encounter with romance. I don't normally write romance, but this is more than just romance, it is also about friendship, and it is set in a fairground. I wrote this totally by hand again, but when I typed it up I tried to find some mood music and ended up with a track by Dire Straits called Tunnel of Love. I'm a big DS fan, but all it did was stop me typing as I wanted to sing along! That's why I usually only listen to Trance when I work because it's too distracting otherwise.

How do you write? Do you write by hand and then type up your work, or do you write straight to laptop? Maybe you do a mixture of the two. Do let me know.

All photos were taken in Cornwall.

Publication Day

 Publication day has arrived for Tinsel Street. All the pre-orders have been sent, and I am madly promoting my book across social media. Have I popped champagne corks? No. I've actually been busy doing some mundane things like getting a wash on the line before the rain comes, walking the dog and going to the high street for essential things.

However, I have today signed and delivered the booking form and paid the deposit for my author event. Everything has changed. I was to hold the event in a local library as part of Libraries Week at the end of October, but someone else took my spot, and though I can move it it to another date, the time is too early. So, I have gone for the stand-by space, which my friend and I decided on while waiting for the initial reply from the library. Yes, I have to pay for it (whereas the library was free), but I get the time and date I want. Plus, it's very local to me. I will be telling you more soon, but it will be held in early November.

To go with Tinsel Street, I have put together a playlist. I love books with playlists and/or maps! The link for the playlist is https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1q4LyKx7Qje4qlH0BKhpq2?si=22148503e2e349ee

And other links to buy a copy of the books are here:

https://troubador.co.uk/bookshop/contemporary/tinsel-street

https://amzn.eu/d/d2UShQQ

And you can order it though a bookshop.

I will be writing more about Tinsel Street soon.

So, why not spend Christmas on Tinsel Street? Enjoy!

I'm now on Substack

 

A haul of blackberries from the park
and a new use for poo bags!

If you hadn't already noticed, I am now on Substack and have posted about three times there. The content is different from what I post here, so you might like to go over and take a look. I have added a link to the side of my blog, but it's come in rather large and I have no idea how to change that! It is rather annoying as the page isn't as clean as it was, so I might do some fiddling with it to see if I can move it to a better place. Originally I just had a side piece with a copy and paste link, but today I found the right link on Substack for using Java and it has worked.

I am still learning how to use Substack, but it's good in that when I go to post, it reminds me to add certain buttons, which I always forget to do! What will I be posting over there? Well, so far I've posted about playlists - finding them and using them for mood music when writing, and the most recent was about reading and when do you give up on a book. I intend to post little bits of my writing there too. My page is free to read and subscribe to, so why not take a look?

Meanwhile, on the writing front, I have been active in submitting to competitions and magazines. Mostly my submissions have been flash or short stories, but I have also entered two poems for The Winchester Poetry Prize.

I am still waiting to hear from the library about a date for my author event to promote Tinsel Street. I have a venue, and the event will be held during Libraries Week. However, someone else has asked for the same date as me, so it's books at dawn to see who gets it! Ha!

I recently met up with my writing group in Waterstones. Not much writing got done as I was chatting to two ladies about their stories. No read-back happened, but that's okay. Sometimes it's good just to chat and make connections, and I did get some writing done. I was a bit narked that I missed the open mic night. No one mentioned it at the meeting, and I got the notification too late through the Facebook Group, or rather I didn't see it until it was too late. These aren't run by the group and only seem to happen a few times a year. I really enjoyed the first one earlier in the year.

Being really good, I took my notebook with me while I was away doing yet more clearing of my cousin's house. This time I was with my two sons and my brother, and I rented a house for us for five nights. We took Rue the dog, who was rather unsettled at first, but there was a garden for him. The people next door had two dogs, and as soon as they barked, he ran back in. He doesn't like barky dogs. There was a lot of sniffing under the fence.

I was able to do some writing - one evening and one morning. I'm still adding to the cli-fi story I am writing and have since typed up what I wrote. I'm up to 10,000 words now, so I have reached my first goal.

That's it for today.

And it's hi and bye from Rue.

Rejection and how to deal with it

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

 A quick post about rejection. I've often spoken about this in the past. All writers go through it. So how do you deal with it? Well, I've just read this excellent article by Rachel Bower on the Poetry School website. Do read it here. I hope this helps.

About my book 'How to Take a Lawnmower Home on the Tube....'

 My collection of flash fiction goes back many years. These little stories have been gathered together (there are more, of course) from the time I began having my work published.

Homeless had no title. As a75 word flash there was no room! In order to file it on my computer, I gave it the title of 'Rough Sleepers'. It was the first piece of 75 word flash I had published by Paragraph Planet. They gave me my first break. The piece has had a slight edit since, but is almost the same. After that I had many pieces published by Paragraph Planet.

And then I found Visual Verse, who sadly are no longer running, but the website is still there and I still have an author page there. Every month they would post up a picture and ask writers to respond to it in 50-500 words, either a poem or a piece of flash. I wrote both and had both flash and poetry published by them. I loved their prompts and still miss them.

With longer pieces, I found homes for in Aayo, Gold Dust and 121 words.

There were some pieces I couldn't include due to offering the piece to a magazine for several months etc after which I am free to publish again.

With the Visual Verse pieces, I had prompts which got my creative juices flowing. For the others it was down to me. Authenticity came from a writing conference workshop. The writer was explaining what he does to create authentic scenes, including being tied up in the boot of a car! North came to me after reading The Wall by John Lanchester about the future and climate change. Sea Sick is another climate piece.

Will You Take This Woman is a mad-cap flash about a proposal and the reaction of the girl's odd family. Strangely, I visualised this story in the back room of my mum and dad's house, though it has no bearing on the story, except my hubby did want to do the old fashioned thing of asking my dad for my hand in marriage! My parents were nothing like these two.

Rescue Remedy is a story I loved writing. I'm not sure where the idea came from, but readers have highlighted this one as a favourite. It's amusing and about an elderly woman who takes a fancy to the young man next door. She loves him popping over to help her, and she will go to great lengths to make that happen.

Bluebells went through a lot of re-writes. It started off as a longer piece and was often edited to fit word counts for submissions. It never quite made it, but I always liked it.

Marigolds is basically a true story I felt I had to write about the time after my mother died.

I realise that Sc-fi now turns up a lot in my writing. Clone was one that made it into here. I love this. There is something about robots that fascinate me. The Rules of the Game is also a robot story and involves dressing a Christmas Tree. And Grafting (one of my favourites) is another. A sort of cross species romance! I have a piece called The Companion which I'm still trying to find a home for. It's a short story and amusing. A 'what if' piece, and I love it. 

I write a lot about religion or faith. Some of it is serious, others are amusing. Wilderness is a ponder on losing ones faith and what happens then.

There are many wacky stories - including a new take on Miss Muffet  in the voice of the spider, and another story in the voices of scrimps (It's Never that Simple in the Food Chain). Another story takes place in prison - The Office, and another is about a condemned prisoner who realises his hanging it is not the end The Writing on the Wall. I know I got that idea from somewhere but I cannot remember where now.

Memory Foam came from something my son told me, and he was also helpful with his knowledge of guns (don't ask me!) in High Noon, where a burglary goes wrong.

Of the new stories, I like Electronic Curtains about a man and his love of birds. But he needs a carer to get him up in the morning, so he wishes he had electronic curtains so he could part them when he wakes. It's very light hearted.

My stories deal with war, love, refugees, climate and contrast with the fun side of life and the wacky. Another favourite of mine is Remote Viewing (published by Visual Verse) about loneliness and poverty.

This is just a quick look at some of the stories in my book and a little behind the scenes take on how I came to write them. Ideas can come as a bolt from the blue, or they nudge in slowly. The stories also span the years since being published by Paragraph Planet, and I will always be grateful to them as I pushed on with my writing. The last previously published story here is The Tomorrow Box from 2023 (Aayo), a ghostly searching for a past and future.

I hope that's whetted your appetite. You can read all the stories for yourself. The book is available through Amazon (eBook, paperback, Kindle Unlimited) and to order through all good bookshops. It is getting 5* reviews.