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.

Supporting other writers

 A few weeks ago I attended a new play in Camden as part of the their fringe festival. The lady who wrote it and acted in it is part of the group I call The London Writers Support Group. We have been meeting once a month for just over a year, and we were all part of Indie Novella Online Writing Course. 

This is a very supportive group, so when Ioana said she was taking her play to the Edinburgh Fringe, our group supported her in her crowdfunding. And then she told us she was putting the play on in Camden prior to Edinburgh, and I booked tickets for myself and a friend.

The venue had a bar/cafe at street level, and the performance space was down in the basement. It was good to see other people from the group too. The play entitled Goodness Me was funny. The play featured thirty-year-old Celeste, whose relationship had just finished. She is lonely, broke and utterly lost. Her life begins to unravel. Her only companion is Lulu, a snarky yet oddly wise Furby. As her guide, Celeste must navigate heartbreak, identity and the pressure to fix everything. Celeste is also a writer trying to get her work published, and the comments in the play really resonated with me and made me laugh so much.

How Ioana remembered all those words, I don't know. Not something I could do. I can't even memorise my own poems! It was a lovely evening, and we all had our photos taken together afterwards. I know Ioana still has to edit down the performance as the Edinburgh Fringe shows are for one hour, and this was longer when we saw it. I'm sure she will manage it, and I wish her the best of luck.

It's good to support other writers where we can. This can be by attending a book launch/reading, buying books and leaving reviews on social media and Amazon. Indie authors write some incredible books and do not get the attention traditionally published authors do. Readers aren't always prepared to take a risk with a new author. But they are missing out on some wonderful stories.

The performance space in Camden was packed the night I was there. Ioana had three more nights to perform and it sounded as if the numbers were good again. I hope the other nights went as well, and that the Edinburgh Fringe is a success for her. She told us that without our group she might never have got the play written. I was so pleased I could be a part of this.

So I have a book out. What next?

Pre-Order now!

 Apologies for the delay in posting. I am going through some stuff which has affected my anxiety levels and writing and other things have suffered. 

I had a lovely mini-break with a friend to celebrate our 70th birthdays and while I was away, my son had a prang in his car, and despite the damage being only cosmetic, the insurance company wrote the car off. I could have sat down and cried. This was my cousin's car which I gifted to him and he named Mollie-Sue after my cousin and her little dog. It was all very emotional. It seems the other guy, after verbally abusing my son and getting his insurance details from him, locked himself into his car and refused to speak to my son. The guy was speeding and knew it.

I had to get my head around all this while I was going around Shakespeare's birthplace and stepped out of the gift shop to talk to my son on the phone. In some ways, it was good to be distracted and to be with a friend, but for a while I couldn't concentrate.

Things are sorting themselves out, but all this came on top of other things. My go-to help is plugging my earphones in and listening to music (this time it was Depeche Mode and Tears for Fears) and reading almost non-stop just to fill my head with something other than all the problems. 

This wasn't how I was going to start my post, but life has just thrown a lot at me all in one go and maybe now the tunnel isn't quite so dark. Hopefully.

So, to writing and the subject line of this post. I was so thrilled to hold my book How to Take A Lawnmower Home on the Tube.... in my hands. My author copies are down to two left as friends have been buying from me. However, I learned something else (you never stop learning), and this may be obvious to other writers, but not to me....ratings go up when you sell through Amazon and reviews are from 'verified buyers', though I get most royalties selling direct. It's a minefield of swings and roundabouts. My publisher also put the eBook on Kindle Unlimited where I get paid per page read. I didn't do this with my two previous books, so it will be interesting to see how this works and whether it helps with my royalties, but right now I've had around 35p sent to my account! Oh, lets all go out on that, ha!

Thanks to all who have bought so far and left reviews. I've sold more books than I have reviews so far, but I know some are still reading!

And so, to the next book. Tinsel Street is now out for pre-order through Troubador and Amazon, and no it's not too early to talk about Christmas! Again I was thrilled to clutch my box of books and it looks fantastic, and of course it is a fantastic read.

Here are some links to Tinsel Street: 

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

Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/55vAWLt

You can also get it through Google Play and Apple Books and order through bookshops.

I'm currently looking for a venue to set up an author event locally and hopefully I will have some news on that soon.

So, publishing a book is not the end. There is the constant marketing/promoting one has to do to keep it noticed and looking for new readers. Word of mouth is good, so recommendations and reviews are vital. I've also learned that not all friends will buy my books. I remember once doing a talk to a group I am a member of. They loved the talk, but not one of them bought a book (and I gave away a little booklet of my poetry I had put together on my laptop). If you have bought and read my books, I thank you. If you've left reviews, I am very, very grateful. My goal has always been to share my stories with people. I love writing and cannot imagine life without it.

The life of a writer is never smooth, but I have learned to just about cope with the lows. You need to be thick skinned and I'm not. I know others have given up and some people look down on writers who do. But I understand. I've been there and somehow worked through it. Not everyone can, and I didn't think I could, but I'm still here. I'd never be so disrespectful to those who can't face the rejection and give up. It's just sad that so many good writers never make it, never get the break, never have the support and choose to stop.

Blurb writing -v- Synposis

Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash

 Writing a synopsis is the hardest thing for any writer. We agonise over it and sometimes if feels as if it would be easier to write another book than pen a synopsis. But if you are sending your work out on submission to an agent or publisher, you need to write one.

It has been suggested that it might be useful to write one before you start writing your novel. In some respects for a plotter that might work, but not for me. But you need to know where your story is leading, and so it makes sense doesn't it?

For a panster like me, this has always been something I've struggled with. I'm a random writer starting things without thought as to whether it is a piece of flash, a short story or something longer. This isn't the best way to work, as it can be time consuming later on with re-write etc. Often I write to see where the piece is going and this can create a bit of a stop-start format until I get into something. Every time I write something I approach it differently. I've tried to be more methodical, but I find it squashes my creativity and I've had to accept that this is the way I work.

However, I have devised an in between way of coping. Once I begin something new and realise that it is going to be a longer piece, a potential novella say, I write a blurb. This helps me with direction and puts into place some sort of way forward. And, of course, it can always be changed!

For those who don't know (and I'm sure you do), a synopsis sets out the story with all the main characters and major plot scenes. It is the spoiler alert as it contains the ending. It runs to between 500-800 words. A blurb has to hook the reader in, often asks questions to keep the reader hanging, but never gives away the ending. It is also a lot shorter, typically 100-200 words. You also have to consider how much space there will be on the back of your book, so 250 words is about the limit.

Since publishing my book, How to Take a Lawnmower Home on the Tube, I have stepped back from writing for while. It's been so full on, and my Christmas book Tinsel Street will be coming out later this year (I am just about to approve the eBook version). However, I've been thinking about what I want to do next. I have various manuscripts that need editing, but I also began something new about a month or so ago which has formed the idea for this post today. I wasn't sure whether it had legs, but over the last few days, I've decided it does. I hand wrote some notes and put down ideas for scenes (gosh, a little foray into plotting!) and have borrowed a book from the library for a little research. And this morning I wrote a blurb having thought about the direction this story would take. Writing the way I was with no direction wasn't working. I needed, for once, a place to get to, and I've also 'sort of' seen in my head where it will end (and that's a bit new for me too!)

Everyone works differently, and that is okay as long as it works for you. Some people write their scenes randomly (not in order) and then piece it together at the end (horror!), some write an outline of every scene and chapter before they start, and some, like me, have no idea of the ending or even where the next chapter will take them! I do like my characters to develop and I take my lead from them. 

Here is a bit more about my writing::

• My writing is character led.
• I make a note of first names I like, especially when I hear a name that's not so common.
• Mornings are my best writing times. If I have to write at other times, I find it harder to get going and it's more of a chore. My brain seems to function better shortly after I've woken up.
• Dreams or parts of them sometimes feature in my work.
• I write to music (mainly non-vocal trance). Music with words stop me writing and I want to, and do, sing along! I have playlists, some specific for certain scenes, and some songs remind me of certain characters. One character in an unpublished novel will forever be in my mind when I hear Bon Jovi's 'It's My Life' and Faithless' 'Insomnia'.
• Food, music and art often feature in my writing, especially food. Don't ask me why, it just does. Wait until you read Tinsel Street!
• I love quirky characters.
• The dark and the light - those are my two extremes
• Humour features in everything I write somewhere, if only one line.
• I love playlists and maps in books.
• Writing across genres is my thing. I like to experiment and don't want to be pigeonholed into one genre. I'd soon get bored! 
• I read on average one book a week across genres, including non-fiction. I sometimes get ideas from something I read for either a poem or a story.

What do you most struggle with in your writing? What do you enjoy most? ? I'm always happy to read your comments. 

Flash collection now published!

 

I am pleased and excited to finally announce that my collection of flash stories has been published. How To Take A Lawnmower Home on the Tube and Other Absurd Acts of Everyday Survival deals with loss, desire and absurdity. 

I am really pleased with this little collection and to hold my copies in my hands was a real thrill when they arrived today. The book is available in paperback and ebook from Amazon, but will soon be available to order at bookshops. A direct link to the book on Amazon is https://mybook.to/HTTLH

Here is the back blurb:

This has been a long journey, and I am so excited to finally share this with you. If you like dark humour, or the weird, you'll enjoy this. The stories cross genres. Some are short 75 word flashes while others are longer. I wonder which story will be your favourite.