My Workspace

I thought I’d show you a picture of my chaotic workspace today. This is where I sit for hours pondering manuscripts.

The button editing is going well. If you look closely you can see my two jars – one for half hours completed and one for half hours to be completed. No prizes for guessing which is which - but I am getting there!

As you can see my wall is plastered with author postcards, my family trees, Nanowrimo completed certificates and a picture I painted at a goddess painting workshop.

There is a tottering pile of notebooks behind my laptop. Many of them are full of writing yet to be transcribed.

You may also notice my Writers’ Forum Achievement Chart on the desk. This is a new insert in Writers’ Forum to help you plan your writing month and I have to say it is helping.

If you look closely, you may see a Choclit ribbon, my badge from the last RNA conference and a duster I keep meaning to use.

What is your workspace like?

Writing up to the End

I’ve always been good at starting stories, but not so hot at finishing them. I have files full of starts just waiting for an ending.

Having wailed my dissatisfaction with myself to my writing tutor, Sue Johnson, she came up with a ridiculously simple way of solving the problem. Her suggestion was to write the first and last lines of a story before you write anything else.

Using this technique you always know where you are heading. Drumroll please…..it works! I’m actually finishing stories.

 A personal happy ending.

Sue Johnson has just had a new book published Surfing the Rainbow - details here. This book is for anyone who has tried and failed to create the novel of their dreams. It aims to help writers with visualisation and chakra balancing.

 

I think Sue deserves the advertisement for getting me on track with finishing my stories.

Please share below any writing gems which have helped you.

Don’t Laugh – Button Productivity

I love writing. I hate editing.

In an attempt to increase my editing productivity, I am trying a new system – the button productivity method.

My estimate for a first pass at editing my RNA New Writers’ Scheme novel is one hundred hours work. I have painstakingly counted out two hundred buttons into a jar. The idea is that I will put one button into a jar labelled completed for every half hour of editing I do.

I’m not sure if this will work yet, but at least I should be doing more editing than I am now. It is all too easy to write fresh material or to engage in displacement activities instead of getting on with the edits. The NWS manuscript needs to be sent off for critique before the end of August, but that will be here very quickly. Wish me luck. If nothing else I get to look at my lovely button collection.

What methods do you employ to keep your nose at the grind stone?

Multiples

Those of you who follow my blog will know that my step-father died recently. I can’t believe that it is only two months this week since he passed on – in a lot of ways it feels longer.

My own father died from complications due to his multiple sclerosis at 58. Multiple sclerosis is the link between my family and that of my step-father. My dad had it and so did my step-dad’s late wife. Indeed in a plot twist most writers wouldn’t think up, the romance between my mum and step-father blossomed after a meeting to discuss how my late father’s wheelchair could be used by another MS sufferer.

My step-father worked for the local MS branch, including being president, for many years. It is fitting that the collection at his funeral raised £2518.57 for the MS branch! There were 120 ‘with sympathy’ cards. What a fitting tribute for such a lovely man.

Have you a real life plot twist in your family that no writer could have imagined?

Going with the Flow

You know those mornings when you are rushing to get out and have every minute planned? I got the car out of the garage today and came in to find a little boy in tears at the bottom of the stairs. ‘My head hurts.’

You go through the usual scenarios. Is there something he doesn’t want to do at school? Has he a temperature? Today it was 101! Administer Calpol, get him back to bed, put car away and replan day.

I’m much better these days at going with the flow. In my younger days I would get very het up, these days I ask the question – ‘what am I meant to be doing today instead?’

So far I’ve succeeded in the displacement activities of cleaning football boots and dusting downstairs. Little one (now up and feeling better!) has just taken my collection of crystals out of their bowl so that I can clean it. I’ve installed my laptop in the lounge, little one on the settee with a blanket, so will I be writing? What do you think?

An Interview about Reading Habits with my Mother!

My Mom is nearly 80. She always has a book on the go and so I decided to so some research and ask her a few questions about her reading habits.

  

 Mom in her late teens.

 Were you encouraged to read as a child?

When I was at school and the air raid siren went off, we all trouped out to the playground and filed into the air raid shelter. It was on these occasions that I remember learning my alphabet. I must have been five or six and we chanted the letters to pass the time.

My father and grandmother were avid readers. It was my job to fetch their books from the library. I can remember going down the road to the private library, first on my scooter and then on my precious bike (they were difficult to come by in the war). I had to get Biggles books for my father. My Grandma always insisted that I read the last few pages of books I selected for her. I could only bring them home if they had a happy ending. My library habit was established and I am a staunch supporter of my local library which I visit every week.

What sort of books do you read?

These days I get through at least two books a week. I always used to stick to authors I knew, such as Audrey Howard and Dick Francis. I think I’ve read more books by Dick Francis than he’s written!

Since Morton has been writing and, consequently, reading widely, I have been reading all sorts of books which she passes on to me. This has made me much more adventurous and now I look for new authors in all sorts of genres.

What makes a good book?

I like books with a puzzle, such as detective stories. They have to have a good story and keep me guessing. The first few pages have to intrigue me and not give away the plot.

Thank you Mom.

Mom is likely to be published before me as she has written a large proportion of her memoirs. Following the recent death of my stepfather, she is about to begin the story of the last twenty years she shared with him.

She has promised to proof read my novels, but I will admit to being a bit daunted in the face of her experienced eye!

My Top Twelve Books from 2012

I haven’t read as many books this year, but I think that may have something to do with the fact that I have been writing and editing more. Or is the fact I’ve been tired and only managed a few pages before going to sleep?

I record comments about the books I read and then I rate them on two scales – writing technique and plot. The scores out of five for each of these are combined to give an overall total.

As the final days of 2012 roll over and the book I am reading at the moment will be rated in 2013, I thought that I would share with you the twelve books I have read which scored 8 or over.

A Lifetime Burning – Linda Gillard
Rowley Regis: A History – Edward Chatham
Renovation, Renovation, Renovation – Nell Dixon
Kissing Mr Wrong – Sarah Duncan
The Ballroom Class – Lucy Dillon
Please Don’t Stop the Music – Jane Lovering
Peaches For Monsieur Le Cure – Joanne Harris (10 points)
The Silent Touch of Shadows – Christina Courtenay
Written in the Stars – Serenity Woods
Time’s Echo – Pamela Hartshorne
Thursdays in the Park – Hilary Boyd (10 points)
River of Destiny – Barbara Erskine (10 points)

Thought I'd also share The Kissing Patch. It was in one of the arcades in Birmingham. the patch was on the floor and hanging above was a piece of mistletoe. The poem around the edge is lovely. Let's hope someone got a special kiss.

 

Happy New Year to everyone. Let’s hope 2012 is a good one.

Please share your favourite book of 2012 below.