Life in Clarity

Sunday Walk

2012-02-19T14:23:00.001Z

Anyone who knows me will tell you I don't do exercise and I don't do walking. Yes, I know both are good for you and I really should, but I just can't seem to summon the enthusiasm for either.

Anyway, as today was a glorious looking day, bright blue skies and dry, I decided we should, as a family, take Bob the dog for a long walk in our nearest woods. As you know, I feel physically and mentally sluggish at this time of year, so this seemed like a good idea to start shaking the sluggishness off.

I took my painkillers as my hip was already niggling me, wrapped us all up and set off.

It really was beautiful.

I took lots of photographs. Little man loved the trees and kept pointing out things I should be taking photos of. We were really lucky and came across a man out working his bird of prey. Stunning.

Bob loved the change in her daily walk.

We walked for about an hour and a half and I was flagging at the end, but I really enjoyed it and have even suggested we make it a regular Sunday morning thing.

I wonder if I'll regret that idea.

What do you love to do on a Sunday morning?

Cat & The Dreamer

2012-02-18T10:28:00.001Z

First of all I have to make an apology to Annalisa Crawford over at Wake up, Eat, Write Sleep, as I said I would give her book publication day a shout out on Tuesday. Unfortunately I have been so ridiculously busy at work and shattered when I get in, that I haven't really been online and the post that went up was sat in that scheduled day for a while. So massive apologies to Annalisa.

I hope you had an amazing launch day Annalisa and are still feeling the buzz from it. I'm so thrilled for you.

So with apologies made, all that is left to do is ask you to visit Annalisa's launch day post and wish her well on the publication of Cat & The Dreamer.

Congratulations Annalisa!!

The End of Google Friend Connect

2012-02-14T08:30:00.000Z

You see that box on the right hand sidebar of the blog? The square with everyones faces and the "Join this site" button above? Well as of the first of March 2012 it will disappear unless you have a Google blog. This is the official announcement on Googles blog;

Google Friend Connect—Friend Connect allows webmasters to add social features to their sites by embedding a few snippets of code. We're retiring the service for all non-Blogger sites on March 1, 2012. We encourage affected sites to create a Google+ pageand place a Google+ badge on their site so they can bring their community of followers to Google+ and use new features like Circles and Hangouts to keep in touch.

Well, I haven't really taken to Google+ and I don't want to be forced into using it. The good thing is, I can keep the Friend connect but the downside is, you can only join Life in Clarity via the button if you have a Google blog yourself.

What does this mean if you use Wordpress or other blogging software? Simple, you can subscribe to the blog. In the box under my profile there is space to put your email and subscribe. That way, when a post goes up, you will be sent the post into your email in box. For me, it's another example of how the big boys of the internet can't play together in the playground. I hope you will still follow the posts when you can. I appreciate everyone who reads, browses and comments here. What is blogging if it's not you right now?

Here's to many more blog posts, regardless of bits of software being added or removed!

Is this something you will be affected by?

Books We Love Blogfest

2012-02-11T08:30:00.000Z

Today's post is a blog hop, created by the lovely Rebecca Kiel over on her blog of the same name. The premise is simple - List one of your favourite books.

Simple eh?! I found this blog hop gave me a ridiculously difficult choice to make. Choose one book you love. How as a book lover of many genres choose just one book?

If I was looking specifically at a book aimed at writers, I would easily have said Stephen King's On Writing, but that narrows the field of people who would want to read it, down.

The book that has made a massive impact me on most recently, I have already blogged about. Jojo Moyes, Me before You.

So where did I go from there? I decided the best place was to go to my favourite author who just so happens to write a crime series and then pick her first book in that series and the one that started my love of her books, so my book for todays blog hop is Karin Slaughter - Blindsighted.

It's brilliantly done. Slaughter's book, though crime orientated and sometimes grisly, are character driven and you can easily get inside their skins. Often, you wish you weren't in that skin at that point in time, but that's because she drags you along so mercilessly. I love her books, I love her narrative style, so Blindsighted is a great place to start if you want to try a crime series.

Blue Monday And On.

2012-02-08T08:30:00.001Z

What is it about January and even February that leaves me with this feeling that I'm carrying around limbs and a head full of lead, or have heavy clouds floating comically around my head similar to the seeing stars effect, but especially made for January?

Blue Monday was named so by a publicity campaign which said the last Monday of January was the most depressing day of the year. Well I've been feeling Blue Monday for the majority of January and it's following me into February.

I announced on the first of January that was I was taking part in the 100,000 words in a 100 days challenge. That didn't happen. Yes I started and I have my first few chapters, I know where it's all going and the work has continued on in my head, but the ability to sit down at my desk and churn out the words is missing. I know we are supposed to make ourselves sit in that seat and work like any other job, but the way I'm feeling, the words wouldn't be anything like I see in my head and lead fingers would set in.

So, book two is happily running away in my head, that's still classed as working right? I'm also not just giving in to it and doing nothing. I have read more books in January than I have ever managed to read in a month. So again, I'm still working. You can't be a writer if you don't read. I'm loving the time to read and I'm loving losing myself in the books. I keep peeking up though to see if Blue January and February have gone yet, so I'm not hiding completely. I can see those heavy clouds around my head shifting now. Not much, but movement has started.

Do you feel affected by the seasons and if so, how do you combat it?

Author Interview - Mel Sherratt

2012-02-06T08:30:00.000Z

Today's blog post is an interview with author and good friend, Mel Sherratt. Mel has recently seen her first released crime novel, Taunting The Dead, soar up the UK Amazon kindle charts and I'm thrilled to have her visit and chat about what she loves, and that's writing.

HiMel, thanks for visiting Life In Clarity, we are very honoured tohave you here. As a writer aspiring to publication I'm veryinterested in how fellow writers get started and their processes.What started you on your path to writing?

HiRebecca and many thanks for hosting me on your blog. I'm not sureeven I can remember the first step on the path because I've been onthe journey for so long! It's a cliche but I've always wanted towrite. From sixteen, I sent a few short stories to a magazine I can'tremember the name of (I think it was Love Stories!) but they were allrejected, despite the encouraging comments that they were sending tome eventually. After that, I must have read every 'how to write' bookin the library over and over but then life got in the way. My dreamalways remained but it became more of a hobby. You could always tellwhen I wasn't happy in a job or a relationship as I would turn to mywriting to make me happy. Once things were on the straight and narrowagain, I'd stop writing. Then a few years ago, I started to getserious about it, wrote 'Chapter One' and didn't finish until I wrote'The End' three months later. Since then I've been trying to getbetter at it.

Andhow did your current crime fiction novel Taunting The Dead come into being?

Taunting the Deadwas my agent's idea. I'd written three crime thriller novels,primarily with women characters - real women, real problems, realcrime – but without publication success. She suggested I write anovel incorporating a murder whodunnit. Because I didn't have apolice background, I came up with the idea of a family liaisonofficer being attracted to the main suspect in a murderinvestigation. But as the plots twisted and the characters becamemany, I realised that more scenes needed to happen outside of thefamily home. So the family liaison officer became a detectivesergeant. I then researched and learnt about police procedures andTaunting the Dead grew to what it is today.

I'm imagining there's a lot that you need to know for a policeprocedural, how do you go about researching something like policeprocedure and forensics?

Inever thought I'd be able to write a police procedural in allhonesty. In fact, once I'd discussed it with my agent, I becameblocked for a while convincing myself that I couldn't. 'Write whatyou know' is a common saying among writers but I suppose not manybooks would be written if we didn't break this rule! I researched alot of things off the internet and brought a book on writing crimefiction. I alsoread tons of best selling crime fiction by authors such as PeterJames, Mark Billingham, Lynda La Plante, who had characters similarto mine within their novels. I watched a lot of television programsbut annoyingly I was soon shouting out 'they wouldn't just walk intoa murder scene like that!' at the screen. I found a few contacts viatwitter too. Some people are only too willing to help, if you asknicely and respect their time. I also have a local bobby that I canchat through about the little things - obviously there is only acertain amount of information that I can be privy to. But the littlethings are so important to get right as I think these are theingredients that make a book authentic.

Idid think for a while that I became bogged down by research as a typeof procrastination so finally I sat down and began to write. Gulp.

Andin the knowing more, did you break any preconceived ideas of cops orjust reinforce what you felt?

Idon't think I had any preconceived ideas of cops as I used to work asa housing officer, so would often have dealings with them. The peopleI mixed with day in day out were true professionals. So you could sayit reinforced what I already felt. And asking for information isgreat too. I would, however, love to have a look around one of thelarger police stations in Stoke on Trent and get the feel and senseof the building - the smell of the cells, the noise in a busyreception on a Friday evening, that kind of thing.

Youmentioned sitting down to write and the dreaded procrastination word.A word and concept I know many of us are familiar with. What is yourideal writing environment and can we see your work space please?

Myideal writing environment can be anywhere as long as I am alone andin silence - my dog, Dexter not included in that sentence! I findwhen I am drafting that I have to be silent. When I am editing, I canlisten to music but it's only the radio rather than a particularmusic album. I know other writers that say the music helps them towrite but for me it doesn't work. My ideal accompaniment is alwayscoffee...

Ihave two places where I work, well, actually three if you count mysettee! In the winter months, I hole myself up in my office, which isreally the box room upstairs. It gets cozy in there when it's cold.But in summer, I sit at the kitchen table facing the garden. I hadFrench doors fitted last year so now when the sun is shining, I cansit indoors with those open and it feels like I'm in the garden. Orwhen it's really lovely, I go out into the garden. Portable workingat its best!

So,what's next for Mel Sherratt?

Gosh,I don't really know. Taunting the Dead is doing well so I'd reallylike to bring out the next book in the series - which I've only juststarted to think about. I have the title, characters, murders allmapped out so it's getting quite juicy. My ultimate dream is still toget a traditional deal so that's what I'm aiming for. I'd love towrite this one as part of a two book deal.

Thankyou for spending some time talking to me Mel. I know just how busyyou are, so I appreciate the time. So, on the theme of interviews,the last question is - If you could interview anyone living or dead,who would it be?

Ithink it would have to be Elvis Presley. I grew up with parents wholistened to his music all the time and their love for him rubbed offon me. I love listening to his songs and of course he would singWooden Heart just for me - in his GI uniform - swoon.

Places you can find Mel;

Taunting the Dead on Amazon

High Heels and Book Deals blog

Twitter

April A to Z Blogging Challenge

2012-02-03T08:30:00.000Z

On Monday, Lee over at Tossing It Out opened the April A to Z blogging challenge sign up linky.

Many of you will be aware what this challenge consists of as I know I raised my follower count last April doing this challenge. For those who haven't yet heard of this, it's concept is simple. You post a blog post every day (other than Sundays) with title of posts/themes going from A to Z. It's hard work as I found out last year. I failed with 2 or 3 letters, but other than that, it was a good go for the first year I'd participated.

It's a great tool for finding other bloggers out there and making new connections. Last year I think over a thousand bloggers signed up. The idea is to visit your fellow A to Z bloggers, but with numbers like that signing up, I don't think it's possible to do that. My thoughts on it, is to visit as many as I can and particularly any bloggers who leave me comments. One piece of advice I read last year, just before commencing the challenge was to write some posts in advance. It's recognised that this is a time consuming challenge. I didn't manage to write any before it started, but with two months notice, I am definitely going to try and get a few written up and stored under my belt for April coming around. That way I have more time for visiting fellow bloggers rather than pulling my hair out wondering what I'm going to blog about on any given day.

If you fancy joining a massive blogging effort, then pop over to Lee's opening post and sign up. Also there are links to the A to Z blog and posts of advice.

So, who's joining me in this? Come on, don't let me sweat through this alone!

New Commenting Feature

2012-02-01T08:30:00.000Z

I'm not sure how far behind I am with this posts title, or how "New" the feature actually is. Maybe I should have the title as New to me, commenting feature.

The reason I now know about this new feature is I found a great "How to" post on Pearson Report blog, on Monday. The post not only informed me about the new feature - Yes we're still going with new, no matter how old it actually is -but it has a great step by step image guide for dummies. Yep, that's the category I fall into with blogs.

What is this great new feature? - you are all probably using by now. Well previously when replying to comments, I had to make a whole list in one comment box and hope someone may be interested in searching through it for a specific response to themselves. Now though, Google Blogger have added the ability to reply to bloggers individual comments. I love this! It's something I've been envious of Wordpress bloggers for, for some time.

So, if like me, you didn't know this new feature existed and you want to know how to add it to your own blog, I suggest you go take a peek at this Pearson Report post, where the very quick steps are explained.

Did you already know this existed and do you/will you use it?

Goodreads - Save Your Books!

2012-01-30T10:49:00.000Z

I was surprised to find an email from Goodreads this morning, stating that as from 30th January 2012, they were no longer allowed to import book information from Amazon, so the information on some books will be missing. Goodreads was excellent, in that they told me the exact book on my shelves, which would lose some of it's information. Getting that info back was easy. Go to your account and click a few buttons. I was pleased to find that I was actually saving a friends book. All I had to do was get the image of the cover from her website and load it on to Goodreads. Easy.

Amazon haven't given Goodreads much time to complete this task and it looks to be another website war. It's not as though there are only a few of us mere mortals using the internet is it? Goodreads, in my opinion have handled it very well. I will still buy my books from Amazon and review them both on Goodreads and Amazon. I don't see the big issue. Goodreads is a site that brings book lovers together and if I read a friends review I really like, I jump straight on Amazon and download it. To me it's a great mutual relationship. It's a shame it had to end.

If you haven't been on your Goodreads account for a while, it's worth logging on to see if you need to save any of your books. Below is the statement of explanation on Goodreads.

Dear Rebecca,

At Goodreads, we make it a priority to use book information from the most reliable and open data sources, because it helps us build the best experience for our members. To that end, we're making a major change.

On January 30, Goodreads will no longer display book information that comes from Amazon.

This includes data such as titles, author names, page counts, and publication dates. For the vast majority of book editions, we have imported this data from other sources. Those few remaining editions for which we haven't found an alternative source of information will be removed from Goodreads.

Your data is safe.

Your ratings, reviews, and bookshelves are safe, but your data may be moved to a different edition of the book. If we can't find a matching edition, then your review will be attached to a book with no title or author

Luckily, you can help us find alternate sources for book editions and rescue those editions.

Rescuing a book is easy.

Just click the "Rescue Me!" button next to each book edition that needs help, and fill in the information on the following page. A few keystrokes can help preserve these book editions for millions of future readers.

Thanks for helping Goodreads remain the special place it is!

Sincerely,

Instagram

2012-01-29T11:26:00.001Z

Yesterday I started to use an iPhone app called instagram. Instagram is a photo effect and sharing app. You sign up as you would do a blog, Twitter or Facebook and then you share wonderful images and parts of your day in beautifully edited images, its so simple to use.

Like Twitter and any other social network site, you follow people to see their images. If you look me up you will find me under username rebeccajbradley. I'm now completely addicted to what an iPhone can do with photographs and effects. I've downloaded a couple of other effect/editing apps and I'm having a whale of a time with it.

Photographs are a great way to say something. Have a look at Instagram and find me if you like it.

These are a few of the images I've created and shared. - Please bare in mind I am only an iPhone photograph beginner.

Follow Friday Feature

2012-01-27T11:30:00.000Z

Today I'm participating in a blog hop. It's been a while since I did one, so I thought, as I'm not at work today and have a bit of time, I'd give this great, book related hop another go. It's chock full of book enthusiastic bloggers so what could be better? Full rules for the hop are on Parajunkees blog and is co-hosted by Alison Can Read. Featured blogger this week is Book'd Out.

The hop always involves a question. This weeks question is;

Q: Which book genre do you avoid at all costs and why?

This year I'm attempting to widen my reading choices and try books I wouldn't normally pick up, so this question is a bit at odds with that plan, but one that I don't think I'll be able to get my head around is dystopian. I'm not sure I could say why particularly. I think it's the doom and gloom and grimness that is portrayed throughout. Even if there is a triumph at the end, the whole imagery of the idea just sets me off running in the opposite direction. You probably think that strange as I write crime, murder, but it's set in reality and in reality the cops go home to places you and I are familiar with. There is a sense of reality and calm in there somewhere and that's what I like. It's all choices I know.

I hope you join in with this hop. Welcome to any new followers who pop by. It really is great to have you here and I hope to see you again.

Now time to go hopping!

Recently Read - Me Before You

2012-01-22T15:24:00.000Z

I've just finished reading, Me Before You by Jojo Moyes and I can still feel the prickle on my cheeks from the drying tears. I sobbed at this book like I have never sobbed at a book before and had to share it with you.

The back cover blurb doesn't do the book justice;

Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that.

What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time.

But the quote from The Independant on Sunday does;

Gorgeously romantic and partner-ignoringly compulsive.

It absolutely is. I read the second half of the book in a day and though I may have been sobbing uncontrollably (Luckily I was in the house and not sat on a train where I had been reading some of it yesterday) it also had me laughing out loud throughout. It's a book that will take you on an emotional rollercoaster ride as Lou starts to work for the Traynors and the handsome, life-loving son Will, who is now a quadraplegic after a terrible accident. It is told with humour and sensitivity and catches hold of the way public disability is perceived. It will make you think and grabs hold of you hard and doesn't let go.

If you only read one book this year, make this the book you read. I can't recommend this book enough. Please, just read it.

What Do You Have Waiting To Be Read?

2012-01-19T16:38:00.000Z

I love reading, as I know many of you do. There aren't enough hours in the day for me to inhale the amount of books I want to read, but it doesn't stop me trying.

I used to only read crime fiction, it's the genre I love, but last year I read some chick-lit and loved it. Then I got a kindle, or the kindle app on the iPad anyway. This has been addictive for me. I can't keep out of the bookstore. I've never had so many books waiting to be read. In eBook alone, I think I have about 50 books waiting to be read. There was a big jump in these just after Christmas when the Amazon eBook store had a 12 days of Christmas special where they put multiple books on offer for 99p. I was in reading heaven.

The outcome is I found books I wouldn't normally read. My favourite title from these is How to teach Quantum Physics to you Dog. I mean, what a great title!

I can't wait to read this. I love science, so I'm fascinated by what could be in this book.

I've decided I really need to widen my reading pattern as well as reading a lot in my chosen genre. Below are some of the other books I've downloaded that I maybe wouldn't have read a year ago as well as a crime fiction book introducing me to an author I haven't read. All in my waiting to be read list.

What do you have waiting to be read and do you dip into books you maybe wouldn't have thought you'd enjoy?

Broken

2012-01-14T12:32:00.000Z

I've broken the blog.

I wasn't in the least bit happy about it. Obviously.

All I wanted to do was have a look what the new Blogger Dynamic blog would look like, so I tinkered away and clicked a few keys. And Voila, a dynamic blog I didn't like because the header was gone and so was the About me, Follow Me buttons, and Google Friends Connect button. How is anyone supposed to navigate a blog and know where they have landed, and how to get back to it, if it's not all clearly signposted? So, no, dynamic blogs weren't for me. Only, I lost what I had and now, though I have most of it back, I can't figure out how to change the colour of the post title or the posts done this month, bit. I know where to look on the dashboard for the post title colour, but when I click on it, there is only the option to change the font and size, no colour pallette.

So it's still broken.

I have been considering a re-vamp, but that's all it was, a wispy thought that came and went, that I didn't have half an intention of implementing yet. Now though, I'm annoyed. Both with myself and the blog itself. Pah.

I hope that all the odd colours and wonky feel of the place doesn't put people off. It's still me in here. Promise.

What Bookshops Do In The Night

2012-01-13T10:26:00.000Z

I thought after such a deep post last weekend, I would share something beautiful and light-hearted today. I came across this thanks to @writermels on Twitter.

Please enjoy.

The Effectiveness Of Storytelling

2012-01-07T10:56:00.000Z

The title of this post was between two choices, The Effectiveness Of Storytelling or The Power of Social Media and Press, both of which would still have the same following post. I went with the storytelling title because that is what I do, so it seemed more relevant and the storytelling involved disturbed me and made me think quite hard about my own actions which evidences the power of a well told story. What I'm about to discuss though, shows, in the most far fetched way, the power social media and press reporting have on some events occurring in the world.

I would advise before reading further, that this has an adult rated theme, so if you are below the age of 18, please don't read further. I am going to attempt to tell you about the story that prompted this post. It was a television drama I recorded in December and only watched this week. I will clip my language when it comes to telling of the difficult part in an attempt to not put anything too awful in your head, but it will show the power a story has. The programme was called Black Mirror. Here is a quick potted version with my thoughts.

The Prime Minister wakes to be informed that the princess has been kidnapped. A video recorded ransom demand was posted on You-Tube showing the princess talking, in tears, to the camera. It is acknowledged that this is genuine. The video was removed after 9 minutes but it was too late, people had downloaded it and kept uploading it and the cycle continued.

It is here that the problem starts. Once something has gone out on the internet, it can not be retrieved. You can delete/remove your own version, but there is absolutely nothing to say who else now has it or what they will do with it. In this instance, the general public are aware of the princesses kidnap and are extending the story around the globe, specifically on Twitter. Control of a situation is already lost.

The kidnapper has one demand and a list of how this must be done and also what must not be done. (here's the difficult bit.) The kidnapper wants the Prime Minister to...erm... do a despicable act...erm.... on live television with set camera specifications, roaming camera and with no stand in doing it for him. Put the word...pig... into the above lines somewhere and you get the gist.

Yes, this is somewhat ridiculous, but please keep following.

Prime Ministers staff gauge statistics from social media sites and assess that 80+% of people don't think he should do it. They set up a stand in and prepare for filming. A leak in the PM's office leaks it to the press, who film the preparations and the result is the kidnapper seemingly cuts off the princesses finger for disobeying him and posts this on You-Tube. Public sympathy leaves the PM.

It is at this point that the story comes into it's own and where I really squirmed and wondered at the place of social media.

PM's staff tell him if he doesn't do it, not only will he be the most hated man in the world, but they could not guarantee his safety or that of his wife and baby.

The climax came, the "hero" has to make an awful decision. I am barely breathing. The unthinkable versus saving someones life, not just anyone, but a royal princess whom the public adore. The information that the PM and family safety could not be guaranteed were the most intense couple of sentences spoken in the hour long programme.

PM does this act, the princes is released. His popularity rises, but his wife never speaks to him again.

Sounds awful and vaguely heroic if you don't think about the awfulness.

The twist in the story was that the princess was released into the streets, slightly sedated, half an hour before the television live film. The crazy kidnapper wanted to see if it could be done, and he took his own life.

Really, I had already thought the story had taken me to the limit, but the twist just left me gobsmacked and in a very contemplative mood.

This story has stuck with me for days. It was so powerful and well told. It showed that you can take the story out as far as you want, as long as there are points of such believability in it that people can connect on an emotional level.

The social media aspect was very clever and I will now always gauge what I tweet in such significant matters.

Is there a story that you have read or watched, that has gripped you and been so impactive it has made you look at your own actions in some small way?

Apologies if I have upset anyone. This story caught hold of something inside me that I just have to discuss it.

UK Writers

2012-01-03T09:30:00.000Z

This post is of particular significance if you are a Twitter user. Personally I love and adore Twitter and will bore you with all the reasons why in another blog post at some point in the future, but for now, I want to talk about the hashtag #UKwriters. If you are not a Twitter user, please don't run off and hide under the nearest rock and quiver until you think the awfully invasive T word has disappeared, pull up a seat and see what all the fuss is about and maybe by the end of the post, you may have just a tinkling of interest that may prompt you to check out the phenomena that is Twitter.

On 28th December I read a post on Rosalind Adams blog about a new hashtag she created, that is circulating on Twitter called #ukwriters. Below is an exerpt from her blog explaining. (I feel she can do this much better than I can.)

@mariaAsmith and myself, @RosalindAdam, thought it would be useful for UK writers to have a tag so we can link up with each other to share news on Twitter. The news can be writing opportunities, competitions, conferences, in fact anything that's relevant to UK writers.

If you're interested then please tweet ‘I'm in #UKwriters’ to @mariaAsmith and she'll include your twitter name on her UKwriters twitter list. If you're already on the list and want to follow more UK writers go to Maria Smith UK writers list where you can check it out. Do please use the #UKwriters tag whenever you tweet writing advice etc. Who knows, we might even get it trending.

I think this explains it brilliantly and what I love about it is the ability to share what you are doing and what help/support and general all round friendliness towards writers, there is out there. We all know writing is a very solitary thing to engage in, so for a few characters you can engage with like minded people and know you aren't so alone. Yes we have blogs, but Twitter is quicker and more instantaneous. If you use Twitter, join in, if you don't use Twitter, why not pop by and give it a try, you already know some of the users now.

For anyone who doesn't know how the hashtag (#) works, it's simple. Add the # to a tweet you are making and your tweet can be easily found by people who are interested in it.

Here's an example;

Hey, there's a uk competition at blah blah blah. Free to enter! #ukwriters.

Anyone following the hashtag chat will see it and you have informed a bunch of fellow writers of something you think they will be interested in. The hashtag doesn't have to be a part of the sentence. It's simply tagged to the end.

You'll find me @RebbecaJBradley I look forward to seeing you there.

100k Words In 100 Days Challenge.

2012-01-01T11:32:00.000Z

Well that step into the New Year of 2012 was a fairly peaceful one for me. No late night partying or over consuming of alcohol and food, but a quiet evening with family and Midnight only just witnessed. I know how to have a good time!

A good start to the first day of a new challenge I'm signed up for. 100 thousand words in 100 days. You can find the details of the challenge over on Sally Quillfords Blog.

It's great timing for me. My first WIP is out on submission and I've had about six weeks to run the second book through my head and make some notes and do some research, so I think I'm about ready to start WIP number two. I love challenges like this one because even though I have to sit down alone at my desk, and I have to come up with the goods on my own, I don't feel quite so alone, knowing there are many of us taking part. If I can get my first draft down in the next three months then I will be thrilled. It may not make a great deal of sense, but neither did the first one when I read it back. There was a plot hole you could have lost a whole village in, never mind fallen into yourself. It's the editing I love. When you can see the framework and you mould it into what you imagined it to be initially. That's if your characters let you go down the initial path and didn't lead you a merry dance into an unknown world.

Anyway, I'm all signed up and I've cleaned my desk space in preparation. What I didn't bank on already, was having massive misgivings about the plot in this WIP. I love the idea, I really want to work the idea, but then I realised I couldn't deal with such a complicated plot as a new writer, so I tweeted that the idea wasn't going to work and that would be the end of that story.

The problem was, after tweeting that it wasn't going to happen, my head had other idea's and just wouldn't let it go. It sent me into the world of research again, told me if I worked hard and allowed the story to flow, we could actually do it. So with no will of my own, it looks as the the story for the challenge is the original one my common sense told me was too big.

Lets see where this challenge takes us shall we?

Is anyone else doing this or something similar?

A Review Of 2011 And Further.

2011-12-30T13:40:00.001Z

We're rapidly approaching the new year 2012 and it's often a time where we reflect on the past year and look forward to the year ahead. This is going to be nothing different.

The last blog post of 2011 was a list of 11 goals I was setting myself to achieve in this year. Now is the time to see how I've done and assess what goals I need to look at for the year ahead 2012.

1. Read 40 books

I completed this. Though my Goodreads ticker only stands at 41, I know I have read at least 3 more that for some reason Goodreads didn't want to acknowledge. I'm not sure what that says about my taste in books!

2. Complete first draft of novel and subsequent edited drafts

This I did! And I'm thrilled with the fact that I did. It was hard work. I've had a lot of other things going on this year and I work full time, but regardless of that I still kept pushing myself, sitting down at my newly acquired office space that used to be a spare room and I wrote and I edited and I kept doing it and novel number one was born.

3. Query agent with completed novel

Believe it or not, I even managed to do this. I'm still in the anxiety riddled stage of waiting to hear back, but I'm pleased with what I achieved.

4. See a musical

Unfortunately this one wasn't completed. My other half lost his job earlier in the year do finances restricted social plans like this.

5. Lose 1.5 stone

Mmm. I can't seriously remember what my starting weight was when I wrote this so I can't say either way. That's not a get out clause. I genuinely don't know. I have lost some weight but I don't think it was in this ball park.

6. Start yoga

Oops. I forgot this one.

7. Submit 12 pieces of writing to competitions

I changed my mind about this one early into this year as I decided I needed to focus on the novel.

8. Write at least 6 blog posts a month.

In the main I managed this, other than September and October when I was in that last push to completing the novel. I'm happy with this one.

9. Be more organised. Set goals. Write things down.

This, I think I managed. There's still room for improvement but I'm getting there.

10. Raise the profile of the blog and have an extra 12 followers by the end of 2011 (one a month. Today it stands at 15)

See, I should have done the bracketed thing with the weight loss goal. Ha! Not really. Who wants to put their weight in black and white for all to see?

Anyway, I think I successfully managed to do this. 195 followers! Bear in mind my last post where I discuss quality over quantity. I do want to improve my jnteractions.

11. Push Doctors until a final diagnosis is agreed for son and I.

Done. We have hyper mobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and I also have Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. Not much to have a song and dance about but the objective was met and we know what we're dealing with.

So with this past year all checked out, what do I intend to focus on for 2012? Lets see.... I'm not sure I can come up with 11, never mind 12, but here goes.

1. Read 50 books and in a variety of genres.

2. Start Pilates and another form of exercise.
Due to my medical diagnosis's I need to exercise more, but I need to be sensible in the choices I make.

3. Write book two.

4. Have a publishing contract for book one.
This is out of my hands in the main though. I will work hard but the choice is ultimately be in someone elses hands.

5. Lose a stone in weight.
It's a constant battle, but a smaller goal is more achievable and I don't want to put things on this list just for the fun of it.

6. Make more quality connections when blogging.
If commenting, to make sure I have something to say rather than a one sentence comment for the sake of it.

7. Keep in touch with the people who are important to me.
We often let this slide in our lives. We become busy and time slips away. I want to make a conscious effort to not do this.

What do you have planned for the coming year?

Holiday Cleanup.

2011-12-28T10:32:00.000Z

It's that time of year when the Christmas festivities start to die down and everything heads to the one last night of the year and a new page is turned, or so we are led to believe. I think we actually do the page turning ourselves and I hope to make my 2012 a great year. More of that though later in the week when I look at past ambitions from last years list of what I wanted 2011 to be and what I want the next year to look like.

Now though, it's time to tidy up. Make room and create a clean page from which to work. So what am I talking about? Right here, right now, I'm talking about blogging. I had a great year on my blog this year. I took part in several blogging challenges and blogfests and built myself up a huge reading list of blogs. I can now see that the reading list is too noisy and unlike Twitter, there is no way to siphon the blogs into lists, so it is just a noise of words. I don't look at it often enough, so find I'm missing posts I'd have liked to have participated in and seeing posts that I do respond to but the blogger has no idea who I am or why I suddenly popped up and there's no return comment. This I'm afraid annoys me. I take the time to comment on someones blog, I'd like to be acknowledged, either by a responsive comment on the same thread or a look over Life in Clarity and a comment left here. Often there's neither.

So what is my plan and how will I create a clean page? I'm unfollowing. It may sound harsh, but I read something on a blog this week, and I apologise because I can't link to the blog because my list is so big I can't remember where I saw it, but the gist was about blogging and community. The blog talked about blogging being a community and not worrying about the size of readership, the interactions are what are important. It's no good having hundreds or thousands of readers if they don't read or interact. This struck a chord with me.

I believe that the blogosphere is a community and I want to know that community and not just blend in with the noise. So by unfollowing blogs I probably followed during a massive blog hop and neither they or I have visited the respective blogs again, and blogs I feel have too many followers and they no longer have the capacity to respond, I make that space for people I can talk with and share things with. So if you're here now, reading this, it's likely you are still being followed by me and we do know each others blogs. I still have a large list of blogs I follow, but I have managed to cut some of it down. There will still be blogs I don't have chance to visit on a regular basis, but when I checked them out, I liked their content and voice of the blog so they stayed.

I want to visit your blog and I want to interact with your blog. It's not a numbers game. It's a place to talk and share and I hope by having a bit of a clear out, I can become a better blogger. If you are reading this and believe I have unfollowed you by mistake, then please let me know.

What are your thoughts, idea's and expectations of blogging and where do you want to take your blog in 2012?

Wishing You A Happy And Peaceful Christmas

2011-12-23T18:47:00.000Z

It doesn't seem long at all, since I last wrote a Christmas post. Isn't that what we always say though? Christmas always comes around so fast.

The joy of blogs, blogging and blogging friends is that we can share this time regardless of where in the world we are, how we live or how we experience this day.

Whether this period of the year brings with it joy or sorrow, I wish to you a peaceful and calm period and hope where-ever you are, that you know you have a voice and within this community you can share and be heard. I look forward to blogging with you until another Christmas comes around all unexpected, like we didn't see it coming.

As for hopes and aspirations, that will appear in a post next week. Until then, all that is left to say is Happy Christmas.

Our small tree decorated by the children.

Recently Read - Taunting The Dead

2011-12-19T10:58:00.001Z

A couple of weeks ago I read a book by a friend of mine, Taunting the Dead by Mel Sherratt. Mel has written a fantastic crime novel which is very character driven. You could accuse me of being biased which is why I'm telling you that I know Mel in the first place. But to be honest, It is a really well written, great book and I hope you check it out yourselves. It's in eformat only and a great price.

I hope to pin Mel down, in the new year, for an interview. Watch this space.

Below is the review I left on Amazon.

Statistics say nine out of ten murders are committed by someone the victim knows. So when Steph Ryder is found dead with her head caved in, Detective Sergeant Allie Shenton begins investigations close to home, starting with the victim's family and friends.

As each one lies to cover up their actions on that fateful night, Allie becomes convinced husband Terry Ryder has something to hide - and he's not the only one. Powerful, ambitious and charming, Allie's attraction to the successful businessman grows with each interrogation, risking both her job and marriage. Can Allie uncover the truth before her life not only falls apart, but before she ends up a victim, too?

I loved the title of this book and wasn't disappointed when reading. The story starts, quite uniquely, by following Steph Ryders last interactions and those of the people around her. It sets you up quite nicely for the murder that follows and the subsequent police investigation.

The story is told in a no nonsense sort of way and gives you a real feel of the lives the people within were living. The characters were gritty and three dimensional and I had no trouble understanding who they were. I did however, struggle to work out which of the bunch were capable of such a violent murder. I was kept guessing and being made to turn the pages right until the very end.

If you like your fiction honest and believable this is a read you won't want to miss.

You can find Mel on her Blog, High Heels and Book Deals, or on Twitter.

Invisible Illness Visible?

2011-12-16T17:23:00.001Z

Yesterday I attended a hospital appointment to get the results of various tests I'd had done over the last three months. The tests included a 24 hour heart halter and a tilt table. The results of these tests concluded that I have POTS, or it's full name - Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. It's an autonomic disorder which means some of the functions that should work automatically in my body, don't. For instance my heart rate goes too fast sometimes, evidenced by the heart halter when I was sat at home in front of the TV. There are many things this syndrome does. I feel dizzy and lightheaded for little reason, I struggle to sleep and live with headaches and migraine. These are just a few of its effects.

POTS is fairly common within people living with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. Even though I have both these disorders I live my life as many other people without them, do. I work full time, I socialise, spend time with my family and try to write. Some days these things take it out of me more than others, but I don't let it dictate who I am.

It is on this point that I wondered about the visibility of invisible illness. My Twitter profile and this blog tell of the illness that no one can see. My thoughts on putting it out there was to connect with people who live with and understand the disorders. Twitter has been great for that. Yesterday though, as I thought about blogging the results I questioned the reasons or need to put this information out there. Should I leave the information visible, thereby raising awareness of a little heard of disorder and champion invisible illness in an small voice fighting stigma, or should I remove mention of it and live my life in spite of two disorders that attempt to restrict me?

What do you think of seeing this information, either as a well and healthy person or as someone also living with invisible illness?

Wish I Was Here

2011-12-14T09:55:00.001Z

Todays blog post is a bit of an escapism post. It's about sharing your ideal place for escaping the mid December madness. The post is in celebration of Janice Hortons release of her eBook Reaching For The Stars.

In the book, the main character Chef Finn McDuff feels he’s had enough of all the food campaigns, the TV cookery shows, the constant frenzy surrounding his private life and disappears into a self-imposed exile for a while. Hence the theme of the launch day extravaganza is ‘Wish I Was Here...’

So where do I was I was?

Surprisingly it's not some hot, quiet, getaway island. The place I would love to be as is the top of my list for places to go is New York. And what better time to visit than the run up to Christmas. You could easily get lost there and simply enjoy the sights, sounds and tastes of the big city. I want to walk in Central Park and eat in a cheesecake shop. I want to walk amongst the towering buildings and watch the craziness of the yellow cabs. I want to visit the statue of liberty and go on the Staten Island Ferry. With everything I want to lose myself in over there, I think I need the rest of December!

Where do you wish you could be?

Visit Janice's Blog to see fellow bloggers ideal destinations.

My New Favourite Place

2011-12-07T17:43:00.001Z

Today I found my idea of heaven. A place that caught hold of all of my senses. A place that felt warm and inviting and a place I fully intend to make a frequent place to visit.

Scarthin Books in Cromford, Derbyshire.

I fell into this wonderful wonderland of books by accident. I was with colleagues when we called in for a hot drink while travelling and the result was I nearly had to be physically dragged away because I just didn't want to leave.

As you walk through the shop door the smell of books hits you straight away, and then the sight of floor to ceiling books adds to the feel of a real old fashioned, cosy, comfortable place to be.

The shop was on three to four levels, I can't remember, I was feeling so excited. I actually felt like a child during that first Christmas where you start to understand the joys Christmas can bring. The entire place is filled with books including the stairways. Everything you could ever wish to read about, you could find here. I saw books I desperately wanted, but had never considered reading before. Non-fiction books that drew my interest but are something I wouldn't necessarily browse for when I shop online for ebooks, or even hardcover books for that matter. The world opened up in that one shop I very nearly didn't get to know about. It showed me that bookstores like this really do have a place in our technological world.

There was a wonderful childrens room, which had the ceiling decorated very originally and was obviously created with children in mind. I've already discussed the shop with little man and said we can spend an afternoon there and he was thrilled. Especially when I showed him the photographs. I love that he shares my love of books and hope that this continues as he grows.

I completely feel like I'm on a sugar rush, even hours after leaving, only it's a book rush. It's a wonderful place and I'm so glad I came across it.

I will leave you with a couple more photographs and a suggestion to visit it if you can.

Do you have a similar book shop you visit? Tell us about it. They really are wonderful places and deserve our support.

Time To Read

2011-12-03T13:14:00.001Z

It can't be denied that reading is good for us. It's educational, inspirational, motivational. It widens horizons, shares experiences and provides a place to escape. It exercises the brain cells, promotes spelling and language and can be experienced anywhere you want.

So, with that said, why do I feel guilty when taking that time to read at home rather than before going to sleep or while I'm eating my lunch at work?

I work full time, I write, I spend time with my family. Sitting down with a book feels a little like I'm using up valuable time I should be making better use for.

As a writer I often hear that reading is a must, after all, how can you write if you don't read. So reading is a must. I keep reminding myself of this, that reading is a necessity rather than a luxury but my brain can't convince my emotional side.

Do you find sitting down with a book easy or do you have to convince yourself it's a positive? I'd love to hear how people deal with this quiet pastime within busy lives.

Patricia Cornwell In Harrogate

2011-11-30T20:17:00.001Z

Last weekend I was lucky enough to get a ticket to an amazing event in Harrogate where the United States queen of crime, Patricia Cornwell was being interviewed on stage and then book signing.

Prior to the event I met up with a couple of lovely friends and we shared a cream tea. It was heavenly, if only the service would have matched the taste.

After that we all filed into the hall to find our seats, where after sitting somewhere close to the back, I was found a wonderful seat, just four seats back.

The event was great. Patricia talked about how she has stopped ageing Scarpetta as she doesn't want to age her and potentially retire her.

She explained the moment Lucy walked into her line of sight in one of the episodes and she found out Lucy was gay. It's a very organic way of writing. The characters have their lives and do their own thing.

Cornwell did admit to regretting killing Benton off, almost immediately, so she brought him back.

She did say she absolutely would not kill Scarpetta off, so that's a blessing for fans.

As far as the movie goes, it's still early stages, I think screenwriting was mentioned. Angelina Jolie is still "attached" to the project. The film will not portray any of the books but will stand alone and in Kay's earlier career, hence using a younger actress I presume.

After the interview she stayed around to sign books. As far as social media goes she's very interactive with her twitter and Facebook. Check her out.

I will leave you a slightly blurry image of her signing some books.

A truly great evening and one I was glad I shared with friends

Something For The Weekend

2011-11-25T19:11:00.001Z

I haven't had a great deal of time for reading recently as I've been going full pelt at my manuscript, but I thought I share with you, some of what I did manage to read.

Now this book, when you hear what it's about are either going to say - yay! Or put your head in your hands and wail.

The Radleys, written by Matt Haig.

Book blurb:

Meet the Radleys - Peter, Helen and their teenage children, Clara and Rowan, live in a typical suburban English town. They are an everyday family, averagely dysfunctional, averagely content. But, as their children have yet to find out, the Radleys have a devastating secret. In this moving, thrilling and extraordinary portrait of one unusual family, The Radleys asks what we grow into when we grow up, and explores what we gain - and lose - when we deny our appetites.

My Thoughts:

The Radleys family secret is that they're vampires. The children are unaware of this at the start of the book but that changes one fateful weekend when a party goes wrong for the Radleys daughter. She is stunned to find out she's not actually ill as she'd originally thought she is in fact a vampire. I really really liked this story. It's set in suburbia based "normality" and the vampires are living pretty ordinary lives. It's a lovely modern twist on a vampire themed novel. I loved that the family could be anyone and anywhere. They tried so hard to blend in. It's wonderfully written and something that is worth checking out, even if you're not a vampire fan.

Liebster Award

2011-11-24T09:11:00.001Z

The ever lovely Liz Crump a wonderfully chatty writer who can be found over on her blog here, has very kindly nominated Life in Clarity for the Liebster award .

Liz made an incredibly kind comment about the Life in Clarity blog and it made my day, so thank you Liz. I urge you to go check out her blog.

So on with forwarding the award to five other blogs.

In accepting the Liebster Blog Award, the recipient agrees to:

- Thank the person who gave them the award and link back to that person's blog
- Copy and paste the award to their blog
- Reveal the 5 blogs they have chosen to award, commenting on their blog to break the news!
- Hope those people in turn pay it forward by accepting and awarding "The Liebster Blog Award" to bloggers they would like to honour

This award is for anyone with fewer than 200 followers. :)

The five blogs I award the Liebster award are:

Teresa Morgan at The Wittering Woman. Teresa is an aspiring romance writer who blogs with honesty and humour, oh and yes, a fair share of handsome hunks appear on her blog pages. A girl can't go wrong!

Working Stiffs a collective of crime writers. If you're a crime kind of reader, you can't go wrong.

Annalisa Crawford who is wonderfully lovely and honest and has a blog that makes me smile.

Linda K whose dogged determination is inspiring. Life always manages to get in the way, but as writers we need to keep going. Linda does just that. A lovely blog.

Ranae Rose a lovely but red hot romance writer :)

A Weekend In York.

2011-11-20T14:22:00.001Z

This weekend I went away to York with friends I've known since school. We went on Friday and came back late yesterday. I had a ball. We laughed constantly and the weather was on our side. To say it was mid November the sky was blue and I got away with wearing just a light jacket.

York is a beautiful place so I thought I'd share some photographs of my time there, with you.

The Minster at night.

It would seem Christmas is on its way.

The Minster set against an unbelievable November blue sky.

The ghost walks of York.

York is just so beautiful.

Last but by no means least... I had to have my photograph taken with a Storm Trooper. Who wouldn't?

What is one of your favourite cities of beauty?

The Second Book.

2011-11-18T09:54:00.001Z

So while I'm waiting patiently to hear back from the agent, (Guess which word in that sentence doesn't quite ring true) I thought I'd have a relaxing couple of weeks. After all I'm not going to the day job and then having to come and slave away at my home desk to complete the first book. I thought I'd be able to catch up with my To-be-read pile, which is growing, literally, by the day, and I could spend a bit more time downstairs with the family. I figured I'd do this before starting on book two.

Who was I kidding. The story for the next book in the series is nudging me in the brain day and night. It just won't go away. So two days after sending the first book to the agent for them to look at and respond to, I'm already putting together the next book in my head. Not just in my head though, oh no. I've written two pages of notes and googled a few points I need to look at for research.

I was under the misguided impression that I could try write this book and if I couldn't do it, I would go back to finish the Open University degree. That was what I said in a blog post in about October last year. Now though, now I realise I really really want to write. Stories. All the time. So regardless of what happens with this one agent, I'm sticking with it. I will do any rewrites necessary and keep submitting and I will also make a start on the second book.

I have the bug. I think I'm a writer.

At what point did you realise you were a writer and not just dabbling, that it was seriously what you wanted to do? Was there a specific point it became more real for you?

The Next Step And Waiting.

2011-11-15T17:51:00.001Z

I haven't really said anything about this on my blog because I was scared to. I was scared to because I didn't want to put a jinx on anything. A jinx, can you believe that. I actually thought that if I discussed it too much the opportunity would go away.

Now I'm tentative and cautious, but a bit more willing to write about it here. After all, my blog is not only an ongoing conversation with fellow bloggers and readers, but a permanent reminder for me to look back on. A place to chart the trials and tribulations of attempting to get published. To have a novel, or further, a series of novels, out there for people to read. It is with this in mind that helped me come to the decision to finally write about what is ongoing. That and the fact that it's gone and I can't get it back. My novel is actually out there in the big wide world.

Okay, so six months ago I sent an enquiry off to an agent. I was aware the agent was interested in finding new crime writers, so I bit the bullet and sent an email, telling them what I was writing. (I am purposefully keeping this gender none specific, still worrying about jinxes etc!) I sent the first few chapters and synopsis and was then asked to send the full manuscript when I had completed it.

That was nearly six months ago. I worried I was taking too long and the request would be rescinded. I recently made contact again and informed them it was completed. It was confirmed that the agent was still happy to read it and yesterday I sent my manuscript to them via email.

I'm terrified. It's my first submission and a no thanks is expected, but I've now spent a year of my life writing this and it's going to feel personal, no matter how well I'm turned down. I'm trying to lock all emotions away as I wait and deal with what comes in a detached manner. That's the plan. But for now, it's a waiting game. Who's going to sit with me?

When To Stop Editing

2011-11-09T22:38:00.001Z

As you know, I'm in that final push mode with my manuscript. I've polished and checked and polished some more, but I'm now wondering if I'm so close to it am I going to make a complete hash of it? I'm not sure which way is up anymore, or if I alter something, I wonder if I will take away what was good about it?

At what point do you know to stop editing? I imagine we can't be fully happy. Or can we? Is there a point when you know it's ok to let it go and genuinely believe that or are we doomed into an ever decreasing circle of editing?

I'm so close to this manuscript now that it feels a part of me. How do you let a part of you go?

And when you do, what happens then? You give it to someone who's going to pass an opinion on it.

*runs off to hide at this point*

Do we ever get too close or if we're still polishing it, does that mean it still needs it or are we polishing the nice shiny bit off?

When do we know it's time to let go?

It's Just.....

2011-11-07T15:01:00.001Z

Yesterday I went through my manuscript looking for words I overuse. I checked each one and if it wasn't necessary it got cut. I cut over 100 of the word "just".

Really, what an innocuous word, but it had taken over the entire manuscript.

Another one I'm halfway through checking is "that".

I was also pretty bad with "yet"

What words do you overuse? Are you aware you overuse them?

Do I really want to see the answers to this blog post? I daren't check for any more overused words- I might not have a manuscript left!

Networking While Writing

2011-11-05T22:22:00.001Z

Networking while writing. How do people find the time to network with fellow writers when in the throes of writing?

As you know, I've have failed miserably at keeping my blog up to date as I do this last push to completion. It's not just the lack of upkeep though. Blogging works and is important, not because of the things we write in our posts, but because of the connections we make with fellow bloggers and writers (if you're a writer and reading this).

Writing is an isolating hobby/job. It's something you do on your own. So for me, connecting with my fellow bloggers is important. It is you, yes you reading this, that are important to me. So the problem comes when you're pushing so hard at your work in progress that you can't keep up with the people you probably need a friendly word from, a cheer as you gallop towards the last hurdle of the current stage in the quest for the golden gauntlet of publication.

How do people marry up this difficulty. Spend a little less time writing? Or hope that those friendly blogger you think are so great, will wait patiently for you? Or is blogging a fickle world?

How do those crazy people (only my opinion) manage to do NaNoWriMo and then go on to socialise on the official site? I couldn't do both!

How do you write and network? Can both happen in a working persons life? I'd love your views on this.

The Wanderer Returns

2011-10-29T22:16:00.001+01:00

It's been a while since I last came on my blog. There are a couple of reasons for this.

Firstly, because, on a personal note, I've generally had a terrible month and my blog and Facebook were forgotten about for a while. I continued in my attempts to keep moving my writing forward but there was little energy left for much else

Secondly, when I did find a place where the personal stuff had been dealt with in my small headspace, the writing took over. I've been so busy with a self imposed deadline of mid November to complete this by, that I'm going into a bit of a panic and doing little else but writing when I can. This again affects my blogging as you have seen.

The reason for this push on the writing front is when I've finished the manuscript I'm sending it out into the big wide world on submission. A scary process but one as writers we have to take.

I realised though, that I should start to give my blog some love again and catch up with everyone. So I hope some of you remember me. I'm looking forward to catching up and finding out what you've been up to.

How Do You Write?

2011-09-09T09:50:00.001+01:00

I've been wondering about this for a while now, but as you have noticed, I haven't been big on blogging recently. The main reason is my hours have been changed at work, so I'm working longer days, but on the flip side, I do get extra days off, so it's all swings and roundabouts. The other reason I haven't been here a lot, is that any spare time I do get, I'm spending on my Work In Progress (WIP).

I'm on the fourth draft now and it's really starting to take the shape of what I imagined it to be. I've added the pressure, by creating a self imposed deadline for finishing it. That deadline being the end of this month. Now you can see why I'm taking every opportunity I can to sit and work on it. It's no chore though, seeing it take shape is exciting and I can't get enough time with it.

As it's my first novel I've had to feel my way around the creative process and I've come up with a way of working that appears to be working for me. (Ask me if I still think that when I send my baby out!) It works, as in, it keeps my flow and focuses me.

I thought I'd share how I've worked this book. It's in drafted stages.

Draft one - Free write.

Draft two - Plotholes.

Draft three - Timeline.

Draft four - Character building and fact checking.

Draft five - Edit.

Each draft has come with it's own issues and frustrations, but setting myself a definite task of what I was working on during each current draft helped focus me on that and helped me complete what I set out to do. EG - Repair that massive gaping hole in the plot two thirds of the way in.

I'm on draft four. I'm rounding my characters and checking my facts and filling in the holes I left when I didn't know definitive facts. I'm so close, I can taste it!

How do you work when writing? Are you structured or do you just keep going through it until you feel it's right?

Knowsley Safari Park

2011-09-02T21:19:00.001+01:00

Yesterday the family and I took a trip to Knowsley safari park. The kids are back at school next week so I took a days annual leave to make one last day trip of the holidays. It turned out to be a lovely sunny day and I loved it. I'm a big kid really.

Little man and I had the opportunity to hand feed a giraffe. I think it was good timing for us. We were on the viewing platform when the manager came out with a handful of leaves and started handing them out. I was as giddy as the children on there. The manager was handing out the leaves to the kids and little man had a few. I had to ask if it was ok for grown ups to do it! Giraffes are beautiful creatures.

Did you know giraffes have blue tongues?

We also drove through the monkey enclosure. Our car was covered in red bottomed baboons who thought it was great fun to pull on the windscreen wipers.

We had a close encounter with a camel who actually walked into the side if the car.

Just look at the colour of the sky!

The lion enclosure was amazing. Huge, sleek, powerful animals.

And for anyone interested in creepy crawlies, I leave you with a spider.

Living With The Spoon Theory

2011-08-31T22:11:00.001+01:00

I'm starting to understand the spoon theory. The theory created by one girl trying to describe to a friend how she only has limited reserves of energy a day as she lives with a life long medical condition. Full details can be found here.

I knew I was feeling more fatigued this past year but this week it's actually dawning on me how it works, in practical terms for me living with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome.

Today I did an nine hour shift at work. There was an hours drive each side of that, so I was out the house eleven hours. When I got in I wanted to head straight into my home office before sitting down and getting too comfortable, and do some work on my WIP. Tea had been sorted by my wonderful other half. But my little man had come in upset after a disagreement with his friends and he wanted to watch a film with me we had recorded last week.

That's where the spoon theory and choice came in. I didn't have enough spoons (energy) to watch the film and spend quality snuggle time with little man, and then get up and do some work. I chose the main priority. Little man. There are plenty of days he plays out and doesn't want his mum but I felt a little frustrated as I have self imposed deadlines for work I'm doing and I have to accept I can't do everything.

I do actually have to spread out the things I want to do and work hard as hell on the novel when I get chance. Today wasn't that day. I will make it up at some other point though.

It's about living and recognising and planning. I can do everything, just maybe not all at the same time.

Sparkfest Blogfest

2011-08-26T17:18:00.000+01:00

As previously posted, I am taking part in Christine Tylers, Sparkfest Blogfest.

The reason and rules of the blogfest are these:

What book made you realize you were doomed to be a writer?

What author set off that spark of inspiration for your current Work in Progress?

Or, Is there a book or author that changed your world view?

As writers, we're always striving to get out a message of inspiration to others. This blogfest is a celebration for those who have done this for us. Join the Spark Blogfest, aka Sparkfest, by posting your answer to any of the three prompts above (or make one up as long as it fits the theme).

I'll make it worth your while!

There will be three Amazon Gift Cards ($15, $10, $5) awarded to random participants!
The blogger who writes my favorite entry will get an interview on my blog so they can tell us more about their awesome source of writerly inspiration!
By networking with other writers, you gain followers and comments for your own blog.

Only one Sparkfest post August 22-26 is required to participate.

My response to What author set off that spark of inspiration for your current Work in Progress?

I can't quite remember the timeline of how this happened, but it was around the same time. I started my current (and first) WIP (Work in Progress) and read Stephen Kings, On Writing within a matter of weeks of each other.

I read On Writing without having read any of Stephen Kings novels. It was recommended to me by a friend and I'm so glad I read it. It is part biographical on how it came to be that King started writing and his early life, and part writing advice.

The book is practical and not preachy. He advocates writing what you want to write and how you want to write it and it gave me so much enthusiasm for following my dream and making sure I wrote the book I wanted to write.

This current book is about sitting down and writing it in the style I want to write it. It's not about writing what I think the book market wants, it's about putting my passion into my work and enjoying doing it. Why write if you don't enjoy it?

If any writers out there haven't read this book, I'd recommend it and if any writers out there haven't read this book and are stuck in a rut or not quite feeling it at the minute, I'd highly recommend this motivation piece of writing. King writes with honesty and a great understanding of what he writes and who he writes for. Go on. Take a peek.

Missing in Action

2011-08-23T21:04:00.001+01:00

This is a bit of an apology for being MIA for the past week.

Following the most fabulous Theakstons Crime Writing Festival, which as you know, I thoroughly enjoyed, I went a bit down hill health wise.

Energy levels were depleted to zero and I've been slowly doing more and more. I went back to work last week and the energy levels I was getting back have all been stolen from me by my working time!

I love my job, but it's mentally taxing and when I return home I feel I have barely anything left in me, so anything that requires thought, eg: a blog post, has kind of got laid by the wayside. Twitter is also a victim of my being enthusiastic at work and wearing my brain out.

The good thing though, is I'm not failing altogether. The little reserve of energy there, is being used on the third draft of my novel which I'm really pleased to spend a little time every day on. It just comes in front of all the other things I want and need to do.

I hope to try and keep going, but please forgive me if my posts are a bit hit and miss for a couple of weeks.

Author Interview - David Jackson

2011-08-15T11:02:00.000+01:00

Todays guest author interview is with David Jackson, author of the previously reviewed, on Life in Clarity, crime novel Pariah. It is with great pleasure I bring this interview. I managed to meet Dave at the recent Harrogate Crime Writing Festival and he is true gentleman.

Your book, Pariah, is based in America yet I believe you reside in the UK. How did that decision come about?

There's an overused saying: 'Write what you know.' What I dislike about that advice is that it's often interpreted far too narrowly. As an alternative I would offer the phrase 'Write what you read.' The novels you read say a lot about the type of stories you prefer, and you are much more likely to enjoy and to be successful in writing stories that follow those interests. Personally, the novels I tend to prefer are crime thrillers set in the US. Favourite authors of mine include Ed McBain, George Pelecanos, Dennis Lehane, Robert Crais and Michael Connelly. It seems natural (at least to me) to write stories in a similar vein. Of course, the downside of making a choice like that is that you have to do a lot of research and to have an
ear for dialect if you're going to have a hope of sounding authentic. Fortunately, people tell me that I have managed to pull it off with Pariah.

I've heard something similar to that - write what you love, which is, as you say for you, US crime. It does work. If I didn't know you lived in the UK I would never have known otherwise.

Can you describe your route to publication?

The path I took was slightly unusual in that I approached the publisher direct, without an agent. Macmillan runs something called the New Writing scheme, which gets a lot of submissions. In fact, I think the scheme is temporarily closed while they try to catch up! Competition is therefore pretty fierce, but fortunately mine was picked from the slushpile by the reader who went on to become my copy-editor. I think one of the things that helped me to get noticed was the fact that Pariah had previously won a Highly Commended accolade in
the Crime Writers Association Debut Dagger Awards. Other authors who have been discovered through the scheme include Ryan David Jahn, Len Tyler, Brian McGilloway and the Orange Prize longlisted author Ann Weisgarber, so I feel I'm in very good company.

That route to submission is a rare one if reading fellow aspiring writers blogs are anything to go back. The Macmillan scheme is a great one for writers to know about.

How long has your interest in crime been alive and what fascinates you about it?

I think I've always read crime novels. As a young kid I read Enid Blyton's Secret Seven and Famous Five books and loved them. Later on I became interested in science fiction, but still maintained an interest in crime and thriller novels. I remember avidly reading the whole series of James Bond novels (if Jeffery Deaver steps aside, I'm your man!) and then worked my way through Christie's Poirot stories and the Sherlock Holmes books. I read a lot of other stuff too - I've just read 'My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece', which is brilliant, and currently I'm reading Bill Bryson's 'At Home' - but I always return to crime.

What fascinates me about it? That's a much tougher question. I suppose it's the desire to explore and understand the darker side of humanity, and with fiction we can do that without actually being touched by fear and violence ourselves. I think it also allows us to satisfy our need to feel that there can be justice and righteousness in what often seems a very unfair world.

What is your guilty pleasure in genre reading? I've recently admitted to being a bit if a chick lit fan.

Probably kid's books. One of the advantages of having children is you get to read to them and to go through the books on their shelves. It's been great revisiting classics like Dr Seuss and Anne Frank, but also discovering some of the newer stuff like Meg Rosoff's 'How I Live Now'.

As a writer, the world is our oyster. We can go anywhere and do and be anything. For each of those three (go, do and be) if you could, what would you choose.

Two things occur to me. I'd love to know what it's like to be a bird, with that ability to fly wherever I want and look down on the world. And, just for a day, I'd like to become a young child again, to re-live that purity of honesty and innocence and to remember what it's like for everything to have a huge question mark hanging over it.

In relation to the exploring and understanding the darker side of life, it's something that is written about a lot by crime writers. Do you think there are any boundaries to what we can put on the written page and if so what should our limits be?

I wouldn't like to set boundaries for other people, but I have my own. There are some things I just wouldn't feel comfortable writing about, and I think that my unease would show through. For example, rape and child abuse are subjects I shy away from.

On a couple of lighter notes; if you could meet someone, dead or alive, who would it be?

There are all the usual suspects, so I have tried to come up with something different. I think I would want to meet one of my ancestors - say from about 200 years ago. I would want to know how they lived and what it was about them that guided their decisions in life. I suppose that, in knowing them, I would hope to learn more about myself.

If a movie was made of your life, who would you want to play it?

Tom Cruise. If he can play Jack Reacher, then it should be less of a stretch to play me. Literally.

Thank you for such a great and open interview Dave, it's been an absolute pleasure having you here. I wish you best of luck with your next release and if Pariah is anything to go back, I really can't wait to get my mits on it!

You can find Dave at the follow locations; His Blog, Webpage and Twitter

The Liebster Award

2011-08-12T17:42:00.000+01:00

This week I received the Liebster blog award from Sarah at Empty White Pages and I'm so happy to have been selected from the many blogs that Sarah follows and participates with, so Thank you Sarah!

The rules of the award are as follows:
The Liebster Award (meaning “friend” in German) is meant to connect us even more and spotlight new bloggers who have less than 200 followers – but hopefully not for long. The rules are:

1. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Post the award on your blog.
4. Bask in the love from the most supportive people on the Internet – other writers.
5. And best of all – have fun and spread the karma!

I love receiving awards, but hate having to choose who to give them out to, there are so many great bloggers out there! Anyway, I've done as the award states and here are my five great bloggers I suggest you check out.

Jenny at Fulfilling Dreams. A lovely blogger, always supportive and chatty.

Rosalind at Writing in the Rain. A generous blogger who chooses some interesting topics to blog about.

Annalisa at Wake Up, Eat, Write, Sleep. A great blogger who is charting her writing journey with honesty.

Julie at What Else is Possible. An animal conscious blogger who is writing her first novel.

Patricia at Journey Through the Pages. Blogging her way through the self publishing journey.

Recently Read - Cuckoo

2011-08-10T21:59:00.004+01:00

In the past I have written book reviews and also on another post I explained what my reviews will be like - more of an explanation of a book so you have an idea and a choice if you're interested. As a writer, I'm not interested in being a critic. So with that in mind, I'm changing the titles of these posts to Recently Read, rather than Book Reviews. I hope that you understand the subtle change and maybe go on to enjoy some of the books I've read.

Today's Recently Read book is Cuckoo by the very Lovely Julia Crouch.

Blurb

Rose has it all - the gorgeous children, the husband, the beautiful home. But then her best friend Polly comes to stay. Very soon, Rose's cosy world starts to fall apart at the seams - her baby falls dangerously ill & her husband is distracted. It appears that once you invite Polly into your home, it's very difficult to get her out again.

Thoughts

The story starts out with a sweet family with a strong bond following a difficult first year. When an old friend asks for help after her husband dies Rose the mother of the house is quick to offer her a place to stay. That was her first mistake and things start to go wrong and not necessarily as you'd imagine.

It's a slow burner this book. At first it builds up the characters and domestic bliss before psychologically pulling you under with them all.

I found myself not knowing which characters to trust in the end and felt stunned at the final scenes.

If you like a slow burning, character led, psychological thriller that stops your heart at the end then this is for you. If you prefer action all the way, it may prove a little slow.

It's a great book and I was shocked and thrilled by events that overtook everyone. A great read.

Professional Envy

2011-08-05T16:22:00.001+01:00

Professional envy was mentioned within a comment on Life in Clarity a short time ago and while I dont believe the sentiment from the person saying it was completely true, I do believe there is quite a bit of professional envy amongst our peers and I own up to feeling this way sometimes.

It's a difficult subject to get into, but I wanted to bring it out into the light, air it a little and take away some of that cloak and dagger and hide this dirty little secret away, business.

When I say peers, I mean those writers who are in similar places to where you are now or a step or two in front. You've built that online bond, but then one of you hits the dream first and is published.

At this point I would imagine I'd be feeling two things. Absolute joy at a friends well deserved success. After all, I know just how damn hard she worked for it. But - I would also, deep down, get a niggle of envy - the, why can't I get there, type feelings.

I've decided it's natural and nothing to be ashamed or worried about. It happens in all sorts of lives and scenarios. Not just in writing worlds. It's human nature to look out at what others achieve, to want more for ourselves and to feel a little let down - importantly - by ourselves rather than those who are achieving. It's something we need to acknowledge and then try to deal with it sensibly and be absolutely thrilled for your friend and tell her you expect equal bundles of excitement when you get there.

It's a long arduous journey this road to publication and watching people you know getting there before you is just another of those bumps. Keep at it and keep smiling.

Tomorrow Is Now Today

2011-08-01T20:36:00.001+01:00

The phrase is always - The diet starts tomorrow.

Well tomorrow has come. Today it starts and I'm serious.

I'm only five foot tall and carrying extra weight really shows on me. I can also feel it. I feel cumbersome lugging this weight about. I'm having trouble with my hips and knees so know losing weight can only be a positive from that point of view.

I really struggle with diets. I lean towards food when I'm upset, stressed or bored. It's often hard to see the bigger picture (excuse the pun) when I'm about to eat something I know I shouldn't. It's difficult to stop and tell myself it's no good for me. The gauge for sense around food is broken and I need to attempt to repair it and cut back on the things that are keeping me this size and resulting in the unhappiness in my own skin.

I know I can be slim. I'm petite. When I was 21 I weighed in at 7st 10lb. Now I don't want to go back to that. But I'd like to get somewhere closer to that figure than the one I'm at.

This isn't going to be easy. Struggling with my weight has been an ongoing issue. As soon as I look at food the weight goes on, so you can imagine what happens when I'm eating the wrong things. And just because I've announced I'm back on the slimming wagon, it doesn't mean I will somehow magically stick to it and the weight will drop off. This is going to be hard. Fighting to stay off the foods I'm used to eating is going to be hard. Some days I will probably not do very well but today I'm saying that I'm going to try. I'm unhappy with the way I look so I need to do something about it.

Now tomorrow has come and it's called today.

Sparkfest

2011-07-27T19:19:00.000+01:00

Blogfests are a great way to find new bloggers and for other bloggers to find your blog. It's all about the interaction and I love social media for the opportunities it gives you for interacting with people who have similar interests.

With that in mind, I recently found a writing related blogfest that I want to take part in. You may also be interested. The blogfest is hosted by Christine at The Writer Coaster

Click the below image to go to the hosting blog. The blurb below it is copied over from Christines blog. I love the prompts. Will you be posting?

What book made you realize you were doomed to be a writer?

What author set off that spark of inspiration for your current Work in Progress?

Or, Is there a book or author that changed your world view?

I'll make it worth your while!

There will be three Amazon Gift Cards ($15, $10, $5) awarded to random participants!
The blogger who writes my favorite entry will get an interview on my blog so they can tell us more about their awesome source of writerly inspiration!
By networking with other writers, you gain followers and comments for your own blog.

Only one Sparkfest post August 22-26 is required to participate.

Harrogate Opening Evening

2011-07-25T20:58:00.002+01:00

After attending Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival at the weekend, I'm a little overwhelmed with facts, information and stories of which to share and discuss on the blog. There is too much to cram into one post or to write about it in consecutive posts so I've decided to write about Thursday's opening event today then wait a couple of posts before discussing more. I don't want to give you Harrogate burnout yet I have so much enthusiasm after attending that I do want to share it with you.

The Weekend started in a relaxing way with an awards ceremony on the Thursday evening. Six great authors were shortlisted for crime novel of the year. All six nominated authors attended and were briefly interviewed on the stage.

The short list was:

From The Dead - Mark Billingham
Blood Harvest - S.J.Bolton
61 Hours - Lee Child
Dark Blood - Stuart MacBride
The Holy Thief - William Ryan
The Anatomy of ghosts - Andrew Taylor

The award winner was Lee Child with the book 61 Hours. He was a gracious winner who stated he would have been happy to come in sixth behind his fellow nominated authors.

The presentation of the lifetime achievement award was something I feel privileged to have been present for. The award was given to P.D.James who at 90 years of age received a standing ovation as she walked to the stage. You could feel the love and respect for her in the packed room. She has a crime writing career spanning decades, with her first novel, Cover her Face being published in 1962. I felt truly honoured to be present.

After the awards we moved to the opening night party where Theakstons Old Peculiar was on tap or, for those of us not up to drinking pints if beer, red and white wine were available. Armed with a glass of red I mingled with published and aspiring crime writers, crime readers and bloggers. I met some wonderful people whom I am now pleased to call friends.

Harrogate Crime Writing Festival Photographs

2011-07-22T21:12:00.001+01:00

As you'd expect, I don't really have time while I'm at the festival to put up a proper blog post, so I thought I'd share a couple of my highlights in photographic format. I will try and put the experience into words at some point next week.

I'm having an amazing time. I hope you enjoy the photographs. The quality may not be spot on as they have been taken on my phone, but you will get an idea so far...

The Twitter gang

Twitterer @Pamreader

Martina Cole

Lee Child!

Crime Writing Festival

2011-07-20T18:06:00.000+01:00

Image from Harrogate crime site.

Tomorrow I am heading to Harrogate for the Theakstons Crime Writing Festival. I booked it about two months in advance and at the time it seemed an age to wait, and now it's here and I go tomorrow.

It's four days spent thinking about nothing but crime writing, ok, there may be a bit of alcohol thrown in, but I'm sure I will still be thinking crime at the time. There will be some big names of the crime writing world there, including, Tess Gerritson, David Baldacci and Val McDermid to name only a few of the many.

This is the complete line up. I can't wait!

What do I hope to achieve by attending?

I hope to pick up some great tips from the professionals about the craft and I hope to meet people involved in the writing and publishing world and gain an invaluable insight from this. I know I will also come away from the event with some great friendships started.

I hope to be able to post some photographs on the blog while I am still there. The event is Thursday evening until Sunday lunchtime. I have a blogging app on my phone, so I should be able to share some of the weekend with you, while I am there.

At some point upon my return, I will post my thoughts on the event and what I have come away from it with.

If you are interested then follow me on Twitter and/or Facebook where I will no doubt be posting regular updates live from the event. You can follow these by clicking on the relevant links on the right.

I'm so excited!

Hospital Appointment and The Spoon Theory

2011-07-18T10:15:00.000+01:00

Last Thursday I had an appointment with a consultant rheumatologist. It was a good appointment in so far as she spent time with me, listened to me and explained things to me. She was only allotted 30 minutes for the appointment but I came out after about 45-50 minutes.

I'm a bit more defective than I thought I was but certainly not in comparison to some real bendies she has seen. It would seem I do have hypermobility in my larger joints (knees) where I didn't think I had. The slackness of my collagen has made my foot arches drop (again I hadn't realised) this has affected the angle of my knees and then my hips. My lower back is more curved than normal (again without studying multiple persons naked backs I was not aware my own curve was not the norm). My hips, as I did know, are very stretchy.

She was far from offended at my voicing my lack of faith in the NHS, which I think prompted the longer appointment.

I have been booked in for physio which I'm told will make me feel a lot worse before it starts to help and I'm not to expect it to help at any speed. My body has been failing me gradually for my whole life, it's not going to be fixed in a few weeks.

I'm also to be booked in for some relaxation sessions in an attempt to help my poor sleeping pattern.

For those people following me on twitter, you may well have seen me use the phrase "spoonie". This is in relation to an analogy created by Christine Miserandino to explain how it feels to live with any life debilitating illness. It is regularly used by people living with a variety of disorders as an open letter to family and friends in relation to how hard some days are.

I'm doing ok.

Below is the spoon theory explaining just how bad some days can be - though for me, not all days.

The Spoon Theory

How I Feel about Blogging

2011-07-13T22:32:00.001+01:00

Following on from Fridays blog post where I discussed the issues of a blog platform and personal interaction, I wanted to write about how I personally feel about blogging. Making Fridays post has helped me with it somewhat. It made me take a step back and have a good look at what I have here and how I feel about it.

When I make a post people take the time to stop by, read and then generously comment. I've recently noticed that I'm coming across those very commenters on other blogs and it's become a more regular thing as my own interactions with my commenters and fellow bloggers grows

This shows to me that this blog is so much more than just a platform. It is getting it's own identity in a place where I have found a great bunch of people, a great community. At first blogging is a slow process and you can feel as though you are talking to yourself but hanging in there and actually taking the time to talk to those who take their time to stop by and talk to you is pretty rewarding.

Bloggers names I see regularly popping up and other blogs I read have really shown me the community we have here. So for anyone new and starting out with blogging, I'd say, stay with it. One day you will notice you are actually recognising people and they you and you have conversations. It's a great feeling.

So, whether this blog is a traditional platform or a place to talk to great people and share experiences along the way. I'm extremely glad I took the blogging plunge and started Life in Clarity up.

Sometimes I have so much more to say than 140 characters will let me sum up.

How do you feel about your blog and it's place in the blogosphere? Love it or find it a time sucking black hole?

A Me Update

2011-07-11T20:34:00.001+01:00

So it's only a matter of days since I boldly announce I'm going to blog every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and if you're really lucky, sometimes on a Saturday.

And how do I feel today? Too tired to make a considered blog post. This blog post is far from considered and is being typed up on my phone from my bed.

The decision was; fail to post as I've said I would, or just say a few words about how things are going- the few words won.

It's a mixture of being busy and physically fatigued which is slowing me down on the blogging front. My day job is busy and I've had a productive weekend on my writing. I was really pleased to work my thought processes through a tangled plot hole and actually come through the other side smiling.

The busyness of the day job, family commitments and writing are wearing me out and on top of that I haven't had a decent night sleep in a week. One of the perks of Ehlers Danlos I believe.

I am worn out, but the blog, and you my blogging friends are important, so I will do my best to stick to schedule. These random garbled updates should be infrequent.

I know I am a bit behind on acknowledging your comments as well, but I always get them done and will get to them. Thank you for popping by, reading and commenting. I appreciate your time.

Anyway. I'm shattered. Time to wind down. You can expect less rambling on Wednesday. (I hope!)

If you stop by, tell me how you're doing at the minute.

Writer Platform or People Interacting?

2011-07-08T18:07:00.001+01:00

Who are we aiming our blog posts at?

I read a lot of writers blogs particularly since I decided to start writing my own stuff and taking it seriously. There are some great blogs out there, full of resources and information, all of which can be sucked into my head and hopefully retained somewhere useful for later recollection.

These blogs are themed. That is, they are writing blogs. Discussions on the how to's and best working practices. They often present the idea that each writer must start and maintain their own platform before even attempting to get an agent. I have even read somewhere - I can't remember where so cant link to it - that New York publishers aren't supporting new authors anymore. They are saying that authors need to build their own brand and web presence. A brand which is you!

Now I read all this and I soak it all in like a big empty sponge, but then I start to stumble around a bit.

The whole point of having a platform is that you are putting yourself out there. People start to read your blog, connect with you on twitter and facebook and your platform is up and running right?

Well is it really if all you're doing is talking to fellow writers on writers blogs? Fellow writers aren't necessarily going to go out and buy your first book, but real people from real connections you've made online and not just because you've been told its a good idea to create a "writing" platform, may do.

Readers- the people you want to buy your books, the people who matter don't necessarily write. I read lots, but only started writing last year. You won't reach real people reading real books if you are only targeting writers. Maybe I've got this all wrong but it just seems like common sense to me.

Be yourself with people. People like that. Build up a genuine community of blog followers and maybe one day when that book is published, the friends you met along the way will give you a huge hand of encouragement.

And for my non writery blog followers. This blog was here before I decided to write and as you can see I blog about anything that affects me or I find interesting. This is me and my journey in various directions. At this point in time though, writing this novel is a major part of my life and I blog to have a reminder of where I have travelled and to interact with people.

Why do you blog?

Review - Pariah by David Jackson

2011-07-06T22:12:00.004+01:00

Pariah

Blurb

It's a bad enough day for NYPD detective Callum Doyle when his cop partner is murdered. It's about to get a hell of a lot worse ...When the dead man's replacement is also brutally killed, suspicion falls on Doyle himself. Then he receives an anonymous message. This is just the beginning, it says. Anyone he gets close to will die and that includes Doyle's own family. The only way to keep them alive is to stay away. For good. Doyle is desperate to find out who is responsible, but when his every move puts others in danger he is forced to back off. With the investigation getting nowhere and his isolation deepening, Doyle has to ask himself an uncomfortable question: just how low is he prepared to sink in order to get his life back?

Review -

Callum Doyle really looks as though he has no place to go. Every step he takes someone is close on his heels and with fatal consequences, and it's this premise that makes the book a page turner.

Just when you think things can't get any worse, they do and with a great story telling technique the disaster that is Doyles life is portrayed well.

One of my favourite characters was Paulson. I'm not sure if I was supposed to like him or not but the way he was written just made me see him leap off the page. I hope he makes it into any future Callum Doyle books.

As I mentioned, the book is a page turner and when I was reading it I was having a tiring week but I had to keep picking the book up just to see what was happening to Doyle. A great sign for a book. I'm hoping there is to be more from Doyle. He's a good guy and a good read.

Just to add, there will be an interview with David Jackson, author of Pariah, on the blog within the next couple of weeks. He's a lovely guy and I'm really looking forward to chatting to him. Look out for it.

The First Draft

2011-07-04T18:31:00.001+01:00

So on Saturday I did the first read through of the first draft of my crime novel. It was an amazing feeling just seeing it printed out. I could visibly see I had achieved something.

What did I find? I found some of it was okay. Some of it needs work. There were plot holes and time line errors. I even found one of the characters had his name changed half way through. But, behind all the flaws I can see the story. It's there. Like a stone in the rough waiting to be chipped out. I have actually written a novel. One that needs a lot of work but it's there.

What am I doing now? I'm doing the second read through but this time with a pencil in my hand. (I like working with a pencil) I'm making small edit notes on the manuscript itself plus I have a notepad where I'm making story line notes and another sheet of paper where I'm writing down the time line as I read. So far the time line for the first day is ok but I know it goes a bit squiffy later.

I'm really excited by this and I'm enjoying the process. I can't promise I will be saying that in a couple of weeks but so far, it's great!

Read Through

2011-07-02T12:20:00.001+01:00

The first draft is finally complete! I can't believe I've finished something so massive. I am really pleased with what I have achieved so far, but it doesn't stop here.

Last night I printed out the whole thing and today I am going to sit down and read it through. From beginning to end. I'm going to attempt this first read through as a reader and not sit there with my pencil in hand making changes. I intend to read it through once as I would any other book I pick up and then I will read it through again with my pencil and note book and make notes, list flaws and plot holes and tear it to bits, but for today, I'm sitting down and I'm reading my own crime novel!

Here it is, all ready to be read and I can't wait.

Blog Schedule

2011-07-01T23:10:00.001+01:00

Following on from a previous blog post where I discussed the possibility of setting a blogging schedule, I've decided the best thing for the blog and I is to have a running schedule.

I'm a slightly disorganised person so if I have deadlines and schedules I'm more likely to make sure things get done. I work better under pressure than left to my own devices with time spanning out in front of me.

So, for the blog, I intend to post on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and if I've got enough to say, I will also blog on Saturday's.

I'm not going to go as far as to give a theme for each day but I will be here with a little something to say and I hope you will join me.

I will be here tomorrow as I'm a little excited about something!

Reading by Example

2011-06-29T18:24:00.000+01:00

I read regularly. I read books I can hold in my hands and fairly recently, I've started reading ebooks. My kids see me reading and they also see me writing. My love of books and the written word is there in plain sight.

Now it's too late to have much influence on the teenager. I can't encourage her into much at the moment, but it would appear, by the simple act of doing these things in front of him, little man is picking it up.

He's fetching books home from the school library and not just fetching them home, but reading them. I found the teenagers old set of Mr Men books a couple of weeks ago and moved them into little mans room. He's now reading a minimum of two a night. He loves them.

The phrase, lead by example seems to alive and well in our house and I'm so pleased.

Then again, when I asked the teenager if my book was published would she read it, she replied "maybe one day."

Crushing Crisis of Confidence

2011-06-27T18:15:00.001+01:00

I'm nearing the end of my first draft. It's so close I can taste it. It's likely I will complete it by the end of this week.

You would think I would be excited by this, and don't get me wrong, I am - but - I can see there is a lot of work to do when I start on the second draft and its scaring me.

There needs to be further character development done along with character arcs (I read that phrase somewhere. Do I sound knowledgable?) where my characters need to go on their own personal journey with a beginning and conclusion. I need to figure out how much history to put in about how the victim got to where she was and how to deal with one of the secondary characters who has her own issues. I then need to build up the characters of the other secondary and supporting characters and make them real. On top of all the character (have i said that word enough yet) work I have to decide if there is enough action or if the story is too procedural and I have to fix the plot holes I already know about.

These are issues I know without even having read through the work yet. It's starting to strike a massive fear in me that this is too huge an undertaking and I'm not fit for the role.

What in earth made me think I can do this? Really. I so want to create a good story but the enormity of what I've undertaken is currently quite daunting and is freezing me up a bit.

Have you ever been overcome with a fear you couldn't achieve something and how did you overcome it?

Little Man Heart Update

2011-06-25T11:48:00.001+01:00

I thought I'd post a quick update on how little man's hospital appointment went on Wednesday when he went for an echocardiogram.

Firstly, everything was fine. His heart is fine. The issue is, with him being stretchy - with the Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, it's possible heart valves can be a little stretchy so not work as well. He doesn't have this issue, though they did say it is likely they will check him again at some point in the future.

Secondly, little man was really good about the whole thing. He loved seeing his heart on the screen and the blood flowing through it in blue and red and he loved hearing it beat. He listened intently as he was told that the animal with the longest pointiest heart is the giraffe with a three foot long heart.

Below is a picture of little mans actual heart.

Why I'm no Longer Writing Short Stories

2011-06-24T06:30:00.001+01:00

In my blog bio and my twitter bio for that matter, I have the information that I write short stories.

I have had a couple of short stories published and have been listed in the Brighton Cow short story competition. I was thrilled with this. What writer wouldn't be? To do a piece of work that is loved and have someone validate it in such a way. I know many writers who have taken the love of the short story and done really well with it. They have multiple pieces published and been listed or won writing competitions. It really is a great feeling.

I however, have stopped writing short stories for now. My dream from childhood has been to write a novel. As a full time worker in a day job with two children I just don't have the time to work on my novel and write short stories as well. I had to make a decision. I have taken the decision that I will focus on my novel.

I'm not snubbing the short story or it's writers. I love short stories. In fact I really love flash fiction. Pushing the ability to tell a story in so few words. I love a good short story. You get a quick fix with the ending so close, but I'm now in for the long haul and my nose is to the grindstone of the novel length story.

I have a dream to write and have published, a series of crime novels with a female protagonist. What I'm working on at the moment is my first step towards that dream. I intend to work hard at it which is why the time I have for writing, has to be given solely to the novel.

Maybe I should change my biography. Not completely. I'm proud of my short story work, but I think I just need to alter it a little to show my main focus as aspiring crime writer novelist.

Why I Love Chick Lit

2011-06-22T07:30:00.002+01:00

It's very obvious from my blog design alone, without the need to read my profile information, that I write crime. No it's not wine running down my header, it's the delightful stuff crime novels are usually made about and that's blood.

I love crime thrillers. I love the darkness of them - though I haven't opted for the use of a dark theme for my blog as many crime blogs do - I love the thrill and the chase, the speed and the unknown. I love the good guys in a crime thriller, those good guys who by default of dealing with the darker side of life, usually have their flaws. And I love a bad guy who gives it their all. I think you get my drift now on why I read and write crime thrillers.

Now here's my admission, if you didn't by chance read the title of this post. I love reading chick-lit. It's a very recent guilty pleasure I've come across.

It really has been a recent development in my reading world. Two things happened at the same time which took me from my thriller to-read list to, to this other previously unknown place of chick lit.

One - I was clearing out my teenagers wardrobe when I came across a Meg Cabot book. Size 14 is not fat either. Well I absolutely loved the title. I'm not giving you any guesses as to why.

Two - being an active twitter user and a new starter writer, I have connected with or followed (read stalked) some authors who write in this genre so I have read their books.

When I read them I actually found myself laughing out loud and then thinking I was glad I didn't travel on public transport or I would look rather odd.

So, the thing I love about chick-lit is the very real feel good factor about them. I love how I'm made to actually laugh out loud or even cry with real emotion and I love how devastatingly easy the words just seem to flow from the thoughts and minds of the people within the book yet I know how not true this is. It's not easy to write a novel. Yet the words just flow giving a realistic impression of the jumbled thought processes that go on in our heads at times. That's the real thing I love about chick-lit. The authors who make it sound so easy in my head when I know it very probably took a lot of blood (not that I'm obsessive about that) sweat and tears to make it that way.

I now have as many chick-lit books in my waiting to be read pile as I do crime thrillers.

What is your guilty pleasure?

Little Mans Echocardiogram

2011-06-20T07:00:00.000+01:00

Following on from our Ehlers Danlos Syndrome diagnosis last month, little man and I have had various referrals to multiple hospitals for tests and support. The first of these is Wednesday when little man goes for an echocardiogram.

At first the prospect of this upset him. He said he would close his eyes as he didn't want to see inside his body. After explaining how cool it would be and showing him an old ultrasound photo of himself he seemed happier with the idea. (he's a little scientist in the making).

He's ok. Did I say I was ok? Nope. Not very ok. It's my little man and they're looking at his heart. I'm his mum though, it's my job to worry. If I don't worry I'm not doing my job properly, right?

I know it's just precautionary. They do this for everyone with this diagnosis. The odds are good that he won't have a problem, but then I wonder what the odds were we'd have this crappy genetic thingy anyway.

Once it's done I will be fine. There's just one problem though. I don't know when we get the results or who we get them from. The referring consultant was from the diagnostic clinic and they don't do follow ups. I hate waiting as well. I just want to know.

Once this is out the way I will wind back the neurotic mother routine.

New Haircut and Photograph

2011-06-18T08:42:00.001+01:00

Today's blog post is a short one. My head is pounding and I have arranged to meet a friend that I haven't seen for a while. The two things don't go well together but I'm not cancelling on her.

Anyway - short blog post - I had a change in style last weekend. I dyed my hair and had a fringe put in. I thought I'd share the results. I'm really happy with them. I can't believe it took me so long to do.

Here's the new look me.

Google Blog +1

2011-06-17T05:30:00.001+01:00

I've recently noticed a new feature that has appeared at the bottom of blog posts and that is a new colourful button with the phrase +1 at the side of it. It confused me at first and I didn't dare click on it to see what it would do for fear of making my blog implode or something.

I wasn't the only one who had been wondering about this new colourful addition to the blog and as someone posed the question on a writing group I use on Facebook. The question was then very kindly answered and the mystery has been solved. So for anyone still wondering, you can find a full explanation here on the google blog, but basically it's like a Facebook "like" button and will bring posts up the google ladder in search terms.

I hope this helps *thinks I may have confused more than helped*

Writing is.....

2011-06-16T05:30:00.002+01:00

This blog meme has been handed to me by the lovely Patricia from Journey Through the Pages. It's simply, Writing is.....

I'm not sure where to start with this. I've never really considered where I stand with writing or what it means to me. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love doing it. I'm adoring watching my novel progress and I can't imagine walking away from it, or any of the future ones that are already invading my head space.

My head is constantly filled with thoughts and ideas about where to take my characters next or what their personalities are like. But saying that, I'm not one of those writers who say they would die if they couldn't write.

I suppose Its that I haven't thought that much about not writing, so I don't come out with such dramatic sentences. Writing is something I do and something I love doing. I will continue to do it. Even if this book doesn't make it, I will write the next one. I don't feel compelled to write them, it's just there. I have laptop, will write. Simples.

I now have to pass this Meme on to three fellow bloggers. They are;

Talli Roland
Lindsay at Tiptoe Kisses and
Katie at Reading, Writing and Life

Review - Girl 4 by Will Carver

2011-06-15T05:30:00.001+01:00

Product description

Detective Inspector January David has always put his professional before his private life, but the two worlds are about to clash horrifically as he visits his latest crime scene. He is confronted by a lifeless figure suspended ten feet above a theatre stage, blood pouring from her face into a coffin below. This gruesome execution is the work of an elusive serial killer.

Three women from three different London suburbs, each murdered with elaborate and chilling precision. And as January stares at the most beautiful corpse he’s ever seen, he detects the killer’s hallmark.

But Girl 4 is different: she is alive – barely. And January recognises her…

Review

This book is written from the viewpoint of several people. Each person having their time to talk. Murder victims talk about what it was like for them before their death and Detective Inspector January David tells the story from his viewpoint, on the trail of a serial killer. This very serial killer even gets a voice.

The chapters are kept short to accommodate this style and it keeps things fairly fast paced.

It took me a few chapters to get used to the chopping and changing of viewpoints on such a regular basis, but once I had, I found I really enjoyed the different style I was reading.

The climax is lengthy and I couldn't put the book down for the last 100 pages. I'm not sure how I felt when it ended as it wasn't what I expected, but I will definitely buy another January David book.

If you're a crime reader and you want to try a different style, I'd recommend giving this a try and pushing past the first few chapters if you struggle with the style - though you could easily take to it straight away. It's a great read.

Inspiration

2011-06-14T04:00:00.001+01:00

Todays post is part of a blog hop created on a writers group I use on Facebook. You can find the details and the link on Gladiators Pen.

It's a monthly blog hop, on the second Tuesday, where a different topic is suggested each month and participants can write a post, however they see fit, on that particular subject. This months subject is inspiration.

So, what do I have to say about inspiration? I suppose it is something that is personal to all of us. We as people, tend to be pretty different to each other and we work in completely different ways.

We learn in different ways and this is shown by the Flemings VAK/VARK model which suggests there are four ways of learning;

Visual Learners who prefer to see images and diagrams
Auditory learners, who prefer to be told how to do something
Read/Write learners who does what it says on the tin and,
Kinesthetic /Tactile learners who need to learn hands on.

For me, I feel that these two things can be linked learning and inspiration.

I for instance am a visual and auditory learner so I find my inspiration tends to come from watching people and situations, and listening to the interactions. Seeing how people genuinely interact with each other and not how we expect them to act.

For example in a crime scenario, how you expect someone to act, isn't usually the way you are going to get it. Humans are unique and you need to remember this when writing.

There is a very good video clip out there in the World wide web somewhere of a couple of police officers interrogating a victim of rape and because she wasn't crying and getting upset as they expected, they really grilled her and called her a liar. Now this was many many many years ago and things have changed drastically since them, but it's a good example of how people don't do what you think they might. So whatever your learning style, employ it for inspiration.

Look at people if you are visual, interact with them if you are kinethsetic, listen to them if you are auditory. But you're writing about people and if you want real in your writing, then employ your learning style to get that realism and find out who people really are for your inspiration. Use what you have to your advantage and all that; watching, listening and interacting will bring you some real life characters you can work with.

Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival

2011-06-11T14:10:00.002+01:00

A couple of weeks ago, I booked to attend the Theakstons Crime Writing Festival at the end of July. A four day festival held in Harrogate filled with some amazing names. The likes of David Baldacci and Tess Gerritson will be there, as well as Martina Cole, Lee Child and Val Mcdermid to name but a few.

The event is filled with guest speakers and panels and you can either book the individual sessions you are interested in or buy rover tickets which mean you can go to any on the particular day you have purchased for. I have bought a rover ticket for the entire event which means I can go to all the sessions. It will be a long weekend. The events start about 10.00 am in a morning and go on into the evening. The last speakers doing a 10.00 pm slot. I've booked the time off work and the following day as well so I can recover. I intend to see all that I can.

I'm so excited, but in equal measure I'm anxious. I've never been to an event like this before. Crowds of people who all know each other from previous festivals and book events. This is my first step into this world and it's with trepidation as I don't feel I really belong.

What will be great though, is the opportunity to meet people with shared interests. People with an interest in crime thrillers. I talk to many writers through twitter, blogging and Facebook but there are only a handful who are writing crime. I love it with a passion and a whole weekend filled with wonderful guest speakers will really drive me forward in my own work with fire in my belly.

I wanted to stay in the accommodation where they were hosting the event but I was a little late booking so I have an equally nice hotel a five minute walk away.

Expect a blog post filled with photographs following the event!

Do you attend writers events and if so which ones have you attended, or what is on your wish list?

Plotting

2011-06-10T03:48:00.003+01:00

I realised yesterday, after making a difficult mistake, that I haven't discussed my work in process on the blog. The first drafting of my crime novel.

The mistake I made I imagine, is a pretty common one to writers. Especially pantsers. Those writers like me who don't make reams of plot notes before writing and just sit down and write organically letting the story unfold of it's own free will.

The opposite of a pantser would be a plotter. A writer who plots the story as they go. They know what each chapter should look like before they write it and have lots of notes to keep track of where the story is going.

Being a pantser has been going quite well for me, until now. I have a full synopsis written so have general directions but I don't plot each chapter or blocks or chapters. I sit and I write. I know there is no right and wrong way, but as I explain the mistake, it could appear I maybe shouldn't be working this way. Now corrected, I will continue to write as I have been doing, because this is what I'm comfortable with. It's what, most of the time, works for me.

The mistake? - I wrote a couple of short chapters and when finished I realised that the girl I had just had arrive from school at the time of the incident had actually been discussed as a missing child earlier in the work.

I was so frustrated with myself. Things were going well and I was in a flow with my word count and the direction I was heading in. I then felt as though I'd just put a great big flashing STOp sign in the way.

The solution - I had to walk away from the work for an hour and do other things, letting my brain process what had happened and attempt to figure the right direction to go in, for this to be resolved. Eventually I sat back down at my laptop and worked the girl into the right place.

I know I need to write a chapter list of who is doing what and where, for what I have written so far. If I do this then I can keep track of where everyone is and still sit and write freely as I forge ahead.

It was a difficult, but luckily short, learning curve and one I hope to not have to repeat again.

One more thing about this first draft I haven't yet said - I have set myself a target date to complete it of 21st July. Then starts the next stage. Second drafting.

Are you a plotter or a pantser and how do you deal with plot errors?

Tagged

2011-06-07T19:30:00.000+01:00

Kate tagged me in blog post. A set of questions made to learn something about the poster. These are my answers;

Do you think you're hot?
I know how this question is supposed to be interpreted, but does anyone actually think they are hot, in that way?

Upload a picture or wallpaper that you are using at the moment.
This photo was taken during a visit to the Natural History Museum for my little mans birthday.

When was the last time you ate chicken?
Last night. Chicken fajitas. Yummy!

The songs you listened to recently?
I generally listen to the radio in the car, so all the usual stuff that is played on there.

What were you thinking of as you were doing this?

I do a lot of thinking on my drive to and from work. It takes me an hour each way, so it's plenty of time to do this. Currently a lot of my thought time is on my novel and I get a little frustrated that I can't make notes of what I'm thinking because I'm driving.

Do you have nicknames? What are they?

Sorry, no nicknames. Boring I know.

Tag 5 (It did say 8 but I shrank it a bit) blogger friends:

Lindsay at Tiptoe Kisses

Sarah at Empty White Pages

J.L Campbell at The Character Depot

Linda at Excuse me While I Write That Down

Patricia at Journey Through the Pages

My New Home Office

2011-06-06T21:50:00.001+01:00

Following the post about making my own writing space at home, I thought I'd share a photo of the new desk in the freshly cleared out spare room. I'm loving the peace of my own office and I'm loving the space the desk gives me to spread my notes out around me, as well as the drawers to shove them all in, to give the impression of tidiness and calm.

I give to you, my shiny new home office!

Now let's see if it can help me weave some magic.

Book Review - Broken by Karin Slaughter

2011-06-04T20:48:00.000+01:00

Good reads blurb -

A woman's corpse is discovered in the waters of Lake Grant, and a note is found which seems to point to suicide – but Sara Linton has never been a woman to settle for obvious solutions. The principal suspect in the case has requested – desperately -- to be able to speak to Sara -- but when she turns up at his cell in the local police station, the suspect, Tommy Braham (whom she had known as a boy), is unable to speak to her. Tommy is dead; he has been savagely beaten, and his wrists have been cut. Scrawled in blood on the cell wall is a poignant message: ‘Not me’. Sara, personally involved now, is distrustful of Lena Adams the detective in charge, so she gets in touch with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and asks (as she has done before) for the help of Special Agent Will Trent (Karin Slaughter readers will be well aware of the intriguing relationship between these two). The duo begins to suspect that a murderer enjoys the covert protection of the close-mouthed inhabitants of Grant County, who have fashioned a skein of non-communication. But, as the Bard observed, murder will out...

Review -

I've read the Karin Slaughter series since her debut with Blindsighted, which I loved and I've loved every day since. There are usually multiple gruesome murders to resolve and always something a bit iffy running around behind everything and I love this.

What I really love about Karins book are they are well written and character based as well as following the plot, the crime and all the procedural stuff but through the eyes of the very real people with very real flaws or ghosts that effect them. Its not just a matter of having a murder and watching the procedural stuff work through it, having characters with histories and failings you feel closer to them and in return to the book.

I loved this book and if you have read any of the previous in the series you will love this, but if this is your first Karin Slaughter, it may be a little confusing because past events are big drivers. I could see where newcomers may become a little disorientated. It's written so well, a new reader could go and read it, and enjoy it, but I love this author so much, I'm actually advocating you go and read the previous books in the series!

Great crime, great people and people you cared about or at least had an opinion about, what else do you need. Get yourselves into Karin Slaughter if you haven't already.

Blogging to Schedule.

2011-05-31T19:19:00.000+01:00

Following the crazy month that was the A to Z challenge, where I aimed to write every day other than Sundays and complete each post to compliment the next alphabetic letter I began thinking of where I would go from here with the blog.

One of my thoughts is regarding whether I should make the blog more formal and have a schedule for the days of the week when I would definitely be putting a blog post out.

The pro for this is people would know when the posts would be up and makes the whole blogging platform look that much more organised and professional.

The con is that sometimes life gets in the way. In fact its got a bloody awful habit of getting in the way. I'd hate to announce that a schedule was going to start running and then miss one of the days it's supposed to be on. That would definitely defeat the object of organised and professional.

What are your thoughts? What would you like to see from this blog in terms of a fixed schedule or my usual posting as and when I can manage it?

If the consensus is for a schedule, I would do my best to write the posts in advance and have them scheduled to go out for the correct days.

Let me know your thoughts on the concept. I'd probably look at doing three scheduled posts a week on set days and the odd one thrown in if something occurred out of the blue I felt I needed to tell you about.

What do you think?

Ehlers Danlos Syndrome Diagnosis

2011-05-28T14:29:00.000+01:00

Wednesday 18th May 2011, 09.00 am. Waiting room in the genetics clinic with my little boy, specifically the Ehlers Danlos Syndrome diagnostic clinic. A date that I will always remember. It was early. There was one other person in the waiting area. It turned out he was a Doctor. Didn't seem to know where he was going, so I presumed he was a locum. Not ours though. Little man and I saw the specialist along with the genetic counsellor.

For the past year following a tentative diagnosis of EDS by little mans paediatric consultant I've been adamant that it also answered a lot of questions in relation to my own health issues as well as his.

Wednesday 18th May I had that confirmed. I was given the official diagnosis of Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and little man has inherited this from me.

Ironically enough, May is Ehlers Danlos awareness month, so I can tell you a little about this syndrome and what it means to my little man and I.

Ehlers Danlos is a connective tissue disorder where your body creates defective collagen.

Collagen is required for every part of your body, internally and externally. Depending on the defective part of the gene depends on the type of syndrome you have and how you will be effected.

For me, I have generalised hypermobilty. My joints stretch more than they should. Therefore in return, my joints hurt more than they should. My body generally hurts from trying to hold itself together. The two other main symptoms that I struggle with are; fatigue and migraines. Other than those three things, there are a multitude of things to cope with but they are bearable.

Between us we have been referred to three different hospitals for further tests and support. We have to have our hearts tested, we both have to see a rhuematologist and I have to have a tilt table test for symptoms that could suggest Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome.

It's a strange feeling having the diagnosis. It's one thing to think you have it, but another altogether to be told you definitely do have it. It's going to take some adjusting to but I know we can do it.

You will find further information on Ehlers Danlos syndrome on the UK Ehlers Danlos Support Group and the US Ehlers Danlos National Foundation

Author Interview - Vanessa Lafaye

2011-05-26T18:59:00.000+01:00

Today's post is an interview with author Vanessa Lafaye. I'm absolutely thrilled to welcome her to Life in Clarity.

Thank you for agreeing to this interview Vanessa. I have read one of your stories on the ether books app, An Eye for an Eye and I have to say, I absolutely loved it. As well as short stories on the ether
books app, where else can we find your work?

So glad that you enjoyed the story. It was based on the life of an amazing 90 year-old woman who I met on a long plane flight. I added the violence and some other elements, but a lot of it is based on fact. She was typical of women who gained some independence during WWII, with the men away, and found life very difficult when they came back. I hadn't written a period piece before, but it was an interesting exercise, having to make the dialogue historically authentic, and avoid modern expressions. That's what I love so much about writing short stories - the author can explore an infinite variety of settings, characters, genres, and periods. Having
written novels previously (which are with my hard-working but so far unsuccessful agent), it was so liberating to write stories. I've done a fair bit of journalism, which can be found on the Guardian and Times websites, but my life took a strange turn 2 years ago when I was diagnosed with breast cancer, having already written a novel where all the characters have the disease (based on a friend's experience). I lost the ability to write anything at all, for about 18 months, during my treatment and after. Although I owed my agent another novel, I couldn't face it, it was too much. Writing stories got me back into it, and only last weekend I wrote the first chapter of a new novel.

I'm so sorry to hear about your diagnosis Vanessa. Its strange how life imitates art at times. I can only imagine how difficult that time was for you. Can I ask how you're doing now?

I'm fine now, thanks for asking. Treatment finished a year ago and while I couldn't write, I trained as a choir leader, which I really love.

It's great to hear you are writing again. What's the premise of the new novel?

My new novel is going to be a series of interwoven stories inspired by items for sale in classified ads. I love reading classified ads, all of life is there. I used to wonder about the stories behind the items and just decided to build a book around a collection of them. The first is a Moses basket, used once, with one torn corner.

That sounds a wonderful idea for a book. Everyday things can be the centre of so many memories. I'd love to hear how you get on with that. Do you class yourself as a full time writer or something you do as and when you get chance?

I'm not even a half-time writer! I work for a publisher which is fairly demanding, although I work from home half the time. Sometimes I'll book time off work to concentrate on writing, but usually it's a case of fitting it in. I'm a very badly behaved writer. I don’t have a routine, I can’t write every day. I used to think that I needed a good chunk of time, several hours at least, to do any serious writing, but that was really a delaying tactic, as in, 'I'll just see if the roof needs re-felting, then if there's time, I'll write.' Eventually I realised that I needed to grab whatever I could, 20 minutes, half an hour, or I would never make progress. It can be hard to change gears so much, but possible with enough determination.

Where is your writing space - and can we have a photograph?

This is tricky for me, as I like to wander around the house with my laptop to write, sometimes in the dining room, or the living room, or in bed. I have a desk but I use it to do my job, so it's nice to move to a different location to write.

How difficult was it getting an agent and what advice would you give writers who are querying agents now? That's something I'm sure will interest a lot of readers.

I wish I had a special trick to pass on, but I just followed the protocol: got my manuscript into the best shape possible (with the help of a professional editorial advice service), and sent my query letter with 1 chapter and a 1-page synopsis to all the agents who could possibly be appropriate for my style of book (commercial women's fiction). I emphasised my journalism and publishing experience, and informed them that I had sought professional help with polishing the manuscript. I got a batch of rejections straight away, and no reply from a bunch of others. Then, miracle of miracles, Tina Betts of Andrew Mann wrote that she liked the first chapter and could I please send the rest. I fell off my chair.

When you're not writing what do you like to do in your spare time?

During the time when I couldn't write, after my treatment, I trained as a choir leader and now run a community choir where I live. I’ve sung in groups for years but have no musical education, so it's been a big learning curve. It's extremely creative, using a different part of my brain. And it's immensely satisfying to see the members enjoying themselves - not to mention the oodles of material to be found there! A choir will definitely find its way into a story or book at some point. And I like photography, especially underwater. My perfect life would be part writing, part music,
with regular diving trips.

What genre do you love to read?

I have favourite authors rather than genres: Pat Barker, Douglas Coupland, Kate Atkinson, John Irving, Carl Hiassen, Louis de Bernières, David Sedaris, Alice Hoffman. I like the idea that there could be extraordinary things happening all around us, which we fail to notice. My stories sometimes have that dimension, starting off with an apparently mundane setting and characters, and then comes something totally unexpected. In fact, the whole reason I started writing short stories was a bit spooky. I had a dream that I bought a sandwich from a shop and found a short story tucked inside the packaging, just the right length for reading over lunch. The next day, I wrote my first 'Sandwich Story', which was small, dark and twisted, very different from the novel I had just finished. I wrote 10 more quickly, then put them in a drawer because my agent wasn’t interested. Thanks to Ether, they’re out of the drawer.

If a film was to be made of your life who would you like to play you?

The actress who plays Roz on Frasier

Thank you so much for taking the time for the interview. I've enjoyed having you here.

Thank you, Rebecca, it’s been a pleasure.

You can find Vanessa at the following places;

Wordpress
Malborough Community Choir
Singing for Wellbeing

Writing Space

2011-05-24T19:22:00.000+01:00

I'm currently halfway through my first draft and have set myself a target of completing it by mid July - with the help of the 80k in 80 days challenge.

My problem with staying on target is, I don't have a proper writing space. I have a very narrow computer table downstairs that is not much wider than the keyboard that graces it so is hopeless for my need to spread out multiple notebooks. This computer is also shared by the family which isn't ideal if I decide creativity is kicking in as my little boy is sat using it.

I tend to use my laptop but find the best place to use it is on my bed so I can spread out all my notes. As you can imagine, this isn't an ideal working space so I've decided that if I plan on sticking to the time scales I have set myself, I need a real writing space. A space that is mine where I can put notebooks, pencils and writing magazines in proper places and I can work in relative peace.

We have a spare bedroom, but as with most spare bedrooms it is filled with "stuff". Stuff I'm sure can be found homes elsewhere, even if that new home is the bin.

I've ordered a desk from Ikea which is being delivered on Saturday. I just need to clear out our much needed (rolls eyes) worldly possessions, get myself a comfortable chair, at which point I will be all set and raring to go.

With a desk, a chair and space to work I will positively steam through the rest of this first draft. (that's the plan anyway!) And I can't wait.

Where is your writing space and what makes you more productive?

Rapture and Regret

2011-05-21T18:36:00.000+01:00

I've had a long tiring week, so haven't really got a blog post prepared for today but a thought did come to me while tweeting this morning. According to some Christian leader in the United States, the world was supposed to end today. The given time for this world ending event called Rapture has now passed. My thought though, is this;

If you had one regret of something you didn't do in life at this exact moment in time, what would it be? And why haven't you done or started it?

Book Review - Blacklands

2011-05-19T12:22:00.001+01:00

Today I'm reviewing the book, Blacklands by Debut Dagger winning author, Belinda Bauer.

Goodreads blurb

EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO, Billy Peters disappeared. Everyone in town believes Billy was murdered—after all, serial killer Arnold Avery later admitted killing six other children and burying them on the same desolate moor that surrounds their small English village. Only Billy’s mother is convinced he is alive. She still stands lonely guard at the front window of her home, waiting for her son to return, while her remaining family fragments around her.

But her twelve-year-old grandson Steven is determined to heal the cracks that gape between his nan, his mother, his brother, and himself. Steven desperately wants to bring his family closure, and if that means personally finding his uncle’s corpse, he’ll do it.

Spending his spare time digging holes all over the moor in the hope of turning up a body is a long shot, but at least it gives his life purpose.

Then at school, when the lesson turns to letter writing, Steven has a flash of inspiration . . . Careful to hide his identity, he secretly pens a letter to Avery in jail asking for help in finding the body of "W.P."—William "Billy" Peters.

So begins a dangerous cat-and-mouse game.

Just as Steven tries to use Avery to pinpoint the gravesite, so Avery misdirects and teases his mysterious correspondent in order to relive his heinous crimes. And when Avery finally realizes that the letters he’s receiving are from a twelve-year-old boy, suddenly his life has purpose too.

Although his is far more dangerous . . .

Blacklands is a taut and chillingly brilliant debut that signals the arrival of a bright new voice in psychological suspense.

Review.

This book won the coveted Crime Writers Association Debut Dagger award in 2010 and Belinda Bauer had her first novel published. Blacklands is the result. It's not a crime novel as you may expect it to be. There's no cops chasing bad guys. It's a more settled pace, exploratory of relationships carved through the horrifying circumstance of the murder of a child.

Blacklands explores the fractured lives of those left behind and in particular, a child living with the remnants of the past. The poor economic standard of the family has a dark seventies feel about it and this is added to with vivid descriptions of the openness and danger of the local moors.

The unexpected twist is the connection made between child killer and child. It's not fast and thrill a minute but it is well written and slightly dark. If that sounds like your kind of book then I'd say definitely pick it up.

New Release - Book Giveaway

2011-05-17T11:20:00.001+01:00

To celebrate the launch of her latest urban fantasy novel, Blood Faerie, author India Drummond will give away five Kindle copies of her book on its release day, June 1, 2011.

Blood Faerie is the first in India Drummond’s new series, Caledonia Fae.

The blurb:

Unjustly sentenced to death, Eilidh ran—away from faerie lands, to the streets of Perth, Scotland. Just when she has grown accustomed to exile, local police discover a mutilated body outside the abandoned church where she lives. Recognising the murder as the work of one of her own kind, Eilidh must choose: flee, or learn to tap into the forbidden magic that cost her everything.

To enter to win a Kindle copy of the new book, all you have to do is sign up for her email newsletter. The email list is only used to announce book releases and important events, and emails are sent out infrequently. (It’s free, and it’s easy to unsubscribe after the contest date if you find it’s not for you.) Sign up here.

Five winners’ names will be announced on the India Drummond newsletter on June 1st, along with instructions for how winners can claim their free Kindle books. Only subscribers are eligible to win.

No Kindle? No problem! Anyone with a PC, Mac, or smart-device (iPhone, Blackberry, Android phone, etc) can read a Kindle book. Download free reading software here

Want to quadruple your chances of winning? Simply tweet about the contest with a link to any participating blog post and include @IndiaDrummond in your tweet. Or, share the link on Facebook. (But be sure to add @India Drummond to tag her on the link so she will see it! – You can add her to your friend list here And finally, add another entry to the list by posting about the contest on your blog.-- Tweet and share the link as much as you like, but only one additional entry per method, per person.

Good luck, everyone!

Hospital Appointment

2011-05-15T17:08:00.003+01:00

So let me tell you where we are in the process of the nhs deciding if my little man and I have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome

In March I saw the consultant rheumatologist who stated he was unable to diagnose me as that was the role of the geneticist, but he said I scored a five on the beighton test which is a test of flexibility and a five or over puts you in the EDS camp. He referred me.

Last month my little man saw his consultant paediatrician who originally came up with the EDS diagnosis last April. He again said little man is far too stetchy and states he thinks it's EDS. Another referral made.

Quite surprisingly the EDS clinic have married up these two referrals and we have a joint appointment next Wednesday. I'm now anxious about it.

Little man has twice been told he has EDS. A haematologist also suggested it was a collagen issue causing his capillaries to leak. My pain and exhaustion issues have gradually been getting worse over the last couple of years and my sister has similar and other issues. Having done my own research, listening to other consultants and discussing things with diagnosed EDS sufferers I am certain this is the issue but I'm worried we will be brushed off as we have been in the past simply because our bendyness abilities aren't in the extreme.

On Wednesday I will be unhappy if its diagnosed and unhappy if they don't. Wednesday is pretty much going to be a crappy day.

The Debut Dagger and Rejection

2011-05-13T19:48:00.002+01:00

In February I entered the Crime Writers Association
debut dagger competition. The competition required you to send in the first 3,000 words of your novel and a synopsis.

I had more than 3,000 words already down, so thought, yes, I can do that. I spent an incredible amount of time editing, having not realised what the editing process would be like and practically rewrote every sentence.

I sat and completed pages of character sheets and wrote the synopsis, happy that I knew the people living in it and where they would be going. I knew that after only starting writing in October 2010 it was against the odds that I would come anywhere near obtaining this coveted prize, but you know how you get in your own little writing world. This book is great! I held an inner hope.

Yesterday that hope was crushed as I read on the website that the shortlisted entrants have been notified by post. I haven't received any post. So, it's either got lost (that's a Possibilty right?) or they didn't shortlist me.

I am surprised to hear myself saying this but I'm actually a little hurt. A serious rejection, without a rejection letter. My work wasn't good enough, not polished enough or just a rubbish idea.

I'm in the middle of my work in progress at the minute and I'm already struggling with feelings of uselessness. Feelings that whatever I create is just a great idea and a great plot in my own deluded head and no one in their right mind is ever going to want to take it on and take it out there to eager readers. I've read on blogs that writing the middle section of the novel is the difficult bit but I took that information with a pinch of salt. Now that salt is burning the back of my throat and I can't swallow because I just failed at the debut dagger.

I failed. I'm useless. I have to try and find it within myself to get back on the keyboard and ride it again.

I know this feeling will pass but it's a strange place to be sitting, only halfway through the novel, knowing I have so much work left to do, yet not knowing if my work will ever make it.

Author Interview - Talli Roland

2011-05-11T13:34:00.000+01:00

Today's blog post is an interview with the author of The Hating Game, Talli Roland.

Welcome to Life in Clarity Talli and thank you for popping by to answer a few questions.

I believe that The Hating Game was your first mainstream novel but not your first step in the published world. Tell me who Talli Roland was before she was Talli, what did you write? and why did you create Talli?

The Hating Game is my first novel, but I have two other non-fiction books published: 24 Hours London and 24 Hours Paris, hour-by-hour travel guides. They’re under my real name, Marsha Moore. Since I’m with the same publisher (Prospera Publishing) for both my fiction and non-fiction, they asked if I’d think about writing under a different name, to differentiate the two. I’ve always wanted the chance to choose my name, so I agreed! Roland is my mum’s maiden name. For my first name, I wanted something fun and a bit sassy – and that, when you Googled it, wouldn’t come back with a zillion results. Talli Roland it was!

Thanks Talli. I love the name! I'm sure half of us had wished we could choose our own name from the start of life!

Where did the idea for The Hating Game come about and how did it grow?

Dare I admit my inspiration came from reality TV andThe Daily Mail? I’ve always been fascinated by what happens behind the scenes of ‘reality TV’ and whether editors manipulate the audience towards certain voting outcomes. So, I asked myself: what would happen if you put one highly ambitious, tough woman desperate for money on a show run by a team of producers whose only interest is getting the highest ratings possible – and The Hating Game was born!

There is a lot of talk in the blogosphere of building a writers platform. I'm a follower of your blog and love it. How long have you been blogging and having just experienced blogging and releasing a novel what are your thoughts on how social media impacts on the release of a novel?

Thank you for following my blog! I’ve been blogging as Talli Roland for just over year, but I also had another blog under my real name (it’s currently on hiatus). Blogging is such a big part of my writing life – it provides invaluable information but, more importantly, has enabled me to meet lots of friendly, supportive writers. Having a blog has definitely helped me spread the word about. The Hating Game– for the release of my ebook, I organized a Web Splash and had over 400 bloggers signed up to post about my book on release day. But I have to stress that blogging is an interactive thing. To really get the most out of it, you need to visit other blogs and comment, too.

I absolutely love blogging and meeting people with similar interests, especially when you're working alone as a writer. Who would you say inspired you to keep going when you start to lose ground?

Guilt! Whenever I feel my motivation flagging – which, to be honest, is quite often – I tell myself I have the opportunity right now to do something I really love, and I shouldn’t waste that chance. So… get on with it!

The Hating Game is a great book and I'm looking forward to your next novel. Can I ask what you're working on at the minute?

Thank you! I’m working on Watching Willow Watts, the story of a small-town girl who is catapulted to stardom when a YouTube video of her one-off Marilyn Monroe impersonation gets millions of hits. Instantly, Willow’s small English village is overrun with fans flocking to see the ‘new Marilyn’. Egged on by the villagers — whose shops and businesses are cashing in — Willow decides to embrace her new identity, dying her hair platinum and ramming herself full of cakes to achieve Marilyn’s legendary curves. But when a former flame returns seeking the old Willow, Willow must decide: can she risk her stardom and her village’s new-found fortune on love, or is being Marilyn her ticket to happiness? The novel is due out in November from Prospera Publishing.

When you're not writing, what genres do you like to read?

I love chick lit – reading authors like Sophie Kinsella really turned me on to the genre – but I have a real soft spot for non-fiction. I guess it’s because reading fiction when I’m in the throes of writing stresses me out. I’m constantly comparing myself! With non-fiction, I can relax and enjoy it. I’m a big fan of travelogues.

Where's your writing space that you find you can be most creative in and what does it look like? (can we have a photo?!)

I love my office. I have a large corner desk overlooking a busy London street, where I can watch the buses zooming by and see all the local crazies (amazingly, there are quite a few, including a man who runs down the street each day, bellowing at the top of his lungs). The office itself is quite bland, but I like that. I have enough going on in my head!

If you weren't a writer what would your dream occupation be?

I know it sounds horribly clichéd, but I really can’t think of anything else I’d rather do. Writing is my dream occupation – I should know; I’ve certainly had enough of them!

If you meet someone, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

I would love to meet my ancestors (originally from Manchester) who decided to emigrate to the New World, and ask them how they felt about me reversing the trend!

Thank you Talli for such a great interview and for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk to us. I'm looking forward to reading more from you.

You can find Talli at the following places;

Guest Post - Querying

2011-05-06T20:22:00.000+01:00

Today's post has kindly been written by Patti Larsen. Patti is a writer and independent filmmaker on the East Coast of Canada. She has a passion for Young Adult and Middle Grade fiction that drives her to write full time and sometimes even through the night. Her YA novel Fresco (Etopia Press) is due for release this summer and her Middle Grade novel (Acorn Press) is due for publication Spring 2012. You can find Patti all over the Internet (at least it feels that way to her):

It’s Nothing Personal

I tried my hand at querying for the first time when I was in my fresh-faced twenties, all innocence and naiveté. I had a fantasy novel I was certain was The One every publisher would just die for. Knowing nothing and without much in the way of internet support on the ins and outs of the process, I managed to pull together a list of agents and dutifully sent off my letters to them.

Needless to say, I was crushed. Absolutely shattered. Not one nibble. Only endless rejection. And it did me in for years. In fact, until my early thirties. I kid you not.

The second time I was no wiser. In fact by that point I had internet access to lots of information, but did I do my homework? Not so much. Instead, I set myself up yet again for heartbreak and the conviction that I would never, ever, be a published author.

Ever.

Worse, I came to believe agents and publishers were heartless jerks who not only didn’t recognize great talent when they read it but neither did they care one little bit about writers. I took every single ‘not what we’re looking for’ to heart and quit with the taste of defeat in my mouth.

This time, I stopped writing all together. That’s how horrible I felt about myself and my work. And no amount of encouragement from my friends and family could convince me otherwise. I was a deluded failure.

Fast forward to two years ago (um… late thirties, let’s leave it at that). I simply couldn’t shut off the compulsion forever. The agony of defeat faded to a soft memory. Inevitably, I started writing again. My new novel was my first stab at Young Adult. Nervous, I shared it with people around me because I loved it. To my delight, everyone who read it loved it. And I knew it was time to try again.

It’s amazing what time can do to help you forget the pain.

This time I was smart. I did my homework. Read up on the process. Researched agents rather than randomly sending out to whomever I could find. Got betas to read and critique my book. Did my proofreading. Wrote and rewrote my query until it shone like a sparkling star. Then, I slowly and carefully built a list of agents who not only represent what I write but whose philosophies and character I admired.

Breath bated, I copied and pasted my queries and hit send.

For the first time ever, I got nibbles. Then bites. And while that book has yet to sell, the encouragement I felt from the attention was groundbreaking. I kept writing, new books, new series, and I kept querying. Now, every time I tackle the job, I refine my process even further. I have my favorite agents (who may or may not be sick of seeing my name attached to yet another book and yet another query email), as well as a secondary and tertiary list. I’m organized. I have a spreadsheet. Imagine.

Do the no’s hurt? They did at first. I suffered from the excited pitter-pat of full manuscript request and the plunging stomach when a bite turned into a no. Still, I managed to work it out so I wasn’t so emotionally attached.

My most recent attempt means the most to me because I’ve committed myself to writing for a living. Which means I have to sell something. So, rather than treat personally, I’ve instead chosen to look at it like a business. While the writing of the books is still intimately creative, the process of finding an agent and a publisher has turned into work. It’s actually made it easier to hear the rejections; first because I want to be sure whomever I partner with loves my writing as much as I do. I don’t want to be attached to someone who is only half-hearted. And second, because it’s not so much about my books anymore as it is about my job. It makes the no’s less personal and more professional.

Which, by the way, is exactly the truth. It’s just business, folks. Nothing against my work or anyone else’s. And I’ve accepted that at last. It’s pretty liberating.

I’m still seeking the right agent, the one who understands my vision. The sting of ‘no thanks’ doesn’t really bother me anymore. In fact, I’m so used to it I think a ‘yes’ will take a while to process. The biggest difference this time is that I refuse to quit. Refuse. I know that I’m a great writer. Two publishers agree with me. But I have plans for world literary domination and I can’t do that without an agent.

You can find Patti in the following places;

Thank you Patti for your time and your insight into the world of querying. I wish you all the luck in the world with it.

May - You Write Your Novel

2011-05-04T17:16:00.001+01:00

OK, so now the A - Z blog challenge is out of the way and I don't have to post daily or wrack my brains for alphabet related posts you'd think I'd take a step back, have a breather, gather my thoughts and see what I have and what needs to be done. Ha! You thought wrong. Or maybe I'm thinking wrong. That's always up for debate.

No, Instead of putting my feet up for a couple of weeks I'm now rushing headlong into another challenge. The, May - you write your novel challenge. It's a challenge that starts in May where we have 80 days to write 80,000 words and hopefully complete a novel. You will find Quillers, the creator of this challenge over at the May - you write your novel, blog.

It seems like a good idea. I was trundling along at my own pace with my novel and this looks like a great opportunity to give myself a kick up the backside. I was about 28,000 words in when it started a couple of days ago. 80,000 words in 80 days is obviously equivalent to 1,000 words a day. That may seem like a reasonable figure, but actually finding time and energy to sit down and create isn't always an easy task. I get tired through the week. Throwing most of my low reserves of energy into work because that's what pays the bills. So coming home and putting on my creative head isn't always what I want to do.

I am going to give this a bash though. By the end of the challenge I should have completed my first draft. I can't wait for that point. To see I have a story from beginning to end and including a middle! I know I will have a lot of work from there on in, but the novel will be there. The bare bones. A full manuscript to work with.

Will I make this challenge? I don't know. I love writing. I love the novel and the characters within that novel but I'm not sure I have that pace in me. Even if it's not completed by then it will be well on it way so it's worth attempting. I will try to let you know how I'm getting on with it as time progresses.

Is anyone joining me? If you write, at what pace do you manage it?

X Y Z and Reflections

2011-05-01T13:36:00.004+01:00

Today is the first of May and a post of reflection on the April A to Z blog challenge hosted by Arlee at Tossing it Out. You can find the blog award over at Elizabeth Muellers blog, so go get yourself one!

The challenge was supposed to be a post for every letter of the alphabet during the month of April. As you can see, I very very nearly completed it, posting right up to the end of the month in an effort to complete the challenge, but failing by just three letters X,Y and Z.

The reason for the failure was life. It comes at the most inopportune moments. Family members hospitalised and my own general feelings of ill health on some of the days. Taking these things into consideration I don't think I did badly.

I usually post about 14 posts a month which equates to approximately 3 and a bit a week. I found the challenge...challenging. Surprisingly. Advice given prior to the start was to make some posts in advance and while I did this, I still didn't have the time to participate daily. The challenge isn't just about making posts. I mean, why write them if no-one is going to read them? To get the most out of the challenge you needed to visit fellow A to Z-ers and comment on blogs, find new blogs that interest you and interact with them. This in itself was time consuming. So, even if you managed to write up some posts in advance, it's not the end of the story.

Did I enjoy the challenge? Absolutely yes. I found some great new blogs to follow. I raised my own follower count and I found that I do have a blogging voice within me. I have something to say and people are actually interested in that. I may not have visited all 1200 blogs listed as participating but I did visit and follow new blogs. I may not have made all 26 posts, but I made 23. I am happy with that.

Will I do it again? Absolutely yes. I loved it. I have found a new passion for blogging and fully intend to continue following old and new blogs. It's given me a new feel for blogging and I now have to assess my blog and look at what I need to be doing to keep it active. Blogging is all about the interaction, not just about getting your own thoughts out and what better way than to interact than with a whole group of people who want exactly the same thing. To communicate with fellow bloggers.

What were your thoughts on the challenge, either as a participant or a reader?

To add your A-Z reflection post, please visit Arlee's blog where you will find the linky.

Wordpress versus Blogger

2011-04-30T17:38:00.001+01:00

When I started blogging last year I chose the google blogger platform because it was really simple to set up.

During my short time as a blogger I have read both blogger and wordpress blogs. I am torn on which one I prefer. I like blogger because I can generally make it work. I'm not the most technologically minded person but I can figure bits out. I like wordpress because I've seen some fabulous themes and clean layouts. To me it seems to have a slightly more professional presentation about it. I'm definitely not saying there aren't any great blogger blogs out there, it's simply my perception.

My other perception is that wordpress is more difficult to work and get your head around. This again isn't necessarily true.

My blog is a work in progress. When I first started blogging it didn't look like this. I'm still learning what it can do and little changes keep happening. I have contemplated making the switch to wordpress but I wouldn't know how to or if I could transfer all my posts over as though it's a continuing blog. I don't know if there is a better one to use. I've definitely come across more blogger blogs than wordpress and that is something that keeps me tied to this platform. It's popular. I see people using it and using it well.

What do you prefer, wordpress or blogger and what exactly are the differences?

Vlogging

2011-04-30T14:47:00.000+01:00

I've heard more and more about Vlogging recently so thought it a good topic to look into for my Very late V post of the A to Z challenge.

Vlogging is short for video blogging. Pretty much as we all do here on our blogs, but via the medium of video rather than the written word.

You can add a video (vlog) to your already established blog or you can create specific vlog accounts. YouTube contains a lot of vlogs.

You may ask what the purpose of a vlog is if you are already blogging. Well, for writers, it is an extra medium in which to promote your work and your brand. As people we take information in better, in different formats. Some people will take and hold onto information if they read it in written form, some prefer interactive learning and others will take on board information more easily if it is in a visual format and this is where vlogging comes into it's own. So if you really want to expand your author platform (or any other platform you are wanting to promote) then it's worth looking at vlogging. It's a growing format.

You probably won't see me vlogging in the near future though as I'm a little camera shy. I'm carrying a little more weight than I'm happy with and I absolutely hate to hear myself recorded speaking. If you don't have these hurdles in front of you though, it's worth checking out what's happening in the ever growing vlogging world.

Unplanned

2011-04-28T02:19:00.000+01:00

Life has a habit of getting in the way of the best laid ands that is what has happened towards to end of the A - Z challenge.

As well as my own health and exhaustion to fight against, this week my mum has been taken into hospital. Nothing too serious as yet. A gallstone, enlarged duct and liver infection. They're keeping her in and plan to do an MRI next. I think she's hoping to have it out.

I've been worried and unfocussed and this has meant the challenge has slid further and further down my list of priorities. I'm close, I can feel it. I can also smell it.

So as they say, best laid plans of mice and men....

I may or may not make the end of the challenge but I'm still Here!

Twitter

2011-04-26T21:26:00.004+01:00

I'm really not keeping up with this blog challenge. I'm sure the letter T should have been posted in the middle of last week or something equally as ridiculous. Anyway, what else is there for T other than Twitter.

We all blog. Look, I see you here. Well as all of you know, though I'm sure not all of you use, Twitter is another social networking site. Another platform for you to use for whatever benefit you see fit. The difference between the blogging platform and twitter is that twitter is much faster and more social. With only 140 characters to use you have to be succinct and to the point. Tweeting can be done on the go a lot easier than blogging can so any worries about time constraints can be forgotten. Really it is that easy. Two minutes while you wait for the kettle to boil. Three minutes in the ad breaks of your favourite tv programmes. Twitter is made for busy people.

The key things to remember are to play with a couple of different twitter clients and see what feels right for you. I tweet from my phone and rarely from my computer so I have a couple of twitter apps which I tried until I found one I was comfortable with.

The second thing is a profile picture. You are more likely to be followed if you have a profile photograph of yourself rather than the rather bland twitter egg. There are lots of twitter spam accounts out there and people are suspicious. Be real and you will be welcomed with open arms.

And finally, interact, reply, have fun. It's not just an endless stream of what you have been doing throughout the day. It's about interaction, connecting and conversing. Twitter is quick and fun. Play around with it. Watch others and see the etiquette taking place but enjoy talking to people.

If you're on twitter or finally taking that step to joining, look me up. My twitter link is on the right hand bar.

Sandra Jenson - Author Interview

2011-04-25T12:07:00.003+01:00

Today's blog post is an interview with published author Sandra Jensen who has several short stories published and is working on her novel.

Welcome to Life in Clarity Sandra, it's a pleasure to have you here. I've read a couple of your stories on the ether iPhone app and really enjoyed them. What genre would you say you write in?

If people ask I tend to say literary fiction. I have one or two short stories that are more 'commercial' in tone. But in truth this question usually stumps me and I've just gone to Google to see what other genres my work could fit into. Here was one definition of literary fiction: "Often the protagonist lives an emotionally intense (if rather unpleasant) life, based upon someone's actual experiences." I'd say that probably fits several of my stories! I don't try to write in a particular genre, however. I've written stories that could be defined as magical realism, I've written one unfinished and very bad science fiction novel. I mostly read literary fiction so I certainly am influenced in this direction.

And the novel you are working on, can you tell us a little bit about it?

The novel is set in Sri Lanka during the early 80s. There are two main protagonists: Helen a naive young woman from London who is unwittingly swept up in the turmoil of the country’s civil war; and Raghunath, a young man she is attracted to. Raghunath is imprisoned on suspicion of being a member of the LTTE, a Tamil Tiger. Essentially the story is about the consequences of thoughtless actions. It's about complicity: how we may not be the person directly responsible for horrific events, but if we stand by and do nothing as they unfold, what then? As per the definition above, the story is loosely based on an experience I had while travelling in Sri Lanka in 1984.

The novel sounds amazing Sandra and I for one will be picking it up on release. I wish you so much luck with it. Are you a full time writer or is it something you do along with another job and with this is mind, how do you write, routine, or an as and when writer?

I am a full time writer (which is not quite the same thing as making a living from writing, of course!). However I do find it difficult to keep to a routine, to write every day. I have to force myself sometimes. I run an on-line writing group, and I use this to motivate me. Last year I set an assignment for the group I called "a page a day" which basically meant just that: write one page a day, of whatever comes up. No plans, no ideals, just a page. No matter how awful the writing, for a month. When I'm not engaged in other writing I try to do this assignment, but even so I find it difficult, but when I do, it's an amazing practice, and has produced quite a lot of usable and publishable material for me, including my first competition win for a flash piece.

But, even when I'm not writing, I'm thinking about writing and I'm always engaged in the 'world' of writing in one way or another.

What are your writing aspirations?

I take it step by step. I would like to get my novel finished, and, of course, published. I also have a completed short story manuscript I'd like to get published, but I've been advised to hold off on sending this out until I have a novel accepted by an agent, at least. I have been contacted by three agents who read my short stories in literary magazines, and they are interested looking at a longer work. So, I need to get that novel finished! And then I presume another novel, and I have a couple of ideas for this, but I also like writing short stories and flash fiction. I will see when I get there! At the moment the novel I'm working on feels like an insurmountable mountain, even getting to a second draft would make me happy.

What does your work area look like and can we have a photograph?

I should send you a photograph I took recently for a newspaper that was looking for photographs on the theme "mess"! But instead I'll send you one of how it looks when it's tidy. I have a lovely view as I write: I look out onto a river which runs around the property. The wall behind my desk was painted by an artist friend. It's very quiet and isolated where we live, and this isn't actually working for me any more, so we are thinking of moving to a city, possibly London.

If you could sit down with someone living or dead and chat with them for an hour, who would it be and why?

Two people come to mind: my father, who died when I was seven. I wasn't close to him then, but I would like to know who he was, and to tell him how I'm doing. I think he'd be proud. He liked to write poetry. The other person is my childhood hero: Alexander the Great. He was my hero because of Mary Renault's novels about him, which I devoured over and over again when I was younger. Because of those novels I went on to study Greek and Classical Civilization at university, and perhaps they even influenced the fact that I'm a writer now. Something special happened for her with those particular stories, it seemed as if she almost channelled the time period, the characters. I would love to see how close to the 'truth' she was!

And finally, do you have any advice to anyone reading this who aspires to write but maybe hasn't taken that first step yet?

I aspired to write for most of my life. I always thought I'd 'grow up to be a writer', but growing up seemed to take a long time. What finally helped me - in my late 30's - to fully dive into writing was meeting a particular teacher, Barbara Turner-Vesselago, who teaches an approach called Freefall. I did a writing retreat with her, which more or less changed my life. It was her, and this approach, that 'turned on the creative writing tap' for me. I still go to her retreats, nearly every year. So I suppose I would say the best thing is to find support. If not a teacher or a mentor, a supportive writing group. I do feel most of us need lots of encouragement, it's such a lonely activity, one whereby you bare your soul over and over. Sometimes writing is very difficult, very painful, even if you've written for years, even if you've been well published. So the important word is 'supportive'. I know so many people who were told they couldn't write, and just gave up. It's so sad really. So keep looking for the people, and the environments that help you to write. Perhaps take a course, or do a retreat, or start a small informal writing group where you can share your work with each other.

And the other thing is to keep reminding yourself that it does take practise. Since we all 'write', I think it's easy to assume that we can therefore write fiction or memoir or poetry and so on, just like that. But it's a skill, no different to architecture or painting or playing a musical instrument. It takes time, support, and lots and lots of practise - even just one page a day will work miracles!

Start small. Don't think about a novel or a memoir or a book of short stories, don't even think of writing a whole short story. Just one sentence describing the colours outside your window is more than enough. And then, another day, write another sentence... write what your body feels, sees, hears. Word by word, sentence by sentence. Soon enough something will grow, will lead you into a larger piece or story, but let it happen when it wants to, don't force anything. It's important to sit at your desk (or wherever you'd like to write) and make the time to write, even if you don't actually do anything.

There is a lovely book by Brenda Euland I'd recommend to all aspiring writers - all writers actually - called "If You Want To Write, a book about art, independence and spirit". She talks about how inspiration works:

"Inspiration comes very slowly and quietly. Say that you want to write. Well, not much will come to you the first day. Perhaps nothing at all. You will sit before your typewriter or paper and look out of the window and begin to brush your hair absentmindedly for an hour or two. Never mind. That is all right. That is as it should be,--though you must sit before your typewriter just the same and know, in this dreamy time, that you are going to write, to tell something on paper, sooner or later. And you must also know that you are going to sit here tomorrow for a while, and the next day and so on, forever and ever."

Well, it seems I have a lot to say on this subject! Perhaps because I still struggle with it, every day. Each new blank page is like taking a first step, as if I'd never written anything before.

Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions. I know the life of a writer is about prioritising time so I appreciate it. It's been a pleasure to have you here. Thank you Sandra.

You can find Sandra in the following places -
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Diving Deeper, online writers group
Barbara Turner-Vesselago's Freefall writing

Reading

2011-04-23T22:53:00.000+01:00

What are you currently reading? I'm reading two books at the minute. It's something I've started doing since I got an ereader for Christmas. It's handy if I can't sleep as I don't have to turn the light on, yet on the other hand I can't take it into the bath.

Reading crime thrillers helps to stir my creative juices. It gets me enthused about the first draft I'm writing and sometimes getting me enthused is no mean feat. The first draft is hard work. Reading is inspirational though. I read great work. Watch how characters grow and fall and grow some more.

I also read chick-lit and love it's easy escapism. I love the humour. So what happens is. I have a crime thriller running and a chick-lit at the same time on different mediums. You can see what they are on the side bar.

What are you reading and what do you get out of it?

Querying

2011-04-21T19:04:00.000+01:00

Today's A-Z blog challenge post is more of a question/open invitation to fellow bloggers.

I am currently in the middle of my first draft of my novel. It's a long drawn out process and I'm no where near reaching the point where I should be querying agents. So in the name of having a well rounded blog I'd like to ask if there is anyone currently querying agents who would be interested in writing a guest post for May on the querying process and how its been for you on a personal level.

If you would be interested in this either leave me a comment with some contact details or drop me an email. Address in the side bar.

I'd love to hear peoples experiences. How is it for you?

Personal

2011-04-20T18:19:00.000+01:00

Firstly, I have to apologise for anyone following the A-Z challenge as I know I'm a day behind with it. I haven't been feeling great and as well as not being up to date, I haven't visited many blogs either. I hope to rectify this over the next few days. I hope to catch up.

However, if you are here reading this, then I'm taking it that you enjoy blogging, you enjoy reading the blogs of others and enjoy sharing your own thoughts, experiences and knowledge. If so, then you also want your blog to grow a steady and consistent readership. It's one thing to draw traffic to your blog by participating in blog challenges like this, but getting readers to return and to comment on what you post, requires that little extra and not just the usual advice of consistent blogging and good content.

People return because they like what you say, but they also return because they like you. Providing good content is a given requirement of blogging, but you also have to add yourself into your posts. Be a person, show who you are and when people comment, read what they write. Actually read the comments, not just skim them and count the amount of comments you have. When you read the comments, respond to them. Think about your answers. Direct your responses to the person commenting, it shows you are listening and interacting. The blogosphere as I have learnt, is a social place. Be sociable and put some of yourself into it and be personable. People will return if you respond to what they have to say.

Ordinary Angels - Book Review

2011-04-19T13:36:00.001+01:00

Although most of Zoe Pendergraft's friends are dead, that means nothing to her. After all, they died long before she meet them. What does matter is the angel who took her dancing and turned her world upside down.
But grim reality intrudes when she finds a body, and the Higher Angels accuse her of the murder.
Knowing she's the only one who can stand against the Higher Angels, Zoe uses any means necessary to save her friend all the while, wondering if the tempestuous love she's feeling is real.
The blood on her hands forces Zoe to question herself, and her angel to question her.

Contains strong language and supernatural sizzle.

I finished this book Sunday night after being unable to put it down. I absolutely loved it.

Books around angels and magical beings etc are not usually the genre of books I usually read. I tend to read lots of crime thrillers and more recently I have ventured into chick-lit.

I picked up Ordinary Angels because I follow the author India Drummond on twitter and her blog and "knowing" who the author of a book is really interests me, so on the release of her novel I downloaded myself a copy of the ebook.

I found it really well written. I became invested in the characters and by the end I was wanting more. I'm not sure if a sequel is planned, but I would definitely pick it up.

The main love interest of mortal Zoe is an Angel called Alexander. Though he was of course lovely. I personally preferred the strong free angel of Thomas. There is murder, mayhem, romance and some wonderful descriptions of magical worlds and items.

I lost myself in Ordinary Angels and would absolutely recommend it. Even if you don't normally indulge in angels and fantasy. A thoroughly great read!

Nightmares

2011-04-16T23:10:00.001+01:00

Nightmares

I was struggling with what topic to choose for the A to Z challenge for the letter N and pondered over nightmares. The pondering stopped when my son earlier this evening (when I wrote this) had a night terror.

Night terrors scare me. My little man sits bolt upright in his bed, eyes open and screams as if something is terrifying him in the corner of the room. He can't be pacified. He doesn't even know I'm there. I talk quietly and soothingly and try to add positive touch to this by stroking his back. Eventually he just quiets down, lays back in his bed and sleeps. Usually in the morning he has no recollection of this. I however am left most definitely shaken and stirred. I've gotten somewhat used to them but when he first started having them I think I was as actually scared and spooked out as he looked!

I think he may have got this bizarre trait from me. I don't suffer night terrors but do have nightmares. Dreams I recall and dreams I wake up from occasionally by screaming out.

What do my dreams tell me of my unconscious mind. To me, it's as active as my conscious mind. It feels as though my brain never stops whirring. Awake or asleep.

Do you rest peacefully after a busy day or does all the power in the human brain just refuse to shut off and keep working through the issues, thoughts and story telling you've been doing through the day?