Walking up fells...

Happy New Year, everyone!

It's still January, so I feel like I can still wish everyone a Happy new Year. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas break - it feels like forever ago now.

This post is long overdue, but it's just going to be a short one today. I did say I would be taking a break from social media, but I never meant to include my blog in that too - it feels like lately my life has been sucked up by work, but now that the mornings are starting to get (slightly) lighter, I've decided to make more of an effort to pick up my life outside of work again. I've noticed for the past few years that January/February are the worst months for me - I crave the sunlight and lighter mornings/nights, and I can't seem to work up the motivation to do anything. But I decided to start small and write this blog post, and then hopefully do some writing later on in the week.

However, this post isn't just about metaphorical fells in my mind - it's about real fells too! (For those of you not from the north of England, a fell is essentially a small mountain :)).

I have some exciting news - the Engineer and I have decided to set up our own YouTube channel! We have our own art company (http://yetibean.com/) and this is kind of a branch out from that. At the moment, we're documenting our weight loss, but we have some very exciting ideas about what to film next in the pipeline, so stay tuned!

You can watch the first episode on our YouTube channel below:



Don't forget to visit our channel page to like, comment and subscribe :)!

Have a lovely day, folks!

What did you think of our video? Do you have a YouTube channel? How's your writing been going lately?

IWSG September: Finding time to write and introducing the IWSG Anthology Contest 2016!

Hello everyone! It's been a long time since we last spoke - there are several reasons for this, the main one being that I've been to four weddings in the space of two months (including my own, and one I was bridesmaid for at the weekend). However, I'm back now, well rested (kinda) and ready to write once more!

I have the huge privilege of being one of the co-hosts for this month's IWSG - I'm so excited! What better way to reacquaint myself with you all than getting to visit lots of fantastic blogs?? Your other awesome co-hosts for this month are:

C. Lee McKenzie, Rachel Pattison, Elizabeth Seckman, Stephanie Faris, Lori L MacLaughlin, and Elsie Amata!

First things first - this month's IWSG burning question is: How do you find the time to write in your busy day?

I have a confession to make: I haven't written anything since about June, apart from a brief writing session sitting in the airport on my way back from my honeymoon. Wedding fever and juggling a new job have essentially taken over my life for the past few months, but now that my wedding season is over for this year, I'm determined to pick it back up again. So I've decided to make a pledge to you all to ease me back into the writing game - while I can't promise to write every day, I'm going to write 500 words at least a week. I know this may not sound like much, but I think it'll be a good way to get back into the swing of things for now. And these 500 words don't have to be on my novel - I'm including blog posts in that word count too, so my blog doesn't get neglected either!

And now, onto the exciting news of the day!!

Announcing the 2016 IWSG Anthology Contest!

Last year’s contest was science fiction – parallel world/alternate history, and the result was Parallels: Felix Was Here. This year, we have a new theme and invite all members to submit.

Eligibility: Any member of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group is encouraged to enter – blogging or Facebook member. The story must be previously unpublished. Entry is free.

Word count: 5000-6000

Genre: Fantasy

Theme: Hero Lost. It could be about a hero turned villain, a villain's redemption, a hero's lack of confidence, a hero's lack of smarts, etc. It can be about any kind of hero including superheroes, mythological heroes, unexpected or unlikely heroes, or a whole new kind of hero. This theme has plenty of scope and we’re open to pretty much anything along these lines. No erotica, R-rated language, or graphic violence.

Deadline: November 1st 2016

How to enter: Send your polished, formatted, previously unpublished story to admin @ insecurewriterssupportgroup.com before the deadline passes. Please include your contact details and if you are part of the Blogging or Facebook IWSG group.

Judging: The IWSG admins will create a shortlist of the best stories. The shortlist will then be sent to our official judges.

Prizes: The winning stories will be edited and published by Freedom Fox Press next year in the IWSG anthology. Authors will receive royalties on books sold, both print and eBook. The top story will have the honor of giving the anthology its title.

We’re excited to see the creativity and enthusiasm that’s such a part of this group put into action. So don your creative caps and start writing. And spread the word!

Our amazing judges this year:

Elizabeth S. Craig
Richard Harland
Laura Maisano
Russell C. Connor
Dawn Frederick
Michelle L. Johnson
Ion Newcombe
Lynn Tincher

Best of luck to every who enters! I can't wait to read the results!

How do you find the time to write in your busy day? Do you have a set writing plan, or do you just see what happens? Will you be entering the IWSG Anthology Contest this year?

IWSG June: The Guilt Trip

Morning everyone! It's that time of the month again where writers from across the blogosphere get together to share their fears and encourage one another - if you'd like to find out more about the Insecure Writer's Support Group, you can check out their official website here.

As you're probably all aware, recently I moved back to Cumbria with the Engineer, and since then, I feel like I haven't really stopped. From helping my dad milk the cows every morning and most nights, to working in the cafe most days, then doing various wedding bits and bobs in my spare time (both for my wedding and the several others I'm attending this year), having my hen party this weekend (so good, but so so tired now), entertaining my friend that came to visit me from London, preparing for a job interview next week and just generally trying to sort my life out now that I've moved...you can guess where I'm going with this. I've barely had time to stop and catch my breath, let alone write.

I feel guilty for not having the time to write - I know that when I normally say that, generally I mean that I DO have the time to write, I just couldn't be bothered. But this month, time just seems to be slipping away from me. Plus, now that I live with my parents, I feel kinda awkward sitting at the laptop all day. I love my parents, but they are definitely the kind of people who, when they see you're sitting at a computer, will stop and ask, 'oh, what are you up to?' or (more likely in my parent's case) say, 'Great, you're not doing anything - can you come and help with X,Y and Z?' - which makes me feel like I can't just sit and write, even if I did have the time.

On the plus side though, my characters are popping back into my head more and more. Even though I can't sit and get the words out onto the page, I love thinking about my characters and my story and generally just musing over what I'll write next, when I do get the chance. So it's nice to know that my characters haven't completely abandoned me, even if I do feel guilty for not writing about them more often!

Do you feel guilty for not writing, even though you have a valid reason not to? Do you feel awkward writing in front of other people? How's your writing going this month?

Small victories...

It's been a little while since I last posted - the Engineer and I went away last weekend to see some old uni friends, and then I've just felt pretty bogged down with work and one thing and another. But I'm back now, feeling refreshed and ready to go!

And I have some good news! I did read all your comments on my IWSG post, and firstly, I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who stopped by and commented. You all inspired me to stop moaning/procrastinating and actually get on with what I'm here to do - write. So on Thursday night I finally started working on the sequel to Synthetica - I'd made a detailed synopsis some time ago, but I hadn't actually got around to writing a word of the actual manuscript. 

And oh my, was I in for a shock.

I think I've actually completely blanked out how difficult it is to write those first few pages of a manuscript. Seriously, it felt like I was pulling teeth. I just wanted to cry and scream and break something. You want to know how many words I managed to write? 281. I'm truly not exaggerating when I say how awful those 281 words were. They were appalling. If you read it, you wouldn't think I was capable of even speaking English, let alone writing it.

But you know what? It didn't stop me. On Saturday, I got up, had breakfast, wandered around for a bit and then sat and wrote most of the day. On Sunday, I repeated Saturday's routine (with an impromptu trip food shop thrown in).

This weekend I managed to clock up a total of 5127 words. When I look back over what I've written I think I can pretty much break it down into chunks like this: around 3000 of those words will ultimately be cut because they make zero sense, 1000 words will be chopped and changed into some kind of coherent order, 800 words can be kept outright (because they're basically essential words such as 'said', 'he', 'Anais' and 'and') and hiding amongst all the crap, there might be 200 words/phrases if I'm lucky that I'll keep because they're actually telling the story I want to be told.

Does it make me feel disheartened when I realise that most of my weekend's effort won't survive the final cut (however far away that may be)? Not at all. If anything, I'm happy that I actually have something to work with now - instead of staring at a blank page, I can remodel, cut and paste or rewrite my novel altogether, until what's on the page finally reflects the book that's in my head. After all, it's only through trial and error that we can really see what it is we truly want out of our writing.

So that's my news. Book 2 is coming on slowly but surely and right now, I'm super happy about that. Also, I've discovered that I've now lost a stone since the summer, so I went on a small shopping trip after work tonight and I was delighted to find that I can now just about shoehorn myself into a size smaller than I was :). A small thing, but nonetheless an achievement for me :).

Happy Monday, folks!

How's your writing going? Do you find first drafts strangely torturous to write too?

 

Writing confessions...

Hey everyone!

Apologies for long absence - I'm tempted to say it's because I've been so busy and that I've managed to write 2 books in the space of six weeks, but that's a complete lie. If I'm completely honest, I've done nothing for the past month or so. Nada. Zilch. And it's been amazing.

I knew when summer began that I wanted to take a bit of a break, but somehow I kept extending it and extending it and now it's pretty much autumn and I've been back at work for the past two weeks. But to be honest, I think I needed the longer break. Yes, I could've forced myself to write, but I probably would've hated everything that I'd written - I would've gotten worked up about everything again and it would've ended up damaging my writing career in the long run. So at the end of the day, I'm super glad I took so long out.

But now? Well, a funny thing has been happening...I've been waking up in the mornings with the urge to write. This doesn't necessarily mean that I've actually written anything mind you, but it's such a huge relief to feel that awesome, tingly, I-must-write-or-I'll-explode type thing again - it's reassuring to know that I haven't completely lost faith in my goal to become a fully-fledged author.

And that brings me nicely onto my next point - I've had a lot of time to think and reflect on my writing over the past month or so. If I'm honest, I've come damn close to jacking the whole writing thing in. Being away from the internet for so long means that although I feel well-rested, I also get super paranoid that everyone has forgotten me and my books and that I'll have to start from scratch all over again - and then that makes me think, what's the point? It's hard work, I might as well give up now! But I had a moment of clarity the other day - I don't want to give up.

For me, writing isn't a hobby. It isn't something I dip in and out of on a whim. It's who I am. It's who I want to be. I cannot imagine being anything but an author. Sound ambitious? Maybe it is. But it's the only thing in my life that I've been absolutely 100% certain about since I was about fifteen years old. Yes I love books, and I'm happy to read for days on end (which pretty much describes my whole summer) but at the end of the day, reading about someone's else's worlds will never be enough for me. I love creating worlds and characters and sharing them with readers - it's just something that I have to do and that I love doing.

Something that has helped me come to this conclusion is the fact that I've started to come to the realisation that there's a very very high chance that I'm not going to be that author who churns out 100 books a year and earns a million pounds a book. Sorry if that sounds conceited or big-headed, but I'm just trying to be honest - and if I'm brutally honest, there was still a small part of me after I published Synthetica that still believed something like that might happen. But you know what? I'm happy to hold my hands up and admit that lately, my pride has been getting in the way of my writing - it's not something I like to admit to, but it's the truth. And I feel 100% better for admitting it - now I can move on and keep going with my writing career.

My first book won't earn a movie deal or become a Hollywood blockbuster. My next book might take me a year to write, or five or ten. I might not be able to write so much that I have books coming out of my ears, but you know what? That's ok. All I can do is keep doing what I'm doing.

And I'm doing just fine.

How's your writing going? Any news from the summer? Do you find it difficult to get back into writing after taking a break?

It's the job that's never started as takes longest to finish...

I'm so glad it's nearly the weekend. This week just seems to have dragged on and on and on...

Writing-wise, I've been super excited to start the outlines for both the sequel to Synthetica and a brand new fantasy series idea I'm currently toying with. Whenever I'm not at my computer, I keep imagining scenes for the fantasy series; I love that little flame of excitement that makes me want to rush home and get cracking.

And yet, when I do finally have the chance to sit down and write - I don't want to. The ideas are all in my head, but I'm finding it strangely tough to get them down on paper. Is it because I haven't actually written an outline in so long, I've forgotten how to start?

I think that I've forgotten the fact that an outline (as well as a first draft) isn't perfect - it's simply for throwing my ideas together and seeing if it works. I can always change it if I have to, that's the whole point. But I'm scared - I'm scared of it being a giant mess with nowhere to go. I know I just have to fight through the fear and get on with it, but I am finding it difficult to get started. And because I want to write but can't, I keep berating myself for not starting which I think puts me off writing even more.

Ah well, guess I'll just have to keep Sam Gamgee's wise words in mind:

In other news, I spent over an hour tonight emailing possible reviewers for Synthetica. The reviews I've had so far have been fantastic (a huge thank you to everyone who's left one/downloaded a copy of my book!), but I'm starting to realise that you can't really stop promoting in self-publishing. Synthetica definitely sells better when a new review goes up, but it's a bit of a catch-22: no one will buy the book if it doesn't have reviews, but because it doesn't have a lot of reviews, it's a slow burner when it comes to selling copies! I know I should've sorted all this out before I published it, but you live and learn :).

How's your writing going this week? If you've self-published a book, do you find reviews help your sales or not? Readers - would you review a self-published book? Why/why not?

IWSG May: Time to breathe

Good morning! Apologies for this post being a day late - I have no idea what happened yesterday, I did remember it was time for an IWSG post, but then I forgot to post it!!

The Insecure Writer's Support Group was set up by Alex J. Cavanaugh - it's a safe place for all writers to post their insecurities, no matter how big or small, on the first Wednesday of every month.

I'm going to keep this post short and sweet - to be honest, I don't have many insecurities this month, as I haven't had the time to write! But that's what I'm aiming to work on this month - I'd like to get the outline for Synthetica 2 (not it's real title, honest) done and dusted, so I can revise it and then start the first draft over summer. Exciting!

I've noticed over social media for the past few days that a lot of people I follow have been finishing off WIPs, starting new projects, and seeming to write a whole book in a very very short space of time. It's a bit discouraging tbh, but then again, everyone works differently I guess.

I've decided to try and channel these negative thoughts into something positive - it's inspired me to keep going with my own writing and not to give up. I've got a couple of other novel ideas in the pipeline, so I'm currently toying with the idea of trying to get those outlines done too - if the professionals can write several projects at once, I can too, right?? I'd really like to knuckle down and getting serious about writing, and start all those other stories that are floating around my brain...but then again, maybe that'll be too much pressure...we'll have to wait and see!

How about you? Can you work on several projects at once? Do you find it makes you more productive, or not?

Hope you're all having a lovely Thursday, and if you're in the UK like me, don't forget to vote :)!

Happy Thursday, everyone!

How much is too much...?

Happy New Year, everyone :)!

I know I'm probably a tad late in saying that, but hey, better late than never ;).

I've actually been taking a break from the Internet for a while - to be completely honest, I haven't been in a good place lately and being online has only made things worse, which is why I didn't post for IWSG last week. But this weekend has been the first weekend that I feel ready to face the world again, so it's all good :). One day, I'll write a super long post and bore you all to death with my issues, but for now, I'm back and ready to write!

Anyway, so I had a nice, relaxing break over the Christmas holidays and I barely thought about my book at all - but one day last week, a new idea struck me for my novel. I've been idly wondering for a while if there was any way I could rewrite the beginning of my novel, but tbh, I was pretty happy the way it was and unless inspiration struck, I was happy to keep it as it is.

But then inspiration did strike. And immediately I scribbled down the initial idea, and then I was off - writing down all the possible implications of this new beginning for my novel; would the middle still work? How would it change the overall character? Would it change her relationship with the other characters in the story?

I haven't started writing it yet, but I'm planning to work on it this week and see where it takes me. I love the feeling of once again being super excited about my work, but it also got me thinking....how much rewriting, is too much rewriting? How do you know when to stop? I know that if I rewrite my beginning and don't like it, I can always take it out and put my old one back in - but what if I think of another different way to write it? And then another way? How do you know when to stop?? Is there a writerly sixth sense that simply tells you when you're done - that moment when you write the last word, sit back and think, this is it? Or do writers forever critique their work, and will never be fully happy with it?

As a newcomer to all of this, I'm simply curious to know what other writers do! I know authors could probably spend forever tweaking words here and there, but I'm talking about when you come up with new ideas for your novel - you think you've finished and it's the best it can possibly be, then BAM! Suddenly a new scene, a new chapter or even a new character bursts into your head. What do you do? Do you ignore it? Or do you try it out?

I'd love to hear your thoughts :)!

All the best for the new year, everyone! Let's make it a good one!

Sunday night inspirations...

This weekend has been a bit crazy - for once, I've actually been participating in real life, meaning that although I've barely had the time to write, I feel kinda happy and satisfied at the thought that I've hung out with other human beings (y'know, apart from the ones in my head...). I went to a christening, had a catch up with the Engineer and his sisters, went to the cinema and went out for a meal. Phew!

Oh, and seeing as how the Engineer works ALL THE TIME, he dragged me into his office yesterday afternoon so he could finish something off. He did try to persuade me that this was a good thing, as I could work on my novel uninterrupted for a few hours. "That's all well and good," I grumbled, "but what if I don't WANT to work on my novel? In case you haven't noticed, my muse has TOTALLY AND UTTERLY DESERTED ME!"

I still went (because I'm sucker when it comes to promises of a mocha and chocolate). And you know what? Even though I didn't touch a word on my manuscript, it was a surprisingly productive evening.

I finally pulled together all my scattered notes on the second and third books in my planned trilogy. I added in details to those notes. I made folders for each book on my laptop (this always gives me a geeky rush). I started to get flashes of inspiration for certain scenes in both my current WIP, and the second book which I hurriedly scribbled down. I thought of a vague plot for the third book (which I've been drawing a complete blank on, until now) And finally, finally, I felt myself getting excited about the world that I'd built once again.

And that's not all. I think I may have found a way to drag myself through my rewrites. I knew I wasn't getting anywhere by just opening up my manuscript, copying and pasting a chapter, editing it and then pasting it back in. It still felt like an overwhelming task, even with my beat sheet. So I thought, what was it that got me through my first draft? What did I do this time, that meant I actually finished the damn thing? And that's when it came to me - I needed a new detailed synopsis.

Now, I know this probably seems like a step backwards, but I don't think it will be. I'm not going to do one for my entire novel (at least, not yet). Instead, I'm just going to do it up until my 'inciting incident'. I've chosen to do this because it's the beginning of my novel that needs the most attention - it's the part that I'm essentially going to rip apart and put back together again. To me, this is far to big a task to do with just a few scrawls on my beat sheet. 

We'll see how it goes. I've only just written the first scene for my new detailed synopsis, but already I'm getting a good feeling and what's more, I want to keep writing. I'll let you know how it goes but hey, even if this just turns out to be another form of procrastination - at least it's bound to help my writing in one way or another.

Happy Monday, everyone!

Just a little post to say...

...Thank you :).

I was truly overwhelmed by the comments I received on my IWSG post this month. 

In all honesty, I haven't felt this insecure/downbeat about my writing/novel in a long long time, and the messages of support I received really opened my eyes again to what's good about the world of writing. It made me remember why I'm so determined to do this as a career and why I love writing, despite it's many pitfalls. It also made me realise that I belong to a fantastic community of lovely encouraging authors, and despite all the insecurities I feel about my own writing, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

So to all of you who commented or read my post on Wednesday, thank you :). I wasn't lying when I said all your comments inspired me to keep going. For example, today I completely finished my beat sheet:

All the scenes in my novel are now annotated and ready to rock 'n' roll for my rewrites.

Have I got a huge job ahead of me? Hell yeah.

You see that first page? There's a massive red bit that says CUT THIS!!! with lots of red arrows and scribbled notes. Essentially, I have to rewrite/chop/move around a good third of my novel. 

Do I mind? Strangely enough, today I feel as though this task isn't impossible. I feel as though I can do it, and I will do it - all it takes is a little determination.

And thanks to all of you, I've got my determination and willpower back. I may not reach my original deadline of completely finishing this novel, but I'm going to damn well try.

Whether you're writing, or taking a break and doing something completely different over the next few days, I hope you're all having a lovely weekend :).

Blank page, blank mind

So you may have noticed (or not, depending on how much my blog interests you) that I've been away for a little while.

I finished the very first draft of my novel in August and, as much as I wanted to dive straight back in again, I've been forcing myself to take a step back. It's been pretty much a month to the day that I finished that draft and during that time, I've barely done anything writerly at all - including blogging.

I just wanted to take a complete break from everything - my novel, my blog, authonomy - and at first it felt fantastic. Reading all day, baking, bingeing on TV shows online, playing the sims (not to mention going back to my day job) - ahh, that was the life for me. But over the past few weeks...I just haven't been feeling it. I've been picking up books, reading a page then dropping them again. I've been firing up the sims, only to stare blankly at the screen, wondering what the hell I'm doing. I've been feeling...restless.

As soon as I finished Synthetica, I wanted to begin work on the sequel while it was all fresh in my mind. However, in the end I forced myself not to, and I tried to work on a completely new idea instead. But as soon as I wrote down my initial thoughts, I panicked, managed to convince myself that I'm not a writer and that I shouldn't even attempt to try and write anything new (that would've made a great depressing IWSG post).

It was only this weekend that I finally snapped.

I am not good at doing nothing (reading doesn't count as nothing btw). I'm happiest when I'm busy. And so, on Sunday I began to write down an outline for my new novel, telling myself that I could do all this (i.e. planning/writing a novel from scratch) again. And to my surprise, it didn't go quite as badly as I thought it would. Scenes began to pop in my brain as I idly wrote about possible settings, new characters forced their way out of the woodwork, and by Sunday night...I couldn't wait to get started properly.

Ideally, I'd like to get the detailed synopsis done for this new WIP before I start the edits on Synthetica but as I was going to start working on Synthetica this week, somehow I don't think that's going to happen. So we'll see how it goes. But most of all, I'm simply going to remember to not stress out and just have fun with whatever it is I'm writing :).

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

May IWSG: Time for a confession...

Welcome to May's Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG)! IWSG was created by Alex J. Cavanaugh (you can check out his blog here) and the official website for IWSG is here – I highly recommend you check it out if you're looking for inspiration/tips about writing!

Me: Hi! My name's Rachel....

Everyone else: Hi Rachel!

Me: My name's Rachel and I'm...a quitter.

There. I said it.

Believe it or not, this is actually quite a difficult thing for me to admit. No one likes to think of themselves in the wrong, or of giving up easily...but I do. I wish I didn't, and it's something I'm trying hard to work on – I don't know if flakiness is something that most people my age have, or if I'm just a dreamer that flits from one thing to the other (in all honesty though, it's more likely the second option).

I could sit here all night and try to justify the things I've given up on - I quit my first proper office job after nine months (although I did hate that job so much it was starting to impact on my mental health, and I'm a strong believer that no job should ever make anyone feel the way I did), I quit my job in China because I couldn't stand the thought of being away form home for Christmas; and I quit my volunteering work this week, telling myself that I didn't have the time for it (I do, I just wasn'tl so enthused by it to give up my spare time to do it...and yes, I'm well aware of how horrible that makes me sound, but I am just trying being honest).

But then equally, I could look at it this way:

Because I quit my office job, I got the opportunity to live in China, meet some amazing people and experience an entirely new culture...

...and because I came home early from China, I was lucky enough to get a job a few weeks after I got back – which surprised me because I went completely blank in the interview, and for one question I just outright told them I didn't know what to say. But I'm so so happy in my job now :) and if I hadn't have come home when I did, I never would've applied for that job or gone to the interview.

...I'm not entirely sure what the positive is of quitting my volunteering work yet, but I'm going to choose to look on the bright side and say that it'll give me more time and (hopefully) more incentive to write.

The reason I'm bringing this up is because just like in my everyday life, I quit a lot of the novels and stories I start to write. And once again I could try and justify why I keep quitting, but the fact is, I just give up. Simple.

But once again, there is a positive side to this. The novel I'm working on now is the one I started during NaNoWriMo last year...and I'm still working on it. By now, I would normally have discarded that novel as well as given up on several other ideas, but just the fact that I wake up willing to work on my novel – whether that's by working on my detailed synopsis (which I wanted to have finished by Easter...whoops), or just by mulling over certain plot points in the car on the way to work – is a huge step forward for me.

So, I guess this month's post isn't just about my insecurities and fear that once again, my current WIP will be doomed to end up just another unfinished file on my computer (because that is the biggest fear that I keep returning to) – it's also about positivity and hope. It's a corny saying, but every cloud DOES have a silver lining :).

If I can sit here and work on a novel six months after I started it, after a lifetime of flakiness and quitting almost everything I've ever started, then you can do it too :).

It's one small step for man, one giant leap towards my dreams of becoming an author ;)

March IWSG: But is there any substance...?

Guys, just going to apologise now if this post is a little short/rushed!

Welcome to the Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG)! On the first Wednesday of every month, authors from across the world/interweb post up their fears and insecurities about their writing, and we all provide support/tea/cake/virtual hugs to encourage all your lovely authors to keep writing.

IWSG was set up by Alex J. Cavanaugh (you can check out his blog here) and there's now an official IWSG website, which is full of helpful tips, tricks and encouraging posts – you can check out that awesome site here.

So this month I'm focusing on my actual plot line – I'm currently halfway through writing a proper detailed synopsis for my NaNoWriMo novel (which I'm praying will turn into my first actual real novel) and something struck me as I began to flesh out each scene: do I have enough substance in my story?

I'm pretty sure I know who my characters are, what their motives are, where it's going to be set etc, but as I wrote out each scene, I began to wonder which of my scenes were essential to the story (which I'm hoping will be all of them) and which ones were 'filler'.

I hate the thought that 75% of my book might be made up of those awful, stilted dialogue scenes, or scenes that describe in minute detail of how my MC got up, stared out the window, made breakfast, ate breakfast, put on her socks, had a completely random argument with her parent(s), brushed her hair exactly 100 times, put on her shoes, picked up her bag, stared soulfully at her reflection in the mirror (enter convenient description of MC's physical appearance here) before finally running out of the house and catching the bus to school. Or something along those lines. You get the picture.

Are there some scenes you should leave in so the reader gets a bit of a background of your MC, or should every scene have a specific purpose? I personally prefer the latter option – but I'm just hoping that my opinion on what's essential to the storyline doesn't differ too much to my reader's!

So that's it for now! Hopefully I'll get a chance to blog more often this month – there's a couple of book reviews I'd love to write up for you guys to read :).

Until next time - happy writing!

Writing ups and downs...

This week has kind of been up and down, in terms of my writing. On the plus side, I'm all fired up and ready to go with my new novel idea for NaNoWriMo - I'm planning on spending the weekend fine-tuning the plot/setting/characters, so hopefully by November 1st, I'll have some clue of what I want to write about!

On the downside though, I had a very unpleasant surprise this week - I thought I'd open up my other WIP, just to see how far I'd got with it, with the vague idea that I may add to it again, if inspiration for my NaNoWriMo novel failed to strike. However, when I opened up the folder on my computer, I couldn't find my 20,000+ manuscript anywhere....as well as that, all my spreadsheets with my plot outlines, and several other Word docs with notes/scribbles in, had gone too...after searching around my laptop frantically, I decided to check the USB stick where I know I also saved the file (in fact, I'd transferred the file from the USB to my laptop). Unfortunately, there was nothing there either - I don't know how I did it, but somehow when I transferred the file from my USB to my laptop, these documents got lost along the way.

I'm so annoyed with myself for not checking my USB before I put everything on my laptop and it's disappointing that all that work has gone - but not all hope has been lost yet. I've asked my lovely Other Half back in England to check my old laptop just in case there's a chance they are still saved on there...so I'm crossing all my fingers for luck! I guess if they have been lost/deleted by accident, then maybe it's the universe's way of telling me it wasn't very good - and luckily, I still have a majority of my notes on this laptop, so if worst comes to worse, I'll just have to start again ;) - slightly irritating, but hey, that's life!

In other news, I told myself last night that I'd get up early today and get a good morning's writing done...however, due to the fact that I stayed up til after 12.30am writing, that kinda didn't happen...BUT I'm up, showered (not quite wide awake yet - but that's nothing several cups of tea won't fix...) and ready to rock 'n roll!

To be honest, I don't really mind that I've lost a few hours this morning, as I'm happy with the notes I scribbled down last night, and best of all, instead of waking up and thinking 'I suck at this, what's the point of writing, no one's ever going to read it anyway', I'm still absolutely determined not to listen to that little devil on my shoulder - instead, I'm going to keep going until I have a reasonable plot/outline/setting, ready for NaNoWriMo. I may not be the best writer in the world (yet :p), but I'm still going to try!

How are all your plans going for NaNoWriMo? Are you writing up plans, or are you just going to wing it? Let me know - I'd love to hear from you!

General musings and a bit of an update....

Sorry for the un-inventive title, but my brain is a bit frazzled!!

Anyway, this blog post really is just a general catch-up, so feel free not to read any further if you don't want to ;).

So, I'm still in China - woo! Trust me, this is quite a big achievement for me - only two weeks ago I was *this* close to booking my plane ticket home. I missed the Other half, I missed my family, I missed my friends and, dear God, how I've missed the food back in England!! I am doing my very best to try and fit into the culture here and I'm determined to see this through to end, but I'm not gonna lie - I think this is going to be very tough for me, especially in December when it's my birthday and Christmas. But I have cheered up over the past few days - mainly because the Other Half came to visit me in Beijing! He was in China on business, so I saw him for a few days before he flew down South, and we had a lovely weekend together before he flew back home to England this morning. After he left, I found this amazing bookshop/cafe in the centre of town - I literally spent the whole day in there, and I'm not joking when I say I think that's where I'll be spending a majority of my Sundays from now on!!

But getting out of the flat this weekend really made me realise that I don't want to sit around moping and counting down the hours/minutes til I can go home. I have 13 weeks left of teaching time - I may have mentioned before that I only actually teach for an hour and a half a day, which means I have A LOT of free time on my hands (to be honest, I think this is part of the problem - I don't know about you, but when I have free time and nothing to do, my mind starts to wander, and then I start to worry about, well, everything....). So I have decided to do something constructive with my time. Once again, I am going to attempt to finish a first draft of my novel.

I know I've said this before. I know I'll probably fail again. But luckily for me, NaNoWriMo is coming up too, and I am hoping that that, combined with the fact that I now know an awesome place where I can get out of my flat/head for a bit and do some serious writing (see the aforemetioned book shop), means that I will be able tog et some serious writing done, and do something constructive, during my time here. I'm going to find a timeline to put on this blog RIGHT NOW, to motivate me!!

So how about you? What are your writing goals for the rest of the year? And does anyone know that if you've been kicked out of IWSG once, if you can join again...? I want to be properly serious about joining this time! Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Happy New Year!

Okay, so this may be slightly belated, but Happy New Year to all you lovely people anyway :). I hope you're all wonderfully refreshed and raring to go after the Christmas holidays, or maybe you're more like me and have to dragged kicking and screaming into the real world again after a 2 and a half week break....

Anyway - to be honest, I don't have much to report. It's been a long time since I've attempted to do any writing, and I keep getting distracted by other things (e.g. reading and watching Game of Thrones). I have made a few writing-based New Year resolutions, and this year, instead of just telling myself I'll do something, I've written down a whole list of resolutions I'm going to try and achieve this year. Don't get your hopes up though - I love writing lists, I'm just not good at crossing things off!

But still, we'll see how it goes! I may share a couple with you over the coming weeks, but you all know me by now - I'm incredibly flaky! I always say I'll do something and mean to do it, but never do...perhaps that should be another one of my resolutions - no flakiness!

Anyway - how about you, lovely authors? What are your New Year resolutions, writing based or otherwise :)?

Have a great weekend!

xx

It's time! Let's get writing!!...

It's finally here!

Today marks the first day of NaNoWriMo!

For those of you who are slightly confused by the term, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It's where you aim to write 50,000 words of a novel (note: novel, not short story etc) by midnight November 30th. Sounds easy right?...probably not.

I'm so so excited to get started. Although on the other hand, I'm also so nervous about opening up my outline again, after around six weeks of not looking or thinking about it at it all...strictly speaking, I'm not too sure if that's allowed according to the NaNoWriMo rules...but as it's my first time, I want to make everything as easy as possible to ease myself into the process ;).

If you want to learn more about NaNoWriMo, you can check out the website here.

So how about you? Will you be taking part this year??

Good luck to everyone who's taking part!!

Let's get writing!

xx

Tea and tunes...

So, the last time I wrote, I said I was finally going to open up my detailed synopsis and start writing.

That didn't happen.

Mainly because I am the world's biggest procrastinator and I kept putting off the big moment again and again.

HOWEVER, today is the day! I've got a free morning, so I'm sitting here with a mug of tea, the radio on, Spotify running and staring with increasing panic at my flash pen, before I finally take the plunge and see what kind of crap I wrote all that time ago. Still, it's got to happen at some point, and if I'm going to be serious about writing, I can't put it off any longer.

So here it goes.

I'll write again later, and let you know if a) I'm delighted and can't wait to start writing again or b) I've thrown my laptop out of the window in frustration.

Honestly, who thought just looking at a bloody synopsis would be so nerve-wracking?! If I'm like this now, I don't even wanna know what I'll be like if I ever finish the first draft!

On the plus side, if it really is that awful, there's another novel idea that's been floating around in my head for the past couple of days - so I could always do that instead ;).

Have a great day everyone!

xx

Lazy Sundays....kind of...

I honestly didn't mean to leave it so long until I blogged again - but I wanted to waited until I could share some exciting news with you all before I did :) (I could also use the excuse that I've been busy - which is perfectly true, but at the same time, I know I could've blogged if I was really motivated to!)

Anyway, first things first....a quick update on my book progress. As I mentioned in my previous post which you can find here, I'm stilling following the guidelines set out in 'How to nail your Novel' by Roz Morris. However, I may have, er, slightly have left my synopsis longer than I originally meant to! I did mean to start it again last weekend, as the Other Half was a away for a week, so I knew I wouldn't have any distractions - but I got distracted reading the AMAZING second book in the Game of Thrones series 'A Clash of Kings' instead (and I can't emphasize how much I absolutely adore this series - it is utterly amazing!). So instead, I think after I've been food shopping and to the gym (and possibly a small shopping trip thrown in for good measure too) today, tonight I am going to sit down and finally look over what I did, all those weeks ago. I know there are some parts I'm going to hate -  already I can think of a few scenes where I just want to cringe and hide - but I'm determined not to let that stop me. I really want this novel to finally go somewhere, so even if I don't like what I see, I'm determined to try and work on it, instead of just throwing it away like I have with so many other novels. I'll let you know how it goes!

So, onto my news - I can't remember if I've moaned over my lack of getting a job over the past few months (try about five) on here - I think I have, or at least, I've wanted to! However, it is with utter relief that I can finally announce that I HAVE A REAL GROWN-UP JOB!

Hooray!! I'm so so happy and relieved right now. I can't express the utter desperation, depression and exhaustion I've felt since, well, before I left university really. The job market really is horrendous, and it's so disheartening to keep applying for jobs and then to keep getting rejection after rejection. However, finally, a publisher has decided to take a chance on me and I am so happy that it's a job that I really really wanted - finally, all my tears and tantrums have paid off!

I know this means that I'll have even less time to write than I do at the minute, but hopefully it'll just push me harder to succeed in my writing - and it's proof that if you just keep trying and don't give up, you'll get what you want in the end :).

Have a great weekend, folks! I'll write again soon, I promise!

xx

Unleashing Creativity...kind of...

Ahh, it's such a beautiful day here in England - the perfect weather to start off the London Olympics! We ended up watching the whole of the opening ceremony last night, so I'm a bit frazzled this morning! However,
the Other Half's parentals are down for the weekend, so we can all just chill in the sun today :).

Anyway, I'm sneakily writing this as everyone else gets ready for our day out, but I have a few updates I just wanted to share with you all....

Firstly - I downloaded an e-book the other day called 'Nail Your Novel' by Roz Morris. I've been thinking about downloading a self-help book to writing for a while, and as I really want to get back into the habit of writing again, I thought I'd just bite the bullet and do it. So far, I think it's fantastic! It gives you all these tips on how to write, but instead of just telling you what to do, the writer provides exercises and games for you to do, to unleash your creativity and help you to spot where you're going wrong. At first, I wasn't too sure about her methods to be honest - but I thought I'd give it a whirl anyway and I LOVE IT!

No joke - in one section, you're supposed to write down each scene/major development in your book on a notecard, and then fit them together - that way, you can progressively see which parts of your book need work. I had a lot of fun writing out the notecards, but I had even MORE fun writing the whole thing up onto a spreadsheet in Excel and then colour coding different sub-plots! (That's just my obsessive organisational skills kicking in there - you don't have to colour-code everything!). Now I'm onto the stage of writing a detailed synopsis for my novel. Apparently you're supposed to write this based on your notecards, and then fill in the blanks. After you've finished, you're supposed to leave it for a week, so when you look at it again with fresh eyes, you'll be able to spot the mistakes.

Well, I'm about halfway through my synopsis at the moment. I don't know if I'll be able to get any more done this weekend, due to the Other Half's parentals visiting - but I'm really going to try and finish it at least by Monday night. I've FINALLY got a week's worth of work at a publishers (hooray!), so I thought it would give me the perfect chance to just leave my synopsis alone for a week!

Anyway, this post is getting long enough now, so I'll end this a link to Roz Morris' ebook, in case you feel like taking a look....she also offers a free sample on her website if you want to check out her writing style, but at £3.30, I didn't think I could go wrong by just taking a chance and downloading it :).

'Nail Your Novel' by Roz Morris

Does this sound like your type of writing style? Do you do exercises like this anyway? Let me know what you think - I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Have a great day everyone!

xx