On the last day of the half-term holidays, whilst the children chill out in preparation for Monday, I’m hopping across to The Romanaics blog and discussing the stories that move me.
Please join me here. I’d love to know which songs, films, poems and books get right beneath your skin, and stay with you.
Have a great weekend.
Laura x
Happy New Year. I hope Christmas and your entry into 2013 was everything you wished it to be.
Christmas Day was different without my mother here, but I focused on the children and their excitement carried me through the day. We broke with tradition the next day and went to The Big Shops, to look for high beds, and had lunch at a certain pizza house. Our usual Boxing Day lunch consists of home made chips, cold pickles, and meat/vegetarian alternatives. It was right to do something a little different.
We had a great New Year’s Eve, which we spent with some good friends, and the children stayed up to see in 2013. It felt right. It felt as if it was time to consider moving on. Memories are portable.
13 is a great number. Our daughter was born on the 13th of the month, and in another year, I won a singing competition as number 13. I have high hopes for 2013. I have a writing course to attend in Italy, a day’s course in Reading, the RNA Conference and Summer and Winter parties, a work-in-progress to complete, friends to hug, and a family to nurture.
I have an entire year in which to create new memories.
Have a good one, and stay warm.
Laura x
If nudity offends, you best avert your eyes…
SPLINTED FINGER IS NAKED!
This week I attended my six week orthopaedic appointment following finger fusion. The rather lovely doctor showed me the x-ray- there are three pins of varying length along the finger and a metal ring around the joint – and advised the bone had fused well. Despite my concern the finger is still swollen and red, the doctor told me it’s looking good, but recommended I retain the splint for a further six weeks.
In hindsight, I think my reaction matched Tony Hancock’s in his famous sketch in which he expresses surprise at how much blood he’s expected to donate.
The rather lovely doctor and I entered into negotiations, which included my admission I had spent the day before without the splint, apart from when I went out, and the promise not to take up ten-pin bowling. We reached a satisfactory compromise of allowing Splinted Finger to roam naked around the home, but cover up when out and about.
Splinted Finger is also allowed to write.
Nude.
And with joyous abandon.
Take care.
Laura x
On Saturday 13th October 2012, I attended an Advance Novel Writing Course, run by Julie Cohen. It tickles me that it was held in Reading. I know it’s pronounced Redding, but still.
I enjoyed the whole experience – the early morning drive, meeting like-minded souls and learning how to improve my writing.
The main thrust of the day for me was finding ways to build up my hero in ‘Truth or Dare?’ I’ve been working on ‘beefing’ him up and increasing his point of view, but felt I’d reached a point where anything I added would be waffle. As writers, we know that everything we put in a story must move it forward. Through Julie’s exercises, I have found depths to my hero that need exploring and sides to him I hadn’t considered. This excites me. I have so 
many ideas, I’m having to rein them in a little, just until I have them under control.
I type this as my two recently acquired kittens, Rascal and Sheldon, run riot around my house. If I can get them sorted, I’m hoping my ideas will lie down and also submit.
Right, kittens. You first…
Take care.
Laura x
Friend and fellow writer, Wendy Loveday kindly tagged me for The Next Big Thing. Well, with all the chocolate I have consumed this week, I’m not surprised. But enough. Let’s get down to business. I have ten questions to answer about my work in progress and once I’ve done that, I’ll choose five other writers and ask them to tell us about their work, for posting next Wednesday.
I think it’s a lovely way to get to know one another.
Q: What is the working title of your next book?
I am currently working on my second manuscript and it is called ‘Follow Me’.
Q: From where did the idea come?
I was thinking about my new found fondness for Twitter and how wonderful it was to communicate with my favourite authors and the idea grew from there. What will it take to entice a person to follow back? What measures can be taken to ensure the other person isn’t a fruitloop? How could this fit into a romance without it appearing sinister? This was the starting point, but the story has evolved since the original idea.
Q: Under which genre does your book fall?
A contemporary romance/family relationship story. I didn’t know I wrote these until I started the second one, but I do like to have a family in there.
Q: Which actors would you choose to play the part of your characters for a movie?
My male protagonist is an action hero, slim and dark. I’m a big Johnny Depp fan and my character, Chris, is in his late thirties. Mmm. Johnny Depp. He’d play the tortured soul so well. Victoria, the female protagonist is a little younger, with unruly copper curls. Could I get away with Sandra Bullock? I realise she’s in her late forties, but hey, it’s make believe and she looks great.
Q: What is a one sentence synopsis of your book?
If I write a one line synopsis, it will give the story away, but here’s a little something… The real world is a daunting place, but having pulled the plug on technology, does Victoria Noble have the power to reconnect her emotions, or will she freeze and crash?
Q: Will you self-publish or be represented by an agent?
My next job on my ‘To Do’ list is to start submitting to agents.
Q: How long did it take you to write the first draft?
I completed 60,000 words from January to March of this year, stopped for a few months and am now back on it. As a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association New Writers’ Scheme, I was able to submit my partial for critiquing, which has presented me with some excellent challenges and wonderful advice.
My first full manuscript, ‘Truth Or Dare?’, on which I cut my teeth, took three years from start to final draft. I say final draft – I’m still tweaking as I learn more about the craft of writing.
Q: With which books within your genre would your story compare?
This is a tricky question to answer. I would love my stories to be compared to Jodi Picoult’s, as I like to examine gritty issues. I loved Me Before You, Jojo Moyes and the way she tackled the question of euthanasia. Joanne Harris is another to whom I aspire. There are many great writers for whom I have immense respect and with every book I read, from a wide selection of genres, I learn something new.
Q: Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Twitter and the wonderful Carole Matthews, who I think I have finally convinced I am not a mad stalker.
Q: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
It’s a modern tale for today’s woman, with business intrigue, a troublesome four year old, and the beautiful Dorset coastline for its setting.
The writers I am tagging are:
As Wendy said, I do hope you’ll join me in this. It’s been great fun.
Thank you for tagging me, Wendy.
Take care all.
Laura x
This is my right hand.
My writing hand.
This photo was taken two years ago. Assuming you’re not squeamish, you can click on the picture and open a larger view of it.
I have had rheumatoid arthritis since I was eighteen. It has attacked a number of joints and tendons which have subsequently been replaced, repaired, reinforced or fused. There are a number of joints yet to receive the Bionic Man treatment. Ahh. Lee Majors. I haven’t reached those dizzy heights yet.
This is from last year, when I had my left thumb fused in the summer, and then revised a few months later. It passed the test.
I’m finding it tricky to locate photos that aren’t too gruesome. I am fascinated with surgery and take a keen interest in the rehabilitation that follows. I have plenty of shots of scars and swellings and bloodied bandages which, one day, may serve a purpose. There is a chance I may use the information in a book. During the thumb fusion, my surgeon allowed me to watch for a short time. It was amazing.
I’m looking at the photo to the right now. I remember having my ring finger knuckle replaced, but for the life of me, have NO recollection as to why my index
finger was trussed up. A synovectomy, maybe? I can see a child’s drink bottle in the background, so it was a few years ago.
Ah. Left wrist plated and partially fused. I got quite cross with that. I was desperate to get the cast off.
Anyway, enough fond trips down memory lane. You get my drift.
That’s what my fingers do. They drift. It’s part of the disease, but whilst the rheumatoid cannot be halted, with the use of today’s wonderful technology, the brilliant surgeons and medical staff can rebuild parts of me. One piece at a time.
I so relate to that song.
During my last operation, I spoke to the theatre staff about my goal to become a published author and how grateful I was to them for taking such good care of my hands – my work tools. I recall agreeing to acknowledge their work in my first published book. One day, ladies and gentlemen. One day. For the time being, I truly thank you for preserving my sanity.
My next surgery is this Thursday. My right index finger is to be straightened and fused. That’s about a week in a small back slab and five in a lightweight splint. That equates to a month and a half not typing, tweeting, facebooking or blogging. Unless I use my left hand. Which of course, I will. Be prepared for some really weird words. I am not ambidextrous.
As an aside to this, I think the Paralympians are outstanding. What they achieve is beyond superhuman and I have been humbled by what they must go through every day.
This? This is nothing.
Take care and see you the other side.
Laura x
To submit or not submit? That is the question I asked myself thirty times.
I am a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association New Writers’ Scheme. It is a fantastic organisation which offers friendship, advice, the chance to meet other writers, agents and publishers and once a year, have one’s manuscript critiqued. The deadline for the critique is August 31st. Well done to everyone who submitted.
At the beginning of this year I had a plan; By July I was going to have a second story written and submitted to the NWS. It started well as I joined in with a challenge set by author Sally Quilford entitled 100k in a 100 Days. The aim was to write 1000 words each day for 100 days, starting on January 1st and ending on April 9th.
By March, I had 60,000 words written, most of which belonged to the work in progress (WIP). My writing came to an abrupt halt late March, when I lost my mum. Everything that followed knocked writing off the agenda.
I could not get back into the work in progress. The last scene I’d written concentrated on the hero’s grief having lost his family. It was not a place I wished to visit. With that in mind, I decided not to submit to the NWS. I emailed the organiser explaining my situation and received a lovely reply which left the door open for me to send in a partial (a non-completed story) and a synopsis if I felt able.
As time progressed and life settled into a new groove, I turned to writing short stories. They were perfect for fulfilling the desire to write without draining my emotional reserves. With aspects of my life hanging in the balance, I derived satisfaction from starting and completing a project within a short time span, and it appeased the guilt of not tackling the WIP knowing I was keeping my hand in.
There’s the telling word – appeased.
In hindsight I think those who know me well realised I was struggling with the idea of not submitting. I had 60,000 words saved in Drive C. I had neglected them. My poor, desperate hero, like me, had to start dealing with his grief. I could not leave him in his state of disbelief.
I began to think about the story once more. I mentioned one or two ideas to my wonderful Romaniac chums, who as ever, were supportive, funny and pillars of rock and again the suggestion was made that I should consider sending in a partial. I then received the same advice from two established members of the RNA.
Have you ever had that feeling someone is trying to tell you something?
At the beginning of July, struck by a bolt of insanity, I declared to my family and friends I would be submitting to the NWS and I would work for as long and as hard as I could to finish and polish the manuscript. I had six weeks, after all.
This Tuesday I didn’t go to bed. I stayed up reading through a revised and rewritten 52,000 words, replacing over-used phrases, correcting chronology mistakes and fixing typos and cut and paste errors.
I went to bed at 07:00, Wednesday, rose at 09:00, and at 11:00, handed the NEW padded envelope, fattened with my partial, to the post office assistant.
It was the first time I’d been out of the house in days.
Okay. So I didn’t manage to write the whole story, but I reached a point about a week before when I knew it was not going to happen. Perhaps I should have written the entire book before editing, but I wanted to submit more than a first draft. I appreciate it is not a final version, but I have presented my work to the best of my ability.
What have I learned? Support, advice and encouragement from family, friends and writing chums are invaluable assets when faced with the impossible, and I thank you for providing all three in lorry loads.
Scrap that. Make it juggernaut loads.
No. Container loads.
And what of my hero? He is out of his disbelief phase and he’s through with the guilt, but he is sinking lower than the Titanic. I wonder if like the sun, he will rise and see the dawning of happier times?
Laura x
Today would have been my mother’s birthday. Having lost her earlier this year, I wasn’t sure how I would react. It was strange not to have bought a present and a card, although I still wished her a Happy Birthday.
I stayed up until midnight to do so.
At noon, our family enjoyed a lovely lunch at the place Mum and I used to go, then we strolled on the hot sand, where the children played on the swinging boats and bounced on the trampolines, and finally, to wrap up the day, we visited a local dairy farm where the best ice cream is produced. I had honeycomb. I recall Mum had that when we were last there. Then as now, the weather was beautiful.
I suspect my mother had something to do with that.
Mum was extremely supportive of my writing efforts and was pleased I had found a nuturing and friendly group within which to learn the craft. Something she was happy for me to do was attend the RNA Conference in Penrith.
The Romantic Novelists’ Association Conference 2012 was my first.
I joined six of my fellow Romaniacs, and met writers with whom I’ve previously interacted via the internet or with whom I had become acquainted at one of the RNA parties. The Conference was sociable, friendly and fun, with a great kitchen party on the Friday night. I’m pleased to say singing was involved.
Study was involved too, with trade panels and workshops on all nature of writerly things, and I made two pitches to top editors. Once home, it took three days to absorb everything that had happened. Now I realise I have to get my head down and finish book two. Oh. And find an agent.
That will be down to me.
Laura x
And the winner is…
Thank you to everyone who entered the competition to win a signed hardback copy of Jodi Picoult’s Lone Wolf. Over at the Romaniacs HQ, we asked you to tell us which Jodi Picoult book is your favourite and why?
Having read all the entries, our winner was chosen. We thought the honesty of the reasons for liking their chosen book were touching and well explained, as follows;
Beg For Rain.
Tears are the betrayers of our souls. We can fight and we can turn away, but once they pierce the backs of our eyes, we cannot halt them.
Relentlessly, they come.
Tears have a will of their own. They are strong and will grip our throats and strangle us until we are forced to release them.
Powerfully, they come.
Tears will sell our secrets, flaunt our vulnerability and make easy fools of us.
So, with all this said, why don’t
They come?
Tears.
Bless-ed tears.
Let them rain down and wash me away.
Let the water sanitise, let their salt sterilise and
Let me be clean.
Please come.
Laura.