Quick update and locations

I’ve got some time on my hands at the moment. Last week was all excitement, because I got my NWS report back on The Welsh King’s Spy and was told it’s ‘almost ready’. As a result I devoted all my spare time to making the suggested adjustments, which I finished on Sunday. Now it’s with my beta reader (the gorgeous Janice Preston—if you haven’t read her wonderful debut novel, Mary and the Marquis, yet, drop everything and order it now!) So there’s nothing more I can do on TWKS until I get it back.

It feels wrong to be doing nothing writing-wise, though. I do have two novellas that are at different stages of editing, but I’m finding it hard to immerse myself in the lives of those characters when I might have to get back into the heads of Matilda and Huw in a few days. Therefore I’ve decided to start planning my next full-length novel. 

I had an idea for a hero and heroine back in the summer. Of course I was committed to my rewrite of TWKS by that time, so I jotted down the idea in my notebook, wrote the opening scene that had come to me, then forgot about it. I dug my notes out yesterday and I think the story has potential. So I’ve decided to develop the characters and come up with a plot outline. There’s just one problem – I’m not very familiar with the location.

Hawkstone Follies - I always find inspiration here

So far all my novels/novellas have been set in Shropshire and just over the border in Wales. It’s where I live, which makes research dead easy. I just have to go for a walk or bike ride and I’m exploring the landscape that my characters inhabit, seeing the same skyline, the building materials, the trees, plants and animals… I have visited the place where my new story is set, but I haven’t built up anything like the same feel for the place. Still, I’ve decided to go for it – any excuse for a research trip to a beautiful location!

Do you prefer to set your stories in familiar locations, or would you rather research new places?

Update, RNA meeting and NWS

Life's been a merry-go-round lately

Yes . . . I know . . . it’s been months since I last posted. Shame on me!

Suffice it to say, I’ve been busy. I mentioned in my last post that I’d been working on a proofreading course. Well, in May I learnt that I’d passed with distinction (yay!) Since then I’ve been hard at work, setting up a proofreading business alongside my tuition business. I’ve also been on holiday (Czech Republic), visited various friends and family and had family staying with me. Last weekend was the first weekend in a long time that I didn’t spend with young children around. It was bliss!*

One thing I did do last weekend, however, was attend the RNA Birmingham chapter meeting. I’m so pleased I plucked up the courage to sidle up to the group on the library steps and say, “Erm . . . you wouldn’t happen to be romantic novelists, would you?” Because it turned out that they were (phew!) and they were so friendly and welcoming that I was soon wondering why I’d stood like a lemon for so long, trying to decide if they looked like romantic novelists or not.

Although I already attend a writers’ group that’s more local to me, it was lovely to meet fellow romance writers and hear news and advice on the specific genre I write in. It was also a great encouragement to hear of others’ successes and think that I could achieve that too, as long as I keep trying. I’m already looking forward to the next meeting.

Finally, I got my MS back from the NWS and I’ve been going through the comments, wincing in some places and feeling a warm glow in others. It’s been interesting to see that the parts of the novel I was less satisfied with are also the bits the reader picked holes in. If I’m honest, those are the places where I let plot take precedence over character and even though I could see that my characters wouldn’t act that way, I was too committed to the plot to change it. Definitely food for thought! Whether I’ll be able to translate the excellent advice into a more successful second attempt remains to be seen . . .

*I do love kids, honest. But my eardrums needed a rest.

New Writers' Scheme

Happy New Year to one and all! I hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year.

I had a lovely time up in Yorkshire with my Mum, brother, SIL and one-year-old niece, although I seriously hope my niece will have outgrown In the Night Garden by the time I see her next. I still can't get the Iggle Piggle song out of my head.

I don't normally go in for new year's resolutions, but I did make one this year. I was determined to get a place on the RNA New Writers' Scheme after missing out last year and the year before. Both times I was unable to get to a computer on the first couple of days of the new year and when I did I found the scheme was already full. So this year I was prepared. I wrote the application email out the day before, saved it as a draft and then set an alarm for five minutes before applications opened. Once the alarm had gone off, I sat with my mouse hovering over 'Send', counting down the seconds until I could click. If you think that makes me sound rather desperate, then you'd be right.

But all my preparations paid off - I got an email first thing this morning saying I'd been allocated a place. I'm thrilled! It's such a great opportunity. So I suppose my next resolution must be to make the most of it.

Well, I can't hang around, blogging all day. I've got a novel to hone :-)