Book Review – Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce

As well as writing I’ve been doing a lot of reading recently. But not reading just for pleasure, I’ve been trying to read like a writer and analyse the structure of books, how character is portrayed and how the character arcs are developed throughout the story.

Mostly I’ve been reading romance novels as that’s the genre I write in but I also recently re-read Harriet Tyce’s Blood Orange.

 

I found this a compelling read but what fascinated me most was that I enjoyed it despite the fact that I didn’t find any of the characters likeable, especially at the beginning. 

 

Alison is a barrister who is gaining success and has just been given her first murder case. She lives with her husband and her young daughter. Her husband is the primary carer for their child.

 

All is not good in their marriage, lots of passive aggressive comments coming from him but maybe he has cause because after work she goes out and gets so drunk she falls asleep in her chambers. She’s also having sex with another man. Nothing affectionate about it, just rather aggressive sex at the end of the night. She keeps telling herself that she must stop drinking and having sex with him but she can’t seem to stop herself. She’s on a downward spiral. 

 

I found neither the husband or the lover at all appealing and while I did feel some sympathy for Alison, the fact that she kept degrading herself with her lover had me shouting at my Kindle screen in frustration.

 

Her redeeming qualities are her love for her daughter and the fact that she is really good at her job.

 

And yet, despite my lack of empathy I kept turning the pages and by the end of the novel was completely on Alison’s side. How Tyce made me empathetic to such a flawed character is nothing short of genius. 

 

There were so many twists and turns in this novel that kept me intrigued as to what would happen next. 

 

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone and will probably read it again at some point in the future. 

 

What books have you been reading recently?

 

 

It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Well, the weather is certainly Christmassy enough at the moment, whether or not it will last until the big day is debatable though! I don’t mind snow at Christmas, its only when I have to get to work or other places that I find it annoying, if not sometimes scary. Not a bit fan of defrosting the car either, but it can certainly look pretty, especially when the sun's shining as it was this morning.

As anyone who has followed this blog for a while knows, I can be a bit of a grump about Christmas, especially as five years ago I lost my father suddenly during the festive period.

 

But this year, in an effort not to be a Christmas humbug, I’m doing my very best to embrace the season of goodwill.

 

A few weekends ago I wrote my Christmas cards whilst watching Love Actually and I even managed a mince pie.

And once the present buying is out of the way (nearly there!) I’ll be able to embrace the season fully, especially as for the first time since I had my own home, I won’t be the one cooking Christmas dinner.

 

But I won’t forget to spare a thought for those who are less fortunate than myself and of course, make some charitable donations.

 

Are you looking forward to Christmas?

It's Strictly Time!

I must admit I do enjoy watching Strictly – it’s something to look forward to on the long autumn / winter nights in the run up to Christmas.

I love the learning curve that the celebrities go on in their quest to learn to dance.

 

It’s a more intense version of the path to becoming a writer, although most of us writers learn our craft on the side-lines rather than in the glare of the public eye. 

 

The other similarity to writing is that the dancers have to learn to listen to the feedback of the judges in order to progress.

 

One of the things I like about Strictly, compared with other similar programmes, is that I feel the judges are not being intentionally nasty in their feedback, they have a genuine desire to show the dancers how they can improve, to progress through to the next stage. But sometimes the way feedback is received is down to the delivery.

 

Craig is viewed as the nasty judge because he always marks lower than the other judges and because he is super critical. But I think part of the audience’s reaction to him is because he always starts off with the bad points before praising anything that is good. I received advice a long time ago that feedback should be like a sandwich: start with something good, put the meaty feedback in the middle and then finish on something good too. I have been part of several readers groups and given feedback to other writers and the process has helped me to develop my own writing as it helps me to focus on both what does and doesn’t work. It would never be my wish to demoralise any writer, but I also think there’s no point in simply praising what is good and ignoring what can be improved upon. And so the sandwich method has enabled me to deliver what I will always hope to be constructive criticism. 

 

It can be crushing to receive harsh feedback, especially when you have put your heart and soul into something. As writers, we know how demoralising that can be, but we also know that constructive criticism is what makes us better writers. 

 

Reading feedback for the first time can be daunting, but from personal experience I find that if I put it aside for a few days, when I come to re-read it, I can connect with it more rationally. I’ve always found that constructive criticism often rings true and highlights issues that I have known were there but which I haven’t been able to fully acknowledge.

 

Similarly, if deep down the feedback doesn’t sit right with you, then you can make your own decision to disregard it. If you are a true writer, you will think carefully about the feedback you receive and take on board the parts of it that you know will help you develop as a writer and produce an improved piece of work.

 

So as we are coming towards the end of Strictly for another year, we can sit back, relax and enjoy watching how much the dancers have improved over the series.

And when its finished, well, then it will be Christmas. 

Catching Up

 

I haven't posted for a while but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy. In fact, life has been a bit of roller coaster ride - as ever.

In February of this year, my eldest son left home to join the army. It wasn't something I was particularly comfortable with, considering the current unrest in the world, but you have to let them make their own way in the world don't you?

Ten weeks later he was back at home after having decided that army life was not for him. But at least he tried and got it out of his system, and to be fair to him, he soon sorted himself out with work and has now found himself a job close to home which he seems to be enjoying.

We've also had the highs and lows of A Levels this year, very stressful at times (understatement!) for both my youngest son and myself. He's now studying history at the University of Huddersfield. It's taking a while for him to settle in but I hope he'll find his feet soon. He's coming home for reading week in November so I'm looking forward to seeing him then.

So what with all the comings and goings, I've found it difficult to establish a writing routine. I'm notoriously bad at putting my writing before the family and household tasks, and this is something I'm determined to become better at. 

As I mentioned in a previous blog, I've been working on a romance novel which has previously been through the RNA New Writers' Scheme. I finally got it to a place I was happy with and submitted it to various agents, with no success. I'd always had the thought that my novel would be suited to Choc Lit - a dedicated publisher of romance, so I took the bull by the horns and sent it off in early September. The selection process takes several months, so to take my mind off the outcome, I've been working on redrafting a novel which I started to write during NaNoWriMo a few years ago. I set myself a target of writing 500 words a day on days I was working and 1,000 words a day when I wasn't doing the day job. It was a target I found I was able to sustain and I was enjoying the process until I ran out of plot. I literally don't know where I'm going with this book so I need to go back to the beginning and do some serious plotting and restructuring.

To take a break from this and hopefully gain some perspective in the interim, Ive been editing some short stories which have been languishing on my hard drive. I'm aiming to develop these into short story anthologies which I will self-publish. At the same time, I'm working on developing my own author website. 

As ever I'm trying to do a lot, and do it all at once, and I often get the dreaded feeling of overwhelm. But I'm determined to keep going. To help me along the way, I ask the question:

"How do you eat an elephant?'

The answer of which is:

"One bite at at time."

Not that I would want to eat an elephant, but you get my drift. 

How do you cope when there seems to be more to do than time to do it in?

On My Holidays

 

Currently enjoying the view from our apartment in Spain, getting some much needed R&R. We've left the 20 year old and 18 year old back in the UK so I'm trying not to think what the state of the house will be like when we get home.

I am using the time to catch up on some writing although its so hot here that the pen often slips from my fingers and my writing is terrible, but at least I'm trying to get something down on paper. (Don't you just feel sorry for me?)

Also catching up on reading, both fiction and non-fiction.  I've recently read Romancing The Beat by Gwen Hayes.  

Its quite a short book but an excellent tool for helping you plot the structure of your novel, or for checking that your structure is on track during the editing phase.  I'm definitely going to be using her advice for my next novel.

Now all I have to do is concentrate on my tan and hope that I can actually fly home as I'm travelling with Ryan Air on one of the days their cabin crew are on strike.  If not, then I guess I'll just have to stay here!

How Do You Want To Be Published?

I’ve been writing for a long time now with limited success. As a working mum, bringing up a young family, its always been hard for me to find the time to write consistently and most of my writing has been in fits and starts.

 

During this time, I’ve had several short stories published in women’s magazines, but so far have had little luck with sending longer pieces of work to agents. 

 

With the demise of the short story market I have lost a little bit of my love for writing short stories and so am concentrating now on writing romance novels. 

 

In the past I’ve been a member of the Romantic Novelists Association and have received feedback on a couple of my novels through the New Writer’s Scheme. This year I’ve been working on one of those novels previously submitted and dare I say it, I think now it’s in much better shape. 

 

It’s always been my dream to be traditionally published – it’s the ultimate validation that you are indeed a writer and that your writing is worth paying good money for, but recently my thoughts have turned towards self-publishing. 

 

Self-published books haven’t always received good press. The ability to easily upload and publish a piece of writing meant that anyone could become a published author regardless of the quality of that work. This has led to a poor reception for self-published authors. 

 

But following my research I think the tide is turning. What has struck me more than anything is that self-publishing doesn’t have to be – and shouldn’t be – second rate. In fact, I think it would be impossible to make a living from your writing if you didn’t consistently produce professionally written and edited work. There is of course much to learn and that’s what I’ve been trying to do through online courses, and the increasing number of podcasts which are available to listen to, and the thought of being in control of my own destiny is certainly appealing. 

 

With my youngest about to head off to university in September, finally the time might be right to devote more time to my writing and building a business out of one the things I love doing the most is certainly appealing.

 

What are your thoughts on traditional versus self-publishing? 

 

Another Year Over

 

Well, thank goodness for that – 2021 is officially over. Covid has put so many pressures on everyone and we’re still not out of the woods. In fact, the number of people I know who have contacted the virus recently has spiralled. Thankfully the symptoms don’t seem to be as aggressive as previous strains, but you never know how its going to affect you.

As I suffer from Rheumatoid Arthritis and need to take immune suppressants to control the disease, I have to be very careful about the contact I have with people. So far I’ve been lucky and have managed to steer clear, but now it feels inevitable that at some point everyone of us will test positive. We can only hope that because of the vaccination process, that for the majority, it becomes nothing more serious than a really bad cold.

I’ve always use the period between Christmas and New Year to review my writing goals from the previous January and set new ones for the year ahead, and I try to start the new year fully enthusiastic for my writing life. Usually I manage to achieve all my goals until roughly mid-February, and then I go off on a tangent. Although I only had one short story published last year, I did do a lot of work and I have a couple of big projects which are nearing completion. Hopefully these will bear fruit during 2022.

As ever my goals for losing weight, eating more healthily and exercising more fall by the wayside before the year is very old, but I will set them again for this year and hope that I can put some strategies in place to finally meet them.

During 2021 I fell out of love with short story writing, not because I don’t enjoy writing them anymore, but because I’m struggling to know what to do with them. The short story market has seriously diminished over recent years, especially as some magazines have closed the submission process to writers who haven’t been published by them previously. I’m sure this is because they are inundated with submissions and that shifting through the slush pile it too labour intensive, but it is saddening for those of us who are struggling to get our feet on the rungs of the ladder.

Lockdown has exacerbated the problem and sometimes it has felt as though submitting short stories is like posting them into a black hole. So I was delighted when Yours Fiction accepted one of my stories – The Floods of Change - for publication. And I was even more delighted to see it in print in the November 2021 edition, and even get a strapline on the front cover.

I was also delighted see a new magazine on the market, Seven Days, but disappointed by the news that even in such a short time it has proved not to be viable. It has seriously made me want to take a more direct control of my writing life, and over the last few months I have been doing some research into self-publishing. This is something I will be looking into in greater detail during 2022.

I hope that you are all feeling enthusiastic for your writing life and the beginning of this new year, and most of all that you stay healthy and happy.