Happy Belated New Year

Forgive me father for I have sinned, it has been four months since my last blog post, and one of my writing resolutions this year is to be a better blogger (as is my resolution every year).

2016 was a disappointing one in terms of writing, but at least I can't complain that my life isn't full.

For 2017, though, I want to be better, carve out more time for my writing and generally be more focussed and productive.  To do this I either need to delegate more or to be more organised - or probably both.  I heard an interview the other day when an author with a full time job was asked how she fitted everything in and she said she had a big bottom and a dirty house.  I think she's got it just right - its getting your head around not caring if the chores aren't done because you're doing a far better thing by devoting time to your writing.  (Also means you have to get your family's head around it too and make sure that they pull their weight and not spend quite so much time on the X-Box!)

Anyway, in terms of being organised, one minute after the applications opened to join the Romantic Novelist's Association New Writers' Scheme, I sent off my email.  And I got in.  So now I have a deadline to deliver a manuscript by the end of August.  It seems a long way off at the moment but I'm sure, judging by the speed last year disappeared, that it will come round quickly enough.

Now I have no excuse and I'm determined to make 2017 a writing year that counts.

Hope you all have a happy and productive writing year too.

Linda

Hooray!

This week I finally sent of my first novel, Balancing The Scales to an agent!

Its been a long time in coming.  The original spark came when my boys were small (I did say it was a long time) and after dropping them off at nursery I would arrive at my full time job feeling as though I had already done a day's work.

From there I fleshed out the characters, gave my main character some obstacles, and then threw a few more at her for good measure.

I joined a correspondence course with Writing Magazine and my lovely tutor, Sue Johnson, guided me through the first few chapters and eventually I completed the first draft.  Then I edited, once twice and several times more for good measure.

After receiving a critique from the Romantic Novelist's Association New Writer's scheme, I redrafted again and sent to my writer's group. And yes, you guessed it, edited it again (who said writing was easy).

Now my novel is as good as I think I can get it - for now at least.  So I researched likely agents, wrote my letter, synopsis and CV and finally sent it winging on its way.

So now I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I doubt that my first arrow with hit the target but you never now, and its certainly got more chance out there in the big bad world than languishing on my hard drive.  And in the meantime I've got plenty more projects to be getting on with.

Here's a blurb:

To the outside world Alison Williams has it all: a successful career; handsome husband; two adorable children and a large house in a leafy suburban village just outside Manchester. But Ali is a woman on the edge, trying to hold everything together and failing miserably. When her husband, Rob, chucked in his job and become a student, he also abdicated all his other responsibilities. Now, no matter how much she tries, Ali just can’t get through to him.

If her home life isn’t complicated enough, Ali has the boss from hell who is trying to push her out. When Graham refuses to let her bid on a project which would be good for her career, she goes over his head and sets off a potentially devastating chain of events.

Ali begins to wonder if things can possibly get any worse. And then, one day, they do.  Somehow Ali has to dodge the obstacles that life seems to be throwing her and learn how to balance the scales of her life.  

Fingers crossed!