Into the Groove

Well now, the suitcases are all unpacked and put away, clothes washed and ironed and I’ve spent the week trying to catch up on the things I should have been doing whilst I was lying in the sun.

Before I go away I always think that I’ve done everything I can to make my homecoming as smooth as possible but I always seem to be on the back foot playing catch up.  It doesn’t help that we have a lot of social / family commitments this month so I’m trying to get my head round what needs to be done.  Still, I’d rather be busy than bored.

And despite all this I’m still trying to hang onto the holiday vibe.

As usual we stayed at an all-inclusive hotel.  One of these days, when the boys are older, I dream of staying in a remote villa with complete peace and quiet, but I know if we tried that now the boys would be complaining within five minutes that there is nothing to do.

Here at least there are plenty of other children for them to play with and all sorts of facilities and activities to keep them occupied and entertained.  The complex was fairly small so now that the boys are older, we can give them some independence, but it was good to still be able to keep an eye on them.

I’m afraid we’re not very adventurous on holiday.  For a long time now my husband has been working seven days a week, most weeks and he just needed a break.  As long as the sun is there he’s happy to lie by the pool working hard on his tan, and I’m equally happy to read and write.

For this my Kindle is a godsend as I am not limited to the amount of books I can take with me and can pick and choose what I want to read whilst I am away.  Also, I send my own writing to my Kindle and this holiday I reviewed the first draft of a novel I have written and plotted out what needs to be changed or added.  I love seeing my writing on the Kindle, it feels as though it is “proper” writing, and I was pleased that there were a lot of things I really liked about the novel.

It is set in Chester both in the present day and during World War II.  To have written it to this stage I have already done quite a bit of research, both about the war in general and more specifically about life in Chester during the war.  Now it’s time to delve a bit deeper and so I’m looking forward to going to the Records Office to get down to the finer details.  In the meantime there is plenty I can edit in the sections which cover the present day. 

I have come back with renewed enthusiasm to start work on this and just hope I can maintain that enthusiasm now that I’m faced with the nitty-gritty of real life.

Back To Reality

Well, May passed by in a blur especially as we were on holiday for ten days of it, so apologies for the lack of blog posts recently.

Life was all a bit hectic before we went away, we had a lovely relaxing 10 days and then came back down to earth with a bump.

When I booked the holiday I thought we were travelling back on Saturday night arriving back at 1.30 on Sunday morning.  With the rest of Sunday to recover I thought this would be fine. On closer inspection though, I realised that we were in fact coming back on Sunday night, arriving in the early hours of Monday morning when we were all due in work or school.  Still, I thought if we got some sleep on the plane and had a good run through the airport it wouldn't be to bad.

But I wasn't factoring in baggage handlers who were on a go-slow.  We waited an hour and three quarters for our luggage, amidst chaos of other flights coming in and getting their baggage before us.  It was carnage, just what you don't need in the early hours.

We eventually got home at 4am, grabbed a couple of hours sleep and woke up to find that that a mains water pipe had burst in the village and there was no water.  My youngest's school was closed but as I couldn't stay off work I then had to find someone to look after him.  My husband whizzed over to his mum's to get some water and at least we had enough for a quick wash, a cup of tea and even managed to clean our teeth.

Not exactly conducive to keeping hold of the holiday vibe but I do like a challenge!

The Time of Year

I love this time of year, when the sun shines and everything in the garden starts to blossom.  The recent weather has inspired me to get out and walk in an effort to get fit and lose some weight. 

Exercise is something I find easy to put off, let’s face it there are plenty of other things to fill my time, but the weather has definitely helped.  I certainly don’t enjoy walking in the cold and wet. 

The only problem with the amount of blossom that’s around is that my hayfever has kicked in, and as well as a horrible cold that I have inherited from my lovely husband, you could say that I’m feeling pretty sorry for myself at the moment.

I had a busy old month writing wise last month.  I submitted my novel to two agents, after it came bouncing back alarmingly quickly from the first one I sent it to, and I made two short story submissions (not much I know but it’s a start).  I also started to revamp another novel aimed at Mills and Boon and entered it into the competition they are running in association with Prima Magazine. 

This month I’ve been working on another two short stories and have started an assignment for the Article Writing and Freelance Journalism course I began last year.  I must admit I’m finding it a bit tricky.  I have plenty of article ideas but its targeting them to specific magazines that I’m having trouble with.  

My procrastination is such that I have spent a lot of time this month researching different magazines, but still haven’t settled on any.  I need to pull my finger out and make a decision soon. 

For now though, I think I’ll blame it on the cold and make a decision when I’m feeling a bit more like myself again. 

Out of the Mouths .......

Now, what is she doing with a photograph of a potato masher on her blog – has she gone completely insane?  I hear you ask.

Well no, not quite, not yet anyway.

Recently I’ve put together a rota for household chores for my boys.  They want money and I would much rather be writing than cleaning, so each job has a price and each day they tick off the jobs they have done. Sunday is payday.

It’s not always a qualifying success and more often than not I have to nag to make sure the jobs are done.  Last week my youngest wasn’t too happy with the amount of money he received at the end of the week and vowed to try harder.  I’m still waiting.  But I console myself that at least I’m trying to impart some kind of work ethos to the next generation.  Maybe their future partners will thank me one day even if the boys don’t.

I also have to turn a blind eye to things not being done quite how I would like them and spend a lot of time hunting around the kitchen as the contents of the dishwasher have been secreted in unusual places.

But the funniest thing out of all this was my youngest’s response when he went to put the potato masher away.  He came running in to me saying, “Mum! This got bent in the dishwasher!” 

Well you have to laugh.  Perhaps I need to add a few cooking lessons too.

A Bad Day At The Office

Not only was yesterday indeed a bad day at the office, sorting out the mess other people had made, but when I arrived home the bad news continued.

When I opened the door I was greeted by the ominous sight of an A4 envelope at my feet.

At first I thought it was The People's Friend returning my story, but it wasn't, it was my novel which I only sent out last week.

Sure enough attached to it was a standard rejection letter.  Whilst I'm pleased that they didn't keep me hanging around before giving me a no, I was slightly wounded by the speed at which it had been rejected.  

And then lo and behold, when I opened up my emails it was to receive a rejection for my story too.  And although it was a nice rejection, as always from The Friend, the result was still the same.

A double whammy you might say.

Oh well, these things happen and now I will have to send them both on elsewhere.  At least I've done the groundwork so it will be a simpler task this time round.

Onwards and upwards - I think I need to buy some more stamps before they go up in price at the end of the month.

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!

In Vain

I read with interest Jane Wenham Jones’ column in February’s edition of Writing Magazine. A reader had sent a question in on vanity publishers.  She had received a contract accepting her book to be published but was being asked to provide between £1,000 - £3,500 to do so.  The reader was in a quandary as to whether she should go ahead.  Jane advised her categorically not to.

As I read the article I found myself nodding in agreement.  In an ideal world everyone would love to be published via a traditional route and to be paid for it, but not everyone is going make it.  Who knows why, maybe the timing’s not right, the subject‘s not right, or maybe you’re just not good enough as a writer.

I can certainly understand the frustration of not being able to published in this way, I’m sure most writers’ ultimate aim is to earn money from something we love to do and put a lot of effort into, but as I read this article my thoughts were that I would never part with this kind of money to see my book in print.  (Although the saying never say never springs to mind). I would though consider going down the self-published route if I thought it appropriate.

However, I had an experience a short while ago, which goes to show how far some publishers will go to extract money from people.  And I do mean “extract”.

Towards the end of last year, my youngest son had a piece of homework to write a 200 word piece of fiction.  Naturally, I gave him a bit of help and advice and by the end of the week he had an acceptable piece of writing.   The children’s efforts were entered into a writing competition and we soon forgot about it.

However, over the Christmas holidays I was delighted to receive a letter to say that my son’s piece had been shortlisted and, with my permission would be published in an anthology.  Well actually I was more than delighted, I was puffed up with pride, for a short while at least. 

As well as the permission slip, the letter also contained an order form for the proud parents to buy a copy – well who wouldn’t? And I was certainly tempted.  Until I saw the price that is. 

I don’t wish to sound stingy but I wasn’t expecting a cost of £16 plus post and packaging for what effectively would be 200 words of my child’s writing.  But then again, I didn’t want him to think that I wasn’t proud of him.  So I showed him the letter and asked him whether he would want me to buy the book. Bless him, his response was, “Nah, I didn’t like it anyway.”  So I was relieved to be let off the hook. The letter stated that each school would receive a copy so at least I’ll get to see it.

I later found out that my son wasn’t the only one who had been shortlisted from his class, in fact everyone had.

To me this is taking vanity publishing to another level, guilting parents into making a purchase.  If the book had been a more realistic price I probably would have been persuaded, but at £18, I’m afraid the publisher’s greed has been their downfall and I hope that other parents feel the same.

What do you think?