At the moment my hand is strapped up due to an injury, and because of that I've had to cut back on computer time. I had planned on spending a lot of the holidays writing so I was a little put-out by this (as you can guess!) However, on the positive side I've been able to read my way through a significant portion of the Leaning Tower of Pisa that is my to be read pile.
Keeping away from the computer means I haven't read quite as many online articles and blogs as I usually do, but I've noticed a recurring theme in those I have read. The theme is hardly surprising given the time of year. You've guessed it - goals and resolutions.
The ones I've read have been very realistic and helpful on the subject, and because I can't spend too long typing one-handed I thought I'd share a few of the links with you.
How to keep your writing going - Dean Wesley Smith
Find balance over your years, not your days - Raptitude
Create an Action-Packed New Year - James J. Murray
New Year Resolutions for Self-published Writers - The Alliance of Independent Authors
All ahead for a productive, but most importantly, happy time.
Now for a bit of shameless self-promotion - if your taste in reading is romantic suspense then Driftwood is free at the moment on Amazon.
The last person Juliet
expects to meet on a work trip is Luke. She has changed her name and
worked hard to ensure he wouldn't find her, but now he is back in her
life again. Is it chance, or something more sinister?
Juliet has
secrets she needs to keep hidden, but Luke wants to renew their
relationship. After meeting him incidents occur that make her fear the
unthinkable. Her life may be in danger.
She leaves Auckland for
Sydney on a business trip, but Luke appears there. Can she trust him, or
are his secrets more dangerous than the ones she hides.
Secrets and lies can be a killer.
Showing posts with label Driftwood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Driftwood. Show all posts
11 January 2014
09 July 2013
Words and Pictures
At the
moment we have a friend from England staying with us. This is his first visit
to New Zealand, and we are enjoying the
opportunity of showing him the local sights as well as places further afield
we love to visit. One of the great things about doing this is that it makes you
look at familiar places as if you’ve never seen them before.
Last week we spent a few glorious days in Sydney, and it was great to look at this city we love as if it was our first visit.
We took lots of photos – although we already have plenty!
There is a saying that a picture paints a thousand words, but words can also paint magical pictures.
About half of Driftwood is set in Sydney and while I haven’t experienced any of Juliet’s problems or had someone try to kill me, there are a number of elements and snatches of scenes included in the book that are places I’ve visited or things I’ve seen. When I read those scenes it brings back the incident I witnessed, or alternatively, when I visit a place I’ve included in Driftwood it reminds me how I used it in Juliet’s story.
Alex takes Juliet to dinner in Darling Harbour – this is a favourite spot of mine and while the restaurant they visited doesn’t exist, there are heaps of good places to eat in Darling Harbour.
In another scene Juliet watches a street entertainer in Circular Quay – I’ve since cut back this description, but the little I’ve left reminds me of his act and I can still see him clearly.
One of the chapters ends with Juliet watching a bride and groom in the gardens close to the Opera House. I watched the couple I describe posing for their wedding photographs by the harbour, and I sometimes wonder where they are now, and hope they are as happy as they were that day.
The New Zealand sections of Driftwood are set in Auckland, Christchurch and the Tasman area at the top of the South Island.
Juliet’s view from her home of the Auckland Harbour is the one we had at the time I was writing the book. The scenes set in Christchurch are ones I remember vividly, and with great sadness, as some of the places were badly damaged in the earthquake in 2010 and the severe aftershock in February 2011.
The Nelson and Abel Tasman areas of the South Island are outstandingly beautiful and we’ve spent many happy holidays exploring the beaches and walking the tracks through the National Park.
If you’re interested in seeing some of the places, I’ve been working on a board using photographs I’ve taken during visits, and I’ll be adding more images over the coming weeks.
Last week we spent a few glorious days in Sydney, and it was great to look at this city we love as if it was our first visit.
We took lots of photos – although we already have plenty!
There is a saying that a picture paints a thousand words, but words can also paint magical pictures.
About half of Driftwood is set in Sydney and while I haven’t experienced any of Juliet’s problems or had someone try to kill me, there are a number of elements and snatches of scenes included in the book that are places I’ve visited or things I’ve seen. When I read those scenes it brings back the incident I witnessed, or alternatively, when I visit a place I’ve included in Driftwood it reminds me how I used it in Juliet’s story.
Alex takes Juliet to dinner in Darling Harbour – this is a favourite spot of mine and while the restaurant they visited doesn’t exist, there are heaps of good places to eat in Darling Harbour.
In another scene Juliet watches a street entertainer in Circular Quay – I’ve since cut back this description, but the little I’ve left reminds me of his act and I can still see him clearly.
One of the chapters ends with Juliet watching a bride and groom in the gardens close to the Opera House. I watched the couple I describe posing for their wedding photographs by the harbour, and I sometimes wonder where they are now, and hope they are as happy as they were that day.
The New Zealand sections of Driftwood are set in Auckland, Christchurch and the Tasman area at the top of the South Island.
Juliet’s view from her home of the Auckland Harbour is the one we had at the time I was writing the book. The scenes set in Christchurch are ones I remember vividly, and with great sadness, as some of the places were badly damaged in the earthquake in 2010 and the severe aftershock in February 2011.
The Nelson and Abel Tasman areas of the South Island are outstandingly beautiful and we’ve spent many happy holidays exploring the beaches and walking the tracks through the National Park.
If you’re interested in seeing some of the places, I’ve been working on a board using photographs I’ve taken during visits, and I’ll be adding more images over the coming weeks.
04 March 2013
Driftwood
Salvador Dali said, ‘Have no fear of perfection, you’ll
never reach it.’ I can certainly relate to that.
Samuel Johnson’s quote is a little kinder. ‘It is reasonable to have perfection in our eye that we may advance toward it, though we know it can never be reached.’
Back in 2006 I started writing a novel. I’d been honing my craft and writing skills on short stories for some time, and decided it was time to start work on the characters and story that became Driftwood.
In 2010 I entered Driftwood into a competition for unpublished romance novels, and to my surprise I won, and Driftwood was published. As I read it I found there were parts I enjoyed and felt proud of, but also parts I wanted to change. I have a huge streak of perfectionism when it comes to my writing, so strong it is often difficult to know when it's time to let go.
I kept the electronic rights for Driftwood, and decided as a goal for this year to read it and make some changes. It's been a good experience working on something I originally started six years ago, and I've tried to keep to Elmore Leonard's advice of leaving out the parts that people skip.
It has also been great fun working with Andrew of Design for Writers on the new cover for Driftwood. He's created an amazing cover which I loved from the moment I opened the email with the proof. He commented about his design thoughts. 'It is hard to escape that central image of the driftwood, but I wanted something more than golden sands and blue sky. This image is darker and suspenseful, hinting at that darker side of the book. It is also wistful in some way, like a memory.' I totally agree, and the image sums up the tone of the book beautifully.
If you'd like to look at Driftwood, it is now available as a novella through Smashwords and Amazon.
Juliet, the protagonist, is a strong character. She is passionate about building her business, but uses it as a shield from emotional involvement. Her strength comes from her past, and has grown as a defence mechanism. On a work trip to Christchurch, New Zealand, she bumps into Luke. She thought she had managed to forget him, but from the moment they meet again, her life is not the same.
Luke wants to renew their relationship, but Juliet has strong reservations (to put it mildly), and tells Luke they can’t recapture the past.
Within days of meeting Luke, events escalate and Juliet realises someone is trying to harm her. She is relieved to leave Auckland for Sydney to work with a new client, but trouble follows her, and then Luke appears. Can she trust him, or are his secrets more deadly than the ones she is hiding?
I have also included the opening chapters of Lives Interrupted, and the first four chapters of my new novel, Lies of the Dead, which should be published in April this year.
I've had a great time working on Driftwood, and I'm now looking forward to final edits on Lies of the Dead, with the help of good feedback and comments from my beta readers.
Samuel Johnson’s quote is a little kinder. ‘It is reasonable to have perfection in our eye that we may advance toward it, though we know it can never be reached.’
Back in 2006 I started writing a novel. I’d been honing my craft and writing skills on short stories for some time, and decided it was time to start work on the characters and story that became Driftwood.
In 2010 I entered Driftwood into a competition for unpublished romance novels, and to my surprise I won, and Driftwood was published. As I read it I found there were parts I enjoyed and felt proud of, but also parts I wanted to change. I have a huge streak of perfectionism when it comes to my writing, so strong it is often difficult to know when it's time to let go.
I kept the electronic rights for Driftwood, and decided as a goal for this year to read it and make some changes. It's been a good experience working on something I originally started six years ago, and I've tried to keep to Elmore Leonard's advice of leaving out the parts that people skip.
It has also been great fun working with Andrew of Design for Writers on the new cover for Driftwood. He's created an amazing cover which I loved from the moment I opened the email with the proof. He commented about his design thoughts. 'It is hard to escape that central image of the driftwood, but I wanted something more than golden sands and blue sky. This image is darker and suspenseful, hinting at that darker side of the book. It is also wistful in some way, like a memory.' I totally agree, and the image sums up the tone of the book beautifully.
If you'd like to look at Driftwood, it is now available as a novella through Smashwords and Amazon.
Juliet, the protagonist, is a strong character. She is passionate about building her business, but uses it as a shield from emotional involvement. Her strength comes from her past, and has grown as a defence mechanism. On a work trip to Christchurch, New Zealand, she bumps into Luke. She thought she had managed to forget him, but from the moment they meet again, her life is not the same.
Luke wants to renew their relationship, but Juliet has strong reservations (to put it mildly), and tells Luke they can’t recapture the past.
Within days of meeting Luke, events escalate and Juliet realises someone is trying to harm her. She is relieved to leave Auckland for Sydney to work with a new client, but trouble follows her, and then Luke appears. Can she trust him, or are his secrets more deadly than the ones she is hiding?
I have also included the opening chapters of Lives Interrupted, and the first four chapters of my new novel, Lies of the Dead, which should be published in April this year.
I've had a great time working on Driftwood, and I'm now looking forward to final edits on Lies of the Dead, with the help of good feedback and comments from my beta readers.
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