One Lovely Blog Hop

I've been challenged by Amy Spahn to join in the Lovely Blog Hop. The blog hop is intended to let you in on a few of the things in my life that have helped make me the person and writer I am. 

If I haven't bored you stupid by the end, you'll find some links to blogs and writers I like. If I’ve nominated your blog, you don’t have to participate, but if you do please include a link back to this post. This is a lovely way of networking writers’ blogs as much as sharing things from our shady past.
 

So here goes with some interesting facts. Well, they’re interesting to me at least! 

First Memory 
Some people seem to have masses of memories from their early childhood. I can only remember a few things from before the age of five or six. 

Not surprisingly, given my love of books and reading, my first strong memory is of a book. I can see myself clutching this book tightly with one hand while holding onto my brother’s pushchair with the other. From that image, I guess I was about four. I can see the book clearly. It’s longer and narrower than the average book, and each page has six or eight small coloured drawings with one or two lines of text under each picture.

When my mother was in hospital a few years ago, and we had more time than usual to talk, I described the book to her and asked if she remembered it. I thought it was a long shot, but she did remember it. Like most children I had a favourite bedtime story, Mum and Dad had often talked about the 'robber foxes', and how bored they got reading that story to me. It turns out, the book I remembered so clearly was that story.

There’s only one moral to this tale, and that’s to ask your parents all the questions you have while you can. My mother died a couple of years ago and while there are loads of things I should have asked, and wish I’d asked, I’m glad I solved the mystery of this memory. 

Books 

Reading has always been my number one favourite way to spend time. As a kid, I was the stereotypical bookworm. I spent most of my pocket money on books. I’d save up until I had enough and then go to our local stationery shop, which was the only place locally I could buy books. They had one twirly stand of children’s books, most of which were Enid Blyton. Needless to say, I grew up on a diet of Famous Five, Secret Seven, the mystery books and Malory Towers. I’d read the back cover of each book on the stand carefully, sometimes twice, and after much deliberation I’d make my choice. Then I would rush home, eager to lose myself in a make-believe world of solving mysteries or life at boarding school, although I never actually fancied going to boarding school. 

Libraries 
Libraries and books shops are two of my favourite places – not surprising really. As a child, because my reading outstripped my pocket money, I was a regular visitor at the local library. Around the age of eleven or twelve, I’d long since read all the children’s books, and so I used to sneak around the corner of the children’s area and borrow books from the adjoining shelves. Those shelves housed authors whose surnames started with C, and so began my year of reading Agatha Christie. 

What’s Your Passion? 
Recently I walked past a billboard which posed the question, ‘What’s Your Passion’. I have no idea what the board was advertising, so I’m obviously not an adperson’s dream, but the question stayed with me. A few days earlier, a friend and I were discussing that very topic, although more in terms of a work-life balance. We both agreed it was important, even necessary, to have a life outside of work, and this very often touches on the passions in your life. We both have a strong passion that takes up a lot of our time outside of work. Mine is writing and hers is horse riding. I love walking either coastally or in bush and forest, but it isn’t the same as the passion I have for writing. If a few days go by where I’m not able to spend at least a short time continuing the latest work in progress, I definitely get ‘antsy’. So what’s your passion? 

New Zealand 
One of my other passions is for the country I’ve made my home. I was born in England, and I realise that growing up there has shaped a lot of who I am, but after travelling around with work and family for quite a few years, we came to New Zealand for work and made it our home.

I think New Zealand is one of the most beautiful places in the world. We are lucky in such a small country to have the diverse landscape that we enjoy; from lush rolling hills with herds of dairy cattle, to forests, beaches, cliffs, mountains, volcanoes and glaciers. Here in Auckland we enjoy a beautifully calm east coast contrasting the west coast beaches with dangerous seas of heavy surf, rocks and black volcanic sand. With all this inspiration it's little wonder that my latest work in progress is set here. 

Learning 
I love learning new things, and feel very lucky that doing so is part of my job. Some of the subjects I have to research and develop training courses for aren’t necessarily things I’d choose to learn about, but there’s generally something interesting to discover. Even if you’re writing fiction, there’s plenty of need for research and finding out new things, and in some genres it’s almost obligatory.

What interests me most is people. What makes us who we are, how experiences impact on us and change our perceptions, and how what we view as normal, is often so different for each of us, even with similar backgrounds. All very useful for writing fiction.

Writing 
I couldn’t really leave writing out of things that inspire me and have made me the person I am. I’ve always written, not always novels and short stories, but writing has played a big part in my life. My parents never had a computer, so if you add this to the mix of travelling and living overseas you can understand why letter writing was important. I’ve kept a lot of the electronic copies of letters I wrote as they’re my journal of events and places I’ve visited.

I wrote short stories as a child and young teenager and returned to that again as an adult. When I decided I wanted to take writing seriously, my learning focus came rushing centre stage. If I was going to do this thing, then I wanted to learn everything I could about the craft of writing. I attended a number of workshops and classes, and read heaps of books on writing. Ultimately, you come to a point where you know the theory. What you then need is a person you trust (or a group of people) to kindly but honestly point out the craft areas you need to work on and strengthen. I feel very fortunate to have found such a group.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll have seen from the recent posts that writing and thinking about writing appears to occupy a large part of my waking (and dreaming) time. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

If you're still here, below are the links to blogs and writers you might find interesting. In the list are people I've met, while others are virtual friends. Some of the blogs are chatty and personal, and others have good writing information. Some combine both those attributes. Some are written on a regular basis and others less so, but all are great people.

Joanne Phillips

Susan Murray

Donna Joy Usher

Sue Moorcroft

Bev Robitai

Anita Chapman

Di Jones

Rob Mustard (City Noir) - not a blog but some beautiful poetry

More Writing Inspiration

Following on from the previous post about where writers get their ideas, here are a couple of pieces of inspiration that came to me from situations recently. 

In a work meeting, I was introduced to someone who looked so like another friend of mine they could easily have been brothers, it was quite disconcerting. This reminded me of the first time I saw a photo of a favourite author, and realised he looks uncannily like an ex-colleague. We do sometimes see people who remind us of others, or who could be the double of someone we know. In fiction these occurrences can be used for deception and mistaken identity, but I’m sure (with a lot of thought) we could come up with a more extraordinary use. 

A few weekends ago, I walked out to a sandbank in the inner harbour area at low tide. I was able to go out quite a way, and this gave me a very different view of the harbour bridge than I usually have, and it also gave me a view of the city and marina which I can’t normally see because of the bays and headlands. 

In artistic terms, perspective is about painting, drawing or representing three-dimensional objects on a two- dimensional surface to give the impression of height, width, depth and position. In writing terms, it’s about seeing objects, people and events through the eyes and filters of a particular individual, our point of view character. 

You only have to raise the subject of politics to realise that people can view the same person, event or action in very different ways. As a writer, you don't have to agree with your character's perspective, but you do have to get into their head to understand how they would view another person or event.

This should make for more realistic characters in our writing, and if it's something we think about on a personal basis, it could make for more pleasant everyday interactions!

Recipe for a Dinner Party

A short note to point you in the direction of the lovely Amy Spahn who has written an essay on the style and narration of my short story Recipe for a Dinner Party.

Amy has done an amazing job of making me sound a lot more intelligent than I feel, and for that she earns my heartfelt thanks.

Pop over and take at look at this and many other thought-provoking posts.

Writing Weekend Report

Often the best part of a long-awaited event is the anticipation and excitement before the actual occasion. I’m so thrilled this wasn’t the case for our writing group weekend. We had an amazing time. 

Our group has been together for almost five years. In that time one has moved to Australia because of work, and another down to Christchurch. They skype into our critique meetings, and if either are in town for any reason we rearrange or add meeting dates. 

Like some others of the group, I hadn’t been to Christchurch since the big earthquakes, and I was interested to see what has happened since then. There were two things that struck me. One was the feeling of space. In the city centre a huge number of buildings were completely destroyed, or so badly damaged they were dangerous. Over time the rubble and buildings have been removed and while there is now building going on there are still many empty lots, hence the feeling of space.

Christchurch is flat, so it’s always been a little difficult to get your bearings, and when we first arrived in the city I wasn’t sure where I was until we came to Cathedral Square. Suddenly everything slotted into place, and I was utterly shocked at the change. Yes, I was expecting it as I’ve read a lot about the work and changes going on and friends had told me their reactions, but nothing quite prepares you for seeing something yourself.

The other aspect you notice is the ingenuity shown by people. We often glibly say that life has to go on, and it does. You need somewhere to live and if your business premises are destroyed you still need to earn money. Much of the city centre and shops were destroyed and in their place is the Container Mall. Amazing!

 

Really glad to see a bookshop.

After the city centre we visited Sumner and Lyttleton, both badly damaged in the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 on our way to Diamond Harbour. 

The sightseeing was both sobering as well as fascinating, and we also had an opportunity to talk with each other and catch up on news. In addition the weather was wonderful, a beautifully clear and hot Canterbury day.

This was the amazingly creative view from the house at Diamond Harbour.

Over the weekend we spent time on writing exercises and critiquing our current works in progress. As this was a weekend jaunt, we decided that everyone would have a critique rather than taking it in turn with two or three per meeting.

Our format is to email our extract (usually around 20 pages) to the group one or two weeks prior to the meeting. This means we are able to have a longer piece of work critiqued, and everyone has time to read and note comments before the meeting. However, as we were all having a critique this time, we agreed to a maximum of 5,000 words, which is still about a chapter of a WIP.

The weekend was such a success; we've decided to make it an annual event!

If you are part of a good writing group, I'd certainly recommend this kind of weekend. Here are some of the reasons why:

• We were fresher for giving and receiving feedback as we hadn't just finished work and struggled through commuter traffic. 
• We did some writing exercises rather than working on current stuff which gave us a different creative outlet.
• It was great to be able to talk about books, writing, publishing, marketing etc. without the other person's eyes glazing over within 30 seconds!

Next time we may decide to have it as more of a retreat with time for working on our own manuscripts, but whatever format it takes, I'm already looking forward to it.

A Writing Weekend

Today I'm flying down to Christchurch, which in itself makes it an exciting occasion, but the reason for the trip is that I'm spending the next four days with the other members of my writing group. We've been planning our own writing retreat/getaway for some time and it's finally arrived.

As a group we met about five years ago when we joined a writing class run by John Cranna of The Creative Hub. John founded the AUT University Centre for Modern Writing and designed the Masters Level writing course. I'd been considering applying for this course when in 2010 I discovered John had founded The Creative Hub and one of his initial courses was an advanced writing course. I applied to join and after submitting some of my writing, and then an interview with John I was on the course.

We met at the Michael King Writers Centre in Devonport each week for a year. It's a great place to meet with fabulous views over the Hauraki Gulf. John ran the meetings, but we also had some great workshops on specialist subjects by New Zealand writers and publishers. 

Some of the notable ones for me was one on dialogue by Roger Hall and an absolute standout by Judith White.

Judith's topic was writing with emotion without it turning into sentimentality or melodrama, and as usual there was a writing exercise to do with the topic. There are a huge range of emotions we could have chosen, but we all wrote about sadness on some level. At the end of each workshop we would share our writing and this one was no exception. It says much about the belief and trust we had in each other that we all shared what we had written even though it was very emotional. I don't think I've ever seen John so worried as he was when he returned towards the end of the workshop and saw that most of us had been crying.

The thing that made the course so special for me were the other eight participants. We write in different styles and genres, but as individuals and a critique group they are incredibly supportive and always give insightful and constructive feedback. Almost five years after that course, we're still together as a writing group and looking forward to spending time together.

Awesome Allshorts: Last Days, Lost Ways

In my last post I mentioned some of the great things about reading and writing short stories, with special mention of the new Awesome Indies anthology.

One of the authors appearing in the anthology is Amy Spahn with a beautiful story called The Cost of Hope. On her blog, Amy has a great post titled 5 Things Short Stories Can Do that Novels Can't. 

It's an interesting and insightful post in which Amy uses some of the stories from the anthology to illustrate her points. I'm thrilled she used Recipe for a Dinner Party as one of the examples. Head over to Amy's blog for some great reading.

And just a reminder that my new novel Still Death launches tomorrow (8th November) at the super-low price of $0.99 for the launch (it will be $2.99 post-launch). You can pre-order/buy it from the following retailers.

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Apple Store
Smashwords
Kobo Books 

The Long and the Short

It's an exciting time right now. In addition to the launch of my latest novel Still Death, I have a short story that's been accepted for inclusion in the Awesome Indies Anthology - Awesome Allshorts: Last Days, Lost Ways.

 

I am thrilled to be included in such stellar company.

I like reading short stories, and I'm pleased that since the advent of eReaders there seems to be more collections of short stories available.

Reasons to read short stories
I love the intense nature of a short story and the way it gives you a glimpse into a different life. It's like a short conversation with a stranger that leaves you changed in some way. I find some short stories leave me thinking more about a character, their choices and their life, than a novel simply because there is less said and more implied.

In our busy world we can sometimes think we don't have time to read and that's a huge shame, but a short story can be read and absorbed during a train or bus trip to work, or during our lunch break. It takes us away from the humdrum and gives us a different perspective on our world.

Reasons to write short stories
Because of their brevity, you have to make every word count, especially in flash fiction where you may have as little as 100 words to tell a story. This means choosing exactly the right word, and/or exploring the possibilities and using a word that can offer different meanings and images but which still fit with the character.

Short stories offer a writer the opportunity to experiment: perhaps with different narrative structures or a tense that may be difficult to carry through an entire novel, both for the writer and the reader.

A short story is much more than an anecdote or joke, like a novel, it shows a character at a moment of emotion and change, and the stories in Last Days, Lost Ways do exactly that.

More of the Good and Less of the Bad and Ugly of Writing

In the last couple of posts I talked about wanting to write my current novel in a year. Before I started writing, I set down some ground rules to give myself the best possible chance of achieving the goal. I thought I'd share them here - some are obvious, some may not work for you, they're just things that helped me. 

I committed to writing five days a week for an hour. Initially I started with a word count, but I found if I didn’t make the word count it was discouraging. When I swapped to writing for a specific period of time, I still kept my word count spreadsheet, but tried not to fixate too much on the numbers.

I decided an hour was a long enough period of time to get something done, but not so long I felt I was giving up everything else, especially after a full working day. If the words were flowing, then I kept writing and sometimes didn’t even realise I had done more than the hour. That was especially true at weekends.

Setting a time limit rather than a word limit was helpful when I got to the editing phase, as I find it gets depressing when my word count diminishes.

I decided not to go for a target of writing seven days a week for a couple of reasons. The first one is fairly obvious – it’s easy to miss a day and then you can feel like giving up and not writing for a couple of weeks, or even months. Another reason is that I enjoy writing, and I want it to remain a pleasure rather than a chore. For me that means at least one day off. As I said these are things that worked for me.

There were weeks when I knew I wasn’t going to be able to make my target, for example the week we packed and moved house. I gave myself permission not to write for those specific times, but to begin the following week and get straight back into my routine, rather than let days or weeks meander on without writing. I felt better as I wasn’t beating myself up over not writing, and I was eager to get back into the story, because I was enjoying the flow I’d built up.

An hour a day, five days a week was a stretch, but it was also realistic. 

Writing time was writing time. There was no internet, email or social media, and I set other times to do research. When I got to a place where I needed to research something, I’d mark it with a comment and keep going. This was actually quite a difficult discipline to begin with, but it was incredibly useful and I’m sure it saved me heaps of lost time on detours through websites, blogs and other interesting but timewasting diversions. It was pure writing time, and because I’d told myself it was only an hour, I had to make the most of it.

In this post I shared a great way of working when I was able to devote longer periods of time to writing, for example a whole day or days.  

I didn’t edit during the first draft. This was incredibly difficult for me, but another useful learning tool as I didn’t spend a lot of time going over and over the same parts, editing them to death and then later deciding that section wouldn’t even make it into the final version. On days I found it hard to get started, I’d read through the scene(s) I’d written the previous day and do a little light editing to get me started. This was another way I managed to keep going and get the first draft finished without wasting a lot of time. It also stopped a lot of the self-doubt that comes when you read what you’ve just written. Rather than spending time worrying about whether it was any good, I just kept on writing. 

Time (when). When I have the option, I prefer writing in the morning as I feel a lot more creative at that time. During most of the time I was writing Still Death, I was working on a project with a company and working from their office. I had to start early, so I wasn’t able to write at my preferred time. However, I was leaving work at a reasonable time and generally getting home before my husband, so that became my writing time. I found once I got used to the routine of arriving home and settling into at least an hour of writing, the creativity was there. That was a really good learning experience as I’d always thought I did my best work in the morning. What this proved to me is – create a routine and stick to it, even if it isn’t what you consider to be perfect. 

Think positively. Without a doubt this is the hardest. It gets really difficult trying to quell the critical voice that keeps popping up. What makes you think you can write? Why would you succeed when others don’t? That scene is rubbish.

Negative thoughts are the easiest way to get off track and stop writing. I don’t think they ever truly disappear, but the trick is to be mindful of them, or the times when they’re likely to start up, and then change those thoughts to positive ones. It’s not easy, but like anything, the more you practice it the better you get.

Still Death will be available from 8th November, but you can pre-order it from the retailers below.  After the launch it will be $2.99 but at the moment you can pre-order it for 99 cents.  

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Apple Store
Smashwords
Kobo Books 

Writing a Book in a Year

When I wrote my first novel, my goal was simply to see if I could get to the end. Did I have what it took to write a whole novel? I had no plans for daily word counts or a particular time frame. It was a simple goal. Write a novel.

Like many other authors, I worked full time, so I wrote in the evenings and at weekends. I had days or weeks when my motivation lagged and I didn't write. I see from my spreadsheets that book took me between eighteen months and two years to write and edit.

I'm horrified to realise the next two novels actually took me longer, although the word count is significantly more. They both took closer to three years including the elapsed time between writing and editing, and looking for agents or publishers and making the changes they suggested.

At this point I felt good about my experiences and the things I'd learned from writing the previous novels. For a long time I'd wanted to see if I could write and edit a novel within a year, and this seemed like the right opportunity. It was the first time since I started my initial novel that all my other projects were finished and I wasn't in between writing and editing something else. It was time to set that goal.

I definitely didn't choose the best year. We've moved three times since February and while I've still been contracting, all my work this year has been in company offices, so I haven't had the luxury of working from home and choosing my own hours. However, I have accomplished my goal *loud cheer and happy face * AND Still Death is a great book. 

I think there's much to recommend writing a book in a shorter length of time, or at least to be continuously in the world of your book and characters. This is why authors talk of the discipline of writing every day and living closely with your characters. You are more open to recognising the inspiration and ideas that come, and you don't have to waste time getting back into the groove of your story. My goal now is to write the next book in nine months (and it would be good if I could come up with a title much sooner!). Watch this space!

Still Death will be available from 8th November, but you can pre-order it from the retailers below.  After the launch it will be $2.99 but at the moment you can pre-order it for 99 cents.  

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Apple Store
Smashwords
Kobo Books 
 

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Writing a Novel

Where do you get your ideas? Which comes first, the characters or the plot?
These are two of the questions that people often ask writers.

I remember the moment Lexie, the main character in Still Death, came to my mind – reading a newspaper article outside a café on a road trip in New South Wales, Australia. That was four or five years and several other projects ago, but she’s hung since then, and I guess that answers the opening questions.

Originally Lexie was going to be the main character in a different genre, but as I got to know her it was obvious her flaws and character arc needed a different type story. That was where I hit my first problem.

I’d written my earlier novels in a similar way – knowing the end point and outlining the first third to half of the novel. I decided this time I'd plan the entire novel so I wouldn’t get side tracked and waste time.

Oh boy, what a headache that gave me. At heart I believe I’m an outliner/planner, BUT this book just wouldn’t move out of the starting blocks. I spent several weeks trying to force a plot and got nowhere. Eventually I decided to start writing and see where it took me. 

It was scary. There were several times I emailed or met up with a writer friend, our conversations going something like this.

‘I’ve got a scene where this artist woman turns up and has a mysterious meeting with one of the other characters.’
‘Ooh, that sounds good.’
‘But I don’t know who the hell she is, or what part she’s playing.’

Or
‘Lexie’s husband is investigating this mysterious compound, but goodness knows what happens.’
 
Or simply:
‘Another guy’s turned up dead.’
 
About halfway through the first draft, I got to a point where it felt as though I was banging my head against the wall with the plot. I knew Lexie inside out and upside down, I knew what decision she’d make in any situation and why, but I couldn’t get traction with the plot.

Then came the light bulb moment. Looking back at it, it was obvious, but often the obvious is difficult to see. One evening when I should have been writing, I read an article that covered the different processes and ways people write novels. As most writers know, there’s the planner, outliner and pantser, but the article went deeper than that – do you start with characters, with a plot or with snapshots of scenes.

My ideas always start with characters. Suddenly I knew where I’d been going wrong. From the beginning I was trying to force a plot. I’d told myself as this was a murder/mystery I HAD to have the plot sorted out, but I don’t write like that and therefore couldn’t plan that way. If my ideas start with characters and they’re character-driven novels, then I have to let the characters drive the plot. It sounds so obvious now, but this was a real breakthrough.

I knew how Lexie thought and how she’d react to situations. I knew her flaws and the things that worried her and the ways she had to grow to become the person she needed to be at the end of the novel. Now I needed to figure out what would get her to that place.

The words didn’t exactly flash out of my fingers at lightning speed, but I could see where I needed to go and what needed to happen – I had a plot! But one that made sense to the characters and their growth.

If you’re interested in reading a little of Still Death, here’s the prologue.

Late May

The woman said goodbye to her friend and left the restaurant, paying no attention to the cars parked along the road. There were always cars, and usually people, although it was quiet at the moment. The restaurants and pubs were busy, but it was too early for anyone to make the move to the clubs a few streets away.

She smiled, remembering the phone calls of the past days. He missed her, couldn’t wait to finish the research on his current story and fly back. Couldn’t wait to see her again.

She’d missed him. He would be back at his apartment by now, working on the story and waiting for her. The previously arranged dinner had been unavoidable, but at least it was over.

Her smile crinkled light lines around her eyes. She glanced at her watch, increased her pace. It only took a few minutes to walk to his flat from here. He’d be waiting for her call, but she’d surprise him.

She didn’t see the man, silent in the shadows. Didn’t hear the few words he muttered into his phone.

Further along, she slowed as she turned to cross the street. A car came around the corner. She stepped out between the parked vehicles and glanced towards the dazzling headlights. The car stopped in the road, engine idling. The same model as his. Perhaps he’d come to pick her up, not wanting to wait any longer. The headlights blinded her. She squinted, trying to make out the driver or the registration number.

The car engine revved, tyres squealed, as it hurtled towards her. No time to move or call out. The car rammed into her. Knocked the breath out of her body. Tossed her onto the road like a limp rag doll. The frown of uncertainty still creased her forehead.

A trickle of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth, dribbled down her cheek and onto the road. The car roared away. The man checked there was no one around. He approached the woman and crouched down. Watched the light fade from her eyes then made another phone call.

Still Death will be available from 8th November, but you can pre-order it from Amazon.  After the launch it will be $2.99 but at the moment you can pre-order it for 99 cents.

The New Book - Still Death

Regular readers of the blog may have noticed that while I've posted about writing, I haven't actually mentioned anything about a current project for some time. That's about to end, as I'm thrilled to say my latest book is due out on 8th November. 

While I'm in the early stages of writing a book, the ideas often feel so tenuous I don’t like talking about them. Winnie the Pooh best sums up this feeling, 'When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.' 

Once I have the feel of the characters and the ideas are firmer, my problem then is finding a title. It's quite difficult talking about your current project when you don't know what to call it. Once I've written the first draft, I spend ages coming up with words and phrases that link to the ideas and themes of the book. This time I took so long to find anything I liked that I'd actually got to the beta reader stage and was still without a title. I gave my beta readers the list of ideas I'd been playing with, and fortunately they all liked the same title - Still Death. As you might guess from this it's a murder/mystery!

Over the past few weeks I’ve been working with Andrew of Design for Writers, and once again he’s come up with an amazing cover. Unlike some of my previous novels, I knew exactly what I wanted, and Andrew has captured the opening scene brilliantly.

So without further ado – drum roll – the cover for Still Death.

I find writing the novel easier than writing the blurb that goes with it, but if you're interested in knowing more about Still Death, here goes... 

The first was a hit and run.

The second a murder/suicide.

Who will be next?

Lexie believes Patrick has been set-up for the murder of his girlfriend, but she is the only person who does.

After living in London, she thought life in a small town would be boring, but there are too many accidents to be a coincidence, and they all appear linked to the death of Patrick's girlfriend.

Lexie is determined to find out who is behind it until her family becomes one of the statistics.

Death still lurks in the quietest places. 

In the next post I'll talk a bit more about writing the book and give you a sneak preview of the opening scene.

Handwriting Matters

Most people I know, and I include myself in this, mutter about the state of their handwriting when giving someone a handwritten note, or a manuscript with scribbles all down the side of the page.

I've been known to rewrite short notes or a set of directions, especially if they're for someone else.

I'm sure at some time in the distant past I had reasonable handwriting. It was never wonderful, but at least it was legible. I recall 3-hour exam essays that looked better than my handwriting now. Of course, also like everyone else, I blame the computer for this!

Having said that, I wouldn't swap the wonderful convenience of Cut and Paste, or performing a quick Find and Replace and changing a character's name (and back again sometimes!) without even blinking.

However, I do often use pen (or pencil) and paper to write a scene, plan future chapters, or get the sense of how a character speaks by writing out scenes full of dialogue. There's something about physically writing that frees up the imagination.

On that note, here is an article from the New York Times I found interesting. It also reminded me the first thing I used to do when starting to study for exams was to write out my main revision headings and the important points within each, and use that as my revision. But then I was a bit of a girly swot!