July Ink and Beyond...

We've booked our winter escape from the future cold!  Muahahahhaaaaa... palm trees here we come, time for grandma to spoil the little one (and us!).  But that's months away.  For now, it's glorious weather here and the only downside is that it's keeping the toddler up late at night which digs into my writing time. And I still have to see that jeweller about doing an internship while I'm out there (didn't want to contact him before we had the dates set firm).

I’ve got just the rest of the month to draft out the rest of Downtrodden and then send it to an agent… I wasn’t intending on sending it out, but a glorious writer I know has suggested I do it (although the deadline is my own and will probably extend into next month).  She is currently working as an intern for said agent.  I dare not get my hopes up – Downtrodden is not the standard novel and it’s not written in third person limited in a single voice; it’s third person limited from many voices in many sections (yes, yes, as I said earlier, it’s not normal – it’s like a miniseries on TV).  Which is why I can’t get my hopes up.  I’ve broken rules…

Yet seeing the end to the draft will mean my celebrating – I started Downtrodden years ago, first as a flash fiction competition submission when I very first started writing seriously in 2008 after finishing (I use ‘finishing’ in the loosest of terms as I didn’t bother going beyond the fiction section as at that time there was no individual course for just fiction, let alone children’s and teen fiction… yet I’ve made my money back and then some, which is the only way to get a ‘pass’, but I’ve never bothered to send in for my certificate, I’m THAT lazy) Writer’s Bureau course.

If said agent isn’t interested, or is just shocked that I’ve send in something so abominable to the written word, I’ll publish it on kindle as a short series of four ‘books’, every other to be a free download – if people like it, then they can buy the next instalment, etc.  At any rate, it will be a fun experiment J

As for the rest of writing, knowonder no longer pays staff writers which is a shame but understandable.  They are, however, still paying general writers, so if anyone other than staff was considering submitting, don’t be put off. I’ll be spending more time of Highlights submissions in the future; it’s such an established magazine, I don’t expect it will have too many cuts (gulp… famous last words?)

The Isabella edit is taking longer than expected (did I say that last time too?) but the finished product will be very nice.  As for Three Women… it will be done on time (really, it will!) but Isabella is taking most of my hours and I’ve not even done anything for Seadrake this month – except pull my work from both high street shops.  I’m putting it all on etsy with sale prices to flush it out before I start on a new line. Onwards and upwards, yada yada…

 

 

New Books and Doomy Weather

I'm in a new anthology!  Look, here is the cover as it looks on amazon:

It’s the second day of official summer and it’s been pelting it down with rain (it takes me a bit of time to get round to posting these blogs).  I don’t mind – it just adds to more writing time.  And there has been a dramatic increase in writing time which I hope does not wane.  The new regime is this: an hour in the loft huddled on a pillow under the roof window while I write fiction until my battery runs out.  There are no internet, TV, child or food distractions.  No cat jumping on my keyboard, no little nips to my phone.  Just pure writing with the occasional play on mahjong while I think about plot and structure between chapters.

            I still have editing and my nonfiction to write during the day but once the evenings draw in, I smuggle my laptop upstairs while hubby watches an action film (I catch the end or beginning with him).  1000 words a weekday, means in 60 working days, I’ll have a 60,000 word novel.

            Well, it’s not everyday, I admit.  And there are some days when I just stare at the screen and try not to succumb to the pull of the internet, which is like a black hole for my time.

            Over the past few weeks I’d been stuck in a lull – my motivation was a bit down and I was thinking of properly giving up Seadrake, even without waiting until the end of the financial year.  I’d had a rejection too.  Funny thing is, I don’t even remember what it was for.  But then I got payment for one of my knowonder stories and I realised that I just needed a little spark of hope to keep me going. Now my writing is back in full force, Seadrake is back into play (and with a whole new business plan and the new, shiny, revamped website will go live before the end of the year which will focus more on cast sterling rings and necklaces) and all is right in the world.

            I think it’s that way for most writers (not to mention jewellers).  It’s hard times for fiction writers and even the most established of writers are wondering if they’ll have to look for new work and put down their pens (or just use their laptops for solitaire and candy crush).  Nobody seems to know the way forward anymore, and it’s certainly not the main publishers – anyone who’s attended the London Book Fair in the past five years would have noticed a worrying trend of empty stalls.  Nobody seems to be buying books much anymore (unless it’s celebrity slush).

            I’d love (like all authors) to get a fab contract.  A three-book contract with six digit royalties… and it might even happen to someone.  I’m fairly certain it won’t be me; I’m not mainstream enough.  But I can produce some beautiful reads.  They might be with indie publishers, they might be popped up on kindle or nook, but they’ll be out there.  Which I suppose, for now, is enough. And on that note, I’m pleased to announce that Downtrodden is very near the end and near completion.  My aim is to have it out on kindle before the end of the year and the cover is being worked on too.

            I am wondering about having the book separated into quarters and having the first as a free download, the second ‘instalment’ as a basic £1.50 download, etc.  If it does well, it can continue as a series.  More things to think about.

Digging up the year...

I’ve decided that I should no longer be that manic girl… the one chasing her own tail and running herself into the ground with a million and one different projects on top of the normal everyday duties that life brings.  This year is going to be all about growing.  Not personal growth (although I’m sure a bit of that will happen) but vegetable and herbs. 

I was going to give up the allotment – with my little girl too young to not in danger on the plot (there are a lot of poisonous weeds and stinging nettles), and with moving house, I knew I wouldn’t have any time for it anymore.  I was gutted.  The allotment was, ironically, really the only thing that kept me truly rooted in the UK, even in the winter.  But having thought things through (mostly not wanting to dig up our apple trees and relocate our berry plants) it’s staying. 

Last three seasons were horrible to veg – if anyone grows their own vegetables, they’ll know exactly what I mean.  From drought to floods; frost to heat wave and back again, those little plants have a hard time surviving, let alone producing fruit or tubers (my first earlies crop of potatoes were mini and most of my lates had rotted themselves in the ground after having lain in permanent puddles despite the well draining soil).  But the berries… oh, the berries loved it!  They could handle the dry weather and still bring fruits, the heavy rain just made the produce more.  Even the birds couldn’t get their fill of those amazing blueberries and raspberries.  The strawberries did okay… I’ll work on those too.  But for the next season, the allotment is going to be about raspberry canes and blueberry bushes.  I can never get enough of them anyway and being low maintenance and easy to grow, they’ll keep the allotment producing until my little girl is big enough to go to school. Then maybe this horrible extreme weather would have settled a bit and I can get back on to growing the basics.

The new house has got some amazing potential too for a herb garden in one area, a potted veg patch in the other, and space for a cob nut tree and couple of apples.  There will be… a lot of digging going on in the next few months.

That said, I still have been very busy with writing and jewellery.  I’ve been lucky enough to be asked back as a judge for the Paws n’ Claws competition for children’s fiction stories, I still have to edit and complete my fantasy book, Downtrodden (might even have a chance to upload it before the new year), and of course, writing for knowonder.com.  And sending out to agents… but that’s a given rather like breathing.  And I’ll keep it all low key.  Even now that I’m part of a new publishing group, Springbok Publications, I’m staying low key for a while and asked to only be assistant editor due to time constraints.

As for Seadrake Creations, I’ve got my etsy shop all pretty and will be working on new lines casually and adding them when I’ve got a moment to do so.  This year for Seadrake will be less focus on selling and publicity and more time spent on learning new techniques and skills.  Rather like an extended internship.

So, whew!  Bring on those long days so I can get back to digging over the allotment…