Keep it flowing

The spring in our village flows constantly every hour of every day.  Throughout the whole year it gushes out of the earth and provides us with fresh water. It amazes me sometimes in the winter when everything else is frozen solid the spring still continues to flow.

I have really tried to do that with my writing over the last few months and it certainly seems to be working. I have found in the past if I don't do any writing for a period of time, it's so much harder to get back into it again so just recently I have kept up the flow by writing something on a regular basis.

Editing my novel has taken up a lot of time but in between that, I have been pitching articles and sending letters and fillers to magazines. With all this constant flow of output I have started to get some results too. So far I have had a letter and a tip published which I will actually be paid for!

The photo below was published in Take a Break magazine. I was thrilled to get the top tip for my suggestion which only took me 30 minutes to write and then email it to the magazine.

It doesn't matter how long you spend writing or how much you write. You may only have time to scribble a few words down in a lunch break, perhaps while on a train journey or even waiting for a bus. If you have more time set a regular slot every week when you can sit down and write. The important thing is to try and do something on a regular basis and not stop for too long.  Even though it can't always be possible, try to  keep a steady flow and that way the results will come flowing in too.

  

Keeping track of submissions

It's so important to keep track of submissions and stay organised with any writing work in progress.

I have been spending so much time editing my novel over the last  few months that I have neglected all the other work I had sent out earlier in the year.

What didn't help was that I had even lost my year planner under a pile of paperwork!

On finding it again I discovered  that I had sent off one of my stories during February this year to more than one  publisher. I am usually very organised and mark my planner with a great big 'S' to remind me when I have done it. But what's the use of a planner if gets lost and forgotten about?

I had to give myself a good telling off for letting things slip.

I had even allowed myself to get despondent as I had not received a reply for both submissions but on revisiting the original guidelines for both publishers, it stated that they can take at least six months to reply.
 
This is not unusual but if I had kept track of my submissions in the first place and checked my year planner, I would not even expected a reply yet, as in both cases I still have another four months to get a positive response.

If I don't get a positive response, I shall send them out again to somewhere else but this time I will keep track of  them!

Writing a sequel

I have considered writing a sequel to my novel Red Kite for a while but it was only the other day that I gained inspiration from the landscape and started penning a few ideas for the next story.

It may sound a little adventurous when I haven't even got the first book out there yet but by walking in this incredible environment, I couldn't stop getting ideas for a sequel and had to grab my notebook to write something down.    

The photo above is Catherton Common near to the Clee Hill. Catherton is a wild, rugged landscape covered with mysterious bogs and pools that only the dragonflies can negotiate with ease.  

I kept seeing my main character here, perhaps a few years later on from Red Kite. I haven't made my mind up yet how I would do it but it was so exciting, like he had followed me to explore this wilderness for a while, testing the water as to whether he wants to spend time here or not. 

I know I must concentrate on my first novel right now as I am still a long way of getting it published on kindle but it feels great to think I may just have another story growing out there on the Common.     

Finding the right font

I have spent the last month or so editing my novel 'Red Kite.'  I finished my third edit yesterday and although I will be going over it again, I felt like I needed a break, so started looking at the font for the book title that will go on the front cover. 

It's amazing when you start thinking about it as some fonts, as this photo shows, stand out as a possibility and some scream Nooooo!

Every time I have been to a bookshop  just lately, I have focused on the front cover of every book to see how other writers do it. There are so many different styles.  Some of the big authors have their name in a large font with the title smaller,  Some have equal size for both. JK Rowling had something completely different as it was 'Harry Potter' himself that was prominent on all the front covers of her books.

I am enjoying just testing out different fonts and styles at the moment but realise it's so important to get it right and  find one that will work with my front cover.   That means plenty more visits to WH Smiths to stare at the front cover of every book until I find a font that is right for me.

The Magnificant Seven Challenge

I have just accepted a challenge set by Simon Whaley who suggested that we post seven lines from the seventh line on the seventh page of whatever we are working on at the moment.

In my case, it's my novel.  I enjoy things like this, as firstly it does make you look at your own work in a different way. The snippet was in isolation so I was able to concentrate just on those seven lines. Secondly, as Simon says, it's also a great way of seeing different styles. So here goes my seventh page challenge:   

I know they have to go somewhere, but why my haven? Nature and wildlife are constantly disturbed. Every weekend the riders rip up and down, scaring the sheep and leaving deep tracks all over the place. The constant buzzing and revving of the bikes’ tiny engines drives me mad, and the smell from their exhausts fills the air.
 My mind drifted from the classroom and up to the quarry – this was my space where I can enjoy my hobby, with no one to bother me. I can watch buzzards soar as they catch the warm thermal air currents to gain height.

So there you go, seven lines from  the seventh page of  my novel Red Kite.  This was such a useful excercise as just by doing this today, before posting it I noticed something I needed to change.

Cheers Simon, this was a useful way of looking at our work.   

No escape.

I have spent nearly the whole day editing my novel 'Red Kite'

It's hard work reading over and over again the very same words that I have written over and over again. I think the editing process is one of the most difficult parts of producing a novel because sometimes you have to be brutal and get rid of a few thousand words and sometimes you may need another thousand words to make a scene work.

After three hours I got to the point when I needed a break from it. I needed a walk, so I took myself off to the Clee Hills. They are very close to where I live and it is also where my novel is set.

Within minutes of starting my walk, I looked up to see these two tiny figures walking across the quarry. You can hardly see them and may not even think that so unusual, but in fact that is an image from my novel and one that I hope to use on the back cover. The only difference is they are not flying a red kite as my characters would be in the book.

I carried on and enjoyed the fresh air. I felt the wind on my face and watched buzzards and crows fly over the summit while the sheep grazed contentedly on the slopes of the hill.

On my way back down I saw a man carrying something to the edge of the hill. It was one of those small model aeroplanes, the same size as a kite. It was also red!

He launched it into the air and it soared for a moment just like a life sized glider would do, then the wind got hold and it crashed onto the ground - just like the kite does in my story.


Today my novel literally came to life while I was trying to escape it. I loved every moment of it and was glad that I hadn't just left it sitting there on my computer. It had followed me somehow in my mind, locked into my thoughts and imagination and when I came back I couldn't wait to start writing again.

I am not suggesting that this is the right way for everyone, sometimes you really do need to escape from your work and take a break away from it but today this worked for me.

Oh no, I'm knitting when I should be writing!

I have always wanted to learn how to knit. My Grandma tried to teach me when I was a child but I was too much of a tomboy to be interested, preferring to be outside making mud pies and riding horses.

A recent offer from a work colleague to teach me got me inspired enough to go and buy some cheap wool and some knitting needles. Over the weekend I have spent quite a bit of time trying to learn this craft. I really do admire people who can knit, it's almost like alchemy where out of a simple ball of wool and two needles, amazing things can be produced.

Then I started to feel guilty that I was neglecting my writing. I have so many writing projects on that were left in favour of my knitting. Why was I wasting time trying to do something I know nothing about when I should be writing? I even spent money on knitting magazines but to my surprise it gave me a different angle of looking at it.

I quickly realised that this had opened up a whole new writing market too. I am learning something new and being creative in a different way. Who knows, one day I may be pitching article ideas to knitting magazines, something I would never have imagined if I had not had a go at trying something new. I think I may have a long way to go, as you can see by the photo above but it's still an achievement to try and as with any craft, practice is required to improve.

Why not give it a go, it can be something simple or if you are brave enough try something incredibly difficult, you never know, one day you could become an expert and then you have a whole new market to write about.