Back to Work

Finally managed to sit in front of my computer - I'm not writing this morning, there's too much mess and too many things I want to clear up first, but at least I can clear the decks and I will be able to start again on Saturday.

Bad news re the Glass Cliff - the line I sent it to has folded. It was nice of the editor to let me know. I do have another idea for a place to send it, but they require a finished novel, so it will have to be shelved for now.

I am looking forward to getting back to the Find a Man Campaign. As soon as the first 3 chapters are ready, I'll start looking for a home for it.

I have also signed up for a two-day 'preparing your lessons' course. It is a long time since I did any teaching, and I want to make sure that the workshop on romantic fiction for Todmorden Library goes well.

Find a Man Campaign

Hurray! Everyone likes the first chapter of the Film to Book project, so I can now say that it's going to happen. As well as writing the script, Chrystal Rose is producing the movie and it is set to come out in 2010. Several titles have been suggested, but the one I like best and want for the novel is 'The Find a Man Campaign.'

The sooner I can get my last essays finished, the sooner I can get back to it!

Writer's News was interesting this month - an article about a new trend called 'urban fantasy' caught my eye. The Glass Cliff fits the genre description perfectly. I'm right on trend, although I have to admit it was accidental!

There was also an article about the competition from other media. It seems that what readers want from books is the emotional experience that only books can deliver. This explains why the deep POV for third person is now so popular in the States - and we always follow their trends, so that's something to think about, and become proficient in.

Glass Cliff in the Post

There's nothing like a fresh eye. Thanks to my critique partner, and a whole free morning, I have completely revamped the synopsis, especially the end, which was very weak, and got the proposal in the post.

I need paper!

To Do List

The weather was so lovely and springlike that I didn't do any work at the weekend. I did read Writing Magazine in the bath, but it's no wonder that I'm not rich and famous yet! Must try harder.

However, the NWS critique is in the post and I have a couple of week's breathing space before the next two college assignments are in the post so next comes:

• Write a synopsis for The Glass Cliff and get it in the post
• Create a website
• See if I can turn a film script into a novel (I won't name the film until I know whether it's going to happen or not).

And I have the next three mornings free. Hurray!

Can also report that I passed Numeracy Level I with 93% and have started working on Level II. I'll get another morning a week back when I've achieved the second certificate.

Truth is Stranger than Fiction

And more interesting! The DVD on the construction disaster arrived. I can feel my whole story cracking apart and rearranging itself. My own plot seems very thin and dull compared with reality. There are four hours to watch - and I'll need to make notes and watch it all several times - so my knitting will make progress as well! My own plot won't be wasted - this is an addition, not a replacement.

A bright idea - which means a rewrite

I'm so glad I read that line of John Gardener's about 'writer's impatience'. When I stop now, instead of stressing about what's wrong with me, I am asking: 'Does the story need changing?'

Yes it does! It won't mean too drastic a change, but I've suddenly realised that the background is too fuzzy. I've written about a building company with lots of sites and projects. It would be much better if I narrowed the focus to one company - one project, one set of villains.

Having said that, college with all its demands is feeling like a pain! Not to mention numeracy once a week. I'm finally going to learn my tables - after only one lesson I decided it was time to stop counting on my fingers!

Chapter Three is Done!

No writing yesterday - the whole morning vanished at Learn Direct. I'm now all assessed and signed up for Numeracy classes on Friday mornings - which is another morning that I won't be writing. I sometimes wonder at the mad circle of events which mean that in my quest to be a better writer I end up spending less time writing, especially seeing as its difficult to fathom exactly how I ended up needed a Level II Numeracy qualification in order to teach Creative Writing, which I need in order to support me so that I can write. But I'm not writing because I want to be a better writer so I spend time...

I just have to have faith that it is all going to work out!

This morning was good. I rewrote the end of chapter three and I'm pleased with it now. Next comes work on the synopsis, then I can send it off.

Where Do You Get Your Ideas From?

Here's the answer - a whole filing drawer full of them. As part of the year end tidy up, I'm about to weed this drawer. Each file is an idea for a book. For example, watching the TV show, Who Do You Think You Are? I thought it would make a good romance premise: she is a history geek, he is a successful businessman, over in the UK for a short time to research his roots - so you get them thrown together and they can't walk away because she needs the money and he needs to use his limited free time. Let's say he has to get back to work in three weeks (and there's the obligatory parting before the happy ending). They can travel to different areas, following the trail and they can discover different sides of themselves during the experience. So, I opened a file marked: Who Does He Think He is? and any time I read something about tracing your roots, or a female who works as a researcher, or I read about a man who wants to trace his family tree - then I hurl the cutting into the file. And there it sits, along with all the other idea files. Sometimes a file sits there for years. Sometimes a book emerges. And sometimes I sell the written book. If I sell a book, then I throw out the ideas file - it's served its purpose.

I did write yesterday. Mostly revising Chapter Three bearing in mind the comments from Jen and my sister.

800 Words and Stars

The Glass Cliff is an interesting book for me to write because I have absolutely no idea what's going to happen! This week a character has popped up in my head - he's called Ivor and he collects the essence of stars. I saw a man doing this on TV - maybe a few seconds, probably 20 years ago - and that fragment has stayed with me all this time to appear now in a novel. I do not know why he's appeared, and what his purpose will be. I find that scary because I usually plan my books carefully.

This book is also going more slowly than usual. I wrote 800 words today, which is good, but I also have gaps and days off, which is unusual. Probably the average is around 500 which is low. Part of the reason for that is that I am researching carefully. When the heroine meets Ivor, at night in the cemetery, he teaches her a few constellations, so I had to look up where they would be at this time of year and what colours of stars to look for. It's fun.

I do not know if anyone but me will ever read this book - but by trying to be commercial I've never had much success, so I might as well enjoy myself. I watched a TV programme on Pink Floyd (which brought back memories of my hippy days!) and Dave Gilmour said that art is something you have to do. You're just lucky if other people happen to enjoy it, and pay you so that you can go on doing it. I heard the creator of the Simpsons say much the same as well. He said: people say I'm lucky because of the success of the Simpsons, but what you have to realise is that I'd be doing this anyway. It's just chance whether it brings in enough to live a bedsit in Florida or a much better lifestyle. He also said, laughing, that he wouldn't get a job on the Simpsons now, so rigorous is the selection, so high the standards. He doesn't draw well enough.

Isn't TV wonderful? It's great to hear what these guys think.

16,637 Words in Total

I've lost my little tally sheet, so I don't know how many that was today - quite a few. I didn't write at the weekend, but I was turning over ideas and improvements in my mind. Still no email. Trying not to get stressed!

Good Progress

I improved chapter one (I often go back and do this, because the story has to fit in with where I now know it is going) and blocked out to the end of chapter three today. Nearly 200o words. Wonderful. Yesterday I'd have killed anyone who tried to make me work, today I'd have knifed anyone who interrupted me. Odd how the mind works.

John Gardener in his book on writing a novel says that you shouldn't write anything but your books - no letters to the paper, no notes to friends, but to save all your energy for your work. It does make sense, but I think I've been getting on better since I started keeping this blog - probably from a sense of shame! I don't want to admit to not working!

At the weekend my sister showed me the first part of my book, which she had turned into a film script using Final Draft software - it looked so wonderful! Somebody said the best way for a British writer to sell a film was to have a bestseller, and I truly believe that - but it can't hurt to have a script knocking about - paperbacks have such short shelf lives these days. How else could anyone see it?

My email is dead. A quick look on the Internet informed me that the 'enter your network password' bug is well known. I tried three of the many cures on offer, but they haven't worked. I might have to call my IT savvy friend and hope he's willing to come over.

Pitching The Glass Cliff

I already blogged about what a great screenwriting book Save the Cat is. Visit http://www.blakesnyder.com/ to meet the author. Blake Snyder advocates pitching your idea to anyone and everyone - if they don't get it, it's not strong enough. Apart from to my writing buddies, I haven't done this yet, through fear, I think. I already invested a couple of months in the Glass Cliff. I don't want to hear that it's lousy!

But last night my hairdresser, male, and another client, male, asked me what I was working on. I took a deep breath and said: 'It's a story about a female chief executive who takes over a company and the bad guys use voodoo to try to get rid of her, but she doesn't believe in voodoo (of course not: she's a CEO!) so she thinks she's going crazy.' And they liked it! They both said things like: Wow, so it's like is she/isn't she crazy? and yeah, something spooky happens and it's like: do you believe the scientific explanation or not? And what if not believing gets you killed? I told them it was called the Glass Cliff - I know this is not a very well-known concept, but they hadn't come across the glass ceiling idea either, which did surprise me. They are both bright guys, so I will put a an explanation of both concepts somewhere in the text.

It looks as if I only did 100 words yesterday - but I did quite a lot of work - I cut a lot of dead wood and cut a lot of woolly descriptions. To start with I write down a lot - there were pages about illegal immigrant workers swarming over the fence of the building site and running away, and the police just watching because they have nowhere to put all these guys if they arrest them. I condensed that to half a page and a couple of good images - but I couldn't have selected the important stuff if I hadn't written it all out first.

1000 Words Today

After yesterday's depression I woke up sneezing with a sore throat and all the rest of it. Ah! That explains it. I knew there was something wrong! Because I was feeling so weary I booked a week's leave for next week, which I intend to throughly enjoy.

And despite the lurgy I wrote a thousand words today. At last I know who the hero is - now I have to decide what kind of love story theirs will be. Romance is very, very hard. Here I have two fabulous, lovely people who are exactly right for one another, and I have to keep them apart until almost the last page.

I Need a Holiday

Writing is hard work - and it's just as hard if you're good or you're bad - it takes me exactly the same amount of effort to write a book that earns nothing, or a few pennies, as it takes other people to write best sellers.

What's triggered this sudden avalanche of gloom? My Virgin statement. Admittedly it's about 10 years ago now, but I wrote two erotic novels for their Black Lace imprint. The royalty statement came today - and I owe them £2.97. Add this to my ALCS result of £11.90, and I'm averaging even less than my usual penny an hour.

I'm stuck in the poverty trap of needing to have a day job, which takes time, energy and attention, which slows my writing, so I don't earn enough money to support myself, so I have to have a day job, which...

But, day jobs do have advantages, and one of them is paid leave. I can have a whole, glorious week at home, with pay! And, over the last ten years, what with foreign sales and reprints, my Black Lace titles did pretty well. So, I'll have a holiday and cheer up. I might look into getting Final Draft software as a kind of holiday project, oh, and do my books. I know they've extended the deadline, but they still need doing.

750 words today. Jen Black sent her critique of chapter two back, so I rewrote that again and then began chapter three - where the hero walks in. I know who he is now - he's the site manager of the only well-run site in the company.

Weekend Off & Updates

Friday I wrote another 500 words, but then I made the mistake of allowing my computer to install the updates it's been whinging about for days now - afterwards I couldn't get into Blogger, find my Google toolbar (both solved now) but I still need to find my picture wizard! Next time it can whinge! I like everything where I can find it.

The 500 words was a rewrite after feedback from my sister - which has much improved the scene where the car gets attacked by voodoo - well you try writing one! It's not easy, especially the heroine must think all the odd events are due to other, normal causes at this point.

My sister has decided she likes scriptwriting - she has Final Draft software now and is really going for it. She sent me her children's novel to critique and the first chapter, which she'd done as a script, then rewritten back into a book, was fabulous - the improvement was quantum. I might have to invest in Final Draft - partly because I've sent her a romantic comedy (Whirlwind Wedding, my favourite of the romances I've written)to see if she can turn it into a film script, but also because I want my own writing to improve that much!

When I looked for this cover, I realised that the editor had changed the title to Whirlwind Marriage. I still think of it as WW.

Chapter Two is Finished!

Bundled it off to my critique partner, Jen, and my sister for criticism. My sister has discovered that she lives near a scriptwriter - and the kind neighbourly scriptwriter has offered to have a look at the Glass Cliff for me - great! I'll wait until I get to the three chapter stage and ask her to have a look before I send it off.

I stopped at the building site last night - much to the chagrin of the security guard. He noticed me straight away, and came out of his little cabin. I could see him wondering why I was walking around the perimeter of the site making notes. I was making him so unhappy that I didn't go all the way around. I've been reading so much about migrant labour that I began to wonder if he was worrying that I was checking up on him. He looked so miserable that I went away.

The visit was worth it in terms of information and scene setting. I was interested in the safety structures - the scaffolding had coloured safety barriers on the higher platforms and safety nets were strung below as well. The last scaffolding that caught my attention was bamboo scaffolding in Hong Kong - rickety beyond belief. This was before 1999 and we were looking for work. I think they paid £3.50 an hour for casual labour. I said 'How about that scaffolding, Andy? Add to your building experience?' He said: 'Being a film extra is the same money. I think I'll sit around all day pretending to be a journalist instead.' Definitely the right decision, because we heard later that the scaffolding was as unsafe as it looked and often collapsed. Hurray for health and safety!

Deliberate Day Off

I wasn't fine at all! by the time I'd put in a busy afternoon at work and been shopping, my head was in a place any good children's nanny would recognise as 'overexcited'. Today I'm pottering and not writing, but I am going to stop on the way home because I pass a building site, and I want to observe and write down the kind of barriers they have and where they park the vehicles etc, so we'll call it a research day.

Every Post Needs a Picture

I think blogs without pictures are a bit dull, so here is the cover of a foray into another genre - the Black Horse Western. I enjoyed writing this book, and the publishers, Robert Hale, are a joy to deal with, but Lou Armstrong might never ride again. I had the one wonderful idea, truly enjoyed the writing of it, and have never been attracted to the genre again.

Today I did 800 words on the Glass Cliff (end of chapter two) and feel fine. I have increased the view on all my computer screens and increased the font in Word to 16. Hopefully this will help to prevent eyestrain.

I didn't stop and do my relaxation exercises - and I got tense and cross when I had to spend 45 minutes getting into the new version of Blogger - but I will do 50 minutes yoga now before I go to work.

PS: That is one sad horse, right? I promise that my hero never, never, never rode his lovely palomino, Sunshine, into the ground that way.

Finding the Story

The trouble is that things can't just happen. The police raid has to woven into the fabric of the story. The police are going to charge in and the other directors refuse to cooperate. Here's where I am at:

• Suppose a secretary wasn't quite a whistle blower, but forgot on purpose to cancel the boss policeman's visit. In retaliation, the gang will kill her father. I have an image of a man floating in a bottle of whiskey with pins stuck in him. He's an alcoholic, then. It would make a screen saver too.
• Suppose the police boss was the hero? Now there's a thought.
• And for sure in the row about the raid, the heroine can make her position clear - she's on the side of the law.

My eyes are too tired for much writing - have made an appointment with a Bowen therapist to see if they can help. I'm sure it's muscular.

More Fraud Than any Author Needs!

I've spent a solid morning researching into fraud for the Glass Cliff. Oh my paws and whiskers! I now have far more material than could possibly fit into one novel! I'll now have to spend some time thinking about the different types of fraud carried out on building sites (there's a great US Highways website that details this) and deciding which types of fraud my heroine is going to uncover in which part of the plot.

I've only ever researched snippets of information before, not a huge subject like fraud. Thanks to the Internet I didn't have to leave home. Newspaper articles alerted me to several examples of different frauds, but law reports are the best - you get all the details.

It's depressing reading though! Especially the cases where public money has been stolen from hospitals or roads. I already know that I'm going to enjoy the scenes where my heroine catches the baddies. How dare they!