Wednesday 28 August 2019

Freedom


Eight years of my life came to a close today, when I finally handed in the PhD thesis. The little blighter was finished a 3am yesterday morning!

The first call I made yesterday, after taking it to the print shop, was to my hairdresser, The first facebook post when it was finished, was to my Romantic Novelists' Association Chapter, both of which probably say quite a bit about me.

My writing friends have been with me every step of the last year, writing up 80,000 words that was not a novel. Now I'm wondering about making a popular history out of it. But that is the future. I have to get through the viva first. I also have a hundred and one jobs to do in the house. Don't mention the jungle that was once a garden, and all the paper work, starting with the tax return, and I really need to go to the dentist. And the first thing I did, today, having handed the thing in at the History Department Office, was to sign on for an evening class. Some people are just nuts. It's all about fairy stories, with a fabulous tutor, and I know it is going to be  a lot of fun. So there might just be a fairy story in my future,

But that is the big thing. I now have the chance to write again. If my publisher still wants me, there should be some new stuff next year. It will be good to be back.

Update



There will be news.

Later!

Wednesday 21 August 2019

Written in haste ...

Just to say total panic here. The deadline for you-know-what is one week away and I have my head into proofing and correcting. Normal service will resume as soon as possible!


Wednesday 14 August 2019

Looking a lot like Christmas?



Okay - with publishers presenting their festive offerings and my local restaurant leafleting their Christmas Menu, it looks like Christmas now begins in August.

I'm focused on a date  much closer than that. The thesis has to be delivered two weeks from today and .... well, you've all seen a building site ,,,,

When I do finally get it done, the to-do list is a mile long, beginning with fixing the cupboard door that fell off yesterday, changing three light bulbs that require steps .. and please don't mention the tax return ....


One thing though - writing is there on the list. I'm even hoping, dimly, that there might be something fit to go to the publishers by, well, Christmas.

I can't actually promise that. But there will be writing. Books are definitely on that list. That is a promise.

Wednesday 7 August 2019

Post from the Past

Another one from the archive again. I'm nearly done with the thesis, so then ....

In the meantime, this is from August 2016 ...

Stuff I like to put in books.

Write what you know. We've all heard that. But what about writing what you like? I mean things you like, not 'What you like.' Oh - you know what I mean!

I like to read and write romantic suspense, and lately some of the lighter holiday style stuff too - although it always has a crime in it.

But what about the other stuff? The small things?


I found myself making a list again.

  • Food - you know that already
  • Art - usually stealing it, but art is art, right?
  • Gardens. 
  • Old buildings - anything from castles to churches to standing stones - or maybe standing stones should be a category on their own?
  • Trains - you knew that too.
  • Sunny places.
  • Shopping
  • Galleries and museums
  • Hotels and restaurants
  • Books - and bookshops. And libraries.
  • Clothes - and shoes. 
  • Plays and theatrical stuff. And theatres.
  • Magic and illusions
  • The sea and the beach.
  • Spooky places - although I don't actually like them, except in my imagination, to write about. 

Some of those would make a plot of a book, some are incidentals - helping with the atmosphere. Could I make a book with all of them in? Maybe. 

I think it might turn out to be one of those exercises where you try to get a word like supercalifragilisticexpialidocious into a report for work. All right, yes, it can be done But why? 

I can guarantee that some of them will be in future books, Because that's what I like.

And there's no point in writing if you don't enjoy it.