So - what did you think?

Reviews - when you, the readers, tell authors what you think.

Power. Don't you just love it? And why not - readers are the ones shelling out good money to be entertained. And authors really do value the feedback. Really.

Writers always have a love/hate relationship with reviews. Love the good ones, hate the bad ones, right?

Well? Did you enjoy it?

Actually, it's not as simple as that. We've all read the glowing super enthusiastic review that makes the writer unfurl like a flower in the sunshine, but also wince slightly because it incidentally gives away some of the plot. And the thoughtful low star can be painful but useful if it makes some valid and interesting points that give an author food for thought. You can't change the book in print - but you can bear it in mind for the next one. (Thanks to a disgruntled reviewer, I now know how to spell 'breathe'.) We won't mention the one stars allocated because of a deficiency in the packaging or delivery. Those really do hurt.

We writers have to be brave. And it does not come easily. A book is a personal thing and often takes a long time to produce - almost certainly longer than it takes to read. Criticism always hurts - even when it is useful. But if we don't know about likes and dislikes, how can we produce more of the good stuff and improve the not so good.

So, if you have just read a book that you loved, and want to say thanks to the author for the time you have spent with their characters - leave a review. Tell your friends. Tell your enemies. Tell everyone.
And if you have not enjoyed your experience, well, you had better tell us about that too.

Leave a review. Please.

And know that your effort is appreciated. If sometimes through gritted teeth.

The triumph of hope

Every year, in October/November I plant bulbs. Every year I do it rather grudgingly, as it means sorting out pots and compost and other stuff in the cold and possibly the rain. And, let's face it, a bulb

does not look like a very promising thing when you put it in the soil. But I do it because I know that in a few months time I will be very glad I did. If for no other reason than that I get flowers that come out before the snails have woken up. After that, it's a lottery.

I did it last year, and now that they are starting to flower, the few hours in the cold were worth it.

The triumph of hope - putting that small brown globe into the earth and getting back something that looks - and often smells - heavenly.

A lot of people a rather snide about romance books with happy endings. They are unrealistic. They raise unreasonable expectations. They do not reflect real life. They do not prepare the readers for the ups and downs of sustaining a relationship.

Yes - all that is probably true, But we like them anyway. The naysayers don't really get the point - that we, the readers, do understand all that, but that we want some of the good stuff too. Want to believe in love and happy ever after. It lifts us up. Life is not all about sorting washing and school runs. Alright, it is the romance that gets us into the sorting and the running. But isn't it that which makes it all worthwhile?

When you get to the end of a romantic novel it has to leave you with something positive. Something that will get you through the day.

The triumph of hope?

Whose head is this?

When you write from multiple points of view as I do - both the hero and heroine, the villain/s and sometimes minor characters, if I can slip them through without the editor complaining, then choices have to be made. The villain's Point Of View is easy. The Work In Progress has two villains, with very different motives, and I am enjoying both.

But what about the protagonists? Whose head should we be in for this scene? Most of the time it comes naturally. If hero and heroine are apart then it's easier still, although then there is a decision on who you stay with and when you swap between them. I try to balance the time between H and H. But what about scenes when they are together - whose POV should it be then? The standard advice is to write from the POV of the character with the most to lose, but it's not always like that.

OK, the grass is green, but not the sea.

Take a recent scene I was writing, which is actually what got me thinking about this. I'd expected us to be in the hero's head at that point. Then I realised that I very much wanted to describe the colour of a dress as being sea green. And no way was that going to happen while I was in Matt's head. Very few guys would contemplate a colour called sea green. Some of them would struggle with green. Then there are the quibbles about the sea being various shades of grey, not green at all. At least it's not green around here. So it was change the dress, or change the POV. I started to change the dress, then realised I wanted that more than I wanted Matt's take on the scene, so Emma got it, and everything worked out fine. At least I hope it has.

This writing stuff - there's a lot more going on than you think.

A suitable job for a heroine?

While heroines don't often get involved in a great deal of housework (See post 13th January) they do usually have a job. Which means that the author gets to chose a career for them. I like something interesting, that sounds like it would be fun to do, so I am always looking round and storing up ideas. (If I was not a writer, this would be called 'being nosy.')

I've recently had to find homes for a lot of my late mother's possessions - which means that some of my dad's stuff that she had kept has also found it's way to me.

One of these was an old step ladder. My dad made it a very long time ago  and it has been very well used. Now I have a big butch metal step ladder that has plenty of space to grab hold of when I'm trying to hang light bulbs from Victorian ceilings. Dad's ladder is small, to be easily transportable and doesn't. And if I'd know how scary it was to use, I'd have kidnapped it from mum a long time ago.

Before

Anyway. I wanted to keep it for sentimental reasons - it's part of my child hood and it was my DAD's. But I didn't want to use it for the purpose it was intended. So - I've painted it and now it is going to be a bookshelf.

After

Which has given me an idea for a heroine who does that sort of thing for a living. Now she just needs a book.

The Patron Saint of Wales

Happy Saint David's Day!
Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant Hapus!

Writers' Houses

When I saw this whiskey I
couldn't  resist it. I haven't
sampled it  - yet.

The idea for this post came to me when I realised that almost every room in my house has a container of some sort with pens and pencils in it. In the hall it's my 'Record Office' pencil case, full of very pointy pencils for taking notes in archives (Most of them won't allow a pen within striking distance.) That's in my 'Record Office' bag, by the way. OCD me?

You see a lot of posts and articles about 'Where I write.' talking about one room - but what about the whole house?

So - a tongue in cheek list of the things that might tell you that this is a writer's home.

Computer - these days you need one of those for manuscripts, communication, looking at pictures of kittens and other research. There may be more than one. Plus a smart phone, tablet, e-book reader. Writers do their bit for the technology industries. Some go for state of the art - all mine are oldies - but as long as they work ...

Stationery - now I am old-fashioned and write with pen and ink, well, ball point. But you will probably find post-it notes, envelopes, notebooks, paper clips, ring binders. An awful lot of authors have a bit of a habit when it comes to paper products in particular.

Feline/canine assistant. To interfere with production of manuscripts, to encourage exercise on a regular basis, to provided cute/amusing/heart-rending clips for social media.

Tea/coffee for opening of eyes in the morning

Chocolate - sustenance, reward, comfort when the hero stalks off in a huff and refuses to come back or yet another rejection letter drops through the letter box.

Alcohol - for celebration or consoling of sorrows.

I DID say it was tongue in cheek.
.

Scrapbooking

I posted last year about my plan to make a scrap book of stuff that would be useful for future books. I have to say that I am very pleased that I did it. It is/is going to be, very useful. It stops all that hunting though piles of old notes to find that thing I remember seeing and was sure I'd written down - somewhere. And it's a lot of fun. I like having fun.

Difficult to misplace

I've been having a quick look through, to check on some of the bits and bobs all put away neatly in a Zebra striped Lever Arch folder in transparent pockets. Well, maybe not neatly, but put away.

There is all kinds of stuff - some I may never use, some is going to be of major significance - one or two have me scratching my head wondering 'What was I thinking?' Like the note I have on the back of a file card that says - 'Senior year for detective.' I have NO idea what that means. Actually that one was tucked in an old diary before I had the scrap book. I like to think that I would have been a little less gnomic and maybe added a picture to tell myself what I meant.

collecting cuttings

What have I got in there? Lots about art, especially the PreRaphaelites. There is going to be a lost pre Raph book, one day. And probably about art theft too. Or maybe the same book. Lots about my corner of Wales - flora, fauna, history. Myths and legends, because they interest me. Pictures of people who are, or might be, heroes and heroines. I don't model my H and Hs on actual people - some authors like to use actors - but I do have an idea about a certain kind of 'look'. I have a cutting about the new dinosaur found on Penarth beach - what I am going to do with that I have no idea, but I'd love to get it into a story somewhere. There are fliers for exhibitions and pictures of buildings and cars.

Surprising omissions? Not much on foreign locations and not much on food - but I'm sure I will rectify that at some stage.

All in all, an eclectic collection.