A good year

I'm ill AGAIN. Not properly ill, just enough to make me feel sorry for myself. This is the fourth time in six months. No fair, right? But I figure maybe it's payback for the good things that have happened to me this year, namely:

1. Finishing my first novel (never thought I'd see the day)
2. Getting an agent (woo yeah!)
3. Getting a book deal with Quercus (double woo yeah!)

I think I can safely say that the year exceeded my expectations ever so slightly. So I'm choosing to ignore my pounding head, streaming nose and other delights and focus on the good.

I hope 2009 has been kind to you, and 2010 will be even kinder.

Deck the halls

I don't dress up my cats like reindeer, yet STILL they knock over the tree. And I've come to accept that the baubles on the lowest branches are the Sacrificial Baubles: they must die so that other may live. Tis truly a noble deed.

This is probably my last pre-Christmas post. Heading home to the Motherland tomorrow. I'm definitely ready for a break...

...BUT I've just got my first edit in from Roisin, my lovely editor at Quercus. I'll be working on it in the post-Christmas/pre-New Year lull. And I'm actually looking forward to it! The edit doesn't look too daunting - mostly cutting. Yes, the cuts might hurt a bit, but they're so obviously going to make my ms into a better book that I'm more than happy to prune and trim away. Before you know it I'll have a new-look, lean, mean manuscript. That'll be nice.

Happy Christmas to one and all! Hope you get lots of writing and/or reading done over the festive season. And may Santa bring you good things like cheese, plenty of YA books and stripey socks.


Song of the day: A Spaceman came Travelling, by Chris De Burgh (possibly my favourite Christmas song to sing along with)

Music vs Silence

I need to listen to music when I write. At least, I think this is true, but having never actually tried to write without music I can’t say for sure, can I? But I strongly suspect this is the case. Besides, I need SOMETHING to drown out the gallumphing children next door, the slamming doors, the super-deep voice of the man who lives downstairs.

I tend to listen to the same stuff over and over again when I’m writing. It takes a lot for me to get bored of a song if it happens to fit the mood of my novel. Here’s the overly long playlist I created when I was finishing off my first novel. Someday I’m going to edit it down to create the definitive-bestest-of-the-bestest-with-no-fillers version. I’m hoping that process won’t be anything like as hard as cutting words from the novel. (Ouch. I can still feel the pain.)

A few days ago I was listening to Lady Gaga for the very first time, and a new story idea popped into my head – just like that. I got pretty excited about it and wrote a page of random, barely decipherable notes. I was very tempted to start writing it straight away, but like a good girl I forced myself to be disciplined. One story at a time is more than enough for me, I reckon. But the idea is fizzing away there somewhere at the back of my brain. I’ve no doubt that by the time I come to actually write the story, it will have transformed into something entirely different from the original idea BUT without that spark of Gaga inspiration, I’d have a big pile of absolutely nothing. Gaga, I salute you!

So my question to you is this... Do you listen to music when you write? If so, who and why? I’m ready to broaden my musical horizons, so bring it on!

Kill, kill, kill!

Good writing session last night. I’d been dreading tackling this bit, because it meant killing off one of my favourite characters. Of course, as the writer, I could have chosen to spare her, but where would the fun be in that?! Besides, the whole story is about her death, so there was really no avoiding it. It’s just... I’d kind of grown fond of her (even if she is the meanest of meanmasters).

Writing the scene was disturbing, but in a good way. I got that proper writing buzz where you surprise yourself. Or rather your characters surprise you. This is THE COOLEST THING EVER. I’d forgotten how good it feels. I heart writing, big time. I’m relieved to be feeling this way again, as I’ve been feeling a bit shaky and unsure about this novel. But it’s all better now. Huzzah!

So I left my doomed character’s life hanging in the balance at 8.38pm. Cruel, I know. But I couldn’t quite face finishing her off just yet. That will be tonight’s job. And I’m REALLY looking forward to it.

Song of the day: Bad Romance, by Lady Gaga

Unofficially Official Agent Appreciation Day

So apparently today is Unofficially Official Agent Appreciation Day. This is a GREAT idea I found out about over on Steph Bowe's blog here. This is all about celebrating the awesomeness of your agent. I'm well up for that!

Five reasons why Marvellous Victoria of the Miles Stott Children's Literary Agency is awesome:

1. She is patient with me. (NB: I can be kind of irritating, with a tendency to ask lots of annoying questions.)

2. She has nerves of steel. I think she must drink Irn-Bru, which, as we all know, is made in Scotland from GIRDERS.

3. She has some mad editorial skills, helping me to make my ms WAY better. Plus, a couple of her editorial notes made me giggle a lot.

4. She used to work at the same company as me... It's like it was meant to be.

5. She seems to quite like my writing. Which is nice.

Hooray for Agent Victoria! 

Yahoo!

Where I write

Forgive me if there are any typos in this post. I slammed a door on one of my fingers in the middle of the night (middle finger, left hand, if you're interested). I was trying to halt a ninja cat invasion of my bedroom. The mission was successful, but the finger was collateral damage. Big ouch. I'll do my best to soldier on though, like a brave little... er... soldier.

One day I will write in a big white room at the top of a house. There will be no neighbours. The room will have huge windows overlooking the sea. There will be a big desk facing the window, and a ridiculously comfortable and perfectly ergonomic chair. To the right of the desk will be a whiteboard-clad wall scrawled with notes from the latest WIP. There might be the odd post-it stuck on there too. In this place I will be the writer I've always wanted to be: inspired, relaxed, organized and not plagued by RSI.

Now I write in a medium-sized room in a top floor flat. There are neighbours - noisy ones too. The room has a small window overlooking an estate. There is a sofa and a laptop. There is an notebook with scrawled notes from the WIP - a notebook I ALWAYS forget to look at. In this place I am the writer I am now: vaguely irritated by my neighbours, kind of uncomfortable, but pootling along just fine all the same.

The truth is, it doesn't really matter where you write, as long as you actually WRITE.

(Still, one day that Dream Room will be mine. Oh yes indeedy.)

RIP Borders

So Borders has gone finally into administration and this makes me sad. Lots of very talented booksellers out of work just before Christmas and one of the most pleasant places to buy books on the high street gone. It's bad, bad news.

Borders has had a special place in my heart ever since I first visited one in the States years and years ago. Somewhere that sells DVDs, CDs AND books?! With a coffeeshop too?! It was a revelation. I've whiled away many happy hours in various Borders stores. I'd have been quite happy to LIVE in one of those stores, if I wouldn't have been, y'know, arrested.

We lost the Oxford Street branch months ago. It was probably the bookshop I visited most often and I found it hard to believe it was closing down. Going to the sale there was beyond depressing. People gleefully scrambling for bargains among the half-empty shelves. It was like watching vultures tearing apart the carcass of a bison. Don't get me wrong: I was a vulture too. But I didn't feel good about it.

Bye bye Borders. I will miss you lots.

A leetle bit of progress and a leetle tiny kitten

I've written a couple of thousand more words on the WIP. All fears that I might have lost the ability to write have disappeared... for now. The trouble is, the next section is TRICKY. And I think it might even prove to be quite harrowing to write. So I'm doing what I do best and procrastinating. Seriously, if this was an Olympic sport I would be up there with the best of them, procrastinating a-go-go.

Here's a rather wonderful Procrastination Aid for you. I could watch this clip non-stop for hours and hours and hours. That wouldn't be at all weird, now would it?

Five reasons to read GIRL, ALOUD by Emily Gale

1. It's completely hilarious. Example: '...I don't think I've ever been more aware of my teeth. I feel like a very nervous horse.' This is when our heroine, Kass, is meeting a boy she likes for the very first time.

2. It's got Simon Cowell in it. Book Simon is much better than Actual Real-life Simon.

3. Kass's little brother Raff is a particularly well-drawn character. I heart him a little bit.

4. When you're reading this book, you have no idea how it's going to end. This is RARE and AWESOME.

5. It deals with some pretty serious (and surprising) issues very sensitively. V. impressive.

Back to work

I've just started reading through my WIP with a view to jumping back in and GETTING ON WITH IT. So far it's looking OK, making me smile in all the right places. I haven't even cringed once. That's got to be a good sign, right?

After last week's excitement it feels good to be getting back to the business of actually writing. I'm not going to lie though - I'm feeling a wee bit of pressure. This book HAS to be good. It just has to. Eek. I'm scaring myself. The best way to proceed is probably to ignore The Book Deal (which will be impossible because... YAY! BOOK DEAL!) and carry on as before: just trying to write a story I would like to read.

So I'm going to try my best. Wish me luck. I think I'm going to need it.


Song of the day: Man in the mirror, by Michael Jackson
Non-disappointing lunch of the day: leftovers from last night

The post-I've-got-a-book-deal post

Three days have passed. And no, the news still hasn't sunk in yet. The idea that my book is going to have a cover and pages with words on them and EVERYTHING is possibly too big for my tiny brain to process. But that doesn't stop me being absobloominlutely thrilled that my book is going to be published by Quercus - a publisher comprised entirely of awesome, as you can see from these beautiful covers:

Can't wait to read these. And doesn't Strange Angels look just like a super-cool movie poster?

So I'd like to thank a couple of people for making this dream happen for me. They are (in no particular order, just like the X Factor results):

1. Ma and Pa. Thanks for believing that this could happen... or at least not telling me it was a completely ridiculous idea. And thanks for your patience - I let you read it EVENTUALLY, didn't I?

2. Non. My BFF and BWC buddy and general Keeper of the Faith. Quite literally couldn't have done it without you - you know it's true!

3. My agent, Marvellous Victoria. Thanks for seeing something in my writing, and reading my ms more times than any person should have to, and doing all your complex agenty stuff and finding me and my books a lovely publishing home. And big thanks to Awesome Nancy, too.

4. My new blogging and twitter buds. Over the past few whirlwindy months there's always been someone out there with a kind word, some fab advice or a blog post that I could relate to.

5. All the friends I've bored over the years, talking about this writing malarkey.

6. My ninja cats, Jem and Scout, for being supremely squishable.

Thank you thank you thank you, one and all.

NEWSFLASH!

So... um... it's actually happened.

I.

Have.

Got.

A.

Book.

Deal.

I still kind of feel like whispering it, in case it turns out that I'm dreaming, but I reckon the only way to get over that is to shout it really, really loudly:

I HAVE GOT A BOOK DEAL!

I must go and lie down now.

A teeny-tiny Thursday rant

Yoo hoo! I’m back!

I’ve been mulling something over for the past couple of days... 

I stumbled across a review/ill-tempered rant about Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater on an industry blog. I’m not going to link to it, because quite frankly, it was MEAN. And we don’t exactly need more mean in the world (unless it’s fictional mean, in which case, the more the better in my opinion). So Blogger X didn’t like Shiver. Like, really REALLY didn’t like Shiver. Which is fine, because life would be mega-boring if we all liked the same books. And Blogger X really really REALLY didn’t like Twilight. In fact, the ‘review’ of Shiver rapidly descended into an anti-Twilight diatribe.

BX’s main gripe with both Twilight and Shiver was the supposedly ‘pathetic’ heroines, who constantly have to be rescued by their supernatural boyfs. Apparently this sends out a ‘bad message’ to teenage girls. Interesting point. And it may well be true in the case of clumsy Bella (bless her!). But anyone who’s read Shiver (at least with their eyes OPEN) can see that Grace is a very different character. SHE’S the strong one in the relationship. Wolf-boy Sam is always getting himself into wolfy scrapes that Grace has to save him from. Hmm... maybe BX didn’t actually read Shiver after all.

The second gripe is that Bella and Grace both turn into googly-eyed crazyheads when they fall in love with their vamp/wolf fellas. Crikey! A teenage girl falling obsessively in love! Shocker! That NEVER happens in real life.

I for one don’t believe that writers for teenage girls have a responsibility to create perfect, strong heroines for their readers to emulate. That. Is. Patronizing. In. The. Extreme.

To sum up: it’s fine to have an opinion, but let’s not attack individual authors for not writing the book we want them to write. If we feel so strongly about it, why don’t we just write something ourselves?

Rant over.

Gratuitous cat photo

OK, OK, my next post will be a REAL one, with words and everything. I promise. My brain is still not fully functioning, and I still sounds like I might cough up a lung at any moment, but I'm on the road to recovery, so YAY!

In the meantime, here is a pic of my gorgeous cat Atticus, who died last year. He was a prince among cats. And clearly had very good taste in shoes. Hmm... those shoes are awesome, right? Note to self: need to find an occasion to wear them soon.

Hey y'all

This is Tim Riggins here, linebacker of the mighty Dillon Panthers. Cat asked me to step up to the plate (aw crap... that's baseball, not football) to apologize sincerely to you good people for the lack of blogging action over the past few days. See, she's been real sick, unable to even think, let alone type out words for y'all to read. But don't you fret now, 'cos she'll be back before you know it. Trust me (even though I do wear double-denim, like, A LOT). 

OK, that's all for now. Bye y'all.

Remember: Texas forever!

Cough... splutter... urgh

I didn't plan on being ill this weekend - I had fireworks to watch, family to see and delicious food to be eaten. But all that went up in flames (much like the bonfire I missed out on last night I expect) when I got pretty poorly pretty quickly on Friday.

But it's OK, don't worry, the weekend hasn't been a total bust. I have managed to achieve some things (OK, achieved might be pushing it a little). I:

1. Got started on Friday Night Lights, season one. Tim Riggins, where have you been all my life? You sort of look like one of the main characters in my novel.

2. Got thinking about Christmas cooking and how to make brussels sprouts more palatable.

3. Read more of Tender Morsels, by Margo Lanagan. Beautiful and disturbing in equal measures. That lady can do amazing things with words.

4. Consumed more orange Lucozade than can possibly be good for a person.

5. Read lots of blogs. Children's/YA writers are ace. Fact.


Song of the day: Fortress, by Pinback

Original UK cover for Twilight

I'm saying nothing. Not one thing. Nope. I really, really want to though.

Thanks to Wondrous Reads for the image!

A playlist for your ears

So here's the playlist I made for my first novel. It's a bit of an odd one, 'cos I made it when I was very near the end of writing the book - just to spur me on to reach the end. It also helped me through the pain of editing. A lot of the songs are ones I listened to again and again when I was writing the novel, and some of them are just songs that fit the mood of the story. It's a long list, but that's because I get bored very easily.

Yes, I know Avril Lavigne is on there. Please don't laugh.

Sk8er Boi Avril Lavigne

I Wanna The All-American Rejects

Beat It Fall Out Boy

Bruised Jack's Mannequin

Save Tonight Eagle Eye Cherry

Real World The All-American Rejects

Supermassive Black Hole Muse

I'm Ready Jack's Mannequin

Navigate Me Cute Is What We Aim For

Believe Yellowcard Ocean Avenue

Move Along The All-American Rejects

A Beautiful Lie 30 Seconds To Mars

The White One Is Evil Elliot Minor

Since U Been Gone Kelly Clarkson

Another Heart Calls The All-American Rejects

Dance, Dance Fall Out Boy

Together Avril Lavigne

Suicide Is Painless (Theme from M*A*S*H) Manic Street Preachers

Map Of The Problematique Muse

Thnks Fr Th Mmrs Fall Out Boy

Empty Apartments Yellowcard

My Life Would Suck Without You Kelly Clarkson

The Mixed Tape Jack's Mannequin

Dirty Little Secret The All-American Rejects

Stay (I Missed You) Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories

Bring Me to Life Evanescence

Papa Roach Getting Away With Murder

Second Chance Shinedown

Thank You For The Venom My Chemical Romance

The Kill 30 Seconds To Mars

Fall At Your Feet Crowded House

Can't Take It The All-American Rejects

My Happy Ending Avril Lavigne

Assassin Muse

( I Just ) Died In Your Arms Cutting Crew

Life Got Cold Girls Aloud

Genie In A Bottle Christina Aguilera

It Ends Tonight The All-American Rejects

Roses On My Grave Papa Roach

Boulevard Of Broken Dreams Green Day

Because Of You Kelly Clarkson

New Born Muse

I Want To Save You Something Corporate

Rescue Me Ultra

Learning How To Smile Everclear

In The End Linkin Park

Here I Stand Madina Lake

One More Sad Song The All-American Rejects

Untitled Cute Is What We Aim For

Disappointment explained

My fabulous father forwarded me a link this morning that may go some way to explain why I'm forced (yes, forced) to whinge about my disappointing lunches. Here it is.

Maybe it's time for me to start making packed lunches after all... But I'm working from home today and the fridge is mere steps away from my desk. (Mind you, there's not much in there apart from some withered spring onions and an old pot of chilli jam.)

The cats are acting strangely today. I fear there may be a mouse behind the sofa. Let's hope not. Last time a cat of mine caught a mouse, I stepped on its still-warm corpse. Yikes.

Happy Halloween!

I've got two basement cats - Jem and Scout. I often trip over them in the dark, so I'm toying with the idea of painting white stripes on them - just like they did with cows in the Blitz, so that they could be seen in a blackout. (Random fact courtesy of my day job as a non-fiction editor bod.)

Anyhoo, Happy Halloween to one and all! Please don't get entangled in any giant spiderwebs like I nearly did this morning. It was not a good start to the day, but it was suitably Hallowtastic I suppose.

My only concession to Halloween will be wearing black and green tonight, in a vaguely (OK, very vaguely) witchy fashion. Yes, I'm lame. Deal with it.

A message from our sponsor

Cat prefers writing in the first person. She's never actually tried writing in the third person, except for status updates on Facebook. But they don't really count. Thus far in her writerly life, Cat has found the first person narrative to be a more than adequate means of telling her stories. She's not necessarily saying that it comes easily to her, but she does find it to be the natural way the words spill out of her brain, through her fingers and onto the keyboard. Currently, she finds herself pondering whether she will ever write something in the third person... or even the second. (The most likely answers being 'Possibly' and 'Not a chance in hell'.)

Cat also enjoys reading books written in the first person. She often finds them to be extra-specially pleasing in ways that other books are not. She would be very interested to know what you think? First person or third? Which one would win in a fight?

Early one morning...

I’ve got a new writing strategy that I’m pretty excited about. It may well be temporary, but I’m going to tell you about it anyway. And maybe the very act of telling you will make me stick to it (I doubt it, though).

OK, here goes... My new writing strategy is WRITING IN THE MORNING! That’s before work. Pretty hardcore, right? Well, maybe not to you, but to me, it’s a revelation! This morning I got up early, got ready for work, had my brekkie and then sat down in front of my laptop for an hour. The result: 786 words. Not bad. It got a bit hairy towards the end, as I kept on looking at the clock. I was determined to get the chapter finished before I had to head out the door. And I did! I reckon the last couple of sentences will need a rewrite though as they were somewhat rushed.

All in all, I’m pretty pleased with how it went. I managed to get lost in the story, and not fret about my list of things I had to do as soon as I got to work. And it put me in a good mood, knowing that I’d achieved something before 8.30. I won’t be doing this every day though, because I’ve got to go running a few times a week, and I’m sure that there will be some days when I just don’t feel like it. But whatever happens, it will mean some extra writing time each week. And that can only be a good thing.

I’ve still got a way to go though: Anthony Trollope used to write for three hours every morning before he went off to his job as a postal clerk. If he finished one novel and still had time left before the allotted three hours was up, he’d just put that one aside and start the next one. Now THAT’s impressive.


Person of the day: Conrad (who gave me the idea of pre-work writing)
Song of the day: Cave in, by Owl City

If you're going to meet a prospective agent...

... TAKE A NOTEBOOK... AND WRITE THINGS IN IT!

It is quite likely that your prospective agent will have some Pearls of Wisdom to impart. (I wish there was a PoW shop... ten for a pound perhaps?) Prospective Agent may well tell you some things about your manuscript that will make you want to bang your head on the table in a why-didn't-I-think-of-that? manner. Prospective Agent has knowledge that you do not. And if you don't take notes, chances are you won't be able to remember what he/she said in sufficient detail. That would be bad.

My agent, Marvellous Victoria, has mentioned that the fact that I took copious notes during our meeting went some way towards her taking me on. If a prospective agent has gone to the trouble of reading your manuscript (maybe even more than once), the least you can do is take notice of what they have to say. I can't stress enough the fact that they KNOW stuff. Of course, you might know some stuff too, but probably not as much as they do. Trust me on this one.

And even if Prospective Agent doesn't magically transform into Actual Agent, you can still take away those Pearls Of Wisdom and make your mansucript better. That can only be A Good Thing.

You can find a very interesting interview with Nancy Miles, director of the Miles Stott Children's Literary Agency, here. Nancy was also at my meeting with Marvellous Victoria, and I wish all of you could have been there too, because it was AWESOME.

Five reasons to read PREP by Curtis Sittenfeld

1. It's the best book I've ever read about how painful it is to be a teenager.

2. The characters have awesome names, like Cross Sugarman and Gates Medowski.

3. Lee's dad says the most hilarious things.

4. Everyone wants to read about New England prep schools... don't they?

5. It's not a YA book. (Hmm... what makes a book YA or not? Must think that one over.)

Buffy v Edward

Yes, yes, I hear you. So I didn't ACTUALLY do any writing yesterday... but I achieved other things. Very Important Things like:

1. Getting my cat Scout to sit on my lap and actually chill out for more than five minutes. It's only taken a year.

2. Eating spaghetti hoops.

3. OK, I'm struggling here. So I didn't achieve very much, but I am on HOLIDAY! Back to work on Monday and then I'll be achieving all over the place.

As I have no important writing news to impart, I'll treat you to a little Buffy v. Edward action. I tried to upload this and embed it here, but my computer ain't playing (or I'm just not very clever). Anyhoo, here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZwM3GvaTRM

Two posts in one day? 'That's not possible!' I hear you cry

20,000 words. Tra la la! And some of them are quite good ones. Oh happy day! I'm going to treat myself to... a cup of tea.

Er... I don't really have anything else to say right now. Just wanted to share my mini-milestone. 20,000 words hopefully = just under a third of a book. Aiming for about 70,000 words on this project I think, but that could change. Those naughty characters of mine aren't acting the way I expected them to. Tsk tsk.

Brr... hasn't it got parky all of a sudden?

I'm pretty excited about today. Here's why:

1. I'm just about to reach the 20,000 word mark on the WIP. Now compared to my last effort, that is super-speedy writing. I didn't quite meet my goal to write 2000 words yesterday, but who's counting? (Oh, me... yeah.)

2. This afternoon I'm heading to a book signing at The Golden Treasury Bookshop, which is somewhere in deepest Wandsworth. I've been hearing good things about it for years, but I've never got round to visiting before. Maggie Stiefvater, author of Shiver (awesome cover, don't you think?) will be there to talk and sign books. In case you haven't read it, Shiver does for werewolves what Twilight did for vampires. These werewolves are about a zillion times more interesting than the Cullen family. Also, Shiver contains a v. amusing scene involving quiche. How many books can you say that about?!

3. Am going to see Zombieland tonight - woop! And we all know that zombies are the new vampires... Uh-oh, I'm in danger of contradicting myself. OK, zombies AND werewolves are the new vampires. Or something.

Awesome YA book you really should read: see above

A whole heap of mean

After a LOT of faffing around yesterday and re-reading what I wrote aaaages ago on the WIP, I managed to write some more. About 2000 words, which maybe makes up for the 2000 words I cut from TFN at the weekend. But these are very different words. Well, some are the same. Like 'the' and 'a' and 'is'. But this story has a very different feel to the last one. It's lighter (despite some pretty dark subject matter) and more complicated (there's more people in it - people who have to do stuff and say stuff!). I'm enjoying it.

I had a bit of a realization as I was writing yesterday: I write MEAN teenage girls. They do utterly horrible things to each other. So I'd like to take the opportunity to apologize to any teenage girls out there who are not mean and don't want to read about mean. In the event that I get published, please do not buy a book written by me. You might not like it. (Everyone else should TOTALLY buy a book written by me. You might like it.)

Just to clarify: I like reading about mean people and writing about mean people. I do NOT like mean people. And I am not mean. Most of the time.


Song of the day: Hide and Seek, by Imogen Heap (She does good music to write to)

Snippety snip

Not so much Texas Chainsaw Massacre this time. Just a bit of delicate topiary here and there. This weekend I've been trimming TFN (The First Novel), and hopefully it will be ready for my Super Special Agent to send out into the big, bad, scary world pretty soon. A terrifying/exciting prospect.

I think I'm starting to lose perspective (if I ever even had it in the first place) on which bits to keep and which bits to get rid of. I find my finger hovering over the 'delete' button when I'm reading some of my favourite bits. Is this really necessary? Is it furthering the story in any way? Was it just complete self-indulgence on my part? So I have to be careful. It's like when I start going through my wardrobe, determined to chuck out some clothes. At first I can't find ANYTHING I can bear to part with... and then... well, some kind of madness envelops me, and I end up filling black bag after black bag with nearly every item of clothing I own. OK, slight exaggeration, but you get the picture, yes?

I think I'm nearly finished. Another 2000 words gone. Snip snip.

Friendly Wednesday

This Wednesday is good for the following reasons:

1. I'm going out for drinks tonight. This prospect always puts me in a good mood.

2. My lunch was not disappointing, even though it was from Pret.

3. I'm spending a significant portion of the day thinking about musicals.

4. I've just finished a massive editorial project at work that was REALLY getting me down.

5. I'm going to eat a sherbet dip dab this afternoon.

6. I've just arranged to go see Zombieland with the marvellous JNT.

Dammit! I was going for a five-point list, and now I've gone and ruined it.

Gloomy Monday

Came very close to not getting out of bed this morning. It’s a lights-on, keep-warm, don’t-even-think-about-going-outside sort of day. I briefly toyed with the idea of calling my boss and explaining that I just didn’t feel like working today, but I wasn’t sure that would go down so well.

Only nine tenths of the working week to go. And then I’m on holiday – WOOP! A whole week off. Joy of joys! I haven’t really decided what I’m doing yet, although I intend to write lots. Haven’t been able to do any this weekend, due to a parental visitation. This visitation has been much fun and has mostly involved food, drink, a bit of culture and a new vacuum cleaner. No time to even THINK about writing. But next week... no excuses, I promise. I will write and think and write some more. And I’ll hopefully report any progress on here.


No disappointing lunch for me today! A roast chicken sarnie, crafted by Mother’s fair hands... Ah, I could get used to this.

Song of the day: I know him so well, from the musical Chess

Aargh! The guilt!

So here's the thing: I haven't looked at my WIP (work-in-progress) for about three weeks. Sigh. And it was all going so well! It's just that other things have got in the way. Things like watching Harper's Island. Am I the ONLY person in the world who is watching this? It really feels like it. A TV series of joy made just for me. I heart it, big style.

But I'm feeling guilty about neglecting the new book. Hmm. What can I do to remedy this terrible situation? It's a tricky one. I just can't work out a solution, no matter hard I try...

WHOA THERE! Hold on a cotton-picking minute! I could actually do some work on it. Like carry on writing where I left off. True, it is a bit 'out there', but you know what? I think it might just work.

Person of the day: Mitten/Michelle (I'm gonna misssssssss you!)

Disappointing lunch of the day: cheese-and-marmite-panini-type thing from Camden Food Company (Words fail me. Worst. Lunch. Ever.)

This makes me smile

I wish one of my cats would do this. Alas, my house is sorely lacking in big paper light shades at the moment. I may well buy one though, just in case.


Song of the day: Uprising, by Muse
(the new album is gooooood)

Ode to the Children's Writers' & Artists' Yearbook

(And if you want to know if someone can use apostrophes properly, just ask them to write down that heading. It's an apostrophe MINEFIELD, so it is.)

If anyone out there is even remotely interested in children's books, I'd strongly suggest you get your hands on a copy of CWAY. And if you're hoping to find an agent and get published, I'd suggest you get the contents of this book tattooed all over your body.

This book is the bible of children's books. Buy it. Borrow it. Don't steal it, because that is illegal. But do get it. It's got all the info you could ever need, including names and submission guidelines for agents and publishers. And lots of cool articles by writers, agents and clever publishing types that make you feel better about trying to be published.

AND you can read it on the way home and be all 'Check me out! I'm a writer, don't you know!'. You can be as smug as you like - just ignore the fact that it's really obvious that you're a wannabe, unpublished author. But you're on your way, oh yes indeedy. (Of course, no one on the train is in the least bit interested in what you're reading, but you can pretend.)

My copy of CWAY has been on my coffee table for the past four months, and I'm reluctant to put it back on the shelf. This could just be because I am extraordinarily lazy, but I'm not so sure. The book gives me hope, in a way I can't quite explain. I'm just glad it's there.


Song of the day: Fame by Irene Cara (It's all about the legwarmers.)

They've pret me down again!

WHY do I persist in buying disappointing sandwiches from Pret? It's like I have a special kind of sandwich amnesia. I expect something great every day, and every day I end up throwing half my lunch in the bin.

Today's offering was an avocado wrap. I enjoyed the first half (sort of), but when faced with the second half, I actually said the word 'Urgh!' out loud in my very quiet office. I just couldn't face the soggy tortillaness. Grossness.

But maybe they won't let me down tomorrow? Maybe tomorrow will be that glorious day I've been waiting for... a proper tasty sarnie and no hunger pangs mid-afternoon. Well, I can dream can't I?

BTW, I know I should make my lunch at home and bring it in to work but... but... it's too hard!

Person of the day: my big bro (taking me to the theatre tonight to see Anna Friel naked or something)

Song of the day: Beat it by Fall Out Boy (Yes, I am a heathen for preferring it to the MJ version, but I'm OK with that.)

Ouch. That hurts.

So today's task has been to cut cut cut. Perhaps the image on the left might be taking things a tad too far (I always did have a tendency towards the dramatic)... BUT oh my goodness this is hard.

You see, The First Novel has rather a lot of words in it. That is a good thing. It makes it a novel, rather than a pamphlet. So, yay for words. But you can have too many. Words that don't serve a purpose. Words that slow things down so the reader gets bored and frustrated. These words are BAD words (like @#*$).

I've taken to the manuscript with a chainsaw (or rather, a tiny pair of nail scissors) and tried to get rid of some of those naughty words. After briefly considering just losing every seventh or eighth word or so just to make things easy, I decided to follow my agent's advice and try to cut the boring bits.

Thus far, 2500 words have been obliterated. Gone, just like that.

Farewell, dear words. I'll miss you. Even though you were a bit rubbish and boring and just... self-indulgent. Actually... GOOD RIDDANCE!

Things I wish I knew more about

There are lots and lots of things I wish I knew more about. But these one are specifically related to my WIP (Work-In-Progress, innit):

1. Ways to die

2. PGL-style activity holidays (which I, alas, missed out on, choosing to go sightseeing in Brittany instead)

3. Pot-holing on said activity holidays. What kind of equipment is needed? Do they even call it that nowadays?

4. What it's like going to a posh girls' school

5. Lochs

That gives you a little bit of insight into the story. If anyone out there knows anything about any of these topics (pot-holing in particular), please give me a shout. Of course, I could just do some internet research, but where's the fun in that?

Disappointing lunch of the day: ham and greve baguette from Pret (yuk!)

Trying to be lazy

Yesterday I did no writing and nothing writing-related. Since that was my aim, I should be feeling pretty pleased with myself. Instead of writing, I:

1. read the papers
2. finished reading Thirteen reasons why (which is a relief, because it was really getting me down)
3. watched Made on MTV (massive geek transforming himself into a ladies' man... not a huge success... he got down on one knee to ask a girl to the prom AND then told her he loved her. Ouch. Bad second date.)
4. listened to a radio programme about Agatha Christie
5. cooked up some Mexican food

But throughout these diverting diversions I couldn't help feeling that I REALLY SHOULD BE WRITING. I've gone from one extreme to the other: from being lazy all weekend and never wanting to write, to being unable to relax, even for one day.

I'm not quite sure how this happened. Maybe it's a good thing? Maybe it's because of my new super special agent (YAY! I got one!). It feels a bit like I'm not just writing for me anymore. I can't just give up on the work-in-progress if I get stuck or fed up with it. Not that I want to give up, not even a little bit. I'm hugely excited about where the story is heading - I think this one's got potential. But you never know what's around the corner...

So my September resolution is to learn to balance out the writing with a bit of relaxing, and vice versa. That means that today is writing day. I got up super early and am raring to go... after I check Twitter/Facebook/Hotmail/various writing blogs. Then I'll get started.

Song of the day: Let's get outta here, by Madina Lake

The monkey tree

That's where I get my ideas. When I've run out and the cupboard is bare, I just head over to the monkey tree, holler, and a friendly monkey reaches down and hands me an envelope. Inside is a shiny new idea of awesomeness. And then I head home and start to write.

OK, not true. But it would be nice. I got the idea for TFN (pleeeease somebody publish it, pleeeease!) many many years ago in an A-level English Language exam. Best exam question ever: write the first chapter of a novel. I can't quite remember if there was more to it than that. I kind of think there must have been - maybe they gave us the first line or something? Anyhoo, I wrote about a girl in the woods, alone and frightened. She'd just escaped from a house she'd been held in against her will for weeks and weeks. She didn't know the identity of her captor, or why she'd been taken. It was fun to write.

I enjoyed writing it so much that the idea stayed with me, lurking somewhere in my brain's filing cabinet, until I pulled it out and dusted it off three years ago. The scene I wrote in the exam doesn't appear in my story, and the main character is completely different, but the feelings are the same. If it hadn't been for that exam question, I doubt I'd ever have come up with the idea for the novel, unless I'd paid a visit to those benevolent monkeys...

The idea for the book I'm working on now came from an overheard conversation at work. Someone said the words 'bus crash', and I was away. At least I think they said 'bus crash' - I may have misheard. Doesn't matter though; it got me started. BTW, there is no bus crash in this book. It was just a starting point that got my mind itching and twitching and wanting to write. So thank you, dear colleague.


Person of the day: Nev the newsagent, who didn't mind that I waited 4 days to pay him the £116 I owed him

Five good reasons to read Cracked up to be

1. It has has an awesome dog in it.
2. The characters say outrageous things that made me laugh out loud, but they’re not Dawson’s Creekly annoying.
3. There are cheerleaders and jocks and high school dances.
4. It does one of my favourite tricks: you know something really bad has happened but you don’t find out what it is till the end.

5. The relationship between Parker and her parents is brilliantly written.

WANTED!

Have you seen this cat? She may look sweet and innocent/gormless, but she is actually the perpetrator of an unspeakable crime. Approach with extreme caution.

Name: Jem aka The Destroyer

Age: 17 months

Description: er... black with three and a half legs (and a tendency to use her disability to mask the evil within)

Crime: Trespass (onto my laptop when I was in the middle of a VERY tricky re-write. 'Aw,' I thought, 'so cute. She wants to see what I'm writing.' WRONG! The cuteness distracted me from the fact that her paw was on the 'off' button. Seconds later, my screen faded to black. Disaster! Two paragraphs lost. Possibly the two hardest paragraphs in the book. Bad kitty.

Today, I attempt to re-write the re-write. Oh, happy day!

Apologies for the lack of content

But I really have nothing to say. Er... I still have an agent? I'm still really, really happy about it? I haven't done any more work on the new book because I've been massively distracted?

This weekend I'm revising my first manuscript to take in some suggestions my new super shiny agent made. (Nope, still not in the least bit bored of saying 'my agent'.) I'm changing the ending, and adding in some bits to help with some characters' motivation. Nothing major. I'm actually looking forward to honing it a bit more. And all the suggestions made sense. Which was nice.

Bring on the weekend. Right now please.

Song of the day: every single song by Jack's Mannequin (who I'm going to see in Camden ce soir. Yay!)

UPDATE: 10 things I hate about looking for an agent

10 things I hate about looking for an agent? Can't think of one. Nope. Not even a little one. The whole Great Agent Search is joyful as far as I'm concerned.

But... one additional thing I HEART about looking for an agent is...

GETTING AN AGENT! I got one I got one I got one. And a completely awesome one too. My first choice. I have an agent. Tra la la!

Number of days between heading to the post office and first hearing back from my prospective agency (asking me to send the rest of the manuscript): 3

Number of times I've said 'I've got an agent!' over the last three days: 143

So that's it. I am agented up to the maximum, and it feels bloody brilliant. I now have an ally in the battle to get published. And I've no doubt that it will be a battle. It's tough out there at the moment, particularly in the YA market. But I'm not going to think about that for a while. Instead I'm going to appreciate this milestone and say 'I've got an agent!' a few more times.

PS Did I mention I've got an agent?!


Person of the Day #1: Non (who told me months and months ago that she'd met the right agent for me. She was right)
Person of the Day #2: My Secret Agent (whose identity will be revealed in good time)

Cats that represent my state of mind right now #2

Editor Cat is badass. It does not pay to mess with her. She is always right. Even when she’s wrong.   

The mysterious D

Yesterday I created a brand new character and I am VERY excited about him. He was entirely unexpected and I think he’s going to be just the ticket to move the story along to where it needs to go. I don’t know much about him yet other than what he looks like. And I know that he wears flip-flops a lot. Even in bad weather. In Scotland. I hope he has nice-looking feet (if such things even exist).

I’m not sure whether his name is quite right yet, but it’ll do for now. Let’s call him D, because that’s the letter his name starts with, and because he is a DEVICE. I intend to use him shamelessly and then probably discard him half way through the story. Good times!


Celebrity spot of the week: that Irish fella from Cold Feet in Sainsbury’s, Herne Hill. He was also wearing flip-flops. Perhaps he was the inspiration for D?
YA book you really should read: The House of the Scorpion, by Nancy Farmer

Cats that represent my state of mind right now #1

My tummy has a happy too. Just polished off some delicious comte from the new farmers' market in St. Pancras. AND I've been writing. YAY!

Mid-weekness

Argh. It’s already Wednesday and I haven’t done any writing since the weekend. On Sunday night I was absotively posilutely sure I was going to get some done during the week. Was feeling super-keen and brimming with ideas. And then Monday hit me. Hard.

Instead of writing, so far this week I have mostly achieved the following: watched the last episode of Dollhouse (what was Joss Whedon thinking? Too many ideas, not enough editing/common sense); been in a grump about work; and been for lovely drinks with lovely friends of loveliness. This evening I will continue the non-writing with dinner avec my lovely cousin. And then it will be Thursday, which is practically the weekend, so I may as well just leave the writing till then, right?

Hoping for cooler weather at the weekend... hot weather + laptop on lap = sweaty thighs of grossness

Song of the day: Walking on Sunshine, by Katrina and the Waves (a song to make you smile if ever there was one)
Person of the day: Sarah Shep for letting me invite myself round for dinner. Thanks, Cuz! (So far that’s two Persons of the Day called Sarah. The question is... Can anyone NOT called Sarah possibly make the grade?)

Sunday writing usually involves...

1. Breakfast in bed
2. A shower. Writers should smell good and have clean hair
3. A trip to the supermarket. Writers deserve treats, including, but not limited to, various cheeses
4. Reading the paper, especially the book review section (and daydreaming about my books being reviewed one day)
5. Checking facebook, icanhascheezburger and digitalspy (the shame)
6. A leisurely lunch
7. A post-lunch snooze
8. Playing with the cats
9. Writing
10. A cheeky, early evening glass of vino

By George!

I find it really hard to name my characters. Really, really hard. My problem is that I like to give them names that I, well, like. Even the mean characters. I just can’t bring myself to type a name that I hate. If I’m going to have to type it again and again and again, I’ve got to like it. And it’s got to be easy to type. This is why you will NEVER find a George in any story of mine. In fact, I can hardly believe I managed to type it right just time just then. George George George. Well, now I’m on a roll. Maybe I’ll have to rethink my anti-George policy after all.

I feel funny about using the names of people I know, but I still do it. The main character in my new novel shares her name with someone at work, but I’m just going to have to get over it because it’s the RIGHT name. Some names just are. And some just aren’t. I renamed a main character in The First Novel just before I sent off submissions to agents. His new name suits him perfectly, although I do slip up now and again and revert to the old one.

My first stop for potential names is my book shelf. A quick scan of the author names on the spine can be helpful, but I seem to have a lot of books by men called John. A good, solid name, but not the one for me. Next stop is baby-name websites. These nearly always do the trick. But man, there are a lot of weird names out there. Parents can be cruel.

So when you’ve got the right name, you just know. It sounds right when you say it, you can type it with reasonable accuracy, and it fits the character like a snug pair of Calvins. Now you can rest easy, can’t you? WRONG! You’ve got to come up with a a good surname too, dammit. And it has to go perfectly with the first name. Sigh.

Atticus Finch - best name EVER. Completely brilliant in every way. If anyone can better that, I'll be impressed.

So here's the plan...

There IS no plan. I’ve known for some time now that some people make plans for their novels. I am impressed. Especially if it’s a chapter-by-chapter plan that helps avoid those nasty dark alleys that the plot can sometimes get lost down, only to be coaxed back to safety with a lot of patience and love and wanton use of the ‘delete’ button.

I’m kind of jealous of these planning people. It would be nice to know where the story is going once in a while. Knowing what you’re sitting down to write on any given day might be reassuring. But would it take away some of the fun? Some of that magic that happens when a character does or says something you never would have expected?

My planning amounts to a page of random notes and questions that I forget to refer to later on. This could just be an example of pure laziness on my part, but it’s also because I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN. Seriously – not a clue. For all I know, aliens from the planet Boondaggle could land in the middle of my story and cause havoc, obliterating my favourite characters with their ray-guns. But I really hope they don’t.

Are there any planners out there who’d like to tell me about how they go about it? Are you incredibly disciplined? Is having a plan A Good Thing? Pray, do tell.


Cheese of the day: taleggio

Today is a good day

Tra-la-la!

My shiny new laptop of joy has just arrived, and it’s going to make everything better. Oh yes. I’m going to write more often, I’ll be more creative, and world peace is surely just around the corner.

It’s a thing of beauty, I’m telling you. Am I regretting not paying the extra £30 to get it in red? No sirree. Black is the new black. Am currently debating whether it’s wise to try and take it home with me tonight, given that I’m off to the pub. Hmm. Maybe I should sack off the pub and go home with my NBF? I’m sure my friends would understand...

This happy event has made me forget all about the horrors of returning to the day job. All is well in the world. (Except from some serious RSI, but I’m choosing to ignore that right now.)


Song of the day: Supermassive Black Hole, by Muse (THE song of choice for baseball-playing vampires)
Person of the day: Sarah S, who’s looking mighty fine and is super-friendly (All applications for POTD will be considered. Remember: money talks.)

Monday, Monday

Yes, I know it’s technically still Sunday, Sunday but I’ve got that ‘back to school’ feeling, big time. Tomorrow I return to the day job after a week off as a sickly hermit. In between the bouts of fever/nausea/general malaise I began to feel a bit like a real proper writer – working on the revised draft for TFN (not ‘the most shocking story of abuse ever told’), starting up this blog, and idly musing about prospective agents. Alas, real life beckons. Sigh.

So I probably (and by that I mean ‘definitely’) won’t be posting on here every day from now on. I have a life to lead. There’s work to be done, friends to see (if they even remember me…) and trashy TV to be watched. Oh, and the writing of course. Got to remember the writing.

I’m ploughing on with the next manuscript, and I can already tell it’s not going to go the way I planned it. But that’s a good thing. The characters are starting to do their own thing. It won’t be long before I can take the stabilizers off their bikes and let them wheel away, free from my steadying hand. All I have to do is keep my fingers on the keyboard and try to keep up.

By the way, I checked out my working title on Amazon, and it has indeed been cruelly stolen by a successful Chick Lit writer. Which clearly means it wasn’t the right title for my story. Back to the drawing board.


Song of the day: Bruised, by Jack’s Mannequin (who I’m going to see in Camden in a few weeks – yay!)

What's in a name?

Just found out that the name I eventually came up with for TFN is shared by one of those ultra-depressing Mis lit books. Bum. (That's not the name of the book, by the way.) You know the ones... white cover... handwritingy typeface... supposedly cute child staring balefully out at you begging you to pick the book off the shelf at Tesco because maybe, just maybe, that will make the hurt go away.

The one that shares its name with my novel is apparently 'The most shocking story of abuse ever told'. Yikes. Now I've never read one of these books, and I probably never will. Perhaps they're wonderful, and life-affirming in a way I could never even hope to understand. Doesn't stop me being annoyed that one of them has MY book title. The cheek of it.

I shouldn't be too surprised. The title I chose is, after all, just a word. And not even a particularly unusual word either. And I shouldn't be too bothered either, knowing full well that when (if?) my novel sees the light of day, it may be with a different title - one that I'd never have thought of in a gazillion years.

In my day job (children's book editor), we change titles ALL the time. The title has to sell the book, and the fact of the matter is that the author isn't always/ever the best person to know how to do that. (Note to self: be more sympathetic to authors in day job.)

Now, I'm just going to mosey on over to Amazon to see if my working title for The Second Novel has already been taken by another tragic childhood tale. I'm thinking it's a distinct possibility.


Awesome YA book you really should read: Elsewhere, by Gabrielle Zevin (It's life-changingly good.)

Getting to know you

So I’m 1500 words into the second novel and it’s proving tricky. Just like that difficult second album. (Although maybe that only applies to bands who’ve had a mega-successful first album? Currently, I have a very long Word document and not a lot else).

I’ve (kind of) decided on a plot, created a few characters, made up some suitable names, but the trouble is I don’t KNOW these people. I don’t know what they look like, what they have for breakfast, or how they’d act in any given situation. They are cardboard cut-outs.

I miss my characters from The First Novel (TFN). I spent three years with them, and I think I got to know them pretty well. They were real people (please forgive me for sounding crazy here). These new folk are strangers.

There’s only one thing for it: I’m just going to have to spend some time getting to know them. I hope hope hope they have something interesting to say for themselves.


Song of the day: Gives you hell by The All-American Rejects

10 things I hate about looking for an agent

1. Writing covering letters (and don’t even get me started on trying to write a synopsis).

2. Re-formatting the manuscript to comply with each agency’s oh-so-slightly different requirements. Microsoft Word has never been a friend of mine.

3. Printing out fifty pages, only to realize the text is at a slight angle because it hasn’t fed into the printer properly. Wrestle with idea of just sending it as it is, knowing full well I’m going to end up having to print it again.

4. Going to the post office. Never fun.

5. Waiting.

6. Exacerbating RSI by checking for emails more often than you’d have thought possible. It turns out that pressing ‘Refresh’ is not refreshing at all. Not even a little bit.

7. Crippling self-doubt when a rejection arrives, even if it’s a really nice one from a lovely agent who liked the first 50 pages. If he/she has said five positive things about the ms and one negative, I know which one I’ll be obsessing over for the next few days.

8. Thinking that I sound like an idiot in any email correspondence. Too formal? Not formal enough? Too grateful? Not grateful enough? Tis a mine-field.

9. Not being able to focus on ANYTHING else.

10. Er… did I mention the waiting?


One thing I love about looking for an agent:
the possibility that something great could be about to happen.


Cheese of the day: camembert (baked, with garlic and white wine)

Stop! Step away from the keyboard

I have finished the final draft of the novel. Or have I?

Every time I read it I find something I want to change – usually a turn of phrase that makes me cringe or an sneaky, useless adverb. I blame the pixies that sneak into my laptop overnight, turning my perfect text into something… not even close to perfect.

Will it ever be just right? So that I can read it all the way through, nodding and smiling, and reach the end feeling proud and satisfied that this is the best I can do? Doubtful. The way I write today is subtly different from the way I wrote yesterday, which in turn is different from the way I wrote the day before. And the day before that. And so on. Maybe that’s just evolution.

But today I’m saying ‘ENOUGH! Move on to something else. This story has been told… and yes, you might look at it in a few days/weeks/months and wish you’d told it differently. But this will do. For now.’

I don’t want my story to turn into a child’s painting that starts off all bold, bright colours and ends up a muddy brown mess because I just didn’t know when to stop.

I’m going to press ‘Print’. Yes, I’m going to do it right this second. Right now. Hmm. But maybe that dialogue on page 57 could work a bit harder… and maybe I haven’t developed that character as well as I could have… and maybe…

Oh dear.


Awesome YA book you really should read: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Song of the day: Thnks Fr Th Mmrs by Fall Out Boy

Never thought I'd see the day

Wow. My first foray into the world of blogging. Swine flu seems to have a plus side after all. I've watched every single programme stored in my sky+ box, and read EVERYTHING in Saturday's newspaper (including the sports section), fussed my cats for hours and now I'm officially bored.

Of course, I should be:
a) finishing the revised draft of the first novel
OR
b) carrying on with the start of the second novel
BUT instead I am here, blogging for the very first time.
Procrastination is not my middle name, but it might as well be. I can come up with at least 47 reasons not to write when I should be writing. My flat is never tidier than when I know I should really be writing. Meals get cooked, laundry gets done, mail gets sorted, writing gets ignored.
Must. Try. Harder.
C x