In which I have a revelation

This is the story of how I realized that one of my very favourite things was ruining my life. OK, that's being kind of dramatic, but it's really not far from the truth. It all started when Iwatched this video by the ever awesome Charlieissocoollike.

So maybe you watched this video and thought, 'Yeah, duh! EVERYONE knows that.' I watched this video and realized that Twitter is evil. Or at least, seriously bad for me. My addiction (and I do think it's an addiction) had become so extreme that I was checking Twitter after every sentence I wrote. This is clearly not a very efficient way of achieving your (measly) word count target of 1000 words a day.

I started the new book on Tuesday and I wrote 1000 words. This took me all day, what with all the Twitter/FB/email/other random internet stuff.

Same deal on Wednesday and Thursday. I wrote some words, but I was flailing. It felt like I'd started the story in the wrong place, I had no idea who the characters were... it. was. all. disjointed. and. a. bit. crap.

Then I watched Charlie and KAPOW! I realized I could shut down Twitter. A miraculous discovery, don't you think? So that's exactly what I did. For a whole hour yesterday morning. I'm not going to lie, I was kind of twitchy at first. (And when I say 'kind of', I mean 'VERY'.) But I persevered and wrote some words. Then I wrote some more. And before I knew it, an hour had passed and I'd written just over 1000 words. Yes, my entire day's word count in a single hour and the story had started to flooooooooow. So I went back on Twitter for half an hour. It was still there. I hadn't missed anything. The world hadn't ended. I went dark for another hour, which resulted in another 1000 words. Two days' work in two hours. Man, I felt like a right muppet. I was all 'So THIS is how writers manage get their work done! Why didn't anyone tell me?!'

That's how I used to write, pre-Twitter. AND MY GOODNESS IT FELT GOOD. I've done the same thing this morning - another 1k down. I might go for another hour soon. It's hopefully the start of a new regime for me. Even if I don't do it every day, at least I know it's possible. And that's enough.

So, thanks Charlie! And thanks to the brilliant Kaz Mahoney, who's hosting the Spring into Summer writing challenge over on her blog. I'm woefully behind on the word count for the challenge, since I started nine days late. But it doesn't matter. It's nice to hang out with people who are trying to churn out the words, just like me.

Writing can be a lonely business, which is probably why lots of us love Twitter so much. We get to hang out with our colleagues with the added bonus of not having to change out of your jammies if you don't want to. But I need to find some balance in my life if I'm going to make a career of this writing malarkey, and this week I feel one step closer to doing exactly that.

If you feel like joining me in the whole 'switching off Twitter to get stuff done' thing, the hashtag is #goingdark. Come... join me on the dark side. You know you want to.

This post was brought to you by The School of the Bleeding Obvious. Thanks for listening.

London Book Fair MADNESS

London Book Fair went ahead this week, despite lots of people not being able to get here. I'm sure this was very annoying for the publishers/agents/other people trying to do serious business-type things. But for me it meant:

1. No queues for the toilets.
2. Plenty of room in the aisles, which meant it was easier to spot friends and stop to have a natter without getting in anyone's way.
3. Empty stands to sit at and pretend I was Conducting Business.
4. Lots and lots and lots of chatting.

I was at the Fair on Tuesday with my authorly hat on, so I went to a Chicken House panel event on Writing for Teens. It was a really interesting event and I took lots and lots of notes. And later on I got to catch up with one of the panellists, Sophia Bennett, who wrote Threads. Sophia is officially Lovely (with an entirely necessary capital 'L' there). Go read her book... you know you want to.

I was also able to catch up with/meet lots of lovely Twitter folk throughout the day, including the legendary Ben Johncock, who was doing a very good job of luring people to the Bookseller stand. Oh, and I also found out that Quercus has been shortlisted for Publisher of the Year. I happened to notice that the Quercus stand was very busy every time I passed... unlike a lot of other big stands. Just sayin'.

Another highlight of the day was meeting up with my agent, Marvellous Victoria, and the ever-awesome Nancy Miles. At this point I was able to have a well-deserved beer to soothe my parched vocal cords. (I'm sure that's a medically proven cure... although my knowledge of anything even vaguely sciencey is sketchy at the best of times.) It was lovely chatting to them both in person for a change, rather than on email or on the phone.

If there any vegetarians reading, please look away now...
I rounded off the day by eating chicken wings and ribs at Bodean's with two of my very favourite people. Much meat was consumed and Fair gossip exchanged. Seriously, it was A LOT of meat (and A LOT of gossip).

Was back at the Fair on Wednesday afternoon, this time wearing my rather fetching Editor Hat. This was a much more sedate visit, as everything was winding down. I got to meet an author I'm going to be working with, eat pizza with my best mate, mooch around other publishers' stands, see Ben Johncock (AGAIN!) and snag a whole load of free books. Staying till the bitter end definitely had its advantages.

I'll miss you, LBF 2010.
Roll on, LBF 2011... when I'll actually have a book out... gulp.

I heart Twitter

For reasons I won't bother going into (although some of you may know!), today I feel like talking about how much I love Twitter. I must confess here that I used to be complete Twitter sceptic. So much so that when it was suggested at work that we might want to do a book about the Twitter phenomenon, I scoffed. Yes, that's right, I SCOFFED. (What a weird-looking word that is.) I probably said something along the lines of 'What's there to write about? 140 characters of pointless wittering. Complete waste of time.'

A few months later, I signed up. And did nothing. I didn't GET it. The @ and the # were alien to me. I felt stupid. I tried to forget that I'd ever signed up.

And then I stumbled across this by Debbie Ridpath Ohi. And it all started to make sense. I started following interesting writerly types and publishing bods, and some of them even followed me back. It was the start of a beautiful relationship. Six months down the line, and we're still going strong.

Without the combined forces of Twitter and blogging, I may never have bought and read these fab books:

Dani Noir, by Nova Ren Suma
When I Was Joe, by Keren David
Extreme Kissing, by Luisa Plaja
Everything Beautiful, by Simmone Howell
If I Stay, by Gayle Forman
The Thirteen Treasures, by Michelle Harrison
My So-Called Afterlife, by Tamsyn Murray

And that's just in the last two or three months. There are several more on the huge TBR Pile of Joy.

Without Twitter and blogging, I would never have "met" the interesting/thoughtful/downright hilarious people who make each day a whole lot nicer than it might have otherwise been. And without Twitter and blogging, I would never have happened across the interesting/thoughtful/downright hilarious people I met (note the lack of inverted commas here) at Tamsyn's book launch last week.

So what I'm saying is: Twitter rocks. And blogging does too. And you rock quite a bit, just for being here, reading this right now.

P.S. Happy World Book Day! Why don't you go and buy a book from a lovely independent book store. Not sure what to buy? Well, fancy that! There's a ready-made list up there... that's right, just scroll back a couple of paragraphs. Enjoy.

Joyful things

These are the things that are making me happy right now:


1. Don't Stop Believin', by Journey. I wonder how many times I can listen to this song before I start to hate it. I'm guessing I'm on about 134 as of today.


2. My cats. They're being particularly cute today. Much headbutting of my hands while I'm trying to type.


3. The fact that my book has a title that people seem to like. 


4. Twitter. There are so many lovely, interesting people out there. I was a total Twitter sceptic, but now I have seen the light I am a true believer.


5. My weekend spent with my mum was particularly awesome.


6. This video from Ukraine's Got Talent. It's truly incredible.


Aargh, that's six things! I was going for five. Oh well, one extra joyful thing can't be bad, can it? So, what's bringing you joy at the moment? Please share!