Facebook – General

What aspect of the writing life do you find most enjoyable? I find mixing with other writers at conferences and so on is the best here. I love finding out what others write (and often why too) and their inspirations.

Biggest problem? Finding enough time to read widely so I continue to feed my mind with ideas! Solution: working on it. I read at bedtime but am often too tired to read as much as I’d like to do.

I love that spark of creativity that comes as you write that initial draft. I also love the editing process and I swear I can almost feel that story improving as I take out all of my unnecessary words. I do sometimes wonder how many drafts Shakespeare, Dickens etc went through. I am grateful cutting and pasting is confined to the computer now. I have done this literally and it’s not fun.

What would I like for the future? I’d like people to make time for reading. I’ve heard people say they don’t read. Why? It beats me and saddens me as to why people don’t see the importance of reading.

Says it all really and applies to non-fiction equally as fiction. Image via Pixabay.

The basic necessities of the writer’s life!

Facebook – General and look ahead to Chandler’s Ford Today post

My Chandler’s Ford Today post for this week will talk about what book launches mean for an author and share a report on a recent one by children’s writer, Anne Wan. More details and the link tomorrow.

This post made me think more about the special moments in a writer’s life. The first is completing your first story or article. Okay, it will need a lot of work. Okay, it may never be published but it is proof you are on your way as a writer.

First publication (online or in print) is an obvious special moment. Someone else liked your work enough to want to publish it. (Even those you know who aren’t fond of books or understand your wish to write WILL understand this one is special).

Receiving your first comments on blog posts or your website (and hopefully they’ll be positive ones) indicates you are reaching out to your readers. Going to your first writing conference and meeting with writers in and out of your genre and learning from them and the courses you go to is a stand-out time too. You learn to network from things like this and each course will be a mini-master class.

So what would you count as a special writing moment?

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

All of my stories in From Light to Dark and Back Again are under 1000 words and most of them are in my speciality, the 100-word tales. But there are some 250-words, 500-words etc tales in there too. The longer stories have room for a greater depth of characterisation, which can make the difference to your tale “working” or not.

Some of these longer flash fiction tales focus on familiar fairytales but others are complete crime stories. They were all fun to write! In all of the stories in the book, the length of the tale is right for that particular story. And that is what matters whatever you write.

From my railway station signing. The lovely origami boxes were made by my CFT editor, Janet Williams.

And Finally – Personal Note:  Mabel

I have sometimes mentioned my border collie, Mabel, when writing online and I am sorry to have to say she had to be put to sleep last week.  She was 13 and had been ailing for some time.  While we knew it was coming, her loss has been and continues to be a huge loss for my family and I.  In the fullness of time, we hope to adopt and rescue another down on its luck collie but right now we mourn Mabel but are grateful for the five very happy years we had with her.  She nearly died five years ago when she was abandoned on a cold January night and tied to a lamp-post.

In the fullness of time, we hope to adopt and rescue another down on its luck collie but right now we mourn Mabel while grateful for the five very happy years we had with her.  She nearly died five years ago when she was abandoned on a cold January night and tied to a lamp-post. She was rescued by animal charity, Oldies Club, who specialise in rehoming older dog.  They send their dogs out to fosterers so reports can be written about how the animals settle into home life and a big thank you must also go to Mabel’s fabulous fosterer, Wendy Nutland.

My two girls, both much missed. Mabel, the border collie, left us last week. Gracie, the bearded/border cross, left us five years ago. And yes it is the same ball. They both loved it.