Still At It

So OK, I haven't been blogging as much as I said I would. I guess rather than writing here, I've been trying to spend my time working on the book.
Unfortunately, I didn't manage to finish the first draft before I went away on holiday and other things just seem to have kept getting in the way since I've been back. I am making steady progress but little by little, rather than one big push. I'm hoping that one day I'll be working away and the mental floodgates will open with the end of the novel pouring forth in a flood of ink onto the pages in front of me.
Yeah, right. I'm sure I'm not the only writer to ever wish for something like that.
Being made redundant has allowed me to spend more time on the writing but now financial worries are becoming a major distraction. I've been trying to find some suitable part-time work, so that I still have time to write but in the current economic situation, that's not so easy.
I'd much rather finish the book, then find a regular full-time job but I'm not so sure I'm going to be able to afford to.
For the moment, I'll keep going to try and finish the first draft. Every page written, is a page closer to completing it, after all.

Randomness

Hi,

So, what's new? Work on the novel is progressing. I've roughly planned out the next few sections and am getting stuck into writing them. Not too far to go now to finish the first draft. I'm already looking forward to editing it all. I know that I'll probably cut loads and rewrite big chunks of what I've already written. The good thing is that with the whole story down on paper, I'll have a blueprint in front of me to work from. Hopefully this will help the editing go faster than the initial draft, which has been hard work. That's not to say the editing won't be hard work - it will - but it'll be very different. I'm looking forward to getting to it. That's when the craft element of the writing comes into it. It's a little bit like sculpting. The first draft is just getting the shape of the stone or clay right. You can knock it about into rude shape at this stage. Editing is where you actually start to chip away at your material, shaping it and revealing the detail. Then I guess you fine tune it and give it a little polish and flourish. It's an exciting process.

I'd love to get the first draft completed before I go away on holiday in a couple of weeks and will be working with that aim in mind. Other than that, what can I tell you all? I recently turned 40, so have been partying a bit. Got together with friends I haven't seen in a while, which was really great. Right, onwards and upwards…

All the best.

Back to Blog

Hi all,

Okay, well I'm finally back here to post. It has been a long while since I last got round to writing on my blog and things have been happening, so at least I have some stuff to say.

Things were really busy for a while. I was juggling work, writing a novel and doing an MA, all at the same time. That didn't allow for much free time and I guess my blog was one of the things that I had to let slip. As a knock on effect of the credit crunch, my work as a freelance graphic designer, has all but dried up. This has come at a time when I am really trying to finish the first draft of my novel – I'm close but not quite there yet. At first I was quite worried about finding more work in the current economic climate but after I thought about it for a while and talked with my wife, we decided that I should take a couple of months of from regular work and concentrate on finishing the novel. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to be able to do that. It's still taking time but I feel that I am making some real progress now.

Today though, I am taking the time to write something on my blog. I'll be venturing out and about later, with a camera and a notebook to do a little location research for the novel.

I guess that's about it I guess. Hopefully I'll be a little more regular on here from now on.

All the best.

Still Here

Hi,
It's been a little while since I last posted anything here, I know. I have meant to but it's usually ended up being too late at night when I'm struggling to keep my eyes open and so I keep putting it off until tomorrow and, well, you can guess the rest.
The writing's been going in peaks and troughs but I have pretty much managed to try and write something every day on the novel. Some days are easier than others. I had a good spell last week. 2000 words one evening when I really got into the scene I was writing and another good day when I hit my 1000 word target quite quickly. If only more days were like that.
I'm currently reading "The Echelon Vendetta" by David Stone, which was highly recommended at last years CWA Dagger Awards. I am actually enjoying it very much. It's a great thriller.
Other than that, I don't really have much to report. Have gotten into Guitar Hero on the Wii, along with bouts of ultra violence playing Madworld.
I think perhaps the end of the novel is coming into sight. Things are getting slowly easier with it and I'm starting to really drive towards the end of the first draft.
Then there's just the rewrite, some research, then another run through the whole thing, polishing and sharpening it - and hopefully the manuscript will finally be ready to send to my agent. That's the plan anyway.
Will keep you all posted.

Weekend Break

Had a writing free weekend, visiting friends in Jersey. It was wonderfully relaxing, although I was a bit hungover on Saturday. Spent some time trying to play computer games and generally failing to be any good. I wasn't too bad at Guitar Hero though…
I'd meant to get back to work on the book this evening but went to a screenwriting presentation at Warner Bros. I didn't get back until after 9.00 and what with having dinner and watching the news on TV, time just seems to have slipped away this evening. Had to do some invoicing for the day job and send a couple of email, that's why I'm on the computer, so I thought I'd just quickly update my blog.
Really must sit down to work on the novel tomorrow evening. 1000 words, hopefully more and I'll be well happy.
Cheers.

Liar's League

Have been writing this evening - hooray!
Didn't get as much done as I'd hoped - booo!

Was out last night, to a meeting of the Liar's League in central London and what a great evening it was. Liar's League is an event where writers submit short stories on a certain subject - last night it was Art & Science - and actors read the chosen stories out. Rather than just read them, they kind of perform them, really bringing the stories to life, capturing and expressing the 'voice' of the narration. For those of you that remember 'Jackanory', it's a bit like that, except it's in a pub, so a lot more fun. And the stories are more grown up too.
It's all very informal and highly entertaining, so if any of you are interested, I'd certainly recommend you go along. Although having said that, I think they may need a bigger venue soon, as last night was pretty crowded. We were lucky though, we managed to get some seats.

If you're interested, here's a link to the Liar's League for more info:
http://liarsleague.typepad.com/

As they say:
Writers write. Actors read. Audience listens. Everybody wins.
Good stuff.

Go Slow

I had hoped to really get stuck in to writing this evening, especially as I had a good day yesterday. Unfortunately, today was a much slower day. It just felt like a real effort. Perhaps it's just a Monday thing? Maybe I ought to have stuck at it for longer yesterday, while I was really with it?
Anyway, only managed about 500 words this evening, which isn't fantastic, especially as I was hoping to hit at least 1000. Still, if it ain't gonna happen, it ain't gonna happen.
I'm out tomorrow evening, so not sure if I'll manage to do any further work, but who knows - if I get in and I'm in the mood, I shall certainly have a crack. If not, then I hope my mind will be more agile on Wednesday and that I'll manage 1000 words with more ease than this evenings paltry 500.
Speak to you again soon.

I'm back

Okay, so I haven't actually been away anywhere. I've just been busy and bad at sitting down to blog. I fully intended to on a few occasions but it always ended up being too late and I was too tired to write anything.
Tonight the time's getting on but I thought I would make a concerted effort to get back into the swing of it and hopefully better keep a record of my progress with the novel.
For the last week or so, I've been a little preoccupied with working on a screenplay. So far I've written the first draft of Act 1. The feedback has been good and I'm hoping I'll manage to tighten things up and improve it in the second draft. Anyway, that's what's kept me busy and unfortunately away from working on the book.
Today however, I woke up and got back to working on the novel. I read over four or five pages of the last section I'd written, to get back to where I was at with the story but I'd left things in the middle of events that I'd already mapped out in my mind, so I managed to get into it fairly smoothly. I worked on one particular scene today and managed to work through 1000 words, finishing on almost 1500 for the day, which isn't too bad.
The evening has kind of runaway though. I did think that I might pick up and try to carry on tonight but that hasn't happened. I ended up watching TV.
I am raring to go for tomorrow. I'll get straight into it when I finish working at the day job, the one that pays the bills.
I think the end of the first draft is coming in to sight. I've heard that things begin to speed up a little as you near the finish and I think it's true. Knowing that you're close to finishing a book, is a great incentive to work a little harder. Once the first draft is finished though, there's still the prospect of doing some research to fill a few holes and a complete re-edit of the first draft.
I'm looking forward to tackling these though. For me, the real writing will be done as the first draft becomes the second.
I better get off to sleep now. It's been good rambling on here - for me anyway.
All the best.

Fits and Spurts

Well OK, I had hoped to be a bit better at this blogging malarkey, but there you have it I suppose. Although my excuse is that I'm trying to complete a novel, which does take precedence.

Having said that though, the writing has been going in fits and spurts just recently. Last week I had a few sticky patches, where the words were coming very slowly. I spent a fair bit of time thinking and working out where the plot ought to go. Finally, after I last posted, things did seem to fall into place and the writing sped up a little. I managed to get back up to 1000 words a day.

Friday I took my wife out for a lovely birthday dinner, so was unfit to do any writing that night, or the next either, as we went for cocktails with her sisters and their husbands, which proved to be lots of fun.

So, it's Monday, or rather Tuesday as I am writing this entry after midnight and I've been busy working on other things today. Tomorrow I'm meeting up with my snowboarding buddies from France '96-'97 for a few drinks after work.

From Wednesday, it's time to focus and knuckle down to get in some serious writing time. I think these past few days off have made me eager to get back into it and get on.

Catch you again soon. All the best.

A little bit sticky

It's been a few days since I last posted on my blog. I'm still new to it and I guess it hasn't become a habit yet. I've been working on the novel and by the time I finish writing in the evenings, it's usually a bit late to get on the computer and try to think about blogging. I thought I'd make the effort tonight though.
I've been working on the book, as I mentioned, but things have been a little bit sticky with it of late, in that I've been getting somewhat bogged down. The last few days, I've struggled to produce more than 500 words in an evening. I've managed to plan a bit of action in my head but that's for a little way down the line. For now, I'm finding it difficult to figure out what ought to happen where the story is at present.
I've plugged away at it though and hope I'll be able to write my way out of where I am. Working on this particular section has made me rethink some other aspects of the story and change a few story elements. I think tonight I had an idea of how to progress, so tomorrow I might be able to go with the flow and get a good chunk written. If I can hit 1000 words, I'll be happy.
Okay, it's off to bed for me now. Need sleep.

Authonomy Authors Reap Rewards

Here's a piece of news I read today.

According to The Bookseller, HarperCollins has bought world rights for books from three authors that it discovered on its social networking site for writers, Authonomy.com.

The titles, bought for undisclosed sums, will all be published in the summer. Harper's mass-market imprint Avon will publish Coffee at Kowalski's by Miranda Dickson and The Reaper by Steve Dunne. The True Life imprint HarperTrue bought Never Say Die by Lynne Barrett-Lee.

The Authonomy website was set up in September and currently has over 2,000 manuscripts uploaded by aspiring authors. Each manuscript is voted on by Authonomy users, with the highest ranked guaranteed to be read by a HarperCollins editor each month.

Sammia Rafique, editorial and sales assistant at Avon, bought Coffee at Kowalski's as part of a three-book deal. Rafique also signed Steven Dunne in a two-book deal while publisher Carole Tonkinson bought Never Say Die by Melanie Davies and novelist Lynne Barrett-Lee.

www.thebookseller.com

On Rejection

I was reading about publishers rejection letters and came across the following, which I thought were priceless and worth posting here:

There's the rejection from Samuel Johnson: "Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good."

He is also said to have rejected a manuscript with "I am in the smallest room of my house, and your manuscript is before me. Soon it shall be behind me."

Now that's harsh.

Funny though.

I'd recommend visiting the site I saw this on and having a read. It's very informative.

http://www.nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/004641.html

Working on the novel

Well, I really got into it last night and managed over 1000 words on the book. Tonight wasn't quite as good – only about 500 words, plus some notes and ideas for additional dialogue in a scene I wrote the other evening. I really feel I ought to be hitting 1000 words every night but it's easier said than done. If I can manage more than 1000 tomorrow, then it will make up for my shortfall today.
The novel is coming along though. I kind of have an ending worked out in my head now and am working towards it, which makes things a little easier. Up until recently I was just writing and seeing where the characters and the story took me. Now I have some ideas about where they should be heading. Of course, they could have different ideas, or something else might suggest itself along the way. That's okay too – if it surprises me, then hopefully readers won't see it coming either.
I'm really looking forward to finishing the first draft, so I can begin editing. During the course of the writing, I've had to refer back to stuff I've already written and find that I'm already editing it in my head as I read it back. The edit is where the real writing is going to get done. I hope that as I will have the story down in black and white, the editing will go a bit faster than the first draft, perhaps a couple of thousand words an evening and big chunks at the weekends. That's what I'll aim for at any rate. More would be better, of course but I'll have to wait and see.
And then there's the research I still have to do. Remind me to mention that in my next post.
It's late and I'm going to bed. Good night.

Working on the novel

So, I haven't posted for a few days. I've been busy working on the novel and to tell the truth, I didn't just want to say 'yeah, wrote some more today', for every entry. That'd get a little boring after a while. Still, that's what I have been doing, apart from the day job (I'm a graphic designer, in case you wondered).
I did have to redo a couple of sections I wrote during the week. They seemed like hard work to write at the time but maybe that's because they weren't really working. I found myself thinking about those bits during the day and came up with a different way to write them. So it was a case of putting a line through what I'd already written (I'm working on my first draft longhand, good old pen and paper) and starting again. This time I was happier with the result and the story has moved on.
Progress is still a little slower than I'd like but I think my natural level is 1000 words a day and believe me, most of the time it takes long enough to hit that amount. There are days when I can get out 2-3000 words but they seem to be few and far between.
This weekend I've managed almost 3000 words and I may have a stab at more later on, so I'm happy. It's been a productive weekend.

Current Books

I didn't list all my favourite books in my profile because I'd just go on and on. Don't even get me started. The easiest way for me to do it, is for me to just mention what I am currently reading.
I've just read 'Freaky Deaky' by Elmore Leonard and 'Swag' also by Elmore Leonard and both brilliant. I haven't read an Elmore Leonard novel for a while and I started off by re-reading 'Freaky Deaky', which was even better than I remembered. I hadn't read 'Swag' before but it was really cool. I have a whole pile of Elmore Leonard books to read, some I've read before and some I haven't but I'm looking forward to them all.
As a break from crime, I have picked up 'A Clash of Kings' by George RR Martin. This is the second volume of a massive fantasy saga. It reads more like medieval history with a smidge of the fantasy, rather than pure fantasy but it has great characters and a whole lot going on. I am really enjoying it, as I did the first book, 'A Game of Thrones'.
Okay, I'm off to do some writing now. This doesn't count.

Welcome to my blog

Hi and welcome to my blog.
I couldn't get in to work today because of the snow, so I stayed home and managed to work on the novel. I'm hoping perhaps that's a good omen for the blog – and the book!
I'm currently in the process of writing my first novel which is provisionally entitled 'Western Fringes'. It's a crime novel set in and around Southall in West London. The first chapter won the Crime Writers Association Debut Dagger Award 2008 and as a result I have been lucky enough to find an agent.
You can see the Debut Dagger page and click there to read the first chapter by using the link over on the right.
I'm working hard to finish the remainder of the novel and thought that it might be interesting to start up a blog to let people know how I'm getting along and hopefully to generate a little interest in myself and the book.
I hope to hear from you soon. Whoever you might be.
Thanks.