Work in Progress

 

Over the last couple of years I have been working on a couple of ideas for novels and I thought I would share them with you. The first of which has the working title, Granny goes to Uni. It was partly inspired by my own experience of studying for a degree as a very mature student (although I am not a Granny yet). It was also inspired by a vision of the future for many older people whose pensions will not provide the kind of lifestyle they envisaged for their retirement. The Granny in the novel, recently retired Nina Smyth, lives alone in her three bedroom apartment in Portobello, Edinburgh, and she faces a bleak future, juggling bills with her savings draining away quickly on mundane things such as replacing the central heating boiler, rather than on her dreams of seeing the world.

She is inspired by an advert in an Estate Agent’s window to rent her spare rooms to students and she takes in two young women who are studying at Edinburgh University. Nicole and Abigail bring youthfulness and energy back into Nina’s home and before long she is inspired to sign up to a degree course in Scottish Cultural Studies. Her experience of academia is both challenging and exciting and before long her social life has expanded.

As usual there will be some element of romance in the novel. I haven’t quite decided whether it will be a lecturer, a museum curator, or even her ex-husband. But when I get around to that part of the story it will be interesting to tackle the idea of dating at such a mature age. In reality I don’t expect it is much different – maybe less reliance on social networking as a communication tool.

The other novel has a working title of Laughing with the Kookaburra and it is set mainly in Perth, Western Australia. This is also inspired by real life in a funny kind of way. The protagonist in this story is Zoe, a divorced woman who lives in Shetland whose daughter, Ella, takes a year off after university to work in Australia. Towards the end of this year Zoe travels to Perth to see her daughter and stays with her cousin Janice who emigrated there many years ago. 

To Zoe’s horror her daughter has met a very nice Australian man, and has landed the job of her dreams in a young offender’s unit working with teenage boys. Zoe faces the prospect of hardly ever seeing her only child and she is distraught, but cannot share this with her daughter. Encouraged by her cousin Janice to move to Australia too, Zoe discovers she is too old and her only option would be to marry an Australian. So Janice sets about introducing Zoe to the single men of her acquaintance in the crazy hope that she might meet someone suitable.

It is indeed a crazy hope and Zoe has to suffer a serious of disastrous dates before she gives this idea up and returns to the UK alone. This was never going to be a serious novel and I was planning on concentrating on the comedy. But, as fate would have it, between planning the novel and getting it written, I now face the very real prospect of my eldest son settling down in New Zealand. So it isn’t quite so funny now. However, I am hoping to write a happy ending for Zoe involving a tall dark handsome Kiwi and if I can somehow influence fate again in my own life, well so much the better. The title was inspired by a visit to Perth Zoo with Franklin and Victoria when a kookaburra burst into “laughter” when we walked past him. 

Fit to Write

 

I haven’t been very good at keeping my blog up to date for quite a while, mostly because I was forced to take a much needed break from writing. Over a year ago I decided that I spent far too much time either sitting at a desk at work or sitting at home chained to my laptop. I was unfit, with rising blood pressure and not sleeping well. As a long-time magazine addict I had read at least three million articles on getting fit, losing weight and find a good work-life balance. It was time to put some of this knowledge into action; so I joined a rowing team.

At first, this only served to emphasise my lack of fitness and stamina, but the twice-weekly training sessions in a six oared boat (called a yoal – a Shetland wooden rowing boat based on a traditional fishing boat) meant that my fitness started to improve fairly quickly. I started to compete in the regattas that took place almost every weekend during the summer which were brilliant fun. I made new friends and became pretty much addicted to rowing – until the last race.

Last August during a hard-fought race in which we came third, I felt something “go” in my shoulder. That was pretty much the end of my rowing season. It was agony and so I booked an appointment with an osteopath to find out how I could fix it. However, this was no ordinary pulled muscle. I had a slipped disc in my neck and I had a torn ligament in my shoulder which meant my left arm was not being held in place properly. I blamed the rowing, but my osteopath had other ideas. She blamed my sedentary lifestyle – my 30 odd years of working in an office and the 10 years of spending my free time either reading or writing. She said I needed to make some serious changes. 

There was no way to ignore this advice as for the next few months I was in considerable discomfort. However, fast forward to this year and everything is vastly different. I am fitter, leaner, with greatly lowered blood pressure and have more energy than I have ever had since I was in my teens. And this is how I did it.

1.     I bought a Fitbit – the cheapest version for £34, and started walking as much as I could. I became slightly obsessive about making sure I hit the 10000 daily target; even if it meant pacing up and down in the lounge while I was watching Downton Abbey.

2.    I ordered a standing desk for my office and began to spend a lot more time standing while I wrote. Initially it felt a little strange but soon I was standing up to around 70% of my day. It became so normal that I found myself standing around in my kitchen watching the news instead of sitting down. I also found space to site my laptop at home where I could stand up while I wrote. (I am standing while I write this blog).

3.       I did circuit training during our winter training classes at the boating club and carried on some of the exercises at home. I can now do a 60 second plank without any bother.

4.       I cut down on alcohol; not that I was a huge drinker in any way, but I decided that I could do without the empty calories, especially as drinking wine led naturally to eating crisps.

5.     I started running – yes seriously; I live near a park that is usually deserted on early mornings at the weekend, and it is surrounded by high walls which meant I don’t have to feel self-conscious when I am jiggling along at a less than Olympic pace.

6.     I made a supreme effort to cut out all processed food and to cook everything from scratch. My curry making skills improved no end. I also cut down on meat.

7.   I stopped myself from feeling guilty about not spending any time writing. I stopped setting self-imposed deadlines for finishing the next book. I spent a little more time reading instead, although I never stopped plotting the next book in my head.

So in early May when the rowing season started again, I noticed that these little lifestyle changes had made a big difference. My stamina, strength and flexibility have improved dramatically. My shoulder has healed completely and my posture has improved too. More importantly my blood pressure is normal and I also sleep much better too.

This shouldn’t be unexpected, since every fitness article will tell you that the more you do, the more you can do. But when you are tired and stressed out and have allowed yourself to get unfit this is a hard concept to get your head around.

Anyway, I thought I would share this since I’m sure I’m not the only writer to spend far too much time at a computer and with my head in a permanent day-dream. If I can get fitter, then anyone can. Baby steps and little tweaks to my lifestyle is all it took, and most of it was free.

At Last! It is Launch Day - Learning to Dance Again

The first time I published a novel on Kindle, it was a very quiet affair. I uploaded Dancing with the Ferryman onto the Amazon site in March 2011. It happened silently, with no fanfare and no real sense of celebration. Hardly anyone I knew owned a Kindle, so not even friends or family could take advantage of my self-publishing project.

Fast-forward to 2013 and it feels very different publishing my third full-length novel. Learning to Dance Again was scheduled to hit the virtual bookshelves sometime on the afternoon of 20th September and it was a much scarier prospect; and made rather more stressful due to Amazon's failure to stick to my carefully worked out timetable, which delayed it by 24 hours.

Almost everyone I know has a Kindle, an iPad or some other gadget for reading books. The relative success of Dancing with the Ferryman and Chasing an Irish Dream means I now interact on a daily basis with people who have read those novels and have asked for more. It has been the best thing about my fledgling writing career. I never sought fame or fortune when I started writing. I did it for the same reason other people watch soap operas or play bridge or collect porcelain pigs. It was a hobby that turned into a little bit of an obsession. If I put half as much effort into getting fit as I do writing, I would be able to compete against Paula Radcliffe in the next London marathon.

But instead of collecting gold medals and hamstring injuries, I collect feedback on twitter, messages on Facebook, random comments from people in Tesco and Amazon book reviews. All of these things have propelled me forward and kept me going in the wee small hours of the night when I do most of my writing and daydreaming. So, today as I launch my new novel, I know there are people waiting for it and there has been a kind of virtual launch party where some of my friends and family joined me in celebrating its eventual publication. It is fabulous to have such support, and a little nerve-wracking too. It does not necessarily follow that because someone likes my first two novels, they will like the third – but I hope so!

I cannot let this moment pass without mentioning three people who have been particularly supportive. First is my good friend Melanie Hudson who wrote The Wedding Cake Tree – as ever Mel is my go-to gal for discussing plot development and characters. Basically we talk a lot of nonsense about who we would pick for our leading men if our books ever became films. Top of our daydreaming list is Daniel Craig and Ewen McGregor – but I digress! And secondly, my sister Stephanie who also suffered through long conversations about the novel as it progressed.

The third person I have to thank is Becky Sherry. Becky really ought to be a “personal trainer” for writers. Although I have never met her yet, she effectively strong-armed me into finishing Learning to Dance Again way ahead of my intended schedule. Basically, she made me think that if she could kick cancer’s butt then I could put a bit more effort into giving her something to read while she was having chemotherapy. Becky read the very earliest drafts of the novel, that hadn’t had any kind of editing, and still she encouraged me to carry on. And yet the way she comments on Facebook/twitter you would think that I had done her a favour. I don’t think so – I think I got far more out of the deal than she did. And I am so glad that she has recovered and is back to do her mad long distance running thing. I should really hire her as my fitness coach too!

Fifty Rocks!

I started 2012 with a sense of trepidation. I was about to turn 50 - yikes - and was really hoping that 50 would turn out to be the new 40. And in some ways it has already proven to be true. The expression life begins at 40 applies to 50 too! The first three months of this year have been incredible - life changing even.

First off - 50 wasn't as traumatic as I thought it would be. Surrounded by good friends and family, it was rather nice in fact. Then a few weeks later I went down to London and the South Coast to see more friends and family. But just before I went away I had set my novel up on Amazon's special promotion for a few days. It meant that book was essentially free for 60 hours on all Amazon sites. I expected there to be a few more downloads - after all who can resist a free book. However, I was not prepared for the shock of seeing it shoot up to #1 in the free charts, ahead of such brilliant books such as Pride and Prejudice. At the end of the promotion nearly 12,000 people had downloaded it. I had expected no more than about 1000.

But I imagined that after the promotion ended the book would drop back into relative obscurity. Except that it didn't. It carried on selling - fast. So much so that it briefly reached #2 in the Amazon sales chart. And since that time, although sales have naturally slowed down, it continues to sell far more than it did before the promotion.

Increased sales also led to more reviews - mostly good I'm pleased to see. And finally just when I thought life was going so well, I got the results of my MA - a Distinction, no less. I was stunned. I decided to do something special to celebrate the success of the book and my MA - so I booked a holiday in Sicily for later this year. I'm already day dreaming about the potential for a Sicilian novella.

It just goes to show how much difference a year can make. This time last year we were making plans to leave Ireland. I felt like a failure for not getting a job. I was also considering dropping out of the MA course because I felt guilty at the expense of it. My novel had just been launched on Amazon and a grand total of about 30 people had bought it in the first month, and I probably knew most of them. A year later over 17,000 have downloaded it or bought the paperback.

But the one constant thing I had both last year and this year - my friends and family - who encouraged me to carry on with my dreams.

Thanks everyone XXX

Busy - so busy!

The new cover of the novel!

As the year, and my MA course draws to an end, I am busier than ever. I am in a frenzy of finishing my screenplay, writing an essay, tinkering with my novel and trying to get Dancing with the Ferryman published in paperback - all in time for Christmas.

The screenplay has been a really interesting and worthwhile exercise in learning how to tell a story in a different way. Just this relatively short experience of writing the script has changed the way I think about my plot when I am writing or editing a novel. As someone pointed out at a recent writers' group meeting, scriptwriting really brings home the "show not tell" element of writing.

I have designed a new cover for Dancing with the Ferryman and must give grateful thanks to Dave Wheeler from Fair Isle for allowing me to use his wonderful photograph of the Northern Lights. OK, so anyone from Shetland will know that this photo was taken on Fair Isle and not Whalsay, but I still thought it was the perfect picture to use on my new cover. I had to redesign the whole cover when I decided to launch the novel in paperback, as I needed something that would work for the back and spine of the book.

I am just waiting for Createspace to load up the novel and send me a proof copy. And then once that has been approved it will be available on Amazon. I cannot wait to see a real paperback book with my name on it. This will be the best Christmas ever!

Summer in Shetland

The Russian Tall Ship "The Mir" that visited Lerwick for the Tall Ships recently.


It is more than a grey day outside my window. Even the freshly painted bright red of the Malakoff Boat Shed seems dull in the midst of the mid-summer deluge of rain. It has not been the best of summers yet. The Tall Ships Race which was to be one of the highlights of the summer was marred by the type of weather we would normally grumble about in mid-winter. Although thankfully the event still proved to be a great success.

I was invited to a private party aboard the very impressive ship The Mir which was crewed by some very smartly dressed young Russians. One of the best things about the Tall Ships event was the huge numbers of people it attracted from around the world, some from as far away as Colombia. The streets of Lerwick almost resembled Notting Hill Gate on carnival day with all the dancing, singing and live music. It was a great place to be, regardless of the poor weather.



Russian Sailors on Parade outside my office

The weather has not worried the wildlife here though and many visitors have enjoyed the spectacle of Killer Whales, Dolphins, Pilot Whales, Basking Sharks and Sperm Whales from the shores of Shetland in the last few weeks. Sadly the only place I have seen them is on Facebook, thanks to the Shetland Wildlife group putting up regular pictures and videos.

I took a walk along the beach at St Ninian's Isle yesterday evening. It has to be the most incredibly beautiful beach in the UK, if not the world. Totally unspoilt by commercial development and crowds.

A few weeks ago I was invited to BBC Radio Shetland to talk about my novel which has been doing its own little bit in marketing Shetland as a place to visit. My novel has now been acquired by nearly 900 people, a huge majority of them from overseas, mostly USA. I only hope that if people do visit Shetland on the strength of this novel that they will experience marginally better weather than todays. Because when the sun shines (and it does more often than you might think) then Shetland really is the most amazing place to be.



The Colombians

Writing Buddies

In my last post I mentioned that one of the most valuable things to have is a great writing buddy. Well that works both ways. I have been priviledged to read some of the first drafts of a novel that one of my friends is writing. I use the word "friend" and yet we have never met, yet. However, it is amazing how well you can get to know someone just through writing. Can't wait to actally meet up in a few weeks.

Mel is writing a contemporary romantic novel and it is shaping up to be a fabulous read. It has all the essentials, a female lead who has a great character and a fabulously heroic Royal Marine as the leading man. The plot is great, intricately woven family history, drama and comedy, as well as the growing romance. But what is interesting for me is to see how other people work. Usually we only see a novel once it is fully formed. So seeing one develop, that is not your own, is quite amazing.

In some ways Mel works in the same way as me; that is, she knows where the story is going, and all the different elements that will be included along the way. But even so, it is amusing to see how a well planned work can change because of the characters. As they develop it becomes necessary to tweak the plot to accommodate their behaviour. It is also amusing to see how other people make the same typos, and I can see how they happen. The high speed typing that takes place when you are on a roll, and you simply cannot type quickly enough to get the words out onto the screen, and there just isn't time enough to spell check.

I am so glad I'm not the only one like that.

So all you budding writers, get yourself a writing buddy, you will learn a lot about your own writing style simply by seeing how others work too.