It’s less than a week until I’ll be running a workshop at the Bournemouth Writing Festival. I’ll be sharing my experience of winning a publication contract with Bloodhound Books after entering a pitch competition for The Secret Life of Carolyn Russell. The workshop will include tips and hints for anyone wishing to develop skills in online pitching of a manuscript. The event is a new one on the Dorset writing scene and the programme has grown considerable since the inaugural year in 2023. I’m pleased to be delivering on Sunday 28 April 2024 alongside writing friends Paula Harmon and Alice Fowler. Do check out the full programme!
A sojourn in Prague
I was pleased to spend a few days in Prague with my family at the end of March. The trip was originally planned for 2020 but postponed due to Covid. We stayed in a central location and wandered the cobbled streets until my feet cried for mercy. It was good travelling as a group because we each had different things we wanted to see. All set for a bit of endurance sightseeing, we tackled the Prague castle complex on the first day. Other highlights included watching the astronomical clock strike the hour, the view over Prague from the Petřín lookout tower, the Jewish quarter and photos in front of the Lennon wall.
Cracking on with the writing
Ever since I received a publishing contract for my dual timeline mystery The Secret Life of Carolyn Russell, I’ve been slaving over a new manuscript. It seemed completely do-able to get this latest work-in-progress shipshape before the publication schedule for book number three arrives in 2023. In October, I had nothing near a complete draft. It seems to me I approach each new novel in a different way. For the current work, I kept losing the thread of what I was doing which made me turn back to the beginning and start again. During the early months, I wasn’t sure what the spine of the story was about. But I worked my way into it and discovered one of the themes to be coercive control. Phew! That was a relief. But writing has many layers and the next priority was to ensure the three viewpoint characters had distinct voices. This is when a little comedy crept in and I discovered one of the characters to be quite humorous. (As a rule of thumb, if the writing makes me chuckle, I assume others will find it funny too.)
I’ve worked as hard as I can to complete and edit the manuscript. The next stage involves sending it to five beta readers for feedback. During my last read through, I discovered I’d used the word with 655 times. That meant I needed to get the pruning sheers out and reduce the usage considerably. Other of my high frequency words include all, now and only. Thank goodness for the find and replace function.
I’m now settling into a few days away from writing. It’s my husband’s birthday today and with my adult children home for Christmas, we visited the I Grew Up in the 80s exhibition at Dorset Museum. We also treated ourselves to breakfast in the cafe. Here are a couple of photos:
Who remembers these? (The visit also acts as research for a story I’m developing set in the 1980s.)
I will be away from my computer for much the Christmas break. On 2 January, I’m heading off to Cambodia but I’ll be back in touch again afterwards. What plans do you have for the next few weeks?
Happy holidays everyone!
The joy of an itinerant life
I’m back in Dorchester after five and a half months away. Although the weather is autumnal, I’m still feeling the buzz of summer. We had a splendid time in London, renting a room from friends and travelling into town for visits to theatres and other venues. I enjoyed Witness for the Prosecution based on an Agatha Christie short story and staged in County Hall. My grandpa worked for the London County Council until retirement and it was great to be in a grand committee room and imagine he was once there.
The one musical I saw was Dear Evan Hansen about a young man who sells his soul to Facebook. I enjoyed the show where meaningful songs and ideas around redemption provide counterbalance to tragedy. Twice we went to Holland Park Opera where free shows were offered on the steps outside the building. Here’s a photo of two performers from the opera Little Women.
Our niece sang and played during Piano Friday nights at the Tabard Inn in Chiswick.
We also did a lot of walking in preparation for our trip from Porto to Santiago de Compostela at the beginning of September. It wasn’t a proper camino as we didn’t have enough time to cover the distance but with friends we walked 15 miles each day for one week (and took three train journeys). Here are some highlights.
It’s great coming home after an extended period away to see Dorset in a new light. I’m looking forward to what the autumn has to offer.
At a loose end around 10:30am today (BST)?
Why not tune into Suzie Grogan’s Talking Books radio show on 10Radio (or use your usual world steaming service) to find me giving away the inside story on writing This Much Huxley Knows and much more. Alternatively, if you’d prefer a breath of Scottish air, here are some photos from our walk in the Pentland Hills (south west of Edinburgh) yesterday.
Almost a year in pictures
It’s time to thank you for following my blog during 2021 and to wish you all the very best for the coming year. As a way to wind up events, please find some photos of our travels since release from lockdown.
Our itinerant life continues in 2022 and I look forward to sharing more of our experiences with you. In the meantime, here’s wishing you and yours all the best for 2022.