L is for Learner

It’s been a couple of years since Eldest Son learnt to drive, and now Younger Son is behind the wheel and the one thing that is still obvious is that a lot of drivers still don’t know what the letter L stands for.

L stands for Learner.  That means the person driving is a Learner driver. The clue is in the word and it’s not that difficult to give them the time and space in which to learn to drive. After all, you were once a learner.

It always seems amazing to me that people will cut in front of learners, beep them when they hesitate at a junction and roar passed glaring through a fog of pent up frustration.  Now I am not saying that I haven’t occasionally tapped the wheel as I wait for a learner to move forward, but I can tell you that even driving instructors are left shaking their heads with the attitudes of other drivers. 

It seems to me that there are a few drivers out there who could do with some remedial lessons themselves.  For example, I is for Indicator.  That’s the stick located on the left or right hand side of your steering wheel, which tells other drivers where you are planning on going.  It’s quite useful actually and may just mean that a learner driver nearby might be able to make a decision about what to do next. 

As the Meerkat from a famous car insurance company would say, ‘Simples’.

Dog vs Teens

At last the truth is out.  A recent study in the US revealed that mothers show the same maternal instincts towards their pet dog as they do to their child.  In some of the tests, mothers actually showed greater response to their dog’s image. I am not surprised at this, and here’s why:

Faithful Hound does not leave wet towels on the bedroom floor nor does he eat the entire contents of the fridge in one sitting.  (Although there is a possibility he would if only his paws could open it)

Faithful Hound does not desert you all evening to go on his computer /smart phone while you sit alone in front of Great British Bake Off.

Faithful Hound does not go all hormonal and moody.

Faithful Hound actually bounds up to see you every time you arrive home even though you’ve only been gone ten minutes.

Faithful Hound does not borrow your comb, straighteners, hair gel, mobile phone charger, earphones or expensive speakers.

Faithful Hound comes when you call him.  (Unless a grey squirrel is involved)

Faithful Hound does not hack into your Amazon and ITunes accounts.

Faithful Hound goes to bed when you tell him to.

And there you have it – several reasons why I might if tested reveal a slightly more interested response to the image of my dog.

Oh and finally, Faithful Hound keeps your feet warm on a cold evening when Absent Husband has turned the heating off.

Column for Maidenhead Advertiser, Thursday 16th October 

Finished by the skin of my teeth....

July and August flew by in a haze of hot summer days and long hours chained to the keyboard.  There were A level exams for Younger Son and end of years for Only Daughter.  Eldest Son finished university ridiculously early and joined the previously unknown world of employment serving Toffs (or wannabe Toffs) at Royal Ascot.

The book ticked along with some days of frantic and frenetic writing and other days of endlessly slow   tortuous trickles of words.  I finally finished the book in mid July giving myself only three weeks to edit the first draft.  The editing was done whilst trying hard to ignore the wonderful hot sunshine outside the summerhouse (blinds were drawn tightly) and my shoulders and arms ached from endless backspacing and cut and pasting as I tried to get a draft ready to send off for manuscript review.

The neighbour's noisy gardeners drove me insane (all summer...) with their endless strumming and mowing.  But I would not allow myself to be distracted!  Having the deadline of August 9th was the best thing as I continued to drive myself to at least get a draft finished by then.  It's all too easy to sit around enjoying the sun and not focussing on your work.

So on Friday 9th August, the manuscript made its way into an envelope and off to the Post Office.

108,000 words and six months later.  Hoo-bloody-ray!!

Let the countdown begin

Help!!  I have just realised I have roughly only 45 days left until I go to on holiday with the family.  45 days to finish the book.  I had hoped to have finished a first draft by the end of June (hollow laugh) so that I could spend July reviewing and redrafting (hollow laugh again).  But life, as usual, gets in the way.  So there's no choice but to spend the next 45 days writing as much as I can - squeezing words out in the midst of my chaotic family life.  Of those 45 days, only 32 remain completely free to write and even then some of those days are already half taken up.  Thus it's about getting a few thousand words out every day even in limited time.  Otherwise I will taking a laptop with my on hols and that won't be fun.

Countdown:

Today 24th June (yay Chloe's birthday)   2,306 words

Watch this space

But who really did do it?

OK.  So a bit of an epiphany since last I wrote on the blog.  Yes my villain did suddenly reveal himself but  I woke up early one morning and realised that of course he wasn't the murderer after all.  So I took control of the reins again and forced him back with a stick.  Don't worry though, he's still got an unpleasant role to play.

So now I am faced with a new villain - a different villain, one which I hope will behave until the time is right. This suspense writing is tricky.  My book is not a full one crime story nor is it a complete romance.  Finding the balance is tricky - there has to be some police procedure but most of what is happening is going on in the character's heads and in their lives.  It's behind the scenes that give it the suspense.

Well, hopefully.  Meanwhile I am busy working on a new villain profile whilst carefully looking over my shoulder.

Feeling a little melancholy today....

Time Captured

It seems to me as I look out

The day has flown by without me noticing

And now the fading tones of evening arrive

And I am wondering just how it happened.

When I was younger

Time seemed to race by

Births, marriages and deaths

And now it waxes and wanes

A golden moon in the dark sky,

Teasing me with its glow.

I once heard of a woman who loved only one man.

He, a young man now buried under poppies in a field in France

Still stands proudly in his uniform, smiling and twenty.

She, finally buried under green moss in an English churchyard

Her heart beating for him, long after the trenches were filled in.

Every star in that inky black sky is billions of years away from me

I reach out and lose my hand in the darkness.

Time snatches pockets of my life

Causing me to panic when I can’t remember

And it is only when I see a photograph

Captured forever in a frame,

That I remember your faces.

Vanessa Woolley

June 2014

70,000 words and the villain's revealing himself...

I reached the 70,000 word mark today and am nearing the pivotal moment.  As if by stealth, the villain (I still don't like that word) has slowly begun to show himself.  I am a little worried by this, any publications I have read about writing romantic suspense all say that a villain should either be revealed right from the very beginning thus giving the reader the suspenseful journey of watching the hero and heroine discover.

The other option is to not reveal until the end and hope that your reader doesn't  discover it until it is right upon them.  Throw in a red herring or two and the reader gets a bumpy journey.




What are writers meant to do when the villain decides to drop a few clues of his own?  We're not talking mustache twirling baddie tying the heroine up to a railway track - but still, he's showing his 'other' side before I wanted him to.

I think I better watch out for him......

Invasion of the Technical Gremlin

Writing can be hard at times and sometimes it can be downright impossible.  Especially when your house is visited by Technical Gremlins.  Yes, it's true, they do exist.  Here's what I had to say about them in my latest column:

Invasion of the Technical Gremlins

Do you think there is such a thing as a Technical Gremlin?  You know; a little creature that creeps about and wreaks havoc with all the gadgets and technical items in the house?  

What if the gremlins divide themselves up into specialty areas – Mobile network Gremlin or WiFi Gremlin or (and this is the worst one) Printer Gremlin.  The unsuspecting human prints off a document one evening and the next morning, the printer absolutely refuses to recognise the human or his computer.  It’s as if, overnight, the printer has been taken hostage and hypnotised. 

And there’s my favourite Gremlin Printer comment – “another computer is using this printer”.  That’s funny – I could have sworn everyone was out except me.  Is there someone else living in my house who is using the printer?

And don’t forget Sky Gremlin.  No – not the one who flies about in the sky but the one who randomly removes On Demand from the Sky menu.  That movie you thought you would watch suddenly disappears off the face of the earth in a little puff of Gremlin smoke.

I am quite worried now.  I recently purchased a high tech washing machine. It has flashing lights and a computer and could almost make me coffee.  What if a Washing Machine Gremlin takes up residence?   

And how do we solve the problems?  Is there a Gremlin Helpline we can call if we have an infestation?

I might have to move house.    May 2014

I am just trying to imagine what they might look like.

My Writing Process Blog Tour

Today I am joining in the 'My Writing Process' Blog tour. I was invited by Jean Bull the author of the delightful novel "Gypsy Moth", and you can read more about Jean on her blog - http://jeanbullswritingblog.blogspot.co.uk.

It has been really interesting to read the various blogs of the authors participating in the blog tour and I hope my answers about my writing will be of interest to others. It was great to get onto the New Writer's Scheme of the Romantic Novelist Association in January and that was when I began to write my romantic suspense novel.

What am I writing?

The Stranger Within by Vanessa Woolley

One decomposed body.  One unsolved murder.  One secret.  One more chance to fall in love.

What would you do if the very person you trusted turned out to be a killer?

I am currently working on a romantic suspense novel set in the rugged setting of North Cornwall. This is a new venture for me - my previous experience with romantic writing has been to write a Mills and Boon story a couple of years ago. I am writing this type of romantic fiction because it is generally the sort of work I like to read. I have always enjoyed a bit of mystery and suspense, even in films, and if there is a gorgeous hero and feisty strong heroine, I am always engaged. Hopefully my novel will bring those elements together. I have also enjoyed creating a villain, although I would like to think my baddie is not the standard cardboard cut out type.

How does my work differ from others in its genre?

I am not sure I can answer this question accurately. I have read quite a few books in this genre and there are many different styles. My story certainly isn't a hard paced thriller with FBI agents chasing the heroine across the desert, nor is it one with baddies and guns. It's reasonably timely, set over only a few weeks but my heroine is facing not just the peril of a would be killer still out there, but the fear of falling in love and facing past hurts. It's only when she faces fear head on that she is forced to reconcile her past.  And it's got a hunky surfing hero for good measure.

Why do I write what I do?

I always believe you should write what you like to read. I love romantic suspense novels but never really thought about writing one myself. Having said that, I also love to read historical romance but somehow see myself as a twenty first century sort of girl.

How does my writing process work?

I am a planner and a note taker and I can't function without some semblance of order. To me, a romantic suspense novel is plot driven just as much as it is character driven. I have a chapter by chapter plan, and in some cases a scene by scene plan.

 I am at the three quarter stage of the first draft (69,000 words) and have been sticking to the script however there have been moments when my characters have led me a merry chase. It's fun when that happens as it means I have to sit up and take notice of them. It's as if they are saying to me - "hey - stop making us do things we don't want to do and throw that script away!" I write in my lovely weatherproof summerhouse where it is quiet and peaceful and far away from the noisy house and all its temptations. I try to write daily although this can be difficult. But if I can get at least three - our full days a week I feel I am progressing.

 


Next week I will be passing the baton on to my fellow writing group buddy Kate Peridot. Kate is a published children's author and is currently writing a young adult novel.

You can follow #my writing process on Twitter

It's May and the skates are on... Getting off the plateau and back onto the roller coaster

It's been a while since I last posted.  The icy and wet days of January and February seem to have faded and now as I sit in my Writer's hut, the sun streaming through the windows reminds me that time is marching on to my first draft deadline of end of June.

The Stranger Within is making good progress although at 57,000 words, I was hoping to be further on by now. The story is now beginning to resemble that of a high plateau.  If you think of a graph with the peaks and troughs representing mini climaxes (Ooh er Mrs) and inciting events, my story has now reached a slightly flat piece of ground which despite the terrain, I could only describe as hard work.  It is a romantic suspense piece, so Red Herrings are dripping like red rain drops and even I am beginning to wonder just exactly who did it (only joking).  I am enjoying my hero (don't we all) but most of all, my anti-hero is shaping up nicely.

The next two weeks will see me push forward as much as possible and no doubt I will be back on the roller coaster of peaks and troughs I need to make the story work.  Targets are always difficult to maintain when you  have no one standing over you with a big stick, but as the summer looms and family life intervenes, finishing the book has to become a priority.

Look out for my posting on 12th May when I take part in the My Writing Process Blog Hop.

Fourteen thousands words and not even one week in

Well.  I am relatively impressed with myself. Despite it being half term and the fact that I have a heavy head cold (thanks Absent Husband), I have managed to write 14,043 words. Am really happy with the way the story is progressing. Have just managed to get the inciting event in today in Chapter Three which is about the best place to have it.  I do find it difficult to keep the balance of description and dialogue.

One other thing, how many ways can you describe a rugged handsome, good looking man????

A good day's work

The good news is I am three days in and 10,161 words on.  Feel really good about this.

I haven't felt the best over the last couple of days.  Absent Husband has been coughing and spluttering everywhere so now I have it. Today I felt too hill to go down to the writing shed so I wrote on the sofa, squashed for a large chunk of the time by Faithful Hound.  Still, I did write the whole of Chapter Two, 4201 words.  A good day's work.

Writing new novel Day One - I began backwards

Today is the day I began to write my romantic suspense novel.  My plan is to write everyday with a first draft of around 60,000 words finished by the end of March.  I have chosen to blog about it after each writing session.  This will mean:

My hands will be knackered from all that typing (I hope).

If I don't write much on the story, the embarrassment of trying to explain it to the blog will hopefully give me the mental kick in the you- know-what for the next day.

And so to Day One:

The sun was out (yes seriously!) and by 9.30 I had walked Faithful Hound and put the washing on, and the long day stretched out before me so down to my shed I went.  The shed, unused for over a week, was cold and it took a while for the heater to warm it up.  Faithful Hound protested slightly and moved his cushion closer to the heater:

Two and half hours and four thousand one hundred and seventeen words later, I finished the end of the penultimate chapter of the book.  Yes, that's right - the PENULTIMATE chapter.  I chose to start there (in the middle of the climax) in order to set my mind on the right direction from the beginning.

Well, if J K Rowling could write the last chapter of the last HP book before she wrote anything else - so can I.

I rewarded myself with chocolate and a walk around the garden where I saw the plain and simple beauty of these snowdrops:

Bring on Day Two.

Out with the old and in with the new

Isn’t it wonderful when you have a clear out at home?  It’s so nice to open a cupboard and see the virtually empty space with only the necessary items in situ, or to look across at tidy, uncluttered shelves?  Spring is all about tidying up and clearing out the winter mess in preparation for the summer.  We do it with ourselves too.  Going on a diet after Christmas and joining a gym is virtually the same thing as sorting out our homes.

However, like the New Year fitness resolutions, spring cleaning can also be tricky.  I have written before about how difficult it is to throw things away.  Sometimes more things get put back than thrown out.  This year I had an early spring clean forced on me as I was having work done in the house in January and therefore needed to “sort things out” (as Absent Husband put it more than once).  This deadline meant I had to be ruthless.

So I started with a large cupboard in our family room.  This held years of puzzles, board games and various assortments of video and DVDs.  Yes, videos.  I looked longingly at each one, mainly great Disney films, and wondered where the time had gone.  I pulled out boxes of wonderful Duplo (Lego for little ones) and found myself immersed in building a secret garden scene complete with animals, just like the one my daughter used to create.  And then suddenly I noticed the time and realised I been doing it for over an hour.  Clearing out does that to you.  You find something from the past and all the memories come flooding back.

But the clear out had to be done quickly – I had a buyer coming to collect the oak cupboard and new built in furniture being installed all later that week.  So the Duplo and the videos were hastily dealt with, videos to the tip (nobody has a video player anymore) and the Duplo consigned to a box in the loft informally known as “the grandchildren box”. 

I took several cartons of games and puzzles all in good condition to a local charity shop and they were, as ever, extremely grateful to receive them.  As I looked around the shop, I was struck by how many things like mine were in it and I wondered how they manage to sell all those things.

The job was done and I can now look across at my beautifully tidy shelves safe in the knowledge that I won’t have to do anymore clearing out.  Well not in that room anyway.  And if I feel the inclination to design a secret garden again, well, I know where the Lego is kept.

The Launch of Le Shed - my writer's shed is famous (well, a little)

Here is my blog for the London Writer's Club:

I may be no Roald Dahl but I do have the most wonderful garden house to write in. Sitting in prime position in a sunny part of my garden is my new summerhouse, equipped with insulated walls and roof, perfect for writing on a cold winter’s day. The light from the floor length windows makes me feel like I am outside and the peace and quiet it provides is great for creativity. Faithful Hound has a bed on the floor near my desk and my little kettle keeps me provided with tea. The only problem is the nearby neighbours noisy garden equipment…..

To be honest, it's been quite wet recently and trudging up and down to the shed (or Le Shed) is fraught with problems.  The muddy trail is a nightmare and even the two door mats are not quite doing the job.  When the rain stops (if if ever does) I will be down there with mop and bucket to give the floor a clean.  More diversionary tactics I hear you say?

  

Cogito ergo sum - I think, therefore I am

Here's my latest column for the Maidenhead Advertiser.

Two interesting technological stories have developed this week.   

Firstly, a survey done in the US about narcissism has revealed that the more one posts on social media the more self-involved one may be.  They needed to do a survey to tell us that?  It claimed that Facebook acted as a mirror to the user’s perceived image whereas Twitter was more of a megaphone for younger people’s opinions.  My view is that younger people just got fed up with seeing photos of themselves as babies posted on Facebook by their parents and moved on to Twitter to escape it. 

Secondly, a British computer company has been sold to Google this week.  The business specialises in Artificial Intelligence, developing machines which can mimic the brain’s ability to improve performance.  Google have always wanted to build a search engine so sophisticated that it knows users better than they know themselves. Thus in the future, a large majority of search queries will be answered without you actually asking.  Handy - but what if your mind is like mine and often on several tangents at any one time?  Will there be an algorithm suitable for my individual ramblings?  It is quite likely that my mind might actually short circuit the computer.

But do you know what annoys me the most?  It might be easy to order food and have it delivered just by thinking it, but it still requires someone to cook it.  Unless someone out there is developing a robotic housewife?  Please let me know.

New washer and dryer! It's better than Christmas

Ah, the sight of new white goods.  Pristine and beautiful, snuggled under the bench top in my laundry.  Just waiting to be used.  Did I feel sad as the old ones were taken away?  No.  Like a fickle lover I turned my back on them as they sat forlorn and unwanted by the truck, waiting to be removed.  And my new precious domestic best friends basked in the warmth of  my admiration.

Isn't it sad that such a thing could bring such joy?  Still, 1,505 words were written whilst waiting for the domestic attendants to be delivered.  And four teaspoons of sugar were used in the tea provided for the chaps who installed them.

And now to put on the virgin wash......

Two thousand words and counting......

2,066 words to be precise.  It's great news when this happens.

After a few days of avoidance tactics, eg, transferring dates from a 2014 diary I don't like to a new 2014 diary and then to my phone; or spending ages on Google looking at funky stationery for my new writing shed; or spending ages looking at pictures of the floods on Twitter; or trying to fix the tumble dryer with sellotape and blue tack; or buying a new dryer from John Lewis after reading several reviews of the best dryers to buy; or "browsing" Facebook; or updating Good Read etc, or looking for cheap coffee machines on the internet.......

So avoidance tactics:

Cats (read dogs in my case) are dangerous companions for writers because cat watching is a near-perfect method of writing avoidance

Dan Greenburg  (see Faithful Hound below)

I remember reading somewhere about an organization called Procrastinators Anonymous. I think they had been in existence for some years but had never gotten around to having a meeting. Anon.

I love being a writer.  What I can't stand is the paperwork.  ~Peter De Vries

Did I really just Google quotes about avoidance?

You get my point.

So you can imagine my excitement when I came down here today and actually wrote solidly for two hours with a good well written output of 2,066 and a clear idea about the next chapter.  So, why aren't I writing the next chapter?

Good question. Ummmm.....

My great distraction.....

Is there such a thing as a character graveyard?

The wonders of the new writing shed are starting to wear off.  Don't get me wrong, I love working down here and it's definitely quieter and more conducive to writing.  However, I have revamped and redrafted the plot and outline of my book some many times now that if I printed out the new versions of the opening chapters, I could actually use them as a foot stool.  (actually I do need a foot stool - it's better for my posture).

Anyway, the thing about writing with multiple characters is that you have to make sure they are relevant, that their role in the story is useful.  And you also do  not want too many characters or it becomes one of those situations that I, as a reader, absolutely hate, which is when you have to keep thinking about where all the characters fit in.

So, I have kept two of the original characters and replaced the other three with a new three.  Simple!  Well, not quite.  However, it could just be the right way forward.  I just feel sad about the three I have removed. Where do they go?  What do I do with them and all the things that they did in my story?  Is there a vault for unwanted characters?  Do I bury them in a character graveyard?  How many characters have ended up on a writer's floor?  Perhaps I can use them one day - somewhere else, in a new story with new characters to interact with.

Rest in peace Lizzie, Vivian and Helena.

New Year's Resolutions. Happy 2014

New Year's Resolutions: everyone makes them and everyone breaks them.  Personally I have never actually made one.  Well, I have thought about ones I could make but have never instituted them.  I honestly admire people who make them and follow them through.  But my only question to them is this - why limit yourself to only once a year? Surely self improvement should take place all the year round? 

Anyhow this year I have made a resolution. It is quite simply just to write.  I will write and I will keep writing but most importantly I will believe in myself.  I won't beat myself up if I don't write reams every day, but I WILL WRITE!  If it is a load of rubbish at least I am writing.  If I only blog or tweet at least I am writing.  

And finally, my last point on resolutions:

"I do think New Year's resolutions can't technically be expected to begin on New Year's Day, don't you? Since, because it's an extension of New Year's Eve, smokers are already on a smoking roll and cannot be expected to stop abruptly on the stroke of midnight with so much nicotine in the system. Also dieting on New Year's Day isn't a good idea as you can't eat rationally but really need to be free to consume whatever is necessary, moment by moment, in order to ease your hangover. I think it would be much more sensible if resolutions began generally on January the second."

- Helen Fielding, "Bridget Jones's Diary"

Forgiveness for the New Year

Forgiveness for the New Year

I don’t know about you but I get quite stressed around Christmas.  I worry that I won’t get anything done in time and that I will have too much food leftover, or heaven forbid – not enough!  I hate the dark evenings that begin at five o’clock and as much as I love having my family around me, I almost begin to dread it.  So, I was going to make a humorous quip about dealing with this stress (probably one which would have suggested wine – my usual remedy).  But then something got in the way.  Nelson Mandela died and with him the legacy of forgiveness.  I panicked for a minute, wondering who we could look to now to teach the patience and tolerance he so strongly advocated.

And then I remembered Malala Yousafzai – the sixteen year old girl who was shot for going to school.  A few weeks ago I watched a documentary about her, and I was struck not only by how she forgave her would be killers, but that she wanted to make life better for them as well.  She said, “We realize the importance of our voices only when we are silenced.”  That is so true.  Imagine what would have happened in South Africa if Mandela had remained silent after he was imprisoned?

And so now I look to Malala and other young people like her – not just to continue on with the showing us the way, but to carry on with Mandela’s mandate of forgiveness and peace.

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.