What am I doing Wednesday. Editing and Carnival

Editing. That one-word answer to ‘What I am I doing’? is all you need to know. Except to say that I find talking about editing about as entertaining as talking about a visit to the dentist. It feels as though the joy has left my world.

I am a little more sensitive about editing Mass Murder because one theme is child abuse and I don't want to get it wrong or be insensitive. That said, it will all take me a few more weeks to complete. I will let you know how I get on.

In the meantime, I will post pictures of our Carnival Parade. Only a few, even though I took loads there were just too many. My favourite was the dancing supermarkets, so there are two of those. 

This was made of corks!

Even the onlookers were dressed for the occasion.

What am I doing wednesday

I am sure that many of you will have noticed that today is Friday and not Wednesday. That is because I wanted to finish writing Mass murder on Wednesday and I was so close that decided just to carry on until I got there. It was so late by the time that I wrote ‘The End’ that I postponed the blog post until Thursday, which is no bad thing as the high I get when I finish getting a story down on paper is amazing. I am, at the same time, a bit sad because writing that first draft is my favourite part of the whole process. It all about capturing the daydream, now comes the pure slog of sorting it all out without spoiling it. Yesterday, I was all set to write this when a friend popped round for a cup of coffee. I knew she was coming and completely forgot about it. I was so engrossed in finishing my making marmalade and plotting my next book. She had to phone me to let her in because not only had I not heard the doorbell, I had not heard her standing in the hallway shouting. Three hours of chatting later it was time to cook dinner. That really is the life of a writer, constant delightful interruptions which interrupt your flow and slow you down.

I know there are people who find their first draft hard to write; I wonder if it's because you really have to shut yourself off and get into your own head. I can edit when Steve is around, but I find it hard to write unless I am on my own.

That brings me to Brexit day. Tomorrow it will be that much harder for me to be a European, and I AM a European, in my own mind. I regret that my country is trying to take that away from me. These blogs aren't about politics so I won’t go into any arguments about the pro's and cons, except to say that I am sad, and it is too important not to mention.

Yesterday I managed to start writing 'The mystery of the wooden box' which is book three in the treasure of Saint Bee series of novellas. To celebrate this, the first two books will be on special offer from the fourth of February for a week. So look out for them if you have-not seen them already and want a bargain, and 99p for a book is a bargain. I love writing these novellas, straightforward, traditional cosy mysteries with interesting characters. I hope that they are enjoyable to read.

Mass murder has a much more complex story line and the first part of my edit will be to try to ensure all the subplots line up and follow the same timeline. That was the hardest part of Death of a Pilgrim to get sorted out and in all in took me seven months. I hope that I have become faster this time, but I will have to let you know.

This year I plan to continue writing alongside my editing so hopefully the draft of the next book is ready by the time I edit the first one, This should help me meet my goal of four published books this year. This is, of course, a goal not a certainty. I am already a month behind my plan so it's not looking good at the moment. Fortunately, any pressure is of my making, so enjoying the process is as important as meeting self-imposed guidelines. I need deadlines to sort out my confidence problem. I can concentrate on the job at hand then and need to worry about anything else that might get in the way. The strange thing is that even though I know that I am playing mind games with myself, it works.

What an I doing Wednesday. New year post

My new year started today, I know its seems as though I'm a whole week late, but with the kings celebration, and the kids not going back to school till today, my normal routine has been haywire for three weeks, and it actually feels like the old year was a long time ago. The kids, by the way, are the kids that Steve teaches, they don't actually have any personal connection to me.

I thought that I would start as I mean to go on and go swimming this morning. I discovered that I got the opening times of the baths wrong. When I arrived I found out that I had missed the last swim for the morning. It was only 11.30 but still I should have checked properly.

This is not me ,or anyone I know outside of my dreams.

I did get up early in the hope of getting some writing done before I went swimming, but as I sat staring at my computer I realised that there is a good reason why I don't try to write before 10 in the morning. I wrote about three words, had a slice of toast a cup of coffee, failed to go swimming and then went and had another cup of coffee in Steve's office because he had forgotten his lunch and I was dropping it off on the way back from the baths. In the end I did the shopping,(At Least one useful thing ) had my own lunch and it is now mid way through the afternoon with barely a word on paper.

I hope that this is not an indication that this year is going to be as chaotic and emotionally stressful as the last year was. However, I am still feeling optimistic in a new year, new life kind of way.

I am calling 2019 my year of getting things done. I wrote one novel, and two novellas from a standing start, having never really tried any kind of serious writing before. I entered a competition and did well in all three categories, teaching me a little about writing short fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Again all from a standing start, but having done a couple of free online courses. I am pleased with that achievement.

I want 2020 to be the year when I get to grips with the more technical aspects of publishing. Titles, covers, blurbs, proof reading, formatting. Still baby steps, I am only too aware of how little I know, but I want to get to the stage that I can publish my book and be happy that its done right, and I can move on to the next one. So I will be reading, listening to podcasts and watching you tube video's all to that end. I know that I don't have the funds to do this professionally yet, but there is no reason at all why I can't learn to make a passable job in the meantime. Maybe I will learn to enjoy one or all of those things, who knows.

Hopefully, by the end of the year, I will have a small income from my writing which will help with that. In 2019 I made about 100 euros from writing, but spent much more than that. My biggest month was 27 euros but bearing in mind that I didn't publish anything till the end of the year. I am happy with that. For 2020, I would like to break even and have at least 1,one hundred euro month. I have two novels and two novellas planned for publication. Which means that I will need to up my average daily word count slightly, but not by much.

Look out for Mass Murder, Book 2 of The Camino Murders. It should be available sometime around the end of March.

I am also planning to continue with my million word challenge and hope to be over 500,000 words by the end of the year.

Happy new year to you all and I hope that you are well on your way to achieving all of your goals

What am I doing wednesday.

You know I am glad that we are almost into the new year we have had so many things go wrong of late. A chance to draw a line and say, well you know it's 2020, is guaranteed to make me feel more positive.

The 2019 good life in Galicia Anthology is available to buy now. It's a good read if you want to learn a bit about the lifestyle here. Its also got some of my stories included. it's available from Amazon and other book stores. The anthology is based around a writing competition, so why not join in, its good fun and you don't need to live here to take part.



I'm working on the sequel to Death of a pilgrim at the moment. The working title is Mass Murder and once again it's based on the French route of the Camino de Santiago. I love the writing process as opposed to the more technical aspects of publishing but I have decided to take it very slowly and learn one thing at a time. If you bought the first edition of  Pilgrim with the formatting issues I hope that it didn't spoil the story for you. The good news is that I am getting better and by the time Mass murder is published, I am hoping it will be almost mistake-free.
My biggest problem, of course, is that I don't know the mistakes are there when I publish, but people tell me it all gets better with practice.
The Book of Medicinal Herbs has been out for a couple of weeks and I am looking forward to writing the next in the series.
The weather is good for writing, ie it is raining, a lot, really a lot.
Our lovely dog Tanya died last week and it's hard not to be too upset to do very much at all. life is like that though there are ups and there are downs and when all else fails there is a good book and a glass of wine.

What am I doing wednesday. The one million word challenge

The disaster theme my life seems to have developed continues unabated. To the extent, in fact, that I can no longer write about it. This morning a letter warning us that our driving licences were almost due for renewal was enough to leave me a quivering mess, such is my emotional state. So enough of that, for now writing needs to be a diversion, not a cathartic exercise.

First I must mention that for a while there will be no more paperback editions for my books, I hope that I have resolved the formatting issues that I had, at least to an acceptable extent, for Chalice and Pilgrim but I am not happy enough with the process to try more. For the foreseeable future, I will concentrate on kindle editions. The Book of Medicinal Herbs is still due to be published for kindle on December 4th. I have sent the files to two friends to check for formatting problems so I hope that it's ok. More about that nearer the time.

I am well underway with the first draft of Mass Murder which is the follow-up to  Death of a Pilgrim. Once again Richard Harris is pulled out of retirement. This time to investigate the murders of four English speaking priests on the Camino de Santiago. He is now a wheelchair user which he is certain will prevent him from leading his team of investigators. His friend and now his boss Miguel Lopez is equally certain that a mobility issue is not really a hindrance for this kind of police work. Things get complicated when a new victim is found, with a personal link to Miguel.

The story is shaping up well and I hope that I can do the issues that come up justice. I am a fairly inexperienced writer to be taking on some of the themes that I plan to introduce. It is because  I am aware of this that I have spent some of my time looking into what makes an author, over and above the technical definition.

Some people think it is to do with accolades, major literary prizes and such. Some think it's about being signed up with a prestigious publishing house others thinks it's about achieving a certain level of income. To be honest, I would be happy with any of the above. One thing that was quoted over and over again, in different places, attributed to at least three different well-known authors was a variation on the theme that you have have to have written one million words to call yourself an Author. Some said it was published words some left it at words, sometimes blogs and short stories were counted sometimes not. So this is my new challenge

The One Million Word Challenge.

I am counting blogs and stories that are published or about to be, but nothing else, so writing a shopping list or minutes for a meeting won't count. Every blog from now on will have an update to the total, I can't wait to see how long it takes to get there. Some of the totals will be estimates but I have rounded down rather than up in all cases.

So the number of words is currently at.

155,524

 So I had better get writing...

Today is my Birthday, it’s almost the weekend and the sun is shining.

Today is my Birthday, it’s almost the weekend and the sun is shining. Most of that sentence is true the rest is just wishful thinking.

I am pleased to say that I received a number of presents, not least of which, is a sink plunger.

It did come wrapped in paper with a bow so it was definitely a present. There is not much else to say is there. I can’t claim to be disappointed, because it’s quite outside my realm of expectation. Perhaps it’s a magic sink plunger and the secret portal to a better life. I have yet to discover it’s secrets. At the moment it looks remarkably like the cheap plastic kind so beloved of Chinese bazaars and pound shops. Here is a photo and a promise that I will let you know if it develops the much hoped for magical qualities.

To celebrate the day, I have made 'The Book Of Herbal Medicine' available for pre-order. It is the second book in the Treasure of Saint Bee series.

The setting is a second-hand book shop. I just love those places, the dusty, damp papery smell of old books. The endless shelves of wonder and delight. I especially like the kind with armchairs in odd corners and coffee, and rooms that go on forever. Writing the book was easy just because I was describing something that I would love to have done in another life. It will be available to buy in early December by which time the paperback should also be ready.

Find it here in the USA. The UK. Spain

The Silver Chalice is also on special offer in the UK and America 99p or 99c respectively. It will be that price few a day’s before it creeps up to its normal price.

Find it here in the USA. UK

I am off now to make a shopping list. I also received two cookbooks for my birthday, my favourite presents by far. I want to cook a weekend recipe from each book so a couple of hours slowly checking out all the possibilities is the next task on today’s list, so much hard work.

Have a nice weekend.

What am I doing wednesday,------ The month before Pilgrim Part two.

One or two of you must have bought Pilgrim; if you have, thank you very much,
if you have actually been brave enough to read it, would you consider leaving a review on either Amazon or Goodreads, it would help, honestly. If you enjoyed it why not join my mailing list and be the first to hear about anything new or any offers.
 I am going to move onto last months adventures, but first another inspiring photo. This is the Camino de Santiago as it is in Sarria, where I live. It is impossible to live here without being affected by Pilgrimage.

The Camino. Sarria Old Town

Back to last month. Have you ever had an MRI on your back? Well,  I hadn't. My entire knowledge came from watching Grey's Anatomy, which showed large swish looking machines where the operator looks down through glass windows from a spacious room full of computers on a spotless room to a patient clad in a long cotton gown.

Right, well, forget all that, our MRI is in the back of a lorry, the machine resembles the inside of a toilet roll and the operators stand and chat with a seemingly endless stream of people next to your ankles.

The changing room was so small that Barbie would have been worried and the hospital gown is a paper sheet the size of a tea towel with two slits for the arms of someone who must resemble a flat-chested stick insect.

It took me more than the allowed thirty seconds to realise that I was supposed to wear this sheet of paper and not sign it and attach it to the nurse's clipboard. A clipboard which already held a signed disclaimer stating that they were not responsible for the loss of any piercings I may have, or for the damage caused when they were sucked out of position by the machine and that I had no undeclared illness, heart problems or broken limbs.

After the nurse had called Elisabet, for the third time she whipped the curtain back and forced my arms through the tiny slits, causing the sheet to tear and my circulation to be cut off, and pushed me toward the machine which I was eyeing fearfully. If the gown wasn't designed for a plus-size body then nor was the machine itself. 

Having scrambled inelegantly onto the table I was given a panic button, and having been told what it was, was told not to press it as the whole process would have to start again and no one wanted that!. I was also told not to move, but by now we had both realised that this was an unnecessary instruction. Between the size of the paper sheet, the size of the tube and the bad back that I was here for, moving was not going to be an option.

Once the machine started it was like being inside a jet engine, very loud. I was aware also that there were now several people chatting over my ankles, I couldn't hear or see them but they kept blocking the light. I worried, because of the breeze,  that the door to the lorry was open meaning that anyone in the car park, should they so wish, could see me in my tube naked except for a paper towel, however, the door was closed when I was released.

Eventually, they kindly extracted me and allowed me to get dressed. I was told to make an appointment at reception to see a doctor for the results. It was Sunday afternoon, no one on reception and with no idea what was supposed happen next, I went home slightly dejected.

So stressed was I by this time, that everyone who crossed my path got their head bitten off, this caused a member of my writing group to leave the group much to my shame and embarrassment. I thought that the month would never end.

I realise that all this has got nothing to do with writing, of course, it hasn't. The trouble is that life insists on carrying on even though we have a book to write.

As you know I did continue and publish Pilgrim. I am in the process of preparing The Book of Herbal Medicine for publication. This is the sequel to the Silver Chalice and should be available to order sometime next week with a publication date in early December. More details will be available next week but needless to say, I hope that the month is less dramatic.

What am I doing Wednesday.

Well, the big news today is that pilgrim is published. Available to buy in digital and paper format. I was going to spend the whole blog talking about inspiration, as writers do, in hope that you would imagine me sitting at my desk thinking inspired and writerly thoughts.
I promised to try and keep this real though, so I am going tell to you about the month running up to today and why I almost didn't push the button.
 But first an inspiring photo: This is a friend's art gallery and place that inspired the setting for Richard's house and gallery.

Art's gallery.

The month started with a swollen face, a tooth infection had spread from the root of my tooth up through the bone under my nose. The dentist took one look at the x-ray, shook his head, and gave me a prescription for anti-biotic tablets so big that a horse would have trouble swallowing them Also extra-strong painkillers and the dire prediction that my four front teeth would be easy to remove because of the compromised bone, but that he wasn't sure about the rest. He was really surprised that I was upset by this and assured me that any dentist would say the same. He made no mention of what might replace so many missing teeth but told me that I would need another x-ray to make sure no other bones had been affected, pointing vaguely at the area where my nose should have been, but appeared on his screen as an undefined blob. I retreated to a cafe and cried into my coffee, I couldn't drink the coffee very easily anyway.

Shortly after the dentist, I got an appointment through to have an MRI on my back. I have had bouts of Sciatica for the last few years, but recently the pain would ease off, but never go away and my leg now goes numb when I walk any distance.

 Whilst I am talking about sciatica, I must tell the story of the Chinese restaurant at Christmas. I had woken up on this particular morning and decided to go to the bathroom. Twenty minutes later, and only by edging myself across the floor on my hands and knees, I eventually made it, it took me another twenty minutes to actually sit on the toilet. Having achieved that much I considered staying there for the rest of the day. Steve intervened with what was probably an overdose of ibuprofen and managed to lever me into the bedroom armchair. Any other day I would have been content to read my book, put on some music and let Steve bring me a cheese sandwich for lunch.

 "But it's Christmas day," I wailed, "I don't want to be here," He stood there looking bemused, It really wasn't his fault that I had sciatica but he knew from experience that he was about to be held responsible. He had a brainwave.

"Why don't I find out if the Chinese restaurant is open, I'll take you to the door in the car and get you settled and bring the car around when we've finished, you'll hardly have to move at all"

As luck would have it some friends were there when we arrived, so it looked as though we would get to celebrate Christmas after all. They were all very sympathetic to my plight and we ordered lunch.

" I have this brilliant yoga move that works for sciatica," said Debs "it's called The hanging penguin" (I don't remember the real name but I  am sure Debora, will tell you if you happen to bump into her, she is very kind). I looked blank, I had never done Yoga. She tried doing a stick drawing on a paper napkin, now we all looked blank, though it did vaguely resemble a penguin. There was no way around it, she was going to have to demonstrate. Table and chairs were moved to give enough space, and she took a breath and raised her arms, spread her hips and straightened her spine. Please bear in mind that calling our party middle-aged is being generous and we were all wearing Christmas day, going out clothes. So then, two things happened; her partner edged his chair away trying to pretend that he didn't belong and we had the full attention of the other diners and the waiting staff.

"Should I try it now?" I asked rather weakly, wondering what would happen if I got into position and then froze, like one of the statues in the white witch's castle.

"Goodness me no," she said resuming her normal position. "Do it when you are feeling better, to prevent another attack." She sat down and carried on eating as though nothing had happened, but Steve, Stuart and Lisa were now laughing so much that they had tears running down their cheeks. I mention this only to illustrate that the best memories involve a triumph over adversity. Sadly I have no photo, but then Debs might never forgive me for showing such a photo anyway. So to continue my story.

 My GP had sent me to a specialist who had ordered the MRI telling me not to move very much until he had the results and we knew what we were dealing with. Have you ever tried not moving too much? sounds fun? Honestly, binge-watching Netflix is only a good idea when you don't have time to do it. In practice, less so. On the plus side, I have discovered narrow boat vlogs on YouTube. Did you know that such a thing existed? Amazing, like that bird song music that they play in the spa areas of sports centres. 

 For someone who has never had any illness worse than a cold, all the medical attention was becoming extremely stressful. Strangely the most stressful thing is not knowing 'the system'. Where to go, what to ask, what do you wear? How long do you have to wait? I have the added complication, because I live in Spain, that no one can pronounce my name. My given name is Dawn Hawkins the aw in Dawn and the Haw in Hawkins has no equivalent in Spanish and most strangers aren't willing to attempt it. Spanish friends call me Alba to save embarrassment, but appointments for anything official can be tricky. Don owkin happens sometimes,  Elizabet (Elizabeth is my middle name) happens more often, sometimes, mostly in fact, they just wait until there is no one else waiting and then wave the paperwork at me. I have learned to take a book with me on such occasions and a bottle of water and make sure I know the whereabouts of the bathroom. I have even considered changing my name. It is worth noting at this point that if you are planning to move aboard, check in advance that your name is pronounceable in the local language, if it isn't don't go there, honestly, you will save yourself a whole load of grief.

The appoint for the MRI did come through, but I think that I will save that, and the rest of the month's woes for another day.

While you are waiting perhaps you would like to buy Death of a Pilgrim, read it and leave a review on Amazon. Or just buy it, I won't know if you don't read it, Amazon isn't that good ....yet.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07YN3K1Q2

Amazon US

Spain

Working Weekend

I can't spend all my time writing even if I wanted to, and whether I want to is sometimes dependent on what else is on offer. This weekend we had decided that we needed to prepare for autumn. Of course, we made a list, and as usual, our list was wildly optimistic. We did manage to complete some of our planned jobs.
This is normally the time for harvesting fruit and vegetables, but this year due to Steve's teaching hours and a problem with my back, we have very little to harvest. I will make sure we collect both chestnuts and mushrooms in the next few weeks but neither is ready yet.  What we do have, however, is walnuts, the ground is littered with nuts. These are some that we have put on the table to dry in the sunshine for a while before we bag them for winter.

The other thing that we did achieve is cleaning out the fires ready for the time we need them. No photo but it is a messy job. ( I mean really messy) We only take them apart for cleaning once a year, and then we clean all the pipes that lead to the chimneys. We don't do the chimneys ourselves, though, we have no children small enough. There was a bit of a race for the shower once that was finished.
Then onto wood cutting. The chain saw here is waiting for me to sharpen it. (Not sure how I ended up with that job but steve insists that I'm good at it.)

For the same reason that we have not done much in the garden, we have not cut all our own wood this year. We don't have any woodland of our own anyway, although there are some trees on our property. We do try to cut some in order to keep the cost down as I am not someone who likes to sit shivering. We did manage quite a pile, including some waste wood and a couple of trees that we cut last winter.
Our wood delivery should arrive next Saturday. Sadly I am going to be on a poetry day so I won't be available for stacking duty.
We didn't get around to repairing the barn roof or the small polytunnel so I hope that we don't get heavy rain or storms before next week, otherwise, there will be trouble ahead.

One last thing. The Death of a Pilgrim is very, very close to publication. Next weeks blog will tell you more about where my inspiration came from.  Don't forget to join my mailing list for information.

Mystery Mondays

The third of my regular monthly series is mystery Mondays. This will be a book review of a mystery that I have just read.

I have thought long and hard about how to do this do I choose my top ten books? Do I write about the last book I read? Do I look for and read a mystery simply to feature it here. All of those things are good ideas and in time I might tackle each method of choosing.

I thought that I was going to go for my mystery top ten starting with book number 10. Of course, after I wrote that line I realised that the top ten would be a misnomer, there are just too many mystery books that I love to narrow it down so tightly.

 So now it ill be simply ten mysteries that I have loved. I can then come back later and offer you ten more, there are so many that I am sure I won’t run out.

So in no particular order.

The 39 steps by John Buchan

Set in Galloway, in southern Scotland, this book is a real old fashioned adventure story. Interesting characters, beautiful landscapes and a satisfying puzzle all make this a good read. I have read this several times and still love it.

I suppose that it is a bit of a boy's own adventure but John Buchan is the best type of storyteller. Definitely worth a read if you haven't read it before.

This is the book description from Amazon:

' Set during the First World War, it is the story of Richard Hannay, an ordinary gentleman who finds himself mixed up in a plot to undermine the British war effort. A fugitive from the law, Hannay must race against time to try and stop the plot. "The Thirty-Nine Steps" is an exciting adventure of mystery and espionage that will thrill and delight readers both young and old.'

What am I doing, Wednesdays

This is the second series of blogs I am introducing. The plan is to have one of these each month. These entries will be about my latest book, whatever that is. Work in Progress or WIP is the term that people seem to use. Because I work on several projects at a time, I will choose just one project to give you a progress report on.
 So inspiration is the theme for today.

I will tell you about a few of the places that gave me the inspiration to write 'Death of a Pilgrim’.

I make-up most of the places and all of the people in ‘Death of a Pilgrim’. They are figments of my imagination, that's the best part of writing, the chance to invent things. They are, however, often inspired by some of the things I love about Galicia or places we visit.

A favourite resting place  for pilgrims

The terrace of a bar in the hills above Sarria

The book starts at Raoul's bar, an isolated bar and restaurant in the hills between Triacastela and Sarria. Unfortunately, neither Raoul nor his bar exists in reality. But there are many bars on the Camino to find some inspiration or while away an afternoon.




The Camino itself is both varied and beautiful, and it’s here that Richard finds most of the inspiration he needs to paint. This section is enclosed and shaded, which is a nice contrast to the far-reaching views of the more exposed sections.

A section of Camino

.

Clamshell waymarker

There is little danger of getting lost with these delightful way-markers. The clamshell is the symbol of the Camino. Many pilgrims attach one to their rucksack






Next time I'll tell you a little more about the some of the places that feature in the book-

New series: Freeby Fridays

I have been thinking about introducing regular features to this blog for a while now; I just haven’t got round to it yet. This is the first of three new ideas I am trying out.
Called Freeby Fridays each post, which will occur approximately once a month, will include something free, or at the very least a link to something free.  As this is my writing blog, it will often be something that I have written, but I also intend to beg, steal, or borrow pieces from other people. Whatever appears it should be fun to post and interesting to read.

So today to start the new series, I am offering another poem. Sorry if the subject is gloomy, but poetry is as much about challenge as anything.

 The Judgement

There are days when I just sit and think

What will I be doing next?

When I wonder if the story of my life

has any kind of text.

Days when everything is grey

not black or white or shining

and when the clouds are in my heart

without a silver lining

Those days occur more often now

I’ve nothing left to offer

not health, nor work, nor coin to give

just burdens for another

I fill the forms and sign my name.

Try hard to fit the bill.

I’ve done my best to play the game.

But I’m old and tired and ill.

The days are long, cold, and dark.

and sometimes time is slower.

And loneliness a formless Snark,

gives worthlessness its power

I think  I’ll finish while I can.

Leaving others to defend

The fearful, abiding, living sham

with a universally credited end.

The Silver Chalice or how not to write a novel.

How chalice started

I started writing in July of last year. As I mentioned in a previous post, I wrote only two short stories and a poem for a competition. I was in love!  After a lifetime of daydreaming, there are hundreds of stories in my head; I was relieved to get some of them on paper.

My friend Jackie, who had also entered the same competition, suggested we do NaNoWriMo. After some explanation and a bit of internet research, I agreed to join her so we could support each other. How hard can it be? I thought to myself.

NaNo started in November and as it was then the end of July, I had three months before it started. What I should have done next is plan my novel,  what I actually did was research ways to get my unwritten novel published. I discovered the possibilities of self-publishing via Amazon. What a good idea I thought. What I should have done next is plan my novel. What I actually did was write a practice piece to find out how the publishing process worked. And that’s how chalice was born; it was my practice piece. The first version was terrible. It was a murder mystery, but I couldn’t bring myself to kill anyone even on paper, so a murder mystery with no murder. I realised then, that If I was going to write the real thing in November; I had better learn something about writing. Every time I found out something new, I changed Chalice.

Of course, when November came around, I had nothing more than a title for the novel I was about to write because I should have spent my time planning. I only managed 35,000 words, a fail in NaNo land but an achievement for me. I discovered that I was on a learning curve so steep that I needed ropes and climbing shoes. I finished the first draft of Pilgrim, my Nano book, in March. Of course, by then I had lots of new knowledge, so I rewrote Chalice yet again. I still considered it to be a practice piece, although, I had published it on Amazon by then. To cut a long story short, Chalice was being changed either every few weeks or whenever I learnt a new skill. There came a point a couple of months ago when I realised I had put so much work into it that I didn’t really want to scrap it as soon as Pilgrim was ready. I also had, had an idea for a sequel featuring one of the minor characters. I have now written the first draft of that sequel.

Where did the story come from?

The advice that everyone gives you is ‘write about what you know’. Well, my life isn’t interesting enough to give me much help. However, I decided I would set the story in a church in Derby so that at least I would be in familiar surroundings. I lived and went to church there for so many years. I read somewhere that I was the right age and gender for cosy mysteries so I decided that that’s what I would write. I have read quite a few, so I thought that should help.

What I did not understand is, most of the people who successfully self- publish already have some of the necessary skills. Sometimes they have been writing for years and have been traditionally published, sometimes they have been writing for years and have not been published, but have gotten better with every book. Sometimes they have been in a related profession, journalism, editing or publishing, and sometimes they have enough money to buy help at every stage.

In a way, I’m glad that I didn’t know that or I might have given up by now because the answer to the question, How hard can it be? Is very hard. After spending two days trying to work out how to make a Facebook post that looks attractive, I am frustrated but no further forward. Creating a cover for the paperback actually made me cry with frustration.

The Silver Chalice is finished, though. It does have a real murder; it does have clues, and it has been edited by a real person other than me. I won’t make any more changes unless you or another reader finds a mistake and emails me to tell me. The paperback is finished and is available to buy. The kindle version may be available or not because I appear to have broken Amazon. I have published it and unpublished it so many times that I have caused a glitch in the system. They assure me it will be all right and I believe them.

It is available here;
 Amazon.com.
 Amazon.co.uk
 Amazon.es

It is fairly short, a novella rather than a full novel so it won’t take you too long to read, but it’s long enough to be worthwhile. I hope that you will buy it and enjoy it. If you enjoy it, please review it on Amazon.

What's next?

Death of a Pilgrim is with the editor and should be available in a few weeks. The Book of Medicinal Herbs should be ready a few weeks after that. Then I start again, but this time I will be better prepared!

Please join my mailing list and be the first to hear any news.

Very little Progress

One of the problems of being a new writer is that you have no idea how long things are going to take. Or, as I have discovered, how many things there are to do. Every time I achieve something I realise that my to-do list has grown. I am slowly making progress. So here I am months after I thought Death of a Pilgrim would be up for sale; it still has a long way to go. I am making some progress, but I have to admit that I spend a lot of time feeling frustrated and working really hard with apparently little result.

So onto the positive stuff, The Chalice has been revised and edited because I have decided that there will be a paperback edition. This has a new cover again to match the paperback and will now be called the 'The Silver Chalice'. It’s not quite ready yet but will be very soon.

I have created an email list, so if you want to be the first to know when things are published, please join. There is a button both on the Blog and on the Facebook page for doing that.

I have sent off two new poems and a story for this year's good life in Galicia competition. The book which is an anthology of fiction non-fiction and poetry about Galicia is also available, and if you want to know what it’s like to live here, it makes a good read.

The good life in Galicia

This is my poem which appears in the book it’s called the longing. Galician people have often had to emigrate in order to survive because Galicia although very beautiful is not wealthy. In the Galician language, there is a special word for the homesickness that you get when you are forced to live away from Galicia.

The Longing

It rises like the dew on grass in a morning.

It comes like a glimpse of mountains through the mist.

And when I see a certain shade of green along a valley

My Galicia, I am longing for the home I miss…...

Sometimes it’s the sight of seafood on a griddle,

or the ozone when the ocean touches shore.

But when I look, it’s beyond the infinite horizon.

My Galician home, the place I’m longing for.

One day when I smelt wood-smoke in the autumn,

and found some houses made of stone.

I saw a road that wound through forest.

I thought for one brief moment….. thought that road might lead me home.

Today beside a grapevine on a hillside,

I’m drinking wine that tastes of grass and sun.

and far, far below me is a river

and I know, that when that longing comes

No matter how good and rich my life is 

when I stand in a land, that’s not my own

My heart will hear the music of the bagpipes

my soul will sing the ancient songs of… Galicia my home.

On the subject of living here, if you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to move here from the UK, then why not read this book by Craig Briggs. He has been here for seventeen years and writes beautifully about the ups and downs of life in Galicia. His books are available here.

Journey to a dream

Failure at every turn.

Since my last Blog post only a few days ago, I have to report two pretty significant fails.
I reported that I had negotiated the Amazon system to create a book promotion week for The chalice of Saint Bee. I was so pleased with myself. As you all know Pride comes before a fall. Although I have a countdown promotion running in the United States at this very moment, I did not manage the same for the UK. I also got the prices entirely wrong.
You will be pleased to know that I have tried again.  I hope that the promotion in the UK starts on the 20th.
The relevant information is:
 Amazon.com
 17-20 April 99cents
20-24 April 1.99
Amazon UK
20-27 April 99p for the whole week.

I can promise nothing as I am not quite sure what I did wrong the first time.

The Other fail. This Blog.
 It has caused some interesting discussion in my writer's group.
Not edited well enough, not professional enough, not clear enough.
All true.
My first reaction was to think that I had better abandon the idea of having a writers blog for the following reasons;

• I don’t know enough.

 Either about selling books or about editing. My knowledge of grammar is adequate but not good enough. I need to look things up all the time.

• Time.

I cannot spend two weeks editing every blog entry, by the time I felt it was just right it would be out of date.  I want to finish my book. A book, of course, which also needs editing and which is very time-consuming.

• Professional Face of me as an author.

 If the Blog is acting a promotional site, the entries acting a sample of my writing.  I would need to spend the time required to edit to a professional standard.
 But what would I write about? I simply don’t know enough about the profession.
 I am not the sort of person who has a professional Persona, so I can't give you rose-tinted glimpses of a well-ordered life. I am me, just me.

It cannot be a promotional site then.

There will be a blog.

So if this Blog does not exist purely for promoting books, does it have another purpose?

It will function primarily as a personal diary. It will record the ups and downs, the frustrations and the joys.

The style of writing has to reflect my personality because it will tell my story. My stories will be different in the way that they are written, in I hope the style will be appropriate for the story I am telling. (I don't have sufficient experience to be certain of that). 

It will be about writing, but not how to write.

 I will endeavour to make it as clear as I can without editing it in the way I would edit a book. I trust that I will get better as time goes on but you will walk with me. If you know something about Grammar or Clarity of writing or sentence construction or style that I obviously don’t, then tell me.

It might be a little bit muddled with overlong sentences, but then so am I.

My books, of course, will be promoted on the site but there will be more.

I will tell you what goes on in the background. Why I do things the way I do. I will tell you what it feels like and how often I end the day in tears. What the mechanics are, and why I wake up at two in the morning thinking of solutions to problems that I don’t yet have.

I hope that my readers are aspiring writers who want to share frustrations and joys, experienced writers who want to laugh and to remember what it used to be like. People curious about it all works are welcome as well.
I am looking for fellow pilgrims who will walk this road alongside me.

Reading the blog will be a way of meeting me, for anyone who would like to do that.

A Number of Firsts

As is appropriate for spring, I am celebrating a number of firsts this month. I hope you will celebrate with me.

It might be spring but it's raining.

The poem I wrote for the Good Life in Galicia competition, celebrates four of those firsts.

•   It was the first thing I have written seriously for someone else to read. (I don’t count school here.)
•   The first time that I have entered an open competition.
•   The first time I have won anything for writing.
•   The first time I have had something in print.  I don’t include digital short stories here.

   The anthology is called The Good Life In Galicia and is available on Amazon in ebook format or on Smashwords in printed and ebook format.
   It has a variety of stories poems and anecdotes about life in Galicia.
  The first full meeting of our writers' group rather grandly entitled The Writers Guild of Galicia happened this week. Three of us at the moment but another member has just joined, so growing. We are planning to support and encourage each other whilst we are writing. Our goal is to be able to make a living through writing, so we are serious. Some of us are almost there some of us, like me, have a long way to go

Our choice of venue must mean something

We are pretty keen though.

I have completely rewritten The Chalice of Saint Bee and designed a new cover. This is a first because I managed to negotiate the Amazon system to do it. The system is designed to be straight forward but I am a bit of a klutz at anything technical.  The first time I do anything I invariably fail. I am, most definitely, a slow learner and tend to panic when given a set of instructions. Something always goes wrong. I even got one of my O level papers sent back because I got my name wrong.
   Now I know that anything can be changed. I can safely say that if you read anything of mine and discover a problem with editing and/ or formatting tell me. I can now change it and send you the updated copy.
   To celebrate I am running a countdown offer in the US and UK, so for 3 days starting on the 17th April, The chalice will be available for just 99 cents or 76 pence (Depending on exchange rates). Of course, it’s always free to read on Amazon unlimited.
I probably should count learning about Amazon special offers as another first.

The last first is the way I am writing this blog. Always before, I have written straight into Blogger; no edits, no changes. This post I am writing in Scrivener so that I can plan my posts in advance and edit them before publication. In theory, they should better. Please note though I am not a professional editor and my grasp of grammar is sketchy. However, as with the books, I am open to suggestions. Because I can plan these I feel a bit more relaxed about writing them. I know that some of you love to find missing full stops and misplaced apostrophes. So fire away.
    Editing and rewriting is the skill that I am currently learning and like everything, there is a steep learning curve. I am surprised to find that I am enjoying it immensely. For some reason, I previously believed that once something was written it shouldn’t be changed, other than for spelling and grammar. It was almost as though there was some sort of magic spell attached. I am still worried in my heart of hearts that people will laugh at me. When I have worked hard on something and it’s the best I can do. What happens if  someone laughs and metaphorically pats me on the head like a child. Would I be left so humiliated I would never recover? I might be about to find out. (I pose this as a question Because being patronised and laughed at happens to me all too frequently.)
  I am now finding that you can play endlessly with words until I turn them into something that I like (emphasis on the I here) . Although the process is fun, like everything else, it might take me some time to get the hang of it.

THE END

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It is a very satisfying feeling being able to write the end on a novel, of course, I am well aware that it is the end of the story that it refers too, not the end of the work. But I can leave alone now for a few weeks and do other things. different pieces of writing. Some sewing,( I have bought fabric in anticipation). I will get out my gardening tools and maybe, just maybe I will clean the bathroom (In my defence the ensuite bathroom, that we use every day is clean)
Writing my first novel has been such a steep learning curve. And  having got to this point I feel now that everything I have written before will need rewriting. I hope that it means that everything that I write next will better, but I am less certain of that. I am pretty proud of myself for getting to the end though. At times I have felt as though I was carving granite and at times as though I was chasing butterflies but I have loved it all.

The story is a murder mystery, It starts here in Spain on the Camino de Santiago with the death of a pilgrim outside an artists Studio and ends in London challenging police corruption and the rise of fascism.  I hope it will be a good read especially for lovers of detective fiction. I already have the plot outlined for the second in the series. My problem you see has never been a shortage of ideas just the lack of confidence to put them on paper.

One of the best discoveries that I have made is that most of the pleasure is in writing the story, so it becomes less important whether or not anyone reads it. Of course, I hope that it turns out to be readable in fact as much fun to read as it was to write. I, like anyone else, will need people to buy my  stories if I am to continue writing them, It's time that is the problem, That and the fact that Steve insists on eating, wearing clothes, and living at home.  It should be ready by the summer but I make no promises.

I have also started using Scrivener instead of a conventional word processor. It is a program designed for writers and I can already see how much easier it will make organising my work. I am still using the free trial but after only a couple of days use I could see the advantages. I will let you know when I have used it for a complete project.

The picture I have included is just a' free to use' one on the internet I don't have a book cover in mind but I will post on here once I have decided whether to self publish or look for an agent/ There seem to be advantages with both and it is just one of the many choices for newbie writers. I the meantime I intend to try my hand at different things. short stories, poems, flash fiction and maybe different genres I'll let you know.

A Christmas Poem

First, before anyone asks my book ' Death of a Pilgrim' is going very well but is still not finished I will keep you posted.
I am doing a poetry course at the moment, it looked so good that I couldn't resist despite time being an ever-pressing issue.
This is my first marked assignment which I got back today. It is meant to be an example of a conceit, a kind of overblown metaphor. In keeping with the season, it is a bit sentimental but it got good enough reviews on my course for me to risk sharing it here.
I hope that you enjoy it but have a good Christmas anyway.

The Christmas butterfly

The Christmas caterpillar is what lives with your heart.

It feeds on all the sadness that the world tries to impart

It eats around the margins of the profit-hungry boss.

and nibbles at the hatred that’s the cause of war and loss

It first came into being some Two thousand years past

with tired and hungry migrants finding shelter at last

The Christmas cocoon is the saddest thing to see

as it wraps up peace and kindness with last years Christmas tree

Generosity and goodness we put them all away

And tell ourselves the needy don’t deserve our help today.

You have to earn our help we say by working day and night

we-ll only hand out baubles to those who get it right.

But when the Christmas Butterfly, emerges from it’s shell

There is no discrimination allowed within its realm

If not everyone is able, to enjoy what Christmas brings

If there are sadness grief and loneliness amongst the other things

Then that’s why the butterfly has wings of red, green and gold

to help you fly to people who have nothing to behold.

You see, it takes an act of kindness it’s eggs to fertilise

A quietly given gift that should not be advertised

You can make the future caterpillars crop up everywhere

so Christmas can be Christmas for everyone to share.

Nanowrimo part two.

Telling people that you are doing NaNoWriMo always prompts two questions at the end of the month.
The first is did you win?
The second is can I read your book now?
In my case, the answer to both questions is no.
To win Nano you need to have written 50000 words I was nowhere near, in fact, I was behind from the start. I have had an email from the organisers commiserating and telling me sometimes it takes more than one attempt. Initially, I was disappointed there is little doubt that I was neither well enough prepared nor did I give enough time to it. It has only taken a few though to start feeling quite pleased with myself. I wrote close to 35000 words which is a good half of my book. I am hoping that I can finish the first draft by the end of the year. I have learned a lot about the process of writing. This was my first attempt at a full-length novel, for the next one I know more or less what I need to do to prepare. I know that sitting and writing one thing at a time is not for me. Having more that one project on the go helps me to think, I can switch from one to another when I get stuck. I can now visualise what a novel feels like to write, despite not having finished yet, which will help me finish. It will help me plan the next book.
By the end of the year or shortly thereafter I will have a raw first draft. My plan is to put it away for a month or two to give me some objectivity and then start the editing process. My initial thought was that the whole process to self-publication would be about 4 months, I now think that it will be about six so I should have a book ready for reading by April or May. I am happy with that. Other people are faster I know, some are slower but the advantage of getting older is being able to work at a pace you enjoy.
So the next question has to be would I do Nano again, and I would maybe with less fear and more organisation. Also with the knowledge that it is with the aim of writing something not just getting words on paper and so I will be the one in control of how much I write, not the numbers on a chart.

Nanowrimo

It was my 60th birthday this week, and whilst I am not exactly retired, I did spend most of my working life expecting that I would be. (Whole other story) Less of my time is spent doing paid work now which does give me a little bit of room to experiment, at least with things that offer the possibility of remuneration.

My excellent writing course is now finished and I am into the serious business of writing my first novel. Joining Nanowrimo is an incentive to get on with it. It entails committing yourself to write 50000 words in a month. Whilst, not a complete novel it is most definitely the bulk of one. 

11 days in and I am woefully behind, possibly irredeemably behind, however and this is a big however, I have done the first draft of the first 3 chapters in less than a fortnight, so I feel as though I am winning even if, in fact, I am not.

For me, there have been some disadvantages:

 I use ongoing projects to help me not to get stuck, For example, If one story is struggling I move on to something else and come back to the first a few days later, mind cleared and enthusiasm restored. I am finding it hard to concentrate on one thing, hence my writing this blog today rather than trying to catch up.

My days are always full, I knew that finding this much time would be a struggle and it has been.

I am best when I am alone in the house, for some reason even Steve being around makes it harder for me.

Steve works so hard in the week that when he is here I want to be with him not at my desk.

There are some definite advantages:

The pressure to do a certain number of words a day does make you write more than normal.

I am writing with a writing Buddy, Jacqueline Vincent this has been a revelation as well just how much difference it makes having someone to encourage and be encouraged by.

Having a defined project with a plan and a to-do list each day is great for productivity.

The NaNoWriMo team produce some great stuff to help motivate you, I almost wish I lived in The states so that I could join in one of the write-ins.

Oh well back to boosting my word count, next time I'll tell you a bit about my story.