Wow! It's been such a LONG time since I last posted. Huge apologies. No excuse...well apart from trying to edit my latest "Roman". It's been like wading through treacle with a fat suit on and tied to one of those giant elastic bands that ping you back when you get too far ahead of yourself.
One day I'll realise that it was all worth it...but not right at this present moment in time...it's hell...
As well as being in my editing cave I've also had a PC die on me and had to save up for a new one. The new one is way too tecci for my liking - so I had to pay for an hour's tutorial to more or less learn how to switch the bloomin' thing on. What's embarrassing, is that if I had asked my 13 year old niece for help, she would have rolled her eyes and said, "It's easy aunty Caroline." Give me back my old PC any-day," it did what it said on the tin" if you forgive the pun.
Anyhoo...back to the editing. Promise I'll post soon...promise...Caroline x
Thursday, 17 October 2013
Monday, 1 July 2013
The book has left the building....
After months of procrastination editing, I've finally finished editing my "Roman" historical romance and sent it back to an editor at Entangled who requested it ages ago.
It's been a labour ofhate love I must say. I'm not an author who likes editing that's a definate.
Apologies, too, for the length of time it's been since I last blogged, but something has to give! (Not CandyCush Saga though, Caroline. Why is that I wonder?)
To say it's a weight off my shoulders is an understatement, and when I pressed "SEND" to the poor editor who has (the joy of) reading it, I felt totally drained but also anxious too. What if she hates it and it wings it way back post haste? What if she thinks its ok but then asks for a shed load of revisions? What if she loves it and offers me a 2 book deal? All sorts of scenarios kept buzzing through my poor addled mind - que more procrastination!
Anyhoo, back to reality. I thought I would blog briefly about what have I learned about this writing lark?
1. It's a lot harder to edit a 63k book than a 3k short story! Many a day has been spent re-reading what was typed in Chaper 1 as I've forgotten a plot point or twist as I've got further into the story. (Note to self - use the post-it-note method a bit more to keep tabs on it).
2. If you edit too much it starts to lose some of the originality and you also start to lose that elusive "voice". Many a time I was tempted to edit, and edit some more, but had to restrain myself. Sometimes less is more I think.
3. When writing a romance you really need to keep track of the CHARACTERS and not the PLOT. A romance has to be character driven and not plot driven. Easier said than done to be honest.
4. With a romance you really need to get inside your characters heads before you start writing a book. A mistake I made first time round and hence the length of time it's taken me to get this MS out there.
5. A romance (and any other work if fiction IMHO) needs the make sure of the following:
Take care until next time. Caroline p.s I promise to blog more often. CandyCrush Saga will have to wait. (Yeah, right, Caroline!)
It's been a labour of
Apologies, too, for the length of time it's been since I last blogged, but something has to give! (Not CandyCush Saga though, Caroline. Why is that I wonder?)
To say it's a weight off my shoulders is an understatement, and when I pressed "SEND" to the poor editor who has (the joy of) reading it, I felt totally drained but also anxious too. What if she hates it and it wings it way back post haste? What if she thinks its ok but then asks for a shed load of revisions? What if she loves it and offers me a 2 book deal? All sorts of scenarios kept buzzing through my poor addled mind - que more procrastination!
Anyhoo, back to reality. I thought I would blog briefly about what have I learned about this writing lark?
1. It's a lot harder to edit a 63k book than a 3k short story! Many a day has been spent re-reading what was typed in Chaper 1 as I've forgotten a plot point or twist as I've got further into the story. (Note to self - use the post-it-note method a bit more to keep tabs on it).
2. If you edit too much it starts to lose some of the originality and you also start to lose that elusive "voice". Many a time I was tempted to edit, and edit some more, but had to restrain myself. Sometimes less is more I think.
3. When writing a romance you really need to keep track of the CHARACTERS and not the PLOT. A romance has to be character driven and not plot driven. Easier said than done to be honest.
4. With a romance you really need to get inside your characters heads before you start writing a book. A mistake I made first time round and hence the length of time it's taken me to get this MS out there.
5. A romance (and any other work if fiction IMHO) needs the make sure of the following:
- You need to create sympathetic characters a reader will root for.
- To have enough reasons/conflict/drama to ensure that a reader will support that character through to the end.
- You need to create obstacles to make it look like a character can't obtain what they want.
- You need to introduce the main conflict early on - ideally in the first 5 pages. Avoid information dumping (easily done in historicals), too much backstory and long flowing descriptions of scenery etc.
- And finally - a killer first line if you can.
Take care until next time. Caroline p.s I promise to blog more often. CandyCrush Saga will have to wait. (Yeah, right, Caroline!)
Saturday, 4 May 2013
I'm on a roll! Another short story published.....
.....this time in June's edition of PRIMA magazine. Didn't even know it was in, until the fabulous Teresa Ashby told me! I win a Kobo e-reader which is nice!
This is the 2nd success of 2013. I've still got a few short stories out there, but have had a few "R's" too.
On the book front - the "Roman Romance" - I've still not finished editing the bloomin' thing. It's like wading through mud/treacle/cement all at the same time. But...I've given myself until the end of May2014 2013 to finish the bloody thing! I am definitely not one of those authors who "likes" editing and finds it "cleansing and cathartic "! Hey ho.
Caroline x
This is the 2nd success of 2013. I've still got a few short stories out there, but have had a few "R's" too.
On the book front - the "Roman Romance" - I've still not finished editing the bloomin' thing. It's like wading through mud/treacle/cement all at the same time. But...I've given myself until the end of May
Caroline x
Thursday, 28 March 2013
My short story is in Writers' Forum....
....yay! Pleased as punch to be honest. It's only the second short story that I've ever sold! So I'm feeling quite chuffed really.
Hope everyone is ok in blog land - I'm very much a random blogger of late. It depends on whether Blogger is behaving itself and lets me post something these days!
News wise - I've recently come back from Madeira where I celebrated my 50th birthday. Had a fab time - DH spoiled me rotten to be honest! But I'm not complaining. I now need to get back to the writing and finish off one of my "Romans" and send it "out there"!
Hope everything is OK with all of you. Caroline x
Hope everyone is ok in blog land - I'm very much a random blogger of late. It depends on whether Blogger is behaving itself and lets me post something these days!
News wise - I've recently come back from Madeira where I celebrated my 50th birthday. Had a fab time - DH spoiled me rotten to be honest! But I'm not complaining. I now need to get back to the writing and finish off one of my "Romans" and send it "out there"!
Hope everything is OK with all of you. Caroline x
Friday, 1 March 2013
Halleluja! At last....
....I seem to be able to post a BLOG! I've done something to my settings, and touch wood, it seems to be working at long last! I just wish I was more technologically proficient to know what I'm doing! Hope everyone is OK in Blogland. I've been quite good recently on the writing front. Here's a resume.
1. My short story (2nd prize) should be in the next edition of Writers' Formum (April), so I'm looking forward to seeing my name in print.
2. I had some good feedback from an editor at Entangled Publishing about my Roman Historical. She said she liked my main characters, in that they "were well rounded and sympathetic" but that it (the story) needed to be longer. I had sent her a 40k story whittled down from an 85k original (!) So I'm in the final stages of bringing it back up to around 60k to fit their guidelines, which I will then resubmit to her. Note to self - see you CAN edit when you want too!
3. I've nearly finished another "Roman"l and I've also started a "Viking" as well! I've got all these ideas in my head for stories that they fight amongst themselves all the time for which one will get written first!
4. I've also sent off a few short stories to the Womags - but I've heard nothing yet. I think the poor editors are overwhelmed by short stories at the moment, as the market has shrunk as there a fewer and fewer magazines printing short stories these days. Which is, of course, a real shame.
Caroline x
1. My short story (2nd prize) should be in the next edition of Writers' Formum (April), so I'm looking forward to seeing my name in print.
2. I had some good feedback from an editor at Entangled Publishing about my Roman Historical. She said she liked my main characters, in that they "were well rounded and sympathetic" but that it (the story) needed to be longer. I had sent her a 40k story whittled down from an 85k original (!) So I'm in the final stages of bringing it back up to around 60k to fit their guidelines, which I will then resubmit to her. Note to self - see you CAN edit when you want too!
3. I've nearly finished another "Roman"l and I've also started a "Viking" as well! I've got all these ideas in my head for stories that they fight amongst themselves all the time for which one will get written first!
4. I've also sent off a few short stories to the Womags - but I've heard nothing yet. I think the poor editors are overwhelmed by short stories at the moment, as the market has shrunk as there a fewer and fewer magazines printing short stories these days. Which is, of course, a real shame.
Caroline x
Thursday, 7 February 2013
Some writing success at last....
.....I've won second prize in Writers' Forum Short Story
competition. Happy days! It's for a short story I wrote AGES ages ago
- Alegra's Fairy Tale Wedding. I subbed it to all the Womags (except
Peoples Friend - it certainly isn't a PF story!) and got no-where. You
read about "moving on" in the writing world - i.e. forget the
rejections and write something else. But....sometimes you just love a
story and believe in it.
This is what I felt/feel about AFTW, so I didn't give up and subbed it just before Christmas to Writers' Forum. Then in January a lovely email from Sue Moorcroft saying it had been shortlisted; and then last week another email from Sue saying it has come second (£150.00 prize as well!)
The story will be in March's (26th) publication so I'm looking forward to seeing my name in print (at last). Caroline x
This is what I felt/feel about AFTW, so I didn't give up and subbed it just before Christmas to Writers' Forum. Then in January a lovely email from Sue Moorcroft saying it had been shortlisted; and then last week another email from Sue saying it has come second (£150.00 prize as well!)
The story will be in March's (26th) publication so I'm looking forward to seeing my name in print (at last). Caroline x
Wednesday, 9 January 2013
Some writing sucess at last....
......I've won second prize in Writers' Forum Short Story competition. Happy days! It's for a short story I wrote AGES ages ago - Alegra's Fairy Tale Wedding. I subbed it to all the Womags (except Peoples Friend - it certainly isn't a PF story!) and got no-where. You read about "moving on" in the writing world - i.e. forget the rejections and write something else. But....sometimes you just love a story and believe in it.
This is what I felt/feel about AFTW, so I didn't give up and subbed it just before Christmas to Writers' Forum. Then in January a lovely email from Sue Moorcroft saying it had been shortlisted; and then last week another email from Sue saying it has come second (£150.00 prize as well!)
The story will be in March's (26th) publication so I'm looking forward to seeing my name in print (at last). Caroline x
This is what I felt/feel about AFTW, so I didn't give up and subbed it just before Christmas to Writers' Forum. Then in January a lovely email from Sue Moorcroft saying it had been shortlisted; and then last week another email from Sue saying it has come second (£150.00 prize as well!)
The story will be in March's (26th) publication so I'm looking forward to seeing my name in print (at last). Caroline x
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