Updated 09/10/2016: The REVEAL is at the bottom of the page!
To celebrate the launch of the Lost and Found tour and the debut of these fabulous books:
Lost and Found Hamper Giveaway!
Tag: Book Reviews
Three Cracking Historical YA Novels
I’ve never read so much historical YA in one hit and there’s more to come! Here are three of my favorites so far
I’m almost finished reading Lucy Coats Cleo too, another cracker- my brain is learning so much stuff it may burst!
What’s it like?….Phase Two of the Editing Process
Regular readers will gather, from the huge gap in posts, that Phase 2 of Editing More of Me has been somewhat more stressful than Phase 1. There are a number of reasons for this: Continue reading “What’s it like?….Phase Two of the Editing Process”
What’s it like….Waiting to get your First Edits Back or How to Calm Your Bad Shouty Brain.
So, I hit my first deadline and sent in my edits with a bowlful of relief and an email full of questions. I loved the feeling that this was a collaboration in a way, a director and an actor working together – my performance but with the hand of my editor firmly on my shoulder. It felt great to send something off and not immediately start biting my nails, waiting for the inevitable rejection.
Ha. So much for that. Old habits die hard. Sarah was called away to a more urgent project, my edits would have to wait a little while.
‘BECAUSE IT’S RUBBISH,’ screamed my Bad Shouty Brain. Continue reading “What’s it like….Waiting to get your First Edits Back or How to Calm Your Bad Shouty Brain.”
What’s it like: working with an editor for the first time?
I remember the many questions I had, but didn’t like to ask, when friends got their first deals. I thought I might start a series of posts about the process of getting a debut novel from acceptance to the book shelf. Feel free to ask questions and I’ll do my best to answer. Continue reading “What’s it like: working with an editor for the first time?”
Merry Christmas, Give Yourself Some Writing Time.
I’ve neglected this blog so much over the past year I don’t deserve any readers at all. Thank you for sticking with me.
It’s not just the blog. I’ve not been writing much at all. Not really. I’ve written my silly poems for The Funeverse and tried to keep up with critique in my SCBWI Ya Critique group ( I cannot tell you how much those people mean to me!) but writing in earnest…? Writing to show my agent I was still serious about my career…? No. Nothing. Nada. Continue reading “Merry Christmas, Give Yourself Some Writing Time.”
The Upside of Being An Unpublished Writer
1. Comradeship with other UW’s
2. No deadlines except the ones you set yourself.
3. Ability to write whatever you like.
4. Intact golden dream of life after publication.
5. Urm….
Please add more, I need cheering up…
Dougal Trump ( err…Daley!) V God Of Small Things…
I wanted to love A God of Small Things. It sounds clever, it looks clever, it had great reviews – everyone I spoke to had loved it. I was going to love it. I was going to be swept into another world, my heart was going to rip in two with the terrible events in the story – I was going to come to a deeper understanding of the caste system, of the rise of communism in India – the legacy of colonialism. The OrangeDrink LemonDrink Man was going to haunt my dreams.
For I am a Serious Reader. I belong to book clubs. I keep Goodreads updated ( well I did before the buy out – see, I even know there was a buy out – I am an informed woman).
I stroked the lovely matt cover, turned over the first page and read….
Ah.
Oh.
Gosh it took a long time.
I even quite liked Velutha but…
I still wasn’t all that bothered when what happened happened.
Hmmm. Lot’s of nice scenes interspersed with a lot of other words. Boy, was it hard work. I don’t like my books being hard work. I want to fall into a world and be swept along by it, good or bad. Why didn’t that happen? What’s wrong with me? Which part of my brain is failing to connect with what is clearly a Work Of Art?
When I finished it, I ditched it with some relief and picked up Dougal Trump’s new book by Jackie Marchant. Yeah yeah, I know, it’s a kids book. It’s got a shiny red cover and a cartoon boy on the front. I’m a middle aged woman , reading this is work OK? I wangled a review copy, I’ve got to read it and review. Got to.
Ah ha ha ha!!!
It’s hilarious.
Well constructed, fun, tightly plotted, a world I happily fell in to. The little snippets dropped in from each character somehow, amazingly in so few words, deftly draw Dougie’s world. My bath water went cold as I turned page after page.
Damn it all. I see myself as a sophisticated book club lady! Turns out I’m harbouring an inner small boy.
Come to think of it, last time I went to actual book club I cycled back over a field using a wind up pig torch in lieu of light and fell in a ditch when I tried to stop.
Maybe I should just give in to it?
UPDATE!
Dougal Trump has been reborn as Dougal Daley with a new cover and a wonderful new illustrator – highly recommended by me!!!
Stephen King, Back to Haunt Me.
I love the satisfying structure of circular stories.
Wuthering Heights was my favourite book for years. Catherine and Hareton coming together at the end turns the book into one of hope. Out of all that ugliness, all that sorrow, come two people capable of kindness, strength, love.
J K Rowling does a similar thing in Harry Potter. I know some people don’t like the end – the happy ever after – but I do. Not the marriages, but how the orphaned Ted Lupin isn’t shoved in a cupboard like Harry was. Ted is surrounded by loving families and treasured. Hope out of sorrow. Continue reading “Stephen King, Back to Haunt Me.”
The Idea’s Shop. ‘Where do your ideas come from’ and ‘why do writers eat so much cake?’.
‘Where do you get your ideas from?’ Asks Everyman.
Mwah ha ha, we jest hilariously, ‘The Idea’s Shop.’
Idea’s Shop! Ha. What a ridiculous idea.
