Writing is better with Friends

Some things are better together. Coffee and cake. Cheese and wine. Laurel and Hardy. Ball gowns with baseball boots. Writing is definitely better with friends.I love writing, but it can be a lonely endeavour. When I started, it was a dirty little secret with hours sat by myself with my computer or notepad and pen. When I came ‘out’ of the writing closet, I was so excited by my WIP I’d talk about my book at length to anyone too polite to stop me, but no one really shared my enthusiasm. Then I joined a local critique group. 

 The Crit group led to me meeting other writers as passionate about their projects as I was about mine, and took me down the rabbit hole to discover the world of SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book writer and illustrators) and a wider community of writing pals. All of this helping to make my journey less daunting as I rode the highs and lows; celebrating the good times and helping one another through the not so good times.

Celebrating the launch of Nicki's Last Chance Hotel with Nick Cross and Amy Butler Greenfield

However it is easy to inadvertently find yourself back in the closet with the door firmly shut. Over the last few years, for a whole host of reasons (mostly resulting from us relocating) I found myself inching back towards the writing closet. At the same time, I experienced a drop in my confidence and creativity. So when I was writing my news years resolutions for 2018 and accidentally stumbled on my nearly identical resolutions for 2014, I decided I needed an attitude change. So I made the decision to re-prioritise my writing and get back in to the writing community. 

At Candy Gourlay's Launch of 'Is it a Mermaid' - Picture thanks to Candy.

I started the year attending the Big Honk (part of Golden Egg), making new friends and discovering many of my older writer friends were also eggs.

At The Big Honk with Addy Farmer and Philippa Francis

 I continued through the year attending friend’s books launches, and other writer events. And finally, for the first time since leaving my position on the SCBWI Conference committee back in 2014, I attended the SCBWI Winchester conference. 

WIth SCBWI Oxford Pal's Teri Terry and Paula Harrison  - Thanks to Paula for photo.

What I discovered by doing more of the social events and being surrounded by other writers, old friends and new ones, was that my creativity started flowing gain, and my confidence grew. Then at one social in Bath over the summer, sat around talking to half a dozen other writers I discovered that two of the other writers live within two miles of me. This was a break through as we started a new critique group, meeting monthly to critique a few chapter of each other’s WIP, and encouraging each other.

After watching Chitra Soundar's fabulous event at The Henley Literary Festival

After a decade of writing, I signed up to a writing course at the Oxford University Department for Further Learning, headed up by manuscript wrangler extraordinaire Nicky Browne; meeting more budding authors along with meeting in person folks I know from the Internet. 

Meeting face to face friends from the web - with Nina Oaken 

What I have discovered in my year of re-immersing myself in the writing community is that creativity is contagious, beginning surrounded by creative people really does make you more creative and productive, plus making it more FUN. All this cumulated in one great thing, for the first time in a long time I not only tinkered with editing an existing WIP but I wrote something new. I wrote it and FINISHED IT! And, with help from one of my best and closest writer friends, edited it and subbed it.

Making new friends with K L Kettle & Annaliese Avery 

So all in all, my message is this; WRITING IS BETTER WITH FRIENDS - so if you new to writing, go out now, and find you writery buddies! 

With Writery best buddies, Jo Wyton & Nicki Thornton at Nicki' book launch.

The End is Near for One of my Favouritist Places in the World – The Cottage Bookshop in Penn.

In 2013 my family relocated. Everything was new. New House. New school. New Job. New clubs. And thanks to out trusty steed ‘Volvo’ biting the dust also a new car. To make matters worse I’d moved away from critique group (the much talented Oxford wing of SCBWI BI), and further away from closest writer friends, (Jo and Nicki –are your ear burning?) But also increasing the distance between me and my most favourite shop, Mostly Books in Abingdon which I frequented in many different guises; customer, helper, general loiterer, to name a few. So with our lives being almost unrecognisable, it was a real boost to discover a gem of a local bookshop, one that was the embodiment of every bookshop and library I had ever imagined – The Cottage Bookshop in Penn. 

Stepping into The Cottage Bookshop is like entering into the Bookshop in ‘The Neverending Story,’ the smell, the seeming endless labyrinth of bookcases, the promise of numerous other worlds and adventures lurking between thousands of covers. I fell in love with the place instantly. The tiny cottage I was to learn had been a bookshop for over sixty years and in that time had added bookcase after bookcase, and housing over sixty thousand titles of every type, genre and book imaginable. It had also featured in television shows and had many famous customers over the years, and was in fact believed to have inspired Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Library. 

So, once discovered I would voyage to The Cottage Bookshop when I need a pick-me-up, or for specific things. On one occasion the whole family spent three hours looking for just the right book to help my daughter with a history project. She was studying Elizabeth I and wanted a book that was non-fiction but written more like a novel but at her level. Eventually we unearthed just the thing, a book about Elizabeth’s reign written as if a novel. It was the right age range and pitched perfectly. To our surprize we found that it had travelled a long way, Published in 1953 by a US publisher, but sold originally in Brazil, the original price label still attached. 

My children owe in part (at least) much gratitude to The Cottage Bookshop and the treasures we have found there for some of their best grades, across numerous subjects, including an art ‘Selfie Maze’ project. But, The Cottage Bookshop is more than a destination for educational purposes for our family. We have spent many a Saturday morning walking the few miles from our house in the middle of nowhere, through the woodlands and fields, to the shop, to each buy a stack of books that we lug home, after stopping at the pub for a well-deserved coffee and read of course! 

The Cottage Bookshop always has a community feel, we once met a elderly lady there who had been visiting the shop since her childhood, and other times we bumped in to visitor from overseas. It is a much loved place, by many from near and far. However all good things must come to an end, and it was announced last week that after almost 67 years, the owner has put the building up for sale and that the bookshop will therefore be closing. So with a sad heart, I bid a farewell to The Cottage Bookshop and it lovely staff, and say, that it was a pleasure to have been a customer and to have discovered it with enough time to enjoy it in all its bookish eccentricities!

It's OK to Just Write...

I’ve not blogged in while, not since World Book Day back in spring! it’s a constant worry at the back of my mind, that I’m not blogging enough, that I’m not reviewing enough and that I’m not engaging enough on social media. Despite the constant nagging worry that often turns into guilt I have to try and convince myself that it’s ok.

It’s ok because life is busy, so far this year…

• Moved House
• About to facilitate another house move
• Have had increased work to be done for my business
• Helped my youngest child transition to secondary school
• Helped set up a new charity Bookshop
• Commenced house renovations 

And so on, I won’t bore you with any more details. But, as you can probably imagine, this means my writing time has somewhat diminished, and therefore I have to prioritise my writing activities.

So, for now my main priority is editing my current WIP MS under the careful guidance of my Golden Egg Mentor, and one and only Mother Goose Imogen Copper.

This may not sound too arduous, but it is time consuming. With every piece of feedback comes a necessity for latent thinking time in order to process and fully understand the issues raised and to come up with creative solutions that work with the remit of the story and world. Much of the time this also includes research to ensure that any factual elements are correct (as we don’t want a Star Trek Discovery science type blunder to undermine our carefully constructed world). Of course research whether it is from books, web-sites or documentary's takes time to find and digest.

Here’s a photo of some of my last bought of research, which is rather an eclectic mix. I always think that it’s make a good game – looking at authors research materials and then trying to guess the plot. If you fancy trying it, please comment below.

Then there’s the plotting and planning, which again takes time, to het it right and ensure that timelines are correct and that the MS still conforms to you chosen plot structure.

Edit plan!

All in all it means when push comes to shove and time is short I have had to choose writing over blogging and social networking, Of course despite knowing it’s the right thing to do – to give myself permission to prioritise I still feel like I’m failing by not accomplishing everything on my ever increasing to-do-list. 

That being said, it’s taken a dislocated hip and trip to A&E to get me to properly accept that it is ok to just write. Although having said that I did find myself recommending books to the nurses for their kids, so I guess I’m actually still doing what I love - promoting children literature – just sometimes not on the web!

Well that’s all for now, I need to go edit!

Editing whilst recovering from dislocated hip - i appreciate the irony of the title!