The Map of Eirie…
The original map by CM Design
NB: The Stumpwork Robe is available as of 1st February at:
The original map by CM Design
NB: The Stumpwork Robe is available as of 1st February at:
As the year draws to a close, the idea floated that The Stumpwork Robe and The Last Stitch have a bit of advertising thrown at them. At the beginning of the year they had the infamous book trailer whose making was featured quite heavily in the early days of Mesmered.
I was filing in my office tonight and came across a poem that my friend Rebecca sent me when The Stumpwork Robe was released. It was written by her daughter Rachel a number of years ago, when Rachel was only ten.
30 Days of Writing Questions was from a meme on A Broken Laptop. It became 25 days of writing as it applied to my own writing life. It should really be answered one question at a time in depth each day you blog but Time is at a premium just now. So here goes my abridged version. If you subscribe to my blog and read this, please assume you are tagged and play around with it and pass it on.
I love treasure hunts. Whether it is renovating the old site of the stables from the 1800’s and finding pieces of history, whether it is shell-seeking on my favourite beach.
What's at the end . . .
I discovered The Lunatic, the Lover and the Poet by Myrlin A.Hermes in such a roundabout manner. Reading Nathan Bransford’s blog in January, Myrlin A. Hermes discussed how she put together a book-video on the novel for Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBvQItaRdJc
Recently on Rachelle Gardner’s blog, she talked about a visit to her local bookstore, and which became a real learning experience. She said:‘ What a great way to expand our reading horizons! It’s best if there is comfortable seating. I collect a stack of books, then go sit in the cafe and open them up. Often I’ll get so engrossed that I’ll read two or three chapters just sitting there! Then I know I want the book. Sometimes I read enough that I feel I don’t need to buy it after all.’
I haven’t done any revision for a week. I am a disgrace to the brotherhood of writers.
The days it’s Antarctic blue, and clear as far as the galaxy’s end, why would one want to sit inside tapping away on a computer? And I ask, does this mean I am not really as dedicated to my writing as I should be?
Recently Rachelle Gardner (http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com) talked about writing and being a writer. She said: “It’s a lifestyle. It permeates your life, even if your life is already full with a career and a family and whatever else you do. Authors need to educate themselves about publishing (by reading agent blogs, following Twitter, reading books about the industry) because today, it requires that kind of savvy. It also helps if you network with other writers, because it puts you in touch with others going through the same frustrations, people who understand what every little victory means in a way that a non-writer simply can’t. There’s so much to learn about writing great books and crafting effective queries and marketing yourself via the Internet.”
And I reflected on how much my own life is dominated by writing. Firstly it is something I think on constantly. Whether I am in the bath, cooking meals, doing housewifely things, I am thinking about the next stage in the WIP (The Shifu Cloth). 
The only time I don’t think about it is when I am walking the dogs (I am very much in the moment then), when I am gardening (ditto) or generally in the outdoors. Husband and self have a farm and when we are busy with stock, fencing or whatever, my mind is a long way from the WIP, which is just as well as accidents do happen.
The promotion of current publications has, as Rachelle also says, taken masses of my time. Facebook, Twitter, blogging. A blog event recently swallowed me whole!
Then there is reading. I love to read. I enjoy detailed historical fiction, even though I am a fantasy writer. I read a number of books on the craft of writing but I don’t read as much as I would like. At the close of a day I am tired, any spare moment is used to sculpt and create my own work and when I crawl into bed, I can barely read two lines let alone two chapters.
When I do have time in the ‘office’, I do any number of things. Perhaps I read what I have written. Perhaps I edit a manuscript that is in the process of assessment in London (A Thousand Glass Flowers). Perhaps I note down more in my file on the world of Eirie, the fantasy world I have created.
Perhaps I add to my character files. The best days are the days I just write free-form. Letting the WIP move on toward a conclusion. Inevitably the week is over and being a writer HAS dominated my life. I think it, breathe it. Gad, I even sweat it . . . so much sweating. Hoping, praying, waiting . . . so much waiting!
Rachelle finished her blog by saying . . . ‘the fact is, the way to succeed as an author is to make it part of your daily life, part of who you are. It really does take that kind of mindset.’ Well I have certainly made it a part of my daily life. But success is a whole other issue and perhaps success is a relative term anyway.
‘De Fleury!’
Percy’s shout cut through the mood of the tango, creating a tension that vibrated like a viola string. The music faded and people turned. Percy stood at the far end of the ballroom, his evening dress immaculate, dark and elegant and complete with a white jabot that frothed and creamed at his throat. His hands were behind his back and he was statue-like, one foot forward, the buckles on his shoes shining. I could see Marguarite with Bacigalupo, virtually in the position they had been as the tango bent her back and Bacigalupo lay over her, vulpine, almost salivating. She pushed at him, her eyes on Percy.