School's Out!

What a difference not working makes!! I suddenly have all the time in the world to do things I want to do and at my own pace instead of a mad rush! I wish the school holidays could go on until Christmas!

I've caught up with lots of jobs and paperwork, started subbing the Autumn issue of Queen Bee and best of all, resumed writing my fourth novel, whose working title is Airtight. I have written just over 30,000 words in total and am very much enjoying developing the story as I tap away. I have each chapter mapped out already but every now and then, I feel like taking the story in a different direction and change things slightly. What I am unsure of is the ending. I have drafted two endings. And there could be a third if I decide there needs to be a happy ending :)

My main character, Judith, is a prim and proper school teacher who also works as a church warden in her local parish. After overhearing her colleagues gossiping about her and calling her names, she decides to reinvent herself and start a new life. Her decision changes her life completely but quite unexpectedly takes a sinister turn and she becomes part of a scene she never knew even existed. Her Christianity is questioned and she starts living a double life. 

I guess I will choose which ending to use when I get to the final chapter! Until then, I have no idea how this story will end!

Together with writing Airtight, I am spending a few hours here and there writing for a fun project I have on the back burner. The idea came to me during a literacy lesson just before we broke up for the holidays and my plan is to write a novelty book that would be brilliant as a stocking filler at Christmas or a quirky little gift for any occasion. Strictly for adults of course... no children allowed!!

Here's to a very busy but very relaxed summer of writing!

Ramblings from the fens...

I've not posted on my blog for six months. That is because I have been so busy moving house and renovating the new one, coupled with a bout of bronchitis, that the only writing I have done is a children's picture book about a little robin redbreast and my usual magazine column. 

Now the summer holidays are approaching and I have a full six weeks and four days off work to look forward to, I am going to definitely get some serious writing under my belt. I have decided to re-work the ending of The Boggins of Willow Drove before sending it off to agents and I quite fancy also re-writing the ending of The Fourteen Years Between Us, which I have not done anything with so far apart from upload to Amazon. The Charm is still selling well and is the book I am most proud of. I still pick it up and flick through the pages and can't quite believe I wrote it.

My fourth novel is half-written so will finish that before Christmas. It is a much darker novel than The Charm and will hopefully appeal to all you thrill-seekers out there ;)

Going back to moving house... the Boggins book is based on my life growing up on a farm in the Fens. Willow Drove really does exist and the farmyard is still there together with the huge old tree which - in the book - the Boggins live under. The funny thing is, I left the village when I was 24-years-old and I never thought I would return. How bizarre that just after I'd finished writing TBOWD, I had the chance to move back... which I finally did in May. And now I walk my dogs Lottie, and the very aptly named Fen, up and down Willow Drove most days.

What a weird and wonderful world we live in!