The Towpath

The Towpath has been an amazing book for me to write but after the fifth read / edit, I was all towpathed out. I've had a little break from it and have finally finished crossing the t's and dotting the i's. The next task was writing a 250-word pitch which I always find daunting. Writing a book is easy. You just sit down and write it. But condensing the story into just 250 words is hard. Writing a synopsis is even harder. But I've managed to complete both and am really happy with everything I've done. The book is with a reader at the moment and I avidly await his feedback. And then I shall start submitting.

I remember an email I received from an agent after submitting The Charm several years ago. It was a rejection email and said these exact words:

Malorie Blackman wrote 9 books and was submitting for 2 and a half years (and got 82 rejections) before her first book deal... and then she became Children’s Laureate - so do persevere!

Those words of encouragement stick in mind and always will. I know it's hard to get that book deal but I will try as hard as I can to get one! In the meantime here is the 250-word pitch I wrote for The Towpath. I do hope you enjoy it.

It’s the end of May 1953. A relentless heatwave has burned the country to a crisp and the whole nation is at fever pitch as it prepares to crown its’ beautiful new Queen. Streets are scrubbed spotless. Red, white and blue bunting is strung from every lamppost. And thousands upon thousands of kitchens have produced thousands upon thousands of cakes as the countdown begins to a magical day full of pomp, pageantry and patriotism, the likes of which this post-war kingdom has never seen before.

Barbara Songhurst and Christine Reed, two young friends from Teddington, have planned the weekend leading up to the big day with military precision. Christine is preparing to battle through the crowds just so she can see the dashingly handsome Prince Phillip with her very own eyes. And Barbara has bought a yellow and white floral bathing suit from the West End which will hopefully clinch her the title of Beauty Pageant Queen 1953.

Just a few streets away lives Alfred Whiteway. He despises the Royal Family and he despises the Queen and everything she stands for. The only plans he has for the 2nd of June are to get completely rat-arsed and fuck a prostitute. Maybe two. With a penchant for knives and a reputation locally as a lunatic who swings from tree to tree like an ape, Alfie is the kind of man best avoided.

But on the 31st of May, two days before Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II, Barbara and Christine's paths crossed with Alfred Whiteway's.

It was totally unavoidable. And it cost them both their lives.

Good morning!

Blimey, I've been busy... The only writing I have done lately is for Queen Bee magazine and my blogs. I have started the process of publishing Bad Habits on Kindle but my other life has taken over and I've got bogged down in training and case studies and all sorts of stuff! 

I found a really interesting agent who I really would love to read The Tow Path so I am considering submitting to her today and will await her response with baited breath. I'm still considering writing it as a screenplay but that would take up the next year at least as I'm a complete novice at screenwriting and I'm not sure I can devote that much time to a project at the moment.

I have a couple of ideas for my next book but I think I am going to concentrate on what I've already written first before I get stuck into another! I have three unpublished novels at on my laptop... which is not where I want them to be! I may revisit The Boggins of Willow Drove and rewrite certain parts of it, which I am looking forward to rather than dreading. I want to make it more fantastical and am looking for a group of children to be my little army of readers. So if you know any budding bookworms out there, aged between eight and ten, please get in touch!

Hello Autumn!

Wow... what a difference a day makes! Yesterday we were walking the Nene Way in 25 degree sunshine, today I'm sitting here in a wooly jumper and slippers watching movies because it's raining and cold. But at least it means I can catch up on my writing work and unfortunately I've had a bit of a shock. I realised about two hours ago that the version of Book Three which I've spent the last two weeks editing and formatting is an old version and the version I should have been working on was sitting in a duplicate folder and has ALREADY been edited and formatted! I did it about a year ago, which is why I completely forgot I'd done it! I didn't swear or shout or jump up and down. I simply sighed and told myself never to duplicate anything ever again.

I have found an agent I would like to submit the book to and submission complete, am about to press send. I did say in my last blog that I was going to self-publish it but as I haven't submitted this novel to anyone yet, I thought I'd better give it a shot first before going down the KDP route. The book is sexually-explicit in parts, as in it's written graphically and straight to the point. I tried to write the sex scenes in that Mills-and-Boon-old-fashioned way, you know, talking about sex but not talking about sex, but it just doesn't work in modern day society. You want to read about things in real-life terms, read is at is is, using real-life language. I've been watching BBC dramas like Killing Eve and Wanderlust recently and love how sexually explicit language and visual scenes are becoming part of every day television.

I work in a school and my book was a topic of conversation the other day in the staff room. Several colleagues questioned whether I would publish it under my own name or a pseudonym because of my association with the school. It is a church school and I can understand why its publication may cause a ripple of commotion amongst certain folk. But I will cross that bridge when I come to it. It seems a little strange going to all the effort of writing a novel and then using a totally fictitious name to publish it under. I'm proud of everything I write and I'm certainly not going to not publish something just in case in offends somebody. I think I'd rather get another job than do that.

Talking of other jobs, I have been commissioned to write a regular magazine article and an accompanying blog detailing walks that I do, discover and talk about on my Instagram page. I walk my dogs every day, the same old route, but I try to do a long walk, somewhere different, every weekend. Some of these walks are popular, mapped walks, others are invented by me usually after going wrong and getting lost. This happened yesterday so that will be my first published walk as it was actually a bloody good one, taking in long boats, river rapids, a natural bathing pool (I almost stripped off for a wild swim yesterday but was suddenly joined by an over-enthusiastic spaniel so decided best not), grazing horses, woodland, a ford and some very beautiful old villages. I always take lots of photos to document each walk as can't wait to get started! I hope to get the blog up and running in the next week so watch this space for details of the site. You can also follow my Instagram page, see link below.

www.instagram.com/tracyhefferon_author/

The last few weeks

I've not blogged for a couple of weeks but I have been busy, not just with my writing but in my regular, day-to-day life too. I've almost finished editing The Towpath but after the third back-to-back read of all 90,000 words, it started to get on my bloody nerves and I've had to take a mini-break from it! Instead I've been having teeth pulled out, going for walks and bike rides, watching lots and lots of really good telly (think Peaky Blinders, Wanderlust, The Bodyguard, Killing Eve...) and making loads of 'future life plans' which has been very exciting indeed, if a little cloak-and-dagger.

I've decided, since I haven't done much with the third novel I wrote and it's still sat here on my laptop gathering cyberdust, I'm going to get it out there and self-publish it. I've started the laborious task of formatting and hopefully by this time next week it will be on Amazon and ready for everyone to upload. It is rude, I won't lie, and it does feature certain profanities beginning with the letters 'f' and possibly 'c' (The Towpath has much, much more swearing). It also features graphic descriptions of certain sexual acts, but I'm guessing if this kind of stuff offends you, then you won't be buying it or reading it anyway so I'm not quite sure why I'm giving out all the warnings.

Bad Habits: The Undoing of Judith Croft is a story about a primary school teacher who, at the age of forty-four, finds herself unmarried, stuck in a rut and a reluctant virgin to boot. She's also a devout Christian and after hearing two work colleagues bitching about her displeasing demeanour in the staff loos, she sets about reinventing herself, turning her back on her faith and morphing into the enigmatic, liberated Jude.

Now, working in a school myself, I would just like to stress this novel is a work of fiction and isn't based upon anyone I know or currently work with. It is however, based loosely upon everyone I have ever known and worked with, just as every fictional character that's ever been created in every book, film and play, all over the world has. So if you read the book and see a piece of you in one of the characters, feel very privileged that I thought you interesting enough to write about :) Inspiration comes from everyone you meet, whether you are aware of it or not, and when you create fictional characters all kinds of traits and mannerisms from these people naturally seep into them, bringing them to life. I once had a woman in a shopping centre approach me and ask if a certain lady we both knew was one of the characters in The Charm. I had to reassure her that she wasn't but it was a jolly good comparison all the same ;)

So, I'll crack on and I'll let you all know when it's published!

Still hard at it...

It's hard work, this editing lark. I've read the Towpath twice and am now half way through the third read. I've changed very little during each edit, just the odd word or phrase, sometimes adding more detail here and there. The aim is to get your manuscript to the best possible version of itself before starting the submission process. Of course, if an agent likes what they see and takes you (and your book) on, a whole team of editors will descend on your work and fine tune it to perfection. You have to be prepared to sit back and let them do their thing. That's their job after all. You've done all the hard work writing the thing, now let them get your book out there for everyone to read.

I've spent quite a while working on the synopsis, the first three chapters and an interesting covering letter and have found several agents who interest me and who I would like to submit to. I'm almost there. And I'm starting to feel quite apprehensive. Although I write as a hobby and because I love every minute of it, there is a part of me that would love to be a 'proper' writer. I would love The Towpath to be published because it's such a good story. But if it doesn't happen then so be it. I'll just write another book! And I've already got a few ideas down on paper. Another crime-based novel and two real-life historical stories that could be adapted into a book, just like The Towpath.

Until then, I need to get this one out there. Keeping everything crossed... wish me luck :)

Ta da!!!

I'm feeling over the moooooon! I've just finished writing The Towpath. It took two months of planning and research and five months to write and has been the most exciting, thrilling, absorbing thing I've ever done. Little did I know when I started talking to Kyle's grandfather about the Queen at the Rugby Club back in January, that I would uncover a story that would take over my life and become a novel. I have learned so much while writing the book and I love all the characters, even the baddy! It's made me raise questions and made me very glad I live in today's society, where you can't get convicted of murder purely because you have a speck of anonymous blood on your shoe. DNA forensics didn't exist in 1953. It was a very different world. So, I'm going to pop some Prosecco corks tonight and start editing tomorrow. Albeit with a stonking headache! I DID IT!!!

It's holiday time!

It's been a tough year and it ended with me developing a dental abscess and missing the last two days of term. I've never missed the last day of the school year before. But at least I didn't make a fool of myself by erupting into great, heaving sobs as the children handed over their presents and gave me one last hug, as is usually the case.

So it's Monday. The first day of the long, summer holiday. I was still up at 6.15am but rather than rush about getting ready for work, making everyone breakfast and their packed lunches, I'm sitting with a cup of tea, gazing out of the window at a cloudless blue sky, wondering how hot it is going to be today. My youngest daughter is in Disneyland, Florida and my eldest is at work. I have an entire week to myself which means only one thing. Ok, two things. Writing and sunbathing!

I have got lots of other stuff to fit in as well of course, likes trips to the cinema with a friend, a walk to the lake cafe with another friend and a Rowing Fraternity night out but I also have lots of time to spend doing what I love most. And to be honest, with the heatwave stretching on for what seems like months, I have done very little writing recently. Instead I have been gardening, sunning myself, watching the football, watching the tennis, taking up rowing, rediscovering my love of cycling and generally enjoying the summer.

But this book is not going to get finished by itself. I need to get back into DWM (disciplined writing mode). I am about to start chapter nineteen. I have nine more to go. Realistically I could get the whole book written by the end of the holidays but my target is October half term. By then I want it to be a completed manuscript, read and edited, that I can start sending to potential agents. 

In the meantime, I am also debating whether to publish my fourth book, Bad Habits, on Amazon. I haven't done much with it since I finished writing it. That novel was more of an unfinished hobby that I picked up again after a period of abandonment and gave it some time and attention and an ending. I've had several readers of The Charm ask me when it's being published so I may as well get it out there. But be warned, it's quite rude.

Enough waffle from me... I'm heading back to 1953. Christine's body is about to be discovered...

Coincidences

What a strange couple of days.

It has been a total coincidence that today I finished writing the chapter where Barbara's body was discovered in the Thames on 1st June 1953. Because today is the 1st June 2018. Barbara and Christine were killed on the 31st May, (last night) 65 years ago. Barbara was found at 8.30am today, on the 1st, and it would be a further five days until Christine was found, the 6th June. It is also a total coincidence (I think...) that my best friend Jacqueline had a catastrophic brain haemorrhage on 6th June in 2010 and eventually died on 31st May 2014. Same dates. Different years. These dates are now embedded in my brain for two different reasons. And because of three different women.

I've found writing the latest chapter extremely upsetting. Getting into the mindset of both girls' mothers as they realised their daughters were missing was very difficult, mainly because a child of mine going missing is one of my biggest fears. I was almost taken as a young girl, on a family outing to London. We were in Trafalgar Square and I was momentarily separated from my parents as I wandered around looking at the lions. It was at that point a man approached me and asked me if I'd like to see some puppies (a cliché I know!) over in the far corner. I thought it was an odd thing to say, but as he held out his hand and smiled at me, I just thought he was being nice, so I took it and started walking away with him. It was only when I heard my dad shouting my name that I turned to look over my shoulder and saw him frantically looking for me, that I realised this man was not a good man and I let go of his hand. My dad got to me just as I let go. Looking back, another few seconds and I would have been gone. It doesn't really bear thinking about what might have happened to me. I often feel lucky to be alive purely because my life could have been over at the age of 11. 

So, as I was saying, this part of the book has been hard. But I got through it (aided by several boxes of tissues) and I am very pleased with my work. I've loved writing as DCI Hannam too, the detective put in charge of the investigation. And I am about to start writing as the Queen again, who was coronated on 2nd June. I've been lucky enough to have been able to consult Lady Jane Willoughby about the actual Coronation. She was one of the Queen's coronation attendants and has been able to give me an insight into the day itself and what is was like to be part of such an historic occasion. I can't wait to finish the book. It's definitely the best thing I've ever done.

Right, time to write the next chapter... The Coronation. Happy anniversary for tomorrow, Your Majesty :)

Me and Jacqueline, Christmas 2009. 

Royal wedding, sunbathing and two violent murders... all in a day's work!

What a beautiful day! Up early, house cleaned and a full English washed down with several cups of tea, all whilst waiting for the bride to emerge from Cliveden House to kick off the wedding of the year. And what a wedding it was! Absolutely wonderful.

After walking the dogs, I had a couple of hours soaking up the rays before I edited the dreaded murder scene I wrote during the week. And after reading it through four times, I now feel quite depressed! The sad thing about this story is the girls Alfie murdered weren't supposed to have been murdered at all. He was looking for sex – he had raped several times before – and as he saw Barbara making her way towards him on her bike, his sole purpose was to rape her and then walk away.

What he hadn't bargained for was her friend being just a few yards behind her and suddenly he had two girls to deal with, not just one. To make matters worse, he quickly realised he actually knew Barbara and her family from his local neighbourhood. He came to the conclusion that if he raped her and she recognised him, he would eventually be arrested and sent to prison. He made his mind up there and then to STILL go ahead and rape them both, but to kill them afterwards, so as to 'cover his tracks'. 

You would think any normal person would have decided to avoid doing any such thing, hop back on his bike and pedal away leaving the girls to come round (he'd knocked both of them out with an axe) and ultimately stay alive. But Alfie wasn't a normal person, as I have discovered over the past few months. 

I am LOVING writing this book. Writing a work of fiction based on fact is amazing and I would really like to write a second book in this genre. Who knows, this could end up being 'my thing'...

Right, back to the laptop until it's Fajita and Prosecco time!! Bon soir! :)

It's not been a week for writing!

What a beautiful, warm, uplifting week we've just had! It took me a day or so to ditch the woolies and get my legs out but how lovely it was to feel the sunshine on my skin after what seems like a lifetime of shivering! This winter has been horrendous, I've put on ton of blubber and my skin is as white as snow. Ok, slight exaggeration, but I need to start eating salads and banging on the St. Tropez asap.

Because I have spent every day this week overhauling the garden, spring cleaning and sunbathing, I've had very little time for writing. But I have today reached the 25,000 word milestone and The Tow Path is really starting to take shape. I am just about to write the pinnacle of the story, the murder of my two leading ladies, which is going to be interesting. I've researched the story so much I now feel as though I know them personally. I knew very little about their characters apart from little snippets gleaned from newspaper cuttings so have had to create personalities for them. I hope I have done them justice. It's just a shame I am about to kill them off...

With rain forecast for the whole of this coming week, I hope to get a fair amount of writing in – sandwiched between work, parent's evening, a trip to the optician, grocery shopping and sorting through my youngest daughter's growing collection of clothing, that is. I sometimes wonder how I manage to fit it all in! Something to do with being an expert juggler, I expect :)

Not my usual blog...

My daughter Scarlet left primary school with her Year 6 teacher telling me 'she'd struggle at secondary school'. She got 9 GCSE's. Then, because she left and didn't stay on to do A Levels, she was told 'people who don't go to uni never amount to much'. She did a year at college but then quickly realised further education wasn't for her and we spent the summer holidays looking at all the different options available to her. In the end, we found a 2 year Level 3 apprenticeship with Mencap, training to be a Talent Acquisition Specialist. She applied and after a very long process, she beat 19 others to get the role. She started her apprenticeship and loved every single second of it. She excelled in all areas and completed all of her qualifications 6 months early. So two weeks ago she decided to take the next step and apply for TAS roles...

She applied for two jobs and got two interviews. She was offered one position on the spot but held out for the second of the two, her second interview being yesterday, because she had a gut feeling that was 'the one'. She had The Phone Call yesterday afternoon and they offered her the position. Apparently she impressed everybody and was told she is well on her way to an outstanding career. She will now be recruiting for all in-house managerial positions for Hotel Chocolat. The job has a multitude of perks and she now earns significantly more than me. She is 19-years-old.

I would just like to say that not only am I the proudest mummy in the world right now, I would also like to add that if you have a child who others have given up on, don't YOU give up on them. Not everybody wants to go to uni (I didn't and that decision served me very well) and indeed, university life is not for everyone. Scarlet is now a mature, intelligent, professional young woman. The transformation from school leaver to now is astounding. She knew what she wanted and she went out there and damn well got it. She's an asset to any company and Hotel Chocolat have just hit the jackpot.

Well done Scarlet. You are AMAZING.

Rain, rest and reflection

What a shitty half term it's been with one thing and another. Mainly illness. There have been lots of bugs flying around along with other ailments but there have also been two diagnoses of cancer, one terminal and the other incurable, whatever that means. News like that touches everyone, not just the immediate family and the person affected. You look at your own life and reflect and really understand the meaning of the saying 'life is short'. Because it really is. One minute you're coasting through life, as happy as Larry, not a care in the world. The next you are facing your own mortality. 

Anyway, I am very glad we have a couple of weeks off work where we can rest and spend time with our loved ones and enjoy living in the moment. Oh and eat a lot of chocolate, of course!

I have now written three chapters and 12,000 words of The Towpath. I have a long way to go but I am very excited about it and am more than pleased with my writing so far. I love getting into my time machine (the corner of the sofa) and transporting back to the fifties. And I love using the language of the time too. Phrases and sayings and dialogue from another era, some words we don't use anymore, namely racist terminology and derogatory words. My main character is a typical working-class Londoner. But what makes him different to most is that he is a sexist, racist, violent and deeply troubled individual. I've never written as a male main character before and I am really enjoying it! Hopefully I'll get a lot of writing done over the holidays especially if this relentless rain continues...

Anyway, even though I am not in the slightest bit religious, happy Easter. Enjoy your roast dinner and choccie eggs. Go stroke some new born lambs and hold a fluffy chick. Pick a few daffs, feel glad to be alive. And look after yourself. Because if you don't, nobody else will.

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/james-thesarcomaslayer-willis

Lazy Sunday's Rule

So the Mini Beast From The East has returned. I braved the snow all day yesterday to ferry around my youngest daughter to gymnastics and a party but today I have done nothing but several loads of washing, watched an episode of The Crown (for research purposes this time) and made a gorgeous beef and onion pie with a cheddar and thyme crust. I've not even brushed my hair. I have braved the outdoors though. For twenty whole minutes. And it felt like embarking upon an arctic expedition to get to the cricket pitch and back. So I am now back on the sofa, warming up, about to start writing.

My new book - The Towpath - is progressing beautifully. I have written the first two chapters and have gone back to editing as I write. I find it much easier to write then revisit, read and edit, chapter by chapter. Having read my work thoroughly (as opposed to bulldozing through the writing process and writing the whole book before editing it) I find the storyline stays with me and developing the story becomes easier. I have written the whole book as a chapter-by-chapter account as well so it is just a case of sitting down and getting on with it.

I've written just over 7000 words so far which is good going as I have had the flu for two weeks and haven't felt much like writing on my rough days. I am loving writing in a different era too. 1950s London (and Britain in general) was so different to how it is now and I have learned so many things especially about girls education and women at work. I was quite shocked to learn that very few women went to university and even if they stayed on at school after the leaving age of 15 to gain qualifications (if you left at 15 you left with nothing) they were virtually worthless and the majority of girls took short-term employment with a view to leaving work the second they got married.

It made me think of my own mum who was a very gifted and talented artist. Her art teacher talked to her parents about the possibility of her going to art college and they were encouraged to allow her to apply. My grandfather was having none of it and forced her to take a secretarial course instead and she got a job as a typist until she was 18 and married my dad. It seems almost incomprehensible now to think that narrow-minded attitude existed. I often wonder, and I am sure she does, what she could have achieved had she been allowed to follow her dreams.

Anyway... back to 1953 :)

1953... here we come!

The Beast from the East has struck and my dog ate the Roku controller. It's been a funny old week. We've been snowed off school for three days so with not much to do (there's only so much This Morning and Homes Under The Hammer you can watch) I have written a short story and entered a competition. Here's an excerpt from it.

The feelings, as I called them, started when I was very young. Before I was fully aware of anything really. Least of all my own self and who I was. And when they happened, I was transported to another time. Another age. Another era. Where I dressed in peculiar clothes, lived in peculiar places and witnessed peculiar things. Like bombs dropping. Giving birth. Finding gold coins buried beneath the sand. And my own death, of course. I was a man that time. All I heard was a loud bang followed by a high-pitch ringing in my ears and then everything faded, quite slowly I seem to remember, to black. Just like that. And then I was gone. My last word in that life was bugger. Quite funny really. For your last ever word to be a profanity. I’m now totally convinced that most people utter or think a swear word just before they die. And mine was bugger. That is what I said when I realised I’d been shot. I can’t recall any pain. Just the overwhelming darkness as my heart ceased beating.

I have an idea for writing a book based on reincarnation. I started writing it years ago, shelved it to write The Charm and then lost the entire manuscript after my computer's hard drive died. I'll re-write it eventually.

The good news is, I finished writing the synopsis for Bad Habits a couple of weeks ago and have submitted the novel to an agent. Now it is just a matter of waiting. If they say no, I'll try another agent! I have also submitted The Boggins of Willow Drove to a really interesting family agent I found by accident. I'm also waiting on that one too. Imagine if they both say yes!

I am now all set to start my latest project, The Tow Path. I have debated long and hard whether I should write it as a novel or a screenplay and I have decided it has to be a novel. I just can't get my head around writing a screenplay. It's so difficult! I was going to book myself onto a screenwriting course but I came to the conclusion that if I carry on writing novels, they can be TURNED into screenplays by somebody who is already very, very good at it!

I have finished all of my basic research and have started to break down the story into chapters although I tend to stray from the confines of the plot quite a lot as I write. Having the structure of chapters to guide me is brilliant but there is always room for artistic licence as you go and I never stick to them rigidly.

So, I'd better crack on then. 1953 here we come!

For my first two books, please click on the links below:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Charm-Tracy-Hefferon-ebook/dp/B00KWL9HVA

https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Vega-Tracy-Hefferon-ebook/dp/B0125PNTDM

Lots of hard work!

I have almost finished editing my fourth novel. I have now read it three times and have made some tweaks here and there. There have been no major changes although there could be several different endings, one of them being very gruesome. I need to then concentrate on a spellbinding synopsis and start sourcing agents to submit it to. Always a difficult process...

Agents are very, VERY selective in what they are looking for. And they usually only take on one new author a year. Considering most agents receive 200 submissions a week – that's a 1 in 10,000 chance the new author will be you – you have to pick very wisely who you send it to and also be prepared to wait a very long time for a response. It's best to only submit to one agent at a time, to guarantee exclusivity, so if you get a rejection after a four month wait, you just have to start all over again and keep waiting and hoping next time you'll get your break.

It's quite a soul-destroying process, especially if you have sent the book out to 'readers' and feedback has been amazing but still get a polite 'thanks but no thanks' response from an agent. I guess that is why so many people self-publish. Writers just want to write and as one book comes to a close, another is popping up in their heads! The temptation to get cracking right away is one you have to resist until you've made at least one submission of your already-finished book!

Talking of new projects... I had a conversation with my partner's grandfather recently that sent the cogs of creativity into motion after about ten seconds in. He told me about an incident that happened in London in the 50's which he had been a very small part of. I was fascinated and started researching the story. It has now totally consumed me and I have started a rough draft of the book.

Obviously it is a real-life, factual event but will be written as an historic novel. I would love it to a be my next book (instead of the one I originally had in mind!!) but I would also LOVE to try to write it as a screenplay. I think the story would make a fantastic television series and I started researching how to write screenplays.

I wished I hadn't bothered... it looks so incredibly difficult to write a screenplay, I now have a new-found admiration for all those that write for tv and film. Wow, it is hard work!! I've downloaded several real scripts from shows I have watched and the attention to detail is mind-blowing. I think in this instance I will stick to writing books. And if somebody wants to take my book and turn it into a screenplay, I will jolly well let them!