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
Saturday 31 March 2018
Sunday 18 March 2018
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 :)
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 :)
Friday 2 March 2018
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.com/Finding-Vega-Tracy-Hefferon-ebook/dp/B0125PNTDM
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