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!