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...