Lassitude

Withenay's Wednesday Word - a series about words and their meanings. 
Sometimes the word is chosen because I like it, sometimes because it is unusual, sometimes because I have heard or read it in the previous week; often because that is just where the dictionary took me. Together we can expand our vocabulary, inch by inch (or maybe letter by letter). Your challenge is to invent a sentence in the comments box that includes it.


lassitude
faintness, weakness, weariness, languor (a noun)
from Latin lassus faint

It is how one feels after a book launch party.

It is how one feels after writing posts for one's book blog tour.

It is how one feels when one stays up late at night then is woken by the dog early in the morning.

It is how one feels when no-one else in the family empties the dishwasher.
Or puts the washing out.
Or contemplates the ironing board.
Or tidies away the games.
Or sorts out the paperwork.
Or plans the food for the coming week.

It is how one feels when all one wants to do is curl up in a comfy chair and read a book.

So I just might do that.

Publication Day!

At long last, In the Shade of the Mulberry Tree has come to fruition!

On Saturday I had my book launch party...

And today, it is available to purchase from Amazon - either as a paperback or ebook.

I know this is not much of a blog post, but I will be most grateful if you would consider buying it, or at least raising a glass to toast the book with me! And thank you to everyone who has journeyed with me to this day - your support is much appreciated.

Catharine

www.catharinewithenay.com

Peregrination

Withenay's Wednesday Word - a series about words and their meanings. 
Sometimes the word is chosen because I like it, sometimes because it is unusual, sometimes because I have heard or read it in the previous week; often because that is just where the dictionary took me. Together we can expand our vocabulary, inch by inch (or maybe letter by letter). Your challenge is to invent a sentence in the comments box that includes it.


peregrination
travelling about; wandering; pilgrimage; a complete and systematic course or round (a noun)
from Latin peregrinus foreign

Tomorrow I head off on my Book Blog Tour, travelling around the world, talking with different people about my book, and writing, and editing, and reading, and living in Africa. I am so excited!

Peregrination seems like such an apt word in the circumstances. One of the definitions - wandering - fits in with this blog: Withenay Wanders. Another - a complete and systematic course or round - fits in with the idea of visiting everyone in a set order, then returning back here in a week or two's time. I'm not sure I'd label it as a pilgrimage, but I'm certainly travelling about. And In the Shade of the Mulberry Tree is all about my travels - to Africa, through motherhood, around Zambia.

The word has a certain poignancy to me as well, as about the only piece of my mother's schoolwork that I ever remember seeing was "The Peregrinations of P P" (her initials). She had moved around the UK a number of times during her childhood and this project was a mini autobiography of her life. I always loved the alliteration of the title, and was slightly in awe of my grandfather who had known what peregrination meant.

But then, so (now) do I.


Follow my Book Blog Tour on www.catharinewithenay.com and don't forget to enter the competition!

Mulberry Tree Monday: Competition time

I am not here!

I have gradually been moving all my writing blog posts over to my new blog and website: www.catharinewithenay.com

Today I am launching a competition to anyone who enters their name in the comment box there.

Please do head over, follow the blog and enter to win the prize.

(It involves biscuits!)


In the Shade of the Mulberry Tree will be available to purchase as an ebook or paperback from next Monday, 18 March.

Mulberry Tree Monday: An excerpt from the book

It is only two weeks to go to Publication Day on 18 March.

Am I ready?
Hopefully!

It is hard to believe that the book I have been writing and editing for so many years is finally about to be published. Friends have already been asking for signed copies: I guess I have two weeks to practice writing my name! (It is Catharine - with an A...) I can't wait.

As loyal readers of my blog, I thought I would share an excerpt with you. There will be further excerpts during the week on my author blog and website: www.catharinewithenay.com, so do head over there and follow my progress.

So, I should start at the beginning...

Passport Pandemonium

It was as the Heathrow Express was dipping underground, leaving London and all that I knew behind, that calamity struck. 

“Stephen, where are the passports?” 

He stood up to check. They weren’t in his coat pocket. They weren’t in his rucksack. They weren’t even in the basket under the pram where we put everything else. 

They were nowhere to be found.

We were still searching when the train pulled into the airport. I knew with a cold certainty that they were lost. 

It wasn’t as if I had even wanted to emigrate. It had been a year since Stephen received the funding to do his medical research: anything to do with childhood malnutrition, dendritic cells or the immune system and he was in his element. We had both known the project meant living abroad for a couple of years, but I’d secretly hoped that something might stop this happening. What did Zambia hold for me? What if the children caught malaria? How would we cope far from family and friends? 

Still, I didn’t plan for us to lose our passports an hour before departure. 

(c) Catharine Withenay 2013

Mulberry Tree Monday: Being a butterfly doesn't come naturally

Only three weeks to go!

It has been half-term this last week and not only were my parents-in-law visiting but also my husband had a week off work. Naively I thought this would mean that I would be able to sneak plenty of time away at my desk to blog and tweet and write and promote my book and organise my life. Instead, we went to the zoo, we went shopping and out for dinner, we went to the optician/dentist/vet (various appointments throughout the week), and wrote angry letters to the council and MP (just don't go there!). And to top it all, last night I spent the whole evening ironing whilst the rest of the family watched The Blues Brothers.

Thankfully, I believe everything is still on target for Publication Day (18 March). I have reviewed and corrected my proof copy of In the Shade of the Mulberry Tree and I have prepared the Kindle version (other ebook versions are next on my list). All I need to do now is the marketing and publicity.

Self-promotion does not come naturally to me. I wonder if it does for any writer, in all reality, for some of the love of the art of writing is because you are lost in your own make-believe world. Squirrelling oneself away, armed with only a keyboard and screen (or pen and paper) the writer spends their time in their own company, and those of their own creation. I love reading Joanne Harris' tweets. She writes in her shed, and every day the shed is a different place or scene. Often I think I'd like to live in her world! A novelist inhabits a world of their own imagination. For me, I wallow in my own history and the stories of my family's life in Zambia. It is quite a selfish art!

But in order to publish, and subsequently to sell, the writer has to emerge from this cocoon and become a butterfly: bright, colourful, flamboyant. They have to fly around, talking to everyone they meet about their book, their writing, how wonderful it all is. I have organised a book launch party, but it has involved several sleepless nights and mild panic attacks as I hope and pray that my friends will come. It would be so embarrassing to be sat on my own with a glass of flat champagne and a box of unsold books behind me!

Thankfully I have some wonderful friends, some of whom have gone through this before. They have offered publicity suggestions - the local paper, magazines, the library, the school. But most of all they smile when I mention my book and encourage and don't laugh at my feeble attempts at promotion. For now, that is what I need.

Maybe, one day, I will become a fully-fledged butterfly.

If you want details of the book launch and other events, please see my other blog and website: www.catharinewithenay.com

Mulberry Tree Monday: 4 weeks to go!

Herewith I officially announce the publication date of my book: 18 March. In just 4 weeks time In the Shade of the Mulberry Tree will be available to purchase online as a paperback or ebook.

How exciting is that? (And how often do you read blog posts that start with the word 'herewith'?!)

In preparation for this momentous day in my life I am proposing to do a blog tour, if anyone would like me to call by. I can write a post, or be interviewed, or supply a prize for a competition (it would be a book!) - whatever suits you best. The topics can be varied: Zambia, motherhood, writing a book, the process of publication - whatever you like really. I'll answer questions on the state of the world economy or the 1922 England Cricket team if you like (although the answers would be a lot shorter).

I propose doing the blog tour in the week leading up to 18 March, and some for a few days after. So, if you are interested, pop a comment in the box or send me a tweet @c_withenay. Propose a date - or range of dates - and I'll sort them into some sort of sensible order (I hope!).

In the meantime...the proofs did arrive! I have found a few errors but surprised myself by thoroughly enjoying reading the book through from beginning to end. My surprise was because I could still enjoy reading it after so many, many read-throughs and edits! The stories still make me laugh and cry. I have also nearly completed the ebook formatting, so this week (in addition to all my half-term obligations) I plan to check out whether that works too. It is a busy, busy time, with organising the book launch as well.

Four weeks - not long, really. So please let me know if you'd like to be part of my book blog tour!

Mulberry Tree Monday: Impatience and frustration

Reading others' blogs and writing I realise that most authors are excited about finally seeing their book in print. The sight of all those words, ordered and bound up in a beautiful cover, available to pick up and flick through is, for them, so wonderful that they can't help but stare at them in amazement. It is a tangible result of their creativity, years of hard work compacted into a hand-held object. Authors love books - and this one is theirs. No wonder they get so excited and wish to share the moment with everyone they know!

I am merely awaiting a proof copy to check through, but I understand exactly where they are coming from. As if last week's excitement about revealing the cover design wasn't enough, I am now anticipating receiving some actual versions of my book. The last week has been spent completing the formatting of my paperback, uploading the book and ordering my proof copy (or copies, to be exact).

This has been no mean feat, given the various computer catastrophes that have occurred. I blogged earlier in the year about how my new Mac Mini didn't have a connector to my old monitor, so I was rigged up in a Heath-Robinson-style manner to the TV screen. It was ok, although the definition was poor (which surprised me) and from half a mile away (ok, about 2.5 metres) it was not always easy to see. The new computer also doesn't communicate with our ageing (but perfectly functional) printer, so I had to review my book on screen, or try to link up wirelessly with my husband's laptop (which then also decided not to communicate with the printer), or devise some other scheme.

I went for the screen review and a fast proof copy order. It is due tomorrow. It was a good job I timed it the way I did, as that evening the TV screen decided to fall off the wall. Thankfully it didn't break, but for the last 5 days I have linked my computer to a screen balanced on the floor, peering my head around the furniture slightly and willing today to arrive. (At long last, I had time to go into town and speak with a nice man at the shop who has sold me the right connector to my old screen - hooray!)

Unfortunately, whilst I was out a man delivered a parcel and left it with my neighbour, who is now out. It can only be one thing - MY BOOKS! I am so frustrated being at home and knowing they are in a box a few metres away but I can't get to them.

I've considered various options:

• Phoning the neighbours (but I don't have their number).
• Phoning everyone I know to get their number. (Probable waste of time).
• Breaking and entering. (Suspect I'll be arrested).
• Picking the lock. (Ditto.) (And I don't know how to.) (Nor do I have any hairpins.)
• Being patient. 

Darn! I think I'm failing at that one! I wonder how many visits to their house is reasonable before it becomes obsessive?

In the meantime, I must get on with formatting the Kindle version. From what I can gather this is going to involve a lot of patience and caffeine. Time to put the kettle on...

Mulberry Tree Monday: I'm so excited!

As those of you who have followed my blog over the years will know, I have written a book In the Shade of the Mulberry Tree. It is a memoir of our time in Zambia - the time when my children were toddlers and the last thing I wanted to do was leave the comfort of my life in the London to venture into tropical, sub-Saharan Africa.

The book is due to be published before Easter, but I thought my loyal blog readers would like to see a sneak preview of the cover. And so, with a great fanfare and roll of drums....

I am so excited by it! It finally makes the whole thing real. I love the way that the cover shows the tree growing out of the global map of Africa.

It was designed by Andrew Brown at designforwriters.com and I can thoroughly recommend him and his service. He did make me think, with a list of about thirty questions about the book that were designed to help him. They helped me too - as I focussed on what were the important parts of my story and how to present it to others.

I also enjoyed the experience of analysing others' covers. It turns out I really don't like very many! Perhaps I am over critical. For one, the design was okay but the colours? Yellow and purple - yuk! For many they were really fussy, with too much detail for my liking. In fairness (I always try to have a balanced perspective) they were writing different books - the cover does have to reflect the style and genre of the book itself.

But you know what's best about my book cover?

It carries on round the back!

Contrayerva

Withenay's Wednesday Word - a series about words and their meanings. 
Sometimes the word is chosen because I like it, sometimes because it is unusual, sometimes because I have heard or read it in the previous week; often because that is just where the dictionary took me. Together we can expand our vocabulary, inch by inch (or maybe letter by letter). Your challenge is to invent a sentence in the comments box that includes it.



contrayerva
tropical American plant (a noun)
from Latin contra against and herba a herb

Floating through the dictionary I came across contrayerva. My attention was drawn to it as it is a tropical American plant of the mulberry family. With publication of In the Shade of the Mulberry Tree imminent anything that mentions mulberries grabs my attention!

This particular plant was once believed to be an antidote to poisons. I do wonder how they tested this, and exactly what poisons it counteracted.  Unfortunately my copy of Culpeper's Complete Herbal doesn't list it... but then, he did write it in 1633. Having said that, wikipedia tells me that a Dr Nathaniel Hodges listed it as a main ingredient of a successful recipe in his treatise on the Great Plague of London about 30 years later.

Here is a picture that I think Culpeper and Hodges would have appreciated.

Picture credits:
Photo - www.rainforest-database.com
Print - Amos Jade @ www.photobucket.com

Mulberry Tree Monday: Party planning and proofreading

In the Shade of the Mulberry Tree is getting ever closer to completion. I've had my copy back from my friend the proofreader and there aren't too many corrections. To be honest, I think I took all the hyphens out of air-conditioning from someone else's comments on reading the book, only to have put them all back in this morning. Such are the trivialities of grammar and spelling pedants (and I count myself as one: I hate the thought of such errors creeping in, although still I find more...)

The Mulberry Tree by Vincent Van Gogh

As the process of publishing approaches its climax (by which read: published book!) I have been turning my mind to publicity: in particular to Publishing Day and how I can celebrate that.

One option is the local bookshop: that is, in fact my Number 1 choice and I am plucking up the courage to go in and ask.

Another option is to organise a party of my own. I could hire a hall, or use my own home. The hall has the advantage of anonymity (strangers could come but don't then need to know where I live!) but might lose out in terms of character. And ease (for what could be easier than finding more teabags at the back of the cupboard, rather than running out just when the Mayor pops in). (That assumes the Mayor is coming. He might not. In fact, I think 'he' might be a 'she'... there are a few details to be confirmed here!)

My friend, on the launch of his book, used his church and had some live music and some readings and plenty of food and drink. Another friend, launching her poetry book, held it on the green outside her home (grateful for decent weather in October!), using friends to sell the books while she sat at another table signing them.

It all sounds terribly grown up!

Perhaps we could just all go down the pub together? What do you think?

Mulberry Tree Monday: Progress on the book

As I look out of the window it seems appropriate to sing:

Here we go round the mulberry bush,
the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush.
Here we go round the mulberry bush,
on a cold and frosty morning.

I love the trees covered in fresh snow, their twisty, convoluted branches silhouetted against the white snow-laden clouds. Finally we get to see how God formed these trees from thick trunk to spindly twigs.  I don't now have a mulberry tree to show you, just apples. Still beautiful.

It is into this snowy world that I have to take my book In the Shade of the Mulberry Tree today. I have printed it out and my proofreading friend is ready to go. The only problem in this weather might be getting it to her! However my self-imposed deadline of publishing before Easter only leaves me eight weeks (eight weeks!!!) and so each stage needs moving on as quickly as possible.

I recognise I don't cope with stress very well. When the printer stopped at page 48 yesterday afternoon (of about 270) I think my husband was grateful that I had to go out with the children and he could resolve the problem quietly on his own. (He is fantastic. At all times. But particularly when it comes to printers.)

Having edited to the nth degree (and yes, I recognise that I will have to edit more when I get the manuscript back) I can concentrate on the other aspects of publishing a book. There are acknowledgements, covers, disclaimers, decisions on book size and pictures and... The more I do, the more I realise how much effort is put in by publishing houses. Having said that, I am enjoying going through the process by myself. This way I learn all the steps that need to be taken and at my own pace.

But the most exciting thing is... oh, I can't tell you that just yet. Save that it is beautiful and exciting and I want to tell you now, but can't. Hopefully next week.

For now - out with the ice-scraper and into the snowy world I go.

Why is nothing as straightforward as it should be?

I always thought it would be easy.

When I started writing In the Shade of the Mulberry Tree, I thought it would just be a case of opening a Word document, thinking a bit about where to begin my story and then to start tapping the keys. Clearly all I would have to do was persist at that for a bit, then hand it to a nice publishing company, have it printed and - voila! I would be a best-selling, multi-millionaire author.

My first hurdle was the writing. It isn't quite as simple as just sitting down and doing it. That, in itself, requires discipline. Discipline is not something I am good at. I am easily distracted. I love lots of things. Tea and biscuits, for example. And, gradually, as I made friends and contacts in my new home, they were more enticing than retelling my story.

I am forever indebted to Debbie who listened patiently to my whinge about getting the book written before suggesting I set myself a target: 500 words a day. All of a sudden it was manageable. 500 words is just a couple of sides of A4. I could make enough time to sit down (with a cup of tea, of course) and write that. In fact, perhaps my target should be 1000 words?

So I revised a target, knowing I would be happy with half of it. And thus I was able to achieve, but also didn't feel a need to be down on myself when it went wrong. And I gave myself weekends off: writing time then was a bonus! (In fact, spending time with my wonderful husband and children was the bonus, and made all the writing mid-week worthwhile.)

Writing those final words of the final chapter was such an exhilarating feeling! I had accomplished something - I had followed it through to completion. There, in a few kilobytes of text, was a year of my life, written out for all to see.

Then I started reading it through and didn't like bits. And it was lumpy, with chapters of variable length - some many pages long, some just a couple of sides. And did it really flow together? Would anyone else truly be interested? The process of editing began in earnest.

Today is my private deadline for finishing editing. Well, actually, it will be tomorrow (you see, I like double deadlines so that I don't feel too bad when I fail the first!). If this book is to be published then I have to get it as good as I can at this moment in time. What is astonishing is how many spelling or grammatical mistakes there are that I must have overlooked all the other times I've read it through!

I am determined to meet this deadline despite the traumatic computer events of the last week. My old Mac Mini had died on a couple of occasions in the last month: the entire operating system crashed. I'm no technological expert, but I know that isn't good. So in the middle of last week the nice men at the Apple store did a data transfer to the new model for me.

In itself the change wasn't a problem, but the new Mac Mini (a) doesn't have the right connector to my old computer screen, so I am hitched up to the TV in a rather precarious fashion and (b) doesn't have Word on it (and won't accommodate my older version), so I am having a rapid lesson in Pages (Apple's equivalent).

As if that wasn't enough, over the weekend the computer decided not to communicate with my printer. Did anyone ever say life was supposed to be easy?

Mulberry Tree Monday

I have written a book.

It is called In the Shade of the Mulberry Tree.

It is due to be published before Easter (exact date to be confirmed).

How exciting is that? 

Stating it as bare facts brings home the reality of all those hours of writing and editing, tweaking and ditching words to create a story.

When I started writing it was to ease my boredom. Newly arrived back from Africa I was full of stories and life experiences that I was itching to share with others. But I had moved to Newcastle, where I knew no-one. My husband's job was not long-term there and I had two children in primary school, so getting a job for myself was impractical. (I would have had so many demands on part-time work to be unemployable, and always at risk of having to hand in my notice days after I started!)

Writing was my escape. Writing was my chance to share my stories, if only with the computer. Writing gave me the opportunity to exercise my little grey cells in between the mundane child-rearing exercises.

Writing also meant I didn't have to clean the house (this still applies!) It meant I could drink tea and eat custard creams (fuel for the thought process). And, interestingly, it opened doors I didn't think were even there, as friendships developed with other writers. I have a lot to thank my WEA class for, not only as they criticised and corrected my words, but also for the support and encouragement they shared.  It was a lifesaver, creating a rock when so much in my life was sinking sand.

Over the years since it has waxed and waned as a priority to me. I have excuses, as anyone would who brings up children and renovates their house and moves across the country and has family crises that need attending to. But I've stuck with my book, returning to it to perfect words and phrases. Every time I look there is something I'd like to change: my biggest fear is that will continue forever, whether it is in print or not.

So I have set myself the Easter deadline. I have drafted an approximate timetable and I have tasks I have to complete by certain dates.

One of which is to finish the final edits this week. So, if you'll excuse me, I'm just away to re-write chapter 14...


Photo credit: Trees Direct 
www.treesdirect.co.uk/shop/celebration-days/mulberry

Blog and book and broken promises?

January 4th: it must be about time to draft some New Year's Resolutions, right?

Clearly if my aim were to do something every day of the year then I would already have failed, so my thoughts are to be tempered by my innate ability to be late. A resolution not to be late would be interesting but, again, a failure before starting.

If I am to actually achieve anything then I ought to follow the SMART maxim: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. So my desire to lose 2 stone before the summer falls into many of those categories, but achievable? I think not. (You can't see the stash of chocolates that Santa brought!)

As this is my blog, where I can make and break all my own rules, I am therefore giving myself the gentle push to do more of it. I know I've been a little lax in recent months, but this is such a marvellous place to set my thoughts and memories free. I have plans for a new blog design, which is exciting but not yet ready for pressing the 'publish' button. All in good time, dear readers, all in good time (as I sense Jane Austin would write, had she joined the blogosphere).

My greatest challenge, however, is to publish my book In the Shade of the Mulberry Tree before Easter. That's a tight deadline, and promises me a frantic few months ahead. But there is much to say about it, and the process of getting there, which I imagine will fuel a multitude of blog posts.

All sorts of plans, ideals and deadlines. Any chance of making them, whilst also holding down a job and running around after the children? A slim one, and perhaps that's what makes it worthwhile. Or at least, worth sharing.

Wish me luck!

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

NaNoWriMo 2012: Celebrate or Sink without trace?

50,000 words is an awful lot of writing...but honestly, I knew that before I started.

For the uninitiated, NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is a challenge to write a novel in a month - or, more accurately, 50,000 words in November. I am not writing a novel but a memoir of my family's time living in Zambia. I have already completed writing the first book (In the Shade of the Mulberry Tree) but I'd always held plans for a trilogy, so I thought I would take this opportunity to work on Book 2.

Above all, what I wanted to do with the month was to reinstate writing into my life. To that end I had a private target of 30,000 words, or 1000 words a day on average. Achievable? Possibly. But I have learnt some lessons along the way.

Here is what I have discovered in the last month:

1  I love writing. When the subject matter flows it is the most enjoyable discipline.

2  It also appears I love editing, as all I am wanting to do now is go over all my writing and correct it!

3  I can maintain the discipline of writing 1,667 words a day for two weeks, then it rather goes to pot. I have excuses, with matters that have occurred within the family and other commitments that I have to fulfill, but after working at it very hard for two weeks my brain was a little frazzled and all I really wanted to do was to have a rest. So I did. (For about a week, which is too long!)

4  It is easy to get distracted, even by your own writing. I have spent a happy hour or two (ahem!) looking up information about railways in Zambia, maps of road journeys we took, and tried (unsuccessfully) to find the book I had about President Mobutu of Zaire/the Democratic Republic of Congo.

5  It turns out I can type drivel for hours, if necessary. If you have a word count to aim for then I recommend throwing in every adverb and adjective you can think of. The quality of writing falls, but you get nearer the goal! (Some sentences are really good - honest!).

6  I am itching to put together all the oddments of writing that I have done for this second book, to lay them in some sort of coherent order and try to develop a storyline that is enticing. At the moment I have a series of stories, each interesting in their own right but they don't drive the reading of the book. A lot of printing and cutting, copying & pasting are in order!

6  Above all, I'd like to get In the Shade of the Mulberry Tree published. One of the many NaNoWriMo distractions was to write the blurb for the back cover of the book, which I am so excited about. I need to double check my manuscript and tighten up on the layout. It is all so nearly, nearly there... but needs time devoted to it for its completion.

So, after 27 days of writing as if my life depended on it I have stopped.

Technically, I am a NaNoWriMo failure.

But I know I'm not a failure. Although I would have loved to reach their 50,000 word target I had set myself a lower target which I have achieved! When I put my pen down (figuratively: actually I walked away from the keyboard) on Tuesday evening I had completed 30,158 words - slightly above my private target of 30,000! I am absolutely delighted with this.

Furthermore, I know that if I combine that with the 23,000 words or so that I have already written I am well on the way to completing a book. Given the amount of editing I know needs to be done (referred to in point 5 above) I suspect that I am about on target. There are a few stories to flesh out, and a few to reposition. It is all very exciting!

And - as if all that is not enough - I am very excited about the prospect of giving my blog a makeover, since little has changed on it for a long time. Keep an eye out for it!

More news will follow about the publishing of my first book In the Shade of the Mulberry Tree in the new year. I'm not so impractical as to expect that I can organise that before Christmas as well as everything else. All I have to do is look forward to that long, relaxing holiday over the festive season when I have nothing to do but sort out such matters... ahem!

In the meantime I'm off to open up a bottle of something to celebrate my November achievement. So, put on your glad rags and pick up a glass -  I cordially invite you all to raise the roof with me at my NaNoWriMo Celebration Party!

Reasons to be cheerful!

Writing Wednesday

Shortly before Christmas I entered a competition by the Society of Women Writers and Journalists. It was for Life Writing: a short story (or blog entry or other form of writing) based on real life events.

I am delighted to say that Wash, Rinse, Spin was longlisted for the competition! At the time of writing this, the winner hasn't yet been announced. (I'm trying to generously wish all the short-listed contenders luck!)

I chose to adapt a chapter of my book In the Shade of the Mulberry Tree. The chapter was relatively self-contained and (I hope) quite funny, looking at the very standard activity of getting my hair cut for the first time in a foreign land. For those who don't know, In the Shade of the Mulberry Tree is the story of my first year living in Zambia with two young children - and many of my escapades revolve around the steep learning curve of living in such a different environment.

If you are interested in reading it, I have published it in a separate page of the blog: Wash, Rinse, Spin. 

I hope you enjoy it. Do let me know what you think!

Just did it!

Writing Wednesday

I did it!

As promised to myself last week on this blog, I gave myself the time to rewrite the final chapter of my book In the shade of the mulberry tree.

I cut it fine (yes, it was yesterday afternoon...and early evening...) but with a little determination and only a small amount of procrastination on twitter (ahem!) I managed to forge out 1666 words. New words. Well, largely traditional words strung out in a new order. But nevertheless, the basis of a final chapter was put together.

It does raise more questions, of course. How should I end the book?

  A: Drinking G&Ts in the glow of the setting African sun?
  B: Getting on the plane back to the UK?
  C: Discussing plans for the year ahead with my husband?
  D: Getting on the plane back to Zambia?
  E: All of the above? Or none?

Looking back at that list I realise that I can't be doing both B and D at the same time; nor either with A, perhaps. Everyone always speaks about how difficult it is to get the first chapter right - and it is, for it has to hook the reader, never mind the publisher and agent! - but ending is also important. It is the final feeling you have as you put a book down. Do you want to be sad or happy? Despairing or hopeful? Immediately want more, or to have space to think about issues that have been raised?

As my tale isn't miserable but is, I hope, thought-provoking, I think a bit of warm sun will have to sneak in somewhere. And I enjoy chatting with my husband (no really, honestly: I do!) So now all I have to do is turn those draft 1666 words into something that makes more coherent sense, something with fewer adverbs (obviously!) and something that sums up the essence of my first year living in Zambia.

Perhaps you'll have to come back next week...

A new start for a new year?

Writing Wednesday

I am ashamed to admit that my writing has taken a back seat over the last few weeks. I can excuse myself Christmas week itself, but in all honesty nothing much has happened since the beginning of November.

I have only myself to blame. I have read many, many blogs and books about how to write. One of the pieces of advice is: JUST DO IT! You cannot be a writer if you don't write. Ignore the phone, switch off Facebook and Twitter, tell your family you are going to be busy for a couple of hours and cannot be disturbed. Whatever it takes, give yourself the space to write.

I do not heed my own advice, you note. Nor others' instructions. Instead I let all the Christmas shows take over, my responsibilities to church overwhelm, my school governor duties take priority, work - well, that just seemed an endless stream of deadlines that thoroughly deserved the Night Out at the end!

But the worst bit of procrastination is because I know I have to rewrite my final chapter. As it currently exists it is more of an epilogue but - if I were to restructure it as that - my actual book would then end rather miserably and a little in mid-air. So a serious rewrite looms and, in the odd ten minutes I get to myself, the effort to actually do that is more than I can face.

Just do it! My resolve for the week ahead is to set aside a few hours - a morning or an afternoon - and just write. Even if the result is rubbish, at least I will have a basis to edit rather than a blank page.

Then all I have to do is pluck up courage to send query letters... *gulp* !

Five things I've noticed in editing my book

This is at least my fourth complete edit of my book, In the shade of the Mulberry Tree, which tells the first year of my family's adventures living in Zambia. Every time I finish I think, 'Great! It's ready!' Then I find more things to correct and re-write. Is an author's work ever truly complete? Here are some things that have astonished me about my writing this time.

1. Though I pride myself in my correct use of grammar (I blame years of repetitive practice at primary school), there was a run of chapters where I repeatedly used its incorrectly. Its = belongs to it; It's = It is or it has. I know this...but there are gaps between knowledge and application...
2. I have a propensity to write sentences without verbs. So, not really sentences at all, I suppose.
3. Certain words repeat many times. I removed a lot of 'somewhat's before this edit; now I have replaced a lot of showing with revealing. Sadly, I don't think I've managed to squeeze the word indubitably in anywhere.
4. I write a lot of lists with no 'and' to hold them together. Lovely commas, no conjunctive.
5. There is no room for sentimentality. I cut 1000 words by just hitting the delete button, but I'd really enjoyed writing that chapter! I would just like the Broccoli family to know that if any James Bond film hits our screens which is set in Zambia, my husband and I retain the copyright. (Or at least the bottle of wine that created such a fantastic film!)

And so, to end. My final chapter ought to be an epilogue. But then my penultimate chapter would be my final chapter and it has a really miserable ending. My final edit stage is to split the final chapter into two: a new final chapter and an epilogue. I hope it works!

Then edits done, all I need to do is send it off to publishers or agents. As a meerkat might say, 'Simples!'

(Oh, the irony: blogger spellcheck wants to correct meerkat to market...!)