My main time to write is in the evenings. I started working on this chapter on Wednesday but since then there have been a number of personal distractions.
One of my best friends is in hospital with her baby and I wanted to do something to cheer her up. I gave up an evening to work on creating her a special letter and gift. Another evening was lost to looking at my families finances and trying to work out how we will afford everything this month as I am no longer bringing in any money on maternity leave.
Today, I have taken every chance I have had to get some writing done and I have finally finished editing the chapter to post on Wattpad. If you have time to take a look, please do give it a read and let me know what you think.
How are you progressing towards your writing goals?
Day 18 of March’s Instagram photo challenge by #womenwritingfiction #wwfchallenge2019 was “Tell us about your secondary characters.”
Personally, I spend quite a bit of time developing my secondary characters. I like to know what makes them tick so I can ensure they remain true to who they are. Often, I fall in love with a character so much that I want to write them their own story, like Kya – currently writing Diamond in the Sky about her.
I decided to spotlight Denny. One of the stories about this character is below. I hope you enjoy this snipped into her background and I would love to hear about whether you enjoy developing your secondary characters as much as your primary characters.
Image from Unsplash artist Kinga Cichewicz of how I picture grown up Denny https://ift.tt/2DByKkK
View on Instagram https://ift.tt/2Ofw15V
Unpack (Denny)
Gwyn had been a mother and best friend all rolled into one neat package. I picked the sticky tape off another cardboard box. Packing up had been a difficult chore but unpacking was a never ending task.
Revealing the contents, I realised this would be no quick task. At the top was a powder blue photo album with white writing ‘My Baby’. I can’t resist the urge to look at pictures of my son. I clutched it to my chest in the same manner I had when he had been small enough to do so.
The first page was a photo of him only hours old. Gwyneth had been my only visitor at hospital and took the photo for me.
Gosh, I look so young. Too young to be a mum!
I pulled the rigid board of the front cover free from the slip to retrieve a picture I had hidden there. It had been taken in a photo booth, a sketch of us together in black and white. Dean believed pictures looked better like that. Now, it was disappointing as the picture didn’t show the kaleidoscope of golds his hair had shone that hot May.
The Easter fair had been in town, we were down for the holidays. Mum had given my brother Greg and I some money to go ‘treat ourselves’.
“What ride do you want to go on first?” Greg asked as we walked along the closed off road.
It was dark and the rides were lit up by brightly coloured bulbs and painted with images of seductive looking women with large breasts and glossy lips.
“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “They all look lame to me.”
Image from Unsplash artist Gabriel Matula of how I picture a teenage Denny: https://unsplash.com/@gmat07
There was the familiar crashing of bumper cars and the rotation of horses on the carousel. There were the more dangerous rides for older kids like Rock City where a row of chains rotated up and down getting faster and faster, Metropolis where everyone put their faith in centrifugal force as they stood in the cage of a spinning wheel tipping on its side as they stuck to the wall. There was Niagara Falls which consisted of two carpeted tubes that spun in different direction causing you to fall to the ground. Last time we were here it gave me carpet burn. All of them looked like they would either make me sick or cover me in bruises.
“I’m gonna get some candy floss.” My brother said irritated by my lack of adventure. He had been bored at the caravan and the fair was all that had kept him going.
I begrudgingly followed him whilst he flirted with two young girls in the queue. He allowed them to steal bites of the blue fluffy cloud of sugary sweetness. My brother was terrible with his cheesy lines ‘are all the girls around here as gorgeous as you?’
One of the girls, who had slicked her hair back into a ponytail eyed me with her dark lined eyes, “Your girlfriend?”
“Sister.” My brother quickly corrected her but his grin clearly read ‘I’m in there!’
The girl rubbed her arms to brush off the cold. “Wanna game of pool?”
Obviously my brother said yes. He had lost all interest in the rides now his sole attention was on this girl, who to me looked like a slapper. Sadly, that was probably what he liked about her.
Her friend was chewing gum and seemed to be eyeing everyone up for a fight. Even when she smiled at my brother her eyes were half closed and she almost looked as if she was snarling, so I was surprised when she said, “You want to play?”
I shook my head. “I’ll just watch.”
I felt a little like a gooseberry standing on the side lines watching my brother tickle this girl every time she tried to take a shot. She giggled and blushed, “Stop cheating!”
I saw a pinball machine and decided to give it a go. The popular theme tune to the Adams Family started up. I pulled back the lever and let it go. The spring raced forward, smacking into the round silver ball and spinning it onto the table. The ball bounced off some bells and was heading down towards the bottom. My hands leaned over the edge of the table ready to hit the buttons to cause the flickers to stop the ball from being lost.
“You’ll never beat my score.”
I jumped and hit the button too late. Angrily, I searched for the person responsible for my loss, only to be taken back by the most beautiful eyes and gorgeous smile I had ever had the pleasure of meeting. As if moving in slow motion, I blushed as I watched the ball bounce and roll down the middle bringing the game to a halt.
“Dean.” He said confidently.
All I could see was his cocky grin and cool blue eyes. He had long blond hair that swept across his face in rebellious waves. He looked like he had stepped off the set of some Californian beach surfer movie and I couldn’t take my eyes off him.
“You’ve still got another ball.” He said with a thick Suffolk accent that killed my Mr Muscle Beach fantasy.
My hands shook rapidly to the beat of my heart and it was more difficult to pull the bar back the second time. I let it go and tried again to keep the ball on the table but I was all flustered. I managed to hit it back into the game twice more before it disappeared for good.
“It’s your last ball. Do you want my help?”
My throat was tied up in knots, pretty much like my stomach and I couldn’t speak. I gave a nod. The next thing I knew, he was standing behind me. His hand clasped over mine and we drew back the lever together. “Never go all the way.” His hot breath tickled my neck like a forewarning my body wanted to rebel against. “Otherwise the ball will be too fast to keep up with. You need it to be just enough to put it on the board and get stuck behind those bells. Then you will get the maximum points.” He let go of my hand and I released it. I let it go and as my hands fumbled for the buttons, I felt his fingers guiding me into place, finally resting gently over the top of mine.
That was how my romance for ‘Hugo Boss’ had begun. The scent surrounded me in the same way his arms were. It was intoxicating the way it gripped my senses and spun my world like the little silver ball. From that day forward, it became the smell that I associated with summer, replacing the uplifting fresh salty sea breeze and lashings of sun lotion. I no longer hungered for the tantalising sweetness of a ninety-nine vanilla ice-cream and chocolate flake; I just wanted to taste Dean. That was the start of the holiday romance that broke my heart and changed my life eternally.
Looking at the photo, I was surprised to discover how similar Dean looked to Jace. I shouldn’t have been surprised, after all Dean was his dad. The last time he had come to mind had been when I met Dave, my fiancé. The first thing that caught my attention was the heart capturing scent of Hugo.
Now Jace was wearing it thanks to Dave trying to bond with him “Wear this, the women love it.” I never told Dave why this woman loved it.
This song has beautiful imagary that I feel captures the intoxicating feeling of first love and the magic of the whirlwind, followed by the crushing destruction when all is not as it was and all you have left is sweet memories that are painful to carry. I think it captures the emotions of the scene above well.
It is set in the Middle East, in the desert. There is a western feel to it with the guns but a fantasy element with the magic and mythical creatures.
This is my review.
What is the book about?
The story is set in the desert in a time when women are oppressed. Amani lives in a small town with her aunt and uncle as her parents are dead. It isn’t a happy home, they are poor and she is coming to an age where she must be married but doesn’t get to chose who. Her uncle thinks she should marry him and she can’t think of anything worse. So, she plans to escape.
Fortunately she is a good gun slinger and decides to dress up as a man and enter a shooting contest. She plans to runaway with her winnings.
Skip to ”What did I think” to avoid spoilers.
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How it starts
At the contest she earns the nickname Blue Eyed Bandit (her eye colour is unusual) and although she makes it to the final and is clearly the best shooter it turns out the contest is fixed and she is lucky to make it out alive.
The soldiers are looking for a criminal which turns out to be Jin, the guy she met at the contest and helped her escape. Amani helps him hide although Jin doesn’t recognise her without her disguise.
Later, when she captures a magical horse, worth a lot of money, she thinks her luck has changed. But, her uncle decides they must marry so he can take the money. The mine explodes and in the chaos, Jin helps her escape with the horse.
The middle
At first Amani and Jin are not travelling companions but as their paths keep crossing they end up helping each other. There are also a few almost kisses.
To avoid getting captured Jin suggests they join some travellers as hired help. Amani has to pretend to be a boy and is hired as a shooter as the route is dangerous.
During their travels they see some of what the army are doing and discover they have created some type of bomb and will use it on civilians and blame the rebels.
Whilst travelling, Jin is attacked by a creature that creates nightmare. The party want to leave him behind as he will slow them down and die but Amani stays with him. She is determined to get him across the desert in his fragile state. A creature is tracking them so Amani has to find somewhere safe, she finds a wall and says the secret phrase from the fairy tale Jin has been telling her and the hidden entrance opens.
This trip was a little tiresome for me and Amani didn’t have much purpose. Her family were long gone and she was running to a city where she thought her life would be better.
How it ends
Amani finds the rebels secret hideout. Whilst at the camp she meets Dijinnis and learns about how they all have a unique characteristic. She discovers her blue eyes are because she is a Dijinni. She also discovers Jin is the rebel prince. At first she is angry he hid this from her but later forgives him.
She joins the rebel’s and helps them to stop the bomb by figuring out her power in the nick of time. She also gets with Jin and they kiss.
What did I think
I like the magic and world building I’m just not a massive fan of travelling within stories. I also wanted the magic sooner but I guess that was the tease to hook me until the end. Amani is a strong fierce character which I enjoyed. The chemistry between Jin and Amani was subtle although it was obvious that he would be the love interest. I get the feeling the passion is being saved for a book later in the series.
I’ve got the next book to read but decided to read Red Queen instead. Rebel of the Sands is a good book and worth a read. There is a movie coming and I think the magic will look very exciting on the screen.
So, I entered Jewel of the Sea into a competition. I am in Group One for SciFi, Fantasy Paranormal, Werewolf and Vampire stories.
The competition has six rounds. Each round, the stories will be judged for different things. Each round the contestants will be halved so that by the final (sixth) round there are only two contestants competing to win. The criteria for each round is:
Title, Cover, Blurb
First Chapter
Characters
Plot
Overall Story
Judges’ Review
Round One for Group One Starts On: 27 March 2019 to 5 April 2019
I have ten days to spread the word and encourage my followers to visit the competition and comment on why they like my novel’s title, cover and blurb.
Jewel of the Sea
Blurb:
One kiss is all it took to wake Mariah’s weather manipulation powers.
Mariah is crushing on her best friend, rivalling with the swim team star and Gwyn in meddling in her life using spells. With no idea what she is, this mermaid could lose control and kill!
When your deadly powers are connected to your emotions, it gives a new meaning to “It’s complicated.”
How you can help:
Please can you visit the Cliche Press Competition and comment on what you like about my novel’s title, cover and blurb. Click here to visit the competition.
Also, if you have time to give me feedback on my project it is always welcomed. I’m constantly looking for ways to improve so please don’t hesitate to let me know what is working and what is not.
Please let me know if you are on Wattpad as I would love to follow you.
Happily Ever Author is a group run by Pagan on Facebook. She posts prompts to get authors to socialise and share what they are working on and to set goals. She sometimes gives prizes (I got a YouTube guide) and sometimes she promotes her books and other group (Paperback Kingdom).
Paperback Kingdom is a Facebook group linked to services she offers such a course, 1:1 coaching, etc. I can’t tell you much more as I’ve not paid for the additional content.
About #NewYearNewNovel
Pagan set her Happily Ever Author group members a challenge in December to start doing the prep work for a new novel in 2019. This was supported with videos where she shared her tips and techniques for doing this, from how to come up with a story idea, outling, character development, etc. These were really useful and I would like to watch them again.
Although, all I have written is the opening to my story (Scarlet House), I do feel more prepared and clearer about what I will be writing. I can’t wait to finish my current editing project so I can start on a brand new novel for 2019.
Have you discovered any awesome writer groups online?
The little one had me up bright and early but thankfully has breast fed. I probably should have tried making a start on NaNo even if it was just writing on my phone, instead I played Dragon Mania. There is still plenty more time today after the school run and house work… We’ll see…
10:22pm
Day one and I typed 939 words (daily goal is 834 words). I didn’t get to work on my manuscript until the kids were in bed. Plus, the hubby was out tonight so it was first time since Aria was born that I’ve I done it without help.
As I never found time to prepare, I also crammed in some character development and outlined the first three chapters. I wish I had a full novel outline but something is better than nothing.
I’m pretty impressed with myself. Today has been a good day.
Friday, 2nd November 2018
11:00pm
My husband was put this evening so I bathed and got the little ones ready for bed before I could make a start on my writing at 9:30pm. I’m pleased with the progress I made as I beat my daily goal of 830, with 1,326 words.
I am really enjoying writing it and could keep going if I didn’t have responsibilities. I need my sleep so I can keep up with the little ones tomorrow so that’s me done for today but I’m looking forward to writing more tomorrow.
Saturday, 3rd November 2018
10:00pm
Today has been a busy day. We visited family in the morning. Then, in the afternoon I got Aria to sleep and was able to support Noah with his homework (researching India and the Festival of Light). Then we visited more family and returned home late.
Aria has only just gone to sleep and I can barely keep my eyes open. I’m frustrated I did not get to write today but we did a lot of family stuff today which is good for the soul.
Sunday, 4th November 2018
10:00pm
Today has been a great day. Not only did I get some time to write this afternoon but I also got to write more this evening. I managed to add 2,276 words to my manuscript.
Not only that, but we also watched the fireworks together as a family. It’s been a great day!
Monday, 5th November 2018
11:57am
I’ve had a busy morning with Aria. We went to a group and I got her weighed. She is now nodding off so I can get some lunch. I’m hoping to beat my word count from yesterday so if I get a chance to write before the school run, I will.
9:00pm
Famous last words… After, I typed the above, Aria woke up and went on a mad feeding frenzy where she kept emptying her bottles and crying for more. How could I say no when I’ve been desperate for her to get an appetite.
Now, she has finally fallen asleep, I can barely keep my eyes open. It’s an early night for me – sorry NaNo.
Tuesday, 6th November 2018
10:08pm
Today, has been nonstop but since my husband returned from work I have managed to have a bath and add 1,141 words to my project.
Wednesday, 7th November 2018 (My birthday)
1:00pm
It’s my birthday, although I’m not really celebrating it. This morning, I managed to hit my daily word count before lunch.
9:40pm
After my husband cooking me one of my favourite meals, eating cake and opening presents, we got the kids to bed and now I am back to writing and what a great way to end week one with 2,003 words.
Reflecting on week 1
7 days in and I’ve already written a total of 7,790 words. I am really pleased with the start I have made towards my target of 25,000. If I continue like this, I can easily achieve my goal.
In fact, I am only 3,876 words behind in achieving the NaNo goal of 50,000 words. To achieve that I need to write 1,759 words per day which I’ve proven I can do…
If you like this post, then you might like this one about the project I am working on for NaNoWriMo November 2018 or my NaNoWriMo diary post for Week Two.
I’m not going to post an update every day as I think that will be too much. I thought every 5 days would be better but I’ve struggled with that so it has turned into updates every 10 days!
The goal
My goal is to write 25k in 31 days to finish my novel titled Glide. I’ve called the project Diamond In The Sky as this is what I am considering renaming the novel as.
Pregnancy is really catching up with me. I am so tired by the time I finish work and it is so hot in the evenings, all I want to do is lie on my bed and dream of owning a fan.
I did received some good news. An article I wrote for a publication was accepted!
Day 17
So, today the good news got better as they sent me a link of how my article would look for my approval. Plus, they asked me what I’d like to write next!
At work, I went to lunch with a group of colleagues. It was sort of a leaving lunch because it is the last time we will all be in the office at the same time before I go on maternity leave, next week.
I did manage to do a little blog writing on my mobile whilst I melted in the heat. I went to bed early and didn’t do any NaNo writing.
Day 18
I have left the gifts to the last minute so Noah and I were up early doing crafts before nursery. I was pretty impressed with what we did.
I had the afternoon off work to take him to his graduation party at the other nursery. It was a lovely little party but I still don’t think he understands nursery is coming to an end.
I’m so busy with all the activities with his nursery coming to an end and everything I need to do before maternity that I haven’t the energy when I get home to do creative writing.
Day 19
Today, was my son’s last day of nursery – we were up early making crafts for this placement too. I had a busy day at work as my colleagues suddenly realised I only have two days of work left!
I did receive some very good. My CIPD tutor let me know that all my assignments are now marked (including re-submissions) and I have passed. So, I can relax and focus on my baby and writing.
On that note, I wrote 576 words. I know it isn’t a lot but it is much better than the other days.
Day 20
This morning, Noah had another sports day – there is double of everything because he has a dual placement. It was out in the sun with no shelter and no where to sit. Noah wanted to visit his nanny afterwards but my feet were so swollen they looked like elephant trotters, so we had to go home so I could put my feet up.
It’s very hard to write upside down and it took me the rest of the day to get my feet to go back to normal. I was also incredibly tired and fell asleep for 2 hours in the afternoon. I’m lucky my husband was off ill otherwise who knows what my son would have got up to. As a result, I didn’t do any NaNo.
On a plus note, my husband and his best friend worked on building the nursery furniture which is a huge relief to see the room finally coming together.
Day 21
I’m 38 weeks pregnant today and booked in for some pampering. I felt so relaxed and happy afterwards.
Sadly, I returned home to learn there is a problem with the wall stickers I ordered for the nursery as the seller is in America. I spent the rest of the day coming up with a new theme for the nursery and looking for UK sellers that do the same sort of thing… with no luck and no NaNo progress.
Her walls will be white like the blank page on my computer screen.
Day 22
Today, I got straight on the PC and wrote 2k before doing anything. I sent my husband off in the evening for a rock climbing experience day which left me alone with the PC once the little man was in bed and I got another 1k done.
I now have a fan! Yay! Thank you mother-in law.
Day 23
I started the day full of determination to get home and do some writing but at work they were having building work which resulted in the air con being turned off and on the roof their are seagulls and their chicks and they are aggressive – so we can’t open the windows. By the time I returned home I felt like I was dying and wasn’t good for anything! To make matters worse I felt like I was coming down with a cold – despite the heatwave… is that even possible.
Day 24
Yes, it is possible. Today was my last day at work before maternity leave and I was streaming from my nose with my cold and sweating along with everyone else suffering in the heat. Most of my colleagues were on holiday as they had to use it up before the end of July. The one colleague that was in treated me to lunch for my last day which broke the day up and made it feel a tad more special.
When I got home, I couldn’t even put my son to bed as I was so ill and exhausted. I opted to sleep on the sofa as I didn’t want to keep my husband up with all the nose blowing. I was right – I didn’t sleep a wink.
Day 25
This was supposed to be the day that clawed it back! I really thought I’d have all day to write but I’m ill, haven’t slept, feeling very pregnant and it’s too hot. I spent a lot of time between household chores (nothing too strenuous) just roasting in front of the fan. I am so glad that Noah had holiday club as there is noway I would have kept up with him.
I did manage to take some pics for my blog that had to be done as the deadline for a scheduled post is in two days. I have struggled today but managed to add a few words to the count.
Reflection
Days 16 to 20 were pretty poor – partly why I didn’t feel motivated to do a 5 day diary for that period.
I’m really pleased with my day 22 progress which shows what I can achieve if I have a fan and time and feeling healthy.
I’m also really pleased about my article getting published. If you’d like to read my post about this achievement, please click here.
Fingers crossed I can crackdown these last few days and somehow still do this! It’s not over yet! I refuse to give up! I just need days like day 22.
Are you doing the challenge? How are you getting on?
My goal is to write 25k to finish my novel titled Glide. I’ve called the project Diamond In The Sky as this is what I am considering renaming the novel. You can click here to see my post about setting the goal.
Day 1 to 5
If you want to read how the first 5 days went, please click here to view the post.
Day 6 to 15
We are now half way through the challenge and it is challenging… Here is how day 6 to 15 have gone:
Day 6
I wrote 0 words. I started the day trying to get some laundry done in the morning. The afternoon was my son’s graduation ceremony at nursery which was an amazing day. When I got home, I told my husband all about how proud I was and just didn’t do any writing.
Day 7
I wrote 1,289. I decided to skip a chapter that I was struggling to get motivated to write and instead wrote the next chapter. Now, I feel clearer about the chapter I skipped and ready to go back and write it.
Day 8
I wrote 1,493. I feel clearer about where my story is going now and was able to write the next chapter. It wasn’t the most exciting chapter but it was necessary and setting the path for what is to come.
Day 9
I got a refer on one of my CIPD assignments – I had hoped the course was finish so I could concentrate on other projects like NaPoWriMo. The time after work that I would have spent writing had to be put on hold as I needed respond to my lecturers feedback and resubmit ASAP. I want to finish before I have my baby and my due date feels like a ticking bomb!
Day 10
Today, was my Hypnobirthing class. I love Hyponbirthing. It is so relaxing. The only problem is that I am so chilled out afterwards that I can’t do anything. Word count was zero.
Day 11
I was determined when I got home from work to catch up with my word count but I got as far as about 426 words before my son started being sick. I then spent an uncomfortable night with him, comforting him as it came out of both ends. He was amazingly tough though.
Day 12
Hubby took the day off to look after my son as it would be very difficult for me to rearrange my appointments at work, especially with only 6 days of work left before maternity leave starts. On next to no sleep, I did a full days work (let’s call it newborn training). When I arrived home I was too tired to write.
Day 13
Yay, my son is better. Just as well as we had a busy day planned. I cancelled visiting a friend with a newborn as a precaution – my son could be contagious – instead, we did jobs in town (pay library fines, allergy test for my pampering next weekend, etc). Then we went home for lunch. In the afternoon, we visited the school he will be starting in September to take part in a preparing for school activity. Then my husband’s best friend came over and we chatted until I had to go to bed.
Day 14
Our house is a mess! We spent most the morning doing chores at home and popped out to buy paint for the nursery. I then played with my son in the garden in this glorious sunshine. It’s so good to see him happy and well.
Then once he was in bed, I got ready for a night on the sea front with one of my best friends – something we want to enjoy before life gets complicated with a new born. Word count was zero though.
Day 15
Today, my hubby has been great keeping my son busy so I could get in front of the PC during the day because I’m often too tired in the evening. I manged to achieve 2.5k! That is my personal best this month and it is only midday so there is chance I could add to that later on.
I also really like what I have written. There was a bit of adding to earlier chapters as well as adding a new chapter. I got to write about her casting and developing her powers and confronting Mariah and I loved it. The boys are back now but I will be looking for any chance to sneak off and write some more.
Reflection
I’m so pleased with my achievement today. If only I could have more days like that. I have seen what I can achieve if I can get the time to be able to write. I still love that feeling of creating my story, the world, characters and the magic. It is what I love and even when I felt like quitting, I couldn’t. This is me.
I am still behind target though, however, I have had some unexpected challenges that halted my progress. I thought I had finished my CIPD course and I had not anticipated my son being ill.
I have still managed to keep my blog posts regular and sent an article to a publication (fingers crossed they like it). I’d like to get ahead of my blog schedule as I’m sure I’ll be distracted once the baby is here and I don’t want to fall silent.
When I think about all I am juggling, I am achieving an awful lot – even if I do say so myself.
Let me know if you are doing the challenge and how you are getting on?
This was the second event of the 2018 Felixstowe Book Festival that I chose to attend.
It was hosted at Felixstowe Library and they put on a selection of nibbles. The sandwiches were really good and I got a glass of fresh orange juice in a wine glass (very sophisticated). Not so sophisticated was trying to juggle my paper plate, glass, mobile phone, notebook and pen but I somehow managed.
A post shared by Hayley Long (@hayleylongevity) on
The format of the event was Hayley interviewing Virginia about her book and chatting a little about her own too – like they were two authors hanging out. It was very informal between the pair. It made the event very personal as they told us about their books and what inspired them to write these stories.
Afterwards, we got to mingle and I had a wonderful inspiring chat with Virginia.
More about Hayley and her new book “Being a girl”.
Hayley was inspired to write a book that gives teen girls advice on how to survive puberty, however, there are lots of useful tips that would benefit women of all ages. She describes her book at ‘How to make life easier’.
Hayley showed us some pages from her book with illustrations by Gemma Correll (famous for Pugs, not Thugs) and that some text is small like a whisper and some text is big and loud. It looks like a fun book by about an awkward subject.
I was delighted to hear that Hayley is a local girl and went to school here. It is really inspiring to hear that someone with similar roots made it and that it is possible.
Writing about such a personal topic was quite scary to publish as she wasn’t sure what reaction she would get. Of all the complaints she envisioned, she had not anticipated people would complain about a tampon on the cover.
I didn’t buy her book today but if it is still around when my little girl is starting high school it sounds like the kind of empowering book I would want her to read. She has also written other stories that are based around the Suffolk area that sound really good.
More about Virginia and her new book “Who Runs The World”.
Virginia is a very passionate woman who talked about how much the world has changed in the past 100 years for women, like being able to vote and how she feels there is still more to be achieved. She discussed the recent equal pay success but that she thinks the next step is to change the culture and is supportive of the ‘me too’ movement. It’s not just about changing the law but about changing the way we think towards each other about what is right and wrong.
The idea for this book was sparked whilst chatting to someone studying Tess of the d’Urbervilles at school. She has also studied this book 30 years ago. I’ve never read the book so I had to try to follow what it was about by what she was saying but it sounds as if the main character is repressed by a man and although she liked it in school she now looks back and sees how wrong it is.
Virginia’s imagination then began exploring the idea of a world where women were in control and how this comes about. She didn’t want to simply switch society over, she wanted to create something new. Then she came up with the idea of a virus that only affects those with the Y chromosome.
Killing off all the men made me giggle. It made me think about a warning I read once about why you should never piss off a writer. I couldn’t find the quote online so I made my own (see image above) which captures the gist of it. Virginia doesn’t want men to die but this quote makes me feel there are few men that may have made her virus deserving list.
Virginia is very animated when she speaks, especially doing typing hands when talking about writing. It made her a very likeable person to listen to. She told us about how difficult writing this novel was as she kept worrying about what people would think and if she has portrayed women without men’s influence in their life correctly.
She questions how gender is portrayed and spoke about how strong women are always made out to be masculine and asks why this is. Why can’t women be allowed to be strong and still accepted as a woman?
Virginia likes to make people think “How do you want the world to be different” and is often impressed at school visits how much the children are aware of what is wrong with the world and how they want to change it.
After the interview there was time for us to eat some more food, buy the books and chat to the authors.
I waited patiently and then had a lovely chat with Virginia. I asked her about whether people had judged her for writing SciFi. Most people I know, judge me for writing fantasy. She was very encouraging about writing what you love and never giving up.
I asked her about how long it took her to find the right agent. She told me that a few years ago she had been writing scripts and had an agent but when she wrote The Rain she found a publisher quickly and was picked up by an agent too. She told me never to take rejections personally and to keep trying. She also pointed out that self publishing has come a long way and especially for Sci-Fi and Fantasy it can really expand the market for writers.
She encouraged me to find local writers groups as these can be really useful to critique your work. Another lady overheard us talking and introduced herself. She does a leisure learning course at a local college on Creative Writing and encouraged me to come along and meet the other students who often form their own group once the course is complete.
I bought Who Runs The World and Virginia signed it and wrote a nice message to me inside to encourage me to never give up.
I’m not going to post an update every day as I think that will be too much, but I thought every 5 days would be a nice spacing. Here is how it is going…
I only discovered that NaNoWriMo can be done in July (not just November) the night before it was due to start. I quickly created my account and set my goal. You can click here to see my post about this.
My goal is to write 25k to finish my novel titled Glide. I’ve called the project Diamond In The Sky as this is what I am considering renaming the novel as. Here’s how I am getting on towards the challenge.
Day 1
To achieve 25k, Camp NaNo suggested my daily goal be 807 words. I was very pleased when I kicked off with 806 words.
It was a fun chapter to start with involving the battle where Kiara loses her soul and becomes a crow.
Day 2
I achieved 442 words which wasn’t as great as I hoped but it was the first day back at work and I was shattered when I got home.
It’s not so much the word count I was disappointed with but with what I wrote. This chapter was the first time Kiara got to fly. For something so exciting I think the chapter needs more to it. When I come to edit, I think I’ll spend a bit of time improving this part.
Day 3
Today, I went to my first hypnobirth class and returned home so chilled out, I could barely move. I couldn’t write, I couldn’t do anything but be relaxed. I think everyone should do the course (pregnant or not). We live in a busy world and learning to find your zen is crucial.
Sadly, the result was a terrible word count of zero. On a plus note, I wrote some notes on what needs to happen in the story to give myself some focus.
Day 4
I wanted to make up for skipping yesterday so despite a hard day at work I got in front of the keyboard and added a further 1,973 (the best word count so far!). My focus notes really helped me get started which saved time and got me writing. Perhaps, day 3 was more productive than I realised.
Day 5
There is no denying that I’m tired now. I went to work wearing odd shoes (one navy, one black). In my defence, my bump is so big now, I can’t see my feet when I am slipping on my shoes. At least they were the same style. I would show you a pic but my feet look awful, so swollen, like trolls feet.
When I got home, I tried to put my feet up but my little boy wasn’t himself. He had this foul eggy burps and I thought he was going to be up all night being sick. I decided it best to conserve my energy and go to bed early. In the end, he was only up twice to use the loo but no sickness – phew.
Reflection
The first 5 days has gone okay. I would like to have done better but I am fighting against my body and juggling my responsibilities. Now is the weekend, I’m hoping to get in front of the keyboard, get ahead and set a new best. I’ll let you know how I get on by day 10.
Personally, I would like to achieve the challenge early incase my baby comes early.
Are you doing the challenge? How are you getting on?
Image from Unsplash artist Kinga Cichewicz of how I picture grown up Denny https://ift.tt/2DByKkK
Image from Unsplash artist Gabriel Matula of how I picture a teenage Denny: https://unsplash.com/@gmat07
