Kernowcreations

Blog Award and 10 things You Maybe Shouldn't Know About Me

2010-06-15T21:23:00.005+01:00

Kat very sweetly gave me this blog award with the challenge to reveal 10 things about me that I have not revealed before. My writing has been a little slow of late although I have rewritten my prologue from a different angle which has been useful. I am also waiting to hear some news (any news) from a Christian Publisher who asked to see the remainder of my manuscript that I wrote on the book of Daniel. I am trying so hard not to watch my email inbox so closely but it is difficult to resist. So to take my mind off a very busy week ahead I will have a go at this meme, of course I cannot remember what I have shared and what I have kept hidden, so I hope you will all still like me afterwards!

I was in total, absolute, complete and devoted love with Morten Harket (lead singer of Aha) when I was 13. It spawned a number of teenage fantasy love stories that I wrote for me and my friends who lusted equally over other members of the band.
I shook hands with Sir Cliff Richard when he opened our former church's new building in 1997.
I had to go on my hen night with nit solution on my hair as a client at work had kindly given them to me the day before. Funnily enough one of my friends also sat in the restaurant with nit solution on her hair that night as she had had a similar gift from a child she taught.
My nickname from childhood was Mickey and I only shook it when I came to Cornwall and have returned to Michelle again. Only my husband, parents and a couple of Cornish friends call me Mick apart from my Surrey friends who I grew up with.
I had a Saturday/holiday job for a number of years at Chessington World of Adventures and was a dab hand at making those huge clear balloons with cuddly toys in them.
My aunt runs Sealion Lodge - a holiday lodge in the Falkland Islands where you can see all sorts of amazing wildlife. She told me a story about the resuce of a baby Orca which had been beached nearby. Hoping to take my son there one day as he has a passion for marine wildlife.
I am very, very, very, very frightened of spiders - especially big hairy ones. I have had to try and master my fear to stop influencing my children but it is tough. I envy Kat's writing shed on one hand but think I would get no writing down for fear of arachnid invasion.
I studied medieval history at Reading University and have spent most of my working career in the social care sector- go figure!
I am a closet fan of Horrible Histories on CBBC.
I have an ambition to one day raise and train my own barn owl.

Well there you go some small revelations about me!

Getting Inspired Again!

2010-05-22T23:36:00.007+01:00

I have been away from my blog for ages and have been busy with work, which is a tyrant when it comes to my writing as well as a million other things, and have subsequently dropped off my writing progress...and it was all going so well. However I am getting back on the horse and with a holiday imminent I am taking my laptop and planning some writing for the evenings when little ones are snoozing. I was able to revisit Wheal Peevor last week with a friend who was visiting us and it again inspired me to pick up the reins again. It is three months since I first visited it and the site was much greener and had a totally different feel to the stark greyness of February. I have also made contact with Rebecca Anderson who has written, "Knife" and "Rebel" as a Christian writer of children's sci-fi and fantasy. Not only do we share writing interests, but she also likes A-ha and Doctor Who and has Cornish links. She has been very gracious in answering a very inquisitive email that I sent her and her answers to my many questions have given me new vigour to persue a planned route with some of my characters that I was uncertain of.

In addition I have also had a tentatively positive email from a Christian publishing firm asking to see the full manuscript of the Daniel material that I have written. It is just a request to see more, however anything that is not a straight, 'Thanks but no thanks," is an encouragement to me so watch this space.
The photo above is Wheal Peevor in May and the picture here is of a tunnel through a cliff at Portreath beach...just thought it was FAB. It conjured up images of smugglers, secret passageways to other worlds and it also just made me feel my pause in writing was over. The great thing about living here is that I do not have to go very far to experience the something beautiful and inspiring to help me lift a tired work head and work on the joy of writing again. It is extremely good to be posting again as I have missed hearing everyone's news and talking writing again.

Writing Progress

2010-03-21T20:55:00.003Z

Well the inspiration gleaned from the visit to the mine ruins is definitely working. I sat down this past week and have rewritten three chapters. I have been able to use photos I took on the day to describe scenes and events in the early stages of the book. I have found my characters more believable and have been able to work the principle of 'showing not telling' through the MS so far. I find myself being uber-critical though, chopping every adverb I see, when actually sometimes they are required. Also I am worried it is not pacy enough; are my characters people will care about?; Are my plotlines too complicated for 8-12 year olds?
However all this worrying and self critique aside I am writing again and that makes me smile lots and lots. I felt lost without being able to write and making the time has meant my house is a mess and I am pressed with my other jobs to do, however a good friend reminded me today that I should be writing because I am passionate about it and not allow the guilt that so easily pervades my thoughts to stop me. Writing should be a joy, a blessing and a balm for the soul in a world that is an ever increasing 'microwave' culture. Yes being published will mean deadlines and more pressure, but to enjoy being creative within that is a privilege I hope to enjoy one day. I am looking forward to the prospect of being published one day and all that may bring, but for now I can meander down the river of pleasure, enjoying creating and experiencing the new worlds and new characters, I am creating, exciting my spirit and stimulating my creative senses.

Creative Evolution

2010-03-07T23:10:00.009Z

There has been a creative evolution for me over the past few days. It started when I visited some tin mine ruins nearRedruth, called Wheal Peevor, where I took over 60 photos of the ruins there. I had been looking for a place that would be the 'muse' for a few chapters in my book and this was it. I played around with sepia to age some of the photos and the whole place was fantastically atmospheric and there is brilliant light the further west in Cornwall one travels. There was also an abundance of gorse that was brilliant yellow in flower. In addition we had the wonderful experience of having the the place entirely to ourselves...breathtaking.
Following the photography on Wednesday I was inspired to do some sketching of a scene in my new sketch book from one of the photos, creating the detail of a scene from one of my many photos. I am not gifted at all in painting or drawing, but the experience was useful in rounding the scene in my head. I was able to add the original picture and text detailing the scene which was really brilliant to help me visualise the scene in my head too.
The final stage of the creative evolution at this point was the story mirror. I had two 99p IKEA mirrors sitting at home ready to be decorated. My little five year old daughter wanted to do to fairy mirror, which involved pink tissue paper, glitter and grasses from the garden! It was lovely doing this with her and it also inspired me to do something for myself. I used the time to create a mirror that had hints and images about the novel I am writing at the moment. I was able to use words, pictures, colour and texture to create a feature that will hang above my writing desk as a constant source of encouragement and inspiration. The next stage, which will begin this week, is to actually write from all this creativity and create the scenes in my head and change what I need to change. This has inspired me, raised my self confidence and made me believe that what I am writing is worth reading too. I have been inspired to write by being creative in other ways and it has been an exciting couple of days. I hope the mirror gives enough hints to raise an interest in the story behind it.

Creative Writing

2010-03-01T13:18:00.006Z

I am in the middle of restructing a number of things about my book before I can continue writing it. I have changed character names and I am off later in the week to Wheal Peevor - ruins of mine workings site - to help me sort out some opening chapters that I am not totally happy with. This weekend my five year old daughter asked me to help her make a notebook, which I happily did, deciding to make myself one too. I am no artist, as the picture below proves, however this did give me the opportunity to visualise a character on paper and add details about them to it to help me develop my characters and details of the book. The character below is one of my villans and I was very pleased as my art attempt inspired a whole backstory which is written around the picture. I am hoping to add photos and maybe sketches of the mine workings to this sketch book as well as some of my central characters and places. Inspiration and motivation is coming in lots of diferent forms and I am feeling regenerated in my enthusiasm for my book again. The next stage will be chopping and changing chapter lengths as they are too long and full of adverbs! I have discovered that I use them quite a lot and need to look at my 'show not tell' pieces carefully. I will be writing new bits soon but feel I have to deal with these barriers before I can move on with it.

What's in a name?

2010-02-23T23:50:00.004Z

The picture here is of Polzeath in Cornwall. The interesting thing about living in Cornwall is that so many of the place names describe where or what they are or were. For instance if a place name is prefixed by 'tre-' then it means 'farm/homestead' and 'chy-' means 'house/home'.
I have been musing over the significance of character names. It is easy to pick names that you link with people you have known including all their character traits and quirks. I am having a spring clean of my unfinished novel and have decided to change three character's names. I was feeling unhappy about these original choices, so I decided to research names that could summarise their character or personality. I have had an amazing time trawling the internet for Native American, African, Sumerian, Irish and possible even Middle Earthnames and meanings for inspiration. I have settled on some great names I would not have considered and I am very happy with how the group of characters now looks on paper. Jon M shared with me when he visited last week that a character in his book was inspired by the contents of his curry

How do you choose names for your characters and do they secretly mirror the personalities of folk you know?

Word Explosion Success!

2010-02-18T23:40:00.004Z

I have been away from my blog a very long time and I apologise to all those who thought I may have fallen off the blogging planet. Amongst lots of other things (Christmas, snow, illness etc) I have been responsible alongside a colleague for the first Children and Young People's LitFest in North Cornwall. We had a number of workshops run by Caroline Binch, Bridget Crowley, Tim Bowler, Helen Dunmore and Jon Mayhew. Jon travelled from Cheshire to Cornwall to do two excellent sessions on Gory Ballads and Scary Stories, one of which was at Bodmin Jail, the other at Bude Castle. He had the largest turnout with 40 adults and kids at Bodmin and his book is not even out till April!! It was also fantastic because a parent came up to us at the end of his Bodmin session and explained that her son was extremely dyslexic and had been shy about sharing his story, however he had really been inspired by Jon and the session as a whole, which simply has to be a mark of success. It was also a joy to spend some time getting to know Jon and introduce him to a taster of Cornwall (and I don't just mean clotted cream scones!).
In addition I went to the session with Helen Dunmore, most known for her Ingo books. She was gracious and approachable to all who came to see her... a real gem. So I think I can safely say that it was a great start and we have lots to develop and build on for next year. It also inspired and motivated me in my writing as I admit to having had little writing time, although I did submit a short story in January. I think I had lost a little confidence and needed some encouragment and inspiration to revisit it and pick it up again. This has begun with a spring clean of my blog with a new design and the intention to keep it regularly updated and more writing focused. It has been a brilliant week and a special thank you to Jon for traveling so far and doing such great workshops that inspired the children of Bude and Bodmin this week.

February Children's Litfest Update

2009-11-14T21:39:00.004Z

Blimey it has been ages since I posted, time just slipped away from me. I have been very busy trying, amongst other things, to organise North Cornwall's first Children and Young People's Literary Festival. The event is themed around Myth and Magic, and with the help of some lovely people I have managed to secure Tim Bowler and Helen Dunmore to come and do sessions in the festival. I am working on trying to contact Angie Sage through her agent, but we also have lots of local talent. If he is still able I am hoping our very own Jon Mayhew may also do a session on writing scary stories! We have our own Victorian jail to hold it in, complete with resident ghosts! It is mayhem at the moment but I am hoping it is all coming together slowly and will be ready to launch.
I am at a loss for a name for the festival that will attract young people as well as children. Any ideas out there?
I have been doing lots of research for my book on living conditions of early nineteenth century Cornish mining families and the influences on their values and mindset. It has been fascinating but has made me decide to change loads in my book already. I also received an exciting ebay purchase today. It is a box that has a secret method to open and lock it - it involve tapping the box in the correct place to lock and unlock it. It is solid wood with a barn owl carved into it. I bought it because it has given me great ideas for a very important artefact in my book. Will post a picture next post.
I received my copies of the two books pictured above to read. I have read Ingo before but wanted to read it again and I had not read any of Tim Bowler's. 'Bloodchild' is his latest but I felt drawn to River Boy, at least for now. What are all you wonderful people in blog land reading right now?My current books ar, 'The Screwtape Letters,' by CS Lewis and 'Physik' by Angie Sage.

Tintagel Magic

2009-09-21T23:23:00.003+01:00

I had a lovely time recently when a childhood friend came to stay. Among the many things we did was a trip to King Arthur's birthplace - Tintagel. The castle is in ruins and you have to cross a causeway to get to the part of the castle in the picture. It was stunning to be there again (I cannot take my kids as I get too nervous having little ones up that high and exposed!!) so I can only go when they are at school. The castle is on a headland and is opposite a couple of wondeful sea caves, one of which is aptly named merlin's Cave. You cannot fail to be inspired when you reach the castle - although it took a while to be able to breathe after the climb!!! I am hoping to return to St Agnes to the ruined engine house on the cliff (the one in my title picture) as opening chapters of my book are set there. Before the end of this week I will be back writing again.
I think the book cover for Mortlock is awesome Jon - as is the trailer! Well done Tam on Harriet's success! It is exciting to see people you have got to know via blogs having their first novels published soon.
I have been brave and revamped my holiday club proposal over the summer holidays. I recently submitted it again to another Christian publisher and await news ever hopefully!

Excitement and Potential Marital Strife!

2009-08-27T23:18:00.003+01:00

This long awaited book arrived today and I am very, very excited indeed! Michelle Paver has been a real inspiration to me as a writer and her work is truly gripping. I defy anyone to read the first book and not be consumed with her characters and the attention to detail in order to create a stone age setting This is the last book in her series The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness, and I heard on a podcast that she wept quite a bit when she had finished it, as it was the end of the story for her characters...she would write about them no more. I wondered then what it would be like to write a series of books where you become besotted with the characters you create and travel with them as you create their stories, to then have to bring that to an end, never to write about them again. I am sure JK Rowling felt bereft when she finished her seventh book, as Michelle Paver did at the end of her sixth.
Marital discord could be prominent in my household as my hubby is as caught up in the series as I am and seems to think he will get to read it first as he thinks I should re-read the previous book (Oath breaker) as he has done in the last week, knowing that Ghost Hunter was on its way. I am not sure about this as I ordered the book, so we may end up reading it to each other!!!!
Also got my Children's Writers and Artists Yearbook 2010, so will be burying myself in that too!!

Progress

2009-08-20T00:23:00.002+01:00

I found this wonderful image of a barn owl on Google and it has helped me think about the role of the barn owl in my novel. I now have a role, responsibility and a name for him. Research has been fab, especially the Barn Owl Trust website as they have a live webcam of a barn owl nest here in Cornwall. I have made lots of notes and plan to write him into the book very soon.
I also did the What Kind of Book are you? thingy over at Debs and spookily I came out as Sci-Fi/Fantasy - exactly the type of books I read and am writing!!! Go and have a go it is very cool - though I am not sure everything in the description is entirely accurate?

Having a 'Hoot'

2009-08-08T00:08:00.004+01:00

Yesterday I thoroughly enjoyed a wonderful day out with my kids at the local Owl Sanctuary. It is a fantastic place that not only displays these incredible birds, but also rears owl chicks and rehabilitates rescued birds, including those hit by cars etc. They also do a flying display with a couple of the owls and my son and I were particularly thrilled to watch the falconer fly a barn owl. Barn owls are my absolute favourite; they have a hypnotic and inspiring serenity and beauty about them. My son shares my love of them and he had the particular thrill of being able to put on the falconer's glove and have the barn owl land on it. He is a sponge for natural history and fact finding at the moment, so it was a fantastic day for him.
It got me thinking about barn owls for my 'tween' novel. It has introduced another potential thread for my novel, which is great, but also has me worried that my story may have more threads than the Bayeux Tapestry and may therefore be too complicated to complete without ending up in knots!!
Really enjoying the summer holidays, although resigning myself to having very little time and energy for writing and therefore resolving to put all that energy into my two little people until September 2nd, when my youngest goes full time at school and I have a larger window of opportunity to finish my novel. In the meantime I will content myself with writing ideas I have on index cards and filing them under ' to be written'!!

Stress, SCBWI, Songs and Sheep

2009-07-23T21:10:00.003+01:00

Life in my little niche of Cornwall has been very stressful this past week or so, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. On Sunday we depart 20 miles south to Looe to do our annual Family Bible Week. I am heading up the 8-11 year old tent (with 40 kids in it!!). As well as helping to run the morning kids work I am puppeteering all week, which means six songs! I will have shoulders to rival olympic swimmers by the end of the week.

We are staying with dear friends of ours in Liskeard, so we will be having decent sleep (no ravaged tents for me this year) and good company! I also plan to take my little notepad and write virtually every evening (except maybe when we go and see Ice Age 3 with the kids!) Although Bible Week is hard work I do enjoy it and so do all the kids so it will be worth it.

On a different note I finally joined the SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) yesterday. It was a promised Mother's Day present and I have finally got round to doing it. I am really keen to go to the conference in November but a bit nervous about travelling to Winchester on my own and need to find £170!! However it looks FAB so I am saving all my pennies and seeing what possessions I can sell on ebay! Off now to write up song words for puppeteers such as "I just wanna be a sheep...baa, baa, baa-ba-ba" - Great song but don't ask.

Highs and Lows

2009-07-14T23:16:00.005+01:00

I apologise for my terrible blogging at the moment. This past couple of weeks has been a series of highs and lows and it has meant that I have been through the emotional spectrum and had little time for blogging.

However here I am to share the highs and lows of early July!!

High - Claire P has got a contract with an agent for 'Digging for Victoria' - FAB News

High - Kat W has finished her first draft of her novel - well done mate

High - Got the OK to organise Cornwall's first Children's Literary festival in February

High - In connection with that, Helen Dunmore has expressed interest in being involved!!!

High - My niece turned seven on Saturday and we had a lovely party despite the weather.

High - Both my kids got great school reports

And now for the Lows

Low - Took my wonderful 7 year old son to see the Cleft team at The Royal Cornwall Hospital. Have been told he will need bone graft surgery in about 18 months time. He was born with a cleft lip and gum (see piccy above) and had his lip repaired at 10 days old. Since then we have put other surgery to the back of our minds, but as he now approaches 8 years old and more adult teeth are coming through, the time has come. He has to have a brace fitted first to widen the arch before they take the bone from his shin and graft it into his gum. Three days in Frenchay Hospital in Bristol! Sob!

Low - Done diddly on my novel for two weeks

Low - Stressed to eyeballs with work, delivering stuff and getting everything done for my schools before the end of term

Low - Chicken problems -red mite infestation in chicken house. Chickens fighting and not getting on, one has gone broody and two have now stopped laying!

Low - Point when I felt that I am wasting my time as I am probably not talented enough to even get my book finished, let alone read by an agent or a publisher!
So there we are...strange fortnight. I am quite stressed about my boy, although it is all at least eighteen months away as I had almost convinced myself he would not need it. Deep breath and big sigh. Hope to be sunnier than the weather soon!

Just for Fun Competition

2009-06-16T23:02:00.004+01:00

Having a good week so far. I managed to write about 3000 words over the weekend and I am hoping for a few thousand more this week. It is encouraging to begin to update the word count progress on my chart. Up to nearly 20000 and I am aiming at around 50000.

This picture was taken at Pembroke Castle while we were away on holiday in Wales a while back and Kat gave me an idea for a little fun competition I could have here on the blog. A useful writing exercise I do sometimes is to take a photo and write for thirty minutes about what the photo has made me think about. You can read a couple I did back along on my Thirty Somethings blog

I am sure you all have loads better and more productive things to do, however if you have time or a bit of a blank day and you would like to have a go, here's what to do.

Take a few minutes to look at the photo above and think about what it creates in your mind. Set a timer and write for thirty minutes. No editing once it is done. Email it to me at Michelle and I will publish entries on the Thirty Somethings blog. May be able to dig out some prizes but really it is just for fun. Enjoy!!

Home from Holiday...there's lovely!

2009-06-05T21:34:00.008+01:00

Well we are back from sunny Pembrokeshire and we have really relaxed! Thank you to all of you who were so kind and wrote encouraging things on my last post as I was having a terrible week. We had a fantastic family time away and although Andy had to leave the holiday for a couple of days to drive to Liverpool and then fly to the Isle of Man for his grandfather's funeral, we managed to have a wonderful time together. We did loads of activities including visiting Fun parks like Heatherton, where C got to Go-Kart, play Robot Wars and thrash his parents at mini-golf; and a dinosaur park with lots of dino info and things to do. We also indulged the medieval historian in me and visited Pembroke Castle, where I got some lovely photos and got to see some birds of prey they were flying there that day. My 4 year old suggested I took the picture below of one of the corridors in the castle, which has come out really well as an inspirational picture for a story. We also did some brass rubbings and C chose a knight that turned out to be the very same Earl of Warwick that I wrote my dissertation on!!!! I have included some photos for your pleasure,I am sure you will agree that the photo of the beach at the top looks like it could be in the Med rather than at Tenby! I also couldn't resist snapping this carpet of bluebells in the nature woodland walk near our cottage where we were staying.

On the writing front I had a wonderful week, planning my novel out in scenes and tracking its development, so it is planned out to the end now and I have a vision for the way forward which is a huge thing for me as I was beginning to worry whether I would get lost in it a bit. I also wrote another three thousand words on the novel itself, started a picture book story and wrote a 100 word competition entry about an encounter with wildlife. I wrote about a magnificent encounter I had with a barn owl at about 12 midnight on a country lane near us on the way home from ASDA. I feel refreshed and ready to write, all I need now is time and no more stress from work to keep myself focused. Got lots of research to do too around young carers and head injuries! I have been reading a great little book about the dangers of mining in Cornish copper and tin mines as part of my research and it has been fascinating in a macabre sort of way!!

Horrid week with a top 15% High Spot!

2009-05-20T17:47:00.005+01:00

This week has been tough for a number of reasons and I have been a bit of a 'car crash' emotionally over the past two days. Work has left me stressed and unappreciated at times and it all hit a head today when I walked out of a meeting before I either exploded with anger or broke down in a weepy puddle. We are due to go on our first ever family holiday on Friday to South West Wales and the kids are so excited, however my hubby's grandfather passed away yesterday and the funeral is on the Tuesday of our holiday...in the Isle of Man. Hubby is trying to arrange transport to get him there and back over the bank holiday which is proving very difficult. Quite an emotional week! Although I have now finished work till after the holidays, we still have our warring chickens to sort out and all the packing etc to do. Stressed is not a strong enough word!!!!

However in the midst of all this angst I received a letter today which gave me a lift and made me feel good about me for a while. I had entered the Children's Academy of Writers annual competition to write a short story for children. I had entered a lengthened and revised version of my Echoes story (the original version is on my Thirtysomethings blog). The photo above was the inspiration for the story. I did not win, neither did I get second or third, however I reached the top 300 out of 2000 entries, which apparently put me in the top 15%. The letter I received said lots of nice things such as...

"To reach the final 15% you obviously have an understanding of young people that impressed our panel of judges. This is a quality that is invaluable to a would be children's writer...your 'way with words', indicates that with a little effort your natural talent could be developed to enable you to produce work of publication standard."

Now the cynic in me could say that these are nice things to say to encourage me to do their correspondance course, however to receive a letter like this during this week in particular has been an oasis in the desert. I have not switched on my book for over a week and was beginning to get that, " Who am I kidding?" about my writing. So to have a letter that gives me these comments, personal replies apparently only sent out to the top 15% (!), meant a great deal to me and gives me hope that I might yet one day see something I have written in print with a lovely cover sitting on the bookshelves in Waterstones.

Picnic at Cardinham and Bullies!!

2009-05-11T22:41:00.003+01:00

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves yesterday on a gloriously sunny Sunday. We had a church picnic at Cardinham Woods, which is a Forestry Commission beauty spot near us. It has a large green with inbuilt BBQ's and a river running through it (see above pic).

Apart from a small drama when my little lady's shoe became detatched from her foot and had to be rescued from the river by a kindly teenager, it was a fab day. All came home exhausted but feeling we had made the most of the sunshine.

Currently I am having to be a member of the Chicken Bullying Police. Three of our four hens have taken it upon themselves to bully the other one. They have always all got on fine, but I noticed one of them was missing quite a lot of feathers around her neck and head and she looked scrawny compared to the others. Today I caught them in the act and they were being really horrible to her, clearly terrorising the poor thing. We have not got the facilities at the moment to separate her, so we are making do with emergency plans until we can source a rabbit run to get her out and help her recover. At the moment she sits on top of the hen house and will not come down to eat or drink, so we are feeding her by hand and shutting the rest away so she can drink and peck in peace.

I know I should not create from misery, but it could make a good picture/story book about bullying. So please spare a thought for poor Belle as she recovers

Writing,Day, Fab Hubby and Spring Bank Holiday!

2009-05-05T12:56:00.007+01:00

I love Cornwall all year round, but I particularly love spring and autumn. The wild flowers I can see when we are out and about near us are stunning. The bluebells and wild garlic are carpeting the woodlands at Respryn, near Lanhydrock and they are beautiful to behold. I found two little Cornish pixies exploring among the bluebells too! (see picture below)

We had a lovely walk on Saturday through the woodlands near us, enjoying the gorgeous spring weather and nature's bounty. I was in a particularly sunny mood as the day before my wonderful hubby had the day at home doing paperwork, and so sent me out to a very nice local cafe FOR THE DAY to write!!! I had from 10am till nearly 3pm all by myself writing and enjoying totally scrummy toasted Mexican chicken wrap for my lunch, plus numerous cups of tea. I wrote over 3,000 words amd completed a chapter and a half. I was also able to do some research for my book on early ninteenth century clothing as well as mining shifts and jobs and the households of bal maidens in the ninteenth century. I sat with my book, my new notebook plus memory stick and my imagination for a whole day. It was bliss!!!! I need now to keep my momentum going as I fear work will overtake me again this week. However I wanted to share my lovely walk, my fab day writing and exhort the praises of my hubby who child managed all day so I could do it!!!!

Babies of all sorts!

2009-04-26T23:06:00.004+01:00

I have become an auntie again this week for the second time. At 9.15am on Thursday 23rd April (St George's Day) my sister had a baby boy. She had a four hour labour ending with a beautiful 9lbs 7oz bundle of joy. His name is Kian Peter and he is very gorgeous. Mum, Dad and big sister and all doing well. It is strange but wonderful to have a baby in the family again as the last baby was my little lady who is now four and a half. My daughter thinks he is lovely and even my seven year old son was intrigued and enchanted by this little person (maybe because he doesn't have to live with him...he was less enchanted with his sister when she arrived!!!).

I don't know if this new life inspired me or not, but I sat down on Friday evening and wrote for nearly three hours on my new baby. My hubby bought me a 10.2" notebook for me to write on and I had to use it as soon as possible. It came with Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2007 preloaded so I just plugged it in and off I went. I was delighted with my progress and then went to bed happy having done a word count hat has gone up to just over 12,000 words. This is about a quarter of the way through the book, which feels like a milestone for me.

I have also been involved in setting up a new book club at our church, reading and reviewing Christian fiction and biographies. We have finished our first book and have begun on the second. I decided to set up a blog to post the reviews and discussions so if any of you are interested in what sort of books fall into this genre please feel free to visit. I did not know this whole genre existed so it has been a revelation for me! www.thefictionfellowship.blogspot.com

Easter Walk and Skellig

2009-04-13T19:51:00.008+01:00

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter. We have been manic as usual, doing family fun days and puppet shows at church and elsewhere. It has been a busy time, but FAB. We had a lovely walk on the Camel Trail (a former railway line that is now a cycle/horse/walk pathway running from Padstow to Wadebridge and then on to Bodmin). We have found a quieter part out on the moor where the kids can scooter and cycle on a flat surface. It runs alongside the River Camel and the banksides are awash with primroses and now some bluebells too. It was breathtaking as it was a beautiful spring evening last night.

I have cherry picked TV this weekend as I have not had the energy or time to watch much. I enjoyed Dr Who and Robin Hood on Saturday (despite the absence of Richard Armitage) and my son and I adored the Sky One adaptation of Skellig on Sunday, although I was a bit annoyed at how much they added that was not in the book. That aside, we were all hooked and now Connor wants me to read the book with him. Tim Roth was great, a really grumpy character and truthfullyI like most things with John Sim in it.

I have been unable to post because my ISP has been down inexplicably for over a week...joy...joy!! Any way it seems to be back for now so I have taken the opportunity to go visiting and to do this quick post. I have been so tired out after a hectic weekend that I cannot seem to contemplate anything in terms of my writing before the children go back on the 20th!! Lots of ideas brewing so I am itching to get on with it.

Inspirational Lewis!!

2009-03-22T23:34:00.005Z

I have just finished watching the first in a new series of Lewis. I have not watched this before and confess to never being a Morse fan, but it was ironing night and so I gave it a go! I was gripped; probably because it centred around a young author who had had his fantasy novel published. Of course being a detective series there are grisly murders and seedy secrets, however I was intrigued with how the plot was laced throughout with cross references and nods to two writers who share Detective Lewis's surname:

CS Lewis

and
Lewis Carroll

One of the characters lectured on Carroll and the young author, who was later murdered by his foster mother/lover(!!) was inspired to write by CS Lewis. It was inspired how the references to these two authors, their love of fantasy and potentially their secrets was woven in alongside solid detective Lewis.

It also got me thinking, I wonder who we writing bloggers are/were inspired by? What authors inspired you as a child? Which books grip you now as an adult? Does your choice of writing reflect your tastes in reading? Answers in the comments box below folks, I really would love to know!

For me there are so many, however as a child I read CS Lewis, Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl in particular. I loved Famous Five and devoured them daily, reading them till I knew them by heart. I also read a lot of books about ponies!! As a teenager I was absorbed by Terry Pratchett and Arthurian legends. I think quite all of these have inspired me with fantasy and history (although I studied medieval history at Uni so I didn't need much encouragment!) In adult life I have read quite a bit of YA and 'tween' fiction, but without doubt one of my main inspirations has been Michelle Paver. I am reading, "Shadow mancer," by GP Taylor at the moment and really enjoyed Eoin Colfer's' "Airman," recently too. So now you know a bit more about my tastes, I would love to hear about yours!!

The great thing about writing and blogging is...

2009-03-14T20:42:00.004Z

I was away 'up north' in Leeds last week and have been playing catch up tonight with those lovely people I blog with. What do I discover ...that not one but TWO of them have secured publishing deals this week. Congratulations to both Jon and Tam for their successes. It made me realise a number of great things about being invloved with writing and blogging. Firstly you get to meet some wonderful people and find encouragement and support from people you may never meet in real life! When the sort of thing that has happened to Jon and Tam happens, you realise that it is not an impossible dream that one day you could be a published author, which is brilliant when you are going through the early stages of putting together a magnum opus with various degrees of difficulty.

Secondly you realise that being able to blog with like minded souls is encouraging, inspiring and uplifting. I would be overjoyed if my neighbour Kat got a deal, but I am equally delighted for Tam and Jon who I have only ever spoken to in cyberspace.

I managed to find a cafe in Leeds while my hubby did his plumbing exam. I was able to write undisturbed for two hours and completed the next chapter of my YA novel. I had great conversations with a delightful elderly lady and a charming man who was the living epitamy of aYorkshire stereotype; flat cap, tweed jacket and he bred racing pigeons!! It was bliss to write like that and it has encouraged me on with my writing again.

A circle of writers, however geographically far flung they may be, is a circle that is a blessing and an inspiration. We all have our ups and downs; our successes and failures so let us keep writing, keep blogging and encourage one another on.

Well done guys and I hope one day to be able to post a message

like you did this weekend!

I'm Back!!

2009-02-26T13:46:00.005Z

Sorry I have been out of the blogging way for over five weeks now!!! So busy and it seems every night I had no energy to sit and write a post. I am writing now with a flu thing going on in my body, but I wanted to make contact again with everyone...I missed y'all.

So what have I been doing for the past five weeks...well the picture above is our back garden about three weeks ago. Our part of Cornwall had snow for the grand total of two whole days, so we made the most of it, as you can see from the picture of Connor below.

Once the snow was gone I have managed to get on and write another chapter and a half of my YA novel. We also had a very dear friend of ours come and stay with us for a few days and I let him read the prologue to the novel. His life experiences made his comments very valuable to me for this story so it was great to talk through the book with him. Whilst he was down we went to Watergate Bay for the afternoon. the weather was good and the surf pretty spectacular to watch. Watergate Bay is a surfer beach but it is great for families as there is beautiful golden saand and small caves to explore. We had a great time there as some of the pictures below will show.

Reading an excellent book called, "Airman," by Eoin Colfer, great swashbuckling stuff, which was useful as I sat in the doctor's surgery yesterday for 40 minutes as they were running late.
Currently feeling very sorry for myself, but hopefully will be on the mend soon. Good to be back again!

Edit-Fication

2009-01-17T21:43:00.008Z

Well I have begun the editing and re-shaping of my holiday Bible club MS. I have been through the five days of teaching and I am in the process of adapting and editing the discussion questions. Once this is done, the main piece of work I have to do is condense my synopsis to one page, which will be a challenge. It was great to sit down and begin to plan and go through the layout and how I am going to submit this work to this particular publisher. I am determind that by mid Feb at the latest I will be ready to submit this again.

I loved writing this three years ago for the holiday club at our church and have been actively encouraged to try and get it published, so we will have a go.

The subject of Daniel is exciting for kids and relevant and I have had a buzz out of revisiting it again!

My YA novel is calling to me but I am determind to do one project at a time to finish it, otherwise I go off and nothing gets finished!

Happy New Year - Pox, Puppets and Promises

2009-01-04T22:24:00.004Z

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a great Christmas and a fantastic start to the New Year. I am so sorry that I appeared to disappear off the face of Blogger planet for a few weeks, but two weeks before Christmas my children contracted chicken pox (at the same time) which caused stress leading up to the school nativity as my son was Joseph, however we made it (just) as his spots had dried up enough not to be contagious. Of course Christmas had gone on hold too, so the last week before Christmas is a blur for me! We had a great Christmas and are just beginning to manage the finer points of using a Wii controller now!

Never very good at New Year's Resolutions so I have set myself a number of goals that I want to achieve by the end of 2009. This makes it less likely that I will feel a failure if I do not achieve them all by January 31st!! Some of my goals have to remain in my little head, however I will share some of them with you!

Lose ** pounds in weight
Send my holiday bible club MS off to at least two other publishers
Write regularly i.e most days
Get organised (ha ha ha - fairyland I think that one)
Come to terms with the departure of David Tennant as The Doctor
Remember that the computer has an off switch!!
Complete the first draft of my YA novel
See if life without regular doses of Galaxy is possible

Just a few of my ramblings? Would love to hear if any of you guys have goals or resolutions, although you are all far too organised and sensible to need to do such things I am sure!!!!

The picture above is of my two and my niece with some of the puppets we used to do our puppet nativity shows before Christmas.

Eden and the literary masterpieces of 10 year olds

2008-11-25T20:45:00.003Z

We decided to take advantage of an offer for locals and visited the Eden Project on Saturday. Eden offers £5 entry fee that then gets you free entry for a year if you are a local resident. Children were a two pound donation each and so for the princely sum of £14 we have free access to the Eden Project for a year. Definitely worth it as we live about 15 minutes from it! This time of year they have a covered ice rink for a couple of months, so we can pay to skate at Eden.

We had a great time and if any blogger buddies out there are ever in Cornwall I would put it on your visit list. I am going back for the Christmas shopping next week as they had some decorations there!! Hollie, my four year old, is excited beyond belief about ice skating for the first time, whilst I have a little trepidation as I have not skated since my teens.

I have been so excited this past week or so with the Bodmin Bookworm. Kat is working so hard on it and it looks great. We went into two larger Bodmin schools last week to promote the Bookworm and since then Kat has been inundated by the most amazing piece of writing from a number of year sixes. Not only are they writing in with their work but also commenting on each other's work, and those comments are across schools, not just on friend's work. It is really beginning to take off and I know my boss hopes it will be going national in the near future. If you get a chance have a look at the Bookworm and particularly check out Berrycoombe, St Petrocs and Robartes Junior School. At Robartes there is one young man named Brandon who is sending in epic work that is fab to read. It is so encouraging to read these pieces of work as they are coming from 10 and 11 year olds who could have promising writing careers.

Busy busy busy at the moment. Christmas lights are going on in Bodmin on Friday and I have four puppet assemblies to rehearse for as well as a Carol Service. Hopefully there will be blog posts popping up in between the madness that are the weeks before Christmas.

Inspiration, Emotion and Editing

2008-11-07T23:19:00.010Z

It was my mum's birthday this week and every time there is a birthday in the family I am tempted to go back through old photos. Memories are so powerful and pictures, like smells and sounds, evoke very emotional responses in me. Every time I see the photo above of my son aged 24 hours old, I remember the joy of his arrival and the pain of knowing he faced surgery just 10 days later for his cleft repair. Now aged seven, every time I look at this photo and then look at him now, I have a catalogue of emotional responses ranging from pain, fear and worry to pride, joy and hope. I have tried to harness them in my writing as I believe every experience we have has purpose and can be used positively in a number of ways.

I went back over my chapters on Wednesday and I have to own up to editing them all slightly, though I was not too ruthless. I just felt I could not go on writing the story till I had modified the dialogue in chapter two, it was like a barrier I had hit and had to hurdle before I could go on. I have made a solemn promise to myself now that I will not edit anything else in this book until I have finished it. This will keep me motivated and stop me languishing in chapter three!!!

Speaking of photos, I was trawling through my Cornwall shots and came across this clearing, taken at Lanhydrock (NT place near Bodmin). It has provided me with a very visual setting for next chapter of my book and so I am planning to get going with this over the weekend. I do not want to stall again but I have a busy November ahead so the words are discipline and organisation (Boy, am I in trouble).

Travelling Tales

2008-11-02T22:44:00.003Z

I have been away 'up country' as we say in Cornwall visiting relatives for half term and feel I have done a lot of travelling. Andy' s parents are in West Sussex, so we were based there, visiting old friends in Chessington (former home town) and have a fab day out at Legoland as well as a trip to the south coast. Feel well travelled around the south east but I am happy to be home again.

I have also been travelling in my reading experiences too. I have read all the Michelle Paver's 'Chronicles of Ancient Darkness' books to date and was hungry for a new series, so one of the twelve year olds at church loaned me ' Ingo, ' by Helen Dunmore. It is set down here in Cornwall and is proving to be a great read, though it has taken me a while to get into it properly. The picture gives away a little about what the book might be about, but I think I may be hooked for this series too. I am really enjoying reading the 9-12 ' tween ' fiction however I do find it hard to read ' grown up ' books sometimes!!

It was hard to get any prose written whilst away, however I had a twenty minute window of time alone when I was able to write pages of descriptive notes about the time travelling device in my novel. Really pleased as it has given me pegs to hang prose on now!!

Back to school tomorrow plus Mum's birthday, plus important church meeting, plus Kat's little boy's birthday...so busy day ahead. Might need to escape to Ingo again later on.

My First Ever Blog Award

2008-10-19T23:06:00.007+01:00

Thank you to dearest Kat for my award, my first ever. Here goes:

1. Where is your cell phone? Alternate Universe

2. Where is your significant other? Tea-Making

3. Your hair color? Multi-tonal(!)

4. Your mother? Good friend

5. Your father? One of a kind

6. Your favourite thing? My family

7. Your dream last night? Forgotten

8. Your dream/goal? Published

9. The room you're in? Home Office

10. Your hobby? Crafts/Swimming

11. Your fear? Lonliness

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Writing for a living

13. Where were you last night? Celebrating daughter's 4th birthday

14. What you're not? Organised

15. One of your wish-list items? DIY Finished

16. Where you grew up? Chessington, Surrey

17. The last thing you did? Ironing

18. What are you wearing? Hubby's fleece

19. Your TV? On

20. Your pets? 4 Chickens

21. Your computer? On

22. Your mood? Up and down

23. Missing someone? Old friends

24. Your car? Noisy!

25. Something you're not wearing? Makeup

26. Favorite store? Bookshops

27. Your summer? Soggy

28. Love someone? Completely

29. Your favourite color? Purple

30. When is the last time you laughed? Today

31. Last time you cried? Last week

Enjoyed that, but it seems it is impossible for me to be monosyballic! I have had a busy but enjoyable day today catching up with some special friends near and far. I need to pass this on to five people, but most of you have had this from someone else, so I will pass it on to Jon for his chicken support; Frankie as a Cornish import like myself and Jan for her wonderful post about Michael Morpurgo.

My sister is expecting her second baby after waiting for six years, and I saw the scan picture yesterday. I am so pleased for her but I am really looking forward to being an auntie without having a trace of broodiness...my nappy days are done!!

I am frustrated with writing again. I am really busy with work, governors meetings, church stuff and general family life that writing seems to be being pushed out again. Having written three chapters and gained a momentum, it was then lost to demands from other corners. We are heading up country on Friday for a few days to visit friends, family and take the kids to Legoland. Mostly I am looking forward to a break from routine and time away from my mobile phone!!! Discipline is a necessary thing for me, but I genuinely find it hard to carve some time out in the week. Need to review my time management strategy I think!

Cornish Autumnal Inspiration

2008-10-13T11:07:00.012+01:00

I really love autumn. It is without doubt my favourite time of the year. I love the colours, the weather, the smells and sounds. It is often sunny with a crispness to the air and every time I go out my door I enjoy the smell of woodsmoke as people begin to light their woodburners for the colder days and nights. I was married and had both my children in the autumn and it is always one of my most inspirational times. Yesterday I had the opportunity to go out with my, 'almost four year old,' daughter, Hollie, for a walk at Respryn, on the edge of the Lanhydrock Estate. (Featured on Antiques Roadshow last night I noticed). Daddy and big brother had gone to watch the banger car racing at St Eval, so we decided to go out exploring and taking photos.

Respryn is a beautiful place to enjoy a walk. There are lots of woodland areas with pathways running through the woods and alongside the River Fowey. There are hundreds of different trees and wild plants as well as lots of old logs, housing various bugs and fungi. There are little copses with fallen logs and a number of wooden bridges to cross little streams that feed into the river. Hollie decided she wanted to make an 'autumn collection,' which involved filling a plastic basket with autumnal artefacts including various shapes and colours of leaves, acorns, wild flowers, tree moss and even the odd small blackberry. We also agreed that Hollie could take pictures with my digital camera of our walk to show the boys later. I demonstrated how to use it and all the pictures that are on display in this post are taken by her, with little or no help from me. I have to say I was impressed!

We had a lovely walk, making up stories about the old gnarly oak tree we found; discussing the animals that might live in the woods and stopping occasionally to describe the different sounds the river made. It seems I am so busy nowadays that time like this is far too rare, so to take a couple of hours to slow down and enjoy this time was not only enjoyable but absolutely necessary for me. The sun was shining, it was not cold, it was a truly idyllic autumnal Sunday afternoon. The treasures of nature and joy of spending time with a bright and enthusiastic little lady have inspired me and encouraged me, and so I have included some of Hollie's pictures in this post so that they may inspire you too.

Birthdays, beaches and Blimey I'm writing again!!

2008-10-08T23:09:00.006+01:00

Wow its been nearly a month since I posted anything, time has passed me by and lots has been going on. Connor had his seventh birthday last weekend, which involved bowling, McDonalds and a birthday tea. Hollie's birthday is in ten days time so we are preparing for my little lady to turn four. The picture above is of the two of them as The Doctor and his assistant at a fancy dress party they went to recently. Connor generally does not do dressing up, but he made a cool timelord so we may see this outfit again for the Light party on the 31st (Don't do Halloween!). We have made the most of the better weather and Andy has been teaching Connor to body board in the surf at Polzeath. It was good to finally spend some time on the beach as a family this year.

Had real highs and lows for the past few weeks. have been having some really down times and not really knowing the actual why and wherefore of it all. Think it is an accumulation of many things but don't like feeling blue too often.

On the positive side I have been reading and writing much more. I am reading a children's book called The Summerhouse at present which is great, although I am pressing on to finish it as I have INGO by Helen Dunmore to read next and I am anticiapting it being really good.

Writing has been much better this week. After a gentle kickstart by my dear friend last week, I have managed to make some progress on my novel. It is very raw and will need lots of editing, but I am resisting editing too much as I write. I finished the prologue and have completed chapters one and two, making a word count to date of over 5000. I read it to my little timelord tonight, at his request, (although the book is aimed at an older market) and he lifted my heart more than anything or anyone else could when he said, "That was the best story ever Mummy and I am not just saying that because I am your boy!! Can you write the next chapter tonight?" It was a moment to shelve in my heart for any more down times to come. He is writing a story about his chickens at the moment and has asked to read the update to me tomorrow, I wait in anticipation and with great pleasure. I may have influenced my son a bit, but to have a seven year old boy choosing to read and write for pleasure is a joy to my heart.

The picture below is a cornish copper mine and the inspiration for the setting of the two chapters I have written this week. Hope to post more regularly again now.

Bookworming!!!!!

2008-09-11T21:30:00.005+01:00

Dear Kat has done a fantastic job building the Bodmin Bookworm blog over the past few weeks. I had an idea in May that became a concept that I discussed with Kat, that became a proposal I put to my boss and then the heads in Bodmin and now that idea has become a reality. The Bookworm is launched officially with the schools on 22nd September, but the blog has gone live for constructive comment and ideas. Do go over and have a visit at www.bodminbookworm.blogspot.com and please do tell Kat how fab she is!!!!!

I have lots of ideas and some of them actually get to happen, but only because my boss was willing to let me fund it through my job and because I have a gifted friend who can build a blog into a thing of beauty!! I am very excited and for both of us hopefully our writing CV just got a little more substantial.

Once the site is being posted on after the 22nd please go in and comment on the kids work as it is such a boost to them to know someone outside of mum and dad and gran are reading what they have written.

Bodmin has some of the most socially deprived areas in the county and this is a real chance for every child to shine by posting even one line of creativity. The strapline came to me in a brainstorming session with Kat and I think it sums up the heart of the project.

Hope you enjoy your visit to Bodmin's new big creative idea!!

Broody Hen and Bookworms

2008-09-05T23:35:00.012+01:00

Finally Matilda (or Tildy as she is affectionately known) has quit being broody. It has taken the poor dear nearly six weeks to realise that the eggs she keeps sitting on will a) keep mysteriously disappearing every day and b) will never hatch as she has no man in her life! She remains a bit skittish compared to our other three but hopefully will be back laying again soon.

Kat and I have been working on the Bodmin Bookworm yesterday and today. She has done a fantastic job and once the site is live I highly recommend a visit. I have been doing my bit emailing headteachers to get assembly dates and getting them to send logos etc. Her sister has done a cracking job on the logo as seen above. Excited about this as we have a chance to encourage creative writing from age 4-18 that is not classroom based. (The little worm below was supposed to be animated but he seems a little static.)

As well as spending a great day working with Kat we also mused over the possibility of either of us being David Tennants new companion now Catherine Tate has left, or whether we would have had a shot at dating him if we had not married our respective husbands....mmm remote and unlikely but always worth a little fantasy muse I guess.

Also managed to begin the write up of some of the material I did while away on holiday for my novel so I was pleased to begin to make a dent on that too. I do need to revisit the chapter planning again before I go too much further, but I am happy to be writing again.

Rollercoaster return to Blogland

2008-09-01T22:01:00.004+01:00

I am sorry for not blogging for a long time (most of August actually) but it is amazing how little time I have had despite a desperately wet summer holiday. This past week or so has been roller coasting a bit for me for a number of reasons.
I have managed to develop a new strand of plotline for my novel which is exciting and adds a little more sci-fi to an historical novel. The picture shown was one of those I have used for visualising the first chapter of the book. (It is Wheal Coates engine house at St Agnes for anyone interested). I have made some progress and hope to get going on it this week. However I need to make more time to develop it all so I am planning a time management strategy...sad but true.

I then have a had a strange email conversation with an editor at a Christian Publishing house about the activity club material I wrote on Daniel. I had sent my synopsis in early July and had had no more, assumed it was a non-starter, then got an email on Friday asking to see the full material for day one. really excited so sent that off by email as requested, then this morning got what sounded like a rejection letter, saying the material did not fit their current list etc. Quite deflated but picked myself up and went to help our new pastor and his family move into their home. Four hours and fish and chips later I come back to my PC to fina another email saying that our emails must have been at crossed purposes and that the company are appointing a new CEO and he/she may decide to review the mediums they publish. So I think it means they may not be finished with my stuff yet. Left feeling a little bemused but cautious about being too hopeful.

Also Kat and I begin a new venture this month called the Bodmin Bookworm, aiming to encourage creative writing through schools and linking them together as a 'virtual' after school club at school, home and the local library. Kat's sister has designed the logo and I am now on the case to get publicity on the go. Kat is going to be the editorial manager for the blog so once it is up and running and I am sure we will both be signposting you all to look at it.

I guess we keep writing and exploring. I have been inspired and encouraged to hear how Debs and Karen have got stories accepted for magazines and clever Cal has got an agent, there is hope for me yet too. Well done ladies, great job

Black Boxes, Puppets and Iced Coffee

2008-08-07T19:15:00.007+01:00

In between various showers we managed to get some photos taken for the Black Boxes Competition on Caroline Smailes blog. My two kids are puppet crazy so it seemed fitting to start with these!

Clyde!

Connor with Dec

Dec

Family photo!

We have a puppet ministry at our church and Connor has just started performing with the team, so we are constantly surrounded by puppets!

Had a great day today, went pottery painting with the kids and had a lovely time - followed by an iced coffee in a fav local cafe. The iced coffee is a special favourite of mine as it contains cream and ice cream...totally GI friendly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Keen to try and write up some of the work I did on holiday and formulate it into chapters as it was one long piece of narrative that needs structuring.

Also now got to cook hubby food and evict broody chicken from the nest again to make sure she eats...such a shame we have no cockerel so the eggs she is sitting on will never hatch...we know this but clearly she remains unconvinced, even when we remove them each day. Hopefully better weather awaits tomorrow for a trip out, otherwise I might just have to go and see Mamma Mia again, just for the scenery and the sunshine!!

Camping, Rain and Landlubbers Ahoy!!

2008-08-03T22:45:00.002+01:00

Apologies for lack of posting but I have been under canvas for the past week, allegedly on holiday!! I really like our tent and enjoy camping and for the first two days of our week in Looe it was hot and sunny, we went to the beach and jumped waves and rockpooled, then it rained and rained and rained and...rained some more. then it got windy, and more windy and more windy! On Tuesday night A and I lay there wondering if we would even have a tent over our heads in the morning it was blowing such a hooley!! We were camping only 20 miles from home as every August we are involved with our church's annual bible week and I have been involved with kid's work for the past five years. This year it was pirate themed so every morning I left our campsite dutifully decked out in skull and crossbones bandana, sash, red and black stripy socks with skull and crossbones motif on and face painted beard in place...what the other campers thought I have no idea!

Despite the truly lousy weather we had a great time with the kids, ending in a cannon fight with water bombs in pouring rain...a quality youth camp is really only measured by how wet you get and how little sleep you get too! On both accounts we did well I think.

One great evening, A had to lead an evening service so once C and H were asleep I was able to write till I could no longer see by the camping light, I wrote at least one chapter and a bit in an hour and a half. It is such a good feeling when I get an opportunity and can write on a roll. I read it to my kids who turned out not to be asleep and were restless. I was edified that they wanted me to write more and asked me every night for the rest of the holiday if I had written any more of the story about the girls in the mine.

Nice to be home and appreciate the every day wonders of soft seats, sprung mattresses and dry towels! Still it was worth it and will look forward to next year...Avast me hearties! Arrrrhhh!!

Next Wave at Looe

2008-07-17T21:58:00.004+01:00

Had a fantastic day today. We did an assembly at the school where our church meets, using our puppets and doing a Christian parody of, 'Dancing Queen.' Tonight I went down to Looe to meet with nineteen children and four teachers (including the head) as we had arranged for them, throught the church, to have an overnight stay on board The Next Wave ship in Looe bay. The Next Wave is a YWAM (Youth With A Mission) ship that is based in Liverpool but sails all over the world. They agreed to take some children from the school helping to cement links between the school and the church, but also as a trip of a lifetime for some of these kids, who although they live twenty miles from some of the best beaches in the UK have rarely, if ever, been to the sea. The church paid for them all to have fish and chips and they all came dressed as pirates (even the staff). The ship's crew were all dressed as pirates too and they had bought a Jolly Roger to fly from the mast (hope the Navy do not get too interested!!!). It was fantastic to be involved and enjoy a meal with the kids before playing with them on the beach and then waving them off into the bay on the boat.
Some days go past unremarkably but today is a day that will remain special to me for a long time. The look on the faces of the children and the opportunity we have been able to afford them is a rare privilege. The photo is of The Next Wave as it took our happy band of pirates out to sea tonight. I confess to feeling very emotional waving off these kids on the ship as they were calling, "Bye Michelle", particularly as some of them only know me as the lady who comes in with the puppets!!! A good day!

A milestone...am I a real writer now?

2008-07-14T00:10:00.005+01:00

Although this is a picture of a milestone on the Camel Trail near where I live, it is an illustration of how I have been feeling this past couple of days, (no not made of stone and static!)

Last post I was fretting about whether I had done the right thing, well I rang the first publisher and the next day received a letter and my manuscript back. I have my first rejection letter...does that make me a real writer? It was a really nice rejection letter, which helps from a Christian publisher, and they gave me some good feedback but they had no room on their list for a holiday club programme till 2011!!! Oh well, I will keep some irons in the fire with it and maybe repackage it a bit before I send it anywhere else. I was kind of expecting the letter but it was a little disappointing all the same. Just a decision about whether I file or frame it as a milestone in my embryonic writing career. I guess if I file it, it is an excuse to buy a nice scrapbook!!

I have had a manic weekend that involved a school fair, a preschool fair and my baptism of fire into the world of face painting under pressure. I hope I still have some friends on Monday rather than comments like, "What did you do to my kid?" or "I still cannot get the blue face paint of the dolphin/peacock/butterfly out of her hair you know!!" However I did have the joy of finishing the prologue for my novel which has started the momentum of writing for me again. Hopefully I will start on Chapter One this week and try to do some more planning. My new memory stick now has a neck strap on it, so hopefully I will not lose this one (they do not make them with a homing device installed yet!!)

Memory Stick, Email and CV

2008-07-09T23:33:00.006+01:00

Well I have had a very wet day, as I am sure all of you out there in Blogger land have too!! I had had a great night last night writing a prologue for my children's book. I had thought about taking a slightly different approach and off I went scribbling away while listening to Magic on Sky (radio station). I have had to wait to put it on to the PC however as my memory stick is still stuck in the parallel universe, but joy of joys my new memory stick arrived from ebay this morning. It has a huge memory (4GB) and only cost me £8 HOWEVER it is about half the physical size of the one that has gone missing...how am I going to manage to not lose this one!! Answers on a posting please!

I am still waiting for a publisher to come back to me about a manuscript I wrote for a Children's holiday programme, it has been six weeks since I sent it and I am getting a little anxious now as to whether I should make a polite phone call to ascertain what the defined waiting period for a response is from this publisher. Impatience rules and I sent a couple of prospective fishing emails to the editorial sections of a couple of other similar publishers, attaching the synopsis of the manuscript to one. Tonight...fall off the chair moment, one of these publishers has come back to me agreeing to read the synopsis and asking me for my CV...wait wait, back up...a what? I have never written my own CV. I used to teach people how to write theirs but had never done my own, so here I am at 11.45pm blogging after just finishing proof reading and emailing my CV to this publisher.

Now I am worrying I have done it all wrong by not waiting for the response of the first publisher before sending it elsewhere, what if the first publisher wants it...what if the second one wants it and the first one has not replied yet...what if neither wants it...what if both want it....no that's not likely. What if the CV is rubbish? What if they fall off their chairs laughing? OK cannot change it now, wait and see Mick, stop panicking and going off on one.

Who's well that ends well

2008-07-05T21:42:00.004+01:00

All is well with the world for me tonight!!! (Spoiler alert for anyone who cares and has not watched tonights final episode of Dr Who). DT remains as the Doctor, so I can enjoy his presence on my TV for while longer yet. I know I am a grown woman of 35 (and a half) but maybe it is the testimony to the great writing on this series that I am totally addicted. Sci-Fi is not always my thing, but I enjoy clever plots, intelligent and funny dialogue and a reality to the characters that for the most part Dr Who gives. It can never be totally happy ever after as we saw tonight but it is enough to give closure for children (and for me!!).

Planning to do some writing tonight, maybe another 30 minute piece, if I have time after tiding up as may have visitors from up-country tomorrow. Also my sister has given me a recipe for a pastry free quiche, so may give that a go too.

The memory stick has gone with Rose back to the parallel universe so I am facing the fact I am going to have to start to rewrite the chapter summaries...bother!...well at least I hadn' gone too far with it.
Have a great weekend every one.

Tagged by Tam

2008-07-01T23:04:00.005+01:00

Tam has tagged me for a different MeMe, so here it goes:

What were you doing ten years ago?

I was working for a carers charity in Surrey, enjoying my first year of marriage and having lie ins on a Saturday morning beyond 7am!

Five things on my to do list for today

Put my ironing away(only fair as hubby did it all last night)
Collect the eggs from the chickens
Make a quiche (ate the one in the fridge from the previous Meme)
Hoover my car (floor looks like a woodland forest)
Google for directions to a conference tomorrow

What are three of your bad habits?

Putting myself down
Not being able to say No
Not getting enough sleep

What would you do if you were a billionaire?

I would buy a small holding with chcikens, ducks, horses and sheep. It would need a big barn that could be converted to a bookshop/rural cafe for budding writers to come and be inspired and to write with lattes. It would have extensive country views and be near the sea....oh and I would also get a cleaner!

What are some snacks you enjoy?

Crackers and mature cheese with red onion chutney
Galaxy chocolate
Almonds
Cherries
Raspberries
Scones with jam and clotted cream (well I do live in Cornwall!!!)

What were the last five books you read?

Stardust Neil Gaiman
Wolf Brother Michelle Paver
Spirit Walker Michelle Paver
Soul Eater Michelle Paver
Outcast Michelle Paver

I guess you can see I have got a little hooked on this series!!! Planning to re read the Chronicles of Narnia now.

What five jobs have you had?

Shop assistant at Chessington World of Adventures (really not as exciting as it sounds)
Teacher/Instructor at Day Centre for adults with learning Disabilities (Great fun - loved it)
Carers Support Worker (Humbling experience)
Customer Service Assistant at huge branch of M & S in Kingston (got to serve my then headmistress who was returning unwanted Christmas pressies)
Support aid to Michael Aspel's disabled son (then 13 years old). Nice man, Mr Aspel, bump started my knackered metro over speed humps when the battery died after I left my lights on.

Name five places I have lived

Chessington (Surrey)
Reading (at Uni)
Polperro (rented for 1 year)
Lanivet (near Bodmin)

Have not lived anywhere else but spent 1 month in the Falkland Islands when I was three visiting my dad's relatives with my parents, where I had the dubious pleasure of falling down a penguin burrow!!!

So that is a bit more about me, hope the piccy gets some of you salivating suitably!

Its MeMe from Kat

2008-06-30T22:50:00.003+01:00

Kat at Wrightstory has tagged any readers to do her MeMe so I thought I might have a go. It has been a cleaning day today, clearing the debris from the weekend. Yesterday the chickens had a spring clean and sweep out, today it was the turn of the playroom/junk room/Room 101!!

Here it goes with the MeMe:

What is by your bedside?

A table lamp I got as a wedding present, Outcast by Michelle Paver, 3 notebooks and 3 pens (nothing left to chance for those 3 am moments!, Kylie Minogue's pefume 'Darling' , Children's Writers and Illustrators Handbook 2008, handmade bookmark and absolutely no space whatsoever!

Name ten things in your fridge.

Large tub of grated cheese, homemade quiche (have an abundance of eggs, thanks to our chickens), homemade salsa, cherry tomatoes, multiple cartons of fruit juice, leeks (must use these), raspberry jam, strawberries, lemon and lime marmalade (mmmmmm) and milk (for the gallons of tea my hubby drinks).

Name five things in my handbag

Mobile phone, 4 pens (I kid you not), notebook, small travel perfume 'Urban Flowers', work ID

Name three web addresses that come up with the first letter

Amazon, Ebay, The Book People

What is in the unassigned junk drawer where all the clutter is put?

Plug covers, sewing kit, mini screwdriver set, pens, mobile phone charger, pencil sharpener, Indian takeaway menu, mini torch, tubigrip and a fish shaped scoobie. An eclectic mix!

Describe five picture that are on the walls of your house:

A gorgeous photo of Connor aged 2, the photo above of my kids at Minions on Bodmin Moor, a crosstitch of a dragon wrapped around a medieval castle I did when I was at Uni, oil painting of a stile by the ocean (done by a Cornish artist), three picture frames that have pressed autumn maple leaves in it (did it myself when I was pregnant with Connor)

Enjoyed that! Anyone reading this who wants to have a go, it would be great to do this with a character in your book!

Unique!

2008-06-27T00:19:00.010+01:00

Kat and I had an hour or so together tonight writing. We both chose to do different things but we both did a thirty minute writing exercise to stimulate our creative brain cells. Have a look at Thirty Somethings for my efforts tonight and in addition Kat wrote over 300 words for her piece. We shared our work with each other, which is always an encouragement, because hearing your own voice sometimes does not encourage you that your writing is any good. Kat was not very positive about her piece, but it was excellent - had me hooked and wanting to know more. It reminded me that as writers, either published or wanna be's like Kat and myself, we have a unique voice. The spin you choose on a topic, the vocabulory, sentence structure, choice and communication of characters makes any original piece of writing a unique creation, personal to the style and preferences of the creator. It is never helpful to compare in such a way as to put your own work down (something I am good at), although aspiring to be better is no bad thing. I admire some authors work and feel I can learn a lot from them, especially on technical isues such as plotting and progression, however the stories we write and the voice we write in, is unique and should be treasured. I chose this picture to illustrate this point as Connor, Hollie, Andy and I did a piece of beach art together a couple of months back at Porthpean beach. We drew a castle and added details as they dictated, hence the seaweed haired princess and the fearsome dragon. The picture, (like my kids) was unique and special to us who each had a part in creating it...so it is with the written creations we nurture, they are unique and special and we should be proud of them, even if others do not see them the same way.

Bodmin Bookworm and Mission of Mercy

2008-06-25T22:30:00.004+01:00

Kat and I had a great day discussing our local schools project called 'The Bodmin Bookworm.' The idea is to create a blog that will be aimed to encourage creative writing in children, encouraging them to email material they have written for the blog.

We are doing it in partnership with the local library and the twelve schools in the Bodmin area. Each school will have a 'sub-blog' on which the work of their children will be posted. The aim is to encourgae schools to make their IT facilities available after school and in lunchtimes for kids to be able to send their work. In addition kids can do it at home or at the library.

The idea is that it creates a 'virtual after school club' which all children can get involved in as they do not have to be great writers to submit work. It aims to have all aspects of writing on it including jokes, TV reviews, film reviews, character creations as well as stories, poems, articles etc. Kat is hopefully going to manage it and I am funding the idea through my work...so look out for the launch post in September.

Having worked for a while discussing the above project,I was then called on a mercy mission as my sister was very poorly with what the doctor called an 'Imigrain hangover,' which meant that she had taken too much of her medication to combat a fierce migraine and ended up having nasty side effects. So we whizzed into Port Isaac and admired an amazing view across the bay before going into the surgery! We did joke about how funny it would be if she was seeing a Dr. Elliott (Doc Martin is filmed in Port Isaac) however no grumpy Martin Clunes character in sight!

Hoping to do another timed exercise tomorrow on a picture from my archives or maybe one from the supplement I mentioned in an earlier post.

Still no memory stick...probably stuck in a parallel universe somewhere along with odd socks and teaspoons.

Missing Memory Stick, A New Blog and Sports Day

2008-06-23T22:40:00.005+01:00

Gorgeous day today - really warm and lots of bright sunshine. Hollie is improving today, but spent much of the day curled up on the sofa watching various Disney princess movies. Connor had his sports day today (that's him in red on the right of the picture). So I was there cheering him on, keeping my own competitive streak in check...I think!! Even took part in the Mum's race which was particularly funny as it was egg and spoon, and I am known for my clumsiness...need I say more?

I have decided as I am unlikely to want to publish my writing exercises that I am doing to help me while I search for my missing memory stick containing the synopsis and chapter headings for my book (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), that I would create a second blog to house some of the work I do. If you are interested to read any of my thirty minute pieces they cane be found at http://www.michellethirtysomethings.blogspot.com/.

Please feel free to comment but be gentle with me!! In the mean time I am also on the hunt for my missing memory stick...they are neat being so small, but a nightmare when they go missing!! I am keeping relatively calm as I know it is here somewhere..BUT WHERE?????

Answers on a postcard or a post comment please!

I have also got a cool little slideshow at the side from my Red Bubble page. Kat told me about this site where you can upload your own artwork/writing/photos for free and then you can have the option to sell them as cards/prints etc, with red bubble taking their fee and then the remainder goes into a paypal account. Had a few viewings but no sales yet. My name there is Kernowpics, so have a look at the slideshow and have a look at red bubble (www.redbubble.com)

A Camel and a Cave

2008-06-22T22:49:00.004+01:00

Today has been frantic but has ended well. Hollie is still harbouring a nasty sickness bug, so has been asleep most of the day. Connor and Andy went for a boys bike ride on the Camel Trail and Andy was good enough to take a lovely picture of the River Camel for my blog! I have been feeling guilty all day as Hollie has been periodically weeping telling me how hungry she is and I have been trying to explain that food is making her sick, so she really can only drink. Explaining the benefits of fasting to overcome sickness to a three year old is a non-starter really.

I have managed to start my writing challenge today based on the picture from yesterday's post. The picture is of a sea cave on Perranporth beach that I took last summer when we were returning from our camping trip near St. Ives. I was amazed at the images and the story that it evoked for me. My 30 minutes became 45 so I could put an end to the piece I was writing. The thing that surprised me most was the empathy and almost physical pain I shared with my character as she grieved for a lost brother. Maybe because it was written 'under pressure' but I really felt able to communicate her pain by actually feeling it myself to a point. Hope this happens often as it is going to help me with my character for my book, who is a young carer.

So despite a stressful and sickness filled day, the end of the day has brought a really positive time of writing which can only be useful longer term. Off to continue with Soul Eater now.

Inspiration and a promise to myself

2008-06-21T23:59:00.004+01:00

Our local weekly paper had a supplement in it this week which was about 25 full page pictures of the Cornish coastline from the air. There were some truly stunning photos of what is, I have to say it, an inspirational coastline. I have a few favourites, the pictures of Tintagel, Bedruthan Steps, Crown Mines at Botallack and Kyance are awesome. They got me thinking as I have had an emotional and frustrating couple of days around my writing. I have decided to use these pictures and some of my own and set myself a 30 minute writing challenge every day based on one of these pictures. I will aim to write for thirty minutes using one image a day. The aim is to get me back into writing and believing that that I can write something meaningful each day. thirty minutes is achievable, and the rare days when I have more time I will dedicate to my book. The picture above is one I took last year at Perranporth beach and I think I will start with this one tomorrow and then begin with the supplement pictures on Monday. Decided to log each day's progress here to help me post regularly too.

Had a big inside day today, Hollie is unwell and it has rained and rained and rained. Our four chickens were more liked drowned muddy rats than beautiful soft feathered birds when I went down to see them this evening. All four looked singularly unimpressed with the weather but perked up when I brought gifts of sweetcorn and bread and milk mash. Chickens may not be the brightest birds but they are very attentive if your hands contain something edible!!

Creative Writing and Time with David...

2008-06-16T23:14:00.000+01:00

I was able to get a little further with my chapter planning today, although I needed to make sure that I did not get lost in my plot today. My tendancy for impatience is showing through already in a number of ways, I am keen to get through the planning asap so I can get on with writing the story; try as I might not to, I am watching the letterbox for a reply from Scripture Union about the manuscript I submitted a few of weeks ago and I am already thinking about how the next novel could look.

Kat and I did the Creative Writing After School Club today(called the Krazy Blue Kreators) - uniform is royal blue if that helps explain the name - and we had a bit of fun with a poem called "A Spider Bought a Bicycle". They had to compose a story or poem with two bizarre juxtaposed objects, so we had a snake on roller skates, a dinosaur with a trumpet and a cow with a giant's boot to name but a few. Great fun and lots of loud hilarity and fantastic ideas. Kat and I had our 6 year olds with us today and I think they were really buzzed by it too. Connor wrote a story about his trip to the Banger Racing with his dad a week or so back and I was thrilled to see how much his spelling and vocabulary is constantly improving and extending. Part of the joy of loving writing is inspiring and seeing the inspiration in others - especially the young.

Why David Tennant?...many would say Why Not? Doctor Who is my escapism on a Saturday evening and for when I am feeling low or needing some down time. Probably not the most literary route for relaxation, although I have to say that the script writers are fab, but it is a chance to unwind and watch the Doctor save the human race again and again and maybe see if Catherine Tate will say at any point when facing the destruction of the Universe..."Am I bovverred?"

Chapters and Titles

2008-06-14T17:02:00.000+01:00

I manged to get my chapter plan done yesterday helping me with my plotting. I had a great time working out the plan and some of the titles, although for some of them even I am not sure yet what they mean! What started as a Children's historical novel is evolving by the day into history mixed with time travel, magic and adventure. It is exciting to experience the evolution of characters and plot line and I do not want to lose this momentum.

I enjoy having a thinking place, like Pooh Bear, and this photo I took last autumn at Lanhydrock kind of encapsulates one of my ideal thinking places...by a river, lots of trees, isolated spot and lots of time to enjoy it with only a pen and notebook for company.

My office space is evolving painfully slowly, hampered by lack of funds, but I have decided to seek out a traditional writing desk, because although I am like to write on the computer, my note taking, spider diagrams and planning would need a spacious surface. Also I would need drawers for my copious amounts of notebooks and pens!!!!

Thoroughly enjoying reading Spirit Walker By Michelle Paver, Book 2 of The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness. I loved Wolf Brother, but this one has really gripped me. Interesting to read in a series of books how the author put tags down throughout the first book to then develop the events of subsequent books. Good lesson to learn and practice as my novel is also evolving into a five part series.

Good to feel passionate about this sort of thing when feeling like a squashed pancake in other areas of life, the universe and everything. Also really excited as my neighbour, Kat, has finished the first draft of her first novel and I am delighted for her.

Surfer Bookworm

2008-06-10T23:28:00.000+01:00

I have been enjoying creativity in my mind today as time and events have conspired against me to be able to put pen to paper. It is a rare privilege to create characters, their world and their life experiences. I read my friend Kat's blog today and she is going great guns with her story and I am sooooo pleased for her www.wrightstory.blogspot.com and reading her post reminded me that all the things I am creating and thinking about are unique to me, I alone have the opportunity and potential to create their world and their adventures.

I also discovered a site called www.loveyourlocalbookshop.co.uk today which is promoting the independent booksellers who often lose out to the big chains like Waterstones and Amazon. The site gives you a chance to find out where the local independent booksellers are and if there are any events going on in the first Independent Booksellers Week (1-8 July 2008). Kat and I try to frequent our local shop in Bodmin and I managed to source a fantastic local book for research for my book there, however I was excited to dicover Jill Murphy is involved with an event at Wadebridge Bookshop so I am keen to try and get along. her work is so accessible for younger readers and I would love to hear her on her subject and writing for her audience.

I have also put a link to the Pound for Poetry competition that is being run as a national fundraiser and competition in September, definitely a thought for our creative writing after school club and for the Bodmin Bookworm. Also linked to the national year of reading website as thought it could inspire for the Bookworm and give me ideas for the creative writing group.

Needing Time

2008-06-09T20:48:00.000+01:00

Had a great day with my family and inlaws near Newquay today. Gorgeous weather, beautiful views across stunning coastline and a really wondeful time without incident or argument.

I have decided to try and time manage a bit more. Me being me, I have good intentions and then suddenly discover that the day has been filled with a thousand things. I am determind to marry imagination and memory stick and get myself writing every day. I had a new thought about how I would start the book and progress it and this is exciting and I am keen to get going. The children go back to school tomorrow after a long weekend and I will not allow the things of this world to interfere! I am desperate to get on with the book and keen to visit Morwhellam Quay soon, as it was an important port in the Victorian copper mining period and I hope to be able to pick the brains of one of their key folk up there. It has been the story of my life that I have ideas and no time or place to write them and it is up to me not to allow this to keep happening. If I want to pursue my dream of being a published children's writer, then I need to grab this by the horns. I am going to have to stop comparing myself to others and focus on the heart that drives me and what makes me tick.

Admiration and Aspiration

2008-06-07T21:37:00.001+01:00

I have been reading Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver, partly because it is an excellent book but also to help me think through structuring my novel as it is historical like hers. I have been inspired by reading parts of her website www.michellepaver.com as she is so down to earth and yet has had the most remarkable experiences in her research and her life. Her encounter with a black bear in California and how this impacted on her creation of the bear in Wolf Brother was breathtaking. On her website she describes an encounter with a stranger on a train that helped her move from successful lawyer to successful writer. The advice she gives in her interviews is solid and attainable and has reminded me that if I am to take this writing business seriously, I need to be writing whenevre and wherever I can in this hectic life of mine. I have had a new beginning for my book come and I am planning my infamous spider diagram to help me crystalise my story and plotline.

Michelle Paver is an author I admire and aspire to be like in as much as I hope the passion I have for history is communicated as ably as she communicates her love of the Stone Age and wolves in her fantastic stories. I have no doubt that if I had read her novels as a child I would have been spellbound as I remain so as an adult who loves quality children's books. I do not want to be someone who always wanted to write and never did, I want to be someone who took Ms Paver's advice and did what I wanted with my life. I suffer with self doubt and a tendancy to self depricate so I have my own hurdles to jump before I put anything I write into an agent or publishers hands.

The Wonder of the Unexpected

2008-06-02T22:09:00.000+01:00

This is a picture of my son aged 12 hours old (he is now 6 years old). He was born with a cleft lip which we had discovered at the 20 week scan. We spent the whole second part of my pregnancy worrying about what our baby would look like and how we would react when we saw him...what if it was too distressing? How would we cope?

Well as you can see when he arrived all our fears melted away as unexpectedly his cleft was no where near as severe as we had feared and he was in fact absolutely beautiful. This is the true wonder of the unexpected. I have had this experience throughout my life that when things do not happen the way that you fear, often something great and wonderful happens instead.

I worry constantly about things I write being not good enough or silly and often think that maybe I am kidding myself pursing the dream of being a published author. Then I share a coffee with a friend and talk about things with her, spend some time with my husband and kids, even do a few mundane things and then I suddenly realise that unexpectedly I am positive about my writing again and that I do believe that the ideas I have are worth publishing...the wonder of the unexpected!! In many ways having experiences like this help me to remember that being a writer could be a profession that excludes, whereas I realise that the treasure of others is not only my inspiration but the lifeblood that keeps me going forward.

If you are reading this by any chance and are expecting a cleft child please have a look at http://www.clapa.com as they were invaluable for me, especially the parental support forum.

Spider Diagrams

2008-05-29T22:44:00.001+01:00

I am a borderline arachnophobe, so to have a spider picture on my blog is significant for me. I chose a friendly looking image as all the photos of real spiders were far too sinister!! I began to outline my book in chapters to develop the plotline and came up with some new ideas along the way, but I did it in linear form which is not good for me. In every written exam, essay or dissertation that I have done I have used the 'spider diagram' method as it has proved to be the most singularly successful method for me to write in a structured and coherent way, rather than endless waffle. I will go back to the chapters and do it in diagramatical form to help me. A couple of folk on the Wordpool suggested some Mind Mapping software, one of which is free, that enables you to do detailed spider diagrams on your PC. I am planning to look into these as they could be really useful for me in terms of chapter planning and details. I have begun to read "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver again, as she has written a quality historical fantasy adventure series, and I am taking some inspiration from her. I quickly realised that I will have to double my chapters and shorten their lengths to make them bitesize chunks of action that move the story and its reader on quickly without getting bored. It is true that you learn most about your writing and how to improve it by simply doing it.

It seems the whole world is writing childrens books at the moment. As well as my next door neighbour, I also know of a retiring head teacher, and a local lady who runs a pottery painting business who are writing or have written a children's book. I am also collating the information to market the Bodmin Blog to all my headteachers.

On a different note, my two children have been very excited today as all four of our hens laid an egg today, and although hugely variant in size, shape and colour, all four hens have joined the egg production line. There is definitely some mileage in our chickens for a smaller children's picture book, so I will muse on this for a while, probably when I have five minutes in the garden in peace and can observe them without being distracted.

Wordpool and websites

2008-05-27T21:03:00.000+01:00

Connor enjoyed Book Day at school on Friday. The character he chose was not simple...Captain Teggs Stegosaur from the Astrosaurs series. It was a creative masterpiece but reinforced the truth that my creativity is largely with words and not fabric and cardboard!!! I have joined the Wordpool today, which is a discussion group for published and aspiring childrens authors. I am really excited about this and found the website of one of the ladies who post on the site. She is a published children's author called Paeony Lewis and her website is great and inspirational for a number of reasons. I hope she will not mind me linking to her site as I am planning to go back there for more reading. Her website is www.paeonylewis.com Sometimes it is encouraging to read the background of published authors as it reminds you that it is possible if you have the ideas, the passion and commitment. Looking forward to discussions on the site.

Also toying with the idea of writing a children's picture book for preschoolers about our four chickens. they are so funny and extremely entertaining and I think they caould make a great story...we also suspect our second chicken has started laying although which one it is remains a mystery. Bets are on for either Matilda or Rosie as the one that has joined Gypsy in the egg production business!

Poetry and Post

2008-05-21T22:48:00.000+01:00

Enjoyed a good workshop today at Bodmin library. Run by a lady called Moira Andrews I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of writing about a person from my childhood and a day in my past that was significant. It is amazing how many new ways of approaching a piece of writing are uncovered when you take part in these workshops. Moira is a lovely lady and very good poet, she shared a number of her poems including a very moving one, written an hour or so after her husband passed away. Her website is www.moiraandrews.com and it was great to meet a local poet and take part in a useful time. it did confirm that my strength is prose and not poetry though!!! I managed to post off my manuscript to SU today www.scriptureunion.org.uk which was a strange feeling. I expected a feeling of immense satisfaction, excitement or even trepidation. It may yet come, but as I posted my work today I did feel that I had taken an important step. The work is a holiday programme written on the book of Daniel that I wrote about two years ago. (Hence the lion). I now have to sit back and wait to see what response I get, though I do need to keep writing and researching my Bal Maiden book.

Eggs, Notebooks and SAE's

2008-05-20T21:48:00.000+01:00

Pictured is my one of my son's chickens, Gypsy, who has given us our first two eggs. Admittedly they are the size of Cadbury's cream eggs at the moment but it has been a momentous time in our household. Hopefully the others will be following suit in the near future. One thing I would love to capture in words is the expressions on my two children's faces when they discovered the egg nestled in the straw. I am blessed with very facially expressive children and the moment was like a photo you want to memorise and convey on paper. Will try to have a go I think as it is a memory of childhood I hope they will both have of owning and caring for their chickens.

I got an ebay parcel today that contained a lovely purple velvet notebook I had won. It is fab and I am considering what extra special project may grace its pages. The fact I have bought another A4 sized notebook from Woolies this week is neither here nor there. One can never have too many notebooks, or decent writing pens for that matter!

Finally I have my submission printed and ready to go to the post office tomorrow morning, proof reading got delayed by me having to count squillions of leaflets to deliver to Bodmin schools today. One thing about submitting work for consideration by a publisher is the dilemma of what postage do you put on a SAE? If you weigh your manuscript and put the postage on that would enable the publisher to return the whole thing...is that a defeatist message? On the other hand if I only put a first class stamp on the SAE and they do not like it, is it too self assured in its message? I am on the horns of a dilemma (not comfy either!!) however I guess the middle ground is that if they like it and it need revision I will at least get it back.

Feels pretty strange submitting this after talking about it for so long. I need to work on not building up my hopes and watching the letterbox every day for a reply.

I need proof!!

2008-05-17T23:34:00.000+01:00

I have included Peppa Pig in the blog today as we have had so much rain here that welly boots and muddy puddles were the order of the day. I had the surreal but genuinely wonderful experience of watching my children let the chickens out this morning and then go on the swings wearing only their pyjamas and welly boots (prior to the rainfall I hasten to add). It reminded me of the innocence and carefree nature of childhood and how there is nothing particularly odd to a 3 and 6 year old about swinging as high as they can in wellies and pyjamas!!

Andy began to proof read my manuscript last night and got half way through before falling asleep (not a good sign I fear) but his findings reminded me of the importance of proof reading before submission. My degree training has meant that I have become a skim reader at times and need the more slow and steady reading eyes of my husband to ensure I do not submit a catalogue of errors along with my work. As a result the posting day is moved to Monday. Just a reminder that when it comes to my writing, I need proof!!

The Power of an Hour

2008-05-16T23:52:00.000+01:00

Well today has turned into something special for me. Thanks to my friend Kat I was able to do some writing in a child free zone for two hours and it not only got my writing ball rolling, it sent it off down the hill and out of site!!! I have been meaning to write up a holiday bible club scheme I wrote for Grace Family Bible Week two years ago. The material was based on the first six chapters of the book of Daniel in the Bible. I was pleased with it at the time and thought I might well be able to consider submitting it for publishing.

Well needless to say, lots of things got in the way and it was all filed away on my PC and in foolscap files. Recently I have been determind to have a go and submit the material to Scripture Union, so today I finished it!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have my first ever manuscript to send tomorrow to a publisher. It is not my Magnum Opus I grant you, but to actually have revised, edited and compiled a submission that I think is good enough to send to a publisher is truly an amazing moment.

Without being negative I am stalling myself for the rejection letter but I do believe in a God of miracles and also believe He is control of all things, so in His time and plan I will see whether it is a yes or a no. What I have determind in my heart today is not to give up and to keep on writing. Having been through a recent time of frustration and weariness I have again experienced the tingle I feel when I am writing and developing ideas. I am reminded why this was my lifetime ambition and I am not going to let it get buried under a mound of ironing, washing up or paperwork. The pen is mightier than the Persil!!!!

Bodmin Bookworm

2008-05-15T22:11:00.000+01:00

I was excited to share the vision I have for creating 'The Bodmin Bookworm' through the schools and library service in Bodmin. I am aiming to set up a blog that will encourage all school children in the Bodmin area to post creative material on set topics and themes, creating a 'virtual' after school club.

I am excited about this as I have been feeling frustrated and a little disappointed at how little time I seem to have to write anything. I hope by doing this blog and through ventures such as The Bookworm I can develop my creativity while also encourgaing youngsters to pursue theirs.

Looking forward to sharing this with 'The Krazy Blue Kreators' (The Creative Writing After School Club) at Lanivet School.

Creating the detail for the Bookworm came as a 3am moment which in my view gives it far more validity!!!