Forging Ahead

When I published my first book in October 2014, I never expected it would be such a long time before the second one was done. What happened? Life intervened. In the best possible way.

I met my husband shortly before book #1 came out. My life was filled with dates and dreaming. Soon I was planning our wedding and honeymoon, then we renovated our house and sold it, while designing and building another. While I was pregnant. Then, after the baby came (and we moved house), I entered the brain-fog known as motherhood. It wasn't until I went back to work after a year that I managed to get some sort of headspace back, and the energy to write again.

And now here I am, with the final draft of the next book done and with an editor, and my cover ready to go. I am about to ride this crazy roller coaster all over again. And I hope to do it again before too long!

The second book in the series I'm calling "Hearts of Amberley" is entitled GLOVED HEART. It follows the stories of two of the minor characters from the first book, THE VAGABOND VICAR. 

GLOVED HEART is now available for pre-order, and I've just revealed the cover which you can see below this book description. Now, to work on getting the word out there!

Can she ever trust again?

Amy Miller is struggling to come to terms with her new life as a mother, while being a reluctant guest in a rigid gentry household. A victim of abuse, she is determined to never trust a man again.

Henry Russell has loved Amy for as long as he can remember, but his family want nothing to do with her. A chance encounter with Amy rekindles a friendship which might save both of them.

The discovery of a secret which holds the key to Amy’s past will change them both forever, and jeopardise any chance they have for happiness. Can Henry show Amy that true love will give her everything she could ever need?

The Inane Ramblings of a Writer Who's Waiting

or, The Many Cool Things Starting with "Ch".

I'm doing quite a lot of waiting at the moment. Well, just mainly waiting to hear back on queries, partials and fulls, and waiting for the Christmas holidays. And my brain's gone a bill do-lally, unable to attend to any kind of sensible tasks. With that in mind...

So I was cooking dinner, and I had a little sneaky cheese snack ("cook's treat"). And I said to myself, "OMG I love cheese!". And then I thought, "and I really love chocolate." And it occurred to me: how many things, OK foods, I like that begin with the letters "ch".

So apart from the aforementioned...

Cheese

Image courtesy of Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

and chocolate....

Image courtesy of artur84 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

There's chips - both this kind:

Image courtesy of Keerati / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

and this kind:

Image courtesy of artemisphoto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

And cheesecake:

Image courtesy of Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

And chicken!

Image courtesy of Apolonia / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Then after I'd finished eating my chicken, I was actually compelled to leaf through the dictionary to see what other "ch" treasures there are. Champagne, cherries, choux pastry.

And then non-food stuff: champion, chamber music, chandelier,chapter, character, chain reaction, charade, charisma, charity, chaise longue, chalet, chalice, chameleon, charming, chateau... need I go on?! (please stop, I hear you say). Those are just the "cha"s. I haven't even got to chivalry or chimpanzee. Oh yeah, and Christmas.

 

Image courtesy of digidreamgrafix / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of Photokanok / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of m_bartosch / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It's a pretty cool way to start a word... not that I'm biased or anything ;-) But on that note, the dessert called a "charlotte" is pretty amazing.

So many wonderful things! And I was like, "I can't believe I've never thought of this before!" Like it was some kind of genius insight worth sharing. Sorry about that.

While we're procrastinating and thinking about yummy wonderful things, here's some candy for your ears AND eyes.

Cheers!

On to the finish line

So, I was away for a while. I made some long-held dreams come true, and I gained confidence in getting out in the world on my own.

Here's some evidence of my travels:



Now I'm in the home stretch on my second draft, deep in the the third act. I'm very conscious of not ruining things as I rearrange, edit and polish the final pages. It's a struggle between not rushing through scenes, while keeping up the pace. I feel as though I can see the finish line... at least the 'send it out for beta readings' line. I can't wait to get this baby out into the world, whether that's traditionally (which I'll attempt first) or via self-publishing. It's also nerve-wracking as my heart and soul is in those words, but I'll save stressing about that for another day.

Here's a song inspiring me at the moment - what's inspiring you?
(unfortunate freeze-frame)

How'd It Get To Be May Already?

I thought it was high time for another post! I've been getting back into my second draft with gusto, now having a bit more time on my hands to do so. Revisions are both thrilling (as I fall in love with the work afresh) and scary (when I need to make big decisions, deletions or both).

I discovered a problem with my sub-plot, which demands I either kill off a character or make two family members unrelated. In a twisted way the killing-off would make for a better story, but I can't see where to fit it in with the other characters' arcs without disrupting the flow. Sigh. I've decided to put off the decision for a bit.

The other thing with the subplot is deciding whether to tie up all the loose ends in this book. In my mind I have books 2 and 3 of a trilogy mostly mapped out, which would mean not revealing all in this book. But I'm thinking I should probably pitch it as a standalone to start off with, to see if I get any nibbles. Decisions, decisions.

In the meantime, I thought I would share some things which have inspired me lately. First, this quote from C.S. Lewis. I found it on a writing blog, and the writer was using it to illustrate what we need to do with our manuscripts. For me at the moment though, it provides more encouragement as it was originally intended: for our lives in general.

“Imagine yourself a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, you can understand what he is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping up the leaks in the roof and so on. You knew that these jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently, he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and seems not to make sense. What on earth is he up to?

The explanation is that he is building quite a different house from the one you thought. He is throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage, but he is building a palace."

Over the past couple of weeks I've discovered some musicians on YouTube who I now adore.

First, The Piano Guys. I looooove these guys. So clever, talented and funny. So hard to choose just one video; they're all so different!



Also, Lindsey Stirling...


 
And finally, 2Cellos. Enjoy :-)

Natural Inspiration

When the minutiae of every day life threatens to overwhelm me, I have always turned to natural beauty for solace. I find my soul refreshed as I gaze in wonder at the world around me. On a recent afternoon country drive we took a walk and I was blown away by the sweeping vistas across the harbour and islands.

These images seem to sum up these little islands of paradise I live on... the clear sky, the deep blue ocean, a deserted pathway, and of course, sheep.

What ordinary magic inspires you in your every day life?

Spring Beauty

Just thought I'd pop in briefly to share a couple of photos I took in the garden today of some spring bulbs (tulips and fresias). It's so heartening to see these beauties popping up out of the ground as soon as the coldest part of the year is past. Spring seems to be the season of hope, does it not?

Pun Intended

This year the population of geese at one of our local ponds has grown exponentially. Here is the pond in question:

There are now too many geese. They have run out of food, are making a huge mess, and and hold up traffic as their huge gaggle crosses the main road in and out of the suburb. The council has decided to move them to a local farm. You can watch the local news story about the problems with "the gang".

We discussed this as we drove past the pond this morning. My husband pondered the potential difficulty in rounding them up. "It will be a WILD GOOSE CHASE," he quipped.

That did make me giggle.

European Holiday Snaps

Here are the promised photos from our recent European adventure. We took over 5,000 shots, so I've just pulled a few out to give you a taste.

Beginning with travelling down the Romantic Road...

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Landsberg am Lech

Neuschwanstein Castle

Zugspitze, the top of Germany

Then skiing in the Dolomites...

Selva di Val Gardena

Alpe di Siusi

Then touring through Italy.

Bellagio, Lake Como

Varenna, Lake Como

The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan

Portofino

Views from the Via dell'Amore, Cinque Terre

Replica of The David at Piazzale Michelangelo, Florence 

Up the top of the Duomo, Florence

Views over Tuscany from San Gimignano

Duomo, Siena

Amalfi Coast

Marina Grande, Capri
(our wedding anniversary)

The Faraglioni of Capri

Grotto, Capri

The Colosseum

St Peter's Basilica ,Rome
(note the light hitting the cross in the centre)

The Dome of St Peters

The Vatican

And then we flew home! Hope you liked the photos :-)

Back to Reality

Well, we've been back from our holiday for a week and I thought I should really update the blog. I'm only just back into my regular sleep pattern, and taking stock of what a wonderful time we had. We saw so many beautiful, amazing places and things. And now... back to normal life.

Incidentally that subject line puts this song in my head:




It was sort of a reverse culture-shock as we were driven home to our suburb of single-level houses and little gardens - just so different from the European cities and landscapes we'd come from. It's also a little strange seeing all the leaves turning red here, when we'd been immersed in new bright green growth and cherry blossoms. It's been a relief to catch up on sleep after the long journey, not having to worry about where each meal is coming from, or how much money we have left (NZ is basically a cashless society - I can't remember the last time I had actual money in my wallet).

I do feel invigorated... high on the fantastic experiences and memories. I hope the feeling lasts a long time. I can however feel the stress of (work) life creeping in to erode my satisfaction.

I'm excited to get back to writing, inspired to pen some articles as well as carry on with the final push on my novel's first draft. Early one morning at a ski resort the muse randomly showed up and I wrote 971 words before breakfast.

I have chosen some photos to post here, but I think that will be a long entry in itself, so I'll do that in a few days.

During our stopover at Heathrow we bought a few cheap CDs duty free. One of them was a collection of "essential" Doris Day tracks. Here are a couple of my favourites so far - the first is about being happy with the simple things, and the second encourages us not to put off living our dreams. It's my intention to keep both of these philosophies top of mind.

Mark All As Read

I love catching up on my favourite blogs and news articles, usually with Google Reader. Whether I'm reading about someone's writing journey, craft tips, or a whole lot of stuff unrelated to writing, I like catching up on the world outside my own.

Confession time: I'm a little bit obsessive about reading every single post, even by people I don't know anything about (but their blog sounded interesting). As I read I like to see the "unread" number decrease until their blog name is completely cleared away. Sometimes I don't get time to keep up to date... well let's be honest, nearly every day I have a back-log. I keep finding interesting blogs to subscribe to. And sometimes, if it really gets too much, it need to "mark all as read".

But I really don't want to. I want to at least see the subject line of each and every post. I think I might be missing out on something great if I don't at least look. Perhaps I'll want to comment, or I might learn something new, or I might laugh.

Is it just me?

At the end of the month (the 26th, to be precise), I'm going on holiday for 4 weeks. There is no way I'll be able to catch up, so I will have to mark unread items as read. The very thought of it makes me uncomfortable, but it's inevitable. And I know once you click that button, it's an incredibly cleansing feeling. As if I've just taken a little weight off my shoulders. I don't have to read everything, even if I like to.

It'll be the same for all the actual mail that piles up while we're away... I need to prioritise what I'll read and throw out the crap. There's no point in putting magazines on my coffee table that I know I'll never read. And I've been progressively unsubscribing from email newsletters that I usually delete without much thought.

It makes me think of other things in life that we hold on to for no good reason. Perhaps we horde certain objects, which we think have sentimental or educational value but are just cluttering up our lives. What about the clothes you'll never fit again, that could have a useful purpose for someone who's actually that size and can't afford to buy them? Do you ever buy way too much healthy or perishable food with the best of intentions, but it ends up expiring before you eat it? Maybe we hold onto relationships with people who poison our thoughts, holding us back, because we'd rather be negative in a party than be alone. Or we hold a grudge because the person hasn't made it up to us yet, and they have no idea of the power they are holding over us. Even our dreams for the future can hold us captive if they're seriously not achievable. We have to let go of them, focussing on something more realistic rather than sacrificing our present lives by being miserable.

I think from time to time we need to admit we've fallen behind, and we've allowed things to get on top of us. Sometimes we just need to "mark all as read" (or even stop receiving/buying so much stuff in the first place) to clear out our lives. We'll feel so might lighter and in control. The opportunities lost will be gained in other future avenues. We just need to let go.

Have you ever reached a point where you had to cut something out of your life? Are you addicting to reading everything like me?

A Turning Point

I took a walk this afternoon at the far end of the neighbourhood and I took these shots.

It's funny, looking at them now, it almost seems like a totally different day - look at those heavy clouds as against the beautiful blue sky. But all I did was turn less than 180 degrees.

I'm at a turning point with my writing too. Totally I sent off the last query for my women's fiction MS. I am satisfied that I have queried widely enough, and I'm ready to move on.

So, what to move on to? I have a couple of dozen story ideas or scenes saved, which span many genres. There's about five that are clammering for my attention, and then one that's sticking in my head the most at the moment is the historical romance I was toying with over a year ago before I committed to the now-completed one. There are a couple of scenes I just loved, and I'd already outlined several chapters (but no way near enough to constitute a full novel). Moments between the hero and heroine keep overtaking my head. Like while I was walking, I had to keep stopping to jot down ideas on my phone.

I love this part. The dreaming and drafting. The "OMG I HAVE TO WRITE THIS SCENE DOWN NOW OR I WILL DIE!" feeling. While there's so much possibility, and I can take the story anywhere I want, and I don't have to worry about filling in the gaps. What's your favourite part of the writing process?

The other turn I'm making is (obviously) changing from contemporary to historical. Several years ago I would not have considered doing anything BUT historical. I was fully immersed in that world. Now I've been reading contemporary fiction, consuming author blogs, etc etc. It's going to be a major mind-shift to get back into historical (probably Georgian or Regency) mode. I've been sort of pushing all of that to the side, purely due to time constraints. And while it's daunting to consider catching up, I'm excited to get back to my first love.

Another thought as sort of a foot-note... stop to notice the world around you. As I was furiously taking notes on my iPhone while I strolled back along here...

... I almost missed the first ducklings of the season:

I do love me some ducklings... well any baby animals really! This was a lovely way to finish the afternoon.

Sunshine Snapshots

Hello everyone! It's been a while since my last post so I wanted to pop in with some evidence of our lovely holiday in the Sunshine Coast last week. I was sick again for the first 3 days or so, but it was still amazing being in balmy climes and enjoying a beachfront apartment. All too soon we were back to reality.

Kings Beach, Caloundra

Rays from Heaven

Terri, Bindi and Robert Irwin at Australia Zoo

Keeping the Balance in our Lives

Image: Michelle Meiklejohn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I push myself hard. I always have a to-do list (both in my head and written down). I have a demanding full-time job, and I have a long list of things I want to accomplish in the other hours. There's being social: email, phone calls, Skype, Twitter, blogs. There's writing stuff: drafting, editing, querying, critiquing, learning. There's life stuff: paying bills, planning travel, researching purchases.And of course there's the every day tasks that need to be done - cooking, cleaning, exercise, etc, which could nearly consume all free time if I was conscientious enough (don't look closely at my kitchen appliances, okay?). Even if the TV's on I'll always be doing something else. Down-time has become a stranger, and the stress of everything means I don't ever sleep through the night.

This will be a familiar story to many people. I've come to realise recently that I can't keep this up. First my brain started to give way - I got headaches, dizzy spells and I couldn't think straight. Then my body gave up - I've been sick for the last two weeks, with a cold that turned into a chest infection. I put back my back out as well. No energy. Nights of being up for hours on end coughing and blowing my nose sapped all my strength. I had reached the end of myself. I needed to recharge (and I also needed drugs and lots of them!)

On the weekend my husband sent me outside to sit in the sun. I was still - delightfully still - as I admired the bright spring bulbs and let the strengthening sun penetrate my skin. And I thought for a moment, "I could just let go and be." I mean I could stop striving to achieve goals, stop working to make things better, stop opening myself up to other people and opportunities. Maybe it would be nice to just rest in where I am in life, and stop giving myself a huge list of things to do.

Just as suddenly a contradiction overtook me. No, there are things in my life (in our lives) that aren't right. There are struggles that could be smoothed out; passions that need fulfilment. The "work hard, play hard" philosophy ensures I experience the world (e.g. by earning enough to travel, and then spending a huge amount of time scouring for the best deals) and open myself up to the possibility of making my dreams come true (by pushing myself to taking writing seriously). The thing is, I can't be "on" all the time. I need to recharge. Being present in the here and now also needs to make it on to my lists. Taking time to breathe, I will ensure I have enough breath to accomplish all I need to.

I'm also taking a real holiday - we're off to the Sunshine Coast (Queensland, Australia) on Saturday, with my sister-in-law's wedding the following week. We've never been there so I'm looking forward to Australia Zoo, Fraser Island, whale watching and beach-strolling.

I don't think this post is very coherent, but hopefully you can see what I'm getting at. Have you ever reached the end of yourself? How do you ensure you don't burn out?