No story goes to waste

Having fun on Seaton Beach, Cornwall with Artoo

After working hard on You. I. Us. and turning a novella into a novel for most of this year, I'm now looking back at some of my older stories and wondering if I can create something amazing out of them.

I do this on a fairly regular basis, with various levels of success. One of the stories from You. I. Us. - Redemption - was based on a story I wrote around 1997. The actual story bore no resemblance by the end of the re-write, but it kick-started me, and allowed me to tell the story I'd wanted to initially. Sometimes I find my own improvements as a writer enable past stories to be revitalised in a way that I could never imagine.

I'm currently attempting this process with two stories at the same time. One is basically a piece of description that I'm hoping to squeeze a plot out of, and the other is the first part of my 2012 NaNoWriMo novel.

But I'm going through the whole spectrum of writing within one page. I'll write a sentence I think is perfect, then another which is rubbish, then I'll decide the whole idea is a waste of time, then I'll sweep right back to writing something brilliant again.

This makes it really hard to know if I'm actually writing anything that's any good. In fact, the original title of this post was "How do you know if you're writing a good story?" but that sounded like I was going to give advice and actually explain, rather than appeal for help myself.

(If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you'll know giving advice isn't my forte!)

As far as I can tell, from my own experience, you know when you get that gut-feeling. I've had it many times, and I'm usually right. Which should mean that when I don't have that feeling I should give up, right?

But I won't. Because I'm stubborn.

How do you decide which projects are worth the effort?

Have you ever shelved a story and gone back to it?

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In other news, You. I. Us. has been getting some really great reviews recently. Thank you to everyone who's taken the time to leave a review on Goodreads or Amazon.

Whenever I get a good review, I treat myself to some chocolate - and you should know how much I like chocolate by now, so I really appreciate it on a whole new level.

Blog Tour: Day 15, finishing with Christine

It's been three weeks, ladies and gents, fifteen blog posts and countless comments, (plus three hot chocolate dates with friends and family - including one today!- and a completed round of edits for my WIP) and I've finally reached the end of my tour. Thank you all so much for sticking with me. I've enjoyed every second.

Huge thanks go out to the fifteen bloggers who made the tour a success with their fascinating and thought-provoking questions.

I'm heading to Christine Rain's blog today to discuss the most important element of a short story.

I'll leave you with one final picture of Artoo, and my leg - this is the view I had for most of the England v Wales game (the game we won during our Euro campaign) when he couldn't understand why I was watching telly instead of taking him for a walk.

Blog Tour: Day 3, causing havoc at Julie's place

I'm having a great time on my tour so far, I hope you are too. Today, I'm on Julie Flanders's blog with my pup Artoo. I'm going to try to convince you that this little bundle of cuteness is actually a terror!

Have you added You. I. Us. to your Goodreads list yet?

Have you liked my Facebook page?

This writer is writing

Blogging has been lower down my priority list for a while now, which you'll know if you've stopped here recently. With every post, I seem to be making excuses giving reasons for my lack of interaction. And when I do post/enter a blogfest, I have a really hard time getting round to all the commenters.

Please just know, I love you and your blogs, it's nothing personal, it's me trying to write while the dog rests his head on my keyboard - looking pitiful - and hits me in the face with whichever toy he wants to play with next. Often, I've resorted to typing left-handed while playing tuggy with the other.

I've finished polishing the flash fiction I started a couple of months ago, and with help (thanks Kyra Lennon) weeded out the weak links. This means the collection is a little short for purpose - I'm planning to enter it into the Vine Leaves Literary Journal competition - so I'll be writing some more over the coming days and polishing those too.

I should be thinking about my next longer work, but at the moment I have nothing. I've got a 'novel' that I could play around with, but I don't really have an overall story to link together the short periods of genius (lol). 

Tomorrow, after work, I'm off to listen to Hubby playing an afternoon gig in a pub, and I'll be taking my notebook to write. Music and cider... what a great way to write!

On a different note, Our Beautiful Child has been available for almost four months. Have you read it? Did you like/dislike it? Would you consider leaving a review on Amazon or Goodreads? Thank you!

What's your best marketing tip for me?

What's your favourite way to write?

IWSG - It's all in my head

It's the time of the month that writers across the world come together to offer support to each other. To sign up, follow this link...

So, as soon as I wrote the title of this post, I thought of this song, so I'm sharing it because it's a jolly good tune, even though it has nothing to do with what I'm going to talk about.

So, on with the post: what is in my head, I hear you ask?

Well, my story, that's what. I can see it in my dreams, I can touch it until the very moment I pick up a pen, I can taste it; it's real but I can't get it down on paper.

Artoo

Real life is getting in the way: we've got a new puppy which is a challenge I wasn't fully prepared for, and I've just started an NVQ course, which means a lot of work at home due to the very small number of hours I actually work. 

And, when I finally get to write, all the ideas pack up and go somewhere sunny! It's not even a new piece, it's a rewrite of an 8 year old story that I always new could be better. Right now, I'm just stuck!

Have you ever had an idea which refused to budge from your head?