Apologies

Sorry, the blog looks a little scruffy as half the photos have disappeared.

The links all still work however, so please click if you want to see what should be there.

Getting my head in order.

to do/to read

Originally uploaded by magicmoir

I haven’t written a word of fiction in about five months. Which is shameful, really.

At first it was because I changed jobs, which was a much bigger upheaval for me than the people that know me give me credit for; “So where do you work now? ~ Well that’s just next door, right…?” And for the first few months the job was all I could think of, not necessarily the new stresses that I was under, or that I was having to learn something new, but because I had done my old job for so long it was something that I could do intuitively.In hindsight, in the end, I was probably doing my old job without thinking at all. Which is probably how I was able to write a novel and hold down a full time job at the same time. I could walk around work and formulate whole conversations, scenes, stories, and the odd chapter in my head. I couldn’t always remember all of them afterwards, I’d often had to stop and take notes before talking to people*, and I’d occasionally try to fit strange bit’s of dialogue into conversations with my colleagues and customers to see if it worked and to gauge their reactions, but for all intents and purposes I was doing my job well. So when I then changed jobs, and had to start thinking about what I was doing, I no longer had the spare room in my head to write. It was so involving that I couldn’t pries myself out of this world and into the world that I was trying to create. When I first realized this I tried to give myself the time to think, and to write, but by the time I had managed to empty my head of thoughts of work it would always be the time to head back.

Then a month ago, or so, I started to read Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffenegger. It was the first time, in quite a long time, that I started to be drawn into a world that was not the one that I was living in, and it began to remind me of why I enjoyed writing With His Head In The Clouds. I had/have an idea for a second book, and had written the beginning and even several scenes further in, but work had robbed me of the time to immerse myself in it. Now I had the want to start writing again, but found myself unable to get back into the right state of mind. I decided that I’d finish reading Her Fearful Symmetry, then move onto my own first book, and then start writing again. Except then I wanted to read A Picture Of Dorian Gray, and then The Bear suggested that I read Moondust, and then I became completely distracted and found that I was spending a lot of my free time looking at photos on the internet. I had a long weekend last week, and wasted a great deal of time not reading, looking at pictures, and writing, well, blogging (six posts in four days, none of which amounted to anything worth reading). However, it did show me that I had the capability to think outside of work. I may not have as much time as I once did but I do have the want, the capability, and the passion to write again.

My plan of action is thus;

Less Flickr, Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook.

Finish reading A Picture Of Dorian Gray, and then read; Moondust, With His Head In The Clouds, As yet untitled, and then start writing where I left off.

Grawlix!

I’ve discovered the answer to one of the many questions I asked in my last post, and it’s not good news.

In that “the Death Ray thing” is going to have no impact on my sales whatsoever because unfortunatly Death Ray and it’s sister magazine Filmstar, “are currently on hold” and it’s currently unknown as to wether either magazine will see the light of day again. To quote from Death Ray’s website, “as of now quite literally anything (or nothing) could happen.”

@#$%&! That’s all I need.

Idea’s anyone…?

Not so much the why, but the who?

I wrote a post on my other blog asking why some of my posts and photographs were more popular than others, and how frustrating it is not being able to find out the reason. But that frustration pales in comparison to that of now knowing just who is it that has bought WHHITC’s. I get sent an e-mail each time one is sold, but that’s it, that’s all it says. It doesn’t say to whom, or where they come from. And, of course, it only escalates from there;

Which of my friends has bought it? And have they actually read it?

What do the readers think of it on the whole? And do they like the end?

Do they want to read more?

Is the Death Ray thing going to help my sales?

What does Mummy Bear make of it?

And will I ever stop asking the unanswerable questions…? I only wish that I could.

For readers of all ages

Received a text message from The Bear last night;

Now with added pictures

with his head in the clouds

Originally uploaded by magicmoir

Maybe, eventually, but it would much, much further down the line.

This tentative first page of WHHITC – the graphic novel – was skilfully drawn by my good friend John (a more refined version of which is posted on his blog), and it would be a truly huge undertaking if we were to proceed with such a project. I say ‘we’ because, whilst it would appear that I have already done my bit by writing the book in the first place, it will be quite some task to edit and adapt the 359 page novel into a graphic novel. This page is just three-quarters of the first page of the novel, which is both light on action and dialogue, it’s going to take… Actually, it’s going to mean me thinking about my novel in an entirely different way. Which is quite exciting, I think.

John and I are meeting up in a few weeks time, and I think this will be fairly high up on our agenda.

Death Ray

Early today I received a really encouraging e-mail from Guy Haley, the editor of Death Ray Magazine.

After I first read it I was unable to concentrate at work properly for a little while, and after reading it again I’m… well, I’m… double chuffed that someone has been kind enough to spend the time to write to me, and not just fire-off an automated response. And not just that, but he appears to have liked what he has read. Anyway, this is Guy’s e-mail in full;

Hello Karen,

I’ve got your mail about your book and whatnot, which I’m going to print in Death Ray 22 (out 12th November), because this kind of e-publishing is quite interesting right now.

And then I read a little bit of the story, and a bit of your blog, so I thought I’d send you an email, because it seems you feel a bit sad, for want of a better word. It’s a hard knock writing a book and then not getting it published, but bear in mind the toughest part of all is actually finishing one. Many folk have some idea or other, and a few of them might put pen to paper, but hardly any ever actually finish the process. That’s a cause for celebration.

The only thing to do is to sit down and write something else, and keep doing it until you write something that a publisher will publish. It’s really rare for a first book to be picked up (I assume this is your first), most people have to slog away at it for years. Having read a few pages of your story I can say that you can, at least, write (some people really can’t).

Many apologies if this appears weird or patronising, I suppose I’m writing to you because your blogposts struck a chord with me. I was trying to write fiction for about 20 years, and suffered many similar setbacks and rejections myself (bear in mind I write for a living anyway) until I managed to sell my first story (for a pittance, too) last year. So don’t give up, and listen carefully to any advice anyone who works in publishing gives you, then follow it, even if it is painful.

(By the way, I’d abandon trying to find a self-publishing house if I were you. Such things cost a lot of money, you rarely make the money back, and volumes published this way are not held in high regard within the industry and surrounding media; something to think about when you’re approaching mainstream publishers in the future. Look up ‘Vanity Press‘ on Wikipedia for a reasonable definition of why).

All the best,

Guy Haley

Editor, Death Ray magazine

Spread the word(s)

Arrival

Originally uploaded by jonnyg.87

My good friend John has finally received his copy of WHHITC’s, and has been kind enough to both post a blog about it and post it up on Facebook too. Which is really good of him, because John already has a draft copy of the book in his possession from where he helped me to give the novel a final polish and helped me to make the end stronger*.

John’s blog is well worth a read, as is his comic Dotgif.

So thank you  again John.

*One day I shall reveal what this drastic change was.

The chase

the chase

Originally uploaded by magicmoir

I swear blind that I’ve actually blogged this photo before, but I can’t find it, and either way it’ll make much more sense now that people are actually starting to read the book.

Two thirds of the way through, the protagonist and his best friend are chased by The Idiots as they make their way home. Now even though they live on a fictional housing estate on the outskirts of Oxford it is based upon somewhere that my sister used to live. So when it came to writing them being chased through it I went and walked the streets, took photos, made some notes, and then used google earth to fill in some of the gaps.

Oh, and for those of you that have read it; click on the photo to see notes as to where some of the key points of the chase happen.

Feedback

It has only been available for just under a fortnight, but I’ve already had some feedback about With His Head In The Clouds;

I bumped into my good friend Martin on Friday night and he informed me that he was three quarters of the way through, and completely captivated. His Wife, Jemma, added that “he couldn’t put it down”. Fantastic. This had me on a huge high, which then doubled in size when I saw Martin again the following morning and he told me that he’d finished it.

This is awesome, and still has me grinning like an idiot.