Thursday, August 19, 2010

Lost Mojo Found!

It has been a long uphill struggle recently. Everything in me wanted to write and I did write, but what can I say - the zing just wasn't there. I worked and hoped that the magic would return. Through the uphill climb there were moment of light when I thought things were improving, but whack the clouds and mist came back down.

But two days ago I took the plunge and cut all the new work that I had done since April...yup - you read correctly. I don't really want to know what the word count was. I went back to the raw draft of Penderown and followed my gut. I opened with the scene in the National Gallery and boom the bl**dy thing finally works. I will not say that all the toil was for nothing because I know my characters much better and I have a clearer picture of the whole thing.

My mojo has also returned with gusto and the need to write new stuff is nearly killing me. Pilgrimage is tired of waiting for its turn and a new one has begun in my head - The Summer of the Black Hare. One day I will tell the original spark for this one, but it is meant to be is all I can say.

Today I am off to the Penzance Literary Festival - more info here. Because DS1 receives his AS results this morning I will miss Flowerpot's talk but will be attending Sarah Duncan's this afternoon and the bonus is I'm dragging the wonderful Judy Astley with me.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

The Heroine Addicts, Settings and Frenchman's Creek

One of the delightful by products of this years RNA conference was making an acquaintance a friend - Susanna Kearsley. I had met her in the pub after the awards lunch two years ago. I was surprised (she lives in Canada) and delighted to see her at the conference this year. The friendship grew from breakfast and not only breakfast but daily breakfast at McDonalds of all places....to make a long story short Susanna suggested that a few of us do a joint blog - the Heroine Addicts and thus it was born. The Heroine Addicts are Susanna, Julie Cohen, Anna Louise Lucia, Brigid Coady, Christina Courtenay and moi.

You can find the blog and my post of settings here.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer...

Now back to the laundry