The biggest news this week has to be the release of my short story on Kindle eBooks, ‘A front row seat’ which I launched last weekend. It now has a beautiful green title page and has had numerous downloads, along with several reader reviews – for which I am very grateful. I am so glad that people have enjoyed reading the story and have been surprise by the twist. Hey, that’s my pleasure in writing. I dedicated the story to my old nan, as it was her and her friends that originally inspired the three characters. Purely by chance, the story was ready for publication on her birthday on 22nd January, so it seemed fitting. Bless, she’d have chuckled at the very thought.
I know that the ‘secret writer’ anonymity is blown but hey, amongst my creative friends that detail is fine by me! Enjoy! Should you wish to purchase, please visit: www.amazon.co.uk/A-front-row-seat-ebook/dp/B006ZP0QD0
If you have downloaded a copy, could I be cheeky and ask you to drop by the Amazon website and leave a simple line of text. It might make all the difference for other readers who are not sure whether to risk purchasing for fear of wasting their hard earned money.
I attended two writers groups this week, Mad Hatters and Grace Dieu - both groups were
really supportive and responsive towards my publication. Several members said that they too might be tempted to join me on Kindle. Hee hee, we could have quite a little library going on.
At each of the writers’ meetings, I read aloud a couple of poems written over the past few weeks, whilst dog walking – ‘Young bucks’, ‘Great Scott’ and ‘De-ice or not De-ice’, all received positive feedback from the members. I am particularly taken with my ‘Great Scott’ poem, dedicated to Captain RF Scott of the Antarctic – I wrote it on 17th Jan, which was the centenary anniversary of him arriving at the South Pole to find the Norwegians had arrive first. Boy, how do you face such disappointment!
I picked up a couple of short story competition forms at one of the writers’ meetings, so have some ideas rattling around my mind. Though my main focus has to remain on ‘Her’ – I need to polish the synopsis in order to complete the project for an agent.
A new writing member asked if I would do the same again with the next book? The answer is a definite ‘no’. I certainly wouldn’t, this is the first full lengthy novel and I have learnt so much as I’ve plodded through. In several places I have made the task harder for myself by the manner in which I have tackled the job, wasting precious time. My next novel, which I already for an outline for, will be written to a specific time frame in virtually one go, before I return to the beginning to enhance plots and characters. My edits and proofreads will possibly be the same as I have done for ‘Her’ but fingers crossed it won’t take me as long as the debut has. One huge mistake I made with her was writing in scenes and then attempting to link them together, for some writers it may work but not for me.
As well as creative writing, I have two pretty large assignments to complete for my university study – but I’m sure I’ll find time for those on Sunday morning.
I have booked myself a weekend away with the Romantics Novelists Association Summer conference in July – it is my treat to myself for all the hard work I have put into my creative work this past year. I know a couple of other RNA members who are going so it should be a good weekend. I’ll let you know more details nearer the time.
I have a busy week at the day job, so I know that I will have to be more organized than usual to ensure my writing doesn’t suffer though lack of focus and time. I plan to write all day Saturday, as I have the house to myself – hubby and kids are out and about leaving me in peace. I intend to take full advantage! Regards the day job, I have applied for a couple of job vacancies, as I am ready for a change of location – again, I’ll let you know how I get on, though boy, do applications take time to write out nowadays.
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‘A river of stones’ my list of daily observations (in the right hand panel) is nearing the end of the month. It’s the first year that I have participated, and has provided me with little snippets to use as a warm ups for writing sessions. Please check out http://www.writingourwayhome.com/ for more details – maybe take part next year.
My April Fool 40th List has another item arranged – I have purchased tickets to see the pandas in Edinburgh
I continue to plod with Middlemarch – I am more than half way through but am still finding it a drag. For years I’ve waited to read it, only to find that I am struggling and finding it difficult to complete. I might snuggle up this weekend for an hour and indulge.
Remember you can follow me on ‘Twitter’ by searching and following odwyer_author – please pass this blog onto others who may be interested. Enjoy!
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