Two Go Loopy in Lytham...

Hello, m'dears. 

Yesterday was a great day because I got to meet up with one of my favourite FB author friends (who has now progressed to the heady delights of being classed as one of my RL friends!), M's Annie Whitehead.

We spent a happy few hours at Lytham Hall, having lunch, and talking books, life, and all the other important stuff.

There's nothing better than spending time with someone who really  'gets' you, is there?

Annie in reflective mood.

Second-hand books and an honesty box? We are so there!

For those who aren't aware, Annie is the author of not one, but two, IndieBRAG award-winning books, 'To be a Queen' and 'Alvar the Kingmaker', stories based in early medieval Mercia, the ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the Midlands. 

Scene stealing...

 As many of you are already aware, I write the first drafts of my books the old fashioned way. i.e. longhand.

What can I say? I've tried composing straight onto the old lapdog, but for me there's no quicker way to constipate my word gland. 
(Is that an actual thing, a word gland? If not, it ought to be.) 

There's a definite downside to this method, though. When it comes to writing the second draft, (which for me means transferring all the notebook contents onto the computer) I often have so many notebooks on the go, I tend to lose track of them all. Yes, it's chaotic but, unfortunately, it's how I roll.

Take this morning, for example. It'd been another splendid writing day. The story was really flowing, I'd hit my daily word count, and all my people were still chatting to me. Why not push on and try and nail down another vital scene, thinks I. 

Oh, what a great plan, Batman!

The problem was, although I had a vague recollection of the scene in question, could I find it in any of my notebooks? 

Er... nope!

Which means that tomorrow's writing session will commence with another game of Hunt the Notebook. *sigh* 

Why am I so disorganised? WHY?

The Sweetest Thing...

Watched 'Toy Story 3' again, for the umpteenth time, last night.

So, did I make it through the final scene without snivelling this time?



Negative, Houston. That's a big fat nope.



What's the one movie that always makes YOU cry?

Word Fuel

On some days, writing is difficult, like extracting the stump of an old tree.

On other days, however, it's free and oh-so easy. Over a thousand words in just over an hour this morning and I'm still going strong. 

Think I've earned a coffee break! Let's keep those words flowing.

#whataride

Wrong Numbers...

Numbers have never been my friend.
It's safe to say that I have little-no natural mathematic ability. 
My brain just isn't wired that way. 
And so, in order to avoid humiliation, I've made it a rule to avoid anything math-y other than the simplest addition, subtraction, and multiplication. (I once achieved the grand total of 7% in a written exam! Yes. Really. )
This weekend, however, in between child wrangling, and aided by a simple how-to session on Youtube, I finally made a start on something I've been avoiding for years...
Spread sheets! 
You know what? It wasn't nearly so terrible as I'd been expecting. 
Once I'd arranged all my columns, it was then just a matter of entering the correct numbers into each box (or 'cell'!) and pressing the 'sum' squiggle thingie to get my total. 
Easy as pie! 
It's worth noting that up until this weekend, I hadn't the foggiest idea of how many books I've been shifting. I'd guessed I'd shifted maybe 30k or so of all my titles combined.
 Hah. How wrong was I?
Since January this year - get this! - I've moved 32k of book one alone. Yes. That's thirty-two thousand books in nine months. Wow!
Granted, 'Hemlock's a permafree and it'll probably never float to the top of most people's ereader TBR piles, but even so, I find this figure  staggering. 
If only I could translate this success over to my paid books, eh?

9/11

"After all this time?"

"Always."

(J. K. Rowling.)

Happy Labor/Labour Day!

Another day...

...another sunset. 

 St. Cuthbert's Isle. Lindisfarne.