Open Book Blog Hop – 15th July

This week the blog is scheduled as I’m spending some time at the van with a friend.  I’ll  join in with the link and answer any comments just as soon as I can, which will probably be after Wednesday:

The question is…

What was your hardest scene to write?

Oh, this question is easy to answer.  Any sex scene has me cringing at the thought of writing it, but write it I must. In ‘Revenge‘ I had to write about the illicit affair between Alistair and Carly, and how could I do that without incorporating a few sex scenes?  Readers expect them, and one reader even went so far as letting me know that there weren’t enough sex scenes in the book for his liking!

You also get the readers who are offended by sex scenes.  There was one person who reviewed ‘The Daughter-in-law Syndrome’  –  she loved the book but had unfortunately cringed at reading the few sex scenes I had written between Arla and Ric (while I’d cringed at the thought of writing them!).

Readers expected ‘Mind Games‘ to be erotica, as it deals with the effect that an addiction to pornography has on a marriage, but it was exactly the opposite.  It just goes to show that you cannot please all the people all the time.  These days I tend to leave more to readers’ imaginations.  I add a little spice, but leave out all the gory bits!

Which scenes do other blog-hoppers struggle with?  Click on the blue button to find out, or just add your own comment.

Rules:

1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

                                        You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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Open Book Blog Hop – 1st July

Tags

#amwriting, #openbook

This week’s topic is:

What are common traps for aspiring writers?

There are a few traps to look out for in my opinion.  I’ll list them below:

1.  Rushing the first novel because you want to ‘get it out there’.

Yes, I rushed ‘The Porn Detective’ (now re-written as ‘Mind Games’) back in 2013.  Words were tumbling out faster than I could write them down.  I finished the book in about 3 months and sent it off to some agents.  One London agent deliberated with colleagues for a week whether to represent me, before declining.  Another one said she would be interested if I could re-write it.  I put it on the back burner as I couldn’t be bothered to write it out all over again, however, 4 years later I did re-write it and sent it back to both agents.  They still declined!  Maybe if I’d done a better job of it in the first place …?

2.  Taking part in ‘writing’ contests that only want your money.

There are a lot of shyster writing contests and screenplay contests out there.  Funnily enough they all want entry money – usually about $50.  What happens to the winners if there are any?  Who knows?  Good writing contests need to be researched thoroughly!

3.  Paying out for services that you can do yourself.

Just like the Klondike miners found back in the 1850s, there are many people willing to charge for aiding you in your quest to be an international bestseller.  These charges might be for formatting, publishing, editing, or cover design for example.  To quote W.S Gilbert, small publishers abound like ‘asparagus in May’.  You can find your own print-on-demand publisher and publish your book yourself without having to pay ‘setting up fees’ to a small publisher who is only interested in taking part of your royalties.

4.   Not getting discouraged by negative reviews and giving up.

All writers receive some negative reviews, and you cannot please all the people all the time.  The trick is to ‘suck it up’ as my US friends say, and carry on writing.

5.  Paying out large sums of money to vanity publishers.

Don’t do it!  Self-publish while you’re waiting for one of the Big 5 to whisk your book away.  You’ll probably do a much better job than a vanity publisher, who is only interested in your money.

6.  Not listening to constructive criticism.

Yes, your book is the bees knees … you’ve sweated blood and burned the midnight oil to get to the end of it.  However, an ARC reader or beta reader might have a different opinion, and can point out the flaws that you might be blind to.

What traps do other blog-hoppers know about?  Click on the blue button to find out, or just add a comment.

1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Open Book Blog Hop – 24th June

This week’s topic is:

‘How do you select the names of your characters?’

I must admit I only like traditional names, and so as soon as I read a blurb about a character with a strange or outlandish name, then I’m afraid I tend to skip that book and move on to another one.  Funnily enough I find that books with strangely-named characters are usually in fantasy novels, a genre that I have tried to get on with but unfortunately cannot.

When I write, I prefer a character to have a short name, so that I don’t have to keep on typing out a long one.  For example, I chose Amy and Beth (A House Without Windows),  Erin and Alan (A Rather Unusual Romance),  and Judy, Roger, Edie and Roz are some of the characters from The Pilates Class.’

I type clinic letters daily and always look at people’s names.  Sometimes I imagine what they might look like based on their name.  With some names I have no idea whether they are male or female unless I look at the patient’s other details or listen to the dictation.  I type around 50 letters every day, and if I see a nice Christian name then I’ll remember it and maybe use it in a story.

Some of my characters have names that I remember from my schooldays.  Others have my favourite names, or the same Christian names as workmates or friends.  I also Google traditional names and see which ones I like.  It’s nice to have a long list of names to choose from and build a character around.

How do other blog-hoppers select their characters’ names?  Click on the blue button below to find out, or just add a comment.

Rules:

1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Open Book Blog Hop – 10th June

Tags

#writingcharacters

This week’s topic is:

What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex?

Having a husband and two sons definitely helps when I write about characters from the opposite sex. Two of them (Sam and Leon) are the alpha male types, practical, abrupt and down-to-earth, and the other one (Marc) is rather more sensitive, arty and musical.  I know how they think, and sometimes even what they’re going to say next.  As for what they feel I can only guess, as the two alphas tend to be stoically silent on that front, but  Marc has a brain very similar to my own.  We’re like two peas in a pod.

Yes, sometimes my male characters say exactly what my husband or sons might have said.  I also dredge up memories of my father, also grandfathers, uncles, male cousins and male work colleagues to help me form my characters.  My male characters are a combination of all of them!

I was an only child who went to a all-girls’ secondary school with mainly female teachers.  It was rather a shock when I left school and had to meet men!  However, 45 years’ on from that I’ve lots of memories and experiences to call on when I get around to inventing a new male character.

Do other authors have difficulty when writing about characters of the opposite sex?  Click on the blue button below to find out, or add a comment.

Rules:

1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter

Open Book Blog Hop – 3rd June

Today the topic is:

‘What was the best money you ever spent as a writer?’

Well, I’m still spending it, and how they love me for it!  I’m slowly adding all my books to Ingram Spark and advertising them in their ‘Advance’ catalogue.  This catalogue goes out to bookstore buyers, and I’m pleased to see that most mornings when I check sales I sell one or two books.  I’m doing this slowly because it’s $49 to set up a paperback, and then another $85 to get it added to Ingram’s sales catalogue, and so each month when I receive my wages from the hospital I use some of it to publish another book on Ingram Spark.

Of course I also paid out for ISBNs, so the pounds are adding up, but I hope it’ll be worth it in the long run.  One morning I checked, and somebody had bought 27 copies of ‘A House Without Windows’!  I don’t bother adding the e-book versions, as it’s paperbacks that go on display in bookstores.

What did other authors spend their money on?  Click on the blue button below to find out, or even add your own blog.

Rules:

1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter

Open Book Blog Hop -20th May

Tags

#writingcharacters

This week the topic is:

‘From all the characters you’ve created, which is your favourite and why?’

—————————————————————————————————————————————

I have to say it has to be Arla Deane from ‘The Daughter-in-law Syndrome‘.  Arla is myself albeit thirty nine years’ ago, and is experiencing just what I had to go through with my new mother-in-law Jean.

Jean was frankly horrified that her treasured son had found a girlfriend.  From the very get-go she directed all her conversation only to Sam, and always found things from the past to reminisce with him that I obviously knew nothing about.  If I ever had to ring her for something, she would recognise our number and say ‘Hello Sam’, before she even knew which one of us had called.  She would tell lies about me to her two daughters, who believed her every word.  One of them never spoke to me for 7 years.

Poor old Arla then had no chance.  Arla’s husband Ric, like Sam, took a neutral stance and would never say anything to upset his mother.  Arla hated Edna, her mother-in-law, and Edna’s two daughters in equal measure!  However, unlike myself, Arla found out the reason why Ric never wanted to upset his mother.  I have my own theories about Sam, but now that Jean is a frail 89 year old and not the harridan she once was,  those theories were laid to rest some time ago.

Time has moved on.  Jean and I are now tentative friends, and both her daughters now speak to me.  I have my own daughters-in-law, and absolutely ensure that I never treat them the way that Jean treated me!  However, Arla’s daughter-in-law Ria is a somewhat stronger character than I ever was…

Let’s see what other authors have to say on the subject:

Rules:

1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

                                           You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

Open Book Blog Hop – 13th May

This week’s topic is:

‘If you didn’t have to sleep, what would you do with the extra time?’

I usually sleep for 8 hours, so we’re talking about an extra 8 hours at night-time when most of the country’s population sleeps, except for teenagers checking their phones and anybody who works a night shift.

There are a few things I would do:

At holiday times I would travel to my ‘van’ on the Isle of Wight at night, thereby avoiding heavy traffic on the M11, M25 and A3.  I would arrive there in record time and in a good mood!

I would go to work and type my clinic letters at night, in absolute peace and quiet.  There would be no phones ringing and nobody rushing in and out of my office to bother me.  I could earn more money that way, as I could work for longer and never get tired.  The whole day would then be mine for doing whatever I wanted to.

I could choose the best lit roads and cycle along for exercise without cars trying to run me over.

I could sit and write stories in peace without having to do anything else.

Assuming Sam wouldn’t need to sleep either, we would therefore not need a bed and so could get rid of it and use the space in the bedroom for something else.

This blog goes to show just how unsociable I am, as most of my ideas are about getting away from other people!

What would other blog-hoppers do if they didn’t have to sleep?  Click on the blue button below to find out, or even add your own blog.

Rules:

1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter

Open Book Blog Hop – May 6th

This week’s topic is:

Have you ever made yourself cry (over what you did to a character) while writing a book?

No, not to a character as such, but I did shed a few tears when I wrote my memoir ‘Waiting in the Wings’ while remembering past times spent with relatives who are no longer alive.

My aunt June was an amazing woman, not intelligent in the classic sense, but gifted with oodles of common sense, a happy nature, and a warm personality that endeared her to everybody she met.  I loved to stay at her house during some of the school holidays, and she would make my day exciting in a way that my own mother never seemed to.  We’d go to fairgrounds and ride on rollercoasters, make glitter pictures, swim in the garden pool, and there was a large dressing up box in the shed full of clothes and high heeled shoes for my cousins and myself to play with.

It’s awfully sad to wallow in the past, and I try not to do it.  However, it’s difficult not to do this when you’re writing a memoir!  There are advantages to growing older, but one of the downsides is that you start to lose all the older generation of relatives you grew up with, as one by one they age and wither away.  It happens to all of us, and we must each deal with loss as best we can.  However, I’m glad I wrote my memoir before I also age and wither away and become too old to remember it all!

Do click on the link below and add your own blog if you’ve got something to say on this week’s topic, or just click to find out what other authors/bloggers have written.

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Open Book Blog Hop -29th April

This week the topic is:

What’s the most unusual expense you’ve had?

We queued up in the supermarket with a trolley containing 30 tins of a particular brand of cat food, even though we haven’t got a cat!

My cousin Mike, who lives in Saudi Arabia, had visited us earlier in the year and took back some cat food, as his cat loves a particular brand that Mike had picked up when he had visited before.  Sam had to fly to Riyadh on business, and so Mike agreed to pay for 30 tins and any excess baggage charges when Sam arrived at the airport.

Sam’s overnight case was unusually heavy, but Kitty was pleased anyhow!

What do other blog hoppers say?  Click on the link below to find out, or even add your own post to this blog.

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Open Book Blog Hop – 22nd April

This week the topic is:

Many of us wax poetical at the end of winter and the return of spring. Let’s swap that around. What’s the one thing about spring that you can’t stand?

Like most people I love the end of winter and the promise of long summer days to come.  The trees begin to sprout new leaves, we can all leave off layers of clothing, and Sam and I can head off down the A3 and drain up our holiday home.  However… I know full well that one thing is going to spoil my fun and put me on permanent guard.  What is it?

Aaargh!  It’s bees, wasps, and any other stinging insect.

As soon as the sun comes out, then so do the bees and wasps.  If I’m stung, I can feel my neck begin to swell on the inside straight away, and I have to run for my Prednisolone tablets which are never far away.  The sting itself will linger for days, itching and irritating my skin.

I know that bees are doing their bee thing and pollinating and honey-making and so on, but I hate the bloody things!  And another thought … what the hell are wasps for?  They hover about on our decking, and I cannot relax if I see one.

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

Let’s see what other blog-hoppers cannot stand about Spring.  You can join in the fun if you like, and leave a comment or add your own blog.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter