The how-did-that-happen edition
Somehow it’s been a year since I decided to leave my full time job to embark on what I (at the time) dubbed my year of travel, childcare and writing. Well, a year on, I’ve achieved very little travel, but a load of lovable and tempestuous childcare and an even bigger load of lovable and tempestuous writing.
To mark the year, I’ve decided it’s finally time to create my website. And, with it, this blog.
Each blog post, I’ll do a round up of my recent writerly wins, rejections, learnings, readings, and musings.
Wins!
Because you’ve got to start with the good stuff… A revelation about the plot of my current book (shifting it towards suspense territory, which is exciting) and hitting the 10k word mark!
Rejections
Not placing in a competition I’d convinced myself I was going to, and I admit that was a tough one. In fact, I came fourth – tantalisingly close.
Learnings
Going from not a scooby to a fully functioning website – with big thanks to Charlotte Duckworth’s excellent free tutorial.
Watching a masterclass on genre mash ups via The Novelry, with the probably obvious but also incredibly helpful note that all it really involves is taking what you love from different genres. Note to self: must add Kaliane Bradley’s The Ministry of Time to my reading list…
Readings
Currently reading: Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides.
Just finished: Matthew Quick’s Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock. (Kudos to anyone who can work out a major theme of my next book before the end of this section). I adored the premise of this book: a boy (young man?) giving four presents to four important people in his life on the day of his 18th birthday – the day he’s decided he’ll commit a murder-suicide. Leonard, the protagonist, is a believable character because we’re so in his head – the book needed that as it’s so obvious that he’s cared for by the four people he visits, despite the horrific trauma he’s experienced. Major spoiler: the ending was a relief (he gets close, but doesn’t die), although also quite sad in the way he remains alone. Stylistically, I found the footnotes a major distraction, and the ‘letters to my future self’ slightly jarring due to the real genre departure, but overall I can see how they helped build Leonard’s character as a nerdy but still in some ways childlike adolescent.
Musings
My toddler’s current favourite question is but what will Freya do next? which just goes to show how often I’ve been talking to him about my latest book on our days together. Whilst there’s a lot of ground I’ll definitely not cover with him on our rambles around the village, he is an excellent source of writing inspiration because he always needs to know what’s going to happen next and, crucially, why. Surely if my three-year-old can interrogate my plot to this extent, any future adult reader will be satisfied?!
He also loves that Freya has a rabbit, so there’s that.
Till next time!
Vicky
