Literary Style

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*I certainly can't afford a miu miu bag...but a girl can dream!

Coveted Cover

New Bookshelves

I'm loving my new Ikea bookshelves! So pretty and so reasonably priced. My other bookshelves were full and there was a huge stack of books piled up in my writing room so I figured it was time to invest in some more shelf space. And I got one for my dvds. Still busy finishing off book one, so haven't had time to officially decide what way I'm going to organise the books...genre? colour? size? So many possibilities!

The writing room is in a terrible mess at the moment but I plan to clean it up and post more pictures of it this week.

You know you're a writer when...

You can log in to your email account faster than the speed of light.

You also know the location of every free WiFi hotspot in your town and get withdrawal symptoms if you haven't checked your email in a few hours minutes.

You get overly excited about pretty notebooks.
No matter how many notebooks you already have you find it extremely difficult to walk past that purple and pink Paperchase one with the butterfly design and the page dividers and plastic compartment at the back.

You hear the word 'rejection' and you don't think of men, you think of impersonal form letters. 

'Dear Author...' Time to reach for the caramel choo choo.

Your internet search history is odd enough to make the FBI take notice.
Especially if you're a crime writer. One minute you're researching 'recipe for cupcakes' and then 15 minutes later you're typing, 'how to kill someone and make it look like an accident.'

You talk to your printer.
'Please just print these 200 pages without jamming.  Pleeeeeease.'

You'd rather go on a date with Neil Gaiman than Robert Pattinson or Johnny Depp. 
Guys who read and write books AND have nice hair naturally become irresistible.

'Retail therapy' means heading to Waterstone's to fill up your Waterstone's canvas bag. 
You always buy far too many books but it's okay because everything can be classed as 'research.'

You are always thinking about your book.
Even when you're not writing it's always on your mind...and you wouldn't have it any other way!

Rewriting Tips

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I've been doing some rewrites on my first novel. 11 days of lots of tea and irregular sleeping patterns. Here's what I have learned so far:

♥ Rewrites are difficult
They are challenging and draining and at times a little bit stressful. But they are totally worth it, I promise.

♥ Friends can help
If you are having trouble sorting out a particular plot problem, get some friends to read your book and discuss it with them afterwards. If you ask people a general question like 'What didn't work?', they will probably be reluctant to highlight faults, but if you ask them to help you with a specific problem they are usually eager to offer solutions.

♥ Breaks are essential
Stepping away from the computer and just thinking about your book can be really helpful.  Don't feel guilty just because you're not physically writing. You need time away from your book too. Sometimes we become so attached to our writing that we just can't see the obvious. If you are feeling particularly frustrated, go to a gig or go see a movie so you can totally take your mind off it. I also read other books, but not ones in my genre as I find this counter-productive and I just end up thinking "why is this person's writing so much better than mine?!'

♥ Don't give up
It can be tempting to give up after the initial drafts, but rewriting will make your novel fabulous, so hang in there!

Deadline Time

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Hello Everyone

I have some more rewrites to do (on my debut novel Angel Kiss) and they are due in a week or so. Whenever a deadline is looming I am most likely to be found in my writing room surrounded by lots of folders and crumpled pieces of paper, wearing a mismatched tracksuit and sipping on my 5th cup of tea of the day. It's not a pretty sight! On a positive note, this snowy weather is perfect for rewrites. I can't go anywhere even if I wanted to, so no distractions. 

At the moment I'm injecting more romance into my novel. I was doing some research and came across this Neil Gaiman quote. It's a little bleak but I think it sums up love pretty well!


“Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life...You give them a piece of you. They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love.”

Coveted Covers

I got a book voucher for Christmas so can now indulge in some of the things I denied myself last year. I fell in love with these Penguin Classic covers designed by fashion illustrator Ruben Toledo last August but I figured I should limit my book budget to novels I didn't already own. I have decided I am going to buy the Wuthering Heights one. Check out Heathcliff!