Authonomy

Hello campers,


I've been busy working hard on Megan's Thirty, recently and, it's nearly at the stage where I'll start sending it to agents. I've put the updated version on Authonomy so, if you have time, go take a look and comment please. All that needs sorting out now is the dreaded, punctuation. I've bought a copy of Eats, shoots and leaves, by Lynne Truss, which I'll blog about later. It's a really good book and some of it has actually sunk in, hooray.

Wannabe a Writer?

I've just finished reading Wannabe a Writer? by Jane Wenham-Jones. I am so glad i bought it, it has to be the best how to book I've read. It's written really well in a easy to understand way. Jane also makes it funny she has a great writing voice. It has lots of advice from authors, agents, publishers and journalists.I'll definitely be taking all the valuable advice. I also recommend it to all you wannabe writers out there it's definitely worth the price and more.

Long time no see

It's been over five months since i wrote on here i guess, and about that long since i worked on my book. I don't know why but i felt like i needed time away from writing. I'm going to try and get back into it asap as it would be a shame to waste my effort's
So what have i been doing instead, well I've started learning to drive. I've done about twenty odd lesson's so far and I'm slowly picking it up.


I've also been on a few long weekend breaks first to Blackpool and then the lake district. The picture above was taken at south lakes animal 


park which i really enjoyed it's nice to get away.


I've also taken up baking cupcake's and biscuit's recently, not very successfully at the moment though. I'm having trouble with the sugar paste icing.


I've been watching the x factor too, which is quite good this year. I have six favourite's Olly, Jamie, Lucie, Stacey, Danyl, and Miss Frank. I can't stand the numpty twins Johnathan and Edward what a pair of turds they are. I can't believe their performance of Britney Spear's oops i did it again, it was cringe worthy yet they still got through.


I'd also like to mention the sad passing of Boyzone's Stephen Gately. It was a great shock to hear he'd passed away. Stephen was my school girl crush and it's weird to think he's died at such a young age. My thoughts are with his family at this time.


Hopefully I'll be keeping you all posted more frequently now
Melissa xx

I'm back

Hello


Not been on here for a while. Just a quick note to ask if any of you are on Facebook could you please join my group Women's fiction.






http://www.facebook.com/groups.php?ref=sb#/group.php?gid=72796721621


I'll write more when i get my head sorted xxxx

Paper edit

Well I've now finished editing the rest of Megan's thirty on paper. So it's time to transfer onto the computer.
I have a feeling it's going to take ages and be a big job. I'm so looking forward to the day it's finished and i can start contacting agents. I'm dying to get going on the next book i have an idea and title and everything. I actually have ideas for another six books if only i could work faster.

Oh my God

I've noticed while I've been editing Megan's thirty on paper that i tend to write oh my god or oh god a lot. I'm going to have to think of something similar to say or rename the book Oh my god lol.


I've got quite a bit of editing done on paper now, thirty chapters. I've got about another 15-20 chapters to do then i need to get it typed up on the puter and see where i go from there.


No rest for the wicked.

Back to it

Well after a week off writing due to my lovely fiancee being off work on his holiday's it's back to it i go. I've got a lot of editing to do and I'm in a procrastinating mood not good. Hopefully I'll get somewhere this week fingers crossed.

Mid book crisis

After my wobble yesterday I'm now back on track with Megan's thirty panic over. It's just such hard work and it gets the better of me sometimes. I'm a very impatient person so i wish my book was written like yesterday.

Should I just give up?

Am i just kidding myself thinking that i can ever write a book? I'm crap at grammar, punctuation and now tense :(

I'm feeling tense

I'm confused more so than usual. I'm trying to write Megan's thirty in first person present tense but i have no idea if I'm writing present tense, past tense or both.
Here's an example excuse the language


e.g The first place Olivia took me to was a complete shit hole. (Past/present?)


Now the next sentence goes:


it was worse than my seventies flat and that was saying something. (Past/Present?)


now should this sentence be as follows if I'm writing in present:


it looks worse than my seventies flat and that's saying something.


If it is then does it go with the first sentence as i don't think it does and i have no idea how to change it I'm confused Help!!

Update

Well I've been busy-ish over the last couple of weeks writing wise. I've just finished reading See Jane date which is another book about how to write chick lit. I found this book really useful. It has tips by published writers and is written by a published author and editor. I'd recommend it to any women fiction writers.


The next book on my list is A novel in a year. I've only just started it so I'll let you know what i think of that one.


I've just printed out my whole novel Megan's thirty in order to go through it highlighting and post-it noting it for spelling mistakes, grammar, repetition, cliches and deleting anything that doesn't feel right like characters or parts of the plot. To be honest I'm dreading it, when i saw how thick it was i got a big shock. I still have to write the prologue and epilogue yet, as well as possibly a new chapter one. It really is the never ending story.

My whole life is a cliché

Recently on Authonomy I asked the question: I've been accused of having cliches in Megan's Thirty or even being cheesy. Here are some examples sweeping me off my feet , dragged through a hedge backwards. I guess you could call them sayings that have been used a lot in other books.
What I'm wondering is do people avoid these cliches at all costs, include some and not others or make their own up
Any ideas?
Some answers I received were:

"Avoid them. At all costs. Like the plague."

"Readers, but more specifically agents and editors, love a writer that can take a cliche and make it peculiarly his. The converse is also true."

"Think up something original - it can be an entertaining way to spend a few hours - or turn the something into a metaphor instead (but, again, an original one).

It's what makes writing difficult but fun."

"depends what your genre is and whether you are allowed to subvert them for comedy or linguistic purposes:

eg 'sweeping me off my feet but having the consideration to set me gently back down lest I bruised myself on the concrete' ...

'dragged through a hedge backwards, without recourse to a TV Makeover show crew lurking on the other side'.

'sweeping me off the corns of my feet' would be an example of linguistic tweaking."


Great advice, only trouble is my life is a cliché. I use these sayings everyday of my life but it seems in writing, people don't like things like "sweep me off my feet" So I have to create some of my own I've thought of one that I'll put in Megan's thirty to replace one that's been used a lot. But i have a lot of thinking to do. Who knew writing a book was so complicated?