Last night I had my second Webinar - 90 minutes presentation with Qs & As direct from the US. Last Thursday was my first webinar. Soooo exciting as I was a Webinar virgin - turned out it wasn't rocket science. It was fun - the thought of Carly doing her thing and about 100 other people sitting and listening and sharing. I liked it. So much so I've signed up for last night's session on writing women's fiction. And that was the great bonus last night - I discovered my genre - for this never ending book anyway - Women's Fiction Suspense. Simples!
Some of Carly's points about what agents are looking for in a book, helped galvanise my thinking. I am in such a muddle with the latest re-write but I think that maybe I'm getting some clarity about what I have to do. Essentially, stop cutting and pasting and trying to make thinks fit - like trying to jam a jig saw piece where it really doesn't belong - and just write. Write new, write fresh and write the way I want to write - not fit any formula.
A few weeks ago I came across an American author - Timothy Hallinan http://www.timothyhallinan.com/blog/ Reading his posts and his books started the climb out of the hole.http://www.amazon.co.uk/Timothy-Hallinan/e/B000APW06C/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1
I had a bit of a eureka moment last week too. Reading a critique by Larry Brooks http://storyfix.com/getting-published-self-vs-traditional-great-debate he talked about when you write in the first person POV the writer is having a conversation with the reader. I found this advice liberating. It is so easy to get 'writerly' and clever and even beautiful, but it clangs and is stilted.
So, this morning, troubled as I am with my current draft, I am also optimistic and excited - I can do this.
My thanks to Carly and Larry and as always to Rhay who always comes up with the right/wrong question - i.e. the one you don't want to hear but the one you should anyway.
http://carlywatters.com/blog/
Some of Carly's points about what agents are looking for in a book, helped galvanise my thinking. I am in such a muddle with the latest re-write but I think that maybe I'm getting some clarity about what I have to do. Essentially, stop cutting and pasting and trying to make thinks fit - like trying to jam a jig saw piece where it really doesn't belong - and just write. Write new, write fresh and write the way I want to write - not fit any formula.
A few weeks ago I came across an American author - Timothy Hallinan http://www.timothyhallinan.com/blog/ Reading his posts and his books started the climb out of the hole.http://www.amazon.co.uk/Timothy-Hallinan/e/B000APW06C/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1
So, this morning, troubled as I am with my current draft, I am also optimistic and excited - I can do this.
My thanks to Carly and Larry and as always to Rhay who always comes up with the right/wrong question - i.e. the one you don't want to hear but the one you should anyway.
http://carlywatters.com/blog/
Good to see you back....
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