Have We Overdosed on Coffee?

I could be mistaken but it seems the enthusiasm for Friday coffee breaks is fizzling out. If it's true, then I'm not all that surprised. By my reckoning, we've had no less than 188 of these fine interludes, covering a massive range of writing-related subjects. Perhaps we've done them all to death and nobody can think of anything new.

Perhaps not. Does anybody have any bright ideas about how to take this blog and its community forward? There were one or two things discussed here a while back, so maybe that could be food for thought.

Morning Coffee Break

Darn! Apologies for tardiness. I thought it was still Thursday!

I'm pinching one from Musemuggers (an online writing /critique group) today:

If your life were a book, how would the back cover blurb read? Is this book a novel, memoir, erotic graphic novel, autobiography, unauthorized biography, etc.?

Coffee Break: Show Case

Many authors, both published and unpublished, make some of their work available on the internet for anyone to read. This can range from short excerpts, selected chapters or even full works. This week I would like to discuss the pros and cons of doing this. To get us started, here are a few things to consider.

• Does it bring positive or negative publicity?
• Does it count as being published, or perhaps self-published?
• What are the copyright implications?
• How much have you showcased? e.g. teaser, extract, chapter(s) or full work?
• What feedback, if any, did you receive? Was it constructive?
• Has this been discussed elsewhere? Please provide links if so.

Perhaps at the end of the discussion, we can tot things up and then get an idea of whether showcasing our work is a good or a bad idea.

This topic was prompted by a discussion on facebook.

Coffee break: Change

When the first frosts start to creep up on us (or at least those of us in the UK!) and the leaves begin to populate the pavements, I always feel like I should be starting something new. Luckily, this year, I've just started a new job, so that works out nicely! Everything is a bit different, from my daily commute, the people I spend my days with, what I'm working on, even down to what I wear. In the midst of all this, I'm trying to carry on working on the same WIP I've had on the go for (ahem) getting on for 2 years...

When I started writing it, I was in a completely different position - practically nothing in my life is the same now! But I'm trying to keep a consistent voice, and to remember why I made particular decisions about characters and plot points way back when 'The End' was a mere glimmer in my imagination. How do you keep things moving in the same direction when everything around you is changing? Planning and keeping notes is part of it, sure, but how do you maintain a character's voice when you can feel your own changing?

Coffee Break: Names & Pigeon-holes

In protest against the local coffee shop which has now apparently been designated as a crèche, I've decided to set up my own writer's café. So please form an orderly queue and get it while it's hot.

First things first. In case you haven't seen it, may I please draw your attention to the new feedback page. Thank you. Now on with today's chin-wag.

I'm reliably informed that publishers like to build a marketable brand from an author and their books. This means that their name will become associated with that brand and hopefully sell more copies. This is fine; this is business and it's what happens in many other areas of commerce.

But what about authors who want to write in more than one genre? The publishers are not going to like it when their best-selling romantic novelist suddenly produces a three volume epic Sci-Fi space opera, it would compromise the branding. So what to do?

I'll answer that question, but first let's have a look at the results from last week's blogstorming session.

Probortunity

A widower is left a fortune by his wife. She never told him about the money. Why?

Results

• She was a professional fraudster.
• It was her 'running away money'.
• She was Lord Lucan's secret daughter.
• She was a jewel thief.
• He might spend it all.
• She was a Russian spy.
• She was a *gasp* secret writer and he didn't know.
• She invented 'Marmite' but her husband hated it and she didn't like to upset him.
• Money was not a subject ever to be mentioned, too vulgar and a construct of the capitalist west. She was a very screwed-up old-fashioned liberal but counted Marx as her best friend. From childhood she would only suck the thumb of her left hand. Her mother wore a Maggie Thatcher hair helmet and constantly beat her in order to spare her while goading her to recite, "There is no such thing as family". It proved too much and she became a serial killer whose hallmark was to mutilate the right hands of her victims. Eventually she ended up as the subject for a Midsomer Murders special and so was finally committed to a special hospital.
• She never told him because she never told him anything, they never had a proper conversation, not once in thirty years and now she's dead he's going to Cuba with a lingerie model called Ginger.
• She wrote (very successful) erotica under a pseudonym.
• She was saving up to pay a hit-man to kill him.
• He would want to know where she got it from.
• She was worried it would spoil their relationship.
• She was a bigamist and the money is her inheritance from her 'other' husband.
• She visited Haiti in her youth, a witch doctor cast a voodoo spell over her, she turned into a zombie and had actually lived for 400 years secretly selling the spell to the rich and famous before the spell ran out and she finally copped it.
• She knew he would have a problem knowing his wife had more money than he did.
• She was the secret lover of a member of the royal family.
• It was left her by his mother who hated him, to give her a fresh start alone.
• It was none of his business anyway (she was a feminist).
• She printed 20 pound notes in the garden shed in her spare time.
• She was a bank robber and had a sawn off shot-gun hidden in her knickers drawer.
• She was an escort or a high-class prostitute in her spare time.
• She stole it, or won the lottery and didn't tell him.
• She was paid to marry him, and to stay married because of his position in an internet security firm.
• Not her money, screw up by solicitor, and then the people turn up that want their money back.

Many many thanks to you all for your excellent contributions. I will eventually reveal which one I choose for my story. In the mean time, feel free to add more.

Now we return to the question of breaking out of your branded genre. If you didn't already know then you've probably guessed by now that the answer is to use one or more pen-names. There are plenty of famous examples of this, including our own Sue Mongredien who writes children's book under her own name but romantic fiction as Lucy Diamond.

So my question to you is: what genres would you like to write and what pen-names would you use?

Coffee Break: Blogstorming

Much time has passed since I last had an excuse to fire up my coffee and tea making equipment. I hope it all still works. On the coffee front, I have rich Italian roast, espresso and cappuccino (can you spot the national bias here). I also have Assam, Darjeeling and Earl Grey teas. Not much in the way of breakfast, as I'm in training for a special event, so it's fruit salad and toast on the menu.

I was wracking my brains about something the other day and thinking: I wish someone else was here to bounce ideas off. Then I realised that there are a whole load of people who are "here" with me, albeit in a virtual sense. Why not get them to help me? Why not indeed, but first a digression...

Who's heard of brainstorming? It's something I used to do in a previous job from time to time. I have to say it's proved to be very beneficial and even good fun. There's a whole web site dedicated to the art of brainstorming, but for now, here are the basic six rules:

0. [Optionally] begin with a probortunity statement. It's both a problem to solve and an opportunity to generate ideas.
1. Withhold judgement, particularly negative thoughts.
2. Encourage wild and exaggerated ideas.
3. Go for quantity over quality.
4. Build on ideas put forward by others.
5. Each person and each idea are equally important.

So, for the purposes of this coffee break, I would like to hijack it and have a blogstorming session, whereby we all take part. Here is the probortunity statement:

A widower is left a fortune by his wife.
She never told him about the money.
Why?

On your marks, get set, GO!

Edit 23/07/10: The results can be found here.

Coffee Break

Good morning (look, I made it this time!), and help yourself to a nice hot beverage of your choice! I just had a cheeky bacon sandwich too...

Looking down the roll call post, it seems that we're fairly evenly split between those of us who have finished a draft and want to rewrite and polish it this year, and those who are starting a new work, having completed one last year. I'm in the first camp, and thought it might be useful if we talk today about redrafting and recrafting.

When I was working on my first draft, I knew vaguely where I was going, but not how I was going to get there. This led to a few surprises along the way, and quite a few gaping holes and dead ends in my plot. Now I'm thinking about ways to fix them, but this is harder than I first thought. I'm oscillating between more lurid and exciting options (sex? adultery? drugs?! MURDER!) and the more mundane yet believable (building work? car breakdown? an argument over money?). I need to do some serious thinking to find a balance that works for my book and the story that I'm trying to tell. I also need to fix the fact that I somehow managed to end up with three key characters with the same name...

So, if you're also about to start Draft Two, how are you planning to go about this? What are the 'issues' you need to fix? Is your plot fine, but you need to work on structure? What about characters and dialogue?

If you've gone through this process before, what tips can you give the rest of us? What really helped you get from a wobbly first draft to a shiny finished product? What are the holes you come across, and how do you bridge them?

(Slightly Belated) Coffee Break

Deadlines are part of every writer’s life. Some are self-imposed (‘I will finish the chapter by the end of the week!’ or even ‘I’m going to write a 50,000 word novel in November!’), some are set by external events (‘I have to finish this before Christmas…’), but once you get that elusive publication deal they are set by important agents and editors (Can you get it to me by the end of April, please?’ ‘Oh yes, that’s months away!’). Everyone misses deadlines sometimes, with procrastination and good excuses vying for culpability. Douglas Adams liked “the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” - something I think most of us can relate to, me possibly more than most. You know a deadline is approaching, you can see it coming for months, and yet suddenly, oops! It’s gone, and you’re left wondering where all the time went.

Sometimes, they just creep up on you, and you’re not really sure what happened until afterwards (this may be the most appropriate example for me most of the time… Sorry about that, chaps!). Other times you spend so much time worrying and preparing for them that you’re exhausted even before they happen.

So, how do you cope with deadlines? And what do you do when you miss them?

I try to carry on as normal, hoping that no-one noticed.

Coffee Break: Java Jive

Hello everyone - just put the kettle on so come on in. Tea? Coffee? Personally could do with an espresso or two myself, it has been quite a week. In fact, blow the diet - who fancies a slice of Chocolate Nemesis?

I'm really thrilled to have joined the Racers - I've been 'lurking' since starting my own blog a year and a half ago. As we haven't been introduced properly perhaps I should start by saying where I am on the race towards getting published. At the moment it feels less like a sprint than a cross-country endurance marathon (*picks twigs out of hair and catches breath*). I've been writing for a long time, seriously for about ten years. Back in 2000 an agent said my first book was '95% there' - but unfortunately couldn't put her finger on which 5% wasn't. I went away, travelled, moved to Spain, had two babies - and worked on the book during their nap times.

In 2006 I started working with The Agent Who Shall Remain Nameless. On her recommendation I paid an editor to knock my first novel into shape (yes, I know ....). I had a choice between going to Venice for our tenth wedding anniversary or paying for the edit - the book won (shows how badly I wanted this to work, and I still haven't seen Venice yet). But the Agent was a big name, and I trusted her (who shouted out 'Fool!' at the back?) So the book was edited, sent back to her, she loved it, and I thought 'anyday now she's going to sell it!' and started fantasising about spending my advance on luxuries like food, heating bills and clothes for the children:) But I waited. And waited. And wrote another book. Meanwhile she turned her attentions away from books and towards 'slebs. Finally in 2008 we had a meeting. She told me debut authors were dead in the water. Publishing was dead in the water. We parted company.

Happily a year ago I signed with a lovely agent at Curtis Brown, and I've just finished a new book for her. It's set during WW2 (so I've been listening to a lot of swing bands, hence today's clip). She's just read it, likes it (yey) and I'm waiting for her notes. Hopefully once I've cajoled, buffed and tweaked the manuscript (I sound like a fluffer), it will be ready for submission. So that's where I am with the race - about 70% of the way through my third unpublished novel:) I'm juggling writing with work and family life, (two small children, a diva-like afghan hound who has much better hair than me, and a frequently absent pilot DH).

This week, I recorded my heat of 'The People's Author' prize for ITV (which is why I really need another espresso - anyone else like a second cup?) I'll be able to report more about this once the episode airs on Monday, but if you think of the look of a rabbit caught in headlights and cross this with the eloquence of Patsy on Ab Fab when she appeared on breakfast TV (she forgot the word 'accessories' and just mumbled 'hats, shoes, gloves ...' repeatedly) you will get a good idea of my TV debut.

Frankly after yesterday's grilling, I can hardly summon the energy to write an envelope. So that's the question for today - how do you keep going? In the face of rejection, the trauma of Agents Who Shall Remain Nameless, and apparent disinterest in debut authors, how do you keep hope alive? Have any of you had the experience of switching agents or similar heartache? Lately I've been thinking it would be more sensible to quit the race to get published entirely and do something practical and immediately rewarding. Like llama farming. What do you think? Are we all mad (in the best possible way)? The only reason to write is because you love it - but it would be very, very nice to see a publishing contract on the other side of the finishing line ...

Coffee break from Thailand

Come in, come in. I’ve been round the corner to the hotel for some pastries and muffins but there’s some chicken satay too and a Thai chickeny porridge/broth thing if you’re feeling brave. There’s real coffee if you can work the machine (I can’t) or instant (I can do that.) And of course there’s tea. I can do PG, a selection of Twinings as well as a variety of green teas. That Oolong on the right is from North Thailand and is very good.

In my second and third year of art college we had to attend ‘critiques.’ It was prescribed that you attend as audience to your peers as well as present your own work in progress. The critiques were feedback but they were also about showing that you understood your own work; that you could see where it fitted contextually and that you could see the implicit as well as the explicit meanings of it.

I’ve been thinking about this because my industry day with the Literary Consultancy, is approaching. The day isn’t about sealing a deal and anyway I’m not finished and don’t wish to present a not-ready piece of work. But of course I will certainly be asked during the day what I am writing.

And it occurred to me this is pretty similar to the process I experienced in art college. We have to be able to contextualise … who are our audience? What is our genre? What writers would we pick out as being similar to our books? We have to be able to understand the themes we wrote consciously about as well as those that may have reared their heads all on their own. When we’re asked, we have to be able to say succinctly what our book is about.

Phew! We’ve got to know all that and write the thing too?

So my question is this: how do you go about understanding what you’ve written? How do you detect the themes that keep on appearing even though you had no plan to include them? Do you rely on your own instincts? Or hope that your trusted readers identify spot them?

Turned Out Nice Again

I’ve just discovered instant Latte, and am in coffee-heaven-in-my-own-kitchen. So, this morning I invite you to: open sachet at one end (do they really have to say that?), tip contents into cup (or that?), add hot-but-not-boiling water, stir well, and enjoy - while I talk about the weather.

Having ventured forth with our tent several times this year, the children and I have been closer than usual to the weather, and the unavoidable effect it can have on our lives. So far we've spent a rainy week in Cornwall, a mixed weekend in Kent, and a long weekend in Wiltshire, during which we were blessed with weather so idyllic I might have been persuaded to believe that I could spend my whole life under canvas.

And so, it occurred to me that we read about characters feeling the sun on their faces, the wind in the hair and the chill in their bones… but what else? Sometimes, the weather is integral to a story, as in Lionel Davidson’s Kolomsky Heights (where it never gets above -40C), or Desmond Bagley’s Flyaway (where it never gets below +40C); but more often, it seems that watching the-rain-sliding-down-the-window (or whatever) is little more than something for a character to do when he’s bored with inspecting his fingernails.

Perhaps I’m just a weather-nerd. Perhaps it shouldn’t really feature in fiction. Hell, it features enough in real life, so who wants to read about it too? Or write about it? And to do it justice, wouldn’t characters have to start every conversation with, “Ooo, turned out nice again?” or, “It’s supposed to be better tomorrow.” No, even I'm not that interested, but I do like seeing well-written weather.

But I wonder if we just filter it out a bit, and thus lose the experience of it. I’m not meaning the sun-on-face/wind-in-hair thing, but its more abstract effects on the person: the suffering caused by stepping in a puddle, and having one foot wet all day (when the other is dry); or being kept awake by a wind that repeatedly lifts the door knocker (and lets it go again); or the pain of thawing fingers, chilled lungs, or sunburn? When was the last time you read about a character with sunburn? (Not including chick-lit!)

So, what’s the weather like with you this morning/evening, and would you like to see more of it? Or not?

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

Good Morning!
Having rediscovered my long-lost love of coffee in recent months, I’ve laid on a selection for you: cappuccino, latte, americano, filter, espresso (with or without a shot of your choice, depending on your time zone), macchiato, ristretto, and mocha. (For the luddites, Nescafe is available in a brown waxed-paper cup from under the counter.) Of course, tea (Twinings) is also available!

Now, raise your cup, mug, or shot glass to your nose and sniff. Can you smell that? Have a sip? Can you taste it? Lovely, isn’t it?

I’m not just meaning the coffee, I am also talking about being able to smell and being able to taste - two senses we take for granted, and two which we’re often told are rarely mentioned in writing, even though smell is said to be the most evocative of senses.

My (great) Uncle Harold was gassed in the Great War and had no sense of anything in his mouth, throat or nose. The family story (no doubt well-embellished by my father) detailed the necessity of Auntie May having to turn him upside-down and give him a shake whenever he got something stuck, or else he would choke.

As a child this struck me as a wildly amusing and, given the diminutive proportions of both Harold and May, plausible story. I never once considered how life must have been for Harold.

Well, I discovered for myself earlier this year when my taste and smell, already dulled by two and a half months flu and recovery from flu (of the human variety) and by a month-long chest-infection, were completely wiped out by sinusitis. It left me unable to distinguish that coffee you are holding from a mug of hot muddy water.

For a further month, I tested myself each day on samples of increasing pungency (including Olbas Oil) in the hope of discerning some hint of recovery, but could not detect any of them (although being unable to smell the toddler’s nappy was a bonus - at least for me). Worst of all, my supply of comfort chocolate could have been tofu. My life became grey and joyless. There was no pleasure in mealtimes or that well-earned cup of tea each mid-afternoon, or beer, or Scotch, or anything else. I lost weight because I couldn’t be bothered to eat. There was no point.

We can all imagine how we would feel without our sight (we can close our eyes), or hearing (block our ears), or even perhaps our sense of touch (when our hands and feet go to sleep), but have you ever stopped to think how life would be without taste or smell, for longer than just the duration of a cold? Harold was twenty when he was gassed, and he lived to be eighty five; that’s sixty-five years of being unable to wake up and smell the coffee. Awful.

So why don’t we write about it?

Coffee Break: Racers' Rules Part Two

The Dark Skipper's den of iniquity is once again open for business. Simply name your poison. I'm going to indulge in an Irish coffee.
Last week we talked about writer's rules (guidelines) and their various pros and cons. Still on the subject of rules, I got to thinking about this blog and The Race in general.		Perhaps rules are unnecessary as, let's face it, it's not really a serious race. Is it? Anyway, looking at the things on the left side-bar, I realise that I'm rather unclear about the Novel Race and how it functions.
The categories seem to be "New Work", "Rewrites" and "Complete Started Work". However, isn't rewriting * really just part of completing a started work? What is defined as complete? First draft, full publication or something in between? What about projects where more than one author is involved, where (say) one of the co-authors is not a Novel Racer?

It also occurs to me that the display of the "medallists" on the left may not be fair and accurate. Some of you may well have finished the race, however we define that to be, and have slipped under my radar. If that's the case then I apologise.

Perhaps I'm trying to be overly formal about all of this, but in any case please let me know what you think.

Talking of races, I'm off to take part in the Colworth Marathon Challenge this weekend. This means I'm not actually around to participate in the comments, though I'll have a read of them all when I get back.

Have fun!

* I don't know about you, but I've never liked the term "rewrite". It implies you're scrapping it and starting again. The term "editing" seems much more appropriate. Unless of course you really are scrapping and starting again.

So if you like, an extra question for this week could be: What's your editing process; what steps do you take to get from first draft to a submission-ready book?

Coffee Break: Racers' Rules

The Captain's Café is now open for business. It's well-stocked with a multitude of beverages and snacks for you enjoyment. You know what else? Somewhere in the world it's bound to be Beer O'clock, so why not indulge in a tipple?

When I started writing more seriously, back in February of 2007, there were no rules. I just got on with it and told the story. There were no rules because I wasn't aware of them, not because they didn't exist. As you can imagine, my first story Fugue in D Minus was riddled with errors which I now cringe at (I really should go back and fix them one day).

Some years down the line, I've learned of, though not necessarily obeyed, several writer's rules. Of course, we all know they're just guidelines really, not rules, but I'm sure you know the sort of things I'm talking about.

I've been thinking quite a bit about rules recently, and I have to say that I'm very hesitant about them, even sceptical sometimes. I'm starting to think that many of them are just too prescriptive for my writing. I'm not published and certainly no expert, so I may have got this totally wrong. It's just that I sometimes hear quite a few rules being quoted in a manner that suggests less real thought and more blind faith. Because they are "what you're supposed to do".

What are your thoughts on this? Do you follow the rules? What are your reasons for conforming or not conforming? To prompt your thinking, here's a list of some of the rules I can think of off the top of my head, in no particular order...

Use all five senses. Avoid clichés (like the plague). Show, don't tell. Avoid unnecessary adverbs. Stick to one point of view per scene/chapter.

Don't overuse speech tags in dialogue. Never use a long word when short ones will do. Murder your darlings. Don't get it right, get it written. Remember to proof read carefully to see if you words out.

I'm sure there are loads more, so feel free to add to the list for discussion.

My current belief is that courses and how-to books are great tools in a writer's toolbox, but that we shouldn't follow their instruction without question. As a scientist I was taught to question pretty much everything. Tuition, rules and books can often teach us one way to write but not the only way to write.

Let the debate begin...

Coffee Break - The 70% Slump

Good morning! A Twinings variety pack (such good value) of teas on the table, the kettle behind you and a coffee brewing. The weather is sunny but with a very cold wind so I've abandoned meeting in the garden but there are still a variety of cold drinks available.

I've noticed on several of the blogs that people are mentioning the 70% slump, where you have a good proportion of the book written but then lose the oomph for completing it. I have to admit that my current WIP is on 95K with 10K to go and it's become a slog.

Why do you think this happens? Is it because you don't want to finish? You've become bored with it? Some other reason? Are you putting it off by looking to the next story?

How do you get over the slump? Do you have a slump at all?

Coffee break

OK, so this week I'm even busier than last week (which was something I didn't think was possible), so it's another hurried gulp of something containing more caffeine than water for me! I've managed a total of 0 words this week, but I have been thinking about writing outside my comfort zone a bit more, and how to achieve this.

One of the characters in my WIP uses Tarot cards, so as research I bought a deck and a couple of books about them. I was fascinated to discover that one use of Tarot cards is to actually create stories, by dealing out some cards in a sequence and using the inspiration of the pictures or the interpretation to develop a plot and/or characters. While I haven't had a chance to try this out yet, it did sound like an interesting idea to get things going when the words won't come, or even to get them going in a different direction when they seem a bit dull. Has anybody tried this? Or do you have any other weird and wacky ideas for mixing things up a bit?

(Once again sorry for a post written on the go - I've been in the office since 7... Hopefully next time I host the coffee break it won't coincide with the busiest weeks ever!)

Coffee break

Unfortunately I'm going to have to slurp a highly caffeinated beverage on the run today - I'm writing this from a hotel room in London and I'm due in a client meeting in 68 minutes... Preparing for this meeting (and the one next week, and the HUGE one at the beginning of May) has taken most of the time I've had this week. But I've still managed to write 2,500 words, mainly by writing on the train during my commute (when I haven't been using this extra time to work...). This has meant the writing topic foremost in my mind when I woke up and 6.58 and thought 'OH MY GOD IT'S MY COFFEE BREAK TODAY!' was fitting in writing when everything else gets so crazy you barely remember to brush your teeth. I guess the parents among us are more familiar with this feeling than most, and I for one would be exceedingly grateful for any tips to dealing with writing vs the rest of life. How do you fit it all in?

(Sorry if this post is a bit rubbish, I promise it will be better next week!)

Coffee Break. Grammar, Schrammar

Welcome to this mornings coffee brake and I hope your all working hard on you're writing.

See what I did there? Ooh you're observant this Friday morning. Those are some 'over the top' mistakes but I just want to check you're awake.

I think this week's subject is fairly obvious. Grammar. I used to teach Literacy and ESOL and for a while taught English to foreign students whose English was better than mine. I knew it was time to brush up on my grammar when one day, unable to immediately answer a question, a student eloquently said, “Well if you don't know, how are we supposed to learn?” In front of a class of thirty students, this was not one of my finest classroom moments (although there were far worse). Anyway, I determined then, never to be caught out by the Future Perfect Continuous Passive* again.

But I was. I was always caught out, not just because some students made 'tripping up teacher' a hobby, but because English grammar is complicated and contradictory, even to a native speaker. It's easy to make mistakes when we're speaking and even easier when writing. But as we're told over and over again, before we send a manuscript out, it must be polished until we can see our face in its reflection. And then given another wipe just to be sure. Tenses correct, apostrophes in the right places, commas doing their proper job. The list is endless.

I have two grammatical weak points. I actually have far more than two, but these in particular need constant vigilance.

1) Homophones. (Words that sound the same, spelt differently with a different meaning.) In a blog post I talked about a leek in my roof and really didn't see the mistake until a kind reader pointed it out. In a blog post that's no big deal but in a subbed piece, it wouldn't have done me any favours.

2) Relative Pronouns (Which / Who /That). Who refers to people and which refers to things. That is more informal and can refer to either. I always have to stop and think about these.

So my question to you today is this. What are your grammar weak points and are there any grammatical mistakes that irk you when you hear or read them? I'm really not fond of should of/could of, instead of should have/could have.

Be brave. I don't believe many people are grammatically perfect. If any.

Here are a couple of websites, used for EFL/ESOL students but with some good basic grammar 'rules'.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar

http://www.englishpage.com/index.html

* Example - The novel is going to have been being written for 20 years by the time she finishes it.

A tense rarely, if ever, used. I bet that student has never used it.

Coffee Break. A Fresh Page.

Welcome to the New Year everyone. How about a nice green tea to counteract all the over- indulgence? Or maybe just a good strong cuppa or a coffee? I'd offer you a Quality Street but as you can see, only the nasty blue ones are left.

I hope you all enjoyed the festivities and are recharged and raring to go. I have a stack of new notebooks and a pile of new pens just waiting to be used. Just like the first page of a new journal, these fill me with enthusiasm and hope. This year my goals are slightly different. Last year my sole aim was to finish the book, but for various reasons, that didn't happen. This year, I aim to step it up a notch. Apart from our Novel Race, I'm determined to submit small pieces to e-zines, magazines and competitions, as last year I was undisciplined, convincing myself I was concentrating on 'the book' but actually writing other bits and pieces and yet doing nothing with them. In a year in which it's going to be even harder for many of us to earn our daily bread as well as write, this is probably going to be tough but it can be done. Can't it?

So my question is this. Apart from your Novel Race w-i-p, what else do you write? Do you write short stories, flashes, poetry? If you do, do you write them for yourself or do you submit them? I know some of you have journalism commitments and others are doing courses. Do you find that taking time out to write something completely different helps you to stay on track with your novel, or does it detract, leaving you even less time? Or are you one of those writers who, when writing a book, does just that – writes the book and nothing else.

Whatever you do, I hope this year is an extremely good one for all of us. Good luck Racers.

Coffee Break: Learning Lessons

Good morning all! Help yourself to a coffee, tea or hot chocolate (doesn't hot chocolate taste even better on a cold day?).

Today's coffee morning is a blatant rip-off of a topic that was posted in my online writing group but it appealed to me and it's quite relevant as I start to plan novel 2.

The question is:

What have you learned from the novel(s) you've written so far?

I know we haven't all finished our first drafts but those of you still grafting on your first novels will still have learnt a few lessons along the way.

Here's my answer to the question:

1) When friends and family ask you what your novel is about:

a) don't tell them the title (they'll laugh or look at you funny. Well, they did in my case)

b) don't tell them what it's actually about. Instead tell them 'it's a bit like that film [a film vaguely similar]'. That just elicits an 'Oh right' instead of a quizzical look that just screams "That'll NEVER get published!"

2) If you work out what the first 5 scenes and the very last scene are you've got enough to get started. When you hit scene 6 hold the last scene in your brain and head in that direction. You'll get there in the end.

3) Editing takes about 3x as long as writing the damned thing in the first place (and is about a 1/4 as enjoyable).

4) Carry a notebook EVERYWHERE because you'll come up with a scene idea when you least expect it (although do expect to have an idea just when you're about to fall asleep).

5) Write your way through scenes you think are boring. Don't leave them for later. Use an exciting scene as a carrot to get you through a boring one. Who wants to go back and write lots of boring scenes one after another after writing all the exciting scenes?

6) Expect to hate your novel with a passion about 1/4 of the way through. Feel the same way about 2/3 of the way through.

7) Don't google for similar books/plots/titles/films. Chances are you'll find something similar to your 'great idea' which will give you such bad writers block you'll want to chuck the whole novel in the bin.

8) If you don't love your main character, if you don't think about her constantly and hurt when she hurts and laugh when she laughs your novel isn't working and you need to ditch it and start again.

9) Make sure you end each chapter with a hook and start each chapter with something that immediately captures the reader's attention.

10) Which ties in with... Go through the entire novel and check how many chapters you open with the main character waking up. There will be more than you think! Delete as many as possible, someone waking up is boring.

11) If you live alone and spend 2 or 3 days in a row working on your novel and ignoring the telephone/doorbell you'll feel like you've forgotten how to speak when you go to the newsagent and ask for a pint of milk.

12) When you've finished the novel you'll STILL alternate between hating it and loving it and how you feel will be hugely influenced by the comments you receive from readers/critiquers/agents.

I could go on (and on and on) but I'll leave it there for now.

So...what have you learned?