Missed a few punctuation mistakes as usual.
Nothing to say as usual
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Actually I had an interesting week even though I didn't do any writing. My husband hated the story I'd started so I've abandonned it but I wasn't very interested in it so that's OK. Had an idea tonight which might go - I've pulled out of the concert tomorrow because I knew I wouldn't manage the last few rehearsals - so I may get some work done tomorrow.
I did school visits on Monday and Tuesday and the groups all went quite well. The schools were welcoming and the kids nice and responsive. I didn't get paid but I got a nice dinner on Wednesday night and got to meet some new people. I sold a lot of books in one school and may sell some more in time at the others.
I find that, as always happens, after weeks of low level activity I have quite a lot of stuff to do in the next few weeks. This is probably good.

My nephew has three of his new songs at myspace here.
http://www.myspace.com/edsaloman

I think he is brilliant and he goes down rather with the girls too...

I've done bits of work - about 4k on my Thalia/Swordmark idea which isn't going anywhere much.
M has one more 'A' level, but apparently it doesn't require revision, and O has finished his GCSEs. Theoretically this should reduce the angst levels in the house except I now have the problem of wondering where they are and what they are up to...experience suggests that alcohol will be involved. I am such a Mummy. I think W is having to stay up in Oxford until he's finished his lab work, which is a pity; most of his contemporaries at other unis finished last month.

I had quite a writerly week - dinner with a bunch of writers in N London on Monday, a librarian's summer party in town on Thursday and an ( unpaid) school visit at my daughter's school yesterday.
I gave a talk to two hundred fourteen year old girls and it went as well as I could have hoped. It's an awful age to talk to and I don't really like doing girl's schools -but I don't think I embarrassed C too much. I wore my high, fake leopard-skin sling backs and a very flashy ring -and the shoes probably excited more interest than my books, but that's normal : )
One little girl in C's year is a fan and has read Shadow Web five times and all my other stuff too. She was too shy to come and meet me.My writing doesn't tend to speak to that many people but it does give me a glow of satisfaction when I learn of someone for whom it does really work. Quite a few of the kids had read SW because it was used in a local 'Battle of the books' and one school dramatised it. I always feel a bit weird when people have actually read what I've written. I know that is the point, but I never imagine having readers when I write and meeting them is oddly disconcerting.

I have a busy weekend of drinks' parties and general social stuff ahead. I hope that means I'll be able to make a good, fresh start on work on Monday, but I'm not optimistic. I have two days of ( unpaid) school visits next week in Bristol and Nottingham as part of 'promotion' for W of E and several rehearsals for our choir concert next Saturday. Time is galloping on.I need to get working.

I only realised how off I'd been feeling when suddenly I felt OK today. I am quite lazy, but I don't usually lack energy - I walk fast, talk fast, eat ( too) fast and usually think fast but I've been sluggish and tired and useless. Normally if I don't do something it's because I don't want to ( bit of a princess), not because I don't have the energy. All I've wanted to do for too long is sleep and everything has been an effort. Today I took one son to school because he missed his bus, went to the garden centre and bought a new umbrella and garden chairs, spent an hour and half trying to sort out my dodgy internet connection ( didn't succeed need a new router,) went to the dump, getting rid of the broken umbrella, various tins of rusting paint and general rubbish, took my daughter for a haircut and bought her a new top,took her and my son, who has all but finshed his GCSEs, out for lunch, went food shopping, swept the drive, bleached the bin area, swept and cleaned both patios, mowed the lawn and weeded a couple of flower beds. I didn't walk the dog and I didn't do any writing but I feel like myself again. You never know what you've got till you lose it do you? I'm not going to take having normal energy levels for grante again.
I'm not expecting to get much done tomorrow - C's in a regatta - which is an all day job and we're at a bingo night (!) in the evening at my youngest son's school to raise money for his tour. Sunday I hope to sort out a few more domestic jobs I've not been able to face and with any luck I can do a proper amount of work on Monday.
Positive comments on homeplanet have helped and I do think I know what I'm doing now - I just need to do the necessary research and cobble something together.
Anyway, I don't know what has changed but I'm grateful to be myself again. I don't think I am always very sympathetic when people complain of feeling tired and not being able to get things done. I am sorry for that lack of empathy - it's horribly demoralising.

As if Labour's dismal showing and the election of two BNP MEPs were not bad enough, apparently coffee is bad for your heart and wine gives you cancer : (

I can sort of see why people might be mad at sitting MPs and why that might reflect more badly on the party in power and I can imagine why people might want to blame them for the economic mess,( though to do so would be perverse as the opposition would have had even less regulation of financial institutions,) what I can't really understand is why right wing parties have come out well in Europe as a whole.

I can cut down on coffee and red wine not sure I can get involved in politics though.

Angharas's recent post got me thinking about my favourite bits.
We used to see quite a bit of opera because for a while we were a member of a corporate music society and, provided we could respond to last minute opportunities - got to see some very good stuff on the cheap - often from our own box.
One of the most amazing was the first night of the stunning 1994 production of La Traviata at Covent Garden. I was thrilled to find extracts on Youtube - the set and costumes were as fabulous as was the singing. I will never forget it, not least because on our way home our taxi hit a pedestrian. We were going very slowly and the guy, who was outof his skull on something bounced off the bonnet but I was thrown across the cab and cut my head open: I still have the scar. I'm not sure how to embed this properly but it is here.



I hadn't realised it was quite so long ago.
I have already wasted ages on youtube today, but I'll just post one other. I have never seen the opera, and I'm not sure I've even listened to a recording of the whole thing, but this has haunted me since I first heard it years and years ago. I've listened to many versions but this is still the one that does it for me probably because it was the first version I heard. I've obviously got a bit of a thing for tragic female deaths; melodramatic, moi?

The arrival of a glossy brochure labelled 'Bloomsbury Children's Books Historial Fiction' which includes my Warrior sereis has rather blown my theory that they don't really want me to do another historical...
Yesterday met with a writer friend and bemoaned how crap everything is, which cheered me up. She is working on an adult book, though note she is still working.
I feel very unfit and slothful. Maybe going to the gym might help restore my energy and ethusiasm.

Not very interesting, but I had to write something.

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I have to give a talk tonight to a group of mixed writers - some published some not and I think they write for all kinds of different audiences.
OK there is three hours to fill - though I probably don't have to fill all of it.

I have as usual given this no thought until now. Now might be a good time to start thinking...

So far I have this.
Intro - the writer as story teller; the story of the little girl who loved reading
why this is not a good model for publishing success.
write what you love becasue you may as well enjoy it.

What makes YA - young.
It is not simplicity - DWJ, PP though it can be:
It is not age of protag - Montmorency, Biggles though it usually is ( mark Haddon?)
It is not absence of violence: Bloodtide, Tales of the Otori
It is not the absence of sex, Kate Cann, Melvin Burgess, Gossip girls
Is it style, approach, focus? Story of telling stories universal?
Extracts Basilisk ( seduction scene) and Wof E ( bear transformation battle scene)
My original invented YA rules - No dialogue more than three exchanges
No description more than three lines
Something happens( violent) every five pages.
Hyper active ten year old.
My aesthetic: being there,intrigue, emotion, voice and pace. What I tell the children. Every scene should add something new.

How I write - day in life of... get up at three drink boiled water flavoured with organic lemon run three miles and do a spot of light meditation at my desk at 6 etc v the truth.
tortoise and hare.

Actual process - reading Hunted opening or Spellgrinder? Hearing the voices or not.
Problem of rewrites.
Dealing with failure - focus on what is next not what is gone.
Q and A

Dunno. It will depend on the audience.
I always feel a bit of a fraud talking about writing because I have no words of wisdom really, just a certain amount of experience to share. That'll have to do.

I've had a rather useless day. I met someone to do an interview for an online mag. This was amusing because the last time I did this they lost the tape, this time I almost missed the interviewer entrirely due to insufficiently precise email directions and a failure to include my mobile number. Anyway, I talked about writing Ethandun in a coffee shop for an hour and felt a right pillock. There is no good way of talking about writing without sounding like a pretentious idiot and so I sounded like a pretentious idiot.

I'm doing a talk at some writing group tomorrow so had better come up with something to say that sounds less stupid - or not. Probably not.

Homeplanet is up and running if anyone would like to join just email me.
Work will begin tomorrow.

My son's school is closed this week as one of the first years has flu. This is a bit weird as it is his last week before he leaves. It is a little bit irritating as his exams start soon however the health authority has made the rule. TBH I think we're all more likely to get it on public transport. My son is in the sixth form and although he's a prefect I don't think he has had any prolonged contact with the first year.
I was supposed to be promoting Ethandun in Bristol today but when the Bloomsbury publicist informed the schools both wanted to cancel. I did do a couple in Bristol yesterday - independent schools who could make their own risk assessment one was another girls' school which was not the most obvious target for this book and a mixed school. I sold a lot of books at the second school and had a really fun session and, as the librarian there organises other events, I might get some paid work out of it. I was knackered though - maybe because I also read Amand Craig's new book on the train and then finished it at home.

I thought it was a great book, but she does write from the point of view of a Zimbabwean man, a trafficked girl and a S African. I thought she pulled it off but I'm quite sure others would disagree.

Waterstones signing


En route



on the way to the pub

I had a really fun day. Unfortunately my eldest had to do lab work at uni so couldn't come but the rest of the family did their bit - in spades. P was a generic dark ages warrior with spear, shield and helm, M and E were Romans, O and M's friend got half naked and body painted as Celts and C was an archer. They looked fantastic and generated a lot of interest. Waterstones were really happy as they got plenty of people in store and I sold quite a reasonable quantity of stock. I will endeavour to post photos later.
The drinks were fun too. I didn't know who would make it because Bank Holiday is an awkward time, but we got through two crates of wine and forty glasses so it was all good. It was great to see everyone who came and then some of us retired to the pub afterwards.

In other news. I'm a bit sad that neither rasfc nor zeborahnz's proposed new group are going to work for me. I have got such a lot from my online interactions.
On the other hand I haven't had a lot new to say about writing for a while so I am looking forward to Milford and to talking to my MA students. It is probably time to move on and I do remember posting recently that I was going to spend less time messing about on line anyway...

If I find I'm missing something I might set up a group just to talk about the mechanics of writing - nothing to do with rasfc - and invite the serious writers that I know who might want a chat. More realistically I probably won't : ) Indolence is my middle name.

I have to go and plan my talk now. : (

I don't know what is wrong with me. I'm tired and listless and failing to achieve v much at all. Please feel free to kick me up the bum. I haven't done any writing nor even any reading apart from rereading Warriors of E again. I have to talk to seventy fourteen yr olds on Tuesday and I have no idea what I am going to say : (

Much to my delight - a slightly edited version of the Amanda Craig review has been published and is online at: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/children/article6204956.ece

It has been going on a while. I've left a couple of times and been
drawn back there because it was my education in writing. I started reading ( and posting lacking a lurker's sense)as I was writing my third novel so I think that was probably around 2001/2. Initially I was on the group to listen to Mary because I was and am a fan, then there were others who had interesting and irritating thigs to say. I like debate. I don't like pointless name calling but I have always enjoyed the free exchange of ideas and so the arguments have only really bothered me when they have become unfairly and gratuitously personal towards people I like.
I don't really like LJ. I have a myspace I never use and it seems to be the thing for writers to have Bebo and Facebook and a public blog, but I see that as being promotional and so work and not pleasure. I initally thought I might do more with this, but is not something I am that interested in. I think I'd rather put serious writing effort into fiction rather than blogging.
Anyway I will probably do what I've done for a while post occasionally and feel a bit sad that something that has kept me entertained for years is on its last legs.

I am exceptionally crap at self promotion - not because I'm shy, or self conscious but because it involves doing stuff I'm bad at and so I tend to leave it to come back to later and then sort of forget about it. I have a number of vaguely promotional things to do that I keep letting slide, but I have 'organised' a launch party because it's only a couple of weeks away and is easy.

So, I am doing a signing at Waterstones in Richmond from 4.00pm till 6.00pm on Bank Holiday Monday 4th May and then there will be drinks afterwards at the store and we'll probably go out for something to eat. Waterstones is very central and is quite a big branch. My husband, kids and assorted re enactors will, I hope, turn up in kit and I hope to generate some interest by throwing big men and swords at the problem - well it works for me : )

I have always done a launch at home before, but this way I may sell some books and who knows get the local press interested. OK maybe not- they regard local authors as less interesting than a rat infestation by the Thames, but I may at least entertain myself and some friends.
Bloomsbury have promised flyers and usually contribute some drink and there is a remote possibility that I may get a window display which would be great.

This means that I acutally achieved something today, however small.
Hoping to start work tomorrow.

We had a great day. We drove down to meet my Mum, grandmother, aunt and uncle at a restaurant not far from Ogmore. After a nice lunch, which was considerably cheaper than it wouls have been in London, and an exchange of eggs we went to Southerndown which is one of my favourite places. It was a beautiful clear day, all blue skies and sparkly sea. That particularly beach smells of childhood to me and the ghosts of other days seem to linger there. It was quite busy and I almost felt that if I looked hard enough I'd find my father laughing somewhere and my paternal grandmother with hat and handbag, being stoic behind a wind break. Dad painted Southerndown often, I know that my sister paints similar landscapes in Australia and I keep writing about it. I visit it in my dreams. Dad ought to have been there.

The kids played with a rugby ball - because they never go anywhere without one and climbed a bit over the rocks. It was a pity we'd had to leave the dog at home.
Later we went to evensong at the church where I was christened. It was the weirdest service I have ever attended - the first part was a sung evensong, which was a bit of a challenge but OK, the second half was some kind of veneration of the host. Extremely strange, I felt theologically dodgy and, as my son pointed out, somehow self indulgent.I'm glad we went but it left us all slightly bemused. We haven't been to our own church for months - and I think we may start going again.

I had another look at 'Demon' to see if I could turn it into a short. It is a mess, actually. I think if I ever want to do anything with it I'll have to start again, which is a pity because the first couple of chapters are funny and work - it's just nothing I can think of really works with them. This is deeply ironic because the story arose out of a usenet posting about starting in the right place...

I have had another idea, which my husband thinks is rather dark. It is an idea for an adult novel and I might just give it a go. P would like me to write a fighting historical, but I am not sure I am ready to write more battles. They do sell well and I know I could do one - because it would basically be a darkened version of my Warriors book with less moderate language and more sex. I'm not wild about the idea though, at least not yet and I am not just making excuses or being lazy when I say that I can't write what doesn't grab me. I have tried in the past and it reads like an essay on how I spent my holidays - dire. It is a lack of professionalism on my part I know, but I have to be fully engaged to come up with something readable. I might see how the dark story goes - I can lighten it with a love interest.

I don't think I have a particularly unpleasant imagination but other people seem to think so. Maybe this is why I can't find the right commercial pitch for my stories. Dunno.

I've just got involved in another of those on line arguments about the use of speech tags.
I can't bear the stylistic fascism of MFA graduates et al who clain that the only way to write is invisibly and the only possible speech tag is 'said'.
It appears that I'm in the minority but I am grateful that I never learned to write - all these rules (that I've consistently broken.)
Anyway I wrote this short in response. It amused me if no one else.


My husband was a novelist and a good one. He wrote the spare, minimalist prose that won prizes. The idea of using an obvious speech tag horrified him. ‘I love you,’ he said. ‘let’s get married,’ he said, and years later after some small success,’ I am finished,’ he said.
‘Mark!’I howled when I found his corpse. I sobbed his eulogy, shrieked his last words at the graveside – overwrought and overwritten like the cheapest of airport novels. In all the things he said in all our long years together, he never ‘spoke’ to me at all.

Don't know what to work on next.
I don't really want to revisit an old thing though it is probably the best use of my time.
I could rework Demon and Lily or even my Aztec book I started ages ago or I could do something new. I am ready to work again - I just don't know what to work at : (