Archive for September, 2006

Posted on September 15, 2006 - by MG

Writing – the progress

No word from Mr. Agent since we talked about the manuscript of my third novel, (fourth if you count Blake’s 7 fan fiction…), which I sent him sometime in May.

I’m not going to post anything about the new novel yet. Pretty sure my friends and family are fed up with hearing about my unpublishable novels.

So, let’s wait until the jury’s back with a verdict before I bore you again.I’ve been working on some new ideas. Got 20,000 words into a coming-of-age novel for older teens, before realising that there was no proper plot. I wanted to see if I could write a story with no gadgets, chases, mystery, no adventure at all in fact, just characters and relationships. Crumbs, it was hard work.

Then my kind friend Alison read it and said politely “The writing is good…the sentences are good…but there doesn’t seem to be a story”. Yikes – she was right. I was concentrating so hard on, yanno, the characters and the descriptions, that I forgot to put in a hardcore structured story! So it’s back to the drawing board.

Posted on September 10, 2006 - by MG

Ronnie Scott’s

Somehow, we’ve never been to Ronnie Scott’s. Been upstairs @ Ronnie Scotts to the old Club Latino, which back in the day was one of the diviest yet best salsaclubs in London. Thought about going on the night of Rachel’s hen night when we poured out of the Japanese karaoke bar opposite and I noticed that Irakere were playing…

So the visit we made to celebrate Nathan’s 40th birthday, was well overdue, as well as being pretty epic.

Epic in the sense that here’s a place that is SO iconic that it’s impossible to be there and not think ‘This is me at Ronnie Scotts. Here I am applauding and whistling each improvised solo, just like on the records. Here I am sipping wine whilst a guy pounds a bass and another wears a cap to jazz it up on a grand piano.’

I’m sure Alfred will shortly post photos so we’ll all be able to see just how cute he and Nathan looked in their designer shirts and sleek leather jackets.

I committed some kind of London faux pas by wearing items of colour. I wore a lime-green silk frock with a lilac linen jacket. Nosirree! In London they are all wearing grey, black and cream. Billboards for clothes shops sternly announce this fact. Not having enough money to shop at designer stores is not a valid excuse – even the posters for Matalan provided clear instruction.

I’ll get my coat.

On another note, one of Nathan’s friends was able to advise me on the top 3 chocolate desserts in London. He’d never been to Maggiore’s though, where they used to have a truly withering warm chocolate soup with pistachio ice-cream. At Ronnie Scotts I had a very yummy chocolate fudge pudding – two fudgy, shortcakey rounds squidged together with whipped cream. Damn fine.

Posted on September 1, 2006 - by MG

A manuscript I call ‘Jaguar’s Realm’

If you’re a regular reader of this blog you might occasionally read about a manuscript I call JAGUAR’S REALM. It’s another childrens’ adventure novel, about a telepathical 12-year old boy called Leo and his escape from an island and a future of Evil Spying. I started writing it in summer 2006, as a Plan B in case ‘The Joshua Files’ didn’t find a publisher.

I finished JAGUAR’S REALM in autumn of 2007. It’s the third ms I wrote after INVISIBLE CITY and its sequel (provisionally titled ICE SHOCK).

What with all the excitement about ‘The Joshua Files’, my publishers still haven’t decided what to do with JAGUAR’S REALM. So I don’t yet know if and when you’ll be able to read it. I really enjoyed writing it though. It has adventure, intrigue and suspense…and from about a third of the way through, it’s one long chase across Cuba.

Here are all the blog entries about JAGUAR’S REALM.

Posted on September 1, 2006 - by MG

How I became ‘published’.

In November 2006 I accepted a two-book deal from Scholastic Childrens’ Books, UK to publish the first two books of ‘The Joshua Files’ children’s adventure series.

Compared to most writers I was lucky – it didn’t take too long from starting to write to find a literary agent (11 months) and then another year to land a very generous 2-book deal. I did have to write three manuscripts in that time, however. Which is pretty much par for the course.

I put the speed of the process down to the fact that a) I broke my leg and didn’t have anything else I could do except write for 12 weeks (and even thereafter I wasn’t able to be very physically active), b) my husband had at the time a job which could support the family so could give up my job and c) I don’t revise my first draft much…just send it out! (bad, naughty lazy author, don’t follow my example there!)

Even so, two years from start to book deal feels like a long time when it’s the main focus of your life, when every single day you wonder if it is ever going to happen.

So to all your writers out there, hang in there, keep at it. It took me two years full-time. This isn’t an easy thing to do. Keep writing and keep learning!

You can read the blog entries about how I became a published author.