Where am I?

Silly question. No, I've not just recovered from a prolonged blog-break with amnesia. I know exactly where I am physically and geographically, thank you very much. It's Monday 30th November, it's pouring with rain and cloud is shrouding the moors above the village. I know that because I can see it if I turn my head leftwards and upwards through the roof-light, which is a contradiction in terms because, even at one pm, I have my desk lamp blazing brightly. Now where was I.....?

...Oh yes. I'm sitting at my desk at home. This blog post is merely a report on where I stand here and now at this moment in time  (as they say but I don't) with my writing 'career' (cue canned laughter) as we approach the winter solstice. Because, being winter, I am spending more time at home and at my desk, I have spent the summer doing anything but: supporting husband Jon through his many iron-man-distance triathlons plus sightseeing, researching and restoring my batteries.

So I have re-opened my dormant blog which is now blinking and shaking off its layer of dust. I had intended to attach some photos here to show you where I've been but Blogger is increasingly driving me mad so you'll have to imagine them and picture Scotland's east coast, Northumberland and County Durham (a few times to visit our ticklish and giggly grandson), Nottingham, the Peak District and finally down to Dorset and Weymouth.

Back home now and with the short days and long nights enveloping me, I'm back to writing, writing, writing. As I have decided to stick to what I know best now and am most comfortable with after having made grandiose plans to publish shed-loads of flash fiction, enter lots of of short story competitions, test the waters with pocket  novels and women's magazine serials. I have since had a change of heart. Having said that I did have a tiny burst of success with, first of all, publication of the first 500 words of a contemporary crime novel in Writers Forum. Later on, that same lovely magazine awarded me 3rd prize in one of their short story competitions with publication of said story and a cheque. (I think that issue may still available from newsagents.)

However, having established that I can still write something that is reasonably publishable, my confidence has risen a bit although I still need more yeast. Basically, I need to write better. (As Samuel Becket said, 'Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better). So I've come to the conclusion to stick to writing novels in the traditional (and very difficult) way and not by self-publishing. I've discussed this before on this blog. I'm not against self-pubbing in any way, but have realised that it's not for me. I need someone else's approval for my writing which means probably an agent and, even if not, a traditional  publisher. Also because I  do not want to go all out with publicity, promotion and selling. 

So this is what I've done in my new resolute state of mind. I found an excellent experienced published writer to take a look at the first few chapters. I researched this person carefully and felt they would provide an honest opinion of my medieval novel that my (then) agent slammed in no uncertain terms. The report was very thorough and insightful and offered some brilliant advice to give the manuscript far more panache, more character motivation . A major rewrite with this in place could make it more publishable in these increasingly difficult times for fiction writers.

What with this, that and the other, I have gained more confidence to march forwards, I am now in the process of a major rewrite and guess what? I'm much happier with my manuscript now. I know there's a very long way to go and will have to set foot again on that steep and long agent-trail yet again - with  its steady stream of rejections. So what? If I get 100 rejections, I'll explore 100 more avenues. I will NOT  give up. After all, that is par for the course. I'm a writer. I've been writing for over 20 years. I'm not dead yet.

PS. I'm having repeated trouble with my Google account and it still won't let me download any of my photos because it wants to contact me by my mobile phone. Only, there is mobile signal here. I have a mobile phone which I use mainly in emergencies but can only use it when I'm not here. Grrr. Why won't these techie people realise some of us have slow internet speeds and NO MOBILE SIGNAL! Google are pretty awful. I can't even post a comment on my own blog. 

PPS Another of my future plans is to ditch Blogger (which is Google) and get a proper website with a blog attached.

Watch this space.