Feb 10 2018

Writing blues

Middle of February and I’m feeling out of it. The weather’s crap so I should be writing up a storm. No plans to be anywhere, no commitments. But, can I write? No. Sitting in front of the screen, looking at the page, seeing my project target stuck on a lower number than I would like. After 22,000 words, my latest WIP has hit a brick wall. I know where I want the story to go, but I can’t get there.

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Fine. So, what do I do? Go back to the previous WIP that stalled on 3,400 words back in November. This one should be easier. The characters are from the short story that appeared in Affinity’s Christmas Medley anthology – Maybe This Christmas. I like these characters. The setting is where I live, an area that I love writing about.

That seemed to part of the problem with the other story. I was finding that I didn’t like the characters or the situation. If I don’t love my characters, then I can’t expect a reader to want to read about them.

Okay, so the extension of the Christmas story is a good possibility. Emma and Zan are two months into the relationship that started then. They seem well suited to each other – what could possibly go wrong? That’s one theme to carry forward. Then there’s Emma’s best friend, Sass. I know that her story needs developing. Of the group of friends in the Christmas story, she’s the one who has the most potential for a story arc.

Wow, I almost sound like I know what I’m doing. I’ve noted down some ideas and managed to write 600 words this morning. Maybe not quite as quickly as the water rushing over the weir or with the enthusiasm of the tree branches reaching up to the blue sky…but I know the words will come through…eventually.

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I really hope I can keep this story going. When I’m not writing,not excited about a project, everything feels a bit flat. Time to shake that off and perk up. March will be here soon.

On another note, I’m pleased to find that my novel, Changing Perspectives, is doing well. This was the one that took me 24 years to finish. Hopefully my latest WIP won’t take that long to complete – even though it feels like it might at the rate I’m going at the moment.

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Buying Links:

Changing Perspectives: Affinity Rainbow Publications / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Bella Books / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords

Running From Love: Affinity Rainbow Publications / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books / Smashwords / Apple iTunes

The Circle Dance: Affinity eBooks /Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books/Smashwords / Apple iTunes

Christmas at Winterbourne: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK /Barnes & Noble /Bella Books / Smashwords /Apple iTunes

The Starling Hill Trilogy:

Starting Over: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books /Smashwords / Apple iTunes

Arc Over Time: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books/ Smashwords / Apple iTunes

Carved in Stone: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books/ Smashwords / Apple iTunes

The Starling Hill Trilogy Omnibus edition: Affinity Rainbow Publications / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Bella Books / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords

Jan 16 2017

Resolutions and Repetitions

I gave up making New Year resolutions some years ago. No point in putting pressure on myself to achieve things I’ll likely give up on in the first few weeks. Several friends have decided to do a ‘dry January’. One of them is now suffering from headaches, withdrawal-type symptoms. The other one lasted three days. I’m with her.

Plus, I’ve got 5 bottles of whisky to start making inroads on. All Christmas presents, two from my beloved and the three-bottle F&M selection from my brother. My resolution, should I decide to make a belated one, could be to finish these by the end of the year. (My wife is Scottish, but hates whisky – so I’m on my own with this one!)

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I was asked fairly recently—by a young man—whether it was necessary to drink a lot to be a published author. I guess he was thinking of someone like Hemingway. I do most of my writing in the morning when the only liquids I’ve consumed are orange juice, coffee and water (in that order).

Non-resolutions aside, my first task of 2017 has been to try and finish another novel. So last week I read through the first draft of my current work-in-progress and marked areas that needed attention as well as spotting repetitions. Using the handy ‘Find’ feature in Word, I discovered I had used ‘then’ 144 times in a word count of just over sixty-one thousand. So that was an hour of my life gone as I worked through the document to reduce the total number.

Then, I moved onto the second word I had noted. This time 209 instances of the word ‘well’ were found. Well, well, well!

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It seems I have a habit of starting dialogue with this word. “Well, isn’t this fun?” I suspect this stems from my own conversational tic. When I’m uncertain of what I’m going to say, I will probably use ‘well’ as a stalling device. Less obvious than a stuttering ‘um’ or ‘er’, perhaps. But not if overused.

So, another hour or so passed as I went through the document discarding ‘well’ wherever it appeared. As with ‘then’, I left some in.

‘Usual’ was another high scorer in my repetition league table but not as high as ‘well’ or ‘then’. I was pleased to find I had only used ‘wetness’ twice and ‘wet’ fourteen times. I thought I could get away with the latter as the story is set in the UK and some of the ‘wet’ words refer to the weather.

On my next read-through, I’m sure I’ll find plenty more repetitious words but I’m hoping not as many as this time. Maybe I should just put the whole document through a word cloud generator.

Back to the writing now to knock this WIP into shape. Then I can submit it and…well, hope for the best.

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Buying options for my books:

Christmas at Winterbourne: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK /Barnes & Noble /Bella Books / Smashwords /Apple iTunes

The Circle Dance: Affinity eBooks /Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books/Smashwords / Apple iTunes

The Starling Hill Trilogy:

Starting Over: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books /Smashwords / Apple iTunes

Arc Over Time: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books/ Smashwords / Apple iTunes

Carved in Stone: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books/ Smashwords / Apple iTunes

May 30 2016

Finding the apostrophe

This may not seem like a blog-worthy topic, but I feel strongly about the misuse of the apostrophe. Whenever I see a sign where an apostrophe has been placed where it is clearly not needed, I want to go and remove it. The reverse is true for signs where it has been left out.

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Yes, I am the kind of person who uses apostrophes when sending text messages and emails from small devices. So the discovery I made only this past week is what inspired today’s blog.

I was looking for the hidden smart (curly) quote mark on the computer keyboard – because I was using a software program that was putting in straight ones (inch marks). And I recalled that I had a printout of keyboard tips in my drawer. I found the sheet in a plastic folder and was able to locate the curly quote marks I needed.

When I turned the folder over to return it to the drawer there was a printed sheet on the other side. At some point, a few years ago, I had put together a list of iOS tips for iPads.

Tip #6 was titled ‘Hidden apostrophe key on the keyboard’. I’ve always thought Apple had made a big mistake in not having the apostrophe on the first screen of iPhone and iPad keyboards…having to click onto the next screen to find it. Now here it was, the answer that I must have quickly scanned, put in the drawer and forgotten about.

And it is so simple. Just tap and hold the ! key and voilà – an apostrophe is placed where you want it. And for quote marks, tap and hold the ? key. Amazing. How I’ve lived with my iDevices for so many years without knowing this is also amazing.

So, I just wanted to share this. For any other apostrophe control freaks out there who might not know about this vital time-saver.

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Where to buy books by Jen Silver:

The Circle Dance: Affinity eBooks /Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books/ Smashwords / Apple iTunes

The Starling Hill Trilogy:

Starting Over: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords / Apple iTunes

Arc Over Time: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords / Apple iTunes

Carved in Stone: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords / Apple iTunes

Mar 21 2015

A walk through the woods

This time of year I like walking through the woods as things that are hidden behind summer foliage can be seen. And the bare limbed trees show a range of incredible shapes.

It makes me think that the stripping away of leaves is like writing. Taking away the coverings from our minds reveals thoughts and feelings we didn’t know were there. Or maybe we knew they were but hadn’t paid any attention to them, happy to keep them hidden.

I often find I’ll read back something I wrote a while ago and think ‘where did that come from?’ Perhaps it comes from the collective subconscious that we’re all connected to, the hive mind. That is a scary thought. There are plenty of minds I don’t want to have contact with.

Back to the woods, the bare trees with the branches reaching up to the sky, I revel in the openness, the spaces between. And now as the season changes, new leaves will start to fill in the gaps, and the mind will focus on the bright colours of spring. That which was exposed during the winter months will be hidden once more.

Jan 31 2015

A writer’s bookshelf…neglected tomes

Oh Thesaurus, how do I love thee? Let me count the words! (apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

These books that adorn the shelf next to the desk where I write, how often are they used? The ones I’ve had for many years, falling apart from old age and earlier constant usage…Roget’s Thesaurus, The Penguin Dictionary of Quotations, Fowlers Modern English Usage, The Concise Oxford Dictionary…mostly sit unopened on the shelf from one year to the next.

Looking up the reference for the sonnet misquoted above took all of a millisecond on Google. Finding it in the index at the back of the Quotations book took a lot longer.

So why do I keep these books, taking up space on a shelf? For the same reason I keep thousands of other books in the house. I love the feel, the smell, and the action of turning the pages, the thrill of discovery and re-discovery when I get around to reading some of them again.

And, opening the Thesaurus to a random page just now, I find Knowledge and Ignorance side by side. What fun! I think I should delve in here more often.

Jan 22 2015

What’s in a word?

I received some useful feedback on my novel from two American readers. They said there were a few expressions and words that were unfamiliar to them. They were able to work out the meaning from the context of the story. Anyway, I thought I would share these ones that they made particular note of (apologies and warning of bad language):

1. ‘scraping away like buggery’ (Note – this isn’t something I would say myself, but it seemed to fit the character who said it – photo here shows me in the act)

2. ‘lay by’ – this may be something peculiar to British roads. It’s often a small area with just enough room for one or two cars to park off the road – possibly to look at the view (quaint euphemism for taking a toilet break). Some lay bys, on very narrow roads, are meant as passing places so you can pull in to let another vehicle past. I would be interested to know if there is an American equivalent.

3. ‘stop taking the piss and I might tell you’ – I guess they managed to work out that this meant stop making fun of me.

The word that always throws me when I read American books is ‘pissed’. Now I know that this means ‘angry’ or ‘upset’. To a British reader though, it means ‘drunk’.

If anyone would like to add to cross-cultural use of words and their perceived meanings, please leave a comment.