September Round Robin – do you have eccentric writing practices – Pardon?

What writing practices do you have that you think are eccentric or at least never mentioned, but you find helpful? – is the theme or topic for September’s Round Robin post.

Hmn!

If they’re our practices will we be aware that they’re eccentric? If we are, do we keep quiet about them lest others think we’re eccentric – or because we sense an unfair advantage?

So, Tunnock’s Tea-cakes are the secret eccentricity around here. But – maybe not so eccentric as they’ve been around, if not here exactly, but in Scotland anyway, for  nigh on 60 years. They are a much enjoyed tea-time delicacy, school snack, lunch treat, anytime…

And how do they constitute an eccentricity in writing terms? Well, when it’s going well, they’re a wee reward. when it’s going okay, they’re a sugar rush to the head. When it’s going badly – well there are worse things to do than eat a teacake – or two.

Maybe I was supposed to tell you about long-hand drafts or my portable type-writer; the folders of tourist information brought back from trips abroad and never again consulted, but I know they’re there if needed; the xxxx dotted through MSS so I can find the places in need of corroboration or checking; the frantic ‘find and replace’ searches in final edits so that the heroine’s hair and eye colour is the same throughout.

Maybe.

My fellow Round Robin friends may have more curiosities for your delectation. They can be consulted by clicking on the links below. In the meantime, I’ll unwrap a teacake, designed by Boyd Tunnock for the family firm in Uddingston in 1956.

Courting the Countess

 

 

 

Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
A.J. Maguire  http://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/
Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
Dr. Bob Rich https://bobrich18.wordpress.com/2016/09/24/is-my-writing-right-for-you
Rachael Kosinski http://rachaelkosinski.weebly.com/
Anne Stenhouse  https://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/
Connie Vines http://connievines.blogspot.com/
Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com
Victoria Chatham http://victoriachatham.blogspot.ca
Margaret Fieland http://margaretfieland.wordpress.com
Rhobin Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com

Diary of a Writer – Something completely different

Diary of a Writer reflects the diversity of things written. Last week I had the pleasure of sharing the publication of Courting the Countess with you all and hot on its heels is a new departure for me – a magazine serial: opening in the People’s Friend edition dated 17th September.

A Traveller’s Life began its life as I Joined the Shows and was my entry in last year’s People’s Friend serial writing competition. I hadn’t written to instalments before and found the experience both interesting and instructive.

Writing a synopsis is my least favourite favourite writing task, but it was endlessly useful when it came to writing three instalments. Most importantly, it showed me I had too much story.

Writing the serial did involve much that was familiar. Not least seeing that all the characters had one name and only one name (thanks Ed) throughout, research into what actually happened and not what I remembered as happening in the 1960s. And the normal characterisation, dialogue and narrative of creating a fictional world as well.

I love the illustration at the head of this post. The talented artist is Kirk Houston.

Hope you all have happy memories of rolling pennies down slides or trying to avoid winning a goldfish in favour of a coconut. And what about the candy floss?

The magazine are describing it as a taut family drama. I think so.

Anne

COURTING THE COUNTESS

It’s such a pleasure to introduce my latest book to you all.

COURTING THE COUNTESS from Endeavour Press went up on amazon platforms this morning.

Courting the Countess is my take on the Beauty and The Beast myth and features Melissa, Lady Pateley who has lost her beauty in a fire. She has become an object of desire, however, for many unscrupulous men who would marry her and use her wealth. Falling back on loyal servants and her own innate strength, Melissa responds to Colonel Harry Gunn, a retired army doctor. Can he, handsome and charismatic, persuade Melissa life will be worth living again? Can he overcome his own uncertainties along the way?

Courting the Countess is available here for UK buyers and here for US.

Diary of a Writer – September Prompt

 

Diary of a Writer there’s no easy explanation of why a picture touches a nerve, causes a shiver of recognition or repels. As soon as I reached this path with its deep green borders of  gunnera, I knew I’d use it at some point.

The picture encapsulates that day’s visit in mid summer mist.

This picture perfectly addresses so many of the questions in the writer’s tool box. Who’s waiting? Why are they waiting. How long have they been waiting? What will the narrator find?

Gunnera is native to South America – plant hunter’s story?

Will it inspire something for you? Come back and tell us.

Inverewe Garden