The Plan is Working...

Two more nights and the read through of 22 chapters is complete. Before going to bed last night the folder was closed, the work area set and the laptop opened ready for work. 

The plan is for my alarm to wake me at 6am, allowing time to shower, have breakfast and get everything ready for work, I was sat at my laptop ready to type by 7am. That gives me a good hour to work.

I had already started working on chapter 23, and a quick scan through the first page and I was back on track with the story so far. I haven't written a sentence in over 4 months, it seemed strange to be sitting back at the keyboard waiting for words to emerge. 

Over the last few months my laptop has been used daily, for all kinds of things, checking emails, searching Google, playing games... so it's not as if I didn't know where the keys were, but sitting down to write creatively is very different. There has to be structure, there has to be continuing plot, there has to be a consistent writing style. It is a task you learn and I certainly have learned that the more you do the easier it becomes, the brain does seem to learn the process. 

I soon got back into the flow and in the hour have managed to write 1,800 words. The story has progressed and as I break to go and do my day job, I feel the plan to get back to writing has worked.

The break from writing has given me some distance from my book and re-reading it was a good way to re-connect. As I read the story it felt fresh again and as I read it, I realised I was actually enjoying the story, and that gives me hope that others will too.

For now, the hardest part is yet to come. The ending. So important to finish a story with a good ending, a believable ending, an ending that leaves the reader wanting to read more, a second, third book.

I am fortunate, I have the ending all planned out in my head, I have the skeleton of the ending mapped out on my timeline, my big, black notebook - a large A3 artists pad where every idea, thought, new discovery is jotted down. A notebook that is frequently referred to, all my characters are in there, all the plans to the city... 

It is all there, waiting to be converted into the final few chapters.

For now, that's where it needs to remain until I have done another day at the office. The work of a first time author has to be fitted in around a normal daily life schedule. I do not have the luxury of saying writing is my job, I just have the dream that I will be able to say that one day, in the future.

Getting back to writing...

Writing is a discipline, it's a task to apply yourself to, it doesn't happen without effort or planning.

My writing was interrupted for several months, and all the timescales for completion and publishing have passed and the the final few chapters have still to be written.

Sometimes circumstances change and the ability to think creatively isn't there, but I feel I'm ready to move my life forward rather than dwell on the past. I cannot change the past. I can, however, change my future. I can allow week after week to drift or I can knuckle down and start to work again.

I have decided it is time to knuckle down. Time to set new timescales for completion and publication. 

I probably last wrote anything significant in February. I have written over 200 pages, I am halfway through Chapter 22. I have only 3 or 4 more chapters to write to complete the first draft.

Come on, girl, there is too much work done to leave it all behind.

This week I planned my weekend. Saturday would be a day to do all my jobs around the house leaving Sunday free. It would begin again Sunday... TODAY!

I have actually missed writing, missed seeing my story come together, missed my characters interacting but my brain was too fuzzy to see the story. Once I had planned to start again today, I found plot lines beginning to form days ahead of my target start date.

So, my plan for today was to have a day out, away from the house, away from the temptation to just do a few more jobs before sitting down and starting work. It seems such a long time since I worked on my book that the first thing I needed to do was to re-read what has already been committed to paper. And yes, although it is all done on my laptop, I really have it all printed out. It gives me a sense of how much work I have done, I find a sense of achievement seeing the folder grow thicker and I find it easier to work through to edit, proofread and generally add ideas. 

I have moved house recently and need a new local National Trust place to visit, somewhere without the memories of my previous life. I chose Hardwick Hall, the home of Bess of Hardwick. It's only a couple of junctions down the motorway, takes about 15 minutes (when you don't go the wrong way... but that's another story). 

I knew it would be busy today, we are still in the midst of a very hot, sunny English summer. I chose not to take my big camera, that was not the purpose of today. Today was about re-connecting with my book. The plan was to find a nice corner and settle myself down with a cappuccino and my manuscript and to spend some me time reading my creation. Due to the 45 minute journey I had, I was ready for a coffee as soon as I arrived and headed straight for the restaurant. Even though it was almost noon, there were plenty of tables outside, with or without shade and I settled myself down and began to read. I lost track of time, and when I finally glanced up I realised all the tables around me had filled up. My backside felt a little numb and I decided it would be good to take a break, have a walk and see some of the house.

There are 2 houses at Hardwick, one ruin and one complete. I walked over to the ruin first and took the audio tour. It was remarkably interesting and the views from the top of the old hall were stunning, due to the clear weather. 

From the old hall, you can look across to the new hall, an impressive building designed to portray Bess's wealth and standing in society. When Mary, Queen of Scots took refuge in England, Queen Elizabeth the first saw her as a threat to the throne of England and so she detained under the custody of the Earl of Shrewsbury and his wife, Bess (of Hardwick).

History lesson over, I promise. Any of you wanting to know more can Google Hardwick Hall and Bess of Hardwick.

Walking around the new hall was fascinating, it was opened in 1597 and it occurred to me as I walked around that it was probably very similar to the stately homes and palaces of Charles II, the time of the plague and the setting for my book, (1665). I felt a real connection with my novel as I wandered from room to room, visualising my characters there. I could not have chosen a better place for my visit.

Having completed my walk around the house I spent the next hour wandering around the gardens, seeing the splendour of the hall along the lawned avenue

And, as I wandered through the wooded paths came across this little folly in the base of a tree ... no explanation, just very cute.

Just goes to show you need to explore everywhere.

Walk over, houses explored I headed back to the restaurant for a further coffee and a chance to read a few more chapters.

I thoroughly enjoyed my day, I began to enjoy my book again and started to feel ready to write more. I am about halfway through reading it, and have already found a couple of inconsistencies, so more has been achieved than just re-familiarising myself with the story so far...

Now, my mind is buzzing and my fingers are itching... more coffee and several more chapters to read before I can start work, time to get the frothy coffee on.

Watch this space, my target now is to have this published in time for the Christmas market.

So THAT'S how it works!

While dividing up the furniture and bits and bobs as we went our separate ways, there was some logic in me having the Spanish washing machine, on the basis I learnt a bit of spanish when we lived over there some years ago, so would be able to work out what all the programs did.

Or, that was the logic.

I remember we did our research well when we bought the washing machine in Spain, and that it was a) a good one and b) hardly used as we bought it only a few months before moving back to the UK. Since then it has been in storage, just over 4 years.

I made sure I did a full wash before I packed everything to move, so having been in my new home for a little more than a week I had accumulated enough clothes to be ready to do a wash.

Clothes in washer, detergents in drawer it came time to turn it on, and that's where the fun began.

There is a function to delay the wash on a timer by either 3, 6 or 9 hours and no matter what buttons I pressed it seemed that it was always on delay. It would not start to fill with water. No matter what logic I applied, I couldn't get it started. I tried every combination of buttons and then suddenly the water started to flow... it was working... and I had no idea what I had pressed to make it happen.

Since then I have done a couple more loads, each time getting it to work after pressing a host of buttons and never knowing which button combination made it work.

So tonight I decided it was time to work it out. Logging on to the internet to find a manual, I found a full manual in pdf format and downloaded it... it came in either Spanish, Basque and 2 other languages I couldn't identify, but definitely not in English. I could, apparently, order an English copy from some website for 14 euros if I wanted to wait for 24 hours. No, I need my clothes washing now, please.

Scrolling through the spanish manual on line I noticed a series of diagrams... and they looked just like the controls on my washing machine. Working through them I identified which button should make it start. I pressed it...

Nothing.

I turned the dial and pressed it again...

Nothing.

I turned it off and turned it back on, selected my program and pressed it...

Nothing.

Back at the diagrams I checked - there was no other button to press, it had to be that one.

Back at the washing machine I repeated all previous steps, how difficult can it be?

Then, the penny dropped, or rather the water flowed. I was pressing the right button, just not for the right number of seconds. There is a child safety feature on it, you have to press and hold for 3 seconds and hey presto...

I have the lovely sounds of clothes tumbling in soapy water.

Now, what's my next challenge?