Oh Bu**er!

It was always possible, but I thought I'd done enough to deter someone using the same title.

I had an idea for a title for the series of children's books I am working on. I set up the website with a holding page to keep both the .co.uk and .com web addresses away from others. I set up a Facebook page knowing that anyone searching to see if there was anything out there with the same title, they would hopefully be deterred from using it.

Unfortunately, it would seem all that was to no avail. Personal circumstances have delayed the completion of my first novel and in the meantime someone else has published using the same title I had come up with. 

The story is very different although also features a dog, the covers could not be more different and the style of writing is quite different...

BUT...

I cannot help but feel very disappointed. Having searched the internet to ensure I was not duplicating a title, as recommended by various writing sites, to have this happen is really, well, disappointing.

It IS possible someone else came up with the same title, purely through creativity, it is possible someone landed on my website and as my book was not yet published, decided to use it. I'll never know. Maybe they haven't done the same research into the publishing scene and taken on the same thought process. 

What is sure is that I cannot change what has happened, and so time for a brainstorming session. I still have the domain names and websites, but these days more and more people rely on Facebook and so that may not be an issue for this other writer.

I now need to move on and find a new series name, have the book cover re-designed...

... and get the book finished, published and out there.

Personal issues? Move over, they will have to take a back seat... I have a goal and I have a plan.

Now all I need is a title!

Certificate of Completion

In answer to a recent query asking if the writing course is accredited, please see the logo at the bottom left corner,   IAO and check out their website

 http://www.iao.org/lp/academicaccreditation/about-us.asp  for further information.

Being ruthless...

I have decided it really is time to be ruthless with my collection of books, mainly paperbacks but a number of hardbacks too. I love books. Don't get me wrong, I love my Kindle too, but there is something about a room with lots of shelves filled with lots of books. Maybe in a former life I was a Librarian, that would have been seriously fitting to my love of books. 

I would spend hours browsing in a bookstore, moving from section to section trying to work out whether I was in the mood for a Thriller, or a Romance, whether I wanted fact or fiction. Someone's life story or a Fantasy novel to whisk me away for a few hours. I would buy books as I found them, storing them safely on my bookcase for later. I have unread books that will soon be celebrating their 10th anniversary.

I have lost count of the number of times I have packed my books into cardboard boxes to move from one house to another, one country to another, the weight alone telling of the amount of trees I am responsible for no longer growing in the forests.

I am about to move house again and I refuse to carry this volume of books once more, so today I decided I would look at options for reducing the number on my shelves. I have vowed to only take one bookcase with me. 5 shelves is all I will have. I have already promised the other bookcases to other homes, I am committed to being ruthless...

There are a number of options available to me. I could give them to a charity shop, but a few I have asked don't really want them, they have plenty already and don't have room to store them. I know if I asked further afield I would find someone to take them, but I thought I would see what other options are available to me. I wondered about finding a 2nd hand book shop who may buy them from me in bulk. There are the websites that you can sell books, dvd's etc and among these I found www.greenmetropolis.com an online charity bookstore. I decided to fetch a few from my bookshelf, pop the ISBN numbers into the various websites and see what came back.

As anyone who reads books knows, the ISBN is on the back cover. So is the blurb about the book.

And that's where the problem began. As I looked at the small pile of 6 books I had chosen at random, I realised not one of them had been read, the spines were perfect, the pages were pristine. I turned the first one over and began to read to synopsis... and actually, it sounded pretty good, so I decided I would hang on to it to read at some later date, and moved on to the next one which also sounded good enough to hang on to.

Several minutes later all 6 books were back on the shelf to be kept for a later date and I was pulling the large dictionary from the shelf to check the meaning of the word 'ruthless'.

Hodsock Priory - Snowdrop Time

Last year I visited Hodsock Priory to take photos of the snowdrops in the woods. In order to get a reduced price entry ticket I went online and became a friend of Hodsock. They haven't sent many promotional emails throughout the year so I hadn't thought about it being snowdrop time again until I opened an email from them asking for volunteers. 

'Why not,' I thought. Wages were poor, well none, but I got tea & coffee and lunch for free and 2 free entry tickets. So, I kept a close eye on the weather and I was really pleased to see that the day I had chosen to volunteer for was forecast to be really good.

Last Sunday I reported for duty and waited for the other volunteers to arrive. While I waited I was introduced to George Buchanan, the owner of the house and his father, Sir Andrew Buchanan, a real live Baronet and a real old fashioned gentleman. 

The role of us volunteers was varied and during the day I did everything from fetching more milk cartons, helping direct traffic in the car park (field) and pestering people about their visit. Oh, and whenever passing, checking the loos to make sure there was enough loo paper.

The weather was glorious and after several wet and windy days it seemed everyone had decided to take advantage of the lovely spring sunshine. There were coach loads of people plus so many cars. The tea tent and woodland cafe were soon crowded and the few volunteers were rushed off our feet. 4 hours flew by and before I knew it my day volunteering was over.

So, today I returned as a visitor to use one of my free tickets and to take some photos. The carpet of woodland snowdrops seemed better this year than last, although individual clumps were past their best, but I found a few.

There is a woodland cafe in the woods, with a real live bonfire for you to sit around while you tuck in to bacon butties and hot, steaming coffee and every afternoon the owner of the Priory, George, does a talk on the history of the Priory, which is really interesting. Firstly, the Priory has never been a real life Priory. It was previously just known as Hodsock, but when Ann Chambers took over she added the word Priory to make the property seem more important.

Secondly, Henry VIII visited in 1541 and you can imagine his entourage entering through the gate house, which looks lovely against the spring sky.

Lots of people stopped to talk to me while I was doing my photo, and i met some really nice people.  

After a couple of hours I took a break, settling myself on a wooden bench across the lake watching everyone milling around when I was aware of a group of people helping a man to the bench next to me. He had, unfortunately, fallen into the lake while taking a photograph and had hit his head on something, which had left quite a large mark. He had lost his camera in the lake and seemed very shocked by the accident, but we all rallied round and got help. The paramedics came and took him to be checked over, poor man. Hopefully, he is okay, but it certainly cut his visit short.

So, another enjoyable day out with my camera.

One step closer

Back in December I mentioned in a post that I was due to meet with an illustrator, who would hopefully work on my book cover. I had a basic idea of what I wanted but as someone with no artistic ability it was always going to need some clever adaptation to bring it to life as it was in my mind's eye.

The referral came via a friend of a friend. Having checked out his work on his website, I liked the illustrations so arranged a meeting in the run up to Christmas.

Having outlined my story, my target reader and my main characters he asked if I had any ideas on what I wanted from an illustration and this is where I got a little bashful. Hubby and I had done a Blue Peter style mock up, with dogs that looked more like badly drawn horses stuck onto a background that needed a lot of explanation. I was quite nervous at the thought of putting this in front of a professional but in for a penny...

Thankfully, he didn't laugh, well not out loud at least. He talked through a few ideas and then started to sketch and, within a couple of minutes, he had a very recognisable picture of what I had outlined. He got my concept.

Armed with little more than my thoughts and a quick outline sketch we concluded the meeting and he said he would start work in the New Year and would send me an initial draft through soon.

Sure enough, early in January I received the first draft by email. It didn't 'wow' me. It was in black and white, bits worked and bits didn't. I took comments from family and friends who I trust, and then fed back my comments to the illustrator.

A second draft came back and while I found it difficult to visualise in colour, I did like the basic image.

A few more days wait and I saw the first colour print of my book cover. It brought a whole new set of issues, the balance of colours, the proportions... but there were elements that were absolutely spot on.

More feedback. A request for information and images for the back cover and a few more days wait.

Then today I received an email with both the front and back cover, full cover 

and I love it.

No more tweaking, no more changes, I have my book cover. Another stage in the process is complete.

Definitely worth using a professional.

And for now, a thank you to all who have commented on the illustration to get it to completion but for now, the final version shall remain under wraps.

So exciting.

I love these...

I have had some very nice gifts this Christmas, but sometimes you get a gift that really is special and this was mine...

I especially like the 2 Cavi's on the right... it's a Salt & Pepper set

So cute!

Starting the New Year with a Lazy Day

I spotted a stark reminder that Christmas is over this morning as I walked into the kitchen and flicked the switch on the kettle for my first coffee of the day. Sitting on my plate rack at the sink were 3 dinner plates where normally there are only 2, left to drain after washing up from our New Year's Eve dinner and the large jar of Nescafe is staring back at me from its home in the cupboard, having spent the last week on the kitchen worktop. A reminder that yesterday my brother was here, visiting from his home a few hours away and today he is back home. 

The week has flown by so quickly, yet I have some lovely memories to keep. On Christmas Day night we got together with my other brother, sister-in-law and nephew to work off the excesses of Christmas with a few party games. We had a lot of fun  and laughter, especially while playing a protracted game of Jenga... only to find out we had invented our own rules. 

Boxing Day found us at the local cinema watching Hobbit 2. It was obviously a good film as the time passed in a flash and left us a little disappointed at the thought that we now have 12 months to wait for the final film in the trilogy. It was an enjoyable way to spend Boxing Day rather than pushing my way through crowds at the Christmas sales.

I've done a lot of walking this holiday, sometimes with the dogs at Clumber Park & Cresswell Crags, and sometimes with my camera at:

Thoresby Hall 

and Newstead Abbey

And yes, the skies really were that blue.

We normally spend New Year's Eve at home with the dogs and last night was no different. I like to find a good film that we haven't seen before and settle down for a cosy night after the excesses of Christmas. Several weeks ago I had recorded the 2012 film Les Miserables - the musical version. I first watched a version of the film with Liam Neeson, (but no singing) about 6 months ago as I felt I really should know the story and the characters and really enjoyed it so last night we turned on the surround sound, dimmed the lights and sat back to enjoy the musical version that was such a hit.

Before we knew it the end credits were rolling and Brinkley was barking at the sound of some early midnight fireworks. As neither of our dogs are bothered by fireworks I suggested we take them for a late night walk and see the New Year in doing what we spend so much of our time doing, walking our dogs. It was actually really nice to be wrapped up nice and warm, walking around the estate looking at all the houses festooned with Christmas lights and then seeing the fireworks start up as midnight struck. The only thing that would have added to the occasion would have been a layer of white, clean snow on the ground and large flakes drifting down ... that's how it would have been in the movies anyway... 

And so, today is day 9 of my Christmas break. It's the final day of my holiday, tomorrow I return to work along with many more. At this point I could eulogise about how privileged I am to have a job when many do not, (including some of my friends) but I'm not going to, (although I am... pleased to have a job!)

I am simply going to say A Very Happy New Year to all... I hope 2014 is good to you and you each get to achieve at least one of your lifetime ambitions, (what do you mean you don't have a list of lifetime ambitions... Quick, go make one!)

HAPPY NEW YEAR