In writing there is a very important person. This person will take what you have created and cast a friendly - but critical - eye over it and correct it. This process can seem harsh, even when they have your best interests at heart. They are the proof-reader.
Induction was largely the work of the proof-reader. I came up with the characters , the plot and the story. They introduced the concept of grammar.
Grammar is a scary thing - even for a published writer but I paid attention and the numbers of edits shrank on Growth Spurt and even further on Thursday's Child but, imp0rtantly, a proof reader has been a great part of the writing process.
I have found myself in the role of proof-reader for my cousin. He is writing his first novel and I have had the privilege to read (and proof-read) the first eight chapters. I found myself picking up on minor errors that would have slipped through my proof-reading of my own stuff.
So I found myself asking: why is it easier to fix other people's problems?
It's true for so much in life, not just writing. I have helped so many people sort out their problems yet I am making the very same ones myself. I need a proofer for my life!
I saw my MS nurse yesterday and discussed my recent relapse. She pointed out that it was what is known as a 'sensory relapse' something I wasn't aware of.This time of MS setback is actually one of the milder kinds but it is considered one of the most psychologically damaging. The loss of all sensation in a limb can lead to depression and (definitely in my case) low level panic. I had a few very scary days but now I know what was happening I am back to the positive, upbeat version of me and by God! I missed him.I haven't been writing all that much because of the problems with my relapse but after I done what I have to do today I'm going to get my head back in it and what I have to do is a pleasure! My cousin, Rob Moran, is also a published writer. He had a short story called 'The Magical Storyteller' published and is now working on a full-length version.I have been lucky enough to read the first part and am doing the initial proof-read for him as he prepares the second part. I'm not just saying this because he is family but it is amazing! I fully expect to see this on the shelves of the children's department of book shops and libraries in a year or two! I wish I could write children's literature - it's a special skill...Follow me on Twitter @GeordieWriter
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I'm sitting looking at the cold and congealed remnants of last night's Chinese take away.
The beef was crispy, the Cantonese sauce tangy and full flavour. The chips (which I had instead of rice) were very crisp and tasted wonderful. The Spring rolls were stuffed with fresh vegetables and wrapped precisely in a delicate, crunchy skin. The Prawn Crackers (which came for free - great!) were fresh and delicately flavoured.In short, I loved every mouthful of it but now in its half-eaten state it looks disgusting so I'm never having it again. Exquisite as it was - it is damaging to my body and has to stop.It's not the only thing...Subtext is a wonderful thing...Follow me on Twitter @GeordieWriter
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The latest episode of The Fallen has gone live. It can be read here. The page contains links to the other episodes. A new flash fiction episode each Sunday.I am still relapsing and my mobility, poor as it was, is now severely compromised. I have fallen over more in the last three days then I have in the last eight month (yes... I keep track of these things...)I still have pain in my legs but it seems to be wearing off so I have managed to start writing again. As well as editing and posting part 5 of The Fallen I am working on a Blue Jackets novel(la) that is currently entitled 'The Echo Committee'. I am also having another go at writing a romance, 'For The Record', after I binned my last attempt, 'Spare Wheel'. So it's back to business as normal (almost).Following my promise to stop the bad language on the blog I started to edit older posts to remove it but that didn't go very well. Think of it as a Work In Progress...
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When I was at Newcastle Central Library giving my talk about eBooks and getting published, we also talked about inspiration. About how to "cheat" by looking at what publishers wanted on listing websites such as Duotrope.
As part of that section I read a story called 'I Won'. I was going to post a link to the site that published the story but they are either having extended server problems or, more likely, they have gone permanently. I am going to put the story up here for two reasons. Firstly, I am happy with it, the prompt was: no more than 1500 words and a subject of 'I Won'. Secondly, it is the first time I have written a friend into a story. I forgot to tell him - oops! He was happy to hear it but wanted to be able to read it - so here you go, Dingus!
I Won!
The paper of the cheque felt as smooth as glass against my finger tips. With my eyes closed I imagined that I could feel the indentations from the pen that had filled out the amount but that was just a flight of fancy. A computer, cold and uncaring, had sent the paper through a printer and blown my life apart.
The numbers screamed at my eyes, dared them to believe. The size of the win was beyond my comprehension, my brain scrambled desperately trying to find a logical explanation as to why I was suddenly a multi-millionaire, how it had happened to me. It failed.
I sat in silence, the only sound was the ticking of the clock that sat on the mantelpiece and the occasional car passing by. I shook and tried to make sense of the situation. The number was just so... big. Too big. And why had they included the seventeen pence? Wasn't the rest enough?
I closed my eyes again. Maybe when I opened them again it would be a figure I could deal with but it wasn't. The black ink still roared against the pale blue of the paper, insisting that I make a decision, do something.
I looked across the room at the telephone lying on the floor, its wire torn from the wall. It had been the only way to silence it. Journalists, “well-wishers” and out-and-out beggars all wanted me and my money. It turned out that £23,567,993.17 was enough to make me very popular. Everything I wanted was mine for the taking, only...
What did I actually want? A new house? A car? 3D plasma screen? Cruises? No. None of that. What I wanted was Lorna. It didn't matter that I had all this money. Lorna was priceless and couldn't be bought. So what good was it? I could have everything I wanted, except her.
I looked down at the cheque again. It mocked me. Only I could turn this into a problem. Only I would focus on what I had lost, could never have. I should be drinking champagne and lighting cigars with £50 notes but no. I was sitting in my tiny little flat crying that the girl who dumped me ten years ago still wouldn't have me back.
But it wasn't just her, was it? I would have to give up work and I loved my job. I wouldn't get to see Jim, Graeme and Tina on a daily basis. How could I? Would I have to buy their friendship now? Should I give them money? Would they take it? Be offended?
I would have to move. This flat was tiny but it was home and I would have to leave it. Yes, my new house would be bigger, smarter and have all the gadgets I could dream of but it wouldn't have that view would it? I wouldn't be able to look out of my bedroom window and see the park where I had had my first kiss or the outdoor pool I learned to swim in. I would lose my connection to my past.
When it came down to it, that was the problem. I had been disconnected from my own life in the blink of an eye, unplugged from everything that had made me who I am. I was adrift in my new present, my whole life rebooted, reset and restyled. All by that insidious little cheque.
I could tear it up. Destroy it and make this all go away. But that would be foolish, wouldn't it? Wouldn't it? I didn't know what to do, my numbers had finally come up and all the dreams, the what ifs?, suddenly didn't matter. This was real and what did I do about it? Just what the hell did I do?
A knock at the door ripped me from my thoughts. Had they come to me in person because I had pulled the phone from the wall? I kept silent, suddenly feeling like a prisoner in my own home. The knock repeated then a voice called, “Open up, dingus!”
Graeme.
My doubt and fears receded. He would know what to do. My oldest and closest friend always managed to sort things out or, if he couldn't, he made them marginally better. He knocked again.
“Alright, alright. I'm coming,” I called as I made my way to the door.
“You look like crap, man,” he said as soon as he saw me. I ignored his comment and walked back to the sofa. He followed, closing the door. “So... is it true?”
I pointed to the cheque which I had left on the mantelpiece next to the clock. He picked it up.
“Sheeee-it. What you gonna do?”
“I don't know. What would you do?”
He swung his backpack off his shoulder, pulled out a couple of cans and threw one to me.
“Me? I'd have a beer.”© M. Leon Smith 2011
Many thanks to everyone who turned out for my talk at Newcastle Central Library last night. I was insanely nervous but I've been told the nerves didn't show. Phew!
I talked a little about myself and my writing, a lot about eBooks and the impact they are having on the publishing market. I was very gratified to be able to converse with the audience. I was a little afraid it would just be me sitting there talking at people but they got involved which was very gratifying.
I got to speak to two people who gave the whole range of authors. One was a man who was just getting ready to launch his first book and was very interested in the various pathways to print. Another was a lady who had been previously published and saw the industry from a whole different perspective. Very interesting.
Newcastle Library tweeted a very complimentary message about me and my event. Thanks!
A pint of Stella afterwards helped calm my nerves - I can't remember the last time I was that nervous - the next one will be easier (and better!)
As well as the stress and nerves, I was battling my MS. As I type this my left leg is largely numb and it has affected my mobility, making transferring difficult and dangerous. I been checked out by doctors today (thanks, Rachael!) and the expected course of steroids has been decided against. Looks like I'm just going to have to weather this storm and see if things improve. No doubt they will.
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The last time I was this nervous was when I submitted my first story. Tonight is the night I give me talk at Newcastle Central Library (6.30 - 7.45 FREE! hint, hint!) and I really am scared.
Questions are flying around my head. Why would anyone go? What if they don't like what I am saying? What if I'm boring and a million other questions. But I'm just putting myself down - as I always do - and I know I can talk engagingly for an hour. People are always interested in how I turned my life around and how I went from absolute zero to a little bit! lol!
My main concern should be something far more practical... I have to get onto a stage and my mobility (on a good day) would allow that. Today, however, is not a good day. Yesterday my left leg was swollen due to water retention to well over double its normal size and today it has gone down to regular proportions but is largely numb! Oh dear...
I checked my page hit numbers today and the values for 'The Fallen' were very gratifying. For what amounts to basically a prologue told in three Flash webisodes it has already found something of a readership. The next few parts are written, tweaked, and ready to go. See you on Sunday!
On 10th May, I will be giving a talk at Newcastle Central Library around the theme of 'Inspiration and eBooks' It should be a fun night with advice on how to break into the published world and some anecdotes on how I came to write about what I do!
Places are limited and need to be booked to guarantee entry on 0191 277 4100
Follow me on Twitter @GeordieWriter
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Thursday's Child: Blue Jackets Part 3 UK, USA
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Induction: Blue Jackets Part 1 - UK, USA
Thursday's Child is FREE for a very limited time. Grab it while you can! The Blue Jackets team is completed with the addition of a girl who cannot lose and her ex. Oh dear - there'll be issues to come with that. Links are all over the site but here's another!
I have chosen, totally arbitrarily, that I need to be writing about 1500 words per day. I am currently working on three projects and if any of them stand any chance of being finished I need to up my output. I don't know if I can do it and still have a social life but we'll see.
Do me a favour? Follow me on Twitter @GeordieWriter ? And 'Like' Blue Jackets on Facebook. I need to get the word out and this would help so much. Thanks a million!
On 10th May, I will be giving a talk at Newcastle Central Library around the theme of 'Inspiration and eBooks' It should be a fun night with advice on how to break into the published world and some anecdotes on how I came to write about what I do!
Places are limited and need to be booked to guarantee entry on 0191 277 4100
Follow me on Twitter @GeordieWriter
Join the Blue Jackets on Facebook
Blue Jackets on Amazon
Thursday's Child: Blue Jackets Part 3 UK, USA
Growth Spurt: Blue Jackets Part 2 UK, USA
Induction: Blue Jackets Part 1 - UK, USA
It was a great day for the Blue Jackets yesterday. Part three, Thursday's Child, was released and to celebrate the first two parts were free. Welcome to all new readers!
Part three of the weekly Flash series, The Fallen is now up. The series follows the lives of characters that have been initially introduced in the Blue Jackets series. Told as a series of Flash installments, there will be a new installment each Sunday.
Life has been a bit of a whirlwind recently which has led to sporadic updates of the blog. I can only apologise but I am trying to get more organised - honest!
I have been looking quite closely at my life and have come to the conclusion that I need to reinstate some of my old routines. The first that is coming back is the Sunday tidy.
The Sunday tidy is very boring but I find it therapeutic. I'll be tidying my whole bungalow on a room by room basis - dull but necessary and I always write more in a tidy room. It'll start as soon as I finish this blog!
On 10th May, I will be giving a talk at Newcastle Central Library around the theme of 'Inspiration and eBooks' It should be a fun night with advice on how to break into the published world and some anecdotes on how I came to write about what I do!
Places are limited and need to be booked to guarantee entry on 0191 277 4100
Follow me on Twitter @GeordieWriter
Join the Blue Jackets on Facebook
Blue Jackets on Amazon
Thursday's Child: Blue Jackets Part 3 UK, USA
Growth Spurt: Blue Jackets Part 2 UK, USA
Induction: Blue Jackets Part 1 - UK, USA
Tuesday, star of the third Blue Jackets book, is released upon the public in Thursday's Child. A Novus with a totally unexplainable power in a fast read with more twists and turns than a Curly Wurly!
Tuesday has an extraordinary gift. She cannot lose. So why is she suddenly penniless in Paris? Who was the woman who was killed? Why is Tuesday being looked for? Can she solve the mysteries life has thrown her? Her life will become even more remarkable...
This is part 3 in the best selling action adventure series, The Blue Jackets.
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