It's been a while...

Well, I haven't updated my blog for a little while. My foal has had a severe infection in one of her feet so have been spending much time and energy worrying about and treating it. Thankfully, it looks like it is beginning to heal up, though it will be some months before I will know for sure that the hoof will grow normally.

I have also had a bit of a health scare and my first ever trip to a hospital as a patient! Had severe stomach pains last Sunday night and ended up being taken to hospital in an ambulance! Nothing really diagnosed execept perhaps a virus, so here's hoping it doesn't return!

On the more positive side, I have just sent back the first edits on Broken, my novella which is due out next year. I really can't wait to see the cover! But no news on that front as yet.

Editing is due to start!

I have just had notification that the editing process of my novella, Broken, is due to start in about a month's time. So exciting! :)

Grammar

I have to say that correct grammar does not come naturally to me. Through experience (getting slated for grammatical errors when posting early work to online communities) and good friends who pointed (and continue to point) me in the right direction, I can now produce cleaner work. As I have been guilty for most common errors, perhaps that is why I seem to notice errors so much more lately.

I am a member of a writing community on facebook, and when I saw a link for a free e-book I thought I would give it a go and then review the story on Amazon for the author. The story had so many grammatical errors that even I found it almost completely unreadable. If the plot had been stronger, or the characters more likeable I would, most likely, have been able to blank out the poor grammar, but unfortunately that was not the case.

I embrace the fact that people self-publish now, but this book is one which really should not have been made public in its current state. It is just terrible and could be held as proof that people should never self-pub! 

I haven't left a review as I honestly couldn't have said anything nice about it, and thought constructive criticism should not be given publicly. I messaged the author to politely offer concrit if she was interested and to date I have had no response which perhaps wasn't surprising. What is a surprise though, is that the author obviously doesn't want to improve.

I squirm at my early mistakes, and berate myself over current ones, but I strive to improve and hopefully the editors at Dreamspinner Press don't wince too much when they open my manuscripts!

It is a strange person indeed who seems happy to continue to make the same mistakes!

Wet weekend - pros and cons.

Well, our lovely warm weather had certainly taken a turn for the worse this week, and we face a wet and windy weekend. Now, there are many things that such weather would make less fun - walking the dog for one! But there are also plus points and it is on these I shall concentrate.

As the owner of a lovely mare and foal there is nothing quite like seeing them all snug and warm in their stable, happily munching on their hay. The foal, Florence, has grown so much and will soon be weaned from her dam, Mabel, so seeing them together and settled in away from the wind and rain is great.

My dog, The Norm, loves his walks, but importantly on such a weekend, also likes sitting on the sofa next to me, which brings me neatly to the best thing about wet weekends... I will be able to write, write, write without feeling guilty at all! \0/

So all in all, I am rather looking forward to a weekend of gales and rain! :)

Good weekend.

The weather was once again lovely this weekend, and I was out and about enjoying it. On Saturday my mum and sister came up to visit. We had a lovely walk with the dogs and then went to see my mare and foal.

Mum hadn't seen the foal since May when she was just two days old so saw a huge difference now she has reached five months. Florence is such a sweetie, friendly, but not pushy and already a champion in the show ring.

We then headed into Stamford, which is such a nice place, and enjoyed lunch before I had to go to choose the frames for my first pair of glasses - it seems I have reached a certain age and need them for reading. After visiting three shops and deciding not to go into another, we finally made a choice. Hopefully they will suit me. It was really difficult to decide as when I buy sunglasses the criteria is simply 'can't see my eyebrows and can't see my eyes'! LOL! Not much use when buying reading glasses.

When I got home I wrote some more of a story I intend to submit to Dreamspinner Press when complete.

I spent Sunday, caring for both the horses and the dog, braving a trip  to a huge supermarket and writing some more.

I have included links below for my short story, Out of Left Field, which is available from Dreamspinner Press and Amazon.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3937

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-of-Left-Field-ebook/dp/B00D4KFY72/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381177876&sr=8-1&keywords=raine+norman

Would love it if you would give the story a try. :)

Welcome ,Kim Fielding, writer of wonderful m/m novels

Today I am playing host to my very first guest. Thank you, Kim, for agreeing to being my 'guinea-pig'! I have known Kim through her writing for several years now, and we have also met in person, so I am delighted to help to promote her lastest novel, The Tin Box.



 

 

 

Thank you, Raine, for letting me visit today!

 

My novel The Tin Boxwas just released. One of the main characters, William Lyon, is an introvert. He enjoys being alone. He tends to feel awkward in social situations, especially when he doesn’t know the other people well. He’s very analytical.

 

I’m an introvert too. No huge surprise there—probably most writers fit neatly in that category. We like to observe, to think about things, to take the time to express ourselves precisely.

 

But being an introvert isn’t the same as being a hermit, and it doesn’t mean we cower in corners. My day job is university professor, which means I routinely stand up and speak for long periods of time to large groups of people—sometimes over 100—and I feel perfectly comfortable doing so. I even enjoy it.  And I love having conversations with friends, often intense conversations. I can talk all night. But eventually I am going to need some alone time to recharge.

 

I have had the great pleasure of meeting quite a few other authors, including the delightful Raine, who played tour guide for my daughter and me in Cambridge (England, not Massachusetts) a couple years ago. And you know what? It turns out authors are a fun lot to hang out with—especially after a drink or two. In the end, though, I think we all end up back on our computers or clutching our pencils, scribbling away in solitude. And that’s the way we like it.

 

Despite his introverted personality, William still needs friendship and love. But coming to terms with his sexuality is a difficult process for him too. So it’s fortunate that he meets extraverted Colby Anderson. And it’s also fortunate that William discovers letters written by a man committed to a mental hospital in the 1930s for being gay. William will always value his alone time—but perhaps the letters and Colby can help him find happiness too.

 

The Tin Box is available from Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, and all major booksellers.

 

Please follow Kim on Twitter @KFieldingWrites

Or friend her on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/KFieldingWrites

Or visit her blog http://kfieldingwrites.blogspot.com

 

Blurb:

 

William Lyon's past forced him to become someone he isn't. Conflicted and unable to maintain the charade, he separates from his wife and takes a job as caretaker at a former mental hospital. Jelley’s Valley State Insane Asylum was the largest mental hospital in California for well over a century, but it now stands empty. William thinks the decrepit institution is the perfect place to finish his dissertation and wait for his divorce to become final. In town, William meets Colby Anderson, who minds the local store and post office. Unlike William, Colby is cute, upbeat, and flamboyantly out. Although initially put off by Colby’s mannerisms, William comes to value their new friendship, and even accepts Colby's offer to ease him into the world of gay sex.

William’s self-image begins to change when he discovers a tin box, hidden in an asylum wall since the 1940s. It contains letters secretly written by Bill, a patient who was sent to the asylum for being homosexual. The letters hit close to home, and William comes to care about Bill and his fate. With Colby’s help, he hopes the words written seventy years ago will give him courage to be his true self.

 

Hosting my first guest.

On September 28th I will be hosting my first ever guest on my blog. The wonderful author Kim Fielding. (http://kfieldingwrites.blogspot.com/)