Letting go

I've been having trouble planning my new novel. It's not that I've had difficulty coming up with characters or plot ideas. My problem is letting go of my previous hero and heroine. They've been with me a long time. I know what makes them tick, their hopes and dreams. I can even feel the rasp of my hero's stubble against my face (I've imagined that a lot!) So how can I cast them aside and move on to another couple?

When I first started to learn about writing romances, I kept hearing about how you're supposed to fall in love with your hero. But I can't find any advice on how to fall out of love with him once his story's over. In my opinion, that's a major oversight. What I need right now is a book called How To Dump Your Hero. I'll have to make inquiries at my local library.

In the meantime, I'm just going to have to get over my ridiculous hang-ups about monogamy and search for my inner floozie.

Fresh targets

I'm just back from a weekend away. Now that I can forget about my finished ms for a while it's time I set some new targets.

I've got some decisions to make. Firstly, what period of history to set my next novel in. I've already decided to go for medieval rather than Roman this time. Although I love Roman and Dark Age historicals, I don't think there's so much of a market for them. Certainly M&B don't have many slots for them, so I need to expand my repertoire. At the moment I'm torn between two periods of English history: the reign of King John and the Anarchy. Both exciting times with plenty of potential.

My second decision is novel or novella? I love the Historical Undone series and I'm tempted to try my hand at a novella. It would be good discipline for me to write something where I have to focus so closely on the characters' relationship and conflicts.

I'd also like to write some more short stories and try for publication in a magazine. I got so buried in my ms that I abandoned my short story writing. I think it's time to have a go at it again.

So I've decided to declare this week an ideas week. Time to read up on my chosen periods in history, sketch out some character ideas, scour the internet for some faces for them, and review all the short story ideas I jotted down in my notebooks over the past year and promptly forgot.

Done it!

Today's a day for celebration. I've reached a significant milestone. Yes, I've finally hit the 'send' button and submitted my first three chapters to Mills and Boon. I can sink into paranoia tomorrow, but today I'm going to enjoy my achievement :-)

End in sight and a new deadline

I went over the first three chapters with my friend yesterday and it was really encouraging. She's picked out a few things that could be improved, but nothing major. Now I'm going to work through them and once that's done I can finally submit my partial.

One of her main criticisms was on my tendency to blunt the impact of a statement by using qualifiers. I know I do it. I'd already pruned out a load during editing, but there were still far too many left. They were so obvious once she'd pointed them out; I don't know how I'd failed to spot them before. All I can say is it's a good example of why it's vital to get someone to critique your work before sending it off.

So now it's time to set my revised deadline. Ideally I'd like to get it done by Friday, but I've got a busy week and I don't want to have to break another deadline. Therefore I'm going to set my deadline for the end of June. If I haven't submitted my partial by then, feel free to come after me with pitchforks.

Progress Update

I got an email from my friend who's been looking over my first three chapters - she's finished (yay!) and likes it (double yay!)

She's going to bring the chapters with her to the writers' group we go to. The next meeting is on Saturday. So I'll be able to look at her suggestions there and then start work on any alterations. Hopefully I'll have a good idea by the end of the weekend of how long it will be before I can finally submit to Mills & Boon.

I'm really going to do this...scary!

The Power of Four

I've been tagged by Charlotte Phillips, so now I need to answer the following questions. I won't tag anyone, but consider yourself tagged if you'd like to do it.

 Four places I have worked

1. A holiday job in a concrete research lab. It was brilliant - I got to cast concrete beams and then smash them.

2. On the 12th floor of an office block in Kent. Great if you like views, terrible if you're scared of heights. Guess which one I am! I swear I could feel the building sway on windy days. I was working as a civil engineer at the time. The good days were the ones I got to spend out on the sewage treatment plant I was working on.

3.  Clearly the whole civil-engineer-with-vertigo thing wasn't working, so I retrained as a maths teacher. I then spent several years teaching in a rural school in Suffolk. As a result there are now several names I would never consider using for a character.

4. A school on the edge of the Kalahari. It was an amazing time - I would go off with friends each weekend and holiday and travel around Botswana and Zimbabwe.

Four films I could watch over and over

1. Sense & Sensibility (with Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson). I think this film captured the spirit of the book perfectly. And Greg Wise as Willoughby is the epitome of the Regency bounder :)

2. 2012. No, really. Disaster movies are the best. There's something about watching the world disappear under a sea of lava, and whole cities crumbling to dust that appeals to me. I must be a very bad person.

3. The Matrix. The whole concept of this film just blew me away. Plus it has Keanu Reeves. What more could you ask?

4. When Harry Met Sally. I'm a sucker for rom coms, and it was so hard to pick just one. In the end I went for this because it was the film that started me off on rom coms.

Four TV Shows

1. The Killing. I love thrillers and crime dramas. I have to concentrate really hard on the subtitles, though, or I end up missing really important stuff.

2. QI. This makes me laugh, and Stephen Fry is brilliant.

3. Downton Abbey. Pure escapism - this is one of those dramas that I can just lose myself in.

4. Dr. Who. When David Tennant left I thought it could never be as good again, but Matt Smith proved me wrong.

Four Authors I enjoy

1. Sharon Penman. She's got a real talent for bringing distant historical figures to life, and making their concerns relevant. I particularly enjoyed her novels set in Wales.

2. Katie Fforde. More escapism! I love her heroines - all quirky and self-sufficient.

3. Tolkien. The ultimate world-builder. And I can't resist a good black-and-white good vs evil plot.

4. David Baldacci. I can't resist a tense conspiracy thriller, and he writes some of the best.

Four places I've travelled to

1. Botswana
2. Malaysia - I got dizzy just looking at the Petronas Towers!
3. Australia - I backpacked round Oz when I finished my degree
4. Czech Republic - romantic fairy-tale castles on rocky crags. It would be a great setting for a romance.

Four websites I visit daily

1. BBC News - I have to check first thing to make sure the world hasn't ended.
2. Blogger
3. Gmail
4. Google

Four favourite foods

1. Chocolate
2. Fish pie
3. Tyrrells crisps
4. Brie cheese

Four places I'd rather be

1. Pembrokeshire
2. A luxury safari lodge
3. A treehouse
4. The Amazon Rainforest

Am I a robot?

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm finding it increasingly difficult to get those captcha things right. You know, those things where you have to type in the made up word you can see displayed in a wobbly font. I've had to give up trying to comment on someone's blog several times. It's getting annoying!