New Year Recommended Reads

I know we all have a pile of to-be-read books beside the bed, some gathering dust as they snooze within easy reach, others screaming out for attention, but there are always a couple more that deserve to be there, that may need a little nudge like this to catch the eye of potential readers.

The first is a contemporary romance, from up-and-coming author, Amy Tierney. The first in a series, based in Ireland's Dublin and Wicklow, it's both quirky and lusty, with characters who will have you hungering for the second in the series, which I believe is being written as I type. It's been doing great in local shops and online, so is well worth a look for anyone interested in the genre.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B015P642OS?keywords=Thirty%20days%20hath%20September&qid=1451835492&ref_=sr_1_1&s=books&sr=1-1

Mary Bradford, a prolific writer from Cork in Ireland, is building a reputation as a multi-genre author. Her oeuvre covers a novel and novellas in romance, horror, erotica, western, thriller, as well as a collection of short stories. All these can be viewed on her Amazon page, as well as across her broad social-media platform.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ebooks-My-Husbands-Sin-Mary-Bradford-ebook/dp/B00MX5TJZ2/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451835625&sr=1-1&keywords=Mary+Bradford

Frank Parker, a veteran of the novel form, has recently released his latest, a complex and intriguing look at the consequences of a sexual transgression. His characters and scenarios are so deftly drawn they remain with the reader long after the reading journey has been completed. Highly recommended.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Transgression-Frank-Parker-ebook/dp/B014N1C1QC/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451835736&sr=1-7&keywords=Frank+Parker

Carol Ervin's collection of historical novels - the Mountain Women series, is based in the harsh environment of 19th Century Winkler, a fictional logging town in West Virginia, where her characters have to survive in a harsh environment governed by men. She's also ventured into contemporary thriller and science-fiction novels that provide riveting reads, not least for their originality. All her work is recommended by this reader.

http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Mountain-Women-ebook/dp/B00941HNC4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398803381&sr=1-1&keywords=the+girl+on+the+mountain

Susan Nicholls has one novel out right now, but is currently prepping for release the first in a series of crime/comedy capers. Definitely worth keeping an eye out for this American writer's work.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Red-Clay-Roses-S-K-Nicholls-ebook/dp/B00C2CNWGS/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451836151&sr=1-1&keywords=Red+clay+and+roses

Last but not least is one for horror lovers. It's a vampire story by Daniel Kaye, but nothing like you've experienced before. I Vladimir has the potential to steer the genre in a completely new direction, and you don't come across too many novels like that. Buy it and see for yourself.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/I-Vladimir-Daniel-Kaye-ebook/dp/B018V5BDYM/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451836207&sr=1-1&keywords=i+Vladimir

So, be sure to check out these authors, and if you do read any of their novels, please do share your impressions, or even better, leave an honest review on their Amazon page.

Warriors of The Word - New Beginnings

As we begin the new year of 2016, our focus turns to new beginnings where we endeavour to channel our energies into the likes of health and personal development that will see us grasping the thorny vine of projects that may have slipped from our control over the past year or so. For many, especially writers, that will mean getting out and about to lose a few unwanted pounds. Writers, spending many hours of each day harnessed to a chair, working through the warrens of a fictional world, often find themselves piling on the weight.

But not just physical weight. No. Though committed to working their projects through, regularly to the detriment of family and social life, scribes can find themselves overwhelmed by issues such as the immensity of story; the barbed hurdles of grammar and dialogue; trying to capture an elusive voice; pinning down the hoary specifics of point-of-view, or grasping the complexities of active voice, to name just a few. The struggle to overcome the technical aspects of such projects can prove so discouraging that, even though several drafts may have been completed, the writer often finds herself cast adrift, without the energy to make it to the solid ground that will see the work brought to its next stage where real progression is seen and appreciated.

I’ve provided constructive feedback to writers for twenty years or more and know how beneficial a considered opinion can be, especially during a challenging phase when the wrong response - a wayward comment - could see a project, and the desire to continue, destroyed. Writers need to know how things stand, and while they welcome honesty, they don’t want to be battered with the hard edge of reality. There has to be hope – light that provides access to the next step.

That’s what I do. Writers send me a chapter from their work-in-progress and I return a sample line-edit where everything is reviewed, from each word to style and structure – anything really that needs looking at, I get in there and tackle it until the writer knows exactly what the options are that will see issues worked through and those dark clouds parted so the broader perspective can be appreciated. The main thing is that the writer has a much stronger idea where he or she stands in relation to the problems at hand.

The writer can then decide if they want to go the rest of the journey alone – applying lessons learnt from the sample edit to the rest of the work, or join in a collaborative affair by commissioning me as their editor. A first edit is a two-week journey to begin with, where everything is laid bare. Everything. With the writer’s vision taken into account, voice and style retained, I wade in and leave nothing unturned. When the manuscript is returned, it resembles a battlefield with the mass of notes and suggested edits. ‘Battlefield’ is apt because if the war is to be won by the author, the enemies of progression must be annihilated. One of my clients recently said that she felt like a warrior of the word when tackling my first edit. She was correct, all writers are warriors of the word. When it comes to the editing process, the author is the soldier on a quest to fight and defeat the monster that is the undeveloped manuscript, while I am the Special Forces mentor, there to advise and guide, and between us we ensure that our side comes out of the fight in the best condition possible, ready to step into the light on release to the world at large.

The author, now seeing that light, applies my editing suggestions as they see fit and returns the manuscript to me for a second edit that will bring the work, once applied, to its proofing stage. It’s all part of my package. I know the story – I know the author – I’m in a perfect position to recognise where things still aren’t quite right, or where they’re just perfect. Two edits and a proofread will see the writer out of those horrid doldrums and into the heady glare of pre-publication.

I haven’t met an author yet who hasn’t appreciated the benefits of a solid line-edit. It’s not easy seeing your work put under the microscope, with every element reviewed, but bringing your novel to a ready-to-go level, with the aid of your editor, is one of the most progressive things you can do as a writer. If you’re in a position where you’ve brought your work-in-progress to a point where it requires professional help to bring it to the next stage and beyond, all I can do is recommend that you choose a chapter, preferably from the middle of your novel, and send it to me for a free sample edit. You’ve nothing to lose and everything to gain. Send it to clearviewediting@gmail.com and I’ll get back to you asap.

Visit my website for further details about my services. http://clearviewfictionediting.com/

Good luck with all your endeavours in 2016.

What Makes You A Writer?

What Makes You A Writer?

Are you a #writer? What defines you as such? Is it that you have a qualification from a college, online or real-life? Are you well published, traditionally or self? Do you just dabble, popping out the odd poem or short story as the mood takes you, or are you a fully-committed career scribe, chipping away through hard time at piece after piece, with deadlines looming over your shoulder?

I know some who consider themselves writers, yet their output is sparse and sporadic; their most productive periods clustered around motivational workshops and competitions. They make no bones about needing these butt-kicking devices to provide the dynamic and inspiration to produce.

Maybe that’s what it’s about. Maybe it’s the ones who wait for inspiration to strike that need something like a competition or challenge deadline, or the work ethic of a day-long workshop to open the floodgates, to release those trapped disparate, unexpressed threads that bounce around the skull day after day.

So should the question be: Are you a proactive writer, rather than one who passively cruises between creative events? Do you divide your day into writing and editing blocks? Do you sweat and swear through gritted teeth, wear out a strip from one wall to another stalking through problematic plot twists, pound at those keys until the lettering vanishes and your fingers ache, wish the toilet wasn’t so far down the cold hall, or that you weren’t so addicted to the cosy cushion of tea or coffee?

Are you published? If so, does that make you a writer? Do you submit or release on a regular basis? Do you need to be accepted now to a traditional journal or publisher, or is it credible enough to post to your own blog, or self-publish into the ether of Amazon, Lulu, or Smashwords? Does your adherence to the highest quality, or your belief in your own editing and formatting abilities add kudos or demote you to the ‘lower level’ of a writing wannabe?

Do you spend hours critiquing your peers as part of a writing group (online or real-life), providing constructive and considered feedback while enhancing your own skills of the craft? Have you lovingly collected an active craft library over the years, with your well-thumbed favourites never gathering dust? Are you immersed so deep, smothered by the highs and lows, the joys and torments of achievement or failure, rewrite after rewrite, red-pen blindness, cramped shoulders, suffering snow-blindness from the constant glare of the laptop screen?

Are you afflicted by conflicting emotions as you bring your characters through their own turmoil day after day, while battling through the No-Man’s Land of crippling self-doubt, doing your utmost to follow your own inspiring words while wishing it would all come as easy as it seems to do for so many others?

Have you fallen victim to the siren-like wiles of the World Wide Web? Do you recognise the realities of modern-day promotion, and the importance of creating your author profile across the social-media spectrum? Have you screamed at your inability to switch off the internet, convincing yourself that you need to have it to hand for research and marketing reasons?

Do you have the discipline and the desire to stick with it? To plough through the frustrations of day in - day out work, work, work? Do you care that the best editors, agents, and publishers aren’t queuing outside your door, scrambling to sign you up? Are you willing to fight through such crap, keep on writing, and persevere even though there’s no real likelihood of you being ‘discovered’ in this lifetime?

If so, if you’ve answered yes to any number of these questions, then you’re nothing less than a writer of the highest regard; a Spartan warrior of the pen, willing and ready to carry the fight across all battlefields, losses and victories, because you basically can’t live without it.

All that, for me, constitutes a writer. Someone who strives to improve their craft, to gather valuable experience through hard and ongoing graft, to share and mentor through peer interaction, and to live the creative life, even if it doesn’t always bear fruit or bring the credit one might deserve.

What makes you a writer?

A Bird In Hand...

I like sitting in cafes, but I never write in them. It's just not me. I know, I know, I'm a writer, and writers are well known for using cafes, especially the corner table just inside the window where the world and her granny can see them do their thing. I'm not 'anti-cafe', and I don't necessarily look down on writers in windows; I just don't get that writing buzz when I'm in one. I prefer to sit and chat over a cuppa and a nice piece of cake (what a surprise).

Anyway, I was meeting a pal in a cafe earlier today, and I got there a little early, which isn't unusual for me considering I'm anal about timekeeping. So there I am, stirring my coffee and checking through the index in 'Staying Alive', that feckin' fantastic poetry tome that I sometimes drag around in my satchel. It's seen better days, but that's a good complaint for a poetry book, meaning it's been, and being, well used. So there I was, checking out some of Yeats' poetry, and in flies a wayward pigeon, obviously drawn by my good coffee and almond slice. Of course, my first thought was that I was about to be splattered with its panic-stricken shit, because that's what generally happens to trapped pigeons; they fly into windows and ceilings and basically crap all over the place.

I had one hand over the coffee, with the other protecting the cake, glancing about for a broom or brush to help scoot the poor thing out, when the attractive young worker, who'd been enjoying her break, simply got up and, like an experienced pigeon whisperer, cooed the window-battered yoke into a corner, then easy as anything picked it up and released it out the door. Mind you, when she threw it into the air, it made an unexpected flop, obviously dazed by its window-shopping experience. It got itself together eventually and took off in search of outdoor crumbs, or maybe to relate its adventure to its equally mangy buddies on nearby roofs.

Where was I? Oh yeah, you know how I said that I 'never' use cafes to write? Well, you'd better put that into past-tense now - as soon as she'd gone behind the counter to wash the bird-shit from her dainty little hands, I was buried in my notebook (always keep one handy) scrawling away at a poem about my 'cafe heroine'. Because I've been working on a new fiction first-draft over the last while, I've not been writing poetry, which is how things go with me - I'm either one or the other. Anyway, I'm scratching away at the page when my friend arrives and basically accuses me of being a...writer. Now she knows I'm writing most of my life, but she's never seen me sitting in a cafe window, head down, scrawling away like I've a deadline to meet, so it struck me as a bit odd that she'd see such public behaviour as a qualification, of sorts. I'm now a bona-fide scribe!

On The Edge - Morning walk at Rosses Point

The Colours of Summer