BRITISH WEATHER AND CREATIVE FLOW

Greetings blog readers from a warm and sunny Norfolk!

How long will this wonderful weather last we all wonder? This year we have waited so many months for the sun. Who knows? It could all change tomorrow. Britain is an island nation and our weather is forever changing. Subject to numerous variables, none of which is in our control, we tend to wait, anxiously, for things to improve.

Sometimes I think the British weather is like creativity. You can’t guarantee it will be there when you need it and most often it is not. I find my creativity comes in waves, and diminishes when I am tired or stressed. Some days I can write for hours. Some weeks I cannot write at all. It is not laziness, nor lack of application. I find if there is nothing to say, then there is nothing to write. As soon as I know what to say – the next piece of the plot is in my mind – I write.

One of the things I have to do when writing is to stop reading. Fiction is a no-no. Newspapers, crosswords and the odd television programme I can cope with, but other people's stories scramble my ideas. If I want to write, I need a clear head and a quiet mind.

A week ago, having finished the 7^th and final Sprite Sisters story, and in a burst of creative energy, I sat down to write the first title of a new trilogy that has been in my mind since 2006. I have made copious notes and written numerous chapters for The Earth Stories, but the ‘right time’ had not come. I had been too busy with the Sprite Sisters to engage in another big project.

Having got out the box file and looked through it, I typed, ‘The Earth Stories – Book 1 deadline Autumn 2013’, printed it out and stuck the piece of paper on the wall in front of me. I like to have a deadline.

But something surprising happened. As I sat there, staring at my new deadline, the words ‘Boudicca’s Daughters’ kept ringing in my mind. Boudicca’s Daughters, Boudicca’s Daughters . . . The words would not go away. This had been the intended title of the second volume of The Earth Stories, but I had often wondered if it would make a better stand alone novel for young adults.

So, as with the British weather and guided by some invisible force, I went with the flow. I got out a second box of notes and writing that I had done on Boudicca’s Daughters in 2010, and was surprised to see how much I had completed. Okay, I thought, I’ll write this book first.

I peeled the deadline for The Earth Stories off the wall, typed and printed out another. Now the words, ‘Boudicca’s Daughters’ stare at me from the wall, with the deadline of October 2013.

Much like our island weather, I set out to do one thing but found the pattern changed quite suddenly. I am back in ‘lock-down mode’, shutting out as much of the world around me as I can, while Boudicca’s Daughters makes its way on to the pages of my new book.

Outside the sun is shining, but I am sitting at my computer going with the creative flow.

THE WRITER'S BUBBLE

Two hours, fifty-five minutes and counting. By my reckoning I should be able to file this blog at midnight. I wrote 1200 words in 90 minutes the other evening between 9pm and 11pm. But I won’t write even 500 words now unless I can go into the bubble.

The bubble is a quiet place. It’s a soothing, yet dynamic space where the ideas and words appear exactly as you need them. You don’t fight the words in the bubble. They plip into your consciousness as if by magic. Ah yes, you think, as you type the words. Of course . . .

For me, the bubble appears in the evening. When the day’s busy-ness recedes, when the business of eating is complete and when I can find no other excuses – that’s when I sit down and write the words that have eluded me all day, maybe all week. It is time to write this chapter, I tell myself as I settle at my desk – and write it I will before I go to sleep tonight.

And, somehow, I do. I may have faffed about all day, but around 9pm my brain settles and the words begin to flow: because that’s what happens in the bubble. The words come, one by one, the sentences build and little by little the story emerges right in front of your eyes. You find yourself writing a twist in the plot that you did not know was there until the moment you press the keys. That’s a good idea, you think. I like that. I wonder where it’s leading me? And, providing you don’t rush, providing you feel the stillness around and inside you, providing that you trust the process – then the story will unfold. And, as it unfolds, right before your eyes, you know it’s the story you were seeking all along. It feels – like magic.

My bubble came as the snow fell; four inches in the first night and the world transformed. For the next two weeks, I watched as the snow deepened and the ice grew more deadly. Inside I was warm, protected and quiet. Day by day I stayed inside my bubble and each day wrote a new chapter. How my story would finally resolve I did not know, but, like a crossword being pieced together and alert to the clues in front of my eyes, its resolution suddenly became apparent.

Suddenly I was typing the words THE END. Is that the best bit? I always laugh. It seems a surprise to finish a story!

For a few hours, maybe days, you smile. The feeling of elation remains even as you print out your story, do the read-through, correct the typos and tighten pieces of writing here and there, then print it out again.

Then, carefully, you place your manuscript in a box file – and, as you do this, the elation recedes. Suddenly it feels as if it has another life. This story is not just in your head or stored on a file on your computer anymore, you realise, staring down at it. As you close the lid on the box file you know that your story is already out there.

You get into the car and place the box file on the seat beside you. Nobody has seen this story, you think, glancing down at it as you find your way through the traffic. Nobody but me knows what happens – but it has already gone, flown away. In a matter of minutes you will hand the manuscript to your editor. This story that you have owned, which did not exist until a few weeks ago has to find its own way in the world.

You drive home feeling happy, but a little empty. The bubble has faded. The house needs cleaning and you need a walk, a good long walk. Over the course of the next week you find your mind begins to empty of words. The mental clutter of life returns. But the bubble is there, waiting.

Sheridan Winn is author of the Sprite Sister stories.

She has just finished writing the 7^th title in the series,

Magic at Drysdale’s School.

http://www.sheridanwinn.com

SPARKS FROM AUTHORS ELECTRIC

SPARKS – A year’s journey through e-publishing

The first anthology from Authors Electric

The Authors Electric blogspot receives over 12,000 hits a month and its worldwide readership is growing. The group of 29 independent and independently publishing writers present a kaleidoscope of books, opinions and ideas aiming to entertain and inform, each posting one blog a month. Now the group is publishing a selection.

SPARKS is an anthology of blogs by a group of bloggers. It includes contributions from 41 professional authors posted between June 2011 and November 2012. Released on Kindle, SPARKS will cost less than £1. A free app will be available for download to allow the anthology to be read on a wide range of devices. A paperback version is planned for the New Year.

The idea came from Julia Jones, a former bookseller as well as a publisher, reader and writer. Fascinated by developments in the book trade, she got into the habit of reading her fellow Authors Electric members’ blogposts on a regular basis. The more she read, the more impressed she became ‘by other people’s knowledge, humour and their willingness to share their experience’. A casual remark on Facebook that she could ‘feel a collection coming on’ was met by an enthusiastic response – and SPARKS was born.

‘Anthologies have always had their place in the newspaper and magazine world – and I'm not aware of another UK blogging group that has produced anything like this,’ says Julia Jones.

With 430 blogposts to choose from, Jones selected one post from each current member, one from every former member who’d posted on five or more occasions, two guest posts and two ‘specials’.

‘SPARKS aims to present “the journey so far”,’ says Jones. ‘We are a group of authors e-publishing our own work for a number of reasons: some are disillusioned with conventional publishing; some have new work that does not fit traditional genres; we all want to keep our backlist titles in print – and for the sheer pleasure in managing our writing lives. SPARKS reflects this, as well as the new excitements and difficulties of self-publishing.’

One of the ‘specials’ selected marks the 100th review on the IEBR (Indie eBook Review), sister website of Authors Electric. An outside perspective on how media attitudes to writer-publishers have changed is provided in an interview with Scott Pack, publisher of Harper Collins imprint, The Friday Project; book trade analyst and a former bookseller.

‘SPARKS offers a perspective on a year that has seen real change in the independent e-publishing market,’ says Julia Jones. ‘The experience of the individual members of Authors Electric is probably representative of many other writer-publishers. Contributing as a group has helped all of us feel clearer about what we’re trying to do, even when we don’t agree with each other. We all feel more confident that choosing to publish our own work isn’t some form of vanity, but is a new way to connect with readers and manage our own books and our own careers without depending on the traditional “gatekeepers”.’

The paper version of SPARKS is a not-for-profit exercise and will be sold at cost, or as near cost as retailers’ (such as Amazon) pricing structures allow. Authors Electric member, Stephanie Zia (an author who also runs her own e-publishing company, Blackbird Digital), is managing this side of things. Any royalties paid to Blackbird will be put towards providing free books to journalists, reviewers, analysts and broadcasters who might be interested in discussing the group’s work.

As with all Authors Electric projects, such as its Great E-Book Giveaway in April 2012, SPARKS is a group effort.

‘Authors Electric started just over a year ago with zero readers,’ says Susan Price, group co-ordinator. ‘It's now getting 12,000 hits a month from a growing worldwide audience – all due to its writing team of highly articulate, sparky bloggers! I'm privileged to be part of it, and can't wait to see how it develops, along with e-publishing, in the future.’

The SPARKS e-anthology is published on 28^th December 2012. The paperback version will be published early in 2013. The e-anthology will be free for the first five days, after which it will retail at US$0.99 (£0.77).

Journalists who would like a copy of SPARKS to review or comment on digital books, please contact:- Stephanie Zia at Blackbird Digital Books  +44 (0)7816 491189  blackbird.digibooks@gmail.com

For further information and comment on the Authors Electric group, please contact:-

Susan Price – susanlprice@hotmail.co.uk   +44 (0) 1384 256190

AUTHORS ELECTRIC – http://authorselectric.blogspot.co.uk

NAVIGATING THE WATERS

It’s an up and down life, this writing business: feast and famine, highs and lows, and the constant pull between nurturing your creativity and producing what pays the bills.

My rights in the Sprite Sister books have been reverted: now there is no Piccadilly Press behind me. I have to navigate my own way. Ahead are the huge, and potentially choppy, waters of digital publishing: few 7-10 year old readers – my market with Sprites – are yet buying e-books. Still, I wouldn’t swap it, this writer’s life, and the freedom of sailing one’s own little boat.

My summer has been spent re-editing the first five Sprite Sister titles for publication as e-books for Kindle, along with a second edition of print-on-demand paperbacks. I have found it a relatively restful experience to focus on stories that are already written, and to further refine them. I have also reconnected with the plots – have been able to pick up the thread once again. That itself is useful with one more title to write. With that I will be done, and bring the Sprite Sister series to a close.

There is a certain satisfaction in this. First, because there is a lot of me in the stories. The experience of writing Sprites has been fun and a way of reconnecting with my childhood adventures. Second, the seven Sprite Sister books will represent a good body of work: over 200,000 hardback books sold in Germany and sales still going strong. The complete series has potential for a children’s film or play. I have my eyes on the Japanese and American markets.

But it is time to move on. Autumn is coming and the air is cool. New stories beckon and I feel the need to write for the adult market. My little boat sits head to wind: I can’t see which way to go yet, but I can feel the pull of a new current. Soon, I will bear away on a new tack and be off once more.

Meanwhile, here are the first two titles of the new Sprite Sisters e-books. By the end of this year, I expect to e-publish all seven books. Just waiting for the illustrator to design the covers! Question: what does one call the image for an e-book – as it isn’t a ‘jacket’?

 Sheridan Winn is a freelance journalist and author of the Sprite Sister books – see www.sheridanwinn.com

The Circle of Power and The Boy With Hawk-like Eyes are available on Amazon Kindle. 

The Magic Unfolds, The Secret of the Towers, The Ghost in the Tower and    New Magic will be available as e-books this Autumn.

CHAPTER FIVE AND THE PAINFUL TRUTH ABOUT WRITING

‘What’s it like being a writer?’

‘Are you disciplined and start at the same time each day?’

‘Do you listen to music when you write?’

‘How many words do you write in a day?’

‘Where do you get your ideas from?’

It’s wonderful and awful; no; absolutely not (words have their own rhythm and music interrupts the flow); anything between 50 and 5000; and, I have no idea, they’re just there when I need them, I reply.

 How does one explain that writing is as excruciating as it is exhilarating? Sometimes, you explain, the words creep along the page, sometimes they tumble out and, sometimes, if you’re really lucky and get ‘in the zone’, they will fly.

‘So what’s your typical day?’ they ask.

 This is how it often is.

10.00am. Coffee, strong and black, or a large pot of gunpowder and mint tea with some honey; either will guarantee I will need to go to the loo umpteen times in the next hour or so.

Necessary preparation

Ready to roll

10.10am. Upstairs to my office on the second floor, I create a new Word document for Chapter Five of ‘Magic at Drysdale’s School’.

The blank page

 This chapter is from my seventh Sprite Sister title. I know my characters by now. I know what peril I intend to place them in. The stories are fun to write; this should be easy. Off we go.

11.00am. Two trips to the loo, no words on the page. Go downstairs for a piece of Green & Black’s Milk Almond Chocolate and another mug of herb tea.

Well, it's necessary

11.10am. Climb the 26 stairs back up to the second floor and sit down at my desk. Get up and open the window to adjust the airflow, then go to the loo, again.

But why did I drink all that coffee?

 11.15am. While I’m in the bathroom, clean my teeth to get out the almonds in the chocolate that are sticking in my ancient, receding gums. On return to my desk I find there is still one bit still stuck and which is annoying me. Return to the bathroom and start the procedure again, this time with floss.

Distraction No 23

11.25am. Teeth now free of bits. Check my email and smart phone (this is done regularly through the day). Adjust the window again.

The worst distraction

 12.00pm. Answer the ringing telephone in case my aging parents have collapsed, only to find it’s a friend wanting a chat. If you have a lot of friends and a big family, you can be guaranteed frequent interruptions when you are trying to concentrate.

12.30pm. Stare out of the window. Stare at the keyboard.

Speak to me

2.00pm. 165 words now on the page. I will never get this written … Where are my characters going? I’ve had umpteen interruptions and my mind feels all over the place. 

 2.30pm. Time to go for a walk. Lie flat out on the grass and do some cloud watching, then sit under a tree and wait for inspiration. Now do I know what happens next in the story, I wonder, as I return home?

I should be able to clear my mind here ...

4.00pm. Refreshed, though still undecided, I stare at the computer screen. Remind myself that I am writing this book because I want to: nobody is making me. I am enjoying it, really I am. Check my diary again. 

Do the crossword.

I should be writing, not doing this ...

 5.00pm. Lie on the bed.

My back hurts

5.30pm. Back at my desk again.

Not to be beaten

5.35pm. Stare at the note I placed on the wall in front of me, some weeks ago. ‘Magic at Drysdale’s School – deadline end July 2012’, it says in large black type. Oh heck. Why didn’t I see that earlier? Four weeks and around 47,500 words to go.

Arghh.... hurry up, hurry up

 In that case …  Go back down to the kitchen, get a glass of cold rosé and come back up to my seat at the computer.

 6.00pm. As the day winds down and my neighbours return from their work, my mind settles and I know what my characters will do next. That’s the key – writing is easy when you have your plot clear. Within a few minutes, I’m away and into the zone. Time stands still, the noises outside the house recede and my concentration is absolute as my words zing onto the page. I'm on my way at last! 



Sheridan Winn is the author of the Sprite Sister stories. The sixth title, The Boy With Hawk-like Eyes, is available as an e-book. The first title, The Circle of Power, will be published as an e-book later this month and the other titles will follow.