THOMPSON
I’m late again, and cross with myself for having to start yet another newsletter with an apology. But I have been sick! So please feel sorry, and pardon me.
STAR GAZING
I am seldom sick, so any time I have to retire to bed I do so feeling resentful and petulant, angry at my body for letting me down. And every day I try to spring out of bed pretending that I’m well until half an hour later I realize I’m fooling no one but myself, and crawl back in between the sheets. So while I’ve been confined, I’ve been trying to keep busy with things I can do from bed.
I’ve been correcting the page proofs for my next novel – Star Gazing – which will be published under the aegis of Open Door early next year (I’ll tell you more about it nearer publication date).
READING MATTERS
I’ve been reading
voraciously (I nearly said ‘voluminously’. Incidentally, if I use loads of
wrong words in this newsletter it’s because I've been writing it with my laptop balanced on a
bed tray and my dictionary on the other side of the room and it’s too
much effort to get out of bed to fetch it. I know I should use the online
dictionary, but because I am a Luddite, I much prefer the old-fashioned way.
Come to think of it, reading ‘voluminously’ is a rather good word for
reading in bed. Conjures up an image of a riot of sheets and paper).
Um. What else have I been doing? I’ve been spending a lot of time on freerice.com Go there for new words! It is completely addictive – and for such a good cause. I now have to earn a set number of grains of rice every day before I start work.
QUIET QUARTERS
I’ve been putting the finishing touches to some works in progress ( you’ll be able to hear my Quiet Quarters on Lyric FM every morning during Christmas week) and I have embarked on something new which I don’t want to say too much about in case I hex myself. Suffice to say, it is a brand new baby that I've had such fun writing! I sent the MS out to the usual handful of trusted writer friends, and feedback has been really gratifying so far, so fingers crossed. But it will be a while before I know if this baby is going to hold my hand and take me in the direction I want it to, so I am just going to have to be patient and play the waiting game.
Again :-(
CREATIVE WRITING
The waiting game is a game I hate to play, but as a writer, you have to get used to it. I said as much to the group of students I talked to at a creative writing course during the month, when I was outlining all the pitfalls as well as the pleasures of writing as a career. The biggest pleasure is, of course, the buzz you get when the work is going well and you can hardly keep your hands off it. Or the buzz when a reader gives you really positive feedback (for examples of truly lovely feedback, please click here) Feedback for all you aspiring writers out there is of course incredibly important, but do be careful who you show your MS to. The damage done by negative comments can feel like a kick to the head. I told the students a story of how someone had once come up to me and said: ‘I read your book.’ Just that. No compliment, no insult. But the fact that she didn’t elaborate was more eloquent than any words. For a mini-masterclass on creative writing that might amuse, please click here. It’s an extract from Sex, Lies & Fairytales, in which my aspirant writer heroine goes to visit a much more successful novelist in the hope of receiving some advice. It was loosely based on a real incident, when I approached the wonderful Deirdre Purcell, and asked her for help. That was nine novels ago!
EASONS
The brilliant thing about Deirdre is that she is so multi-talented: if she’s not writing novels, she’s working on hugely entertaining non-fiction. Her new book - Follow Me down to Dublin - is a beautifully illustrated record of a city where ‘you can always find someone who knows someone who knows someone else’. Follow Me down to Dublin was launched in Eason’s, O’Connell Street - which features on the jacket, as it was over fifty years ago. Two days later I was in Eason’s again to ask Russell Brand to sign a copy of his Booky-Wook (my daughter is a fan. Hell – let’s be honest, so am I). What wicked eyes that man has! If he didn’t exist, someone would have to put him in a novel (now there’s an idea…)
SAD NOTE
The month ended on a sad note for me. My lovely neighbours (who moved into their house at exactly the same time as we moved into ours) have moved on to Hong Kong. Here’s a pic of me and Susan as we often stood, sharing gossip on our doorsteps. I’ll miss her very much – but there’s always Skype, the wonders of which I cannot stop praising to the high, high heavens (I talk to my daughter, Clara, in Japan all the time now when I should be hard at work)!
FAB CHRISTMAS
I do so hope you have a fabulous Christmas. At the time of writing we still haven’t quite worked out where we’re going to be this year, so please come back next month to find out where we ended up.
May 2008 be a prodigiously good one for you!
愛している
Kate
PS: Clara tells me that the above
kanji is all about love, so I’m taking her word for it. If any of you know
otherwise, please let me know ASAP!
THANK YOU
Thank-you so much as ever for taking the time to read this, and a million thanks for your continued support. Just to remind you that I will no longer be sending out round robins to those of you who have subscribed to the site, to advise you as to when the monthly newsletter has been published. This is because the subscriber facility on the website has been hi-jacked by spammers, and it is, unfortunately, no longer possible to separate the wheat from the chaff. But please rest assured that the newsletter will continue to appear on the website as near to the first day of each month, as always.
♥♥♥
from
Kate
PS: ORDERING BOOKS
to buy
By the way, while Sex, Lies and Fairytales is available to buy or to order in all good bookshops in Ireland, the UK and the Commonwealth, its companion piece Hard to Choos is available to buy direct from booksellers only in Ireland at present. Should you wish to buy the book from Amazon, clicking here will take you straight to the sales point. You can also order Hard to Choos from Pixie's site. Lots of you are wondering where my backlist can be purchased. Amazon is good, of course, but my Transworld titles are also available - with free P&P in the UK - at Bookpost. (Just key in the title name in inverted commas - ie: "More Mischief")
to buy
© Kate Thompson, 2007
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