Merry Christmas

Just a quick post to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I’ve taken a break for the holidays from writing Legacy – mainly because my laptop power cable has decided to only work intermittently. I’ve tried swearing at it, but that makes not a jot of difference, so I’ve taken the plunge and ordered myself a brand new laptop from PC World. I would, ordinarily, have baulked at the expense, but – ironically – my financial situation has somewhat improved these last few months, proving that good things can come out of very bad situations.

On Distinctions

Today, I received the long-awaited result for the OU course I finished in October – E301, The Art of English. After two months of waiting, I was almost afraid to click on the results page this morning, having heard all the horror stories from last year’s intake on the First Class forums. I was, however, in for a pleasant surprise. I somehow, by the very skin of my teeth, managed to scrape a distinction, despite having struggled with long periods of depression during the course. I still can’t quite believe it. In fact, I keep going back to the webpage to check that I’m not hallucinating, or that the OU aren’t playing a trick on me. I know that’s unlikely, but I still keep checking.

My next course is A200 – having tried EA300 Children’s Literature and come to the conclusion that I’m allergic to literature! A200 is history – which will be a welcome change from linguistics. But A200 doesn’t start until February, which gives me time to (a) finish Legacy of Lies and (b) spend way too much time playing Farmville

The Wonders of Farmville

I have a confession to make. I think I’m addicted to Farmville! How do I know this? Perhaps because I spend rather too much time wondering whether (a) my crops are ready (b) my animals need harvesting.

Today, I’ve made a discovery – a discovery that might well change the way that I play Farmville forever. I discovered Farmville Secrets – an invaluable ebook that has, in just a few hours, taught me the secrets that will enhance my gameplay and make the whole Farmville experience a whole lot more enjoyable!

You can find out more about Farmville Secrets here: 

www.martinedaniel.com/Farmville.htm

Believe me, it’s worth it!!

Nearing the finish line

By my reckoning, Legacy of Lies should be finished within the next couple of weeks. I’ve had a spurt of productivity (in between taking up a new hobby – beaded jewellery making!) – the kind of productivity where the characters seem to be writing the story themselves, which is always fun. At the moment, Isabella is telling her story – psychiatric care in the 1960s, which I’ve really enjoyed researching. The brutality astounded me – but I think it’s something that needs to be brought to people’s attention.

Because I’m nearly at the end of Legacy, I’m already well on with planning the next two novels. One, I’ve named Symbol of Eternity, which is a story that takes place over a period of 400 years, with a mental health (schizoaffective) aspect. The other, I’m really looking forward to writing – and the research is truly fascinating. It concerns a person with anti-social personality disorder, and the damage they can wreak in the lives of people who come into contact with him. At the moment, it’s title-less, but I’m working on that!

Winning Nanowrimo

Today, I hit the magical 5000 words that entitles me to announce that I am, officially, a winner of Nanowrimo 2009! I participated last year, but forgot to submit my word count in time (doh!), but this year the words have just kept flowing and flowing. Luci and the twins have taken over my mind, and I’m loving the way the story is unfolding beneath my fingertips.

All being well, I should have a manuscript ready to send off to my publishers in a couple of weeks, and then waggons roll on the next one – and then the one after that!!! I’m even learning to use Photoshop so I can design the covers of the books all by myself!!!

When Inspiration Hits

I’m on a bit of a roll at the moment, writing wise. My Open University studies have fallen a little by the wayside, but I’ll get back onto that once I can pluck up the courage to finish reading Treasure Island. I’m beginning to think I should have done all this reading a long while back, but never mind. I’ll get through the course somehow, and then that’s it. Finito – and boy will I be glad. But the writing is going well. Legacy of Lies is coming along nicely, I’ve got Shimmering Souls all plotted out, and the outline for the novel after that – which at the moment I’m calling Depths of Duplicity. I actually can’t wait to get Legacy of Lies finished so I can start on with the next projects. The trouble is, I might need to stop playing Facebook games so much if I actually want to get any writing done!!! And on that note, I should actually do some more writing. 150 words is not going to be enough to finish Legacy!!!

Legacy of Lies

I’ve been writing the sequel to The Fire in Your Eyes, for what feels like forever, but is actually probably only a couple of months. It has gone through a range of titles, from Secret Shame, to Secrets and Lies, through to Legacy, and then finally Legacy of Lies. Strangely, I found the cover image (left) of the sequel long before I settled on the title, or even the actual plot.

But I’ve gone past the milestone half-way point now, and I’ve already started plotting the next book after Legacy of Lies – which is, at the moment, entitled Shimmering Souls. Legacy of Lies is going to be quite different from The Fire in Your Eyes, touching, as it does, on the history of mental illness in Luci’s family and the attitudes towards mental illness that used to have a free reign over society. I’ll be posting up a sneak preview of Legacy of Lies in the next week or so – so keep checking back for that!

Now I’ve gone past half-way, I’m hoping that the momentum will carry me through to the end of the book, within the next few weeks, so that I can get the manuscript off to the publishers before Christmas!

Welcome

Blogging, it seems, is taking over the world, allowing anyone and everyone to publish their thoughts, views and news. It’s more than time, then, that I joined the revolution!

I’ll be blogging about my writing – look out for a sneak preview of Legacy of Lies – the latest mental health news, and offering advice for aspiring authors. If you don’t want to miss a post, subscribe to the RSS feed or drop me an email at thefireinyoureyes@btinternet.com