Martine Daniel

New Website – and new blog

Martine Daniel — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:39:29 +0000

I’ve just changed my webhost, meaning that whilst www.martinedaniel.com redirects to the new server, this blog doesn’t, so if you’re subscribed to this one, or you’ve bookmarked this page, then you’ll need to update your bookmarks to www.martinedaniel.co.uk/blog

Legacy of Lies

Martine Daniel — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:04:27 +0000

I really should update this blog more often!

Since my last post, Legacy of Lies was duly sent off to Jason at Chipmunka, and accepted for publication four days later! I sent the final manuscript and cover image off last week, so now it’s just a matter of waiting for the ebook to be published – it should only be a couple more weeks or so!

I’ve started making plans for the next novel – but I haven’t actually got down to any writing yet. What with OU work, writing articles for Suite101 and trying to master my new Digital SLR camera, I’ve been rather too busy to write much! Even so, the ideas for the next book, which is going to be called Pandect: The Eternal Truth (provisionally, at least) are constantly swimming round in my head, and I’m pretty confident this one is going to be a bit of a cracker. It’s not mental health themed – unless you count the fact that it contains William Blake who was most certainly mentally ill for most of his life – and it’s going to be more of a challenge to write – but I like challenges!

The synopsis of Legacy of Lies is live on the website: www.martinedaniel.com/legacyoflies.htm and I’ll be posting up an extract in the next couple of weeks!

Crossing the Finish Line

Martine Daniel — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 20:10:29 +0000

Today, after what feels like an eternity, I finally typed the last words of Legacy of Lies. At 91,000 words, it’s only 10,000 words over the 80,000 that I was originally aiming for – and most of those 10,000 have been written this weekend!

It’s an emotion-packed book – more so than The Fire in Your Eyes - and it’s actually been quite draining to write it. Now I’ve just got to spend some time on editing, and then get the manuscript sent off to the publishers. With a bit of luck, Legacy of Lies might even be available as an ebook before the end of February!

I’ve already started planning my next novel, although this one probably won’t have quite such a strong mental health theme. The ideas are still in the embyonic stage – but it’s always exciting starting a new project!

My final Open University course, A200: Exploring History: Medieval to Modern starts in a fortnight, too, and I’m really looking forward to getting my teeth into it. Well, okay, so I’ve already started reading the course-books, but it doesn’t actually feel like I’ve really started the course until the official course start date!!!

Snowed In!

Martine Daniel — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 17:15:11 +0000

Well, the snow has been on the ground for three weeks now, and it doesn’t seem to be in any kind of hurry to leave. We are, effectively, made prisoners by the extreme weather – but that, at least, has allowed me the chance to get on with writing!

I’ve recently started writing for Suite101 (http://www.suite101.com/profile.cfm/satnin1981) and am enjoying it immensely. I don’t expect to earn a fortune from my writing, but getting paid for something that I enjoy is always a bonus.

At the moment, I’m in the process of setting up a new website (http://mentalhealthmansion.com) - feel free to visit and have a poke around, but it’s a pretty empty and desolate place right now!! Within the next few weeks, though, I hope to pack it full of mental health content and information, and try to establish it as a reputable place for people to get their mental health information!

Legacy is almost finished, and I’m in the process of putting together a proposal for Sheldon Press for a non-fiction book (I’m keeping that under my hat for the moment!!!)

Merry Christmas

Martine Daniel — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 22:20:04 +0000

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

Martine Daniel — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:06:24 +0000

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

Martine Daniel — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:18:13 +0000

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

Martine Daniel — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:21:24 +0000

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

Martine Daniel — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:40:13 +0000

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

Martine Daniel — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:57:22 +0000

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!!!