To Tweet or Not To Tweet

As writers, and particularly if we enter the world of self publishing, we are told that a presence on social media sites is essential. We need to market our stuff, bare our souls and shout about how great we are. Not so hard, right? Given the number of social media resources, it should be a breeze.

I find it really difficult. I start of with good intentions; but soon fall from the path of good social media. I start to blog daily, the it falls to weekly, then sporadically. 

I visit Facebook far too often and get distracted by posts wanting a puppy or kitten saving, or reading about jolly jaunts, gaze longingly at pictures of my grandchildren in the UK, keeping up with what to plant in the orto (veggie garden) or how to rid the lettuce of slugs and bugs. Then there are the writing sites, with advice on all areas of writing, books to buy - ever so easy with a kindle, just a click away!- and updates from writing friends. That's half a morning gone in a blink of any eye and I still haven't posted anything. 

I do have a Twitter account and read recently that you can schedule 'tweets' ( and as they are short posts, I thought maybe I could manage that. And there aren't any pictures to distract my eye. So I made a plan of subject areas I can tweet on a daily basis, and  just spent an hour on Tweetdeck, writing tweets for the next few days. That was of course, after my Facebook session. And I can schedule my blog, this one, to be exact.

As to the other social media sites, I haven't even explored them for fear of never lifting my head to write another word. What media sites do you use and do they help your writing? Or are they a bit of distraction and take more time out of your day? 

Meet My Main Character Blog Hop

I've been tagged by Dianne Ascroft to take part in this blog hop about main characters in our latest work in progress. Dianne is a fellow member of Writers Abroad and has self published a novel set in World War II - Hitler and Mars Bars.
I'm currently working on a fantasy novel but do have other historical works in progress, so I shall showcase one of those. However, there is no reason why the characters for the blog hop can't be from any genre as you will discover from my tagged authors below. Makes things a little more interesting...

1) What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person?
There are two strong female characters in this project, Eve Lacey and Isabella Bloomfield. Neither of them are based on any particular person—more they are a mix of women I have read about in my research around World War II, particularly about the ATA girls. When I lived in the UK, I met and interviewed an old lady, Pat Brandon, who had nursed in London during the war and she also inspired me to write about this time.

2) When and where is the story set?
The story is set during the years of World War II and starts with Eve and Isobel meeting in a field hospital in France. They continue their friendship when Isobel joins the ATA and Eve is posted back to England.

3) What should we know about him/her?
The two friends couldn’t be more different. Eve is from the country and ran away from her cruel aunt after her father died. Isobel is a wealthy debutante who it seems has everything she could wish for. The women, however, share a birthday and from the first time they meet, their lives run along parallel lines.

4) What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?
Eve and Isobel fall in love with the same man, Jack Wallace, an ace fighter pilot. Eve has a brief liaison with him and falls head over heels in love but never sees him again. Isobel is pursued by Jack and eventually agrees to marry him. Soon after, Jack is killed in combat and Eve reveals the consequences of her liaison.

5) What is the personal goal of the character?
Both women want to live life in the moment as dictated by circumstances out of their control. However ultimately they both want to be loved and seek to secure their future. 

6) Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?
The working title at the moment is All Will Be Well but it has been known as The Flying Angels as it features quite a bit about the ATA girls.

7) When can we expect the book to be published?
This was the first full length work in progress I penned. Having self-published The Duke’s Shadow, on March 1 this year it has given me the confidence to rewrite all my works in progress. Hopefully, 2015. You can find news updates on my website Louise Charles.

The two authors I have tagged are: 
Vesna McMaster - a fellow member of Writers Abroad and 
Pam Burkes, who writes with her sister as the author, Ellie Campbell. Together they have published four novels, How to Survive Your Sisters, When Friends Go Bad, Looking for La La and To Catch a Creeper.

Following Your Writing Dreams

It is every writer's dream to see their work in print. I don't believe that any writer really wants to keep their work all to themselves. We write so that others can read. But as we all know, writing just isn't about putting words down on paper or tapping them into a PC. There is so much to the writing process that is not about writing.

Marketing is fast becoming the No 1 skill that we writers have to get our heads around. And it's not easy. Generally, writers are not good at selling themselves or their work. It's not what we do best. But we have to learn, whether we are picked up by a publishing house or choose the self publication route, we have to shout out and shout out loud to be heard (and therefore read).

And for me, I learn through my failures. My last marketing plan sort of fizzled out. The promises I made to myself to stand tall and be counted weren't followed through. Most of all I lacked a consistent approach. Next time will be different. It is a hard mountain to climb and sometimes results are slow.

I've had some wonderful comments about The Duke's Shadow. People have taken the time and effort to go out of their way and say constructive things about my book - they've actually read it! So my dream of getting into print and reaching out to readers has been fulfilled in some part. It is these testimonials that I will treasure and return to when I need a confidence boost rather than wallowing in self pity about what I haven't done. 

And in the meantime, I shall continue to follow my writings dreams, by preparing my next publication (more of which to follow).

ReWriting Counts? - Day 23

CampNaNo finishes in 7 days and I've been looking at ways I can catch up. I need to pen over 3000 words a day to reach the 50k target and my four writing prompt challenges are totalling around 2,400 so a bit of a shortfall. So as planned, I'm going to start rewriting my next work in progress, in preparation for self publication. Wolf Moon is a fantasy (not sci fi) and one I have really loved writing as it freed me from the restrictions of historical fact and research and allowed me to create my own world. Red inked fountain pens are at the ready. I'll share more from my website Louise Charles as I progress. 
But for now... on day 22, these were my writing prompts:

1. Keywords: time, mine, bell, celebrate, fun 
2. Random: a marriage that’s run its course: 
3. One-word prompt: trying
4. This picture:  which prompted me to write something set in 3014!

Until Later,

Catching Up - Day 22

I've been away from my writing desk (virtual and real) for a few days. Though to be fair, they weren't wasted days in terms of writing. I've spent time catching up with my fast growing granddaughter and grandson, finding out what makes them tick, enjoying their individualism and making mental notes about characteristics. I also spent some time enriching my research notes for two writing projects. One is set in medieval times and features the old Abbey at Shaftesbury. This wasn't the first time I've visited the Abbey, in fact it was a day that I spent there some years ago that inspired 'The Morning Gift' but it renewed my desired to see the story evolve into print. So lots of notes made. And the second was a visit to Shaftesbury Museum which stands at the top of the very famous Gold Hill. The museum had a feature on World War 1 - topical as you might imagine. But more interestingly on the role of Fovant and the field hospital that was set up there. Fovant is also famous for it's badges, carved into the rocks on the hills by soldiers from various regiments. This is the setting for a project I intend to start this year. 
So even when writers cannot physically be seen to be writing, they are developing ideas, soaking up inspiration and verifying facts for later use.
But now back to my challenge: I've got 37,000 words to scribble before the end of the month.

Distractions - Day Nine

On Day eight, I wrote about competing priorities getting in the way of writing. Yesterday, I allowed myself to fall into the trap of distraction. Now, I'm easily distracted. I like to call it multi-tasking (a bit like plate spinning) but it's not, my 'man that does' calls it the butterfly technique. There are the usual culprits; emails, Facebook, weather reports, reading the BBC page to make sure I'm up to date in a cultural sort of way, putting out the wet washing, collecting in the dry washing (luckily I don't iron), watering the plants, brushing the dogs and playing with the cats. 

On Day Nine, I found myself distracted by a need to play Solitaire (on the PC) until I got it out three times, listening to Adele on the radio whilst writing which totally changed the outcome (I usually write in silence) and answering the telephone (I usually ignore it while writing, but then get distracted by the message being left on the answerphone).
Anyway, whatever the distractions, they didn't stop me from penning 3000 words - yes, I did the extra 15 minute challenge I failed to do on Day 7, so all up to date and feelin' good.
The prompts I wrote to were:

1. Monologue: Your character has suddenly reached a road he/she doesn't recognise
2. Keywords: sudden, cruel, pleases, fool, conviction                
3. Random: throwing shadows
4. Picture: what does this inspire?   (It didn't so I wrote about the senses)       
5. Tuesday Title: The Woman

Until Later,

Spinning Plates - Day 8

We all have to cope with competing priorities on a daily basis and being a writer doesn't mean that you cannot be distracted by other items on the dreaded 'to do list'. I love lists, as my husband will tell you. I have lists about lists and coloured pens to illustrate when something has been done! Ticking items as completed gives me a great sense of pleasure. Sad I know. But I do get (some) things done. As you can probably tell, I'm a bit of spinning plate kind of person. And yesterday on Day 8, a plate fell. I only completed three out of the four writing challenges I planned. But... I finished decorating the bathroom which makes me feel happy. Here are the three challenges I wrote about yesterday with a total word count of around 1800.

1. Keywords: mate, cold, sheath, curve, CD (I didn't manage to include 'sheath', not sure why?)
2. Random: stealing a kiss
3. Picture: (but I changed the fruit and wrote about cherries, not plums...) 

Today, I hope to catch up with my challenges and complete five... the pressure is on as I go away on Friday for a few days.

Until Later,