Blog Hop: The Next Big Thing

Felicity Hayes-McCoy, author of The House on an Irish Hillside, invited me on a Blog Hop for 'The Next Big Thing' in which writers answer ten questions on their work in progress and tag other writers to do the same. She is a brilliant writer as well as being a wonderful mentor and friend to me, so I only said 'No' once before she managed to twist my arm. Well, you know me, I'm such a shy, retiring writer, I hate to talk about my work...   

What is the title of your next book?

Spray Painted Bananas.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

Like my main character, Amber, I have been to conceptual art galleries where I've been baffled by what I'm looking at and have thought, 'but I could do this!' Now cross this thought with a banana and see what you get... 

 

What genre does your book fall under?
Romantic Comedy.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Pic from Allure Mag

Pic from Listal.com

I don't have actors in mind when I'm writing my characters.

 

That said, if James McAvoy is free  and can do an Irish accent, he is welcome to play Farrell. 

And perhaps Zooey Deschanel, if she can do a convincing British accent, she can be Amber... can someone forward them my email? Thanks.   

 
What is a one sentence synopsis of your book?

Not long after acquiring some official police bananas, Amber decides to become a conceptual artist.  

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I've just joined MBA Literary agency and will be represented by Laura Longrigg.

 

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

One month planning. Four month writing.  I posted two chapters a week on Wattpad. It was very intense! You can read it there. It's got 925,000 hits so far! I'll open a bottle when it hits a million.

 

What other books would you compare yours to?

That's hard. I'm going to pretend I didn't see this question...

 

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

After spending a couple of years working on a more serious novel, I wanted to have some fun! I've since discovered my best writing happens when I'm having fun. I also read a bit of Sophie Kinsella and Lisa Jewell to get me in the mood, as their books are fast paced and upbeat.

 

What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?

There is a cute kitten in it called Rupert inspired by this video:

                        

                          

Next week on THE NEXT BIG THING are two lovely writers and bloggers, Lily Dunn, who is working on a second novel and who I met through the North London Writers Group,  and Bill Fathers, who has a hilarious blog and claims not to be a writer at all. But I'm going to argue that he is, because it's MY blog. Thank you for accepting to do the blog hop!

 

Lily Dunn is putting the final touches to her second novel, hoping to
have it finished by the Summer. Her first novel, SHADOWING THE SUN,
was published by Portobello Books in 2008. She is represented by
Judith Murray at Greene and Heaton. When she's not writing fiction she
blogs about anything that captures her imagination, around writing, social media and her kids.
 

Bill Fathers didn’t set out to have five children, nor, once they were born, did he intend to be a permanent source of embarrassment to them, but, as it turns out, he did and he is. No one, least of all him, really understands why he feels the need to record many of the more humiliating moments of his pitiful efforts to be a father, yet he continues to do so in his blog ShoutyDad.com, which, presumably as a result of a clerical error at the media monitoring organisation Cision, is officially the UK’s number one fatherhood blog. He lives in a village in Sussex and is a journalist.

 

 

Do check out their blogs, where they will be answering questions on their work in progress very soon.

On Getting a Literary Agent - the very beginning!

Long before there was Downton Abbey, there was Dandelion Abbey.

"Dandylion Abbey stood strong and steady on her neat rows of reddish stone. It was a beautiful Abbey and a tall one too. It had two iron gates, beautifully designed by Maiya Goodfound, an ancient mouse, who had died a long time ago. Now in the Abbey lived peaceful woodlanders."

It was a novel written by an 11 year old who had just finished the Redwall series by Brian Jacques. Think The Lord of Rings if the hobbits were field mice and the Orcs were rats.

I remember writing it as if it were yesterday, on the floor of my bedroom, one hand lost under the sleeve I was forever sniffing, the other scribbling in blue biro. The middle part was tough. Isn't it always? I'd reached a sort of plateau where nothing was really happening. The rats were journeying towards the Abbey, the Abbey dwellers were standing around worrying about the rats. It was starting to feel a bit too much like hard work. God knows why I didn't just go play.

I stuck it out to the battle scene, and then the triumphant feast. I even wrote an epilogue.


I've got boxes of handwritten novels. Books that were influenced by whatever I was reading at the time, from Enid Blyton's Mallory Towers to Point Horror Books, The Deptford Histories and Jane Austen.

 

I found Dandelion Abbey last weekend in my parents attic. It wasn't random. I was looking for it. I wanted to remember where it all began. I wanted to connect with a younger version of myself.

I've started a book that I'm going to get published, I wrote in my diary, about Dandelion Abbey.

I didn't even know what a literary agent was back then.  

Now 18 years later, I've just signed with Laura Longrigg at MBA. That's a huge one to tick off my list. I'm still pinching myself.

This is it! A voice whispers in my head. You know that writing career you've always wanted? You can have it!

For all those who've been following Spray Painted Bananas and telling me it should be published, well that has suddenly become a possibility.

Of course nothing is certain. There's a lot of work to be done. But I love it! I'm thrilled to have taken this step and deeply grateful to all those who have supported me since the beginning, and who support me now.

"I'm sorry to say lots of friends and relations were killed in battle, but their spirit lives in the Abbey with the 'Golden One'. It is very hot out in the orchard. Waterbubble and Chip and all the small animals are having sports day, Waterbubble isn't controlling them very well. Flufftail has brought out some cream cake, I must get some before the rest get it all. I'll put down my quill and I'll go and join the food - Samskiel, Abbey Writer."

The End   



The Beginning!
 

 
Visit my MBA Profile

 

Blog Under the Spotlight: Skull-A-Day

My next Blog Workshop is on Saturday 6th April. Every time I prepare for a workshop I learn so much, partly because social media is always developing and partly because of all the new blogs I find myself visiting. I love coming across original blogs and finding out about the blogger's journey. I'm especially interested in blogs that became books!

 

Skull-a-Day was featured in Blogging for Creatives. It was set up by Noah Scalin, who on the 4th of June 2007 posted an orange paper skull and wrote, "I'm making a skull a day for a year". He made his 365th skull on 2nd June 2008.

 

The project caught people's imagination, and the following year, the blog featured daily submissions from readers. In October 2008 a book based on Skull-A-Day was published by Lark Books, featuring 150 images from the first half of the project.

 

The popular blog is still going strong and Noah Scalin was kind enough to stop by and tell me more about it.

Why skulls?

 

Initially the idea of having skulls as my focus was a completely random thought. It was something that popped into my head and since I like them, I figured it would be fun.  Both of my parents are artists, so I grew up around anatomical imagery and as far as I can tell I've pretty much always liked skulls (I still have a very nice drawing of one I did when I was six). Of course with the benefit of hindsight it seems like the perfect subject matter for a daily meditation on creativity since the memento mori is a traditional art concept of using the skull as a reminder to live each day fully. Of course I'm not smart enough to have actually chosen it consciously for that reason!

What was your motivation behind the blog?

To get myself out of a creative slump. I was really burnt out with clients and not feeling like I was making progress getting people thinking of me as a fine artist, rather than just a graphic artist.

 

How did you promote it?

Initially I just let 100 of my friends know about it and encouraged them to share. A lot of the initial work was done by them really! Most of the biggest early press came through friends of friends.

 

 

Did you contact the publisher or did they come to you? 

I was actually contacted by a book publishing agent who thought it would make a good book and she was the one that helped me craft a book proposal and pitch it. And she's still my agent today! 

 

How do you make money from the blog?

I don't really. The blog is more about building an audience and interest in my work, which then allows me to make money in other ways (books, talks, art sales, etc.). The site is now run by 3 volunteer editors, who were originally über fans of the site, and it's hosted by Blogger, so there are no real expenses (other than everyone's time) to keep it running. We do however run weekly giveaways, and that's an opportunity for the editors to get some free stuff in exchange for their hard work.

 

What would be your advice to anyone thinking of starting a blog?

Set yourself achievable goals and be consistent with posting. Don't try to do great things from day one, just aim for getting it done and getting it out there. The audience will come over time if you keep showing up and sharing. More than anything it's the persistence that pays off.

 

Visit Skull-A-Day 

Follow @Skulladay @NoahScalin on Twitter

 

 

Catholics - We aren't all bad!

The Church where I got married!

I'm not going to start blogging about religion. It's a subject that makes people uneasy. It makes me uneasy and I'm Catholic. If you're imagining me whispering the rosary with a black lace mantilla on my head you can stop it now. There are Zulu warriors above my bed not a sacred bleeding heart.

To be honest, the only thing that really matters to me is the bit about 'love they neighbour as thyself' - and that's a big enough challenge for a lifetime without needing to complicate things with other rules.  

The resignation of the pope and the discovery of yet more cases of sexual misconduct has made it even more confusing to be a Catholic than usual. The Roman Catholic church works hard to appear a righteous establishment but fails miserably. Often I've sat in church and thought: "I'm a rational human being, what am I doing here?" 

The upsurge of right wing Catholics desperate to maintain the old ways and stop the church becoming more inclusive would depress me if I thought about it too much. Because it's simple, isn't it? The whole message of Jesus is to love people unconditionally, even when people are virtually unlovable. It's an easy concept even if it's very difficult, borderline impossible to do.   

The problem is the church is getting too fussy about this idea of their 'neighbour'. It doesn't think everyone should be loved after all. It doesn't think gays should be loved quite as much, or divorcees, or religious women, or women in general.

On Sunday the priest chose to speak out about everything that had been nagging at his heart. He began by telling us about a woman in the parish who had been married, had had children, and had later divorced. He told us that she  had found happiness late in life, and he really wanted to bless her. "I can bless a dog, I can bless a car, but why can't I bless two people who love each other?" he asked.

He spoke out about discrimination against gender and sexuality. "Why is so much energy wasted on looking at what people are doing in their beds rather than what's in their hearts?" He was visibly moved as was most of the congregation who had been yearning for this truth to be shouted from the rooftops for so long.

 

The priest got a standing ovation for his sermon. And that gives me hope. I'm not going to blog about religion. But I just wanted to share that hope, in case, like me, you needed it.

Do You Want To Be a Super Centenarian?

Photo from AnimalSpot

What's more important, that you live long or you live well? Unlike some species of animal, humans have an unfortunate tendency to fall apart as they get older. If the Bowhead Whale, with its average life span of 200 years, felt how we inevitably would at that age, it would sink. Instead it keeps on swimming without the need of a stick, reading glasses or a fin massage. But though the longevity of their life might appeal, the thought of swimming for more than an hour makes me want to put my feet up and have a snooze.

       

What about being a Giant Tortoise? They can live to well over 100 years. The downside is that they're born already looking old and decrepit, and they don't move all that much faster than your average ancient human.

The Tuatara lizard seems a happy medium, again with an average life expectancy of a 100 years, which they live fully and actively till the end, centenarian lizards being perfectly capable of baring children.

Personally I don't want the option of having kids when I'm a hundred. I just don't want to be stuck in my armchair for the last ten years of my life.

My vision is of pottering around in my sun lit terrace at the ripe old age of 104. I'm still active, still writing novels (with decent sex scenes in them, at last). I'm growing mint for my mojitos and I've got a little dog called TinTin. My husband, 108, is in the living room designing an even more flashy and complicated way of turning on the television than we had in 2013.

 

Fauja Singh - Photo from PravasiToday

 

I know I need to put some effort in now if I intend to arrive at 104 in great shape. My hero of the month is Fauja Singh, a 101 year old marathon runner. Unfortunately marathon running is a bit extreme for me. I'm thinking more along the lines of stretching.  

Not long ago I discovered this video which simultaneously teaches you yoga and takes you to Costa Rica.  At the moment, every single muscle aches when I do the exercises. If I put it off till I'm any older it will be like flexing a chicken with rigor mortis. Where I'm the chicken.

 

            


Obviously keeping physically fit is only half the battle, an intact mind is also vital.

Now I'm wondering what those Bowhead Whales have been thinking about for the last two centuries. How sane are they? Because I know for a fact, there's no Sudoku in the deep blue sea.

I Married a Foreigner



It began in Wales...



 

When my Mum was young she swore she'd 'never become a teacher' and 'never marry a foreigner'. Before you associate her with UKIP, let me explain. At the time my Mum was studying German. Not only are German words very long but they tend to resemble a line-up of letters in Scrabble when you've been particularly unlucky. The experience completely put her off learning languages and she knew if she married a Brit the chances of needing to learn a foreign tongue was very low.

 

My Mum went on to teach Art and marry my Spanish father. To make matters worse, he was from Catalonia, meaning that my Mum found herself having to learn not just one language, but two.

 

I've been thinking about this story because I've been eating a lot of avocadoes recently. This is the direct effect of being married to a Colombian who doesn't really see the purpose of lettuce.

 

Colombian fritanga - spot the salad!

 

This observation made me think how my diet has changed. I would never have bought plantain before, or cassava, and I love both. When I went travelling I hated arepas, the corn bread eaten so widely in South America, but now, even though I'd still prefer toast and butter any day, I have grown fond of them.

 

Nowadays we make special trips to a newsagent in Camden Town which supplies lots of Colombian goodies. We buy packs of chocolate slabs to melt into 'proper' hot chocolate, and then I turn my nose up as my husband puts a lump of cheese in his.

 

Diet isn't the only thing that has been influenced. As my Mum found when she married my Dad, marrying a foreigner comes with lots of new traditions. Take Christmas, the big day in Colombia is the 24th, in Britain it's the 25th and in Spain there are huge celebrations on 6th January when the King's come with all the presents.

 





Christmas Dinner in Spain



But I don't feel like I've simply adopted a few new traditions, I feel like I've adopted a whole country. When the Colombian BMX rider, Mariana Pajón, won gold in the Olympics I was ecstatic. How I see it, having another country to cheer for, can only be a great thing.

 



Now that people can comment on online newspapers, we can see how afraid of foreigners a lot of people are. Maybe it's the  fear of losing one's identity. Or just plain racism. Either way the prejudice and hate makes me shudder. If we identified with being 'human' before we identified with our nationality, wouldn't the world be a better place?

 

 

That said, I've often pondered what country my future children will identify with, and have even felt sad that my own Spanish/British heritage might be watered down. But that's only when I'm being small-minded, because it doesn't matter where they're from. What matters is that their life is enriched by our different cultures and their minds are opened to new ones. 'Never say never,' they say. Well I'm glad my Mum did.     

 

 

  

                                                                                                                                                        

           

I'm Away Guest Blogging!

Hello! I'm guest blogging for Mslexia at the moment so please visit me at their Blog. I'll be back here next month.   

Here are some of my guest posts:

Tweets, Tweeps & Twits
The Pressure of an Online Presence
Social Media: Friend or Foe

Thanks for reading!

Emily x