I've been trying to learn the workings, or some, of my phone; beginning with photos and the whole editing suite that comes with the package. I am slightly more informed than I was a couple of hours ago, but still clapping my hands at happy accidents and insights but confused most of the time. Now, I am able to twist and turn upright; I suppose it's always a good thing to be upright. The images from the phone wouldn't let me edit them on the computer's software, but now I'm a wiser woman. My god, the places that photos can hide on a phone is amazing, but I got the little buggers.

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A very quiet day today, people. This ruddy cold has really wiped me out all day and I've been languishing all over the flat making faint groaning sounds. So, a normal weekend then, here in the deep south. At least I am keeping Mr Lucozade in business. Not to mention Mr Kleenex. If there was ever an Olympic sport in snorting like an old horse, the gold medal would already have my name on it. As it were.

I have not been entirely useless though. I have revamped the Goldenford site book pages so each book in the main listing has a thumbnail picture of the front cover next to it, which you can see here (click onto full post for link). Though I say it myself, we do some shit-hot covers here in Goldenford country ...

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Today I do not feel like a writer, so much. It's partly because my head is stuffed with an encroaching cold. It's partly because I wasn't able to write more than 700 words last week due to pressure of work. Mostly though I think it's because I haven't been reading enough recently.

The silliest piece of advice I ever read in a How to Write textbook (serves me right for investing in the capitalist chicanery that is the How to... publishing business) was Do Not Read. Books, said this lunatic, are the devil's candy!

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What sort of title is that? Basically, it’s all about motivation. Think about the carrot and the stick – motivating people either by reward or punishment. The carrot is: “do it right and you’ll get this; do it wrong and you won’t” while the stick is: “do it right or else...”

In writing (for those who want to make it a career) there is no real “stick.” It’s very rare for an agent to receive a submission, consider the material below standard and pay you a visit with a baseball bat for wasting their time. So generally speaking...


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First off, I do have to say that actually last night in London wasn't as strange and scary as I'd feared. I did still feel that I was putting on a costume that no longer suited me, but it was okay. Perhaps it's everyone else that's normal and just me who's strange? Lordy, no, don't answer me on that one. I also felt pleased as a couple of times, I did say something honest during the conversation - not in an over-the-top way, but I just said a sentence or two about (a) mutual friends I no longer see, and (b) church stuff, and then moved on. Ye gods, even I can be real during social interaction sometimes - well, it has been known ...

Anyway, to today. There is good news and some not-so-good news. I am incredibly pleased that the agent has got back to me about The Gifting and has said the magic words: It reads wonderfully well, the characterisation works and the writing and story flows. You know, that makes me feel so damn good that I'm going to type it again: It reads wonderfully well, the characterisation works and the writing and story flows. High-five, captain - it looks like I can on occasion turn dross into something a tad shinier then. Yes. As a result, he's going to send it out to five UK fantasy publishers and six US fantasy publishers on Monday. Ah, I feel good now, Carruthers, but alas soon the rejections will start to roll in, you know. Still, I'm hanging onto the moment for as long as I damn well can ...

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I am extremely impressed by Women Rule Writer's post on the Sean O'Failian Short Story Prize, which she is judging this year. Entering short story competitions is a fraught undertaking, for me at least, involving much work. First, who are the judges? Google them, see what they write, then try and think if I have something "similar". Or perhaps they like to read stuff that isn't what they write. Should I send two very different stories? But wait - does the judge read all the entries? What if there are First Readers, and I don't know who they are, don't know what they like. (Tear hair out.) And what about the word limit - should I only send a story that is exactly that length? What about short shorts? Will they just toss those? (Often at this point I bombard the competition organizer with emails to try and ascertain what their views are about stories much shorter than the max length. Can't fail to suspect that this bombardment might harm my chances, even if the comp is being judged blind.)

Anyhow, WRW has spared me this agony. As she says:

This is a very honest and open competition: there is no team of first readers, the judge reads EVERY story. That is rare, and it means your story has an equal chance with every other story submitted. You are only going to be subject to one person’s taste (mine) so here’s a helping hand. These are some of the things that I’ll be looking for in entries:....

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Seeking a career in writing is to enter into a world of doubt, self-deprecation and worry. I think that it must be the same for all creative people, but I can't speak for musicians or artists, so I have to speak as I find.

The concerns and worries are endless:

What if my work isn't good enough? What if I have been kidding myself for the last year/2 years/3 years/lifetime that I have been putting my opus together? Can I find an agent? Can an agent sell my type of work? Will I get a multiple book deal? And if I do, what if I don't have more than one book in me? What if the ideas dry up? What if the publishers don't get behind the book. Will I have enough money to survive? What am I doing pretending to be a writer? What if? Will I? Can I? Should I?

A lot of these worries are founded. A lot are not.


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Have spent this morning updating the Goldenford website with information on Irene Black's upcoming novel, Darshan - which is a gripping and literary tale of a young Indian woman's search for her UK roots. You can read the beginning here (click into full post for links). We're hoping to publish it over the summer, so watch this space!

I've also updated the News section with the details of Goldenford's June visit to Germany - a Surrey publisher goes international, so all exciting stuff!...

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Well I've just, finally, seen The Golden Compass film. I'm behind the times, I know, but do you know what, I could have waited a lot longer. Not too impressed at all*.

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In "Slipstreaming Eagleton and selling your soul" I and some of the commenters were grumbling about the way that our non-fictional selves often seem more important to the book trade and to readers than what we write, which is ostensibly the raison d'être of the whole industry. (I'm reminded of the vast edifice of health clubs and Away strips and Chelsea-Football-Club-branded wine, which surrounds a postage stamp of centrally-heated grass in the middle of the stadium at Stamford Bridge.) Then Rosy Thornton had an excellent rant on Vulpes Libris about the way that book trade categories, and most particularly book covers, are 'the insidious perpetrator of stereotypical assumptions' about fiction, literature and their readers. And I was fascinated to hear how many publishers' publicists are astonished that Zoë Fairbairns, in journalist mode, insists on receiving a copy of an author's book before she'll do an interview with them, and if the book doesn't arrive in time for her to read it properly, she cancels the interview.*

It's partly, I think, that as writers we've spent a year, or two or three or ten, making sure that every word and scene and character is necessary to our novel, and it's then very difficult for us to bear the inevitable reductiveness involved in any kind of summary or sample.

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