The Rosie/Rachel thing

Very late tonight, I sat at the table and talked to my husband about my difficulty with the careful balance of the Rosie/Rachel thing. He is a sensitive and an astute man who, okay admittedly, has not read the books thus far, but has LIVED THEM!!!

Get the picture?

So, when he said, after I'd trucked up from a few hours of happy writing, 'What's up pup?' I knew my cover was blown.

He, who has lived with me for 21 years and been a writer's widower for much of those years, has my number.

'It's girly stuff,' I say.

He has just watched Kick Ass and Piranna (the youngest is away so he is being naughty) and I can tell by his body language that he is actually open to listening.

'Well,' I say. 'It's just that I need to ensure that the reader is okay with both Rosie and Rachel and - '

Eldest has come in from her date.'Hey! Well, what a night. It was great in the end but phew...' Cue, end of discussion. 'What are you guys doing?'

I start to explain what we were talking about and she rolls her eyes. Not that she is disinterested in the story but that it's so uncool to find her parents awake at 11pm talking about a fiction which hasn't been published yet.

There is the rub. The final part of this story has not been published but it is consuming my mind and those who have invested time into it: the babes, my agent, my family, those who have read and loved it, fellow writers......

So, the short answer to the pithy quip from the teenager. 'I'm writing. Na!"

And, just as both my daughters are as different as (excuse the cliche) chalk and cheese but I love them both, so it is with my writing of Rosie and Rachel.

this is a first

I've stopped reading the crap historical novel I was given by my loved and adored friend. It is really really boring. Well written - no question about the technique but I am bored! bored! bored!

Hubby said: read the ending to find out what happens. I did. Okay. Boring.

Sorry but beautiful cover and first time author but I have better things to do during my holiday than read boring fiction.

So, I'm off to pick up some Anita Shreve.

And, spend some time writing.

What I don't get is how something as BORING as this book gets published.

Organising the family. Organising a historical novel. It's pretty much the same thing for me

Though I am a words person, I'm also visual. I need to see words written down, map directions or the cartoon. I need to see. See. See.

So after a wonderful time writing yesterday, I came to the realisation that I needed a map for this final book.

The same was as important as I organised the roast lamb, vegetables and dessert for the family Christmas lunch. I wrote down a map: of the menu; of the things I wanted my husband to do; a list of what I wanted each of the girls to do.

After the opening of prezzies and going to church and having Christmas lunch, I set about 'mapping' the story of Birthright.

It has been an exciting past couple of hours because it has exposed gaps in the narrative. No, that's not bad. It shows me what I need to do to take what is imbedded in my mind out into the type face so that others can truly appreciate this story.

I do not have a story as laiden and complicated as Dianna Gabaldin's but I also do not have a tedious story weighten with atmos and detail which I have found in a number of 'historical fiction' books of late.

writing takes seventeen times as long as reading

Ok. I made up that statistic but it feels like about right.

I'm reading a fabulous book at the moment during the day (along with running around after family and looking after pets) and writing in the evenings and early mornings. I have written heaps and it's taken me HOURS! I've progressed 11 pages. I sat in the doctor's waiting rooms and read 38 pages of the fabulous book I'm reading and it took me 15 mins!

Needless to say, the comings and goings of Birthright are in good hands (I say this with arrogant confidence) but this is becoming a huge book. There are characters who are pushing their way into my story who demand they have a significant part.

Like:
William Graham
the Thane of Cawdor's son
Hecate
and others who I haven't met yet but I feel are just lurking for their chance to burst into the story.

Sheesh. Can't a writer have some control?

Anyway, it is a few days before Christmas where the whole world turns gaa gaa. Me, I'm a bit of a ba humbug. The only special days for me are birthdays. And, I have friends and students struggling with the European disasterous weather so I don't really feel inclined to be particularly festive as I worry about them.

Here in Dunedin, it is unseasonally hot (and windy).

I wish all who read my blog a happy holiday because, damn it, we all deserve it.