Monday 7 February 2011

Who'd Have Thought?

I've fallen in love:
It came as a bit of a shock when I realised that I'd developed a crush on my hero. But of course I had to take things a stage further - I fell in love with him! I'd wake up and he'd be the first thing I thought of. What would he do/wear/say that day? Sadly it was a one-sided relationship because he had a thing for my protagonist. I should have been jealous, but she'd become a good friend of mine and I was happy for her! Since making friends at writing groups and on Twitter, I now know that it's par for the course for romantic novelists to feel this way about their hero. It certainly helps with the imagination for the raunchier scenes!I'm rude:
I think I've become unintentionally rude when speaking with other people. I can now hold a conversation whilst taking little notice of what's being said. I don't mean to be rude, but sometimes my mind is thinking about dialogue between my characters or setting a scene. So whilst I'm nodding and aah-ing, my thoughts are plotting or editing. I apologise now if someone is reading this and remembers a glazed expression on my face whilst we were chatting!
I'm have panda eyes:
I've learned that Touche Eclat is a writer's best friend. Late nights lead to dark semi-circles under the eyes and they'll need a little lightening the following morning. Beauty tip: Don't fall asleep whilst balancing used cold tea-bags on your eyes. I tried it once and dozed off. When I woke up I had two square-shaped stains on my eyes which lasted for a day or two!
I'm mad:
I talk to myself a lot these days. I mull over scenes, dialogue, plots etc but tend to do it more and more out loud. I seem to do it quite a lot whilst driving too, which thankfully hasn't been banned yet!
I have virtual friends:
I've discovered that there are many lovely fellow writers out there. Their support and humour have guided me through writers' block and feelings of low self-literary worth! Our conversations might only take place through the ether, but they are friends nevertheless. I wish we could all live in one big happy supportive community, but I imagine we'd never get any writing done, what with all the coffee drinking and cake-eating we'd be doing!
I'm obsessed:
Why have I become obsessed with notebooks? I love them! Big, small, lined, plain, colourful, embroidered....and as for those with elastic that wraps round them to keep them closed, well I'd give half my last Rolo to get my hands on one. It's great for the family, I'm never disappointed when I receive a notebook as a gift. The ridiculous thing is though, they're too precious to write in. How mad is that?
I'm still obsessed:
In addition to notebooks, I also have a thing for names. Whether they're rolling up in the credits of a television programme, on the side of buses, in magazines or overheard in conversation. These names are prospective character's names. For some reason I'm drawn to four letter names like, Tess, Ruby, Katy or Erin (my latest heroine's name). I'm a Virgo, so maybe it's because they're small and neat that they attract me.
I'm a worm:

After years of happily wandering around the shops and skimming through clothes rails, I now find nothing beats spending an hour in Waterstones. I've morphed into a book worm. Honestly, I could spend hours in there browsing the blurbs and reading the first few pages of novels. I know how important it is to hook the reader in the first few pages so I find it fascinating to see if authors manage to hook me. And Waterstones have a cafe, so I can read whilst eating a blueberry muffin! Does life get any better?
I'm a twit:
Who'd have thought it? I've made a blog and joined Twitter. This may come as second nature to some people, but until I started writing several years ago, I didn't even know how to attach a document to an email! Now I'm up-loading, down-loading, cutting, pasting, attaching, removing, forwarding, backwarding...okay I made that one up! But I think I'm doing alright!






7 comments:

  1. Hahaha.
    Yeah me too, except the teabags thing.
    I have a heap of glorious notebooks, all too lovely to write in. I was given a gorgeous handmade Gratitude journal by a blogging pal for Christmas and I can't bring myself to write a word. I carry Moleskines everywhere; for actual writing in they are as near to perfection as you might hope for: light, no bleed through, paper quality superb. European stationers carry a much better range of them so I tend to buy them when I am abroad for work. There's a brilliant store in Caen I must go back to one day, otherwise Furet de Nord are good.
    I've never fallen for my hero, though, but am obsessive about him. I hate romance with a passion, so the poor guy never gets any breaks!!!
    Oh and it took me almost 18months to get the hang of Twitter. It baffled me for ages.
    cheers,
    Viv
    Thanks for the laugh, I needed it today!!

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  2. See, this just makes me want to be a proper writer. Love it.

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  3. Falling in love with the hero? Yep, been there, still am there, even though the book is done and finished. I put my first drafts online to see what the reaction is and I got surprisingly upset and protective when my hero did something not terribly good (but he was going through a bad time) and the readers slated him!

    To my mind, I think romance writers are shielded from perhaps less normal names that are reserved for those who create a fantasy man, spend all day (and sometimes night) building an entire world around him, giving him make-believe friends and pets, putting words into his mouth... and we're not admitted.
    I see to have a thing for names (for the hero) that begin with J. So far there's been Julien, Jack, Jake, Joe, James... and Nick (but we'll ignore him for the purpose of this argument).

    I'm summing up the courage to start a blog. Will I have anything interesting to say though, is my main concern!

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  4. Thank you so much for reading my blog and taking the time to leave kind and interesting comments.
    Zen... so pleased it made you laugh and go on, give your hero a romantic encounter! Ha Ha okay, just an idea!!
    Baglady - You ARE a writer. I've read your blog!
    HannahH - You'll have lots to say. Just look at the interesting/funny comment you left for me! I'll follow you : )

    I love my friends in the ether!!

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  5. ha ha!
    All of this sounds spookily familiar. Especially the talking to yourself, loving, properly loving, your characters (and uh-oh, I don't write romance!) and generally being mad.
    (-:
    You are not alone, Ange
    m xx

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  6. Thanks lovley Megan! I think it helps to be a little mad! X

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