A book fit for a novel

Thank you for your help with the never ending novel dilemma.

I did decide to change it, it wasn't quite right, I knew that, or I wouldn't have been dithering so much! So,  I put in the extra scene, I am finding it very tricky and time consuming to seamlessly weave the new events into the book, but it will be better when I'm done.

The reason I asked my teen to read it, is that she loves reading and writing and is very imaginative. She is in a group of young writers (online) and she is a very good critic.  It helps me to know what sort of things they like to read and write about, so her feedback is very constructive. Anyway I will be really glad when this story is properly finished as it has taken me way too long now, it's just getting ridiculous!

My new WIP is 20k words in, and I have just made the decision to hand write it at the same time, mainly because I got this lovely new journal for my birthday! So I have made a start and I think it is going to be helpful, I like to see words on pages, real pages. It is a spine chilling supernatural mystery thriller romance, hehe. Snappy genre.  I am really enjoying it, it is very spooky and sometimes I scare myself whilst working on it.:)

I wonder if anyone could recommend a publisher for this genre? That is, teen supernatural. I would very much appreciate any tips. I know of the mainstream publishers, but I was wondering about e-publishers?
Thank you!!

The never ending novel

I have been busy editing this weekend. I have checked over three short stories, determined to send them elsewhere (they have all been rejected numerous times).
Must post them tomorrow. I can hardly complain of getting nowhere if I don't send the stories in the first place.
I have also been editing the children's novel,  which has been 'finished' and waiting for a final edit for some time :)  (To date this story is now 12 years in the making)
Anyway, I have just found a bunch of notes, that I had mislaid some months ago, can barely even remember writing, although one page was clearly written at night in the dark, going off the diagonal scrawl of the pencil. Which leads to my new problem, some of the ideas on these notes are good. I like them, I want to put them in! Which means this story is not finished at all.
Will I ever finish it?
I have been contemplating having a copy of this novel printed, on one of the self publishing sites, just to see it in print, but have been dithering about whether it is 'ready'. I'm too afraid of uploading in case I get a flash of inspiration to add another scene here...or there...
I annoy myself so much! Grrrgh.
I think I will know when it's ready, maybe my hesitancy is just comfirmation that deep down I know it isn't ready yet.
Do you have the same worries?

News at Last!

No I'm not raving about Englebert, I have a story in The Weekly News.  This is old news to some of you, sorry about that.
I was lucky to get a copy as it was published the weekend after it was accepted, which I hadn't realised until I was informed by some kind and thoughtful fellow writers (Thank you!).

I don't know about elsewhere, but it is quite hard to find a copy of TWN here abouts, (Lancashire). So this one is now rather wrinkled (again I don't mean Englebert), as it has been at my mother's and read by everyone who will sit down long enough.

I am still really excited, it has been a long while since anything was accepted for publication and I was honestly thinking it might never happen again.

Also, I have been given this lovely award by Deirdra at
A Story Book World , which came out of the blue and
is very much appreciated, thank you! It has encouraged me to get on and finish that last chapter.




On a completely non related topic, the doll obsession continues as I have
discovered these cute clowns, which look very much like Strawberry Shortcake but are not related. So cute! I have acquired four and three quarters ( one is missing a top and shoes) out of the six. It's no wonder I don't get much work finished!

 

I just want the one in the yellow hat. Does anyone else rememember them? They were made

by Fishel Toys and were called Pick a Berry Circus clowns, they were fruit scented too.

I'm not sure what it is about them exactly but I think it's the cuteness, the little outfits and also the scent which really reminds me of happy childhood times. Aww. :)

Has anyone else been tempted to buy a long lost toy?

Too many dolls and not enough writing!

Yes that's my excuse.

Pitiful, isn't it? :)
Apologies once again for the long absence, I have being feeling a bit sorry for myself as I hurt my back a couple of months ago and couldn't do the usual things. I was even seperated from the laptop, just couldn't get comfortable enough to write or do anything much.
Anyway enough of that, it's getting better and I managed to do some editing of the children's book. It's around 15k words and I have been looking around for somehwere to sub to (not that it's polished yet, but to keep me busy!)
I have narrowed down to a few possible publishers that are still accepting unsolicited submissions,

Picadilly Press, (a favourite of mine as they are among the minority of publishers who hand wrote the rejection). They accept stories for 8-12 years, and accept email submissions which is always a bonus.

Phoenix Yard
They are particularly interested in stories for age 6-9.

Meadowside
Junior fiction of 6k-10k words ( a bit of trimming needed there then !)

Anderson Press
Junior fiction 3-5k.

This is a pretty short list, I know there are lots more possibilities, but I'm not organised enough at the moment. The thing is I've researched all the publishers so many times over the years sfor various stories I've written, but did I make a proper list of contact details etc? Did I heck. Organisation skills, zero.

This is a picture of a present I got at Christmas. So cute!

I have spent most of the afternoon in the garden, which is always very inspiring, it has been a lovely sunny day which makes a change. Maybe that's just what I need, a sunny boost!
Does the weather affect your writing I wonder?

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