2012

New year, new life, new house, new attitude.

I’m going to finish my book. I’ve spent since July thinking about it, and it’s time to get the rewrites done and start resubmitting it to the agents who said almost, but not quite, and to the publisher who said yes please, we’d like to read more.

There’s something about writing, the act of sitting down with this laptop and letting words fall out of my fingers, which makes me feel whole. I need to let it out. I have words and words and words all jumbled up in my head and they are desperate to escape. So much of last year was taken up with dealing with life and I didn’t have time to lose myself in words. I need them.

A few days by the seaside always help to clear my head. We saw in the new year in Formby, in a beautiful cottage where the children could rampage around the garden and roll down giant sand dunes, and I had much needed grown up time talking and relaxing and being me. No proper photographs, though, because I managed to forget my camera battery. I won’t make that mistake in a few weeks when I go to France, I promise.

NaNoWriMo 2011

It’s almost time. All over the world, people are starting to think about National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo.

Last November I started a book and wrote 50,000 words in one month. Scary stuff, and I spent the whole time in a words obsessed haze. So for anyone contemplating it this year, here are ten things I learned whilst doing NaNoWriMo.

It was worth it! An excerpt of Sealed with a Kiss reached no1 in the Harper Collins Authonomy chart for unsigned writers – have a look, you can read the first few chapters there. And a year (and an editor, and lots of twiddling with chapters and characters) on, I’ve had interest from agents and publishers, and I’m about to take a huge leap, inspired by my friend Melanie, and venture into the world of self publishing.

And if you’ve even wondered what NaNoWriMo looks like, here’s photographic evidence.

And this? This must be the best feeling in the world.

Happy writing. And good luck for NaNoWriMo 2011!

Dear So and So

Cor, it’s Friday. Don’t know how that happened. I spent a day and a half manning the tea stall at the school sports day along with various other lovely people. I met a couple of friends for lunch and the children were off school yesterday so we went to Waddesdon Manor with the children.

The expat goddess that is Kat at 3 Bedroom Bungalow shares her Dear So and So letters once a week and they always make me laugh. This week I’m tagging along too.

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Dear Garden,

Oh, you are looking lovely at the moment. We’ll ignore the fact that the grass is about a foot long again, thanks to the torrential rain last weekend. And the fact that the bindweed is strangling things. I hope whoever buys our house appreciates you.

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Dear The 1970s,

Brown polyester? Pageboy haircuts? Really?

No love,

Me (looking out old photographs for our move to Canada) (Thanks mum).

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Dear Betty,

Your book The 52 Seductions is wonderful. Funny, touching, naughty, romantic, real. It’s a testament to married life and it made me laugh out loud – lots of times. I hope you get to no1 on the bestseller list, and one day I can meet you and cackle. Like my lovely friend Hannah, I now have a bit of a crush on you.

Love and various other romantic implements,

R.

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Dear Canada,

Happy Canada Day! This time next year we’ll be celebrating in Calgary. Eek.

love and huge excitement and only a little bit of trepidation,

All six of us. And the dog. And the cat.

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Dear Book no2,

Don’t tell book no1, but I am SO excited about you that I could burst. You are going to be much darker, and probably quite a lot funnier than your predecessor. And having so many friends who are willing to help me with the research (cough) is great fun.

Bouncing with excitement,

R.

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Dear readers of Handmade Living Magazine (where I am featured this month), and the Mumsnet Bloggers Network (where I will be featuring from Monday 4th of July),

Hello! If you want to find out more about me, have a wander around the blog. You’ll find everything from how to keep chickens in your garden to how I write (and where) to me having a chat with India Knight and being featured in the Guardian and why I am a crap lifestyle blogger.

Love, and hope you decide to subscribe (little box over there) or add the blog on Facebook.

Rachael.

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Pop over to Kat’s place to read more letters. Have a lovely weekend!

Cybermummy 2011 – Blogger to Blogger Inspiration

I’d love to pepper this post with photographs from this year’s Cybermummy 11 blogging conference, but unfortunately before my talk I was too nervous to take any, and afterwards I left the conference for a quick refreshment break with Hannah, Emily and the lovely (yes, it’s a pseudonym) Bumbling. The refreshments were rather, er, refreshing. And the evening photographs are rather, er, interesting.

I have to confess that the conference was more a chance for me to meet up again with some of the slightly deranged lovely friends I’ve made through twitter and blogging, and less a chance to learn about the mechanics of writing a blog (I think I’ve got that bit worked out – or at least this is as good as it’s going to get. Ha ha). So I can’t really review the conference itself. But I did love Jay’s photography workshop and I’m going to be stopping, dropping, and angling all my photos from now on. As well as figuring out ISO and, um, the other one I can’t remember the name of.

If anyone would like a write up of the talk, you can find it here thanks to WitWitWoo who live blogged the session with me, Tara from Sticky Fingers, Maggy from Red Ted Art and Claire and Lucy from Crumbs.

For those of you thinking I was really posh, having my notes on my iPad, a little confession: I had some written that tied in with the slides, but unfortunately I left them at home. The ones I used were cobbled together at the last minute on the train. I think I just about got away with it. Shh, don’t tell.

It was really lovely to meet so many people who read the blog over the weekend. If you’re new, you can add me as a friend on Facebook and also like Tales from the Village on Facebook for extra photographs, ramblings and chat, and you can also follow me on Twitter. And if you do all of the above, you deserve a medal. Hope you had a lovely weekend.

another weekend in London

Going to London again, this time to talk at the UK conference for bloggers. Exciting stuff. I’m going to be talking about how writing my blog helped my book to reach the top of the Authonomy chart for unpublished writers and how Twitter, blogging and Facebook help to get your name out there as a writer, and the 10 things I learned whilst writing a book.

If you want to look out for me, you will find me pulling faces, hiding behind things to avoid having my photo taken (not sure what to use as I can’t take the dog with me) and probably doing quite a lot of cackling as I catch up with old friends and some new ones. And as ever, taking notes.

And when I get home, I’m going to finish the edits and rewrites I have been procrastinating about for ages, and send the book off to the publisher who has expressed an interest. I forgot to mention that bit, didn’t I? Hooray.

Have a good weekend, everyone.