Firstly, a huge thank you to Tom Chalmers from Legend Press for plugging this site and Lessons to Learn on their Myspace blog. And ah, yes, I also have a Myspace page. It’s not particularly decorative or indeed informative at this stage, but it does star the beautiful Lessons to Learn cover as an all-purpose profile image.

* Secondly, I miss L&P.

Continued from Part II

11. What do you do when you get writer’s block?

To tell the truth, on most occasions when I get writer’s block, I just don’t write. I guess that’s a luxury of still considering writing as something I love to do rather than something I need to do to bring in an income.

However, if there’s something that I need to get written for a deadline, I’ll try to break it down into smaller chunks and set myself rewards for meeting each one. For example, if I write 50 words then I can have one M&M. I will write lots of words for M&Ms.

12. What size increments do you write in (either in terms of word-count, or as a percentage of the book as a whole)?

At the moment, I’m lucky if I get any writing done on a weekday. When I do, it’s usually to insert a particular idea or piece of research into the manuscript – so I write as many words as I need to get it in there.

If it’s a Saturday or Sunday where I’ve got a full day to write, I try to write in sessions of at least 500 words at a time. Sometimes that’s a struggle, sometimes I can easily write 2000 words or more without stopping.

13. How many different drafts did you write for your last project?

I remember throwing away a whole vacuum cleaner box full of Lessons to Learn print-outs when we left Wellington. That’s a lot of red pen covered drafts.

14. Have you ever changed a character’s name midway through a draft?

Yes, Charlotte in Lessons to Learn only became Charlotte half-way through the first draft of the novel. By that stage she’d assumed her own identity and character, and was ready for a new name.

And I’ve changed names in other stories when I’ve realised that I’ve done things like given every character who appears in the scene a name that starts with “T”.

15. Do you let anyone read your book while you’re working on it, or do you wait until you’ve completed a draft before letting someone else see it?

I wrote the first few drafts of Lessons to Learn as part of an MA in Creative Writing, so my supervisor read it regularly, and there were two workshops during that year where my classmates gave feedback on the work-in-progress.

Mum and Dad have always been incredibly supportive of my writing, so they tend to get chapter-by-chapter updates as I write. Over the years, it seems they’ve come to know my ‘writing voice’ almost as well as I do, and can usually tell me when something doesn’t sound quite right.

I also get my husband, Matt, to read short pieces now and then. Because he’s the one I bounce my ideas off on a day-to-day basis, he has a pretty good understanding of my characters and plot and tends to know whether a certain scene fits with the overall story.

It’s an early morning after a late night. I feel like I haven’t much slept at all. I’ll write this, and then I’ll need to make myself some coffee. I only really drink coffee when I’m tired.

It was a wonderful bookish night, which started at the Legend Press launch of Heading South, by Luke Bitmead and Catherine Roberts.

Although they wrote the book the book together, Luke and Catherine never actually met face-to-face. They met online, and worked on the novel over the phone and internet, before Luke passed away last year. So last night was an emotional occasion, but also a wonderful tribute to Luke and his writing. There were speeches and platters of finger food, piles of books and a fantastic reading from Catherine.

And now I’ve got a shiny new copy of Heading South, sitting next to my computer and I can’t wait to read it… but if I’m going to be productive at all today, I should instead head into the kitchen and start making some coffee.

Continued from Part I

6. How do you come up with the perfect names for your characters?

It’s usually a process of trial and error. I give a character a name, and then use it for a few paragraphs to see if it sounds right. Sometimes a character name just comes to me, as if the character already knows the name that he or she should have. Sometimes it’s a matter of trawling through baby-name databases on the internet, trying to find something that’s suitable.

Sometimes, character names – and place names too – make into the story because they have special significance to me. For example, the Matt who appears on page 68 of Lessons to Learn and tries to copy Charlotte’s homework, is named after my husband, even though they share no defining characteristics. And on page 10, the Waiteata School that Jack mentions is named after Waiteata Road, the address of my writing workshop when I was writing the novel.

7. When you’re writing, do you ever imagine your book as a television show or movie?

I could give two answers here: no and yes. No, because I don’t see my books as actual televisions shows, with title sequences and end credits and actors playing the characters.

But yes, because as I write, I do picture my characters themselves acting out the scenes. I can see what they look like, what their environment is like. Sometimes this awareness translates to the page, sometimes it doesn’t. After reading an early draft of Lessons to Learn, someone asked me, “but what does Charlotte wear?” I knew what she wore, but I guess I hadn’t put that into words. In some ways, I’d rather my readers come up with that kind of descriptive detail for themselves; for them to have, in this case, their own Charlotte.

8. Have you ever had a character insist on doing something you really didn’t want him/her to do?

There have been times when I’ve been writing the story, the characters have been progressing well, and suddenly they’re in a situation which I don’t really want to write about: it’s dangerous, or awkward, embarrassing, frightening, they’re going to get hurt, they’re going to say something that I really don’t believe in.

But if the characters are going to have their own lives, independent of mine, I’ve got to take a deep breath and just write them through it. I’ve found that if I try and back out, the story tends to suffer for it.

9. Do you know how a book is going to end when you start it?

For the two novels I’ve worked on so far, I’ve had a good idea of what’s going to happen at the end, or at least the final decision that the character’s going to have to make – even if I’m not 100% sure about how they’re going to get to that point.

I find that short stories work on more of a find-out-as-I-write sort of process. Usually, I start with characters in a certain situation, and what’s going to happen to them in the end only becomes apparent as I write their story.

10. Where do you write?

I don’t really have a proper writing space here in London. For the most part, I write on a laptop on the dining room table, in-between my diary, 2 for 1 promotional vouchers, Christmas themed tablemats, candles, dice, burnt backup CDs and coffee mugs. Occasionally I take the laptop into the kitchen, or into the bedroom, but that’s about as adventurous as it gets at the moment.

While doing a bit of lunchtime title-Googling, I discovered that Lessons to Learn is already on the virtual shelves of Time Out Bookshop and Madras Café Books. Wasn’t expecting that just yet, but wow! There it is on a page of its own, with a cover image and half of the blurb. It’s $28 dollars (NZ), and I guess it can be ordered through their online forms. Neither store gives their prices for posting overseas, but they do seem to allow you to request the postage cost before placing an order.

Of course, this makes me wonder if Lessons to Learn is on the real-world shelves of those two bookstores. If anyone reading this blog is in Auckland or Christchurch, and just happens to visit Time Out Bookshop or Madras Cafe books over the next couple of weeks, I’d be much obliged if you could let me know. Of course, if you wanted to get out your digital camera in the shop, and send me a picture of Lessons to Learn on the shelves, I wouldn’t object to that either!

I’ve been a member of the bookswapping website, Bookcrossing.com for the past three and a half years. Over that time, it’s introduced me to a whole lot of wonderful new books and authors which I may have not otherwise discovered.

It’s also fantastic community, with a lot of interesting and generous members who I’ve met on the forums, via PM or in person.

As a small way of saying thanks and to celebrate the fact that I now have a book of my own that can be put in an envelope and sent around the world, one of my author copies of Lessons to Learn will become an international booking, shipping to the first participant on the day of the launch, June 12, 2007.

If you’re already a bookcrosser, feel free to PM me with your username, location and shipping preferences.  And of course, if you’re not yet a member, you can still sign up and join in.

One month till launch day!

On Friday night, like every night last week, I came home from work hoping that Lessons to Learn had arrived. But there was nothing in our mail-flap. And, once I’d opened the door slowly, there was nothing on the foot of the stairs. But that was okay on Friday. We were having friends around for dinner that night, and I had washing to put away.

Half an hour later, I had a bag of rubbish to transfer to our outside bin. As I went to unlock the front door again, I somehow noticed a white Handi Packaging envelope which the postman had left behind a pot on our front steps. We’ve been meaning to put a plant in that pot, but it’s probably a good thing we haven’t got around to it yet. Because – white plastic envelope, my address on the front, Cape Catley’s address on the back, $5 worth of stamps and an airmail sticker – there it was.

And then the anticipation. I couldn’t just open it there by myself. I had to wait for Matt, my husband, to come home from work, so he could share in the excitement (okay, and also so he could get out the camera and document the excitement). He took a very long time to come home – or perhaps only twenty minutes – but it felt like a long time.

I’ve always loved getting mail, and this was definitely one of the highlights of my mail opening career. I remember the anticipation, excitement and slight terror that accompanied the arrival of my School Certificate results after a summer of waiting. This package invoked rather similar feelings.  I reached my hand inside, and out came a with compliments slip, some bubble wrap, and a book.

It’s here, and the Lessons to Learn which was an idea, a short story, a set of poems, a pile of papers, has indeed become a book. And how pretty it is, with a shiny cover, and thick white pages, and beautifully laid out text. Everyone who’s worked on the publication has just done a fantastic job.

Two days later, and I still can’t get over it. Matt’s tried it out on our bookshelf to see how it looks there. He’s taken to reading it on trams and trains – which is most embarrassing when I’m sitting next to him. What if someone recognises me from the back cover photo? Truth is, no one’s probably paying any attention whatsoever. But it’s here, it’s here, it’s here, and how exciting is that.

It’s a long weekend here in the UK. More time for writing. More time to procrastinate by filling in online surveys while watching Doctor Who. Historical novelist, Faye L. Booth, tagged me yesterday to fill in twenty writing-related questions. Here’s my answers to the first five of them.

1. Do you outline?

When I’m writing a novel, yes. When I wrote Lessons to Learn, I had a page of bullet points, covering the things that I wanted to happen before the end. For the current project, I’ve got a Word file saved on my desktop with a few notes on what occurs on each day of the story. As I write, the future is changing slightly, and I’m updating the file.

2. Do you write straight through a book, or do you sometimes tackle the scenes out of order?

Straight through for the most part. I feel that, as I write the first draft, I’m getting to know the characters – who they are, how they think. I can’t write a section about their later life if I don’t know how they get there. Even though Lessons to Learn moves backwards and forwards in time, I wrote the first draft chronologically: all the New Zealand sections then all the Korean ones.

3. Do you prefer writing with a pen or using a computer?

I wish I could say pen here. It sounds much more writerish. However, I’ve always been a computer geek, and to me, typing my work just makes more sense. I find that I write faster on the computer, that the words flow better and that things like track changes and comments make the editing process a whole lot easier.

That said, on the rare occasions I write poetry, its almost always drafted in my notebook before being transferred to my computer.

4. Do you prefer writing in first person or third?

My preference is always been for first person, and for revealing a character through their narrative voice. However, I’d like to experiment with writing more third person pieces in the future. Sometimes it’d be nice to be able to give a wider perspective on the events of the story.

5. Do you listen to music while you write? If so, do you create a playlist, listen randomly, or pick a single song that fits the book?

I prefer quiet when I start writing. No TV, no music, everyone else asleep. However, once I’ve been writing for a while I tend to tune out everything that’s happening around me – so if there is music playing then, I probably wouldn’t notice it anyway.

Two copies of the newly printed Lessons to Learn were put in the post on Monday (or maybe it was Tuesday in New Zealand). One to me in London. One to my parents in Auckland. Seeing as the mail across town is much quicker than the mail half-way across the world, their copy arrived today.

And I stood in the corridor at work, and listened to the excitement on the other end of the phone as they unwrapped the package. It’s almost like Christmas, and indeed they said it arrived in a Christmas-themed packaging.

I’m not sure if I can reveal the cover just yet, so for now I will have to content myself with posting this very small picture that I received on email of Dad’s hands and of Lessons-to-Learn-inside-the-envelope.

The tension mounts…

I received an email from my publishers yesterday. It said that my book, Lessons to Learn, would be put in the post first thing in the morning.

What a strange thought.

What it is to consider that Lessons to Learn which for so long was an idea, or a short story, a set of poems, a pile of papers with red pen collections, is now a novel, with a cover and a blurb and my name on the front. Has become a physical object, which can be put into a packing envelope and posted all the way from Auckland to London.

That said, the post from Auckland to London is notoriously slow, and there have been several instances over the past few months where packages from home haven’t arrived at all. So all I can do is keep my fingers crossed, and hope that sometime over the next couple of weeks, when I get home from work, a book that was once only an idea will be waiting.