​Have you ever felt your world has just been given a big nudge, resulting in you seeing everything slightly differently? My last minute, can I afford it? do I need this? decision to attend the 2016 Spring Masterclass. with Fiona McIntosh, South Australian author of, among others, The Lavender Keeper, French Promise, The Perfumer’s Secret. 
Held in the beautiful Adelaide Botanic Gardens 19 budding writers gathered as strangers and left five days later inspired, committed and so much wiser. Writing is a lonely business and although I love, indeed, at times, crave, my time alone at the keyboard, meeting others who are dedicated to their craft is a very nurturing experience.
Fiona’s energy and passion for writing and for supporting others through to publication, left no room for slouchers. I learned how to write an engaging opening, to keep building the story in each chapter,to create realistic characters with a signature quirk. I honed my  synopsis ready  for pitching to a publisher and developed a non-negotiable writing schedule. But curiously the biggest take home message for me was the sad but painfully true fact that no-one really cares about my novel: my job is to make them care through my writing.
Meeting the publisher, from Allen and Unwin no less, and getting a chance to do a three minute pitch to her was a nerve wracking but wonderful opportunity. The process forced me to really hone in on what my novel is actually about and why someone would want to start and keep reading it. I am now making small but significant changes to the plot to ensure I stay true to the story (not “wander into the marshland” as Fiona, quoting Bryce Courtney, 
Will I get published? Who knows? It is a competitive and it seems unpredictable industry but at least now I will have given it my very best shot.

Love to hear from you via the Comments section. Tell me about your experiences of course, writing or otherwise.  What has worked best for you? What helped you sustain what you learned?

​I heard Liane Moriarty (author of, amongst many others, the soon to be filmed Big Little Lies) interviewed this week and she talked of the realisation she had as a young girl that authors are just ordinary people and I ask myself - could I possibly become one of those just ordinary published author people? Of course there are authors that were never just ordinary. Virginia Woolf was born a genius and James Joyce an aberration of humankind but if we bring it down a notch to authors who lots of peoples still love reading (sorry Virginia and James but its true!) I guess the Kates -  Grenville, Forsyth and Morton were just ordinary person once. They cooked and cleaned and procrastinated writing blogs (well maybe not the last one!) Not that I'm comparing my writing with any of these giants but you get my point.
Anyway back to reality. My journey towards publication continues. With no take up from any agents yet I have relooked at the opening of my synopsis with a greater focus on the mystery of the music and I’m even considering revamping the novel’s title from The Unknown Concerto to Vivaldi’s Lost Concerto to better capture attention. What do you think? I’ve also applied to enrol in a Pitch Conference with SA Writers and was lucky enough to score a late backfill into Fiona McIntosh’s September Masterclass. At both of these events I’ll come face to face with some real life publishers. Very Exciting Times but with that comes the realisation that I can’t hide behind the “I only write for a hobby” cover or use the “I only write part time” excuse. This is real author business for a just an ordinary person.   
Wish me luck and let me know in the Comments if you have any thoughts on the just ordinary people notion. 

Its fun to be back into the research and writing phase after spending 12 months re-drafting and editing The Unknown Concerto. (I’m still working on attracting and agent for that.)
An article from The Economist popped up on Facebook recently and led me to Nancy Marie Brown’s book Ivory Vikings (2015, St Martin’s Press) on the Lewis Chessmen.  It initially caught my eye because I have a replica of this beautifully carved chess set and I always make a point of “visiting” the originals when I go to the British Museum and National Museum of Scotland.
After reading the article then buying Brown’s wonderfully book ( Geraldine Brooks rightly describes it as a “cornucopia, bursting with delicious revelations”) the focus for my next writing project became clear. The gap between what is known about the origins of the 92 chess pieces and their burial and what remains a mystery, albeit shrouded with local stories and rumour once again fired my imagination.
At this stage I am thinking of it as four longish (20,000 words) short stories. The first being in the early 11th Century  when they are thought to have been carved, the second a decade or so later when they first found their way to Lewis, the third in 1830 when they were uncovered and sold to the museums ( Sir Walter Scott and his wife even make an entrance here!).
 I could have finished it there until I read that at the time of the 2015 Referendum on Scotland’s bid for independence there were conversations about the British Museums pieces being removed from England back to Scotland. Hearing the call of the Jacobite’s once more the final story will be a contemporary take on the politics that continue to surround these endearing and alluring artefacts.
Have a look at some of the photos and links in Research and Photos page on my site /lewis-chessmen.html and I think you will agree the Lewis Chessmen may very possibly possess magical qualities then let me know what you think.  Would this make a good read?

When it was first proposed  that if I wanted to attract an agent or publisher I needed to build my writer's profile by starting a blog I shuddered. No way! I come from a generation where you kept your boring small town business to yourself and hid your light under the nearest salt bush. Surely nobody, certainly not strangers, could be remotely interested in anything I had to say.  I did understand however that  prospective agents or publishers would use social media to find out more about me. So, having now done some research and looked at the blogs of some of my favourite authors here I am - a blogger!

So what has been keeping me busy.? Well you can see from my home page that I have been frantically learning about the world of agents and publishers. Natasha Lester has been a fantastic teacher online and has taken time, even over the busy festive season, to answer my questions. Patrick Allington also gave me some great feedback on my initial attempts at creating a pitch and a synopsis during a course at the SA Writers Centre.

Creating a web page and blog has been both exciting and challenging. I delayed enrolling in WEA course to learn how to do it and missed out . Lesson learned! So here I am self- taught and using the good old trial and error method.

I'd love to hear other peoples experiences (writers and others) of launching into the world of profile building.  

The Last  Runaway by Tracy Chevalier. Once again Chevalier has taken me into a time in history about which I knew  very little. Set in a time when the abolitionist movement was gaining ground  Chevalier uses her novel to expose the conflicting values faced by many compassionate but law abiding people, especially the peace loving Quakers. In creating a world full of  sounds, smells, sights and textures, Chevalier brings  alive her characters without once making me feel  I am in a history class.  Her gently developed and aptly named protagonist, Honor Bright, (for she does have honour and is extremely bright!)  is immediately likable. She leaves her Dorset family after the shame of a broken betrothed and heads into an  alien world on the other side of the Atlantic. Chevalier explores how being a part of the Quaker community both nurtured and estranged Honor as she wrestled with her ethical and spiritual values to protect the lives of escapee slaves as they make their way to freedom in Canada.