In search of inspiration

I'm writing from the glorious Shropshire countryside at the moment, where we have taken over a converted barn for the week to see in the new year. I am trying not to alarm my children and their friends who have joined us, but the sight of me skidding across the kitchen in a two piece to get the hot tub in the garden may well yet put them off their supper...!
         From the hot tub I can see over into a farmer's field, which is very flat and so the view is not too distant. It is rather barren looking at this time of year, being devoid of much n the way of vegetation, and is flooded in patches from the seemingly endless rain. And yet it is peaceful and pleasant in the winter chill. The sky is pale grey, darkening at the edges, with the ever present threat of precipitation - but we didn't come for the sun. At night, devoid or any artificial light the sky looks like the supernatural sky I have written about in Sadie, like a black cloth scattered with hundreds of sparkling diamonds. It's beautiful to gaze upon. About us acres of farmland stretch into the horizon, and given the nature of Sadie's House, and my current writing, Albie's Story, there is endless inspiration. I hope to make a bit of progress with my writing  - it's a bit of a shame I can't splash and type at the same time!
         We will be dining in tomorrow night, so I will be busy in the kitchen. So in advance of all the celebrations, I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year. And to share with you what I have adopted as my motto for next year.  "Anything is Possible......"

We had a special visitor!

Someone special came to see us after we had eaten Christmas dinner!! He stayed for a short while to say hello to my nieces and nephews, but then, as he was rather tired after a long day, had to go on his way. Shortly afterwards, Grandad (aka Big G) arrived with a big smile on his face and spent the rest of the day in the loving company of his family.

my evil plan.......

I like to think I CAN write, but if it turns out that I actually can't, (What? NEVER!) then this just about sums up my evil plan for world domination.....keep spreading the love! xx

Check out this book too!

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas - I certainly did! More about that later, but for the time being, I wanted to give  you all the gift of an introduction to a book that I thoroughly enjoyed. Written by local (Sheffield) author, and coming  very highly recommended, Ends Meat is a horror story with a difference. I am not usually a fan of horror stories, although I love stories of the supernatural. I read this out curiousity as the author is closely aquainted with my family. I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN!!!!!

Check it out and see what you think, but I can't praise it highly enough.


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ends-Meat-D-G-Bell/dp/1449091733#_

Excited much?

Here is my eldest son, at 23, trying to peek at gifts under the tree. I have told him that Santa does not come to naughty boys who peek, and in any case there are not many gifts there for him or his siblings (they have gone to Santa, of course...!) His sister took this photo of him, and I thought it was quite funny so decided to share it with you.

And I will just take this opportunity to wish you all a very HAPPY CHRISTMAS. May your dreams come true, and if they don't, then for now, have fun trying to make them come true. Anything is possible........

xxxxx

 

 

Lazy Sunday?

After a night out, little sleep and a bit of a headache, I polished off a couple of thousand words this morning, which was great, and am happy with the progress made so far. Other writers may find the same, but it's always exciting to sit and write and find out as I go just what the characters have been up to in my absence! Well they are real you know!

My husband keeps on urging me to publish some of my poems, and I may yet do that. I am very much focusing on publicity for Sadie and writing Albie at the moment, but as most of my poems are light comic poems, I may put a taster or two on here for a bit of a change. We'll see. Most of them are centred around the subject of my children, and were a way of chronicling their childhoods. Offerings such as "Slug", "Freckles" and "Burnt Potatoes" should give you an idea of the type of writing I have done. I have written poems for all sorts of parties and events, and used poetry as a comical way to remember trips and holidays too. Like I said, I will dig them out and possibly choose a couple to share.

Meanwhile, we have a house full of flu sufferers here, so I have spent much of the day somewhat relaxing with them. Now my Twitter and Facebook accounts are up to date ( @Sadies_house  ) I am going to put my feet up again before the last push for Christmas. Lots to do next week!

International blog buddies!

Just a quick hello to people from all over the world who have taken time to look at my blog!Thankyou for doing so, please help to spread the word - I will get published with all of your kind assistance!

follow my blog?

I would like to invite my friends to follow my blog, and at the same time explain how I can follow theirs - I haven't a clue but will happily support fellow bloggers where possible!

thanks
x

Progress.....

There are things that I can't tell you yet, as to do so would be tempting fate. But I am plugging away behind the scenes and that's all I can say for now. But I am happy to report that with regard to writing, I am making good progress with Book Two, Albie's Story, and as before it seems that the story is writing itself. Does that make sense to other writers?  I almost feel as if I am remembering, not inventing, and that the characters are so real that I have no control over their actions and conversation. And when I talk about my books, I know I am highly animated, and have probably become a raging bore but I can't help but relate the antics of people in my stories as if they truly existed.
So a bit of an apology to friends and family who have listened patiently to my carrying on, and a huge thanks for your patience. You inspire me and give me courage to continue.

inspiration - spread the word!

It may be taking a little while, which is what I expected, but I was rather inspired by this post. It might encourge a few people to keep going.

Now here's a thought.......

I remain hopeful that I DO have a talent for writing, but wouldn't it be nice if this was true. By the time my book is published (and it WILL be) everyone will know me and will buy it. Simples!!!

just sharing a few thoughts....

I know I did!!

having just become a tweeter.......

baby its cold outside....

Well its late in the evening and I am rather tired, but didn't want to go to bed without my weekly blog update. I have spent a glorious evening with the daughter at a Peter Andre concert, which I very much enjoyed,  and realised that the slogan on the teeshirt below is quite true. I'm sure that some future writing will include some of the characters we met this evening. Some quite lovely hosts, a rather drunk lady telling the two of us how beautiful we are (she was very drunk....), a couple of blokes trying to take photos of legs and up dresses (they were drunk too....) and a rather excited offspirng clutching an autograph.......

It's turned quite cold here now, so my evenings are increasing likely to end up with me snuggled up with the lap top, my head buried in my latest chapter. I put the decorations up at the weekend (photos will follow soon) so thats all taken care of. Now my flu has gone I can get back into the swing of things - I have had no time off work, although I probably should have, but I have to admit I don't much fancy going out at the crack of dawn tomorrow - baby its cold outside!!!!!

Twitter!

Launched myself on Twitter too today. Follow me

@Sadies_house

thanks to my lovely daughter for guiding me through the process.

Look what I found!!

this might be useful for others posing the same question!


http://www.mastermindblogger.com/2009/9-killer-ways-to-make-your-blog-popular/

Peruvian Cuisine

Peruvian Cuisine
Just typed in Most popular Blogs, and this was top of the list! Go figure! Well done, anyway. So sex and cooking. What else do I need to know?

popular blogs - please share and advise

I have been off my feet for a while. Struggled into work like the matyr I am (!) but at nights have limped into bed and this weekend a full on flu bug hit me like a ton of bricks. So that's enough of my ailments, but I have to confess I have done no writing or marketting for the last 2 weeks and that is not the way to get myself published!! (you don't say!!)

I was feeling a bit pleased with myself, in  my innocence, to have ammassed nearly a thousand "hits" on my blog (is that even the right word? Yikes, I need to get with the programme a bit more - showing my age up here aren't I!). Then, as I lay in bed watching about the 1000th tv programme last week, I saw a documentary about a woman who had started a sex blog, writing about her, lets call them 'adventurous' exploits, and was getting 100.000 hits a month. Oh dear. I mean, good for her and everything, and I am not about to start emulating her style or content, but it did leave me feeling a bit ingsignificant. So it has got me thinking - what actually makes a good blog? In light of the success of 50 Shades of Gray and similar popular fiction, is graphic content one of the biggest keys to success?

I won't be changing Sadie - my writing is rather the antithesis to the legacy of what is obviously seen as exciting graphic sexual literature. But I obviously need to up my game and so some research is needed. I am who I am and I write how I write - I wish I had my son's humour and ability to tell jokes, or my other son's totally laid back nature (or my daughter's beuatiful face and tiny figure, but let's not go any further down that road.....!). What is the key, apart from graphic content, to picking up 100,000 blog views (is THAT the right term?)  a month?

Meanwhile, 1 more day in bed should see me back on my feet, then back to writing. OO - I did write BED! Will that get them all rushing to my page.....???

The next Twilight

Wouldn't it be great if we could all write works that went on to be as successful as Twilight and Harry Potter? Ah but to dream......This week I have had a heavy cold that has meant I have limped through the working week but just come home and lay on the sofa, rather feebly, and have hardly written at all. I haven't been to the gym for 2 weeks, and that is not like me at all!!
Thankfully I am starting to feel much better, and at least my cold is out of the way before the festive season (my glass forever half full!) and so back into a routine tomorrow all being well. Now I have to add the Christmas shopping to my to do list, but I have to admit that this counts as retail therapy and is a much welcomed task. Meadowhall beckons!

And if any film producers are reading (I am nothing if not optimistic!) my Sadie trilogy would make a brilliant film or three, so feel free to call! :D 

not enough hours in the day

Now I have got over the shock of losing my work when my USB stick corrupted (note to self, email everything to my inbox!) I am taking advantage of some of the half term holiday to plough on with Albie. This has been very therapeutic, as I now feel that I am making better progress. However, as I am rather schitzophrenic in that I have many personalities, only one of those is the aspiring author. Others include mother, wife, daughter, sister, teacher, friend and cleaner (!). Trying to fulfill all of my obligations and responsibilities becomes rather huge. I also decided to add cook to that the other day and spent several hours experimenting with mini cheesecakes - but that's a whole other story. Add to that the many people who have taken up residence in my head and are trying to come out onto paper (well, lap top for now)....you can imagine I am constantly in a state of turmoil!!!!!

So my quandry is, do I put the writing away and get on with tidying the house? Or do I leave the housework, visit my beautiful parents, who I see every week but wish I saw more. Do I take my son out for lunch, prepare some lessons for next week or carry on writing. I also need to hit the gym some time today.......

Not that I'm complaining, but I could do with a few more hours in each day.......!

A sneaky little taster from Sadie's House

Time seemed to stand still; everything had gone quiet save the sound of the leaves rustling as the trees shook in turn, and we looked at each other, then back at the garden, and out to Simon Andrews. I lifted my head, half expecting to feel a sudden breeze, but there was none, and yet still the bushes were shaking, long tendrils of the largest and longest plants and weeds lifting and falling and all the time like a botanical Mexican wave headed in the direction of the unpleasant man who had come to verbally attack me. He could see it too, and retreated even more quickly than before, not sure what was going on. He looked in surprise.

                 ‘I don’t want my children playing here, is that clear?’ he cried out.

                ‘Keep them away then!’ said Chloe, shouting now as the man retreated.’ Bloody cheek’ she added, for good measure.  As he turned to leave, the foliage on the ground seemed to reach up, wrapping themselves around his legs and down he went again. He swore furiously, stood up and returned to his car, driving off in noisy haste.

Some links I liked this week

A busy few weeks, but it's half term now, so I hope to bury myself in writing. Off to Haworth (home of the Brontes) for a couple of days in the name of research (honest!!!!) and hope to crack on with "Albie".
Meanwhile, I keep my facebook pages going - check out Sadies House Book One-The Key, and lots of great things keep popping up which I will keep sharing.


Nothing to do with my book, I just love this photo, it made me smile, and on a cold October day, that's only going to be a good thing!

#







Thanks to iAuthor on facebook for the shares - check out the page - some good stuff!

A helping hand

I thought it might be useful to share this I came across from

http://www.awritersquest.com/2012/09/30/the-week-in-writing-and-publishing-30th-september-2012/

The Art of the Content Edit: 10 Ways To Make Sure You're Doing It Right

http://litreactor.com/columns/the-art-of-the-content-edit

Thank Goodness for my notebook!

A huge warning to aspiring writers to keep on backing up your work! I have done this (of course!) but then have to ask myself, how reliable is technology? My lap top has gone to the great techshop in the sky, my daughters is playing up, I have lost 1 USB stick, another has failed and then today I spent two hours writing just to have the USB corrupt itself bang smack in the middle and before I had time to back it up! SCREAM!!!!!
So, like the heading indicates, thank goodness for my note book. Its very disorganised, but so are my thoughts, as I jump from beginning to end, back to the middle, have 3 ideas for a twist half way through, then some character details, notes from research, back to the end and half of chapter 7. But its all in there, so I can rewrite. Technology Smeknology. Give me a pen and paper!!!!!

Mistakes - I avoided a few

I have pages and pages of notes now for Albie. Down at the gym the other day, I was struck by an idea for a twist in the tale, and have written the skeleton to the whole story.  Yesterday I spent over an hour on research about divorce and the names of film stars (as two separate subjeccts!) in the 1920s. The I realised that I had confused myself, because I was actually still writing about 1908 at the time, to set a bit of historical context to the story. So that research was somewhat wasted, and had to be repeated this time using the correct time frame. All this for about 5 lines of text!!!!But there is no excuse nowadays, with the availabilty of endless information at our fingertips, to make stupid mistakes and not get historical facts correct. I enjoyed the whole process, and as Albie grows day by day, I watch fondly over him, guide and direct him, and he is flourishing. Like Sadie, the book seems to be writing itself and I am merely a vehicel through which the words appear on the screen. Can't wait to see how it all turns out! xxx

From a bit of my "other" life - nice to know we are so appreciated!

Taking a risk

I suppose writing is all about taking risks. You are exposing a part of your soul to the world, and that is a risk in itself! I have decided to put a brief synopsis on my blog page, and I am about to put a taster from Albie. Book Two, Albie's Story is the prequel, rather than the sequel, and that is another risk. Will readers be interested in history of the house, rather than what happens next? (Incidentally Book Three, The Healer, chronicles events 5 years after the first book. Confused? I'll risk it...)
Another risk is that this snippet is actually the epilogue, which is unusual for a taster. It doesn't give anything away, but rather feeds quite nicely (I think, anyway....) into book One. Just a way of trying to incite curiosity. If I gather enough interest, they will have to publish me. Won't they? (Another risk.....?)

Sadie's House, Book Two, Albie's Story.

Epilogue

They have all gone now. It’s been a while since the last one came, and they pushed, and poked, explored and talked. Two men came with talk of pulling me down, and there would be a shopping centre, they said. It’s on a hill, said one, but the other dismissed him and spoke of the position and the catchment. They argued and I grew angry. I wasn’t having any of that and for a moment I found the strength to summon the power and alter the universe. They will not be coming back. This house is not for sale.

This house remains. I know I am decaying, but it is only a matter of time. My doors and windows are boarded up, paintwork is peeling and chipped, floorboards are rotting. Dust and cobwebs lay thickly on every surface; I am sagging, burdened by the weight of age and neglect. My resplendent blue door is now faded, dirty and grey, it’s splintered peeling paint, chips, dents and cracks adding further depressing detail to my plight. The garden has become a jungle, unkempt and uncared for, the foliage is rampant, like unruly children scattered over the landscape, unsupervised. The well is invisible now, hidden behind dense undergrowth that will only thicken with time and age. Only shadows and echoes exist now of what was once here. But I am resolved. There will be no more despair. There will only be hope.

It’s only a matter of time. Eventually she will come. Somehow, someway, she will come, of that I am sure. She will be in pain, and we will help each other to heal. I will know when the time comes.

Until then I will sit and wait for Sadie to come home.

Well that week went quick! Whilst I wasn't looking, summer seems to have disappeared and has been replaced by the Winter! The heating has gone on, it was dark when I went to work and I put my coat on today for the first time this year! What happened? I have had my head down a bit though, between work and writing I havent had time to really notice the season ebbing away. Book Two, Albie's Story has been concieved and he is growing day by day. He will be putting in an appearance sometime next summer hopefully and I eagerly anticipate his arrival!
Meanwhile I would like to support a couple of writers I have sort of adopted and hope that you might take a look at their work and share it.

http://www.writers-network.com/index.cgi?m=1&do=work&who=28165
The poetry of Sadie Wheldon-Shaw (yes, she did inspire the name of my book, although it isn't about this particular Sadie....). A hugely talented young woman who deserves recognition.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Earth-Floating-Sphere-ebook/dp/B009F9IP3G/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1348427415&sr=8-6&keywords=casey+sean+harmon
Take a look at the work of Casey Harmon, who had his first book published at a young age and has further work now available.

http://www.spencerbrokaw.com/
I am rather in awe of this remarkable 13 year old young man who has had two novels published and has tips for other would be writers. Check out his web site and see what he has to say.

To taste or not to taste? I'm not even published yet.....!

I have been inspired by authors putting tasters of their work on to their blogs and I think it's a really good idea. There has been the story this week in the paper about a young woman who was releasing her novel chapter by chapter onto a blog and recieved 17 million hits, resulting in a 6 figure book deal and plans for a sequel!!! Would that we all could manage that!! (I am, admittedly, just perfectly green with envy.....!!)

I am thinking about putting some sample work on here, although haven't made my mind up how much or which bit. The story is about a young woman who is bereaved when her soldier fiance is killed. She buys a dying old house which, it seems, is enchanted and is protecting her from harm. As she repairs the house, she is slowly repairing herself and she grows to love the place. There is a secret, however, which is revealed at the close, and it is clear that she was meant to be there, in more ways than she could possibly imagine. Ultimately, a great deal of sense comes out of her fiance's untimely demise.

I am also trying to be as supportive as possible as I can of other new artist's work - we are all fighting the same battles. I will be happy to share blogs and post publicity for others - perhaps we can all pay it forward...........

I have made a bit of a start on book 2 - it is climbing out of my head in the middle of the night and I am very excited. So......back to work.......!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErpISLfK1gc&feature=player_detailpage
see clip for video clip on the blog with all the hits!!!!

50 hour week

I've been a bit quiet this week. As a teacher, I went back to work last week. It's a new job in a new school so lots of new things to learn and do. Consequently I have had long days trying to get my head around it all. It meant that I have not, as I had hoped, been able to make a start on Book 2, Albie's Story. I have, however, made a healthy start on the research, conducting interviews and reading some background material. I have the outline prepared, the characters lined up. All I need to do is come up with a hundred thousand words or so and I am good to go! Easy!!! i have been asking myself where exactly the story will go, but to be honest, that's part of the adventure. when I was writing Book One I went on the journey with my characters, and founhe process both thrilling and addictive. I still have 50 hour work weeks ahead, but somehow or other, I will find time to get going with book two. Albie is waiting.
PS I found this blog supporting teachers - some of you might be interested to have a read..........
http://www.guardian.co.uk/teacher-network/2011/dec/07/teachers-work-life-balance

Interview

Al-Rasub interview - hope you will take a look

http://www.alrasub.com/karen-elaines-sadie-house/

1 more from my daughter

I have finished the first BIG EDIT, and now have a couple of people proof reading, so I am waiting to hear back from them. I have started organising my notes for book 2, but meanwhile I have gone back to work to my busy and stressful job as a teacher. I love it, but there is A LOT to do and I am going to have to organise my writing around what is expected of me in my new position (I just changed schools).
So a large glass of wine later, I have printed out the required 3 chapters, synposis and intro letter and now have to choose where to send it. There may be more changes yet, but I am tenacious.....

I know  photos grab attention more than endless rambling, so another from my daughters project on the supernatural, using her little cousin as the model. Again I am justifying it because of the supernatural element - humour me.......!

A special hello too to the international visitors to my blog, and a thanks also to the UK visitors, especially my Facebook friends, who are being patient with my endless plugs!

Stepping out of the book for a moment.....

I did say that this blog is not about me, but about my journey. At the moment I am STILL editing and the process is taking a while. Not helped by the fact that I keep making slight structure changes, then rereading and editing again. Well it's got to be right!
Meanwhile, I thought you might enjoy looking at a few photos - they are linked to fantasy and the supernatural, so in a way they are linked to my book. But to be honest with you I am just showing off the talents of my children!!! The photos were taken by my 17 year old daughter as part of a college project, the models are my nieces. Also hoping to link to a YouTube video, written, direccted and starring my 20 year old son. I hope the link works, and will tell myself off if it doesn't.......

enjoy!

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlswFTowwkM&feature=plcp

The garden, the wood and the trees

I have been working in the garden over the bank holiday weekend, and not before time too. This on its own isn't particularly relevent to my book,except for the fact that because we had such a lot to do, it took quite some time and I was exhausted and have had a break from editing. Now this WAS important, because it has given me time to reflect a bit on the book and think carefully about three chapters which had parts that I had been a little bit unsettled about. I had changed them slightly, but still not been happy; a sort of  'can't see the wood for the trees' situation, if you like. A bit of time and distance gave me breathing space to work out how to address these, and I have noted changes and when I finish the current edit, I will go back and address these chapters properly. I'll let you know later how that goes!

publishing resource

I'm keeping an eye out for articles about publishing, and thought that this might be useful for anyone thinking likewise. If you are a new, unpublished author like me, this might be interesting to you.



http://www.writersrelief.com/free-publishing-resources-toolkit-for-writers/

blogtour

http://www.blogtour.org/

destiny vs choice - what do you think?

One of the themes of Sadie's House, is the question of whether or not some things are preordained. Does fate have something in mind for us? Is the future predetermined and we are just pawns, playing into the hands of something unseen?
Or do we REALLY have a choice? Is there no "plan" and we are all in complete control of our own destiny? Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you just can't make something happen, and other times, without any effort what so ever, everything seems to fall right into place.  This book, the first of my trilogy, is written now, so this isn't really research. But I AM interested, and experimenting again, as I am curious to know if I can get comments from readers. Let me know what you think - choice or destiny?

Editing and editing and editing!

I hadn't realised that the editing was going to take so long! I am half way through now, penciling in edits on my printed text. When that's complete I have to actually make the amendments!!! I have made changes to speech marks, punctuation, spacing, Tabs, justifiying the text, removing repeats and adding minor changes here and there! It's never ending! I am persevering though.  The trouble is, I know what it says, so I read what I am expecting to read, and sometimes miss out mistakes. Luckily I have some help, and once this round of editing is complete, I will have to start all over again. I am DYING to get started on Book Two, Albies Story - my head is bursting with ideas which I have to franitcally scribble into my notes before I forget them! Oh well, enough gossip - now, where's my pencil.......

In the beginning

One or two friends have asked how people even come up with an idea in the first place to write a book, and I  have often asked myself the same question. I have wanted to write a book for a long time, only to be faced with that very quandry. I have started quite a few, but been unable to maintain them. Once I wrote half a novel with a close friend, which although we very much enjoyed (a sort of Bridget Jones/letter writing half breed), lacked any real direction (I felt, although she may disagree,) and it petered out.
I believe in the advice I once read - "write what you know". That's not to say you can't use your imagination of course, but write about something that you are familiar with and interested in and write with passion and conviction. Sadie was originally born out of my interest in property development, although I knew that I could never write a book about tiling and plasterboard. Much more interesting to me was the idea of a dying house, with a soul, brought back to life by a bereaved young woman. The storyline developed from there, including drama and suspense, partiularly in part three. The central character is not based on myself, but there are bits of me in there. It's quite hard not to do this, I think.
I know others who are interested in writing and I would urge them to go for it. It does take a bit of bravery to put yourself out there and I have moments where I feel hugely self concious, but now it feels as if a tap has been turned on and I can't turn it off! I love to write and I am pursuing this full steam ahead now. Let's see where it goes!!!

Mistakes, I've made a few....

I'm a bit annoyed with myself today.
Let me tell you what happened. Yesterday I was feeling pretty smug - I printed out the whole book in 1.5 spacing and had it sprial bound so that I had a hard copy. It looks really good and I was very excited and ready to go through it for a final edit. I had already edited the first three chapters, checked and double checked, as they are the ones that I have sent to the first agencies. Imagine my consternation then, to find that there are STILL mistakes in those first three chapters!
SO a lesson learned. I have clearly sent them off too early, despite all the advice given in my yearbook and on every website I have visited! DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE!!! (There was even a word in there that was incorrect, it wasn't all punctuation...! - the shame!)

Back to the drawing board today then. Edit AGAIN. And back to the ageny / publisher list, as I fully expect my previous submissions to be discarded................

PS Advice is NOT to suggest what the cover should look like when you send to publishers - this one is for my own amusement - I'm no artist (you don't say!!!!)

2012 Olympics

Editing for Sadie's House, Book One, is taking AGES! I have prepared the first few chapters, am double checking the remaining 27 chapters and I have been looking through the Yearbook for agents, but had to put it away because I was so taken by the Olympic closing ceremony, and I couldn't give my full attention to both. It was brilliant!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19237305



But if I am COMPLETELY honest, I have to admit that this is in part an experiment. As I said, this is still all very new to me and I am investigating how searches work and how to direct people's attention to my blog. Hope I'm not breaking any rules here, I will take it off if I am! Can body advise?

Lost the plot - literally!!!

You can tell I am new to this Blogging game, but I will persevere!! I have inadvertantly deleted my first couple of posts!
So just a quick recap-
The purpose of this blog is to chart my journey from unknown would-be author, to who knows where. It may be nowhere, but I have written a novel, the first of three, and hope to find an agent / publisher and see it in print. What happens after that remains to be seen but I will be thrilled if I can get that far.

Sadie's House
Book One, the Key,- a young woman who, bereaved and bereft, buys a decrepid old house which may or may not be enchanted. In restoring the house, Sadie is gradually restoring herself.
Book Two - Albie's Story; the history of the house and Sadie's hitherto unknown connection with it.
Book Three - The Healer, set five years after the first, chronicling Sadie's progress.

I spent quite a bit of time looking through the yearbook and researching which publisers I could send my work to. Then I got excited by a big shiny advert for an agency and have cheerfully sent the introductory letter, synopsis and first thress chapters to them first. I have, however, made a slight error of judgement, I think, in putting this blog address on. If I lead every agent and publisher to this address, will they see where I have had rejections and judge me on that?
All literature on the subject of submitting your first novel as an unpublished author leads me to believe the following.
1) that I need to become accustomed to rejection and not take it personally
2) that I must be persistant and patient
3) that I must believe in myself and what I am selling (I do!!!)
4) that less than 1% of submitted manuscripts ever make it to publishing, so there is a far greater chance of rejection than of acceptance, especially for new authors.
5) that it can take weeks, if not months, for very busy agents and publishers to get back to the author with good or bad news.

All that being said, I have confidently approached said agent and will now have to wait and see. It will be weeks before I can comment on the success or failure of my first venture into the world of publishing. Meanwhile I have continued to edit and revise the rest of the manuscript, will print it all out, read and check it again and when I am happy (for now) I will start on Book 2, Albie's Story. (I might also approach 1 or 2 more agents, as patience is one thing, but it might take years for me to get through them if I just go one at a time!)

Blog-a-lot-or-not?

Today I have 3 questions. 1) how often do I update my blog? 2) how can I make my blog page look more interesting? and 3) how do I reach a wider audience?
So far I have come up with the following.
1) when I have something to say. Unfortunately that would be about every 5 minutes so should I restrict it to 2 or 3 times a week?
2) I will be experimenting so if any of my friends check in to look, it will probably change from time to time as I get the hang of what to do. This might take a while.....!
3) Well today I had some business cards made with my blog address on...(what do I do with them???).I also have started searching to find people with similar interests (writers, publishers,) and have followed some but I still don't quite know how all this works. I am a product of my generation, not weaned on blogs and tweets, but I will get there. Twitter account soon!

Right! - Off to email some publishers. I'll let you know how that little venture goes!

Romantic Drama or Chick Lit?

I go to the gym whenever I can. Big deal, you  might say. And yes, big deal indeed. But the reason that I bring this up is the fact that every time I go, I am filled with new ideas and have to spend 20 minutes or so  when I get home scribbling them down before I forget them, like you do a dream. Oxygen to the brain or something?? Well it works for me anyway.....(and they aren't neccessarily all good ideas....!)
So today's bright ideas were as follows; what category does my book fall into? What genre should I be promoting my book as? I thought I knew, until I saw the category "Chick lit" and had to research to double check. This was, as I suspected, the written version of the "Chick flick", which is usually light hearted and humourous. Sadie is not written as a comedy and some parts of it are really quite tense and filled with dramatic apprehension (well that was the intention, at least!) so I think that I will be selling it as Romantic Drama. It is after all, a love story, albeit one with a (huge!) difference. I also decided to change one or two details in the plot to hopefully improve.  More to follow later.
Today I have also looked in my authors' Yearbook (can I advertise on here? I will have to find out!) - There are hundereds of publishers! I identified 25 who might be suitable. And I haven't even started on the agencies yet.
 I still have work to do, obviously!