Natalie Allan

Just a quick update on the writing projects. Although I haven’t managed to do any more research on becoming my own publisher (as in, open up my own small press to publish my own books (see my recent blogs on “My mission for 2010″: http://blog2.natalieallan.co.uk/?p=120 and http://blog2.natalieallan.co.uk/?p=123)), I have, however, cracked the whip on the writing projects and they seems to be going fairly smoothly.

I now have 50+ poems (half of which are edited and finalised) for my book of collected poems I intend on publishing in 2011 (not bad, to say I only started working on this batch in February), and I need about 150 to 200 more so the book is average paperback size. So far, I’ve been writing 2-3 poems a day, four days a week. I estimate I should have enough poems for my book by the end of September. I’ve already begun the design of the cover and the typesetting of the internal pages. It’s really exciting!

I’m plotting a new novel as well. This one is the backstory for “Village of Vampires”, the novel I already have in 4th draft, and was originally going to be a novella on some of my characters to help refine the nitty-gritty details about them so I could finally finish this draft. And as all the best laid plans go to waste, this book seems to be turning itself into a novel, and there’s so much prize information in there, “Village of Vampires” looks to be its sequel and the new novel needs to be (written) and read first in order for the reader to understand it! It’s an integral part of the world-building also. So once again, “Village of Vampires” has been put on the back burner. But at least this project is remotely relevant to it!

The things we do for our characters…

What are you writing right now?

So, we all remember my mission for 2010, right? The one where I intend to finish the content for my book of collected poems and become my own publisher by setting up my own publishing house under my own name and publish the said book? Well, things are under way on this. I have so far completed:

• Basic research about how to do this and what I need to know and do (more advanced research will come when I cross that bridge);
• Begun organizing and editing my existing poems and putting them into “categories” of how I’d like them to appear in the book;
• Designed the cover of the book (okay, so this was 8 hours and 4 drafts worth of work that didn’t need to be done yet, but I had fun doing it);
• Begun the layout in a typesetting program and begun typesetting the preliminary pages of my paperback.

This is all fun and games. I’m able to write, be creative, and learn something new all at the same time – which are three things I absolutely love to do! Sure, there will come paperwork, and print costing, and business setting-up, and taxes to worry about, a market to find to sell my book to — but who cares about that when I’m on a huge learning curve? And, when I do get to that stage, it’ll be a walk in the park because I’ve already set up and run my own business in the past when I used to make and sell handmade greeting cards, so I already know the anatomy of a Limited Company.

However, while I’m doing all this, my novel, Village of Vampires, has been sat on the shelf — and that’s really bad. I’ve been putting off working on it because I know I have to go through that horrible process of querying literary agents and facing rejection. Then the realisation hit me — if I’m going to become my own publisher, I can publish this book myself, too.

What can I say? Sometimes the most obvious things can sit right under your nose and you don’t notice them.

I now feel a renewed and added enthusiasm for Village of Vampires. I’ve wanted to see that book in print so badly since I began working on the synopsis last October. Now, I can realise that dream without having to go through the pain and torture of the query process and the rejection and heartache that comes with it. And I’ll get to keep 100% of all proceeds from the sales — an added bonus, as always.

All I need to do now, is run these two books side-by-side while researching the business of publishing oneself, and hopefully in a few months, I’ll be able to publish one or the other of these books!

Usually, when I make a “mission” out of something, I do so because that “something” is one of those tasks I really don’t want to do. It’s reverse psychology, the act of turning a task or lengthy project into a mission that I don’t want to do makes it fun, competitive. A challenge that I then want to complete.

This mission, however, is different. It’s a real mission, a 100% bone-fida one, and will probably be one of the most lengthy missions I undertake.

The mission: PUBLISH A BOOK!

“Oh yeah, I knew you’re writing and were like, going to query an agent or something. What’s new about this? Whassup with you telling me stuff I already know?”

Well, this mission is very different from that. These are the objectives:

• Complete content
• Edit content
• Typeset book
• Design cover
• Purchase ISBNs
• Set up my own publishing house
• Approach printer
• Get book printed
• Release book
• Mission Accomplished!

I’ve done absolutely no research into any of this yet, I haven’t looked at print costing because I don’t know how thick my book will be, and I have no idea where I will sell my book. All this comes in time. My first objective is “complete content” because it really is the first step to any kind of book-publishing — whether it be traditional, Print-on-Demand, self-publishing, or setting up your own house.

This is going to be an exciting journey, and I have a lot to learn and a lot of hurdles to jump. I have a good mix of fear and excitement which usually means something is worth doing! All I can tell you 100% right now, is that I’ll keep you updated, and as soon I have my content complete, I hope you’ll join me on my journey to becoming a publisher so I can sell my book!

For some strange reason, ever since the clocks changed and Easter weekend holiday threw out my writing routine, I haven’t written a fat lot of anything — whether it be for the 4th draft of my novel (Village of Vampires), poetry, or short stories. Nothing in my life has actually changed since then, and I haven’t changed my daily routine. My writing life just seems to have blown away in the gentle spring breeze.

Time to change that, me thinks!

On average, and before my routine got thrown to pot, I worked on one-page-per-day of my novel, wrote anything up to four poems, and tinkered with short story ideas every day. That’s right, I did all this each day. Now it’s time to get back at it.

If I don’t, that writing part of my brain will cease up and I’ll end up with a bad case of w-r-i-t-e-r-s b-l-o-c-k, and I don’t want that to happen — in fact, this needs to be avoided at all costs.

So what am I going to do about it?

Force myself to write.

Every day.

No excuses. Whatsoever.

I don’t particularly care about how much I write each day, so long as I do something — it’s quality I’m after, not quantity. And even if I don’t jump back in and write the volumes I was doing before my routine oddly changed, at least I’ll be writing something. Which is a much-improvement on the nothingness I’m achieving at the moment.

I also promise to start blogging more as well. I tend to have stopped writing for everything, so I apologise if it’s been a bit quiet around here lately.

So, all I need to do now, is get off the internet and actually work on something.

Something productive…

Since work on my novel is incredibly slow, I’ve been spending some of my writing time working on poems and I’ve begun a short story. I haven’t written a short story before, so grasping the art of only writing what is necessary, short concise sentences and getting to the point is a real challenge I’m enjoying. It’s a real fun process. Look out for a taster real soon.

Also, it’s only one week to the HIM gig in Birmingham and I’m so excited. I just heard from DLioneye’s twitter they just arrived in Norwich!

Since I began decorating our home over a month ago, I’ve sneaked in three small novel writing sessions where I can to work on Draft 4 of Village of Vampires. I’ve been working so damn hard, I’ve been too tired by the end of it to get any real hard labour in on my novel. It’s a shame, my schedule has gone right out the window.

Before I started decorating, I was already two months behind schedule for finding a literary agent and seeking publication for Village of Vampires. Where am I now? at least four months behind, if not five or six. I so badly want to sit down and breeze through this draft, but I can’t because my home comes first. Don’t get me wrong, I want my home to come first — and my husband. I want to have nice decorations, clean walls and new floors. But the niggling dream of getting this book published never leaves the back of my mind. I’m becoming irritable because I want to work on it so badly.

Poetry

Since I haven’t been able to work on my novel, I’ve needed to keep that writing part of my brain open and still firing so I’m not rusty when I come back to it at a later date. So, I’ve been picking up the old fashioned pen and paper and catching a short poem here and there in between painting walls. So far, I have twelve good quality edited poems to show for it and I’m really happy with them. Who knows, one day I might even publish a small book or pamphlet of my poetry.

Paintings

I’ve also worked on a painting to hang in my fresh-painted lounge (when I have time to put it up). It’s very simple and I haven’t painted in over two years, but I’m very happy with the outcome. Here it is, I called it “Autumn Breeze”:

Autumn Breeze, acrylic on canvas, 27 Feb 2010

Autumn Breeze, corner tree detail. Metallic bronze and copper paints in the leaf detail makes them look as though they are highlighted by the sun.

Autumn Breeze, middle tree detail. Metallic bronze and copper paints in the leaf detail makes them look as though they are highlighted by the sun.

Autumn Breeze, distant trees. No metallic paints were used on these to create depth in the composition.

Autumn Breeze, cloud detail.

Autumn Breeze, cloud detail.

Autumn Breeze, sun painted with metallic gold paint to make it appear as if it is glowing off the canvass. This looks awesome when daylight catches it.

Autumn Breeze, grasses and my signature.

Puppies

On Sunday, a new addition joined our family. Her name is Saffron (call name “Saffie)  and she’s a four month old Papillon crossed with a Jack Russel Terrier. She’s very adorable and gets on really well with our two year ol Springer Spaniel, Rosie. Here’s a couple of pictures:

Saffie and Rosie

Saffron ("Saffie")

Crashing Computers And Screamworks

I’d been waiting for my copy of Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice by my favourite band HIM since the middle of January. When it finally arrived from Amazon after all the trouble I had with the bank cancelling the order from Warner records, I was looking forward to bunging the thing in my computer and just listening to it.

No such luck. When I booted my computer to listen to the damn thing on Saturday after receiving it in the mail, my computer refused to come on. It was dead. As in forever. So I had to go to the trouble of setting up a new PC. I decided not to put Windows back on it and have instead gone back to Ubuntu Linux. I’ve never had a problem with Linux, it just works like it’s meant to.

Recovering my data from said dead PC took all of Saturday and I didn’t get to hear my album until Sunday. It’s absolutely amazing. I love the album and all it’s songs. The bonus CD, Baudelaire in Braille is equally as amazing. I can’t stop listening to it.

I ordered it from Amazon because of the bank rejected the transaction from Warner Records. I received an email today from Warner to say the CD and Saint Scream print has now been shipped and Warner have started to take the money again for the order from the bank. So it looks like I’ll end up with two copies of the CD. I’m giving the CD to a friend of mine in Finland. I love her very much and she deserves to have my copy. So I’ve promised her she can have it for free if and when the damn things arrive!

I’m just glad I get my Saint Scream print

Village of Vampires

I’m back in the saddle of the 4th draft, knocking out about 1000 carefully thought out words a day. I’ve finished my beta reading with only one ongoing manuscript hitting my mailbox so I have ample time now to go about my usual writerly days. I’m still two months behind schedule, but I’ll have to see how I go.

I query agents when I get round to it, when the books complete. No personal pressure…

Once upon a time, I used to wish for more emails. The urge to connect was there, the need to chat with my friends via this free medium was at the forefront of my mind. I would check my email several times a day, only to find my inbox empty and my junk folder full. I felt forlorn, rejected, lonely.

Now, however, rarely a day passes where my inbox is sparse or devoid completely of communication. The emails pour in morning, noon and night. I reply to them, giving necessary details, friendly advice and ongoing chatter. For everyone I respond to, five more appear. The little number that tells me how many emails I have goes up and up, the amount of flags meaning I’ve marked that said email as important or is something I need work on increases. As do the beta reads.

I’ve been a good girl lately, ignoring my own urges to write and complete my book so I can I read through the books others have already written. I’m true to the writer, keeping my eye critical and my advice devoid of personal opinion or changes I’d make if it were my work. I create reports on what worked, what didn’t, why the plot doesn’t arc or why characters seem flat. I read, I advise, I line edit, I send the work back to it’s owner.

Then I begin again, working from early morning like I did today until I go to bed at night. I eye my own novel, still incomplete and deserving my attention. But these other people need my help, how can I say no to them or tell them my work is more important? I can’t turn my back on a friend, and yet, I turn my back on my own novel every day. The emails come in with chapters and sometimes whole manuscripts attached, and I work tirelessly on them until I’ve fulfilled my promise to the writer, my friend.

The hours pass, and by nightfall I have little energy for my own work. It’s been several days since I worked on my fourth draft, the urge to write is practically tearing my brain to pieces. But the emails are there and they won’t go away. I don’t want them to go away because I know I’m doing some good helping the friends these things belong to.

A few more days and I hope I’ll have cleared out the beta reads in my inbox. The other emails that require simple replies to a non-writing friend will have to wait. My novel needs me, and I have to get back to it before all these beta reads get published and my own work is still sat on the shelf collecting dust.

In the face of this, I have to say I can’t take on any new beta reads for the foreseeable future. I have my own novel to consider, as well three full manuscripts I’m reading through for friends. Aside from this, I do partial betas for trusted close friends who occasionally email me a chapter they may be struggling with or an idea that doesn’t settle right. I would love to help you get your book published as others are doing for me, but if I take too much on I’m going to melt. I have to work on what projects I have open first.

I’m now two months behind schedule for querying agents on my novel. I was meant to begin querying mid-March, but it doesn’t look as though I’ll get there until May or maybe June. By all means, when I finally get to this stage I may be able to offer to beta read, but not until I’m finished chewing everything I have in my mouth, swallowed, and digested.

With all this said, it’s back to the manuscripts if I ever want to jump back into my own work.

Village of Vampires

I begun the 4th draft of Village tonight, and thus far the word count stands at 709. Not bad, a nice gentle start to the revisions.

Village of Vampires

Finally, I know what’s missing from Village (apart from a better title). I’ve been thinking these last few weeks since I handed the project over to my Beta Readers on January 10th that this novel was “missing something” or needed an “extra layer” not in the plot, but in the prose. You know that magic thing that makes the main character stand out beyond a shadow of a doubt? That “it” factor?

Well, I don’t know exactly what that “it” is, every reader sees the main character’s “it” differently depending on what book they’re reading, but I now know that I have to give this “it” thing to my main character. Everything else is there: the plot is multi-layered with sub-plots and a beginning, middle and end; the world is vivid and there’s no unanswered questions; and the cast of characters are unique and individual.

Once I’ve added this “it” into my main character’s personality and traits, I know this book won’t be “missing” anything or incomplete. Once I’ve given “it” to her, this book will be publishable (after a line edit or two).

So, time frame to complete this round of edits? To hell with a time frame, I’m going to give my protagonist the “it” she deserves, no matter how long it takes. Work begins ASAP.

Here it is then, the ticker-tape to completion: