Roller coasters, editors and daily prompts

I’m later than intended getting this blog post written because last week was a real roller coaster of a ride with some dizzying highs followed all too swiftly by those heart stopping, stomach churning swoops down to the lows.  Some people love that sort of ride.  But I prefer a smooth, gentle glide with time to admire the scenery to the breath-snatching thrills of the roller coaster.

Photo by Angie from Pexels

Progress in my works in progress

 I’ve always have more than one large project on the go at any one time but this week, three of them have suddenly pushed themselves centre stage, demanding my instant attention.  The pantomime I wrote about last time is going well. (The Path Less Travelled and why it (sometimes) pays to take it)   I have finished Act One now and she-who-makes-things-happen is very pleased and excited about it.  Now all I have to do is figure out what’s going to happen in Act 2, because at the moment I haven’t a clue. 

I’ve also been writing a 5 part murder mystery serial, entitled The Primrose Path, and have now been given the go ahead for the fifth and final part.  And, as with the pantomime, I have a vague idea how it’s all going to work out but at the moment it resembles a basket of wool after a kitten’s been at it – a tangled mess with loose ends everywhere. 

The only thing I’m sure about is “who done it” and I’ve more or less got the “why done it” sorted.  But the “how done it” is giving me brain ache. More on this in a later post.  (Once I’ve worked on why she didn’t just get her phone out and call for help!)

My big news!

But the new big news is the one that’s really sending me in a spin and wanting to bury my head under the nearest duvet.

I HAVE AN EDITOR  

One of the reasons I started this blog, apart from the joy I get from just sitting down and writing about whatever takes my fancy, is that earlier this year I was signed up by Crooked Cat Books who are going to publish my debut full length murder mystery, later in the year.  I thought it would be interesting to blog about my journey to publication.

I’ve been published many times in magazines (and still continue to do so, says she with fingers, toes and anything else that can be crossed firmly crossed).  I also have five large print novels, some crime, some romance, available through the library service, with a sixth due to be published in August.  

But this is the first ‘proper’ book I’ve had published.  Not that any of my work is ‘improper’, you understand.

Murder Served Cold

Murder Served Cold is a murder mystery (the clue is in the title) set in a small Somerset village not dissimilar to the one in which I live.  Think Stephanie Plum follows a faulty sat-nav and finds herself  in Miss Marple’s St Mary Mead.  Like Stephanie, my character Kat is feisty and witty, with an answer for everything.  She also feels as out of place as  Voldemort at the Teddy Bears’ Picnic when  circumstances beyond her control force her to return to her parents’ home in the small Somerset village where she grew up.

I’m sure you’ll hear more about Kat Latcham in later blogs.  Most of the time I have difficulty shutting her up.  However, this is my blog and not hers.

But for the moment I’m trying to get my head around the fact that  I’ve been assigned an editor, the first step on the pathway to publication – and I’m absolutely terrified.  She’s reading Murder Served Cold as I write this and I feel like I’m waiting for my end of term school report, complete with the  ‘could do better’ comments.

Kat, of course, wouldn’t give a toss.  But she’s a feisty 23 year old, with cool spiky multi-coloured hair and cool, spiky boots to match.  She has an opinion on everything and is not afraid to share it.  I, on the other hand, am not 23 nor anywhere near it. (A glance at my author picture will confirm this)  I’m not feisty either, although I’d love to be.  I’m an introverted writer who prefers to spend my time sitting at a laptop and living vicariously through my characters, even (or do I mean, especially?)  the bad ones.

So, while Kat would be saying ‘Bring it on” to my newly assigned editor, I freeze in terror every time I check my emails.  Is she going to say it’s rubbish?  That my sentences are too long?  That my story arc doesn’t arc enough?  Or, the worst ‘could do better’ comment of them all, that she doesn’t think it’s funny?

I’m a proud member of both the Romantic Novelists’ Association and the Crime Writers’ Association.  I love writing murder mysteries, spiced with humour and lightly sprinkled with a touch of romance so the three elements of crime, romance and humour are very important to me.

I know my book will probably be put in the ‘cosy’ category.  But that conjures up what someone described recently as ‘cutesies’, where ladies in tea shops solve murder mysteries with the help of their cat. Or a psychic goldfish. Nothing wrong with that, of course, and they are incredibly popular.  But that’s not what Murder Served Cold is about.

So what is it about?  I hope you’ll come back for future blogs and learn more about Kat and the other characters in Much Winchmoor.  They’re a lot of fun – apart from the odd murderer or two, of course!

Daily Prompts.  April 16-30^th.

As promised in an earlier post, here are the daily prompts for the rest of April.  I hope you’re  finding them useful.  Check out the previous post  if you’re uncertain how to use them.

16. All is forgiven

17. Being misunderstood.

18. Getting away with murder.

19. When the dust settled….

20. Jumping to the wrong conclusion

21. No man is an island.

22. In the heat of the afternoon.

23. “This is it,” I thought.  “Things don’t get any better than this.”

24. You can’t tell a book by its cover.  Or can you?

25. Things I wish my mother had told me.

26. My grandparents’ wedding picture.

27. Feast day of St Zita, patron saint of housewives, bakers and sometimes invoked by people    who have lost their keys.

28. Everybody stopped to watch the stranger’s arrival.

29. A pair of shoes.

30. Something that happened this time last year.

And finally….

Thank you so much for dropping by.  What’s happening with your work in progress at the moment?  Do you prefer roller coasters or a gentle ride?  I’d love you to leave a comment.