About me
This is by blog from 2008
1 December 2008
I don't know what's happened to the last month - it's flown by. Much of it was taken up with waiting for my new grandson who finally made his entrance into the world on 20 November. I saw him born which was magic - there's nothing quite as exciting as witnessing a birth. He's perfect and very, very good.
On the writing side of things, the first two books of the Amy Wild series are now completely finished and copy edited. (That means they've been double checked by someone else looking for spelling, punctuation and story problems.) So they are now going to the designer ready for illustration. The publisher has asked an illustrator to do some sample pictures but I haven't seen them yet.
I've also finished book 3 and everyone likes it, so I'm just waiting to see what changes my editor wants me to make. There are always a few because she can spot problems with the story that I've missed because I know it so well.
My next task is to work out a plot for book 4. The first one I thought of won't work so I've got to start again. That should be easier now the builders have finally finished. It's bliss not having lots of banging going on.
I'm still thinking about getting a horse and have been to see two that looked possible. The first one felt wrong and I was tempted by the second, but decided not to have him in the end because he had sweet itch. That's an allergy to midge bites that makes horses and ponies really itchy in the summer. I'm still looking but I'm not in a hurry. In the meantime, I'm going to a different riding stable for a change. It's right in the country so there's lovely hacking and the teaching is good too.
1 November 2008
I've looked back over my blog entries and decided they're getting a bit repetitive. I was hoping to give you an idea of how a book gets written but all I'm saying is I haven't finished yet. So I've decided to write about horsey things a bit for a change.
I'm still dreaming of a horse, as you may be too. But getting one is huge step. Someone yesterday described it to me as like digging a big hole and pouring money into it. Buying the horse is the easy bit. It doesn't even have to cost anything if you get one on loan. The really expensive part is the ongoing cost of looking after it.
Unless you have a field and a stable (a lawn isn't enough), you'll need to rent somewhere to keep it. Usually that's a place in a livery yard (DIY, full or part livery). Then you have to pay for hay, bedding, hard feed, new shoes every 6/8 weeks, regular worming and insurance. That last item is vital. You must have third party insurance in case the horse causes an accident and you really need insurance against vets bills which can run into thousands of pounds if your horse has a serious accident or illness.
That's the basic, regular costs. Less regular ones are saddlery, rugs, competition entry fees and lessons. (yes - you'll probably still want some of those, even if you have your own horse.)
Scarey, isn't it. It can work out cheaper to have 2 or even 3 rides a week at a local stables.
23 October 2008
The builders haven't finished yet, but they have stopped for a bit while we wait for sosme windows to be made. It's bliss having the house to ourselves again and not having constant noise. Maybe that's why I'm finally making better progress with the book. I'm doing a steady 500 words a day now, sometimes more.
I went for a hack in the countryside yesterday. It was lovely exploring fields and country lanes on a well-behaved cob and putting into practice everything I've been learning in my lessons. The weather was perfect - brilliant sunshine, a slight breeze and the autumn leaves just beginning to fall. It's a pity winter is rushing up on us so quickly.
13 October 2008
The problem with a blog is remembering to write it. I hadn't realised I'd left such a long gap until I looked today. The last few weeks seem to have raised by as we had a big family party to organise and we've got the builders in again. This time they're working in the house so we're surrounded by dust and noise.
I'm still working hard to improve my riding. In particular, I've been trying out of Mark Rashid's ideas that I learned at his clinic and from his books and DVD's and they're really making a difference. The dream of a horse of my own is no further forward than it was, but who knows. It may happen one day.
The first two Amy Wild books are now completely finished, and my editors at Usborne are trying to choose an illustrator. I don't know who it will be ye,t but they'll have to be really good at drawing animals. I'm now working on the third book which is about a mystery cat. I've just finished the first chapter which is always the bit that takes the longest. Hopefully, I'll speed up now as I need to get the first draft of the book finished by the end of the October.
The first Amy Wild books will be out next September. I'll put a section about her on the site before then so you can find out more about her. Now I'd better stop writing this and set to work on the book again.
27 August 2008
My riding lesson this morning was a real challenge. We were practising making our ponies lengthen and shorten their strides so we could control how they jumped a double. It was fascinating but really difficult, especially trying to make my pony (Lucy) canter slower without breaking into a trot. I kept doing it wrong but I did eventually manage to jump the double properly right at the end of the lesson.
26 August 2008
Sorry I haven't written for ages - I don't spend much time at my desk during August. It's been a busy month. Now I've joined the Horsemasters Club at Brickfields, I go and help in the yard which is fun. It's a fascinating place to be as it's a stud and a tourist attraction as well as a riding school. So, as well as the riding school ponies, there are stallions, foals, Shire horses and two beautiful greys who pull the carriage at weddings.
My riding's improving rapidly and my confidence has returned. I even tried jumping last week and really enjoyed it. The jumps were very low, but it was still fun making Artie (who I was riding) go the right way round the course.
At home, we're up to our ears in builders and I've discovered that I can't write with a pneumatic drill outside my window. The good news is that a publisher has accepted my new picture book. It has a horse as the main character, but the book won't be in the shops until 2011 because it will take a long time for the illustrator to paint all the pictures.
The other good news is that Usborne (the people who publish Princess Ellie) love the second Amy Wild book. Now I've got to rewrite the first and second book to sort out all the little problems the editor and I have spotted with the stories. No book is ever right first time - rewriting makes stories work better and my editor's comments help me see what needs to be done. She also points out any spelling mistakes and missing punctuation - it's a bit like getting your stories marked by your teacher.
17 July 2008
Now I've calmed down from my exciting weekend, I'm finally settling back to work. That currently means rewriting the second Amy Wild book, filling in some boring forms for the tax man and getting on with planning the next pony book. The main character is called Sasha (probably) but I haven't named any of the horses and ponies yet. If you've got any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.
15 July 2008
I've just got back from three days watching a horse trainer called Mark Rashid work with horses and their riders. It was one of the most fascinating experiences of my life and I've come back full of enthusiasm to try out some of his ideas. Of course, not having a horse makes this difficult but my friend says I can experiment a bit with Annie.
One of the most amazing things was when Mark asked one rider to tense her right arm. The horse she was riding immediately started to move differently because it tensed the muscles in his right foreleg. A similar thing happened when she tensed both her feet - in that case, the horse became really stiff in its hind legs. I would never have believed it if I hadn't seen it happen.
3 July 2008
The Writers' Conference was brilliant. I concentrated on sessions about being more organised and tackling writer's block, and I came home feeling very enthusiastic about my writing.
The high spot of my week so far was cantering without stirrups on Monday. I was very nervous about doing it, but felt fantastic when I did. These lessons are really improving my riding, and I've now got back all the confidence I lost when I fell off a few months ago.
I'm so glad I remembered to record Doctor Who last Saturday. It had the best cliffhanger ending I've ever seen anywhere, but I won't say any more in case you haven't seen it yet. I can hardly wait for the next episode. Donna seems to be the key to everything. I wonder if she's a time lord in disguise.
27 June 2008
I'm going to the Winchester Writers Conference for the day tomorrow so I've set our set-top box to record Doctor Who. I'm a huge fan of the series and can hardly wait for the next episode because last week's trailer was so exciting. The stars are going out and there are definitely Daleks lurking somewhere.
25 June 2008
I had yet another riding lesson today. This time I rode a bay called Billy. We did lots of 10 metres circles and sitting trot as well as some cantering. My cantering has improved a lot after I had loads of practice on a hack last week.
I really miss mucking out and grooming now that I haven't got a pony to look after myself.so I've joined the Horsemasters Club at the stables. Last Saturday, I had to go there for a health and safety session and, now I've done that, I can help out on the yard when I've got time. But I haven't done that yet - I've been too busy writing.
The really good news is that I've finished the first draft of the new Amy Wild book. I've now got to go through it and decide where the chapters will end. I usually do that as I write, but with this book I wrote the story first without any chapter breaks.
I'm really keen to get on with story of Sasha Brown because that's going to be another pony book. I've already decided that the place where she's going to ride is called Kestrels, but I haven't decided on the pony names yet. If you've got any suggestions, let me know.
20 June 2008
There's still time to enter the Pony-Mad Princess colouring competition? You can see some of the previous winners here.
I'm feeling pleased with myself because I've nearly finished the first draft of the new book - just two more scenes to go. I hope my editor likes it.
6 June 2008
I love reading your letters and emails and always try to answer them (although it sometimes takes a while). However, I can't do that if there's no return address. So I thought I'd thank Edie here for the lovely photo she sent.
I rode yet another horse this week. His name was Artie and we got on really well. The regular lessons are really helping to improve my riding.
The new book is progressing a bit faster now. I'm now about a quarter of the way through. Once I've got that far, I usually find stories progress a bit faster so, hopefully, it won't be too long before I've finished the first draft. But the book won't be finished then. I'll have to do lots of rewriting before it's ready to send to the publishers.
22 May 2008
Yesterday I had another riding lesson and it went really well. My new instructor is great and finally seems to have sorted out the problems I have getting horses to canter in the sand school. I've decided I'm going to have regular lessons with her and try to improve my riding enough to do some dressage. I rode a different horse this time - a black cob called Jack.
The writing's not going quite so well. I'm currently writing reams about Amy's school to help me sort out exactly which facts I want to include in the book and which I'll leave out. Eventually I'll click back into the story, and it will all start to work again.
20 May 2008
The second Amy book is progressing slowly. I've written the first chapter and ground to a halt because I think I may have started the story in the wrong place. That's a common problem with writing - I often have to rewrite the beginning over and over again before I'm happy with it.
We've got the builders in which isn't helping. At the moment, they're building a garage which isn't too disruptive. It will be worse when they come indoors to sort out the kitchen, but I hope to have finished the book before then.
Last week, Steve and I went to London for the launch of a new comic. It was a great party with loads of people to talk to and lots of chocolate brownies. (my favourites). There were quite a few other writers there, including Philip Pullman who is writing one of the stories for the comic. You can find out more about it on the DFC website.
Yesterday, I went for a riding lesson. It's the first one I've had since my fall and I went to a different riding stables. The instructor was great - she understood that I felt nervous and really helped boost my confidence. The horse was lovely too. He's a piebald called Minstrel who behaved perfectly.
8 May 2008
I went to London yesterday in the sunshine and had lunch with my publishers. They love Amy Wild so the series is definitely going ahead. The first books should be in the shops in the autumn of next year. So now I've got lots of writing to do while they find the right illustrator.
1 May 2008
My task for today is to work out the plot for the second Amy Wild book. I've spent several days thinking and making notes so I've got lots of ideas. Now I've got to write them down as a step outline. As the name suggests, that's a list of the steps in the story. It helps me sort out what happens when and spot any holes in the plot. It's much easier to make changes at this stage than when the first draft of the book is finished.
I need to get as much done as possible before the builders start making lots of noise again. They've put in the foundations for our garage, and we're now waiting for them to build the walls.
26 April 2008
It looks as if my first two books about Amy Wild will be published sometime next year. More news later when everything's been decided.
I went riding on Thursday - the first time since my fall. Luckily it was only a gentle hack on Annie - my back hurt when I was trotting so I wouldn't have wanted to do anything more energetic.
21 April 2008
Five days after my fall, the aches and pains have nearly gone so I'm hoping to go riding again soon. But, in future, I'm going to keep a closer eye on what the other ponies are doing.
Right now, I'm at an exciting stage with my new series idea about a girl called Amy Wild. I've written the first story and the publishers like it, so they are having a meeting on Wednesday to decide if they want to make it into a book. That's always a bit of an anxious time for an author which is why I'm finding it hard to concentrate on other things at the moment.
While I'm waiting to hear, I'm catching up on paperwork and trying to work out the plot for the first Sasha Brown book. Plotting and planning a book can often take longer than actually writing it. It takes time to work out all the twists and turns.
I've also got a pile of exciting books to read to help with the research for the new series. The lates arrived today from amazon and I can hardly wait to get started on them. As you might guess, they are all about horses.
16 August 2008
I've decided it's time I joined the world of blogging, but I'm not sure how often I'll write anything. I've also decided it's time I got a horse of my own, but I'm not sure if that will happen either. The problem is that, like many of you, I live in a place where there are not many places to ride, and I don't like doing roadwork all the time. So I might be better just riding my friend's horse and going to a riding stables for lessons.
I haven't been riding for quite a while because I broke my wrist last September. I wasn't doing anything exciting like jumping - I just tripped over while I was out shopping. So I've only just started riding again. Two rides on my friend's mare, Annie, boosted my confidence so I booked a riding lesson.
It's one of those stables where you get on the ponies in the sand school. We were all lined up ready, and the instructor called us out one by one to start walking round. My attention was completely on her rather than on the horse walking round the back of me. That's why I was completely taken by surprise when that horse kicked out and mine jumped out of the way, leaving me behind. "Oops!" I thought as I realised there was nothing underneath me anymore.
So I fell off before the lesson even started. I got back on and finished the hour, but I ached like mad afterwards. Maybe Sasha will fall off like that in the new book I'm writing. (More about that some other time.)