Tag Archives: Writing

All Hands

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Did you know it’s ‘International talk like a pirate day’? I’m sure there are thousands of, ‘Arrrrr,’ type comments being made across the world in keeping with the fun of this date, and perhaps a lovely buzz is building for all things maritime.

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Having written a historical maritime novel (A Devil’s Ransom) I have a great deal of affection for the nautical, but today I’d like to take a slight tangent to this theme. That is, the dynamics of a ship’s crew.

Now, I promise this is related! Last weekend marked the official book launch celebrations for my new YA novel Integrate. It was a wonderful event shared with many others who have supported me throughout the publication journey or have heard of the book and wanted to share the excitement of its release. But this day could not have happened without the many hands that managed all the behind the scenes work. My writing group. (Not to mention those involved in seeing the book to publication prior to that!)

Signing_Launch2On the morning of the launch my husband was given several chores to do while I zipped out to finish getting ready. When we finally arrived at the venue, I could feel fissures of stress edging through me. With a zillion thoughts in my head, including a list of what yet had to be done, I was stopped in my tracks as I stepped into the room. It was perfect. Everything had been set up and there was an atmosphere of calm as my writing friends went about their business – tasks they had previously delegated between themselves. Upon asking after a few items on my mental list, I was met with a smile and reminded that people had already offered to do these things, and had.

I felt something like the awe I hold when watching a ship’s crew at work – especially a sailing ship. Each crew-member knows their task and the importance of performing it well. If they don’t, they not only let themselves down, they risk jeopardising the safety of the ship and the souls aboard. There is something quite magnificent and equally intriguing about the team work involved in performing evolutions (or manoeuvres) under sail. Considering the physics of a sailing ship and the forces acting on it, the precision of this work can be appreciated.

The same applies to life. At times we can lose sight of our efforts in the bigger scheme of things, but don’t become discouraged in doing the little things well. No matter what moment we are in, there are always many hands that have seen us, supported us, to our ‘now’. From the simplest word of encouragement to meeting an overwhelming practical need, each hand bears a little weight in life’s journey. Let’s never undervalue the power of  supportive hands in our world – and our part as a ‘crew-member’ for others.

Author Interview: Adele Jones

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Today I’m being  interviewed as a guest author on Iola Goulton‘s ‘Christian Reads’ blog. Iola is a respected editor and book reviewer, and her website is a wealth of information on new releases and authors, along with providing professional advice on publishing, writing tips and review etiquette for writers.

Whether you’re a writer or a reader, Iola has something for literary buffs of all descriptions. IolaYou might also find out a little more about me and some of the writing related things that lurk in the recesses of my enthusiastic imagination.

Editing Entanglements

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EditEntangleAs a writer, editing’s our best friend when it comes to improving our work. Even greater insight can be gained when those edits come through another pair of eyes. But that doesn’t mean it’s a comfortable process.

Recently I completed a stint of manuscript edits. Partway through this process I was reflecting on the disruptive nature of a major edit. I could certainly see the benefits and was grateful to be reworking pre-publication, rather than lamenting post-publication. Yet, it would have been much less effort to leave the work in its original condition.

I liken a story to a spider’s web. The longer the work, the bigger and more intricately woven the web. Through the editing and revision process, weaknesses or inconsistencies may become apparent in the plot or story development, requiring a part of the web to be unspun and rebuilt. But you can just imagine what happens when you start pulling on one of those threads …

The entire web comes with it!

Life can be much like this. We might become aware of weaknesses or inconsistencies in our character or the way we live. Perhaps a gentle observation has come through another pair of eyes, making us feel vulnerable – exposed.

So what do we do?

It would be easier to pretend all is well and protect our vulnerabilities. I mean, it’s a given that by pulling on one thread the rest of the web’s going to take extra strain in the process or tear. In fact, that whole process sounds painful and inconvenient!

Awareness of such flaws can challenge us to confront the usual, even comfortable, patterns with which we do life. Relationships; habits; attitudes; behaviours. So many areas can be intricately interwoven.

But by choosing to become vulnerable and risk web deconstruction, we enable ourselves to examine the deeper issues underlying such vulnerabilities. Through this we can gradually build a stronger ‘life web’ for a  more positive way of living.

Dot to Dot

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The last couple of weeks have been pretty exhausting. Everyone in the family has been sick, with lots happening generally. All I wanted after work yesterday was to crawl to our spare room where the late afternoon sun warms the bed and rest my weary body – and I did!

As good as that felt, can you believe that just hours later information relating to plot lines and scenes for various manuscripts started ticking through my head? And maybe this sounds crazy, but I started thinking about how much I enjoy searching out facts and gluing together the foundational elements of a story. Research!

Perhaps that’s why I find writing historical fiction especially satisfying. It’s like a constant tension of discovery and never quite knowing enough about something – or thinking you do, only to later discover another fragment of  ‘evidence’ that completely disrupts all the strands you’ve so carefully aligned about a particular period or event.

Embarking on such searches can create a peculiar cycle of frustration, exhilaration and self-doubt.
“Did I really read/record that correctly?”
“I’m sure there was a connection! Why can’t I find it now?”
“I simply cannot find that piece of information so critical to this scene. Should I rewrite?”
“Every account I’ve found is different!”

Needles in haystacks?

In the past there have been times when I’ve covered the entire floor of the office with maps; eye witness accounts of a particular historical event; shipping records; genealogies and any other relevant document, with me planted tail up nose down in the middle, trying to find that one link between them all – a date or event that connects every point. And then, success!

That, to me, grants licence to dance manically about the room and holler for anyone in earshot to come share the excitement. (This usually incites a “the woman’s crazy” look from the family.) Then, with that one dot, I start tracing a thread to the next point; the next challenge.

Is this madness? Does it prove that writers are essentially suckers for punishment? I actually believe we all do this on one level or another, seeking out those points of connection that provide “That’s it!” moments for a searching heart. These can be critical markers in our lives.

Identity: it’s our history, our now, our future. Even if we’re quite secure with ourselves, I think most of us recognise that self-discovery is a constant. Whatever our self-perception, just like connecting those dots in research there’s always a thread that leads us to a new place – a new discovery. This can be releasing for those struggling with identity, an assurance that there is so much more to come. And for those comfortable with themselves, it can be like adding strength to a beautiful structure.

Let’s never give up on chasing those threads.

In Position

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For nearly two months now I’ve been trying to jot down blog posts, only to end up with numerous half-done pieces that seemed to be going nowhere. The background to this apparent blogging block began late in February. I was at the stage of awaiting manuscript edits and figured that in the interim, I should set myself a goal to ensure I remained productive. With visions of NaNoWriMo, I began my own personal novel writing month in March.

While plugging towards my goal word count, a submission opportunity arose with a criteria into which the in-progress manuscript fitted nicely. No more personal goal ‘just because’. I had a definite due date and I had to harness every writing chance that I could!

Now it is May. I submitted two days ago, and after a hectic few weeks at work, thought that this might warrant an evening off… Then, bing! The blog ideas started to flow!

I scribbled down thoughts, amused at how I’d had nothing for so long only for it to change in an instant. Self-reflection hinted that perhaps this could have been because my focus was needed elsewhere.

This made me think of a recent netball match I played. A member of the opposition injured their ankle, stopping play. As a current first aider, my instinct was to go to the player to assist, then run for ice. It then dawned on me that there were already people assisting and my attention was required elsewhere. There were two teams relying on me holding my position.

As the player was subbed out and play resumed, I saw that one of their off court team members had already begun applying appropriate first aid. In that instance I could have run off to get ice and assist the player, but it probably would have been a bit annoying for the other players when the umpire whistled for play to continue, only to find a WD missing. It wasn’t that I didn’t have the ability to assist – others were doing that.

I had to position myself in the place I needed to be at that time.

In life there are moments, even seasons, like this. There are numerous examples where we have to prioritise a particular role or activity over another: study; rearing young children; working a less-than-ideal job to pay the mortgage; reducing involvement in particular activities to enable more family time etc. This doesn’t mean that we can’t do other tasks; we just might be prioritising what is most important at that time. I guess it’s a little like driving a car on your side of the road. Sometimes you might get stuck behind a slow vehicle or have to navigate a windy, mountainous road. Though you could attempt to pass recklessly without appropriate caution, the wiser (and safer!) approach would be to wait until the oncoming lane, and our line of sight, is clear.

The reality is these seasons end. And as wisely observed by one of my friends, when stepping back from a particular role for a period to focus on something else, you can give others the opportunity to be involved in a position otherwise unavailable to them. Now I’ve just got to figure out how that works in the blogging application… 🙂