The Age of Innocence

25 Apr

I’m reading Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence right now and loving it. I’ve seen the Scorsese movie and enjoyed it, but the book is even more delightful – playful, satirical and romantic all in one – even if Newland is a big sap.

What’s so great about it is the prose. For example, this quotation…man, this quotation:

“Don’t be afraid of me: you needn’t squeeze yourself back into your corner like that. A stolen kiss isn’t what I want. Look: I’m not even trying to touch the sleeve of your jacket. Don’t suppose that I don’t understand your reasons for not wanting to let this feeling between us dwindle into an ordinary hole-and-corner love-affair. I couldn’t have spoken like this yesterday, because when we’ve been apart, and I’m looking forward to seeing you,every thought is burnt up in a great flame. But then you come; and you’re so much more than I remembered, and what I want of you is so much more than an hour or two every now and then, with wastes of thirsty waiting between, that I can sit perfectly still beside you, like this, with that other vision in my mind, just quietly trusting to it to come true.”

Sigh.

Tags:

Catherine, Aged 17

6 Apr

One of the downsides of being both a YA writer and secondary teacher is a constant reminder of one’s own teen years. I have a recurring nightmare in which I am forced to return to my own school, where I am made to teach but also take A-Levels at the same time (“Your French exam is tomorrow! And your class has been waiting for you for fifteen minutes!”). Argh!

Image

(Me, somewhere around 17-18, sat on the sofa with my laptop…looking pretty much the same as I do now! Side note – crying because I have suddenly noticed the old green cushion next to me…*wipes away a tear*…don’t mind me…)

Anyway, next month it also happens to be my ten year anniversary of blogging – starting off on Livejournal, natch, the in thing to do in 2004, as documented in The Social Network. As such, I thought it might be fun to revisit 17-year-old me. What was I like ten years ago? Have I changed?

Continue reading →

Tags: ,

An Afternoon with Benny Lewis

22 Mar

I’ve just come back from a lovely afternoon at Waterstones Piccadilly. It has been ages (shamefully) since I was in a bricks and mortar bookshop – since leaving Clapham I’ve been without a local indy – but I really enjoyed browsing and picked up Guerra, a book on the Spanish Civil War, which I know practically nothing about.

Fluent-in-3-Months-3D

However, the point of my trip was really to meet one of my favourite bloggers, Benny Lewis of Fluent in Three Months. He has just released a paperback based on his popular website. I stumbled across the blog at the end of his very first ‘mission’ to learn Czech, and stuck around for Benny’s adventures in Brazilian Portugese, Dutch, Mandarin and ASL amongst other languages – even Klingon!

Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , ,

Londinium

20 Feb

I’m having the most wonderful week writing every day. I’ve been visiting my absolute favourite cafe here in sunny (I lie, rainy, very rainy) South London and consuming a heinous amount of chai latte. My WIP is going well – on track to hit 40k by the end of the week! Sweet!

Anyway, writing this novel has brought its fair share of new challenges. Not only am I writing a boy for the very first time, and in First Person Present (which I resisted for a long time), I’m also writing something contemporary, and absolutely grounded in the real world. For someone whose ideas usually contain at least an element of the speculative, this is something a bit scary. I can’t hide behind made-up maps and invent convenient forests anymore.

On the other hand, because my novel is set in London itself, even taking a short walk becomes inspirational. I’ve had certain ‘London set pieces’ I was dying to write for ages, because I knew they would be evocative for Londoners and outsiders alike – for example, ‘The Tube Sequence’. For a long time I didn’t know which tube station(s) I wanted to use, and it has been the subject of some quite heated debate amongst my friends: which tube station would be the most exciting setting for a thrilling chase scene? There were many suggestions, including the rather futuristic Westminster, which I might have to save for another book because it’s awesome.

Image

As for which station made it into the book, well, hopefully one day you will be able to read it and find out…Let’s just say it’s one I know very well indeed.

I’ve tried to cover a large swathe of the city, from the suburbs all the way to Piccadilly Circus. This reflects my experience as a born and raised Londoner. Writing about my home city has given me the chance to include my own most memorable spaces, making the book a patchwork of my own experiences. Although I live in fear of someone pointing out a disastrous geographical error, I love that I can draw on the London that I know and adore.

What do you prefer, creating a new world or staying in this one?

Tags: , ,

A Valentine’s Day Treat

14 Feb

Hello, lovely readers! It’s the day of lurve, lust and, most importantly, lots of chocolate. Whether you are (to borrow a phrase from one of my students, now turned minor TV star) a ‘single pringle’ or in the throes of a passionate affair, I hope you have a lovely Friday.

kissingbook

To keep things sweet, over on Twitter I posted a few of my favourite kisses from all my manuscripts from the last five years! As a special treat, here’s a longer kissing scene from my current WIP, The Hunt. Our hero, Robbie, is pretending to be a posh boy so he can catch a killer. He catches the eye of Annouchka, most popular girl at school. At a party, after an awkward encounter with her ex (Max), they share their first kiss. But does Annouchka have an ulterior motive?

Annouchka smiles impishly. “Max is a winner.” She leans in so her breath tickles my ear as she talks. “I want you upstairs, now.”

Oh my God. I take a big gulp of beer and follow her up the gilded staircase and into her bedroom.

It’s pink and cream and covered in flowers. Very girly. She points to the bed. “Sit down!”

I perch on the edge, My heart’s thudding so hard I think it might leap out of my chest. She pushes the door closed and walks over. Jesus. I am gonna get so lucky right now.

Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , ,

Feedback

28 Jan

As you have probably realised by now, I did not make it through to the Undiscovered Voices final…BUT just had a brilliant email with even more feedback on the book. I’m always happy to get feedback, especially from such an experienced group of judges. As the email suggested, sometimes it is tempting to just focus on the negatives and get obsessed with the idea that your work is not good enough.

HOWEVER

Despite a lot of things to work on (which is exciting) I’m bowled over by the positives. Comparisons to How I Live Now and Code Name Verity?

Image

Plus I had a ridiculously awesome SNI (Shiny New Idea) this week and hit a milestone in ‘The Hunt’. Writing life is good!

 

 

Tags: , , , , ,

At the Threshold

31 Dec

Tonight we say farewell, 2013…and hello 2014. It’s been a funny old year, hasn’t it?

The Good

I write this sitting next to my boyfriend of 7 1/2 years as he plays Pokemon emulator on his macbook. In August we finally took the plunge and got a place together. It’s small but pretty much ideal. I am incredibly lucky to have his support in everything I do. It has been a time of transition for both of us because he has just finished his PhD (yes, he’s very brainy) and is gradually moving into the world of work…

The Bad

As of midnight tonight I will no longer be an employee of my former school, and on January 6th I start at my new one. You will probably have gathered that work has been a big black cloud for me this year, mostly because of certain outside forces determined to crush the soul out of the education system. Yes, it’s been a dark time. But there is light at the end of the tunnel – as they say.

The Future

So, a new job, and a new vision. My new year’s resolution for as long as I can remember has been to write more – but this time I feel hopeful that I will make it happen. 

Onwards!

 

 

Tags: , , , ,

2013 in Reading

22 Dec

Equalling last year’s score of 38 even though I’ve been slacking this month..I have really enjoyed almost everything I’ve read, with the exception of a few eye-rollers, but absolute favourite reads are in bold:

1. The Twelve by Justin Cronin

2. Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz (gay mermen ahoy)

3. The Last Dance by Victoria Hislop

4. Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner (short but ultra-dark and fascinating)

5. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens (typical Chas…long winded but ultimately good yarn)

Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , ,

Undiscovered Voices Longlist

14 Dec

I had almost forgotten that I’d entered the SCBWI’s Undiscovered Voices contest earlier in the year, so it was a lovely surprise to find out I’d been longlisted (under my real name – they have a no pen-names policy). The longlist comprises 27 authors and 8 illustrators chosen from over 200 entries, chosen by a rather illustrious set of judges, which you can see on the UV website linked above. If I get through to the final, my extract will be published in the annual anthology.

This just confirms to me that The Twain‘s opening kicks ass and I can’t give up on my darling WIP of Doom ™ just yet. Five more days of my current job and then I officially Change My Life – honestly cannot wait!

Tags: , , ,

Hey, What’s Going On?

24 Nov

(Title of this post a naked excuse to embed this video, which is one of my ‘I need a  cheer up’ youtube classics)

It is nearly a year since I started this blog – nearly a year since I made the shortlist of the YWP – nearly a year since I felt like maybe  had a real shot at ‘being a writer‘.

I put that in inverted commas because, as everyone will tell you, ‘being a writer’ requires nothing more than sitting down in the chair and writing. Yet I struggle to do even that at the moment. Days, weeks and months slip by and the word count at the bottom of the document barely shifts. Needless to say I am not making very good progress with my goals. I carry around a big potato sack of writer’s guilt that gradually forces me lower and lower.

The main reason why I’m failing? Work. I can’t really go into it yet, but my school has been going through some monumentous upheaval, such that my 12 hour day has now ballooned to 14, plus Saturday intervention, plus Sundays of endless marking. The week easily becomes 65 hours and often close to 70. I read endless articles telling me to ‘utilise the morning’, but I can’t bring myself to get out of bed any earlier than my current 5.30. Evenings are a dead loss of reheating some three-day-old leftovers, marking, falling asleep for an hour, marking again, emptying the dishwasher and rolling my carcass into bed at half midnight.

The good news is I am making some big changes to my life, starting in January, which will give me more time and hopefully more energy to put into my writing. I spoke to a job counsellor recently (long story) and he said it was a rare thing to really know one’s vocation – and I do. My current ms, ‘The Hunt’, has a lot of potential and I can’t wait to dive back into it. Till then…I try to keep my head above water.

So, that’s what’s going on with me. How about you?

p.s. need more cheer ups? some of my perennial faves:

Lois and Clark.  You Belong to Me    Lee Adama: I’m the Baby   Happy Life Day

Tags: ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →