Slainte! (Cheers)

So, as well as trying to persuade someone to buy and publish one of my books, I also am a freelance journalist. I write mainly about business and entertainment, but for the next month I'm working with my husband on a project for a beer festival. Fun times! It's a pity I didn't get this gig when Hart Johnson was writing the first draft of her microbrewery mystery. I could have given expert advice, and she might have even thanked me in the acknowledgements, which is at least a step in the right direction to having my name on the cover of a book...

The great thing is that it's very sunny in Ireland, which is perfect beer-drinking weather. After all, I can't write about different types of beer without doing proper research, right? Right?

It's a good thing I have something to keep me busy, because life is fairly tough at the minute. Writing wise everything is going well, but I'm waiting for news that seems like it's never going to come. Again, for once not writing related.

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer :)

In Review: When Does Being a Writer Trump Being a Reader?

Reading is something I've always done. I always have a book on the go, I panic if I don't have books lined up for after I finish, and I would truly hate to see the figure for the amount I spend on books in an average year. It might be so high that I get truly upset. And then I may have to console myself...by reading yet another book.

Now, I've just finished a book that I thought was truly awful. I'm not going to name the book or the author, because this isn't the place to do that. But it was bad. The characters were unbelievable, the dialogue unrealistic and the same 'jokes' were repeated a number of times so that, despite being from a respectable publisher, I suspect the book wasn't properly edited.

I went to the Amazon page for the author (this seems very involved for a book I don't like, right? But in my defence I was desperately trying to avoid doing some actual work) and noticed that there were only a handful of reviews for the book. Even worse, they were all five star reviews, which I suspect means that these people were friends of the writer. Not that this is generally a bad thing, but good friend reviews are usually diluted somewhat by those from regular readers.

I was going to give a review giving my opinion on the book. Not a 'This book sux!!!!!' review, but a constructive layout of why I didn't like the book, phrased as nicely as possible. Why? So readers wouldn't see an unqualified high review, a different opinion. The idea of having a customer review function is, after all, to find out what customers think.

But, I stopped. While there was a part of me that was saying that I had a duty to my fellow readers to help them by giving an honest opinion, I also felt I had a duty to the writer. My desire to give a negative review was not motivated by spite or jealousy. I am not so self-important as to think that my opinion is the definitive opinion on anything, there may be something about this book that I didn't get. I'm not saying this author doesn't deserve her publishing deal, because she does. She isn't a debut author, so I'm sure my review would not be the first negative review that she received. I just wanted to give my opinion to other readers, because I like to read customer reviews myself, and because I thought it might be good to give something back to the reading community.

But as a writer (albeit an unpublished one) I couldn't do it. I know how hard it is to write a book, even a bad one. I wouldn't lie and give the book a positive review, but I couldn't give it a bad review. I don't know this woman. When I read The Hating Game by Talli Roland, I decided that if I liked it I would review it, if I didn't I wouldn't. Because I know her online, I'd feel awful saying something bad about her book. But I would feel awful lying with a fake review. Luckily, it was a great book, so there was no conflict there. But with a writer I didn't know, what was the problem?

What about all of you? Do you review books, and do you find that being a writer affects your reviews? Which is more important, solidarity to the reading community or the writing community? And is it possible for writers to be full members of both?

In which Christine Discovers The Secret To Success...

First of all, I'm really excited because my blog has now had over a thousand page views! Which is great because, I love blogging. In fact, it may have overtaken perusing internet for as my number one form of procrastination. I really enjoy reading other people's blogs, because I'm inherently nosy. I've only been writing

here since March 23, but I've met so many great people in the blogosphere.

But anyway, the secret of success. As I've mentioned before I have fibromyalgia, which is basically a disorder of the central nervous system that affects how the body interprets and deals with pain. Right now I'm going through a rough time, but I won't bore anyone with the details here. Right now, I can't sleep, which is a pain, but it means I get all my journalism work done in the small hours of the morning, leaving the rest of the day for fiction work. It's amazing how productive insomnia makes you. Of course, this is a ll short lived and pretty soon I'm going to look like an extra from Dawn of the Dead, but right now it's working for me.



The second secret of success, I take no credit for. Ever wished that the whole story-telling business was less subjective and unwieldy? Well, then rejoice, for Computer Sherpa  has drawn up a Periodic Table of Storytelling. Cool, eh? It's even available in a print out format for those of us who like to prettify our workspaces. Seriously, you should check it out. You can't see it here, because the image is too small, but some of the 'element' listings are really funny. You can find it here.

Off to edit and to try in vain to increase my BuNoWriMo word count. If anyone else has any new 'secrets of success,'feel free to share them in the comment section :)

Virtuosity

I didn't even know that virtuosity was a word...you learn something new everyday. I am feeling especially virtuous because, despite the fact that it is a bank holiday in the Emerald Isle today, I actually did some work. I edited more of Storms in Teacups, a job that is proving so arduous it could have been one of the ten tasks of Hercules. But, I also got to read the opening chapter of a novel by my friend Krista, which was much more fun. It was so engrossing and well-written that I may have to hack into her hard drive to retrieve the rest of it. Don't worry, I'm only joking. I don't know how to hack.

Anyway, I have a busy week ahead so I'm going to settle down and read a Cathy Kelly book to unwind. Then I'm going to sit down with my husband and watch the latest instalment of Game of Thrones. Is anybody else watching it? It's brilliant stuff. It's nice to be able to watch a period drama as a historian without being irritated by inaccuracies. The wonders of fantasy! I especially love Daenerys and Tyrion Lannister. I may have an espresso martini too, which takes a little of the shine off me being virtuous, but hey, it is a bank holiday weekend.

Hope everyone else is having a happy Monday ;)

Tag, I'm it!

Thank you all so much for the kind messages yesterday. Today I'm feeling much the same, but my attitude is more upbeat. Which is good news, because self-centred pity gets old after more than a day.


The lovely Kate Larkindale tagged me, which means that I have to answer some questions and pass it on. So here we go...


Do you think you're hot?


Of course I don't, I'm Irish. We're generally a self-deprecating lot. If someone gives you a compliment, we consider it impolite to take it at face value. We have to argue with the person, repeatedly insulting ourselves and driving down our self-esteem. Here's an example:


Non-Irish person: 'You look really lovely in that dress.'
Irish person: 'This old thing? I have it ages. It's horrible, really.'
Non-Irish person: Yeah, well it sets off your skin tone.'
Irish person: Really? I think I look really pasty. Like I have some type of disease. A contagious disease.'


So no, I don't think I'm hot. If I did everyone here would think I had 'notions above my station', a term used for people who think too highly of themselves.


Upload a picture or wallpaper that you're using at the moment.

This is something I have everywhere at the moment, because I need all the motivation that I can get. In typical me style I have bitten off more than I can chew and am struggling to get one book out on submission, another edited and to write 50,000 words of my current WIP before I go on holiday on July 2. Sensible is not my middle name. As a matter of fact it's Nicole.


When was the last time you ate chicken meat?


I had a lovely chicken burrito from one of my favourite Mexican places yesterday. I like my food spicy, and they do frozen margaritas. What more could you ask for?


The songs you listened to lately


I'm a big fan of Florence and the Machine. My favourite songs are Howl and Drumming Song, so I played those today. I also love Bjork, especially her Vespertine album.


What were you thinking as you were doing this?


That I married a geek. My husband is currently painting more models for one of his Warhammer armies, and I just realised I know the names of a lot of them. I can tell a night goblin from an orc. I'm a normal 24 year old woman, I shouldn't be able to do this. Then again I write YA urban fantasy, so we're probably well matched.


Do you have nicknames? What are they?


The only person who has nicknames for me is my husband. He calls me 'C' or 'kitten'. Some people call me 'Chris' occasionally.


This is the part where you usually tag eight people, but I don't want to burden anyone by making them do this. I found it quite fun though, so feel free to take the questions and answer them on your blog.


Hope everyone is having a nice weekend. It's a bank holiday here, so I have no day job tomorrow. Woot!

I think my characters are sulking...

I started Bunowrimo as a rebel, that is that instead of writing a 50,000 word novel from scratch I will write 50,000 of my current WIP, If Life Gives You Lemons. I expected that this would jolt be back into writing, as I took May off from writing in order to prepare another book for submission. But, despite me rereading the 30,000 words that I had written to date, every word I wrote felt heavy. It was an effort to write. And seeing as I couldn't possibly be at fault, I've decided to lay the blame where it is deserved: my characters.

They're sulking, you see. I've been gone for an entire month, editing Rose, Alex and Shannon, and I've neglected my current batch of characters. So they've decided that they are not going to make this easy for me at all. They're taking industrial action and are going on a go-slow.

I'm wondering what will work to shake them out of this. Appeasement? Scenes with cocktails, chocolates and a lottery win?

Let's just hope they snap out of it by tomorrow.

Frailty, thy name is...Christine.

Ok, the title is a bit melodramatic but there you go. I feel bad because I haven't written a blog post in a few days, but there has been a really good reason. I went into a fibromyalgia flare, which for those not in the know (you lucky, lucky, things) is when the symptoms step up in intensity and normal functioning is almost impossible. I've spent the last few days migrating from the bed to the couch and back again. I haven't written, blogged, or edited in days. I even had to use a sick day on my journalism work which I only do when I absolutely have to. I'll freely admit I sometimes cry off my fiction writing too easily, but journalism pays the bills. Some bills anyway. And short term bill paying can sometimes can often get in the way of long term dream building.

Husband was great. He made dinner, and went on valiant searches for dairy free chocolate. He didn't even give out to me when he found out I'd let my meds run low and therefore didn't have effective pain relief. This was especially good, because I do that all the time. Organisation and Christine do not go together. My fourteen year old sister despairs of me. I'm going to the doctor tonight anyway, and have vowed not to be so stupid again...

Back on track with editing now though. And I logged into my account this afternoon to find out that I have 50 followers! Hurrah! I thought the only way I would ever get 50 followers was if I started my own religious cult but, like I said, organisation and Christine do not go together. Thank you to everyone who reads my witterings. It means a lot.

Hope everyone is having a good week :)