My Life as a Writer

As I'm in the process of writing The Poppy Garden, I'm filling you in on the major points as I go - but I'm not going to bore your with daily updates and word counts.  That's not why you are reading this and I think that would be pretty boring. Instead I thought I'd fill you in on what I hope and dream for this book, to me this isn't just a novel and by that I mean to me the goal of this book is not just a paper back or e book you pick up read, hopefully enjoy and then move on to your next purchase.  I have different aspirations for this book and at this time I'm not quite sure how to make them happen. I started writing this book as my way to honour the memory of my Grandfather and the men he flew with.  While I don't have enough information as yet to write their particular story I'm focusing on the methods they used to cope with PTSD when it wasn't recognised as a condition. The definition of PTSD is; a condition of persistent mental a...

Once the Prologue was drafted it was time to get on to the main bulk of the story.     The first chapter flowed quite organically, even though there were sections which were extremely hard to write.  I read once that if you want a reader to cry while reading, the writer must be tearful in the writing.  I quite agree with this I feel if you want your readers to feel emotion you have to feel it as you write.   This sometimes is quite hard to achieve, you can often spend hours working and only really write 50 words, or you may write several pages then have to delete them.   It’s also hard sometimes to fit working on my book in to my day.   I want to write everyday, however, I have a day job, I have a dog to walk, a home to take care of and basically a life that I have to live as well. Sometimes juggling my day works really well other times it’s not so easy.   I generally have a plan to set aside two hours a day to write, ther...