Holiday

On holiday in my beloved Wales, back in a week!

little squee!

Saturday 12th July 12-2 at Waterstones, Merry Hill Centre, Dudley

Come and buy my book - you know you want to - I'll even sign it for you!

Done!

I finished fiddling with Animal Instincts. I'm sure my lovely editor will find fresh things for me to tweak when she sees it but for now it finished - phew.
So now I'm sorting out things ready for Blue Remembered Heels launch party. I'll be putting up the times and dates of various happenings over the next few weeks after my holiday.
I've also taken the plunge and bought my train tickets for the RNA conference and will post my form to Jan tomorrow. It was a big decision to go as money is tight this year with my reduction in days but the conference really sets me up for a new writing year. Plus, I get to see all my friends. Luckily Mr Nell is on days that weekend and I can arrange childcare for the belles.
I feel quite excited now! I heard some other exciting news today on a potential project but until it's all confirmed I can't tell you anything. I know - what a tease!

My baby

This is Miss La, my youngest belle. Tomorrow she hits double figures - the big 10. I feel old all of a sudden and a bit sad that these kind of days are disappearing as the teen years get closer.
(Note Pudding - the dog in her bag - he's the reason she has no clothes in her wardrobe as she's turned it into his house)

still adit

I'm still aditing Animal Instincts. I adit rather than edit. Different writers all have their own methods of drafting their novels. Some writers write out of sync and sew the scenes together after like a patchwork quilt. I can't do that, I'm a linear writer, I start at the beinning and plough through to the end. Some write much more than they will ever keep, going back after and paring down till the book is as they want it to be. I know writers who cut up to thirty thousand words this way - ouch.
I write very sparingly on the first draft. The bones of the story are there and there's an indicator of the emotions and theres enough description to place the scene but I know I'll be at least 10k under when the first draft is done.
That's when I adit. I go back through, foreshadowing, adding colour, light and shade. I raise the emotional stakes and get under the skin of my heroine. I look for different things on each pass through. For instance yesterday I jiggled my opening because it's niggled me all through the book that the opening picture of Clodagh and Immi wasn't quite right.
I now I need to add emotion to the ending - right now the stakes need to be higher, I need to feel that Clodagh and Jack might not happen after all and what this will mean for Clodagh. I also need to foreshadow Clodagh's secret, the heartache she's been carrying all through the book. The points are there but they need colouring in, fleshing out and to be made more intense.
Hopefully I'll be done before next weekend as we go away for the week for our annual holiday with our friends then.

2008 - Friday Fun - Hello me luvver's - Dolly Allen

This is a tribute to a much loved and missed Black Country Comedienne, a true star of her time and famous throughout the Black Country.


Dolly Allen was born Doris Evelyn Baugh, at Wordsley Workhouse, on 9th April, 1906, and was orphaned just 10 days later. She was adopted by William and Elizabeth Parker, who renamed her Dorothy, and she grew up at 78 Stourbridge Road, Halesowen. Her first taste of the stage came during the First World War when she sang "England's in Need of Soldiers and Sailors" in a talent competition at the Drill Hall cinema in Halesowen. Dolly's first job was, aged 13, at James Grove's button factory, and after a year she went to work at Hackett Brothers' nut and bolt works in Victoria Street.

It was here that Dolly began to hone her natural wit and humour among her work colleagues and there she met her husband Leonard Allen. They were married in 1926 at Stourbridge Register Office.

During the Second World War Dolly started to do "turns" at works parties and in 1946 she appeared at Lye Church Hall as one of Harry Hatton's "Local Discoveries". From that she began to appear at clubs and chapel groups in the Halesowen area, performing her humorous monologues. Dolly first appeared on radio in 1956, on the Manchester-based show "When You're In" with Bill Maynard. Through the 1960s and early '70s she continued to appear at clubs and shows in the Black Country, and in 1968 she won the Black Country Dialect competition at the Dudley Festival of Music and Drama. By that time she had left Hackett's and was working as a cleaner.

Television

It was at the age of 69, in 1975, that Ray Hingley invited Dolly to join the team of the Black Country Night Out. She was an instant hit and from that came records and appearances on television and radio. The Black Country Night Out went on tour to Spain and Canada, entertaining the ex-pat Black Country communities. In the 1980s Dolly appeared as an extra in 'Crossroads' and featured in schools' programmes on English dialects. By now Dolly was firmly established as the queen of Black Country comedy, with her trademark straw hat with its turkey feather and her catchphrase of "Hello, my luvvers!", and she made many appearances in charity fund raising shows across the region. She carried on performing right up to the end of her days and she died, after a short illness, at Sandwell Hospital on 25th June, 1990. Her funeral took place at Dixon's Green Methodist Church, Dudley, followed by a brief service at Gornal Wood Crematorium, where there is a commemorative plaque to her memory.

Here's one of Dolly's jokes.
Dolly - Ah wish I knew where I wuz a gonna die
Stooge - Why's that then, it wo dew yer no gud.
Dolly - It would, I shouldn't goo a nigh it

aditing time

I think I've almost succeeded in reclaiming the house from the super giant dustbunnys. I've discovered all the things the belles had been getting away with while I finished the draft - like my youngest has once again removed all her clothes from her wardrobe and hidden them under her bed so she can turn her closet into a house for her bear factory dog - called Pudding.And my eldest appears to have entered for world's messiest room while the middle belle's been conducting chemistry experiments with the contents of the shampoo and conditioner bottles in the bathroom.
So now it's time to adit, polishing up Animal Instincts so it all makes sense, removing any inconsistencies, layering in some description and some emotion and taking out all the just. so's and really's that have crept in while I wasn't looking.
Wish me luck - I'm going in!
Although it can't be scarier than the belles bedrooms.