This photo was taken during a recent walk along the sand dunes, at Red Rocks in Hoylake. The solitary figure sitting on the sandstone outcrop, gazing towards Middle Eye and Hilbre Island, reminded me strongly of Rowan. This exactly captures the pose which Rowan would fall into, and in one of his favourite locations too.

Editing Rowan is coming along well. I’ve almost reached the end of the MS, and my next task will be to put all my alterations onto disc and reprint the hardcopy so I can clearly see what I’m looking at. I’ve gone over the existing paper MS five or six times already.

If you’d like to see some of the places where my stories are set, then I’ll invite you to visit http://hubpages.com/profile/AdeleCosgroveBray

I’ve been creating a few non-fiction articles there, illustrated with either my or Richard’s photography, or my art. The subject matter covers a fairly broad range, and it has amused me to watch the viewing stats for these Hub Pages. To date, the most popular by far is the page about how to make jam. Weird!

Rowan

Work on editing Rowan has slowed, mostly due to me concentrating on writing Bethany Rose. The two are completely different in mood, so it's been interesting to flip from one to the other. The ink sketch above is from my character charts, and can be seen on merch on my Zazzle site too.

I'll be attending a First Aid course tomorrow, run by the Red Cross. The reasons are partly research, partly general practicality--or, in plain English, it might come in handy at some point. I have done some First Aid before but it was, ooooow, centuries ago. Time for an update, methinks.

We have sunshine! Yaay!!! Yellow crocus and snowdrops are in bloom in our garden now. Hopefully I'll be able to get into the garden this afternoon to do some more weeding.

Ygraine had her first haircut of the year yesterday, too. I think she looks cute fluffy but her coat gets tangled so easily, even when she's brushed regularly. Mind you, she loves being brushed; she'll pat at the drawer where her brush is kept to let us know what she wants. Emily has her own method of getting attention, which usually involves clobbering one of us around the ankles with her squeaky rubber chicken or the headless duck. (It used to have a head but it came adrift during a game of tug-o-war.)

Dragon tattoo by Richard:- http://www.myspace.com/richie_tattoo_artist

Richard spent a rough night due to the cold he's caught. Consequently he spent half of today in bed. He's sat in his Man Cave now, watching a documentary about The Beatles, with Saffron purring in his lap. He likes some of their music but not all of it. Saffron couldn't care less what's playing so long as she gets her ears tickled.

Anyway, while he was snoring triumphantly in bo-bos, I was busy tapping away on this puuter. Today's word count for Bethany Rose is 1,879 words. I love it when a character does something unexpected. I had no idea Bethany was going to move into a haunted house! This MS is very different in mood from Rowan. Whereas Rowan has a languid romantic feel to it, BR is much, much darker.

Did anyone tune in to 7 Waves Radio today? Four members of Riverside Writers were guests on Cath Bore's Lunchtime Forum show: Tim Hulme, Peter Caton, Eileen Murphy and Peter Hurd. I'll be back on air at next month's session, having volunteered to opt out this time to allow some other people a turn on air.

No news about the postponed Wirral Bookfest 2009 yet; and no wonder, with the situation regarding the threatend closure of so many of Wirral's libraries and other community resources still undecided.

The good news, though, is that playrite Sylvia Taylor has agreed to visit Riverside Writers and give a talk/workshop on script writing. The date is yet to be confirmed. Sylvia has co-written for the BBC and used to run her own theatre company. Currently she's making small films (which have been shown on the huge public screen in Liverpool city centre), planning full-length films, and works in community art development.

...Another year, that is. And yikes what a chilly start! I'm wearing four layers and I'm still cold.

Stew for tonight's dinner--which I'm not looking forward to as I loathe stew, but there was little else I could do with the mountain goat which was supposed to have been lamb. Lamb?!! A howling chainsaw would have struggled to make an indent on that thing. Bleeeurch!! Here's hoping my culinary efforts can render it tolerable.



Tamsin is finished; all edits done. Unless a publisher wants any changes to be made, it will now remain as it is for all time. The final full-stop is in place. And the word-count now stands at 85,000 words, which is only 1,000 less than on the previous draft.

Now I'll begin editing Rowan, which I'm looking forward to doing, actually. Plus there are two short stories on the back-boiler, and I need to start thinking about what to do with Bethany Rose, as last year I wrote 50,000 words of that before admitting that I hated the plot and should have gone with the original idea.

You can now read an excerpt from Rowan on my website.

I've also been updating the site as a whole, and I'd like your opinions on what works and what doesn't. Can you think of anything that's missing; more pictures, perhaps? Does the site hold your interest, or would you like to see more of less of something? All comments, including negative ones, are welcomed.

My website: http://www.adelecosgrove-bray.com

Venice

Last night we watched Shark in Venice, which is even more funny than Jaws. The hero wrestles with the great white, which grabs him by the shoulder then the waist. We watched his severed lower leg drift down through the waters--and then he gets out of a hospital bed with no more than a bandaged wrist. What a tough guy!

This was followed by Don't Look Now, which has a youthful Donald Sutherland running around the wintry passages and canals of Venice. Actually, the plot held minimal interest for me but I enjoyed looking around the city.

I have got to visit this city! I've been saying that for a few years already... Why? Well, it's the proximity of the water; the way the houses are like little islands; the sheer romance of the place; all those cute little bridges and crumbling buildings. Some have named it the world's most elegant slum.

If there was one place on Earth that you'd like to visit more than anywhere else, where would it be?

Dark of the Night: An anthology of shadows
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,491,928 in Books
Publication Date: October 24, 2006

That's interesting... I was updating my bio details on my Amazon Connect page just now, when I spotted this. So it's suddenly begun selling again, hmm? Jason, who features in my contribution for Dark of the Night... also features in Rowan. With The Club you get to learn how Jason first came into David's strange, vicious life - which later has desperate consequences for Rowan. So the short story links to the novel, which is something I enjoy playing around with.

Monday's Riverside Writers meeting was well attended, though partly because we were joined by another writing group who are linked to John Moores University.

First, Antonia Prescott talked about her ten years experience as a children's book editor, and about the things which agents/publishers look for (originality, flair, marketable product) plus common mistakes which writers make when approaching these (format, addressing them as "Dear Sir" rather than research a correct name, approaching with a genre unwanted by that particular company etc.)

Next, Cath Bore talked about how writers can get involved with her show on 7 Waves Radio. A writer herself, she's keen to bring in other writers to share their work. The station's recording studio has now been built, and at some point in the near future, Riverside Writers will decend upon it en masse, clutching our MS in eager hands, to record material for broadcasting later.

Also, at 11am on Friday 29th, Marguerite Davis, Peter Hurd, Tim Hulme and I will be appearing live on Cath's radio show. We'll be reading some of our work and talking about our writing group.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, hubby has been glued to a DVD boxed set of old films starring Marlene Dietrich. He was watching Destry Rides Again when I arrived home. Hmm, not my thing... Would remarks about her singing sounding like a moose with a head-cold be too snarky?!!

1,626 words this morning - and chapter one of the total re-write of Bethany Rose is now underway. The draft I'm working from was originally titled Cry for Innocence but this doesn’t fit in with the theme of my two other novel titles so I simply changed its name to that of the main character, as with the others.

The old draft is only 50,000 words long, so I need to double that. I have a solid plot in mind, to amend this. Also, there are many character and plot details which need to be changed so that everything blends with the mythos I’ve developed since penning the first draft of Cry….

For those who are now totally confused, I’ll explain that I wrote Cry… first, followed by Tamsin then Rowan. They can all be read in any order, so this won’t matter in the slightest. However, I’m not happy with Cry… at all; and so it’s about to be totally re-written with a whole extra plotline in the second half, and big modifications in the first. In a way, it might be easier just to start again from scratch, but there are some bits I want to keep.

I’ll be aiming to stick to the routine I used while writing Rowan - that is, to write a minimum of 1,000 words a day, five days a week. The writing comes first; other activities come after. This way work gets done, and within a reasonable timescale.

I now need to start editing the first draft of Rowan, which I haven’t even glanced at for eight weeks.

I also need to do more to a Sci-Fi story, working titles The Immortalists or The Karens, which is about a girl named Karen who is reanimated from a DNA sample. I’ve done 2,000 words of it so far, and it fulfils this month’s Riverside Writers’ project (which is what inspired it) but I feel more could be done with the idea. I’ve reanimated one Karen – but what if there were ten, or a hundred Karens?

Last night I was working on a new dragon design for my Zazzle merch. I’ve had a few requests for more “witch bears”! There’s one flying on a broomstick in my sketchbook… Requests, anyone? *chuckles*

We saw a gorgeous film called The Spiderwick Chronicles, which appeals to the childlike side of me – it’s full of odd little fairyfolk, helpful brownies and bad goblins and evil ogres, etc. Enchanting fun.

Oh, a few people have asked me why I’ve not updated my blog on the Wirral Globe newspaper. There seems to be some kind of technical error with their newly redesigned site. I’ve contacted them regarding this issue but have yet to receive a reply. I’ll keep you posted.

An overcast but pleasant day; the dogs took me for a walk along the beach, possibly because they'd heard me muttering under my breath once too often.

I've been writing a synopsis for Rowan and polishing the existing one for Tamsin. How can 300 words (or thereabouts) manage to be so fiddly? I'm now at the stage where I can't even "see" what I've written, I've been staring at the same two bits of A4 paper for so long. Days, even.

Gardening has kept me busy, too. I've opened up one of our compost bins and spread the new soil along one of the borders, mowed the lawn and done rather a lot of weeding. The eco-friendly weed-killer bought to annihilate a patch of nettles seems to have encouraged it to grow faster than ever. It’s right at the entrance to the Grove, too, so if people enter that area they risk getting stung as they brush passed.

Have I mentioned the Grove before? I forget… Picture a circular lawn, which has the four quarters marked out by “standing stones” (actually, they’re more like crouching lumps of red sandstone but let’s not get too pedantic here). To get inside, a person has to first walk along a narrow path which enters the Grove from the west. There are various symbolic plants growing around the circular lawn. And no, the nettle clump isn’t one of these.


Beside the entrance to the Grove.

The first draft of Rowan is now complete, and achieved the 100,000 word count which I had aimed for when I began writing it on August 6th last year.

A recent email from Hadley Rille Books informed me that Ruins Metropolis (which features my 3,000-word tale of the Caldy Fae) is currently being printed and should land on bookshop shelves - physical and cyber alike - very soon.

Anyhooooooooooow, to celebrate, you're all invited to the next gathering of the Circle of Hands, which will take place on Saturday May 31st at 9pm (GMT). If you're unsure how that relates to your own time zone, simply Google an international clock.

Previous gatherings of the Circle of Hands have attracted international publishers, writers of most genres, and many enthusiastic readers. Chat about writing - or anything, really!

Locate the Circle of Hands chatroom via my official website on:- http://www.adelecosgrove-bray.com via the 'News & Chat' page.

As always, courtesy is mandatory in the Circle of Hands chatroom.

A busy day!

First I updated my weekly blog on the Wirral Globe: http://www.wirralglobe.co.uk.

Then Lisa arrived to groom Ygraine’s coat, which was overdue really. I love the way she looks when she’s all fluffy and bedraggled but it’s just not fair to her in this heat. Right now, she’s happily chasing blackbirds away from the toast crusts which I threw out earlier. How good of her to guard them for me.

I put the front room curtains through the wash, and then sat down to write the last chapter of Rowan. I’d been wondering how on earth I was going to write this, but an idea popped into my head just as I sat down to the computer – which tends to happen a lot, actually. The word count now stands at 99,500 so by the time the epilogue’s been written I’ll have achieved my intended 100,000 words for the first draft.

I managed to fit an hour’s gardening in, too, and made turkey casserole – which is currently bubbling quietly in the kitchen and reminding me I’ve an empty stomach. This is due to it being 5.50pm (we usually eat between 6pm and 7pm) and due to me banning myself from munching another morsel of biscuit or chocolate (or similar) for the foreseeable future. I love chocolate but I want a waist more.

And tomorrow, probably 8am-ish, the house will be invaded by builders who are going to remove a pointless door and block the hole up. Here’s hoping it doesn’t make too much mess, as I’ve hardly had time to clean up the dust from having the new fire and surround installed! As can probably be gathered, we’re in the process of renovating our living area. We’re going for a Victorian Gothic look. This will first necessitate having a major clear-out of various vile objects d’art which we’ve acquired over the years. People should be banned from giving ornaments as gifts, they really should

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful. - William Morris

http://www.pendlewriters.com/
There are many, many articles on writing at the above link.

I am supposed to be writing the next chapter of Rowan. It's the quiet bit before the Big Bit at the end of the novel. The huge white screen looks kinda scary, so I'm proscrastinating by pottering (hiding) on LJ.

Eeeeek. What am I going to write in the next chapter?!!!!! I have NO idea! Well, I know what the character in question has to do, I just haven't a clue how he's going to do it. Oh well, I'll start writing and see what lands on the page.

*gulps, and heads-off to Word....*



Edit:- Ta-dah! 1,680 words, three hours and two cups of tea later, the next chapter (the quiet bit) is done. Ok, onto the Big Bit (tommorow!)

hazeldixon, xfangs_upx and xneed_coffeex - in plain language, my sister and her two daughters - met by chance in IM last night. We had fun playing with the emoticons, and I related the tale of the tail – Saffron’s tail, actually, which I managed to grab hold of just in time to prevent the little darling snaked her way off up the newly-opened chimney.

The cat was not pleased. But a grumpy cat is easier to contend with than a huge bill from the Fire Brigade for rescuing the daft moggy.

Yes, we now have a new fire, hearth and surround. We also have an unexpected heatwave, so relishing the former will have to wait until the latter has subsided. Maybe autumn sometime. Ah well, I always was one for forward planning.

Over the weekend we watched Sommersby, which we both enjoyed. So was he her hubby or wasn’t he? Richard says he was; I’m not so sure. The Gere hubby’s feet were two sizes smaller than the original hubby. Women notice such things, despite rumours to the contrary.

One thing I was sure of was that the heroine’s pregnancy must surely have been the fastest in all human history. The tobacco crop hadn’t grown an inch taller from when the pregnancy was anounced to when the baby arrived, never mind having ripened and been harvested already.

Actually, Jodie Foster is one of my favourite actresses. I can’t think of a single film she’s acted in which I haven’t enjoyed.

Also fun was Lonely werewolf Girl, a quirky novel by Martin Millar. Think of the Borgias as werewolves, set in contemporary Scotland and London, with despairing fashion designers, dream-sodden amateur musicians, grumpy teenagers, temperamental volcano goddesses and megalomaniacs with dodgy love lives, all thrown together in a scramble to survive a fight for the family’s seat of power. How could that possibly fail to entertain?!!

Meanwhile, my own scribblings proceed. Rowan now stands at 92,000 words. This means in theory I have 8,000 words left to finish off the story. It might overrun this a bit, but I’m sure that will change during the editing process. That’s inevitable, no doubt.

Leigh News:- http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/news/leigh/display.var.2059319.0.back_to_school_for_author_adele.php

Leigh Journal:- http://www.leighjournal.co.uk/mostpopular.var.2059319.mostviewed.back_to_school_for_author_adele.php

The above links will take you to two Lancashire newspapers which both carry the same article about my visit to my old school, Golborne High School, this coming Monday. The Leigh Journal classified the piece as being that day's most viewed article. Eeeek.

Rowan currently stands at 71,500 words. I've hardly written anything this week though, which is not good - being in two places at once can be tricky, however...!

(On Monday, I was in Chester; Tuesday I wrote; Wednesday I did my usual Wirral Globe blog thingy and some photography; Thursday I wrote and then went to West Kirby Library to confirm the Words from Wordsmiths booking for April 7th; Friday I was in Birkenhead looking for black printing ink and failed, and bought some new clothes and books instead; this morning I meditated for a couple of hours, aiming to write after lunch, but no chance.)

I'm looking forward to pulling the plotlines closer together as Rowan winds steadily towards the end. I'm aiming for around 100,000 words but that's not exact as I don't use a chapter plan. Most of the time I have only a vague idea of what I'm going to write when I begin typing. I watch some kind of internal cinema screen and quickly type what's happening. I can rewind a scene, redirect the cast, or more usually just watch what my imaginary friends are up to! They have lives of their own, you know. Honest.

With my first novel (initially called Beyond Daygate, but then I changed that to The Battle of Amethrin Pass) I used a detailed chapter plan but found it stifling. I like the freedom to not altogether knowing what's going to happen. I'll have an idea, a theme, a mood or a phrase, and that's enough to start me off on some fantasy journey. If that journey is already mapped by a chapter plan, then I grow bored with it too easily.

I wrote the first draft of ...Amethrin Pass when I was nineteen. It's a Fantasy novel, based around the legends of the Tuatha de Danaan. One of these days I'll rewrite it. Maybe.

Two interesting articles on writing:- http://www.themidnighthour.net/a-sensitive-canvas/ and also:- http://www.themidnighthour.net/avoidance/ both penned by author Lilith Saintcrow.

So, how are your own writing projects coming along?

I've been invited to give a reading followed by a Q&A session with pupils of my old school, Golborne High School in late February. I've not been inside the building since I was sixteen - and no, I will not tell you how many years ago that was! I'm looking forward to it; it should be an interesting experience, and I'm curious to see how the school has changed.

No prizes for guessing that I've been working away at Rowan, which is now at 62,500 words. I've also now finished a short story, Clara's Wristwatch, which is my response to this month's writing project for Riverside Writers, and which I'll probably include in my next (third) Amazon Short. I've lined up four new Dark Fantasy stories for that already, but have yet to summon a title.

I'm still waiting to learn the publication date for my second Amazon Short, Quiet Lives, but it should be soon now.

Oh, if you wish to read some reviews of my first Amazon Short, click this link:- http://www.amazon.com/A-Wirral-Otherkin-Trilogy/dp/B000SMZ3I4/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201354600&sr=8-1

To view the list of contributing authors for the forthcoming Ruins Metropolis anthology, which includes my Old world Magic, go to:- http://ericreynolds.livejournal.com/20882.html

This list can also be viewed here:- http://sfscope.com/2008/01/ruins-metropolis-table-of-cont.html

On Friday 4th, I attended a supporters' event at the new Echo Arena in Liverpool. Due to my role as an ambassador for the city throughout its status as the European Capital of Culture 2008, I had been invited, along with other ambassadors and volunteers, for a preview of the building.

Several local bands, including Major Major, Forsaken and The Farm, performed on stage, with local radio DJ Pete Price introducing both them and braving the mic to sing “When you Walk Through a Storm” – a rather clichéd choice, in my opinion. This event enabled the arena staff to have a dry run prior to its official opening celebrations.

While the plain interior is entirely utilitarian, this new arena can seat 10,000 people, and will herald a new era of entertainment in Liverpool, which apparently boasts the fastest growing economy of any other British city.

However, a cardinal crime was committed by the catering, which ran out of milk. No milk for my cup of tea? Bah!

Sooooo, what else is new….

The word-count for Rowan now stands at 57,300. I wrote chapter 43 yesterday, wherein Jason shows his true colours – so that was fun to create.

We’ve had a pile of trellis fencing delivered, and we’re now waiting for the builders to install it along the back of the garden. This is to replace our old trellis which collapsed, creating a glorious tangle of thorns, climbing plants and weeds which had to be removed before the damage to the trellis could be properly assessed. Having done that, we immediately decided it would be easier to give up and start again with a new structure.

Earlier this week, I mailed out the latest newsletter for my Yahoo! group. If anyone wants to join to receive this FREE monthly email, all you have to do is send an email to: adelecosgrovebray-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Take a look at:- http://www.bobeggleton.com

Bob Eggleton's art has graced numerous book and magazine covers. His work also provides the cover for Ruins Terra, the latest anthology from Hadley Rille Books (ISBN 978-0-9785148-5-3). My story, Seagull Inn, is included in this diverse collection of horror, dark fantasy and sci-fi stories. It should be available via Amazon within the next few days.

I've been busy writing very short stories for the forthcoming Hallowe'en ghost tours. I've even come up with a couple of comical poems. Everything has to be kept carefully within PG boundaries. My own tastes run to rather darker territory, but unleashing my silly side can be fun too.

Progress with Rowan continues; chapter 21 was written yesterday, bringing the 1st draft up to 26,000. As you can guess, I'm keeping each chapter short and snappy to create pace.

There's talk of a big literary festival in Liverpool next April, involving libraries (as host venues) and local writers. That's something I'm definitely interested in becoming involved with. Riverside Writers might be doing a public reading, also.

And I've almost finished decorating the bathroom! The door and door-frame need painting yet, and then it's all finished. I hung some large, hand-painted ceramic tiles on the walls. They share a theme of water - rowing boats, a lighthouse, quayside houses, sea birds.

We watched a fascinating film last night, which used marionettes as actors. The detail on the faces, and the way they moved, was extraordinary! Strings was released in 2004 and neither of us had heard of it before, which seems such a pity as it took four years to make, apparently, and it truly was an enchanting, imaginative film.

More here:- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374248/

Another film which we both enjoyed was The Prestige, which tells the story of two rival stage magicians, each trying to outdo the other to grab audiences and income. The rivalry takes them both to extremes - but it's only right at the very end of the film that the viewer realised how delectably clever the story had been.

It’s raining again! Our garden lawn looks a total mess, but it’s been far too wet all week to get the mower out.

I can see every blade of grass in perfect, crisp focus. Guess who’s got new reading glasses. Amazing how being able to helps you notice the bits you didn’t dust…. I picked these up from the opticians on Thursday. Apparently my need for reading glasses is only border-line, but I find them useful as I tend to do close-up work for prolonged periods of time.

Anyhoooo, I’d better get on with some writing. I’m currently half way through writing chapter ten of Rowan. I should have finished it this morning but Harry Potter... got in the way.

Richard brought this rubber pig home. Every time it's stood on or chomped, it makes a funny "Oink" noise. Emily has adopted it. Where Emily goes, piggy has to go too.


Just after bathtime, and here they are, pleading to go out and get mucky again!

I finished chapter 3 of Rowan today. I'm trying out a new-to-me method of writing. Actually it's a pretty standard process which is used by many. My working week runs from Tuesday-Saturday, and I'm aiming to write a minimum of 1,000 words of Rowan on each of those days. Any extra is a bonus. I'm not going to give myself earache if I can't keep to this 100%, but certainly I intend to try. Also, I'll be writing this first draft without labouring over any revision. That will be tackled in the second and subsequent drafts.

I began Rowan on Monday while Richard was in bed sleeping off the awful migraine which kept him awake and in pain for much of Sunday night. He spent most of Monday asleep and took Tuesday off work as he still looked pale and felt lethargic. The dogs took him for a walk on Tuesday afteroon, and clearly he survived that.



These roses are growing in our front garden. Actually, the roses are looking good right now. I was in Ashton Park earlier this week and the border of crimson roses which edges the bowling greens looked fabulous. Our garden is rather overgrown right now, but the roses and the Crocosmia lucifer (so-named due to its blazing scarlet shade) are easily this year's highlights.