Am I a weird writer?

I mean, weird in terms of writing style, not content??

My job is mainly office based and sometimes it feels as though I'm glued to the computer 24/7. I know I'm supposed to get away from the screen for breaks, I just don't do it. I would have to set an alarm on my phone to tell me to get up and away, and sometimes I do and it's successful, but most of the time it's just Another Thing I Have To Do.

Emails pop onto my screen like a monsoon between the hours of 9.30 and 18.30. There I am, sat there as if compulsively watching a train crash over and over. Perhaps the next email might explode in my face if I don't answer it in the next twenty seconds? hmm

I have a test-dummy style headache by the time I get home. The last thing I want to do when I get home is to pull open the laptop. But I do. And I blog, I twitter, I facebook. Addictive and entertaining, but neither of which are going to help me write my novel.

So, I pull open a beautiful notepad with a pretty and uplifting cover. Bargain or value note pads are the stuff of the devil as far as I am concerned. I'm a note pad conossieur and only Paperchase, Smith's or Waterstone's finest arty pads will do.

My technique is probably also a bit weird to some of you. I write the plot at a fast pace, getting the main points down first - like an extended synopsis. I'm addicted to the drama and I feel closer to the characters when I'm concentrating on the juicy bits first of all.

I number the parts of my 'extended synopsis'. I read and re-read, then read some more.

I add 'flesh' to the novel by matching each sub-scene to the part of my extended synopsis, kind of like writing by numbers.

This system allows me to revisit earlier parts and cut/add as I wish. It works for me because I need to be able to see the beginning, middle and end to decide which bits are just filler, and are likely to bore the reader to death.

I came up with this system through trial and error and it suits my needs. I don't think my book would get written if I had to use a laptop everynight. And day.

Obviously, I will have to type it up at some stage. I know writers like to be noticed by publishers/agents, but a handwritten novel isn't going to make the cut!

See me write

After a month of patiently waiting since placing my order on Amazon, my copy of See Jane Write was gently pressed through my letter box at the unearthly time of 6.50am by UPS. I sent a curt enquiry email to the Amazon seller just the previous night. Where the hell was it, I'd been dying to read this guide to writing chick lit for ages. Perhaps UPS sensed my PMT through the email, hence the very low key arrival? And the scorch marks on the drive where the delivery man had beat a hasty retreat?

Preview See jane write here . PMT aside, I was cheered by this fab guide to writing chick lit (as recommended by Karen, after I reviewed Will write for shoes). It's not just beautiful to look at, it's beautiful inside. I particularly like the American can-do positive theme throughout this mini course. Thank god, they address some of my bug bears of writing - it's nice to know it's not just me. I've read it time and time again now, but it really does seem that most writers go through an 'it's crap' stage. Even Sophie Kinsella, which is reassuring.

I've had the book a few days and have heeded plenty of their advice already, particularly about making excuses not to write. The authors show you how to self-diagnose barriers to writing and how to dig yourself out of them.  With my excuses blitzed, I'm now setting myself realistic goals such as getting 500 words down a day. I wish I could write full time, but keeping a roof over my head and 5 holidays a year is more of a priority right now. Plus, significant people have battered me into submission to register for a PhD and I'm too much of a scaredy cat to tell them where to go.

Perhaps it will surprise some of the regular readers to know that my current writing project has only the vaguest whiffs of chicklit. It's actually a novella set in fifties midlands and centers around two families whose lives and secrets clash and twist around one another. I love the fifties - the more research I do, the more I feel as though I've been given a chance to live in the decade. Any excuse to wear 50s replica heels, cupcake skirts and to roller-up my hair! 

The 50s novella is actually for a local writing collection, hence the bags of research to ensure I've added the relevant local themes. I do have a mainstream style chick lit novel on the back burner. I might be able to multi-task with reading, but it's near impossible to write more than one piece of fiction at a time - too many characters competing for head space! 

One chapter to go!

I wish! That's one chapter to go until I have three solid sample chapters to proffer to agents. The synopsis and book blurb is sleek and polished. It would get my literary cravings going, but then, I'll read anything.

Having been working intensively on this project in the last few weeks, I'm feeling confident enough to bite the bullet and begin approaching agents. Once I have a draft I'm happy with, I'll be sending it off before I can talk myself out of it. As per normal for me with poetry. I have an entire folder on my computer of un-submitted poems. Come on girl,  is it too hard to post them off to even just the local paper?!

I'll also be turning in a book review to trashionista soon. It's done and dusted, I just need to find the inner courage to press send.

Discovered Cathy Kelly just last week. My partner is Irish and he has some very unsubtle cravings for home, leaving me with a craving for Irish Chick lit. I'm currently tearing though Always and Forever. It's set in a health spa - just reading about the heavenly treatments and luscious grounds puts me in a deep sense of relaxation. And whoever put  the Galaxy chocolate stickers on Cathy's books needs a stern word - I'm going to have bed sores and chocolate coating of my own by the time I reach the final page. Coincidentally, I had an email from Ragdale Hall spa, advertising 33% off spa breaks this morning. That's a sign!

Ways in which your fictional characters can let you down...

Have been thinking about the contrary beasts that are the 3 main characters in my draft novel. Technically, they are my flesh and blood. I'm fond of them, but the ways in which they've let me down (so far) include: - 

• Not suiting the names I've "christened" them with (choosing names I like is probably not the best strategy)
• Choosing unsuitable careers (as above)
• Poor taste in men (again, as above)
• Having 'off days' (read: boring!)
• Having personality traits that render them transparent and predictable

Hmm, sounds a lot like myself!