Well Hello Blog

Just saying hello to my poor neglected blog. I have been busy with Christmas, (yes it has been and gone) and writing articles on Triond (pays for my domain name).
Apologies:
I have had to change the comment system for the blog now...read here to see why Glynis Fights Back.

I have also made the mistake of thinking of new and exciting ideas for Ripper My Love. The result? I ended up removing 20% of the work, to take it into another direction.
Why do we do it to ourselves?


Don't mention the word editing. The word editing, bin and matches all roll off my tongue at the same time at the moment.

I want to take this opportunity to thank you all for following me and reading my posts. I wish you all a successful 2010 and am now off to read a few of your posts.

Season's Greetings to You

I am hoping for several books in my stocking this year. Here is my tribute to a book...

Dear book, what is it you do for me?

You transport me, you highten my senses, you fulfill my desires, you take control of my time, you control my brain, you give me quiet times, you fill my heart with sadness, you give me joy, you teach and inspire me...yes book you do something for me, you give me life outside of a dull day, you give me a cool spot in the sun, you give me warmth on a winters day. Book you give me more than I give you.
Thank You.

I wish you all a peaceful festive season and will see you in 2010. I am taking a little break and will be back in January.

Imagine Never Reading or Writing Again!

My father suffers from Altzheimer's and is in the last stages. He has not been able to read properly for some time and now cannot read words at all. I have sent him picture books for Christmas, to keep his brain stimulated. My mother's mother (Gran), suffered the same, so I have maternal and paternal genes floating around. I worry sometimes that I am a good candidate for the disease, but reading and writing keeps me ticking.

Anyway, I thought it sad that Dad could no longer enjoy a good book and cannot imagine not holding a curled up paperback and devouring each word. Now it appears he can no longer write.
I cannot imagine a day when I might not be able to read or write! So I experimented, hence my lack of blogs.
I tried to go several days without writing, it drove me to distraction. I went to write down a list of foods, a phone number and a note to DH. They were automatic responses to thoughts, stopping myself was so hard. I did not blog for several days, I avoided Twitter and other social sites I use. It was so frustrating, now I understand a little of Dad's agitation in the past.
I decided to bake instead and reached for my cookbook...well you get the picture.
Realising I must get my act together, I have started writing like mad and hope to get projects finished and started in 2010.
I am not making New Year resolutions, I don't need the pressure. I am just going to make the most of the time and use the precious gifts I have been given, the gift of a brain and eyes.

Is This Dad's Christmas?

A Question From Your Child Unanswered

A Bedbug Celebrates Being My One Hundreth Follower!

A writer friend I met through writing on the Internet, has always followed New Scribbles my coffee break blog. This week she visited this blog and became my One Hundredth follower. As this coincides with the release of her book, I decided to honour both our achievements by giving her space here today.

Athlyn Green can be found over at The Bedbug Blog and is celebrating the release of her book The Bedbug Who Wouldn't Bite by Melody Rhodes.


Information from the sale site:
This is the first book in the series is titled: THE BEDBUG WHO WOULDN'T BITE. Bedbug toy is the creation of Carolyn Ann Aish. The photograph illustrations have been done by Edward Aish.
THE BEDBUG WHO WOULDN'T BITE comes in an organza bag with a toy bedbug. THE BOOK: THE BEDBUG WHO WOULDN'T BITE is a book approximately the size of a CD case - 5.5 inches x 4.75 inches --- or in centimeters, 14 x 12. The book has a thick laminated cover with pages of thin card, 120gsm. The book has a thin spine and is hand-bound with strong ribbon and fuzzy yarn.

THE TOY BEDBUG: Made of bright orange fake fur, glued with strong, flexible, non-toxic glue to six pipe-cleaner legs that have been carefully crimped with pliers at the feet ends. This toy is recommended for children over 4 years old. Under 4's should have supervision by adults because of the small eyes and choking parts if put in the mouth. In the case that an eye does come off, it can be glued on again.

THE BAG: The organza fabric of the bag is not strong, therefore care must be taken putting the toy and book in and out of the bag. Again, this is not for children under 4 years old without adult help.

To Purchase all information is on her blog. I think he is a cute little bedbug!

Do Ya?

Do Ya write in posh prose or dialect? (Do you),I was asked by a friend recently. My book is based in Victorian London and the cockney accent was unpolished and raw during these times. The cockney accent is a slang style accent of the Eastend of the City. It is hard to introduce into my book but I am trying. I do not want to smother the dialect with it though or it can become hard work for the reader.
I thought I would share a few of the videos I have used for research for Ripper My Love. They give me a feel of the place and the noises help inspire.




This video gives a little taste of the cockney accent.


For those of you who are using accents THIS LINK might be useful. It is a list of UK accents and links to around the world.

Book Signing- Myron Edwards Meets Glynis

Not a very flattering picture of the author Myron Edwards (sorry Myron).

The weather was not very kind to Cyprus today, but that didn't stop me from joining my friend on the Forces base for the Christmas Fayre. I was very pleased I put the effort into volunteering my services.
I met the author Myron Edwards. We had made contact before, when he published my article about my life in Cyprus, but we have never met. I was delighted to see he was promoting his novel, about the Godess Aphrodite, The Mistress of the Rock and purchased a signed copy.

We chatted about the way his life was going and how the book was now ready to be made into a movie. I was given the secret information of who has agreed to star in the production and who was reading the script.
Then Myron made the mistake of asking me about my work. I chatted on about my hopes and dreams, told him about the storyline/premise of my book and the idea of the sequel to it.

He was very supportive, extremely interested and offered to write the script for the screenplay when it is finished! I was flattered and floated away on cloud nine, Myron was a scriptwriter for the BBC in the UK.
He advised me to copyright my manuscript and to get it finished. No fear there, he had rebooted my desire to complete and fulfil my dream.

The Glue Sticks Eventually

Making my Christmas cards, the glue decided to play up. It stuck to everything it could grab hold of and yes, you guessed it, refused to stick down the things I wanted it to.
There were bits of card here, a little glitter there and nothing completely finished. When I used the liquid stuff, I got more than I bargained for. Fluff caught around the ragged edges of card, adding an untidy look. By the end of ten cards I walked away, the joy of making them that day was gone.
I was reminded of my ms and writing projects, as I was peeling off card from the bottom of my shoe.

I have notes here and there, good ones with a little glitter to make them shine. I have grammar issues that will not leave, they remain stuck to my work. They should not be there but they are, I erase them; only for them to return in another paragraph. As quickly as I peel them away, they return time and time again.
Little dobs of punctuation run amok amongst the pages, sticking to the end of sentences where they are not needed. Descriptive words are fluff around the edges, they are there trying to make a piece of writing, bigger than it really is.
There are words that do not belong, they do not stick down to a sentence or paragraph. When they are peeled away, there is a gap, a dirty mark. Time to walk away, to forget about trying to stick it all together and make do.

This is the time to redesign the picture, to change the colour scheme and time to buy a different brand of glue. A time to rethink the characters, their background and to look at the ms as a new project. So I did just that.

The new glue was wonderful. I added sparkling gems, ribbon and bold banners. The cards were place into envelopes and sent to the appropriate recipients. They will open them and either love the contents or they will simply put it to one side.

What they won't know is how much glue I used to get them all looking the way I wanted.

I will use more than another person but the end result will be the same. I will finish and send what I consider my best work. The same will happen (eventually), with my ms.