Left Brained/Right Brained

Left-brained/Right-brained.

So, it appears as if nothing’s happening; nothing’s going on.

But, I have been a busy little beaver…

2018 marked my first new year’s resolutio

n in a long time and I have been largely faithful to it. Namely, finish part two of the series. Of course, me being me, I’m invariably the typically stoic Yorkshireman and I have kept tight-lipped about this to everyone.

To this end, I have been quietly industrious for the last five months. As I write, I’m finishing editing chapter 13 and there’s 90,000 words so far.

Ultimately, I love writing. I adore the right-brained creativity of it all, but I also love the left-brained meticulouslyC methodical part to it all as well. Who wouldn’t? (….or, is that just me’)

Tentative release date - 24th October 2018.

The reason: It’s the week running up to Halloween (And, this is the time period when the book is set.)

I’m aiming to finish during the summer holidays - get the project proof-read - edit again - and then release it in the week running towards Halloween. This has been so cathartic.

Don’t forget: you can pick ,up Mis-fit, Misplaced, Miss Shelly Clover for free at SmashAZwords.

All the love,

Jim

Discovered

"Sir, are you famous?"
"Err, not that I'm aware."
"You write books though."
"How on this earth... did you..."
"I saw your picture."
(And then, another pupil pipes in about her friend searching for me online.)

To say I was taken aback is an understatement.
It was in a History lesson on Imperialism, and I'd moved across to help a group with a faffy War game and before I knew it I'm back-peddling; caught totally off-guard.

I asked them how they found out and no one seems to know. But, they know...

It's a strange paradox when you write Teen-Fiction for girls; work in a girls' school and yet spend years keeping your book a carefully managed secret from the very students who might just enjoy reading it.

Needless to say, I've spent thirty (paranoid) minutes googling various permutations of my name and hitting images.
Nothing.
I'm not there.
And the only way you get to me is by typing in my full author name (not the names a student might hear a colleague call you in the corridor.)

Just weird.

Girls, if somehow - in your industrious natures - you're reading this, then I do hope you're enjoying the book. Get the free Ebook.

JSC (aka Mr Clark to you)

Oh, what the hell, I'm gonna blog...

A bit pointless doing this really.

But, in the vain hope of keeping this a writing blog and not a teaching blog, I'll get the former out of the way.

I just tried writing...and there was nothing; no capacity to concentrate, no ability to effectively edit.

There, done.

What was it Stephen Covey said? Emphasize your circle of influence and shrink your circle of concern.

What was it Alloy and Abramson said about depressive realism: depressed people have a more accurate appraisal of reality.

So, I've just gone cold turkey for six weeks (summer holidays) from a very addictive drug (teaching). I experienced another turkey halfway through the holidays (my A-level results) and a plump goose (my AS results). And now, I'm whacking that needle back in my arm. Twelve hours in my veins today. Oh, it feels good - I can no longer see the 'me' I found in the summer holidays. 65 hours a week won't do it. I MUST get good results next summer. I must work more.

Lovin' life. Hope you are. ( I genuinely mean that.)
JSC

Happy

For those of you who have NetFlix, I very much recommend that you watch a very interesting documentary called Happy :) It's old stuff that I've heard plenty of times, but can't help but feel invigorated by it when presented in a different way :)

What makes you truly happy?

Here's what it looks like.
JSC

Back to being a milkman.

One Christmas, when I was young, I dreamt of unwrapping a Millennium Falcon. Instead I received a hand-held bottled milk carrier. I recall it was scarlet in colour.

On Christmas day, I walked up and down the garage struggling to manage the weight of six bottles of milk. I was practising.

From the age of six to seventeen, I would get up at the crack of dawn and help my dad with his milk round until - thank goodness -he saw the light and sold it.

This experience taught me several things:

The reason I probably didn’t get many girlfriends growing up because I smelled of milk. (I was occasionally dropped off at the school gates in my milk clothes.)

Winter mornings in North Yorkshire are bitterly cold and your fingers would literally freeze to the gunge left inside the rim of the bottles.

The morning is my most productive time.

And so for now, I’m going old school and getting up early for my milk (and honey) round. Writing commences at 5am and finishes at 6am. My ‘other’ profession sucks 60 - 65 hours out of me every single week without fail. Evening writing is out of the question.

After 8 weeks of writing a paltry 1000 words, I’m now applying my father’s work ethic in a bid to ‘deliver a fresh’ Shelly Clover novel to you next summer.

Nicky Morgan - You will not beat my dream out of me.

JSC

The ‘Jamming’ approach to novel writing.

Used to be in a band.  Played the bass.  Occasionally, I tried to jam.

When I zipped the case over my bass for the final time in October 2006, I knew my jamming days were over. Throwing dirty nappies out of the window had become my rock n’ roll anarchy.

Sitting back, arms folded, it appears I’m Jamming again. Really didn’t see that coming.

With a burgeoning first draft on my hands, increasingly, I’m likening it to when I recorded myself playing guitar for 45 minutes solid (before turning the old VHS tape cassette over for another 45). Listening back; there’s good bits, promising parts and a good dose of utter tripe.

It’s not that I don’t have an inkling of where I’m heading, I really do; it’s just sometimes that blank page is like picking up a six-string. Tbh, I’ve been quite pleased with the right-brained riffing thus far. When it’s all done and dusted, I’ll be able to dissect the whole story; find the jagged bits, nonsensical  rubbish, and, hopefully at the end, give myself a pat on the back for inspirational bursts of creativity…just like with that cassette.

We shall see anyway.

I actually really look forward to the editing process too. Writing really suits and is immensely fulfilling on many different levels. My left-brain gets tickled with the thought of planning and organising. Making it all fit, making it all work. Editing and re-editing. H.a.p.p.i.n.e.s.s

I’ll keep you all updated.

JSC

Why teachers/writers love the summer holidays.

Finally, I can write.

All I can see are days and days of blue sky ahead.

...in writing terms, that is.

(Hey, I live in England, so this is clearly a metaphor.)

The plan is (and has been) to visit the coast as much and as often as possible. Charge the laptop to its four hour battery capacity. Drive/Train it to: Whitstable, St. Katharine's Dock (fav), Scarborough, etc.

Praying for a nice tax rebate like the one I received last year, and if it comes; I'll be going to Jersey on another Busman's holiday. Researching Islands and writing...while on holiday...bliss...pure and simple.

Book one benefited greatly from my visit to the Isle of Wight three years ago. And, as the whole series is set on an Island, I'll do a lot of walking, thinking and planning. Here's hoping Mr. Taxman.

St Mary's Island is on the agenda for tomorrow. A reclaimed brownfield site. (I'm hoping in their redevelopment they didn't forget writer's coffee houses.)

Pic below shows where I'm at in Book 2. Word count over halfway now.
JSC