What I'd like for Christmas is some extra time

Christmas is only a matter of days away now; I am doing my best to feel christmassy. I have bought and wrapped pressies, brought the tree in from the garden and draped it in twinkly bits and made a start on the rest of the house. I have made a list, lost it, made another, lost that and then found the first one again. Every year we have this palavar, I wrack my brains as to what to buy them, track the thing down, wrap it in paper, only to find they already have it or didnt really want it. My own gifts tend to be toiletries I cannot use or a jumper that doesn't fit when, really I am perfectly easy to buy for. I have a wish list on Amazon of books that I cannot justify buying for myself, I always love notebooks and pens, or sketchbooks or things to make my P.C run better. I like gardening so a new trowel or some packets of seeds are always welcome. If there is anyone out there wracking their brain as to what to wrap for me what I really need is more time. Time to work on The Forest Dwellers, to market Peaceweaver or to research. If my children are reading the best way to give me time is to help more effectively with the christmas arrangements; I am not the only one that can wrap, bake, clean, decorate or shop and i would so love and appreciate the help and it wouldnt cost you a penny!
Merry Christmas everyone!!

Letting Go.

Do you remember the first day you took your child to school? you dressed him in his new uniform, tied his tie for him, made sure he had his plimsoles in his slipper bag. Then you held his hand all the way to the classroom, helped him find the coat peg with his name beneath it. And then you left him and went home alone, painfully aware that you had launched your boy into the wicked world and it was up to him whether he sank of swam? Do you recall your grief at the lost babyhood?

that is how i feel about Peaceweaver. Up until now it has been mine to play with, i could add/subtract commas, delete paragraphs, change the title but now it is mine no longer. it is out there alone in a world of unkind critics. i dont know if it will sink without a trace or bounce triumphantly to the bestseller lists.

Peaceweaver - Available now!

It is all systems go now that Peaceweaver is available to order on Amazon. soon it should be available on other book seller sites and bookshops too. I am currently getting ready for my first book fair on Saturday, making leaflets, bookmarks and posters. My friends on Facebook, Youwriteon.com, authonomy.co.uk etc, have already been blasted by my messages and emails and there is great excitement here at home. My family are already making lists of what they want when I hit the best seller lists :D
I should be over the 'stagefright' by now but I am still so anxious that people will hate it and slate it. Historical novels are a very specific genre, people either love them or hate them and the genre itself varies so. Some are blood thirsty and very political, some are gushy, lovey dovely romances and some are rip roaring adventures. Peaceweaver, I think, covers all those aspects at some point. I'm not sure if that is a good or a bad thing. But, if everyone buys a copy and then recommends me to their friends I should do alright.

I've got the contract!

It all seems suddenly very real now. The publishing contract came today and I've spent the morning carefully reading it, forcing my eyes not to glaze over and trying not to let my mind wander. My instinct is to just sign the flipping thing and speed up the next part of the process but I can hear my mother's voice telling me to read the small print.

I can scarcely believe it and am still not entirely convinced that something still won't go wrong. Things like this don't happen to me. I have always written; poems, stories when I was a child and steamy romances when I was a teenager. When I was at university I loved writing essays, the research was a source of joy and the construcion of the final essay, the longer the better, gave me a real sense of satisfaction. It was just a small step to progress to my first novel. Friends and family raised eyebrows but to me it was a perfectly natural thing to do. My first two attempts leave a lot to be desired but almost as soon as I began to write Peaceweaver, I felt a sense of 'rightness'. It is as if she (EAdgyth)spoke to me and the story developed beneath her guidance. But that is just me being fanciful, writers are like that :D

My next novel is set in the new forest just after the norman conquest and tells the story of a community evicted from their homes to make way for the King's new hunting grounds. The adventure begins with an attempted rape, progresses through murder and exile and culminates in regicide. I hope I can do justice to the story of Aelf's family.

Learning curve

This week I had the confirmation that Peacweaver will be published by Christmas. I am excited and terrified all at once. Although I have always written, the last few years have been a steep learning curve. I have learned to rein myself in, cut out alot of the frilly bits and emerge myself in the character rather than use my novels as a canvas for my poetic tendencies. When I re-read my first two attempts at full length novels I can see how sadly lacking they are. I was too heavily influenced by classic novelists who, as great as they are, are now outdated. I think now I have learned to let my 'self ' colour the page and write instinctively rather than consciously trying to be something I am not. Now, with Peaceweaver ready to hit the presses, I find I have to learn a whole new skill. I have to market the flipping thing!

I am a writer not a business woman and have not the slightest confidence that I can promote my book properly. My inclination is to say, 'Well, I've written this book, you probably won't like it but it would be nice if you'd read it.' That won't work will it? So I have to practice extreme confidence and convince the world that my novels are worth reading. I will be shortly running a competition on Face book -Peaceweaver by Judith Arnopp- when I have a hundred members I will post a question and the winner will receive a signed copy of Peaceweaver. I hope to see you all there. you can reach the page by clicking the facebook tab on the top left of the page ... I think.

Country Walks with Friends

On thursday my pc died and I have been without it until today. Luckily it was only a little death and the wonderful man at the repair shop, Teifi Computers in Lampeter, fixed it as quickly as he could. Nevertheless I spent the whole weekend worrying about my three novels, umpteen poems and short stories that are stored on my hard drive. Even though I have back up copies, they are somehow not the same as the ones on my pc.

Totally at a loose end without my machine, I tried to enjoy using my notebook but it is just not comfortable, the keyboard is too small and I make too many errors, lose my flow. I was not a happy bunny, I even resorted to pen and paper at one stage. I wonder what I did before I had a computer, how did I spend the day and those interminable evenings? I cannot imagine life now without the separate existence that I live in my head, a life that is peopled with characters of my own imagining. When I am about my usual chores, I find myself thinking about them and what I will have them do next. Their presence takes the slog out of the worst jobs and I often find the bathroom has cleaned itself while I have been considering the motivation for thier actions. Often I am struck with some wonderful new idea and have to leave the washing up and get my ideas down before they trickle away. The washing up is always still there when I drag myself away from my desk.

Writers are lucky, it may be a lonely occupation in terms of human company but the people we dream up are often just as good company. I have been taking walks, not long walks that involve proper boots or socks, just strolls around the neighbourhood. The things I see along the way often find a way into my chapters, little details of everyday life that are timeless, like the fall of the shadow upon a sunny bank or the sound of the stream as it clatters over rocks.

Peaceweaver - coming soon

I thought I'd talk about my novel, Peaceweaver, today as it should, fingers crossed be available to order soon.

It is the story of Eadgyth Aelfgarsdottir, the daughter of Aelfgar, the Earl of Mercia and grandaughter of Lady Godiva (Godgifu) of legend. Her status as the daughter of an earldorman was more of a curse than a blessing. Married at thirteen to her father's former enemy, the king of the Welsh, Gruffydd ap Llewelyn, she finds herself queen in a strange land. Although unhappy at the choices made for her, Eadgyth sticks out her chin and makes the best of a bad hand. Surrounded by war, she finds friendship and love and delights in the birth of each of her children. The harshness of 11th century life and the expectations placed upon her, injure but do not swamp her. The misery she endures at the hands of her husband are made bearable by her friends and children. However, when the castle is attacked and Eadgyth is separated from the household, a new epoch in her life is opened.

She is taken to the court of the Saxon king, Edward the Confessor, and there she uses all her feminine whiles to infiltrate the Godwinson family and be reunited with her children. Widowed and penniless, her status negligible, she catches the eye of the most powerful Godwin of all, Harold, Earl of Wessex. An unorthodox and stormy courtship follows until, at last, she agrees to become his wife.

The years leading up to 1066 are not minutely documented. This provides great scope for the novelist and I have enjoyed pushing my characters around, discovering how they may have behaved. A woman in a man's world, I have tried to illustrate the joys and horrors of the days that Eadgyth's life encompassed. During the last years of the Anglo Saxon regime and the early days of the Norman occupation she moved among kings and princes, the dissillusioned and the desperate; her status fluctuating with the changing forutnes of Britian. I hope that my readers will share Eadgyth's small joys and, when she ultimately overcomes her greatest sorrow to clutch at personal happiness, will be glad.

Peaceweaver will be available for order soon. Further information will be posted when the time comes.