Writing Fiction in 2018
I am often asked lately ‘Who inspires you to write?‘ I’m never sure how to answer that question, because if I answer it honestly, I’d have to say nobody. I write because I love it. I’ve always loved putting pen to paper. Back in the day, that was exactly how I did it. Computers were for nerds not semi-normal teenage girls who wanted to keep their friends. That was until my parents bought me a ‘Dragon 64’ We couldn’t do anything other than play Chucky Egg on it though, and I didn’t even like that very much!
I still have a folder full of stories I wrote when I was in my early teens. Of course, real life got in the way and and opted for a nine-to-five instead, because that was what everyone else was doing and besides, I needed money to fund my Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights out in Bath.
Fast forward several years, and I began working for a publishing company where I contributed to the Book ‘From Dusseldorf (to the future) With Love by Tim Barr. That was my first actual acknowledgment in black and white, and sort of made me think about writing again. But things didn’t work out that way. So in 1999 I became a director of a digital media company and back then that was quite something. Not many businesses had a website, mainly because they didn’t see the necessity! Wow, how things have changed.
I started writing digital content for clients, e-zine articles and print editorials. Although this meant I was writing for a living, it wasn’t the same as writing stories.
I decided to try my hand at story telling a few years ago. I wrote my first novel and allowed an already published Author (Rebecca Horsfall) to read and critique it. Although I was pretty nervous about what she was going to say, I was also looking forward to some constructive criticism. Just as well as I got it! To be fair, for the most part her reaction was extremely positive and she referred to me as an accomplished writer. Coming from an author, that was a compliment indeed. I took all of her advice on board and spent the next couple of years practising. I wrote and wrote and wrote until finally I felt ready to publish.
Wishful Thinking is a story about Maddie, who thinks she’s magic. She is of course, we all are. I am a firm believer that we create our own reality and I wanted to write something that reflected this belief.
So is it a book about The Law Of Attraction?
Not in a gimmicky, in your face sort of way, more a subtle suggestion that maybe, just maybe, there’s something to this magic thing.
So who is my inspiration? I think that was the question wasn’t it? I’m good at digressing.
I absolutely love…..
Rainbow Rowell books ….
I’ve never read anything much in the same genre that I write, and I decided I should. I’d seen a few of Rainbow’s books listed on Amazon as in a similar style, so I decided to make the effort to see what she was all about. Besides that, I fell in love with her name! I started with Fan Girl. Her characters just jump off the page and she has this way of making you feel like you are there with them. I think there’s an absolute art to writing as a teen and she has it down.
Other books I have read recently:
Girl On The Train
Watching Edie
Gone Girl
Becoming Genevieve
As much as I love these authors and their books, I have to say there are only two people that have ever truly inspired me to follow my dreams. They are Sahar Hashemi who is the founder of Coffee Republic and Genevieve Davis the author of Becoming Genevieve.
Sahar is an amazingly motivated person. She took knock-back after knock-back but didn’t give up. I listened to her at a conference a few years ago. I normally start daydreaming about all sorts of other things when I should be listening. But I didn’t drift off once. She made me realise that the only failure is in giving up.
If you are into The Law Of Attraction then I highly recommend ‘Becoming Genevieve‘
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