Tag Archives: writing

Starting Out (blog post 1 of series)

Posted on by vgemmell

Following on from my post last week this is the first of a series of blogs which delve a bit deeper into what the writing life has been like for me over the years. When I say ‘writing life’ it’s important to emphasise you can be living a writing life without sharing your words, or ever reaching publication.

My love for writing started with a love for reading and as a family we made regular visits to our local library, which at the time was in Inverclyde. My house was always bursting with books growing up and this was thanks to my Mum’s enthusiasm and passion for words. I realised some of my early favourites, such as the Nancy Drew series and Point Horror, have shaped a lot of my writing. All three of my Young Adult books (see here), feature teen sleuths who undercover the truth about some dark mysteries taking place in their Scottish villages.

I wanted this post to be a bit of an overview of what has been important to me over the years. Finding champions (people who encourage, and don’t dismiss your ideas and dreams), and attending writing focused groups/workshops/conferences to learn my craft, have been so important.

Through both, I’ve been supported to bring my stories to life, and found like-minded people to advise and steer me on my way. Being connected to others writers/creatives has kept me motivated and enthusiastic during times I have asked myself why do I devote so much time to this? What’s the point?

For me, writing truly feels like it is in my blood. Even if I take a break from time to time, (or nearly ‘give up’), something always calls from deep down inside me that makes me sit back down at my laptop or notebook (or notes page on a phone!) to shape words into some form of storytelling.

Here’s some key highlights along the way: See links at the bottom of the blog post to help you find groups/courses

  • My Mum has always been an important champion, always encouraging me to keep writing, and submit my work. When I was eleven my Mum took me along to a new writing group she was attending (Erskine Writers).This introduced me to a magical world of writers, and I realised people actually did this writing thing as a job, or at least submitted stories to magazines/competitions and books to actual publishers…and got their work in print. Over the years Erskine Writers has played a massive part in my development as a writer. It’s where I won my first writing competition and started to read out my work aloud to strangers for the first time, and get critiques from people other than my mum. It helped me develop confidence and taught me the importance of listening to feedback to improve my craft
  • When I was in primary seven my older brother indulged me by reading my illustrated Horror novella – Ye olde Castle. Sadly I never kept this notebook, probably too embarrassed by the illustrations of heads rolling down a hill during the unfortunate school trip. My head teacher at the time called me to her office, (not to give me a mental health assessment thankfully.) She encouraged me to keep writing, and showed me a book that a twelve-year-old girl had published (it was about a vegetable family, and I remember being very impressed!). I continued writing many stories during this time – the photo at the top of the blog post is a notebook that did survive. Twenty- odd years later when my first book Follow Me was launched at Waterstones my head teacher attended my launch night and I was able to thank her for her encouragement during my acknowledgements. One of many full circle moments I’ve had in my writing life
  • Another teacher champion: My first year English teacher Mrs Cook told me I was going to be the next Roald Dahl (not quite happened, but this meant a lot at the time as I had grown up loving these books!) and got my class involved in acting out (and I am sure filming!) a play I had written in my own time
  • When I was about twelve or thirteen I finished my first ‘book’ Rhea the Rollerskater and my mum helped me package it and send it off to a publisher. They sent me a very lovely rejection. I love the fact my mum encouraged the process, and the publisher was encouraging, but I think I knew I really needed to give myself a bit more time to develop my craft! And also have some fun along the way. Being too focused on publication can detract from just enjoying the process.
  • When I was seventeen my mum took me along to my first Scottish Association of Writers conference. I was delighted to witness her being presented with a first prize certificate for her short story (from Ian Rankin!) This was a weekend where I first entered a world filled with experienced authors/writers and attended workshops which taught me lots about the craft of writing and storytelling. Twenty years later I was invited to be an adjudicator at the conference. Another full circle moment in my writing life!
  • In my twenties I started getting serious about sending work out and during my early thirties in particular I was on a mission to get my work in print. I felt at this point I had developed my craft enough to write an acceptable short story that could maybe see print. I’ll do a separate post on early submissions/rejections/acceptances and how to approach this
  • Around this time I kept attending the Scottish Association of Writers, as well as attending a brilliant writing festival (that an author at SAW suggested I go to) in York. Sadly this festival no longer runs but I’ve put alternative suggestions in the links below. It was here I met face-to-face with agents for the first time to pitch my novel. What this taught me is a website can tell you only so much about an agent. Meeting them in person allowed me to see how we ‘clicked’ as well as showing me how one totally understood my story, whereas the other did not!
  • Writing friendships ~ I met some of my best friends through writing groups and at a writing networking group. Finding people who are on the same wavelength and who understand the pain and enjoyment writing can bring, as well as being a safe space to share work and your highs and lows, has been such an important part of ‘keeping going’.
  • When my debut YA novel came out I was clueless really about how anything worked in terms of how to organise talks, school events and so on. I’ll do other posts about this, but at the time joining the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and attending their conference and speaking to published authors was so helpful. Fellow published authors who invited me to, and suggested me for, small festivals/talks was so amazing and helped me a lot. Librarians were also so supportive. Signing up to the Scottish Book Trust Live Literature database has helped me secure writing talks/workshops throughout the years (and get paid for them!)

As I live in Scotland I’ve included some Scottish/UK focused links below to help you find your tribe. Happy writing!

Find a Writing Group:

These lists can help you get started: https://www.scottishbooktrust.com/writing-and-authors/writing-groups-in-scotland

https://www.scottishassociationofwriters.com/find-a-writing-group/

Use social media to help you find local groups. I found an informal Glasgow Writers meet up group via facebook

Ask your local library and community centres. Paisley central library host a local group.

Attend Conferences/Writing Festivals/Courses

https://www.scottishassociationofwriters.com/saw-conference-2025/

https://www.cymerafestival.co.uk/2024-writers-conference-programme

https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/events-and-courses

Check college websites for leisure writing courses/online writing courses. This is a great way to connect with other writers. West College Scotland started an online creative writing course in November. I’ve also seen authors I know sharing courses they are running via Dundee Lifelong Learning

Attend a Retreat:

A popular one with writer friends: https://www.moniackmhor.org.uk/courses/

One I’ve got my eye on: https://www.acornwritingretreats.com/

Happy 2025

Posted on by vgemmell

I was lucky enough to extend my festive holiday this year and flew off to sunny skies just as my office was re-opening. A dose of sunshine and relaxation was the perfect way to recharge and have space to reflect on my writing and what I want to achieve in 2025.

I often find when I’m away from everyday life the creative and ‘ideas’ side of my brain really wakes up. I even managed to ‘type’ a short story in my phone while I was sitting out on my balcony in the sun. Having space to think properly also allowed me to reflect on how I could use my blog here in a bit more of a consistent and creative way.

A lot of young people (and adults!) I come into contact with who have an interest in writing are yet to find supportive communities, and don’t know where to start when delving into the world of writing.

Often when I do school or community workshops I’m asked questions around the practical side of writing, as well as my own experiences and how I have approached things.  I realised there is a lot I could write about on here, starting with where my writing journey began, and all of the different experiences and creative projects/competitions/workshops I have found to be helpful along the way.

I am no expert by any means within the industry, or a big success, but what I’ve had are real experiences – mostly good, sometimes deflating- over a large period of my life, a lot of which I was lucky enough to be introduced to thanks to being immersed in a supportive writing community (which started with a supportive writing Mum).

Over the years I’ve submitted short stories to competitions/journals, and then started to pitch books to a range of agents/publishers, met with them face to face, made it to publication then changed course so had to go back out on submission; had zoom pitches, a chat with an editor when I made the final seven in a big competition. I’ve faced numerous rejections, been ghosted, and most recently delved into independent publishing. I’ve attended writing festivals/workshops/talks/retreats, absorbed advice from top authors, agents, publishers and other writers of all levels of experience.

After my first book was released I started to deliver creative writing workshops and talks in schools, libraries, community venues, small book festivals, rooms to an audience of three… Adjudicated competitions for writing groups, bigger conferences (and even adapted my workshop to an online version during an unexpected lockdown!). I’ve organised in-person and online book launches, written press releases, been interviewed for a magazine and over the phone by a journalist.

I’ve kept my creative momentum going by setting myself numerous silly and engaging creative challenges over the years, which is good to remind myself about, as often when writing starts to feel too serious/stressful it’s good to take some time out to remember how to be creative. I know a massive challenge of any creative is staying motivated.

That was a bit of a brain dump list but introduces some themes I hope to focus on.

I remember reading once that writing should be treated like an apprenticeship; that it’s a journey of learning. I started my ‘apprenticeship’ way back in primary school and I am still very much learning. Every new writing project I start, I want to be better.

This year I hope to start a new type of writing project, and plan to go back out on submission again to try to secure an agent, which I am sure will bring a whole lot of new experiences and learning.

You can get all of my posts into your email inbox if you subscribe (on my homepage).

I plan to give honest insights into the behind the scenes of what a writing life for me has looked like so far (and new experiences going forward), with links to any interesting groups or writing related sites/comps I come across.

The first post will be going live next week.

Wishing you lots of success in your own writing this year, and just a reminder it’s okay not to feel dynamic in January. If you are still Wintering, take that time to relax and recharge!

Wintering

Posted on by vgemmell

A quote caught my attention recently on LinkedIn where a writer referenced Laura Strom (who is part of a Regenerative Leadership group) where she described ‘Wintering’ : ‘Wintering and resting are timeless practices that invite us to slow down, reconnect with inner nature, and tap into the depths of our creative cauldron. In a world that glorifies constant productivity and ceaseless activity, intentional rest becomes an act of rebellion, a means to disrupt the status quo. It is through rest that we challenge the notion that our worth is solely defined by our achievements and productivity.’ I’m aware author Katherine May has also penned a book called Wintering (which I’ve never read, have you? ) and I suspect from reading the blurb, it will follow a similar philosophy to the quote above.

As soon as we hit Autumn, and the days shorten, my body goes into a bit of hibernation mode. After I launched my latest book in August my automatic thoughts turned to ‘hurry up and get on with the next project’ but this is the first time for a while I have yet to actually start the next project and I’m giving myself permission to take a bit of a break. I have plenty of ideas zooming around my head which are often making it onto paper in scribbled note form. The ideas form two very different projects, which I think is a big reason why I am stalling as I can’t decide which to focus on and get on with! But I also do feel like I need a bit of a break.

I’m tired of logging into social media and wondering what to post. And I also haven’t posted on here in a while. I’ve got a day off today so decided it was time to log in to get some words down! I get so much fatigue from talking to people all day long in my day job I just crave a bit of silence sometimes from words and thoughts and often shy away from updating my social media feeds because I can’t even begin to think about how to be ‘engaging’. I’m sure I’m not alone in this, but when I see other writers I follow post regularly about all the exciting things they are achieving I always think I should do better.

But then this line from the quote really resonated: ‘challenge the notion that our worth is solely defined by our achievements and productivity’

In the writing world sometimes I think we forget to post about the joy of just creating a wonderful character, or celebrating the days where we have crafted a bewitching line of narrative, or written a scene that suddenly comes together in a seamless way that makes you doubt you even wrote it… Even that sounds like focusing too much on productivity, but it’s the magical feeling of being swept up in words that keeps me returning to projects, or starting new projects, even if I’m feeling a bit tired and fatigued. Because I know how much enjoyment it brings me, when I’m in the middle of writing a book or a story that starts to come alive and almost wants to write itself. And during the days it doesn’t; that’s okay too. The words will always come.

The good thing about the darker evenings is the feeling that it is okay to want to stay indoors and curl up with a good book or good film/TV series and not think about doing too much else. I’ve been on a bit of a reading slump this year so I feel like I need to give myself permission to slow down and enjoy soaking up other peoples’ stories for a while, before I start my next one….

And actually I have been enjoying other peoples’ stories the past few weeks as I was asked to judge a short story competition for Greenock Writers’ group. I’ll be returning there this evening (after doing a talk there back in September). I’m very much looking forward to reading out my results, and hopefully meeting the winners. It was a very welcoming, enthusiastic group and it always reminds me that another aspect of the writing world I really enjoy is meeting up with other writers, and talking about writing!

Happy November, and here’s to giving ourselves permission over the next few months for some ‘Wintering’

Deviate from the plan

Posted on by vgemmell

I often say I know a book is working when my characters start to take over. This is why I believe you can plan a rough outline and key aspects of the plot, but you have to give your story and characters permission to deviate from the plan. Just like real life, you can try to plan ahead but often external factors will throw your plans into chaos, or often throw up something better/unexpected.

When creating fully formed characters, until you get to know them properly they’re not always going to fit into your plotlines. You’ll often see writers suggesting you construct ‘characters studies/profiles’ in advance – like what’s their favourite band, foods, key moments from their childhood, are they are a morning/afternoon person? Which can all be helpful, but until they turn up on your page and get stuck into the action of your story and start interacting with your other characters none of that is going to tell you much about where they fit in to the bigger picture of your plotlines.

For my first two YA mysteries my characters told me what was going to happen, meaning I had to deviate from my planned endings. Neither of the original endings felt right. They were both written in and left there for quite a while. I couldn’t quite figure out why the endings didn’t sit well with me until I asked myself ‘but would that character actually do that?’ And then I realised I hadn’t stayed true to them and as soon as I understood this and let go of my own pre-conceived ideas, and really listened to my subconscious, it was obvious they’d already laid out all of the clues for me. Yes, we writers really do have voices talking to us in our heads. An acceptable kind of madness, in this mad world of novel construction.

During the planning stages for Young Blood I always knew I would have two main teen protagonists, Ana and Hope. I wanted to have two contrasting personalities and two contrasting situations. Ana and Hope’s narratives run through alternate chapters. 16 year old Ana is part of a tight-knit family and hasn’t really faced many challenges in life, which gives her a bit of a self-absorbed naivety. The uncertainty of her mum’s potential early-onset dementia diagnosis really shakes up her world. She is also upset when her new friend Hope disappears, and tries to find out what happened to her.

When I first started to plan the story I always thought Ana would dominate as her determination to find out what happened to Hope is a key driver of the plot. But then when my character Hope started to take shape I think she took over a bit!

15 year old Hope’s world was torn apart when she lost her mum three years previously and she finds herself in the care system. Her experiences have been lonely and unsettling and Hope welcomes Ana’s friendship until she’s taken from school one day and finds herself in the ‘House.’

I found writing Hope’s character emotional and her strength and fire, along with her vulnerability, was something I tried really hard to capture throughout the book. Her close bond with Seb in the house, and other key characters inside, also helped to flesh out other aspects of her personality and I started to grow very fond of and protective of her. So far she is probably one of my favourite characters I have written.

Throughout the book Hope finds strength from her family’s tarot cards.

My sister-in-law who makes beautiful handmade silver jewellery (see ImiandtheDeer here) gave me great support with the structural edits of Young Blood (she is a former English teacher!) and half-joked about designing a necklace inspired by Hope as part of a new collection. I was blown away when she gifted me the beautiful ‘Hope’ pendant below at my book launch. The pendant is a one-of-a kind – a ruby set in the middle of a gold sunburst, inspired by the back of Hope’s tarot cards which have a ‘ruby red jewel in the centre of blazing suns burning bright.’

That’s me wearing it on a recent trip to Arran. It’s so lovely to have a piece of jewellery to wear inspired by one of my characters! It makes Hope seem even more real to me.

I’ll leave you with a longer extract from a scene with Hope below. Links to buy Young Blood are here

“A reassuring warmth flowed through my body as I was greeted with the familiar image of a lion with magnificent orange mane, a goddess with flowing fair hair gripping the chain wound around his neck. Strength: You have more strength, power, and courage than you know. I felt the tight knot of anger I’d been carrying around the past few weeks start to unravel as I remembered Mum’s instruction, any time she drew this card for me, tugging on my hair which matched the fire of the lion’s mane. You are the lion AND the goddess. You remember that.
I tucked the card into my schoolbooks for a good luck charm.
Tomorrow I was going to try to be both.”

Blog Feature

Posted on by vgemmell

I’m delighted to be featured on my Mum, Rosemary Gemmell’s blog today, which reveals a bit more about the inspiration and research behind Young Blood. You can read full the post here

I feel very lucky having the support from my mum. We both write and it’s great having someone to share work and writing experiences with. You can view the full range of books my Mum has written on her website above. Even although we write quite different things, with a different style, I always enjoy reading and editing her work, and really appreciate the feedback I receive on all of my work. Without the support with editing, technical advice and lots more, I don’t think Young Blood would ever have made it to the final stages!

Here’s a snippet below from the blog post, where I talk about the inspiration behind Young Blood:

What was the inspiration behind your new book?

My initial idea for Young Blood stemmed from an article I read, about an American start-up company ‘Ambrosia’ founded by a medical school graduate, Karmazin, in 2016 which sold ‘young blood plasma transfusions’ (from young people into older people).

Charging a large sum of money for these transfusions, they claimed a range of health benefits such as offering treatment for Alzheimer’s. In a pitch about Ambrosia at a self-enhancement conference in 2017, Karmazin said, “We’re a company interested in making you young again.”

This sparked off the idea of having a powerful doctor set up a premium club for wealthy individuals to access pure plasma transfusions, capturing young people from the care system to be the donors, maintaining a super-controlled environment within ‘the house’.

In my day job I work with vulnerable teenagers on a daily basis. I see how much uncertainty and instability young people in the care system can face and how depressingly easy it could be for them to ‘disappear’ and for powerful individuals in authority to cover this up

Charging a large sum of money for these transfusions, they claimed a range of health benefits such as offering treatment for Alzheimer’s. In a pitch about Ambrosia at a self-enhancement conference in 2017, Karmazin said, “We’re a company interested in making you young again.”

This sparked off the idea of having a powerful doctor set up a premium club for wealthy individuals to access pure plasma transfusions, capturing young people from the care system to be the donors, maintaining a super-controlled environment within ‘the house’.

In my day job I work with vulnerable teenagers on a daily basis. I see how much uncertainty and instability young people in the care system can face and how depressingly easy it could be for them to ‘disappear’ and for powerful individuals in authority to cover this up

If you continue to read through the interview you’ll see I have a dream director in mind if my books were ever made into films (we can all dream!!). I love the bold, quirky and eye-catching directorial style of Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman, Saltburn), so if you are reading this Emerald, get in touch 😉 I was delighted to see a crime writer I know share a photo of Young Blood on social media last week, saying it was a captivating read and that anyone commissioning films should check it out, so you never know! When I’m writing books I often see the story ‘playing out’ in my head like a film.

I had a great launch weekend last week for Young Blood. I’m going to post separately about that later in the week with some photos.

For now I will leave you with my book trailer

Creative adventures

Posted on by vgemmell

After what felt like a slow start to the year, Spring has raced forward at light speed (with some lovely sunshine along the way).

The past couple of months have been very busy for me as I’ve been working on final book edits, cover design chat, and more proofreads.

I also took part in the Paisley Book Festival Schools programme in April. This meant a lot to me as I lived in Paisley for many years and I wrote lots when I lived in the town. A couple of my flash fiction pieces were inspired by observations around town and I used to love sitting in cafes writing notes and reading and going wanders taking photographs of some of the beautiful buildings. I also wrote my first two books when I lived in Paisley.

Delivering creative writing workshops to a range of S1-S3 pupils was fun and I always love seeing what story ideas they come up with. As part of my sessions I had given the groups real-life news headlines for inspiration and the most popular one by far was ‘Girl finds criminal living in her attic.’ I really wanted to read the finished stories for that prompt!

School Workshop in action

After my workshops were over my husband and I headed across to the Isle of Arran, one of our favourite places to visit. We lucked out with the weather and it was so relaxing going walks along the beach and sitting outdoors for meals/drinks. I always think there is a real sense of calm on the Island and could happily spend weeks there writing and doing creative things (but sadly had to return home to my day job!!). Sometimes I dream about being successful enough to be a full-time writer and if it meant being able to spend more time hiding away on islands like this that would be the biggest motivator for me!

Beautiful Arran

Later this week I’m going to be doing a Cover Reveal for Young Blood, my new young adult crossover thriller and posting the trailer for this.

It’s always nerve-wracking releasing work out into the world but also exciting to see a project ‘come to life’ and now I can’t wait for the book to be published and story to be read.

Making things happen

Posted on by vgemmell
Image: Mysticsartdesign Pixabay

It’s the 1st of March and I’m happy to be waving goodbye to what has felt like a very long Winter this year. Spring is my favourite season, when the days and nights get a bit brighter, tulips and blossoms bloom, and there’s a sweet spot before my hayfever kicks in for the summer!

I’ve been quiet on here because ‘behind the scenes’ I’ve been putting the final touches together for my YA thriller, which I will post more about when I’m certain it’s going to be ready for my planned late Spring launch.

Since Christmas I’ve experienced a bit of a fiction book reading slump, which has felt strange. I don’t know if it’s because I’m so immersed in my own book developments, I’ve had to give myself a break away from others’ storytelling for a while. I have been dipping into some reflective poetry, as well as non-fiction works such as Roxie Nafousi’s ‘Manifest: Dive Deeper’.

I know some people think books about Manifesting are a bit woo-woo, but I love reading about different perspectives on this, and techniques, as I find it very motivating. At the core of any works about Manifesting is the reminder to make things happen and be grateful for what you already have. These are things I already know, but when self-doubt and imposter syndrome creeps in during the middle of big creative projects or when I’m asked to take part in writing events, I find these reminders are helpful to re-frame and ‘re-train’ my brain a bit.

I’ve written before about how the writing life can be full of ups and downs. When you work towards a dream goal of publication, then achieve it, there are still a lot of disappointments and challenges that can come your way.

During January I took part in Beth Kempton’s Meet the Writer challenge, and I already posted about the prompt my writing view here.

Another prompt was ‘Doorway’ and this allowed me to reflect on all of the ways in which writing has been a doorway for me into lots of rewarding experiences.

For me, my writing has taken me on so many adventures and enriched my life. I have forged a lot of really meaningful and important friendships through joining writing groups and attending conferences/events. I’ve met so many interesting writers and learned lots from them during conferences and writing groups (as well as getting to share a lot of great experiences with, and learn from, my writer Mum also!).

When my debut novel was released a doorway opened for me to engage with audiences. Over the years I have been fortunate to be invited to deliver talks, creative workshops and judge competitions in schools, colleges, local writing groups and community libraries, and was even lucky enough to land an interview with Teen Title magazine (with school pupils asking the questions). Interacting with others to encourage their creativity has become a big part of my writing life that I enjoy, and find rewarding.

My initial experiences allowed me to develop enough confidence to forge into new pathways through independent publishing and this of course is also full of ups and downs (with many a crisis in confidence often holding me back from making the most of it all). A few months ago I saw a reel on Instagram posted by Reese Witherspoon with her basically saying, ‘Don’t wait for the phone to ring.’ She of course set up her own production company, motivated by a frustration with a lack of decent roles for actresses of a certain age. She took control of her own success, not having to audition or wait for someone else to dictate. Seeing that quote reminded me that by taking control, even if it’s not a success, at least I am attempting to make things happen. The biggest plus of independent publishing is having full control over the process and I know exactly what is happening ‘behind the scenes’ because I have full access to my sales and data. (Which surprisingly, a lot of authors do not!). It now means if I try out any marketing or promotional activity, I get to see if it has any real impact.

The parts of Roxie’s Manifestation book which resonated with me most were the sections where she talks about how we ‘live in a culture of comparison’. (pg 199) (which social media fuels). Her reminders: ‘Stay in your own lane and keep laser-sharp focus on your own journey’ and her concluding words in that chapter ‘The only comparison you should be making is who you are today with who you were yesterday and who you want to be tomorrow.’ (pg. 202) is so true.

I find being connected to so many writers on social media can be a double-edged sword sometimes. I love engaging with creative individuals and can find it inspiring, motivating and encouraging, but there are days when seeing posts about sold-out signings, sales boasts, book tours ‘I’m on my twentieth book’, ‘I signed a three-year book deal with one of the big five’, makes me feel a bit…inadequate? But more and more I ask myself the question, but do I really want that? And often I don’t actually, because the thought of having to travel up and down the country to numerous book signings, and having the pressure from a big publisher of expectation and regular deadlines, right now is not what my book dream looks like.

I like how Roxie’s book also acknowledges when you start to get things you want, challenges will come up that you have to overcome. She talks about overcoming fear and reminds us we have the power to be whoever we want to be. A question in the book which stuck in my mind recently (as I hate dealing with the ‘business’ side of being an author) was What would the most empowered and confident version of yourself do? (pg. 160) It’s a really simple, but effective technique I’m going to try to adopt whenever I have a crisis in confidence when I need to ask important questions, or pick up the phone. (Which ironically I do every day in my other day job with confidence in spades).

When I look back on the writer I was ‘yesterday’ i.e. many years ago when I was starting out, I think she’d be pretty excited to know everything that was ahead, and hopefully still to come!

Happy New Year

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Happy 2024! The Christmas decorations are packed away, the chocolate boxes are in the recycling bin and early morning commutes in the dark have resumed. Returning to the day job makes me appreciate my Fridays off even more, when I get to dive back into my creative bubble.

I hadn’t intended to set myself any big writing goals or challenges this month. Really doing anything remotely productive in January is a win for me!

But then my friend Rebecca, aka, designer Dainty Dora (you can check out her awesome website here) tagged me in an Instagram ‘meet the writer’ challenge, created by the writer Beth Kempton over on Instagram (@bethkempton) The challenge runs for 15 days and has daily prompts to encourage writers to post insights into our creative lives. (I realised my first blog post of 2023 also mentions Beth when I referred to her book ‘The Way of the Fearless Writer.’ See here)

Instagram is definitely my favourite social media channel as I like the visual aspect of it. I recently joined Threads but I’m pretty bad at consistent posting. I’m still much more comfortable in a blogging forum such as this when I want to put words out into the world. It makes sense as in the real world I’m much more into one-on-one longer conversations rather than small talk with a hundred people at a party (which social media often feels like to me!).

Anyway, as part of the Meet the Writer challenge I posted some photos of my writing ‘view’, which most often for me is the little pieces of art/quotes I have on my ‘creative/inspiration board’ that hangs above my desk so I’ve included them in this post. (As you can see there is a bit of a Paris theme – I love Paris and picked up the postcards/art magnet on visits).

Over the holidays I was judging a flash fiction competition for Erskine writers and I really enjoyed reading the 500 word stories. I love the challenge of writing a short piece of fiction, and I was delighted to see the range of excellent and creative stories the group had produced. It really inspired me, so when this month’s Furious Fiction challenge (from the Australian Writers’ Centre) landed in my email inbox I decided to give it a go. This challenge runs the first Friday of each month, and you are given specific words to include in a 500 word (max) story, and you have 55 hours to submit. It’s a great challenge to get words down. You can sign up to emails about it here

This month’s Writing Magazine included a 2024 Competition guide and this has also made me determined to write more short stories this year to submit. It’s easy to let novel length work dominate, but I find writing short work keeps my writing sharp and fresh!

Good luck if you have set yourself any 2024 goals.

I dwell in possibility

Posted on by vgemmell
Pixabay image by Syaibatulhamdi

It’s the last day in November and the last day of my writing challenge where I have used prompts every day (since the weekend I started) throughout the month to write a post on here.

Today’s prompt is to use the Emily Dickinson quote I dwell in possibility to write a poem, essay or story. I’m writing a straight forward post instead (though I guess it could be classed as an essay) as I feel this title is very apt to end on.

Successfully completing this challenge has reminded me it’s possible to make time, even if it’s just for an hour at the end of the day, to sit down and write, or focus on something creative. Waking up my imagination reminds me of the magic that exists in the everyday.

When I start a big project such as a novel, I love that feeling of anticipation, of not knowing exactly how a story is going to unfold or if I’m even going to be able to successfully transport what is in my head onto paper. Sadly it doesn’t always turn out the way I want it to – a bit like when you have a very vivid dream and it’s all so clear and you are sure you can relay it scene by scene, but something happens in those waking hours where you can’t quite capture the story in a cohesive way.

But then you tell yourself there are other dreams still to come, there are other stories that will be written. And it’s exciting thinking this could turn into something amazing, dazzling, which could be life-changing for you. Or at least sell and be read by a wider audience. Every time I hit send on a piece of work to a competition there is a sense of possibility – maybe, you never know…

My writing has enriched my life, not only be feeding my soul and giving me a feeling of purpose and drive, but by opening up a world where I’ve met so many interesting people – both other writers and readers, and creatives. It has taken me on adventures to schools, book shops, writing groups, conferences, community events, libraries, colleges and universities. It has kept me sane when the day job gets too intense, or real-life gets challenging. It has brought some of my best friends and best experiences into my life. It keeps me curious, and keeps me wanting to get better at my craft and try new things.

I saw a post on instagram earlier today with a quote from someone saying they were bored of reading the successful under 40 lists and they wanted to see stories of people later in life achieving their dreams, or striving for them. Someone in the comment section called @_d_u_n_e said in her tribe in Nigeria there is an adage which translates, ‘whenever a person wakes up, is their morning’

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow – each day I dwell in possibility.

A thank you to readers

Posted on by vgemmell
Pixabay image by Gerd Altmann

Today’s prompt is to ‘Write a thank you note to my readers’. A good place to start is to thank you for reading my blog post/s. As we hurtle towards the end of November my challenge of writing a post a day is drawing to a close. I really appreciate the messages a couple of friends have sent to say they’ve enjoyed the email alert with my post dropping in each day, and for comments on here. I mainly set this particular challenge to test myself and see if I was disciplined enough to do it, as well as get a bit more creative with my writing, but it’s nice to know it’s not all falling into an ether abyss!

In previous posts I’ve talked about how as a writer a large proportion of my time is obviously spent alone when getting words down on paper/screen, attempting to shape the ideas and characters filling my head into some kind of story that makes sense. If I’m lucky those words will then reach readers, and there’s nothing better when a reader then makes contact out of the blue to tell me my words/story/book has resonated with them. When a reader takes the time to tag me on social media with a positive message, send me a direct message, or write a review for my books it really means so much.

When I was thinking about writing this post it made me reflect on some of my favourite comments/messages I’ve had from readers and I have posted some below, because I think writers can be really bad at celebrating the ‘wins’ -not book awards- for me, these are my ‘wins’. Also during in-person events having teenage boys (who we are told don’t read anymore – actually they do!), tell me my book is their all-time favourite/that they were up till the early hours finishing it, means so much.

I loved this story, so sad and poignant. *** Heartbreaking and heartwarming, this one had me bawling (in a good way) *** What a powerful story. It brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for your beautiful words ***

(Lovely messages from readers who read my winning ‘School’ story in Writing Magazine last year)

This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. I felt like I was living and breathing the story, and the characters were all so fascinating that at times it felt hypnotic…. Like all great books it’s the little things that make it special – this book has lots of special moments. Skilful dialogue, tension, dark tones and mystery… It’s the sort of book that readers mourn when they finish. (an early review for Follow Me that meant so much!)

IT WAS AMAZING!! I started it on Friday, and I couldn’t put it down!! I really, truly couldn’t stop reading, and I went to bed quite late over the past few nights because it was so good! Once you read one chapter, you HAVE to read another one, and another one, and another one. I loved it. (a heart-warming message a young person sent me after reading Follow Me after one of my earliest writer events)

I love love love your books ( a message from a reader who had just finished Promise Me)

I love your writing

Comments like these keep me going on the days I read my work and think it’s garbage, when I’m at the sticky middle of a project that feels like it’s sinking, when I question why I spend so much time in this mad world of my imagination when it really doesn’t always reap a lot of reward, when I’m tired and tell myself I’d rather spend my time doing a million other things that don’t involve sitting down and getting words on paper….

But then I remember the magic I felt at points of the story when it all started to come together, and when a reader tells me they felt a bit of that magic too, that is what makes all of this worth it. Thank you!