Christmas Cards and First Novels

Well, the deadline for the twist story came and went and I didn’t have it finished in time. Christmas interfered in the shape of Christmas cards and shopping. The cards took more than expected because I thought I would be clever and do a design for a cover, then add a Christmas story inside. I came close to giving up but managed to get it together. What the recipients felt about it, I have yet to discover. The story is in the web page under the title of The Innkeeper’s Christmas Carol if anyone feels inclined to look at it. I enjoyed writing it as I have always been fascinated by the ordinary people who appear in the stories in the Bible. The cup bearer who knew Joseph, for example – how did he tell Pharoah about Joseph?

I’m not writing much just now but I have been given a book to review for a friend. My first reaction is that the author should have been given the same advice as me, – finish your first novel, put it in a drawer, lock the drawer and throw away the key. There is so much to learn, not just about how to plot and plan and have highs and lows but how to submit to an agent or a publisher and how much work there is in promoting it that rushing only results in frustration. I’ve written several, but the promotion and selling they need to make them a commercial success needs more energy than I can muster. The writing still fascinates me and I am working on a historical novel, but, like the one I’m reviewing, it’s a bit of a thirty thousand word story shouting to get out of seventy thousand words and I am not rushing until I feel happy with it all.