Elaina James

I was following Elizabeth Little’s #AuthorChat on twitter tonight and it got me thinking about the way that I write my novels.  Elizabeth, like any sane person, types her first drafts and then edits in hardcopy.  Totally logical.  I’m therefore slightly concerned that I have completely the opposite approach, which bizarrely, until I read her posts, had never even struck me as being slightly crazy.  I tend to handwrite my first drafts, more or less in full, in a notepad.  Well I say a notepad, however even with my tiniest writing, I can’t actually cram a full length novel into a single notepad.  Because I also have a habit of thinking of extra dialogue or inserting new chapters into sections that I have already written, I end up inserting pages with lots of asterisks and highlighting to help me decipher it all later.  This means that my notepad is usually full of loose pages, inserted in seemingly random places, all held together by a large elasti...

When I leave the house each morning, I check that the taps are turned off, the radio and kettle are unplugged and the oven, which hasn’t even been used since the night before, is still turned off.  And then I check it all again.  My colleagues roll their eyes each evening when I double back as I am leaving the office, to check that I really did lock my desk drawer.  My friends smile as I check my car really did lock, when I press the remote control.  And my family… well they don’t pass judgement.  They can’t really, given that they are just as bad as me. Writing is another of my obsessions.  However, unlike double or triple checking a door, this is one that few people know about.  It’s actually quite easy to hide it from people, because so few people even know about my passion for writing to begin with.  They have no idea that I carry around a little notepad in my bag, ready for the moment that the perfect line of dialogue or song lyric shoul...

I started a creative writing course this week.  Admittedly, I did't  participate a huge amount.  My writing has been a well kept secret for so long, I think it's going to take a while for me to get used to sharing my work.  But, it's a great group, excellent tutor and interesting class. In fact, I was so full of new ideas the following day, that I've already written a new short story and that's just as a result of the first day of the course! I'm looking forward to next week...

My writing has been on hold recently, while real life intervened.  Much to my frustration.  While I battled work pressures and kitchen renovations, my creativity seemingly went on strike, as I literally fell into bed each night, completely exhausted and unable to find the energy to switch on my computer.  Thankfully, balance has just about been restored though and I'm back at my keyboard, with renewed enthusiasm following my unscheduled absence.  I read through my partially written manuscript eagerly, feeling as though I was catching up with old friends.  My mind is already filled with adventures for them to embark on, to make up for my recent neglect.  My fingers will have to type fast in order to keep up with all the ideas in my head.  In fact, is that steam coming from my keyboard…