Pet Peeves of a Writer #amwriting

I've been tagged by the gloriously talented author Jonathan Hill to write a blog post on writer's pet peeves. If you haven't read any of Jonathan's stories, go and do it right now! My blog post will still be here when you're done.

OK, so, pet peeves, hmmm... I'm not sure I have any. Ha. Who am I kidding? (No-one, I imagine). I have loads, although they're either so ginormous they're less 'pet' and more 'keep in a safari park in an enclosure marked PLEASE KEEP YOUR VEHICLE WINDOWS SHUT AND LOCK ALL THE DOORS!', or they're so tiny and fleeting they're gone and forgotten before I can get too peeved.

I love writing. There is not one story I've written that I don't at least like, and of the 'works in progress' on my computer, there are only a couple I'm not fond of...right now. It's more a case of how daunting the task is of turning them into stories I'd be happy to put out there for others to read.

I guess that's pet peeve #1: redrafting a story I'm not fond of, because the process of unpicking and restitching plots can be a right pain in the neck. For instance, I have a novel (around 100k words) called Meredith's Dagger, where history and the present / fact and fiction collide.

It's steeped in the local history of Ormskirk and Lathom in West Lancashire, and there's a strong feminist current to the plot (specifically, the way in which, throughout history, independent women have been demonised and/or deemed mad).

The novel needs a tiny bit more than a bit of a polish. I'll get there. I'm confident of that. :)

Pet peeve #2 is related to the above: simultaneously having the time and the motivation to write is a rarely experienced joy. I'll look forward to a day earmarked as a writing day and when it finally arrives, I stare at the page and think...nah. I'll just play around with creating book covers instead. (So far, I have three finalised covers for books - Love's Folly being one - I have not yet written.) It's not even a case of writer's block. I could write, but I'm not in the mood. Conversely, when I am burning to write, I haven't got a pair of minutes to rub together.df

Pet peeve #3 is the reason there's a random 'df' at the end of the previous sentence, courtesy of one of the three pet peeves who share my house/writing space (and no I don't mean my husband and daughters, although... ;) )

George (cat) does like to add his own little contributions, or decides he needs fuss right here and now, in front of the screen and on top of the keyboard.

Trig and Moo (dogs), on the other paw (and particularly Moo - pictured) like to lure me from my computer for walks, or to open the front door to invisible callers, or open the back door so Moo can peer out and give me the look that says: 'It's too cold/hot/wet/windy/dark. I'll cross my legs for now, thanks. Can I have a treat?'

For all that I've included them in this list, I wouldn't be without them. They're wonderful company and so much easier to get along with than humans.

I'll stop there, because being peeved is the stuff of grumble monkeys, and no-one likes a grumble monkey. Writing is hard, but it's also rewarding and sanity-saving.

I'm passing the grumble torch to Louise Lyons and Caraway Carter, both of whom are amazing. I've had the privilege of working with Caraway on quite a few stories, including his most recent novella 7 With 1 Blow, and I've read enticing snippets of Louise's stories, but not a whole story...yet! I can't wait to read her upcoming release Regeneration, which is out on January 15th, 2017.

Thanks for reading
Deb x