GUTGAA: MEET AND GREET

Greetings All!

 Today is the GUTGAA Meet and Greet for the blogfest happening at Deana Barnhart's blog  and I am very excited because I like to chat. Yes SirreeBob.

A little bit about me: 

The facts: I live in the big smoke London Town, live with the boyf and pet fish, and have never broken anything (famous last words - am I now about to tipple over and smash a bone?)

The Loves: Eating cheese. Vampire Diaries. Superheroes. Books involving Teleportation or Time Travel. Caffeine.

The Hates: The Brussels Sprout (there is just no need for them). Grumpiness on the tube (though we all get grumpy!). when the writing doesn't come. Giving up Caffeine (like I am trying to do now, in a bid to be 'healthy'.)

THE QUESTIONS:

Where do you write? I moved house earlier this year so I am now lucky enough to have A SPARE ROOM. In London, this is a luxury! A whole room without a person in it! WOW! I can also work from home for my job the odd day and work in it. It calls for all these exclamation marks because this is exciting. So I work from the spare room. Though sometimes old habits die hard and you'll find me on the sofa. Should you come looking. And if you do, I'll make you a nice cup of tea, because that's what we do here.

-Quick. Go to your writing space, sit down and look to your left. What is the first thing you see? Pants! And yes American People, by that I mean KNICKERS. Undies. Lingerie. Skivvies. Also socks, usually odd ones who mourn their partner and hope someday they will return from their ADVENTURE IN THE WASHING MACHINE. This is all a way of making 'my laundry' sound less dull, for that is to my left. (And again, London! What a luxury to be able to hang my laundry in a WHOLE OTHER ROOM and not have to look at it while I watch TV.)

If I am on the sofa then I am looking at the wall to my left. THRILLING.

-Favorite time to write?

Evening time before bed, 10-midnight ish depending on bedtime. It's the only time I can find as I really cannot get up early and I admire all these half five in the morning people. I SO DO. I am much more a nightowl! I like to have a notebook on me to make notes on the tube, if I don't have someone's elbow in my face or am alternatively sniffing an armpit.

-Drink of choice while writing? Water. I am addicted to Diet Coke but see earlier note re giving up caffeine. I am trying to break the hold it has on me. 

-When writing , do you listen to music or do you need complete silence? Silence. Music is far too distracting for me.

 I have also discovered this little X button on the google chrome page, it's an amazing invention, it means the internet is shut! I don't usually use it. But it does help me get more done ;) (Though I do find the #1k1hr twitter hashtag an amazing motivator too).

-What was your inspiration for your latest manuscript and where did you find it?

My completed MS is a sci fi thriller set in the near future and the first scene came to me very clearly, a girl arriving home, having snuck out and going in to face the music. I wrote this scene, took it along to a class I was taking at the time and people said nice things about the setting/scene so I worked away on it and wrote a novel. Somehow. The opening scene has changed a lot since then but it all came from there.

For the two WIPs I am currently working on: one is a girl who may be a clone, or may just be going mad and I literally thought there, hmm, it would be fun to write about CLONES what could I do? And worked it out.

The other WIP, tentatively called CaraStoneSucks.Com, I really wanted to write about cyberbullying. As I am a sci fi writer I tried lots of ways to make it sci fi and the initial inspiration was sci fi. However I realised it is really a contemporary idea, so I am going to have a go at that! 

(I have more about these ideas in one of my old posts and will be joining in the CP/BETA fun on Wed if anybody is looking for CPs/BETAs hope to see you there!)

-What's your most valuable writing tip?

EDIT. I know it seems obvious but really, when I first started writing I'd write a story and press Finish and think that was it. Oh naive me. Then I'd feel bad that my work wasn't as good as all these finished books I see. So EDIT EDIT EDIT.Then ... edit some more. Edit until you are sick of editing, then you might just be done ;)

I love to meet people and love to chat so please if you have waded through all of the above - SAY HELLO!