Kathleen McGurl: Writing on the move

Today we welcome Kathleen McGurl to the RNA blog.

Kathleen McGurl lives in Bournemouth with her husband. She has two sons who are both now at university. She always wanted to write, and for many years was waiting until she had the time. Eventually she came to the bitter realisation that no one would pay her for a year off work to write a book, so she sat down and started to write one anyway. Since then she has published several novels with HQ and Carina UK and self-published another. She has also sold dozens of short stories to women's magazines, and written three How To books for writers. She works full time in the IT industry and when she's not writing, she's often out running, slowly. Her latest book is The Girl from Ballymor, a dual timeline story set in Ireland during the Great Famine.

Over to you Kathleen...

This year I spent six months travelling around Europe in a motorhome with my husband. I was lucky to get six months off work - I work for John Lewis and it was the reward for having done over 25 years with them. But of course, six months off work means six months away from the day job only. No time off from writing, and I wouldn’t want to, anyway!

We left home in early April and travelled through France, Italy, Croatia, Spain and Portugal, arriving home in early October. It was, as you might imagine, an amazing trip.

At the beach in northern Spain

I knew I’d have a new book coming out while I was away (The Girl from Ballymor) and had also agreed to a deadline to hand in the next book. One problem with life in a motorhome is that there’s no space to bring a printer. So I’d rushed to complete a draft of the new book before we left home, printed it, and took that with me as I prefer to edit by scribbling in red pen over a printout.

But the next rewrite, following my editor’s feedback, had to be done on screen with no printout to scribble on. I found that hard as it’s a different way of working. Maybe I should have found a print-shop but I don’t know the word for it in Italian!

I started a new novel after those two edits, and that was easier, although writing about rainy, damp Ireland when I was dealing with an Italian heat-wave was not always easy.

The glorious Dolmites

At home I mostly write in the evenings, outside of the day-job hours. While travelling I tried to write in the late afternoon and early evening, after we’d arrived wherever we were going to park for the night, and before we had our evening meal and the wine that invariably went with it. It wasn’t always possible if we were out for a long day or needed to spend time blogging or planning the next few days, and I made a point of not beating myself up if several days went by with no words written. After all, the trip was primarily about the travelling.

When possible I sat outside to write, trying not to be distracted by gorgeous views over the sea or mountains. As it only rained during the day about three times on the entire trip (and I am not joking!) in theory I could sit outside always. But as anyone who’s tried using a laptop in bright sunlight will know, it’s not always easy to see what you are doing. I must buy one of those laptop sun-hoods before any future trips.

An essential piece of kit was a 12v laptop charger so I could charge the laptop even if we weren’t hooked up to mains electricity, which was often, as we free-camped a lot.

Writing at a Croatian campsite

The Girl from Ballymor came out in early September, and my challenge then was to try to do some promotion for it while on the move. I have a good phone contract with a large data allowance that can be used while roaming, so I was able to use Twitter and Facebook the same as at home. And check Amazon rankings, of course! My publicist asked if I could do a pre-recorded radio interview for Talk Radio Europe. I agreed and then spent many sleepless nights fretting about how best to manage this. I needed to make sure on the day of the interview we would be parked somewhere with no background noise, and I’d need to be in the van with closed windows for quiet, so preferably under some shade so I didn’t pass out with the heat... Of course I was worrying for nothing and it all went well in the end.

Many of the places we went to provided inspiration for future novels. I write dual timeline – a historical mystery resolved in the present day – and love visiting anywhere with a bit of history attached. So – most of Italy, then! Highlights for future writing ideas were Certaldo in Tuscany (home of Boccaccio), the restored lemon groves in Limone, Lake Garda, and Pompeii, of course.

A Tuscan sunset - inspiration for a future book?

I know of a few other writers who write while in their campervans. It takes a bit of adjustment and requires a lot of flexibility, but the rewards are well worth it. Writing is one of those jobs you can do anywhere, and having a campervan allows you to be anywhere. It’s a match made in heaven.

Thank you Kathleen for that insight into an amazing trip and the challenges of writing on the move. 

You can find out more about Kathleen on twitter @KathMcGurl, on Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/KathleenMcGurl, and on her website: https://kathleenmcgurl.com

And The Girl from Ballymor is available now: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06X8YRDM8

Sue Shepherd: Could you repeat that please?

Thank you to Sue Shepherd for this delightful piece about the use of our favourite words.

During the final, final edits of my latest novel, ‘Love Them and Leave Them’, it became apparent to both myself and my editor that there were certain phrases that I really liked to use. Of course I’m not unique, every author has their preferred words that they constantly return to, we just can’t help it.

What I found interesting about mine was the fact that not only had I often used them in the narrative

, but my characters had also used them in their dialogue. I knew all my characters very well, I could picture their mannerisms, I could hear their voices and accents, and yet, occasionally, out of nowhere, one of them would utter a phrase that simply wasn’t them at all, in fact it was 100% me.

What was happening there? Why were these characters, who I knew as intimately as any of my real life friends, suddenly saying something that was so completely ‘Sue Shepherd’?

I could only conclude that somehow, subconsciously, my own voice was determined to be heard. This reminded me that even though these people are real to me, so much so that they wake me at night and demand to be heard, the truth is that they all came from inside my head. It makes no difference who they are, male, female, old, young, goodie or villain, they all have a little bit of me inside them. (Yes, I’m now rubbing my hands together in true Doctor Frankenstein fashion!)

In some ways I’m rather pleased they take after me, I’m extremely fond of some, and even the baddies have wormed their way into my affections. But I remain very grateful to my editor for pointing out my duplications and for making me aware when my characters spoke out of turn.

It does make me wonder what words other authors can’t help repeating? What did Agatha Christie find herself having to keep a check on? Did J K Rowling’s editor have to break the news to her that she’d gone overboard on a certain phrase? Once we, the writers, are made aware of our little foibles, we can do our best to minimise the usage in future. But words are a part of our upbringing, a part of our everyday lives, indeed, they’re a part of who we are. Our favourites are stubborn little buggers, and they will slip out!

Here are some comments from our members about their ‘favourite’ words:

“I ‘just’ ‘actually’ ‘obviously’ know what you mean. And also (hanging my head in shame) I will admit that my characters swear a lot in my first drafts, because I swear a lot. Oops!”

Alison May.

“My characters ‘just’ do so many things ‘abruptly’ or ‘suddenly’ that I dread to think what they look like in the reader’s imagination.”

Sue Moorcroft.

One of my books had a character who ‘raised his eyebrows’ about 17 times. Though I have removed some of those eyebrows since then.”

Colin Garrow

“My headmistress sleuth, Harriet Quigley, not only raises her eyebrows, she shrugs a lot and bites her lip far too often! I have to do a check before I let her go.”

Nicola Slade

“My characters are constantly pulling things. I don't mean they're on the pull, but they pull doors, pull on coats, pull away. When I edit I have to remind them to tug, drag, grab and other more interesting words.”

Kath McGurl

“My word is ‘though’ at the end of sentences. It’s especially noticeable when I write in the first person. I have to go through at the editing stage and remove a lot.”

Jennie Bohnet.

About Sue:

Sue Shepherd writes contemporary romance and enjoys creating novels with heart, laughs and naughtiness. She doesn’t pull any punches when choosing her subjects, but manages to handle her characters’ challenging situations with sensitivity and humour.

Her debut novel 'Doesn't Everyone Have a Secret?' was published by Corazon Books in March 2015.  It reached the top 10 UK Kindle chart, and also topped the romantic comedy, contemporary romance and humour charts. It became available in paperback on Amazon.UK in November 2015.

Sue’s second novel ‘Love Them and Leave Them’ was published in September 2016.

Sue lives on the picturesque Isle of Wight with her husband, two sons and a standard poodle.  Her passions in life are: her family, writing, the seaside and all the beautiful purple things her sons have bought her over the years.  Ask Sue to plan too far in advance and you'll give her the heebie-jeebies and she'd prefer you not to mention Christmas until at least November!

Love Them and Leave Them:

Sometimes you have to leave the one you love … sometimes you’re the one who’s left behind. The new heartwarming and heartbreaking romantic comedy from the No.1 bestselling author of Doesn’t Everyone Have a Secret?

On his way home, Ed makes a split-second decision that changes the lives of all those who love him. Six years on, Ed’s daughter, Jessie, is stuck in a job with no prospects, her dreams never fulfilled. It will take more than her unreliable boyfriend, Chris, and temperamental best friend, Coco, to give her the confidence to get her life back on track.

But what if Ed had made another decision? It could all have been so different …

Six years on, Ed’s daughter, Jessica, has a successful career, loving boyfriend, Nick, and a keen eye on her dream home. But when new clients, a temperamental Coco, and her unreliable boyfriend, Chris, walk into her life, Jessica’s perfect world soon starts to unravel.

Love Them and Leave Them is a story of love, families, friendship and a world of possibilities. Whichever decision Ed makes, the same people are destined to come into his daughter’s life, sometimes in delightfully different ways. And before they can look forward to the future, they will all have to deal with the mistakes of the past.

Website: www.sueshepherdwrites.co.uk

Twitter - @thatsueshepherd

Thank you so much for your words, Sue. My husband has just pointed out my over use of the word ‘grimace’ – ho hum!

If you would like to write something for the RNA blog please contact the blog team on elaineeverest@aol.com

Kathleen McGurl: From short stories to novels

Today we welcome author, Kathleen McGurl to the blog at a very exciting time in her writing life.

Kathleen, you are well known for your blog, Womagwriter. How did this blog come about?

Hi, and thanks so much for having me here on the RNA blog!

I began my writing career writing short stories for women’s magazines. I always quite fancied having a blog, but wanted it to have a tight focus. Then I came up with the idea of putting all the women’s magazine fiction guidelines, news and views into one place online. Initially this was just for my own benefit and fun, then people began to discover the blog and found it useful, then it began to get mentions in writing magazines and in online forums, and before I knew it, it had become quite famous in the little world of magazine fiction writing.  These days, blogging isn’t as popular as it once was, and I no longer write womag stories, so it’s become harder to keep it going, but I try.

Will you return to writing short stories?

For the last three years or so I’ve concentrated on novels rather than short stories. I have a full time job and many other demands on my time, so I find it impossible to do both. These days I write very few short stories – just two or three a year for my writing class end of term competitions. I have to enter these or I’d get told off by my tutor, Della Galton!

Can you tell us something about the thrilling news of your book contract. Did you have to wait long after submission and how did you celebrate?

Yes, it certainly was thrilling news, especially for me!

I sent my book to Carina UK in early May this year. Then in late May I was at the wonderful RNA Summer Party, and had the good fortune to be introduced to a couple of Carina editors. It turned out they’d read my submission that very morning, and they  liked it. I was very hopeful this would lead to a request for the full MS, and spent the next couple of weeks checking my emails about a hundred times a day. Finally, I received an email offering me a two-book deal straight up. I was over the moon. How did I celebrate? With my good friends Pinot and Grigio, of course!

How long did it take to write The Emerald Comb?

I started writing it in March 2012, and it was complete by the summer of 2013, when I began submitting it to agents. I didn’t work on it solidly for all that time – I also wrote and self-published one of my How To books (Ghost Stories and How to Write Them) in that period. So in total, it probably took about a year to write. I am definitely going to need to become quicker.

How have you found the transition from short fiction to full length novels?

It was a struggle to begin with – I felt quite daunted by the prospect of writing 80,000 words or more, and even more so by the thought of having to edit them into shape afterwards. So in 2010-11 I wrote a ‘practice’ novel,  just to prove to myself I could do it. (Eventually I rewrote part of that novel to create my novella, Mr Cavell’s Diamond, so it wasn’t wasted work!) Then I had the idea for The Emerald Comb, and have since written another novel as well. These days I much prefer writing longer fiction – I love having all that space to fully develop characters and plot, and to play around with stories in multiple time periods.

 

You have a busy work life so how do you juggle your writing around the day job and your family?

‘Juggle’ is an apt word here. I have a full time job, but luckily it’s one I do from home most of the time, with a commute to London (from Bournemouth) once a fortnight. My sons are in their late teens and don’t need too much looking after anymore, so I am able to write in the evenings and at weekends. I find it is all a question of priorities – I want to write, so therefore I must prioritise writing over other things such as watching TV, faffing on Facebook or twiddling on Twitter. But then again I also want to go out running or cycling, read books, go to the pub with my husband, wallow in the bath… it’s hard to find time for everything without my head exploding!

So what’s next for Kathleen McGurl, novelist?

My second novel with Carina UK – The Pearl Locket – is already available for pre-order (release date is February 2015). I have ideas for another three historical/timeslip novels, but at the time of writing, I haven’t decided which to work on next. I’m also completing a short non-fiction book (on time-management for writers) which I will self-publish soon, just in time to help with all your New Year Resolutions!

Website: http://kathleenmcgurl.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KathMcGurl

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KathleenMcGurl

About Kathleen:

Kathleen McGurl lives near the sea in Bournemouth, with her husband, sons and cats. She began her writing career creating short stories, and sold dozens to women’s magazines in the UK and Australia. Then she got side-tracked onto family history research – which led eventually to writing novels with genealogy themes. She has always been fascinated by the past, and the ways in which the past can influence the present., and enjoys exploring these links in her novels.

 

Many thanks for finding time to chat with us, Kathleen

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