GOODBYE 2021

I'm going to be asking this question on Twitter but I'll ask, and answer it here in my blog too.

A. Highlights of your year 

B. Low points of the year

C. Regrets

D. What do you hope for in 2022?

A. For me, it was the fact that my family did get together at Christmas. I did complete NaNoWriMo, although the novel remains incomplete. I gained new friends both on line and in my local community, and my health is fine.

B. Bad news is always a low point and there has been a steady stream of that this year. For me personally? You know there hasn't been a really shocking event, but I was sad we couldn't go to France.

C.I would have liked to get my second book of The Farm trilogy out for Christmas but it couldn't be done. I always think I could have been more patient, more accepting and more encouraging. 

D. Check my end of year thoughts and plans for my 2022 writing. Also, I'd like to get an editor and a publisher for 'Over the Hills' before I finally cave in and put it on Amazon.

Finally - on a high note. We have booked our trip to France for 2022. Not sure if we'll get there but it's something to look forward to, for now.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE

End of Year Status

So, despite the orb-shaped virus (that shall remain nameless and goodness knows what strain we'll be living under in the future), it's been a busy year both for my writing and in other aspects of my life. 

I haven't published anything since 'Black Mantle' but there are several WIPs that are nearing completion.

📙Scattering - Book 2 of The Farm series

This is in it's final edit before we launch it into the Indi-Universe, sometime early in 2022.

📘Reaping - Book 3 of The Farm series

Currently working through my final draft before I offer it up for diagnostic evaluation by SuperEd.

📗Anarii 

Stand alone novel about a Swiss village and a water goddess. Still trying to decide if this should be a YA novel or for an adult audience. I have rough drafts for each and I can't decide which to settle on.

📗Over The Hills 

YA story set during the Second World War in Southern France. The story of two teenagers, one, a German Jew avoiding the round-up of Jews by the Vichy authorities, the other, the daughter of a village doctor. Surrounded by Nazi spies and Marquis resistance fighters, the two decide on a course of action that could end in their deaths in the Pyrenees mountains.

📔First Draft - This Year's NaNoWriMo effort 'Maybe Next Time'

YA Time travel enables a girl to visit a village in 1913. Through regular trips, she becomes involved in a family's troubles and the effects that the First World War has on village life. The Spanish Flu is about to take the lives of many of villagers. Does she risk changing history to save a friend or watch them die?

SCATTERING - Final Edit

The survivors of the pandemic are beginning to imagine a better future, but a second wave of sickness, coupled with unrest in the cities brings new challenges for the people of The Farm and their neighbours. When Sheffield is once more in turmoil, Lexi finds herself at the centre of a desperate plan to restore order. Help comes from an unexpected source and the Laughton's are the key to solving a mystery.

Hopefully this will be published in the early part of 2022.

(Image by Jack Nick - FreeImages.com)

The YA Novel Draft in a Month

 November is almost out and this blog had been sitting here, untouched, unvisited, unquestionably unloved.

So what has been occupying my time for the last 29ish days?

NaNoWriMo21

The challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. It's been quite a challenge and not just because I've had other things to do. Considering I only heard about this amazing annual event a few days before the start of November, the challenge was not only to write the number of words but also to come up with a story to write.

Sensible folk would have chosen something that required just their experience of the human condition, set in somewhere they know well and with characters that required little or no further back story to speak of. That was sensible folk.

After much twisting and turning I did come up with a story - requiring both plenty of research and, as it turned out, a notebook full of planning.

Right here I want to give a heads up to my family and all my Twitter followers who encouraged me along the way. Writing each evening, trying to maintain a pace of 1,667 words per day doesn't sound much, but it was. Life, as I was beginning to recognise it again, coffee with friends, reading, even planning meals, was sidelined. Unfortunately not all life can stop. Despite my great DIL visiting from Sydney and understanding my predicament with her usual thoughtfulness, a dental visit turned into a major time eater with subsequent further visits to Outer Mongolia, sorry, Malvern.

So last night, 28 days into November, I reached my 50,000 words, or just over. The story hasn't ended yet and the first draft is always just a matter of putting down the bare bones. Nevertheless, it's done. Now I can get back to the real world. What's that? A new Covid variant?

TODAY'S LESSON

 Beware of publishing extracts of your book before editing.

Today, I realised that part of the extract that I published from 'Scattering' on this blog now no longer exists. It was discarded by Super-Ed in her unfailing battle against superfluous verbiage.

So, congratulations to those who read it - so far none. You have been privileged to view an extract that no one in the book will know ever  existed.

Unrelated picture of the day - a snail on an apple tree yesterday. Hopefully he wasn't doing too much editing of his own.

MEANWHILE...

Most of the writers I know, often have at least two manuscripts bubbling along at the same time. 

As the second book in 'The Farm' series is under the editing microscope, another first draft is nearing completion.

Still not certain about the eventual direction this will go. It began life as an adult book, then seemed to fit YA better, but I'm still uncertain.

It's about water, lots of it, and a cave.

Water and air are the two things every living thing on the planet requires, although mycelia and certain moulds require less air.

Suppose water became the 'new gold', rare and finite? 

 

SCATTERING - Editing

 

Ask any author and they will probably tell you that editing is the most painful of all the stages that a book has to go through. The precious beast that you have nurtured has begun to take on a life of its own and when you introduce it to an editor, the creature suddenly develops new depth and strength that you didn't put there. It's evolving and becoming more independent of you, its creator. Parents know that this is a healthy thing. Input from grandparents and later teachers may alter and improve upon your vision, but all the time, the child and the book are becoming stronger, with more clarity and more detail than you put there.

So, I'm working with my editor to create a better book and Scattering is coming along beautifully.

SCATTERING - Chapter 1 - edited

 

Finished editing the first chapter of SCATTERING, Book 2 of THE FARM series. Very happy with the result. My amazing editor does a wonderful job of turning my story into readable literature. 

Tomorrow we begin Chapter 2. Only 15 more to go!

SCATTERING - Coming soon

 Extract:

We saw the girls, who had finished their lunch and were chattering surrounded by several young men. Clare sighed. ‘Takes you back, doesn’t it?’

I gave her a weak grin. ‘I was never that popular.’ 

While we were watching, some of the workers began to trickle back to work. People crossed the open space in front go the forge and suddenly I held my breath. At the far end of the small square, someone had crossed from the forge to the next building. In the five or six strides he took, I recognised him. I’d know that easy, slight swing of his hips anywhere. It was Sugden. 

‘Clare! Did you see that man crossing at the back there?’ I could hardly get my words out. She peered through the small crowd and saw nothing. I was out of the door in an instant, racing around the corner of the visitors' centre and across the space. Behind the cluster of old workshops there was nothing but hedges and undergrowth. I ran inside the store shed but there was no one there. A second later Clare and the girls were behind me. 

‘What is it? What did you see?’ Bianca grabbed my arm.

‘I thought I saw someone I knew.’ I smiled apologetically at them. ‘But it couldn’t be,’ I looked across at Clare. Lynn had joined us.

‘I’ll talk to our security.’ Clare spoke softly as we followed the girls making their way back to the car. ‘We do have some security cameras.’ 

I was certain that I’d seen him. Belatedly, I realised that if I’d drawn attention to him, he could have been arrested. To many survivors in Sheffield, he was the man in charge of the community surveillance force, the dreaded CSF, but to me he was the man who had brought toys and much more to the orphans I’d supervised. He was the man with Japanese tattoos on his torso, who had tried to teach me about good Scotch, and he was the man who had warned me about the danger the children would face when the army attacked the Town Hall. I tried to keep involved with the conversations in the car, but I couldn’t get the image of him out of my mind.

SILVER MANTLE -article

 Recently, I was asked to provide an article for Readers' Magnet / Authors Lounge. Since then, I've discovered that many authors are not overly impressed with the company. The didn't ask for money but did ask me to write an article about my book, Silver Mantle. The article is below.

When young Megwin finds that she can speak to animals and rescues a fox from a royal hunting party, her life is changed forever. Recognising Megwin’s powers, the leader of the powerful Mantle magi, Silver Mantle, takes the girl to the capital of the Five Kingdoms, the city of Vellin, to the imposing Talarin, The College of the Mantles.

In the Talarin, Megwin begins her life as a novice, studying the dark arts of the magi, but soon her inexperience to control her increasing powers causes consternation among the senior Mantles, the members of the Souran. She hears their private conversations in her mind and is one of the few to feel the silent menace of an imminent earthquake. When a man is found strangled by his own vines, the Souran’s concerns appear justified, and they accuse Megwin of using her powers for revenge. 

Although she is supported by her mentor, when Megwin’s growing friendship with the heir to the throne becomes known, Silver Mantle uses her own impressive arts to destroy that friendship. Stung by the treatment she receives from Silver Mantle, Megwin leaves the capital and travels the countryside with her companions the fox and her horse, renewing her friendships with creatures and restoring the balance of nature. Her peace does not last long. She returns to The Talarin when a war between the kingdoms becomes inevitable. During the conflict, Megwin will be called upon to use her powers to defeat her most unique and dangerous enemy, and it will be her task to heal the land when war is over. 

Silver Mantle is the first in a series of five books, each one bearing the name of one of the Souran Mantles. Readers follow Megwin from the royal court to the inhospitable marshes, from fiery volcanoes into treacherous storms at sea as she gradually uncovers her past and how she is linked to the ancient forces of the land.

Gail Merritt

Since childhood I have always relished books, and I’ve always written for my own pleasure. As an adult I was fortunate to win some short story competitions, but Silver Mantle began its evolution from a challenge. Invited to pitch a young adult book to several Australian publishers, I began to write it during the school summer holidays. I was delighted that Lothian Books, Melbourne published the earliest version, now out of print, and they encouraged the completion of the second book in the series, Green Mantle. Sadly, my work and growing family curtailed my writing until I decided to retire from teaching.

As an upper primary school teacher, I encouraged my students to go beyond the facts presented in class, to consider scenarios based around the topics we were covering, often linking it with creative writing lessons. The Mantle Chronicles reflect some of those popular topics as the settings for Megwin’s adventures. The natural world offers plenty to investigate, the flora and fauna of various landscapes, the oceans and their populations, the subterranean world of rocks and volcanoes. In later books, human rights, the use of resources, the development of technologies and the destruction of landscapes feature, and throughout the series, the quest for personal identity and the value of family mingles with legend and magic.

While the early books were aimed at young adult readers, I have been pleased to hear that parents have enjoyed reading them too. Each book adds slightly more complex themes, all the better for discussion in class or between parents and their children. 

That said, I wrote Silver Mantle to be enjoyed, not as a teaching tool. If children get nothing more than the pleasure of meeting Megwin, the fox and Gilbert the horse, and in their imaginations travel the same roads and share the adventures of the three friends, then I shall feel that I have accomplished what I set out to do, to write a memorable tale.

• ‘Silver Mantle’ is available from Amazon as an e-book or paperback 

• (ASIN: B089RY75NY)  

THE FARM SERIES

BOOK 1 - HARROWING

The advent of COVID-19 was a game changer for many people, including me. The world shrank to a neighbourhood and even eventually to the home. Walks and trips to the supermarket required the new fashion accessory of 'the mask' and contact became mostly digital.

I began the first draft of 'The Farm' in 2013, long before anyone had heard the word COVID. The pandemic I imagined was far from reality and of such a magnitude that it decimated the world's population. It left the survivors in isolated limbo. It seemed an unlikely scenario at the time, but I wanted to play with the idea. 

The story centres around Lexi Winton, recovering from a failed marriage, a disastrous affair, losing her job and with a temporary dependence on alcohol. She wakes from her own brush with the deadly virus to find the world has changed, the cities are in chaos and her brother is missing.

HARROWING

 

THE FARM Series...

THE FARM SERIES

Imagine if this wasn't a lock down but the true status of the city, devoid of most of its citizens. Survivors in shock, without any comforts of modern life, struggling to find food. Some frantically raiding supermarkets, ignoring the inevitable time when all the shelves are empty. What would you do?

Perhaps you would be like Lexi. You decide to leave the city and seek some safety in the countryside. She had only just returned to the city, this city of Sheffield, but she knows that just to the south west is the Derbyshire countryside. Surely she would be safer there.

She loads her car with what she can intending to head out of town but the whine of a puppy, trapped in a pet shop provides her with unexpected company and responsibilities. Together they hope to find refuge together.

The Mantle Chronicles

YA to adult series, the first two books of which were published by Lothian books. Now revised and the series completed and available as e-books or paperbacks on Amazon.

Something about the series:

Megwin, a young girl who can talk to animals and make plants flourish, is developing her powers and navigating the dangerous world of mantle magic. From the Royal Court, to the inhospitable marshes, from fiery volcanoes to treacherous storms at sea, she slowly uncovers her past and how she is linked to the ancient forces of the land.

Music While You Work

 Some people love to listen to music while they're writing. I'm one of them, at least during the first draft, when I want to feel closer to the action and with the mood or setting. I don't listen to songs, because I'd just sing along! 

I never listen to music when I'm editing. Being dyslexic, I need all my concentration to correct my own work. It's a slow process and I do appreciate someone running through the text with me. 

(The number of times my teachers used to show me a word and ask something like, 'Does that look as if it's spelt right?' - how would I know?)

So back to music. I have a very varied library, thanks to our family Apple Music subscription ( sorry about the plug). Right now, I'm loving the music written for Assassins Creed. Yes, the game! The music is very evocative of time and place and I have become a big fan. 

What music do you listen to when you're creating something?

 Two wonderful books! I read 'A Gentleman...' because it was on Obama's book list and fell in love with it. So it was with some trepidation that I hazarded the second book. While the setting appealed to me in the first book, this one didn't, at first glance. Once I was reading, all that changed. It's a masterclass in descriptions and the characters will draw you in, just as they did with the first book. I have to say, I can't wait for the next volume by the amazing Mr Towles.

The Five Kingdoms

 Today, I thought I'd introduce new readers and old ones to an updated map of the Five Kingdoms. This map appears only in the final book, so if you haven't got that far, it gives you a  broader idea of the geography than in your current book. This map covers all the major sites from all the books, except The Green Islands from Blue Mantle.

 

Love this image of Foix Castle in the region of the Ariege, France. It forms part of the cover for my first book, 'Silver Mantle' in its new format on Amazon. It stands on the top of a hill that can be seen from miles around and guards the valleys that converge at the town. It also overlooks the Ariege River, rather like the Citadel of Vellin in the book. It was the home of the Counts, including those who became protectors of religious freedom during the Wars of Religion. It became a refuge for the persecuted Cathars.

Re-learning How to Blog and The End of a Saga

 Yep! Forgotten how to do everything it's been so long between blogs. Well, that's because writing has had to take a back seat for quite a while, but now I'm back, well almost. 

Here's the thing, I've decided to put all my now out-of-print work on Amazon. It's been fun and not always easy, but in the end it is done. 'The Mantle Chronicles' (Y.A. upwards), first published with Lothian, are complete. 

However, I haven't finished with The Five Kingdoms. Young adults grow up and some of them wanted to know more, so a new series will be spawned, 'The Codex of the Queens' details the lives of some of the more important women in the history of Magra, starting with Katherine, the legendary first woman to wear the crown, not to mention a full suit of armour. She's also Megwin's ancestor. More about all that on the Mantle Chronicles Blog, soon. It will also be having a name change.

The first draft of 'The Gathering' - Katherine's story, is completed and now needs a good edit. It will be published under the name 'H. G. Merritt' to distinguish it from my Y.A. books. 

AND OFF WE GO AGAIN!

Starting to revamp this Blog. So much to catch up on but for today, just check out the new Books list. I’ve been busy. The books are all on Amazon and available as e-books or paperbacks. Images of the cover and what they are about will follow but if you can’t wait, check my author page on Amazon too.

Quick word about publishing on Amazon - it’s wonderfully easy really and all the pitfalls that you might encounter are easily fixed.