As Busy As A Bee

I have not stopped!

Since my last blog post life has gone a little bit crazy. Family life went crazy, work went crazy, and me ... I think I might have gone a little bit crazy too! For no other reason that amongst all of the madness my writing has been so what abandoned. :- (

I have no new poetry this month, its a big fat zero compare to the three or four a month that I have posted in the June and July. I have no new short fiction to post, and my novel ... well ... don't get me started on that! again :- ( I have being trying to give it the attention that it needs, but there isn't much I can do with it at the moment. I'm awaiting editorial feedback and until then I can not complete my final draft. My mind was focused on the synopsis accompanying any submission I send to agents and publishers, until I discovered that my novel is actually twice as long as it needs to be.

The feedback I have received from test readers have all said the story flows well, the characters are engaging, the plot is gripping, and the pace is just right where it needs to be. And the criticisms I have received have been well judged. I have made several improvements to my novel on the back of them. However, there is the small matter of an ideal word limit. To the people who have read my book, not a problem, not one of them has said its too long. To an agent or a publisher…? No matter how fantastic my writing is, the submission is unlikely to make its way off the slush pile. :- (

I'm hoping that I can focus more on the writing throughout August, I want to have extracts of all my works in progress on line for your enjoyment, and I'm also redesigning the website to drive more traffic this way. Links will change, pages will change, content will change. Remember to keep coming back for more!

Erin

The Glass is Half Empty?

I am generally a bright and breezy kind of girl. I am generally a glass half full rather that half empty kind of girl and I think that this is a general theme within the poetry that I write. Upbeat and positive, and seeing the good in everything. However, June has been a definite glass half empty kind of month. Poetry is the best form of an emotional release for me and this pessimism has into been translated into the two poems I have written this month.

There is nothing bright and bubbly about the lack of sleep and Insomnia is about being physically exhausted and being so tired that your body aches, the phrase “I could sleep for a week” comes to mind. But your mind won’t stop running over insignificant little matters, it won’t stop rushing long enough for you to fall asleep, and every time you open your eyes it starts again. Yep, this happened to me in the second week of June and by the third week I was feeling very sorry for myself. People were asking if I was all right and I didn’t have the energy to smile, hence begin fed up of the disguise, bright smile and sparkly eyes.

There’s a definite half empty feel to The Unknown Ending. The last week of June has seen an event happen in my life that could have upset the balance of my world. It’s still too raw to explain. But luckily, everything remains on an even keel and I have found a little more optimism in the situation.

I have published a third poem this month. Written eighteen months ago for two of my friends who had passed away. Both had life threatening conditions, both passed away within days in of each other, Life’s Longest Mile keeps in with this half empty theme for July.

In contradiction of the half empty theme, I have been working on marketing my website. I have built this site in September 2008 and I have been maintaining the changes since then. At the bottom of the home page there are two new icons. A hits counter and a web statistics tag. Over the coming months I will be updating the site, making both noticeable and hidden changes that should increase the sites popularity and search engine visibility. I have created Squidoo account for me to create lenses about writing from my point of view and a blog to report on my marketing efforts. I have also posted an Interview on whohub. Read the Interview with Erin Cawood here.

Whohub

I've filled in an interview at whohub

have a read here

www.whohub.com/erincawood

Bring on the Next Chapter

The Idea for my first noval came to me almost for years ago, after many false starts and periods of the dreaded writers block I finally sat down to write it in January 2008. Since then I've been a rubbish girlfriend, a rubbish daughter, a rubbish sister, a terrible aunty, and a pretty rubbish friend.

The life of a novalist is very isolated and incredibly lonely at times. I have ofter sat down and wondered how the published authors do it. I have been so submerged in these lives that I have created, getting lost in the story line for hours, days, even weeks on end, that I have had to make myself go to bed a 3.30 in the morning because its either that or go downstairs, make a cup of tea, and go right back to it and get lost again till sunrise because despite having been at my computer since 9am. .. I'm not tired. I even chose to spend my birthday alone in my office writing (although I went to my sisters for sunday lunch)

I guess the point to my sentimental rambling, is that it has been 16 months, and my first draft is done.

Bring on the next chapter ...

Erin

Quotes

On the colour PURPLE ....

"Life is very unpredictable ... there are very few consistancies within it ... however, me and my love of all things purple will last forever"

Thursday 12th March 2009 - Facebook

On having a bad day ....

"Ever had one of those days ... where the thought of becoming Godzilla's dental hygenist is more appealing than ever stepping back in to the office?... Well ... After the day I've had I'd rather be Godzilla's tooth pick !"

Friday 6th March 2009- Facebook Notes

On her horoscopes ....

"Changes are a foot ... well anyone who's seen the amount of shoes in my drawers at work could tell you that! theres erm ... a red pair, a white pair, a black pair, a purple pair. But if I'm going into new areas of my life then I guess I should buy a new pair!

mmm.... My stars told me to buy a new pair of shoes... I like it!"

Friday 6th March 2009 - Facebook notes

Erin

About Erin Cawood

I'm a 26 years old Insurance Consultant from Leeds. (I sound fascinating already) Over the years I have... to quote a friend "had too many fingers in too many pies" ... In other words, I love to be busy and I love to try new thrings. But there have been two things in my life that have remained constant... one my love for karaoke and two my love of writing... oh and three ... Paul (oops!)

Originally...? Nottingham, Although I now live and work in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The road to Leeds has been the one less travelled. Until the age of twelve I lived with my Dad in a small town just south of Nottingham. Then I moved to live with my Mum in Barnsley, we moved to Sunny Doncaster, we then moved to beautiful peaceful idealic Alford in Lincolnshire, (I really liked living in Alford) and then to Bright Lights of Blackpool. My mum moved to Leeds, and I stayed in Blackpool with my sister to study. I met Paul in Blackpool, and in the summer of 2000, Paul and I moved to Leeds.

Paul is the single most important person in my life. (although the rest of my family come in at a very close second). He's a professional Landscape & Wildlife Photographer and Writer. We met at a party in November 1999, we shared our first kiss that night and we've been together ever since. Its fast approaching 10 years. Despite the fact that I unleashed my whole immediate family on him in the space of one weekend and he still chose to move to Leeds with me eight months later. If the roles had been reversed I would have made the same choice. I'd follow him around the world, (In fact I keep trying to get him to travel around the world for his photograhpy, just so I can follow him.)

I am one of eleven ... technically I have 4 sisters, 2 stepbrothers from my mum’s side, a stepsister and 3 stepbrothers from my Dad's side... My brothers and sisters have been around that long that I don’t differentiate.... I also have eighteen and a half nieces and nephews.