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What I love most about writing, and thought I would love most even before I was published, is the freedom it gives you. Freedom to write when you want and where you want, about what you want and how you want to.
For a few years I probably averaged a 1,000 published words a year (this was when I used to spend 6 months in the UK and 6 months travelling round the world). Now my average is more like 1,000 words a day. (I try not to work weekends unless I’m really behind on a deadline or so desperate to tell a story that it just can’t wait. I’m writing this on Saturday though - so I probably write more often at weekends than not.) If I've written a 1,000 words in a day I stick a sticker on my annual wall chart. I like seeing the stickers build up only... only there never seems to be enough. Not every day’s got a sticker and I want to write more. I always think I could do more, if I was more focused more, more disciplined yaddah yaddah yaddah.
I call it writer's guilt but really an average of a 1,000 words a day is good.... isn't it? I’ve won two children’s books of the year this year (Stockton and Shrewsbury) and will have had 3 novels out this year in 10 days time.
'The Hero Pup' is written under my Megan Rix pseudonym and being published by Puffin. It follows an assistance dog puppy from his birth until his graduation as a fully-fledged Helper Dog. Anyone who knows me knows how close this book is to my heart and I'm very much looking forward to working with guide dogs, medical alert dogs and PAT dogs on the book tour.
But not only do I have ‘The Hero Pup’ coming out under my Megan Rix pseudonym on the 1st of October I also have the first in a new series of books about the Secret Animal Society coming out under my Ruth Symes name. 'Cornflake the Dragon' is being published by Piccadilly. It’s about a school lizard that turns into a dragon when it’s taken home for the holidays.
How many words do other writers write each day? I don't know. They probably all do much more or maybe they do less but every word they write is pure gold.
And what about the thinking time? You've got to have thinking time, or I have. I like to mull over the story for a month or so these days. Not forcing it to come. Just researching and thinking about characters until I know, absolutely KNOW it's the story I want to tell. I don’t get a sticker for thinking but it’s just as valuable.
Then it comes to the talks at schools and festivals – meeting your target audience. In the past year I've spoken at 16 schools and 5 festivals - an average of little over one a mouth. Is it enough? It feels like the right amount for me but I know of other writers who do lots more. Should I be doing lots more? I don’t know.
And that's what comes with having a career where you choose so much for yourself. There's so many choices that it's hard to know if you've made the right one. But better to make the mistake yourself than be living someone else’s mistake. Maybe there shouldn't be writer's guilt or writer's goals maybe we should just have the aim of improving every day.
Chris Rock (excuse the swearing) has a very funny sketch about the difference between a
job or a career His main point, and I agree with him, is if it's a career there's never enough time for all you want to do to advance it but if it’s a job there is always far too much time and you can’t wait for it to be over. Writing is definitely a career and I wouldn't have it any other way :)
My website's are:
www.meganrix.com and
www.ruthsymes.com.
I'm busy researching my next book about animals set during WW1 and working out locations and timelines. But back in June I was asked by the Guardian to list my Top 10 animal war heroes, not just from WW1, as part of the promotion for my story set during 1914 about a cat and a dog who get sent to the front called 'A Soldier's Friend'. Of course animals don't choose to go to war or be heroes but their stories are none the less inspiring and poignant and show us how to be heroes. Researching them was so fascinating and their stories so moving and needing to be told that I share it here:
Top 10 Animal War Heroes by Megan Rix
There are so many animals that deserve a mention that it’s impossible to list them all here but I’ve tried to shout out for as many as I can. No animal chooses to go to war but their selfless acts of unconscious heroism show us how to be true heroes:
l. The dogs:
Sergeant Stubby was just one of 20,000 dogs serving Britain and her allies in WW1. Messenger dogs, mercy dogs, guard dogs and mascots did their bit for King and Country. Stubby even warned of impending gas attacks. Dogs were the first domesticated animal and have been used in battle throughout history. The Roman Army had whole companies of dogs wearing spiked collars around their neck and ankles.
2. The Pigeons:
Pigeons have been used as message carriers for over 5,000 years. Their vital messages saved the lives of thousands in WWI and WW2. Cher Ami was given the Croix de Guerre for her heroic message delivery that saved many soldiers’ lives, despite being shot at and terribly injured.
3. The Horses:
Humans began to domesticate horses in Central Asia around 4000 BC and they've been used in warfare for most of recorded history. They are prey animals and so their first reaction to threat is to startle and flee. Despite this, against their natural instincts, they’ve raced into countless battles, carrying their riders. Over 8 million died in WW1.
4. The Donkeys:
From Simpson and his donkey at Gallipoli to Jimmy ‘The Sergeant’, born at The Battle of the Somme, donkeys have saved soldiers lives and given their own. More suited to green fields than battlefields, donkeys have been to War for as long as horses have.
5. The Camels:
1915 saw the formation of the Camel Brigade, but camels have been used in battle since the Roman Empire. A bonus was that the smell of the camels spooked the enemies’ horses.
6. The Elephants:
Hannibal was one of the first to use them in battle and they've been used ever since. WWI saw Lizzie the elephant helping out at Tommy Ward's factory and being a star goalkeeper in a match against a neighbouring team. Some elephants were sent to the battlefields but more took up the heavy lifting slack in towns and in the countryside when the horses were shipped to the Front.
7. Cats:
Morale boosters and rat catchers. Trench life was a little more bearable thanks to the moggies at the Front.
8. Tortoises:
The tortoises that were brought back from Gallipoli, like Ali Pasha and Blake, will be commemorated next year. But tortoises were used as mascots before WW1. Timothy, who turned out to be a female, served as ship's mascot in the Crimean War and Jonathan, a giant tortoise, is pictured with prisoners in the Boer War.
9. Dolphins:
Military trained dolphins are able to find underwater mines and rescue lost naval swimmers. Their training is similar to how military dogs are trained, and for a dog or a dolphin mine detection is simply a game rather than a matter of life and death.
10. Baboons:
Jackie the baboon was the mascot of the 3rd SA Infantry in WW1. The baboon drew rations, marched and drilled, and went to the nightmare of Delville Wood and Passchendaele. He was injured whilst desperately trying to build a wall of stones around himself as protection from the flying shrapnel. Jackie’s leg was amputated but he got to go home at the end of the War. Millions of humans and other animals didn’t.
*****
While I was doing my research I came across the sad fact that poor Anne the circus elephant rescued from cruelty in a circus a few years ago and moved to Longleat is now expected to live out her days alone there as it's been decided it would be better for her to be a solitary elephant despite elephants being one of the most social family orientated species. It makes me feel sick especially when you see the wonderful reunion of elephants that have been rescued, most of them old and having suffered abuse like Anne, at the Tennesse sanctuary on You Tube Megan's book 'The Victory Dogs' is the 2014 Stockton-on-Tees Children's Book of the Year. Her book 'The Bomber Dog' has won the 2014 Shrewsbury Children's Book Award.
My husband's been doing a lot of website and photography work recently and watching a lot of You Tube videos - especially about different photographic techniques. But one of the videos I walked in on and caught part of really surprised me:
'That sounds exactly like writer's block!' l said.
The speaker was talking about problems that photographers face and questions they’re burdened by.
Will it be good enough?
Am I good enough?
Am I secretly kidding myself that I’m good enough?
Is everyone else’s work better than mine?
Are they more talented than me?
Will my photos (writing) be original/creative/stylish/professional enough?
Will other people (Mum, Dad, teachers friends someone who was a bit critical once and I’ve never forgotten about it - ad infinitum) like my work? And really I suppose – will they like me?
Have I got it right, not just right, exactly exactly...perfectly completely utterly right.
They called it Me-Cramp but I think of it as the Photographer's Writer's Block. And I expect there’s the same thing for every creative job – Artist’s Anxiety, Dancer’s Dilema, Actor’s stage fright…(Although I like the Me-Cramp term best as it says exactly what it is and is so spot on.)
As well as the Me-Cramp talk there were lots of discussions about the importance of putting heart and passion in your work. Being true to yourself owning it.
But the Me-Cramp question asked loudly and boldly or in a tiny weeny voice always seemed to be the same:
'Am I good enough?'
And the answer is: 'Of course you are.' J
Ruth Symes also writes as Megan Rix winner of Stockton-on-Tees children's book of the year 2014 and Shrewsbury Bookfest 2014.
Most of my books have had an animal star in them - certainly all the picture books and the Megan Rix ones. Plus as a work-from-home writer (apart from when I'm walking the dogs by the river) I usually have a dog or two next to me while I'm writing and, when they were small enough, a pup fast asleep on my lap as I wrote at the computer in my office.
If I write on my laptop on the bed Traffy still crawls onto my lap for a cuddle - and she's pretty huge now.
To me, writing and pets just seem to go together. And as far as I can tell from the comments and writers of this blog lots of ABBA-ites agree. So I did a quick bit of research on authors and their pets and found some photos I'd like to share. There were far more than the few below but these are some that jumped out at me:
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| Steven King with Marlowe |
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| Beatrix potter and Benjamin Bouncer |
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| Maurice Sendak and Herman |
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| Mark Twain with Huckleberry cat |
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| Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Flush |
I think Elizabeth's poem to her dog 'Flush' particularly resonates with me at the moment - having had a cold for the past week or so and knowing how much nicer taking an afternoon nap is with a dog cuddled up beside you.
Although my two would rather be having wild times!
What's your literary pet like?
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There must be something down here.
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Ruth's latest book is Cat Magic published by Piccadilly and her website's
www.ruthsymes.comMegan's latest book is The Great Escape published by Puffin. It's been shortlisted for the East Sussex Children's Book Award. Her website's
www.meganrix.com
Most of my books have had an animal star in them - certainly all the picture books and the Megan Rix ones. Plus as a work-from-home writer (apart from when I'm walking the dogs by the river) I usually have a dog or two next to me while I'm writing and, when they were small enough, a pup fast asleep on my lap as I wrote at the computer in my office.
If I write on my laptop on the bed Traffy still crawls onto my lap for a cuddle - and she's pretty huge now.
To me, writing and pets just seem to go together. And as far as I can tell from the comments and writers of this blog lots of ABBA-ites agree. So I did a quick bit of research on authors and their pets and found some photos I'd like to share. There were far more than the few below but these are some that jumped out at me:
|
| Steven King with Marlowe |
|
| Beatrix potter and Benjamin Bouncer |
|
| Maurice Sendak and Herman |
|
| Mark Twain with Huckleberry cat |
|
| Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Flush |
I think Elizabeth's poem to her dog 'Flush' particularly resonates with me at the moment - having had a cold for the past week or so and knowing how much nicer taking an afternoon nap is with a dog cuddled up beside you.
Although my two would rather be having wild times!
What's your writer's pet like?
|
There must be something down here.
|
Ruth's latest book is Cat Magic published by Piccadilly and her website's
www.ruthsymes.comMegan's latest book is The Great Escape published by Puffin. It's been shortlisted for the East Sussex Children's Book Award. Her website's
www.meganrix.com
5 Misconceptions I used to have about writers and writing:
1. I used to think all writers were rich.
Now I know that most writers barely make a living from their work - so cash-wise they're poor.
But they're also rich: Rich in having time to do the thing they love, the pleasure of knowing they're doing work that their innermost core calls them to do, flexibility of working space and flexibility of working hours.
2. I used to think a writer could write anything they wanted.
But I soon found out if you want to be published by a regular publisher you need to take into account the word count publishers are looking for (especially for younger readers) and if you want to use your writing to express your ideals and be published by a regular publisher its better to do this subtly. (Of course with e-boooks you can do what you like!)
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| Bella Donna's favourite meal |
My first book published was very close to my heart and expressed my life view and because it got published relatively easily I thought I could do that all the time - but my manuscripts then started to turn a bit crusader-ish and got turned down. I still want to share what I believe in but I put it within a fun story. My Megan Rix books are all about how amazing I think animals are. In November I took part in the World Vegan Month and blogged for Animal Aid. I realised that my characters in the Bella Donna books (apart from the cats) only ever eat vegan or vegetarian food - and that's how I'd like to be (I count myself as a nearly vegan as I can't always manage it.)
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| is Munchkin |
3. I used to think once your first book was published it'd be plain sailing.
Hohoho! How wrong could I be. But not having my second or third novel manuscripts published was the best thing that could have happened because it meant I learnt to diversify and write for a range of ages and media and publishers rather than just one slot.
4. I used to think the writing life was easy.
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| Risotto |
LOL!
5. I used to think you needed an agent.
But that isn't true. I think I'm up to my fifth agent now - one for children's books and one for adult non-fiction. I like having an agent because it lets me have more time to write and also gives me professional back-up, editorial help, sorts out my contracts and makes sure my finances are in order. But my first three books were published without having an agent so it isn't always true (and certainly not true now when you can publish yourself.)
What misconceptions did you have or maybe you went into writing with your eyes wide open - and if you did then good for you!
Ruth Symes website is
Ruthsymes.com and her Bella Donna website is
Belladonnaseries.comShe also writes as
Megan Rix and her latest book 'The Great Escape' has been shortlisted for the East Sussex Children's Book Award.
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By:
Ruth Symes,
on 12/11/2012
Blog:
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| Picture by Marion Lindsay for Cat Magic |
On Friday morning I realised that at my current rate of writing, about 1000 words a day, I wasn't going to make the 21st of January deadline for my next novel. I like having deadlines, either from a publisher or self-imposed, as they help me to focus on what I need to get done but realising I couldn't make it produced: A) Panic - the sort of trapped by headlights and get nothing done panic B) Action - I emailed my publisher to ask for a few weeks extension. C) More action - during the weekend that's just gone, from 5pm on Friday until 5pm on Sunday, I wrote l0,140 words. I'd already planned out the story and had the thumbs up from my publisher so knew where I was going (roughly) with it - all I had to do was get words on paper.Were they the best, most considered words? Nope. Does that matter? Not a bit in a first, scribble, draft. Those 10,000 words can become polished and honed later - what I have got now is a much better knowledge of my characters (including one who had a minor part but is now a major player) and most of the crucial scenes written.
Here's how I did it:
Friday 10 am - stared at my book writing schedule calendar and realised that writing I,000 words a day would not get my next book finished by mid-January.
10.30 am - went downstairs and told husband, Eric, my concern.
11 am – nearby Travelodge booked for the weekend.
12 pm – Eric buys food and drink that only needs a kettle (at the most) to make. I pack some clothes and my work and make sure the dogs will be OK.
4pm – arrive at Travelodge and make ‘proper’ coffee using aeropress (more details of everything I used on my website.) Just make sure you screw the bottom on really well or you might end up with coffee everywhere like I did.
5pm – start writing by longhand using my Echo pen that can convert handwriting to text.
7.30pm – first 2000 words written.
Saturday and Sunday… Write! Write! Written! 4,000 words done each day.
Tips to make your writing weekend go smoothly:
1. No TV – I pulled the TV plug out and plugged my computer into the socket instead – the TV didn’t get turned on once (although I did watch a DVD on my computer about the subject I was writing on.)2. Use the internet only to check emails and do absolutely necessary research. I was also in contact with my husband 3 or 4 times a day via Face Time. The dogs were also very interested in me chatting to them via the screen at first but soon got used to it. Loved how one of them kept tilting her head from side to side as she looked at the screen. (I did worry it was cruel initially but they got used to it pretty quick and made me laugh when one went and got a toy and brought it back.)
3. Be in the mind zone to write and pumped up to get on – this is exciting! Having nothing else to concentrate on besides writing meant I could write like the wind and I did.What writing in this speedy fashion meant is that now I can dip in and out of the book, secure that I like how it’s working and growing. It's a good feeling. Prior to taking this action I usually manage to write about l,000 words a day - so 4,000 a day was a bit of a jump!
Three other new things I’ve tried recently:
1. Not listening to other people’s opinions unless I want to:
I used to get upset by the odd bad review but now find I’ve reached the stage where I can shrug them off. I even managed a smile at an email from an irate American reader recently who’d spotted a grammar mistake in my adult book, The Puppy that Came for Christmas' and wrote a back-handed compliment of: 'If a good writer like you can make a mistake like this what hope is there for the world.' Indeed.On the reverse side I had an email from one of my editor’s this week saying she’d been so busy reading my manuscript on the bus she’d missed her stop – a very nice compliment from a person whose opinion I value highly.
2. Being Vegan:When I said I was going to take part in November's World Vegan mouth some people reacted with horror. ‘What are you going to eat?’ ‘How will you survive?’ I was asked.
The truth is being vegan wasn't any hardship at all and in fact it was a pleasure. I got to try lots of yummy foods and made friends with some lovely new people and blogged about it here:
3. Re-visit from my first book:
I had my first book 'The Master of Secrets' published by Puffin in 1997 and a few years later I got a letter to say that it was going to be remaindered. It was a horrible sick feeling being told this - at first I couldn't believe it and bought up lots of copies. But the publisher did stop printing it and I went on to write other books and my first effort wasn't forgotten about (I often give a copy as a present to my
creative writing students saying I hope one day to read their first book) but I certainly didn't expect to hear much more about it. But in the past few weeks I've had first one email and then another and another from English language students in Argentina who are studying the book and it's been great. I'm so glad that there's life in the old book yet and it's being enjoyed again somewhere. One of the students even became my first newsletter subscriber.
Megan’s book 'The Great Escape' has recently been shortlisted for the East Sussex Children’s Book Award. She writes as Megan Rix and Ruth Symes and her websites are www.ruthsymes.comand www.meganrix.com
But before that...
I love competitions and find it pretty hard to resist entering a writing one, even if I hardly ever win. I think they're a great way to practice writing and beat the dreaded writers block and you never know when that story might come in useful.
I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who entered some of the recent ones there's been for 'The Great Escape.'
And Congratulations go to Bethany Westoby from Hamstel Junior School who won the NPM Great Escape competition with her story entry 'Canine Confessions' and received a signed copy of the book and an author visit to her school.
And
congratulations to Samuel Hart who won The Scribbler magazine competition with his story about Huxley to win a copy of the book and an mp3 player.
And
congratulations to everyone who won books in the Bedford Link competition and the Your Cat giveaway.
And finally
congratulations to Little M, Danilo Paganelli and Shahini Vijay who won books in the girlsheartbooks contest - and look out for the Cat Magic one coming in August.
And now...
There's only 10 days left... to enter Young Times and Puffin's 'My Pet, My Hero' competition before it closes on the 31st July and judging by the enthusiastic response every time I mention it on a school visit there's going to be an awful lot of entries!
The prize is to name a character in my next book. I've found that what most of the children would really like is to have their pet's name in the book - or even their pet.
This week I visited Hamstel Junior School in Southend where Bethany had won a nationwide story-writing competition with a great story told from a collie puppy's POV.
I asked the 120 or so Year 6 children at Hamstel if any of them had a pet they thought was brave enough to star in my next book set during the Blitz in WW2. Most of the children thought they had. One thought his cat would jump on a burglars head,
another's grandfather had a dog called Cora who
I'm a huge animal fan and love writing aboutthem, so when Puffin commissioned me to write a book set in World War IIabout three animal heroes, I was delighted. The Great Escape started off as just the working title but ended up being the final one.
The animalcharacters in the book are two dogs and a cat, plus some heroic homing pigeons,and it was really important to me that I got these animal characters right.Fortunately, I've got a friend who has six rescue collies (one of them was justleft tied to her garden gate late at night and she found him there in themorning). They became the inspiration for Rose in the book. My neighbour’s cat, who I fed while they were on holiday, helped with my research for Tiger. I usually meet two feisty Jack Russells when I'm walking my own dogs down by the river (my two are huge compared to them but the little dogs usually tell my two off!) One of them getting stuck down afox-hole and needing to be rescued by the local fire-brigade helped me bring the impish Buster to life.
This is theonly story I've written that I needed to do some historical research for, and Iloved visiting the museums and chatting to the people at Twinwoods Airfield, home of the annual Glenn Miller Festival, where I found out about Mosquitoes and Spitfires and Blenheim planes. I neverrealized how cold it was inside a World War II plane, or how cramped, or how vital homingpigeons were, until then.
My favouritepart of the research was when I got to take my own dogs Traffy and Bella on a steam trainlike the pets in the book do. Traffy and Bella liked looking out of the windowvery much but they liked it even more when the train stopped and they got toplay on the beach.
By:
Ruth Symes,
on 12/12/2011
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ByRuth Symes / Megan Rix
Thereare so many lovely gifts for writers out there, from extremely cheap tolavishly expensive. We must be the easiest people to buy for! Here’s my top 12 Christmaslist:
1.Journals and notebooks and paper: You can never have too many or too much, in myopinion, (recycled paper best if poss). A4 books for getting down to someserious writing. Smaller notebooks for stuffing in a handbag or pocket, alongwith a pen, for when inspiration strikes!
When walking on the beach this spring I even found a waterproof notebook that you could use in the rain or in the bath.
2.Yearly Planner Wall-chart: I love being able to put a daily sticker(occasionally two) on my yearly wall-chart to mark off each 1000 words written.The best part is coming to the end year of the year and having a wall-chartcovered in them - very satisfying.
I didn’t plan to have a diversecareer. I just wanted to write – and be a writer with enough cash to gotravelling when I wanted and to have the freedom to write anywhere in theworld.
The turning point was probably whenI was teaching children with special needs in Singapore and sold my house backin England – for the first time in my life I had enough money to be able tosurvive for a year or two without working. So I had that talk with myself aboutwhat would you do if you only had a year left to live – what would you feel sadabout never having done if you never did it – and what I wanted to do waswrite.
More than 10 years later and 18children’s books published – and countless more unpublished ones written, thelatest, out last month is called ‘Witchling’ and it’s the third in a seriesabout a girl called Bella Donna.
One adult memoir written under thepseudonym of Megan Rix – I thought I’d keep a secret but was so happy with itonce it was written I must have told just about everyone about it – there’s asecond in the pipeline...
... a children’s play professionally performed, radioscripts, pre-school TV writing for channel 4’s The Hoobs, being on TV as thechildren’s book writing coach on Richard and Judy, feature film scriptcommissioned, two short films made and it’d still be what I wanted to do if Ionly had a year left. Oh and I did spend quite a lot of that time travellingthe world as well – for a few years I had two summers - one in England and onein New Zealand. And house-sitting in LA and San Francisco turned out to be aperfect way to save money and get a book finished whilst on the way to becominga RFA (Rich Famous Author).
Ok – so why’s do I truly think it’sa good idea to have a diverse career – well there’s a few reasons – not in anyparticular order of importance. First, cold hard cash, for me I wanted tosupport myself as a full time professional writer. Now maybe, you’ll get luckyand write one b
4 Comments on Researching The Great Escape by Megan Rix, last added: 4/3/2012
I have a free-range tortoise called tor2 and I used to have a lobster in my office, but sadly she died.
We are in the process of trying to find a dog - my kids are saving every penny of their pocket money in a dog fund, so we had to say yes. I'm glad to think it might be a writing asset as well as a lovely addition to family life!
Bramble, a very ancient black Labrador, currently snoozing by my side.
Nice to see those pictures Ruth, its a nice thought that authors pets had an influence on the books I have read. On a similar note, there is a lovely picture of Gerald Ford with his Golden Retriever in the Oval Office