How about a nice cup of…

I don’t like tea.

This comes as a shock for most people.  They look at me with a mixture of confusion and pity and say: “But you’re English!”

Although I do like coffee ok, I don’t drink it.  Hot chocolate is my beverage of choice, and you wouldn’t believe how much it varies as to if you get a good one or not.  Much in the same way that people can get a bad cup of coffee, a bad cup of hot chocolate is as common.  (I’m looking at you, Starbucks!  That syrupy goo isn’t even hot chocolate – it’s milkshake! :P yuck!)

The point of all this (and yes, there is an eventual point) is actually about character building.
Chances are, even though I don’t like tea, one of my characters does.  They probably find it relaxing, comforting and… that’s where I get stuck.  What does tea taste like to someone who likes it?  They probably wouldn’t describe is as having “weirdly metallic aftertaste”, which is what I think of when I think of tea.

An even more extreme example, perhaps, is shellfish.  I have a philosophy that I will try things before I say I don’t like them.  It was this philosophy that led me to once try a mussel off a friend’s plate, who was nomming them down in enjoyment and was kind enough to spare one for my curiosity.

I can honestly say that it was the worst thing I have ever eaten.

 “Plump, juicy flesh and a succulent taste of the sea is what you are looking for once they are cooked,” says one cooking site.
“Chewy, strong fishy taste, gross crunchy part, and burping the horrible flavour all night,” would be my description.
So when you write a story, keep in mind that your characters may not like all the things you like, and may like some of the things you don’t.  Chances are I’ll have a character enjoying some seafood with a nice cup of tea at some point, but if you ever cook for me, I’ll stick to the chicken, thanks.

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Happy New Year!

January.  The start of the year, the middle of winter.  It’s so dark all the time!  But little by little the days will get longer (if not warmer for at least another two months!) and we may even catch a glimpse of that fabled orb of fire in the sky.

For now, it’s the time of year to make a promise to yourself about what you want to achieve in the year ahead… what you are going to do with those long and sunny days of summer.  (Yes, I am hoping!)

I thought a lot about what resolution I was going to make this year.  “Be healthy” is something I always try to do anyway, so it’s not much of a resolution to carry on doing what you were already trying to do.  “Go to the gym” may as well read as “bore and torture yourself” to me.  I wouldn’t go, and even if in some alternative universe I did, I wouldn’t enjoy it.  Besides, I already go swimming, which is much more fun!

Merry Christmas!

The last blog post of the year.  It’s both scary and exciting looking forward to what 2013 will bring.

I don’t think I could have imagined being able to hold my first book in paperback form when I started this path.  I partly still can’t.  Every time I pick it up I go “Wow, it looks like a real book!”

Of course the Kindle is what started it all, and if you are one of those lucky people getting one for Christmas, please do check out the first story of The Eye of the Beholder for free!

I want to say thanks to everyone who has supported me on this crazy career path so far.  I hope you enjoy the fantasy novel as much as you’ve enjoyed the sci fi stories!  The word count currently stands at 31539, plus a lot more world history and drawings of maps in other documents.  It’s really beginning to flesh out!  As a teaser for things to come, here is a preview of part of the world!

Finally I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and (whether you celebrate Christmas or not), I wish you happiness and hope for a peaceful and prosperous new year!

All images copywright Sarah Cosgrove 2012

Off to a flying start!

Wow, I was amazed with the response to Santa in Space. 

647 downloads worldwide over five days!

Thanks everyone for sharing the story, and for your comments and feedback.  (Including the one about the typo – I will do an update to fix that!)

The free days on Amazon have ended, but you can still read it for free here.  I’ll also leave the Kindle version up at the lowest price possible, in case you would like to download it to keep. (Of course, if you are on Amazon Prime, you can still get it free!)

With my Christmas project all done and dusted, I’m going to spend the whole of the next week focused on the novel.  I’ll have a final update of the year for you next week, before the Christmas break.

In the meantime, please do keep sharing the stories with anyone you think will enjoy them!

I got you a present…

Now it’s December, we are officially allowed to talk about Christmas.  The lights are up, everything is looking nice and sparkly…

But oh no!  What to get people for a gift?

How about a lovely paperback copy of “The Eye of the Beholder”? 

Yes, it is finally in paperback form!  

Not only that, the Kindle version has been updated to match the paperback; so those pesky typos will vanish with an update!

And as if that isn’t enough, because it’s the season of giving, I wrote a nice Christmas story for you all. 

You can read "Santa in Space" online, or get it free on your Kindle, as from Sunday the 9^th, until Thursday the 13^th December!

I'm still here!

So it’s the last day of November, and the last day of National Novel Writing month!

How did I do?

Well, at first glance, not so well.  My word count as of yesterday evening (ok I know I technically have today too, but I’m not working on the novel today for the sake of a different project which will be revealed soon!) was 28,974.

So that’s an increase of 13,456, which doesn’t seem a huge amount.  Certainly I am nowhere near finishing the first draft; I’m not even half way through the story.

However, it’s not been a total disaster.  Factor in the fact that I had a few days off this month (it was my birthday after all!) and I completely rewrote chapter 2 (losing several thousand words), and I came up with a new direction for one of the characters to take… suddenly it actually seems like solid progress, because the majority of those words were written in this past week.

It’s actually given me a bit of confidence to see the tale begin to take shape, and I’m looking forward to ploughing on.  I want to know how it ends!

I’ve decided I’ll keep doing a bi-weekly word count update.

In the meantime; watch this space!  I have a couple of festive announcements coming up!

It’s National Novel Writing month.

There’s an official site for it and everything.  The idea is that between the dates of the 1^st and 30^th of November, you write a 50,000 word (or more) novel.

I considered signing up, but one of the rules is that you can’t have started your Novel before November.  I did start typing before then, so I’d either have to start again (which seems a little silly) or write another novel at the same time as this one.  That would be possible; but I also have a little Christmas project on the go, (coming to you in December!) and I don’t want to start getting spread too thinly.

So I’m setting myself my own challenge; to finish the first draft of my novel by the end of November.

Will I make it?  Only time will tell.  But I’m going to try to be honest about my progress, so here’s my first update:  currently I’m sitting at 15,518 words.  Not that far in; but I do have a note book full of story notes, characters, places and plots, which took a good while to put together.

So it’s a race, and winter is coming…