Thursday 28 May 2015

New Home, New Novel, New Job. Old Fear.

No more internet cafés for me, I am now fully connected at home!
                
Home? Does Mallorca feel like home already? Last night on the plane back from doing a job in London, I overheard a mother explaining to her little son that they'd be staying in a hotel. I bet half the passengers would be heading off to holiday accommodation. It made me smile. Not me, I thought, I'm going home.  

Mallorca Reporter Essentials!
               
After a 25 minute wait at the airport, the bus finally came and my bus pass didn't work. I realised with dismay that I didn't have a cent on me and started to get off. The bus driver waved me on, said not to worry this time. I like my new home, I thought. I couldn't help wondering if that would ever happen in London. Perhaps, but not likely.   
                
Today is my first day with some proper structure. We've unpacked our boxes, plugged in the coffee machine and have wifi, so it's time to work.

I'm beginning a new novel set in *surprise surprise* Mallorca. It involves a hen party and takes place over five days. If you've been on any recently and had to do any ridiculous dares or challenges, I'd LOVE to hear from you!
                
First Morning Plotting
As I make notes about my characters and plot I can't help feeling a twinge of fear though. Why are you putting yourself through this again? - my inner voice whines.  This novel isn't commissioned, so I could spend a year on it and never find a publisher. It's a standard risk for writers but that doesn't make it any easier.
                
I wish I could share news about my third book, #PleaseRetweet. It was supposed to be due out this summer, but now I'm not sure. The publishers are busy and I haven't heard from them in a while. I think I'd go mad if I only had one project on the go, but luckily I have many.
                
At the moment, I'm excited about my new role as a "Mallorca Reporter". My first post Top10 Attractions in Palma de Mallorca was published in SeeMallorca this week and it made me grin from ear to ear. It's a great way of getting to know the island. 

I found out the travel magazine was looking for writers after a simple Twitter search. Social media can be very effective like that. In fact, Twitter for Writers - Not Such a Waste of Time! is the title of my talk at Winchester Literary Festival this 20th June. I'll also be running a day long Blog Workshop on 21st June, in which I'll tell writers not to blog indulgently about the minutiae of their lives...

Oops. 

I probably should practice what I preach. Then again, I've been blogging for nearly 7 years. As the song goes it's my party blog, and I'll cry write indulgent updates about my life if I want to! Or something like that. I've never been very good at remembering song lyrics.  


5 comments:

Unknown said...

Another fab post Emily! I love hearing about your new life in Spain. Wishing you lots of happy times in your new home :-) xxx

Emily Benet said...

Thanks Pippa! If you're enjoying them then I won't be able to resist carrying on writing them :) Lots of adventures ahead so I'll have lots to write. Next week SeeMallorca are sending me off on my first ever diving course! Eeek!

Unknown said...

Ohh, I can't wait to read all about that one! I don't drive. Good luck! :-) xxx

Julie said...

That's exciting that you are working on a new novel! And absolutely, even though it must be stressful not hearing from the publisher about #pleaseretweet, you've got to keep writing and keep doing new things.

Emily Benet said...

Thanks Julie! It's like a mantra, "forget the last novel, just keep writing the new one"! It's very frustrating though as I can't do any marketing for #pleaseretweet and I worked so hard on it, I don't want it to be for nothing! BUT back to mantra! Thanks so much for reading lovely and the support! X