Me and my shed

Posted by Elizabeth Haynes on 28 December 2012, 1:30 pm

I know I’ve written about The Shed before – but I wanted to bring you all in to have a look. I got a fab coffee machine for Christmas, which means I can potentially overdose on caffeine as let me tell you, those espressos slip down very nicely and are gone in a matter of moments! I do have some de-caf, but where’s the fun in that?

The shed is now warm (two heaters in here), well-lit (proper lights and fairy lights AND a desk lamp) and cosy (comfy Ikea chair and footstool for when I have visitors, or for when I want to sit and read rather than work at my desk). It has book cases, stationery like you would not believe, a whiteboard (which fell off the wall the other day – I nearly wet myself with fright), coat pegs, a kettle, a biscuit tin shaped like a big old book, and a coffee machine. I’m not going to fit a bathroom in here however much I want one, so that will have to be that.

I don’t get many visitors.

And lovely as my shed is, it hasn’t been very good for productivity. It’s funny, I always thought that once I had a ‘room of one’s own’ (essential for women who write, according to Virginia Woolf) I would be super-productive and would be churning out novels like you wouldn’t believe – but I still seem to spend a shocking amount of time staring into space.

I think it’s because I am accustomed to working in an office with lots of other people, with noise, and the shed is just too quiet. Even with the radio on. So today I am experimenting with the BBC World Service on quietly in the background, just so I have some voices rather than music or silence.

I continue to experiment with my writing routine, a whole year after starting my career break. I have one year left. What’s the betting I will establish a brilliant, effective routine the week before I have to go back to the day job?

Much as I want to write 9-5, I seem to be more productive in the late afternoon or early evening, which is a shame because that’s when the family is at home and I have a million and one other things to do, like supervising homework and cooking dinner. I suspect this is no coincidence.

Productivity aside, I love my shed. I love it. It is my space and I can’t believe how lucky I am to have that, and everything in it…

I’m back, did you miss me?

Posted by Elizabeth Haynes on 22 December 2012, 11:19 am

Around this time of year, as well as the Christmas Anxiety that starts at the end of Nanowrimo on 1st December, I always seem to get yearnings to be organised, plan, do things a bit better next year. Whilst muttering “as if I don’t have enough to do” crossly at myself, I find myself thinking about why on earth I have a blog if I don’t write in it, when clearly I have plenty to say for myself.

Reasons for not writing here

1. I also (sporadically) write an online journal which is mostly private and shared with a few close friends. This takes up some amount of my creative juice.

2. I’ve written two (or three if we’re counting first drafts) books this year. This has taken up even more creative juice.

3. As part of my efforts to be a good writer, I’ve also done quite a few online interviews, guest blogs and other promotional things, not to mention visiting book groups, talking to book groups on Skype, talking at other events and trying to show my face on Facebook and Twitter regularly so people don’t forget who I am. This takes up even MORE creative juice!

4. I didn’t realise I have only a limited supply of creative juice, until I found I’d run out.

Nevertheless, this is a good place to write and at some point my lovely husband is going to perform some magic and integrate my blog with my website so that my online presence will look a bit more professional and a bit less like I don’t know what I’m doing.

Next year I am hoping that, with two books underway, things will calm down a little bit and I can devote more time to writing here, entertaining everyone, and farting about generally.

I will write again before Christmas to wish you all a happy one, but in case I don’t see you before then (I mean, you might have things to do, right?) have a lovely time and be good.

xxx

Book Signings and Pictures

Posted by Elizabeth Haynes on 19 May 2012, 6:16 pm

I spent this afternoon doing a book signing at Waterstones, Tunbridge Wells and thought I should report back!

I am usually quite apprehensive of book signings because you never know quite how they are going to go, and what usually happens is that I spend a lot of time standing looking a bit awkward beside a disconcertingly large pile of my books and feeling like a fraud. And I obviously don’t exude the confident air of a successful author because what usually happens is that people come up to me and ask me where in the shop they might find a particular book they’ve come in for.

At previous events I’ve thought this might be because I’m invariably wearing mostly black clothes (this is apparently a cunning way to disguise the excess weight, works particularly well in the dark it seems) which happens to be pretty much the standard Waterstones staff uniform.

Today I deliberately wore a nice bright turquoise top, but even so I was asked about The Hunger Games, Of Mice and Men, and the whereabouts of the map section, whether I could recommend a good general guide to European Literature and, separately, Financial Planning. If I know where the requested item is I’ll happily point them in the right direction, but if I don’t I usually say something like “I’m sorry, I don’t actually work here.” What happens then is generally one of three things. Some people will apologise (unnecessary but very nice of them), some people will walk away without another word (fair dos but not quite so nice) and still more will look at me with an expression that says “why are you standing like a lemon at the entrance to the store looking vacant, then?” (a bit rude I think).

Putting aside the people who need help I can’t always provide, there are usually one or two lovely people who have either heard about my event and made a deliberate effort to come and meet me, or they might have been sent by a friend, or former colleague, or a relative – which is also lovely.

At every signing I’ve done, there has always been a couple of people who have made the whole slightly awkward experience worthwhile. The ones who come in on purpose, but also the passing strangers who stop to chat for a while, sometimes buying the book and sometimes not, but who treat me to a few minutes of their time. I love these people. I don’t think they’re always aware of the karma points they notch up just by stopping to chat for a moment, and thereby making me feel less of a spare part.

ANYWAY – enough about signings, for now.

But talking of books, I have a picture to share with you:

The picture above was posted on my Facebook page by my lovely niece, Carla. My books have made it all the way to Swan Hill, Australia, and Carla’s local bookstore.

This was hugely exciting to see – and I still get excited every time I walk into a bookshop here in the UK and manage to find them. It got me thinking that, now my books are gradually making their way around the world, how cool would it be to get pictures of them in all sorts of exciting places?

So, dear readers, I have a special request for you – I would like you to take a picture of either/both/any of my books in any of the following categories:

1. A picture of my book in your local bookstore, library, or airport

2. A picture of you with my book in an exotic or unusual location

3. A picture of a random stranger reading one of my books ‘in the wild’

4. A picture of my book in amongst other books on your bookshelf (I like being nosy and seeing what people have on their bookshelves, don’t you?)

You can post these direct to my Facebook page, or show me via Twitter, or even email me if need be (there’s a link to my email on the About Me page).

All pictures very gratefully received!! I shall have to think of some sort of prize for this, really… I was thinking that everyone who posts a picture can have a signed postcard sent via the mail, but that’s not much of a prize and in any case you might all post hundreds, who knows? But my phenomenal gratitude just seems a bit pitiful!

To give you all a bit of inspiration, here are some I’ve already been collating:

Posted by my friend Barbara – Revenge of the Tide in some illustrious company in the window of Waterstones, Fremlin Walk, Maidstone.

My friend Emily’s son selecting something possibly not age-appropriate from his mum’s bookshelf…

This is my friend Lindsay (we’ve been friends since school!) when she found
Into the Darkest Corner in her local bookshop

My friend Natalie’s haul of birthday presents!

My beautiful niece, Paige

Revenge of the Tide featuring on the bookshelf of @dj_cardi (via Twitter)

The next read for @toxicmusing (via Twitter)

So there you have it! Many thanks to everyone who has already sent me a picture (possibly never suspecting that I was going to post them to a blog for the whole world to see), please send me more!