Dawn Brookes

Author

Dawn Brookes author

Travel Journal Asia 1982 Day 11

Saturday June 26th 1982

Today, we diced with death and hired motorcycles. I had never ridden a motorbike before except as pillion. I had to learn to ride in 5 minutes! Not only that, I had Bernie riding pillion.

We managed to get used to the bikes and drove to the Monkey Gardens followed by Penang Hill. We took a train up a funicular railway up to the top at 2,000 feet. The journey was almost vertical – or so it seemed. There were beautiful views of the whole island from the top.

Bernie and Suzie Penang 1982

Afterwards we travelled to the Snake Temple. I was disappointed there were only three snakes, but as I don’t even like snakes, not broken by it!

We had to drive through Georgetown on the way back and J crashed into a car. Thankfully she wasn’t hurt but the car driver was not happy. As his car looked like it was falling apart – most of them did – I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about!

We were driving in the dark when my motorbike kept cutting out and the lights were intermittently failing. It was scary as we were driving in pitch darkness along winding roads with cliff edges. I prayed all the way down, driving as carefully as I could. I’ve never been so pleased to get anywhere in my life when we arrived at the hire place. Bernie had turned pale and we were all filthy from dust and fumes. We happily returned the bikes and went back to the hotel to shower and sleep, deciding to have a beach day the next day.

Travel Journal Asia 1982 Day 10

Friday June 25th 1982

We met Suzie and Bernard at the ferry port thinking they were never going to arrive as their bus was late. Finally they did and we had a happy reunion. We found another hotel to stay at having been put of by the flasher the day before. We found a place where we could stay all in one room.

This evening, we went to a barbecue on the beach. I’ve been having stomach issues over the past few days but managed to enjoy the food anyway.

After dinner we went for a walk and paused to watch a Lion Dance which was entertaining but a bit silly at the same time! It was great to have Suzie and Bernie with us and made us feel more secure. We were all tired, though after the travelling and had a relatively early night.

Monday 7th March 2022

I finalised events for the literature festival I chair and managed to get them all up on the website. The day pass tickets are now up for sale, so if you live near to Derby, feel free to take a look here.

I’m continuing edits on my two-thirds finished draft of Murder in the Highlands and made steady progress with it today. It’s starting to come together and I’m getting a handle on the characters and suspects, developing them at the same time.

I’ve spent a few months exploring the social media platform Tiktok and will be creating more videos for my author presence there. If you would like to follow me you can find me here.

Sunday 6th March

Work in Progress

I’m going through the editing process of Murder in the Highlands before taking the work forward. This helps me to refocus my attention and sets the stage for the final third. I’m almost two-thirds of the way through so it makes sense to do this now, making sure that what I’ve written so far is making sense. At this stage in almost every book I’ve written, I hit a brick wall and get a little bit bogged down by my internal critic. Once I come out of editing mode, I’ll be able to silence the critic and switch back into creative mode! Looking forward to that.

To be honest, I’ve been distracted by world events of late… who wouldn’t be?

Other Stuff

As it was Sunday, I tried to take some rest and get other more mundane things done around the house. I went to virtual church as I have been doing since the pandemic started. Funnily enough, I’ve been able to go to a church in London which I went to when I lived in the capital forty years ago. All Souls Church in Langham Place has been putting on virtual services throughout lockdown and is continuing to do so. I’ve enjoyed returning to somewhere that seems familiar in spite of the number of years that have elapsed since I last went there physically.

Literature Festival

In 2018, I founded a literature festival which I now chair. I spent the morning creating and adding the final few graphics for events to the website and put the day pass tickets on sale. Tomorrow, I’ll need to read through some guest blog posts for the site.

I love doing the festival but while it was cancelled for two years during the pandemic, I’d forgotten just how time consuming it can be.

New Year, New Decade

Reflections on 2019

With every New Year comes new optimism for what lies ahead, but first, I thought I’d look back at 2019.

In many ways the year in the UK was marred by a new type of toxic politics that did nothing to make us a proud nation. On top of that was and is a real concern about the impact that global warming is having on our planet. Whilst the first has had some sort of resolution, the second will remain a deep concern over the next decade and we can only hope that world leaders act soon and that we each do our bit to help turn the tide.

On a more relaxing note, I enjoyed a Baltic Cruise in August, taking a well-earned break from writing. I couldn’t resist doing a little bit of cruise research, though!

Now back to me and my life as an author! I had a productive 2019, releasing four books throughout the year:

April: Killer Cruise book 3 in the Rachel Prince Mysteries was launched

August saw the release of Dying to Cruise book 4 

November was celebrated as I finally fulfilled a promise for a final nurse training memoir. Hurry up Nurse 3: more adventures in the life of a student nurse

December completed a marathon year when A Christmas Cruise Murder book 5 in the Rachel Prince mystery series was released

In September, I started an MA in Creative Writing at the University of Derby and felt pretty exhausted by Christmas. Having recharged my batteries, it’s time to look forward to 2020.

Plans for 2020

Continue Writing

Rachel Prince Mysteries

Dawn Brookes, author

My main focus for the coming year will be to continue writing. I hope to publish three more Rachel Prince Mysteries throughout 2020. The next book, I am already working on, Murderous Cruise Habit will be released in March.

Children’s Books

With the environment in mind, and plastics in particular, I have just written a children’s book called Suki Seal and the Plastic Ring. This book is currently being illustrated and I hope to launch it towards the end of January.

Memoirs

I will be starting a vocational memoir of my district nursing years but can’t promise a 2020 release at this stage.

Studying

I start semester two of my MA towards the end of January so no doubt will be studying hard. I also hope that my writing will improve as a result of the MA, who knows?

Radio/YouTube Channel

I have been wanting to host a book-themed local radio programme for some time now and hope to be working with my local community radio station to achieve that goal. Until that happens, I will be spending more time developing my YouTube channel to focus on all things writing.

Audiobooks

I will continue to make my work available in as many mediums as possible with more audiobooks to be released throughout 2020.

Dying to Cruise will be released in audiobook format in early January.

Audiobooks are expensive to produce as well as being time consuming. I realise that not everyone can read and that many people now prefer the audio medium so I am working with Alex Lee, narrator of the Rachel Prince Mystery series to produce audiobooks that coincide with book launches, rather than four months later. 

I intend to narrate my third memoir myself and will let readers know when this is available.

Foreign Rights

I will be looking into translation or sale of foreign rights of my Hurry up Nurse and Rachel Prince mystery series in 2020 as there are large parts of the world where English is not the first language. Initially, I will be thinking about German and Spanish.

Keeping in touch with readers

Readers of my books are the most important part of my growing business and if you’re one of them, I can’t thank you enough for supporting my work by buying my books and reviewing my work. I am especially grateful to beta readers who give their time to read and comment on early drafts.

I almost forgot! I adopted a rescue dog in December from the RSPCA. Molly has had a difficult life and comes with many issues but I’m pleased to say that she is responding to love and attention.

All that’s left for now is to wish you a very Happy New Year with health and happiness! May your dreams come true in 2020.

Crime Writers’ Daily Writing Habits

Crime Writers’ Writing Habits

I thought it would be fun to select a few crime writers and discuss their writing – or not – habits! Much emphasis is placed on ritual and routine when it comes to art, but as these few examples show, every writer is different.

Ian Fleming (1908-1964)

Ian Fleming described himself as a writer rather than an author and writing in an article on the topic or writing he suggested that writing 2,000 words per day, five days a week for six weeks enabled him to produce his first draft for his Bond novels.

The novels he produced were around 60,000 words which is acceptable in series writing even to this day.

Agatha Christie (1890-1976)

Agatha Christie didn’t have a special room to write in and carried notebooks around and jotted down plots, labelling her notebooks. She wrote longhand and then typed it up later. In later life she dictated her books. She never had a daily routine of writing and would nip off to write when the opportunity presented itself it.

Strangely, it appears that Agatha Christie was the only one of these four to admit to having difficulties writing with the process causing her much stress at times. And yet it is Christie’s works that are among the world’s top bestsellers with her estate claiming she is third only to Shakespeare and The Bible. Her books are still enjoyed today with Miss Marple and Poirot being crime mystery staples. I remember seeing The Mousetrap on stage in London, the longest running play in London still enjoyed by so many readers today.

Dorothy L Sayers (1893-1957)

Dorothy L Sayers wrote at night as she worked full time for a London advertising agency.

I couldn’t find  anything written about her habits but would assume that as one of the first female graduates of Oxford she was methodical.

Sayers moved away from crime writing after WWII, her last being published before the war’s outbreak. She later concentrated on writing Christian drama for which she was well regarded.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930)

Arthur Conan Doyle, one of the earliest writers to use an agent claimed not to have much of a routine once money wasn’t an object.

In an article, he explained he would spend a whole day on a work if he was engrossed but less time if he wasn’t. He seemed to intimate spending less time writing his short stories (Sherlock Holmes novels seemed to be short stories to him), and was also less concerned with their accuracy as they were a product of what he termed, fantasy.

Conclusion

It seems from just these four examples that routine isn’t everything and yet so many writers today swear by it.

I personally set myself a goal of 2,000 words when writing but don’t write every day. I’m perhaps more akin to Ian Fleming at this point in my career although I will be much more like Arthur Conan Doyle as I develop I think. It pays to remember there is no such thing as one size fits all.

If you would like to read more about writer/artist rituals, the two books listed here might be worth a read. Daily Rituals: how artists work seems to be out of print but is available as an audiobook.

Dawn Brookes is author of the Rachel Prince Mystery series of cozy mysteries and the Hurry up Nurse series of memoirs.