Spotlight on... Research

Researching my novel has been one of the most challenging things i have had to do in order to prepare my novel. I thought i had done quite a bit of research before i started anyway but i also borrowed a few books from the library and have also bought some books most notably 2 books of Amanda Vickerys which look at women in Georgian England.

I keep finding that as i make progress on my novel i am having to do more and more research. I intend to write a love letter in one of my up and coming chapters and in order to do so i wanted to look at some existing love letters from the period. Some of the most notable letters were those of Napoleon Bonaparte. His letters were written approximately 60 years after the period in which my novel is set but he was quite a prolific writer and his letters tell a lot about his relationships with all of his lovers. Some of the letters i found the most relevant to what i intend to write are the letters he wrote to Marie Walewska. His language is so passionate one of my favourite lines is:

"I saw no one but you, I admired no one but you, I want no one but you.

Answer me at once, and assuage the impatient passion of N"

From this and others that i have read i am really looking forward to having a go at writing one myself.

On another note i have just heard some great news. i live in Cheltenham in England and the Cheltenham Literature Festival started today, I had a look at the programme over the next few weeks and you won't believe this but Amanda Vickery is doing a Seminar based on her two books behind closed doors and the gentlemans daughter! I am so pleased and am definitely gonna book myself in to see her and perhaps even get both books signed!!! Even better it's taking place on Monday so only a few days to go.

Ever had one of those days...?

Today started out extremely well. I won 66p on online bingo lol and planned to complete chapter four of my novel. I was also expecting two amanda vickery books from amazon called,'The Gentleman's Daughter: Women's Lives in Georgian England' and 'Behind Closed doors: At home in Georgian England'. Well the day started by the book not arriving, but i wasn't to worried, as i have two other books from the library which were sufficient for my current needs.

Anyway, I decided to write chapter four using the website 'write or die'. I set the timer for two hours, set the word limit for 3000 words and then I was off, 1hour 20 mins later i was 1750 words in so i thought i had better save and then i was going to have lunch. I knew i wouldn't get to 3000 by the end of the two hours but that was ok. I've never used 'write and die' before so with the timer running i highlighted my words and pushed the keyboard shortcut keys 'CTRL C' for copy.

Well at least I thought I did... I actually pressed 'SHIFT C'

Now on my screen was a blank page and the letter 'C' - not what i wanted to 'c'. Being a microsoft word user, i didn't panic and i pushed two other keys 'CTRL Z' to undo. Nothing happened so i tried it again. I was panicking now so checked the website for help, searched blogs and websites but i found nothing. My 1750 words was gone what a waste of approx one hour and a half.

Feeling totally dejected i went downstairs to my kitchen for that promised sandwich and what do i see behind my front door? One of those green 'sorry we missed you cards' and on it the delivery bloke has put that he has put it by my green recycling box. OK thats fine i think, So i open the door... Oh guess what typical british weather its absolutely tipping it down, the water has soaked through the carboard packaging and my books are wet.

I've just spent the last 2 hours retyping my chapter 4 - Its complete woohoo (said slightly sarcastically - I could have been half way through chapter 5 by now)Oh well never mind what can you do?

So after a crappy day - good chapter i think - I am now approx 12k words into my novel Yay!

Lets hope tomorrow is better...