...2022, don't challenge me

First and foremost, happy new year booklovers! 

Such mixed emotions surround New Year for me, a sense of loss for the year left behind, nostalgia for the memories made, grief over things I didn't get to do, or guilt over people I didn't see. As a performer, I always work through midnight and I suppose what I lack is the sense of closure that comes with the celebratory lead up and seeing out the new year, whether you go out or stay home to do so.

Having said that, I wouldn't change a single thing about this arrangement because I love to work and I love my job - especially after two years of sparse bookings! It's just an odd feeling of not being quite ready for new beginnings.

But I digress. It's January 2022, the time when we set our sights on new achievements and adventures, and hope restrictions won't get in the way. This is the time I usually log onto Goodreads and set myself an impossible reading challenge that I stress through the year to reach. I start planning out posts and blog topics, wondering when I'm going to have time, but wanting to be able to say I put out a daily post across social media and a weekly blog.

And in the meantime, whilst I'm stressing, I could be writing. Isn't that why I started this blog in the first place?  To talk about my love of books and to document my own writing journey. A journey that's been at a standstill since the start of the pandemic.

For the past two years, I've sat on my finished novel, neglecting to send it to publishers or agents, lacking the motivation or inspiration to put pen to paper. I wasted time, and that's okay under the circumstances. But now's the time to hold up my hands and say "enough, get back to work".

Readers, I'm putting this into words so you can hold me accountable: this is not a year for reading challenges or marathon blog posts, this is a year for prioritising my writing and re-implementing a dream. My only goal is to fall back in love with my own book and characters. 

That's not to say that I'm going to vanish of the face of the earth and delete social media. Only that I'm relieving myself of the obligation and the pressure. 

Basically this is your advanced apology that this blog is about to get hella inconsistent ha!

Zuzu 🖋

Find me across social media @zuzuspages

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...inspire yourself

I was told recently by a life soul coach (judge away you sceptics) that creativity runs through my life. She saw writing in my future, and since I write, blog and post under an alias, I knew she was unaware of the huge influence of books and writing in my life already. She had no way of knowing I've been in a creative ditch for 16 months, uncertain how to ignite my imagination and materialise a ladder to climb out.

She told me that when I was without routine, my creativity comes to a crashing halt. TRUE. These past 16 months under the effects of the covid-world, my job has had not schedule, nor has my life. I accept work greedily when it is offered to me, and sit around impatiently tapping my fingers when it's not instead of utilising the time to write. The reason is purely lack of inspiration. I have ideas bobbing about in my brain, but lack the motivation or urgency of creativity makes it impossible to whip out a pin and nail them to the paper.

The solution, I was told, was to read my own work and let my own words inspire me; revisit my story and live for a few days in the fantasy world of my own creation. INSPIRE MYSELF. No one else was going to do it for me, and I think I've been waiting for someone or something to force my hand.

So this is a short and sweet little blog, admitting my own complacency, and offering the excuse that this last year has been a hard and weird one, but I'm done with putting my creativity on hold because of it. If I wait for the world to go back to normal, I'm stunting myself and my creativity.

This week instead of snatching moments to read the books on my shelf, I'll be snatching up old notebooks and folding myself into cosy corners, finding my inspiration between their pages!

Zuzu 🖋

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Find me across social media for more bookish and writing content:

Instagram - Facebook - Goodreads - Pinterest - Twitter 

...ingredients to soothe the mind and the madness

It's only been a couple of weeks since I blogged, and yet I feel as rusty as an old key trying to open the lock to creativity. I think it's jammed tight!

In lieu of creativity, I usually offer my latest book review, or some reading recommendations - but alas, my reading progress has been grinding slow so far this month. What can I say? The tentative return to normality has claimed what was left of my mind and scrambled it beyond retrieval or hope of coherent thought. 

Anyone else just a tad overwhelmed by life getting back to normal? Show of hands in the comments! I'm certain it's not just me.

And so, through lack of creativity, I've decided to share some of my summer home-comforts and current favourites to soothe the mind and the madness in case you desire the benefits of my latest goodies!

Number one:

'Wizard's Tower' candle from Into the Realm Candle company. These are Fantasy inspired vegan candles and wax melts I found on Etsy. I treated myself to a few scents but this was by far my favourite. What I love about the creator is her passion. It shows in her descriptions of each product, where she quite literally sets the scene for her scents. This one is a violety wizard's potion wafting down the spiral staircase of a tower. 

I swear I'm not doing her candles justice! Check them out for reassurance: Into The Realm Candle Company

I change my candles up seasonally and I'm loving these as we head into summer.

Number two:

Netflix's 'Sweet Tooth'. Maybe I'm detaching myself from our world's slow recovery from a pandemic by watching a fantastical world recover from a pandemic...even slower...I'm not sure there's any sort of logic behind that thought process so don't try to follow it through, but I'm enjoying the series for a bit of escapism.

Number three:

WORK! The novelty of work after a stagnant, workless year has not yet worn off. I only wish there was more of it about to be seized, not only in my industry, but in so many others! I just want abundance for all, is that too much to ask?

Number four:

Raspberry Sorbet. My marginally healthier alternative to actual Ice Cream - or at least it would be if I wasn't devouring whole tubs at a time! I recommend SimplyIceCream's sorbet in particular - yum yum yum!

Number five:

Agnes Obel's album, Aventine. Thank you dad for always introducing me to good music! You are the cool one in the family, I concede. Too bad you don't read my blogs so you'll never know...

Number six:

Be you a crystal lover for their appearance or their properties, I recommend Marie's Crystal Healing Bags for all your crystal needs and desires! I recently commissioned a bespoke bracelet from her to help with stress, and in particular a stress related skin irritation. I'm in love with the result which amazingly incorporates Sapphire, Amethyst, Adventurine and Lepidolite to assist with Stress, Anxiety, Calming Irritation, Anxiety, Self Love and honestly so much more!

The hippy in me is crying with joy!

Healing Crystal Bags by Marie

Number seven:

Historical Fiction. I know I said I've not been reading much recently, but of the books I have read, the majority have been in the Historical Fiction genre. Current read is Misfortune by Wesley Stace. It's turning out to be the perfect book for Pride Month, which was a happy coincidence as it was simply a book I picked up in a second hand book store and knew nothing about! I swear, best way to buy books! You find some gems!

Let me know one of your current favourites in the comments below, or something that's restored your sanity in this strangely paced world right now!

I wish upon you all the chameleon-like ability to seamlessly adapt to all changes, past and future, that might come our way!

Zuzu 🖋

Find me across social media @zuzuspages for bookish content and general writing/life updates

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...c'est la vie

Ahhh, writers' block. Not only is it frustrating, inconvenient (and several more expletive adjectives), it's also got the worst imaginable timing. 

When the first lockdown began in March last year, I felt a sense of anticipation - not at the state of the world of course, but at the limitless time I'd been given to write without the distraction of work! It was a blip of light and positivity in an otherwise trying time. 

But writer's block is a fickle thing, and so, when the rest of the world was restricted from visiting me, writer's block saw a vacancy and invited itself in to take up permanent and uninvited residence.

Which is my long winded way of telling you that I squandered an entire year of writing time.

Lockdown, it turns out, is as uninspiring as it sounds, and I couldn't force a single drop of creativity from my brain.

I took long walks, I learned to play the ukulele, I over-indulged in comfort food that will take me a year to eradicate, and I wrote no more than a single chapter, knowing instinctively that it wasn't any good...and then the spring came along...

Spring is typically not my favourite season, but with the promise of easing restrictions, and the soul lifting evidence of new beginnings budding and frolicking along my walks, I began to feel inspired again.
Last week, I sat down at a newly organised desk for the first time in months and felt a flood gate open in my mind. Words and idea's poured out of me for nearly 24 hours, faster that I could write or type to keep up with them. I honestly feel like I could sit down and write a book without pausing to outline it first. I'm hyped and I'm inspired and the curse of the writer's block is lifted...however...

I did say that writer's block had the worst timing imaginable. And that includes when it chooses to leave...two weeks before I have to go back to work. C'est la vie. Such is life.

...letter writing

Since we're now in the midst of Universal Letter Writing Week, I wanted to use this blog as a shout out to a fellow blogger, Joanne Anderson, and her uniquely personal blog, Love, Mum x

Love, Mum x is a blog compiled of real and unfiltered letters between a mother and daughter separated by countries. The blog begins with the first letters exchanged in 1990, when Joanne emigrated to Canada from England with her husband to begin a new life and adventure.

The hardest part of this experience was always going to be the large distance separating her from her family, but especially from her Mum, with whom she shared a special bond. 

They promised to write to each other everyday, and that promise was admirably kept. The result of which is literally hundreds of letters, spanning nine years.

The letters between them are humorous, conversational, emotional and, more than anything, REAL. They're filled with the anticipation of long anticipated visits to Canada and to England alike. And the longing that came afterwards. 

They used to say, "wouldn't it be wonderful if we had telephones where we could see each other?" not dreaming that years later this would become the norm. But if this had been a possibility, there would not be such an accumulation of paper memories in Joanne's possession now.

Joanne's mum passed to spirit in 1998, signalling a move back to England for Joanne, her husband and their two children by then. 

The sheer volume of the letters is what's prevented her from beginning before now. I happen to know Joanne's ambitions extend beyond this blog, and the letters aspire to being formatted in a book. Until that inevitable time, her story is available for all to read on her blog site, Love, Mum x and is updated regularly with the next instalments. 

I cannot recommend this blog enough!

Letter writing is a dying means of communication, but this blog is stunningly transparent in revealing the devotion between two people. I truly believe words have the greatest power. They can soothe, they can heal and they can bridge distances. This blog is evidence of that and more.

You'll find Love, Mum x linked here and throughout this blog. Make sure you follow and subscribe so you know when the next instalments are published. 

You can find Joanne on Facebook and Instagram, too. Follow her on both and take an extended trip down memory lane!

I've recently been using this lockdown to take up letter writing to vary my communication with friends we aren't currently able to be with. I highly recommend doing the same! Pick up a pen and some pretty paper and write. The response will make you're heart melt!

Thanks as always for reading!

Zuzu 🖋

...writer's fever

Writers Fever, a phrase and reference to a phase of writing that I'm fairly certain doesn't exist, and I here by coin! Allow me to explain...

WRITER'S FEVER: GUIDANCE AND SUPPORT

Writer's Fever

(phase of writer) 

the condition of being feverishly compelled to write without stopping, as though possessed by something supernatural and unearthly.

This condition should not be dismissed. It has proved itself to be highly contagious and isolation should be implemented the moment symptoms surface.

The most common diagnosis occurs in "creative types", typically after long bouts of Writer's Block (a related illness that can be read about in one of my previous blogs "writer's blockdown" - link here.)

However, those at risk now also include recent sufferers of Cabin Fever as a direct result of the recent lockdown due to the Pandemic.

If any of the above information pertains to you (and I expect it does) and you suspect you might be at risk, I advise you to proceed with caution. Abrupt overstimulation following lockdown of any length will likely increase the likelihood of you contracting Writer's Fever.

Symptoms of Writer's Fever include:

Hermit like behaviour, nocturnal waking hours, an unexplained exhaustion, the feeling of dreaming while awake, severe cramping of the hand, fervid imaginings, and of course feverish and frantic spells of writing that cannot be stopped.

Things to avoid/limit in order to prevent contracting Writer's Fever: 

- too much fresh air being allowed to reach and restore the brain and lungs after long periods indoors

- an increase in book or text reading that might inspire or excite the mind

- social interaction (distanced or otherwise) that will remind one how to articulately string a sentence together in a manor that's passably human

- access to writing materials of any kind, such as pens, paper or convenient modern alternatives such as laptops

What to do if, despite these precautions, you begin showing symptoms:

Try to remain calm. Disguise your excitement about the influx of ideas and words pouring into your brain. This is the first symptom. You can now be sure you are in the fever's grip. The key thing is to focus on breathing, and retaining all these ideas until a suitable storage facility can be reached. Proceed with care to a secure, secluded nook where you can scribble all ideas down. Take care to be detailed. This is crucial to future research into the effects of this fever. Do NOT be alarmed if you later discover what you have written to be incoherent bibble-babble. This is a further symptom of Writer's Fever, and one that I failed to mention earlier.

To date, I regret to inform you, this fever remains incurable. It is not life threatening, though you may experience many alarming quickenings of the pulse as the result of self-created drama and plot twists. 

Do NOT FEAR. No writer has ever perished or gone mad as a result of a vivid or hyperactive imagination...oh wait...perhaps they have...scratch that! BE FEARFUL.

STAY SAFE. STAY AWARE. STAY WIERD.

And there we have it folks. My unorthodox writing update for the week. Here's to hoping this writer hasn't tipped over into madness quite yet!

Apologies for this frantic, and hopefully not to disconcerting blog. I am not a medical professional, so I am not at liberty to advise you as to home remedies, drugs and/or experimental treatments for this phantasmagorical and ever-so-slightly fictional Fever.

Until next week! Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed and could comprehend my "incoherent bibble-babble".

A friendly reminder that you can find me in-between blogs @zuzuspages across social media for all things #bookish. Links as follows: Instagram Facebook Twitter and now Pinterest

...dreading a storm

Rain yes. Thunder...NO!

Fun fact about me: I have a huge aversion to storms! A phobia, if you will. It's not quite a hide under the bed and tremble till it's over kind of phobia, which is exactly how our dog used to react to thunder when I was little. It's more of a get away from anything metal, stay low to the ground and turn off the lights so the lightning can't see me kind of phobia. You know, the completely rational variety.

When the temperatures spike like they have this week, and the air grows sticky and still, not only do I begin to melt under the intensity, but I begin to dread the inevitable storm that will materialise over my house to relieve it.

It just so happens that a storm is on it's way in a couple of days. Hence this blog!

I've always acknowledged my phobia, but what I hadn't realised until recently is how it has come to influence my writing over the years.

The seasons have always shaped my stories, as they shape me, so it's understandable that a magick induced storm, referred to by my characters as the 'Great Storm', became the catalyst for my story. 'Great' here meaning an extent, amount or intensity considerably above average. And not in a good way. Without the Great Storm, my characters would be living in perfect harmony...well, sort of.

Now, I can't help thinking of storms from a fantastical perspective. The eye of the storm seeking us out, watching us as it fans across the sky, rolling and raging like a sky beast rather than a tempest.

The Great Storms' description was the first chapter I perfected in my book. It was the first time I was able to read my writing back with the confidence that my story was worth publishing - (and one day I will find an agent that shares my belief.)

When I wrote THE BLOOD DRAGON, I was unconscious of my minor phobia's influence of my writing and on my characters. But now that the book is complete, and it's sequel is well underway, I'm able to reflect back and laugh at how I've created a collective Astraphobia for the people in my fictional world that mirrors my own to perfection and lingers incurably. 

However, my characters know that if you can ride out a storm a calm will follow, and personally I cannot wait for the rain and the breeze that will follow and bring cooler temperature.

Zuzu 🖋

Find me in between blogs @zuzuspages on Instagram  Facebook Twitter and now Pinterest

...magpie syndrome

"I do have a habit of chattering on so. Why if I could liken myself to a bird, a magpie would probably be the closest thing I could resemble." ~ Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery

For as long as I can remember, my sister has accused me of having, what she calls, "Magpie Syndrome".

Not only do I 'chatter' persistently and breathlessly, but I have that famous magpie quality of being attracted to, and distracted by "shiny things", both literal and figurative!

For now, life is one big shiny magpie worthy distraction.
I'm working less consistently owing to the pandemic - the downside being less financial stability, the upside being more allotted time to write, right?
Wrong!
Everyday I wake up, fluff my feathers and tell myself that today is the day I'm going to sit down at my desk to write. After coffee...because the chance of me stringing together a coherent sentence without a caffeinated beverage is not good.
Whilst drinking my coffee, I find myself looking around the house with beady eyes, finding things out of place, but more likely, finding some task that distracts me and pulls writing from the top of my priority list for the day.
Vacuuming, laundry, tax returns, paperwork, delivery men, work calls. The list is endless and shines with tinkly magpie distraction.

Social media is a huge culprit. I've never spent so much time online in my life, having little or no excuse not to keep my socials updated when presented with such an abundance of time. When I'm not online, I'm taking pictures to post online, or searching Pinterest for bookish inspiration to create posts to publish online.

Books are the shiniest of shiny objects. My magpie senses tingle! I photograph books. I review books. I read books. I fawn over books. I leer over the beautiful covers of recent publications that hypnotise me into dropping them into virtual shopping baskets and inevitably collecting more books.

The result is a nest woven from words, that makes my feathers fluff with the pride of a peacock. We find our happiness's where we can at the moment. In my case it's in a small scale book-shopping addiction.
Do they let magpies go to Shopaholics anonymous?
Probably not.

I can't wait for the world to return to normal and to re-establish some sort of balance to settle my feather-brained mind. My magpie syndrome has peaked, and the distractions around my house are shiny and plentiful. I need a clear space and clear mind to be able to write and submerge myself into my fictional world, and that's not happening with nearly enough frequency for my liking.

I'm going to close this blog now, knowing that I've got a whole TO-DO list of magpie distractions to get through today.

I'm thinking my situation must be a relatable one for a lot of people at the moment, so please show me some solidarity in the comments. Birds of a feather flock together! And let me know if there are any blog topics you're interested in reading about at the moment if you're still home and looking for something to take your mind off the world's madness.

I'll be back with another blog next Monday, but you can find me in the meantime @zuzuspages on Instagram Facebook Twitter and now Pinterest !

Zuzu 🖋

...howling at the moon

If you're awake to bear witness, you'll know me as a creature of the night, for whom productivity flourishes between the hours of 9pm to 3am. I know that this is the time I can sit at my desk and tap away at laptop keys undisturbed by the world, knowing that most distractions have been removed by the unsociable hours I keep. Just me and the moon, and the beautiful silence that its beams cast over the world at 3am, that can often trick the mind into thinking you're the only person on the planet that's still awake.


As a solitary soul, it works for me. I'm a lone wolf, howling despair at the moon when I can't find the words, and howling victory when they suddenly come together, as if presented to me by the moons unique magick.

It's at this late hour that I feel most at one with the world I've created in my stories. Darkness is such a crucial part of THE BLOOD DRAGON, and it creates the most introspective setting for writing.

Today, after a very long unwanted break, I'm finally writing again, resuming my chiselling to sculpt the sequel to THE BLOOD DRAGON (still informally known as THE SEQUEL until inspiration strikes).
The setting of the sequel has evolved, and I wonder if the darkness will no longer feel fitting to write in. The seasons are becoming increasingly important in all my chapters, and, just like writing about the dark when its light, it suddenly feels wrong to be writing about the first snow of winter when in England it's humid with the threat of summer rain.

Since I am nocturnal by nature, I don't think I could change my hours of productivity if I tried. I'm forever cast as a 3am writer. A three cups of coffee writer. A three hours until I go to work writer. And perhaps that's for the best; for we all know, three is a magick number...

~ Zuzu

Find me in between blogs on social media @zuzuspages Instagram Facebook Twitter

...it's a kind of magick

When describing the magick of my characters, particularly the many witches of variant abilities in THE BLOOD DRAGON, I always use the archaic spelling that refers to magick of an occult nature, meant to differentiate from the performance magic of magicians.

Magic, to me, is parlour tricks, still displaying a level of skill, but skill that's been learnt rather than existing naturally as an extension of the body, as a witch's might.
Magic is the sort that belongs to magicians who might delight children by pulling a rabbit from their hats. Or at the next level, Derren Brown, performing skilled tricks and illusions that deceive the mind.

Magick in my story is a gifted ability born onto you, or inherited, that you can't always help or control.
The witches in my story are dark wisps of women consisting of little more than magick and air. Their power is what fuels and sustains them - too omnipotent for me to be able to think of it as mere "magic".

Magick typically is meant to be neutral, neither dark or light in nature. Neither good nor evil. But fairy tales have warped our perception of it, and it's hard not to be influenced by them. However, in my book, the line between good and evil is blurred and confused, I hope lending a sense of realism to the idea that nothing is ever simply black and white. There are always extenuating circumstances that will affect a story and a characters' journey through it.

I love fantastical magick that is decidedly otherworldly in its charactristics. However, I do my research, making sure there's grounding in my supernatural creation. If it's so far out as to be unbelievable, then what's the point? I want the magick in my book to feel unreal-ly real!
I'm aware that I sound like one big walking contradiction. But doesn't magick always come across as the impossible made possible? The improbable, made probable?

Think of the most magickal books you've ever read... For me, the lines between the real and fantasical are always best when they're seamlessly blurred. "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern is a perfect example of this, "Practical Magic" by Alice Hoffman, "Caraval" by Stephanie Garber. And from middle grade literature, "The Divide" by Elizabeth Kay, and the ultimate example of magickal surrealism, "The Adventures of Alice In Wonderland" by the fantastical Lewis Carrol.

I admire all variants of magic/magick in literature. Fantasy is my preferred genre to read and to write. I've said before that it knows no bounds!
If you'd like more reading recommendations, I've got a fair selection of book reviews in blogs, and also a list of recommended books.

Don't forget, you can follow me across social media in between blogs @zuzuspages Instagram Facebook Twitter


Zuzu 🖋

...writer's blockdown

Unwittingly, I've stumbled into the forbidden Forest of Writer's Block, where the trees cast inky shadows that stain the ground and stick to your feet as you walk - shoes are not permitted in the forest. I don't make the rules. I'm not sure anyone does...
There's no clear path to follow. The leaves that obscure the floor are as copious as discarded pages from a notebook. Empty inkwells clink mockingly from the boughs of trees, providing a disjointed melody to walk to.

I've been in this forest before; it's dull and uninspired. The words engraved upon the trees are as nonsensical as a Lewis Carol poem. Who ever heard of a Jabberwocky? Maybe he came across one here in the Forest of Writer's Block... Maybe it was this creature that set him free.

The conventional way out: wait for inspiration to strike. A tedious and often frustrating pastime. Though when it does, I guaranteed you won't expect it. It will appear with the suddenness of a storm, glowing purple and flashing bright enough to reveal the previously concealed path's between the trees.
Ink will pour from the sky, articulate as a sonnet, filling the clattering inkwells and gathering in glossy puddles, just waiting for you to dip your nib in and begin to write...
One eloquent phrase is all it takes to set you free! Pity it's so unattainable while you wait in vain for the storm to arrive.

Indeed, I am stuck in the forbidden Forest of Writer's Block. I blame lockdown for failing to provide enough inspiration to fuel my imagination. It's been snuffed out like a candle. I condemned myself, I think. When lockdown began 42 days ago, I chose to focus on the positive, which was of course the glorious gift of time! Time to write, time to create, time to reside in the kingdom of my own invention, where THE BLOOD DRAGON so forcefully governs. I intended to roam it for a month or two, exploring to see where a sequel may lead me.
Thus far however, I've not even tripped into the realm of a title for my second book. I'm beginning to fear it will have to be known biomidically as THE SEQUEL forevermore. Not my best work, I grant you.

Never have I longed so much for a storm to clear the stagnant air from my mind and to bring with it a fresh breeze of perspective. Maybe a title will blow in with it, or better yet, a story!

I'll keep this short given that this communication is reaching you from a faraway forest in the hidden depths of Whoknowswhere. Please send help...and books...actually, just send books!

Until I return, stay safe everyone, I hope to have a less obscure blog for you next Monday...if I escape...

Zuzu 🖋

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...when a cat lends a paw to the writing process

Lockdown is not ideal as I'm sure we all know, but it is essential and therefore we have to make the best of it. I can't do my usual job from home, and so, I've been left with an abundance of time to write and read and edit and generally lose myself quite happily in all things book related. Ideal, yes? Blissful, some might say. I would agree, up until the point that my cats get involved.

Above is a fairly accurate photograph of my view for the past thirteen days. This is Leo. He's a needy puss at the best of times, so having me home with him 24/7 is his dream! He's spent every waking hour making sure he is the object of my undivided attention. He's achieved this by sitting on my laptop, knocking books out of my hands and volunteering his paw as a bookmark lest I forget that he is sitting with me.

Leo's bookmark paw

Molly, my secondary hinderance, is usually indifferent to my existence until the time comes for her food. But since lockdown was put in place, she has decided my constant presence at home has deemed me worthy of her attention. She has become very "helpful", volunteering her time as a body guard for my pristine, freshly printed submission. Needless to say it's no longer in fit condition to be sent to an agent.

(Left) Lord Leo...supporting me through the writing process 

(Right) Miss Molly...on my submission

Leo...about two seconds 

before he stood on the keyboard

My sympathies to pet owners who are overcoming furry obstacles whilst trying to work from home. But as frustrating and funny as it can be, let us not forget that things have been disrupted for our pets too, and that they don't understand why. Be assured, mine have been doted on and given a great deal of extra love! They would not have it any other way, for after all, I am merely their servant!

This blog is going to be a short and sweet one because it's difficult to type with a cat attempting to drape himself across your keyboard...I wish I was kidding!

Stay safe everyone. I hope you're staying positive and keeping occupied during this bizarre and uncertain time. Fingers crossed it will all be over soon! In the meantime, I'm sticking to my usual blogging schedule of Monday's 6pm. Find me on Facebook @zuzuspages and Instagram @zuzuspages in between blogs for writing updates and all things bookish!

Zuzu 🖋

#lockdownreadinglist #author #zuzuspages 

....updates...writing...and a tankard of coffee

This last week has been a busy one; a blur of midnight reading, and coffee, and work, and coffee, and non-writing related projects that came to a head this weekend and are now blissfully complete...and coffee...

Although I've been invested in these projects and I'm incredibly proud of how they turned out, I'm also relieved that they're over, because all weekend I've been itching over a new idea for a story; one that has been in the back of my mind for quite some time, but got pushed to the back burner while I prepared and edited THE BLOOD DRAGON for submission. Now that it's complete and on its agent seeking journey, I have a writing void that I'm desperate to fill.

This new story is still fantasy, it's a genre I elect to write in because it knows no limits, and has no restraints. But where THE BLOOD DRAGON is high/epic fantasy, this new story lingers more in the vicinity of magical realism. I've also been influenced strongly by existing fairy tales à la Christina Henry (an author of horror and dark fantasy - and a brilliant one at that!)

That's all I will commit to revealing at this point. Allow me my secrecy since I'm in the earliest of early stages of story crafting. Thus far, I have only a compilation of hastily scribbled notes, snippets of dialogue, some character profiles, and an opening chapter to show for this new book.

In true Zuzu style, there is a notebook dedicated to it's initial creation. I never type my stories up until they're essentially written and outlined on paper. For me, it's nice to keep a visual record of it's development. To have sections of writing crossed out and re-written, and scrawled drawings in the corners of pages.

Over the last few weeks the cogs of my mind have begun to grind, generating this story piece by piece. I'm so grateful that today I've had the time to start transferring it to paper!
However, since the weekend was a hectic one, this morning my mind was seriously impaired by tiredness (I confess I made things worse by reading until 2am last night!!) Cue the tankard of coffee!
Coffee = sustenance
Coffee = brain fuel
Coffee provides the pleasant buzz that leads to that caffeine driven state that allows my mind to work overtime for a couple of hours, and my hand to move faster as it tries in vain to write to the same pace that my mind thinks.

Respectfully, I'm going to keep today's blog short and sweet and hasten back to writing. I hope that as my story matures, there will be more I can reveal. A title for example! With THE BLOOD DRAGON, the title was in place from the start, but since I'm not too sure where this new story is going to lead, I didn't want to assign a title that would restrict it.
Once I settle upon something appropriate, I will reveal all...

Until then, find me on Facebook for more updates and book related info: @zuzuspages
and on Instagram, also @zuzuspages

~ Zuzu 🖋

...on rejection

Ahhhh, rejection, a word that I'm sure many aspiring authors are all too familiar with!

Trust me, I am well aware that the publishing world can feel brutal.
Like Little Red Riding Hood, we walk innocent and unsuspecting into the woods, expecting to arrive at the house of a kind agent who wants to represent us, unaware of all the talons and claws that might rip at us along the way.

When you start submitting your book, it's akin to passing around a piece of your heart; it's hard not to fear it coming back to you in shreds.

Yes, rejection stings, but my advice...try not to take it personally!
It's never about you. It's about your work, and an agent or publisher not feeling that they're right to represent it.
At the end of the day, you wouldn't want someone who doesn't wholeheartedly believe in your story to publish it. You want to hold out for the right match, as do agents. It works both ways.

It's comforting to remember that rejection is an occupational hazard for all writers, so we're in good company:

Herman Melville's Moby Dick was rejected by multiple publishers, one of whom even wrote to him asking, "Does it have to be a whale?"

When attempting to have Little Women published, Louisa May Alcott was told to "stick to teaching".

And F. Scott Fitzgerald was told he'd have a decent book if he "got rid of that Gatsby character."
Can you believe it?!

Like these great authors, I pride myself on being pretty good at dusting myself off and rallying.

Unlike these authors, I grew up as a performer, and so rejection has been part of my life for years. As a result I've developed a grotesquely thick skin.

How do I do this? I cling to the positives!
The first agent that rejected my book gave me some feedback, which doesn't happen very often, so I'll be forever grateful. She wrote: "I found much to admire in the care you have taken in crafting the world and characters, and you write well."
My heart swelled. I didn't even care that these words were followed by, "However..."

Since then, my feedback has been frustratingly contradictory, and so it's difficult to know how to act on that, or whether you should act on it at all.

For me, the best advice has come from The Writers & Artists Yearbook (2020 edition linked here).
Please don't submit your book without first having read this cover to cover! It's so helpful and encouraging.
When writing my book, I gave no thought to how I would brand my story, or what would make it marketable. I was simply putting the story trapped inside of my mind to paper. This book provides valuable insight and helps you answer those crucial questions that agents and publishers require.
1. What's your genre?
2. Who is your target audience?

To help me pinpoint this, I read only fantasy for a year, trying to understand where my book potentially fit on bookstore shelves. Before this, I'd have generically labelled my book "fantasy", without considering the clarification of sub-genres: contemporary, high or low grade, magical realism, fairy tale...
I considered who I was writing for: children, middle grade (MG), young adult (YA), adult; whether there was potential for cross over...
I let my book be read by different age groups, people that I trusted to be brutally honest with their feedback.
The conclusion of this: I've written a high grade fantasy fiction for YA/crossover readers. That is how I distinguish my book to agents.

My advice therefore, above all else, is know your book. Not that this will necessarily help discourage rejections, but it will give your story its best chance.

I wish I had more, or better advice to give, but since I'm still navigating this process myself, I can only abide by the mantra: If at first you don't succeed, submit, submit again!

Good luck to anyone out there who's stuck in writers' limbo, somewhere between completing your novel and publication. I empathise and I trust we can all ascend past the rejections!
Respect and congratulations to anyone who has already made it out alive!!

If you're reading this and you have any additional positives or advice to offer, please leave them in the comments below! I'd love to hear them, and I'm sure there are other aspiring authors out there who would too.
Share the knowledge everyone, for knowledge is powerful and we all deserve the chance to stand in our power.

Until next time, find me on Facebook @zuzuspages
~ Zuzu

...fantasy knows no limits

The beauty of fantasy is that there are no rules. No limitations. And this summarises everything I love about the genre, both to read and to write.

To quote Lucy Maud Montgomery's character, Anne Shirley, "It's delightful when your imaginations come true, isn't it?"

And of course, writing is the way I aim to bring my particular "imaginations" to life, but sometimes when I can see things so clearly in my mind, I get so excited that I have to try and translate what I'm picturing to paper - whether successfully or not!

I keep a red leather notebook that is essentially a collage of pictures and notes dedicated to character and world creation. This is purely for my own benefit as I most assuredly would not inflict notebooks and sketchbooks on potential agents or publishers - (stick to the submission guidelines people!)

But for my own purpose, it felt very important that I accounted for every nook and cranny of my world. That I could walk the roads in my mind as clearly as I could walk through the village I live in.

There are maps and drawings to cover each of my three kingdoms, detailing their various landmarks.

So many pages I wish I could share, but they are too many spoilers splashed amongst them.

Colour is a key component to my story, due to the presence of the fantastical: dragons and phoenix and such. And therefore colour is as important as appearance when I'm trying to transfer my imaginings to paper.

The sun and the moon are characters in their own rights in my book, and they've long since become symbols that I'm minorly obsessed with. Even now that my story is written and complete I find myself painting them often, or buying jewellery that bears one or the other... Okay, perhaps it's a major obsession...

I'd love to know if any other writers out there (published or unpublished) also feel the need for a visual approach when writing!


~Zuzu
until next time, find me on Facebook @zuzuspages

...ode to my desk

This blog started its life as a step by step guide to how I create my perfect writing space, and quickly digressed into an 'ode to my desk'. The heart wants what the heart wants, so forgive my rhapsodising over a space I have become very proud of.

I hate new furniture, so when I stumbled across this sturdy looking timber thing in the corner of Strand Quay Antiques in Rye last January, I knew I needed it. (My book was complete at this point, and I was about to undertake some serious editing with no real space to do so.) I hesitated to buy it owing to its enormity, coupled with my small car.
I walked away, experienced sinking regret, and later phoned the shop to say I was coming back with cash and a van!

It now has pride of place in what I fondly call my 'writing nook'. There's a long window beside it that overlooks the river in my village. The glass is thin and I bake when its hot and shiver when its cold, and wouldn't change my 'writing nook' for the world.

My busy yet functional desk -

complete with enormous pile of 'to-read' books

The 'writing nook'

I strongly believe, if you get the desk right, the writing will follow. And so:

First things first.
Ornamentation. This in addition to stationery, and a heap of notebooks. I like to be surrounded by inspiring things when I write. I keep my favourite book trilogy by my desk as a reminder of what I'm aspiring to. Sometimes there's a plant if I can manage to keep it alive. On the wall beside it there's a noticeboard covered in pictures, maps and sketches that make up the fantastical world of my creation and give me something visual to write about. I need visual stimulus, which is why my desk is also scattered with funny little trinkets: a silver pocket watch not dissimilar to that owned by one of my characters (no, he is not a white rabbit), two spherical crystals that resemble the sun and the moon - very pertinent to my story (and yes, I know I am irritatingly cryptic), and a wax seal in the shape of a dragon, with some blood-red wax.
Quirkiness is key!

The plant that I am currently managing to keep alive. His name is Ivan - wish him luck!

Second things second.
Essentials. I try to keep essential things on my desk in anticipation of a long writing session, therefore eliminating the need to move for hours on end. This includes, but is probably not limited to: coffee, water, coasters (don't want to ruin the vintage desk), water, tissues, glasses, lip balm and hand cream.

Some essentials, mixed with stationery and ornamentation.

It's amazing that there is any space left to work in.

Third things third.
Keep it cosy. There's always a candle on my desk because I can't write without one being lit and hearing its cosy crackling. I try to use soy and natural candles so I'm not breathing in any toxins or unnatural scents for hours on end. For general interest, my favourite brands are the Sevenoaks Candle Company or PureWix.
There are also snuggly slippers and a plug in radiator under my desk because cold feet are intolerable!

'Warm Cranberry' from the Sevenoaks Candle Company
- I wish they did this all year round, not just at Christmas!

Fourth things fourth.
Set the tone. I find writing in silence so difficult, so I usually have some music playing softly. I like any of Miriam Stockley's albums, or sometimes instrumental music from soundtracks because they're ridiculously dramatic, (perhaps its the performer in me that requires mood music!)
But more recently I've been relying on a white noise machine. It was a rather unorthodox birthday present from my parents, and it's brilliant!

Last things last.
Messy space, messy mind. I can't focus if the space around my desk is messy. Since my office is also in my bedroom, the bed has to be made, the floor must be clear, and the excessive clutter on the desk needs to resemble something akin to order.

So there you have it. I hope you enjoyed my desk tour.

Happy writing!
~ Zuzu

find me on Facebook @zuzuspages

...what's in a name?

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."
Or so says Shakespeare, but I've never quite agreed.

I believe names have power, and therefore I take great care when selecting them for my characters.

Being a fantasy writer, I'm granted a greater freedom than most when it comes to name creation. And thank goodness! In fantasy, you're not restrained by rules. You can invent names, change the traditional, make things more magickal.

I like my names to mean something, and to have special relevance to my characters. I've been known to frequent name websites (20000-NAMES.COM is a good one) and flick through books, searching for something with magickal connotations, or simply something that sounds unusual.

Disclosing a couple of my characters' names from THE BLOOD DRAGON might make the easiest example.
Many of my characters are witches, and their names all pertain to their individual magick. Yarrow (meaning: a medicinal herb) is a healer witch. Sera (meaning: fire) can conjure flames.

The guards in my book all have names that relate to weaponry: Archer, Hunter, Lance. Or they have names that mean something strong: Art (meaning: bear man), Killian (meaning: little warrior).

The Blood Dragon's human name (which I will skirt around unapologetically because...spoilers), literally means red dragon.

My main character (who, despite the title of my book, is not the Blood Dragon), possesses a name of my own creation - which will remain a secret...because again...spoilers...
Since I invented her name, I also got the privilege of inventing its meaning. And so, my heroine's name means Saviour.

Of course, for the most part, I'm the only one aware of the meaning behind any of their names, but for me as an author, I feel that knowing this detail subtly - and sometimes tremendously - impacts my writing, and the way my characters develop and come to influence the story.

I know my main character wouldn't be the same if she had a different name. She wouldn't have the sense of mystery that surrounds her, or the strength that sustains her, or the compassion that compels every decision she makes throughout the story.

There's a Joni Mitchell song called "Little Green" that makes this point about names shaping a person so very well. The lyrics say:
"Call her Green, so the winters cannot fade her.
Call her Green, for the children who made her.
Little Green - be a gypsy dancer."

Names are so significant to writing.

I bet there's not a single author in history that has selected a name for their character with a "that will do" attitude.
Think of some of your favourite characters from books, or even films. Who are they? Would the story you know them from feel the same if they were named something else?

Charles Dickens is a good example. The Artful Dodger, Fagin, or even Oliver Twist. I'd speculate that the book wouldn't have had quite the same reception if he were named Oliver Brown.

As a writer, I don't think it matters how you get to that name, as long as it feels right! And who knows when or where inspiration may strike!

Jacqueline Wilson gave an interview about how she came up with Tracy Beaker's name: "I was lying back in my bath one day, thinking about this brand new story that I wanted to write about a little girl in a children's home, desperate to be fostered. And I was trying to think what her name would be. I knew I wanted to call her Tracy. It's a lovely modern, bouncy sort of name, but I couldn't think of an appropriate surname for her. So I was looking all round my bathroom for inspiration, and thinking rather madly, should I call her Tracy Soap, Tracy Flannel, Tracy Tap, Tracy Toothbrush, Tracy Toilet. The ideas got sillier and sillier, and I decided, well, I am never gonna find the right sort of inspiration here and now. So I got on with washing myself. I wash my hair, and to rinse off the soap suds I don't have any elaborate shower attachment, I just keep an old beaker on the end of the bath, pull it under the hot tap and then just rinse my hair. So I picked up my beaker, and then looked at it, and said: Tracy Beaker. And there was something about the name that made a little tingle go down my back." (click HERE to watch this interview)

Evidence that inspiration truly is everywhere!

~Zuzu

find me on Facebook @zuzuspages