Author Archives: karenmccombieauthor

Right this second, what five things do I wish?

• I wish I had a packet of crisps.
(Ready salted, please.)

• I wish my throat didn’t hurt.
(Tsk, thought I’d managed not to catch my husband’s and daughter’s colds.)

• I wish I could put on nail varnish without it smudging.
(Argh! Every time!!)

• I wish I could sometimes have a natter with my mum.
(A wee chat now and then would be so nice, but alas, not possible.)

• I wish I could sing.
(Wouldn’t that be ace?)

So what’s with my sudden urge to wish random wishes?

It’s because I came across this image tonight when I was scrolling through some of my old photos.

It’s just one small chunk of a vast ‘wish wall’ outside a secondary school in Bristol that I went to visit on a book tour a few years ago.

Aren’t the wishes brilliant? Brilliantly interesting, brilliantly daft, brilliantly weird, brilliantly sad even.

I remember at the time thinking I could pick any one and write a short story based on it.

So how about you?

Grab a pen and paper, and without thinking too hard, quickly write five wishes.

Done it?

OK, now read through them… and chose one to develop into a piece of writing, even just something short and sweet.

Post it here, in the comments. (Well, why not?)

Or ping it to me, via my website. (www.karenmccombie.com)

I wish you fun with your wishes…

Karen McCombie :c)

…is to stop being late for things!
Or at least, to stop feeling like I’m forever just a little bit behind in everything I do.

Things I am generally late with

• Manuscripts. I’m always sending new books to my publishers just a few weeks later than I’ve promised to. (Sorry, guys.)
• E-mails/phone calls to friends, relatives and fans. I feel big-time guilty when it takes me forever to find a chunk of time to do it in. (Grovel, grovel.)
• Fearsome piles of mail – both of the paper and ‘e’ type – that sit staring at me, wondering when I’m going to get around to them. (They’re pretty menacing those piles, I’m telling you.)
• girlsheartbooks: I’ve even fallen behind with checking in on this site (OK, I’ve had three sets of visitors staying before, during and after Christmas and my brain got fried), which is why I missed out on contributing to the joint blogs for Christmas Day Best Pressies and New Year’s Day Hopes and Dreams 2012. (Hence my belated entry now!)

To help me in my lateness, I make endless lists.
My husband Tom calls me the Queen of Lists. He got me the card opposite – by www.ClareJordan.com – which he’s says I should frame and hang above my desk. (I have added ‘Buy a frame’ to my current list.)

Tom says I’m obsessed with writing lists. As if!
Then again…
I DO write lists of things to do in the next hour.
Then I write lists of things to do during the day.
And lists of things to do over the course of the week.
Plus I write lists of things to do once I get time (yes, this these are the things that will never, ever get done).
I’ve even written lists of lists I need to write!

Why do I write so many? Well, obviously I’m expecting they’ll help me be more organised. And I guess I’m hoping that the scoring-stuff-off-when-it’s-done factor will help me magically speed up, but that never happens.
All that does happen is the stuff on the lists stays mostly un-crossed off, and new stuff ominously piles up at the bottom of them. *gulp*

Hey, maybe that’s IT!
Maybe I spend sooooo much time writing lists, it makes me late for everything!

Cue Karen’s new look list…

Right, that’s done.
Look out, 2012 – there’s no stopping me now*!

Karen McCombie :c)

* Yes, I am writing this with my fingers crossed…

Dear all of you…

Tonight I’m sitting on the sofa, ditching my plans to write about my addiction to scribbling in pretty notebooks (I’ll save that till next time!) and I just want to talk about the weird feeling swirling around my chest right now.

It’s ’cause a sweet old boy is nudging my arm… a sweet boy called Gus, who was four years old when he and his brother Bysshe moved in with me as a pair of gingery twin boy cats my neighbour didn’t want any more, as she was moving away.

And so Gus and Bysshe moved in to live with my darling, slightly crazy cat Cecy, followed by feral cat Mioaw.

All the other three cats are gone now, except Gus,who is leaning up against the computer as I type. He’s nearly nineteen (about 100 in people years) and gets muddled really easily, as well as being very blind and deaf.

The weird feeling swirling in my chest is ’cause I know, day by day, Gus’s time is disappearing.

Still, you know something? This wonderful, delightful, fat furry cat (who is so befuddled he sometimes misses the litter tray – bluergh) is still inspiring. He made me dream up the character of Dolly the dog with dementia in this year’s novel ‘Six Words and a Wish‘, after all!

But I feel I’m doing a long, slow goodbye with my old boy right now… any time soon I’ll be blogging about him not being here any more.

Some people say the pain of saying farewell makes it too hard to get another pet, but that’s not me. I will cry buckets when Gus eventually goes. That said, I will make a space for a new fluff ball who needs a home. If my dumb, young cat Dizzy doesn’t mind!

Must go… have misty eyes and need to hug my old boy.

Karen McCombie :c)

MY NORMAL DAY: Sitting in my office (yep, the weeny back bedroom of my little house) tippetty-tapping a whole new world  of characters on my trusty lap-top, in the bubble of my (fuzzy) head.

MY OUTSIDE WORLD DAYS: I get invited to come and talk about my books, either in schools, libraries, book shops or at festivals.

OK, so my Normal Days speak for themselves (or maybe they’re a blog for another time!).

But I thought I might talk about one of my Outside World Days, since I had one of them today.

I was at Highgate Junior School in North London, talking to their Year 3 & 4s about my brand new younger series “You, Me & Thing”.

Here’s the deal; what do I take out with me to a book talk? Is it just a copy of the newest book, so I can read a bit and yack a bit about it?

Ha! That would be nice (and lightweight), but here’s what I tend to take out with me on Outside World Days…

• My current book – obviously!
• Other books of mine – in case I mention them.
• Fairy lights – mmm, pretty!
• Old school diaries – full of excellent stories.
• Dumb soft toys – to show my inspiration for Thing (in “YOU, ME & THING”).

• Notebooks & pens – I constantly scribble random thoughts in notebooks, using deliciously coloured pens (unless my daughter’s nicked them to draw with!).
• Random stuff – such as knickers with embroidered squirrels on them (you need to read last year’s “THE RASPBERRY RULES” novel to understand why!).

I know other authors take fab Powerpoint presentations out with them, or guitars, or Camper vans (hi, Cathy Cassidy!) or even samurai swords!

But I guess, basically, an author talk is as different as each author is.

So come on, fellow authors…  want to share what you take out with you on one of your Outside World Days?

Karen McCombie :c) 

Doh! I nearly missed my turn to post today. That’s because I am suffering from a bad case of Scrambled Brain Syndrome.
Here’s why: I’m writing one book for a publisher called Barrington Stoke, editing a novel I’ve written for Scholastic, and editing another for Faber, in my new ‘You, Me and Thing’ series. All at the same time. Oops.
Oh, AND I’m doing a whole bunch of library and school events at the moment too.
Apart from that, I had a panic this morning when I had to take my cat Dizzy to the vet – getting her in the cat box was a total claw-tastic nightmare, then the box collapsed as soon as I got outside, and she was off! Cue a neighbour coming to my rescue with HER cat box, and much coaxing of a hissing cat later, we made it to the vets.
Home now, just realised I’d forgotten to post, and my heart is thumpetty thumping.
There’s only one thing for it… take deep breaths and stare at my favourite picture in my office…
Karen McCombie :c)
Ah… I can’t even manage to get the image the right way up. See what I mean about Scrambled Brain Syndrome?!!

Oooh, I do love a good wedding. A quirky wedding, especially. And I’m off to one today, which should be a small, hippy happy affair that’ll include the bride and bridegroom’s daughter and dog!

My own wedding was pretty groovy. Me and Tom ‘eloped’ – ha! Not because anyone would have been against us getting married (we’d been together nearly ten years and our parents didn’t think we’d ever get around to it), but just ’cause eloping sounded like fun! We told everyone that we were going on holiday to California, without mentioning that we’d be stopping in at the City Hall in San Francisco to get hitched. We bought our clothes in a vintage store and my bouquet of giant daisies smelt of wee. It was a delicious, memorable day!

Our hippy, happy wedding in San Francisco

Another great wedding I heard about was that of a goth workmate who hired the banqueting room of a castle for her reception. As everyone sat around the long table, there was a power cut, and the rest of the evening was spent in gloom and warm candlelight. She said it was unexpectedly perfect for a goth girl and her boy…

And when we and a bunch of friends and kids stayed at a Scout Camp last year, a wedding reception was taking place in the clearing in the woods next to ours. All the guests were camping, and the party was happening under a collection of gazebos, with wedding sing-a-longs happening around an open fire nearby. Fab!

A wedding story that made it into one of my books (‘Smile! It’s Meant To Be Fun‘ in the ‘Sadie Rocks’ series) came from my lovely neighbour Susan; her bridesmaids were her mum and the bridegroom’s mum. How fantastic is that? Specially for Susan’s little son, seeing his grannies in such a special role!

Right, got to go sort out my outfit. And you never know, this particular wedding might turn up in one of my books down the line…

Karen McCombie :c)

How do you write a book? Well, I don’t know about anyone else, but this is my step-by-step guide to the writing process.

A calm, dignified author, holding finished novel

1. You come up with an idea for a book. (Hurray! My brain still works!)

2. Your publisher likes it. (Hurray! And phew!)

3. Now you have to plan your novel out. (Boo… brain decides not to play.)

4. It suddenly all comes together and you have your detailed outline. (Hurray! I’m dizzy with relief…)

5. The first few lines of a book are crucial. (Hurray! I’ve thought of a great opener!)

6. The first three chapters take a long time, till you you get into your rhythm. (Boo… I’m NEVER going to get into a rhythm! I’m so out-of-rhythm it’s like I’m trying to do the three-legged race while tied to a walrus!)

7. You reach the mid-way point and take stock. (Boo… and arrrghhh, I should have been on the last couple of chapters by now! Curse the swine flu/unexpected visitors coming to stay/builders overrunning/brain stalling.)

8. Three-quarters of the way through, you print out and edit your book so far. (Hurrah! It’s OK! Those lying awake at three a.m. moments were for nothing!)

9. You get near the end, and think of ways to wrap up your various threads. (Boo… there are way more threads than I remembered and my over-heating brain is getting tied in knots. *Ouch*)

10. You write your last chapter with a mix of relief and sadness. (Hurray! It’s over!! But, er, Boo… it’s over…)

(PS In case you were wondering, I’m currently at step number nine. Gulp.)

An author losing it during a 'boo' moment of the writing process.

I’m a children’s/YA writer.

So…

1) I’m an expert on books for children/young adults, right? And…

2) I spend lots of time reading all the scrumptious new children’s/YA books that come out, right?

Erm…

Wrong.

Of course, I’d LOVE both of those statements to be true. And I’m GUILTY that they’re not. And I’m JEALOUS of everyone I see on Twitter and blogs and whatever, all chatting about the latest books that they’ve been reading.

How do they do it?

And what am I doing wrong?

I’m not sure.

Here’s the thing, I love my life, but it does get eaten by the DTM (Dreaded Time Monster). I get up, hang out with my lovely daughter, and then write all day, till I pick her up from school. Then she goes to bed at 8.30pm, and I work some more, or catch up with my husband or friends or family for a little bit and suddenly it’s time for bed. (Zzzzzzzz…)

I think I have this fantasy that everyone else has an extra day in the week that I don’t know about. And oh, boy, next birthday I am SO going to wish that I can have that extra day (Thurnesday?), where I have nothing to do but lie on a red velvet sofa, surrounded by books, cats and a selection of crisps. Bliss!

Till then, I will get my book-reading thrills from opportunities like being on the selection panel for Booked Up in 2010, when I HAD to read a whole bunch of books, as part of my job.

Me and my top Booked Up choices

In the meantime, I’ll keep on writing and enjoying bedtime reading with my little girl, and try NOT to feel like a fraud for not knowing what the best new books are.

(Whisper: can someone tell me?)

Karen McCombie :c)