Vicky Garlick's Blog

Have you ever ended up with completion anxiety with a project you're working on, but not been able to figure out why becuase you're absolutely loving writing the sotry? Well that's what I've been dealing with the past couple of weeks with Shadow Spell, the (not so) short story I've been writing.Today, I think I've worked out what it is that's going on in my head. I'm not used to writing short stories or flash fiction, it's not something I do very often but I'm contemplating doing it a bit more as I think it would benefit my writing. So Shadow Spell has been increasing in size every day and it's at the point now where I can't really finish it within the word count that I wanted (lets face it, the word count I wanted was 5,000 words ago). And this is making me anxious to finish, because I don't think I'm going to do a good job of it.Today I sat down and really thought about the story and about what's been going on and I've realised that the way I've been writing is too much like for a novella or novel and that's not really what I wanted to Shadow Spell. It was meant to be a short, quick project to get me back into a writing routine so I can get on and complete Awakened Magic, my sequel to Forgotten Magic. It was also meant to be fast paced and action packed and although there are elements of that, there's also a little bit too much world building and slow plot development.So I had a think about the bits of the story I really like so far, and the bits that probably aren't really doing anything for the story. And then I had a think about the actual plot in a bit more depth and what I really want from this story and I think I now know what direction I need to go in. It does mean there's going to be a significant re-write before I've even finished the first draft but I think that's important and it's what I need to do in order to be able to complete the story properly.It's not the first time I've re-written a story before I've even finished a first draft, in fact that's what I did with Forgotten Magic, though there was about 10 years between starting that story and finishing it and pretty much the entire book was re-written. Having had this revelation about Shadow Spell, I now feel a lot happier and think I'll be able to sit down and get the first draft sorted fairly quickly and with a much more appropriate word count.It;s always important to step back from your writing once in a while and work out whether the direction it's going in is actually the one you wanted or not. And if it's not, don't be afraid to change it, after all it could be the difference between loving one of your stories and being disappointed with it.

I didn't post a summary of my writing last week but I have been writing and I thought I'd just post a summary this week instead. I'm still working on Shadow Spell and I'm around 7,000 words in now with an aim to get another 1,000 written over the weekend (ideally I'd have the first draft finished this weekend but I'm trying to be realistic rather than setting myself up for failure).A big part of what I'm doing this time regarding my writing is to not make it feel like a chore. I know that might sound silly but if I really don't want to write (and I mean really, really as opposed to 'I don't think I want to but maybe I do.') then forcing myself doesn't actually make the writing good and I'll spend most of the time procrastinating anyway. So I'm writing when the feeling takes me and I'm actually finding that I'm getting a lot of words down in very little time. As long as the words are good (or at least workable) then it's worth working this way.Don't get me wrong, I'm still trying to make myself write, at least every other day, but if I've had a bad day at work and I really don't feel it then I'm not going to force myself. It's all about listening to what I want mentally and making sure I'm staying happy and positive about the writing process.So as I said I'm about 7,000 words in and I feel as though I'm really getting into it now. There's been a bit of a development regarding the main character (Kayla) and also the invisible demons that inhabit the planet. I already know a few things that need altering/fixing when I come to the second draft but they should hopefully be minor. I need to build the workd a little bit so the reader can really see what it's like. Ultimately in my head the planet isn't that different from Earth, so hopefully that'll be an easy fix.I'm still really enjoying writing this short story (even though it seems to be getting larger every day, and I'm sure it could probably be an actual novel but I've wanted to write a short story for years and decided this was the one), and I can't wait until I've got the first draft complete and I'm able to get some feedback from close friends. Fingers crossed it won't be much longer until I can put the progress bar on my homepage at 100% for the first draft and then start on the second draft!

Here I am at the weekend again and giving an overview of the writing I've done this week. So I've still been working on Shadow Spell and I'm currently at just under 5,000 words. Given that I had originally been considering the short story would be about 5,000 words total and I'm only about halfway through, I don't think that's going to happen.So I'm looking now to make Shadow Spell around 10,000 words and I actually think that's more achievable for the type of story that I'm doing. Today I've written just under 2,000 words, which I'm quite pleased with though I do now feel a little like my brain is melting...I'm currently feeling really good about this story and I'm hoping others will too. I think I'll be aiming for another 2,000 this week (I'm trying hard not to become overwhelmed with unachievable targets) since I know I can and if I end up writing more than that, then brilliant.If I'm lucky I'll have a first traft finished in a couple of weeks and then I'm going to get a bit of general feedback from some honest friends before I go in for an edit. Once I'm done with this little side project I'm going to work hard at getting back to Awakened Magic as I'd really love to have it out by Christmas (though that might be wishful thinking). I guess I'll just have to see how I get on.Until then, here's a screenshot of the first bit of Shadow Spell for you to enjoy:

I'm clearly not great at keeping up to date with my writing and since my last post I havne't been very good at doing the actual writing either. This is probably going to be my last attempt at keeping this website going and if I just can't seem to manage posting updates regularly then I'll probably get rid of it until such a time as I feel I'm ready for it again.With regards the the actual writing I'm trying to get back into that too. I'm not going to throw myself back into Awakened Magic just yet. I think I need to ease myself back into a routine, so I'm working on a short story idea that I had a while ago and found yesterday. I'm aiming for between 3000-5000 words and this morning I hit 1600 so it's going okay so far. It might end up being a bit longer but that's okay, i'm just seeing where the story takes me.I've stuck it up on my progress bar and you'll see it's currently called Shadow Spell. The name's not set in stone but at the moment I like it. To give a rough idea of the story, it's based in a world not unlike our own only it's infested with demons who will try and inhabit a body that isn't 'protected'. I'm not going to say much more than that right now as I'm clearly still in the early stages but the first line, which I posted up on my instagram account yesterday is; He doesn't have a shadow.So there you go, that's a very quick round up of my writing this week and hopefully I'll have another round up next week at some point (probably the weekend again).

So as you can see my website is all shiny and 'new' and I'm trying to get back to a more steady stream of writing rather than the sporadic method I've used previously. And included in this is a blog each week about either my writing progress or some other random stuff I've done that week (or maybe a bit of both).So this weekend it's been a bank holiday, which meant I had an extra day off work! And while I had planned to use this weekend to do lots of writing that didn't quite happen, mostly because the weather was absolutely gorgeous and who knows how long it will last!However I did do SOME writing and that is an achievement. I was mostly working on Awakened Magic, which as you probably know is the second book in the Elementals series and the sequel to Forgotten Magic. I was working on chapters 8 and 9 (though technically they're 9 and 10) which have basically been inserted between other chapters to add in some information. Chapter 8 focuses on Ayprill, who is from the second land, and Chapter 9 follows King Furoster, who rules the land Ayprill lives in. I'm not going to say much more than that as I want to try and keep as much of the story under wraps as possible.What I'm liking about this book though is all the different character viewpoints I'm doing, though I have to admit I'm hoping it doesn't get too confusing or chaotic. I guess only time will tell.The only other writing I did this weekend was a book review for Grendel: The Hound Who Hunts Nightmares Part Two, which I read and reviewed for The British Fantasy Society. It was a good book and the series it pretty intriguing, I'm probably going to buy myself the third book as I don't think it's on the review list (which is a shame) and I really want to know what happens and how it all ends.So that's pretty much it on the writing front this week. I'm planning on getting some more of Awakened Magic written this week and hopefully I'll progress with the short story I'm writing on my lunch break. I'm feeling quite excited about that one because you can cram so much into so few words to keep it fast paced and flowing. So hopefully I'll have a nice update for you all next week!

Hello again, it's been a while. I apologise for having been absent for so long. I've still been writing but honestly I stopped bloggin and taking care of my website as I didn't really like it anymore. So I've spent a bit of time changing and updating it and now I feel I've got something a little more modern and 'clean'. I've also added in a section that links to professional pieces I've worked on if you're interested in knowing a little bit more about my day job.I'll be honest and say I can't guarantee I'll end up getting a blog out each week as my life is quite full at the moment but I'll definitely try!So regarding the new website, I've obviously changed the look and design quite a bit and I've made it so my blog is now effectively the home page. This page also details what I'm working on at the moment in both my personal and professional writing life and has links to my books, short stories and articles. Clicking the 'books' tab will allow you to read the blurb of that book and if you click 'read more' you can check out the prologue for free. There's also a 'buy now' button which will link to Amazon where you can purchase the paperback or kindle version. Clicking either the 'short stories' or 'articles' tabs will display their titles and if you click 'read more' you'll be redirected to the full story or article.I decided to add in my professional writing as my career in object conservation is incredibly important to me and I feel as though my professional writing is just as much 'me' as the stories I write.So at the moment I'm working mostly on the sequel to Forgotten Magic and the second book in the Elementals Series, titled Awakened Magic. I'm currently about 25% of the way through the first draft and I've a general idea where I'm heading with it. I think what I'm going to try and do this week is sit down and draft a more detailed plan so I know what I'm doing and where I'm going with the story. No doubt it'll change at various points as it usually does but it's still useful to have some guidelines in place.I'm also tinkering with a little post apocalyptic short story at the moment which is in the very early stages (I think I've got around 1,000 words written) which I'm playing around with on my lunch hour. I'm not going to reveal too much about that at the moment as it really is in the early stages and what I'm thinking may not work.And in my professional writing world I've co-authored a paper looking at the x-radiography of arteacts, which comes out in May (eek) and I'm currently writing a paper regarding the treatment of taxidermy, which will hopefully be published within the next 6 months if I can get a wriggle on.So I suppose that's about it for now. As I mentioned earlier I would like to get back to writing my blog more often, even if it's just a summary of what I've written that week but I believe it will help me to keep on top of things (maybe) and become more consistent (hopefully). Please have a browse round the new site and of course you can follow me on social media. I'm mostly active on Instagram but occasionally post on the other two.Vicky