Writing a novel

Writing a novel can be one of the most rewarding experiences you can have. Many people want to write a novel. They sit down with great intentions of writing the work to finish it, hoping to get it published. What beginning writers don’t know is that writing a novel is a time consuming task. It is not something they are going to finish in a week or two. It takes, time, dedication and determination to write 50,000 plus words. The writing can take an unexpected turn because the characters have a mind of their own and want to take charge of the story.

It is at this point that you can become discouraged and throw the project in. Usually, the discouragement for me comes from not understanding my characters and their motives, or I can get lost in where the story is taking me. Here are four steps I follow to resolve this issue:

1. I stop writing and take a long hard look at what I’ve already written. Sometimes I’ll find a scene hasn’t quite done its job to hold up the plot to keep the story moving forward. I review the scene to see why it’s not doing the job I wanted it to do. I check the structure of the scene and ask what is the purpose of this scene? I re-write until I get it just the way I want it. Sometimes this process can take many drafts, so I keep calm by taking a few deep breaths, I go for a walk to clear my head, and most of all I’ve learnt to be patient. All that re-writing is worth it.

2. I don’t know my characters as real people. Sometimes I haven’t gone into my character’s personality to understand them at a deep level. This means knowing how they will react with various situations. Do I know how they are going to react when they meet a homeless person in the street? Is my character going to be repulsed because the homeless person is looking unkempt? Will my character be open and friendly? Or will my character ignore that person and walk right past because of private prejudices? It’s important to know how your character will react in this situation. Your character’s reaction will determine where the story goes. When you let your character take charge of the story, i.e. character driven story, you will find the story will write itself. When the writing flows and you are racing behind them writing as fast as you can to keep up, is knowing your character at a very deep level.

3. Are you being congruent with the theme of the story? Perhaps your character has shown themselves as wanting something that is outside the theme of your story. You may need to ‘interview’ your character to find out why they are acting in that way. Sometimes, especially if the motivation is well outside your original theme, you may need to rewrite a lot of your work to be consistent with the theme of your book, or worse, change the theme. This may require many, many hours of extra work, but trust your instinct and do the work.

4. Sometimes I can be impatient, wanting to get the words done quickly. While I’m writing I have a niggly feeling I’m putting words down for the sake of getting my daily word quota done. This is where I push my keyboard away, take up a pen and paper and write by hand. The physical writing by pen and paper slows me down physically and mentally; slowing my breathing slows my mind. This process helps me to re-align with my heart and the love for my characters. It’s amazing how this slowing down creates more space for my thoughts as my heart and mind begin to listen to, and hear each other.

A gentle reminder: writing a novel is not easy, there will be starts and stops and starts, as you get to know your characters and the interactions they have with each other. This is the fun part of writing a novel. Enjoy the process and reward yourself when the work is done.

Authentic living

Live authentically and feel the difference.

Will the real you, please stand up.

I woke up this morning thinking about being authentic. For me, being authentic means trusting the voice inside of me and being confident to follow the guidance I receive. As a fiction writer, I have voices going around in my head all the time, and sometimes it is difficult to discern the voice of authority that I should follow. I'm sure you have these voices inside you, too.

I admire young people who listen to their own voice. Some have taken up the call to travel overseas living a nomadic lifestyle so that they can learn about the world and themselves. This is authenticity. They are willing to take a risk following their desires and dreams to see where it will lead them.

Are you trying to be someone you aren't? Not everyone is meant to be a doctor, a plant operator, an accountant, digital nomad, a research scientist, or doing one of a thousand other jobs available in the world. Basically, our profession is dependent on our personality style, our dreams, our natural abilities, and skills that we have learned in life so far.

I used to be an accountant, but working with numbers never quite resonated with me. However, it served me well until a rumbling started inside of me and it grew until it affected every part of my life, including my personal and work relationships. Eventually, unable to stand the discontent any more, I got the courage to really listen to the voice inside of me.

The thing that was holding me back was me! I was insecure about my abilities. After much discussion with my authentic voice, I found my passion is to write and to encourage others on their life's journey. Making the change wasn't easy. That's the subject of another post. I am now living in my authentic self, and every day, my writer's shirt is getting to be a better fit. A force much bigger than I will ever be is at work in me helping me understand who I am and how to wear that writer's shirt.

Your rumbling could also take the form of a romantic relationship that isn't working; a work colleague and you having differences; or the production line you go to every day is driving you crazy with its same old, same old and you can't see anything different in the foreseeable future if you stay there.

Listen to the disquiet inside of you. Your higher source is telling you to move on, to be truthful to yourself and your life's calling. Don't be afraid of change. Do something to make the change you crave so that you can be yourself and not live that lie any longer.

In my latest novel due for release on 3 April 2016, Kate's Choice, Kate is unsettled in her life with Dusty. When she was nineteen she made a choice from her ego, not her authentic self. Eleven years later, she is paying the price for not being true to herself. She's unhappy and wants her life to change. For Kate, fate steps in and her life takes a major turn. 

Unfortunately, in real life, we sometimes have to take fate into our own hands to change our lives. Are you courageous enough to take charge of your life to be your authentic and creative self, so that you can get the contentment and happiness you crave?

Make a conscious effort to work toward your authentic self today and point yourself to a life that is true for you. You may not want to be a writer, but there is an idea smoldering in you that needs to be set on fire. Identify your calling, be brave and go for it with all that you are. Let me know in the comments below what your passion is. I love to hear from you and help you take hold of that authentic dream.

Growing Macadamias

Kate's Choice  takes place in Germany, Townsville and on an experimental macadamia nut farm at Giru about an hour's drive south of Townsville. During my research this is what I found out about macadamia nuts.

Green and ripened macadamia nuts.

Macadamia nuts are an Australian native. They love to grow in a subtropical climate and flourish when temperatures are between 20 and 25 degrees celsius.

The trees present with shiny dark leaves and grow to a height of 12 to 15 metres. Flowering happens in early spring and nuts begin to form in early December maturing to a well-formed nut by early March. The nuts are encased in a green crust which splits open when the nuts are ready for harvesting. This splitting enables the kernel inside the brown woody shell to dry and separate from the hard shell. Hitting the  hard shell with a hammer to open it will reward you with that delicious smooth nut that has a buttery flavour.

Kate's father, Dominic, feeling the effects of drought felt he needed to diversify his farming, so he sold most of his cattle and planted macadamia nuts as an experiment. 

Giru's temperature is a little too warm and the rainfall can be unreliable for growing macadamias but he wanted to try with the help of trickle irrigation. He planted the small saplings and some of them perished in the heat while the stronger ones held on. With time the trees adapted and grew but not to the height of those that grow in south east Queensland. The leaves didn't have the same depth of green, but he got a crop. He persevered and over the years he planted up to 2,000 trees. Alex, Dusty's brother, is a research scientist. He worked with Dominic to help him through the highs and lows of the experiment to achieve his desired result. 

Whether to take up the challenge to diversify and what new crop to plant has to be one of the most difficult decisions to make in farming. Farmers are on a huge learning curve as they come to understand the life cycle of a new crop and its needs to thrive and whether it can become a viable business venture. The amount of time a new tree crop like Macadamia nuts takes to bear is also another factor. Dominic was willing to take the risk and with Alex's help was able to create a new source of income from his land.

Are you willing to take a risk on a new project and see it through to the end no matter the challenges?

Migraine buster for 1 billion people

Debilitating migraine.

Along with 1 billion other people on this planet, I have suffered with migraine. This debilitating condition started when I was fourteen years old. One morning I walked to school as usual. A couple of seconds after I had placed my school bag in the port racks I started losing my peripheral vision. At first, I chose to ignore it thinking it would go away, but the brown squiggly shapes began to grow and they started to block out more and more of my vision until I could hardly see. At the same time the right side of my forehead started tensing, I felt nauseous and a tingling sensation was forming in my mouth. Within twenty minutes I had excruciating pain in my head, my tongue and the left hand side of my body were numb and the brown squiggles had turned to jagged shapes of black, red, blue and grey. What was happening to me?

The pain was so bad I couldn't stand up. My friends took me to the school sick bay and I stayed there all day with my head feeling as though it was going to explode. There was no way I wanted to live that day. I thought I was going to die. That night a doctor's visit confirmed I had migraine. He gave me an injection and I went home and slept for the next twelve hours. I awoke feeling washed out. It was as if someone or something had stolen my vitality. With another twenty-four hours of disturbed sleep, I woke feeling more like me.

This pattern of migraine occurred at erratic times and I was unable to isolate a trigger for them. When I was pregnant with my son, I had them every day from the fourteenth week of my pregnancy until he was born. That was definitely no fun. The gynecologist told me the migraine was triggered by hormones. If that was the case why didn't I get them the same time every month? Also, I could eat all the supposed foods that caused migraine and I didn't get one. There was no way I could find a reason for these debilitating headaches.

Last August, the migraines started coming every day, and some days I was having two a day. Writing just wasn't happening and I was ready to jump off the balcony of my fourth floor apartment. Life was no fun and if I was to continue living, something had to be done about these wretched headaches. I googled "Migraine Headaches". There were heaps of links to help in the USA. I wanted help on the Gold Coast. I persevered and finally found The Brisbane Migraine Clinic. I was elated and was ready to travel Brisbane.

It is now 21 October and I haven't had a migraine since 29 August. How incredibly amazing is that! I have my life back. My treatment started with lots of questions about my migraine history. Bertrand was thorough in his questioning and I felt confident he covered every aspect of my migraine before he started my treatment. He asked me to lie down and the first thing he did was bring on a migraine. Ouch!! But within minutes he also was, to my relief, able to turn it off. Bertrand was de-sensitizing my brain stem. There was no manipulation only pressure that created a migraine which he held for several seconds until the pain gradually disappeared. This treatment continued for about twenty minutes. It was painful, but manageable. Bertrand gave me homework. I had exercises to do four times a day. It took a while for me to get into the rhythm of doing them but a reminder on my iphone helped me remember. Thankfully, I travelled by train to Brisbane for my appointment. On the way home I got another migraine and continued to have them for the next few days until my next appointment.

Was this treatment working? Was I wasting my money? The guiding voice inside of me said keep going. I continued my exercises and my appointments twice a week for several weeks and as the migraines became less frequent so did my appointments. I am now attending Bertrand's clinic once every three weeks and I have been migraine free since 29 August.

What a life changer!

I am continuing with my exercises. I believe they are working. Even my tension headaches have disappeared. So now I can say I am no longer one of the 1 billion people who suffer with migraine.

How about you? Have you lost productive hours because of migraine? Have you lost leisure hours because of migraine? Have you suffered with migraine for too long?

Core values

A few years ago I didn't understand what core values were. I hadn't consciously thought about what I believed in. Why? For many reasons that I will talk about in future posts. In order for me to understand my core values, I used my alone time to understand who I am.

What are you core values?

Core values are the beliefs you hold close to your heart. They are the beliefs you will not compromise on. They're the compass points that steer your life. When you identify your core beliefs you have a better understanding of yourself and why you do the things you do. Identifying your values also helps you understand why you may be lonely and what you need to help make these times less lonely. When I am lonely it usually means my core needs are not being met.

In African hearts, Gina was caught in an empty place. She thought she valued money, power, travel, and a penthouse to live in, but it left her feeling unfulfilled. She violated her number one value and that was to connect with people at a deep level. Caring for people was important to her and was the reason why she was a nurse before she took over the business after her parents died. When she was in Gumboli she had a lot of time to think about her life and she discovered her internal compass was faulty. Gumboli gave her time to reconnect with herself so she could re-evaluate who she really was. This re-assessment changed her life as she realigned and challenged her core values.

During recent years I have revisited my core values and discovered a few of them needed major adjustment. It seems that I too went off on a tangent and consequently became confused and unable to move forward. After some deep soul searching, I discovered many of my actions didn't align with my core values. So how are you going? Are your thoughts and actions in line with your your values or are you struggling to get back to centre?