I haven’t posted for a while and I would like to say it’s because I am just so busy busy busy that I didn’t have time but it’s really to do with the fact that I have no idea why anyone would want to read my scribblings. I’ve realised I need to build a bridge and get over myself because there are millions of people writing blogs and posting them into the internet atmosphere and it is so common that it’s kind of like those tiny denim shorts where you can see the pocket lining (because the pocket lining is longer than the short). So here I go:

I’m working away on my second novel and it’s kind of like going to the dentist every day, all day, at the moment. Sounds fun? I should have been a dentist. That’s what I have realised trying to write a second book. I like mouths and teeth. I like people. And I’m dying to say to someone who WORKS FOR ME: “Veronica? whose my 2.30?”

I have thought a lot about changing careers because it’s Christmas. And Christmas turns into New Year. And as I make lists for Christmas it’s only natural to take some inventory of my own life and fill myself with the belief  that I will do things better 2012.  These are a few of the things, not all, I want to do better next year. I’m not going to talk about writing fiction, because I need a break from thinking about it. Here goes for my Better List:

1) Stop trawling the net for short courses that can make me a qualified medical professional in three months.

2) Waste less time reading drivel on the internet.

3) Continue to not have a clue which Kardishan sister is which. If I have spelt their name incorrectly I am not going to check, because I do not want to know any more about them.

4) Buy more music.

5) Eat fewer chocolate caramel slices.

6) Go easy on the Honey Soy Chicken Chippies. I didn’t say stop with the chippies, I said go easy. Open to interpretation.

7) Wear high shoes more often.

Find a hairstyle that’s not a ponytail. (Who am I kidding?)

9) Keep harping on to my daughters that there is a difference between wanting to look good and wanting to look sexy.

10) Be kinder, more positive.

There’s more. I’m warming up. Christmas is coming. X

Sometimes it’s great to have someone recommend a book and, today, I’m going to do exactly that.

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates. An American classic about a young couple trying to avoid being a young suburban couple. This book rocks big time. I can’t believe it was written 50 years ago. Amazing.

One Day by David Nicholls. It’s fun and funny and sweet and very nice to read.

Tipping The Velvet by Sarah Waters. An historical novel full of detail and drama and sex. Incredibly interesting.

If anyone has any recommendations, drop a line. Happy Reading. X

“UNDER THE INFLUENCE is a fresh and exciting debut from author Jacqueline Lunn that heralds a significant new voice in Australian fiction. Lunn’s ability to weave a gripping narrative about friendship, love, loss, ambition and estrangement makes this book highly engaging and impossible to put down. It’s a book that will stay with you for a long time after you put it down. In the best way possible.”
Mia Freedman

“Lunn isn’t afraid to examine the darker side of human nature and the characters, particularly Eve, are expertly drawn. While the plot doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to drama, Lunn has a skilful way of capturing the inner lives of girls and women. Lunn has written a compelling and commendable debut. These characters are the kind who infiltrate your thoughts for weeks to come; so real that you forget they have come from a work of fiction.”
Eleanor Limprecht, The Sun Herald

“An excellent debut novel – exceedingly compelling and definitely recommended for book clubs. A highly gifted and crafted writer.”
Clare Calvet, ABC Local

“Lunn’s gift for intelligent prose lends clout to this tale of bullying and the lasting damage it causes.”
Instyle

“Jacqueline Lunn writes with humour and intelligence, and conveys a sense of Australia’s unique character. She really knows how to tell a good story.”
Brizzieblog

“A warm and thoroughly entertaining tale, a thoroughly engrossing, enjoyable read. The lyrical prose that mercifully avoids over description also helped the pace along nicely, and promises there’s plenty yet to come from this author.”
Angela Young, The Courier Mail

“A story of teenage angst and insecurities that reach into adult life and the importance of lasting friendships. An easy read.”
The Examiner

“A warm and entertaining tale.”
Sunday Territorian

“A dark and painfully honest depiction of the power games played out between teenage girls.”
Grazia

“Lunn writes with a passion that brings something deeper to the story.”
Paul Donoughue, Sunday Mail Brisbane

I spent years whining about time when I had small children that couldn’t be left alone in case they stuck their fingers in a heater or swallowed a whole crayon. Now they are older and required to get an education so they can tell me I have no idea about long division. No excuses, right? Wrong. Sometimes all the ducks can be in a row and the writing goes AWOL. It just doesn’t happen.

What are the things I have done/ will do to avoid writing?

1) Researched the characters/ writers on Mad Men via the internet so I now have an unhealthy understanding of a made up TV show and spend too much time wondering if Peggy Olsen and Don Draper are soul mates.

2) Researched other writers (usually ridiculously successful multi award winning ones) to try to find out how they do it. What kind of environment do they write in? What their writing habits/methods etc? Give me a clue Oh Great Ones. Then I start reading the free chapters available online of their books.

3) Reply to emails that are so boring I refused to reply to them when I should have.

4) Facebook. Can you see an internet pattern emerging? Can you see that it is unfair that the same machine I work on is the ultimate in distraction. Now I understand software that shuts you out of your internet for periods at a time.

4) Make myself a cup of green tea.

5) Walk the dog.

6) Go to the dentist.

7) Ring a friend.

Imagine getting a fringe.

9) Imagine getting in the mail a huge fat cheque that will pay off my mortgage for writing and then I head off with the family on an extended overseas holiday where I become for the first time in my life, sunkissed and the children run free through high grass speaking another language. Sometimes I get on the internet and look at villas in Italy.

10) Start writing a list of all the things I will need when I start writing tomorrow – a new notebook, a USB (I already have these things, but that’s a small point). I am pumped as I write this list and can see myself on fire at the keyboard. Then I realise it’s just a list.

11) Tell myself I will never, ever again string two sentences together.

12) Wonder when exactly is too early for a vodka.

And that brings me to about 10.15 am.  X

BOOK SHOPS: I have had a number of people tell me, yes, including my mum, that Under The Influence was sold out in the book shop they went to. Please ask for it. I know there are more copies in the warehouse. Copies waiting to go to a lovely home.

BOOK CLUBS: I have had a few people contact me about book clubs. If you want me to talk at your book club, drop me a line via the contact form on this site and we will see what we can do. I would love to talk if it is possible. I have my own book club and love it. Best thing since sliced bread.

Comments: Firstly, thank you for all your lovely, generous comments. I have just worked out how to edit comments. Please tell me if you don’t want you comment to be published. I will edit full names and anything that identifies the commenter to ensure that comments don’t identify people.

J

It’s been a funny few weeks. Firstly I want to thank everyone who has bought my book, then read it and then taken the time to comment here or send me a message via this site. A big Thank You for doing any and all of the above.

I’ve mentioned it before but I have to mention it again; it’s very isolating writing a book, it’s also isolating releasing one into the universe, and you don’t know whether everyone is sniggering at you or enjoying what you have read. Feedback is wonderful. One email can make my day (that sounds sad but I’m meaning it as a good thing). I suppose that is a plus of the internet – this ease of communication and I hope it gets used for good, for connecting people.

I have started my second book and I am trying to get in a routine as much as possible. The secret to writing, as some wise wit once said, is write. It’s about me doing it. I have only me to blame if I, scuse the French, fart arse, and pretend I’m not. I am trying.

Hopefully, you’ll find me at my desk.

J

It takes a long time for a book to go from an idea to a finished product on the shelves. There’s thinking, writing, thinking, writing and then trying to live the rest of your life. Did I mention thinking, writing. The writing is more contained. The thinking tends to bleed into every aspect of life: driving the car and accidently missing when the light goes green, leaving the dog at school and going home, not hearing a question one of the kids ask when you are looking right at them. Now in book form all that thinking and writing wrapped up in a story.

I do have a writing routine. I never wrote Under The Influence in snatches or when the kids were at home. I just can’t concentrate with the feeling I could be interrupted at any moment or, in fact, being interrupted at any moment. I would drop the kids to school and day care (they are all at school now). I then grabbed a takeaway coffee. This takeaway coffee took on more significance than probably healthy but I worked out it was vital for my transition. From being mum to the start of my work day (plus it was the last of my face to face human adult contact for six or so hours). Then I would go home, put the coffee next to the computer and write. Stop for lunch (and maybe a phone call) and then I would read or write some more for an hour/hour and a half and then I would have to stop because it was pick up time. So all in all I would write solidly for three to three and a half hours in the morning. Have a break and then write for one one and a half hours in the early afternoon. I never did housework. I treated those hours like I was at work. My rule was do the housework when the kids are home.

I must admit I was disciplined about working in those school hours because those hours were all I had. I’m not the kind of person who can start working when the kids go to bed and work through until two or three in the morning. Everyone’s life would be thrown into turmoil including mine if that happened. And, anyway, I had a good chunk of the day, uninterrupted to work. School hours may not be perfect, but it was what I had and it worked for me. Some people write their first novel with a full time job and children and I take my hat off to them.

Also there is the work that happens when you are not sitting at a desk or physically tapping away at a computer. The work of thinking. That happened all the time.

When I went for a quick walk in the morning. At the lights in the car so much so I sometimes sat through a green light and it would turn red again and I would be lost in my head and still sitting there. I would be talking to people and thinking about the book. Or in the supermarket and when I came out of my little thinking bubble not have a clue why I was there. I carried around (and still do) a notepad and pen for those out of the blue answers to plot or character or any other nagging questions. I also had a notepad and pen by my bed and you wouldn’t believe the amount of times I would click the light on at night write something, click off light, put my head on the pillow, nearly fall asleep, click the light on, write something down etc. I became so skilled at this sometimes I didn’t bother turning the light on.

I’ve read up on Stephen King’s process – I think the book he wrote about it was called On Writing. I’ve read about Sarah Waters and a few others. I found the discipline came because there is no secret to writing a book other then sitting down and writing it. You have to turn up. I found a routine comforting, which is good because writing a book is anything but comfortable. It is wonderful, though.

J

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