Bella’s Scribblings

Bella is a member of the RNA’s new writer’s scheme. She has recently finished her first novel, Acting on Impulse and she’s represented by The Kate Nash Agency. She lives with her husband, daughter and a deaf geriatric cat.
Every fortnight, Bella will be sharing tales and experiences from her writing journey.

Seasonal Writing

Bella Osborne

Bella Osborne

By Bella Osborne.

So here we are heading for March and it’s still cold and soggy and generally miserable outside. Am I utilising the impact this is having on my mood in my writing? Am I drawing on my surroundings to make my scenes in my novel more believable? Err, no, actually I’m writing about summer in Antigua!

You see I may well be an uber forward planner (actually I am, there are few to rival me) but what I hadn’t thought through when I plotted about book number two was what time of year I would be writing which scenes. The novel is set in the summer and I have written pretty much all of it during the winter. I guess the real question is – Does that matter?

I know that with book number one I felt the snow scene worked well because I had written it as the snow was tumbling down outside. I had written it as a ‘candy’ scene (I understand this is the correct term for a scene written out-of-order because you are compelled to write it). I think my scene in the rain was perfectly acceptable too, let’s face it living in the UK I have regular material and plenty of it to work with on that subject.

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Valentines Day – inspiration or constipation

Bella Osborne

Bella Osborne

By Bella Osborne.

So it’s Valentine’s Day this month. You know this by the sharp hike in the cost of wilting flowers and the sea of pink hearts that assaults your eye balls when you enter a card shop. Love it or hate it, it usually incites a reaction in most people. I have to say I’m a bit ambivalent to it, well I thought I was…

When I was at school I used to find Valentine’s Day hugely entertaining as a few cheap cards delivered to key individuals could cause all sorts of havoc. I suspect poor old Mr Midgely always wondered why the attractive new Chemistry lab assistant had pledged her undying devotion to his home knitted tank tops and why the spottiest boy in class got the most valentines much to the chagrin of his better looking contemporaries.

I, of course sent my long-suffering husband a card on Valentine’s Day but that was all. We have tried going out for a meal to mark the occasion but it is usually a bit of a disappointment as the restaurant is full to the gunwales and the food often suffers because of it. I once managed to pour hot soup over my fingers when out for a Valentine’s meal and spent the whole Continue reading

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NaNoWriMo Revisited

Bella Osborne

Bella Osborne

By Bella Osborne.

Back in July I was at the Romantic Novelists Association conference and I was lucky enough to be befriended by the Birmingham Chapter of the RNA who I sat with at dinner. After a few too many glasses of the fizzy stuff they started making pledges (apparently they do it every year). I was quickly caught up in it and a couple more glasses of fizz later I was signed up for NaNo (whatever that was). I was caught up in the buzz of the evening and nearly everyone else was pledging to NaNo (I was guessing it was the God of Writing or something similar) so added myself to the metaphorical list.

The next day NaNo cropped up again and I thought it wise to seek out a few more details, I was informed that it was actually fifty thousand words in a month. Oh right… WHAT??? After a glass of wine (for the shock you understand) I was suitably reassured that it was doable. Lots of them had done it before and had all become ‘Winners’ Continue reading

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Desk Disappointment & Lame Excuses

Bella Osborne

Bella Osborne

By Bella Osborne.

Those of you who follow me on Twitter (and if you don’t then please do @osborne_bella) will already know the outcome of the desk delivery, so please bear with me.

As you know I was very excitedly awaiting the delivery of what I was terming my ‘forever’ desk. It had been a long while in the choosing and it was made of oak so I hoped it would be something that would accompany me on my writing expedition over the foreseeable years. I say ‘expedition’ as I hate the overused word ‘journey’ and a journey implies knowledge of destination whereas an expedition is a whole lot more unknown and exciting, so expedition it most definitely is!

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Me & My Writing Desk.

Bella Osborne

Bella Osborne

We’re very pleased to be welcoming Bella Osborne to the Novel Kicks team with her new column, Bella’s Scribblings.

I was staggered to be asked by the lovely Laura to do a regular column for Novel Kicks and extremely nervous. You see I am a ‘Wanna Be Writer’ I have absolutely no credentials as I have neither self published or been published – I know what you’re thinking ‘Great choice Laura, was there really nobody else available,’ and I don’t blame you. However, I am a Wanna Be Writer with a plan, loads of enthusiasm and huge amount of tenacity. So over the next twelve months (oh stop groaning at least it’s got you off Twitter) I will be bringing you a fortnightly update on what I’m up to and how my writing is going. First up here’s a bit of background so you know a bit about me:

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