Natasha Judd

So suddenly December’s ending and Christmas is over and it’s the last day of 2007.  I would have liked to spend today writing, but unfortunately I’ve got work – which has been a bit of a theme of the last 12 months… and probably of the 12 to come.  But I’m beginning to believe that I’m always going to need to work while I write, and that the working can be inspiring too, in it’s own way.

In 2007, I didn’t finish NaNoWriMo.  I didn’t finish the first draft of my work in progress.  I didn’t send any poetry to magazines.  And, yet, it was an amazing year: one where I read on National Radio, and saw a novel with my name on the spine on the bookshelves of Unity bookshop.

It’s a year where I’ve blogged, and kept a paper journal, sent letters and written travel stories.  Where I’ve read book after book, and been introduced to the work of some inspiring young writers, such as Faye L. Booth and Lili Wilkinson.  Where I’ve gotten so excited about the success of my New Zealand classmates, and just begun to scratch the surface of what’s on offer in London.

Next year, I’d like to be more focused.  I say that every year.  But more than that, I want to write things that I’ve started through to their completion.  Then, I want to have the confidence write new things: new genres, forms I’ve forgotten, to write just because I like the sound of my voice on the screen.

I’d like to thank everyone for all their support this year, and wish you all the best in writing and life in 2008.

This week’s topic over at web stuff 4 writers asks about the longest piece you’ve written.  For me, the answer is easy.  At approximately 57,000 words, Lessons to Learn is by far the longest piece I’ve written.

Of course, 57,000 words isn’t very long for a novel.  It’s no Shantaram or Edward Rutherfurd epic.  But for me it’s impressive.  Until I finished that first draft of Lessons to Learn, I considered myself predominantly a short story writer and a some-of-the-time poet.  Before then, my longest works were my failed NaNoWriMo attempt in 2004 (approximately 17,000 words) and the 12,000 word essay I wrote in my Human Communication paper in the first year of university.  The required word count for the latter was only 1,000 words I think, and I was most disappointed when I only got a B+.

I’m about 25,000 words into a new project now.  Will it be longer than Lessons to Learn?  I’m not sure at this stage.  For now, I’m just going to keep writing till I feel the story’s told. There’ll be time for editing and adding and taking out words, paragraphs, pages and whole sections, once that first draft is done.

So, it’s been almost a month between updates, and what have I been doing? Somehow I’ve managed to fill in the time.  I know I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but that only took a day. I’ve been writing up some of our travel stories for the Cosmotourist website. I’ve been swamped at the day job. And I’ve been, very slowly, working on the next novel. And other things, I guess.

Meanwhile, Lessons to Learn is out there in the world, and every now and then, I get to hear from people who’ve read it. Just today, I noticed that it was called a ‘delightful’ on Beattie’s Book Blog.  A couple of weeks ago, a classmate forwarded me a Sunday Star Times review which contained the words ‘gifted with a flair for deadpan comedy’ and also ’sex-mad Aussie sloven’ (the latter luckily referring to a character). 

And then there’s Fiona, the editor of AUT’s student magazine, debate, who has forwarded me some copies of Issue 16, which contains an interview and a way-too-large picture.  And there’s the people who’ve read it through Bookcrossing, and my lovely friends who pre-ordered their copy or have bought it from the stores. 

It’s strange to think of the book in other people’s hands at the other end of the earth.  It’s like leaving a part of me at home, it’s keeping that connection, while here in London, I catch the tube and walk along South Bank, and what is normal life for now continues.

One thing on my had-to-do list before leaving Auckland was pick up the July issue of the New Zealand youth magazine, Tearaway.

Tearaway’s one of those magazines that I read religiously when I was at high school and that I still flick through whenever I get the chance, so it’s exciting to see Lessons to Learn on the books page of this issue.

They’ve got five copies of the novel to give away to their readers. For more details, check out this article on their website.

I was lucky enough to be able to take three weeks of annual leave for the book launch.  Three weeks without work, on the other side of the world – I thought I’d be able to get a lot of the new book written.  One week in, and I’ve only done about 4,000 extra words.

I’ve also signed my name quite a lot.  Yesterday, as I was listening to the radio interview, I was sticking post-it notes onto copies of Lessons to Learn which have been pre-ordered by family and friends.  The day before, I signed 20 more, which are travelling back to Australia for Matt’s family.  They looked so pretty, all stacked up on top of each other.  I had to restrain myself from taking more photos.

This morning, as she dropped me off for my appointment, Mum pulled out a copy to show her dentist.  He started reading it in reception, asked what it cost, and bought it off her – which was great, but didn’t quite make up for the mouth pain inflicted on me a few minutes later.  And I’m sure going to have to sell a lot of books before it becomes a feasible way of paying dental bills!

And there’s always the distraction of looking for copies of Lessons to Learn in bookstores.  The first place we tried was Time Out bookstore in Mount Eden.  It wasn’t on the shelves when we went in last Monday, but when Matt went back in and asked, “Do you have Natasha Judd’s book?” the staff member he spoke to said, “That’s Lessons to Learn” and produced a copy from the back room that had been pre-ordered (I know a couple of the readers of this blog have pre-ordered from Time Out, so thanks if it’s you!)

The first place I found it on the shelves was in Dymocks Newmarket.  Walked past the New Zealand shelf, and there was the familiar green cover.  Facing out too, so that everyone could see the title, those apples, the picture of the cover girl who everyone says looks so much like Charlotte.  It was amazing to see it there, alongside other New Zealand authors whose names start with letters close to J: people like Elizabeth Knox,  Stephanie Johnson, Witi Ihimaera, Lloyd Jones, and then there’s Natasha Judd… It’s surreal!

Also quite surreal is the thought that people I don’t know are now reading Lessons to Learn; that people are buying it as a gift for others.  Before she left for work, Mum had me sign a copy “To a very special lady.”  It’s going to one of her colleagues, who wants to give it to her mother-in-law.  I put the New Zealand/Australia Bookcrossing copy in the post today too, so that’ll be soon arriving at the first stop on its ring of readers.

Still, this week should be quieter, and once my mouth stops hurting (I’m such a wimp when it comes to dental work), I should be able to concentrate on getting more of this new second-book-first-draft written.  I’ve talked about it on National Radio now, after all…

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a message on the book-swapping website Bookcrossing.com, saying that I was going to start a bookring to celebrate the launch of Lessons to Learn.  The response has been incredible, with over 40 people signing up to join the ring from places as far apart as Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Tasmania in Australia. 

As it might take each ring participant up to a month to read the book and pass it on, I’ve decided to set up a separate ring for New Zealand and Australian Bookcrossers. 

If you’re a Bookcrossing.com member (it’s free to join) and are interested in joining either bookring, please send me a message through the Bookcrossing site. 

Alternatively, you can following the travels of Lessons to Learn at the links below:

• Europe/North America bookring
• New Zealand/Australia bookring

This week is passing by in a blur, and it’s difficult to keep up with the blogging. It’s now Saturday afternoon, and this entry is about Wednesday morning: the morning after the book launch, when I was interviewed for Radio New Zealand.

You might expect that, compared to speaking to rows and rows of people at the launch, it might be easier for me to speak into a microphone in a room that was empty (apart from me and my husband Matt, sitting on the other side of the table, wearing a second pair of headphones). But in truth, despite all the Radio New Zealand staff being absolutely fantastic, it was still a kind of scary experience.

Embarrassing too. There were some issues organising a link up between the Auckland studios and Wellington, where the interviewer, Lynn Freeman, is based. So we were sitting there with the headphones on, and there was just buzzing on the line, and Matt asks me if Lynn will have read my book, and I say something like, “Yeah, I think so. I’m pretty sure that Chris sent her a copy.” A minute or so later, Lynn’s on the line, and she’s lovely and friendly, and one of the first things she does is reassure me that she has read the book. Not sure whether she’d heard me or not, but the microphones were probably already on… and either way, embarrassing!

Most of the interviews I’ve done so far have been about the writing process: about studying at the IIML, about things I’ve written before this, about how I turned the short story into a novel. Lynn asked those things too, but there were also a lot of questions about the book itself – the themes and the characters, such as the father and Greg. I guess I should’ve been expecting this (after all, the characters are hopefully more interesting than me talking about how I write). Oh well, something to think about for next time. I read the ‘Lean on Me’ section again - I’d practised that and also read it at the launch the night before, so hopefully that bit sounded okay.

I’ve been told that the piece will be on sometime tomorrow (Sunday) between 2 and 3pm. For those of you in New Zealand who want to listen, there’s a list of Radio New Zealand frequencies here. For those overseas or those not by a radio tomorrow, the audio will be available for download for a month from the Arts on Sunday section of the Radio New Zealand website.

Ladies and gentlemen, Lessons to Learn has been launched.

The big event took place on Tuesday night, at the Takapuna Library.  Strangely enough, it raised similar concerns to a previous big event, our September wedding last year.  Did everyone get their invitations?  Would they like the food?  What should I wear?  Do I need a hair cut?  What do I say in my speech?  What will others say in their speeches? 

No wonder that, at about 5pm, as we drove along the motorway to Takapuna, I noticed my hands were shaking.

The staff and friends of Takapuna library had already set up the lectern and seats by the time I got there, and in the too-short moments before everyone else arrived, I practised standing behind it, posing while Matt took photos, sipping on water, convinced that I was going to lose my voice.

Then suddenly, there were people everywhere.  Grandparents; aunts and uncles and cousins; teachers from primary, intermediate, high school; friends; friends’ parents; the text and cover designers, even the girl who’s picture is on the cover herself.  And keeping in the theme of rather-like-a-wedding, there was also a chocolate cake with white chocolate icing in the shape of a book.  I’m told that the cake was delicious; I’m told that all the food was delicious.  I was too nervous to eat a thing.

I signed a few early-purchased copies, in a totally undignified manner, kneeling on the floor.  Then speeches, where Helen Woodhouse from Takapuna Library, and my publisher, Christine Cole Catley and Dame Catherine Tizard all said lovely things about the book.  Then my turn, which I think was also okay.  The audience laughed a few times as I read out the section where Charlotte teaches “10 very great English songs” to her students.  My hands were still shaking a little bit, but it felt like everyone was on side.

I have many lessons to learn.  However, I don’t seem to be a quick learner.  I was intending to find a place to sit and sign the rest of the copies, but instead a line formed as I rested on the piano, and I must’ve signed about 20 books there, with my signature getting progressively more illegible.  And only when I got to the last couple did I remember that my grandfather had advised me to sign with black pen rather than blue. 

Afterwards there were more photos, hugs, farewells, dinner with friends at a local restaurant.  It all passed in a blur, really.  As clichéd as it sounds, I’ve always wanted to be a novelist – and there I was, launching a novel.  Still seems like a dream in a way, but I’ve got a carton of books downstairs which proves that it must be a dream come true.

All in all, an amazing experience: thanks to the organisers, thanks to those who emailed and phoned with messages of support, and thanks ever so much to everyone who came and bought a copy of the book.  Hopefully we’ll be able to do it again sometime, but I have many, many more words to write before then.

Continued from Part III

16. What do you do to celebrate when you finish a draft?

After I finished my last draft of Lessons to Learn, I got married and headed off to Europe for two months. However most of the time, the celebrations are a little more low-key: perhaps a trip to a café for a hot chocolate with a new book or magazine. It’s a chance to print off a complete copy of the work-in-progress, then shut down the file, and leave things be for a couple of days, a week, a month, before I start editing it again.

17. One project at a time, or multiple projects at once?

So far, I’ve only been able to deal with one novel-sized project at a time. But I’m also usually working on other mini-writing projects, whether it’s short stories, articles, poems, blog entries, letters, and so on.

18. Do your books grow or shrink in revision?

Lessons to Learn and the current work-in-progress both started out as short stories, so they’ve definitely grown from that format!

A couple of years ago, I would’ve said that I was a short story person; that all my ideas for stories arrived in an under 3,000 word format. Now, I do think about an idea in terms of a novel-length plot and complexities, but even so, my books still tend to grow in revision.

For me, the first draft of a novel is about getting the bones of the story down. It’s about working out how I’m going to get to that end point which I have in my head. Revising is about expanding the story around that, so the word count definitely goes up during the editing process.

19. Do you have any writing or critique partners?

Not at the moment. I know I’m going to need people to critique this draft when I’m done, but right now I have to just write it.

20. Do you prefer drafting or revising?

Let’s see. I enjoy the freedom of drafting; the feeling that when I sit down and write that I could take the story anywhere. However, it’s hard work to get the words flowing sometimes, and the finished product always seems so far away.

When I’m revising, I’ve got the full story there in front of me and I’m working to make it better. It can be tedious at times, going through chapter by chapter with the red pen (or the red track changes function on Microsoft Word), but at the same time I like having the opportunity to say ‘what if?’ What if I remove this character? What if she said something different here? What if I took out this paragraph or removed this sentence? Would the meaning still be there?

When I’m drafting, I say I prefer revising. When I’m revising, I say I prefer drafting. Actually, that sounds like I don’t enjoy writing at all, which isn’t true. I’ve loved to write since I learnt I could write, and it’s something I want to continue doing for a very long time.

Any other questions?

• 20 writing questions: Part I
• 20 writing questions: Part II
• 20 writing questions: Part III

If anyone has a question which I haven’t covered here, please feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll try and answer it as soon as possible.

After an hour on the crowded tube, another getting through security at Heathrow, 22 hours in the air, half an hour looking for gate E20 at Singapore, 15 very long minutes waiting on the tarmac, I arrived back in Auckland at 8pm last night.

My parents were waiting at the airport, embarrassing and supportive as ever, with helium welcome home balloons and ribbons; flowers and signs that said “Lessons to Learn: Available in All Good Bookstores Now” (apparently it should be in bookstores now, though none of us have yet seen a copy on the shelves). It was late at night. Hopefully not too many people noticed.

Waiting at home, there was an article about the launch of Lessons to Learn in our local newspaper, the Western Leader. There’s the picture that Matt took of me in the back streets of Wimbledon, on page 4, surrounded by stories about a young cyclist, a 100 year old woman, and a call to change the booster seat law. Online, I found that the interview I had last Thursday morning had become a press release. I checked my email in Singapore, and discovered that next Wednesday morning an interview has been organised with Lynn Freeman for the Radio New Zealand Arts on Sunday show.

Today, across the road and next to where I used to catch the bus to primary school, they demolished an old shed. Wood and corrugated iron were pulled off bit by bit, until it collapsed. The neighbours stood around on the grass at watched, took photos, ate sausages in bread. Mum brought along a copy of Lessons to Learn and took orders. I practised talking about it.

What it’s about, when I wrote it, is it me on the cover (yes: on the back; no: on the front). I feel that I’m going to be talking about it an awful lot in the week to come.

So, it’s the first of June, and there’s only 12 days and a very long flight separating me and the launch of Lessons to Learn. Takapuna Library has details about the launch up on their website now, so it must really be happening!

It’s been a busy week, with a lot of firsts. I did my first two interviews about Lessons to Learn: one over email, the other by phone at 7 o’clock yesterday morning. Being a writer rather than a speaker, it’s probably not surprising I found it a lot easier to coherently answer the written questions. And indeed, later I had to send an email to the person who called me, once I’d got to work and remembered all the things that I’d forgotten to say on the phone. It’s strange to be asked how I feel about Lessons to Learn being published: excited, overwhelmed, impatient and quite terrified all at once.

I also signed my first book this morning, before packaging it up for a friend in Italy (you know who you are!). Normally, I can’t bring myself to write on books, but it seems to be less sacrilegious when my name’s on the front cover. I still haven’t finalised a good “Natasha Judd” signature, and when I’m not thinking about it, I’ll still start the “L” of “Leitch” and then try and convert it into a “J” and fudge the rest from there.

I opened a new bank account, and my occupation was listed as writer - that’s definitely a first!

And on the subject of firsts, congratulations to all the finalists of the Montana NZ book awards, with particular YAYs to my IIML classmates, Michele Amas and Airini Beautrais who are finalists in the First Book - Poetry category.  I can’t wait to pick up copies of both their collections once I’m back in New Zealand.  Not long now!

Firstly, a huge thank you to Tom Chalmers from Legend Press for plugging this site and Lessons to Learn on their Myspace blog. And ah, yes, I have a Myspace page. It’s not particularly decorative or indeed informative at this stage, but it does star the beautiful Lessons to Learn cover as an all-purpose profile image.

* Secondly, I miss L&P.

Continued from Part II

11. What do you do when you get writer’s block?

To tell the truth, on most occasions when I get writer’s block, I just don’t write. I guess that’s a luxury of still considering writing as something I love to do rather than something I need to do to bring in an income.

However, if there’s something that I need to get written for a deadline, I’ll try to break it down into smaller chunks and set myself rewards for meeting each one. For example, if I write 50 words then I can have one M&M. I will write lots of words for M&Ms.

12. What size increments do you write in (either in terms of word-count, or as a percentage of the book as a whole)?

At the moment, I’m lucky if I get any writing done on a weekday. When I do, it’s usually to insert a particular idea or piece of research into the manuscript – so I write as many words as I need to get it in there.

If it’s a Saturday or Sunday where I’ve got a full day to write, I try to write in sessions of at least 500 words at a time. Sometimes that’s a struggle, sometimes I can easily write 2000 words or more without stopping.

13. How many different drafts did you write for your last project?

I remember throwing away a whole vacuum cleaner box full of Lessons to Learn print-outs when we left Wellington. That’s a lot of red pen covered drafts.

14. Have you ever changed a character’s name midway through a draft?

Yes, Charlotte in Lessons to Learn only became Charlotte half-way through the first draft of the novel. By that stage she’d assumed her own identity and character, and was ready for a new name.

And I’ve changed names in other stories when I’ve realised that I’ve done things like given every character who appears in the scene a name that starts with “T”.

15. Do you let anyone read your book while you’re working on it, or do you wait until you’ve completed a draft before letting someone else see it?

I wrote the first few drafts of Lessons to Learn as part of an MA in Creative Writing, so my supervisor read it regularly, and there were two workshops during that year where my classmates gave feedback on the work-in-progress.

Mum and Dad have always been incredibly supportive of my writing, so they tend to get chapter-by-chapter updates as I write. Over the years, it seems they’ve come to know my ‘writing voice’ almost as well as I do, and can usually tell me when something doesn’t sound quite right.

I also get my husband, Matt, to read short pieces now and then. Because he’s the one I bounce my ideas off on a day-to-day basis, he has a pretty good understanding of my characters and plot and tends to know whether a certain scene fits with the overall story.

Any other questions?

• 20 writing questions: Part I
• 20 writing questions: Part II
• 20 writing questions: Part IV

Continued from Part I

6. How do you come up with the perfect names for your characters?

It’s usually a process of trial and error. I give a character a name, and then use it for a few paragraphs to see if it sounds right. Sometimes a character name just comes to me, as if the character already knows the name that he or she should have. Sometimes it’s a matter of trawling through baby-name databases on the internet, trying to find something that’s suitable.

Sometimes, character names – and place names too – make into the story because they have special significance to me. For example, the Matt who appears on page 68 of Lessons to Learn and tries to copy Charlotte’s homework, is named after my husband, even though they share no defining characteristics. And on page 10, the Waiteata School that Jack mentions is named after Waiteata Road, the address of my writing workshop when I was writing the novel.

7. When you’re writing, do you ever imagine your book as a television show or movie?

I could give two answers here: no and yes. No, because I don’t see my books as actual televisions shows, with title sequences and end credits and actors playing the characters.

But yes, because as I write, I do picture my characters themselves acting out the scenes. I can see what they look like, what their environment is like. Sometimes this awareness translates to the page, sometimes it doesn’t. After reading an early draft of Lessons to Learn, someone asked me, “but what does Charlotte wear?” I knew what she wore, but I guess I hadn’t put that into words. In some ways, I’d rather my readers come up with that kind of descriptive detail for themselves; for them to have, in this case, their own Charlotte.

8. Have you ever had a character insist on doing something you really didn’t want him/her to do?

There have been times when I’ve been writing the story, the characters have been progressing well, and suddenly they’re in a situation which I don’t really want to write about: it’s dangerous, or awkward, embarrassing, frightening, they’re going to get hurt, they’re going to say something that I really don’t believe in.

But if the characters are going to have their own lives, independent of mine, I’ve got to take a deep breath and just write them through it. I’ve found that if I try and back out, the story tends to suffer for it.

9. Do you know how a book is going to end when you start it?

For the two novels I’ve worked on so far, I’ve had a good idea of what’s going to happen at the end, or at least the final decision that the character’s going to have to make – even if I’m not 100% sure about how they’re going to get to that point.

I find that short stories work on more of a find-out-as-I-write sort of process. Usually, I start with characters in a certain situation, and what’s going to happen to them in the end only becomes apparent as I write their story.

10. Where do you write?

I don’t really have a proper writing space here in London. For the most part, I write on a laptop on the dining room table, in-between my diary, 2 for 1 promotional vouchers, Christmas themed tablemats, candles, dice, burnt backup CDs and coffee mugs. Occasionally I take the laptop into the kitchen, or into the bedroom, but that’s about as adventurous as it gets at the moment.

Any other questions?

• 20 writing questions: Part I
• 20 writing questions: Part III
• 20 writing questions: Part IV

While doing a bit of lunchtime title-Googling, I discovered that Lessons to Learn is already on the virtual shelves of Time Out Bookshop and Madras Café Books. Wasn’t expecting that just yet, but wow! There it is on a page of its own, with a cover image and half of the blurb. It’s $28 dollars (NZ), and I guess it can be ordered through their online forms. Neither store gives their prices for posting overseas, but they do seem to allow you to request the postage cost before placing an order.

Of course, this makes me wonder if Lessons to Learn is on the real-world shelves of those two bookstores. If anyone reading this blog is in Auckland or Christchurch, and just happens to visit Time Out Bookshop or Madras Cafe books over the next couple of weeks, I’d be much obliged if you could let me know. Of course, if you wanted to get out your digital camera in the shop, and send me a picture of Lessons to Learn on the shelves, I wouldn’t object to that either!