LOL! But the biggest change for me was that I had to change how I talk, and how I express myself so as not to offend people or leave them confused.
Did you know our light switches go in the opposite direction to the US ones, and that we write dates the opposite way to here? Even the way we tell the time is different. I also saw you moved to the US from Ireland, how much of an adjustment was that? Like, did you often find yourself driving on the wrong side of the road?Īctually, I adapted to driving on the other side of the road no problem, but there were a few things that I found a little harder to get used to. Field hockey was the sport of choice, and we had to wear these little gymslips for all gym activities. Teachers were either nuns or cloak wearing lay people, and some even wore mortarboards. Makeup was strictly forbidden, as was any sort of hair coloring or nail varnish. We had to wear this maroon uniform, a pleated skirt (below the knee at all times), White starched blouse, Maroon, white, and blue striped tie (very Harry Potter), a maroon V-necked wool jumper (sweater), white socks (pulled up to the knee), black shoes (the more nunnish the better), grey gabardine (a woolen long trench coat that soaks up every bit of moisture – not such a great choice in a country where it rains 90% of the time), and a maroon, blue, and white scarf. Strict! All girls and never allowed to mix with the boys school down the road. After reading your bio I have to ask, convent school! What was that like? The afternoon is a chaotic mix of housework, starving children, cooking, editing and beta reading if I can squeeze it in, and all that dribbles into the evening, where I finally (once the kids are in bed) collapse on the couch with a cup of tea and the remote. I try to write 1 to 2 K a day, then catch up on my admin work, like interviews etc. Once they’re all up and gone, I settle into some writing time. The morning is crazy, I have to get my four kids out to school. So I had a good idea how I was going to tackle the retelling before I started.
I did a little research before I started writing and studied how different authors worked their story curve. There’s no time for tension build up, so you have to be able to wham it all out on the table and hook the reader right from the beginning. Trying to squish background, plot, and interesting character that the readers will connect with, into three to four thousands words is no mean task. I have to admit it was a bit daunting writing a short story for the first time. Yes, this is the first short story I’ve had published. Is this the first time having a short story published in an anthology? How different is it writing a short story vs a full length novel?
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