Welcome to wendyleslie’s blog.

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I thought lockdown would give me the perfect time and space to write like the devil.

Instead, a peaceful existence of no known direction or ending, is laced with insurmountable fears and sorrows, both close to home and for humanity.

One step at a time seems a handy cliche to explain my resolve short term while long term, getting ready for the third edit is taking longer than expected.

No worries, mate.

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2021 has been the definitive turning point of my life; the point of no return, full of complications and higher stakes. It’s been a revelation with a personal introduction to several characters’ true “essence” hitherto carefully camouflaged, bursting through dubious well-presented “identities.”

Acute illness to loved ones, coercive control of others has opened my eyes and my heart, and reinforced my determination to live simply and enjoy the strength of moving forward with those I admire and love.

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As one of Margie Lawson’s “First Immersion Sisters in Oz” (way back in 2016) – I’m sending off several newly-edited manuscripts and will see what happens.

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In keeping with the surfing theme here in Surfers Paradise, my decision to go back and establish a sound, comprehensive footing for my creative writing, has seen the character arc of this protagonist, namely me and the story arc, mine, ebb and flow and occasionally crash, dumped in a swirl of foam.

Throughout 2015, I have had so much fun learning the who, what, why, amid the near-excruciating soul searching over the last twelve months, completing amazing classes with Margie Lawson, Sarah, Laura, Suzanne, Lisa et al. That elusive genre choice now seems clear and with a decision made to change focus, I have caught the right wave, am standing astride and surging ahead in two thousand and fifteen.

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Two thousand and fourteen looks to be a more realistic challenge with the fork in my road negotiated and maintenance of the never turning back policy, assured.  With a stack of rejections to my “credit”, I’m surging ahead but with new short term goals.

The first is enrolment in a number of well credentialled  lecture classes. The second is affirming to myself in particular, that I am a ‘pantser’ – flying by the seat of my pants, and that too much plotting is doing my head in.

With great relief, I find Kim Hudson’s “The Virgin’s Promise” suggests about as much plotting mechanism as I can cope with but then it is so much more. It finally puts to rest all that swashbuckling and those sword waving journeymen who never had an audition, let alone a character assignment in my stories.

Let’s ramp up the goals, the motivation and the conflict and see where this goes now.

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The year, two thousand and thirteen has been a revelation for this writer – with a Romance Writers Conference and a first novel under her belt, many new and enthusiastic friends, fresh ideas and a nerve wracking time ahead awaiting “The Call.”

As a Medical Scientist, the switch to creative writing has been as dramatic as the change from technically inspired passive voice to the active dynamism of real life characters with Goals, Motivation and loads of Conflict.

The unstinting help and genuine advice given both in person and online by my fellow devotees to this writing genre has been phenomenal. My aim for this blog is to progressively add information that has been helpful to me and to encourage others to join in the fun and write.

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It’s been a week and with baby steps, I’ve added more information to my Dashboard and am enjoying the discovery process. I find deletion of mistakes, whilst a good learning process, most difficult when remnants remain and refuse to go away. Never mind, my heroines find a way and I will too.

Speaking of heroines, my second lady is currently helping me put her story – just as she wants it, on the page. It could be construed as interference but I like the feel of a team effort. As long as the Hero stays where he is designated, all will be well.

I’ve spent the last week getting used to the stream of Twitter notifications arriving in my email inbox. For those who are ‘following me’ at the moment, stick with me. I’m reading them all with great interest and following links to everyone’s blog or website.

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