The writing has been cracking on at pace this week, 6,000 words so far, chapter five is done, and six is almost in the bag, which makes up for my tardiness last week. I think the Dig for Victory visit helped, so this weekend I am going to Ploughs and Propellers, which is a 1940s weekend at Rougham air field. Yup, more planes… but all for the greater good this time – research, see? And surely a whole weekend of *coughs* research will mean chapter 7 next week will motor ahead like Jeremy Clarkson with anything that has an engine.
I got good feedback from the first person I sent the book to, which gave me a boost. This is a lass is a cracking writer, although not yet published. It is really hairy sending your baby, as it is, out there to be criticised. Everyone I have sent it to has promised to be honest, and I trust them enough to be true to that. I haven’t given it to family or close friends just in case they’d find it hard to be harsh with me, especially if I am under their nose with a hopeful smile on my face.
I’m not sure when to send it out to agents and publishers… I know you can send books out there into the world with 3 chapters and a synopsis, but part of me wants to delay that process. What if I send it out and it is promptly returned by all and sundry as rubbish? I doubt I’d continue with it… and although some people might think that is better to know now before I waste any more time or money, part of me thinks I should finish it just for my sake, even if nothing more happens to it, I can rest easy thinking at least it is done.
I guess what I will do, is wait for the wizard editing, and then do a re-write myself of the first three, and then possibly send it out maybe November, as I will be 10 chapters down then, and nothing surely would make me want to stop? And maybe, just maybe someone will like it? Eek..
On another note, I watched the One Life documentary last night with the Another Brick In The Wall kids. How funny that one of the kids that sang on that record ended up being a bricklayer. There is something rather amusing in that… However, the documentary mainly ended up as a tribute to the music teacher who got the kids the gig, so to speak. What an inspiring man! He taught from his heart, sharing his passion for music in all shapes and forms. So it was a brilliant teacher that was the star, and the kids that ended up the bricklayers (well, one of them)… That made me chuckle as well.
Autumn joke
Q. What do you call a man with leaves on his head?
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A. Russell.
2 comments:
I've been giving this some thought. And the answer is - do it! For the following reasons:
1. It'll be hugely rewarding, believe me. You'll regret it if you don't. Even if it's not published you can still say 'I wrote this'.
2. You'll learn something about who you are. This sounds very new-agey but you will. I did and I am much more confident about who I really am rather than what I present to the world (ie work!)
3. You've already sacrificed time and space to do it so don't stop now.
4. You're not a professional author (yet!) so there's really no pressure. Do it for the fun of it.
I hope this helps. Don't worry about others' views and editing and the rest of it. Just get it done and worry about all that stuff later. It's always easier to change what you've got, but you can't change it if it's not there.
On the other hand you could just ignore all this!
Thanks so much for this, it came in perfect timing, as nothing was going right yesterday – I had spent 9 hours seemingly staring at the computer (not running random songs into youtube, honest) and came up with just 3 pages that I might keep. But your words have given me a boost, so it’s onwards and upwards today! Your reasons all make total sense, and they do help, especially that later sentence about change, very true.
I actually did the grand word count this morning – I have passed the 25,000 mark, so am halfway to making this novel length. And yes, it is fun, for all my whinging. The characters are becoming quite dear to me… which is nice, be awful if I hated them!
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