So how goes it?

My week off real-life work gradually filled up with non-writing chores and appointments. I spent a whole day wrestling with The Stuff That Lurks under the Bed, which was a bad move, as once The Stuff is out, it rarely wants to go back quietly. I also spent a disproportionate amount of time playing with the cats, watching history documentaries in the name of research, and going for long walks. In fact, it was perfect time to recharge the flagging batteries, and when I did begin redrafting again, I managed to sort out two whole chapters, leaving me on chapter nine. Happy days!

I redraft in blocks of three, so once I finish with chapter nine I will do the usual - print out chapters 7 – 9, read them over and over, prune a little, and then send them off to lovely folk T and M for a read-through. Chapter nine is a little sticky in places, and needs a desperate chop, but I am hopeful to get it done by the end of November.

I am still feeling a bit down with myself, but have begun two hopefully very positive things in order to help me through – counselling, and sorting out a Big Thing that I had been putting off as too big to contemplate. Both make me feel like things are slowly progressing… and this helps me with my writing, although I must admit I spent the past weekend just staring at chapter nine without actually doing anything. But you know, I think this just happens occasionally. It won’t send me to The Pit of Despair (oh that evil pit!).

Another good thing is that I have decided on the next novel idea. I am very excited about this! There are a few ideas I have been gradually expanding on in daydreams over the last few years, and one was starting to stand out as a fully fledged story with a beginning, middle and end. I tried out the synopsis on J last night, in amongst a few other ideas. J is the best person to try ideas on as he will see immediately if there are plot-holes, or if something doesn’t sound right, or interesting. And he liked it, so in my mind it has now been given the Green Light of Glory. What I will do now is write a vague chapter-plan, get everything out of my head onto a page, and then leave it alone until I finish the current redrafting. But I am very happy with the idea, and think it definitely has potential. The only slight problem is it is very different to my current idea, so I might be genre-skipping, not sure if that is a bit problematic, but hey-ho.

And a final good thing, although this will be a little way off yet, is that I have a little children’s book I wrote and illustrated nearly ten years ago. It has mainly been sat under the bed gathering dust, but I have decided to find it, spruce it up and then send it out. I am also going to look into self-publishing, maybe just for my friends with small children, as I think kiddies and their parents would really enjoy it, and as such it shouldn’t just be part of the Stuff under the Bed. This is something for the New Year, but I will research into it for the rest of 2009, and make sure it is all ready to go for January.

Gosh, this all makes me sound like I actually have a clue of what I am doing! I like it!

Whoop!

I have just finished editing chapter three. At least I think so… well, it’s the first time I’ve reached the end of it without scouring out the middle, so to speak. Whoop! Crack open the lemon squash!

Does this mean the next thing I have to do is ‘the letter’? No, it’s even worse, it’s ‘the synopsis’. I have a few versions of this already, so am hopeful it will not take me too long… I think I just have to remember how I described it to people, and what would make me want to read it, after all, I am a right fussy bugger when it comes to books. Although it’s hard to be objective with your own work, I have worked as an editor before, so that sort of discipline does help (she hopes). I’ll read it through tomorrow and see if I still like it (and am crossing fingers, no time to waste now!)

And… like the same flash of fun that appeared with this idea, I had another book idea pop into my mind the other week. I didn’t mention it as it was just a glimmer, but there it was, for a second, and then it was gone. And then the other day I had a long train ride, and there it was again in my mind, just a bit more padding perhaps, and then – poof, the idea was gone again. Holding on to them at this stage is like trying to hold onto a wisp of smoke. But then this weekend I went for a lovely long walk with good friend A, and told her the idea, and the act of telling someone sort of cements it further in my mind, even though I haven’t written a single part of this idea on paper yet. But you know what? I like it…