The Book

Okay, so, a little later than planned, things I have been doing lately:

1. Getting my manager's job after she retired, then realising that everybody wants to speak to me about something



2. Holding the biggest conference of my year in London



3. Spending two weeks in Texas with my husband's family. There are photos, maybe soon I'll remember to post one or two



4. Having my twenty-eighth birthday party



5. Rewriting Breaking the Spell

Because you don't care about the other stuff, I'll concentrate on number five.

Basically, and finally, my agent really loves the book - enough to send it out to editors. Which is where it is now, while I wait impatiently for news.

It's a huge relief, and a really big step for me, so I'm thrilled. We changed the title again (I think...) to better suit the direction the book has taken, and I really love this draft more than everything that came before.

Now I just have to hope that someone else does, too!

In the meantime, I'm plotting the next one. I already sent the blurb over to my agent, and she loves the idea, so I may as well get stuck in, I suppose...

Quick update

Yes, I know, I'm rubbish. Sorry.

Am still in the thick of things here ('things' meaning 'chaos') but will soon be posting on the following subjects:

1. Texas
2. Turning 28
3. Conferences and dinner cruises
4. Job interviews
5. Hang on, I'm sure there's something else... oh yes. The Book.

Back soon.

The Plan

So, I've taken a couple of days. I've read my agents comments on the manuscript, I've been over my own notes from our conversations, I've done some thinking and scribbling of notes and ideas and outlines.

And now I have a plan.

I know what the book needs; it's gotten bogged down in the magic and the logic and the whys and the hows. It needs to be lighter. It needs to float and glitter and have the magic in the air rather than the text.

I know what the big change is that will help me put this in place, and it's all about my main characters attitudes - one of those "if such and such didn't happen, or if she didn't know it had happened, she'd be an entirely different person" scenarios. It should work, without destroying the basic plot.

So now I just have to write it that way.

And I need to revise the text, then edit and polish, and get it back to Lizzy before I fly to Texas on March 13th. That way, she can be reading it while I'm off enjoying myself.

So, I have a schedule, the first part of which is:

rewrite the existing text, on screen, by Friday 22nd February.

That's nine days, all in. The counter's going back to zero, and we're counting in pages this time.

Wish me luck!

An Update and a Meme

I've been a bit quiet because I've been waiting to hear back from my agent, and she in turn has been busy moving house and such, so it's taken a while.

But I had a nice long chat with her yesterday, and now I have more work to do. We're getting closer, though, and she says she's only pushing so hard because she thinks the book has the capacity to be really fantastic. Which is encouraging, even if the re-writes are simply soul destroying...

Anyway, I'm scribbling away with my ideas in my lovely Bird Tree notebook with my beautiful vintage Parker 51 pen, and the changes are coming together, I think. So soon I'll be back to the start with my word counter, and slogging away through the manuscript. In the meantime, Bonnie has tagged me with an Unimportant meme, so here you go:

Rules:

1. Link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share six unimportant things about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your blog entry.
5. Let the tagged people know by leaving a comment on their blogs.

SIX UNIMPORTANT THINGS ABOUT MYSELF:

1. I'm incapable of following a recipe. I love to cook, but everytime I start to cook to a recipe, I find things I think are stupid, and that I want to change. ("This would be so much better with some ginger in it.")
2. I firmly believe that any bad mood can be shifted by a little sunshine and some cool, fresh air.
3. I sing in my head. Pretty much all the time. Mostly old family songs, folk songs, that we sing on Boat Sunday and other family occasions, whenever Uncle Stephen has his guitar with him.
4. I think afternoon tea is the best meal ever created - especially with Darjeeling without milk and cucumber sandwiches. And I love proper tea china. I had a big sulk day earlier this week, and when the boys came home I was curled up in the rocking armchair under the stairs, my ancient, frayed eiderdown (which Simon keeps trying to throw out) wrapped all around me, a comfort novel in my hands, and my small, stainless steel teapot full of Darjeeling (made with loose leaf tea) and a pretty, floral tea cup and saucer on the table beside me. I refused to cook dinner, or to move at all, until I'd finished my pot of tea.
5. I love re-reading books. My mother-in-law can't understand why I do this, but an old, familiar book is very comforting and, because I'm a fast reader, I find something new in the text, every single time.
6. My favourite scents are lavender and roses. Lavender hand lotion, or rose body lotion, clean white sheets and cotton pyjamas, and the breeze through the window, make a perfect evening.

Sunday

Okay, aside from the usual 'clean the house, do some laundry' Sunday stuff, I have quite a lot of writing things I have to achieve today - namely type in edits for the outline and first seven chapters of Breaking the Spell.

I'm breaking it down into bits to make it feel more achieveable, and will come in to this post and cross them off as I get through them.

• Outline - 20 pages - done!
• Prologue - 8 pages - done!
• Chapter one - 17 pages - done!
• Chapter two - 18 pages - done!
• Chapter three - 15 pages - done!
• Chapter four - 14 pages - done!
• Chapter five - 17 pages - done!
• Chapter six - 17 pages - done!
• Chapter seven - 19 pages - done!
• Send the whole thing over to Lizzy - done!

See, doesn't that look more managable than 146 pages of edits to type in? Gulp.

All finished, and I'm off for a walk round the park before it starts raining again!

And...

...I've also just sorted out my wardrobe, so I'm feeling very organised!

What I've been up to this week

Well, so far I've done the write in edits on the outline and first seven chapters of Breaking the Spell.

This evening and tomorrow, I need to type them in.

I want this thing off my desk and over to Lizzy by the end of tomorrow - Monday morning at the latest, if I want to give things a final look over once my eyes have stopped bleeding.

I've got Monday off work as a flex day - a make up for all the hours I've been working since I got back from Christmas. I have a very long list of things I could do with my day off - and the wonderful knowledge that I don't have to do any of them.

But my day of peace, solitude and the cinema is all off if I don't get the revised chapters done tomorrow...

Wish me luck!

Done for the day

Okay, 37,197/90,000. Except, it looks like this thing might run long, if those first 7 chapters are anything to go by!

Anyway, done for now. I'm going to set the thing to print, then go have a bath. Tomorrow, I can start tidying the thing up. And maybe cutting, a little!

Oh, and the hotpot was delicious, for those who care about such things.

On target

Not bad for a day's work - I'm now at 31,347/90,000, but I'm going to keep going for 3 more scenes to bring me to a fabulous stopping point - my hero and heroine's first kiss.

Of the other things on the list, the house is tidy, dust free, the bathroom is clean and the books have been sorted. Hotpot is in the oven, so all that's left is the couple of bags of Christmas stuff outside my study door, and a long hot bath with a good book. I have jasmine and fig bath bubbles, too!

But first, just one more chapter - around 5,000 words - to go.

Starting at 20,961/90,000

Hell of a week in work this week, but I still managed to keep working on the book. Because I'm re-editing text I've already written to fit the new backstory and outline, speed varies quite considerably. Some scenes I can plow through with minor changes here and there. Others need considerable re-writing. And others, the new ones, just plain need writing.

Still, the plan is to be at the 30k benchmark by the end of the day. That's how much Lizzy says she needs to start submitting to editors, or how much she needs to know I need to finish the book before we do. It's the number we've been working to since August when this whole thing started, and I'm constantly amazed at how that 30k mark falls at a different point in the story, every time. On the other hand, it always falls at an important, life changing point for my hero and/or heroine, which helps.

So, the plan for the day is as follows:
Write

1. Tidy house
2. Write
3. Clean bathroom
4. Write
5. Dusting
6. Write
7. Sort books in spare room
8. Write
9. Sort remaining Christmas presents in study
10. Write
11. Cook Lancashire hotpot for tea
12. Take bath and get stuff ready for tomorrow's workshop in London
13. Sleep

That's five sessions set aside for writing. So, that's 2000 words a session, give or take.

I'll post my progress here, if I remember, just to make me feel guilty if I'm falling short...

If I hit target, then tomorrow I can print out the text and start polishing! I'm giving myself this next week and weekend to make the 30k and the outline as good as I possibly can. Then it's being emailed over to Lizzy on Monday 21st. Which, coincidentally, is pay day. I think there may be a small treat reward from Body Shop for any me that gets all this done...

And back in the office

First proper day back at the day job - and a variety of things had exploded in my absence.

Still, managed to put it all aside to work on the book this evening - and finished rewriting the first big multipart scene that sets up the whole story. Phew.

This is about the seventh rewrite of the opening chapters to fit subsequent revisions of the outline - all involving major changes in plot and backstory. I'd actually forgotten that the opening scene of Chapter One never existed in the original pages I sent to Lizzy.

Still, now the plot's actually approved, hopefully this might be the last big reimagining of the action. I know that there will still be changes, and notes, but perhaps nothing quite so big!

Most importantly, this version, this outline, really feels like the story I want to tell. Now I just need to tell it.

Back to Work

Today I finally felt well enough to get back to work on the book - thank God!

I've revised the outline, and rewritten the prologue and first part of chapter one, and am feeling quite pleased with myself.

Now I just need to plough on tomorrow before work...

We apologise, but 2008 is experiencing a slight delay...

2008 doesn't start until Monday 7th January. I've decided.

There's not enough time otherwise. Normally I have all those days between Christmas and New Year to get myself ready, but this year I came down with a fever on Boxing Day and have just started taking antibiotics for the resultant chest infection yesterday. I've been too sick to think about 2008.

Add in the breakup of two close friends' five year relationship, just before Christmas, and the fact that one of them is (probably) moving in with us tonight until he finds somewhere new, and the New Year really does seem to have snuck up on me.

So I've postponed it.

It actually makes sense - because of the chest infection (which my husband swears is not consumption... but how does he know?!) I'm off work until Monday anyway. So, hopefully I'll be all nice and healthy to start my new year.


2007 was an excellent year in many, many ways. I sent my book out to my number one agent and actually got a phone call, a meeting, and many, many subsequent conversations. Admittedly, these were because of the huge changes the story required, but on December 21st, we finally agreed the basic outline for the book. I'm still doing some tidying as per her notes, but they were of the "Can they argue for longer here?" and "Sorry, what?" variety. The characters now spend more time fighting, and everything should make sense. I think we're there, finally.

We got a title, too - one that I love, that fits the story I'm telling now, and reflects the sort of things I want to write in the future, too. So that's good.

Of course, I still need to now rewrite the book in line with the new outline. Which is not inconsiderable work, but it should be fun. I just need to get back into my habits.

So, 2008 writing goals:

1. Finish re-writing Breaking the Spell so that Lizzy can submit it
2. Work up outlines and sample chapters for the next two books I have in mind
3. Rewrite Black Cat Hollow
4. Update this blog once a week (yes, really, Bonnie)
5. Read one new fiction and one new non-fiction book every month

That's it. The reading goal may look small, but it's just that left to my own devices I tend to re-read stuff a lot. I want to make sure I'm hitting new stuff too. I love my library.

Right. I think I might be almost ready for Monday!