THE END - How good it is to finally type those words!

The indoor writer has flipped her lid, she's skipping round the garden like a piglet on rum.  Why?  Because today at 4pm she finally typed THE END for her children's novel.  Phew, thank goodness that's all over.  However, she tells me that was the easy bit and now comes the editing - eek.

She is a bit peeved that it overran by 6 days and 10,000 words, but Stephen King always preaches first draft is likely to be at least 10% longer than it needs to be.  Hence the editing (or pruning) needs to start.  She's going to put it away in the virtual drawer (leave it on hard disk, back up first of course) and come back to it in a few weeks.  Perhaps now she can write and talk about something else for a change ...

I wonder if she remembered the promise about bubbly and chocolate cake ...  I'm feeling pretty famished.

April good reads

Have just finished Black Swan Green (David Mitchell), which differed from his other novels (the ones we've read) in that POV remained with the same first person narrator throughout.  Really authentic voice of Jason (13 yrs) living one year in an English village during the 1980's.  It featured the Falklands war and brought back so many memories - mostly wry and funny - of that era.

Had to give up on The Passage - a giant book and first part of a trilogy.  It was Stephen Kingenesque and once upon a time would have been devoured, but we had to give up at 300 pages.  The POV constantly changed and just as you got used to a narrator then something happened to them.  Sadly, we just ran out of steam and had to move one.

Similar experience with We Need To Talk About Kevin (Lionel Shriver).  Heard a lot about this book so thought it was one to read.  But just couldn't get into the narrative and took a quick dislike to the narrator - which sort of hindered reading the rest of it as this was totally first person throughout.  Always hate to give up on books but starting to realise that life is too short to plod on with books you don't enjoy.  There are so many excellent books out there.

Ending on a good note.  Started reading The Small Hand (Susan Hill) this morning and within 30 mins had read more than we'd managed with 'Kevin'.  More of a novella but a cracking good read.

What a good month!

As March came to a damp end the indoor writer received a flurry of news on the competition front.  One story reached 5th place in the WriteInvite 7 Page Paper Copy competition, which results in some earnings i.e. much needed dosh to buy more books.

This is a really friendly group who host a weekly online competition - you have 30 minutes to create a complete story on one of the three given themes.  Mid week the three shortlisted stories are released and all other entrants get to vote for the winning story.  The winner gets £50 for a £4 entry fee - and for 30 mins effort that's not bad return!
For WriteInvite click here

Also checked out website for THE NEW WRITER and found another short story had made it to the LONGLIST of the annual competition.  OK so not top 4 or even Commended but she was pretty chuffed with this result as the story entered was a longer piece (4,000 words) and with a more literary theme.  Bit of an endorsement that she can write more than just 'quirky' pieces.
To see results of The New Writer competition click here

Forty thousand and counting

Forty three thousand words written on children's novel by end Friday - Yahoo.  She's on the last stretch now and should finish first draft in next couple of weeks.  Lovely spring weather is a tempting distraction and boy do those lawns need mowing - funny how there's always some excuse NOT to write ....

Thirty thousand words

She hit 35,000 words end of Friday on the children's novel, so well on target to complete first draft in April.  With decorator rejuvenating the hallway all next week she has no excuse but to knuckle down and push up the word count.  I'm looking forward to spending all day on the bed just listening to the tapping of plastic keys on her macbook.

Keep writing!

Rejection or revelation?

The writer hit a low patch this week on receiving rejection email.  Contained the words no writer ever wants to see: "not one for me".  I warned her that she'd sent off the enquiry too early with book still in progress, but did she listen?  Got all excited when she was asked to send in the finished manuscript but again only sent first third of book and not much past first draft ... Lesson learned I think.  Maybe she'll listen to the wise pig next time.

However, there is a silver lining to this fable in that the rejection came back with a couple of nuggets - feedback!  Something rarely received from a literary agent.  And pertinent feedback too.   So she's picked herself up and cracked on with renewed enthusiasm.  The feedback was spot on - something she needed to be pointed out - and now she plans to rewrite the early chapters to address the comments.

It was too soon to submit but better to know the faults now and correct rather than plough on in blissful ignorance I say.

Alzheimer's Blogging Competition

Seeing someone you know and love suffering from Alzheimer's is one of the most tortuous experiences. I have Sally Jenkins to thank for highlighting the Alzheimer's Blogging Competition. Do check this out if you blog and even if you don't you can still make a donation.