Ah yeah, it’s been a while hasn’t it? I’ve a good excuse though.
Boyle and Dalton sent through a developmental edit of my
book ‘Alyssa’ back in November 2018. They did an exceptional job of diving deep
into the style, characters, narrative and flow of the book. Brad, my editor,
sent through extensive notes and since November 2018 I had been working my way
through those notes.
Alyssa was my first book, written in 2011 and self-published
in 2012. At that time, I was still developing my style and Alyssa was very much
the test bed for future books. Returning to the book, I found Brad's comments
to be right on the button.
Just over a month ago, I finished my editing and rewriting of the novel, and resubmitted to the publishers.
I will now wait and see if my edits are what they need.
Strange as it may seem, I enjoyed the experience. I had expected the process of rewriting my
novel to be more painful, but instead I knew already that it was badly
needed. Looking at the writing style I
used in ‘Anna’ (my fourth book) and looking at the style in ‘Alyssa’ before the
edits, the books were very different. I
took the experience as an opportunity to bring the earlier book into line. It also gave me the opportunity to develop
the characters and world a little more, adding much-needed detail.
With the latest draft submitted, I have now found time for
other writing and non-writing activates.
My sister-in-law and family got me a Writing Magazine writing course for
Christmas, and I have been slowly working my way through the course material. This has been a very interesting experience,
as I’m learning a lot about aspects of the craft I may have neglected, such as
keeping a writer’s notebook and Commonplace book.
I’ve also taken the time to write a little fan fiction,
writing some stories for some tabletop wargames that I play. Whether these stories ever see the light of
day or if they ever remain just an exercise to keep my writing skills sharp, I
don’t know. We’ll see.
My Instagram account has seen much more posts around
painting models and wargaming than it has writing but this has been a good
distraction. Rest and recovery from an
intense period of editing. As enjoyable
as I found the experience, it was intense.
I feel I may have put myself under more pressure than I should have to
get it finished. I have learnt from the
mistake and will be pacing myself better next time!
The next stage will come after the latest edit comes back
from my publishers. I don’t know when
that will be but I’m looking forward to moving the story along a little further
upon the publishing path.
Until next time.
