Menna Van Praag's Blog, page 38

Write. Rewrite. Write.

Writing is rewriting. And rewriting & rewriting. Someone smart once said that, I can’t remember who, but I’m quoting them now since rewriting is what I’ll begin doing tomorrow. The secret of good editing is, in my experience, being willing to change absolutely everything in order to make a more brilliant and beautiful story. It’s in being open to other ideas that may well be more inspired than your own. During draft six of HOPE, my agent suggested cutting out half the characters. I confess, I was momentarily horrified. I didn’t see how it’d make the book better. But she was right, and it did. My first reader, Alice Jago, has just given me several suggestions to improve WITCHES and, since I’m now more practised in the art of letting go, I can see how the book will be far more brilliant with them and I’m excited to get rewriting tomorrow!

Pic: O’s first taste of the sea – in Southwold – he wasn’t too keen but it was a little chilly on the toes

First draft, done!

First draft of The Cambridge University Witches done! Now begins the process of second discovery. Not quite so fun as when the story is first born – words, characters and whole worlds conjured up by a magical combination of imagination and inspiration – but an exciting experience all the same. But perhaps I’ll give myself a few hours off, before I start the serious business of cutting and slicing and restructuring…

Last night I had an adventure…

I went to Ely Cathedral to see the great Neil Gaiman (if you haven’t read Stardust, do, it’s gorgeous). He spoke then did a signing – for over 1,000 people. I waited in line for 2.5 hours & got my books signed at nearly 11 o’clock – then had a mad barefoot dash for the last train home, the first time I’ve been running in about 20 years, and made it! I was no 206 in the queue and Mr Gaiman, having promised to sign every single person’s book, must have stayed until the wee small hours of the morning. I met him for a few moments and was so impressed by how lovely he was, how he made a real connection with each and every person. He was very present and just saying yes to it all. He wasn’t complaining about how long he’d been sitting, how his fingers hurt from all that writing or how he needed to pee. His helpers were rather more grumpy, but they only served to highlight the difference between how you feel when you say no to your late night life circumstances and how you feel – and how you make others feel – when you say yes to your life.

“You must let go of the life you planned in order to have the life that is waiting for you.” – Joseph Campbell

I’m nearly at the finish line! I’m on the last chapter of The Cambridge University Witches. And, funnily enough, it’s not ending in the way I thought it would. I love it when I sit down to write a scene and the characters take me on a different path to the one I thought I was taking. It’s always a more magical and exciting path than the one I’d planned. So it is with writing, so it is with life. The life we’ve planned is always smaller and duller than the one waiting for us. To have it, we just need the courage to let go of what we think we want, the courage to open our arms and ask for everything the world has to offer. Then we will be rewarded with a life full of magic, excitement, passion and joy. Because the life you plan in your head will never be as amazing as the one you live with an open heart…

Pic: a research trip for Witches led to a first edition of The Origin of Species, worth £60,000. Sadly I didn’t get to take it home, but it was a great trip – thank you Alice!

Something funny for all you writers out there… What’s you...

Something funny for all you writers out there… What’s your favourite form of procrastination? Today mine – inspired by too many episodes of Who Do You Think You Are? – was looking up my ancestors on the 1911 Census )

Many people think that they’ll be happiest when they’ve a...

Many people think that they’ll be happiest when they’ve achieved their heart’s desires. I sometimes entertain that falsehood myself. But what I’ve found to be true in my life is that I’m happiest when I’m in the midst of doing my heart’s desires. This week I’m on the final straight of completing the first draft of The Cambridge University Witches. I’m sprinting along, writing about 2,500 words a day & pretty much giddy with glee in the process. This isn’t because I know it’s going to be published. I once wrote a huge book about my travels in America, no one has ever read it but me, but I had an absolute blast doing it. For me, writing books is the adult equivalent of Oscar building brick towers and knocking them down. He’s completely immersed in the process, squealing and shrieking with delight when his bricks tumble down, then building them up again. Yes, I love holding a finished book in my hands. But that small sense of satisfaction is absolutely nothing compared to the great joy I glean from creating it in the first place.

This morning I baked a batch of my special chocolate flap...

This morning I baked a batch of my special chocolate flapjacks for a friend who’s just had a baby & needs something yummy at 4am. I’d woken excited to do the million & one things on my list: take O to the park, go shopping, finish new novel, prepare writing workshops, learn to drive… Then I took half an hour out to bake. It was lovely. Sometimes I get lost in everything I want to do, rather than just focusing on what I’m doing in the moment, and feel overwhelmed and stressed. But, I realise, I never need to be. I only have the time I have, I can only do what I can do. Sometimes things have to wait. It’s not the end of the world. And, if we stop for a moment in our busy days, we’ll find that there’s often time to make chocolate flapjacks…

“If your dreams don’t scare you they aren’t big enough.”

I’ve always wanted to write films. I adore films. I’d go so far as to say that they’re the highest art form we have, bringing together all the other art forms: words, pictures, music… Films inspire & move me, give me courage & confidence, they open my heart. So, a few days ago I signed up to the Screenwriting Festival in London. At the end of October A LOT of Hollywood producers are flying over so the 500 participants can pitch them their film scripts. Last year this would have terrified the s*** out of me. But now I can’t wait, I’m so excited! This summer (triggered by the amaaazing Say YES to Your Life workshop) I’ve been leaping out of my comfort zone – driving test, writing workshops, film pitching – & it feels SO good. I can highly recommend it!!!

The Paperback Cover of The House at the End of Hope Street

Drumroll please… the paperback cover of HOPE is ready! A new picture, along with a new quote from the very lovely Sarah Addison Allen: “Sweet, bookish, magical & romantic.” Well, I can’t ask for much more than that, can I?!

I love libraries

HOPE STREET is one of the top picks of the librarians in Upper West Side branch of the NYC library – very lovely!! Many thanks to my lovely new editor, Linda Marrow, for sending me this and making me smile. Aren’t libraries just the best places in the whole wide world?!

ps, apologies the pic is upside down, sometimes my computer has glitches that, given my limited technological expertise, I am unable to trump!