David L. Dawson's Blog, page 6

Two stars

Yeah! I just got my first 2 star rating! Yes, I'm being sarcastic. It would have been nice if they'd told me what they didn't like about The Fall as I like to hear constructive criticism but I suppose you can't have everything.
On a lighter note, after all the cat drama, I got back to writing again last night. I turned off the internet to stop me from getting distracted and got down to it. I wrote for four hours straight. Now I'm so tired I could go to sleep but it was worth it.

Hectic few days

It's certainly been a hectic few days. I've gotten minimal writing done because of other events but things seem to be getting back to normal now. My cat Gracie went into heat again and managed to sneak out and forget she had five kittens at home. I looked for her; my brother looked for her; my Mum looked for her. She was nowhere to be found. Seven hours later I was on the phone to a vet and I was advised to buy some kitten formula in the morning. Luckily I have a local pet shop that is open on a Sunday. I put the box of kitten next to my bed and tried to sleep (I was afraid they'd die in the night)
The next morning I see Gracie on a neighbour's wall with three tomcats around her. She's swishing her tail seductively and acting like nothing is amiss. So I grab her and take her inside and all is well again. The kittens forgave her; I'm not sure I do just yet. All I've got to do now is keep her inside for another few weeks until I can get her spayed. I just wish the local tomcats would stop spraying their scent all over my garden.

I thought my grammar was okay but...

I just received a good review on Amazon for The Fall. They gave me 4 stars, which is excellent, but they also gave me a few nuggets to help me as well. I've always thought my grammar has been quite good so far but apparently not, so I'm taking this advice to heart and having another look through The Fall one sentence at a time. The reviewer was right. There are a few grammar errors here and there; some I can sort out, some I'm not altogether sure about. While the review annoyed me at first (how dare I be criticised like this!) I've found what they wrote to be invaluable to my career as a writer. They took the time to point out some of my mistakes and that can only be a good thing. Hopefully this means I can write a better sequel.

A Little Gray Bundle of Fur

Out of Gracie's five kittens I've decided to keep the tiniest one. I don't trust anybody else to keep her safe, and Gracie herself seems to favour this one too, so she (or he) will be staying. Now all I need is a name.

Anyone reading this blog who hates cats don't worry; this kitten talk is just a temporary blip. Once the kitten starts sitting on my laptop and peeing on the floor I'll be too annoyed to blog about it.

How to choose

As I've probably already said my cat Gracie had kittens last week; five lovely, fluffy kittens. I love each and every one of them. They each have their own personalities starting to emerge and they all have their own little quirks. I have a dilemma, though; I can only afford to keep one of them. At the moment I'm thinking about keeping the tiniest one, which I feel a little sorry for because the others keep pushing it off its mother's teets. Then again there's a little black one that keeps crawling around and fidgeting. I know I'll be heartbroken whichever ones I have to give away (and God help the new owners if I find out they've been mistreated). Decisions...

At the core of dystopia

It was while being distracted by five adorable kittens my cat Gracie had given birth to that I decided to write a new prologue to The Sky Is Falling. Quite how newborn kittens got me to write something like that is a mystery that will never be solved, but I like to think this new prologue is something so baffling and vague it will either make you want to read the rest of the book or scream in frustration. Either way you'll have to wait until August; and no, there isn't a big twist about cats destroying the world (though that is a good idea; I've often believed my other cat, Casper, would like nothing better than to destroy humanity). Anyway, this masterpiece of a prologue does have a twist that I CAN tell you about. It's written in first person, but from the perspective of a new character (the title of this post is also a clue)

The first chapter is the hardest

I realised last night that chapter one of The Sky Is Falling didn't have a decent enough cliffhanger for chapter one. I've always thought the first chapter needs a really gripping hook and so I've gone back and mixed things around a bit and so now the first chapter ends on my best ever cliffhanger. Well, I think it's the best ever. You can tell me what you think on August 1st when the book comes out.

No writing yesterday

I didn't write a single thing yesterday I'm ashamed to say. It's not my fault you understand. I've been brainwashed by how utterly awesome The Hunger Games is. I saw the film and finished reading the final book in the trilogy and by the time the day was finished I was all washed out. The film really is amazing. How anyone can compare it to Twilight I have no idea. There's nothing similar whatsoever between them. It's like saying that bananas and Alsation dogs are the same, which is silly. Anyway, I'm back to writing now (well, after I've finished my blog anyway)

The Sky Is Falling

At the moment I've given the sequel to The Fall a provisional title. It was the name I'd actually given to the prologue but decided it might be more suited to the title of the book itself. The second book in the trilogy is now called...."The Sky Is Falling". Make of that what you will; is it a metaphor or is it literal? I'm not saying. The title does sort of fit in with the title of the first book as well, which is nice, being all about the <spoiler>fall of the House of Casper and Ben's descent from first son to quite probably the only one left to slay the gods. <spoiler> This also gives me an idea as for the title of the third book in the trilogy too, giving all three books a nice symmetry. I'm looking forward to writing the third book; it's probably the most heavily dystopian of the lot. It'll be quite interesting.</spoiler></spoiler>

The moon...

The moon will play an important role in the sequel to The Fall. But what? As River Song says, "Spoilers, sweetie!"