Catching Up - Part Five
7 November
2pm Thursday afternoon and it’s time to bring my writing diary up to date.
Last week I set off with the intention of revising the opening chapters of MÄLAREN. (Please note how I now have the correct spelling ie. with the two dots over the first A. There’s probably a name for this and if anybody wants to tell me what it is in Swedish I’d be glad to hear it. In German, I think it’s an umlaut.) I spent a few of my morning sessions so doing and by Monday I was in a position to begin making submissions to agents. I got as far as sending off to number six and then had second thoughts. Had I really polished my work up to the highest standard I could reasonably achieve? Was it really good enough?
The answer, on re-reading it carefully, was no – and then the rot set in. The problem was that by then I’d probably read it three or four times, it was no longer new to me and the words had all become familiar. And we all know what familiarity breeds. So yes, I grew contemptuous of my own work and decided I hadn’t actually done the best I could do and that I needed to look through it again. It’s not bad, mind - it’s just that it could be better and I owe it to myself to try again. I think I was in too much of a hurry first time round – better to take a bit more care for the sake of a few more days. The likelihood is I won’t get all the submissions done before I go to Chicago anyway, so why the big rush? So here I am, part way through Chapter Three for the second time with another half-day’s work to do.
Meanwhile, I’ve made serious progress with my Goodreads entry and that’s now pretty much up to date. Please feel free to visit it. Leave messages. And /or reviews. Let me know what you think of it – I’m open to suggestions. If there’s anything missing that I should be doing please tell me. Soon, I’ll be trying to build up my reviews for BIRDS OF THE NILE on both Amazon and Goodreads but for the moment I’m focused on the 99p ebook promotion. When that finishes in a week or so’s time, I can move on to something else.
While I’m waiting, I’ve been talking to my publisher about entering BIRDS OF THE NILE for prize competitions. Their response has been extremely encouraging and so far we’ve agreed to put in for two – The McKitterick and The Desmond Elliott Prizes. To get short-listed (or even long-listed) for one of these would be a major coup – never mind actually winning. These are prizes for debut novels and there’s only ever going to be one opportunity to do that so carpe diem, as they say. I’ll let you know how things work out.
My next priority, along with the matter of reviews, will be tackling next year’s Lit Fest programme. More about this next time.
2pm Thursday afternoon and it’s time to bring my writing diary up to date.
Last week I set off with the intention of revising the opening chapters of MÄLAREN. (Please note how I now have the correct spelling ie. with the two dots over the first A. There’s probably a name for this and if anybody wants to tell me what it is in Swedish I’d be glad to hear it. In German, I think it’s an umlaut.) I spent a few of my morning sessions so doing and by Monday I was in a position to begin making submissions to agents. I got as far as sending off to number six and then had second thoughts. Had I really polished my work up to the highest standard I could reasonably achieve? Was it really good enough?
The answer, on re-reading it carefully, was no – and then the rot set in. The problem was that by then I’d probably read it three or four times, it was no longer new to me and the words had all become familiar. And we all know what familiarity breeds. So yes, I grew contemptuous of my own work and decided I hadn’t actually done the best I could do and that I needed to look through it again. It’s not bad, mind - it’s just that it could be better and I owe it to myself to try again. I think I was in too much of a hurry first time round – better to take a bit more care for the sake of a few more days. The likelihood is I won’t get all the submissions done before I go to Chicago anyway, so why the big rush? So here I am, part way through Chapter Three for the second time with another half-day’s work to do.
Meanwhile, I’ve made serious progress with my Goodreads entry and that’s now pretty much up to date. Please feel free to visit it. Leave messages. And /or reviews. Let me know what you think of it – I’m open to suggestions. If there’s anything missing that I should be doing please tell me. Soon, I’ll be trying to build up my reviews for BIRDS OF THE NILE on both Amazon and Goodreads but for the moment I’m focused on the 99p ebook promotion. When that finishes in a week or so’s time, I can move on to something else.
While I’m waiting, I’ve been talking to my publisher about entering BIRDS OF THE NILE for prize competitions. Their response has been extremely encouraging and so far we’ve agreed to put in for two – The McKitterick and The Desmond Elliott Prizes. To get short-listed (or even long-listed) for one of these would be a major coup – never mind actually winning. These are prizes for debut novels and there’s only ever going to be one opportunity to do that so carpe diem, as they say. I’ll let you know how things work out.
My next priority, along with the matter of reviews, will be tackling next year’s Lit Fest programme. More about this next time.
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