This writing week has been choppy. I’ve managed to get quite a...

This writing week has been choppy. I’ve managed to get quite a lot done, but it has been interspersed with swimming lessons for all the children and heaps of time spent outdoors. 

I’m working on two main projects right now (I love working on more than one project at a time) - edits for my next YA novel and edits for a picture book. The edits on the YA novel came suddenly into light this week - I was drifting off to sleep and I figured out how to fix some major issues with the text. Sometimes more work gets done when I’m away from a project. I had to do a lot on the page to get to a stage where the insights came, but then I needed to step away. Well, I actually needed to sleep ;-) But then I made a note of everything I’d thought of as soon as I woke up and next week I plan to input a lot of those new ideas. 

The picture book edits are going well too. I was working on it the other day when my middle son climbed on me. Then my oldest two joined in the game. I stopped fiddling around with the words and read the story to them. It reminded me to read the text aloud when editing. I made several important changes after reading the book to my children. 

I also sent off some ideas for new projects to Fiction Express, who are a fantastic online publishing team in the UK. I’m hoping to work with them over the next year. Fingers crossed!

Now, it’s 30 degrees here in Saskatoon and I have the lake to get ready for. I hope you had a good writing week, or a good reading week. As always, I’m open to book suggestions, or questions about writing. I’m planning to start a newsletter soon, which you can subscribe to, with free tips and ideas about writing and reading…

Ali