My fellow points-of-viewers are probably reaching for the smelling salts now (if they're writers of historical fiction) or the vodka/spirit of choice (contemporary writers amongst us) to find I have at last managed to find my way into the blog! Learning curves and all that. Sorry it's taken me so long ladies, but I'm here now.
So, what to write about.....I'll stick with learning curves at the moment. I've never contributed to a blog before . When I started in banking at aged 17, some of the ledgers were still being handwritten, so be kind to me!!
Got a huge learning curve on board at the moment - doing my edits on my first novel. For the lovely Choc Lit for those who don't already know. In my ignorance, I thought that once the thing was written there'd be a bit of a tweak here and there and punctuation changes but no......it's a lot more complex than that. I began to wonder, when I saw all eleven pages of what was required of me, what utter tosh I'd written in the first place. I am fairly used to editing short stories......add 5oo words, take 200 out, make your heroine less sharp and so on. But that's only for 2000 words at the most. TO TURN FULL CIRCLE went in at about 72,000 words and so far - and I've by no means finished yet - I've added another 3K. I'm hoping it'll be all right on the night.
Now then, I never in a million years thought I'd have an historical novel published (well, I haven't yet, but I have received some of my advance so.....it looks likely I will) because in all the (far too many) years I was on the Romantic Novelists' Association's very excellent New Writers' Scheme, I wrote contemporary romance. But then a sub-editor I worked with (love you, Jean) at My Weekly asked me to write an historical short story. I didn't like to say no, because Jean often went above and beyond to get my stories the way My Weekly wanted them so they'd be published. And so I was on another learning curve. And to my utter delight I had more feedback on this story from fellow writers and some readers than I had ever had for the 150 short stories or so that went before it, so I was encouraged to go for it and write a novel. I have a sequel to TO TURN FULL CIRCLE planned.....well, almost finished to be honest (although I'll be ready and waiting for the edits next time) and have a third rattling around in my head in idle moments.
Some will know that I am profoundly deaf but am one of the lucky ones to have been given a cochlear implant. I was in my mid-fifties when this op gave me a new lease of life, let me escape from a very silent world. Another learning curve for me, there, as I re-learned sound. Bacon frying was the sweetest sound, I can tell you - I was so excited hearing it, I couldn't eat it afterwards! Daft or what?
So, enough already, I think. Look forward to reading comments of whatever variety.
Now, all I've got to work out is how to add photos to blogs and I'll be out of infants....maybe.
Hi Linda - nice to 'meet you'. Your enthusiasm shines from the page! Congratuations on your publishing deal and good luck with your edits. I look forward to hearing more about To Turn Full Circle.
ReplyDeleteThis is the second time of writing this comment - I forgot to do the squiggly letters bit first time round - what were you saying about learning curves - duhhh. Needless to say my first comment was erudite, learned, and utterly enthralling. And I can't remember a word of it. But I can remember that I thoroughly enjoyed this post - and that even though I've never met you, I do feel a know you a wee bit now because your personality comes shining through your words!
ReplyDeleteYey, Linda, you're here! The learning curve is massive for most (all?) of us, and it's good to to be reminded of that.
ReplyDeleteSo looking forward to seeing your book in print.
Hello Linda - it's good to have you with us. Blogging is a learning curve for me too. I wish I had known you earlier. the heroine for the first half of my first saga was deaf and I'm sure you could have suggested lots of additions. I hope the implant is a huge success. My mother was very deaf for as long as I can remember but latterly a good hearing aid helped her. She died before I had written any books but it would have pleased her. It sounds as though you have a good copy-editor from Choclit and you can learn a lot from that. Look forward to hearing more from you.
ReplyDeleteWoohoo, Linda! Good post, and VERY good to be reminded that all this technology stuff is not yet universal. And it is a bit of a shock to get all those revisions, isn't it? (I didn't make you change anything when I edited you for Sexy Shorts, did I?) So looking forward to The Book.
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