I’ve just had the most enormous fun making a trailer for Every Vow You Break
Last week, on a bitingly cold but brightly sunny day, I wrapped up so warm that I could barely move and set off into the wilds of Stanmer Park with YoungSon’s fancy schmancy camera. After half an hour of fiddling, I worked out how to switch it on, and I set off into the woods.… read more
Well, the WONDERFUL bound proofs of Every Vow You Break came through, and, as you can see, like me, AgentSimon thinks they’re fab.
But, really, publishers. Let a writer loose on her book before it’s published? When it looks like a real book? ‘Dear Lovely Editor. I’ve got just a few teeny weeny amendments to that bound proof.’
Is there a florist on the Euston Road that does deliveries, I wonder?
Still, it’s worth it if the final result is a DLP (Dead Letter Perfect) published hardback version on 29 March.… read more
I’ve just been reading this: Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell, and it’s kind of helping with the first draft of Bad Jean, although I know it will come into its own when I’m editing it. I’m definitely what he calls a NOP (No Outline Person), but I really like his analysis of structure and how it can work just by keeping it in the back of your mind while writing.
My one problem is that, after reading this, I am having to work double hard at pushing my internal editors away as I write, and that tends to hinder the free flow of the story.… read more
Can't believe I'm actually here.
Top of my list to do while we were in the Bay Area around San Francisco (after finishing the second draft of Every Vow You Break, of course) was to visit my Alma Mater – the Office of Letters and Light, out of which NaNoWriMo is given to the world every November.
Now then, if you have read this blog for a bit, or if you have ever bumped into me anywhere, you will know that I am a bit evangelical about NaNoWriMo, so feel free to skip the next para or two.… read more
I have finally stopped myself procrastinating and started the read through of draft one, novel #2.
Before starting, I:
I have spent the last couple of days catching up on admin and reading, trying to flush my mind for the read through of novel #2 (which I hope, one day, will actually have a title). I have had to fill in a couple of interview forms for a couple of places, both of which asked about my process.
While it may sound a little precocious coming from a first-time novelist, I do believe that I have a process, or a way of working that suits me.… read more
National Novel Writing Month started three days ago. CUCKOO – out in March 2011 – was my second NaNovel. The first draft was written in November 2008 – even during the weekend I spent in Cornwall at my dear friend Max’s weekend long civil partnership celebrations. You know the sort of thing: come back to the dear little cottage after a whole day of drinking champagne in the ruddy outdoors with an eclectic crowd of gay aesthetes down from London and local farmers, write 1700 words, pass out at the kitchen table….… read more
After two weeks of wall-to-wall editing, it’s my birthday, and I’m off to Soho House to have lunch with Agent Simon and Editor Leah. I have my new fancy schmancy dress on, a head full of excitement about the way the new draft of CUCKOO is shaping up after Leah’s editorial suggestions, and a slightly nervous swing in my step. Lunch is fab, and we three had a lot of fun. I try to look nonchalant as I pass a couple of Really Famous People in the lobby.… read more
