Promising Editing Meeting

I met the editor yesterday and the meeting went well. I need to do some work on the central character, developing the character so the reader can better identify with them. Also, there is considerable confusion over two significant characters and a problem with authorial voice coming through and interrupting the viewpoint narrations. I will revise along the lines suggested and send the work back to the editor when it is completed.

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The Novel: A Step Closer

I’m due to meet the editor in person next Thursday to talk about the editing report.

In the meantime, I’m revising the manuscript away from the main computer file in order to let the story tell itself.

In particular, I’m asking myself crucial questions about each section:

• Is the section absolutely relevant to the story?
• Does material in one viewpoint contradict material in another?
• How can important background information be presented without the need for constant back story?

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A Sunday Ramble

There’s some news on the editing report…I should get it some time next week.  In the meantime, I’m reading through the first novel carefully, making notes on the computer.  

_______________________

From the autobiography I’ve been working on.  This is an account of childhood walks in the north of England:

Most Sundays, we spent the day hiking in the country.  Often, we would hurry away in the car with the David Jacobs programme playing on the car radio.  I loved it on Sunday mornings when we were in the car and the third movement of Beethoven’s Seventh symphony – the scherzo and trio movement – burst out over the speaker, the rises and falls in the music matching the mounts and vales of the country road.  The countryside meant a lot to me – as did music. 

War memorials.  Village church clocks.  Quarries stretching out at the bottom of winding roads.  Pieces of machinery humming over the stillness as we climbed steep hills.  We walked in all weather conditions, our boots tramping in mud when it rained, our cagoules protecting us against Pennine winds.  Most Sundays, we walked about seven or eight miles, stopping for a sandwich lunch on the trail.

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Dartington College of Arts

I’m still waiting for the editing report on my first novel.   In the meantime, I’ve been working on a different writing project detailing my student days at Dartington College of Arts, Totnes, Devon, where I took my music degree.   This account tells of my first visit to Totnes:

I liked Totnes immediately.  I spent a couple of nights in a bed and breakfast house in a steep lane tucked away from the main street.   On the day of the audition, I set off up the hill to the college, past fields and a river, knowing that this was where I would like to spend the next three years.  The air was fresh with the scent of the country and the unmistakable smell of animals and manure.  I savoured the feel of the mild winter chill against my cheeks, like I had done many times during my childhood rambles in the countryside in the north of England.              

The college stood near the top of the hill: three adjacent buildings for the dance, drama and music students;  a courtyard consisting of the Great Hall, the White Hart bar, admin offices, staff room, library and cinema, a central lawn.  An archway connected the library and cinema.  Further on was Higher Close, the student area overlooking the fields below. 

After attending an introductory talk in one of the studios with the other prospective students, I took another short walk to the front of the music department where the main offices were situated.  Mr Artherton had helped me prepare the first movement of a Haydn piano sonata and one of the pieces from Debussy’s Children’s Corner.  When I finished playing these, the lecturer at Dartington said, ‘you have an extremely musical ear.’

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Editing Report

Still waiting for the report on my first novel…

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A Writing Tip

Always check carefully for spelling and grammatical errors, even if this means delaying presenting the piece of writing in question.  

• Copy the written passage and paste it into a different word processing programme to see if any problems show up
• Try viewing it on a handheld device
• View a newly written blog post from the main category/tag section instead of from the individual blog itself

Yesterday, I wrote a blurb style summary on my first novel.  (That’s the novel I sent for an editing report.)  After changing a few of the sentences and doing a spellcheck, I assumed I’d eradicated all typos.  However, when I read the summary on my mobile phone later that day, I noticed a couple of mistakes. 

“Barn” had become “bar” and “random, “randon”.   

So I made the neccesary corrections first thing this morning.

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Some Better News

Today, I heard some news about the editing report on my first novel.   Apparently, all the people involved are busy struggling to survive in the recession, and will get back to me soon with the report.

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An Ongoing Wait

The wait for the editor’s report goes on… It’s slightly complicated in that a third party arranged the report on my behalf, but pretty frustrating all the same.  In the meantime, I can’t really face working on the other novel until I know exactly what’s happening with the editing report, so I’ve been concentrating on writing about my student days at Dartington College of Arts, Totnes, Devon, where I once studied piano and composition.

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A Long Wait

I’m still waiting for the editing report on my first novel, a psychological thriller set in the English countryside.   That’s one of the things in trying to get a book published  – you end up spending ages waiting each step of the way.  For me, the waiting is the worst bit.  It feels long and drawn out, and I tend to get impatient and worry about what might happen next.  

In the meantime, without having a definite time frame to work in, I don’t think I can continue with the most recent novel (another psychological thriller set near the Dorset coast), so I’ve made extensive backup copies of the first fourteen chapters and hope to return to the story sometime next year.  I’m working on something entirely different while I wait for the editor’s report - my student days at Dartington College of Arts in Totnes, Devon, where I studied music and classical piano.  

I’m also spending a lot of time at the piano, playing works by Beethoven, Chopin, Grieg and Liszt.

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A Delay

The editing report on my first novel has been delayed until the end of the week, so I’ll have to wait a bit longer. At the moment, I’m taking a few days off writing and enjoying reading.

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