Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined to write "very"...

Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined to write "very"; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be - Mark Twain

I have found a strange fascination to baking over the past month. For someone that has never baked in her entire life I can only see it as a sign of getting older. Although I am not that old. Maybe it is not a sign and me reading into it.

This has nothing to do with writing though so I’ll move on.

I have a friend who is a fabulous baker and photographer – ‘Bake amazing cakes and take photos and really you could self publish your own book!’ She smiles at me and tries to humour me. ‘I know. I would love to do something like that.’  The girl has more talent than she knows what to do with – she could easily make millions but I can say this and I know she will admit to this: She does not have much organisational capability.

I guess you have to have a god dollop of both creativity and organisation skills if you are to ever make a business out of your talent.

I am close to the end of English Grammar for Dummies – I will start reading it again as soon as I finish – And I am mid-way through The Crowded Bed. I am enjoying it. It is also giving me a little insight into being Jewish, something I know little about. I like books like that – they teach you something without actually ‘teaching you’

I have also set up a little schedule for editing my second novel. I was supposed to finish by the end of July but with only ten days or so left and more chapters than days left I doubt that is going to happen. I must be a little more disciplined now. I am getting complacent and a bit apprehensive. Like most writers- yesterday I had one of those ‘hopeless’ days when you think all your work dull and dreary and that you should throw it all out. I didn’t, I refrained- Instead I edited chapter seven.

But as I read other books – even though ‘The Book Club’ is more developed than ‘Goa Traffic’ – I realise that I want to make it even richer than ever. So the reader can get completely lost within the plots and sub plots and the intense atmosphere of the book. Yes that’s the word for it – I want it to be ‘rich’ – like an indulgent Christmas fruit cake.