Tuesday 5 July 2011

There is no great writing...

There is no great writing, only great rewriting.
Justice Brandeis

So I have started editing the first very sketchy draft of my new novel. I had forgotten how tedious editing could be. It’s the first draft so new ideas keep coming too me and what starts off as two additional words scribbled in the margin (I hand write my edits- crazy I know) turns into at least a paragraph- by which time I am trying to find space to cram it all in. Or another favourite trick- I add an asterisk and write another chapter on a scruffy piece of paper.

This time I am not editing the whole novel and then trawling back to decipher my scribbles and a million asterisks which belong to random bits of paper. No this time I am doing two chapters at a time. They are long chapters though and it is very time consuming. I can feel an air of impatience taking over me which will not be good for my novel. The impatience is not to get it out so to speak but it’s to get through this first draft so that it is more complete – to start a proper edit. If you have been following my blog, I have mentioned that this edit is not to flesh out but to add bits that I think are essential. New plots and ideas are coming to me as well so its more of a first write I guess than a first edit. I wanted to get this done by the end of July, but with other commitments I cant see it happening. I reckon it will be more like September time, which is okay too – I think I can muster up a good couple of first readers to tell me their initial thoughts by then!

The new book I am reading: Aberystwyth Mon amour- is proving to be a light hearted detective read and just what I need for a bit of escapism. It is old worldy but set in modern day. An interesting combination! It is slightly difficult to read as a reader now I find. I kind of read as a writer and as I go through my English Language for dummies book, I am more aware of the commas and punctuation in books that I read- I suppose that is part of the learning process. But as I read it I think – this guy got published, what did they see- I must say I picked up the book and thought I am going to like this – especially after the failure of the Hare with Amber Eyes, however, the first chapter or so did not draw me in at all! I pursued with it though- I had to- It must be read by the end of the month (which is another thing I am not so sure about in regards to joining a book club- this pressure to get the book read within a certain time). Anyway – It is going well and I would recommend it – if you want to pass a couple of evening with a light hearted – don’t have to think about it- novel, and its short too with some interesting characters- it doesn’t drag.

I have also started reading The Crowded Bed by Mary Cavanagh.  I have just started it and put it aside, whilst I get the reading group book out of the way but it has started well and I look forward to returning to it. I think I will start a little book review section on this blog. Maybe one to two per month. Now that I am reading – a wider variety of books- that’s what I like about the club- Each member gets to choose a book that they like so you get a real variety of books!

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