Testing

Just a quick test, writing this from my new phone. Editing finished a few days ago, just need to rewrite a chapter, change a name or two and fix a few small things.

The mission is nearly complete...I hope

Almost done...promise

Ok, so this blog isn't very epic at the moment, but epic things are happening in the real world.

I'm on the last 100 pages of the manuscript; it's taking me longer to type in the corrections than I thought. That and I've also been spending my weekends doing drunken and debauched things. But it's all in the name of the art right? Without living a little how can I write about life...?

Ok, that excuse can only last for so long. I'm knuckling down with the editing now, and will have it all wrapped up by the weekend (it's now Monday night).

Then comes another read through, and possibly more alterations. I will also hand a copy to a workmate who reads a book a day and seems to like her dark fantasy/horror novels. She'll be able to get through this in a day or two and give me some honest feedback.

Then I'll start agent hunting. One thing at a time.

Time for two kiwi fruits, iron a shirt for work tomorrow and then bed.*


*My bedroom has recently become a nightspot for all of the trendiest, hairiest and largest spiders I have ever seen. Yep, the lovely huntsman spiders are coming out in force due to the warm and wet weather. I stared at one this morning on my wall and just cowered as it slowly walked into a crevice and vanished. It's still in here somewhere, perhaps with a dozen of its buddies. But as long as I can't see them, they don't exists...

Sleeping should be fun tonight... :(


:D

First read through is done

Just a quick post before I jump into to bed.

Finished reading through the "1st draft" yesterday. I say "1st draft" because I had constantly re-read and edited the novel as I wrote it. But this was the first time I had sat down and read it from start to finish (over the period of a week or so).

The experience was pleasant. I found myself reading chapters and parts of the story without knowing what was coming next. Leaving the novel for 4-6 weeks to 'bake' is definitely a good thing. I found plenty of spelling mistakes, a few plot holes and two chapters which will require a massive overhaul/rewrite due to poor structure and weak dialogue.

However, on the whole, I enjoyed the book (shameless pat on the back). I could read and digest it easily, and hope prospective agents/publishers/readers will be able to as well.

I marked all of the mistakes and corrections with a red biro and made extra notes in a note pad. I’ve now started implementing the corrections on my laptop, as I do so I highlight the red scribbles with a pink highlighter, so I know I have made the correction (I imagine I may overlook some of them otherwise). As I make these corrections I’m also reading the book again and not just jumping from one error to the next. I think it's important to read it all again in order to see the corrections in context with the story.

When all is done I will reprint and reread the book again. I may find more errors and spelling mistakes, but hopefully not. I'll give the book to a few people for some final feedback, and then I'll start agent hunting.

Well, I'll actually start writing letters of interest to agents this weekend asking if they would be interested in a sample/few chapters. I'll have to create a short and medium sized synopsis of the novel, which I look forward to as well.

A lot of work still to be done; but it's all new to me and an adventure I look forward to repeating with my second novel (which I aim to start by November 2011).

P.S. my laptop just turned off (ran out of battery). I plugged it in, fearful that I'd lost this blog post, but it just allowed me to carry on where I left off. I love this little thing.

Even if it did stop working a few days after I finished my novel!!!

More soon, off to bed!!

P.S. more details of the novel coming soon (title and plot). I feel more comfortable keeping the title and subject matter close to my chest right now, even if nobody is reading this!!!

Editing and more...

I am now on page 204 of my 346 page manuscript (roughly 90,000 words), and am really enjoying the experience. But this time last week was a different story. The start of the novel was much less enjoyable to read than where I am up to now. As I was writing the first 50 pages or so I don't think I really knew where the story was going (or what it was exactly). There will be a few chapter re-writes, and I'm looking forward to doing them, in order to build character more and take a bit more time to jump into the full story.

I really don't know how this will all end (i.e. will I find an agent? Will the agent find me a publisher? Will the book get published? And will it sell?).

I want to find and agent, I also want to find a publisher who will publish the novel, and I do want the book to reach as many people as possible. However, I am going to keep on writing for as long as ideas inspire me. Nothing will stop that. I already have my next book in the research phase and can't wait to start typing again (hopefully my eMachines EM250 netbook will allow me to complete it again before it dies on me). If people get to read my stuff (and pay me for it) that would be great. In the mean time, I'm enjoying this either way!!

***

On a side note, I just watched the last 10 minutes of Artscape: Obsessed with Walking, a documentary on Australia's great ABC1 channel about poets (such as Wordsworth), musicians and authors who were/are ...obsessed with walking!!

The segment I saw focused on Will Self, a British novelist (amongst other things). Will is an avid walker, and seems to find inspiration and peace during his treks. He mainly walks through and around cities (such as Los Angeles and Berlin), and refuses to drive or ride in taxis for fear they would impede/obstruct his interaction with the City.
What I found interesting was the discovery Will made on the documentary. Due to his introverted ways he found that he found writing to be difficult at times. He attributed this to his lack of interaction with the people who lived within the cities he walked in. He never talked to them, he just walked.

It struck me that one of the reasons why I find my 'juices' flowing here in Sydney more so than anywhere else is because I have amassed enough knowledge of people and places to write (of course I have so much more to learn, more people to meet, and places to visit; but I finally have enough ammo in the rifle to start shooting).

I think Neil Gaiman mentioned living and 'getting one's heart broken' etc as a good tip to becoming an author. One can read every book under the sun, but in order to write about people (which is essentially what all fiction novels are) one must know people.


Deep?

Yup :D

Almost time...

This weekend will mark four weeks since I finished the novel. I set this as a time period for me to get 'fresh eyes' to review the novel and begin to make the final draft. After that I'll probably show it to a few people, but will ultimately seek an agent to help get the thing published.

No matter what happens I'll keep on writing. I've already started another short story (about the origins of the werewolf) and have a few ideas floating around for the next novel.

Writing is great fun, so I'll keep doing it as long as I enjoy it!!

Will keep updates during the editing process.

Baking a book

I've been really tired for the past few days. Most likely due to early mornings, late nights and the fact that I ran a 14km race with a cold at the weekend!!

The novel is currently baking in my wardrobe. I printed it out, double lined, and put it in a ring binder. I won't touch it for a month. Then I'm going to re-read it and see what happens. I'm sure to find spelling errors, maybe the odd plot hole and a few character motivation and development issues. But that's what I expect. I imagine it will be easier to find the flaws with 'fresh eyes' and look forward to the challenge. One of the greatest parts of the writing process is that I'm 'the boss' and can do quite literally what I like with the story. I can change colours, names, places, smells and virtually anything else that I don't think fits. So there is really nothing to worry about. (In theory).

I'm contemplating who (if anyone) to show the finished product to before I hunt for an agent. But I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

For now, the book is baking, and my mouth is watering.

My first novel is finshed...kinda

Earlier on today I completed my first novel.

I'm not sure what I expected would happen when I finally typed the last word (I am yet to begin the editing process). The main thing was that I realised the story was finished, there was nothing more to add and it had ended how I had intended it to end.

But there was no fanfare, no fireworks and no party poppers or go-go girls to reward me for my achievement. I simply walked to the shops and bought some milk, ceral and some sweets. But it was a very pleasant walk.
The novel sits at just under 90,000 words, and going by Stephen King's tips in 'On Writing' a second draft should be 10% less than the first (which would bring me to 81,000 approx) an apparently safe number for a first time writer.

Now the fun starts, editing, finding an agent and trying to get this beast published!!

Nerds :D

Nerds are funny.

Some of my favourite things!

Materialism, an excess of possessions, is bad.

But enjoying well made products is surely not a sin!

A list of my favourite things:

1. My Playstation 3
2. My Netbook - eMachines eM250 (made by Acer and upgraded to have 2GB of ram).
3. My POD XT - a guitar effects amp. With my Sony headphones it's awesome.
4. My Phillips electric shaver.

:)

iPhone 4G ~ Leaked

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Apple's new iPhone has been leaked.

An Apple employee who had taken it out for a test run left it in a pub after getting hammered. It somehow ended up with tech-blog site Gizmodo (a bit convenient).

Not much need to say more, I hope this isn't an Apple stunt. But if it is...it's an ingenious one.

Here's more:

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/04/this-is-apples-next-iphone/