Success breeds success
A short update on my progress so far – I’ve written almost
10,000 words in the last 2 weeks and to me, that’ s good going. I feel like I’m back “in” my story and able
to tell the rest of it with relative ease (touch wood!) Moreover, I’ve had encouraging feedback (given that it’s still an
unfinished first draft) from a published writer I respect, which has given my
writing additional “oomph.”
In fact not only am I feeling like I’m making headway with my current work in progress, I’m also having some pretty exciting new ideas pop into my head at random moments, including a whole new MG fantasy book plot that popped into my head randomly as I drove to work. An idea that I was very excited about.
So excited, that I’ve had to exercise self discipline. Not easy at the best of times for a man who can almost never answer “no” to questions like “another pint?” or “fancy a cupcake?” - but necessary if I want to finish the story I’m working on. So I’ve written down the ideas, discussed them with my wife, Marie (who’s always my first sounding board,) fleshed out some of the characters and plot and then put it aside. It was difficult, but I did it – and the best thing is, the idea is there and ready to be picked up when I’m ready to work on it.
I think inspiration (at least for me) is something that comes when I’m already doing well writing something. I could be doing nothing for months and I’d never have a single idea, but when I’m making good writing progress then ideas come at me at random times out of the blue. This makes me think that the imagination is like a muscle – the more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes. Sitting on the sofa watching box sets just makes it atrophy.
So, I’m about 85-90% of the way through my first draft. My plan is still the same; finish the first draft, do a quick edit to deal with the worst of the continuity errors, characterisation problems (my first draft characters can sometimes be so wooden, you’d need to polish them with linseed oil) and other major problems, then send it off to my brilliant agent, Ben Illis for his feedback (and at that point, I’ll be really nervous.)
Then, while I’m waiting, I’ll go back to my first book - Pandora Wolfe – and try to edit the story down to 60,000 words while I wait for Ben’s comments and suggestions. This way I’ll stay busy, keep my imagination in gear and hopefully, eventually, end up with a book that’ll be published at the end of it.
Till then, I’ll keep you posted. TTFN.
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