To back up and update you on what's happened since my last post...
I sent a detailed story plan to my editor and quickly received the go-ahead to start writing, along with a few pointers of advice on bits of the plan where she felt I might fall down if I'm not careful. I was told to check in after three chapters, which I duly did, and thankfully she liked them! She's told me to relax into the story now and take my time (clearly meaning don't screw it up by bashing out poor quality drivel in my haste to get the thing finished!), mining every scene for as much romance, drama and humour as I can. I also have to make sure I'm making the setting come alive enough - it's all meant to be really opulent and posh with my heroine as a bit of a fish out of water, and so sticking to my usual rule of minimal scene-setting hasn't been descriptive enough.
As I write this I am halfway through Chapter Six. Once that's done I need to go back over all six chapters and make sure I've covered all her advice points before sending the first half of the story back to her. I just hope I'm managing to maintain the standard.
Every little stage I get to feels like a mini-victory at the moment. I'm trying to write, without fail, 1000 words a day and so far that policy is really standing me in good stead. In the past I've had real motivational problems that I know were down to me storming through thousands of words on rare good days, then beating myself up every day that I didn't achieve that. Add in all the domestic stuff that doesn't get done because I'm fiddling with my writing and if I'm not careful I'm well on the way to a major guilt trip, feeling like I'm not doing anything well.
Talking of domestic stuff, in the midst of all this we've finally made a decision after discussing it for the past five years or so to get a dog. Puppy (provisional names: Dave (14 yo son), Basil (13yo daughter) or Bubbleguppy (3 yo daughter) - no one can agree) arrives on 10th April, and all hell is likely to break loose until I've got to grips with integrating him into our already manic family life. Really must try and get the lion's share of the MS done before this moment!
As I write this I am halfway through Chapter Six. Once that's done I need to go back over all six chapters and make sure I've covered all her advice points before sending the first half of the story back to her. I just hope I'm managing to maintain the standard.
Every little stage I get to feels like a mini-victory at the moment. I'm trying to write, without fail, 1000 words a day and so far that policy is really standing me in good stead. In the past I've had real motivational problems that I know were down to me storming through thousands of words on rare good days, then beating myself up every day that I didn't achieve that. Add in all the domestic stuff that doesn't get done because I'm fiddling with my writing and if I'm not careful I'm well on the way to a major guilt trip, feeling like I'm not doing anything well.
Talking of domestic stuff, in the midst of all this we've finally made a decision after discussing it for the past five years or so to get a dog. Puppy (provisional names: Dave (14 yo son), Basil (13yo daughter) or Bubbleguppy (3 yo daughter) - no one can agree) arrives on 10th April, and all hell is likely to break loose until I've got to grips with integrating him into our already manic family life. Really must try and get the lion's share of the MS done before this moment!
