Starting Again

I've finally reached the editing stage with Tattooing Angels. I did a first draft, which was basically a brain splurge - the words just poured out onto my netbook. I printed it off and re-typed the whole thing trying to expand on characters and plot so that it was an actual book. Now I'm at the technical edit where I have to look at everything and make it a hundred percent better. It won't be the last edit but hopefully it will be the major one.

One of my bad habits is that when I'm editing I just start adding bits. I don't take a lot away but I start adding paragraphs and then expanding on this which can err dangerously towards repetition. I'm trying to knock that out of myself. If I see a lame paragraph or a part that doesn't quite live up to expectations then its going!!!! I am a harsh critic of my own work - or I will be with a little practice.

I'm reading a book on writing young adult novels at the moment. It's actually a brilliant book called : Writing Great Books For Young Adults by Regina Brooks. I do highly recommend it. What I'd say is its good if you have a first draft and you're ready to start seriously getting it ready for submission but you have to open minded, editing can mean complete rewrites, it can me axing bits that you personally love and it can make you doubt the greatness of your work. In the end though (I'm hoping) it will lead to a polished manuscript that will be hard to refuse.

My sister has finished her University course for the Summer, enviably coming away with A's in all her modules and being on course for a First (fingers crossed) when she graduates next year. I find that my sister makes me really proud. She's my big sister and she's always been someone that I've found impossibly endearing. She's one of those people who rarely lies, never bitches or says anything bad about anyone and doubts her brilliance. She's like this little doll that you just want to put somewhere safe but she's bloody brilliant at nearly everything she turns her hand to (apart from cooking -which of course she'd argue with). So over the SUmmer and because I'm working part-time I've promised to entertain her with exciting happenings so here are my plans:

a) York for the weekend (which was last weekend). We stayed at the Royal George and ate a three course meal and drank way too much.

b) Cinema to watch X-men on Friday

c) Chester Zoo (date to be confirmed). I got a camera for my birthday and am dying to try it out as I am hoping to design an inspiration board of pictures.

d) Sweeney Todd at the Octagon. If you go and see it check out the posters by Bolton University students and look for my sisters. It's a really hot male torso with a tattoo on the arm.

e) Pride & Prejudice at Dunham Massey - an outdoor play with picnic

f) Ireland to visit our friend Erin for a long weekend.

g) Fingers crossed the Moscow Circus at Tatton Park!!!!

h) A couple of dog shows because Darcy is going to explode onto the Dog Scene

i) more to come.

Okay I'm getting back to editing. My boss is away for a week so I'm in charge!!! Which basically means drinking a lot of coffee, designing a lot of marketing materials on Powerpoint and generally coming up with ideas to attract clients.

Reminded

One of the most important lessons that I have learnt recently as a writer is that it isn't just about our writing, its about us too as people. We need to be likeable, appealing, fun and above all else easy to deal with. Sometimes I'm none of those things. I'm angry, I'm bitter and I'm frustrated but deep down I'm actually the easiest person in the world to deal with because I'm polite, thoughtful and I hate upsetting people! Fact.

What I decided to do was write myself as a character! I'd be tall, dark hair, big eyes, long eyelashes. I'd have a favourite catchphrase of "awesome doofus". I'd sit in Starbucks tapping away on my netbook in a world of my own. I'd be a daydreamer, prone to internalising everything. I'd suffer from M.E. and be constantly weary. A collector of broken things because I hate seeing imperfect things and believing nobody will want them; i'm the person who buys the dog ornament with the missing ear or the gingerbread man with the missing smartie button. I'd believe in one soul mate and be waiting around for them. I'd believe my soul mate would have purple eyes. I'd love Victorian things and antique looking clothes with lace and ribbon. I'd collect antique things like old Victorian umbrellas and hats with little black veils. I'd have a pile of shoeboxes on top of my wardrobe filled with memories and my old journals that make me cringe when I read them. I'd love my pets and confide all my secrets to my dog Rex. I'd have about forty pairs of shoes but only really wear one. I'd have blue wellies up to the knee that I'd walk directly at puddles when I was wearing. I'd have my Nana's wedding ring which I'd always wear. I'd have a handbag filled with bits and pieces I didn't really need to carry around with me like the wooden dolphin my Dad carved out of a bit of wood and the bean filled lizard he bought me when I was about twelve. My ipod would be full of music that didn't go together yet when I pressed shuffle it all suddenly started to make sense. I'd have a compulsive personality where I'd throw myself into an idea without really thinking but love it deeply until I lost interest.