Reason For Vengeance

I struggled to focus on Tuesday when I started re-editing Reason.  Yesterday I tried something new.  I didn't turn my computer on and worked at the dining room table downstairs.  I can't say it was the most comfortable place to work, but there were no distractions.  I didn't even have music playing, I was completely cut off and it worked.  I edited over a hundred pages yesterday and it was careful, word by word checking.

I can't believe some of the stuff I found.  Mostly it was a distinct lack of punctuation and I expected that.  I've learned a lot since publishing it, hence why the re-edit and re-publication.  What really surprised me were the double words, words out of order and wrong words.  Not many, but more than I expected.  It shows you are never ready to publish, all you can do, is the best you can on a given day.


My cold and cough came back yesterday and I skipped Karate, very annoying.  I spent the time well though by doing an extra fifteen pages, so at least it wasn't wasted.

Time to get back to it and shut down my computer again.

Crusade For Vengeance

Today started well.  I amended the second part of Crusade to accommodate the new chapters I'd written.  After that I went through the following editing exercises:

Checking I'd used OK and no Ok or ok.
I'd added the capital for words I'm using for some technologies.
Checking I used past and passed correctly.
Wrote a small addition to the end of Crusade

That all took me to lunch time so I printed off the manuscript for Reason again.  I wanted to start on it's last edit before re-publication.  When I started to look at it about 2.30 pm, I found I had just run out of steam.  I didn't have the focus to check every word.

I needed to pop into town at some point this week so I went and did that rather than completely waste the afternoon.

New day tomorrow and a new start.  I think I'll do the editing downstairs where there are no distractions.

Crusade For Vengeance

I had a good afternoon in London on Friday.  I met up with some old friends in a pub by Covent Garden.  There was good beer and good conversation.  I like going into London, I worked there for eight years and there are some parts I know well.  I get the train into Euston station and then it's a pleasant walk down to Covent Garden.  On previous trips I've arrived earlier and gone to the British Library and the British Museum, both are nearby.  I actually walk past the British Museum.

Today was a good day.  Another 5,000 good words written and as it happens, that finishes off the additional section I've been writing.  It came in at a total of 21,000 words and, if it's all included, will bring the total of the book to 148,500.  A much more respectable number.

I need to make some amendments to integrate it into the story but nothing too bad.  I just finished one of those and I think I only need to do one more.

Something I have noticed is that my spelling has improved. It's no way near perfect, but I'm getting a lot more words correct than I used to.  Now if only I could get my grammar and punctuation up to the same level.  Word doesn't really cover punctuation very well.

I do have a second addition in mind for the book.  I've been thinking about it and I'm not so sure anymore.  If I do it, it moves a major character out of position and a whole stack of cards comes crashing down.  Fixing a weak point could have far bigger ramifications.  I'm really not sure.  Hmm, I just had an idea of another way to write it or more accurately, one of the suggested amendments might make more sense now.  Something to consider overnight.

Well it's been a ten and a half hour day’s work and my dinner is almost ready.  Time to call it a day.

Crusade For Vengeance

The second productive day in a row!  5,500 words today and it was a normal day, start at 9.00 am, finish at 6.00 pm.  I am back up to speed.  I really could have continued on, the next couple of thousand words are buzzing round my head, but they will have to wait at least until Sunday.

Thursday night I go an see my little girl and tomorrow I'm off down to London to catch up with some old friends.  I'm not leaving until midday so I will be reading through all of the new stuff in the morning and taking a printed copy for proper editing on the train.

I'm on twitter and I wanted to update through my phone and can you believe it, I can't!  My HTC Wildfire with Android 2.2 isn't supported by twitter.  To be fair I am a bit old fashioned, I normally only use my phone as a phone with an occasional pic.  I normally leave the internet switched off to save battery.

I really was gobsmacked to see I couldn't use twitter though.  Oh well.  It's annoying but I'm not going to get a new phone.  I like my Wildfire, it's small enough to fit in my pocket easily and light.  Before that I used a Motorola Razor, Nokia 8210 and originally a Nokia 6110.  In seventeen years, that's not very many.  There were two more, a Motorola that made me swear off them for life (it didn't stick, the Razor came much later) and an LG I used for less than a year I think.

What I look for in a phone size and weight.  The new iphone is really not designed for me.

Crusade For Vengeance

Yay, I am almost back up to speed.  5,000 words today.  I say almost because I started writing at 8.15 am.  It's been a long day.  I would keep going for another hour but tonight is Karate and I need to have dinner first.

I normally have lunch at about 1pm and watch a recorded program while I eat.  Today it was Quantum Leap and I am really enjoying watching them again.  The thing that always catches me though is Doctors.  It's on from 1.45 to 2.15 and I generally catch it about 1.50/1.55.  It's day time TV and let's face it, that normally means complete drivel.

Doctors is different though with some fairly punchy, well written stories.  Today it told the tale of a woman in her twenties, she moved from Nigeria and died alone in her flat on Christmas day.  She wasn't found for two years.  The last person to see her alive was her neighbour.  They were meant to have Christmas Dinner together at his house, two lonely people coming together because they had no one else.

He didn't report her as missing and didn't think anything was wrong about her because he was a convicted criminal.  He thought she had stood him up because she found out and avoided him from then on.

It does sound a little far-fetched but trust me it's not.  I've personally seen both of these things happen.  Of course they were separate but it's still a worthwhile story to tell and is indicative of the storylines Doctors produces.  I caught EastEnders last night and I watched it purely to see how it compares.  Doctors certainly isn't as dramatic but in its quiet understated way I think it tells much better and more relevant stories.

Hopefully tomorrow I can mange a similar level of productivity as today.  These extra chapters certainly are going to add a lot to the book.  It currently sits at 127,000 words and I'm at 10,000 already with the new stuff.  I think I'm only a third of the way through.  I've very pleased with that, I want my books to be around the 150,000 word mark so they give real value for money.

Crusade For Vengeance

It's been a while again since my last post.  Not much to report really other than my struggles with finishing Crusade.

The book is about 95% there now with most of the editing done.  At the moment I am trying to write about three additional chapters.  One of my alpha readers suggested that Hanna became too competent suddenly without any build up.  He was right, it was something I had noticed but I wasn't sure if it was just me being overly critical.  It's very difficult to have a good perspective on my own work.

In Reason he is responsible for Julianna.  He suggested I should use the rebellion more in the story and from that came the Hive and Julianna.

After he told me this the scenario came to me fairly quickly and in a couple of hours I had a section mapped out more completely than ever before.  The one thing I couldn't think of was the original hook, the starting point that gets the ball rolling.  It took me over a week of procrastinating to find it.  Once I did, it has really been difficult to write.

My days have been, 1000, 500, 1,500, 2,500 words with whole days of nothing in between.  Not good.  I am feeling more positive now than I have for a couple of weeks though.  The first chapter is done and I'm very pleased with it.

Now I'm stuck again as now I'm at point B, I don't know how to get to point C.  What's the angle of attack?  What are Hanna and Deni going to do?  I don't know.  Hopefully I'll have some inspiration overnight and come up with something.

Reason For Vengeance

Hmm, I'm getting lazy with this blogging.  I need to improve.  The problem is that editing doesn't come up with much worthwhile to report.  It's day after day of drudgery, important drudgery but still drudgery.

Today I've been looking and removing the unneeded 'had' and 'that' words from Reason.  I was very pleased with getting through 272 pages in one day and re-wording some sentences while I was at it.

It's strange, as I wrote it all this year, how much better I can write a sentence now, blogging not included.  I wonder if I'll be looking back a year from now and wonder what I was thinking by publishing this series without more practise?  Oh well, I've kind of committed myself now so I have to push on.

I watched Dominion on Friday and I was impressed, good story, reasonable effects and reasonable actors.  I'm looking forward to the next instalment.

My daughter and I went to one of these soft play places yesterday.  She really enjoys it and so do I.  For me the best thing is seeing her manage all the obstacles without my help for the first time.  She's only two and a half and so she's always been a little too small, or not co-ordinated enough.  It's just amazing to see her getting stronger and more confident.  Long may it continue.