Well, that was ... intense.
I've finally emerged from the dark editing cave I've been inhabiting for the past month, peopled with characters from my novel demanding I make them better - more likeable, more believable with better hair. They even wanted their storylines strengthening with more bits added on, and new chapters for them to run about in, the cheeky devils. Anyway I listened carefully, thought hard, realised they had a point and got on with it.
Things I learnt from my time in the cave ...
A lot more about editing, even at this stage.
That when I'm up against it I'm not even tempted to procrastinate.
I CAN write thousands of words a day.
That having a wonderful friend - and husband - who can read your words and scoop up those pesky typos and inconsistencies (not that there were MANY, I hasten to add) and be supportive is a wonderful bonus.
Getting up earlier means there's time to squirt bleach down the loos and aim pots at the dishwasher occasionally.
Strangely, even though I haven't done much cooking - certainly over the past week - I've put weight on. Odd that. Mind you I haven't walked Mollydog as much either, so that can't have helped. I've also been dreaming in text and dialogue, which is a truly bizarre experience.
Anyway, the edits are done and dusted and the manuscript back with Lovely Agent and all I can do is wait, fingers crossed, and hope she doesn't hate it.
In the meantime I shall integrate myself back into society and re-introduce myself to the family. I might read some blogs and watch a bit of telly and stop leaping up at odd moments shouting things like "candles in glass globes!" and "his chain! It should be GOLD!"
I may even bake a giant cake for you all. Any preferences?
34 comments:
Wow! How exciting!
Chocolate with any sort of icing, ta love!
Editing can be like another realm, but it sounds like you made it through aces. Nice hubby you've got, btw... :)))
Yep, chocolate, definitely. Very well done on the editing, sounds like you've nailed it, I'm sure Lovely Agent will be very happy.
Ahhhh, important things first. "Date & Walnut" cake, please :-) Have you been scoffing too many biscuits? Tut! Tut!
Welcome back Clarkey (Cave Woman) I've missed thy wit! Well done. Tommox
Chocolate.
Chocolate!
Enjoy the sunshine.
Banoffee pie does that count as cake?...congrats on getting those edits done - 1 month is impressive! xx
Lemon. With lots of runny icing purleaase.
Huge well dones on your fabulous focus in Getting On With It!
Chocolate, obviously.
Hurray on the editing and even more hurray on the returning to society - we've missed you!
A cave sounds perfect. Did it have a dragon too?
Your born again people will thank you for your time as a hermit.
Hi!
I've been in a cave too, just been let out. My blog refers to me typing in my dreams...
Well done and best of luck. I can now keep everything crossed for you, now that I've stopped typing xx
Sounds very exciting - lemon drizzle please!!
Michelle
x
There is no doubt that editing is part of the creative process but it is damned hard work and you do get so absorbed in your own world it can feel strange to emerge, blinking, into the light of the ordinary world. Well done, Karen! Many good luck wishes that the Lovely Agent will approve and find a suitable home for it. xxx
I'm on the chocolate team, please.
Brilliant news; well done on for the work in the cave.
Got my fingers crossed for you.
Chocolate for me too please.
What a busy girl you've been.
Good luck.
x
Well done you and lots of luck with it!
Can I go for lemon too, please? And not only because that means Lane and I will get half each (too many on the chocolate wagon!)
Hello! I also get writer's tourette's - usually when lolling on public transport between Home and Work, and nearly always when (rarely!) I have no paper or pen to hand.
Well done with your editing! And my cake preference would be... (drums roll, cymbols crash)...a giant gooey mess of chocolate, sugar and golden syrup. Perhaps topped with a banana as a Nod To Health.
Wow, well done on editing month. Just wondering if you'd have noticed if hubby had been feeding you cream cakes on toast the whole time?
Chocolate lemon drizzle cake perhaps???
I'm sure Mollydog will understand.
Welcome back from the cave and good luck with Lovely Agent. x
Sounds like you did good work with the editing. Well done and lovely to see you back.
Any kind of cake is fine with me, thank you.
X
OOO black forest gateux pleeeassee!!
Well done on the hard work. It's great to see you're back from the cave :)
Aye all good stuff Hen. Yes deadlines focus the mind and we could all do with someone imposing them upon us to make us work harder if not better. Enjoy your haiatus and very good luck with it all.
nic - It's VERY exciting. I need to calm down!
anna - Lovely hubby, he really took over in the last week as none of us would have eaten otherwise :o)
queenie - I hope so too - daren't even think about her hating it :oO
tommo - Good to be back, and I'll have to take out the walnuts if you don't mind as I'm not keen :o))
dumdad - Chocolate seems to be a firm favourite. No one's even mentioned a fruit cake :o(
ann - Thank you, I really will :o)
kerry - It's close enough to qualify I reckon! And yes, I wrote like a demon but found it strangely enjoyable :o)
Congrats on your news too, really well done x
lane - Thank you :o) It shows I can do it when I try!
I love lemon cake too. I wonder if I can make each slice different?
womagwriter - Thank you, I've missed you all too :o)
fia - There was a friendly little dragon - breathed just enough fire to keep me at it :o))
l-plate - It's been really intense - I feel a bit lost now! Fingers crossed for you too :o)
michelle - Another one for lemon drizzle - I'll get right on it :o)
lorna f - I do feel a bit strange a the moment - as if there's something I should be doing! Thank you for your good wishes :o)
jj beattie - Thank you - it was very dark in there, but nice and cosy!
Chocolate's definitely the favourite so far!
colette - Thank you :o) And I might have to make 2 chocolate cakes at this rate!
bernadette - Thank you, and that's a very good idea re: the lemon cake :o))
jayne - Hi! It was getting ridiculous, I was scribbling notes on anything that came to hand - even ON my hand. I feel a little bereft now.
Love your cake suggestion - apart from the banana :o)
denise - Great cake idea, and I reckon you're right about hubby - I think he did sneak in a fruit 'n nut bar sandwich here and there :o)
debs - Thank you :o) I've taken Molly for some extra long walks to make up for it now!
suzanne - Thank you, and I love your easy attitude to cake :o) I hope you don't mind if it there's lashings of buttercream?
lily - Thanks :o) Unusual choice of cake. I might have to cheat and buy one!
mob - Thank you, I will and you're right about deadlines - I work much harder when I have one :o)
Well done for finishing. And, hmmmm, lemon drizzle I think x
Coffee & walnut for me please! Then I can eat it all up myself, mwah ha ha haaaa...
Cor, you do sound as if you've been going great guns. It must be fabulous to emerge, blinking in the glare of real life, knowing that your manuscript is glistening after all your hard work.
I bet Lovely Agent will think it terrific. Go Karen!
So glad to see you out and about :-)
And it was my absolute pleasure :-)))
XX
Can't wait to read this book when it comes out.
Well done! Fingers crossed for you. And mine's a lemon drizzle please (this is turning into a right garden party, hope you've got enough doilies)
Hi Karen,
2 blogs eh, that's just being greedy, and lo and behold this one more active!
I dropped by just to say thanks for dropping by my blog, and see that congratulations are in order. Great news, despite underlying anxieties by the sound of it. Editing - yee gods the bane of us all.
Oh BTW: coffee and walnut goes down a treat in this house.
best
Francine
Well done on finishing the edits!
Love your comment about candles and chain - I'm sure most authors eventually end up in ga-ga land what with typing in their sleep and dreaming in dialogue.
As for cake, hmm, how about a Battenburg with loads of marzipan?
xxPat
Cake please. ANy kind. Lovely.
Well done you on making the time in your writer's cave work so well. Lovely Agent will love what you've done - am sure of it...x
Well done, Karen. You sound to be certainly living up to your blog name.
And now I'll put my order in for a coffee-cream sponge cake - big dollops of cream in the middle and lovely smooth icing on top.
Amazing what you can achieve when you really have to isn't it? Not just you, all of us, I mean.
Geez - that's one of my main beefs with English, by the way, that 'impersonal' use of 'you' when other languages would use our equivalent of 'one'. 'One' sounds ridiculous in English now, so we're left with 'you' which one (!) then has to qualify and say 'not just you, obviously, all of us... Sigh..
English is so brilliant usually, but that's a real deficiency. That, and the tendency of 'better' not to mean just 'recovered' but 'improved, even slightly'. As in 'are you better?' - 'Well, not better better, but better, yes, thanks..'
helenmhunt - Thank you, and lemon drizzle it is!
sprialskies - That's my LEAST favourite cake in the entire world, and I'm not making one so there! I'm still waiting to hear from LA (that's Lovely Agent by the way, not Los Angeles in case you were wondering) and it's torturous.
amanda - Thank you :o))
honeysuckle - IF it comes out!! You'll probably hate it :o)
jumbly girl - Thank you, and doilies at the ready. I might have to crochet some extra ones :o)
francine - Hi - yes I've shamefully neglected the other blog I'm afraid!
Another one for coffee and walnut eh - I might have to bake on after all :o)
pat posner - Ooh, that's a new one :o) It'll have to be without marzipan though, as I can't stand the stuff which is odd as I love ground almonds!
fionnuala - Thank you, you're too kind :o) I see you're not fussy about your cake though - how about a cherry and coconut?
Jean - Ooh thank you, and your cake idea would be perfect - if it wasn't coffee. Chocolate maybe??
Thanks Alis, and I know just what you mean about the 'you' issue! Maybe we should go back to using 'one' instead :o)
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