An update and points to remember

Easter decorations in Prague Old Town Square

I got back from a fortnight in the Czech Republic on Thursday and after a whole weekend of what feels like solid sleep, I’m ready to get back to work. 

I was quiet on my blog in the weeks running up to my holiday because I heard back from HMB with another set of revisions. So after much hair-tearing I buried myself in those and cut back the amount of time I spent on social media. I finished and sent back the revised manuscript a couple of days before my holiday so now I’m back to the jumpy, nail-biting wait!

Of course, the best way to keep my mind off the wait is to get on with the next story, so starting tomorrow it’s back to the WIP. It’s been on hold for nearly two months now, so the first thing to do is read it through. I’ve come up with things to look out for, gleaned from the points that have come out in the revision process for TWKS. They are (in no particular order):

•  Does the progression of the romance take centre-stage at all times, or are there places where it gets buried under the action?
•  In each scene, is it clear how the hero and heroine feel about each other and is their behaviour consistent with these feelings/conflicts?
•  Do the hero and heroine each have a clear and consistent emotional arc throughout the story?
• Are there places where introspection could be replaced by the hero and heroine interacting?

Hopefully now I’m more aware of my areas of weakness I won’t repeat the same mistakes again. I also hope I won’t make any new ones!

Update, RNA meeting and NWS

Life's been a merry-go-round lately

Yes . . . I know . . . it’s been months since I last posted. Shame on me!

Suffice it to say, I’ve been busy. I mentioned in my last post that I’d been working on a proofreading course. Well, in May I learnt that I’d passed with distinction (yay!) Since then I’ve been hard at work, setting up a proofreading business alongside my tuition business. I’ve also been on holiday (Czech Republic), visited various friends and family and had family staying with me. Last weekend was the first weekend in a long time that I didn’t spend with young children around. It was bliss!*

One thing I did do last weekend, however, was attend the RNA Birmingham chapter meeting. I’m so pleased I plucked up the courage to sidle up to the group on the library steps and say, “Erm . . . you wouldn’t happen to be romantic novelists, would you?” Because it turned out that they were (phew!) and they were so friendly and welcoming that I was soon wondering why I’d stood like a lemon for so long, trying to decide if they looked like romantic novelists or not.

Although I already attend a writers’ group that’s more local to me, it was lovely to meet fellow romance writers and hear news and advice on the specific genre I write in. It was also a great encouragement to hear of others’ successes and think that I could achieve that too, as long as I keep trying. I’m already looking forward to the next meeting.

Finally, I got my MS back from the NWS and I’ve been going through the comments, wincing in some places and feeling a warm glow in others. It’s been interesting to see that the parts of the novel I was less satisfied with are also the bits the reader picked holes in. If I’m honest, those are the places where I let plot take precedence over character and even though I could see that my characters wouldn’t act that way, I was too committed to the plot to change it. Definitely food for thought! Whether I’ll be able to translate the excellent advice into a more successful second attempt remains to be seen . . .

*I do love kids, honest. But my eardrums needed a rest.

I'm back!

I said in my last post that I would confess up to how much work I had done on my ms whilst I was in Prague, so here goes...

Well, I like to look upon all new experiences as research. For instance, I now know what it's like to look after a toddler with a death wish, I've learned all about jelly-floods (courtesy of endless episodes of Ben and Holly) and I got whipped on Easter Monday (didn't manage to avoid that after all). So while I didn't actually work on my ms itself, I've built up a store of experiences that I'm sure will come in useful in my future writing.

Wow - that almost convinced me! Back to work tomorrow...

Holiday time and an arcane Czech tradition

I'm off to Prague tomorrow for the best part of a fortnight. I've been looking forward to this for ages - Prague is such a beautiful city. My brother lives out there so I've been there loads of times, but I never get tired of it.

It's especially beautiful at Easter. They hang ribbons and painted eggs in the trees in the Old Town Square which looks charming, although all the pastel colours do give me cravings for Cadbury's mini eggs :)

It's not all fun, though. Not for women, anyway. On Easter Monday, it's traditional for the men to whip the women to keep them fertile. To add insult to injury, the women are supposed to weave and decorate the whips themselves! The men go around the neighbourhood, whipping all the women and drinking a glass of slivovice (a potent mixture of plums and TNT) at each household. The  next day the poor women have to nurse their menfolk through their hangovers. Something tells me that this particular tradition wasn't thought up by a woman.

I think I'll try to stay out of the way on Monday. I've sent the latest version of my first three chapters to my Kindle, so I hope to be able to read it through and make notes. I'll own up to how much I did or didn't do when I get back.

Happy Easter!