Don't know whether you'll be interested...

*SA*

...but I've just finished the first draft of Book #2. Thought you might like to know...

*SA tries to be all cool and blase, and fails 100%!*

I can't believe it!! At just over 88600 words, it's the most I've ever written in my whole life, and I can't even tell you how happy I am with how it's turned out!! :D Now on to Book #3!!

*SA*

Carol

Well done. :)

Phots Moll

Congratulations!

Jediya

Nice one SA, you must be ecstatic (I know I would be)

Stan2

Well done SA.

*SA*

[quote=Jediya]Nice one SA, you must be ecstatic (I know I would be) [/quote]

I am. When I was coming home on the bus before, I finished off the final section to connect the beginning and end of the epilogue (I write surprisingly well while I'm on the bus), and then, walking home from the bus stop, knowing I was finished, I was euphoric. I can't believe it's really done.

*SA*

Jay Mandal

Well done! You didn't say whether you were going to send it to agents and publishers.

Stirling

Well done! Look forward to reading it.

You're ahead of me. I'm about 45,000 into book #1, but I have 3 essays to write and don't think the brain will take it. So I'm laying it aside and starting to research book #2.

dora

Good for you duckie. Well done.

KJ

Well done you!

Lolli

Well done SA. Hope the 3rd book goes as well - and that you manage to sell the trilogy for hooooooooooojjj amounts of boodle

*SA*

[quote=Jay Mandal]You didn't say whether you were going to send it to agents and publishers.[/quote]

It's actually the sequel to book #1, so it's all sort of resting on poor book #1's shoulders right now. I suppose that's the problem when you have an idea for a series -- if you get nowhere with the first, then any subsequent installments aren't going to move either. We're crossing our fingers for a lovely 3-book deal.

Right now, I'm going to try to forget about the agent thing until I hear back from the others who still have book #1's MS, and just try to write because I love to write. Because I do. How much fun I've had writing this year, and that feeling of pure bliss and contentment today when I knew that book #2 was done are proof enough of that.

[quote=Stirling]Well done! Look forward to reading it.[/quote]

Hopefully it won't be long until you can. Until everyone can. :)

Don't burn yourself out, just go at your own pace, and your writing brain will thank you for it. xxx

*SA*

Stirling

My body seems to be working against me. I have IBS. but it seems to be intensifying. Looks like a trip to the doctors . . .

*SA*

My sis and my mum both have IBS. My sis only has to look at a chilli and she's bent double for the rest of the day. I'm lucky, in that I don't seem to have inherited any of my mum's sick stuff (IBS, thyroid probs, ear probs, bladder probs etc, etc, etc). My sis got the lot. I really feel for you, because it's awful. xxx

Has the doc tried to find out what it is that set off your attacks?

*SA*

Stirling

It seems to be stress related. Could be that it is the end of semester and the stress that brings with it. I never realised backache was a symptom of IBS, I've been in agony for days . . .

Kangaroo

Well done SA, that's great to hear! Stirling, I hope your back gets better quick.

Carol

Sympathies Stirling.((()))

Stirling

Thanks.

littlewanda

Well done, Stirling. Must be a very satisfying feeling!

febes

Well done! Bet it is a good feeling. And good luck to book #1

Rosalie

Well done with the book, SA! Great achievement - good luck with part 3.

SilentTony

Well done and good luck. At least now book 1 will have a new sister and a baby on the way to keep her company.

forget-me-not

congratulations SA!!

Mutley

Well done SA

St Force

well done! You're doing great work. If you want someone to read them ask away. I wouldn't mind.

*SA*

My friend, Lauren, has just finished reading book #2, and raved for about twenty minutes about it. She sent me this email when she'd finished it --

***

I've just finished it and………………………………………………………………………………

I absolutely LOVED it!!!!!!!!!!!!! You should definitely be signed!!!!!!!

And I think cos you’ve already got the series in place and you’ve nearly finished you’re in a better position than someone that has just got the first book!!!

I thought the ending was fantastic and I was like what, no, I want MORE!!! Hahaha! Definitely a fab way to end it!!

I think I nearly cried a few times and I am not a crying type of person! I love the twists and turns in it and it keeps you proper gripped to reading it!

It is safe to say that book is very much on par with Miss Meyers ‘Twilight’ series! xxxx ***

I'm very pleased right now!! :D

*SA*

forget-me-not

That is brilliant SA! Keep the feeling to remember if you get any more rejections! You know readers will like it, and that should be enough to keep going!

Carol

Very positive, and when it does finally get accepted you will know that your belief in your work was justified.

Jay Mandal

For IBS, your doctor can prescribe loperamide. Might work.

Jay Mandal

Or you can buy it OTC - whichever's cheaper for you.

collide-o-scope

I think we are all interested in this - very well done SA.

The delight and satisfaction you have taken from creating a word count that looks like a phone number oozes from your posts and I'm sure we all take encouragement from it.

Best of luck :-)

Dwight

Well done, SA. And what a great feeling that must be, to have two books completed. But hey, when you've revised Book 2, start submitting that one as well as the first. You could get your three book deal on the strength of your second or third book.

One of the advantages of writing a series is the savings in time and effort: characters clear in your mind, voice, themes even. And maybe your setting. My own Book 2 is deliberately in a different setting, to open up a new exotic location. I'm using Google Images and the articles they lead to to 'get the picture'.

Dudess

Brilliant news SA.

Now.

Sum up the books in one sentence.

I will permit one sentence per book

:) :) :)

*SA*

[quote= Dudess]Sum up the books in one sentence.[/quote]

That is so hard, because I could, quite literally, go on and on about my books for an hour without taking a breath, and because I haven't even contemplated the synopsis/ cover letter horror for books #2 and #3. Saying that, I can pretty much sum up each book in a single word — but only because someone asked me this same question the other day!!

Book #1: Destiny

Book #2: Power

Book #3: Hope

In a sentence, my books are all about how far a person would be willing to go for the one they love. This quote from book #2 sums up the series perfectly.

"What was too much?
What was the limit of what I would do for him?
I was quite sure I hadn’t reached the limit yet — if there even was a limit to what I would do for him — of what I would give to him or sacrifice for him. Even this, it seemed, was not a step too far for either of us."

*SA*

dora

SA I am so interested I have come back again to say something.

How have you managed to keep going? When I think back to your recent threads, well, I am in admiration of you having achieved this. You are an inspiration to me and I am in the process now of printing out some crit I had for stories I wrote a few weeks back, gonna get started on them again.

Thank you and am pleased to see you are happy SA.

:)

PS Stirling, I used to get that before I left work to have a baby. It is difficult to deal with when it is stress related I think, unless you are able to walk away from whatever it is that gives you the stress. I wouldn't recommend giving it all up to have a baby, in the hope that will relieve it though. :)

Stirling

Just finished the essays, so some of the pressure is off.

Now to find a job . . . (waiting to hear on two interviews.)

*SA*

Dora, that could actually be the nicest thing anyone has said to me in ages. Little old me, an inspiration!

Well, honestly, I kept going because writing is one of the few things in my life where I feel I'm in control. I kept going because, if I didn't, I'd become some sort of crazy person, having this story locked, unwritten, inside my brain, screaming to get out. I kept going because I had to. *Had* to.
I realised that the whole money fiasco just wasn't a good enough reason to throw in the towel, that my mum was going to be fine (she's well and truly on the mend, back to her usual self, nagging and grating on my last nerve at any given opportunity. I love my annoying mum, I do ;) ), and that a few little rejections were hardly the end of the world -- especially now as they made me realise what a total balls-up I'd made of the first chapter of book #1!!

I'm so glad that my mad mood swings, real-life ups and downs and overwhelming euphoria have helped fling you back into editing your work. You'll have to let me know how your stories turn out after the edit.

*SA*

*SA*

[quote=Stirling]Now to find a job . . . (waiting to hear on two interviews.) [/quote]

Have you had your interview in the club? Sorry, I can't remember what day you said it was...

*SA*

Stirling

It was yesterday, I'll find out tomorrow.

*Fingers crossed

Carol

Fingers crossed for you Stirling.

*SA*

I'll have my fingers crossed for you, and I'll come on TB on my breaks to see if you've had chance to post any good news!! What was the other one for?

*SA*

Stirling

A cafe.

Dwight

Would that be as a lap-top dancer, Stirling?

Sorry to be facetious when there are so many serious things going on in this thread.

Stirling

I've spent the whole day working on essays, facetiousness is most welcome!

*SA*

I'm starting the big edit today -- the final final draft of book #1, and the second draft of book #2 -- and to be honest, it's a bit daunting. All those pages. The two books together is about five hundred A4 pages, but on my desk it looks like five thousand. I know I can do it, and I'm going to enjoy reading my work again (it's been a while since I read anything from either book), but it's the getting started part that's scary.

Wish me luck! :D

*SA*

Dwight

SA, are you re-drafting on hard copy? The old blue pencil?

*SA*

[quote= Dwight]SA, are you re-drafting on hard copy? The old blue pencil? [/quote]

Yeah, I make edits on the hard copy of the previous draft. I generally cross out any cuts or add little changes in pencil straight onto the draft, if there are any changes or additions that won't fit into the space between the lines, I'll stick on a post-it, or staple a page or two of notepaper onto the back of the previous page for really big changes.

The first draft of book #1 was a bit different, as I went through it with highlighters as well, but I think the pencil and post-it method works best for me. The only time I really use my highlighters now is if I spot a spelling mistake (usually a word that my spell checker hasn't spotted, as it's a real word, but isn't the word that should be there, i.e., THOUGH instead of THROUGH). When I've gone through the entire MS, I type it all up and make any further tweaks on the computer version before printing it out again.

I managed 50 pages of book #1's 230 yesterday, and have already chopped and changed quite a bit. I'm hoping to get a good chunk done today, as I'm itching to start of the redraft of book #2.

How do you edit?

*SA*

Dwight

I edit on screen, having saved a copy of the original. Largely to avoid an extra job and because cutting and pasting or changing one's mind is so easy with Word. Plus spell-check.

But I must say it sounds a good way to do it, on the printed text. After all, this is the way an editor would do it. Isn't it? Very visual and physical, and there must be advantages in that.

*SA*

I think it's probably a matter of finding your own ways of doing this thing that we do. I've always had a bit of an editor's mind (my eye seems to just go to the mistakes, spelling/ punctuation/ grammar, in anything I read. It's annoying if I'm reading fiction because persistent errors pull me out of the story completely) I think from doing English in school. The way I edit now is sort of the way I edited back then, with paper and pencil, as I tend to miss all sorts of mistakes on the computer screen that are strangely glaring when I read the hard copy. There's nothing like spotting a misused word or a comma that changes the whole meaning of a sentence, shaking your head and saying to yourself, "Oh my God, how did I miss that?"

*SA*

Dwight

Yes, I'm sure we have our own favourite ways and prefer to do such and such in this way rather than that way, for very good reasons. But we can also change as a result of practice. I used to be quite fast on typing with two fingers while looking at the keyboard, but put in the two weeks necessary to master touch typing and now I couldn't do two finger if I tried. So much faster, and I can look at screen, out of the window, or at a text I am copying from beside me, which has made it a fast process to take extensive notes onto file.

Verica

Dwight, teachers could do with you telling their pupils that it's worth while persevering with learning to touch type. A little effort and self-confidence at the beginning pays dividends.

I edit by reading quickly the hard copy, when I can notice any spelling mistakes or repeated lines perhaps, then do the proper edit on the computer for altering phrases maybe or inserting more information; this is then noted on the hard copy.