How's It Going?

I’ve had a few people ask me recently how the writing is going and as I haven’t really addressed that question in the last few blog posts, I thought I’d update those of you who are interested enough to still be reading this ;-)

I finished my first (rough!) draft just after Christmas as planned, woohoo!  The pleasure of completing it was massive, let me tell you.  I still grin like a slight loony every time that I remember I’ve managed to get this far with it :-)  There’s still a loooong way to go with editing subsequent drafts and making it in a polished manuscript fit for human consumption, but I am so chuffed to finally be properly on this writing journey!

Like a good girl, I’ve followed all the writer-ly recommendations to put it aside for a couple of weeks so that I come back to the task of redrafting fresher and with a more detached critical eye (allegedly, lol!).  Taking that break has been ridiculously hard though!  I love my characters so much that I wanted to keep on spending time with them and having come this far into a long-held dream, I didn’t want to have to stop.  I’ve practically had to sit on my hands to prevent myself from working on it and thankfully I’ve also managed to distract myself mentally by thinking more seriously about the young adult fiction I’d like to write, with various ideas already emerging, which is very exciting.

Thankfully the break is now over and I can get back to hanging out with Ben, Ned and Miss Bitts, hurray :-)  My first task has been to print out the first draft – all 123 pages of it! – and that’s brought another massive smile to my face :-D  As it’s printed 2 pages to one sheet of paper it looks a bit like a book!!!  I know, I know, I know there’s still weeks and months of work to go until it has any hope of becoming a real book but it’s a mega thrill to see it in that form anyway!

Now the hard work really begins though :-/  So far all I’ve had to do is get my ideas out onto paper, which has been surprisingly easy.  Next, I have to look at serious stuff like rising tension (the story not me!), plot development, character development, appropriate language choices for the age range, etc. etc.

So, *deep breath* and keep watching this space for the peaks and troughs of my writing journey in this next season…