I have finished the first draft of Hacked to Bits.  This is the first ‘straight through’ MS I have done since Quest 4 – a few summers ago – and the first entirely on the laptop and then filed to Scrivener , Ywriter and Novel Factory and printed – why the three? They all look at projects in similar ways but enough is different that it gives me a fresh look at what I am doing. I also back up to two external hard drives now – no longer does a new first draft fill me with the dread of either typing 130k 🙂 – dictating it for transcription by Dragon saw off that appalling circumstance last year – but given my Mum’s continued fragility of health my time became very concentrated when I was writing this draft and so I made my self write on the lap top and file by copy and paste and print as I went each day – so now when I want to edit the thing it is ready with no extra admin time beyond setting up new files for the 2nd draft.

The two weeks since I finished have seen me sort out the shipping container were I store my stuff, sort out upgrades etc – Dragon 15 Pro from 13 etc and renew website hosting etc.

The biggest issue has been what do I do next?

By asking, ‘does this get this book closer to publication?’ I have whittled down the exciting choices making a solid wall in front of me to, ‘which series first?’ I want to abandon my Adult series – Hacked – and return to YA. But, the Editor’s reports I commissioned in 2017 were for the first in the Hacked series – Hacked Off. And though, at this stage, most comments will apply to both re line edits and there are a few story points which relate to both – the fact is the detail and actual line edits belong firmly to that MS. So just reading the reports and then putting them away is not going to get Quest 1 further towards publication as I won’t really have learnt the lessons I need from the experience of having the reports done.

Next week I will have a second read of the reports and the line edits of Hacked Off – enough has piqued my interest that I have not written the Epilogue for Hacked to Bits yet – after I have wrung every last drop out of the reports I will look at that Epilogue – or leave it to stew a while longer and only then will I return to Quest 1.

Quest 1 will be my main focus as that will be the lead magnet for that series – free chapters of HO may work for that series – but I do not intend that whole book to be free and there enough out takes that I hope to make novellas of but only after I have Quest off to an Editor next year.

Darkness and Light…

Still a difficult time …

Mum still in hospital and a friend also died…

The Writing Week…

Thoughts are with the non fiction in many ways – the shape of http://mywestdorsetfarmblog.com   and whether – or not – I want to get involved with non fiction books of any kind related to farming and  rural life beyond my updates to  that blog page.

Joanna Penn has her new book – and course – out  – https://www.thecreativepenn.com/write-non-fiction/

I had been hoping it would coincide with my thoughts and it has…

I have been continuing to search for things that distract my anxiety over my Mum’s situation and have sat through a few films – ‘Wild’ being one of them though I didn’t realise the significance till I had got into it !-!  I have the Kindle book of that too and am reading it alongside the film. Another favourite escapist indulgence is anything Monty Don writes at the moment The Road To Le Tholonet is a wicked treat. Ruby Wax in various audio versions of her  three brilliant books have kept me cackling in the small hours – enough my new neighbours might be wary of this old lonely house and it’s reclusive Writer inhabitant. Mercifully the fab over the top series Versailles has returned for Season 3 so I can escape into that – at least some of the time when I cannot sleep.

I am still thinking about H2B – the fiction side never goes away – the third instalment of the trilogy I am working on – but with the garden to plant, a fox attack on my geese, little or no sleep at night, and the  ever present wondering if Mum is OK or if the phone will ring –  it is hard to escape into their story. It hasn’t gone far – just at the moment it is under the surface as I pick away at a coupe of plot issues I’d refused to acknowledge out loud to myself. Like the garden – if the seeds aren’t planted – the crop can’t be harvested but like the garden the soil needs preparation and the stones removed and the holes filled in.

That said, I should go plant cabbages… but, it’s been a bit of a morning of it – went to town after half a night’s sleep – the best recently I might add – and parked the van only to find the machine wasn’t working  I put 80p in and got £1.80 back – but it was an old pound… Then as I walked past the Greyhound I spotted a friend and his son breakfasting – they bought me coffee and we had a raucous catch up. They left and I went to WHS to get the book covering cling film stuff – only to find i had no purse… HUM – back to the car and then home – found purse and returned to town and back to WHS to buy the stuff ! Returned home to sort out my poor geese after their savage fox attack yesterday – last post I pulled out to replace I tweaked my back 🙁 – geese sitting on patio didn’t look sympathetic so I might cover those books before I plant cabbages. Or, I might sit under the moss roses and behind the rhubarb and write…

Writer’s retreat – behind the Moss roses and next to the Rhubarb… And Mont y and Sarah Don for company 🙂