Hello! Firstly apologies for the delays in posting recently - but I do have a genuine excuse...
I have finally had the Editor's notes for Eating Blackbirds which is out in July. Before Christmas I spoke to the Editor and she gave me her initial thoughts about the story. One of the characters had to be younger, another a bit more adventurous and I really couldn't get away with chopping that one's arm off: he really didn't deserve that...
So I have been thinking about it since then, trying to work out how I could do those things, but knowing that there was no point in starting until I got the full notes, as I would probably have to change lots of other things too. She needed to read it again and then think it over, so I was to wait until I got the full list.
And last weekend I got them... 108 points!
Some are things like, "didn't she have long hair in the first chapter and now she has short curls," and these are easy to sort. Others make me a little sadder - ie "that's not funny" when I really thought it was, and some are more far-reaching - making him a little younger makes her need to be that age, so her daughter can't be doing that and then she needs to think back to her youth and have done THAT. And so it goes on - one little change means it has to be followed through the rest of the book.
So far, I have added about 20,000 words, have gone blind and had to get my first pair of glasses, have worn out my laptop (until I realised that there were at least 400 photos on it that was grinding it to a standstill) and given myself tea-poisoning.
I have another three weeks before it needs to be finished, so until then, it is every evening and every spare moment. Luckily I can let the housework go, as I am quite used to that and so is everyone else. I now just need to work out how I can to my adventure's climax without chopping that poor bloke's arm off...
Lorraine Jenkin is an author, journalist and blogger.
Monday 23 March 2009
Tuesday 10 March 2009
Community Plays and Toad Avoidance
Morning!
After a brief period of non-blogging, I am back and bursting with enthusiasm about the Builth Wells Community Play, to which I went on Saturday evening.
The drive down on a wet Saturday night was fraught with toad avoidance as our slimy little friends are hacking across the roads as slowly as they possibly can - mainly because they are horrified at the amount of their dead pals that already haven't made it. A road by a lake has been closed in Powys as so many of the squelchy things are crossing it and boy-racers think it's great to go Toad Skidding in their XR3s (I may be a little behind the times with regard to the make of boy-racer cars, but you get the picture?) However, I think I made it without splatting too many of them, but only because I went at five miles per hour. Although I hate toads and frogs with a passion, I still don't like the idea of squashing them, mainly because the thought of them going pop sends me into even more shudders of horror.
I met my friend at her house and we walked to the show only to find that on the way back the little blighters had made it to her road and they were everywhere. My friend's partner is all countryside and he was looking at them and I was trying so hard to not show my fear as I was sure he would have flipped them at me - and he probably would have, had he not just been playing guitar at a Commmunity Play as was feeling all benevolent towards his neighbours.
I made it into the car with only a few squelches beneath my feet and thought I was safe, but then sat on a burger that Huw had left there a few days before... (damn those slimy gherkins)
Oh, and the show was great - I didn't understand all the jokes, unlike the clever bloke in front of me, but it was great.
Lastly, a Well Done to my little sister Abby who has apparently just clinched a first class degree in Engineering. Well done you swot. (I could have got a first class degree if I had wanted one, if I had done a bit more work and had a slightly different genetic make up...)
After a brief period of non-blogging, I am back and bursting with enthusiasm about the Builth Wells Community Play, to which I went on Saturday evening.
The drive down on a wet Saturday night was fraught with toad avoidance as our slimy little friends are hacking across the roads as slowly as they possibly can - mainly because they are horrified at the amount of their dead pals that already haven't made it. A road by a lake has been closed in Powys as so many of the squelchy things are crossing it and boy-racers think it's great to go Toad Skidding in their XR3s (I may be a little behind the times with regard to the make of boy-racer cars, but you get the picture?) However, I think I made it without splatting too many of them, but only because I went at five miles per hour. Although I hate toads and frogs with a passion, I still don't like the idea of squashing them, mainly because the thought of them going pop sends me into even more shudders of horror.
I met my friend at her house and we walked to the show only to find that on the way back the little blighters had made it to her road and they were everywhere. My friend's partner is all countryside and he was looking at them and I was trying so hard to not show my fear as I was sure he would have flipped them at me - and he probably would have, had he not just been playing guitar at a Commmunity Play as was feeling all benevolent towards his neighbours.
I made it into the car with only a few squelches beneath my feet and thought I was safe, but then sat on a burger that Huw had left there a few days before... (damn those slimy gherkins)
Oh, and the show was great - I didn't understand all the jokes, unlike the clever bloke in front of me, but it was great.
Lastly, a Well Done to my little sister Abby who has apparently just clinched a first class degree in Engineering. Well done you swot. (I could have got a first class degree if I had wanted one, if I had done a bit more work and had a slightly different genetic make up...)
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