Well, I really should have done more of a blog in July than the promotion of “Steel & Bone”, but things got somewhat hectic. I have been a busy little bee.
So June – had some good stuff to edit, the second book from a previous client. Then there was Winchester Writers’ Festival. What a weekend. My husband came down to Winchester with me so we made a good long weekend of it. We stayed in this odd B&B set up in the home of a lovely gregarious couple, they did everything they could to make us feel at home. Maybe that was the problem. It was their home and it felt like it, I just couldn’t relax. There were pictures of them everywhere, even in the bathroom that was ‘for guest use only’ – like hell. And there was no lock on the bedroom door, so when we went out, the room we were in was accessible to anyone. Mind, given that the wardrobe was also full of the owners clothes, I shouldn’t have been surprised. And breakfast was always shared with one of the owners, I am not a morning person and I don’t want to speak to my family most mornings, so I certainly don’t want to talk to a stranger.
The Festival itself was good, I only attended the Friday and Saturday, so that hubby and I could have the Sunday together. Of course I attended the requisite four one-to-ones, and WOW! Four out of four! Every agent I saw wanted to see more. Every one. I was on cloud nine.
Of course, everyone also gave me slightly different feedback, so that meant that the hard work was about to kick in, and over the following month I was head down wading through my work, polishing it to within an inch of its and my lives.
So June turned into July way too quick. Another editing job came in, this time a crime novel that I’d done a sample on the first chapter previously. I have to say that this got one of my highest comment rates, one comment for every 105 words, but that’s mostly for police procedure reasons. For reference, my highest rate so far was one comment per 67 words, lowest was one comment for every 667 words.
I really hate when people get the procedure wrong, I know that sometimes as writers we have to play fast and loose with the rules for dramatic effect, but when people just lose all grip of procedure my gander goes off like a rocket. I also wrote the longest critique I’ve ever written at nine pages, and while this all sounds really bad, I actually enjoyed the story and it really was about helping the author polish what she’d done to make it better. I hope she takes it well.
Then there was the weekend of the 18th July. This was one busy weekend.
On Saturday July 18th, my husband, daughter and I travelled down to Kent. We were up at six am and arrived at my parents in Tonbridge, in time to change and then attend my niece’s wedding. Have to say that it’s occasions like this that I remember Mr Bennett, “For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?” Only I don’t find a lot to laugh about with my family. At least not while I’m with them. I just find that way to stressful. But the wedding went well, my niece looked lovely and the day went off without a punch being thrown – and yes that was a distinct possibility.
Still we left early and got a decent night’s sleep before Sunday’s adventure.
Sunday we were up at six again, this time to drive to Sevenoaks and catch the train to London for London Film and Comic Con, to be honest only got tickets because it was the same weekend as the wedding, wouldn’t have gone otherwise. That journey was fun. I haven’t been to Sevenoaks in years and had no idea where the car park was, still we made it and headed into London. At Olympia the queue went on for hours and that was just to get in. Still we got in finally and had a great day. My daughter got some great shots of cos-players and she’s had some lovely responses to her posts on tumblr or wherever she put them.
And I got to meet with fellow author Joanna Kershaw, another Xchyler Publishing author. I ended up buying two of her books for my daughter, and talking about just how hard it is to make money at these shows, or even at all when it comes to writing. But hey-ho, this is the game we have chosen.
Oh – and on the good news front – I sent the amended version of my book to all four agents, and I’ve had three personal acknowledgements. Let’s hope by the time I blog again, I will have more certain news on the agent front. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
The Write Route 