Thursday 24 November 2011

Train of ideas... Ideas on a train

I'm just heading to Ascot and it's only a 30 minute journey but immediately ideas are flying in from left, right and center. I have the same experience whenever I'm traveling. Why is that so, I wonder? Perhaps seeing a different environment and people have got something to do with this, I don't know but it is peculiar.

Last night I almost reached 70,000 words so I'm a happy chap today and not tired at all. I'm really happy with the book and actually look forward to editing, believe it or not. I'm giving an early morning lecture tomorrow and have a series of meetings and lectures afterwards so no writing tonight but the weekend will mark a historical milestone as I think the book will be finished by Sunday (fingers crossed, you know how life is).

OK, off to a meeting now...

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Self-editing

Just having a sneak preview of the Self-Editing for Fiction Writers and the first few pages already scared the hell out of me! Why? Well, I am currently going through the copy-editing process for my new professional book that is coming out in April 2012 (yeah, don't ask, it's a nightmare being involved with two different books let alone two genres).

The key finding of that process is that copy editors aren't doing their job very well and this book actually tells you why this is so. They are overburdened with work and the process is far from meticulous. I don't blame them as I am in a situation like this myself - desperately trying to keep myself afloat and DO things PROPERLY! It is really tough and that is why the above book is so scary - it basically says fiction writers should self-edit up to the hilt before sending anything to copy editors. No wonder why I keep being awake till the early morning hours almost every single day.

No choice, I'll do it several times and the book needs proofreading anyway so there is no excuse really. I love writing and if that involves mastering self-editing then so be it, I'll do it.

Tuesday 22 November 2011

Ups and downs II.

I should have finished my book by now... Yeah, right, as if things are ever so easy. I studied chaos theory and should know by now long- or even medium-term plans never work out. Actually, I do know this and that's why I am not depressed too much. Hell no, I'm lying to myself! I am depressed but I know I can't turn back time.

My day job managed to turn the past week into a running-around-like-a-headless-chicken kind of time leaving me very little energy to write the remaining few thousand words (even my delicious gluten-free diet couldn't help this time round).

Yeah, I am really close and I can see the whole story nicely folding up within the next 5,000 words. This should be a matter of a week,... yeah, we'll see but whatever the case, I am heading in the right direction and I love how the book is evolving into a piece of work that begs for continuation.

In the mean time, I've got to finish reading a thesis, preparing a presentation for next week's Oil & Gas conference (don't ask...) and most definitely completing the review of a journal paper as the deadline is on Friday!

Saturday 12 November 2011

Keep going

I took a break last weekend and moved on during the week but my day job took a good part of me so I left the working week on Friday completely drained. My daughter got an ear infection puncturing her ear drum so I decided not to write anything during the weekend. I need to be with my family and take some more break before completing the novel.

Despite the setback, the story keeps unfolding into a set of twists and turns poised to keep my readers glued to the book since anything can happen to my characters, and I'm not just talking about the main character here. All of this makes me very happy and yet another short break is proving more productive than I originally dared to believe.

All in all, 10 more days to complete the first draft but now, I've got to focus on my family and my daughter in particular, poor little girl. It will take 2 months for the ear drum to heal itself and her daily routine has changed overnight but I still remember the nightmares of childhood diseases so nothing new on one hand but a terrible feeling when it comes to your own child.

Thursday 10 November 2011

Pausing

I had to take a break over the weekend and committed a sin! I didn't write a single word... Damn, I felt so guilty but that's what happens when you're writing several books at the same time. Yes, yes, it is all my fault but I managed to get everything else sorted with the publishers and here I am, back at my novel again.

60,000 words I reached just a couple of minutes ago and my gluten-free diet is doing some real magic here. Thank you so much Goran Djokovic for revealing your secret! I tried it out of a joke but I can tell you now this is damn serious. I can work whole day, come home and assemble an IKEA computer desk before dropping my fingers onto the laptop keyboard and type,... and type. It's 2am in the morning and I should get some sleep but I can tell you, gluten-free diet works, 100%.

Off to London tomorrow, this should be fun though... and more posts to follow.