RHS Garden Wisley

The past few weeks have been utterly crazy and I mean it quite literally. Promotion in my day job has steered me away from everything else and I've been preparing for the new academic year, trying to sort out the system to liberate some precious time (for me and everyone else).

Writing? Not much, to be honest but I knew this would be the case and taking a break doesn't hurt either. Starting with a series of short stories in mid October and investing heavily in the promotion of my first novel (I feel guilty as I haven't done much but time will come).

In the mean time, I've spent some quality time with my family. Well, I am a family man after all, although my availability in September departed heavily from the commonly accepted definition of "family". Ah, well, that's life. So, what were we up to then? RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) Garden Wisley is the answer and looking at the images, I don't think you need words for this.

Waiting game

I've recently signed up with Goodreads and almost instantaneously got more than 20 friends! Yeah, you might think that's not much but let me tell you something, I am thrilled. Even Amanda Hocking is my friend now on Goodreads and that makes me even more thrilled! Don't laugh, let me enjoy the moment.

It gave me an opportunity to revisit my list of books I read and it's not that short but I don't even remember all the books I've ever read... Though, Kindle has made reading now so accessible I will be reading like a passing train so watch my space on Goodreads. ;)

My book is with the copy editors right now... I am awaiting their report and it is a waiting game but my mind is not playing games with me this time and I am really relieved. Yes, I do expect very critical feedback but what the heck, you've got to start somewhere. Everyone is writing about "beta readers" though and I simply can't find any! All my friends are either so busy it would take them a year to get back to me - perfect for actually going mad; or they are not native English speakers. Well, I decided to do extra self-editing and then sent the book directly to my copy-editors. Look, I've got to start somewhere. It's not ideal but it is a start.

I've also started writing another book of mine (better say continued writing). It's a guide for aspiring individuals who wish to pursue PhD/Doctoral studies but I am writing it in a story-telling style to grasp the attention (I hope). Will be fun in the coming weeks as I am also planning to start writing my next novel. I haven't figure out the title yet but something to write about in my next post.

Good feeling

I cannot believe it! I finished my first edit of the novel and my professional book is finished as well. Two books at the same time is no mean feat (no sabbatical my friends!). I am openly proud of this. The past few days more resembled a drama, a crime story even. My day job is getting increasingly more frustrating as some gnarling worshipers of power are getting increasingly more arrogant - long live the dictatorship! No whining though, it's a great motivating force, that is.

In the mean time I've been rewriting the finishing lines of the novel. I just couldn't identify with the previous version. It was too negative, perhaps morbid (god forbid). It needed further tweaks to make it lighter yet even more complicated beefing up the manuscript to 82,148 words (currently - will change in due course). I looked at the opening page again and the more I look at the book, the more my eyes sail through the pages, the more I like it. Editing is tough but the story is interesting making the work, believe it or not, really enjoyable.

Despite all the downs and rarely any ups I feel good, I am filled with a good feel energy. Please, please last the good feeling, please do and I will reward you with even more of the wonderful writing and my good deeds. Yes, I am praying, feeling good is so much better than feeling miserable.

Hey, it's only 1am and I can actually go to bed earlier tonight. I'm telling you, it's all good.

Keep writing

Watched two really fabulous videos today. The first one is a hilarious account of cognitive illusion by Dan Ariely, the James B. Duke Professor of Behavioral Economics (Duke University). I love it when people explain complex processes through simple reference to every day situations, and then crack a few jokes along the way.

The second one is the "keep writing a lot" #1 tip from Amanda Hocking.

She is absolutely right and you cannot believe how much your writing improves through... well... more writing! I am used to academic writing but then again pulling together a novel is a completely different kettle of fish. It's more subtle, dynamic and experiential - a complete opposite to the boredom of the academic ink.

I just edited the first 150 pages, 100 to go so the progress is good and you know what, I actually like it. The hell with like, I love it, I love writing and editing my novel. I really love the story, I love my characters and I'm happy with the outcome. Ah, I look forward to my future writing adventures!

Self-edit...self-edit...self-edit...to insanity!?

Have you ever heard of insanity? No? Yes? Well, where do I begin? I finished my novel or so I thought... This is just the beginning actually! I've got to edit it now and after reaching 60 pages (out of 250+) this seems like a mammoth task. Yes, I'm editing in my other life as an academic writer of research papers and yes, I edited my textbook but editing a novel is something else entirely.

I got in touch with what seems to be a really fabulous copy-editor and got this advice: "My advice is to not rush and submit when you are 100%, or so sick of the book you can't face reading another word, whichever is first." Thanks!? No, no, only joking, I know they are right but it is far tougher than I thought.

Christmas is around the corner and I am now spending nights editing. It's not such great fun as writing a novel but it's got to be done and the good news is that my gluten-free diet does wonders. Right, off to bed now.

Title or something of that sort

That's it, I've revealed the title to my wife... ooooough, I can't believe it! Yes, the mistake is irreversible and I've been banging my head... Wait, shut up Mike, what are you talking about for crying out loud!? No, no, let me begin again! I've spelled out the title to her and I am the most grateful person on the planet. Why? Because she criticized my subtitle to smithereens with these exact words: "You include this subtitle and your target readers are never going to pick up your book, no matter how good it is!" and she is right (my ego was twisting in pain).

And the title iiiiiis? Devotion & Deception

Yeah, it pretty much reflects the plot and the epic struggle of my main character. Of course, I'm not going to tell you what subtitle I managed to ink down on a paper because the more I think about it the more I recognize a political commentator jumping out of my mouth and fingers for that matter.

I also have to tell you that I am on a break right now... finishing off my academic journal papers, reviewing 200+ pages of my students' theses and writing 30+ page proposal(s). Yeah,... I know... but then again, I'll be rich soon and then who'll be laughing...

Oh, yes, one more thing! I was on a look out for a good writing tips blog today (well, like 10 minutes ago) and I found the most hilarious blogger writing about novel writing tips out there. I mean, just look at what he's got to say about writers suffering from writing maladies. A stand-up comedy style of advice extraordinaire! Hey, that's an idea for a new type of seminars, workshops and other advice-giving gatherings - make it like a stand-up comedy. Bloody hell, I might actually try this!

Anxiety kicks in

Here we go, the official period for editing and reviewing has begun and as soon as I finished the 80,000 word book demons of doubt have awaken from their long sleep (yeah, I think it was a pretty long sleep). Looking back at the text I immediately spotted mistakes, particularly in the final stage that is supposed to set the tone for its sequel. I'm not sure whether this is normal or not but I feel numb after spending more than two months writing almost every night and not going to bed before 3am, only to face the grueling schedule of lectures and my academic engagement afterwards (i.e. a glamorous life of the author in the making I guess...).

I loved writing my first novel and I think the story is gripping, with lots of utterly unexpected twists and turns but   the demons keep telling me all sorts of things that will need to be corrected. Again, is that normal? Does that happen to all writers? I'm not sure but whatever the case I shall leave it for a week now and then commence the editing. It will take a few rounds of editing before I can send it off to a copy editor, and I will also give the book to a few people to read but I'm doing it for the first time and I totally dread the prospect of severe criticism, no matter how valuable it is. I am not going to pretend, a man takes some time to get used to criticism and I'm not sure how much time I will need (go away ego...).

On a more positive side, have you ever noticed how listening a fabulous song over and over again takes away its shimmer? Why is that, I wonder? You first can't stop listening but after a while your mind and soul stop reacting. Is that the consequence of consumerism - i.e. we need a constant influx of new ever more exciting stimuli? Perhaps it's our human nature that is flourishing in consumerism though I don't feel ashamed - I got bored of one particular song recently (though I'm not going to tell you which one... cheeky!).

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!

30,000 words

I couldn't really do much for the past week or so. My day job is really interesting but terribly demanding and running a block module last week meant I couldn't even Tweet anything. Having said that, I made a really good progressed and exceeded 30,000 words a couple of days ago. Should be at 40,000 by the end of the week but let's see. The story is developing really well although you will eventually decide whether it is good enough. I'm adding new and new circumstances and problems and continue exposing my main character to ever increasing challenges. I'm happy with the way the story builds on past complications of some of the characters but I'm sure I'll edit it several times before sending it off to professional editors.

There is one more thing that occurred to me in the past few weeks. Being an academic is fun in its own right but the academic world itself is sinking into an eve growing abyss of self-fulfilling prophecies of immensely arrogant quasi-academics who believe they are right in every single activity  they get themselves involved in apart from the time when they resort to procrastination. Mind you, there is really, really very little room for proper science in all this so I have now finally decided that academia is not what I want to be doing for the rest of my life. I much more prefer writing novels and running my own business where you know precisely what you should and shouldn't do. Furthermore, I can always use my own companies to do some proper and useful research as opposed to figuring out whether I am methodologically well positioned. God, what nonsense!

Anyway, I have found a couple of interesting professional editors so all is well on this front and my Chinese manufacturers are pretty damn good too. Ah yes, this is something I ought to write about in one my future blogs when I launch my new online store. OK, let's get back to writing!