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1/3/2014 The Book of Thoth, draft 2 finished! Yesterday evening, I finished Draft 2 of The Book of Thoth. I've been on a mission to cut the word count, and I have ended up with 139,790 words - down from over 151,000! Still, it looks a bit long... An editor probably would pitilessly tell me to cut whole scenes, but at the moment, I do think that everything that's left is important to the story in some way. I still have a lot of work to do on this - for example, PART VI is far too long and I need to find the right place where to stop it and insert a PART V title. I am going to leave draft 3 in the drawer for a week and get back to it a bit refreshed. I need to read it first without stopping for corrections, to get a general sense of the flow of the narrative. Then it will be back to corrections. It's funny how your brain works: now that I am on draft 3 of The Book of Thoth, it seems to have turned its attention to Book 3, The Right Place, without any prompting on my part. This morning, I woke up with an idea for the story which I had to write down immediately, as it could end up being crucial to the structure of the book. I have to admit that I am getting slightly worried about Book 3; to write it, I will need to spend quite a bit of time in Dorset and at the moment, I do not have the funds to pay for accommodation there. My intention is to apply for an Arts Council Grant; therefore, this spring, I am going to start putting my statements and budget together and hopefully, I can send my application in the summer. If I get the grant - which will not be very big, as I do not need that much money really, it will be game-changing and The Right Place could get published within two years. If I am not successful, then I would have to look at alternative ways of financing it, which I haven't really considered yet...   I sometimes become a stallholder and attend fairs and markets with my partner and Arcane Publishing designer Matt ArtPix . Our first event of 2014 is taking place THIS SUNDAY on home turf in Southend! I will have a few copies of I Am a Muse for sale at the event and will be promoting my next novel, The Book of Thoth. For this fair, we will be concentrating on classic cinema and icons, as well as fashion, here's the stock of second-hand books I will have with me at the event!.   Then Sunday 9th March, we will be in Bexleyheath in London, more details soon!
2014 is the year we start trading in London more often! 14/2/2014 The Book of Thoth, draft 2 update When I am not wandering around London - something I will need to do a lot for Book 4 which will be set in the capital - I edit The Book of Thoth.
I am being quite ruthless and some sections are being drastically cut - I am already down to 145,000 words from 151,000, and I am about half way through the book. Draft 2 is still on schedule for early March, I am happy to say. For this book, I hope to be able to find a reader - not an editor, but someone who can spot a few things for me. I expect the typesetting to take place over July/August, so we're still on schedule for a December publication date! In the meantime, I need to make a decision about attending The London Book Fair in April. It's £30 and I would only go there for one day, but it would have to be worth it! Decisions, decisions... 31/1/2014 The Book of Thoth: a sneak preview!
Matt ArtPix has been hard at work on the style sheet for The Book of Thoth.
We still have a few things to sort out, but it is looking good... I love it! More to come soon... 30/1/2014 The Book of Thoth draft 2 update I have now completed draft 2 of parts I and II of The Book of Thoth -yes, it rained constantly last week when I was abroad and editing was a most welcome activity!
I am quite pleased with it so far, although I know that these sections the easiest ones: things are getting slightly out of hand from Part III onwards, as the story gets weirder. I aim at cutting the 151,000 words manuscript (already about 1,000 down from draft 1!) to 130,000 which still seems enormous. I guess the printing costs will go up for this one! Matt ArtPix is still full of ideas for the typesetting and things are taking shape very nicely... If we can pull it off, The Book of Thoth will be really lovely to look at! 6/1/2014 The Wind... I have started the second draft of The Book of Thoth and I'm aiming to have this version finished for early/mid March - I have no work booked so far, so I should make the most of it.
The first draft is not finished yet, but I think it is time to begin the editing process anyway, especially after a week and a bit away from the computer and the manuscript. So over the forthcoming days, I will be splitting my time between editing and getting draft 2 into shape and writing the last few scenes of draft 1. I also need to start working on my Arts Council grant application for The Right Place (which might have a change of title soon as well!). 15/11/2013 And another one... And another scene added... I have just finished yet another scene of The Book of Thoth. My aim is to finish the first draft next Friday, because I am now over two months behind my publishing schedule.
The manuscript now stands at slightly over 137,000 words (whaaat?), which is way too long. I am genuinely looking forward to getting started on the editing. I have been working on this book since January 2011! I might need to make some decisions in the forthcoming months as I need to concentrate on the editing big time to make sure the book goes to typesetting in the summer. It might involve going somewhere without any distractions - freelance work, theatre, gigs, art exhibitions, gorgeous boy - and edit, edit, edit... I'll be planning all this during the X**s holidays in December. Tomorrow, I am working on the Shorelines blog.  At the Shorelines festival on Sunday, I read the opening page of what will be my third novel, The Right Place (working title).
Now that this has been done, I have made the text available on THE RIGHT PLACE PAGE on this very website. Now I am going to forget all about The Right Place for a little while and concentrate my efforts on finishing off the first draft of THE BOOK OF THOTH (and doing a blog about the festival...).  So here it is, the final front cover for The Book of Thoth. Matt ArtPix has done a sterling job on this and also on the promo material I will be taking with me to the Shorelines festival (read his blog about it HERE.
Yesterday, I finalised the reading/presentation, only a few tweaks to the slide show to do... This week, I am going back to The Book of Thoth. My first draft is sooo behind schedule, now... I have given myself until the end of November to complete it, then will start work on draft 2 immediately. |
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August 2024
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