First Draft

Made it! I finished the first draft last week: 98,000 words. I did promise myself I would have a break before beginning the read through and edit, but I started reading it a couple of days ago. Pat asked me this morning if I was pleased with what I had written and I found myself hesitating before I could answer. Does that mean I’m not happy with it? Who knows? I have to go with my instincts and my self-belief. In a TV interview (it can be seen on my website) I claimed that a writer should be able to write anything. I did say that it might not be very good if said writer had to write in a genre in which he or she wasn’t use to, but the prospect shouldn’t faze them. I can only describe my latest work as a mixture of romance, mystery and intrigue. It’s a two-fold story in which one is interwoven with the other. One story spans a number of years while the other spans just a few months. There is an element of violence that would stop it from dropping neatly into the romance category, although I believe a lot of romance readers would put up with the bad bits because the good bits are, well, good. Oh, and there are opportunities to shed a few tears (for the girls). But, and it’s a big but, whatever I or Pat (she will be reading the manuscript for me) think about it, the one person who has to like it is my publisher. And there’s the rub: I write thrillers, and she may not like me diverting from that. If the book is rejected I will publish it on Amazon. And this is the beauty of writing today; the fact that a rejection doesn’t mean that your book will never see the light of day. Hooray for that! So what now? Well, I will press on with the read through and have the MS ready for Pat by the end of this week, providing I don’t come across any major problems.

On the domestic front, readers of my blog will know that we are trying to sell our house. Today we have a viewing. This will be a ‘third’ viewing. The first couple liked the house after two viewings but they could not make an offer until their relative sees it (half of the money). It will probably be a week before we know one way or the other, but if we receive an offer we are happy to accept; it will mean we’ll be on our way back to UK. But first things first: sell the house. Oh, and get the book finished. I don’t think the two projects will clash, although our tempers might become a little frayed. Watch this space. More next week!