Image: Mystic Art Design, Pixabay |
Give me a 3-word summary of what you will be doing, writing-wise, in the coming year.
Editing, writing, blogging.
Tell me more:
EDITING: I’m editing for a publisher. I’m a second editor on
books that are being prepared for publication later in the year. The big
plus is that it pushes me into reading books I wouldn’t otherwise look at. If I
were an initial reader, rather than 2nd editor, that big plus could be an
equally big minus, as I might get stuck with badly written books that were a
chore to wade through.
However, these are books that have already been approved and
gone through initial edits from good editors. They might not be titles that I
would have picked up off a shelf, but they are, by definition, good reads.
I’m currently editing an epic fantasy, a contemporary
relationships story, and a historical romance. Not that I edit 3 at a time, but
they overlap or I would miss my deadlines. I would never have chosen these 3
books to take on a trip with me, and yet if I had, I would not have been
disappointed. Although I occasionally fall into the wrong fictional world and
confuse myself over why a character in a WW2 drama is not using magic powers, I
have become totally engaged in all 3 books.
These initial three have set a high bar for books still in
the pipeline. I have hedgehog adventures, folk tales, and space adventures yet
to come. Can’t wait!
WRITING: I completed a novel at the start of the year. It’s
a crime story set in the 1990s. I’m hoping it’s at the final polish stage, but
you know how it is, when you get too close to a book, you no longer see the
flaws, the ambiguities, the plot holes. Several people are reading the
manuscript for me and I’m leaving it well alone for a few months.
Meanwhile, I hope to get started on a new novel. I’m
nurturing an idea for a new installment in my Private Investigator series. I’m also dabbling with a “slightly sci-fi” but given that “slightly sci-fi”
isn’t a recognised genre, I might have difficulty placing it.
BLOGGING: I blog about life, the universe, and everything as the mood takes me. This is an article about handbags as a cause of marital strife. This one is about my flock of dinosaurs. And this looks into the oddities of writing life.
Tell me about a
writing-related event from last year
My children’s book Horse of the Same Colour, written as
Melodie Trudeaux, was launched in the autumn. The book is a sequel to Horse of a Different Colour. The launch video features the first chapter from each book.
Learn more about Penny here.